the nap that could not be...

today when i got home i planned to take a nap. but this was not to be. first uri called, then i had to do this random thing then that random thing, then laundry, then dinner, then folding the laundry, then emailing so and so back...basically this nap was not to be. So now it's almost 8 00 and i still haven't read anything or finished my assignments for tomorrow.

i planned to blog before i napped but things also got in the way of that.

today i only had 8 students at school because the buses got cancelled because of the weather. only the walking kids came and we pretty well did nothing which was fine because i had nothing planned and also because i was so exhausted from going non stop since thursday.

i had recess duty and it was fun seeing my ESL kid J. throughly enjoy the snow. But he doesn't have snow pants or waterproof gloves so it was limited as far as rolling around in the snow..he enjoyed it nonetheless. I told him i would bring him some winter clothes. all day he asked me when we're going skating...and i told him about a million times on feb 15 but he is so excited. the school provides skates for the kids that don't have them (which i think is an excellent idea) and J. just wants to get those skates on his feet he wanted to try some on today but its not our turn to go yet. that kid seriously brightens my whole day...today on the way to gym he was skipping down the hallway...not just like annoying bratty skipping to not stay in the nice Grade 4 line which i remind them about every time we line up but skipping out of sheer joy for going to gym. i couldn't help but smile. :)

my teacher wasn't there again today. she wasn't there all last week either. she had problems with a degenerative herniated disk in her back and it seems to have gotten so bad she might have to have surgery. this might mean that she is not at school for quite some time and that we will have rounds of supply teachers with the kids. this is rough because students at any grade level need a consistent figure in the classroom. my students must have asked me a thousand times when mrs. R. was coming back and its hard saying I don't know...her attendance has been sporadic all year so maybe if we get a permanent supply or an LTO that may be better. For now, the teacher next door is helping with what she can and giving us plans on a period by period basis....nothing long term. We'll have to wait and see what happens. I'm glad that I realized I can do this teaching thing and feel confident in front of 24 pairs of little eyes because I will have a lot less guidance than what is prescribed for a practicing teacher. I'm so thankful for the teacher next door, she is great and really has learned to balance her profession and her family well so i think i stand to learn a lot from her.

this weekend i did no homework, a lot of going out and a lot of house keeping. all good things minus the no homework.

i dropped off my last (i hope) grad app on Friday at Ryerson. On Thurs. night it hit me that I wouldn't have time to do it today because I had to teach. That was definitely God's providence because with the weather today even if I had left school early I wouldn't have made it down to Ryerson in time to drop off my app. I lost sleep by finishing it Thursday but this weather today would have made it impossible. This situation reminded me of something that I read in a book I started reading called " The Sacred Romance". In the book there is an excerpt from Buechner's "now and then" that reads:

if God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts and minds open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that however faintly we may head him, he is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, his word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling.

i think that's really clear so I don't have to comment much except that to me it pointed out such a strong intersection between a life of reflective meditation on the physical word (as in the Bible) and the voice of God which is heard quietly in the moment to moment. it becomes so easy to crowd out that voice (at least for me) with all the day to day things which is why it requires effort to maintain those channels of communication open.

just a little bit of thinking i did on my unusually long drive home today.

have a great week!
d