My Friend Jean

During this time of the year, I always remember with great fondness my friend Jean. She passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly on the day after Thanksgiving in 2001. Not long ago I found this article, written that year. Her daughter had asked for contributions for a memory book about her mom.
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Jean was very dear to me. Many times my phone would ring and it would be Jean on the other line: "Ann, what do you think we should do about. . ." or "Ann, do you think this would be a good idea?" Or, I would call Jean and Jim's house, hear her answer "Trimble residence," and reply teasingly, "Hello, Trimble residence, is Jean there?"

Jean personified the Bible verse, "She hath done what she could." Many things were elaborated at her funeral, but there are many more that I know of, and many more beyond that. I remember when a girl from the mission field visited Oakwood, separated from her family and short of funds. The next week Jean was arranging to get her the things she needed and inviting her to come to their home for the weekend. Jean filed the missions letters diligently, after reading them carefully and catching things that needed to be taken care of. She saw to it that a back got built on missions closet shelves when things were falling off. The list of her good deeds goes on and on.

Just a few weeks before her death, Jim and Jean went on an extended tour of the western U.S., and we were the beneficiaries of postcards from along their route. When they returned, they brought beautiful Mt. Rushmore T-shirts for our children. When Mary Lee got the Terrific Kid award at school, she received $5 in the mail and a congratulatory note from "Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean." Always, the children's birthdays were remembered. They kept our children in their home on a number of occasions. She just never missed an opportunity to be an encouragement to our family and to me. I know that was the case with many others, too.

Our friendship superseded the years that separated us. Each Sunday service, during the welcome time, Jean would lean over the pew, give me a hug, and say "I love you, Ann." I'd return the hug and tell her I loved her, too. Jean was someone I could turn to for advice in several areas of my life. I miss her terribly since she has gone home to be with the Lord. When I see her again on the other side, I will visit her, this time in her golden "Trimble residence," and I am eager for that day.

Free household help

Our friends got home from church last Sunday night and immediately noticed that the porch light, which they had left on, was off, and the inside lights, which they had left off, were on.

When they went in the house, the wife noticed that her dishwasher was running. As they checked around, they looked into the den and saw the gray head of an older lady who was sitting on their couch, watching TV. The husband approached her and she said "You must be Marshall. The key you sent me didn't work, so I walked around to the back and let myself in through the back door." (The husband's name is not Marshall. Their son had forgotten to lock the back door before they left for church.)

Turns out she was there to celebrate Thanksgiving--with their neighbors. The husband walked her next door, carrying her luggage, to make sure she got there OK.

She had gathered their dirty clothes and put them in the laundry room, and she had straightened up the house.

I am not making this up.

Aftermath

Everybody loves to watch a play. Only the director has to. . .

. . .get the PE boys to lug the flats back to the bus barn.
. . .figure out to whom the dirty socks, curling iron, bag of clothes, leftover makeup pads, etc., belong to.
. . .find out who put the computer engineer's "stuff" on the floor where it ended up with gum on it.
. . .unbend the bent, borrowed curtain rods (won't bother to try to find out who bent them in the first place) and return them to the owner.
. . .dispose of the leftover paint and brushes.
. . .re-box and store all the miscellaneous that gets used from year to year, such as the night lights that are used backstage so that people can see where they're walking.
. . .get all the costumes back (hopefully washed) from the actors, packed, labeled, and stored in the basement in the play closet.
. . .see that the stage is completely clean, swept, and bits of stray paint scraped up from the floor.

But that's OK. It's part of the deal. Tomorrow is Wednesday. . .no homework. . .I'll put some kids to work during study hall.

Veterans' Day and WWI

Recently, I purchased a book called "World War I Album" for the military memorial in our library. This was done at the request of our seniors who wanted to do something to commemorate ten years since the passing of Jimmy Prince. Before giving it to them to wrap and present to Nancy in chapel, I read the entire thing (fortunately much of it was pictures).

We definitely overshadow WWI. One of the reasons we chose that book was because Nancy said she has had difficulty even finding much about that war. Google World War II and you get 68 million responses; google World War I and you get 2.5 million. I had heard of trench warfare, but reading about it and seeing pictures of the trenches really strikes home the horror of that kind of fighting. WWI was a crossroads between old methods of fighting--on foot, with horses, hand to hand--and modern air techniques. And of course, gas was used during this conflict.

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We should be doing more to educate our young people about the horrors of war--WWI included. Even more, we should be doing more to cause them to appreciate the many who served, and died, for what they have today. It is a more daunting task, however, than it appears.

Blips from a Busy Time

With the play coming up next week, I've been spending a lot of time at school right now. I'll be somewhat glad when that's over, so that school will not be quite as consuming as it is right now. I like to have an adequate amount of time at home as well.

--Demonstrations today in chemistry class. We're studying types of reactions, so we did several "wow" demos as examples. Demos are a pain to set up and clean up, but it's always inspiring to see the wow factor kick in.

--We celebrated "mole day" last week on 10/23 (from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m.). (Chemistry people will catch the significance of that.) We had lunch with foods like guacamole, cassermoles, Chick-Mol-A nuggets, Coca-Mola, peppermole-i buns, cinnamon moles, oatmole cookies. You get the idea. They loved it. By the way, did you know that Avogadro eats watermolens in the summer? And drinks chocolate moleteds? He really exaggerates a lot--he makes mountains out of molehills. When he taught math, he taught moletiplication. Enough already (though there are a lot more where those come from).

--I helped one of my students, a young man for whom English is his second language, edit his essays for college applications. Today he brought me a $10 gift card to Cracker Barrel. Now, I certainly do not expect students to do something like that for help with college applications or writing recommendations--it is part of what I do for them, and I'm happy to do it. But you'd be amazed at the number of students who ask for such things who don't even say thank you--or bring a stamp! So it was a humbling and appreciated kindness in the middle of a busy time, for him to do such a thoughtful thing.

--The seniors' blog has bogged down a little, but they're kicking in again. I think they are enjoying knowing their work is being read far and wide. We start MACBETH on Thursday--that's always a great read.

Overload

Play practice until November 9.
Volleyball games, and now state tournament starting tomorrow.
Mike working a huge stretch.
Revival at church.
Nine weeks' exam time.
Now you know why I've not posted much.

p.s. For Barry Cater: Codger- Eccentric but lovable older person, usually a man. Maybe I should say. . .we're going to turn into an old codger and his wife.

A couple of old codgers

Yesterday I made a pot of "beefy bean soup" and at the last minute told Mike to set up the card table on the screened in porch--so we ate out there. The weather was perfect and we sat at the table for about half an hour afterward, just enjoying the view and the new porch. (Mary Lee couldn't take too much of us old folks so she went inside fairly quickly.) Today for Sunday lunch it was just Mike and me, so we ate out there again--this time meatloaf, baked potatoes, and cauliflower--and we sat out there for awhile again, also just doing nothing. We will turn into a couple of old codgers if we're not careful.

An e-mail from Selia

Dear Mrs Bailes:
This is Selia.I miss you so much since I left you ,you are my favorite teacher in US ,you were always friendly and kind to me ,and I am very happy that you can enjoy the gift.
Yes, when I got home ,I was really tired ,and I felt sick , but after few days ,I felt much better, so ,thanks for worrying about me!
I like your English and chemistry class very much ,maybe I couldn't understand all of your class ,but I coulf feel your humour and good teaching !
I saw really sad when I left Anderson ,the beautiful small city ,but then ,I got happier,because I thought maybe leaving now is foe the next meeting in the future , I think I'll come back one day!
Would you mind telling my classmates that I also miss them?
Thank you!
Selia

Framework & Ceiling are done

The screening goes up tomorrow--then there's electrical and finishing. Almost done!!

Several have heard from the Chinese friends. They are in reverse culture shock. Several have gotten some good news from them too.

Goodbye to our Chinese friends

There were many tears at Oakwood Christian School last Tuesday morning. Our Chinese friends visited Washington DC and New York City for about a day in each place. They should be back in China--after the flight they had a 22-hour train ride and then an hour bus ride.

Three of them left their rockets here. We are mailing them to China. Apparently those who remembered theirs kept them in their hands as they tried to get through security at the airport--and slowed the line down considerably.

These are my friends Selia and Susan, who were in several of my classes. Both of them brought me a present on the last day.

These are Dave and Reece. We had a difficult time getting Dave's rocket to work because he accidently glued the nose cone on when he spray painted it. So I had to cut off part of his rocket, leaving it a little shorter than the others. He didn't seem to mind!

Those who kept the Chinese students in their homes really had a hard time seeing them go--much harder than even those of us who spent time with them in our classes.