Twenty-Six Years Ago

Twenty-six years ago today was Andrew's due date.  I remember waking up that morning and feeling kinda odd.  No real pain, just a strange feeling.  I thought about not going in to school, but Mike reminded me that, if this were not the real thing, I would feel really strange having to go back to school for more days if this baby didn't come.

I went to school and taught, sitting on a stool, for two periods--then, at chapel time, told the secretary I was going to the hospital, one block away, to get checked just to make sure everything was OK.  Turns out my blood pressure was high and they kept me to lie on one side and then walk, walk, walk, to try to get things going.

The doctor came in later and decided to really get things going.  (This is being written with the "TMI" principle in mind.)  Anyway, at 7:30 that night, after a difficult breech birth - Andrew Hamilton had arrived.  Our lives have never been the same - Children (both him and his sister) profoundly changed us.  They always do and they always will.

It's hard to believe that Andrew is on the other side of the world for his second straight birthday.  But, no matter where he is physically, I will forever remember the events of this day, in 1988, and remember the day that I became a mom.

Friday's Fave Five 11/7/14

Link to Friday's Fave Five host blog

1. Very thankful for the outcome of Tuesday's elections.  God is in control of our country, and we can never stop asking Him for direction and protection; however, it was SO nice to see that the people of this great nation see the same problems that need to be corrected in Washington.

2. My eighth graders are coming along great in their choric speaking presentation for our Veterans' Day chapel.  I got the powerpoint completed a couple of days ago.  I had to make two corrections:  Had used a slide of Ben Franklin for what I thought was Patrick Henry.  The students quickly noticed that and pointed it out.  They also noticed something else:  One slide, for a generic slide needed of a stadium, was of Yankee Stadium.  That will not do.  This morning I replaced it with one of Fenway Park in Boston.

The slides along the left of this post are all taken from the powerpoint presentation.

3. Last Friday night we had a wonderful evening with dear friends for over 30 years - always good to be in contact with them!

4. And last Saturday night we had a wonderful evening with dear friends here in town, to watch the football game.  Our team handed away a two-touchdown lead in the last two minutes of the game (that is the third time that they've done it this season, so that was pathetic - but at least the fellowship was nice.

5. Just got a text from Mike.  The repair man came today and the gas line for our extra heater has been repaired, and he's fixed the broken eye on the stove.  (Last Sunday I tried to turn on one of the burners, and the switch completely broke off.  Fortunately it was off when that happened.)  Mike is so good about fixing things as quickly as possible.  I am very appreciative!!

Smart-Aleck Sophomore

Me, trying to find makeup tests and get a study hall settled down at the same time:  "I hear voices!"
Student: "You'd better get that checked out."

My Experiences with School Leadership

Leadership is a topic that is often on my mind.  I've seen so much.  I've seen how everything rises and falls on leadership.  I've seen how good leadership can make a school or break a school (or a church or any organization).

After 35 years of teaching, in two different schools, with multiple layers of leadership, I've seen many leaders and leadership styles.  For better or for worse.  My first school was part of a much larger university structure, so on top of the school principal, we had upper-level administration.  My second school is part of a church structure, so on top of the school administrator, we have the pastor/school president as well as other administrative personnel.

I've seen it all.  Or most all.  I've worked directly under seven principal/administrators or assistants, and multiple upper-level management authorities.  Sometimes it seems like the rank and file are the ones who stick around - the leadership is always changing.

The following will be written in plural form, and will not be in any chronological or reverse chronological order, so that no one person is incriminated.  I'm also going to mix up the good and the bad, as well as give different aspects of the same leaders in different sentences.  I've seen:

--Leaders who had absolutely no aptitude for running the day-to-day workings of a school.  They were great at being upfront and PR people, but did not "get" the workings.  The teachers, in meetings, were always far ahead in solving problems than the leadership.

--Leaders who managed people beautifully.  Parents could come in to the office, furious about whatever had happened or was going on, and would come out with a smile on their face.  There was one administrator who, even many years later, when in a difficulty I always think "How would ___ handle this?"

--Leaders who were clueless as to what was going on around them.  The building could be in complete disrepair, and the staff getting more and more resentful about the detachment of the leadership, but the top brass would be in denial - either unwittingly or knowingly.

--Leaders who were quietly but consistently on top of everything that was going on.  This is the kind of leadership that is not fully appreciated - until it is gone.

--Leaders who were quite visionary, having many things going on at once and many ideas for new ways of doing things and new ways of change.

--Leaders who did not fully recognize the need for supervision on a daily basis.

--Leaders who were dominators and who ruled with a mighty hand, who insisted that their vision was the only one that mattered and all others were to kowtow to them and their program.

--Leaders who examined every side of an issue, making sure that all bases were covered and possible problems examined before even considering whether to implement any new ideas.

--Leaders who never changed the schedule or calendar.

--Leaders who changed the schedule or the calendar at a moment's notice.

--Leaders who never called a snow day.

--Leaders who called a snow day at a moment's (or snowflake's) notice.

--Leaders who showed a refreshing spirit of new ideas and ways to complement the program.

--Leaders who showed a refreshing spirit of continuity without constantly injecting new ideas and ways to complement the program.

--Leaders who had no respect for their employees' time and personal life.

--Leaders who had utmost respect for their employees' time and personal life.

--Leaders who thought that just saying "I am the (boss, administrator, president of the school)" was all they had to do.

--Leaders who were rarely seen.

--Leaders who were everywhere, pitching in, a part of things, doing whatever needed to be done.

--Leaders whose work ethic was perceived to be weak by the staff.

--Leaders whose hard work ethic was a stellar example to the employees who worked for them.

And finally,

--Leaders who have much to answer for when they meet the Lord; as well as

--Leaders who will receive a "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" when they meet the Lord.

Friday's Fave Five, 10/31/14

Link to Friday's Fave Five host blog.

1. FINALLY finished with parent-teacher conferences. Usually I am done by mid-afternoon on the half-day of parent-teacher conferences, but not this year.  I had a 5:45 appointment.  Ugh.  And two hours to wait in between.  The administrator said I could leave and come back, but it wasn't worth it.  I got a lot of work done and also just dinked around some too.

2. We had fun watching the World Series this week.  We went to my folks' house for two nights of it - didn't stay for the entire game, just too late, but did watch the first third to first half of it with them.  Dad is a baseball connoisseur and it's always a pleasure to watch ball with him.  We were rooting for the Royals, just because it's always nice to see a small-market, low-budget team do well--but  it wasn't to be.  Regardless of the winner, it was a fantastic series - the kind with all the excitement that October ball ought to have.

3. Mike went deer hunting last weekend and came back with these.  He was at his sister's place, and they have a lot of deer there.  He has been a happy man after getting those two nice bucks.

4. Now that eBay allows sellers to have fifty free listings a month without a listing charge (there is still a final value charge), I have just rolled several sets of books over a number of times.  They haven't sold, though I haven't lost any money either--but it was getting to the point where, maybe they just weren't going to sell.  Well, this week, two sets of them sold.  The second set goes out in the morning.  It's a great feeling to get the paypal built up a little more for those fun purchases I always like to make.  Plus, some of these are things I am selling for school, to also be able to purchase books for school that are more currently needed.  So it works out well.

5. Last week we went to a program at our daughter's school.  It was nice, and even nicer was to see her in her school setting, as a professional.  It's apparent that she is doing well.

Old Wilds Days

I went through some old photo albums and scanned a number of pictures, because The Wilds is having "Classic November" where they will upload old pics to their FB page.  These really brought back memories.

This was junior camp - a CITer was my assistant that week - and we only had four little campers that week.  It was a great week, even in an old-fashioned birdhouse.  Campers today have no idea how much nicer their camp experience is.

One summer was a Hatfields/McCoys theme, so for the the staff dinner we had a "pig-pickin" instead of the usual steak meal.  I went the night before to help process the pig.  The head second from left is mine.  Somewhere is a picture of me holding the two kidneys, removed right from the pig, but it has disappeared somewhere in the succeeding years.

Camp kids - always precious.  This was during one of my receptionist summers.  Both of these toddlers are now grown men with families of their own.

These old Wilds memories are precious.  I learned much during that time about character, sacrifice, and doing whatever needed to be done to keep the ministry going.  It was a time of great friendships, great opportunities, and lots of immersion in spiritual matters.  

Wednesday Misc.

--I'm doing verb tenses with the younger classes right now.  We were using the verb "see," and when I said "Okay, what's the plural of "you see"--one boy said "Y'all see."  Kinda hard to explain that one to southern boys. . .

--Monday night when Mike came in from work he said "There's a hawk in the yard."  It was almost tame - was in no hurry to fly off, and was not afraid of me coming out with the binoculars.  It was a red-shouldered hawk, which is labeled in the bird book as being uncommon for our area.  I had it marked as a "maybe" on my life list, so it was nice to confirm a sighting of it.

--I also put the feeders up on Monday.  The birds have yet to discover them, but it usually takes a few days.  There was a chickadee there this afternoon.  It may be a little early to put up the feeders, and I may regret the amount of birdseed it will take to keep them filled up for the next eight months or so--but no, in the long run I will not regret it.

--I went to watch the first game of the World Series with my dad last night.  I couldn't stay except for about half the game, but it was nice to watch some of it with him.  It's exciting this year with Kansas City in it.  That team has never been on our radar, but it's always nice to see an underdog, low-budget team do well against all those high powered teams!

Shawls and Hats

This morning I met with a local ladies' church group that sent a shawl and about 35 hats with me to China last summer.  This group meets twice a month to crochet these items as a group, and then give them away to whomever they think would be encouraged by them, to remind these people that they are being remembered in prayer.  Right now they are working hard on hats to give away at the Thanksgiving meal they prepare for people of the neighborhood each year.  (This is at a 100-year-old small inter-city church in our town.)  I teach the daughter of one of the members of the group, which is how they found out about the trip and sent some hats with me.

They wanted to hear how it went, and were glad to see the pictures of the people who received them.  Elsie (above) got the shawl, and a hat for herself and for her husband.  And the little blind girl got a pretty pink one.  The rest of the hats will be distributed through the coffee shop where contacts are made and channeled in Andrew's city.

This is a good outreach by some very nice ladies who desire to be an encouragement and blessing to people wherever and whenever they can.  In about a month they will have made shawl #1000, and many more hats.  That's quite an accomplishment.   

Friday's Fave Five, 10/10/14

Link to Friday's Fave Five host blog

1. As written about on the previous post, I got to go to Illinois this past weekend for my Aunt Catherine's funeral.  It's always good to reconnect with family and friends, and I don't get a lot of opportunities to do so.  The midwest in October is beautiful.  Wish I'd gotten more photos of the harvest.  Someone here at school said "Did it look kind of like Denver Downs?" (DD is a nearby large diversified farm in a typical South Carolina valley, surrounded by woods and a pond.)  No, son, it looked nothing like that.  Imagine thousands and thousands (millions and millions?) of flat acres of Denver Downs, with people running huge combines, working as hard as they can to get the corn crop in.  It's a beautiful sight, especially to one who doesn't get to see it every year.

2. My folks and I had good flights to and from Chicago-Midway, and were able to wait with my sister who was waiting for her flight to Dallas.

3. We ate at Penn Station.  I finally found out what all the fuss about Penn Station is about, Rhoda!!  :-) And yes, it was very good - a sub sandwich place with very good bread and very good options.

4. I made it through this week fine, without the fatigue that sometimes comes after a whirlwind trip like this one.

5. Those who remember my China presentation remember the story of the little blind girl whose mother was expecting her second child when I was there.  Well, during the night last night, Andrew sent me a picture on WeChat of the new baby.  (Fortunately I was wide awake and therefore it did not wake me up.)  Here is the precious little sister of the blind girl.  Is that not the cutest picture!!!             

   

According to Andrew, right now the mother is on her "month of recuperation," an official Chinese time when she has no responsibilities in society and also receives no visitors.  But he has been talking with her on her phone.  I wish there were some way to give her a present, but it's not practical to mail anything to China.  Maybe I can send something back with him in January.

Trip to Illinois

When a funeral is held for a lady who lived a wonderful life, had a joyful spirit that everyone loved and appreciated, was ready to go, and who died quietly and peacefully in her sleep, it is an occasion for joy and remembrance more than great sorrow and sadness.

I was privileged to attend my Aunt Catherine's funeral in Illinois this weekend, and it was that kind of service.  She was a great lady.  She reared seven children, and followed her husband around the world on his adventures in the agricultural world.  (During his tenure in Washington DC, she got to volunteer at the White House during the Reagan and Bush administrations.)  She was the epitome of an example of being a support to one's husband.  

She smiled all the time.

I was glad to go to honor her and her life, and also to reconnect with family and friends who are much loved.

And, the cornfields are beautiful right now, and I loved seeing the harvest.  Everyone needs to see the midwest in October.