Like sands through the hourglass.....

So are the days of my life. (Jean 1 writing)

Our families that found refuge in our homes were able to finally return home on Tues. They were very excited, however Christine (my youngest) cried and wanted them to stay. So funny how easily we attach ourselves to friends. Most of my other friends also got into their houses by Wednesday as well. It was amazing how much damage was done, and how quickly power was restored...I know a few of you reading this might disagree with that statement, so let me back it up. This storm was the worst storm in over 50 years for this area. From the storm, over 80,000 people lost power to their homes....for extended amounts of time. The air was frigid, the lines, poles, ground was covered with over an inch and a half with ice. Since we were fortunate to only lose power for about 30 minutes (our house is on a hill, on a corner, away from trees and a low feeding power line) I was able to watch all news coverage and read all reports online. I found it amazing the speed with which the electricity was restored in areas all over town. If you factor in the amount of people working 16 hour shifts, the terrible conditions, fighting the vandalism of power lines (yes, there was a significant problem with idiots stealing cables when the company was setting up next jobs because they thought they could resell the cables....Dumb people didn't know that the cables contained aluminum and not copper!) . Then relining sometimes entire neighborhoods as well as trimming trees that probably should have been trimmed by homeowners, replacing connections and so forth....all jobs that on a normal basis would have, by all estimations, taken six to nine months in good conditions took a little over a week.
Now, the sad part. I have read and heard people talking unkindly about the city utility director for the LONG TIME it took to restore power to homes, as well as talking not so nicely about the city employees. Many of these employees homes were without power as long as other citizens, however, they were getting up, going to shelters, organizing help and serving us. And they did it without putting down the citizens who were making their jobs hard to accomplish. I appreciate them and all the work they did!
Plus, when else would we get the opportunity to open our homes to friends and family and have an extended slumber party? Never.

{OK, climbing down off my soapbox and returning to my seat at my desk}

On another note, I have found that I truly love substituting in the schools. I always loved school and the atmosphere. I loved the visiting with friends and the crazy, silly stuff we did with friends. I loved my teachers and even most of my administrators. The same is still true. I have been so blessed to make friends with teachers that I know will be friends of mine for a long time. I love walking into a classroom and making my "you teach me how to treat you" speech. I love it when kids choose to sing "I'm a little teapot" as payment for talking out of turn. I love the stack of pictures I now have from students who just wanted to be nice. I love going and being a part of their school experience, knowing that God places me specifically in each situation for a reason. Two examples of how God has used me so far:

1. The last day of my week long subbing job I came to school knowing that I was going to have to address the entire team of 5th grade students due to the fact that my cell phone had disappeared off of my desk while I was teaching. Each of the three classes had been in the room, so I was going to have to make a "blanket appeal" about kindness, belongings and stealing. When I arrived to school, I spoke to the Principal...we determined we were going to have a (in her words) "come to Jesus" meeting. LOL As I walked to my classroom, praying for guidance and wisdom, I was met with the grandmother of one of my students. She looked at me nervous and said " Quincy (name changed to protect child) brought this camera home yesterday. I thought it was a toy or something, but then i realized that it wasn't. I do not know who it belongs to (she begins to tear up) but I know that I needed to bring it back. I quieted myself for a moment. You see, I had been up since 3:30, and God had already put in my heart forgiveness and even the name of the boy who had taken it. But I didn't want to make assumptions in case it was just my own thoughts putting his name there. I looked up and told the grandmother "it's OK, I already forgave him this morning. God woke me and told me who it was". She began to cry..."I've been so worried all night about it and started praying about what to do".
2. Yesterday I subbed for a different teacher, but the same subject I had taught the time before..the science class that God had used to humble and teach me. As we were going through our day, one of the students in my class was in a REALLY bad mood. I had her choose one of our "artist discipline" items to do for arguing with another student. She began and was really being "pissy". So I began to explain to the class (quiet a few were involved in artist discipline at the time, so it wasn't directed totally to her) that I would rather them have an outlet for discipline issues than to have to carry their rebuke as well as a check mark on their clipboard. That when we redirect our minds, it gives us a chance to change our behavior. As they all left, Sarah (name also changed) walked up to me with her picture. It was of a girl really mad. I told her "thank you" and said "I hope you have a better rest of the day" to which she responded "I won't! I know I won't". Since we were alone I told her "Well, I'm going to pray that you do. Is that alright with you?" She stood a moment and then broke. She began to cry and leaned on me. I hugged her and told her that she could talk to me if she wanted, or not, but I cared about her and wanted her to know it. She said she would think about it and went on to her next class. She came in to me about 15 minutes later with a note, an apology and a picture of a girl "almost smiling" (her words). Later at recess, she came up to me with a huge smile and said "Are you baptist?" And pulled out her little new testament. We talked, about what isn't important. But we talked and she hugged me and I know we will be friends from here on out.

And that's all I have to say about that. :)