Mag's First Sleep Over at Her House

Phew!!!!!!! What a busy week. We are finishing up VBS, which has turned into an acting gig for me...watch out Meryl Streep, here I come. We are preparing to leave for Illinois, and just generally running around like there is no tomorrow. But in the midst of it all, Mag's little playgroup friends are here to spend the night. After a busy day, the girls are bunked down, with movies, coloring books, popcorn, sprite, and each other. This has been a thrill and a delight for Mag to have "her" friends here to spend the night. And since it is a thrill and delight for her, it is a thrill and delight for me. I see many more nights like these in the future...

I AM A TEACHER

These are a few pix of the school where I will be teaching next year. For those of you who don't know, I will be teaching 3rd grade. The school is called Heritage Preparatory School. For you teachers, it is a Christian, classical, Charlotte Mason-influenced school. In a word, it is awesome. The architecture is beautiful French Gothic. The picture of my class room is blurry, but you can see my timeline, my desk, and a little bit of a bulletin board that I still have to finish. It is a busy summer, not only do I have prep work to do for my classroom and for the actual teaching, I also have to read 2 assigned books and write reflection papers on them, and read a bevy of educational articles. All are good, and all help me to catch the vision of the school's vision. BUT being a mom, co-leading playgroup, doing VBS, along with some other life challenges has left me stretched THIN. I really am blessed because I will have a teacher who will be my mentor. Literally, we will work hand-in-hand with one another. And I will benefit from her experience. Additionally, we really seem to be a good fit with each other. She and I seem to approach life very similarly. The next year will have it's challenges, for sure, but I find comfort in this simple adage: "I may not know what the future holds, but I know the ONE who holds the future."

Chinese Culture Camp

Maggie attended Chinese Culture Camp this week for the first time ever. She did crafts, learned some Kung Fu, and some Chinese dances. She even wrote her Chinese name using Chinese characters using a calligraphy brush all by herself. All the girls got shirts that say "It's my heritage" on the back. Mag asked what heritage means. I told her that it means your life history or where you come from. She gave me one of her winsome smiles and said, "I am from China." This was a wonderful experience for her. She has already told me that she wants to go next year and has asked if she can take Chinese dance classes this fall. I think she would really like Kung Fu, but I don't know where that is offered.