Fall Festival

We got ourselves ready for one Halloween celebration and here is the picture to prove it. This is not the boys real costumes. They are going to be rock stars with guitars and all, but we weren't ready yet. Asher was a frog, but we took off his costume before this picture. Here is one with him as a frog.

God can do it!

Sometimes I listen to people's stories about how God has totally changed them and thier lives. I tend to think that is them, but this is me. He can't do that for me. How untrue that is. He can and He will make changes for me. I need to believe. Here is a video link to some people that showed how God has changed them.

http://www.rhchurch.org/pages/cardboard-testimonies/

The oldest to the youngest

If you look at the middle you see the two big boys and the two little ones.

So we tried to recreate a previous photo. The first one is of the big boys when they were 10 and 8 months old. The second one is other their brothers who are 6 and 5 months old. I think the younger two were much more cooperative although the group picture looks a lot like the other one.

Why I love October

One of the reasons I love October is the fall festivities. One of my favorites is the pumpkin patch. The boys and I took a road trip up to Bakersfield to visit our "neighbors". Cynthia was also without a husband. So what do we do when there are no husbands we load up 7 kids and head out for fun. We had a blast. I was utterly amazed at their great behavior since they had stayed up late the night before. They went through a maze, pretended we were ants, went on a hay ride, had a picnic, and got our face painted. We have been going to pumpkin patches for awhile (since the big boys were babies) so there was some nostalgia for us. See next post.

The Up Hill Battle

I know that many of you are teachers and others know at least one (you know me:)), but it is hard to describe what a battle it is now a days (or at least in California). Most days I try to stay positive about teaching because I am surrounded by negativity. I have a hard time working in an environment like that so I try to overcompensate. Then there are days where I feel like crying. This week has been one of those weeks. I love my class. They are sweet. They are fun. They want to learn (I think). YET, I look in their faces and realize my worth as a teacher is based on their scores on the CST(that's the state test we give every spring). I look at them and their home lives and think, my worth as a teacher is dependent upon parents putting aside their wants to care for their children by making sure they do their homework and work with them at home on things they need help with. I look at them and see their work and think, my worth as a teacher is whether they can figure this out in the amount of time I give them. It seems impossible some days to think that these children who work so hard to understand yet can't seem to get the wires straightened out for whatever reason will ever "get it". So then the question becomes where is the battle that I need to fight? It is for the large mass or the one? Am I waiting till I know for sure they all get it, or do I plow ahead hoping that in the next lesson it will become clearer? I am in a quandary with my job. It is rough and hard, but "I get summers off". Thanks for letting me vent.