Sorry to All 4 of My Faithful Readers!

I don't know what it is with me and this blog. I think I have started posting more on facebook, and therefore I feel like everyone already knows what is going on with me. Also, this time of year...and I know I don't have to tell you this...leaves one short on time, energy, sanity, etc. I was just telling a friend on fb that it is more difficult to orchestrate 22 kindergarten students in a play than it is to herd fire ants. How do I know this? Trust me. I feel like I have been herding fire ants for several weeks now. You get one soldier back in line and the elves go berserk. You get the dancing dolls dancing, and the angels all lose their halos. It's just not easy. I am also testing for report cards..oh yes, the week before Christmas break. Furthermore, the church ladies are coming over Thursday night for the annual party and at this point they will have to step over dirty laundry, boxes from the decorations, clean laundry, and my husband. Yes, he's in the middle of the living room floor cutting out giant keys for the elves in the Christmas play. A well meaning younger friend of mine suggested the same menu for the party that they serve in college...two kegs and some queso. I explained why that would not work in this case. Well, I guess I should pick up the boxes, do the laundry, and move my husband. Oh yeah, and look for a more appropriate menu for Thursday night.

The One About Never Taking Another Day For Granted

It was NOT an ordinary day...far from it. Friday, December 4th was a little "off" from the beginning. I woke up with yet another headache accompanied by severe muscle spasms in my right side. It happens, and life goes on. But R. didn't feel like I should drive Caleigh and I to school, so he warmed up the car and took us. He had already delivered Conner to basketball practice at 6:30 a.m., but made the trip again because that's what he does. Around 10:45 the announcement came that snow flurries had been spotted, so kinder quickly put on coats, hats, gloves, and scarves and made our way outside to stick out our tongues and catch snowflakes. Doesn't everyone do that?? Then, mid-afternoon we were settled into a writing activity when...the fire alarms sounded in the building. Bewildered, and quite honestly thinking that someone had completely lost their mind to have a fire drill on a snowy Friday, we grabbed coats and headed for the exits. Needless to say, it was a false alarm. Again, it happens. As we made our way back into the building, I made eye contact with another teacher and said, "What else can happen today?" My mother told me never to ask that. I should have listened. R. picked the kids and I up at 3:45 and around 4 we headed out of Runge the "back way" to go run an errand in Karnes City. Halfway there we met a deputy going at least 100 mph toward Runge. My heart fell into my stomach with that feeling that you can only understand if you have had it. I told R. that something was wrong. I just felt it. When we got to KC the fire whistle was sounding and we watched the rescue truck leave. Again, that feeling and by this time I am shaking. I know something is wrong. Then the phone call. My friend Veronica from Runge, "Where are you?" I told her and her voice broke. She told me that the bus (we have one bus that brings students to school and takes them home) had been in a horrible accident and that someone in an SUV didn't make it. Her husband works for the volunteer fire dept. and was helping at the scene. R and I took the kids home, prayed together as a family, then left for the hospital with no idea what we would find. Our little community hospital was a HUGE blessing last night. They efficiently and with compassion and grace, dealt with the students, parents, administrators and faculty that quickly filled the lobby. There were hospital board members there also offering kind words to all and making sure that everyone was as comfortable as possible. Ministers from three area churches, R being one, stood nearby and worded prayers for the students, the families, the community, and the family of the one who lost his life. We anxiously awaited word from San Antonio where our co-worker and bus driver, expecting a child, had been airlifted. As the students were carefully checked out and released to their parents, the atmosphere changed in the room, from fear and dread, to relief. Students emerged to find their families and quite a few teachers never happier to see them. One of our sweet kinder students, walked into the lobby with his mom and sisters, saw me and just lit up with a huge smile. "Hi Mrs. Briley! Guess what? The bus crashed and my knees hurt!" As I wrapped he and his two sisters in my arms, I thought about how these children are so much a part of my life. While R and I were outside early on directing parents to the waiting area, my coworker/friend Sandy arrived. As shaken as I, she said the words that all of us were feeling. "These are all our kids, they are all our kids." Is it because we are such a small district? Because it is a special place? Maybe both these things and some others as well. All I know is that last night, amidst tragedy and anxiety, a school, a community, a family pulled together like never before. All students were eventually released from the hospital without serious injury. Our coworker and her precious unborn child were scheduled to be released this afternoon in San Antonio. God's unfailing hand was on us yesterday. An ordinary day? No. Actually quite extraordinary. There is a family in more pain than I can really imagine today. Our prayers will continue to be with them...and may we never take another day for granted, never fail to hug and kiss our children and tell them that we love them when they leave...even on an ordinary morning...

Okay Mom...Here I Am!

So sorry to have upset the blogging world with my short absence. Everything is okay, just needed a few days to adjust to the working world again. If you follow me on fb you know that my life is now consumed with practicing for the 2009 version of "Santa's Workshop" to be put on in a (gulp!!) mere two weeks by kindergarten. We've had questions, we've had excitement, we've had tears...and we haven't even made it to the stage yet. Today we had two feuding angels, a near fistfight between a toy soldier and an elf, and one soldier who spent the entire rehearsal in time out. It will truly be a Christmas miracle if we make it to opening night...and only night for that matter. To make my day more interesting, I had a runaway this morning...kindergarten style that is. He informed me early on that if I made him do handwriting he was not coming to school anymore...and he was serious. I did persuade him that handwriting is a valuable skill, helpful in moving him out of my classroom in a few months and on to first grade...he bought that. Then I moved his clothespin...correction, he made a poor choice and as a RESULT HE moved his clothespin...to yellow. That was it. He marched to his cubby, put his belongings in his backpack, put on his jacket (it's cold in S. Texas today after all), put on his hat, swung his backpack over his shoulder...and marched out the door...and to the office...to sign himself out??? I sat in my rocker with a dumbfounded look on my face and uttered the only words appropriate in such a situation..."You can't just leave school!" As he walked out the door, some still unknown smart child said, "Looks to me like he can." Thanks to a wonderful secretary and some divine intervention he was quickly returned and was soon happy again. Until later in the day when a well meaning classmate said, "Hey, that was kinda weird when you almost left school this morning...you just walked right out the door, you and your BAD attitude." Oh Calgon, take me away...far, far away.