When Your Job and Life Passion Merge Together For the Good of Others

I love substitute teaching and I love to travel. For the first time since working at JSD, I put the two together with an amazing outcome. Working at the high school level has been very fulfilling. Hopefully by the end of the month I should have my 1983 Utah Teaching License reinstated since moving away. That means the substitute pay will go up almost $12 a day! (sidenote: teachers and subs should be paid better)

I have had the opportunity to work a lot with one particular high school close to my home. The staff and the teachers have been amazing. I have been given the opportunity to do three long term jobs at the school lasting for 6 weeks each. This really helps to build report with the students and staff when you are more consistent.  I am trained in the student system so I can do attendance and grades online and that alone gives you a better standing with the students. . . I have access to their grades in long term jobs! That helps them listen better, lol.

This last longterm job was in the FCCLA department teaching sewing. I am so thankful my grandmother taught me to sew when I was in the third grade! It was one of the best jobs ever. I was able to teach and sew for myself during my prep time. The students were scheduled to make drawstring bags for Apparel One. I was heading to South Africa at the end of this job and these bags were perfect to take to the village we were going to be visiting.

My travel buddy Mardell and I, filled the bags with school supplies and made room in our luggage for the bags. About two weeks before the sub job ended, Lois Nielsen a sewing teacher at another local high school, heard I was going to Africa through another substitute. We worked it out for me to pick up their sewing projects "Little Dresses For Africa," a few days before we left.  With full suitcases, Mardell and I were off to South Africa.

It was a wonderful trip scheduled through Fun For Less Tours out of Draper, Utah. We traveled through five countries, learned a ton of history, went on several land and water safari's and fell in love with the children. Their smiles are beautiful and they are so happy even with so little.

This is a link to the districts story about the students who helped with the projects.

JSD Students Help Children in Africa with Homemade Gifts From the Heart



The following are pictures I took of the children in the Zambian Village who benefited from the generosity of these high school students.

The village guide was given the bags and dresses to hand out. This helps to get them to those in the most need and helped keep us from getting mobbed!

I LOVE her smile!

"I have a question?"

The Highs and Lows in Life

When there are large gaps between posts, one of two things is happening. Either I am too busy to sit and type something up OR there is so much in my head I am avoiding typing anything. This time it is a little bit of both. I have been very busy working and just being mom. May is never a good month anyway. The year after Mike's death had a lot of first and that was hard. Every time something happened that was a first without him, it took a lot to hold things together. In the letter he left behind, he even mentioned how hard it would be for him to not be here for a lot of Rachel's "firsts" like her first date, prom, etc. So those moments can still be hard.
Now we are coming to the end of the second year. Honestly for me it wasn't as hard as it was just numb. No feelings at all. Our anniversary came and went and I really didn't think to much about it. I posted something on my facebook that day about how it would have been 29 years. A few people made comments to cheer me up, but I wasn't really down. It was just another day.  My birthday came and went and it was pretty low key. Rachel and I were both sick and I worked so we didn't do much. Then on Mother's Day Marie and Ethan left for home with Jeffrey so that was a downer day! But I don't cry much at all anymore. It is just numb.
May has brought both highs and lows this year. Lows because of conflicts and highs because of accomplishments. I haven't had so many conflicts with people in a long time. Often it was me doing or saying something stupid and sometimes it was others. I usually have a high tolerance for people but I even lost my patience with a man in a meeting I was in. Not like me at all. I don't feel stressed . . . but then again I am dealing with the IRS still and that is stressful alone!

One of the highs this month would be the school musical. They did "Into the Woods" and I thought they did a fabulous job. Rachel was fantastic at her role as the witch even though she was sick with a sore throat all 6 shows. Her fellow actors did a marvelous job also. This first pic has Danny and Abby as the baker and his wife being visited by the witch next door (Rachel.)

Rachel is an old ugly witch but turns into a beautiful but still mean witch. This second picture is Rachel talking to Rapunzel her "daughter."  There are several videos on youtube that you can look at if you search "Into the Woods Sequim High School."  The kids put a lot of hard work into the show and did a wonderful job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-HhTl3phE
Another high this month was Rachel being elected as senior class president for next year. I am very proud of her because the leadership class has really helped her to step out of her comfort zone and try things that don't come easy to her. Jeffrey is doing great in school still and continues to amaze me with his strength. I am also very proud of Marie for realizing some changes she wanted to make in her life. Change is hard. I hope she does better then I do with that one! All in all, life is good and my kids are amazing. We all have our pitfalls and issues, but who in life doesn't.