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?"

Intentional Teaching

As a teacher, I have been thinking a lot lately about what I taught my own children. Did I ever intentionally teach them something? Or did they learn from my actions which could have been good or bad? Did I assume they would just know something without ever giving them the information to learn? There are times I wish I could go back and do a better job at raising my children. They are wonderful, but I can’t take a lot of the credit for that.

When our children where from 3-5, I did a preschool program with them called Joy School. Joy School is a program started by Richard and Linda Eyre that gives you the information to teach lessons on the joy of service, the joy of creativity, the joy of spontaneous delight, the joy of trust, etc. There are a few things that I know I intentionally taught my children due to Joy School or because they were important enough in my mind to cover like my lesson on respecting personal property. (Ask me about that sometime. It was effective!)

There are also many things I did not teach well. Take the handling of money for example. It was common in our family to use phrases like ‘money burns a whole in your pocket’ or ‘we can’t afford that.’ Unfortunately we said those instead of teaching our children to make a plan of how to earn and save money so they could obtain something.  Another example of this would be gathering the family to make plans for a vacation and then shooting down the ideas because they cost too much. This teaches children a negative attitude toward money. I know for us as parents, we sometimes would have disagreements about money or have problems with the checkbook that were minor but appeared to be major to the listening child.

We may want our children to be reverent in church and expect it from them, but have we taught them what that looks like? Are we playing on our iPhone but expecting them to be quiet? I had a friend that taught her children by having reverent time at home. They would sit on a chair to see how long they could be quiet. The young ones started out with 10 seconds but got excited to try and go longer and do as well as their older siblings. When they went to church they knew what it felt like to sit reverently. If you give a child a car, to keep them 'quiet' at church, they will want to make varooom sounds, they are kids! 

Are we teaching values like kindness and sharing? Or do we wait until a fight breaks out? Are we teaching them how gossip hurts and lying just makes issues worse? Or do we wait until something happens then say ‘you are in trouble now for lying!’  Being a parent is hard work and not everything works with every child. Consistency is important.

It is also really important to look for teaching moments throughout the day, but it is also just as important to intentionally teach your children the things you feel will give them a great foundation. Don’t leave that to society, church, or schools or they may not turn out the way you planned. This applies to chores too. My mother would ask us to dust. I did what I thought was dusting and she would scold me and then do it herself. She was a great mom but never showed me how to dust. She never showed me how to cook either!  I was one of those kids that needed to be shown more than once, but she assumed I knew from watching her.  

Pick 10 concepts this year that you feel you want your children to really understand. Then take one a month and work on it with them. Find examples to point out, stories to read, and talk about the subject over dinner. Ask for examples your children saw during their day. Reinforce their behavior when they work on the concept.  

Intentionally teach; don’t just expect children to know something.

Time To Move On From Mike's Dream To My Dreams

Mike was raised on a farm in the small town of Warden Washington. He loved the small town life. He always dreamed of moving the family out of the city and back to the country. When the opportunity came to move to Sequim Washington, he was excited. His dream was to build an auto shop on our property. "Mike's Right Auto Repair." He always believed in doing things the right way and the honest way. Honesty and integrity where very important to him.
He was never able to fill this dream and never made the move to Sequim with us. Rachel and I decided to stay in Sequim after his death. It was the best decision for Rachel and blessed her with so many opportunities and growth. After she left for college, it was a bit lonely here for me. I still had wonderful youth that would visit and join me for movie nights. In the summer, I would go to Utah to live near my married children then come back for the school year to substitute teach. I never really thought of leaving Sequim but was very lonely here.
This year when I returned home, I felt lost. It wasn't home anymore. I had no reason to be here. This was Mike's dream. What was mine? It didn't take me long to realize I needed to be near my children and grandchildren. This decision to move has been scary and filled with challenges. The market is bad and I will lose on the sale of my home from what I purchased it at. The economy is bad and moving may be crazy right now. I will have a mortgage on my new house until the one in Sequim sells and on a substitute salary, that is scary.  With all the doubts and fears, I know it is the right thing to do. I know the Lord is guiding me and leading the way. "Come what may, and love it," will continue to be my motto for life.
I will be leaving behind family and friends that have carried me though life over the last 5 years. It will be hard, but I know it is time to find my dream and live it and I know my dream will only be complete surrounded by my children and their families whom I truly love. So good-bye Sequim, good-bye Washington; it is time for me to find my dream and live it.

Sometimes A Good Cry Can Cleanse the Soul

Today I got on the treadmill and walk/jogged for 45 minutes...in tears.  I wish I could say it was from the pain of exercising but it was not. More like a mind overload or meltdown. Many things are on my mind. What am I doing with my life? Why does everyone let money run his or her lives? Why can't I sleep at night or focus in the daytime? Who am I, no really, what defines me?

I love music; loud, popular music.  I turn it up loud so I don't have to think. It sometimes keeps my mind occupied and off of thinking.  Other times it makes me think too much. I like my eyes and my hair. I hate how I look in pictures because of my weight but that is a never-ending battle. I can be happy with it; it just is not great for attracting guys! (I was smiling and laughing as I typed that) I am religious but often forget to practice what I truly believe.  I love being my own person and doing what I want but ironically I hate being alone.  I believe I would do whatever I could in my power to help a friend or family member.

Right now, my thoughts are focused on letting go of my youngest so she can move into her new marriage stage of life. A friend once told me that you raise them the best you can then let them go and pray they make good choices. I believe all of my children will do just fine.  It was exciting for me to let them go and watch them move into finding their own way. What I did not realize was how hard it would be with the last one. She is ready to move on and I am ready to let her go, but what I did not realize is what the next stage for me is? I am guessing this is when the nurturing mother starts putting more focus back on her husband. Therefore, that leaves me wondering what I am supposed to do.

The best answer I can come up with is get a job so I have a life! Not for the money, but for a life. This brings me back to the topic of "Why does everyone let money run his or her lives?"  If you do not have money, all you think about is what you could do if you had some. Some people will sacrifice everything to gain money. When you do have money, you can easily become a Scrooge so you do not lose it. Money can be "the root of all evil." My mom had $15,000 in cash hidden in her house for a rainy day. She showed me where it was just in case she died before she spent it. It was to go to her 3 children. Well she died before it rained and then her boyfriend took it all so none of it even went to her family like she planned.

Money is one of the things in this life we depend on for survival, but we cannot take with us when we die.  I look at my late husband and wonder what he worked so hard for. For me to live alone in a nice house. Yes, he worked to provide for the kids and me, but he missed so many recitals, plays, fairs, and vacations that I went on with the kids alone.  No one knows how much time he or she has on this earth and money is pointless beyond this life.  Make sure making money does not take over spending time with your family. Being alone has opened my eyes to how much money cannot buy. Maybe that is why I am so bad with budgets and saving money.  Mike did not live long enough to enjoy all his hard work. Is it wrong for me to spend it on my kids and enjoying life now?          
So through tears of confusion I push through my exercising on the treadmill. I am actually smiling and I am happy, but I can also be confused and lonely at the same time. It is life and I will make the best of it, through tears and smiles.

My wonderful family
(minus Marie who loves being behind the camera!)

I Love My Kids!

Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my kids are? They are a great support to me and I probably don't tell them enough how much they mean to me.
Marie is an amazing mother! She is a joy to watch taking care of her son Ethan. Chris and her have an amazing relationship. I have loved watching her grow into the women she is. She has her struggles but deep down she is a very strong women. I love to listen to her play the piano. She was blessed with a great talent for that.
Jeffrey, well I have always wondered why I was so lucky to raise such an outstanding young man. He is so centered and very strong in his convictions and faith. He has an amazing understanding of the purpose of life. He is a great example to our family and the center of our family strength. His example of hard work and endurance is a blessing and example to all of us.
Rachel is unbelievable! The death of her father has been very hard on her, yet she has made a choice to rise above it and try to understand the purpose of God's plan for us. She works so hard at school and tries to follow her brothers example of hard work. Most kids in her shoes would have chose to retreat and crawl in a hole. She chose to get involved in school and surround herself with good people.
We all have are faults. That is one reason we are on earth, to overcome our faults and become better people. As a mom, I couldn't have hand picked better children. They are a large part of the reason I have been able to go on and get through this year as well as I have.
Kids, if you read this, I LOVE YOU. You are my diamonds.