Moving into Fall, Y'all!

I tend to give my closest loved ones silly pet names. Recently, I accidentally called my daughter by my son's pet name, and he was quick to correct me. Surprised over his preference for that ridiculous name, I joked, "Should I tell your teacher that name, so people can call you by that name at school, too?" Knowing I would never do such a thing, he laughed and said, "No way. That would be embarrassing."

Those pet names are significant in our home because they connote a very special, unique, and intimate relationship between the name giver and the named. Pet names are only allowed to be used in a safe, loving place where there is no shame or fear of embarrassment. I'm so glad he still lets me call him by that name which expresses the safety and closeness of our relationship. (Gift #769) And I am ever so thankful that the Good Shepherd calls each one who chooses to follow Him by name. We are safe in Him because He knows us and we know His voice which calls us by name.  See John 10. (Gift #770)

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I recently challenged my students to graph each of the following equations to conclude a unit which had included the story of how I met my husband as an object lesson.   They LOVED it.  Who know Facebook would provide useful fodder for my math classes?

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Litter training our bunny has been a trial.  We finally thought you had the hang of it, so we booked a professional carpet cleaning service to clean all the carpet in the house, but primarily to work on the orange stains she left from all her accidents.  Yellow urine is a lot easier to clean than that odd bright orange/red urine she has.  It's perfectly normal we are told, but it stains terribly.  The day after the carpets were cleaned (as clean as they could get them as the stains did not all come out), she left another bright orange stain right at the entrance to the exercise room. So I immediately put her in time out (inside her litter box in her cage).  Her response was manic and made me laugh.

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See that smile....his teacher put that there.  (Gift #771)

Our kids' teachers know how to pick out the right rewards for each kid.  Our son's primary love language is physical touch, so he's all about soft and cuddly critters with fluffy faces.  He got this prize for memorizing all the prepositions.  The kids learned the prepositions previously using a Classical Conversations rap tune which I shared with his teacher, so now she is giving prizes to all the students who memorize the list of prepositions.  Since he had to teach her the song, he got the first prize.  I'm thankful for her willingness to incorporate my suggestions into her classroom if she thinks they will aid student learning. (Gift #772)

Our daughter's teacher gives chocolate prizes to students who make a 100 on each math tests.  I have never seen our girl work as hard in math as she has this past quarter.  (Gift #773)  Reward incentives certainly have their place, though the first incentive should always be the glory of God.

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Speaking of my daughter's math class, I overheard her say last week, "I love it when our teacher gives us hangovers in math."

Upon closer inspection of her homework, I realized that what she refers to as "hangovers" in multiplication is something I have always called "bringing down the zeros."

I told my son's teacher about this term my daughter had coined, and she said she needs to step up her game in 2nd grade.  Ha!  Rest assured that the kids are not counting shots at school.

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Just as our teachers like to give rewards to their students, I feel like giving Harris Teeter a prize.  I have always loved that store for the selection and quality of their products, their excellent customer service (my favorite check-out clerk at our local store feels like family now), their generous coupon policy, their tender care for moms (reserved parking up front for moms with children, shopper-in-training carts for kids, one penny rides with lights/music, large car carts to fit several kids at once, lots of food samples kids love, etc.), but on the way home from school on Friday, I noticed  a new sign in the parking lot that gave me yet another reason to love Harris Teeter.  They care about kids, moms, and veterans!  (Gift #774)

My daughter noticed a shopping cart in this spot blocking it for veterans, so she took the initiative to move it.  (Gift #775) Good girl, and great job, Harris Teeter!

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Fall break has officially begun at our school, and I certainly need it.  I can't remember when I have ever been this bone tired before.  Usually, Saturdays are my days to sleep in and recharge, but this Saturday I had to get up early because we had registered to serve our city along with 500 others from our church as a way of showing the love to Jesus to our community.   Last time, we cleaned horse paddocks in the pouring rain (on my husband's birthday).  This time, the weather was gorgeous outside, but we spent our time serving inside singing hymns for/with residents at a nursing facility.  Apparently we all woke up too early because we seemed off-kilter in our comments, or perhaps it was Foot-in-Mouth Day. Whatever the case, I kept hearing family members say comments that I know they did not intend in the way they sounded.  Here are a few examples:

He said, "Come on, kids. It is time to go to the funeral home... I mean nursing home."

I muttered, "Ugh....I look really old this early in the morning," and my daughter replied, "Then you'll fit right in at the nursing home!"

She told the residents, "Have a great fall..I mean autumn."

  We all met at the church early for donuts, worship, and prayer.  The kids were all about the donuts.

Our daughter took this selfie of us all with our donut smeared faces at church.

Those bright construction zone orange shirts must have been intended to stand out as groups disperse across the community doing dozens of different service projects in various locations.  The nursing home projects were the only kid-friendly opportunities still open when we registered, so I feel a little slack for not doing a project requiring more elbow grease this time.

The kids did a great job singing and encouraging the residents!

We had scheduled an appointment to test drive new minivans after our service project, so it was a good thing we did not get too muddy.  After the last City Serve event this past Spring, I spent the rest of the evening cleaning boots, washing jeans, and mopping up mud we tracked into the house.  Walking around the car lot in matching bright orange shirts was enough embarrassment for our car shopping experience, so I was thankful to at least be clean.

While van shopping, I realized how much I really need this upcoming fall break from school when I turned down the smoky topaz metallic (aka gray) color option because it reminded me too much of pencil lead.  There is a currently a better price van in the model we test drove in that pencil lead color for sale in my hometown, so I may need to decide if my aversion to that color is worth the price difference.

Encouraging Links For Reference:

Harvard, Schmarvard: Why Getting Your Kids Into College Should Be the Least of Your Concerns

Being a Stay-at-Home Parent is a Luxury....for Your Spouse

I volunteer with the special needs ministry at our church and have really enjoyed seeing those with clinical labels display extraordinary gifts.  This article about a very young and extremely talented artist with autism is so inspiring.