Prayers/Positive Thoughts Requested

[Cheza]

Jilly, I'm so sorry to hear about your personal experience with this awful disease.

Key, I'll keep Sid in my thoughts and prayers.

One of my students (I call them my kids...maybe I shouldn't but I do. I'm with them more than some of their parents are...) was having a really hard time today. It was her dad's birthday. He died a little over a year ago...right around Christmas...from cancer. Pray for Tory that she might have peace on this difficult day.

Peace and love.

[starcrossed]

God Bless Sid and Tory.

God help Sid through this difficult time. Help his body heal and keep his spirit strong. Lord I know that you are very busy, but please help Sid win his fight with this disease. He is a good man and he truly needs your help at this moment. Lord hear my prayer.Amen.

Father God help your child Tory find comfort in this time of sadness and mourning. Though her loss is a little over a year, her soul is still in pain from the loss of her beloved father. Lord I know that you can do miraculous things. Please help her and let her know that even in the sadness of her loss, that her loved one will forever be by her side. Lord let her find peace, comfort, and love.Amen.

[Cheza]

Thanks, Star. I appreciate it.

[starcrossed]

You do not need to thank me ,Cheza. Although I do appreciate it. It is the least that I can do. Friends...

[keysunset]

Maybe no thanks are needed, starcrossed, but I do want to express my appreciation for your words too.

I'm sending my prayers for all the requests above as well.

And jilly, thanks for sharing your experience.

xo

[jillywilly65]

Keys
I try to imagine what Sid must be going through and I just can't. I also recall the reports and udates where you hope the Doc says "No more Cancer" but instead you get "its still there" or "it has spread". It is such an emotional heart wrenching time. All I ask is for Sid to feel God's carrying support in the hard times. That Sid will be instilled with hope and courage and faith. And Healing as well.

[jillywilly65]

Cheza

I will be thinking of Tory, that is such a hard time that first year when your parent dies when you are young. Your peers are talking about their parents. "MY dad ,blah blah blah" and it cuts right to the heart. I feel his pain
I will be praying for Tory, what stinks is this is a pain you have to go through. There are no shortcuts. You can't bring them back and its hard not to feel jipped. Poor kid, my heat goes out to her. I hope she can reflect on the good soon, that always helps.

Jill

[starcrossed]

I treasure the blessings that I have in my life now ...my friends.

Realize, that I will always be in your corner fighting for all of you. In life I have had no one in my corner, and have had to fight so hard for myself. The battles were never simple or easy. However, I stood strong and held my own ground.

I have grown into a woman, who gives thanks and praise for having survived every heart breaking moment with such little damage to my true identity.

I am only one person. I am not very large in size, but I will defend that and those that I value with all of myself. I may not know any of you personally, but I still care for each of you. I give thanks for the blessing of having such wonderful people come into my life.

I pray that God help's each and everyone of you...his children. I pray that all your prayers are answered in speedy time and that you have the stregth to carry on in life, despite those moments of being lost. I pray that your loved one's find God's grace. I pray that none of you suffer, but find joy in life. I pray for all of you. God bless and keep my friends safe and well .Amen.

[Cheza]

Thank you for that, Star. Friends, yes...one of the most precious things we can know in this life is friendship.

Jilly, three of my sophomores (the three I mentioned at Christmas) all lost their dads to cancer within the past two years. So those wounds are still quite fresh. One keeps, Jackie (the one who reminds me a bit of Billy), keeps talking about quitting school. I hope he doesn't. He's a pretty sweet kid. He just tends to lack a bit of focus sometimes. The girls, Tory & Andrea, try to do their best. It's just hard. Andrea got a new car the other day. They traded in her dad's truck - she said they kept it too long and it was hard to clean it out before they traded it in...too many memories. It's been a rough patch for these three. I pray it will get easier, as I know from experience it will as time passes. Time heals most wounds.

Well girls, my supervisor wants to do my eval later this week...he came Monday to ask about rescheduling the botched one from way back. I think the day will be Friday. I'm not sure what hour yet. Please keep me in your thoughts then. This has been a very hectic week, and I think it will just get more so over the next three days.

Peace and love.

[keysunset]

Dear prayer partners! You are all such wonderful people!

Here is a bit of very good news. I'm not sure I had even shared that a long time friend of mine had a kidney transplant. He is home now and says he's feeling great! I've been sending many prayers for his recovery, and it's so wonderful to be able to say with a happy heart thank you God for what has happened in Rusty's life.

I thank God for all of you and your support as well.

Have a beautiful day.

[starcrossed]

That is wonderful news Keysunset!!! Thoughts and prayers for his continued recovery. God bless Rusty! I am so happy!!!God is wonderful...

[starcrossed]

Cheza...with all of your crazy students? You are always in my prayers...LOL..I know that you will have a perfect eval. You are a great teacher!!! Please stop worrying...you will be perfect.

[Cheza]

I don't know, Star. One of my kids sassed me big time today when I gave back their research papers. I made the mistake of saying that I should have done a lesson on evaluating websites before they wrote (which it's not in their frameworks - it doesn't come into play until senior year - and honestly, it never occurred to me until now - because I'm taking this online course on that subject)...so one blurted out, "So it's your fault we made these bad grades because you didn't...blah blah blah." I love when they try to make their grades MY FAULT instead of THEIRS.

I tried to remain calm, but my tone was a bit less than that. I just turned and said "No, you made the bad grades because you didn't follow the directions, Ms. X (name omitted - this one usually doesn't give me trouble). You chose to use Wikipedia after I told you not to in class, as well as in the 10 page packet I gave you about how to do your research paper." One of the other kids told her how rude she was being...so at least one came to my defense...I think...or maybe they were talking about me...*shrugs*...they just need to cool their jets. I'm waiting for two years to pass and them to be in my old teacher's class...they won't know what hit them.

Then when the fellow next to her yelled about the accuracy of Wiki, I was ready. I had an article from the Boston Globe about how a college professor who had written a biography of Harriet Tubman started to see Wiki popping up on her students' Works Cited pages with their research papers. She wasn't familiar with it. She went online and pulled up Wiki's article on Tubman. Her birthdate, death date, and other info was INCORRECT. She edited it herself, then much to her horror - when she tracked back the history of changes - found numerous racial slurs, incorrect info, etc...in other words, people had been vandalizing the site on a regular basis.

I also informed them that if they used one source (when they were supposed to have two to three MINIMUM) - they didn't do their topic justice, because they only gave me one point of view on the topic. They just kept yelling how they were sure they could find the same data somewhere else, I said, well you should have. The point is you were told not to use it and you did anyway. One then confessed that she used her paper from last year, and she got a 100 on it...she thought it would be a piece of cake to recycle it - since she got such a high grade. Her grade for me was lousy. She just said I must look for different things. If that paper was given a 100 by someone else. I don't want to know who...even though I think I already know.

I hate to say this, but my students are LOUSY when it comes to following directions. I sometimes wonder how long they'll be able to keep a job after graduation.

I think I may have him come in with the seventh graders first hour instead - it'll just be easier.

[starcrossed]

I will keep you in my prayers Cheza...God is always by your side. Never forget that...

[keysunset]

Always prayers, Cheza! You have an admirable job in a tough situation. Huge hugs to you!

More good news, sorry, I'm a bit brain frazzled so I don't know if I'd shared this already either -- my little 4 year old friend who had cataract surgery was back at preschool this week! Yea! His mom picks him up before playground (still no jumping and bumping, etc., while the eye is healing) but he is doing really well.

Still the surgery to go on the other eye, and eyeglasses, and prayers that his brain hasn't already "hardwired" itself to NOT being able to see and will be open to being "retrained" to see through his new eyes ... but right now, in the moment, all is well.

Thanks to you for all your prayers.

[Cheza]

I know, Star. I'm cancelling tutoring this afternoon, so I can get a bit of a breather and get caught up on things. Must prepare for tomorrow.

Thank you for that Key. It's a tough job, but deep down I love it...no matter how much I may complain sometimes. I just don't get some of the parents I'm working for - I mean...when they say they can't do something with a kid who's in eighth grade and who's being a major problem in our classes...something's wrong. I haven't had that experience, but one of my co-workers has.

Got to go to work now ladies. Peace.

[jillywilly65]

Cheza
It is good to see you know your limitations and haven't spread yourself too thin. It is obvious to me that you love your kids and thats why you worry about them so much. Teachers like you who really care and want them to learn are a gift and they may not realize it now but when they are adults they will. God gave you that job for a reason. It will all work out, you'll see. An old dear friend and mentor used to tell me that "God is never in a hurry and he is always on time". Thats a hard pill to swallow when you are hurting or anxious. I have faith in you It will work out for the good.
I am still keeping your kids in my thoughts and prayers.

Jilly
p/s Tracy is being home-schooled now . Starting today! I hope and pray that works

[starcrossed]

Thoughts and prayers to all those who need Gods blessings and care.Amen.

[jillywilly65]

Oh my I just heard on the news that

ANNA NICOLE SMITH has died!!!!!!!!!!

that is so sad and tragic. I think her sons death pushed her over the edge, so much so that she couldn't even enjoy her baby girl. That is tragic. I think Entertainment Tonight should take some of the blame for Hounding her like crazy. Just so very sad
Pray for really good love and care for that precious baby Danilynn and that she will be protected from this madness

[Cheza]

Jilly, I saw that on the local news website this afternoon! Next question is who will get the baby. I heard Anna's mother wants her. Since her paternity is still up in the air, I think that might be best.

I try to know my limitations, but I feel a bit as if I'm drowning right now. Eval is slated for first hour, unless something comes up. Even though I feel a bit unprepared, I hope it nothing interferes and that I do fine. I want to get this over with. They hire teachers in March...so surely he needs to get it over with as well. I'll be talking about phrases and clauses - in particular prepositional phrases functioning as adverb phrases and adjective phrases...so it should be pretty straightforward. I gave a test in each class today. Sophomore tests are looking decent. Seventh grade, not so much. One of my little girls cried this morning after I showed her what she made (it was an F)...she didn't cry at my desk...she went back to her desk and was sitting there with her face covered. In a bit little Ruth, who sits next to her, got my attention silently and said "She's crying"...I called her up and talked to her for a bit, then gave her the pass to go to the bathroom and pull herself together. Bless her heart, I just feel so bad for her. She's been coming to tutoring, and she can do these sort of problems (labeling parts of speech) when we do them in groups. Yet, at test time it seems like she's blanking out. Pray I know what to do to help Audrey.

Peace and prayers...the eval is slated for sometime between 8:05 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. Friday morning.