Recent Photos

Wanted to share with you some recent pictures. I can't lay this out correctly, or I should say the way that I want to have them look. So, I'll just explain them here.

Top Left- my apricot tree has now got thousands of little baby apricots. If you remember a while back I had a picture of the blossoms. My prayer is that I will be able to harvest them (can them, jelly them, pie them, eat them, dry them. . .) at the right time. Baby nephew is due on June 20th.

Top Right- a close up of a African daisy.

Middle Left- this picture was taken about 5 weeks ago. I took a day off work to hang out with my grandma after her kidney surgery. It was such a beautiful day, I had to stop at a local reservoir to take in some of the beauty.

Middle/Bottom Right-last week during spring break I went down to visit my sweet niece Trinity (and Jen and Joe too!). Went with them to Trin's little gym class. She is such a love.

Bottom Left-some of the beautiful tulips in my yard. They have all almost now dried up. My lilac bush is now in bloom.

Now looking at the post the pictures are just fine. But I am tired so I don't feel like going back and correcting what I wrote. You can figure the pictures out. Sorry to those that have feed, you just got this post two times. LOVE YOU ALL

Lock Down

Today at school we were put in lock down for about 15 minutes. My heart races when things like this happen. Guess one of our "not so smart" students called 9-11 with their cell phone and told the police that they were in a dangerous situation in a classroom. This student had another "not so smart" student call too to say that they were in a hostage situation in another classroom. The police instantly went into a possible school shooting mode. An announcement came over the loud speaker for the teachers to do a shelter in place and lock down the classroom. We did not hear the announcement in the girls locker room but one teacher on the boys side did. On our side of the locker room we had just dismissed the girl's to go to their next class. Should have seen us, we had to go out and run and yell at the girls to get back in the locker room and to get anyone else inside who was out and about. The girls were completely confused yet we kept them calm. Thankfully the school did not make national news and it was just a prank. Tonight those two students will have some time in juvenile hall to consider how to be a "little smarter".

Might Be a Long Season

The Giants and their fans might be in for a loooonnnnnnng season. Today the LA Dodgers beat us 5-0. Our opening day starting ace, $127 Million Zito, allowed 3 runs in the 1st inning. Come on Barry Boy, it's time to earn what you are paid, move on from the A's and get it going. The Giants should have started Cain or Lincecum today and not be concerned with the money we have spent on Zito.

Today I wore a Giants jersey that a student gave me. Granted it was one of his old jersey's but it is a Giants jersey. Had to wear it today, it was opening day. I also wore a orange Giants cap. My students crack me up. Even with all the garb I had on, students still asked me, "Are you a Giants fan?" I just give them a dumb look like "isn't it obvious". Several students commented today, "Your Giants suck". My calm reply, "a true fan stands by their team if they win or if they lose. You are not a true fan if you are a fair weather fan".

One Week Away

Every ball fan is wondering (and hoping, and praying and dreaming) if this will be the year that their beloved team will go to the Series. One week from today the SF Giants start the 2008 season against the Dirty Dodgers. Yesterday I received a big bulk of my tickets to go and watch my boys at the ol' ballpark. Thanks Steve! There is something about going to a baseball game and watching the game live. There are the smells, noises and sights that you just can't get from watching the game on TV or listening to the radio. AT&T park is a fun place. If the game is boring or if the boys are playing like the last place team of the 10 and under division of Little League, there is much to keep you occupied at the park.

Maybe this will be the year?

Spring Break

For a teacher, Spring Break or what I prefer- Easter Break, is one of the most anticipated breaks from school. Usually, the well needed break is just barely enough time away from work to energize a teacher before the long haul before Summer vacation. The only day that I have off between now and the end of the school year is Memorial Day. The kids have started to lose focus, the weather is warming slightly, the blossoms give off beautiful color but bring on the allergies and teen "love" (if I can call it that, more like hormones not in check) is in the air. All of these things make for a challenge at the later end of the school year to finish strong and problem free.

On most breaks I have big project plans for around the house. This year is no different, my plans were to landscape the front yard. This project has waited since I bought the house when I "land cleared" the front yard. Sometime I will have to dig out those old pictures of what the front yard used to look like, the maintained "dead" state that it is in now and then show what the finished product will be. Sadly, but in God's perfect timing and His sovereign will, the front yard project is on hold. All of the plants are bought and waiting in the side yard to be transplanted into their final home. I know exactly the type of sod and retaining wall blocks that I want and how much it will cost. My mom's gardener, Javier and his amigos, are planning on helping me with the project but Javier is in the middle of a remodel at his house. God has a reason for me to wait on my project and it is kinda nice to get a few other smaller projects done around here and God knew that I would not be feeling my best for the first few days of my vacation.

Friday I awoke with a slight fever and not feeling well. Funny, my sister woke with the same type of symptoms but hers progressed much worse over the last 2 days. Praise God, she is better today. There would have been no way that I could have helped with the work outside. Today, I am planning on doing some painting of the trim around my new garage door and straighting out the garage. This will be an all day project. At some point, I plan to completely clean out my master closets and maybe put some organizing shelving in there. Next weekend, my dear Daddy is coming over to help me with a broken double gate. On Wednesday and Thursday I am going to visit my sweet niece, my sister and brother in law.

Lord willing, by Monday I will be ready for the long 2 1/2 months before the end of the school year.

Easter is My Favorite Holiday

Happy Easter! Easter is my favorite holiday. Christ went to the cross to pay the penalty of my sin! A bloody, extremely painful death, taking on the full wrath of God, He took the death that I deserved to die. There was nothing in this world that I could have done to merit God's gracious pardoning of my sin, except for the blood that Christ shed on my behalf. I am humbled when I think of it. Because Christ bought me with His blood, I have forgiveness and a perfect standing before God. My soul is His. I need to think of what Christ has done on my behalf much more than I do. Christ and His sacrifice should be central to EVERYTHING in my life. Oh, I am so thankful for His abundant mercy and love that He has freely (but it cost Him everything) given to me.

I hope you know Christ the way I know Him. If you don't or you want to know more, click here.

Here is one of my favorite songs (not sure if at the moment if I have included it in a past post).

Amazing Love, by Graham Kendrick, 1989 Make Way Music

My Lord, what love is this
That pays so dearly
That I, the guilty one
May go free!

Amazing love, O what sacrifice
The Son of God given for me
My debt he pays,
and my death he dies
That I might live,
That I might live!

And so they watched him die
Despised, rejected
But oh, the blood he shed
Flowed for me!
And now, this love of Christ
Shall flow like rivers
Come wash your guilt away live again!

Philippians 2:5-11 from the New American Standard Bible

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing
to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and
being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him
the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE
WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.