I am sooooooooooo tired - it's been a very busy three days! I worked in the grade one classroom at Kawungan on Friday. I think that I am starting to get through to the students about listening. I worked them really hard on Friday - and then gave them about half an hour in the afternoon to do whatever they wanted. They had to complete the four tasks we had worked on that day first and some of them did a really good job of it. Others went to play before they had finished their work (did they think that I wouldn't figure that out? :-) Rachael came at the end of the day to see how things had gone for the week and to ask me to teach for her on Monday (she planned the day with me so that I knew what she wanted me to do) and to pick up the work the students had done during the week. I told her that usually the boys are the annoying ones in classes, but that she had some girls that were even more annoying. She agreed with me on that one. She does have some lovely children, though.
Dad ended up going to the Family History Centre all day Friday - he wasn't signed up to go, but the two women who usually come to work there were both away and so he went in for the day. He mostly worked with two patrons (one member and one non-member) during the morning. He spent the afternoon working on some paperwork and some more indexing.
On Saturday morning, I went to Homemaking at Haidi's house (our Relief Society second counsellor) to learn how to cook some items from our food storage. The first one was meatless sausage rolls - I was a bit wary of those, but they ended up being really tasty. They were made from cottage cheese - I am going to try and make them for Dad - who knows if he will like them since you know how much he likes his meat. :-) They also had rice with turmeric and chili with cinnamon as one of the spices. I am not much into mixing my spices like that - I like to keep my spicy and my sweet separate.
After homemaking, I went with Christine and Robyn to the beach. Christine wanted to visiting teach both Robyn and me and we all thought that the best place to do this was at the beach. :-) We sat on the sand (they sat in the shade and I sat in the sun) and we ate date loaf which Christine made and talked about all sorts of things. I love these times of getting to know my friends even better. The lesson was about the importance of being self-reliant. When I read the lesson, this paragraph stood out for me:
In Relief Society, we are taught self-reliance principles and skills. Sisters can learn about budgeting, debt relief, employment qualifications, the scriptures and the gospel, teaching others to read and learn, technology, physical health, fitness, addiction prevention and recovery, social and emotional health, preventing illness, gardening, food production and storage, emergency preparedness, and many other things that will help us become self-reliant.
When I think of self-reliance, I think of things to do with food storage and emergency preparedness, but I didn't think of it being related to technology, physical health, fitness, or social and emotional health. So, we had a really good discussion about those things. It was neat sharing different ideas between us.
At 4pm, we went to the chapel for a 'Going Away Party' for a young boy in our ward, Reece, who is going on a mission this month. He is a fine young man and will make a great missionary. It was fun talking with our friends at the party - another opportunity to laugh and chat and eat. :-) It's like one big family here - when we received our invitation to come to the event, we were also asked to 'bring a plate' which means potluck. Some people might think 'what nerve to be invited and then be asked to bring food', but it's just the way it is in this ward - everyone just pitches in and I love it.
Although it was Sunday today, it sure wasn't a day of rest. After being at church for three hours (Primary is coming along really well - more in a bit), I had two meetings to attend. First about Primary - I set up a scripture reading plan for the kids (based on one I found on the net) and put it in a baggie along with the bookmarks the children decorated and I laminated) and gave it out to the kids today (I talked with each of the parents after church to tell them about it). A couple of parents told me that I was doing a good job in Primary and that made me feel good. I am trying to get it up and running the way it's supposed to be and it's coming along. After church, we had Ward Council (Dad came, too) where we talk about what's going on in the ward and how we can help each other and the members in our ward. After that was over, I went to my second counsellor's house to meet with her and catch her up on what's been happening in Primary during the six weeks she has been away.
We have spent the evening relaxing as it's going to be a busy day tomorrow having to work with the grade ones. I have been answering emails and Dad has been indexing - now that's an 'evening of rest' at least. :-)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Phew! I am sooooooooooo tired! Teaching grade one is exhausting - or at least, this class is. Yesterday was Sports Day at Kawungan and I thought it would be easy money and that there was no way I would be earning my money that day. Boy, was I wrong! I was in charge of leading about 60 grade one boys around to each of the six rotations (track and field stations) and making sure that they sat still while they waited their turns. Oh my goodness - boys do NOT sit still. Luise, who was in charge of one of the stations, told me later that they were so glad once the six year old boys had passed by - nothing could be as bad as that was, she said. By the time the day was over (Sports Day was for the whole day), I was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was come home and flake out.
Dad spent some time yesterday doing more census stuff. He had to go around to some businesses to speak to the owners about what they have to do re: the census. They generally don't like having to do the work, but it's the law, so they have to do it.
Dad and I went to the Family History Centre last night and I worked on my Grandpa Dunkley's line as I need to get the marriage certificate for my great grandmother and great grandfather on Grandpa Terry's side before I can do any more on that side. I did find some more info about one of my Grandpa Dunkley's aunts - I had been given three names for the same person (Irene W and Undine J and Undine Irene) so I wanted to find out more about that. I went on ancestry.com and found out that her name was actually Undine Irene and I also found out her death date. It's great when I can add more info to the family tree.
Today was organized chaos - sort of. We had parade (assembly), asking the children about their fire engines they created earlier this week, music, more asking, writing about our day yesterday (while three children completed their fire engines), library, grammar, and out onto the sports field for the results of the Sports Day. After school, I had to mark the fire trucks plus their designs. Rachael, the grade one teacher I am supplying for, won't be in until at least next Tuesday, so she asked me if I would mark them. I had a criteria sheet to check off - I think that I was a bit generous, but Rachael can look at the designs and see what she thinks and adjust the marks as she feels necessary. I never worried too much about marks in these kinds of things when I had my own classes - I figured that if they made an effort, that they deserved at least a 'C'. A couple of the kids today got an A and some Bs and Cs and a couple of Ds. Doing the marking took me back to when I used to do it in my classrooms in Canada, especially in grade two where we did a lot of building.
I told the teachers and admin about the job at Torquay today - they were all happy for me, but they were also disappointed that I was going. Funnily enough, this week has been really good in the grade one team - the team seems to be much more accepting of me and Luise even gave me a hug today when I told her I was leaving because I had gotten a job for the rest of the year. I was quite taken aback at first - but it was nice to know that she was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to take her class in October. She said that she was also going to tell me today that Rachael had told her that I could have her (Rachael's) five week contract later on this year (originally, Rachael had asked her friend to do the contract, but then her friend was given a job for the rest of the year at another school). That would have been nice, but that still was only 13 weeks of full-time teaching and Torquay is offering me 22 weeks. I did tell Leanne, the Deputy Principal at Kawungan, to keep me in mind for next year.
Today, Dad spent some time working outside spraying for bugs and spraying weeds. He also spent some time researching cruise control for our car. Both Dad and I find that it's easy to speed in this car - it really sneaks up on you and you don't even realize it. A few people have told us that the cops will nab you here if you speed, so we want to make sure we don't get a ticket. :-)
Tonight, at SES, they spent the whole night talking about 'Traffic Control' theory. They talked about the rules and regulations to stop traffic on a road or highway (in case of an accident). Dad said it was pretty routine, boring stuff, but sometimes the training is more necessary than exciting.
Dad spent some time yesterday doing more census stuff. He had to go around to some businesses to speak to the owners about what they have to do re: the census. They generally don't like having to do the work, but it's the law, so they have to do it.
Dad and I went to the Family History Centre last night and I worked on my Grandpa Dunkley's line as I need to get the marriage certificate for my great grandmother and great grandfather on Grandpa Terry's side before I can do any more on that side. I did find some more info about one of my Grandpa Dunkley's aunts - I had been given three names for the same person (Irene W and Undine J and Undine Irene) so I wanted to find out more about that. I went on ancestry.com and found out that her name was actually Undine Irene and I also found out her death date. It's great when I can add more info to the family tree.
Today was organized chaos - sort of. We had parade (assembly), asking the children about their fire engines they created earlier this week, music, more asking, writing about our day yesterday (while three children completed their fire engines), library, grammar, and out onto the sports field for the results of the Sports Day. After school, I had to mark the fire trucks plus their designs. Rachael, the grade one teacher I am supplying for, won't be in until at least next Tuesday, so she asked me if I would mark them. I had a criteria sheet to check off - I think that I was a bit generous, but Rachael can look at the designs and see what she thinks and adjust the marks as she feels necessary. I never worried too much about marks in these kinds of things when I had my own classes - I figured that if they made an effort, that they deserved at least a 'C'. A couple of the kids today got an A and some Bs and Cs and a couple of Ds. Doing the marking took me back to when I used to do it in my classrooms in Canada, especially in grade two where we did a lot of building.
I told the teachers and admin about the job at Torquay today - they were all happy for me, but they were also disappointed that I was going. Funnily enough, this week has been really good in the grade one team - the team seems to be much more accepting of me and Luise even gave me a hug today when I told her I was leaving because I had gotten a job for the rest of the year. I was quite taken aback at first - but it was nice to know that she was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to take her class in October. She said that she was also going to tell me today that Rachael had told her that I could have her (Rachael's) five week contract later on this year (originally, Rachael had asked her friend to do the contract, but then her friend was given a job for the rest of the year at another school). That would have been nice, but that still was only 13 weeks of full-time teaching and Torquay is offering me 22 weeks. I did tell Leanne, the Deputy Principal at Kawungan, to keep me in mind for next year.
Today, Dad spent some time working outside spraying for bugs and spraying weeds. He also spent some time researching cruise control for our car. Both Dad and I find that it's easy to speed in this car - it really sneaks up on you and you don't even realize it. A few people have told us that the cops will nab you here if you speed, so we want to make sure we don't get a ticket. :-)
Tonight, at SES, they spent the whole night talking about 'Traffic Control' theory. They talked about the rules and regulations to stop traffic on a road or highway (in case of an accident). Dad said it was pretty routine, boring stuff, but sometimes the training is more necessary than exciting.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I was teaching at Kawungan yesterday in with the grade twos. They are doing what they call 'validation' which is basically listening to the kids read and validating that they are reading at the level which you already know in your head that they are reading. They have to do so much of this validating here - the admin actually check up on them which would drive me crazy. I used to know where the kids were because I listened to them read all the time - I didn't need to do it formally. So, I was in Jane's class in the morning and Kelli's class in the afternoon. Both classes were fairly easy to teach, but Kelli's class really needed a lot of reminding of what they should be doing. I was telling Bronwyn about it and she said that Kelli is 'very soft' (not firm enough) with her class and that she (Bronwyn) was often having to speak to the children. I am sure that the children would have been happy to see Kelli back the next day after having had to listen to me nag and nag and nag at them. :-)
Dad spent the day doing the rest of his interviews. They went really well and Dad is glad that they are all finally over and that he can now work on who he will recommend for the collector positions.
When I woke up this morning, the sky was blue and the first thing I thought of was 'what a beautiful day' and the second thing I thought of was 'too bad I don't have any laundry to do - it's the perfect day for it'. That probably sounds really funny to you guys, but that's what I was thinking. I don't even think twice about hanging the laundry on the clothesline now - it's like it's become secondhand now. I'm still not as quick as those who have been doing it for ages, but I'm getting faster. :-)
Someone told me the other day that they couldn't believe that I was 53 - they thought I was around 40! I thanked them for that! :-) We decided that part of it was due to spending so many years in Canada where it's cold so much of the time. We were talking about how the sun really does a number on Aussie skins. I felt really good when they thought I was so much younger than I am. I also think it's got to do with good genes. (Thanks, Nana! :-)
Today, I worked again at Kawungan - Rachel (grade one) hurt her foot and thought she would be able to come back this week to teach, but after teaching on Monday, she found that her foot was killing her and so she decided to take off the rest of the week and asked me if I could teach her class all four days. I was booked in to do the grade twos on Thursday and Friday, but I traded with Terri who they were going to ask to cover Rachel's class - it made sense for me to stay with Rachel's class and for Terri to cover the grade twos (she is a part-time grade two teacher). Rachel's class is not too bad, but so many of them are not good listeners - I felt like just having them follow instructions (one after the other) - often there are a couple who don't listen, but in this class, there are a number of them.
Dad spent a bit of time today organizing all the information from the interviews. There was quite a lot of information to input. Then Dad had to rate each person based on a set list of criteria. His next step was to select his seven collectors and four reserve collectors. After inputting this information into the computer, he then had to mail these forms to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. He also attended a funeral of a woman who went to our church (she was older and quite ill, so it was a blessing for her to leave this world). He also went to a luncheon for those who volunteer with Meals on Wheels. They needed to have a training meeting and so they served lunch while they were doing the training. Dad sat with a guy named Barry who also volunteers for SES so that was nice (you know how shy Dad is). After having the missionaries over for dinner and driving them home, Dad spent an hour sorting out the Home Teaching lists for the High Priest group. He was a very busy boy today. :-)
Dad spent the day doing the rest of his interviews. They went really well and Dad is glad that they are all finally over and that he can now work on who he will recommend for the collector positions.
When I woke up this morning, the sky was blue and the first thing I thought of was 'what a beautiful day' and the second thing I thought of was 'too bad I don't have any laundry to do - it's the perfect day for it'. That probably sounds really funny to you guys, but that's what I was thinking. I don't even think twice about hanging the laundry on the clothesline now - it's like it's become secondhand now. I'm still not as quick as those who have been doing it for ages, but I'm getting faster. :-)
Someone told me the other day that they couldn't believe that I was 53 - they thought I was around 40! I thanked them for that! :-) We decided that part of it was due to spending so many years in Canada where it's cold so much of the time. We were talking about how the sun really does a number on Aussie skins. I felt really good when they thought I was so much younger than I am. I also think it's got to do with good genes. (Thanks, Nana! :-)
Today, I worked again at Kawungan - Rachel (grade one) hurt her foot and thought she would be able to come back this week to teach, but after teaching on Monday, she found that her foot was killing her and so she decided to take off the rest of the week and asked me if I could teach her class all four days. I was booked in to do the grade twos on Thursday and Friday, but I traded with Terri who they were going to ask to cover Rachel's class - it made sense for me to stay with Rachel's class and for Terri to cover the grade twos (she is a part-time grade two teacher). Rachel's class is not too bad, but so many of them are not good listeners - I felt like just having them follow instructions (one after the other) - often there are a couple who don't listen, but in this class, there are a number of them.
Dad spent a bit of time today organizing all the information from the interviews. There was quite a lot of information to input. Then Dad had to rate each person based on a set list of criteria. His next step was to select his seven collectors and four reserve collectors. After inputting this information into the computer, he then had to mail these forms to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. He also attended a funeral of a woman who went to our church (she was older and quite ill, so it was a blessing for her to leave this world). He also went to a luncheon for those who volunteer with Meals on Wheels. They needed to have a training meeting and so they served lunch while they were doing the training. Dad sat with a guy named Barry who also volunteers for SES so that was nice (you know how shy Dad is). After having the missionaries over for dinner and driving them home, Dad spent an hour sorting out the Home Teaching lists for the High Priest group. He was a very busy boy today. :-)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Friday was 'Show Day' here in Hervey Bay and it was a holiday. I can't believe that everyone gets a day off to go to 'the Show'. 'The Show' was held in Maryborough which is about a half hour from here and sounds like it was a combination of a very small CNE plus the Royal Winter Fair. Dad and I were thinking of going, but the price of $20. per person to look at rides, games, crafts and animals just didn't seem worth it. Instead, we decided to spend the day outside. First, we went to the beach and took a walk along the water's edge - it was such a perfect day to do it - blue sky, shining sun, lovely breeze (what's new in HB, eh? :-) The water was lovely, but we weren't dressed for a swim so we just enjoyed walking in it. Then, we came home and had lunch outside on our patio, read books on our chaise loungers and had a lovely nap in the warm sun. Can life get much better than that? :-)
Saturday was cloudy and the perfect day to be so - we spent most of our time in the car yesterday. We picked up our friends, Denise and Sue (from church) and Dad drove us to a place called Kawana Waters for a Stake Relief Society activity. Kawana Waters is about 2 1/2 hours from HB - I wasn't game to drive there myself as I had no clue where I was going. I asked Dad if he would drive and he said 'sure'. We got there with about an hour to spare and so we drove down to the beach to eat our lunch. It was in a city called Maroochydore - they had a great park by the beach and I said to Dad that I thought that the boys would love playing there - especially on the climbing ropes apparatus. I wish that I had taken a camera with me to take a pic of it - next time we go there, I will make sure to do that.
The Relief Society activity was really well organized. It started off with a really nice powerpoint presentation of pictures and songs. There were a couple of those kinds of presentations over the three hours and whoever did them was really technologically savvy. After the introduction, we were divided into three groups and we rotated through three workshops: 'By the Sweat of my Brow' was about getting back to nature to make meals - I didn't try any of the ideas because they either sounded icky or they smelled icky. :-) I know, I am very fussy! :-); 'Life's Like That' was about creating balance in your life - we spent some time honing our socialing skills by meeting new sisters in our Stake - we had 30 seconds to speak with a sister and share something about each other with each other before moving on to someone else; and the last workshop was called 'Soul Savers' which focused on making sure that we feed ourselves spiritually every day. After that, we all got together for a presentation about Visiting Teaching. The sister who gave it was trying to get us pumped up and excited about doing our visiting teaching each month. She had a very busy display with all sorts of poems and lists about visiting teaching. Our closing exercises included a wonderful song sung by a young woman with a beautiful voice after which we had a light snack (sandwiches, crackers, bars, etc.) which was a lovely way to end the day. After Dad dropped us off, he drove over to the beach and spent about 45 minutes there watching the freighters and people who were walking their dogs on the beach. He then drove to a nearby mall and checked out a store called JB Hi-Fi - an electronics store. He then spent about 1 1/2 hours doing some indexing of shipping records for Family History (passenger lists of ships bound for Canada).
We got to Skype with Terri-Ann and the boys this morning, although not for long. Our internet was acting up and so our connection wasn't that good. We also had to get to church early so we didn't have much time to talk. We did find out that Colin and Caleb starting t-ball this past Tuesday and they really like it. Caleb even told me that he hit two home runs. Colin seemed disappointed that he didn't hit any home runs, but I told him that what counted was that he had fun and he said that he did have fun. Their coach is a friend of theirs (Adam) and James is the assistant coach - I am sure that with those two coaches, the boys are going to have a great experience playing t-ball this summer.
Sacrament today was really good - the theme was about 'forgiveness' - our three speakers were Jordan (a 15 year old young man), Sandy and Lyn (two older women) and they all did a really good job. Something really touched me today when Lyn was talking. Sometimes, we hear things many times at church, but then sometimes it just hits us differently. Today Lyn mentioned a scripture and it really made me think - it was from Matthew 6:15 -- But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. I told Lyn how that really made me think about how seriously Heavenly Father takes forgiveness. If we aren't forgiving to others, then Heavenly Father isn't going to forgive us. That's pretty serious stuff to me. I told Lyn that I wasn't at a place at this moment in my life where I was having difficulty forgiving someone, but who knows what the future holds.
My first counsellor was back today and I was really happy to have her back with us - we have missed her. I didn't work much on Primary this week and it really showed today. I had everything organized, but I just felt like I was running from here to there and back again. I managed to get everything done that I needed to get done, but I realized at the end of the day, I need to work on Primary a little every day so that I am able to feel less stressed on Sundays. It will help having my counsellor back now - I will meet with her this week to go over what we have been doing since she's been gone (six weeks). I will start doing more delegating as well - I won't be able to keep running things the way I have been once I start working full-time. Things are really starting to come together, though - I am pleased about that. :-)
After church, we got to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Martin. They told us all about their trip to Alberta with Uncle Bob to see Kathleen, Rob, Dominik, Isabella, Jackie and Curtis. Everyone out there is doing well and looking forward to coming out to Grandma and Grandpa's in July for Trish's wedding and Isabella's baptism. Grandpa did not look well - he is losing weight and his skin has gone red from the chemo. The doctors are still conferring about what to do re: the chemo and the blood clotting side effect. It was good to talk with them/see them - we are going to do it again next week. Grandpa likes to plan times to Skype - he does that with Uncle Bob as well. When we were at their place earlier this year, he and Uncle Bob were Skyping every Wednesday or Thursday. It's great to have this kind of technology - it's almost like we are there in the room with them.
Saturday was cloudy and the perfect day to be so - we spent most of our time in the car yesterday. We picked up our friends, Denise and Sue (from church) and Dad drove us to a place called Kawana Waters for a Stake Relief Society activity. Kawana Waters is about 2 1/2 hours from HB - I wasn't game to drive there myself as I had no clue where I was going. I asked Dad if he would drive and he said 'sure'. We got there with about an hour to spare and so we drove down to the beach to eat our lunch. It was in a city called Maroochydore - they had a great park by the beach and I said to Dad that I thought that the boys would love playing there - especially on the climbing ropes apparatus. I wish that I had taken a camera with me to take a pic of it - next time we go there, I will make sure to do that.
The Relief Society activity was really well organized. It started off with a really nice powerpoint presentation of pictures and songs. There were a couple of those kinds of presentations over the three hours and whoever did them was really technologically savvy. After the introduction, we were divided into three groups and we rotated through three workshops: 'By the Sweat of my Brow' was about getting back to nature to make meals - I didn't try any of the ideas because they either sounded icky or they smelled icky. :-) I know, I am very fussy! :-); 'Life's Like That' was about creating balance in your life - we spent some time honing our socialing skills by meeting new sisters in our Stake - we had 30 seconds to speak with a sister and share something about each other with each other before moving on to someone else; and the last workshop was called 'Soul Savers' which focused on making sure that we feed ourselves spiritually every day. After that, we all got together for a presentation about Visiting Teaching. The sister who gave it was trying to get us pumped up and excited about doing our visiting teaching each month. She had a very busy display with all sorts of poems and lists about visiting teaching. Our closing exercises included a wonderful song sung by a young woman with a beautiful voice after which we had a light snack (sandwiches, crackers, bars, etc.) which was a lovely way to end the day. After Dad dropped us off, he drove over to the beach and spent about 45 minutes there watching the freighters and people who were walking their dogs on the beach. He then drove to a nearby mall and checked out a store called JB Hi-Fi - an electronics store. He then spent about 1 1/2 hours doing some indexing of shipping records for Family History (passenger lists of ships bound for Canada).
We got to Skype with Terri-Ann and the boys this morning, although not for long. Our internet was acting up and so our connection wasn't that good. We also had to get to church early so we didn't have much time to talk. We did find out that Colin and Caleb starting t-ball this past Tuesday and they really like it. Caleb even told me that he hit two home runs. Colin seemed disappointed that he didn't hit any home runs, but I told him that what counted was that he had fun and he said that he did have fun. Their coach is a friend of theirs (Adam) and James is the assistant coach - I am sure that with those two coaches, the boys are going to have a great experience playing t-ball this summer.
Sacrament today was really good - the theme was about 'forgiveness' - our three speakers were Jordan (a 15 year old young man), Sandy and Lyn (two older women) and they all did a really good job. Something really touched me today when Lyn was talking. Sometimes, we hear things many times at church, but then sometimes it just hits us differently. Today Lyn mentioned a scripture and it really made me think - it was from Matthew 6:15 -- But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. I told Lyn how that really made me think about how seriously Heavenly Father takes forgiveness. If we aren't forgiving to others, then Heavenly Father isn't going to forgive us. That's pretty serious stuff to me. I told Lyn that I wasn't at a place at this moment in my life where I was having difficulty forgiving someone, but who knows what the future holds.
My first counsellor was back today and I was really happy to have her back with us - we have missed her. I didn't work much on Primary this week and it really showed today. I had everything organized, but I just felt like I was running from here to there and back again. I managed to get everything done that I needed to get done, but I realized at the end of the day, I need to work on Primary a little every day so that I am able to feel less stressed on Sundays. It will help having my counsellor back now - I will meet with her this week to go over what we have been doing since she's been gone (six weeks). I will start doing more delegating as well - I won't be able to keep running things the way I have been once I start working full-time. Things are really starting to come together, though - I am pleased about that. :-)
After church, we got to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Martin. They told us all about their trip to Alberta with Uncle Bob to see Kathleen, Rob, Dominik, Isabella, Jackie and Curtis. Everyone out there is doing well and looking forward to coming out to Grandma and Grandpa's in July for Trish's wedding and Isabella's baptism. Grandpa did not look well - he is losing weight and his skin has gone red from the chemo. The doctors are still conferring about what to do re: the chemo and the blood clotting side effect. It was good to talk with them/see them - we are going to do it again next week. Grandpa likes to plan times to Skype - he does that with Uncle Bob as well. When we were at their place earlier this year, he and Uncle Bob were Skyping every Wednesday or Thursday. It's great to have this kind of technology - it's almost like we are there in the room with them.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
It's been a busy and tiring two days for me working for Rachael Stewart's grade one class at Kawungan. Rachael had asked for me on Monday, but I was already booked up at Pialba. The supply teacher who was there for Monday and Tuesday was apparently not someone they wanted in there. It felt good to know that they really wanted me in there. The teachers are in a really stressed mode right now as they are trying to get tests done in time to assess for report cards which are due in a couple of weeks. Can you imagine doing so much paper testing in grade one? It's driving all the teachers crazy when they know that good teaching is using hands-on manipulatives to teach different concepts. The 'powers-that-be' want more paper testing done so that teachers can 'prove' the marks they give the kids. It's so frustrating that those who are NOT in the classroom get to dictate how teachers teach in the classroom, especially since those 'higher ups' are so clueless about what teaching in the classroom is like today. They are trying to push the curriculum down so that what was taught in grade two last year is now being taught in grade one. The top children are doing well, but more and more students are being left behind. The kids are also not enjoying school like they used to. Grrrr. The kids in Rachel's class were a little bit frustrating as they are not very good at listening (in general) or follow instructions. I did the best I could and I told Luise to tell Rachael that if I wasn't called in to supply teach on Tuesday, that I would come in and help her out by going over some of the tests with the kids one-on-one. I used to do that for Bronwyn and it was really helpful. I felt that I was saying the same kids' names over and over again yesterday and today to get them to listen, focus and follow instructions. I'm not sure if they are different when Rachael is teaching them or maybe she is just more patient than I am - it will be interesting when I see her on Tuesday (if I get to go there and volunteer) to hear her take on her class.
Dad has spent the past two days working on interviewing more people who want to work as census collectors. He had quite a few people from his area apply to be collectors and so he is having even more interviews next week. He is finding a number of people who will be very acceptable in the position, so it might be hard for him to choose who he will recommend to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). He also spent some time collating all the information he has received in the past two days - all of his notes have to be inputted into the ABS system, so he is finding it best to get them in as soon as possible after the interviews. He has his final interviews next Monday and has to then get his recommendations in as soon as possible after that. The next step in his job is to get training on how to train his collectors and that will take place some time in June.
Dad has spent the past two days working on interviewing more people who want to work as census collectors. He had quite a few people from his area apply to be collectors and so he is having even more interviews next week. He is finding a number of people who will be very acceptable in the position, so it might be hard for him to choose who he will recommend to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). He also spent some time collating all the information he has received in the past two days - all of his notes have to be inputted into the ABS system, so he is finding it best to get them in as soon as possible after the interviews. He has his final interviews next Monday and has to then get his recommendations in as soon as possible after that. The next step in his job is to get training on how to train his collectors and that will take place some time in June.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Oh, I have the most amazing news! I got a job - full-time - well, for the rest of the school year, anyway. J I am so excited! I got a call yesterday from Torquay State School - it was one of their administrative assistants, Kim - asking me to call her about a contract position at Torquay. I was thrilled when I heard the phone message. I asked Dad to drive me over to Torquay so that I could speak with Kim in person. We had to wait for her to get out of a meeting - when I did get in to talk with her she said that they are in need of someone to take on a contract from June 14th until the end of the school year (December 9th) in a Prep class. The biggest smile came over my face as I said 'YES!' :-) And there is an even better part of this deal - Chantelle, the prac student who was with me in Bronwyn's class last year, will be my team partner! Could it get better than this! I am over the moon about this and can't wait to start. Chantelle and I get along so well - and there is a teacher's aide, Samantha (Sam) who will be working in the class and she is fabulous, and I have taught Yvonne's class before and they are lovely! It's the most amazing thing. I was just lamenting a couple of weeks ago about how I wasn't getting as much work as I wanted. I was praying about it and one thought that came to my mind was 'after all you can do' - it reminded me that I need to work hard for something I want and then the blessings will come. That's when I decided to apply to the Catholic school board and the private school to supply teach. I also spoke with a friend who works at another school about her introducing me to the Deputy Principal at her school. Even though I didn't get a job at any of those places, I feel so blessed to have been offered more work at different schools and also to be offered this contract position. I am so grateful!
I worked at Pialba State School yesterday - I did 1 1/2 hours in each of three grades: Prep, grade two, and grade five. The Prep class went fine as did the grade two class (I had supply taught for this class before and they are pretty good) and then had a disastrous time in grade five (which is why I don't like teaching above year three). The teacher told me that I had to sit on them and that they were a tough group (which another supply teacher confirmed later when I talked with her about this class). Anyway, there are a number of rude boys in there and sure enough, as soon as their teacher left the room, they started acting up. Now, I don't care if they don't want to do the work, but they better be quiet cuz I don't handle rudeness or ignorance well at all. Anyway, two of these boys decided to to act up royally and be ignorant, disrespectful and rude. After giving them a number of chances to smarten up, I got the Deputy Principal to take them out of the class. It still wasn't great, but I was able to get through the rest of the time okay. As soon as I got to the car after school, I told Dad I needed chocolate. :-) I got a call from Karen from Kawungan and she asked me to teach on Wednesday and Thursday this week - I was so happy to get a call from her - teaching at Kawungan is so much better. :-)
Dad had his first interview of the people wishing to work as census collectors yesterday. Dad spent about 25 minutes talking with the person and then took five minutes to write up some notes about the interview. He was a little nervous about how the interview was going to go, but he thought it went very well once it was over. Dad spent the rest of the day trying to figure out which private health care company we were going to go with. It works a little differently over here in Australia compared to what it is like in Canada. Let me start out by staying Canadians are very blessed for the health care system there. We received our Medicare card last year about this time and didn't realize at the time that we only had a year to decide on whether we wanted to get extra health coverage. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we got a letter telling us that we had until Tuesday (today) to make our decision. If we didn't make a choice by today and we decide we want it later, it will cost us a lot more (2% per year over age 30). We had talked with some friends about what to do and they all basically said to get it for now and then decide later on if we want to keep it or not. Basically, in Australia, Medicare covers basic emergency and general medical needs in the public medical system. You have to pay to see the doctor (about $65 per visit, of which Medicare reimburses you about $40.). You can get extra coverage which covers dental, optical, chiropractic, massage therapy and physiotherapy up to a certain amount per year. It also covers semi private rooms when you go into a hospital (after you pay the first $250. of the bill). It also allows you to get on a private coverage list if you need an operation which means you don't have to wait for ages (if you are only on Medicare, you go on a different waiting list which takes a lot longer to get treatment - unless it's a medical emergency when everyone is at the same level). I don't like the fact that it's a two-tier system over here, but I am grateful that we can afford to get it. We don't need it now, but who knows what the future will bring.
Today I was at Pialba teaching the same kindergarten class as yesterday, but for the whole morning and the same grade two class as yesterday, but for the whole afternoon. The kindergarten class was great first thing in the morning as they had computer lab and all kids love going on the computers. I had one issue with a little boy who punched a little girl in the stomach because she wouldn't hold his hand to walk to the lab. He had already kicked a young boy in the cheek (which left a red mark) in the morning, so I asked the teacher's aide to take him to the office as I felt it was important for them to be aware of what was happening. Mark Brose, who is the Deputy Principal, takes this kind of physical abuse very seriously and took care of the situation - I really appreciate admin who back you up. The children in the grade two class are quite nice and I do like going into their class. One girl caused an issue by wrecking another student's work. I asked her to sit out and told her we would talk about it later. When I told the teacher about the incident, she said that this girl and her mother (and maybe siblings) had moved in with the grandmother until the mother could find a caravan to rent. I really feel for the things so many of these kids have to go through at such a young age. There are many children in Hervey Bay (at least at the schools I have supply taught at) who are living with one parent or with stepparents and they have issues with the other non-custodial parent. The children should not have to deal with these things - no wonder they struggle with school and that there are so many behaviour issues in HB. The deputy principal also asked me today if I would like to come in and teach the grade two class I had today in October when the teacher goes on leave for a short time. I would have enjoyed doing that, except that now I have been offered that wonderful job at Torquay, so I had to tell Mark, (the DP), that I couldn't do it. I did thank him for asking me, though.
Dad spent most of today doing more interviews with hopeful census collectors. He needs to get seven collectors and one reserve collector and he is very confident after doing the interviews today that he will have no difficulty getting his people. He still has six more people to interview tomorrow and he also just got a new batch of resumes today so he will have to go through them and interview some of those people as well. Dad said he felt much more comfortable doing the interviews today.
I worked at Pialba State School yesterday - I did 1 1/2 hours in each of three grades: Prep, grade two, and grade five. The Prep class went fine as did the grade two class (I had supply taught for this class before and they are pretty good) and then had a disastrous time in grade five (which is why I don't like teaching above year three). The teacher told me that I had to sit on them and that they were a tough group (which another supply teacher confirmed later when I talked with her about this class). Anyway, there are a number of rude boys in there and sure enough, as soon as their teacher left the room, they started acting up. Now, I don't care if they don't want to do the work, but they better be quiet cuz I don't handle rudeness or ignorance well at all. Anyway, two of these boys decided to to act up royally and be ignorant, disrespectful and rude. After giving them a number of chances to smarten up, I got the Deputy Principal to take them out of the class. It still wasn't great, but I was able to get through the rest of the time okay. As soon as I got to the car after school, I told Dad I needed chocolate. :-) I got a call from Karen from Kawungan and she asked me to teach on Wednesday and Thursday this week - I was so happy to get a call from her - teaching at Kawungan is so much better. :-)
Dad had his first interview of the people wishing to work as census collectors yesterday. Dad spent about 25 minutes talking with the person and then took five minutes to write up some notes about the interview. He was a little nervous about how the interview was going to go, but he thought it went very well once it was over. Dad spent the rest of the day trying to figure out which private health care company we were going to go with. It works a little differently over here in Australia compared to what it is like in Canada. Let me start out by staying Canadians are very blessed for the health care system there. We received our Medicare card last year about this time and didn't realize at the time that we only had a year to decide on whether we wanted to get extra health coverage. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we got a letter telling us that we had until Tuesday (today) to make our decision. If we didn't make a choice by today and we decide we want it later, it will cost us a lot more (2% per year over age 30). We had talked with some friends about what to do and they all basically said to get it for now and then decide later on if we want to keep it or not. Basically, in Australia, Medicare covers basic emergency and general medical needs in the public medical system. You have to pay to see the doctor (about $65 per visit, of which Medicare reimburses you about $40.). You can get extra coverage which covers dental, optical, chiropractic, massage therapy and physiotherapy up to a certain amount per year. It also covers semi private rooms when you go into a hospital (after you pay the first $250. of the bill). It also allows you to get on a private coverage list if you need an operation which means you don't have to wait for ages (if you are only on Medicare, you go on a different waiting list which takes a lot longer to get treatment - unless it's a medical emergency when everyone is at the same level). I don't like the fact that it's a two-tier system over here, but I am grateful that we can afford to get it. We don't need it now, but who knows what the future will bring.
Today I was at Pialba teaching the same kindergarten class as yesterday, but for the whole morning and the same grade two class as yesterday, but for the whole afternoon. The kindergarten class was great first thing in the morning as they had computer lab and all kids love going on the computers. I had one issue with a little boy who punched a little girl in the stomach because she wouldn't hold his hand to walk to the lab. He had already kicked a young boy in the cheek (which left a red mark) in the morning, so I asked the teacher's aide to take him to the office as I felt it was important for them to be aware of what was happening. Mark Brose, who is the Deputy Principal, takes this kind of physical abuse very seriously and took care of the situation - I really appreciate admin who back you up. The children in the grade two class are quite nice and I do like going into their class. One girl caused an issue by wrecking another student's work. I asked her to sit out and told her we would talk about it later. When I told the teacher about the incident, she said that this girl and her mother (and maybe siblings) had moved in with the grandmother until the mother could find a caravan to rent. I really feel for the things so many of these kids have to go through at such a young age. There are many children in Hervey Bay (at least at the schools I have supply taught at) who are living with one parent or with stepparents and they have issues with the other non-custodial parent. The children should not have to deal with these things - no wonder they struggle with school and that there are so many behaviour issues in HB. The deputy principal also asked me today if I would like to come in and teach the grade two class I had today in October when the teacher goes on leave for a short time. I would have enjoyed doing that, except that now I have been offered that wonderful job at Torquay, so I had to tell Mark, (the DP), that I couldn't do it. I did thank him for asking me, though.
Dad spent most of today doing more interviews with hopeful census collectors. He needs to get seven collectors and one reserve collector and he is very confident after doing the interviews today that he will have no difficulty getting his people. He still has six more people to interview tomorrow and he also just got a new batch of resumes today so he will have to go through them and interview some of those people as well. Dad said he felt much more comfortable doing the interviews today.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I had another good day supply teaching Friday. I was at Torquay for just two hours (well, I got paid for two hours) and I was so happy when I found out I was with Chantelle's class as I had planned on staying all day with her class. Chantelle had 'warned' me about a young boy named Brayden and I was wondering how he would be for me since he didn't know me. Fortunately for me, he didn't show up. Those who were there were easy to teach (although there was one boy who could get annoying if I had to have him full-time) and we had a good two hours together. I stayed on with Chantelle to help her out, but it turned out that there wasn't much to help her with. I think that all teachers are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this time due to report cards coming up and having to have all sorts of assessment done at this point. Chantelle said that next time I came in, she would definitely have things for me to do.
Dad met up with John today (motorcycle teacher) to take his test - and he passed! YAY!!!!! John only had to ride with Dad for 90 minutes to know that Dad was ready to get his license. John met Dad at our house and watched him ride around some quieter areas of HB. He gave Dad some pointers (eg: not to take the corners so wide) and watched Dad ride some more. He then asked Dad to drive down into the middle of the town so that he could watch Dad maneuver through busier traffic. After that, it was out onto the highway to see how Dad handled the scooter going at 100km/h. After that, John followed Dad home (John drove his motorcycle over from Maryborough) where he filled out the paperwork to say that Dad had completed the assessment successfully and then Dad took that paperwork over to the DMV to have the scooter endorsement added to his driver's license. I am still not comfortable with knowing the streets of HB to take the test, but John told Dad that if that is the only issue, he could come out and take a longer time to assess me. I could also wait for Robyn and Geoff to get back and do some more practicing. I'm not sure what I will do, but I told Dad that he is not allowed to ride 'my' scooter until I get my license and I can go out and ride on my own. :-)
Dad picked me up from school and we drove to the Family History Centre as he had to close it up. I nipped onto the computers, put in my info about Richard Terry (great grandfather) to see if I could find the family tree and it popped up right away. I couldn't believe it! I checked out the info and I was able to pick up something that might help in my search, but most of it was stuff I already had. The person who put it on the site was listed as Nikki, but I couldn't find out who she was or how to contact her.
When we got home, I got a phone call from Mark Brose who is the Deputy Principal at Pialba and he asked me if I was available to teach next Monday and Tuesday. I had to check my calendar as I am getting a few days booked up now. I was available for both days and so he has booked me in to teach three different classes for the first day (Prep, grade 2 and grade 5 for an hour each - he told me that he knew that grade five was out of my comfort zone, but could I do it for just one hour and I said 'yes'). On Tuesday, it will be half a day with a Prep class and half a day with a grade two class (I am going to ask Mark if it's possible to do Mrs. Dean's class who I had last week if he doesn't have anyone particularly assigned to her class). I am excited to be getting some jobs at other schools and now I have two days booked next week (and we don't go on Friday next week as it's 'Show Day' - the kids get the day off school to go to the Maryborough Show - like the CNE). I also have three days prebooked for the next week at Kawungan in the grade two classes (each teacher gets half a day's coverage). Things are starting to look up! :-)
We got to Skype with Terri-Ann and the boys yesterday morning - I love that! :-) They had just arrived back from the ice-cream store and so the boy were covered with ice-cream - they looked so cute. Colin was singing a song I had learned at camp back when I was about 13 - I couldn't believe it when I heard him singing those words - who would have believed that someone would have taught him that silly song that I had learned all those years ago. It's called 'Vista' and I do it with the kids I teach as it's fun and silly and they love yelling 'VISTA' at the end. I told Colin that when I do it with my class, I have them hit their knees and then clap their hands. I meant that we hit our knees with our hands, but he thought I meant that we hit our knees together so that's what he was doing. :-) What a cutie! Colin reminds me a lot of Terri-Ann when she was a little girl in that he likes the limelight. :-) Caleb was trying to sing us a song he learned at 'Teddy Bear school' and Colin was trying to sing over him. :-) Benjamin was babbling, but when I told him to say 'Ma', he did! What a clever boy! :-)
I drove by myself for the first time yesterday - YAY me! :-) My friend, Denise, was going to visit our friend, Judy, in the Maryborough hospital and I wanted to go with her. I was not comfortable, however, driving all the way to Maryborough and around Maryborough, so I told Denise that I would drive to her place if she would drive the rest of the way (which she readily agreed to). Dad said he would drive me to Denise's, but that would have meant a 15 minute drive there and back for him and then again when he came to pick me up. I told him that I would try driving it on my own as long as he put the directions in our GPS (I love our GPS :-) I was a little bit nervous about driving on my own, so I said a quick prayer and then I was okay. On the way back from Denise's, I missed a turn, but it wasn't my fault as the GPS told me to turn after the actual turn (it thinks this street goes all the way through for some reason even though it doesn't), so I did have to do a U-turn, but I made it home safely and I was pleased about doing it on my own (well, sort of since my GPS friend was with me - I wonder if I should name the GPS like some of my other friends have done. :-)
I really enjoyed the talks given in Sacrament meeting today - the theme was about The Word of Wisdom. It's interesting to see some people's take on things. I have thought of The Word of Wisdom more as a list of DON'Ts rather than a list of DOs, but today I began to think of it in a different way. It's interesting how you can know something and hear something for years and then somehow come to look at it differently depending on the people talking about it or the place you are in at the time. Anyway, today as the speakers were talking (and I was listening :-) something came to my mind about how since The Word of Wisdom is a commandment, I should be following it more diligently. It's easy to follow the DON'Ts (like no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, drugs), but I was thinking today about how it's not so easy to follow the DOs (like eating meat sparingly, early to bed and early to rise). I also think that there are some things which are not talked about, but which we can take from what is being said in this scripture should rarely be taken (eg: junk food) since the whole idea of this section is to take things into your body which are healthy and leave out of your body things which are not. Even though I have read the promises to us if we follow the things spoken of in the Word Of Wisdom, they really touched my heart today: shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. It's interesting how sometimes, you have someone speak at church and you really find it speaking to you - that's how I felt today. I want to do some more reading and pondering about this and I will write more about it later after I have done this.
Dad had my phone in his pocket at church today and it started ringing during Sacrament meeting - oops. :-) Dad said he always turns both phones off, but he forgot for some reason today. After Sacrament meeting, he checked the message and it was from my teacher friend, Bronwyn. I called her back and she said that she wanted to know if I was working tomorrow and Tuesday. I told her that I had already been asked by Pialba to teach on Monday and Tuesday. It turns out that she was calling for Kelli (a new grade two teacher at Kawungan) who's mother-in-law had been flown to Brisbane by helicopter for a medical emergency and so Kelli needed someone to cover for her. Bronwyn told her she would take care of it. I was disappointed that I couldn't do it - it would have been great teaching grade two and doing it beside Bronwyn. Bronwyn said that if Kelli needed someone for Wednesday and Thursday, would I be available and I said 'yes', so we'll see what happens. It doesn't rain, but it pours (with supply teaching jobs), eh? :-)
Dad and I are both sitting outside on our patio furniture while I am writing this. The weather is gorgeous: blue sky with a few clouds, warm (about 26C) and so peaceful out here. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is playing on the CD player - such sweet and soothing music. Life is good - nay, life is GREAT! :-)
Dad met up with John today (motorcycle teacher) to take his test - and he passed! YAY!!!!! John only had to ride with Dad for 90 minutes to know that Dad was ready to get his license. John met Dad at our house and watched him ride around some quieter areas of HB. He gave Dad some pointers (eg: not to take the corners so wide) and watched Dad ride some more. He then asked Dad to drive down into the middle of the town so that he could watch Dad maneuver through busier traffic. After that, it was out onto the highway to see how Dad handled the scooter going at 100km/h. After that, John followed Dad home (John drove his motorcycle over from Maryborough) where he filled out the paperwork to say that Dad had completed the assessment successfully and then Dad took that paperwork over to the DMV to have the scooter endorsement added to his driver's license. I am still not comfortable with knowing the streets of HB to take the test, but John told Dad that if that is the only issue, he could come out and take a longer time to assess me. I could also wait for Robyn and Geoff to get back and do some more practicing. I'm not sure what I will do, but I told Dad that he is not allowed to ride 'my' scooter until I get my license and I can go out and ride on my own. :-)
Dad picked me up from school and we drove to the Family History Centre as he had to close it up. I nipped onto the computers, put in my info about Richard Terry (great grandfather) to see if I could find the family tree and it popped up right away. I couldn't believe it! I checked out the info and I was able to pick up something that might help in my search, but most of it was stuff I already had. The person who put it on the site was listed as Nikki, but I couldn't find out who she was or how to contact her.
When we got home, I got a phone call from Mark Brose who is the Deputy Principal at Pialba and he asked me if I was available to teach next Monday and Tuesday. I had to check my calendar as I am getting a few days booked up now. I was available for both days and so he has booked me in to teach three different classes for the first day (Prep, grade 2 and grade 5 for an hour each - he told me that he knew that grade five was out of my comfort zone, but could I do it for just one hour and I said 'yes'). On Tuesday, it will be half a day with a Prep class and half a day with a grade two class (I am going to ask Mark if it's possible to do Mrs. Dean's class who I had last week if he doesn't have anyone particularly assigned to her class). I am excited to be getting some jobs at other schools and now I have two days booked next week (and we don't go on Friday next week as it's 'Show Day' - the kids get the day off school to go to the Maryborough Show - like the CNE). I also have three days prebooked for the next week at Kawungan in the grade two classes (each teacher gets half a day's coverage). Things are starting to look up! :-)
We got to Skype with Terri-Ann and the boys yesterday morning - I love that! :-) They had just arrived back from the ice-cream store and so the boy were covered with ice-cream - they looked so cute. Colin was singing a song I had learned at camp back when I was about 13 - I couldn't believe it when I heard him singing those words - who would have believed that someone would have taught him that silly song that I had learned all those years ago. It's called 'Vista' and I do it with the kids I teach as it's fun and silly and they love yelling 'VISTA' at the end. I told Colin that when I do it with my class, I have them hit their knees and then clap their hands. I meant that we hit our knees with our hands, but he thought I meant that we hit our knees together so that's what he was doing. :-) What a cutie! Colin reminds me a lot of Terri-Ann when she was a little girl in that he likes the limelight. :-) Caleb was trying to sing us a song he learned at 'Teddy Bear school' and Colin was trying to sing over him. :-) Benjamin was babbling, but when I told him to say 'Ma', he did! What a clever boy! :-)
I drove by myself for the first time yesterday - YAY me! :-) My friend, Denise, was going to visit our friend, Judy, in the Maryborough hospital and I wanted to go with her. I was not comfortable, however, driving all the way to Maryborough and around Maryborough, so I told Denise that I would drive to her place if she would drive the rest of the way (which she readily agreed to). Dad said he would drive me to Denise's, but that would have meant a 15 minute drive there and back for him and then again when he came to pick me up. I told him that I would try driving it on my own as long as he put the directions in our GPS (I love our GPS :-) I was a little bit nervous about driving on my own, so I said a quick prayer and then I was okay. On the way back from Denise's, I missed a turn, but it wasn't my fault as the GPS told me to turn after the actual turn (it thinks this street goes all the way through for some reason even though it doesn't), so I did have to do a U-turn, but I made it home safely and I was pleased about doing it on my own (well, sort of since my GPS friend was with me - I wonder if I should name the GPS like some of my other friends have done. :-)
I really enjoyed the talks given in Sacrament meeting today - the theme was about The Word of Wisdom. It's interesting to see some people's take on things. I have thought of The Word of Wisdom more as a list of DON'Ts rather than a list of DOs, but today I began to think of it in a different way. It's interesting how you can know something and hear something for years and then somehow come to look at it differently depending on the people talking about it or the place you are in at the time. Anyway, today as the speakers were talking (and I was listening :-) something came to my mind about how since The Word of Wisdom is a commandment, I should be following it more diligently. It's easy to follow the DON'Ts (like no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, drugs), but I was thinking today about how it's not so easy to follow the DOs (like eating meat sparingly, early to bed and early to rise). I also think that there are some things which are not talked about, but which we can take from what is being said in this scripture should rarely be taken (eg: junk food) since the whole idea of this section is to take things into your body which are healthy and leave out of your body things which are not. Even though I have read the promises to us if we follow the things spoken of in the Word Of Wisdom, they really touched my heart today: shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. It's interesting how sometimes, you have someone speak at church and you really find it speaking to you - that's how I felt today. I want to do some more reading and pondering about this and I will write more about it later after I have done this.
Dad had my phone in his pocket at church today and it started ringing during Sacrament meeting - oops. :-) Dad said he always turns both phones off, but he forgot for some reason today. After Sacrament meeting, he checked the message and it was from my teacher friend, Bronwyn. I called her back and she said that she wanted to know if I was working tomorrow and Tuesday. I told her that I had already been asked by Pialba to teach on Monday and Tuesday. It turns out that she was calling for Kelli (a new grade two teacher at Kawungan) who's mother-in-law had been flown to Brisbane by helicopter for a medical emergency and so Kelli needed someone to cover for her. Bronwyn told her she would take care of it. I was disappointed that I couldn't do it - it would have been great teaching grade two and doing it beside Bronwyn. Bronwyn said that if Kelli needed someone for Wednesday and Thursday, would I be available and I said 'yes', so we'll see what happens. It doesn't rain, but it pours (with supply teaching jobs), eh? :-)
Dad and I are both sitting outside on our patio furniture while I am writing this. The weather is gorgeous: blue sky with a few clouds, warm (about 26C) and so peaceful out here. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is playing on the CD player - such sweet and soothing music. Life is good - nay, life is GREAT! :-)
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