The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down Like Piglets

Hehe. Not really like Piglets but that's how Austin sings it. The proper line in the song is...

The rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down
In rushing, rising, rivlets
'Til the river crept out of it's bed
And crept right into Piglet's

I don't think it rained at all in June and July and now it's rained for a week. We've had some sunshine between storms but I guess we're now making up for our drought. Not so bad I guess but I've tried to go canoeing 3 times this week and had to cancel every time. Tuesday was helped by Tommy as he got sick overnight. He must have ate something crummy.

I made it back into the classroom this week. It felt good to be back. New year = new beginning and high hopes for a great year. I had a couple of my girls come in and help me decorate. Such a great feeling. Teaching really is a wonderful career. A highlight of my summer was when a former student of mine painted me a beautiful country portrait. She is such a talented artist. She wrote me a nice note saying I was her favorite teacher of all time and thanks for all the help in school. She wasn't a great student and especially struggled with math. One thing she wrote was "you deserve the painting after all the time you wasted trying to teach me math." It definitely wasn't a waste of time teaching her. She had a very hard time in school but she's a testament that being a teacher isn't all about reading, writing, and arithmetic. She may not become the valedictorian or even go on to get a college degree but I truly believe she will use her God given talents and be successful in life. Some of the hardest students to teach are the easiest to get along with and the most appreciative. Some of the easiest students to teach are the hardest to get along with. I'd rather have 10 struggling students who act as Jesus would then academic and athletic all-stars who think the world revolves around them.

I'm very lucky to teach in a wonderful Catholic School. My students are not perfect by any means and some days have been truly a struggle. But I will have my 7th group of students arrive on the 4th and through the years I've been truly blessed to know some great kids. I remember my student teaching days at the Public School and I hear stories from other teacher friends and though I don't make the big bucks, I'm rich in comparison when it comes to a good working environment with Christian kids.

Tommy has started up with hockey again. It's so fun to watch and I look forward to the games starting up in October. He has a clinic tomorrow and draft later this week. It's so fun. We moved him up to Mites in the spring because he did so well in Atoms even though he still qualifies as an atom by age. We took him to an Atom shinny last week for ice time and the score was 11-1 and Tommy scored 10 of the goals. It would be shameful for us to keep him in Atoms even though a selfish part of me thinks it would be so cool to have him kick little hockey butt all season. He won't be a big goal scorer in Mites but it'll be more competitive and definitely not annoying to watch. I know last year I'd get annoyed at Atoms who are playing with all these beginners and scoring 10+ goals a game. It's time for moving up, he'll do ok.

Well thanks for reading all of you out there. A month into blogging and I'm really enjoying it.