Memorial Award

Presented the annual award today, this year with the help of Reggie. It was hard to do, but good. This year the award went to Dawson Bevans, who is the son of Dusty Berzay. Nominees were  Lotus Jensen, Grant Comin, Jill Nunn, and Tate Sommerfeldt. Description below:

Cam Williams Memorial Award

Mr. Cam Williams was privileged to teach grade six at the Cardston Elementary School from 1999-2007.  He is fondly remembered by students and staff as a fun, energetic teacher, who cared deeply about his students and colleagues.  The Cam Williams Memorial Award is an annual award, which recognizes a chosen grade six student.  This student exemplifies qualities that make for a positive school environment as well as a student who stands for good among his/her peers. Just as Mr. Williams brought character, respect, and integrity to his classes, the chosen student demonstrates similar qualities, as well as exhibits determination and effort in academics, shows kindness and respect to all peers regardless of race, social standing, or intellect, and quietly goes about making life easier for others.  In recognition of this student’s achievement and strong character they will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $200.

From left to right:

Reg, Lotus Jensen, Grant Comin, Jill Nunn, Tate Sommerfelt, Dawson, Yours Truly ;)

Death to the Crows

Would you agree that there is nothing more annoying in the world than being woken from a deep, blissful sleep at 4:30AM by crows? I once thought of myself as an animal lover, but apparently that warm fuzzy circle of love doesn't include crows. I can't stand them. I used to keep a bucket of rocks on my deck and then leap from my covers to launch very unsuccessful assaults in the early morning hours. Rocks don't really aim true. I stepped things up a notch when my husband got me a pellet gun for Mother's Day. I couldn've be more excited. There was a sort of sadistic pleasure unleashed as I watch my victim expel a flurry of feathers and fly off, or even better, drop to the ground.

This year they seem more brazen. They are telling their friends. They are back to their old dirty tricks. I reached beneath the bed for my trusty weapon, to realize to my horror that it had been left at relatives house. I tried Reggie's airsoft gun, but that piddly piece of artillery seemed to make them enjoy the game of cat and mouse even more. I strolled through the yard plotting my next move. Then I spotted it----THE MOTHER NEST. Their secret hide out, which was not so secret any more. I found myself laughing an evil laugh. The problem was the nest was about 60 feet up a large pine tree bordering my property. There was only one solution. I had to climb.

I donned my work gloves and headed up. The children gathered around, promising to call an ambulance if things went badly. They began cheering and my confidence grew. Up, up, and up, I went until I was in arms reach. The army of crows circled over head cackling fiercely. Several swooped close, trying to deter me from my mission. The nest was probably about 3 feet in diameter. Bit, by bit, I yanked and pulled. A flood of twigs, clay, and everything else you could imagine descended upon me. I could taste the grit in my mouth. When the final clump was demolished I began my descent. Still their cries of displeasure echoed throughout the neighborhood. When I jumped to the ground with a thud, my kids patted me on the back with congratulations. I was sweaty. I was dirty. I was scratched. I was covered in head to toe with sap, but I had won the first battle of the summer. I'm sure they'll be back for round two.

Hards Things

I know many people live by the mantra, "I can do hard things". We all can do hard things. We do them everyday. My hard is different than your hard. I don't really think it is fair to do comparisons. Each one of us has been assigned a menu of difficulties to overcome in this life and there is no getting around that. If you are having some smooth sailing right now I am happy for you. Enjoy it while it lasts, because eventually something will come. I'm not saying that to scare anybody; just to be real. The perfect life doesn't exist---at least not my idea of perfect. There will always be hard things to deal with.

One of the hard things for my little family is Father's Day. There is no sugar coating it; it is just a brutal day. Even the days leading up to it are painful thorns in our sides. I shudder to think of what my kids have to endure when they are away from me concerning this event. It broke my heart when Cooper came home and said his friends kept asking him who he was making his craft for. It was a hot knife when Marin described the stares and whispers of her classmates as she carefully completed her projects. The hoopla culminates on Sunday with primary lessons, activities, presents, crafts, talks all devoted to, you guessed it, Father's Day. I can't protect my children from many things, but I can protect them from THAT. I have made a deal with God. I will stay true, I will try to follow the commandments, I will serve, I will keep my covenants, but I need this one day. I believe He is fine with that.

So, we do Father's Day in a different sort of way. On Saturday night, we pack up and go into hiding. We eat out, watch movies, play on the playground, stroll by the lake. In the morning we have a big breakfast, and then do a hike together. I figure enjoying God's creations with family is the second best thing to worship if you are not actually sitting in church. We go for drives to beautiful places, recall fun memories, and have a picnic. We finish off by delivering the beautiful hand made things the kids have created to the cemetery where we feel Cam can enjoy them.

It is still hard, even though the things we had planned were fun. Every where we went there were always dad's with their kids doing fun dad things. I can't help but notice and I know my kids notice too. They will be returned to their dad one day, but for the here and now it is still one of those HARD things that I'm glad is over for the year. Strength to you as you rise above your hard things.

Life Efficiency Advice?

I'm having one of THOSE days. Everyone has them I'm sure. It just seems that I have them more often than other people. Or maybe other people are just better actresses than I am.

I ran across an article today about life efficiency. Right now if I was to make my life a metaphor on efficiency, I would be about as efficient as a gas guzzling hummer. I want to be like the cute little Honda that I drive. That is about the only thing that is efficient in my life these days.

Do you ever feel like you can't see the problem that is right on the end of your nose? I need a third party who doesn't know me to come sit me down and tell me where I can tweak my tasks to be more efficient. Is it my housework, dealing with my kids, my school work, my yard, the time I get up or go to bed, phone calls, church commitments? Where can I improve so things can get more done? I haven't the foggiest idea.

I am going to try something new that I learned from that article. Here is a snippet:

Around 100 years ago, Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, wanted to increase his own efficiency, and of the management team at the steel company. Ivy Lee, a well-known efficiency expert of the time, approached Mr. Schwab, and made a proposition Charles Schwab could not refuse:

Ivy Lee: “I can increase your people’s efficiency – and your sales – if you will allow me to spend fifteen minutes with each of your executives.”
Charles Schwab: “How much will it cost me?”
Ivy Lee: “Nothing, unless it works. After three months, you can send me a check for whatever you feel it’s worth to you.”
Charles Schwab: “It’s a deal.”
The following day, Ivy Lee met with Charles Schwab’s management executives, spending only ten minutes with each in order to tell them:
Ivy Lee: “I want you to promise me that for the next ninety days, before leaving your office at the end of the day, you will make a list of the six most important things you have to do the next day and number them in their order of importance.”
Astonished Executives: “That it?”
Ivy Lee: “That’s it. Scratch off each item after finishing it, and go on to the next one on your list. If something doesn’t get done, put it on the following day’s list.”
“Each Bethlehem executive consented to follow Lee’s instructions. Three months later, Schwab studied the results and was so pleased that he sent Lee a check for $25,000.
If Schwab, one of the smartest businessmen of his day, was willing to pay so much money for this advice, don’t you think you could benefit from it too?


Taking advantage of this time management technique is as simple as it gets…just 4 steps:
1.Each night, make a list of the top 6 things you want to accomplish the following day
2.Prioritize the list
3.Start working on task number one, and keep working on it until you complete it. Do not move onto the next task until you complete this one.
4.If any tasks are left at the end of the day, move them to the top of the next days list. For example, if you finish tasks 1-4 today, tasks 5 and 6 become tasks 1 and 2 on tomorrows list."


Any way I tried it today with a little tweaking. I made a list of 6 things; 3 for school 3 for home. I think I have discovered that I am ADD because it is so hard for me to focus on JUST these 3 tasks without sidetracking to anything else. I got them done and it felt GOOD. More sense of accomplishment than I have had in a while. Tomorrow I will try out my school list. I'll let you know how the experiment goes. I'm committing to two weeks in front of all of cyberworld.


In the mean time if you have any time management advice or want to be the non-biased life efficiency coach that I spoke of let me know!


Enjoy this hilarious commercial shown to me by one of my grade 9's

  

You Know Your a Teacher When.....

I have been pondering today on how much I am going to miss my grade 9's when they leave me in a couple of weeks. We are driving each other crazy right now and are both so ready for summer, but I'm still so attached to them. Teaching is great and I love it! Can't wait to have Reg in my school next year. I have been waiting my whole life for this!


Here is something for all my teacher friends out there compliments of Jeff Foxworthy.


YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER WHEN.............................


1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.

4. You can eat a multi-course meal in under 15 minutes.

5. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day:before school and after school.

6. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 8 to 3 and have summers off."

7. You believe chocolate is a food group.

8. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

9. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

10. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.

11. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

12. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

13. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own needs.

14. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

15. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice."

16. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

17. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.

18. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.

19. You think people should be required to get a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.

20. You wonder how some parents ever figured out how to reproduce.

21. The sound of the photocopier haunts you in your sleep.

What's awesome in your Holland?

My friend and I have been talking a lot about gratitude lately. I phone to complain, she reminds me of all the things I have that others don't. She's right. She put this story up on her blog and I'm stealing it:

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

_____________________________________________________________

Back in my fairy tale years I overheard a woman talking about me at work. "She just has it all. I would just love to have her life. There must be some kind of vice she has. She probably doesn't floss."  At first I was mad. But then I laughed because she had absolutely no idea what was going on with me and who I really was. I laugh harder now because I wonder if she still wants to trade lives now. Ha. 

Sometimes when get down I think, the life of Coralee really leaves a lot to be desired. But, as my friend reminded me, there are many wonderful things about my Holland that the people in Italy don't have. I need to recognize and celebrate those things every day and realize that I really and truly am very blessed. 

So here is the list. Here are the things that are great to appreciate about my Holland that maybe many other people don't get to enjoy.

1. My kids

They are healthy, they are smart, they are spunky. I get to be their whole world. 

2. My parents

My folks are two of the most remarkable people on the planet. You will never find people more selfless, kind, and compassionate people than my parents. 

3. My friends

I am surrounded by incredible people who love me, listen to me, make me laugh, take care of me, and pray for me. 

4. My education and job

I have two university degrees which provide me with a way to support my family. Many people in my position are not so lucky. The icing on the cake is that I LOVE my job. Can't believe I get paid to do it!

5. My body 

For the time being, I have a body that can do most everything that I want it to. I have no health concerns. I can't remember the last time I had to take medication for anything. I can run, jump, bike, hike, swim, and play with my kids to my heart's content. 

6. My town

The Rocky Mountains can be viewed right out my bedroom window every day. The air where I live is clean. I have more than 3 feet of space between my house and my neighbors. I know practically everyone here. I don't spend more than two minutes in my car to get to the places I want to go.

7. My beliefs

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that because of him Cam will live again, as will I. I know that families are eternal. I know why I am here. I know where I am going. How lucky am I?

What's awesome about your Holland?

Beautiful Day!

Wowed by this band:

In LOVE with this voice

After many years of waiting, a bucket list item has been checked off. Cam and I made a pact that if U2 came any where near Alberta we would go. I guess I checked it off for both of us, with Zela standing in as proxy. I think she loved it just has much as Cam would have. If I said this concert was incredible, I would not be doing it a shred of justice. Two days off work, 12 hours of driving, waiting in LRT lines for 3 hours, deprived sleep, and waiting in line for an hour for a T-shirt were worth it! Experience of a life time. Did I mention there were over 60, 000 people in the Common Wealth Stadium! Crazy! Here are a few crappy picts and a video.

The stage and visual display were OUT OF THIS WORLD. Seriously, absolutely mind blowing. Bono, well, I think you already know how I feel about him.  So lucky to experience this with a good friend. Also, thanks to mom, dad, and Al for watching the 

kids for us while we partying it up. Fun, fun, fun!

In other news this week we had a piano recital and a track meet. Marin is in her 2nd year of piano and doing great. Both Marin and Reggie kicked in many of their track events. Marin got 1st in long jump, triple jump, and relay, while Reg got 1st in long jump, triple jump, 800m, relay, 3rd in 100m, and 4th in shot put. Good work kids!