Everything comes to a frenzied head with testing, yearbooks, appreciation days, night of the arts, field day, class parties, and fifth grade graduation. And, we are already preparing for school to start up again in August.
Students forget stuff from home a lot. Most often it's the same ones over and over again. Lunches, glasses, homework, recorders, library books, field trip money... Out of four hundred students, we get to know these fifteen to twenty families quite well.
There are children who come to school dirty, with no breakfast in their tummy, and having forgotten their backpack and school work. Teachers and staff will discreetly wash their faces, launder their clothes, and give them new school supplies. It breaks my heart every time. These parents are setting their children up for a hard road ahead.
Other random things I've been thinking about:
Our pastor came over one evening so Steve could troubleshoot a car wiring problem with him. He is the father of five school aged children with the youngest being twins. He sat down in our kitchen and said, "Wow. It's so quiet here. Y'all probably don't notice it." I had to admit that I guess I don't notice the silence anymore; we've gotten used to it. I don't particularly like it. I wish we had children making noise in the house more often.
Birds sound very different in the evening than they do in the morning.
The irises are particularly beautiful this year. They grow wild and abundant along the road banks.
I recently finished the Vermont rug. It measures 36" x 54". I still need to steam and bind it. I like how it depicts the mowed fields and rolling hills of where we live here in Virginia. We also have orchards and a covered bridge. We even had an albino deer hanging around a few years ago. : )
