I was so excited to see another church standing up for what is sacred and right! Way to go!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Great Pumpkin Analogy
It feels like Fall here in Tucson. Our low this morning was 39 degrees. We broke a record. Of course, my children got up and still threw on shorts. I had to tell them to put on warmer clothes!
Anyway, I had been thinking of my memories of pumpkins and fall harvest. Then, Hermana Jenny Boshard, one of my young women from Provo who is currently serving a mission in Spain, sent me the following analogy. I thought you would enjoy it!
¨Being a CHRISTIAN is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff ... including seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then he carves you a new smiling face and puts HIS light inside you for the whole world to see.¨
Matthew 5 :16
Let you light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.
Happy Fall!
Anyway, I had been thinking of my memories of pumpkins and fall harvest. Then, Hermana Jenny Boshard, one of my young women from Provo who is currently serving a mission in Spain, sent me the following analogy. I thought you would enjoy it!
¨Being a CHRISTIAN is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff ... including seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then he carves you a new smiling face and puts HIS light inside you for the whole world to see.¨
Matthew 5 :16
Let you light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.
Happy Fall!
Friday, October 10, 2008
The 'Middle Wife' by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher
I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have
two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one
I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.
When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a
few sessions with my students. It helps them get over
shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids
bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they
catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any
boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in
to school and talk about it, they're welcome.
Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very
outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of
the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my
baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his
birthday.'
'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love,
and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke
grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella
cord.'
She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and
I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder
with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.
'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying
and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand
behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house
for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is
doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies,
but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the
Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like
this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the
wall.)
'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept
in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and
spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has
her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing
away. It was too much!)
'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push,
push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting,
but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out
comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they
all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so
there must be a lot of toys inside there.'
Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned
to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever
since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my
camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes
along.
two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one
I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.
When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a
few sessions with my students. It helps them get over
shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids
bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they
catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any
boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in
to school and talk about it, they're welcome.
Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very
outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of
the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my
baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his
birthday.'
'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love,
and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke
grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella
cord.'
She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and
I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder
with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.
'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying
and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand
behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house
for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is
doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
'My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies,
but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the
Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like
this.' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the
wall.)
'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept
in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and
spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has
her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing
away. It was too much!)
'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push,
push,' and 'breathe, breathe. They started counting,
but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out
comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they
all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so
there must be a lot of toys inside there.'
Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned
to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever
since then, when it's show-and-tell day, I bring my
camcorder, just in case another 'Middle Wife' comes
along.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
True Compassion
Compassion and love have no political bounds.
My friend, Michelle Wahlquist, emailed me this information. This was a phone call that Rush Limbaugh received on his radio show. As a mother of a son with special needs, this one made me cry. I felt like I should share it. -Stephanie
RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh , hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?
CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?
RUSH: How about that?
CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania .
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington , Pennsylvania , was the day after he announced her, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: 'We Love Kids with Down Syndrome.' So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that --
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?
CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them --
RUSH: Oh, cool!
CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.
RUSH: Very, very, very cool
CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, 'Wow, that's awesome,' because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that's really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came .up to us and said,
'Hey, can you come with us?' I was like, 'Do we have a choice?'
RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn't have worried. It's not the Clinton administration.
CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they're all standing there. We're in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, 'May I hold your daughter?' and our daughter Chloe, who's five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I'd love to send you maybe when I'm done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down
syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who's nine, he thanked her.
RUSH: This is amazing.
CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza and a beer with them, they were so warm.
RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.
CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.
RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?
CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.
RUSH: That's right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them I mean, we'll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.
CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.
RUSH: Oh, no, no. It's nothing, it's nothing. You're doing the Lord's work.
CALLER: Well, we're very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they're angels.
RUSH: That's the thing. There's always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.
CALLER: Absolutely. Right, and when she hugged my daughter I said, here's the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: That's what she is.
RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I'm going to put you on hold.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.
END TRANSCRIPT
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Dan Post in Upcoming Election
Dan Post is running for re-election this election. He is a man of integrity and has done a fabulous job leading and guiding our school district. Please support him this election. I'm enclosing his Election Statement. Dan spends a good 20-30 hours per week in our schools and in our classrooms. He is not paid for all the service he renders. He is voted in by us. Please help us keep him there.
"Marana Unified School District is recognized as one of the best in the State. Families choose a home in Marana because they want to be in this school district. Businesses consider the reasonable primary and secondary school tax rate and the quality schools when deciding to come to Marana. This condition has not been achieved by accident, caring and competent teachers, hard working support staff and capable administrators working together with the support of my consistent leadership over the last 28 years has enabled MUSD to become an award winning school district. During my tenure we have built or remodeled all 17 schools, hired more than 95% of the nearly 2000 employees and grown from 2,000 students to 13,000. Even though we are a first class school district, we want to be World Class and we are not there yet. With the help of my leadership and the participation of over 4000 community and school inputs, we have developed a strategic plan and a road map to World Class status. Our goals and priorities are well defined and focus on providing an education that will allow each child to achieve their potential. These are difficult times for public education in Arizona. School funding by the State has been sharply reduced, construction of new facilities has all but been eliminated and unfunded mandates by the State Legislator are causing a heavy burden on local districts. The number of special needs students is at an all time high and requires our best efforts to provide teachers, aids, counselors and specialized transportation. Yet at the same time we must find a way to challenge students who have need for accelerated learning services. I believe that every child is unique, that every child is special and that every child can learn and we must strive to treat them accordingly, even as our student population continues to grow. I strongly believe that we must expand our vocational curriculum and develop more partnerships with businesses and institutions to place students in intern situations for hands on training. We must expand all day kindergarten and keep elementary class sizes as low as funding allows. If we did not live in a desirable climate and that most teachers choose the profession because of their desire to serve and a love for children, we would not be able to find enough competent teachers, because of the pay; this must be addressed by electing representatives who have education as a priority. We have a Superintendent that is new to our District and a governing board that has relatively little experience. I believe that my experience and leadership is needed now more than ever. If elected, I pledge to continue to work hard as leader to overcome our weaknesses and build on our strengths, that working together we will become a World Class school district."
"Marana Unified School District is recognized as one of the best in the State. Families choose a home in Marana because they want to be in this school district. Businesses consider the reasonable primary and secondary school tax rate and the quality schools when deciding to come to Marana. This condition has not been achieved by accident, caring and competent teachers, hard working support staff and capable administrators working together with the support of my consistent leadership over the last 28 years has enabled MUSD to become an award winning school district. During my tenure we have built or remodeled all 17 schools, hired more than 95% of the nearly 2000 employees and grown from 2,000 students to 13,000. Even though we are a first class school district, we want to be World Class and we are not there yet. With the help of my leadership and the participation of over 4000 community and school inputs, we have developed a strategic plan and a road map to World Class status. Our goals and priorities are well defined and focus on providing an education that will allow each child to achieve their potential. These are difficult times for public education in Arizona. School funding by the State has been sharply reduced, construction of new facilities has all but been eliminated and unfunded mandates by the State Legislator are causing a heavy burden on local districts. The number of special needs students is at an all time high and requires our best efforts to provide teachers, aids, counselors and specialized transportation. Yet at the same time we must find a way to challenge students who have need for accelerated learning services. I believe that every child is unique, that every child is special and that every child can learn and we must strive to treat them accordingly, even as our student population continues to grow. I strongly believe that we must expand our vocational curriculum and develop more partnerships with businesses and institutions to place students in intern situations for hands on training. We must expand all day kindergarten and keep elementary class sizes as low as funding allows. If we did not live in a desirable climate and that most teachers choose the profession because of their desire to serve and a love for children, we would not be able to find enough competent teachers, because of the pay; this must be addressed by electing representatives who have education as a priority. We have a Superintendent that is new to our District and a governing board that has relatively little experience. I believe that my experience and leadership is needed now more than ever. If elected, I pledge to continue to work hard as leader to overcome our weaknesses and build on our strengths, that working together we will become a World Class school district."
Utah Charity In Need
My BYU advisor and Devan's 1st Kindergarten teacher, Sharon Lay, is currently working as the literacy coach in a low income area of Salt Lake County. About a third of their children are reading below grade level-these are the working poor-they are mostly English speaking, caucasian children who have lived in Utah all of their lives but have few role models who value education. These year she is trying a new motivator, called gifts for goals. They set reading goals and receive tickets each time they reach a goal. With those tickets they can buy Christmas gifts for their family members-so much better than receiving gifts without working for them. So she is looking for donations for our Christmas store. If you are looking for families to help at Christmas, she could use some help. If you are in Utah you can contact Sharon at 801-376-8216-they have a few wards that are gathering things but we will need about 10,000 items. They are also taking cash donations of any amount to purchase grocery items. Donations can be mailed to her at:
Sharon Lay If you can help spread the word-it would be helpful. Thanks so much.
Sharon Lay
9834 N. 6180 W.
Highland, Utah 84003.
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