may Christ be reflected in your Christmas

if one were a movie watcher, they might determine that monkeys were evil little creatures. indiana jones (raiders of the lost ark), pirates of the caribbean, not to mention the latest planet of the apes, oh, and i almost forgot the flying monkeys on the wizard of oz!...today indiana jones was on and it caught my attention. then when the little monkey eats the 'bad dates' that have been poisoned and dies, they cut to a scene where the camera is above the ceiling fan and you see the blades slowly going around with the dead monkey lying on the floor. why is it that in mystery movies when they shoot from above the fan like that it seems so ominous?

has anyone else been in a house or building where the ceiling fan is wobbly and had the irrational fear that as you slept under it or sat around in that room that the whole contraption might fall, blades still spinning wildly and sever some important artery in your body? no? me neither then...but it was scary.

so i went downtown again this morning and found a place to park and there was a lady sitting on a cement wall, so i went over that way and she asked if i had a couple bucks. i purposely took no cash so that i wouldn't feel bad about not giving out money. so i told her no, but would she like some coffee or a granola bar or something. and she asked if i had anything sweet, so i gave her a granola bar and a bag with some peppermints and butterscotch candies, gloves and crackers. she said someone stole her luggage last night. we sat there for a couple of hours, and during that time, there were several others who came over. some just wanted to talk. one gentleman actually came over and started telling his whole story about his wife and how she is still tied to mama's apron strings at 40 yrs old, and he doesn't get along well with the lady. he said something about some advice his psychic friend had given him: if your wife isn't talking about her, don't you start. if your wife is talking about her, STILL don't talk about her. (good advice even for a psychic). he went on about buying gifts for the ladies in his family because it's all about impressing the ladies...he got that right!

it wasn't freezing out, but the cement wall i was sitting on wasn't heated...it was cold enough to appreciate reheated coffee.

there was another gentleman that came over and again just wanted to chat (and drink coffee..and hey, you got some food over there? smile). he was on his way to memphis to see his mom-coming from las vegas.said he had several teachers in his family as well.

there were a few more who came and went, but there was this one elderly gentleman who asked if i could watch his bags for a minute. having worked for the airlines, the first thought that immediately goes through my head is: no, that is a security risk! never leave your bags unattended and report any suspicious objects! second thought: he trusts me enough to watch every belonging that he has. tall order. well, he was gone for quite a bit and when he came back, he recounted his bags and said he was missing a tote bag. i said, "oh, but you only brought three bags over here." he mumbled something about it got stolen earlier-and i looked at the lady who was still sitting next to me and said, "must be going around." the man sat down and had another coffee, and then he asked if i would like a half of a sandwich, which i had to say no to... and i ended up taking off shortly after that, but i let the lady keep the big aldi bag with some food and extras in it since she her luggage had gotten stolen.

i wasn't sitting down there for but maybe 2 hours, but it is amazing how many people i saw just in that little area who were lonely and had next to nothing. filling the physical needs is one thing, but for most of the people i met today, they needed someone to talk to just as much as they needed a bite or a drink or clothing. how often do we just walk by people or try to avoid eye contact because we don't know what else to do? from now on even if i don't have anything to offer, i still have kind words and a listening ear that need to be available-

here's hoping that your Christmas has been blessed and continues in the same manner!

slow down. don't get so busy that you miss the opportunities that are all around you!
julie

what do cei's and the gingerbread man have in common?

ok, i know what you're thinking..just kidding, no i don't! i'm not a mind reader! but you're about to know what i'm thinking!
but what do they have in common? well...they both make sense only in some kind of fairytale land.

yesterday while i was administering the math TAKS test, i kept hearing a little squeaky sound and thought i saw something out of the corner of my eye. when i looked, i didn't see anything. except for one time. i sneaked a peak and saw the gingerbread warrior flailing his arms, then he froze as soon as he noticed me watching him.

and today, while they were taking their reading test, i was admiring the carpet/rug. it was very colorful and had designs and random letters and numbers everywhere. so, you know how i am about random letters, i started making words, because that's what i do! and then the designs started playing games- for example:

is it 4 flowers, or is it 2 circles beside each other with a diamond in the middle..or two circles on top of each other with diamonds in the middle...or is it just 4 diamonds..or is it on big diamond with a flower in the middle? hmm..and on and on...

but yes, i was actively monitoring the students.

and as i was monitoring, i was reminded that i had agreed to go to a focus group meeting this evening from 5 to 7. downtown.ugh. why do i agree to these things? i got there with no problem. the worse part was once we got inside (a little late), i had no idea what they were talking about besides pay-performance. hmm..well i didn't have much to say until we got to the end and they were talking about the ever elusive CEI (classroom effectiveness indexes-which no one can explain); i did have something to add after that because i don't always have a high CEI, but i know that i am an effective teacher, so i told them that: i sign up every year just for kicks because i know that i should get the performance pay because i perform my job well, but then at the end of the year even though there has been growth, i feel like they've put me in a dark gym and spun me around and said, "you get one shot to make the free throw, but we're not going to point you toward the basket..good luck!"

ok, enough of that, i would like you to know that today i did see something that made me smile. it was probably while the kids were having snack...

i mean, c'mon, tell me that doesn't make you smile!

it reminded me of when i lived in HONDURAS and there was this cage-like not really a zoo, but they had monkeys in a cage. i think it was in tela...anyhoo, we went and a girl got a little too close to the cage (maybe for a picture or something, or maybe to feed them?) but the monkey grabbed her hair and wouldn't let go. somewhat funny, somewhat frightening.

it also took me back to costa rica when we visited a family who lived in the mountains by a river. they had 3 monkeys. the baby was sweet and loved to climb up and be held, but when you tried to out him down and walk away, he would go ape (hehehe)...it was also the first time i saw a Jesus lizard running across the river. they also taught me about cashews. in case you were unaware, cashews have a toxin called urushiol, so they must be roasted (but that has to be done outdoors because they give off a toxic gas). all that from a stuffed animal.

 then one of the boys said he was going to get shoes like mine-the 5 finger vibrams i had on today. well, that got me looking around at their shoes. i was wondering where all their shoes had walked. and then i looked at mine and decided mine have not traveled nearly as much as i was hoping they would. i originally got them to go out and enjoy the wild-which as of yet they have not, so i am looking forward to getting them initiated.

do not let anyone measure your effectiveness by some black hole of malarkey, instead measure effectiveness by how much of a difference you make in the lives of others!
jules