Teaching Grammar

Yesterday I taught the placement of indirect object pronouns and direct object pronouns to my Spanish one class.  My classes are having a hard time with it.  They need a lot of review.  By the end of the day the kids became a little frustrated.  In fact one of them said something like why can't we just learn Spanish anyway?  Why do we need grammar?  Well, it was a great sunny day and who would want to learn grammar on a sunny day?  And just how does Spanish grammar have to do with English grammar anyway?

When I got home I got a wonderful note in the mail from Kirsten.  She reminded me of when she was my TA last year.  I loved how she would leave me notes and this note in the mail was one of those.  You know the kind...the ones that are a shot in the arm to remind you that you are on the right track.  They make you smile and remind you that someone really does love you and what you do and who you are is important.

Some of my kids came in today during lunch and got some help on the grammar.  They are getting it now (of course they brought food in and I believe that you can learn just about anything when you are also eating great food).

Grammar is the scaffolding that we use to build our language.  Without it we wouldn't be able to communicate to the depth of our soul.  We really wouldn't be able to really express ourselves with just basic words...you put them together...you get sentences...then you get paragraphs....and grammar allows us to use less words sometimes (in context) to express ourselves better.

I probably just slaughtered the paragraph above, but then again what do I know about English grammar when I'm suppose to just teach Spanish grammar?  Happy Tuesday!

Sunday Ride

I like Sundays. I like taking the day to rest. I like taking the time to go to church and worship God with my friends. Psalm 122:1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Sundays are days that I plan and prepare. I cook and clean a little. I get to hang out with friends and family. I don't work for pay on Sunday any more. Sure, I have work that I bring home to do, but if it doesn't get done by Saturday night then I put it away until Sunday night after church....because I need time to rest. I need time to refocus and recharge. My week is crazy with life so Sunday is a time to reflect and re-energize. To rest. Rest comes in many different ways to many different people. For me and Dave it's sometimes a lazy day that includes a nap. Sometimes it's hanging out and playing with family and friends. Sometimes it's a long ride....bike ride. Sometimes it's a short bike ride (like today) that takes on an adventure of it's own. So on our way back (on a really cool hardpacked mostly gravel trail here in Boise off of Eagle hidden between a subdivision and the river) Dave wanted the longer (and hotter) part of the path, so I took another short cut (well, I thought it was short...ended up being longer). I got to go through a really fun hardpacked dirt path (with 3 big puddles where the river overflowed into the path). I love Sunday rides, whether in a car or on a bike. It gives me time to clear my head so I can take on another week of being on the front lines. Happy Sunday!

Give away, Put away or just plain Throw away!

It started about 2 years ago when Dave wanted me to go with him to a Dave Ramsey class. I didn't want to go AT ALL. But after persuading me that it would be good (and since he was working on our finances) I thought I really should go to be on the same page with him. Since then we've been working on re-ordering our world in many different areas, from finances, to health even to how we run our house. Since then all of our kids have moved out...2 permanently and one is in transition between Bible school and ministry and home (sometimes). We've hosted 3 different wonderful girls from Korea...one is in college this year...and even though we should be empty nesters our daily life is very full of more than just our schedule. We've raised our kids and now we should have time for ourselves, right?

So here I am today, making dinner, while Dave is driving the Charger JV football team to their game. I have two girls here who I need to make sure get dinner and then get their homework done. My days are full of loving my husband, caring for my Korean kiddos, keeping my house running, investing time and energy in my students and my relationships with people in my church.

I am helping my friends from my church go to Togo to help the people there build a hospital. We are going to do a yardsale. I never have success at yardsales, but I know people who do so I thought that this would be something a team could tackle. :)

I've been going through my closets and now I'm getting into my garage to find treasures to donate. In the process I've been putting "lost" treasures away and throwing old/broken treasures away.

I've been thinking about this in terms of a lot of my life lately as I've been re-evaluating my priorities:

GIVE away: What time do I want to invest in others? What clothes do I have to donate to a charity? What money do I want to invest in others? What food do I have that I can share? Maybe I should just invite that lonely friend over for a meal more often?

PUT away: What clutter do I have in my life that just needs to put away? Is it the laundry? Is it the notes that I need to send to encourage a friend?

THROW away: Is it all the emails that just get piled up in my mail box...can I just delete them and not feel guilty? Is it the projects that were started and not finished? Is it .... well just fill in the blank...

It's time for me to get back to studying for the evening. I want to be able to go to bed at a decent time tonight so that I can start my day right tomorrow! I want to be wise in all that I do. I want to invest my life. I want to leave a legacy.