Mother's Day Surprise

I finally get to go home for two days. It is going to be a very short trip but well worth the effort. I had this bright idea to go home for Mother's Day and surprise my mom. I haven't been able to be with her for her special day for the last two years. It can be rather difficult for me to fly home for such short trips. I need the time away and I am sure my mother is going to be completely surprised. I can't wait! So if any of you know my mother please don't tell her!

Train up a Child

Why become a parent if you know that you can't raise a child with character? Let me start off by saying that I am not a parent but have for the last three years been a teacher at Wesleyan Christian Academy in the Cayman Islands.Not that being a teacher gives me the right to say much about having children but hear me out. As a teacher looking on at the students that come into my classroom everyday, I would have to say that most of them are allowed to do whatever they please at home. I have never been able to figure out why a parent would allow their sweet little 5 or 6 year old to make the rules for their home. So why have a child if you know you could never say "No"? Children are not perfect and were not born little angels. It is not the teachers responsibility to train your child up in the way he should go. I believe that was a mandate given by God to parents. Are many parents just ignorant or are they just too caught up in their own lives to realize that a little person is growing up in their home unsupervised? What could be more important than making sure your child isn't the one sitting on the bench everyday at school because he hit another student? It is not the teachers job to make sure your child passes their class every year. Take a little responsibility. Spend some time with them at night and make sure they have their homework done and are ready when it comes time to take the important test to move on the next year. For those of you who read my blog share some ideas of ways I can get my parents more involved. Maybe even some nice ways of telling them they are slacking in the most important job they are ever going to have.

I guess I need to post something since I haven't since the 18 March. Well I have been on spring break so that gives me an excuse. Remember I said I wanted to paint my room. Well that never happened. Instead I worked on the school yearbook for most of the week. There always seems to be more and more to do. I did complete several full page spreads, of which I am very thankful. Now school has resumed and we are back to the normal grind. I made sure I spent lots of time down at the beach so I could work on my tan. The water was quite lovely and very chilly. It was just a nice relaxing week. I even spent a few hours enjoying my favorite talk radio host Glenn Beck. He is incredibly funny and kept me from being to bored. With school resuming this week we have about 9 weeks of actual school days. I cannot wait till June 11 arrives and I can fly back to the states for some much needed r and r.

Spring Break

Spring break can't get here soon enough. We have one and a half days left and I think I am going to go crazy. I had planned on spending the time at home in Indiana but I could never find a ticket cheap enough. So I will be spending my spring break in Cayman this year. Which is probably a good thing because there are so many things I need to get done. I have decided to paint my bedroom. The last three years I have lived in a white room. I am sick of white. I thought maybe I would go with something a little more lively. Possibly even a dark blue but I think that will make my room seem to small. Who knows I might end up painting it neon orange. I will keep you up to speed about that. Maybe even put some pictures of the finished product on my blog Then I need to spend some serious time on the school yearbook. I am co-editor with Mrs. Becky Profitt. It is actually really fun coming up with new ideas for every page. I have been so busy or too tired to give it the time I would like to spend on it though. So I must take the time over break to get as many pages done as possible. So you pray that I get my act together and get my work done and get some much need rest as well.

Snow in Indiana

I must say I have the cutiest niece in the whole world.



"Mom,we are freezing!"

Are we having fun yet?

The snowman that has eyes made out of dog food. Yuck!

How sweet!

Just a little over a month since I was home for a break and they get a foot of snow in Indiana. I knew that as soon as I came back to Cayman it would snow. Must be trying to keep it warm just for me. Anyway, I haven't seen snow in almost three years. As much as I hate winter time I still enjoy a good snowfall once in awhile. So since I can't enjoy the snow my family took care of it for me. Here are a few pictures of their adventures.

New Hobby

Today I spent the afternoon taking a few pictures.
I am trying to come up with a new hobby. It looks
like it might be photograpy. We will keep working
at it and see what happens. I hope you enjoy them.
This first picture is just a boat way off Cayman
shores.

Some beautiful flowers that I thought would be

lovely to photograph.

Fishing anyone? Wesleyan Holiness Church

West Bay Grand Cayman



Such beauty


I could never get enough of this view.


A walk on the beach


Hibiscus Flower-Caymans National Flower


The Tiki House

Rough Seas

Learning How to Score

It is Friday! Whew! It has been a crazy stressful week. There were many times this week I wondered if I was going to survive. Here I am at the end writing this message. If any one knows much about ACE you know that the students score their own work. That is all wonderful until you have to train 5 and 6 year olds how to do that. Just like you don't have to teach them to lie you also do not have to teach them to cheat. It can be a long drawn out process. I have tried a different approach from my first two years and I think maybe it is going to work better. I train each individually and they seem to be getting the hang of it. I guess we will see what happens in the next few weeks. For the most part I am very happy with how the class has performed this year. There are still a few kinks to work out but they have done well. I believe all will be able to move on to the next grade level. God has a way of coming in at just the right time. The students are very good at giving hugs and telling me they love me. For some reason they always seem to hug me when I am upset at them. I think they can sense when I need a hug. I am so thankful for the opportunity to mold their young minds. It is an awesome responsibility and don't take it lightly. I just hope that some how they will never forget that I care about them and want them to succeed.