This too shall pass...

I had to tell this to myself last week. Without going into details, I can tell you that last week was one of the hardest weeks of my life--definately the hardest of my career. I felt very used, manipulated, and persecuted. Even though I did everything that I could to fix the situation, this parent still came to my class with a piece of paper and a pen to try to find fault in anything that I did.

Lessons that I learned:

1. How to pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

2. It's hard to love your enemies.

3. Just because someone is quiet doesn't mean that they are nice.

4. It's what a person does once they are offended or mad that shows their real character.

5. Some people don't know what it means to be Christian.

6. I have a pretty nice life. (I already knew this one.)

Today was the first day that I taught this student's class without her mother there... Oh how it felt nice. Hopefully, this nightmare is over....

Anyways... Here are a couple of highlights from this past week in Dennis's life.

This video Dennis eats his rice cereal all by himself!

Unfortunately, the next morning he screamed for an hour and a half... so either his stomach isn't ready for rice cereal or he is alergic... hmm... what do you think?

I thought that Dennis was wearing the cutest outfit today, so I took a couple of pictures. I LOVE dressing him. Some mornings we go through 3 outfits just finding what I want him to wear. He doesn't seem to mind unless it cuts into his meal time.

notice the matching huskey dogs. Buster and Bruno were intimidated to say the least.

I LOVE THIS BOY!

Paradise Lost

I wish I could tell you how happy and wonderful things are in the post that marks my debut into the blogger world. Unfortunately I'm just writing because I'm pissed off and want you and Rita to know that I'm mad on her behalf.

Rita's been dealing with a difficult parent for the past week. To sum up my understanding: the daughter was offended by Rita last year (no, not Dec. 2008, we're talking like Dec. 2007) and never said anything to indicate this to Rita but has been feeding her mom crap ever since then.

Yesterday Rita met with the parent and went way out of her way to pacify her. Rita thought they came to some agreement about things Rita would work on to fix the situation. The effort of talking with this lady left Rita in tears once the conversation was over. Unfortunately, the woman, without giving any indication that she had been unsatisfied yesterday, decided to go to the district office and complain about Rita further.

Here is my unbiased perspective on the situation: Rita is a wonderful teacher that reaches the majority of students in a very special way. The parent is over-sensitive, incredibly rude, mean-spirited, and cowardly (if leaving a meeting as if things are all right and going up the ladder the next day isn't cowardly, I don't know what is). Unfortunately, she seems to be raising a daughter to fit the mold. The sad thing is, this parent teaches high school math so you'd think she would have at least a little empathy.

the rolls in action

...and the litle one said, "roll over, roll over"....

...so they all rolled over and one fell off....

Yes! Yesterday Dennis rolled over!

He is also starting to eat rice cereal... I'm not sure how much he likes it yet.

Cinema 8

Watch this new thriller based in the cozy living room. The big giant Dennis comes through with unstoppable force to attack all of the stuffed bears. The bear's friends try to distract the giant but he flings them off of his platform. Nothing can stop this giant's determination. Don't worry gals--no furry things were hurt during this filming.

This one is a comedy with a wierd twist. You have to see it to get what I mean. It ends up not that funny after all--I think the acting wasn't that great.

100 years

1909 was the year that my great-grandfather's sister was born--Margaret Kobs (she is the youngest in the picture above- my great grandpa is the young one on the left). She never got married but was the best aunt to all of her nieces and nephews (my grandpa). Then, she was the best great-aunt to all of her grand nieces and nephews (my mom). Then, she was the best great-great aunt to all of her great-grand nieces and nephews (me). And now, she is the best great-great-great aunt to all of her great-great grand nieces and nephews (dennis). She really is a remarkable lady. She would organize a family reunion for ALL of her family every summer (the kobs picnic) and they still get together. Every birthday we would get a $2 bill in the mail from her. She would often come to our sporting events. (hockey games, figure skating shows, volleyball games) And, she is going to turn 100 this year. Soooo many things have happened in the past 100 years. I bet she has quite a perspective on life. I wish that we could see her more often. Even though she never had a family of her own- she has the biggest family I have ever seen- covering generations.

Dennis is wearing the special outfit that came in the mail from her today and he looks soooo adorable. Thanks Aunt Margie!

Broken hearts to mend.

At school on Tuesday, one of my classes threw an inauguration party and we watched BET's news report after the inauguration. Everything was about race (obviously because it was BET)... that we picked a president because he was black, etc. It bothered me that it was that big of a deal that voting was because of race and not issues... but then I started to imagine what it was like for some of these people. I have students in my class whose grandparents lived in a segregated country. They lived through racism. Its so distant to me that I forget that it wasn't that long ago when blacks and whites couldn't go to school together, when blacks were thought of as less than whites. And, it is still so real to so many people. I think that many blacks make choices that they do because they still feel the ripple effect of a segregated America. And, I believe that this is a great step in healing their hearts. America is a pretty amazing place and we are just going to get better. We voted for a Black president with the middle name Hussein. Pretty awesome.