What they don't teach you in Teacher training classes... God is faithful!

Yesterday was one of those "baptism by fire" days. Public school teachers joke about these kind of days that happen to student teachers, but I had hoped I'd left these kind of days behind me when I finished student teaching. Apparently not...

What started out as a kinda crazy day of changing classrooms bouncing between two teachers' rooms turned into a day where I wished I could just hide in one and lock the door.

Everything was going fine until 2nd period. The announcements are being read over the intercom system and one of my students asked the others in the class if they've heard of this book called "Death Note" where you can write the name of people you want to die and how they will die and when they will die. The kids start discussing how that is twisted and sick and all the "normal responses" you would expect. All except one senior. He proceeds to tell the class that not only does he know about it, he has one... WITH him in class. He then pulls it out. I demanded to see the book and noticed he'd written the name of several students that had been in my class earlier this week. The book was one you could purchase in the store and it has rules and everything printed in the front of it. Soo creepy. It's based off an Anime movie.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have given the book back to him, but I'd never been in that situation before. I was faced with the decision whether or not to take it and then essentially be added as a victim to his list (which in and of itself isn't scary, but what if he tried to carry it out?!) or wait until after class and then report it and he wouldn't know it was me. I chose the latter. He was then taken to the Principal's office and spent the day there.
The evil involved just sent shivers down my spine. Whether or not he really was going to carry out the writings, the fact he'd written it creeped me out. I knew I wasn't battling men, but rather spiritual forces as I watched him the rest of the period. The look in his eyes and the way he was acting just made it all real.

I got through the next few periods just by knowing he was going to be in the office. Then 6th period the power goes out. At first I didn't know if it was just my building or the whole school. We later found out it was like the whole town, a transformer blew, but it was chaotic none the less. I had to keep my 6th period students for an hour and a half until power came back on. I was doing fine, until some of my students (who didn't know what had happened earlier in the day) say, "If I was going to attack a school, I'd cut the power first b/c the intercom doesn't seem to be working." Another chimed in "yeah, isolate the victims!" I just wanted to run out and scream! So of course the first thing my mind goes to is (I knew it was irrational, but..) what if this is an attack.. A plot to carry out the lists. What if he found out it was me?! Thankfully one of my good friends was in the classroom next door. Not long afterwards the intercom comes on announcing that not only is it not just our school without power but also multiple blocks of the city. (this curbed both fears)

I got home and was emotionally spent after such a long day.
But God wasn't through testing my nerves! :) We then had two 3.something earthquakes. Charlie and I rode them both out and the couch unharmed, but by the end of the night, I was exhausted and worried I wouldn't sleep.
I opened my Bible seeking comfort and turned to Joshua. God's promise in Joshua 1:9 gave me the comfort I needed to sleep that night.
This morning presented its own challenge when I got to school I was the same teacher I was yesterday and there was the possibility he'd be in my class. I was trying to just remember God was in control, and as 2nd period approached I began reading blogs while the kids worked on their projects to help get my mind off the possible awkward uncomfortable situation in the next class. A family friend Sandy, who often has amazing spiritual insight in her blogs wrote about the hymn "Great is thy Faithfulness". Reading the words of the hymn and the devotional in her blog made me remember that God's faithfulness is indeed new every morning. Thankfully the young man was NOT in my class.
I'm glad it's Friday and that my week is finally over.

The Gifts of Diplomacy

So as we enter into this new administration of CHANGE, one of the first changes that was made in the White House was apparently the quality of gifts given to visiting dignitaries both at home and abroad. While I realize gifts given vary, and there are no hard and fast rules about gift giving to foreign dignitaries. However, one would assume that since Britain is an important ally for us, we would want to give them impressive or symbolic, even sentimental gifts to mark the historic alliance of this new administration. Apparently not..
When Prime Minister Brown came to visit last month, the reception the Brits were met with was not as cordial as had been the custom of previous administrations. While Brown brought with him an array of sentimental, and historical gifts, Obama returned the gifts with a feeble attempt at gift giving. The British article below says it all. If you think about the fact that Brown's pen holder is made out of wood from an anti-slave ship, and Obama is our first black president, it is a largely sentimental gift. However, we return England's throughfulness with a collection of our 25 best films, which if you check out the list, I think some of those movies selected could have been better. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/mar/06/obama-dvd-brown

Now many people could say.. so it was the first real meeting.. Give them a break, they'll get the gift giving thing down. After all the flack they received from both sides of the Atlantic, you'd think the gift the Obamas would give the Queen would be something sensational.And so the White House has had a month to think long and hard about what would be appropriate to give the Queen. (I know the Obamas do not pick their own gifts for dignitaries) so a month has come and gone, and now its time for the G20, and the meeting of the Queen.

When I think of sensational IPod definately tops my list! They gave the Queen a gift that could easily be picked up at any local Best Buy! Yes, it was personalized with songs and pictures, but in reality I could do the same for any good friends if I wanted.. Ok seriously.. the person picking these gifts needs to find a new job or needs to discover GOOGLE.. It does wonders for you, as a smart 7th grader informed me this week! Now the Queen gave a standard gift that she gives to all dignitaries, now you may say who wants a signed picture of the Queen of England, but remember, you can't just pick that up at your local store.Even the NY Times is jumping on board this one.. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/world/europe/02ipod.html

Now you may say, Bush gave some dumb gifts too, but I looked up what the Bush administration gave to the Royals when they came in 2007 to celebrate the founding of Jamestown..
as from http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2009/04/obama_gives_queen_an_ipod_seri.php

"President and Mrs. Bush gave Her Majesty a bronze statuette "High Desert Princess" with a personal inscription on the bottom of the base. It is a replica of the original life size statue that is located in front of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas.
President and Mrs. Bush gave The Prince Philip an exclusive sterling silver eagle box by Tiffany & Co. with personal inscription on the inside lid.
President and Mrs. Bush gave Their Majesties a leather presentation box filled with a collection of documents from the National Archives. One of the items was a copy of an original letter from President Roosevelt to her father, King George, written in 1938. There were also photos from previous royal visits and a DVD of the footage from the Queen's visit to the United States when she was Princess Elizabeth in 1951."

Now that's a sentimental gift!
Someone please bring back that gift organizer!!

Just some of the CHANGE we are beginning to see in our national policy.