Saturday, March 14th,
Parent Teacher conferences are today! The appointments are scheduled from 8AM till Noon. Jerry & I met with Miss Springer at 9:30 about Abby. She is doing well. She is struggling a little in her math work and more so in her penmanship. But I think that she has trouble with her small motor skills because she is younger. All in all, we are extremely happy with all that Abby has accomplished with Miss Springer's help!
Mr Bill, Miss Springer, Jerry & I also had meetings in between the conferences. We are reviewing and editing all of the admission materials and procedures, along with preparing information for the teacher training session scheduled for the first of August. After the conferences were over, we all went out to eat together to a Mexican restaurant in Winslow. Boy was the food good! After lunch, I went by the library to pick up a book I had on hold and then we went home.
Sunday, March 15th
This morning, the Lord was with Jerry especially close. He decided to take the cell phone with him on the church bus run. When Miss Springer got to the church this morning, there was a message. Jerry was on his way in, but the red van he was driving was having some severe problems. He was at mile marker 68 and needed someone to come pick up him and the people he had picked up for church. I drove out on the reservation and found the van sitting on the side of the road. The van's front passenger side tire was sitting at an awkward angle. The problem was diagnosed by one of the kids on board. Her dad was a mechanic and she said that the wheel bearing had gone out. There were four people on the bus transport with Jerry, so we all loaded into our pick-up truck and headed back to church. I don't think I mentioned it, but back before Christmas break, one of the white vans had broken down and it was STILL in the shop.
We had a great Sunday School session. We were so late getting back to class that we ate the muffins I had prepared for them and just talked about their lives and took prayer requests. They have really opened up about their families and the need for prayer for their loved ones. I enjoyed it! Jim and Anne have returned from Phoenix and it is very encouraging to see them here!
About three in the afternoon, there is a knock at our door. It is Alan Harrison and his family from Dayspring Christian Church in Colorado. His family is on spring break and they came to spend two nights here with us at the mission. It was inspiring to see his wife Susan and their four children (Michael, Lisa, Kelly and Matthew) giving up their vacation time to work here. After they settled in, they began preparing food for the potluck at Dilkon tonight. Alan was giving the devotion. They rested for a while then we set off for Dilkon Christian Church. We took two cars, because the van was broken down. Lisa and Kelly rode with me and the girls in the truck and Jerry rode in the van with the rest of the Harrison family. It was a beautiful ride to Dilkon, as always. We had an extra treat in store, because Genevieve led us in singing hymns in Navajo. That was really wonderful. I think that may be the key to my learning the Navajo language, using the music. Lisa and Kelly shared a song that went along with Alan's devotion. Alan present his devotion and it was right on target. It was wonderful to hear him speak! Then, we retired to the fellowship hall to enjoy the pork chops Mr Bill had prepared. There was also fry bread, pasta salad, vegetables and apple sauce. The Harrisons had brought Texas (or maybe southwestern?) caviar and some chips and cheese dip. The caviar contained some beans, olives and red onions and other ingredients that I do not recall, but it smelled and tasted wonderful, as did the queso dip. One of the ladies, Verna, was recovering from pneumonia. It seems a lot of people living on the resevation have contracted pneumonia. I hypothesize that the dust storms irritate their lungs and causes the pneumonia. We all traveled back to the mission and the Harrisons spent the night in the "first" hogan, next to the shower house.
Monday, March 16th
Ms. Susan, Lisa and Kelly worked in the library, organizing the non-fiction books and cleaning shelves and removing out dated textbooks. Michael & Alan worked around the property. I am not sure of what all they did, but I know that they fixed the exterior lighting around the hogans and loaded up some garbage to take to the garbage dump. They worked hard! And that night, the Harrison family watched Abby & Kelcy while Jerry and I went into town to have dinner by ourselves. It was such a strange thing, to be without the children. We had a hard time conversing. Ms. Susan told us that we couldn't talk about the mission or our children. It was wonderful to be out together. We REALLY appreciated the opportunity to go out without our children and be adults together. We hadn't done that since December. We kinda of looked at each other a whole lot, having a hard time making conversation, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely! Thank you, Harrison family, for your help of our family and mission on your spring break vacation!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
March 4th through March 12th
Thursday, March 5th
Kelcy goes to class with Miss Springer today! Miss Springer is teaching Kelcy the alphabet and the phonetics of the letters. Kelcy really enjoys getting to go to school with the other kids. She gets her backpack and heads right out on Thursday mornings to sit at her desk and learn. Miss Springer says that Kelcy also repeats the numbers with the Kindergarten when they are counting. The Kindergarten class recites their numbers from 10-100 by tens, and Kelcy does it too. She is three, going on six.
My art class is beginning to work on their projects for the art show. The school art show will be March 27th. We have worked on colors and value, pencil drawing, pencil shading, charcoal drawing, charcoal shading, pastel chalk drawing, and next week we work on watercolor painting. My kids are very artistically talented and it is so fun to help them practice and learn just how good they are!
Sunday, March 8th
The church service went well today. I have a steady class that includes at least 4 children each week, between the classes of first grade and 7th grade. They enjoy a challenge and I have to work hard to keep them busy sometimes. They all like to read the Bible scriptures and will volunteer to do so very quickly. We are finishing up a lesson set on Paul and will begin a new set in two weeks.
Mr. Bill and I created a bulletin for the church service today. He gave me his sermon notes and the song service order and I used Publisher to create a Bulletin and added in the prayer request and praise pages. It was fun. Jerry said that he needed to be my editor from now on. He thought that the font was not large enough!
Monday, March 9th
Music class is going very well. Nate is doing great on the drums and Merritza is doing great on the piano and guitar. Adam just passed his keyboard test and now is beginning to learn the guitar. The smaller children are all learning the keyboard and how to read music. It is amazing how quickly they can pick it up! The Navajo children seem to have a special affinity for the musical expression.
Tuesday, March 10th
We got rain today! I mention this, because the last time I remember getting rain at the mission was at the end of November.
Thursday, March 12th
We learned about watercolor painting in art class today. Nate did really well in the new medium. He is a little hesitant at expressing himself artistically, probably because he is a teenage young man and afraid to be ostracized by his peers. When he does work with the color, he does really well. Kelcy did pretty good too. I painted a tree trunk for her and she added some green leaves, a blue sky and some orange around the base (I think she was going for the sunset). It turned out really well.
After school today, Jerry decided we should go for a drive. He has been asking me to get him a Indian Country Map so that we can go exploring on the reservation for several months now. I have failed to obtain this for him and now he has given up. He said that we may get lost, but it would be my fault! He was kidding, I think. So, after school we set off. We drove down onto the reservation for a few miles, then turned off on Route 2. It is a washboard dirt road. If you any of you are not familiar with a washboard, it was/is used to wash clothes. The process was to get your clothes wet and soaped up, then scrub them on the washboard, then rinse. A washboard is not level and flat. It has grooves for scrubbing. This road was like that. Abby & Kelcy were making noises and hearing the sound vibrate with the vibrations of the vehicle. We discovered the Navajo reservation as Tony Hillerman describes it in his popular detective novels. There were small roads that went off into the desert where we could not see any habitation. There were also roads that led off into the desert where we COULD see the hogan that was FAR off the road. The sand changed as we traveled from hard baked earth with cracks in it to light sand that had blown into sand dunes. Next, there were rocky/sandy hills of the Painted Desert. Kelcy fell asleep on the washboard road. Perhaps it was the hum of the tires on the bumpy road, or the vibrations lulled her to sleep. Either way, I looked back to see her head leaning over to the side, asleep. Abby was worried, because she knew that we didn't know exactly where the road led. She kept asking if we were lost.
We saw lots of empty liquor bottles and beer bottles lying on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There were stripped cars and bags of garbage on the side of the road as well. At one point, there were large trees, just out of nowhere. I think they ran along the dry river bed where the Little Colorado runs at some times of the year. It was neat to see tall trees. I was delighted to see that a couple of houses had solar panels for electricity. There were no electric lines to these houses. They either had a windmill for water and electricity or they had solar panels, or they had no water or electricity. We came to a fork in the road, where the washboard continued on left and to the right was an asphalt highway. I chose the asphalt highway. We headed on this road at a faster pace. We were on the washboard for right at an hour. We soon reached Winslow. Jerry was right, the road did lead to Winslow eventually. When we go there, the weather turned violent. The truck was battered with first sleet, and then pretty large hail. That was an amazing sight! We drove on back home to find that there was no precipitation at the mission. Although, it did end up raining some later that evening.
Thursday, March 5th
Kelcy goes to class with Miss Springer today! Miss Springer is teaching Kelcy the alphabet and the phonetics of the letters. Kelcy really enjoys getting to go to school with the other kids. She gets her backpack and heads right out on Thursday mornings to sit at her desk and learn. Miss Springer says that Kelcy also repeats the numbers with the Kindergarten when they are counting. The Kindergarten class recites their numbers from 10-100 by tens, and Kelcy does it too. She is three, going on six.
My art class is beginning to work on their projects for the art show. The school art show will be March 27th. We have worked on colors and value, pencil drawing, pencil shading, charcoal drawing, charcoal shading, pastel chalk drawing, and next week we work on watercolor painting. My kids are very artistically talented and it is so fun to help them practice and learn just how good they are!
Sunday, March 8th
The church service went well today. I have a steady class that includes at least 4 children each week, between the classes of first grade and 7th grade. They enjoy a challenge and I have to work hard to keep them busy sometimes. They all like to read the Bible scriptures and will volunteer to do so very quickly. We are finishing up a lesson set on Paul and will begin a new set in two weeks.
Mr. Bill and I created a bulletin for the church service today. He gave me his sermon notes and the song service order and I used Publisher to create a Bulletin and added in the prayer request and praise pages. It was fun. Jerry said that he needed to be my editor from now on. He thought that the font was not large enough!
Monday, March 9th
Music class is going very well. Nate is doing great on the drums and Merritza is doing great on the piano and guitar. Adam just passed his keyboard test and now is beginning to learn the guitar. The smaller children are all learning the keyboard and how to read music. It is amazing how quickly they can pick it up! The Navajo children seem to have a special affinity for the musical expression.
Tuesday, March 10th
We got rain today! I mention this, because the last time I remember getting rain at the mission was at the end of November.
Thursday, March 12th
We learned about watercolor painting in art class today. Nate did really well in the new medium. He is a little hesitant at expressing himself artistically, probably because he is a teenage young man and afraid to be ostracized by his peers. When he does work with the color, he does really well. Kelcy did pretty good too. I painted a tree trunk for her and she added some green leaves, a blue sky and some orange around the base (I think she was going for the sunset). It turned out really well.
After school today, Jerry decided we should go for a drive. He has been asking me to get him a Indian Country Map so that we can go exploring on the reservation for several months now. I have failed to obtain this for him and now he has given up. He said that we may get lost, but it would be my fault! He was kidding, I think. So, after school we set off. We drove down onto the reservation for a few miles, then turned off on Route 2. It is a washboard dirt road. If you any of you are not familiar with a washboard, it was/is used to wash clothes. The process was to get your clothes wet and soaped up, then scrub them on the washboard, then rinse. A washboard is not level and flat. It has grooves for scrubbing. This road was like that. Abby & Kelcy were making noises and hearing the sound vibrate with the vibrations of the vehicle. We discovered the Navajo reservation as Tony Hillerman describes it in his popular detective novels. There were small roads that went off into the desert where we could not see any habitation. There were also roads that led off into the desert where we COULD see the hogan that was FAR off the road. The sand changed as we traveled from hard baked earth with cracks in it to light sand that had blown into sand dunes. Next, there were rocky/sandy hills of the Painted Desert. Kelcy fell asleep on the washboard road. Perhaps it was the hum of the tires on the bumpy road, or the vibrations lulled her to sleep. Either way, I looked back to see her head leaning over to the side, asleep. Abby was worried, because she knew that we didn't know exactly where the road led. She kept asking if we were lost.
We saw lots of empty liquor bottles and beer bottles lying on the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There were stripped cars and bags of garbage on the side of the road as well. At one point, there were large trees, just out of nowhere. I think they ran along the dry river bed where the Little Colorado runs at some times of the year. It was neat to see tall trees. I was delighted to see that a couple of houses had solar panels for electricity. There were no electric lines to these houses. They either had a windmill for water and electricity or they had solar panels, or they had no water or electricity. We came to a fork in the road, where the washboard continued on left and to the right was an asphalt highway. I chose the asphalt highway. We headed on this road at a faster pace. We were on the washboard for right at an hour. We soon reached Winslow. Jerry was right, the road did lead to Winslow eventually. When we go there, the weather turned violent. The truck was battered with first sleet, and then pretty large hail. That was an amazing sight! We drove on back home to find that there was no precipitation at the mission. Although, it did end up raining some later that evening.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Two weeks and Two Abbys!
February 15th thru March 4th, 2009
I can’t believe it has been over two weeks since I updated this. Time really is flying here! Monday, February 16th school was closed in honor of President’s Day. If any kids are reading this, even the Winslow public schools were closed in honor of President’s Day. It was nice to see such a patriotic stance. The Post Office and Library were also closed. Our family drove into Flagstaff this day to do some shopping. Flag (as it is known here) had about 2 feet of snow on the ground? There were kids riding sleds all over the place. Jerry went to one of the teacher supply stores in Flag and purchased supplies for some science experiments that his classes will be doing. I went into the “Michael’s” store and purchased art supplies! Thank you, Ms. Alford, for the gift card from “Michael’s”! I purchased charcoal pencils and erasers, some canvas board, some watercolor paper and pastel chalk. I was very excited for my classes to begin using the new art supplies!
Upon our return from Flag, Mr. Bill was waiting for Jerry. They were planning to remove the furnace from the library building, as it was no longer functioning. They accomplished this goal very quickly! On February 21st Mr. Bill and Jerry installed the new furnace in the library and it works great! Thanks guys, it was a little cold in there during story hour!
After school on Friday, February 20th , we loaded up and drove over to a relatively local state park called “Homolovi Ruins State Park”. Jerry had heard that because of low funds this was one of eight state parks in Arizona that may be closing very soon, so we thought we would go to see it just in case.
We drove past Winslow and took the exit toward Second Mesa, then turned left. A short distance from the highway was the sign for the park, so we turned in. We drove past the camp grounds and to the “Homolovi Ruins I” site. We were all very excited. We went hiking up the trail, showing the girls how to follow the colored ribbons to stay on the path. The path was designed to allow visitors to walk among the ruins, but not ON them. These ruins were not very exciting at first glance, but when we got to the top of the hill and saw the view that the ancestors of the Hopis saw, we were impressed. The ruins is located at a bend in the Little Colorado river. The river bank is white and sandy and beautiful, it resembled a beautiful beach. I could see why these people had chosen to live in this area—availability of water, higher ground for scouting game and a beautiful view. Of course, there is a sign warning visitors not to walk on the river bank because of quicksand. Quicksand! I didn’t know we had that in the United States.
Next we went to the visitor’s center and met the ranger assigned to this park. He was very nice, even though it was quickly approaching closing time. The visitor’s center had a lot of Hopi art, including pottery and blankets. Next we drove back into the “Homolovi II” ruins. We all walked up a hill and enjoyed looking at the remaining signs of occupation. It was a beautiful area and one of the highest points in the area. Even though we were there for only two hours, it felt like we were on vacation!
Thursday, February 26th the Winslow Health Center was here and measured the Body Mass Index (BMI) for each of the school children. Abby was on the low side of normal and Kelcy was under-weight. The kids each got a sheet detailing the results of their BMI and a pamphlet promoting healthy eating and exercise. We really appreciate all the work that the Winslow Health Center does!
Today, my art class started using the pastel chalk. We were drawing a still life of fruit and then they were to color or finish it by using the pastel chalk. They were excited to use the chalk and they did a great job!
Monday, March 2nd
We found out that four of our students (one family) were transferring to another school. This was a hard day. Everyone, including the school kids, were disappointed to see them go. Two of the children were in Abby’s class and she has really been stressed about this situation. I think the way the children keep leaving really creates in her a sense of instability. I can’t imagine what it is like for the children who will be starting at different school for the third time this school year.
Tonight we had our staff meeting for March. We had a lot to talk about. There will be an art show at the end of March, complete with ribbons! We are also looking forward to our first visitors of this year. We have two groups set to arrive in March. Then at the end of March is Spring Break.
Tuesday, March 3rd Winslow Dental came out to the school with their rolling dentist’s office and cleaned and sealed all of the school kids teeth. It is so great to see this kind of service provided for the school! Thank you, Winslow Dental!
Most of you probably wonder about the weather here. We had the snow day a few weeks ago, but since then we have had abundant sunshine and warm weather, sometimes as high as 85 degrees already. However, the wind stays with us constantly. We have already had two sand storms this year and the Flint Boys are starting their mischief. Navajo legend says that the Blue Flint Boys are responsible for the Dust Devils. Today, March 4, I can feel the floor move in my office as the wind gusts outside. We are encircled by a sand storm, but the dust here is not blowing too badly. The sky to the east of us is red with the sand floating in the air. I guess March is coming in like a Lion.
Abby & Kelcy and I have been going into town on Saturdays to visit a local playground. The girls have made lots of new friends since we started going, but one in particular stands out. We were visiting the park and two young ladies came into the playground area. The older looked to be eight or nine years old and the younger looked about three or four years old. Abby practically ran over to the younger sister and, using her manners, asked the young ladies name. The young lady replied that her name was “Abby”. After that, they were inseparable. The look Abby’s face was so sweet! Kelcy came to tell me that there were two “Abbys” and that the new Abby was her friend. They played well together for quite a while. The time came for us to leave. As we told the new Abby that we had to go, she shared that her mother and father were both in jail. I told her that I was very sorry about that. We promised that we would try to return the next Saturday, if weather permitted. On the way home, the girls asked questions about why the girls parents would be in jail and I told them that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she is your friend. On the way home, Kelcy also said, "I wish there was two Abbys AND two Kelcys at the park today." We did return to the park the next Saturday, but found no sign of the new Abby or her sister. I hope you will all say a prayer for these two girls.
Church continues to do well. March 1st was the pot luck here at Red Sands and we had twenty-three in attendance, I think. Mr. Bill brought hams, Miss Springer brought rolls and banana bread and scalloped potatoes and I brought baked beans and salad. Some of the Navajo people brought fry bread, chips and salsa, drinks and cookies to share. I had a Sunday school class of six children today. They were a little rambunctious, but some of them were really paying attention to the lesson!
The pot luck at Dilkon has been moved this month, from the second Sunday to the third Sunday of the month. I look forward to traveling over there, as always! I also look forward to the return of our friends, Jim and Anne. They should arrive back here around March 15th.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this update, but I completed it very quickly, with no editing.
I can’t believe it has been over two weeks since I updated this. Time really is flying here! Monday, February 16th school was closed in honor of President’s Day. If any kids are reading this, even the Winslow public schools were closed in honor of President’s Day. It was nice to see such a patriotic stance. The Post Office and Library were also closed. Our family drove into Flagstaff this day to do some shopping. Flag (as it is known here) had about 2 feet of snow on the ground? There were kids riding sleds all over the place. Jerry went to one of the teacher supply stores in Flag and purchased supplies for some science experiments that his classes will be doing. I went into the “Michael’s” store and purchased art supplies! Thank you, Ms. Alford, for the gift card from “Michael’s”! I purchased charcoal pencils and erasers, some canvas board, some watercolor paper and pastel chalk. I was very excited for my classes to begin using the new art supplies!
Upon our return from Flag, Mr. Bill was waiting for Jerry. They were planning to remove the furnace from the library building, as it was no longer functioning. They accomplished this goal very quickly! On February 21st Mr. Bill and Jerry installed the new furnace in the library and it works great! Thanks guys, it was a little cold in there during story hour!
After school on Friday, February 20th , we loaded up and drove over to a relatively local state park called “Homolovi Ruins State Park”. Jerry had heard that because of low funds this was one of eight state parks in Arizona that may be closing very soon, so we thought we would go to see it just in case.
We drove past Winslow and took the exit toward Second Mesa, then turned left. A short distance from the highway was the sign for the park, so we turned in. We drove past the camp grounds and to the “Homolovi Ruins I” site. We were all very excited. We went hiking up the trail, showing the girls how to follow the colored ribbons to stay on the path. The path was designed to allow visitors to walk among the ruins, but not ON them. These ruins were not very exciting at first glance, but when we got to the top of the hill and saw the view that the ancestors of the Hopis saw, we were impressed. The ruins is located at a bend in the Little Colorado river. The river bank is white and sandy and beautiful, it resembled a beautiful beach. I could see why these people had chosen to live in this area—availability of water, higher ground for scouting game and a beautiful view. Of course, there is a sign warning visitors not to walk on the river bank because of quicksand. Quicksand! I didn’t know we had that in the United States.
Next we went to the visitor’s center and met the ranger assigned to this park. He was very nice, even though it was quickly approaching closing time. The visitor’s center had a lot of Hopi art, including pottery and blankets. Next we drove back into the “Homolovi II” ruins. We all walked up a hill and enjoyed looking at the remaining signs of occupation. It was a beautiful area and one of the highest points in the area. Even though we were there for only two hours, it felt like we were on vacation!
Thursday, February 26th the Winslow Health Center was here and measured the Body Mass Index (BMI) for each of the school children. Abby was on the low side of normal and Kelcy was under-weight. The kids each got a sheet detailing the results of their BMI and a pamphlet promoting healthy eating and exercise. We really appreciate all the work that the Winslow Health Center does!
Today, my art class started using the pastel chalk. We were drawing a still life of fruit and then they were to color or finish it by using the pastel chalk. They were excited to use the chalk and they did a great job!
Monday, March 2nd
We found out that four of our students (one family) were transferring to another school. This was a hard day. Everyone, including the school kids, were disappointed to see them go. Two of the children were in Abby’s class and she has really been stressed about this situation. I think the way the children keep leaving really creates in her a sense of instability. I can’t imagine what it is like for the children who will be starting at different school for the third time this school year.
Tonight we had our staff meeting for March. We had a lot to talk about. There will be an art show at the end of March, complete with ribbons! We are also looking forward to our first visitors of this year. We have two groups set to arrive in March. Then at the end of March is Spring Break.
Tuesday, March 3rd Winslow Dental came out to the school with their rolling dentist’s office and cleaned and sealed all of the school kids teeth. It is so great to see this kind of service provided for the school! Thank you, Winslow Dental!
Most of you probably wonder about the weather here. We had the snow day a few weeks ago, but since then we have had abundant sunshine and warm weather, sometimes as high as 85 degrees already. However, the wind stays with us constantly. We have already had two sand storms this year and the Flint Boys are starting their mischief. Navajo legend says that the Blue Flint Boys are responsible for the Dust Devils. Today, March 4, I can feel the floor move in my office as the wind gusts outside. We are encircled by a sand storm, but the dust here is not blowing too badly. The sky to the east of us is red with the sand floating in the air. I guess March is coming in like a Lion.
Abby & Kelcy and I have been going into town on Saturdays to visit a local playground. The girls have made lots of new friends since we started going, but one in particular stands out. We were visiting the park and two young ladies came into the playground area. The older looked to be eight or nine years old and the younger looked about three or four years old. Abby practically ran over to the younger sister and, using her manners, asked the young ladies name. The young lady replied that her name was “Abby”. After that, they were inseparable. The look Abby’s face was so sweet! Kelcy came to tell me that there were two “Abbys” and that the new Abby was her friend. They played well together for quite a while. The time came for us to leave. As we told the new Abby that we had to go, she shared that her mother and father were both in jail. I told her that I was very sorry about that. We promised that we would try to return the next Saturday, if weather permitted. On the way home, the girls asked questions about why the girls parents would be in jail and I told them that it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she is your friend. On the way home, Kelcy also said, "I wish there was two Abbys AND two Kelcys at the park today." We did return to the park the next Saturday, but found no sign of the new Abby or her sister. I hope you will all say a prayer for these two girls.
Church continues to do well. March 1st was the pot luck here at Red Sands and we had twenty-three in attendance, I think. Mr. Bill brought hams, Miss Springer brought rolls and banana bread and scalloped potatoes and I brought baked beans and salad. Some of the Navajo people brought fry bread, chips and salsa, drinks and cookies to share. I had a Sunday school class of six children today. They were a little rambunctious, but some of them were really paying attention to the lesson!
The pot luck at Dilkon has been moved this month, from the second Sunday to the third Sunday of the month. I look forward to traveling over there, as always! I also look forward to the return of our friends, Jim and Anne. They should arrive back here around March 15th.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this update, but I completed it very quickly, with no editing.
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