It is fall break! I had forgotten how lovely school breaks can be. We have really been looking forward to this one. Jonathan and I slept in this morning and were finally pulled out of bed by a windy rainy morning. Well to be honest, I get a little quirky when it is raining and storming outside. I get so excited that I can't sleep any more. So this morning, I made Jonathan get up too. I lit candles all over the house, and then I made him hot chocolate to help him get in the mood of celebrating the RAIN! Though I'm not sure how well my schemes have worked, he is currently settled at his desk in the office happily perusing the internet in the "ambiance" of a candle and steaming hot chocolate...which of course I put there!
(One of my favorite traditions on gloomy days in the fall and dark winter mornings is lighting candles when we get up instead of turning on any lights. This morning it meant rummaging through our storage closet until I could find the tea lights, but it was worth it!)
This last week I did two days of substituting at a different school in their 5th and 6th grade classroom. I got such a kick out of them. They thought they were pulling the fleece over my eyes when I let them arrange their desks however they wanted to, but it sure gave me some powerful leverage to keep them in line when they started goofing off! I only had to issue one warning and they were back to looking like adult learners in a college classroom!
Also, the teacher had asked me to lead a discussion comparing and contrasting the two presidential candidates. (Can you imagine me, having any sort of meaningful political conversation? I feel like I finally got Republicans and Democrats sorted out last year! ) And, I was warned that the class was VERY opinionated...so I wondered how I was going to keep the comments above the belt. Enter my educational ministry class with a cape and red underwear! I remembered we had discused critical thinking and that being able to affirm an aspect of something you don't agree with, or being able to challenge an aspect of something you do agree with are very difficult to do. I thought we would try that in class, though I wan't sure if 5th graders could do that, since most adults can't really either. I was so proud of them, though! We watched a couple clips from a presidential debate, and then each student had to have one affirmation and challenge for each candidate. I put their comments up on the board and moderated the discussion to make sure they were stating more than just their opinion. By the end, we had four colums up on the board. We actually learned a lot about the candidates from each other, by thinking through how their positions were helpful and/or detrimental to the US!
One boy did make an interesting prediction: "If Obama becomes president, we are going to have the third world war with Russia. And since they have so many more nukes than we do, it will probably destroy the whole world. And then Jesus will come back."
. . . OK! . . . and moving right along! . . .
Craft Update:
a little knitted something is finished for a little girly someone who is due to arrive in November in Seattle. It's going in the mail today, so pictures will of course be posted after the recipient gets first looks!
My lovely friend Janelle sent me the most beautiful skeins of baby wool for a sweater for our very own little one. I agonized over the pattern and have started the back.
I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied yet, but I think I need to keep going to find out. It looks like this so far.
My other lovely friend Megan is getting married this Thanksgiving and has asked me to be her matron of honor. I am making my dress. In attempt at thrift, I decided to re-make it from a prom dress I found at Goodwill. So far I have discovered a few pros and cons to this plan.
Pro: You really can't beat $13 for all the fabric you need.
Con: Taking out endless seams on a store made dress is anything but the way you want to start out a sewing project! At two hours in, I have just finished taking out the lining and zipper.
I've never made a maternity dress before. Hopefully the result will not be entitled "Keren, the full-sailed barge billowing down the isle!" I'll keep you updated on my progress.
On that note, my favorite pajama sweater is slowly becoming my pajama "shrug." I think they should invent "favorite" clothes that have the ability to grow with you!
That's all the news I have to report for now.
Our plans for the weekend include: making bread, doing 4+ loads of laundry, going to the Art Museum, catching up on our Covenant Theology reading, starting to study for our Spiritual and Ministry Formation midterm and having friends over for lunch after church on Sunday.
