I loved our trip

Here is the lovely view from little whiteface last week.

Stag Brook Falls at the bottom of Whiteface Mountain.

Martha and I at the top of Mount Jo.

At a coffee shop in Lake Placid that overlooks Mirror Lake.

I love summer

This summer has been wonderful and I don't want it to end! I love not having to plan lessons and not feeling stressed about being prepared for classes. I love the sunshine and the freedom. I love nature and the lake near my house.

There are only a few more weeks left. The Adirondacks will be visited  this weekend. Looking forward to taking Martha there. It will be wonderful.

Goodbye DeWitt

I only have 4 more days working at DeWitt Road Elementary School. I have loved it there. No job in sight for me for the fall.

May Day Boost

I'm a little late posting this but got this bouquet of flowers for May Day from some students! It was the boost that I needed.

Boat Houses on Icy Canandaigua Lake

Mom and Aunt Margie

This wasn't the picture I was going to post here, but I found it in my files and decided to do it. This was just taken in December.

Her Ride Arrived

The other night while my mother sat at the dinner table, she asked my sister and brother-in-law if someone would be coming to take her home.  Her dementia had been increasing during the last week and my sister tried to tell her that she would be staying there for the night (she has lived with them for the last 3 1/2 years.)  It turned out that this time she was right.  The Lord came in the early hours of yesterday and personally ushered her home.
(Welcome home, Mom-I love you)

I hadn't realized how similar my post was to my sister's.  For a more complete story click here.

Staying Away From Edges

It was a cold day...but not as cold as it has been. It has come to my attention that I have not been living a very balanced life and I'm going to try to better. I've been on break this week, but went into into school Friday to do a little work. I was a bit stressed out. I was greeted by C, an older black man who is a custodian at my school. I have also discovered that he is a Christian. He immediately could tell that I was a bit stressed. He told me to trust The Lord...that The Lord has everything in his control and that The Lord has a plan.  He told me that he would pray for me. He also mentioned getting exercise and eating right. Ummmm. How did he know?
I felt such a release of tension. C is right. I need to trust The Lord. I have been giving the enemy a foothold. Today, my devotional was perfect....naturally it was on the same theme that The Lord has been whispering to me for months. If you ever read Jesus Calling then you know that it talked about the pitfall of self pity. It is a pit that is deep and once you are in there, it is hard to get out of it. It is best to stay away from its edges, which crumble easily.  If you get too near the edge, down you go. The enemy knows that this time of year is especially hard for me and he loves reminding me of sad things that have happened in the past and about people that I have loved and lost. I get too close to the edge and WHOOOSH! Down I go. I need to hold onto The Lord and the lifeline that He is. I need to hold onto His truth.
With that in mind, I went for a wonderful walk from my house to Canandaigua Lake. (Only about 2 miles) I walked all along the edge of it in Kershaw Park and then on the pier. This year the lake froze end to end. It only does that about once every 7 years or so. I missed my opportunity to actually walk out onto it earlier this week when it was still about -4. It is probably still pretty solid in the center...but was thawing on the edges. I wasn't about to test it. It was good for me to get out in the sunshine. Jesus, sunshine, exercise and watching that I don't eat the wrong things....those are good things.

Oh...and staying away from edges!

Caldecott Contender Peruse and Reading to Self in the Library

 I finally am posting.  I am enjoying my job as a librarian at an elementary school.  All week the kids have been perusing Caldecott contenders. Each student got a chance to vote for what they thought would be a winner.  After voting, students got a chance to "read to self" which is what the students in these pictures are doing.

Which one will win? No one knows for sure, but favorites at our school included Mr Wuffles, written and illustrated by David Wiesner, and The Matchbox Diary written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.
On Monday, the winners of this award and others will be announced by the American Library Association.

Trying out my new iPad air that I got for Christmas. I will eventually figure it out.

MerryChristmas, everyone!

Getting Ready

This is going to be very brief.

It has been very busy in the library trying to get settled.  I have made great strides in turning it into a workable space.  I have also made progress on getting the library cards ready.  Thankfully I had a little help yesterday with that.

I have begun processing the new books...have a long way to go, but luckily it is not a priority.

My real break though in getting prepared for this school year came in the form of an email from the lead librarian at another elementary school in the district.  It included her cell phone number and the encouragement to call her with any questions I had.  That was an absolute godsend to me!  She came over to the school and spent about 4 hours with me helping to get me started.

Life Changes Rather Quickly

My entire life has changed in less than one week.  On Friday (8/16), sometime while I was hiking in the wilderness in the Adirondack Mts (see above photo taken from Bald Mountain near Old Forge, NY), I received a phone call from a school district looking for a last minute LT sub who would be willing to work until about February. I was out of range of course and hadn't even brought my cell phone with me, but I got the message on my home phone at about 11:00 pm.

To make a long story short, I got the job.  In less than a week, I have gotten a job as a LT substitute school librarian.  I'm excited, but also nervous. It is a k-5 school in the very district that I grew up in.

I finally got a chance to get in to the school yesterday.  I was surprised, but not shocked to see that the library was a bit "turned upside down." Apparently, the staff needed another space for someone to use so they opted to eliminate the library office.  So they emptied the office, putting it's contents onto carts and such and crowded it all around the circulation desk. Eeeeek!  My first task is to make the library a usable space.  Luckily my principal was wonderful enough to help me figure out what to do with some of the things.  It has a long way to go though.  I do hope that at least one of my library aides can help me with organizing in a cute and attractive yet functional way.  I feel a bit overwhelmed by it, especially when I have other matters to attend to!

Task 1: Make library space usable. (This might be ongoing for a bit)

Task 2: Make sure that the library cards are all ready for the kids.  I am thankful that a woman named Sally from Monroe BOCES will be coming on Tuesday morning to help me with Follet Destiny.  While I have used it before and have figured out many things on my own, I feel like the task of getting ready with efficiency calls for a little more instruction.

Task 3: Plan lessons for 1st week. Includes deciding on class routines, etc.

Task 4: Compose introduction letter to the teachers.

Task 5: Start processing the new box of books that was shipped to the school over the summer and catalog and process the dedicated books.

That is what I need to work on.  I am truly thankful that I have some library help.  Apparently I have two part time library aides (One comes in the morning, the other in the afternoon).

Also, ironically, the LT sub that I am replacing was offered a full time position in Greece.  I believe that it is very likely that she is going to be working in the same library I just finished working at.  Assuming this is true, I hope that she is able to work well with Mrs. R. She will need a firm hand with her.

I also have figured out that the last LT sub was absolutely fantastic.  This means that I have some pretty big shoes to fill.  I am a little nervous about that.  Please keep me in your prayers, that I will learn a tremendous amount of stuff so I can be fabulous too!

Time is Swiftly Going By

The summer is nearing the end.  This weekend, we take Allen to college...but first we pick him up from the summer camp job he has been working at in the Adirondack Mountains. Audra is up there too for the week as a camper at the same camp. On Sunday we take him to Roberts Wesleyan.  in just under two weeks, my youngest daughter has orientation for her first year at the high school.

I have had 6 interviews this summer and so far have not gotten a job. This is not what I planned for when I went back to get my master's degree.  I'm just not sure what to do next.  In the past 2 1/2 years, I have had 18 interviews.  One of those 18 interviews ended up with me getting a long term sub job.  (I had another long term sub job that I got without even having an interview.)  This was the year that I felt like there might really be some hope getting a job as a school librarian.  What do I do next?  This all hurts too much.

The Wrong Questions?

I think I have been asking the wrong questions lately.
Lord, what do YOU want me to do with my life?  How do I get there? 

Hope that this blesses you as well

Today I am encouraging everyone to go and read this post by a woman named Susanna.  Susanna lives in Pennsylvania.  She and her husband Joseph have adopted two special needs children from an eastern European orphanage.  They also have several natural born children, including a one with Down Syndrome.

I liked the post because of the devotional content of it, especially in light of the fact that the Lord has been showing me the harmful effects of negative thinking and speaking.

Too much?

All I want to be is a librarian somewhere.
Is that too much to ask?
Why don't I ever get picked?
I feel like I'm back in gym class...waiting to be picked for someone's team.  I was always picked either last, or next to last.
Wondering whether or not there is something blatantly wrong with me that everyone else is just too polite to tell me about.

Hello?

Why am I here?
What is the purpose of my life?
Does anyone even care?

Not Very Faithful

I have not been very faithful keeping this blog.  All sorts of great events have been happening and being undocumented.

My son Allen graduated from high school.  Since then he has left to work for the summer at a Christian camp in the Adirondack Mountains.  Please keep him in prayer as he counsels the boys who have him as their leader.  This week it is boys ages 8-10.

I got a job as the summer school librarian in Geneva.  It is a very odd job. I'm a Middle School Librarian being housed at an elementary school because of construction at the middle school building.  On the first day, I walked into the library and discovered that it is being used as the elementary school's summer school office.  I have been pushed into a back office.I am very isolated from the actual middle school classes which are being held upstairs.  I feel very awkward around the ladies who are working in the "summer school office."  I feel like an intruder...which is a bit ironic since I am the librarian and it is really a library that we are in.  Not too many of the middle school teachers are really interested in getting any resources from the library...so it has been a bit quiet.

I came close to getting a job.  I was one of three final candidates for a library job at an elementary school about a half hour drive from my house.  Someone else got it.  I'm trying not to be too hard on myself for that one.

Trying to make a good name for librarians everywhere

I've had a few very good days at school and am very encouraged.  I am enjoying it overall.  If this school ever offered me a job, I would take it.

Mrs. R still drives me a little crazy.  I am thankful for her, but at the same time she can cause some annoyances.  She is very stuck in her ways and opinions...and very outspoken about them  She is very tough on the kids and can act a bit crabby towards them. We differ on a few of our views of how the library should be run.

In fact, I am finding that the librarian I am subbing for runs things very differently than I would too. For one thing, she is very unforgiving about lost or damaged books.  If a book is lost, she will hold it over the kids' head for years...literally.  Do you remember this post?  I've seen a few cases just like the two in that post.  One little girl lost a book while attending a different elementary school in the same district...over a year ago.  She has not been allowed to take a book out since.  That is, until I came along.  I let her take out a book last week!  I put an exclamation point after writing that sentence because letting her take out a book made me so happy! I tried to remove the record of her taking the other book, but could not because it is from a different school.

There is another little boy who will be coming to the library to do jobs in order to "pay" for the damaged book he returned to the library.  I'm all for holding kids accountable.  He made a mistake and left the book where his little sister could reach it  She tore out several pages. I think he should be held accountable for what happened, but I will not let him be banned from taking out books  either.  I was told by his teacher that it was highly unlikely that his family would pay for the book...money is pretty tight for them.  I'm pretty excited about helping him pay off his book by letting him work. 

There are some other issues too!  Grades 2-5 are allowed to take out 2 books.  If they only return one book, they are not allowed to take out any books until both are returned.  I think that's ridiculous!  I think they ought to be rewarded for bringing one book back!  Why not let them take out another book for a total of two?  My goodness!  What if one of the books they are reading is a chapter book like Harry Potter or something? That's a pretty long book! They might not be finished with it yet...so can't they browse through another book at the same time?

In another instance, a 5th grade class came in to look for books about different countries. Each child was to sign out a book about a different country in order to work on a class research project.  I was in another part of the library when I overheard Mrs. R tell a little boy that he could not take his country book out because he had an overdo book on his record (a book that was due in March).  I came up to the desk just as the class was leaving.  The little boy was still standing there at the desk.  I said, "What's going on?"  She told me that he could not get a book because he had a late book.  Meanwhile, the little boy was worried about his class leaving, so he left.  That is when I had a little discussion with Mrs. R.  I said, "He CAN take out this book.  It is a class project."  She started to argue with me, but I proceeded to check out the book in the boy's name and I left the library to catch up to him.  They had already made it all the way down to their classroom.  I invited myself in and gave him the book.  I also talked to his teacher.  The next day, she stopped me in the hall and thanked me.

There are librarians who give the profession a very bad name.  Crotchety people who think that the books are more important than the kids are.

It's NOT NOT NOT NOT a box!

As promised, here is one of the "not a boxes!"