Maybe I shouldn't blog tonight.....

More sad news came our way tonight. A friend we have lost touch with died of an aneurism last week. He graduated from
Dordt with Hank and they taught together in Lethbrdidge. It just seems as if there are too many sad things happening right now. I was going to try to muse on this but its too hard. Back to my two steady "mantas" it seems. Be still and know that I am God. My times are in your hands.

Fall

Yesterday was late summer, warm, sunny with a glow in the trees. Today is fall - the first day of it according to the sun too. Its damp, grey and now the leaves lay gummy in the gutters. Hmmmm. But I love fall. Soon the sun will come back and we can enjoy the colors, the crispness and the energy it brings.

I'm having my first day off of the school year. Its been super busy with new autistic kids, a schedule that was hard to manage and then to make it even crazier, one of the full time EAs hurt her knee and is off indefinitely. Gulp! But replacements were found for now and things are starting to run. I realize how much I like being with kids even though this job is more administrative in some ways. But like a grandparent, I sort of get the best of it. I visit, get to know the character of the kids, offer support where I can and then leave. There are responsibilities other teachers don't have like supervising the EAs, planning for the special needs kids, dealing with parents on almost a daily basis but I feel that I have been prepared for this job. And I have a heart for the parents with special needs kids. Its a tough road to travel sometimes and the joy I see at what seem like very small gains make all the work worth it. Some people have questioned why a private school should take on children with high needs - isn't the public school better equipped for them? At at some levels - especially in jr/sr high this may be true. But at the elementary level, where else should they be? They are a part of the body of Christ and they are our covenantal responsibility as much if not more than any other child.

Hank spent the weekend in BC with Ryan and Steph. Ollie was so grown up and cute. He recognized Hank when he came off the ferry from a conference in Victoria and they just had great time together. Its hard when your kids live far away but the times together are even sweeter then. I have tickets to go there for Ollie's second birthday so I'm counting the weeks now.

The birds are going crazy in the mountain ask - eating the berries before they migrate so I'm going to go check them out.

Our human frailty

I was very pensive about starting the new school year. I don't know if I believe in premonitions but after a difficult last half of the previous school year with Elliott being sick and my dad dying, I didn't feel ready for the new year. I kept feeling that we weren't finished with worry and unease. Sadly, I was right.

Our dear dear friend, Gerald Folkerts, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor on Wednesday - the first day of school. He is a larger than life person - first of all an artist but also an organizer, a dreamer, a doer, a singer, a writer - a wonderful friend and a committed follower of Jesus. He, his wife, Arlis, and their kids were some of the first people to welcome us here 20 years ago and over the course of these 20 years we have walked many miles together - good and bad but we have grown to truly love them. Brother and Sister in Christ who feel like real family. Hank and Gerald are accountability partners and Arlis is Iowa farm girl who grew up only about 10 miles from me but we never met until Winnipeg. It is a very difficult time and all of us who know Gerald and Arlis ( a huge circle of friends, family and colleagues) are fervently praying for healing. We feel so helpless and realize again our inability to fix our lives and our total dependence on our God.

Goodbye summer, hello school.

Its a cloudy and cool Labour Day. But Hank and I had beautiful weekend at a cabin on Jessica Lake in the Whiteshell. It was warm, sunny and very windy. We took a 6-7 km hike on Saturday and were able to paddle a canoe on Sunday when the wind died down for a few hours. Otherwise we read a lot, ate well and watched the waves on the shore. The Canadian Shield is an amazing geographic feature and the little bit we experienced on the weekend was wonderful. Coming from Iowa where a rock the size of a melon is a thing to note, these massive rocks that people build houses on!!!! boggle my mind. The trees clinging to crevasses and tottering over the blue lakes are almost a cliche of that area but still so beautiful. Check out the Group of Seven - they seem to have captured the aura.

The end of summer is always a bit of a melancholy time. The care free days go so quickly and though part of me really longs for the routines of fall, I also feel a bit anxious about what the school year will bring. This summer was difficult. We knew Dad was failing but death is always hard and his death has reopened some of the wounds of Kevin's. I don't know if that is why the trip to Edmonton was hard too. While visiting there, you always feel the empty spots that Dad, John Wilma and Loren would have filled. It is good to reflect on all of this but perhaps good to move on too.

Now school will start with all the busyness that brings. The excitement of seeing the whole gang again, the challenges of more students with autism, large classes (an item of praise after a fear of low enrollment in the spring) and Hank's role at the Collegiate
until January. But also, the beautiful days of autumn. My favourite season. So here we go. Goodbye summer..........