SUMMER SCHOOL IS ABOUT OVER!

Hi everyone,

Summer school has been very condensed into a short seven weeks, whereas, the other quarters are twelve weeks long. It was a lot of work and practicum hours at the Early Learning Center. I did enjoy working with the great staff and the children there. I will have to say that at this point in time, I have learned a lot about working with young children and building curriculums. One week left to go, and I get one whole month off. I can laugh at those returning early for the fall, and I get to finally enjoy my late summer vacation. I am ready for it! Just received my financial aid notification for the next year of school, and things are A OK and set for the year! Thanks again to all those who gave me financial support during my time of stress this summer. My needs have been met, so far, and again thanks. Love to all of you.

Where has our hot summer weather gone? We're in the high 60's for a few days, but by next Tuesday we will be back up into the 90's again. Summer is still very much with us...just a short-lived thunderstorm stuff. My parents are coming for a visit to see the family in mid-September, and we are looking forward to seeing them again. It has been a year since we have seen them. They will be surprised at how much the great grandchildren have grown and changed. Hope blessings on everyone. Bye for now.

MIDSUMMER

Where has this summer gone? It seems like I just finished Spring quarter and here we are just two weeks left of Summer quarter. These last two weeks are chock full of a lot of assignments, in fact a lot that's due before this next Wednesday. So, guess how I'm spending this weekend and the next few days after that! I can't complain too much because I have a whole month off before school starts up again.

For those of you who knew I was going through a sudden financial crunch, I will say that the Lord has been looking out for me and has provided for me in ways I would not have thought of. A heartfelt thank you to all those dear ones who supported me during this hardship.

I am also, thankful that my daughter and grandson did not contract the bad virus my granddaughter had a few weeks ago. She was running a high fever of 102-104 F. degrees for about four days and very ill. So far, no one else has come down with it. Praise God! There was a lot of prayer for all of them. You see, He really does take care of us!

I have been enjoying coming home every Monday from my practicum and joining my missional community from my church in the nearby park for our weekly BBQ. It's a great time for just sitting in the beautiful park and enjoying the fellowship with everyone. The church is also holding our Sunday evening services in the park during the summer. You can't beat that! I must say, it has been a lazy, good summer without even going out of town. I guess I'm one of those who can find pleasure in the simple things, like the nice, warm evenings, beautiful, lush green trees in my neighborhood, spending more time outdoors with my grandchildren, playing in the water with all the children at the Early Learning Center, not having to shuffle through 3-5 feet of snow (lol!), BBQ's, and watching some good movies.

Have a great rest of the summer!

WONDERFUL WEEKEND

These past 3 days have been some wonderful days of summer for me. I have been under stress from a recent financial crunch, yet the Lord has provided some joys and simple pleasures in my life recently. I got to spend most of the day holding my grandson and granddaughter on Friday. On Saturday, Autumn (my 7 year old granddaughter) and I spent the whole day together making memories of a Gammy/Autumn day. We went to the movies and saw Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosauers in 3D, rode on the carousel in Riverfront Park, then cooled off in the water works at the park near my house, and then onto my house where we watched Madagascar 2 and had dinner and strawberry shortcake. Autumn was still going strong when she left for home, and grandma climbed into bed at 8:30. It was a great day!

On Sunday, my friend from college, Kurt took me out to lunch at a restaurant here in Browne's Addition. We walked over to the park and watched kids playing and talked, then we attended my church service in the early evening, which they held in the park. Later that evening, some friends from my church spent some time visiting with me. Overall, I had a wonderful and very blessed time. God is good when you rest in his peace though there are stressful things going on around you. Tommorrow I go back to my practicum with the preschool children and that evening some church friends are having a BBQ in the local park.

I feel very blessed and am resting in His peace and believing in His answers to prayer.

HELP!!!

This is a very stressful time for me. I recently found out that my usual financial aid for summer is not going to happen. I will not be receiving financial aid until September 21st. Until then, I am not able to pay for August and September rent, no Internet for my summer class, no phone, no laundry, no bus pass to get to school and around, etc. I pray that the Lord lays on someone's heart to loan me a temporary loan to help get me through this time. It would be a loan, since my large sums of monies definitely comes on September 21st. Please pray God helps provide for these basics, so I can concentrate on my schoolwork and be at peace, as I find myself not sleeping well and very depressed over this situation that has just recently occurred.

4TH OF JULY!

It was a grand 4th of July! I did something different this year. I went out to dinner with 3 of my girlfriends to the Sushi-yaki restaurant. No, I did not eat raw fish...ugh. I did eat a great shrimp tempura dinner with a Japaneses style salad and rice and noodle soup. The food was very good and a nice change for me. All 4 of us girls walked two blocks over to the cement steps in front of the water by the Opera House and watched the fireworks. We had the best seats you could have gotten. There, the fireworks looked like they were coming right at us. They were quite a show, as Spokane has been doing for several years. One of my friends sitting near me had never seen the fireworks in Spokane. At the end, she was so touched that she cried a few tears of joy Then of course, she got me started a little, and we both agreed that in spite of our nation's problems, we are grateful that we were born in America. We both remarked how we could have had the misfortune of being Iranian or Afghanistani women. Anyway, we enjoyed them a great deal. To avoid the traffic jams right after, we all went back to the restaurant to get something to drink and laughed and talked. I do have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed and had a wonderful 4th of July!

Today, Sunday I am working on some schoolwork before school starts again tomorrow, as I spend 3 days a week most of the day at the Early Learning Center. Looking forward to the children tomorrow. The sky is looking like our sun has left us, and we are going to get some thunderstorms. Catch all of you next time.

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER SCHOOL

Today was the beginning of summer school `09 at my college, and it was a very good day. I started this morning at the local college's Headstart program for preschoolers for my field site hours and go to class on Wednesday's. I got to meet my new instructor and we set up my schedule. I will be there from 10:30 AM till 4:30 PM three days a week plus the class time on Wednesdays. I will be busy doing this for the next 8 weeks. I was very pleased with the center and program, as all the teachers and staff were wonderful people to work with. The children are great and very smart and well-behaved for preschoolers. I love their very well put together learning centers and curriculum. These kids will be more than ready when they enter Kindergarten. I am going to really enjoy working with them. The staff were very welcoming to us students doing our practicum there.

The lines were long and the books were expensive--I spent $100 on one book! Wow, I should go to Amazon.com next time!


This day also, brought me to run into an old friend while I was standing in a line at the college. He was actually an old chum of my daughter's--Jeremy from Life Center and LensCrafters. He was there to take classes in Small Business Admin. and Audio Visual. He told me he has been busy raising 3 children and attending college since I last saw him. It was great to see him!

I like this preschool program at the college so much that I am going to apply to take several more of my practicum hours there. Starting in the fall and the rest of the year, they will be enrolling special needs children, which is my major and will be great experience for me. I am looking forward to it!

VISITING FRIENDS

Yesterday was a good day. During my school break, I was able to have lunch with and visit a college chum and share our hopes and dreams of where our education is taking us. It's great to share with a friend who can relate to what you are studying, like educating children and various ideas. It was also a great day for a walk in the park, as we visited the park in Browne's Addition. I am now on my way to visit my favorite bugs--Autumn and Isaac!