High school quiz

It's really a FB quiz but why follow the rules (that's what the Good Doctor would say) and I want this one down for posterity. Putting it in my blog means it will go in the end-of-year book so my answers will be known for all time. Or til one of my kids throws all the books away.

Think about your SENIOR year in High School...if you can remember that long ago!! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be! It doesn’t take but 5 minutes, do it!!! . This is kinda fun to learn something about my buddies that I didn't go to school with....

Class of: Ummm, this is social media. Why would I tell you that?

1. Did you know your current love?

No, he was somewhere in the middle of the midwest, playing basketball, watching football, going antiquing for hoosiers, or something like that.

2. Type of car?

I didn't have one. That's why I'm such a great person today; my parents didn't buy me a car in high school. But I drove theirs and it was blue. I know that because as of that point, all of their cars had been blue.

3. What kind of job?

Housekeeping at a retirement community

4. Where did you live?

Again, seriously? I'm not telling you that. Let's just say the suburbs although my best friend called it the boondocks.

5. Were you popular?

What do you call someone who is the exact opposite of popular? That was me.

6. Were you in choir or band?

Does orchestra count? Oh wait, I did play piano in the jazz band once. The real pianist decided the day of the concert that she couldn't attend. I got stuck having to learn all of her music in one day to accompany them that evening.

7. Ever get suspended?

Do I look like someone who would get suspended?

8. If you could, would you go back?

Never in a million years. One of the worst years of my life.

9. Still talk to the person that you went to prom with?

First of all, we didn't have prom. They stimulate the lust of the flesh. And since I wasn't dating anyone at the high school, my best friend and I went stag which is a term that at the time would have been reserved for males but I'm told these days it applies to anyone. My how times change.

10. Did you skip school?

Once. I was on track to receive perfect attendance for all four years of high school. It was so embarrassing to receive the perfect attendance award each of the three years prior that I was in no way going to earn that distinction for four years running. I made sure to be "sick" one day my senior year and to go with friends to an amusement park on senior skip day.

11. Go to all the Football games?

In the same vein that dances stimulate the lust of the flesh, football promotes violence. We didn't believe in either. But you wouldn't have seen me at any of the less violent sports that we did have since I didn't have the hair or style to be allowed in (see questions 17 and 21).

12.Favorite subject?

Since I had so many credits, my senior year was filled with mostly filler classes. I chose anything I thought would be easy so I had an overload of art and home economics (which isn't even a thing anymore thanks to FCS) classes. I probably would have chosen one of the home ec classes as a favorite.

13. Do you still have your yearbook?

Yes. But why?

14. Did you follow your career path?

I did teach for a few years, then I taught my own kids, now I teach adults, so...kind of?

15. Do you still have your high school ring?

Somewhere. Someone please tell my kids what a high school ring even is.

16. Who was your favorite teacher?

My senior year? Probably the home ec. teacher

17. What was your favorite style?

I wasn't popular, remember? I had no style. Still don't. At that time it was at least partly home sewn and even more so from all those home ec classes.

18. Favorite Shoes?

Socks when I got home and could curl up with a good book to escape

19. Favorite food?

Now that's taxing my memory but probably pizza

20. Favorite band?

Okay, let's recap. Dancing stimulates the lust of the flesh, football promotes violence, and bands take folks off the straight and narrow. I probably couldn't have named a band if I had tried. Except the one that the guy who took me to school always played in his cassette player. In fact, he only ever played one song on that cassette, We're Not Gonna Take It. But if I had mentioned Twisted Sister back in those days I surely would have been struck by lightning.

21. High school hairstyle? Imagine taking stick-straight, should-have-been-a-senior-in-the-60s, hippie hair but perming it to look like the 80s

22. What cologne / perfume? Love's Baby Soft, OMG no wonder I wasn't popular

23. How old when you graduated? 17

24. What high school did you attend? One that believed that dances stimulate the lust of the flesh, football promotes violence, and bands take you off the straight and narrow

January 22

I don't know why it never occurred to me before this year that January birthdays face the same plight as December birthdays by being so close to Christmas. Sorry, Isaac. Yes, you do need to update your Amazon list immediately after Christmas so we know what you need for your birthday. No, there won't be much you need because you ask for little and already got it all. Yes, I feel bad for you. Sorry. Not much I can do about it now. It's about, oh, twenty years too late.

But I hope you have a great day. I'm glad we were able to celebrate with you before you went back to school (and boy was that Red Lobster-style meal delicious if I do say so myself - great choice!). I'm glad you could celebrate with your sister and brother-in-law earlier in the week. I hope your friends treat you well today and celebrate the wonderful human being that you are.

Other than your father, I've never met someone so easy going, so able to go with the flow, so willing to put the other's needs first. So much of who our family is and how we look would not have been possible without your teddy bear personality and willingness to be uncomfortable so others can be comfortable. Thank you.

Enjoy your day! 

When he grows up

It has been suggested that he would make a great lawyer. Or even a pastor like his daddy. But he is adamant - he is going to be "a inventor". 

To his credit he has all kinds of ideas. Most of them involve light sabers or other Star Wars references. Some of his solutions to problems involve jet packs. 

To me, however, the most amazing thing is that for a child to be born 15 weeks early and survive, to suffer to trauma of separation and adoption and work through that, and to be diagnosed as completely blind at five months and to surpass many odds, the door is wide open. These could all have been reasons that he would not be given the opportunity to dream about "when I grow up" but he is not only surviving and dreaming, but thriving.

He was promised victory and we are seeing victory in so many areas. The past four months or so have brought great gains in academics and behavior. He loves learning and I love learning with him. 

Mr. Victor, I can't wait to see all the amazing ways that God is going to continue to use you for His kingdom!

Grace

"Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!" 

At the beginning of December I was noticing that this refrain was in my head a lot during the events of 2020. Particularly in the middle of the night or in times of stress or grief, as I called on the name, Jesus, these words would then be running through my head.

My life has not been filled with grace but somewhere around 2003-2005, God taught me about His abundant, lavish grace. I could finally see Him as the God of grace who always freely offers that grace to us. I began to give grace to myself and then I was able to more freely give it to others. 

But I know God has more to reveal to me about grace so my word for 2021 is just that - grace. I am intrigued in the connection between grace and trust as the writers of the above hymn chose to place them together in the phrase that repeats again and again in their hymn - "Oh, for grace to trust Him more!" May I be an open and eager listener to the meaning of grace this year.

"'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord!"

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him,

Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;

And I know that He is with me,

Will be with me to the end.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er;

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!"

-Louisa Stead

First stop, the northeast region...

 We are homeschooling this year. There are many reasons that we chose this course but let's just say that online schooling in the spring was an absolute nightmare. Victor regressed to hitting and kicking, behaviors that we had not seen regularly for a long time. He learned very little during his Zoom sessions and spent more time changing his background, using the chat feature, and trying to figure everything else out than listening or trying to figure out what was being written on the whiteboard. 

For the most part, his year has been going very well. We have a great school district that allows him to come into school for both braille instruction and orientation and mobility. He is much more compliant and less frustrated than in previous years. Who knows if this is maturation, the change of environment, lack of school stressors and distractions, the change in medications, all of the above, or none of the above and something else entirely? But we are thankful. 

At the beginning of the year, I went to social media to ask out-of-state friends and family to send items representing their state. While people were gathering items and mailing them, Victor and I talked about our town. We mapped out our street with tracks for roads and blocks for houses. Then we talked about our state. Finally, we are on to our country and the regions of the US.

How fun to open all of these boxes! As we started with the Northeast Region, Victor was overheard saying, "I'm going to treasure this!"...

Not surprisingly, Victor found another use for granite - a drum pad!

"This is like an archaeological dig."...

Checking out maple tree taps, or spiles

Lucy and Victor were both excited to try out the maple popcorn

"Best experience of my life."...

Thanks to the generosity of friends and family from near and far, we've been able to explore boxes from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.

We decided Massachusetts must have a lot of creative, ingenious, entrepreneurial

types due to all the foods and businesses that originated there!

A basketball from Massachusetts

We opened the Rhode Island box and Victor declared,

"It smells like the ocean!"

Victor can now tell you a whole lot about maple tress and the process of making maple syrup, wildlife like moose and loons, museums like the Corning Museum of Glass, how sports like basketball got started and where, and natural resources such as granite.

Thank you! Next time: Southeast Region (but it will take some time to get the materials brailled before we start). Stay tuned.