Must Read: Growing Up Indian

Yesterday one of my co-workers/friends sent me this link from the Argus Leader about growing up on a reservation in South Dakota.  (I think that coworkers really make or break work, and a couple of mine really MAKE it!)  Anyhow, the author, Steve Young, and photographer, Devin Wagner, do a really great job of describing the challenges of life on the rez.  I strongly suggest reading through the articles.  They do a really great job of describing some of the challenges of poverty that exist in America and for our neighbors in South Dakota.

http://www.argusleader.com/section/gui

To My Mom (and the other Mommas out there)

My mom is kind, hard-working, self-sacrificing, supportive, compassionate, and faithful. She listens to me complain.  She listens to me laugh.  She listens to me worry.  She listens. She prays for me. And she gives good advice; sometimes too good.  Sometimes she gives advice I don’t want to hear, but she usually ends up being right. (For the record I’m only admitting this because today’s her day; otherwise, I like to keep her way of being right a deep, dark, hidden secret.) 

She encourages me to pursue my dreams and to never settle for mediocrity. She taught me how to tap-tease my hair.  She helped foster in me a love of learning and reading.  She is funny.  She is real.  She doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, and she admits when she needs to work on things. She is brave and inspiring.  Thank-you, Mom; I love you!

I could go on about all the greatness of my mom and the blessings God has given to me through my mom, and I’m sure that you can relate because in different or similar ways, your mom (or someone like a mom) has been a blessing to you like mine has been to me.

But I know for some of you Mother’s Day might be a hard day.  Your mom might not be around anymore; I hope you are able to cherish the memories.  You might have lost the chance to become a mom this year; I hope that you can find peace that God has plan that might be hard to see right now.  Maybe you never had a loving mother; I hope that God fills this void for you. 

Maybe you’ve made mistakes as a mother that you regret, or feel challenged in motherhood in ways you’ve never imagined…but what mother hasn’t?  Maybe you just feel weary and exhausted in the day to day tasks of being a mom.  Nothing is perfect.   If you need forgiveness, I hope you find the strength to ask for it and then rest assured that your slate is wiped clean and learn to forgive yourself.   If you need support, I hope you reach out to find it and that the right people come into your life for you to lean on. 

To all the moms--I hope you can find encouragement and God’s richest blessings on your calling to be a mom. THANK-YOU for pouring your life into the lives of your children.

Blinker Fable

A few days ago I was all upset because another driver didn’t use his blinker.  At the time, I was on the phone to my friend.  I might have freaked out (only a little bit) to her about how annoying and rude and inconsiderate and stupid it is when people don’t use their blinkers and cause near accidents.  (Obviously, me being on the phone had nothing to do with my near hit…it was ALL the other driver’s fault for not signaling.)

The NEXT morning I was driving to school.  Like every good driver and citizen, I attempted to signal my turn, but my blinkers didn’t work.  And they didn’t work at the next turn, or the next, or the whole way to school.  Ugh. 

Moral: It is way easy to jump to conclusions about the reckless blinker mistakes of others when yours are working just fine.  But when yours break, you might learn a new appreciation for driving blinkerless. :)

Dew.Do.Due

When I was student teaching in New Mexico,  I was giving the kids a spelling test.  They were learning words that are spelled different but sound the same like breaks and brakes (I think these are called homophones???).  The word was DEW.  So I’m explaining this kind of DEW is the moisture on the grass in the morning.  Blank stares.  First, their yards consisted of little pebbles.  Second, they have no moisture on their rock lawns because they live in a desert.  Third, only rich people had a grass patch in their yard; most of them hadn’t even been to a house with a grass lawn.  Because I was trying to turn this whole dew thing into a teachable moment, I am telling them about how where I grew up everyone has grassy lawns because the climate is different.  More blank stares.  Finally a kid blurts out, “Dang, Miss E.  You must be rich.”  Ummmm, not exactly the point I going for.  Then another kid explains, “The kind of dew she is talking about is the dew of Mountain Dew.”  Discussion over.  Most spelt DEW correctly too. :)

What's next?

Here’s a rundown of the past few hours of my life:

Thursday morning:  Call from number on my cell phone that I don’t recognize.

Thursday after school: Listen to a voicemail from the principal I interview with.  Talk myself into calling her back.

Later after school Thursday afternoon:  Get a job offer.

Later later Thursday afternoon:  Call my mom and dad each about 8 times a piece and decide I want to wait for a job in/near Sioux Falls.  Write a blog about the pros and cons. Pray. Write another pro/con list. Pray again.   Receive a call from Mom; again weigh out the options.  Ask to talk to with Dad.  Ask to talk with Mom again. 

Early evening Thursday:

Decide I want to take the job.  Call mom and dad about 7 more times and then my brother and then my sister and then some of my friends.    (I just wanted to make sure I was weighing all my options.  Remember, I am an analyzer!)

Later Thursday night:    Call more people.  Decide for sure I am going to take the job

Later later Thursday night: Pray. Think. Pray. Think. Call more friends. Pray.  Google apartments, google churches, google the library, google golf courses, google anything related to anything in this town.

Friday morning: Call the principal and accept the position.

Friday afternoon:  Sign the contract and fax it in.

Later Friday afternoon:  Find out that one of my best friend’s little sister (who is also my friend) got a job that same morning teaching at the middle school in the same town!!!  (I had no idea she had applied or anything.)  Rest assured that this is all a God-thing, and He will take care of me. 

Later later Friday afternoon:  Find out that my friends from FL that moved to IA (who had their own job journey/struggle this year) bought a house!  Again reminded that God takes care of stuff. 

Friday night:  Watch the news about the messed up economy and  school budget cuts.  Becoming extremely thankful that God has opened up yet another unexpected door in my life.   Getting really excited for a new adventure.  Thinking about what I’m going to blog about next.

After a long and hard freak out session beginning Thursday morning and ending…well, I’m not really sure it’s ended yet…I have decided to take the job.  I will be employed next year as an elementary school counselor in a small-ish town outside of Omaha.  YAY!

           

What to do?

So after all my whining about applying and rejection letters (because the b-word isn’t blog appropriate) I have been offered a job.  You’d think I’d be jumping for JOY and part of me is.   But I’m indecisive and a girl and an over-analyzer and a worrier and a touch of crazy…so…

I’m not sure if it’s the right job for me.  This job would require a move.  A move is OK with me.   But I would rather not move to a smaller town at this point in my life.  And if I am going to move to a small town, I’d like it to be closer to home.  But people who are just starting their career can’t be the choosiest.  But if I do have to move, I’d like to be sure that a job is a good fit.   But how can I be sure if a job is a good fit unless I give it a try. 

Here’s a condensed list of my pros and cons:

PROS	CONS
·         good school leadership ·         friendly community ·         close-ish to a bigger city ·         good counselors in other positions	·         in a small town ·         not a lot of diversity ·         time split between different schools…high number of students per caseload ·         not sure if I can get another job

So what am I going to do?  Your guess is as good as mine. 

The Golden Buffalo

For the past year I have stayed every Thursday night at The Golden Buffalo Casino, Motel, and Convention Center.  Why?  Well because I got a part time job working on Thursdays and Fridays as a counselor at Head Start (actually 2 different ones; more on this later.)  This job was a perfect fit for me because I could get paid for some of my practicum and internship hours and gain lots of good experience.  The only down fall was that the Head Starts were located about a half hour north of Chamberlain.  Since I live in Sioux Falls and go to school in Vermillion I figured why not add another town or 2 to my list.  Some people have been asking me to put some pictures up of where I stay; I'm really not a photographer but here's my best try...

This is the motel part of the resort.

This is the casino part.  I forgot to take a picture of the convention center part.

This is my Thursday night home or my river view vacation cabin, depending on my mood.

This is the view of the Missouri from my vacation home window.  Sorry about the dirt pile.  My photography skills are lacking.

And this is a horn lamp.  It cracks me up.