Maybe it can be my turn to post on the blog...haven't done it in so long that I'm not sure about the procedure anymore. Just have a few end of the year pictures to share from our Kindergarten Splish Splash party. The room moms treated the three teachers to a nice salad lunch while the kids had pizza! We had a hot day, but I guess that's what you want when the temperatures are in the 90's. Didn't have too many injuries, just one bumped head that bled a bit. We had the fire department there to spray the kids with the big pumper truck and the paramedic put a big bandage on the little guy and he looked like he'd been through the civil war. Of course then all the other boys decided they had some traumatic injuries too. The medic just gave them a band-aide and that put an end to their dreams of glory. I took one ride down the slide and my boys all cheered me on. One ride convinced me that there was not enough water in the pool at the bottom , but the kids thought it was great to see me all wet. I understand there are somemoms who captured the moment on video as well. Oh, well, that's why I don't teach middle school anymore.

8 Days

Eight school days left with the students. Every year it's hard to believe that we have just about come to the end of another cycle. All of the hopes, dreams, planning, tears, frustrations, and joys with this year's class are almost done. For some kids it's too soon, and for others -- way too late!

A week ago Saturday I spent five hours with two of my 5th grade students, Madisen & TR. Their moms had bought the woodworking project at the school auction back in March. They were wonderful, did a good job on their duck marionette, and learned a few things in the process about wood grain, sanding, cutting, staining, drilling. No cut fingers either!

Yesterday we had a full day...In the morning I went with 14 men and boys from church and we canoed the Wekiva River, swam in the 72 degree spring, had lunch, and then came home. We had a great time of fun and fellowship. The water was refreshing and clear, the day not too warm, and I saw a pair of green herons and a swallow tailed kite, among the usual river birds. Saw 2 gators basking in the sun and a soft shelled turtle the size of a garbage can cover. Lots of large yellow eared turtles also.

In the evening we went to a dinner with my disbanding Search Committee from TCS. It was nice to know that our job was finished and that we were the instrument that God used to bring His special choice to TCS. We had dinner at one of the committee members' houses and then went to our new school head's house for dessert. It was fun to reminisce about the events of the past 15 months. I became good friends with all eight of the committee members -- had to! We spent 2 to 3 hours together each week for months!

It's started to rain again once in a while. We had several showers Thursday, which gave us about 1.6 inches of rain. The down side is that we had a small water leak in our kitchen. I got some rubberized roof caulk and hit every likely spot on that corner of the roof. Hopefully, that will take care of things.

March in May in Orlando

Orlando had its immigration march this afternoon. TCS dismissed at 11 AM, so we had no conflicts with the car lines. The march took about a half hour to pass the campus, from 12:55 to 1:25 PM. Much of the downtown area was shut down by the estimated 20,000 marchers. First Pres had a tent at the corner of Jackson & Rosalind on the march route where they handed out free water and cups of ice. It was peaceful for the most part...couple of reports of counter-demonstrators getting into shouting contests which then went to name calling and hand gesturing. I saw several people wearing Mexican flags as drapes around their shoulders, which seemed to me to be rather in-your-face. One man had a 6 ft. pole with a US flag and another national flag attached on it side by side...tacky. The US flag should have been by itself and above any other flag.

I hope you read Senators Martinez & Hagel's proposal for immigration reform. It seems to be a reasonable and pragmatic solution to this quandry. I keep thinking of your great-grandma Holtrop standing in line as an 11 year old with her family at Ellis Island, and your great great grandparents Ver Hoef, Bosscher, and Schrotenboer who did the same thing. We need to honor the image of God in each person, pay people a decent wage. We also need people to enter legally, just like our forebears did. This is a marvelous country, truly a land of opportunity, with a great Constitution...which serves it citizens well. It's not a one way street -- get in line, earn citizenship, pay your dues, and enjoy the opportunities. Now, if we can just get the politicians in Washington to take a stand and do the right thing instead of looking at the polls and watching the wind blow...