That would be me. I’m a reject. I’ve been denied. I’ve been told to go away, that there’s nothing they can do for me at this point. I do not meet the qualifications. I’m not a good candidate. I’m too much of a risk. No soup for you. Goodbye

Actually, it’s "No LASIK for me". I went to the surgeon’s office for my pre-op appointment yesterday and he discovered some abnormality in the thickness of my cornea. It usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but since someone in my family had an eye disease that resulted in cornea transplants, the doctor decided that it would be best if I didn’t have LASIK or PRK surgery. Maybe in a few years, another type of surgery will be available for my prescription where he can implant a plastic lens in my eye–it’s currently being done on patients with stronger prescriptions.

So until then I have ordered another pair of glasses to replace this old crooked scratched-up pair.  *sob*

If you or someone you know has had this lens implant, tell me how you/they like it.

Cutie had her 3rd birthday this week and she loves all things Dora the Explorer, so I put a Dora candle like this on her cake along with other b-day candles. When the candles had been extinguished and taken off the cake, Cutie licked the frosting off some of them. Bud saw a candle she missed and asked, "Can I lick Dora’s bottom?" I don’t think he ever got an answer since I was laughing so hard.

When I told this story to Alicia, she said Bud must think Dora’s sek-sy. 

A question that arose from my last post about Ant being gifted was how his needs were being met at school. I’m not concerned about it at all. Why? Well, remember my 3-day post about the charter school? I mentioned a little bit how the curriculum was advanced and fast paced for the quick learners, but also repetitive for the slower learners. As an illustration, here’s what the third grade did during the two hours I volunteered this week.

When I arrived in the middle of the morning, the students were just coming back from a drink/bathroom break after PE so they were all fresh and ready to work in the classroom.

Daily math problems: They graded and corrected the math problems they worked on individually when they first got to school. These are about 5 problems ranging from addition and subtraction (with carrying and borrowing) of four-digit numbers to reducing fractions to adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators to story problems.

Character Education: The teacher said she was driving home yesterday in her car when someone cut her off. She told the students that she got so mad that she sped up and crashed into the back of the car that cut her off. Some students laughed while others said ‘no way’. The teacher laughed and told them no, that she didn’t really crash into that other car and asked the students what they thought she did. Some said she honked; others said she sped up and then cut in front of the other car. She shook her head and said she just let it go. Sometimes people do something rude to us, and sometimes we just need to let it go.

Another part of the character education is that they memorize and recite some inspiring poems and quotes and make up actions to go along with them. The class worked on memorizing a few of them yesterday as they stood at the front of the classroom like they were giving a choir performance.

Timed Math Minutes: If a student masters their addition facts, they move on to subtraction, then multiplication, then division, then mixed and more complex problems.

Math concept board instruction: Everyone is expected to say (in unison) the steps of solving several problems on the board while the teacher writes their answers. They go over time, geometry (area and perimeter), rounding, fractions, place values, patterns, metric conversions, etc. Here’s an example the 2nd grade teacher gave me last year when she asked me to review the students’ math tests with them.

      3,423
    - 1,287

Teacher: What operation are we doing here? 
Kids: subtraction!
Teacher:  (pointing to top # ) This is called the ___?
Kids: minuend!
Teacher: (pointing to bottom #) and this is the ___ ?
Kids:  subtrahend!
Teacher: and below we get the ___?
Kids:  difference!
Teacher:  We start in the ___?   
Kids: Smallest place value which is furthest to the right!
Teacher:  In this case that place value is ___?
Kids: the ones!
Teacher:  Let’s do it! 
The kids do all of this next part as the teacher listens and writes.
Kids: (ones place) 3 minus 7 can’t do it, bottom bigger, better borrow!  Go next door and ask for more.  Cross out the 2 and that leaves 1.  Add 10 to three and that makes 13.  13 - 7 is 6.   6 down.
Kids: (tens place) 1 - 8  can’t do it bottom bigger, better borrow!  Go next door and ask for more!  Cross out the 4 and that leaves 3.  Add 10 to 1 and that makes 11.  11 - 8 is 3.  3 down.
Kids: (hundreds place) 3 - 2 is 1.  1 down.
Kids: (thousands place) 3 - 1 is 2.  2 down.
Kids: Don’t forget the comma!
Teacher: Which goes where? 
Kids:  Between the 2 and 1. 
Teacher: Our difference is ___? 
Kids:  Two thousand, one hundred, thirty-six! (2,136, the teacher points to the #’s and the comma when they say ‘thousand’).

Shurley English instruction: I can’t describe the method any better than the Shurley website. I just regret my teachers didn’t use it when I was in school. I know what an adjective is because I did a lot of Mad Libs when I was a kid. Ant knows grammar much better than I do.

Vocabulary: The class went back to the front of the class to perform their vocabulary routine. First, they say a set of words and their definitions in unison, and then they perform a little paragraph that uses all of the word set. The kids have made up actions for it.

Bob has a voracious appetite for M&Ms. He is indiscriminate about which M&M he eats. The Hershey’s corporation holds him most eminent of all the M&M eaters in the world. Once he had a dream that he was steeped with M&M juice. His closet is replete with M&Ms. He’s opening the door. LOOK OUT!

A worksheet: The students worked individually on a worksheet. I was in the middle of grading their geography and map making worksheets from the previous week, so I didn’t see what subject this one covered.

Recess: As the students completed the worksheet, they were allowed to go outside for recess. I like how recess is a tool to motivate the kids to get their work done.

With this routine the class did in just two hours, I realized there’s absolutely no way that Ant could be bored or unchallenged as he’s having fun performing, learning through repetition, and pressing himself to do his best quickly so he can have playtime. There’s no need for him to be pulled out for a special class. Every grade has different, but just as rigorous, routines so I don’t fear for Ant’s future education (unless we move out of the area).

That’s the new label being used to describe Ant. He hasn’t been tested, but that’s what the doctor said when we sought help for Ant’s increasing emotional outbursts.

Gifted. 

Now that I’ve researched the term, I understand my son better. So that’s why he gets his feelings hurt so easily. That’s why he (my third-grader) wants to hang out with the middle school boys down the street. That’s why I’ve never had to worry about him doing his homework or being ready for a test. That’s why, when he gets one problem wrong on a math test, he beats himself up about it. That’s why, when he’s home, he’s in my face demanding that I watch him complete all the requirements in his scout book RIGHT NOW, and sign them off. That’s why he knows all the Pokemon and all the Neopets by name and type and damage and evolution. That’s why he’s making up his own "Pet Fighters" game, drawing the characters and assigning different qualities to each of them.

Gifted.

That’s what the doctor said when he suggested dh and I go to counseling to learn how to deal with it. And to think that I was blaming myself, wondering if Ant thought I was expecting perfect performance from him. To think that I was looking for help in a pill. To help calm him. Would it make him not-so gifted? I feel horrible now. Why would I want to keep him in a cage when he just wants to spread his wings and fly?

So now what?  I still won’t let him hang out with the middle schoolers. He will still have to wait until dinner is done or his sister is bathed before I can sign SOME scout requirements; because I don’t have time to do ALL of them RIGHT NOW. But maybe I will get him some colored pencils and index cards for his made-up game. Maybe I will be a little more patient and sympathetic.

It’s funny how a label made me see him differently. For now.

After school yesterday Bud came to me and said, "Mom, you’re sek-sy," and then busted up in maniacal laughter. I just looked at him with raised eyebrows and said, "Thanks!"

1) Some kid needs his mouth taped shut during recess.

2) It wasn’t THAT funny.  

Last night I wrote a really great post about what I learned at church, but before I saved it my browser had a fatal error and had to close. It vanished from the cyberworld. Bedtime was fast approaching though, so I decided not to write it again. Oh, well. I’m sorry you missed it. The post was about having peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ in the midst of wars, calamaties, trials, etc. Truly inspirational.

My 9/11 story is very similar to other experiences I’ve read. My older sister called me and told me to turn on the TV–that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center. She knew I might be concerned since I had served a mission in New York six years earlier. My friend Peter from Queens, who worked at the WTC at the time, had taken me on a tour on one of my prep days and he had shown me the area that was being repaired from the 1993 terrorist bombing. To be honest, I wasn’t well-informed of the incident and I didn’t appreciate the significance of it.

As I watched the smoke billowing up from the tower on 9/11 morning, I thought the first plane crash was an incredible, unfortunate accident. But then I watched with the rest of the world as the second plane intentionally rammed into the other tower. NOOOOooooo! It was clear America was under attack. Just the two towers would have sent a clear message to the US, but thirty minutes later the Pentagon was hit by a plane, and thirty minutes after that another plane crashed into a field, short of its target. I was stunned, to say the least, and watched the replays all day, all week, all month as the media tried to explain the whys and hows of it all.

When the lists of victims were published I searched for my friend Peter. I haven’t found him on the lists, nor have I found him in an online directory. He was from Ghana, and his family was still there in 1995, so I’m hoping that he returned to be with them before 9/11.

I loved how the nation united in faith in 2001. Unfortunately I no longer feel the unity and I think the nation’s faith in God is wavering–it has generally turned to apathy and bitterness. How soon we forget to turn to the Lord.

I don’t want to forget, and I’m waiting for the day I can go back to New York to pay my respects to the victims and heroes of that terrible day.  

Click for Part I and Part II.

OK, the last two posts only covered about two months’ worth of time. I’ll try to summarize the rest of it a bit better. If you have more questions, ask them in the comments. Remember this was about three-and-a-half years ago, in the spring of 2003 when Cutie was just conceived and Ant was in preschool. Bud was somewhere in the middle, having fun playing with all the kids I watched while their parents toured Mrs. B’s school.

The day after that big group toured the mother charter school, I realized that the whole project was way too big and way over my head, and I began pleading with the Lord for direction. I totally felt unqualified to write a large legal document or to set up a non-proft corporation.

For the corporation, we needed to have officers. Chris and her husband, I’ll call them Mr. and Mrs. C,  came to my mind to be co-presidents, and another man who had already begun looking for land for the new school came to my mind for vice-president. Since I had my secretarial degree , I thought I could handle being the corporation’s secretary. I called the officers and asked them if they would be willing to serve in those capacities, and could we get together for a meeting that day. They said yes, and I felt awesome relief. On the way to the meeting, I saw my friend K who said she enjoys public speaking, and would be willing to help if we needed to make presentations or talk to the press at any time. Little did I know that we would be needing her expertise soon and often.

At the meeting, I gave all the info I had gathered to the Cs. They took it and ran with it. They called the district (who, by law at that time, would need to be our authorizer) and asked when we needed to turn in our petition to be able to open for the 2004-05 school year. The answer was a deadline two weeks away! Oh, and by the way, the board will certainly be more apt to approve us if we have the school focus on fine arts. And we shouldn’t even mention that we want the program of the mother school, the newest charter school at the other side of the district is already doing that, and it’s becoming such a controversial method (it seems that people either really love it or really hate it, and the haters were beginning to go on a rampage). In order to complete the charter document on time, we (K and a committee of parents) got a copy of three other charters using the same educational program and with their permission, we copied and pasted bits and pieces from each one and then added how the school would be focused on the fine arts. While we did this, the Cs were trying to build a relationship with the school district and research all our questions.

The charter document was completed within two weeks, and it was cross-referenced with the state charter school law to make sure we covered every requirement. When the officers went to submit it to the district office, we talked with the public liason again. He mentioned that the district was wanting to set up a fine arts magnet school on our side of the district, and how would we like to just collaborate with them to make it happen? We said we would think about it, but asked to be put on next week’s (June 2003) meeting agenda of the district’s board of directors anyway.

When we appeared before the board, they were less-than cordial and began about eight months of stall tactics and political games. They said they wanted to make a district policy regarding charter schools before they would consider our petition and could we help them, but they never returned our phone calls wondering when the committee was going to meet; they wanted us to submit our full curriculum before they would approve us, but no other charter school had ever planned their full curriculum in the application stage (however, we did provide several thick binders full of examples of tests and lesson that would be used in each grade); they didn’t think it was legal to provide priority to founder’s children, but while the law did not grant priority to founders, it did not prohibit priority either; they wanted our primary attendance boundary to include the whole large district, but they had just announced their new fine arts magnet school that had a primary attendance area comparable to ours; oh, and the state education board just passed some new rules regarding charters so the petition needs to be re-written to be in compliance with those rules, so we re-wrote it and omitted the now-obsolete arts focus while we were at it.

In the beginning of 2004, while we were still in the midst of these battles with the district, we joined forces with other charter school supporters and lobbied the state legislature to change the charter law to provide another entity through which charters could be authorized if the local district was uncooperative; and to allow priority for founders’ children, the number of which could not exceed 10% of the whole student body. Cutie was born the previous fall, and I remember taking her with me to various hearings and debates on the bill and hiding in the back of the audience in the senate or house chamber to breastfeed.

We tasted a bit of victory when the new charter law was passed in March 2004, but it was way too late to even consider opening for the 2004-05 year. Plus, we were told we needed to start the process over with the district to follow the provisions of the new law. We almost quit. Our frustrations with the system were so great that they spilled through our tears in our board meetings. They almost broke us. However, the new law also provided specific deadlines, something like the district had only 30 days from the receipt of the petition to hold a hearing, then they had only 30 more days to either approve or deny us. If the district denied our petition, or if they didn’t meet the deadlines, we could then seek approval from the state chartering entity. If we were approved through the state, the school would then be like it’s own independent district, subject to all the reports, audits, and other requirements of any other district in the state. But if we were denied, that would be the end of the road.

Well, through the encouragement of all our charter allies, we bucked up and went through the motions of petitioning the district again. They began their games again, but we basically demanded denial or approval of the petition. They denied it. Hoo-ray! Off we go to the state entity for approval. Our first meeting with them was a fiasco, though. Despite the 11 professionally bound copies of the newly revised and perfected charter we provided to the secretary of the directors, each director had a copy of a version of our charter that was over a year old (before it was revised for the "new rules") and they had already done a legal review of it. Of course, it wasn’t in compliance. Since there was obviously a mix up, we were not denied but we were asked to come back the next month so they could do the legal review of the correct petition. I was enraged. When I get enraged I bawl, but I tried to keep my composure as I asked that secretary how, exactly, did things get so screwed up. I don’t think she gave me a straight answer, but that’s ok, because I wasn’t listening anyway.

We did go back the next month, and the state approved our charter and the school was sceduled to open for the 2005-06 year. Luckily the neighboring city’s school district was dwindling in numbers and in order to attract more students, they  decided to change the format of one of their elementary schools to Mrs. B’s program. Ant was able to attend first grade there in 2004-05–and the commute wasn’t bad, especially since we carpooled with the Cs and other parents involved in our project.

And now started the fun part where we interviewed and hired our administrator (who had been one of our advisors) and a clerk of the board. Then we screened teacher candidates for the principal to interview and hire. Then we held the lottery to randomly choose who would get to attend the school. Although Ant was covered under that now-legal founder’s clause, I felt relieved and amazed and blessed that his name was the first one randomly pulled out of the bucket for his grade. I still get tears in my eyes when I think of it–it’s like validation from the Lord.

After the lottery was finished, I felt like I had contributed as much as I could and decided to resign the next day to focus more on my family who, I admit, I neglected. Mr. and Mrs. C have continued serving on the school board while other stalwart parents have become faculty. I am happily volunteering in the classrooms once a week.

The charter school (currently serving one class each of grades K-8, but will be adding one grade per year until there’s a full high school) is housed in a local church which we currently share with the congregation until we can obtain the financing to purchase it outright, so the congregation can build their new facility. The school successfully completed its first year of operation in June and is back in session for the second year. The principal is now giving tours of the safe and challenging method of instruction to others who want choices in their children’s education. Unfortunately our waiting list is a mile long. SOMEBODY ought to start another charter school in their neck of the woods.

And that, my friends, is just the beginning. 

Click here for Part I.

So I made appointments for some of my neighbors and friends and myself to visit the different charter schools in the area. 

Four of us visited the first school (grades K-7) that has an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound program and had been in operation a few years. Its students’ test scores at the time were higher than the state average. We met with the administrator first, and she shared a bit of the business side of running a school. She then introduced us to some students who took us on a tour of the school which was held in rooms surrounding what looked like a gymnastics training center with trampolines and mats and beams. The directors had to be creative in finding a facility due to state funding issues and sharing this space was their best option.

The students let us observe some classes in action. I remember one class was in the middle of making an historic American quilt. Each quilt square was designed around an historical figure like Abe Lincoln, etc. I was impressed by this since I have a love of quilts and the stories behind who made them and why, but that’s another post.

The students showed us their profiles of their work and progress, and they told us of some of the expeditionary things they did like giving presentations at the local library and doing different types of community service. I liked the school, although I thought I should be more green and granola to enroll my kids. I definitely didn’t like how the students called their teachers by their first names.

The second school we visited was in a planned community on land the developer leased to the school, and the classes (grades K-9) met in a few large portable buildings that each housed something like four or five classrooms and boys’ and girls’ bathrooms. Like the last school, this charter school had been open just a few years, and it’s test scores were much higher than the state and local district average. Eight of my friends and neighbors came on this tour. When we arrived we were shown a video about the discipline method the school implements that focuses on being kind and respectful. What impressed me at this school was how the students (2nd grade and higher) were taking Spanish, and piano (with keyboards), as well as being more than proficient in the core subjects. We asked the principal about the possibility of using their program in our school, and he told us that they were patterned after a charter school in the neighboring city and we should go there to talk to the method "founder"/principal.

Only two of us, my friend Chris and I, were able to go to the mother school (serving grades K-12) whose average test scores were in the mid 90’s, way higher than the state average. When I set up the appointment, I asked if we could talk to a few of the students during the tour just to see how they like it. When we arrived we were met by "Mrs. B", the principal, who was so protectively concerned that we wanted to talk to a child—for what? I explained to her that some students showed us around school #1, and we wanted to get her students’ honest opinion of the school. That calmed her a bit, and she began the tour of their newly-built facility. This charter school had been open for about five years, since the state law allowing charter schools was passed, but they couldn’t get the bank financing to build until that fourth year due to rate of failing charter schools across the country. Since we had an afternoon appointment, the kindergarteners had already gone home and we started our tour with the first grade. The teacher and the children demonstrated part of their daily math instruction–doing the basics like time and greater-than, but then they started doing fractions, rehearsing that the top number was the little numerator (said in a puny, squeeky voice) and the bottom number was the DE-NOM-IN-A-TOR (said in an Arnold-the-Terminator voice). They were having fun, and they were learning. Chris leaned over to me and said they were doing things her 3rd-grade daughter just started learning in the local district’s school.

In each class we visited, I was awe-struck by the high level of understanding these kids had as they were continuously instructed at a high level–and they were not all accelerated learners, several of the children were disabled in different ways, but they were able to "get" the concepts because the instruction is so repetitive. The faster learners were being challenged, while the slower learners were receiving the remediation they needed. All this success is due, in part, to the discipline method that focuses on kindness and respect. When the teachers call for attentive listening, they get it so no instructional time is wasted. When students move from class to recess or lunch they are in quiet straight lines with arms to their side so there’s no teasing and poking or pushing. The bathrooms are no-talking zones so that bathroom teasing and bullying does not occur. The children are taught several behavioral expectations during the first few weeks of school through real-life experiences or made-up scenarios their teachers share with them. For instance,

One time I was on the playground and saw a group of girls playing a fun game. I wanted to play too, but I was too shy to ask, so I just watched them from a few yards away. How do you think I felt? (sad, alone) Yes, and how do you think I thought of those girls? (Bratty, clicky) Yes, but then, one of the girls saw me and invited me over to join the game. How do you think I felt then? (good, happy) Yes, and we had so much fun! How do you think I thought of those girls now? (nice, like friends) Yes, so when you are playing with your friends on the playground and you see another kid standing alone, what do you think I would want you to do? (Invite him to play) Good! And I bet you’ll have a fun time too.

After the tour, we went into Mrs. B’s office and talked with a girl who was a junior. She had experienced the traditional junior high school and said she felt more comfortable in the charter school. She was already taking classes for college credit.

There were so many more positive things about this school that I loved. The sad thing about it and the other two we visited was that their waiting lists were miles’ long, and we lived so far away from them. Chris and I told Mrs. B that we wanted to copy and paste her school’s program to our neck of the woods, and she said that she’s too busy being the principal, but gave us the number of a newly-formed company through whom she planned to administer her program.

When I got home, I excitedly e-mailed my report to the ever-growing distribution list (friends were talking to other friends who knew someone else that had a cousin who’s father was becoming interested too). We set up a few more appointments for these people to tour Mrs. B’s charter school. I volunteered to babysit one of the days while people toured, and I think there were about 12-15 people (business people, teachers, and moms) who were able to go. It was a circus with a ton of kids in my home, but we managed to survive a few hours. When this particular group came back, they were excited to get our charter petition written and submitted ASAP. They didn’t want to wait any longer for our school to open. One of the most motivated people was Chris’ husband.

Visit again tomorrow for Parental Powers—Part III. This is getting long again (imagine living through it) and I need to go to bed.

Here’s a little story that shows the power of the parents in the educational system—We know what’s best for our kids.

When Cutie was just conceived and Ant was in preschool, I realized that my kids would be spending the majority of their childhood in school–an environment that wasn’t under my control. I had grown up in this area with this school district and, frankly, I didn’t trust the system. I was concerned about the lack of discipline in the children, and the lack of education being offered. I was also concerned about the bus ride, the place where, as a child, I witnessed many p*rverted things. Our neighborhood children were originally assigned to go to the nearest school a mile-and-a-half away, but when Ant was four, the district re-drew the boundaries and we found out that our kids would have to take a lengthy bus ride to another school in the district’s half-hearted efforts to keep up with the area’s growth.

This was unacceptable to me, and I began looking for alternative methods of educating my kids. I dismissed the idea of private education–we just cannot afford it. I would consider homeschool except, at that time, I really needed Ant to be out of the house and dh wasn’t supportive of the homeschool choice. It was around this time that people in my older sister’s area of town were forming a charter school, a public school. My sister would go to the board meetings and call and tell me all the exciting things they were going to do to provide a safe environment and accelerated learning. It sounded fabulous to me but there were some things that didn’t sit right with me. 1) We lived outside their attendance area, which would give us the lowest priority in their lottery and make our chances of being chosen minute. 2) If we did make it in, I’d have to drive my kids about 40 minutes to and from school. 3) The kids would have to wear uniforms, which was fine, but more formal than my ideal. I said to my sister that I wished SOMEONE would form a school like that in my area.

I called the district and asked the public liason if anyone had expressed interest in forming a charter school in the area (at that time, a petitioner would have to express their intent with the district’s board). The answer was no. I guess that SOMEONE I wished for will have to be me. Now, understand, I don’t have a teaching or educational administration degree. I do have an associates in business (office education) so I’m qualified to be a secretary, but I also have neighbors, friends,  e-mail access, a phone, an inquiring mind, and the desire to provide a safe and challenging school for my kids.

First, I made a few phone calls to established and successful charter schools to find out how they began. They gave me the number of someone at the local university who e-mailed me the state law regarding charter schools which would guide us through the petition process. She told me that we would have to write a charter document explaining how we plan to meet the requirements of the law and submit it to our local district which will hold hearings and then they may (or may not) approve us. And by the way, she said, be sure to define who the school’s founders will be and give their children first priority to attend the school. After all, wouldn’t it be a bummer if you do all this work for the school and your kids don’t even get to attend it?

After reading the law, and finding it quite understandable, I then e-mailed my neighbors and friends in the area. I asked who might be interested in making a new charter school, and who would like to go with me to visit the different types of charters in the area. Maybe we would find a program we would could copy. I had between 4-8 moms say they would like to check it out, so I set up some tours.

This is getting too long so come read part 2 tomorrow. I need to get some laundry in the washer.

As a mother of young children, I need to make a concious effort to listen and learn from the talks and lessons at church. So, as part of my goal to add more substance to the blog, and as part of my desire to be taught from the Lord at church, I welcome you to the first installment of…

The first Sunday of each month is usually "fast sunday" when we fast for two meals or 24 hours. On these days during our main meeting and after the Sacrament (Communion) has been passed to the congregation, the pulpit is open to anyone wanting to share their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This morning one woman talked about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and the account of them being thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar made. After they were told their punishment they replied to the king:

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

It was the "But if not" part that this sister pointed out. We may have many trials that we have to endure, and from which we may ask the Lord to deliver us, but if we are not delivered, will we remain faithful to our God or will we assume that He isn’t there and turn away.

I don’t know the Lord’s purposes in all things, but I have felt his love for me before and I know He is as real as the tallest tree in my front yard. I hope that when times are difficult, I can always remember that.

I would love to read how you were taught from On High. Please share your experience in the comments, or, if you choose to post about it, please leave a link in the comments. You are free to use my banner for your post, but I don’t care if you link it back here—it’s not about me.