Baggage....

I'm slightly hyperventilating here!!! Okay... so crafts, donations etc.. were overtaking my house, so I thought I would start packing one suitcase.. so I decided to go online and check baggage requirements.. Now, I was planning on paying the $55 or so for a third bag on Air France and hoping that I would be able to get Ethiopian Air on my second leg to waive their fee but once again, another $50 doable. Well, I go on Air France.. and they now only allow one bag for Economy!!!!!! The second is $55 and the 3rd is $200!!!!! Holy Crap!!! But then there is some language about when your ticket was purchased and of course, these restrictions literally went into effect the day my flight was purchased.. I mean the actual day, March 28th!! But when I go on Air France and put in my flight info, it says I can take two pieces under each of my itineraries.. I don't know how you get a hold of talking to someone and I don't know who to ask!!! I can not do this trip in 2 bags!! I am going to two orphanages and am bringing a lot of stuff!!! I don't know what to do.. plus I purchased my flights through a cheap air place... and so I'm on a ton of different carriers!! Bad move on my part!!

Crafts.... Yea!!

Last night my friend Shannan invited me over to share all the craft she has made for me... She made me examples, got me all the supplies and even wrote up little directions!! She is awesome. In addition to all of this... she made dinner and sent me home with leftovers for lunch the next day. You can't pay for service like that!!! Oh and I loved when her daughter Talia(age 5) handed me one extra craft(a paper Hula skirt) just in case no one liked the crafts her mother picked!!!!

Still collecting crafts... especially any ideas for the big kids!!!

Collecting...

So, it looks like I am collecting children's gummy vitamins, sterile gloves, craft projects... toy cars, ABC stuff..... and planning on purchasing clothes, shoes, bedding in Ethiopia!!

Oh and in a couple of funny coincidences, I met a new friend who adopted twice from Layla and an acquaintance who is #2 on the referral list for her agency for a baby from Ethiopia. Small world!!

Evaluation...

As I am attempting to pick up my little house which seems to look like a tornado hit it... which if anyone has been to my house, you know that it's usually quite tidy... I came across my evaluation that my principal just did... in schools, you get evaluated every two years once you are tenured.. It is quite simply my most glowing evaluation to date... and this is the final paragraph....

"Ms. Jones demonstrates a work ethic paralleled by few. She tirelessly collaborates with staff and administrators to meet the needs of every one of her students. As an expert in her field, she is able to draw on an extensive repertoire of resources and strategies to address the problems and concerns of her students. As a reflective individual, she patiently listens to others to determine possible alternative strategies. Her wisdom and understanding of others belie her age. Additionally, she makes a substantial contribution to the school with her Earth Day, Needy Families and Ethiopia Reads projects. Everyone values her as an indispensable social and emotional standard bearer of the school."

And as I go to bed, with a yucky summer cold or sinus infection... and am stressing about all the groups and paperwork I still need to get done in the next two weeks... this is what I'm going to choose to focus on. G'Night!!

A small difference....

Okay, so it almost the end of the school year. We are done June 4th. So that means that there are 13 school days and 1 hour.. holy crap I have a lot of work to accomplish!!

But as much as we are stressing about the end of school, so are many of the kids. There is one little guy who was new to our school this year. When you look at his records, it is clear that he may have ADHD.. and his mom has finally secured an evaluation for him this June.. but with about a month of school left, he was driving his teacher slightly insane and she said the worst was that he couldn't stay in his seat.

So, I made him a little envelope that said "I will stay in my seat." and taped it to the side of his desk. Every time she sees him seated, she gives him a little ticket that says Caught being good. If he has 10 tickets at the end of the day, he gets a prize from this bag of prizes I left(stretchy animals, little dinos, crayons etc.)-- well he has been struggling a bit but today on my way into school.. early, like about 30-40 minutes before the kids were due and he is already on the playground playing catch with his sister and some of her friends.. he comes running towards me yelling 10, 10, 10 tickets.. so I said, "Oh, did you get ten tickets yesterday?" "Yes!" "Well, high five! What prize did you pick?" "A dinosaur." and then he ran back to play. It was a nice way to come into school and to one small person, I think I made a small difference today.

Did you??

A fellow blogger...

So this stunning photo was taken junior year turnabout. My date is standing behind me and I believe is a Ph. D and possibly an physicist or something else super brainy.. yes, I always found intelligence sexy-- just wish I was having better luck these days... a later post on Plenty of Fish-- guessing I will soon have some more dating stories to crack everyone up with.

Anyway, I digress.... the lovely lady in the equally stunning blue dress as mine(we clearly didn't talk about what we were wearing that night) is my friend Ange.. she has the blog www.willandellie.blogspot.com and is on my list at the bottom of the blog.. Anyway, I get a facebook message from her the other day that says we need to do breakfast, maybe mimosas, get you away from all your career craziness and here I'm thinking wow, she's psychic before I realized that she is only of the few people out there still reading this thing!!! So, a shout out to Ange and check out her blog.

Possibly going private...

I am toying with the idea of going private.. It would mean I would have to transfer my blog over to another site.. maybe word press.. as blogger does not allow you to choose to keep some posts private and others not.. the only reason I would consider keeping it open is that I have appeared to have gained some viewers that I don't know personally and I'd hate to miss out on anyone who would like to participate.. I have reasons as to why I might be going private.. and if I do, I will certainly put up a notice and if you want to continue following, I can pass on the password. Plus the whole transferring over process sounds taxing to me.. or maybe I'm just tired.. it is Monday.. though I only have 2 more Mondays left for the 2009-2010 school year. Yea!!

Earth Day Pics....

Our fifth grade transitional students were invited by the town to help plant a tree in one of the local parks.

Groups of the almost 150 students who signed up to collect trash after school on Earth Day. The adults in the photos are my parents who came to help out, hence the ice cream, Cubs hats and sparkly headbands.

It was a beautiful day.. unfortunately I did not get to enjoy it as there was another crisis at school.

Lola pictures

Abebe with the first baby at Lola!
The outside of Lola House.
The gorgeous Lola guard dog!!!

I seemed so pathetic that last post, so I thought I'd post some happy pictures that were just posted to the Lola Fund page by one of the awesome adoptive mom's parents who recently visited Abebe at Lola House.

I am very excited to spend my time at Lola and helping to get whatever needs to be started, started! I had an amazing conversation with Allie who is one of the founders of the non for profit, supporting Lola and am even more psyched to make my journey up to Mekele. Though that bus trip should be interesting. :) Less than 6 weeks away.

May 9th

I have a ton of posts that I haven't put up.. from Earth Day, Book Club etc... but work has been really chaotic lately. There have truly been a ton of crisis-- true crisis that have involved DCFS, police, hospitals, mental health professionals(other than me)-- parents, students, administrators etc. It really got me thinking.. I truly do love my school-- I have a great principal, some super teachers and I really like my kids.... but I've been in my district for 10 years-- and my principal retires at the end of 2010-2011 and I can't tell you what a difference it makes having your boss have your back no matter what- and also having someone who really thinks you are competent is also awesome. Plus in the past two years, my two friends at work who have been the ones to work on my extra projects with me left to have babies. And now we've learned that the teacher that I work the closest with at school, who I eat lunch with and consider one of my good friends outside of school is being moved to another school in the district and none of us have any control over it. So, I guess the question is where to go from here. I have a mortgage and tried to sell my condo about 3 years ago, but needless to say with the housing issues, there was no movement. I know that it would be difficult for me to move as a school social worker as I have 11 years experience and 2 master's degrees... I also got an administration degree in education several years ago and ideally I'd love to be a Special Education administrator, but with the education crisis in Illinois and the amount of layoffs, I don't know if that is a reasonable goal at this point. The other fear of leaving education for another type of social work is that I'd lose my summers and I LOVE my summers... I can't imagine not having the ability to plan another trip like last summer.

So I guess at this point, I should focus on making my trip this summer the best I can, heading into next school year with as much positivity as I can muster, if not for me than for the kids and my principal as it will be her last year. And the funny thing is I do want to work on the projects she and I've discussed, I just feel like we do that and then another shoe drops and I'm told I can't. And I guess try to find someone else to eat lunch with. :(

But next year, I need to really evaluate my options.. Do I try to sell again? Do I look into the possibility of working overseas?

Happy 1st Birthday Charlie!!

CHARLIE AND HIS SILVER SPEEDSTER FROM THE LAND OF NOD
CHARLIE DESPERATELY TRYING TO GET AWAY!!

Tuesday was my godson Charlie's first birthday. He is Juliet's brother who has made the blog several times as she is almost four and has a "big" personality. I was pushing her on the swing on Tuesday and she asked me if I would come to her wedding. Uh sure... it's not any time soon is it?? Then she proceeded to ask if I was at her mother's wedding... yes, I was, I stood up next to her and wore that dress with the brown bow.. there are pictures. Sigh, well, I wasn't there!! Yes, you were not born yet. But yes, both your mother and I will be at your wedding. Good. Are you kidding me?? Well, at least she's better prepared than I.. perhaps, she will be married before 40.

Anyway back to Charlie.. both sets of grandparents were there(one set lives in Conn), our friend Shandell and obviously his parents and Juliet. I stopped and picked up a cake from Sweet Mandy B's in the city on my way.. yellow cake, fresh strawberries and buttercream in the layers(3 layers) and vanilla buttercream frosting. I love this cake!!

Charlie opened his gifts, I got him a riding toy from the Land of Nod-- which I had difficulty putting together(user friendly directions, my a$$)-- Jim's stepdad had to put the steering wheel on for me and Jim needed to tighten all the bolts the next day. It was an awfully cute toy though and he seemed to like it!! Maybe it will help with exercise, he is a very big boy!!

Well, a very happy 1st to you Charlie!!