Touch my book and the Teddy Bear gets it!

Steph and I are finally home from Christmas visiting!

Now we begin the annual re-opening of gifts. You see, when you spend your vacation time on the road, you tend to open your gifts, appreciate them, and then pack them away again (as efficiently as possible)(to save space in the car!). When you get home, you get to unpack all the presents again. Re-opening gifts is great! This year I recieved a bunch of books (hence, the title of this blog!), some clothes, Mindtrap (an intelligent game), a pretty nice wooden plaque from Dad to welcome people into our home, and an Ottawa Senators Baseball Cap.

Unfortunately, the flowers Steph recieved (for conducting the school play) have all wilted. She was able to enjoy them for only a short time. We mourned for them by unceremoniously stuffing them into a garbage bag and throwing them out into the cold, cold, garbage bin outside.

Speaking of outside. There's no snow! None, nodda, zip, nien, rien, n'est pas (I don't know what half of those 'words' mean...). But there's no snow. Qu'elle disappointement! (you gotta love french).

I would have to say that the highlight of my personal Christmas was keeping Steph's present a secret from her.... FOR FOUR (4) MONTHS!!!!!! I had Steph's present figured out in September. Which, of course, tormented her because she hadn't even thought of mine yet, nor, had she told me what she might want. So for four months I kept it secret. Which I usually can't do. She's going to see Momma Mia! in Hamilton. I don't know who she'll bring....

Here are some other highlights:

- Playing Bond with Matt, GT3 with Nan,

- Almost winning Euchre after going down 8-0 at the start (final score was 10-9)

- Making a luge run with Stevin and Michael,

- Almost smoking a tree when we tried the luge run,

- Getting Mom and Laura to play Dance, Dance Revolution,

- Seeing Friends and Family

- Getting a chainsaw stuck in a tree,

- Getting the chainsaw unstuck from the tree,

- Playing 'Ticket to Ride Europe' and winning,

- and Eating.

A Weight Has Been Lifted!

Well, as of 7:45 this evening the Christmas Program is done for another year! Boy am I glad!!! Everyone said that it went well and I think it did too....other than my class starting to sing "Joy To the World" before the piano player was done the introduction, I'm still not sure what happened there...Anyways, I was very proud of all of them! And at times like tonight, I love my class! They were cheering for me when we (myself and the other teacher who ran the show) were given flowers and when I came into the classroom afterwards they started clapping for me! Why can't they be that sweet all the time! Anyways, I'm so glad it's finished! One more week and then Christmas Break, during which I hope to fit in at least some relaxing!

The Community That Binds Us

Recently, at my high school placement, I've realized just how deep the sense of community (and prayer) is to a Christian school. And just how important it truly is.
Everyday, the teachers take 15 minutes at the end of the day to share something exciting, or emotional, about their day. Then we all pray.
Recently, a young boy was given two months to live because of cancer. Then it was shortened to about two weeks. It seemed there was nothing left to do but pray.
Even more recenlty, the wife of a former teacher passed away because of cancer. She left behind a husband, and three very young children.

Often, I think it is easy for us as Christians to look first, at the cost of Christian education, and second, at what we'll get from it. I think too often, the sense of community is forgotten.
But, being so far from soo many of our relatives, friends... our loved ones. I think Steph and I have realized just how important community is.

I also know, from experience, that not every school cares for each person the way a Christian school does. Not in the public, nor even the Catholic schools, will you find teachers as willing, and genuinely able, to pray for a student and their loved ones.

It's a shame that the Liberals can't see the importance of Christian education, isn't it? Or do we honestly believe that public funding will make us lose our sense of community?

Girls....

While assistant coaching a junior girls volleyball team at a recent game, I heard these comments from my bench:

1 Girl - Oh, she's so pretty!
2 Girl - Don't you think she looks like Hailey Duff?
3 Girl - She's a little too dark (tanned)
1 Girl - I like her shoes
4 Girl - Are we going to get 'storm' clothes for volleyball? (School labelled shirts and pants...)

2 Girl - Yeah, can we buy clothes this year, coach? (I honestly had no clue...)

1 Girl - Oh, she's strong

3 Girl - Yeah, I love her. She's great.

4 Girl - She always has such great hair!

1 Girl - Yeah, I like her hair too.

Honestly, as assistant coach, I just wanted to bury my face in my hands. Do they not understand that there's a game going on?!!?!

Dave's Extra-curricular Activity (shortened version)(for readability)

The fundamental problem found with all new volleyball players is that their skills are not developed in certain integral ways. Thus, I present, the seven deadly troubles of volleyball:

One of the first problems is that they don't know how to pass consistently. This takes practice. But in the mean-time, coaches settle for half-decent passes.

The Setters also have to settle for half-decent passes. And content themselves to the fact that they must chase down every shanked pass. No matter where it goes on the court.

The third trouble is that, a shanked pass always heads to one player or another. So that player (with visions of grandeur, and 'taking one for the team') decides they might as well take on the role of a setter. But the real setter is still chasing down the ball.

The fourth trouble is that, when the setter and the 'new' setter collide somewhere on the court, the ball still falls to the ground.

The fifth trouble is that, if by some miracle the team gets the ball returned over the net, the players will not know that they should stand at the net, with hands raised to the sky, as though they can block.

The sixth trouble is that the players' vertical jump abilities don't allow for any reasonable block. If the ball is returned back to your team's side, the trouble starts all over again.

The seventh trouble is that even when your ball CLEARLY landed inside the lines on your opponent's court, the REF still calls it out!????? (REFS!!! they NEVER get it right!)

These are the lessons I learned while coaching a junior girls volleyball team this past weekend. While it may sound pessimistic, I assure you it is not. Coaching volleyball is a LOT of fun! And it's great when your team remembers how to get past all those 'troubles' and actually starts playing as a team! I've learned that I love coaching, and can't wait until our next game!

Our record so far is:

6 sets won, and 7 sets lost (in tournament play)

The Evils of Extra-Curricular Activities

Well, as I'm sure you all know by now....I am in charge of the Christmas Program at our school this year. Let me tell you, this is the craziest thing I have ever done. Though it may have its fun moments, most of them are stressful, especially since we only have two weeks until performance and we're not even close to being ready!

The thing about extra-curricular activities is (actually there's several): 1. teaching in a Christian school requires you to do a certain number of them; 2. teaching in a Christian school where they've recently laid off staff requires you to do more of them than physically possible; an 3. they take time away from the actual job of teaching. Allow me to demonstrate, here is what my day was like today: Christmas Program stuff, more CP stuff, oh that was the bell I should let the kids in....wait a minute, what am I doing today!?!? More Christmas Program stuff, recess: rehearsal, let the kids back in, do more Christmas Program stuff, oops I'm supposed to be teaching right now, lunch recess: yard duty in the freezing cold, more Christmas stuff, French class....what am I doing in French today? More Christmas stuff.....finally the end of the day! But not over yet, after school I had to work on the backdrop for, you guessed it, the Christmas program and plan for tomorrow.

I tell you, by the end of the day, I'm not really sure what I taught and we're still not ready for the Christmas program. Oh well, the show must go on and somehow we'll pull it together!

P.S. If anyone has some good ideas for making quick and easy Roman Soldier costumes, I'd appreciate the tips! (See I'm STILL thinking about the Christmas Program!)

Pop Quiz!

Today I was caught feeling completely useless. Fortunately, my associate teacher was the first one on the scene, so that I had to do very little. This was my biggest fear about teaching phys. ed. -- that one day I would have a student injured in some way that I would not know what to do...

At worst, I worried myself about a rolled ankle. Those happen all the time...

Or, maybe a finger bent out of shape...

Or, maybe an arm broken....

But, a knee being completely dislocated? So that the knee cap (patella) is risen an inch out of its normal place? and the fibula is sticking out the side?

While playing badminton (of all sports!) a girl in grade 12 dislocated her knee. Which has got to be one of the most painful injuries a person can endure. And she was screaming/crying from the pain she was in... And I was at a complete loss for ways to help her or comfort her. Okay, maybe not a complete loss... but I felt pretty useless...! ("I'll call the ambulance," is what I said).

It was about five minutes before her knee slid back into place (That's a long time when you are in pain!). And she went home on crutches. Apparently, there's not much you can do for that particular injury. If you try and force the knee back into place, you can create more damage. So you have to just let it work its own way back in...

Needless to say, I am brushing up on my care and prevention of injuries textbook!