The Playoffs are Starting and I'm Going!!!

I was so afraid I was going to miss the Stars game tomorrow...just forgetting about it until the late afternoon. (I know, just how far have I fallen away?) Well, Sweetie Michael found some tickets on Ebay for a good price and we're GOING!! Michael is from Colorado and this is HIS team, and of course, the Stars are mine. This is going to be so much fun!!! Bring on the Quest. Check out some cool videos from this season here.

Happy Easter

What a lovely 3 day weekend. Michael took Good Friday off and joined me for a day of fun. My cousin, Jill, had her second child and first son, Hunter, on Thursday. Michael and I joined Mom to go see the precious baby boy on Friday.

Then Michael and I went to visit my aunt and grandmother at the Christian Care Center. We found my aunt cutting many of the residents' hair and my grandmother wanting to eat the ice cream sundaes they serve on Fridays. These ice cream sundaes are so delicious! We had a good time visiting with Nana and with her cousin, Louise.

Saturday, Michael and I did major yardwork. Not only did Michael mow, but he got out the chain saw and ax and went after some trees in the yard. I began pulling out weeds and tiny trees, and removing dead leaves or dying plants from the flowerbed. I became VERY sore from this work...still feeling it big time today.

Then Michael and I met with his family (Houston family came up for LTC) at the Olive Garden to eat lunch. They were all dressed up to get their picture made. Then after the families took their pictures, they came over to our house to visit and eat dinner (just Chic-Fil-A). I'll post some of the pictures after I scan them. They are growing so quickly!

A year ago Saturday, Michael asked me to marry him! I can't believe all that has happened since that day. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. Praise Him! Michael and I bought this 9 games in 1 thing. He taught me how to play Chess Saturday night. I can see this becoming an obsession for me. You really have to think!

Easter Sunday, we went to Richardson East for a good worship service. It is so fun to see how dolled up the little kids get for Easter. I met a family that came from New Orleans and place membership at RE. They had a precious little girl that had at least 3 bows in her hair for her 1st Easter. She was adorable!!!

We then went to my bro-in-law's parents house in Plano. We had a fantastic dinner and hunted Easter Eggs. We also had cascarones. I had confetti all over me. The kids had so much fun! We also celebrated Andrew and Ashley's upcoming birthdays. Andrew has a new game system (I'm totally out of date on this, but it's supposedly really cool) and we gave him a gift certificate to buy some games for it. Ashley is into Care Bears and we got her this really cool one that plays a game like 20 questions. Really cool.

It's Time to Take Action

I'm a teacher. Obviously, education is important to me. I come from a family that is not lacking in teachers, coaches, or principals. The future of this country is important to me. I teach in a school where many of my students are illegal or their parents are illegal. I've been monitoring the protest closely. I love these kids and I feel for them, but I'm also a US citizen and can see the damage of having these illegal immigrants here. My brother, Blake, had a blog entry that opened my eyes a little more. Check it out here.

But the thing is, no matter who is in our country, our education system is crumbling. It will soon be an avalanche if it isn't already. Tuesday, on Oprah, Bill and Melinda Gates were showing what the schools have come to. You can check out the contents of the Oprah show here.

Did you know that 1 out of 3 freshmen will not graduate? That might shock you; it doesn't shock me. I teach in a district that has 5 middle schools. My school once had the students that the high school teachers do not want to get. My students have a higher rate of dropping out than those from the other middle schools.

According to schoolmatters.com, my school is labeled as a "fringe off a large urban city school." Yes, my school can be rough. It is definitely rougher than the other middle schools in the district. Is it rougher than the Dallas school my dad teaches at? Maybe, but probably not. We have outstanding adult leaders in my school that give more structure to the students. It may even shock you that my students wear uniforms. That is one of the best things for these students.

But the thing is, even if these kids graduate, their education is still on a low level. They do not have the skills to do much. Whose fault is this? As a teacher, I'm doing the best that I can and my students still are below everyone else in the district. The administrators are excellent. So, it the student? I honestly don't think so. I do feel that family/home life plays a major role.

Bill gates says that we are teaching American students curriculum for them to survive the 1950's, not curriculum to survive the year 2006. You can see his website here. In Texas, I'm not sure if that statement is true. I do see a need for our kids to get into technology more than they are.

So how do we fix this problem? If we're worried about illegal immigrants taking so much money from hospitals and the like, how much more will we fret over all the jobless dropouts that will do the same thing in ten years?

My "solution" is to fix families first. But really, I don't see much change occurring. I think America is about to fade from the limelight. I've often cried over the thought of the life my future kids will live. This just confirms my suspicions of how bad things really are.

It is Important to Believe

This is an article from Reuters that discusses how Jesus walked on the water.

By Jim Loney
MIAMI (Reuters) - The New Testament says that Jesus walked on water, but a Florida university professor believes there could be a less miraculous explanation -- he walked on a floating piece of ice.
Professor Doron Nof also theorized in the early 1990s that Moses's parting of the Red Sea had solid science behind it.
Nof, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, said on Tuesday that his study found an unusual combination of water and atmospheric conditions in what is now northern Israel could have led to ice formation on the Sea of Galilee.
Nof used records of the Mediterranean Sea's surface temperatures and statistical models to examine the dynamics of the Sea of Galilee, which Israelis know now as Lake Kinneret.
The study found that a period of cooler temperatures in the area between 1,500 and 2,600 years ago could have included the decades in which Jesus lived.
A drop in temperature below freezing could have caused ice thick enough to support a human to form on the surface of the freshwater lake near the western shore, Nof said. It might have been nearly impossible for distant observers to see a piece of floating ice surrounded by water.
Nof said he offered his study -- published in the April edition of the Journal of Paleolimnology -- as a "possible explanation" for Jesus' walk on water.
"If you ask me if I believe someone walked on water, no, I don't," Nof said. "Maybe somebody walked on the ice, I don't know. I believe that something natural was there that explains it."
"We leave to others the question of whether or not our research explains the biblical account."
When he offered his theory 14 years ago that wind and sea conditions could explain the parting of the Red Sea, Nof said he received some hate mail, even though he noted that the idea could support the biblical description of the event.
And as his theory of Jesus' walk on ice began to circulate, he had more hate mail in his e-mail inbox.
"They asked me if I'm going to try next to explain the resurrection," he said.

If we explain everything in the Bible, we will lose our faith. I believe what I read in the Bible without any proof, therefore, I have faith in its words. How dangerous it would be to prove everything in the Bible. I can't figure out this guy. I guess he is a believer...

PS...Anyone else having issues with uploading pictures that past week?

How Rude!

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their "masters," The Times of India reported Tuesday.
"A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master," the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.
The book was approved by the state's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government but has sparked protests from the party's women's wing.
State education officials in Rajasthan, a western state known for its conservative attitude toward women, said people should not be upset by the comparison, the paper said.
"The comparison was made in good humor," state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying. "However, protests have been taken note of and the board is in the process of removing it (the reference)."