Encouragement

How many times have we talked to someone we thought might be a little down? We thought about giving words of encouragement but didn't. Every day it seems I am in contact with people who need a word of encouragement. That person is sometimes me. With nine classes and four midterms coming up this week, homework like you wouldn't believe, I am swamped. The thing is I usually handle it quite well. I work through the stress, push onward and get pretty good grades. I have a teacher in my public speaking class however, who either hates me or is just not interested in a student's best interest. I wrote an outline that I took an enormous amount of time to perfect, practiced my speech, and gave my speech. It was actually much better than I expected because I was sick. I had asked my teacher if I could postpone my speech till the following week when the second half of the class gave their speeches but she wanted me to give it. I had several people tell me it was really good. She gave me a B. There are other people in my class whose speeches were not well prepared for that got better grades. I wanted to cry. I can accept a lower grade when I have not done my best, but when people who are running way over their time limits, forgetting the words and stopping in the middle of their speeches are doing better than I am, it is very discouraging. I really think she doesn't like me. I am not a shy person about standing up for what I believe but how do you approach a teacher who doesn't like you and will probably dislike you more after you talk to her? I am not being over sensitive. I am being realistic. I thought about dropping the class because I want to be graded for my efforts and improvements by someone who is fair with everyone. I won't though, I will stick it out and do my very best and know in my heart I put forth my best effort. I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that I have many classes that are much much more difficult that I am carrying an A in. If I had a B in one of those I wouldn't be so upset because I would know why. Any way, I said all that to say this. It is one of my personal goals in life to try and uplift other's spirits. Sometimes just a compliment from the heart or a small word of encouragement can change someones day or even their outlook. One thing I really enjoy about our English class is that we all critique each other in a way that is helpful and not downgrading. We each give compliments where compliments are due. If you get a compliment from me, it is from the heart. If I don't see anything to compliment, I won't tell you a lie, I just won't comment at all. Usually, it is not a problem because everyone it seems has created some very good essays. Soooooooooo, the next time you see a classmate or someone you meet who looks like they could use a good word, give it. You will make someones day brighter and in turn your own.

Spring Break

Well, spring break is almost over and it feels like it hasn't even started. With 9 classes I guess there really is no break. I have exams right after spring break so it is study, study, study. The good news is that I actually have time to study. I took my mother to the hospital for cataract surgery on Monday and back for a followup on Tuesday. She is able to see again which is great. Well since it is spring break, this is short and sweet. Hope everyone has taken advantage of spring break and are rested up for the 2nd round.

God Watches Over Me

Thursday night three of our calves busted part of the fence and got out on the highway. Our highway is well traveled and cars usually go by at 70 to 80 miles per hours. We immediately went out to try and gather them back in. I spotted two of them by the side of the road. I stopped on the highway with my flashers on and was going to direct them back in towards the field and away from the road but there was a car coming toward me. I stood in front of the headlights of my vehicle waving wildly trying to stop the driver long enough to tell him there were calves close to the road and to proceed slowly after I got them back into the field. The driver ignored me and swerved just in time to avoid hitting me. He went around me and accelerated and hit one of the calves. The calf flew over both lanes and landed in the opposite field. He got up once and then fell back down. He died a half hour later. There were other people luckily, who saw me try to stop him and saw him almost hit me as he went around me and accelerated. I was so very lucky that the car didn't hit me. The driver was issued a citation for failure to reduce speed. God was watching over me. Even in the lowest times in my life, I have always been aware that without God's intervention, it could have been much worse.

Wonderful Weather

Sounds kind of corny to talk about the weather but when spring is only a few weeks away and we have warmer weather like we do right now, I feel like talking about the wonderful things it brings our way. I noticed on campus today that they have planted some new flowers and some other flowers are already coming up through the ground. Spring always reminds me of new life. Kind of like a starting over period. The flowers bloom, the grass becomes green and the birds start to sing. Our cows usually have their calves in the spring. There is new life everywhere. I had a really tough week this week but seeing all the signs of spring made me feel better. We sometimes go so fast through life that we fail to see the beauty around us. I used to sneak out of the house when I was a kid and go lay on the flatbed hay truck and stare up at the stars. Just the smells of the outdoors and the cool breeze blowing across my body was enough to put me to sleep. I really love snow and wintertime but when spring comes, I am just as happy to it. I hope everyone enjoys their spring break and uses it as a time to renew their spirit. We could all use a little break..

My Katydid

I love children. I have loved children since I was a little girl myself. Having grown up in a large family I was used to being around kids. Sometimes I wonder why I get so attached to children. I think the answer is that children are innocent and sweet. They don't say things to hurt you and they don't care if you are pretty, what clothes you are wearing or the size of your bank account. They love you for who you are. Spending time with children is so rewarding for me. Every once in a while I get super attached to a particular child and Katydid is such a child. She is my great niece. The daughter of Rachel, whom I also spoiled when she was young. I usually take my nephews and nieces throughout the summer months for a couple weeks at a time. I first watched Katy when she was six months old. I absolutely fell head over heels. She was such a sweet little girl. Always smiling and what a smile she has. She can melt your heart. She is such a beautiful little girl on the outside and her personality matches. She lights up a room when she enters it. She has such a sweet way about her that you just want to hug her all the time. She loves to feed the cows on the farm and feed Angel our horse. I don't think there is anything she doesn't like to do outside. When she leaves to go back home, I miss her terribly and my heart feels like it will break. I usually spend the next week crying because I miss her and start thinking about how I can talk her momma into letting me have her for a couple more weeks. I love all my nephews and nieces like they were my own. They are very precious to me. I wanted to share Katydid with you all ,so you can see what sunshine looks like closeup. I don't have any of her best pictures on my computer but her best picture couldn't do her justice.

My Cat Priest Holmes

I have a cat that I named Priest Holmes. I named him Priest Holmes because I am a KC Chiefs fan and Priest Holmes is a running back for the Chiefs. Anyway, Priest was just a kitten when my huband brought him into the house and I bottle fed him and tried to save him. There were two white kittens. I was unable to save one of them but Priest hung in there. I have never had an indoor cat before. I am an animal lover but we grew up with dogs not cats and so my images of how bad cats could be was pretty one sided. I thought of them as being smelly and peeing all over everything and their litter boxes smelling up the place. I couldn't let the little guy die so I nursed him to health and when he was strong enough to go outside, I just couldn't do it. I had fallen in love with the little bugger. He is very spoiled and I adore him. When I am doing my homework, he gets jealous and wants to lay on my books so I can't read. He actually fetches just like my dog. They both want my attention and are very jealous animals. I was so wrong about cats being smelly. I clean his litter box everyday and you would never know we have a cat in the house. He is very clean and never messes anywhere but his litter box. I guess it goes to show how wrong you can be about things when you go on hearsay. I am glad I saved him because he as been a wonderful addition to our family.

I spent four days in the hospital this past week. I was having chest pain and my cardiologist said I needed to go to the emergency room and be checked out. I told him I have lots of homework to do so he said instead of going to Barnes I could go to St. Elizabeths and get checked out there. I went to St. Elizabeths and they would not release me to go see my cardiologist on my own or drive myself to Barnes. My ekg showed I was not having a heart attack. I have a dialted assending thoracic aorta. They are afraid of dissection which can occur. If it does I don't have long to get to the hospital. When I was first told about it, I cried because the surgery to correct the problem is very risky so they don't perform the operation until it reaches a certain size. Because it is so close to my heart valve, it is more risky. Dissection is when the inside layer of your aorta tears and leaks into the outer layers. You can bleed to death very quickly. So anyway they send me to Barnes by ambulance. I felt really stupid because I wasn't sick and they really only needed to do an MRA on me. MRA is the same thing as an MRI just specialized for the aorta. I understand why they were taking precautions. They kept me in the hospital for four days and I got a really good understanding of just how bad nurses have gotten. I had maybe two good nurses the whole time I was in there. The rest could kill someone who didn't feel well enough to speak for themselves. I was in a room with an older woman who had a heart attach and she was also a diabetic. They took their time getting her a shot when her blood sugar shot up because they brought her the wrong food. I finally threatened to leave under my own authorization if they didn't let me out because I had two evening classes on Monday and I cannot affort to get behind with 9 classes. So they called my cardiologist and they did some more tests and let me go. The silver lining to all of this is that I got some badly needed rest and was able to take care of the lady in the room with me. There is always something good to be thankful for.