Good Meetings today

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up really early and prepped my class, which went "well." I think there will be a lot of work for the semester, but it will be less than in the past. I do feel like we've turned a corner on some things. Teaching won't ever be easy for me here, but it will be more familiar and I'll have better resources and skills.

I saw Ralph today, who is the pastor I'd mentioned. He lives in California now, but had taught at this school before and I'd worked with him as a youth director. It was really fun to see him because he's someone who knows all of the systems.

We saw Linda, Kady, and Tung-tung (the baby) today. Eva really likes to greet smaller babies and had a great time. Sam and Eli showed off their spider-web shooting skills.

We had fraternal fighting over toys today. On the plane, each of Samuel, Eva, and Eli got an "ironman." Sam's is black and blue (he'd requested it) and I found two others on sale at Marshalls for $3. Well, today Emily pulled out the accessory for Eli's and it is pretty cool. Sam told us that Eli had said he wanted to share his ironman with Sam. We went with this as long as Eli didn't want it, but eventually Eli wanted it. Sam got frustrated. I told him maybe he could swap out his ironman for Eli's, but he didn't want to share his... Anyway... Hmmm... so we have some years of mild competition ahead of us. I do get it, sharing is hard, and it's easier to ask others to share than to share what we have. It was an interesting conversation.

Emily's good news today was that the kids have a "replacement class" tomorrow, Saturday. This sometimes happens with holidays, where workers get 9 days but are asked to replace a day on a Saturday. For us, it always feels like "surprise" childcare. We're excited to have a morning to talk, shop, work, or rest in relative peace. We're very grateful for the school here.

On Sunday it also looks like we're going to get to meet Susan, a pastor from the upper midwest whose husband is on a fellowship here. They have two daughters and I've been looking forward to hearing about their transition. It should be a good time ahead of us. We'll also see long lost friend Peter and possibly another local friend. Anyway, it's been some nice encounters. I still am sometimes frustrated with communication between my three employers, but we're doing okay. One of my goals for the semester is to try to stay engaged and positive and focus on areas where I can make the most progress.