October Plans

While it is tough teaching my students because of behavior, it breaks my heart to hear about their home lives. A lot of my students live in war zones due to drugs and alcohol. These kids have such potential but they are hurting deeply. I can tell they want to trust me but they always question me about whether I will be sticking around. I tell them that I don't know what the future brings. My ultimate goal is to live and teach on the Oregon coast. I tell them that I do not know if I will be offered a job for the next year or if I will get an offer on a dream job and move back to Oregon. But what I do know is that I am here this year and I am not giving up on them and if I move during the summer, it will not be because of them.

On Fridays I am so tired of the battle field that I do not want to return on Mondays. But God always come through for me. Case in point, I spent today (Saturday) slowly cleaning my house, talking to my sons and my sister which made me miss home. I watched one movie after another and talked with God about how badly I want to return home in the summer. I emailed a principal I know to let her know that I would be available should an opening for the next school year manifest itself. I was getting down about the fact that Saturday always seems to fly and I was not ready for Sunday or Monday to come. It was about 9:00 pm when I got a knock on my door. This is unusual as most people here to not visit in the evening because people are usually in night clothes and do not want to be seen. So I open the door and there my neighbor who is a wonderful native woman and has adopted me, was standing there. She asked me if I was doing anything tonight and I said no. She then invited me to drive her to New Town to the casino and for a couple of hours. I reluctantly said yes because that is a 35 mile drive and it was 9:00 pm.

I am so glad I did. It was fun. She knows everyone and I met two of her sisters. I played the penny machines and won enough to continue playing on my original 20 dollars for three hours. Then we drove home and she encouraged me and we discussed teaching and lesson planning. I learned about a tradition the natives believe in. They carry tobacco pouches with them and they throw them out the window as an offering after they pray that any four legged animal will stay away from the road. She forgot to do this and we almost hit a fawn as it followed its mom across the road. She immediately pulled out a pouch of tobacco and prayed and threw it out the window. Now she prays the same God I pray to, the one true God. I am not sure if this is a pagan thing or not but let me tell you we saw a deer close to the road on our way home but no four legged animals crossed into the road and that is unusual at 1:30 am around here. She says that the Natives believe that animals have a spirit and that makes them brothers and sisters and the prayer is their way of respecting life.

She also has invited me to go to a class with her that is teaching the history of Teddy Roosevelt and what he did for North Dakota. We even will be touring his ranch in Medora ND. I am also going with her in the end of October to South Dakota. We are going to visit her family and friends and do a "Sweat". I get to go into an authentic sweat lodge with other women. We pray and sweat and this purifies our bodies, minds and souls. I can hardly wait. Also I will be sight seeing and touring Mt Rushmore among other places with traditional Native Americans who will teach me all about the history and importance of several spots. I hope to got to wounded knee but I am not sure it we will be near there. I can hardly wait. I am praying the weather is nice since it usually starts snowing and getting nasty around the end of October.

My sons are doing real well in Houston. My oldest is excelling at his school becoming a mechanic and loving it. He does not usually like to talk on the phone but we have been having great conversations that last up to an hour. My youngest plans on starting auto body repair courses in January. God has been so good to us. It is amazing. I am not use to living under His abundance. I am trying to be a good steward. I am learning about a foreign concept called savings. I have never had money to save before and now I do. The four years of great struggle have taught me to trust God with everything and appreciate everything He has given me. I also have honed the gift of perseverance and now I am learning to live in God's abundance. My cup does runeth over. And soon I will have a savings account. I always thought those were myths. Oh and I finally can work one job instead of three and have extra money another myth proven. LOL.

Well it is late and I may get to go to a sweat tomorrow and not wait for the end of October so I had best get to bed. I hope this finds all of you well and content. I may miss my home but God is giving me chances to choose to be content. I am taking everyone of them. I tell my students that hate and anger are a choice, well so is joy and contentment and I choose to be content and surrendered to God until He takes me home be that my temporary home of Oregon or my permanent home in Heaven. Praise God for small outings that change my perspective. Night all. pleasant dreams.