30

It was inevitable, and now is as good a time as any to start the official Summer Vacation Countdown. 30 more school days till we have a long break and are freed up to visit with family and friends. That’s 6 weeks til freedom, or 240 more work hours, a month and half left? No matter which way you slice it, the end is in sight and I’m hoping we can do more than just limp across the finish line! This week Shane and I broke up the routine of our week a bit by going downtown to Atlanta’s famed Fox Theater. Along with our fellow Wheaton Alum and Mt. View staff member, Garret Granberg, we found some free tickets online to serve as part of the live audience for America’s Got Talent. It was fun to visit such a beautiful theater and get to see what a "talent show" is like on the other side of the t.v. screen. We left during intermission at around 9 p.m. seeing as it was still a school night : ), but had fun none the less.

I was most excited to see Piers Morgan (from CNN & Celebrity Apprentice), but the audience seemed much more excited to welcome the host, Nick Cannon(and if you don’t know who that is, he is the really young guy that recently married Mariah Carey and has hosted numerous t.v. shows and competitions throughout his career). The two other judges were Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandell (who I find really strange). It was great to split up the work week with a little fun, and Shane and I hope to visit the theater again this Fall when Wicked comes to town.

Well, we are in the homestretch, and though the daily routine and grind can at times get us down and feeling exhausted we know we are blessed to have a break coming up soon. If you think of it, please pray for the both of us. Shane and I were just discussing the other night something that a teacher commented on while discussing a teacher that is leaving our school. He was saying how he just didn’t have what it takes to tell a kid to shut up and sit down. The teacher isn’t taking well to the public school environment and is leaving for a private school. The teacher’s comment is probably right, in a public school you need thick skin, you need to be able to be a disciplinarian and deal with the delinquency and disrespect of many students. It can be a discouraging place to work though, that is for sure. So, after recalling this comment from the teacher I told Shane, “ Sometimes…..I don’t want to have thick skin.” Shane agreed that it is a struggle, because having thick skin can at times mean you become numb to the issues, becoming bitter and jaded, believing that for many of these student there is no hope for change or improvement. For an idealist coming fresh out of college wanting to change the world it can be an outright slap in the face. So if you think of it-Pray that we both would keep our hopes hung on the cross and that our skin wouldn’t become so thick that the Spirit can't penetrate it and do God's work-no matter how overwhelmingly futile it might seem to our nearsighted eyes.

We Love you all and Miss you terribly!

-M.W.