Thankful Thursday!

I've had one girl in class all week who was just a pill.  While we were in the classroom, she'd put her head down on her desk and sleep.  While we were teaching in the pool, she would be monotone, stone-faced and unprepared.  I finally said to her today, "You really don't want to be here, do you?"

Did I ever hit the nail on the head!  She absolutely did NOT want to be here, but her mom had signed her up for the class.  That opened the door for honest communication and you know what?  She actually did her best teaching ever this afternoon.  For that, I am thankful!

Aria

 

This sweet little girl is Aria Turner.  Aria was just a normal kindergartner who enjoyed life and loved being with her friends and family. After the New Year, Aria came down with what her mom thought was the flu. She had a fever, chills, and was extremely fatigued. After several weeks Aria was still exhibiting symptoms of excessive exhaustion and would sleep 12-14 hours at night and then would fall asleep at school. By mid-March she was losing weight rapidly and suffering from migraines and eye pain. Everyone from her teacher, family, and friends knew something was not right. After multiple doctors appointments and tests, an MRI revealed Aria had a brain tumor and she was immediately hospitalized in the ICU. After an emergency surgery to relieve fluid (and pressure) from her brain, the doctors speculated that she had a craniopharyngioma (a benign brain tumor). Further blood work and tests revealed every parent's worst nightmare - Aria did not have a benign tumor, but a malignant one. She has just finished six cycles of aggressive chemotherapy at Children's Hospital and will have an MRI tomorrow to see if she will have six weeks of radiation at the Mayo Clinic or possibly more surgery. 

The women at our church are having a garage sale to raise funds for her family.  It's my fault that you missed it today, but it will still be taking place tomorrow and Saturday at 17123 Hollyhock Court here in Lakeville.  Micah is selling cupcakes there to raise funds.  They sold out today, so she's baking more right now.

If you hate garage sales as much as I do, there is a donation jar there if you would like to help the family out financially.  There's also a GoFundMe account at:  

 https://www.gofundme.com/f/aria039s-fundraiser

A Tough Day at Work . . .

When I arrived at work this morning, my supervisor met me at the door.  Her husband had had a cardiac episode last night while in the hospital.  Staff had given two minutes of CPR and revived him.  

She couldn't go to the hospital to see him due to COVID, so she was coming to work.  Should she get a call from the hospital, she would be gone.

She had just finished teaching her class around 11:00 a.m. when the call came.  Her husband had had another cardiac episode and was given CPR again.

The text came around 2:00 p.m. that they had found an aneurysm and he was too weak for surgery.  Their three children were coming home and should all be there by 5:00 p.m. 

We've not heard anything since then.  The outlook does not look good. Do pray.      

Alien Babies

At ISD 196, when we're teaching Parent/Child Classes, and now with COVID-19, all lower levels, we use what we call the "alien babies".  These inflatable "dolls" take the place of the children as we are training our students.

Pat made the decision that, with COVID, the alien babies could not be properly cleaned and each student could bring their baby home today.  I strongly encouraged my class to have some fun with them.  

In the less than four hours that I've been home, my alien babies (one of my students gave me theirs!) have shown up for my virtual doctor's appointment:

 This is the screen my doctor saw when he came on expecting to see my face.  Fortunately, he's known me for thirty years now and should have know to expect the unexpected.  

He couldn't stop laughing and said that was the best thing that had happened to him all day!

Just like Goldilocks, Matt had someone sleeping in his bed when he came home from work today:

 HIs reaction was priceless!  

Fair warning:  you never know when you might find an alien somewhere near you!

ISD 196

The first thing I saw when I got up yesterday morning was a text from my boss at ISD 196.  She had been at the hospital until 4 a.m. with her husband who is now on a ventilator.  He does not have COVID, but he has Parkinson's and pneumonia.  She would not be at work until Tuesday.

Teija and I would be the only two working.  She was teaching lifeguarding in the morning and helping me that afternoon only.  She had a class of eight and I had a class of nine.  

I tried to set up my computer, but the password didn't work.  Teija couldn't get it to work either.  We called Pat.  She had changed the password and forgotten to tell us.

I started teaching my class and about twenty minutes in to it, I realized I was teaching from the OLD Water Safety Aide Book, the one we hadn't used for a couple of years.  I looked all over.  Teija looked all over.  We couldn't find the right book.  We called Pat again, the woman who had been up until 4 a.m.  This was not going well.  I was winging it with zeal.  Teija had never taught this class, so she let me lead.  

We gave it our best shot and were quite happy this morning when Pat showed up with the right book for me!

All that to say, while teaching was stressful, the class was great!  By that I mean well-behaved, listening, respectful.  The downside?  They're quiet!  My goal over the next two days will be to help them find their pool voices.   

Back at Sand Creek . . .

Compliments of my PMR (polymyalgia rheumatica), I have not worked at Sand Creek since last October.  The prednisone I'm on is an immunosuppressant and my doctor did not want me working out there during COVID without bilateral face mask usage.  Since the boss did not agree with the doctor, I did not work until Sunday.

Sunday evening, we had a group of conservative Muslim women come out to zip.  Twenty seven of them!  They did not want to have any male staff touching them.  I agreed to work on the condition that everyone would wear face masks.

When I got there, none of the SCA staff had on face masks.  Anna apologized to me, explaining why she was not wearing one.  Since I had been praying for this issue in her life for the past two years, I let her know I appreciated her talking with me.  

Then she shared that two of the female staff she had expected to work were not coming.  One was at home awaiting results for a COVID test, the other after promising to work, chose not to.  We were horribly short staffed.

I prayed, asking God to protect me and keep me safe while I worked.  The women wore masks (for the most part - a few needed reminders).  My boss did not.  I truly am very disappointed with his behavior and choices.  I'm not sure where to go with it.  

And it got worse.  We had another group after the women, a deaf family.  I knew Anna had driven an hour to work and really wanted to go home so I stayed.  Did my boss even mention face masks?  No.

I was even more disappointed.  

I meet with my doctor on Thursday.  We'll decide if I go back to work or not.      

Laura

My friend Laura asked if I wanted to hike the Ritter Farm Park (here in Lakeville) with her today.  Of course, I said, "Yes!" 

We got there and Laura said, "Let's do the Mader Trail.  All we have to do is take a left!"

Sounded great to me - I hadn't been there for years and had no idea where to hike! 

Unfortunately, that trail wasn't well marked.  We made some good guesses, walked the same small portion of the trail a couple of times, laughed a lot and survived: 

Next up?  She wants me to bike or lake swim or both!