Hold Everything!

Last week-end I worked like a fiend...cleaning out the garage, tossing endless items ruthlessly, befriending other building occupants -- a family of crickets that I swear stalked me all week-end and seemed to jump for joy every time they saw me -- and selling/giving away furniture.  And then, Sunday night, it hit...chills, fever, headache, body aches....I don't know what it was but it seemed to be a message from God.  STOP.  SLOW DOWN.  BE STILL.

I must confess, He got my attention!  I have not been that sick in several years -- certainly not running a fever sick.  I stopped.  I slept.  I stayed in bed a requisite minimum of days as I had work to get back to...I went back on Wednesday, still feeling crappy but I had IEP"s to write, students to teach, and work that had laid untouched for two days.

Thursday came...a long day as we have an hour and a half of meetings after work (a trade off for a week off at Thanksgiving).  Although I frequently find myself questioning that trade-off, the week of Thanksgiving is a blessed time and will be more so this year as we will be moving.  I stayed until about 5 PM trying to catch up the two days I missed in paperwork.

Friday -- oh sweet Jesus!  How happy I was to see Friday!  I was completely exhausted, even though I had only worked three days.  I don't think I have been that tired the entire school year, struggling to keep my eyes open.  My last period of the day was prep.  I had planned to assess a student for his IEP but he had other plans.  Refusal.  Hmmmm, could I force  a student to take an assessment?  Probably not.  We called home and although mom was encouraging, he still refused.  I convinced him to do the reading portion and I would get the other information some other way.  Afterwards, we talked.  Just talked about his IEP -- what it is, why he has it, what he wants to do when he finishes high school.  He talked about maybe he  needs to get rid of his lazy attitude.  I told him it won't serve him well in the "real" world.   It actually was a nice way to end the afternoon.  I got to know him a little better and he, I.  

You know, some weeks, things just don't go as you plan.  I had to cancel an IEP meeting, didn't get to assess a student and found myself in bed for three days and wishing I could go back to bed another three days.  Today is Saturday and I am relaxing, save for cleaning out the guest bathroom and ridding it of things we will not be taking with us.  It's a small step but will get us one step closer to moving.  I will have felt somewhat productive.  After a week of sickness and exhaustion, it is nice to just sit, have a cup of coffee and reflect.  Sometimes God just likes to remind us -- He's there and He's in control.  "Be still and know that I AM God." Psalm 46:10