Cactus and Cuties

I'm home again!
Here are cactus just for you.

Here are two cuties I love very, very , very much.
Thank you, God, for my mama and my papa.
Thank you for my humble home and my good husband.
For family.
Amen.

Kids and Parents

Pom Pom in first grade
Getting all the grades in the grade book for parent teacher conferences has taken all my evening hours this week. Last night was the first night and today the continuation of MANY encounters with my students' parents. I'm feeling all lovey and heart-warmed because it is SO fun to tell parents how amazing their children are. I remember so well how it feels to mother a middle school child. To tell people that their child is insightful and kind, deep and sensitive is pure joy - PURE JOY. It brings out the mother bear in me. When I see them sitting there with their parents, acting like a child instead of a member of the puberty pack, I want to defend them, fight for them, protect them and serve them well. Parenting is hard work and often VERY hard on the heart, isn't it? You only get one mother. If she doesn't love you, tend you, observe you, feed you, sing your praises, prepare a lovely place for you . . . who will? Other people may admire you and cheer for you, but a mother who is engaged, a dad who comes to parent teacher conferences, a family who takes you mountain climbing, makes sure you eat dinner together, and protects your precious circle - those are the eternal gems that constitute wealth. I'm sort of in awe of this kind of magic, grateful for a glimpse of it.