two months and counting

I can hardly believe that Tanner's mission is almost over. He has two months from today until he is released to come home. I'm getting really excited! We are going to the Netherlands to pick him up. We will spend a few days there visiting some of the areas where he has served and do a little sight-seeing. We'll leave there on Dec. 3, 2013. Our flight home with take a pit stop in Dallas for a day or two and then bring us on home. We will get to see the girls and their families for a short ( very short) visit before coming home. It's just so hard to believe that this is all so close and that my boy will be home so soon! I can't wait! From his pictures on the mission blog, I can see how much he has changed. He looks more grown up. I love reading his weekly emails. He has grown so much in maturity and spirituality. It's amazing how a mission does that for young people! Yippee!

On a brighter note...

Yes on a brighter note... things have been going well in the Young Singles Branch that Paul and I work in.  Now is the time of year when we lose so many young people going away to college. We haven't  had very many young people added from the local university. We've still had good experiences. We had a lot of good summer Tri-Stake activities with good turn out for each month. June we went to Catherine Creek Lodge for a day filled with activities and a dance afterward. July we had a Pioneer Pentathalon in Pendleton. We had rotating pioneer activity stations and a lunch and awards. They threw Frisbees into a tire swing (buffalo chip toss), stick pull challenges, sack races, horseshoes, and handcart races. It was pretty fun! August we did service. Hermiston was in charge. We did outdoor service for the city of Stanfield, Oregon. I helped pull weeds in an old man's garden. Then we were served lunch. We went to a place called Warehouse Beach. It was a nice sandy beach off the Columbia River. We had a simplified Color Run on the beach and then swam in the river. It was  a blast!

Summer's gone...

Well the summer is gone. September came along with the beginning of school (work). The classroom I worked in last year at the high school was originally started to accommodate children with physical disabilities and those medically fragile students. Two of the students we had (Cl and J) are wheelchair bound but attend mainstream classes. Two others, N and C are wheelchair bound and medically fragile. Two students graduated out of the program. The three younger boys, (T, E, and K) were actually 6th graders with no program available at the middle school. The district administrators looked at the incoming groups for the next 5+ years. They decided with no medically fragile children coming up through the program, our classroom was no longer needed. So our classroom was disbanded. C and N were added to another SPED teacher's caseload and given an  adjoining room next to hers. Another aide and myself were kept to work with them.  CL and J were added to her caseload as well.  The three younger boys were moved down to the middle school to be with their peers. Two of our aides moved with them.  This has created some issues of concern for the aides working with them. We do not have enough staff to work with all the children who require one-on-one service. Not to mention that if my student or my co-worker's student were to have a seizure, there would be a problem. We don't have any backup  help to tend to the other student while two of us deal with the seizure. The district admin. doesn't seem to understand the possible complications that the lack of staffing creates. We don't have enough protocol trained substitutes either, which creates huge problems as well. On top of all this we have a brand-new-to-the-area supervising teacher. She's having enough issues dealing with some of the students behaviors in her classes on top of staffing issues. Needless to say it's been a rough beginning to the year.