Monday, November 26, 2007

Blessings and Gratitude

I am so blessed! This year I celebrated my second Thanksgiving away from home, but I was fortunate enough to have 55+ guests at our backyard Thanksgiving feast! We invited people from school, church, bible study, and friends of friends to our event! We had so much food that we ended up donating 4 pies and 2 entire casseroles to an orphanage!
It was a LOT of fun, and I felt so grateful to have met so many wonderful people over the past year!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Save the Pandas!

I promise I had nothing to do with this!
Zuriel, one of my wonderful students, loves the Giant Panda bears from China. I've been hearing about his fascination since the first week of school when, before our morning prayer, he asked, "Miss Peterson, can you pray for the Pandas?"
"The Pandas?" - my intelligent response.
"You know, the Pandas. In China. They are dying".


So, that was when it began.
In the beginning of November, my students brought in science projects relating to our habitat theme. Zuriel, of course, chose to create a diorama showing the bamboo forests 'before' and 'after'. He did above and beyond and created a wonderful project.
But that's not all. Zuriel stayed up late making panda pins (which he drew and mounted on plastic and cut out), and he brought them to school on Presentation day with a poster entitled "Pandas Praying Club" (please read club with a long u sound.. because no matter how much I correct it, he will always pronounce it the Spanish way). Zuriel created a club that now meets on Thursday mornings before school, where we assemble outside to say a quick prayer for our endangered friends of the east (and the west, if you count the San Diego Zoo....) So, the phrase "Save the Pandas" has infiltrated our classroom... I hear it many times a day. I'm excited that I have a young activist blossoming before me. :) (Oh, and I almost have them all refusing the Styrofoam plates from the school's lunch store!)


Zuriel's panda project presentation.


Andrea's ocean habitat.



























Hi Seok researched the Sahara Desert.




Tania did the forest.

Monday, November 19, 2007

I found this. And I like this. I will share it with you.

When Earth's Last Picture Is Painted

by Rudyard Kipling

When Earth's last picture is painted
And the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded
And the youngest critic has died
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it
Lie down for an aeon or two
'Till the Master of all good workmen
Shall put us to work anew
And those that were good shall be happy
They'll sit in a golden chair
They'll splash at a ten league canvas
With brushes of comet's hair
They'll find real saints to draw from
Magdalene, Peter, and Paul
They'll work for an age at a sitting
And never be tired at all.
And only the Master shall praise us.
And only the Master shall blame.
And no one will work for the money.
No one will work for the fame.
But each for the joy of the working,
And each, in his separate star,
Will draw the thing as he sees it.
For the God of things as they are!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Guanajuato

I let too much time pass. I should have written a decent description of my weekend in Guanajuato immediately upon returning, to capture some of the awesomeness in writing. However, I did not. And therefore I'm not bubbling over with the perfect adjectives to use in explaining the sheer beauty of this place. You will have to come up with some adjectives yourself. And maybe, if you're lucky, I'll add some more to this post in the future, describing my trip.
What I will tell you is that walking through this city is like being in the streets of Europe. And that I went to THE most perfect location for a wedding. And that I loved it in Guanajuato.
Enjoy my 210 pictures at the link below. You wont hurt my feelings if you don't look at them all.
Guanajuato


Comment with some good adjectives!