January Faves

 

Well, the first week back at school, after the Holiday Break, started out great.  We had 10 out of our 12 students (2 have chosen to learn and do therapy remotely) and they all seemed to flow right back into the routine with just a few minor issues.  But.  By Wednesday night, the classroom I teach in (a 12:1:2) and the other self-contained classroom (an 8:1:2) learned that we have to quarantine for 10 days (until 1/16) due to a possible low-risk exposure to Covid19.  One of our staff members has tested positive and she was working with students in both classes.  So. I'm teaching LIVE Google Classroom lessons with the head teacher and the other assistant is tweaking our taped videos, etc. and we hold our daily meetings online. There is a lot of documentation we have to keep track of when we teach from home.  It's very time consuming. I don't like it but I'm looking for the blessings in this week to try and stay positive.  But I'm trying to stay negative from Covid19 :)

I'm sharing FIVE of those blessings and linking up with other bloggers who participate with Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.

glimpses of sunshine at the end of day

a friendly wave on the horse farm

• FRESH AIR WALKS:  I've been walking outside everyday this past week except for Tuesday when I had a late afternoon appointment after work.  The fresh winter air is refreshing and my walks have been interesting.  I spied this cheerful fellow waving on the main road by the horse farm across the road. So thankful I can walk outdoors due to Winter not being too bitter cold thus far.  As you can see, we only have about an inch of snow or so on the ground here in eastern New York State.

• NEIGHBOR CHAT:  While on a walk earlier this week around the corner from our house, I ran into my neighbor (Ann) who used to attend our church.  She used to be on our worship team and I hadn't seen her since before Covid started other than to wave Hello.  She was shoveling a bit and stopped me to ask how we are.  We ended up talking for a good 20 minutes!!  It was so nice to catch up and share with each other our feelings about where this country is headed and our job situations, etc. I'm thankful I ran into her and had a nice long chat!

• CAR REPAIRS:  Claire drives my Nissan Sentra that I bought brand new in 2007. She's had it for 2 years and  it's just now beginning to need work (other than the routine things over the last 14 years like a set of brakes, new tires, oil changes).  My husband went with her to take it to our mechanic and it was only in the shop for about 24 hours.  The price was more than we were expecting BUT...she now has heat and defrost (and AC in summer) and we learned there was damage to the belts/hoses/fan due to a MOUSE living under the hood!!  I'm so thankful we took the car in when we did so she has a nice warm car now minus mouse evidence and can drive back and forth to her job while home on break staying warm. 

Courtney and Claire on XMAS DAY 2003
ages 10 and 5

Our Christmas Family Portrait
Xmas 1999
Courtney was 6 and Claire was 11 months

• PRECIOUS PHOTOS:  The daughter of my older cousin Barbara (she died from brain cancer on New Year's Eve) was going through her deceased grandmother's photo albums (my Aunt Martha who died a few years ago) looking for photos of her mom (Martha's 3rd daughter Barb ) for the viewing, and came across many that my mom had sent to Aunt Martha.  Aunt Martha was my mom's oldest sibling (one of 10 total).  Anyways, Melodie, the cousin I barely know, sent me a few of the pics via the Messenger app, and I was so happy to see them! I saved them on my new laptop.  I didn't even have a texting phone yet when the girls were little.  And we definitely didn't have social media.  I'm thankful for these precious memories.

• EXCELLENT EDUCATORS:  I'm super thankful for my team of excellent educators.  Presenting circle lessons, movement and music lessons and play lessons, live on Google Classroom is NOT easy and it's definitely not easy for the parents of these precious preschoolers with special needs.  But...out of our 12 students, FIVE showed up online for our first day of online remote learning and they were great.  We can do hard things.  And having 2 of us with new laptops really helps, too!  We WILL get through this quarantine. Oh, and thankfully we prepared lessons and materials ahead of time so that our boss just has to drop off our materials to us so we can teach from home until our quarantine is lifted.

Stay safe and healthy, everyone!!  Please do wear your masks and the vaccine when you can!

Have a happy, restful weekend.