The Christmas Concert

Alright, it's been a while, but part of that is my lack of knowledge about technology. I've been trying to upload the 3 videos from below for the past couple days. I got them on my computer, after loading discs and videos, then had a heck of a time getting them onto the internet. The videos took about an hour each to upload, something I was not expecting. I ended up going through YouTube, thinking it would be faster (it wasn't), and embedding them into my blog. The Youtube site is protected, so if for some reason you want to see them on there rather than here then let me know and I can get you access.

The kids' Christmas Concert at school was this past Wednesday night. It actually clashed with the Concert for my school, but I got permission to attend my own kids' performance. Last year I put my school first seeing as it was my first year there--If they continue to present on the same night I guess I will have to alternate.

We got each of their performances on tape and thought we would share them with everyone who is interested. So if you are a regular and know someone who would like to see these, but doesn't usually visit the blog, then pass along the URL.
http://risk-shipsatsea.blogspot.com

Here is Knox. If you listen closely you can hear him distinctly about half way through, over top of everyone else. And we were not close to him either, as it would appear from the shot. He was on the far side of the stage from us. All his looking around at the beginning is him trying to locate us in the audience.





Here is Declan. Isn't she cute in her Santa hat? She starts off just looking around but then gets into the song a bit more as she goes. She walked right by us on her way up to the stage.




And just so she isn't left out, and so you can see Oakley, here is one of her waiting for the show to start. She loves that blanket--never took a soother, but won't sleep without her blanket in her mouth. And it generally calms her when she is upset.

Tis the Season

Over the last week or so our family has been getting into the Christmas spirit. The tree and outside lights went up Grey Cup Sunday (as is my wife's tradition--and yes, that was more than a week ago). More recently, we have been getting some presents wrapped and put under the tree to make it look more Christmasy. I have downloaded our favorite Christmas songs, and some that we really don't like, but like making fun of. I also spent an evening with the kids folding, cutting out, colouring, and hanging snowflakes from a ceiling. We even got a wreath for the front door and after some debate on the best method for hanging it, got it put up.


And our most recent foray into the season was the purchase of some Santy Claus hats for the family.

Declan immediately saw and fell in love with the one she got, which really is rather cute.





It took a bit of looking around for Knox, who wanted something cool, but was disappointed when all the cool, boy hats were adult size. He finally found one that is made from some neat fuzzy material and he loves it.

Again, I found one pretty quick for myself, the goofier the better, and just had to have it. I am looking forward to Monday when I will wear it to school.



Jen wasn't there, and to tell you the truth I really didn't think I would ever get her to wear one; so to increase the odds I bought her the plainest, most authentic hat I could find. And she is wearing it at dance all this week.







Oakley was the hardest to buy one for because her head is so small. They didn't have any at the dollar stores, where the others all came from, and we looked and looked. We even checked out the baby department in WalMart thinking they might have some, but the only one they had was part of a 3 piece suit and the biggest size was 12 months. It turned out that WalMart's seasonal department had some Santy Claus hats and we were able to find one that fits her beautifully.


The kids wear their hats any time we go out anywhere, all three of them, and they get some pretty good looks from people, especially Oakley. We have not all worn the hats out as a family yet, but I hope to be able to talk Jen into it when Christmas week arrives.

My father-in-law posted on his blog Monday his favorite Christmas piece:

Scott posted Bach's Magnificat on his blog today and it got me thinking of my own favourite Christmas peice, Handel's Messiah. Here is my second favourite movement from it -- probably most of your churches included this verse in yesterday's service, the first Sunday of Advent.


I thought I would join in the fun and put up my favorite: O Come O Come Emmanuel. According to one website:

O Come, O Come Emmanuel was originally written in Latin text in the 12th Century. The author of the words and the composer to the music to O Come, O Come Emmanuel remains unknown. It is, however, believed the melody is of French origin and added to the text a century later. The Latin lyrics were translated into English by John Mason Neale in 1851.

I have always loved this Christmas song. It is a song about hope and trust in God. It is song that is not afraid to mention the purpose of Jesus coming to Earth in the first place: To save us "from Satan's tyranny" and rescue us from hell. And if you are a Christian you can have the hope that is in Jesus' promise to return for us one day and take us to live in Heaven with Him.

I would recommend the following YouTube video to you; even if you don't like the song, the graphics that accompany it are worth the 4 and a half minutes of your time. This version does not use all the verses of the song, but again, I like the video that goes with it.



Here are the complete lyrics if you want them.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Gift Cards: Bah, Humbug!

Gift Cards! They are all the rage in today's society of debit and credit cards; another way to avoid using, or, during the Christmas season, giving cash or cheques. And they make a lot of sense when you stop and think about it. Gift Certificates were a great alternative to buying a present for that hard-to-shop-for person, or family and friends who lived further away. They were a thoughtful gift that allowed someone to get something they actually wanted while cutting down on postage costs to the giver. They also allowed you to say that you were thinking of someone (by choosing a particular store) even if you weren't quite certain what they would like or what they would need--much more so than giving cash; at least you were choosing the store. And the stores must have loved the extra customers they gained simply by reminding consumers of all these points and being a store that offered gift certificates.

As gift certificates became the norm someone decided that Gift Cards had some very unique advantages over the paper Certificates. First, Cards could be reloaded which would hopefully keep a customer coming back (though quite frankly I don't think I have ever reloaded a gift card from any store). Also, because they could be reloaded it allowed the company to tout the environmentally friendly angle--reuse it rather than toss it out. As I was thinking about this I began to wonder if the plastic cards were somehow cheaper than the paper certificates. I wouldn't have thought so, but it could also help explain the switch. As it turns out I was right the first time. According to a CBC.ca article the plastic is quite a bit more expensive. (Check out the article here for some other very good information about gift cards.) However, the cost of the cards is often easily made up for with the biggest advantage a company has when using the plastic over the paper: forfeited money. You see, when you used a paper gift certificate and spent less than the amount of the certificate in the store, they had little choice but to give you cash back as change (unless they had smaller denominations of certificates). But with the gift card, if you spend less than the card amount you are simply left with a small amount still on the card. And if you are anything at all like me then you have allowed many companies to keep quite a bit of your money over the years as you forget about the last .75 on the card, or even maybe $1 or $2 from a $50+ card. This is money the company sold to the giver, but the receiver never spent and is free money for them. That right there is a pretty good reason to switch to plastic.

I know, I know, what does all this have to do with you? For the first time, that I have seen anyway, companies are charging you a surcharge to purchase a gift card. That's right, you pay for the amount you want PLUS you pay an extra "whatever they want to charge you." I first saw this at BestBuy here in Grande Prairie. They had a price tag on their cards charging an extra penny--but only on the fancier, sparkly cards which had no packaging, which is a bit ironic because the cheap looking cards were free even though they were packaged in the large plastic CD cases. Since then I have seen, and been charged, a dollar on another gift card, and noticed that VISA is charging something like $5 on a $50 card (the charge goes up with the preset amounts.)

Does anyone else think this is a joke, or just me? Why not just give cash and tell the receiver where you intended them to spend it? Or is it worth the extra charge to show that you tried to shop for the person, but decided to give them some choice? Personally, I would buy the cheaper looking card and save the penny. When this isn't an option I suppose for now I will likely pay the extra . . . For now--my patience won't last long though, and this blog may be only the first step in my rebuke about being ripped off by companies.

Acting Woes

So I got to school today to find out that all of my rehearsing the night before, which was a lot, because I have a tough time with memorization, was for nothing. The student I was to be replacing was actually there and I was out of the play, just like that. I felt really bad, worse than I would have thought. I love acting, and I miss not doing it. But I do have a Jr. High drama class next term that I am sooooo looking forward to.

The day was not a complete loss. As it turns out, a girl from the same class (same Act and Scene) was sick and they needed to fill her role--and I was the number one choice. It didn't even phase me that it was a female role; actually it was the new bride to the role I had been studying the night before. It wasn't a big deal; with so many kids in the play there was a lot of gender mixing in the roles, the only difference was that I was the only Hippolyta where the other roles with gender mixing had at least two of the correct gender--Oh, and I was the only teacher in the play and I played a woman. It was good though, I wore the same housecoat, which was Jen's, that I was going to wear, and a grade twelve girl found me a headband with a long and flowing colourful train. It got a good laugh when I first took the stage.

I was a little concerned with having only a couple hours to learn my lines, but it went okay and I did well. It was a great experience and I think helped sell me as a drama teacher to some of the students. Most importantly I had fun, and so did most of the students. The day was a blast!

The only real downfall was that Jen was not able to be there to watch and take some pictures. Which means I have no pics to share here with you. Sorry!

To Be or Not to Be!

All week long we have had a drama group, called Quest Theatre, in the school teaching our students a Shakespearean play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. They work with the students from K-12 and on Friday (tomorrow) will put on a performance. They use an abridged version of the play, but maintain the language from the original. Each grade is responsible for one scene, for a total of 13 scenes. And each student (who was going to be here on Friday) got lines in the play. Each day, Monday to Thursday, the students receive 2 50 minute rehearsal times where the professional actors (from Calgary) work with them to memorize the lines, block out the action, and give acting tips.

It has been a great experience, and a lot of the students are beginning to shine. It is great to see some of the quieter kids, or kids you wouldn't think would be into acting, stand up and take pride in their performance. Most of the students have really taken this seriously and put a lot of work into their parts.

Tomorrow morning the students go through a dress rehearsal with their costumes and the lights, then in the afternoon they perform.

Today I sat in on the grade 12 rehearsal time and noticed that one of the actors from Quest seemed to be reading a lot of the lines. After school I went and asked if the students who he was reading for dropped out or just weren't there at the time. As it turns out one of the main characters in the scene was not going to be there tomorrow and just found out today.

So now I am performing that character's part! That's right,
I get to be in the play.

I am so excited. As many of you know, I love to act. I was feeling a little left out all week. Even to the point where I had some of my classes rehearse in LA class so I could offer some pointer to them. I had originally been told that teachers would go with their homeroom for rehearsal and so would receive a part if they wanted one. Then, as it turns out, we simply took the class we had at the time if their rehearsal time fell during our period. This meant we would be with different classes for rehearsal every time and would not be able to have a part. I was thrilled when I was able to get a part--although now I have to memorize something like 16 lines (of Shakespeare and with emphasis) by tomorrow, and my memorizing skills are shaky at best. But I am still excited.

Jen may come and watch with the kids and I will try to get her to take some pictures or film of the play that I can put up.

But I guess I should get back to rehearsing.

The Lyrics

I had a request for the lyrics to the song from below. Here they are.


The Non-Hunter's Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
A cartridge in an Uzi

On the second day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
2 hand grenades

On the third day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
3 Land mines

On the fourth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
4 Sherman tanks

On the fifth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
5 Throwing stars

On the sixth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
6 blades a-switching

On the seventh day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
7 rifles sniping

On the eighth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
8 Rockets launching

On the ninth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
9 bombs exploding

On the tenth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
10 crossbows aiming

On the eleventh day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
11 Fixed winged aircraft

On the twelfth day of Christmas the hunting store gave me
12 death ray machines

12 Days of Christmas

Last year I attended Teacher Convention and sat in on a session that I signed up for only because it was the only thing that sounded remotely interesting for the time slot I still had to fill. I don't even remember exactly what the session was all about--something like "incorporating technology into the classroom"--but one thing caught my attention and made me go Hmmmmm. A lot of the session was way over my head, talking about web 2.0 tools and such; but one idea was about podcasting.

I'm sure most of you have heard about podcasts; if you haven't, look it up. No, but I wouldn't trust my explanation either: Basically a podcast, to my understanding, is an audio recording that an individual puts on the internet for others to listen to. You start a podcast and can put on new episodes that form sort of an online audio blog. People can download the podcast to their ipods or other players and listen to your thoughts. I know I am not doing the concept justice, but my knowledge of this is extremely limited.

I began exploring podcasts after the convention and was never able to become proficient at the technology. One thing that I got out of the session, however, was a site by the name of gcast. The great thing about this site, I was told, is that you can record your episode over the phone and gcast will automatically publish it to the podcast you began on their site. I thought this was brilliant and would be an interesting idea to bring into the classroom. Like I said though, I have yet to gain the skills in figuring out exactly how all this works, and so it will not make it into my classroom for a year or two yet.

BUT I do enjoy playing around with this neat technology from time to time and thought I would try to upload an audio recording of my own to this blog. Jen decided that today was the day to be putting up Christmas lights, and the tree, and such, so I went to the computer to find my Christmas music only to discover the file had been deleted. Long story short, I got The 12 Days of Christmas stuck in my head, and began thinking about other versions of the song I have heard over the years (some funny, others not so much) and began to create my own version in my head. Throughout the day the lyrics began to loosely form. A bit of research later--into the song, the syllables of the lines, a tune-only version, and some lyric specific items--and I had my very own version of the song, audio and all, published to the internet.

The idea began from a stray, and now forgotten thought in my mind, and evolved into a searing commentary on my skills, or lack thereof, in an extremely popular sport in the Peace Country (where I now live). Give it a listen.

***Caution: This is a song, and is sung by me, and I don't sing, and when Jen heard me singing she asked why and I said "no reason" and she said uh-oh, because I don't sing, but I am singing here, so . . . Caution!***



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Hunting is very popular here in Grande Prairie and the surrounding area. I first discovered this when a student had been missing from my class for a week and when he came back I asked where he had been and he said hunting. Wow! You miss a whole week of school to go hunting? I had never heard of that. But apparently that's what you do when you're in Peace Country. When I told another teacher about this he simply said he wished he could take a week off and go hunting. Since then I have heard speeches about hunting, read stories about hunting, and viewed student blogs dedicated to hunting. It is big business out here, and most kids at school either own a gun or are looking forward to when they are old enough to own a gun; but be assured they have all fired a gun. Even the girls. I was asked by a student what the biggest gun I ever fired was. I said I had fired a 9mm Glock at the shooting range in WEM, once. He laughed and said "that's it?" Then he proceeded to tell all the other students this as they walked in.

At the risk of, again, sounding like "city-folk" (which I am) I am quite certain that as cool as I think it would be to go hunting and track an animal and have it in my sights, I would never actually be able to pull the trigger and kill it. Around here I would be laughed at for such a statement, but it wasn't long ago that I came from a place that would have laughed at the "red-neck" who made such a statement.

Anyway, this song evolved into a list of weapons the gun store would sell me to help me kill the buck in my sights; though none of the weapons actually would enable me to do it, which is why they keep compounding and culminate in a death-ray.

By the way, laugh all you like at the song, my singing, or whatever else you want, but until you write your own song, sing it to the music from this site, and have the guts to post it on your own blog for me to listen to, I will be proud of my efforts.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a while

Hey, there! It's been a while, I know. 10 days to be exact. A very busy 10 days. I had assignments to mark for report cards, then report cards and comments for the students. I had a wonderful long weekend (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues) then two days of teaching this past week. I had parent/teacher interviews on Thursday after school from 3:30-9:30 which went great. Then on the weekend the family and I went into Edmonton to see family and friends. We had a great visit, but very little time for blogging. As it is, I am sitting here in my school computer lab at lunch typing this up while some students are blogging. So I have only a couple more minutes of this somewhat bland and boring post.

Oh, got to go.

A Job Well Done

I was pulled into the office today by one of our wonderfully amazing, couldn't live without them, administrative assistants (sometimes referred to as secretaries) who said she needed to talk with me. Now, I don't know about you, but I generally do not get a good feeling deep down in my gut when someone pulls me into an office and says those dreaded words, "We need to talk." I tried to refuse, saying I was on supervision and needed to be patrolling the hallways for hooligan kids, but to no avail.

It turns out that the news was good news. The admin assistant, has a daughter who also attends our school. It turns out her daughter did a fantastic job on an essay (the bane of my teaching career) for social class. Her teacher was amazed, as was her mother because in the past this girl's essays were . . . well they weren't "fantastic jobs." When her mom asked her what happened and how she got a such a good mark, apparently her response was "Mr. Groff." And so, her mom just wanted to let me know how well her daughter was doing and that she thought I was doing a pretty good job.

I know at this point I know you are wondering why you should continue to read the blog of an egotistical jerk so I'll let you know that I walked out of the office today feeling both really good and really bad. It struck me how wonderful it was to hear that someone was actually benefiting from the teaching I had been doing. It's usually a rarity to hear such things in the teaching profession. But it also struck me that every single person in this world could probably use the pick-me-up of "A Job Well Done." It also struck me at how rarely I, myself, let others know when I appreciate all they have done for; and that left me feeling pretty bad about myself.

So, I would like to say a few thank you's to some of the people who have been a big help to me.

Thank you my wonderful and loving wife, Jennifer, for all the hard work you do looking after a home and kids and me on top of the job you have outside the house. I know there are a lot of times when I don't make it easy. And thank you for sticking by me through all the years of school when things were not always working in our favour.

Thank you Knox and Declan and Oakley for being great kids with a great sense of humour and an innocence that often makes me stop and smile. You brighten up my day.

Thank you Mom and Dad for raising me with strong Christian values and doing the best job you could with a kid who usually seemed not to care about the lessons you tried to teach. You did good and I am thankful for all you did for me out of love.

Thank you Ron and Val for being who you are. We had some good times, and some not so good time growing up, but I want you to know I care about you and wish the best for you.

Thank you Mom and Dad Kivell for all your help over the years, both financially and practically. Dad you are always a source of wisdom and mom you are always there to lend a hand.

Thank you Cam for your friendship. Even now I get excited and impatient at the thought of visiting with you and Jodi. Your friendship got me through high school in one piece and it's good to know you are always there to listen.

Thank you Harry Lent for all that you taught me about teaching in the 9 weeks I was in your classroom. Your advice and respect was greatly appreciated and extremely helpful as I continue my teaching career.

Thank you Roxie for exceeding my expectations for what a principal could be. I was quite nervous my first year, but you have always been there to answer my questions and to support me.

And, though it may seem trite, thank you God for your love and mercy. Thank you for carrying me through the rough times and thank you for allowing the good times.


I could go on and on and on and on, but I won't right now. What I will do is try to say thank you to people a little more often and let you know how much I appreciate all you and what you do for me.

Remembrance Day

I know it's a bit early, but we had our Remembrance Day ceremony today at school and it got me to thinking . . . or remembering I suppose. It was a short but good ceremony and we had three veterans out to honour the day. The students were amazingly well behaved and respectful. I was very impressed.

I think it is very important to stop and remember the men and women who gave their lives for our benefit. There was a wonderful reading read today that really got me thinking about all the things we owe to our veterans. It went like this:

Patriot Games, by John Ostrander

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN who salutes the Flag.

It is the VETERAN who serves under the Flag.

The Downside to Teaching

I can't wait for the day that young people are able to learn for the sake of learning, and not for marks. Or maybe it's parents who want the marks. Or administrators. Or universities. Regardless of who wants them, I would be happy if I didn't have to give them. Isn't it possible to learn without needing a grade assigned to your learning. I mean, either way you look at it you know what you know and no mark is going to change that.

Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me, because this is a matter of my career and profession we are talking about (a career and profession that I absolutely love): I am saying that I'm not a fan of assigning grades, NOT that I disagree with assessing what students have learned. There is a difference. Assessment is imperative to learning, and a fairly recent development in education is something called "Assessment FOR Learning" rather than the old idea of assessment OF learning. I am in total agreement with assessing students (and myself for that matter) for the purpose of seeing where errors are being made and providing opportunity to learn from those errors and make corrections. Really, what is the point in knowing that you don't know something if you're not going to go back and figure out what it is you don't know?
Assessment is key to learning, but marks just rank how your current understanding compares to that of others; and I find that to be an unnecessary statistic at best, and a destructive statistic at worst.

If you are wondering where this new rant is coming from, I'll tell you: It's report card time! I hate report card time. Teachers get cranky because they are trying to finish off a unit and have assignments completed and give tests so that they can have all the marks possible to report to parents. Then the kids get cranky because they are getting overworked with homework and studying for tests. This makes the teachers more cranky because the kids are complaining, and the stress of it all in the end is most likely skewing the results we get anyhow. I hate report card time. And yet, for the last year and a bit (or should I say my first year and a bit) I have fallen into this same problem despite my best efforts to avoid it. Lessons take a bit longer than planned, special days creep into the schedule, kids need a bit more time for consulting with me, and all of a sudden, the unit that should have been completed 2 weeks before report cards is finishing 2 hours before the marks need to be in . . . and then I have to mark their work.

It was kind of funny today when I had a student complaining they would be pulling an all-nighter to get their work in for 2 classes tomorrow and I replied that my all-nighter would be Tuesday night trying to get my marks in for 5 classes. It was a bit of an eyeopener for the kid as he realized that he has one assignment to complete for each class, for a total of 6 at the very most but us teachers have 6 classes worth of assignments to grade with 15-25 kids per class. I'm wasn't kidding about the all-nighter. He finally understood why the cut-off for my classes is the Friday even though report cards don't come out until a week later (and it takes our wonderful and under-recognized administrative assistants a day or two to put all those marks together and create report cards for an entire school). Hopefully, as I gain some experience in teaching, I will be able to perfect a schedule that will help me avoid this problem.

Or maybe I should just stop blogging and get back to work.

Blog Ideas

How many of us have sat down at the computer to do a blog post only to discover we are uncertain what we should blog about? I know I have. And I know my students have. So I did up a post on my school blog that can inspire my students to keep up with their blogs. Some of these ideas may not be suitable for all your blogs, but some can certainly be adapted to fit any blog, blogger, or niche (a new blogging term I learned that basically means the topic of your blog or your area of expertise). Check out my list of great ideas here.

Stupid People--At least they're good for a laugh!

Sometimes I really hate being an "English Guy." It ruins movies, songs, and I found out today that apparently it ruins the pleasure of listening to radio ads. On the plus side, I did have the opportunity to enjoy one of those laugh-out-loud-at-someone's-great-stupidity moments that I otherwise may have missed.

On my way to work this morning I was listening to Shine Fm and heard a radio ad that caught my attention (unfortunately I was not able to catch who it was for, but if I find out I will update this post). Now, I often praise advertisers for a well thought out and convincing ad; they have a tough job selling products to an overcrowded market; but today I couldn't help but literally laughing out loud at the stupidity of the ad that said this:

"Electricity isn't just a convenience; it helps us live our lives."

I'll give you just a moment to digest that statement, if you need it, and tell you that I shared this quote with my classes today. None of my students were able to figure out why I would be laughing at this statement--and let me be clear, the statement is not funny haha, but it is a definite head shaker how this statement made it through however many people without being noticed and corrected. Either, it was a mistake, which I genuinely hope, or the advertiser actually thinks the general public is stupid enough to be convinced by this statement and will buy their product.

Some of my brighter students began to piece it together when I asked them to simply define the word: "convenience." Some slow smiles edged their way over their faces and I gave a small nod for them to allow the others to piece it together themselves. So some students said that convenience was making something easy, others that it was something we don't need but it's helpful, etc. You all know a valid definition. At that point I said, "You know what else is a good definition for the word 'convenience?' It helps us live our lives." That got most of the others smirking, though there were some that I fear never did grasp the nature of the blunder.

I mean, come on, you paid how much money to have this ad on the radio and thought it would be appropriate to prove how stupid you are?!? Brilliant! And by brilliant I do indeed mean moronic. The fact that you can't get basic English correct does not inspire a great deal of confidence in me that you can look after my consumer needs. This goes beyond the basic errors that everyone makes from time to time (that even appear in some books we read after dozens of times through top notch editors). This is a basic problem in logical thinking. Either that, or you actually do think I am stupid enough to not pick up on this, which means you certainly will not get my business.

I informed my students that I better never get any work from them with such a glaring error in the defense of a statement. If you are going to tell me that something is more than just *fill in the blank*, then you sure as heck better tell me what else it is, and not simply and stupidly prove yourself a moron (I didn't put it quite this way, but I'm certain they got the gist of it).

What was really funny were some of the comments I got afterward from some students. Like, "if I didn't know you were an English teacher before, I would think so now", and "Uh-oh, you really pick up on things like that?" Those also made me laugh out loud.

New Music

So I added some different music to my player on the sidebar, but have moved it off the side bar so that you can scroll down the list (it was getting half of it cut off on the side). There is some fairly old stuff there that I listened to back when I was in high school. The second song on there, 3 minute song, is one that Shine FM is playing a lot. At first I thought it was a bit silly, but the more I hear it, or rather once I stopped to really listen to it, I realized I really like the message of the song. Give it a listen. The others are songs that I liked a lot and hadn't thought of in quite some time. See if you recognize any and leave a note about your favorite.

I, personally, am having a very hard time choosing a favorite. Michael W Smith's, This is Your Time is an extremely touching song "about Cassie Bernall, one of the students who was killed during the Columbine massacre. She was killed when one of the shooters reportedly asked her if she believed in God, and she said yes—although some reports of the killings indicate that a different girl who was shot but survived was asked that question. In the music video for this song, the beginning shows a real video of Cassie talking about her religious beliefs and how she wanted to spread the word of God.)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Smith. I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it. It really got me to thinking about whether or not I would be able to face death for my faith in God. But that's another post for another time.

Desert Rose by White Heart has a great tune that first caught my attention. This song talks about God's faithfulness to us even when, or maybe especially when, we feel all alone in our desire to serve Him. It's a very encouraging song that always brought me a great sense of peace.

Worlds Apart by Jars of Clay is another song that first grabbed me because of it's tune. This song always helped remind me that every day, every choice I make, every moment I live I need to choose to follow Jesus and live my life for Him. It also helped me to realize that I could always come back to God, even when I screwed up and didn't feel that I deserved His mercy and forgiveness. Being "broken on my knees" touched my heart and made me want to pray for God to help me live for Him.

I guess these would be my top three from this list, but all the songs on there are excellent (in my opinion) and worth your time to listen to.

A little while ago, I also changed the player from auto-play to manual start. Now you have to press the play button if you want to hear the music. My wife was complaining about some of the songs I had on before, but she is always on checking for updates (even when I'm in class and couldn't possibly post)--but it's great to have a fan base, even if it is a base of just a few. I also turned off the randomizer (I'm not certain that's a word, but it is now) so it will play straight through the list every time you check the site. You can change the song manually to begin where you left off if you like.

Feel free to turn on the player anytime you are at work or home and don't want to use your own playlist, or don't have your own to listen to. I want to check my sitemeter and see some of you on the site for half an hour as you enjoy the tunes.

Oh, and by the way, I know there isn't a lot of interest on my school blog, but I changed the music there as well. For the next while it will be featuring a variety of swing and jazz music. I've got some tracks from Swing Kids, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (the few that are clean enough for grade 6 students to listen to), Benny Goodman, and of course, Frank Sinatra. Again, you can choose the songs you want to listen to if you don't want to listen straight through. My favorite on this list is most definitely Bei Mir Bist Du Shon by Janis Siegel. This one is from the Swing Kids soundtrack. These songs are great for a bit of a pick-me-up of energy and will have you bopping along to the beat. Be free and dance a bit. I had a student working on her blog this afternoon after school and I had this playlist playing in the background and had to consciously contain my terribly horrible singing voice from spontaniously breaking into song. They are catchy and will make you want to move. Let me know what you think. Heck leave a comment on that school blog as well. No one will know who you are and it might spark some other comments.

I am a Blogger

Well, it would appear that I am a blogger. This is post #30 for me and I know I can't give it up now. I have never been a diary writer, but I am opinionated and this is a wonderfully excellent forum for sharing opinions. I have also given up on Facebook; actually, I gave up on it before I even began, but have found that my blog allows me to share things like pictures and experiences, just like Facebook, but without the incessant, mundane, and frivolous chatter. I also have hopes of one day becoming a writer, a published writer, a published writer of something that a publisher actually feels is worthy to be published, rather than a poetry contest or a self-published blog. (If there are any publishers out there reading this leave mea coment.) This blog is a step in the right direction, as I get to share my thoughts and ideas with the public--assuming "the public" is actually reading. Either way, it's sharing.

I waited until June 28 of this year to begin my blog because that was the last day of school for me. I was a little concerned that with my career as a teacher that I would not have time to blog. As school began this year I wondered if my blog would fall into disrepair. It's now a month and a half into the new school year and I seem to be keeping up. Maybe it's because I have forced every student I teach (about 75 of them) to begin blogs and write something twice a week. I'd feel like a bit of a hyprocrit telling them to make time if I wasn't going to be willing to. Though, if you remember back to my first post this wouldn't bother me as much as some may think it would.

I am happy that I took this opportunity to try something new and different. And I thank my father-in-law for getting my father into blogging, and my father for getting me into it. I am looking forward to continued writing for a long time to come. I find it a good oulet for my feelings, thoughts, experiences, likes/dislikes, complaints, and for staying in touch with the world. Please, continue to feel free to leave comments and please keep visiting.

Suing God

Here is a story in the news that I heard for the first time this morning on the Christian radio station here in Grande Prairie, Shine FM. I found an article from The Associated Press that says:

Suit against God thrown out over lack of address

By NATE JENKINS – 1 day ago

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction against God.

He said God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Chambers has said he filed the lawsuit to make the point that everyone should have access to the courts regardless of whether they are rich or poor.

On Tuesday, however, Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk ruled that under state law a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a lawsuit to move forward.

"Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice," Polk wrote.

Chambers, who graduated from law school but never took the bar exam, thinks he's found a hole in the judge's ruling.

"The court itself acknowledges the existence of God," Chambers said Wednesday. "A consequence of that acknowledgment is a recognition of God's omniscience."

Therefore, Chambers said, "Since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit."

Chambers has 30 days to decide whether to appeal. He said he hasn't decided yet.

Chambers, who has served a record 38 years in the Nebraska Legislature, is not returning next year because of term limits. He skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians.

The DJ's mainly focused in on the anti-Christian comments that Chambers makes and his skipping of the morning prayers, and they wrote this off as another attempt to undermine God. While that may be so, I think we need to accept Chambers' motivation as he states it: "he [Chambers] filed the lawsuit to make the point that everyone should have access to the courts regardless of whether they are rich or poor." Other reports state that the lawsuit was filed in response to a motion to prevent frivolous lawsuits and Chambers is trying to make the point that anyone should be able to sue anyone else.

Regardless of motivations or intent, I thought it was ironic that a man who criticizes Christians and skips morning prayer would acknowledge that God exists at all. If he can admit this fact, why then would he not be a believer himself? He comments that because the judge threw the case out due to lack of address this means the courts are acknowledging that God exists and thus, by extension, that He is all-knowing and can be sued. I would suggest that Chambers' admittance should thus extend his beliefs to other Biblical truths about God--that he is loving and merciful, and does not terrorize people,and does not deserve to be sued.

A Still Small Voice

We were at my wife's parents for Thanksgiving last night and they had some company over to enjoy the meal with us. It was a wonderful evening, but between the racket of our two young kids and their two young kids, Oakley, our youngest, only 15 months old, was up a lot later than usual. When we finally got her to bed she had a very restless sleep, and at 2:30 in the morning I got up to calm her screaming. I got her settled down, changed her, held her and got her to sleep on my shoulder as I rocked her.

Then, as soon as I put her down in her playpen, she woke up and started crying again. I used a trick I learned with my other children and stroked my middle finger down her nose while the fingers on either side gently brushed her eyelids closed--it has always seemed to have a calming effect and gets their eyes closed. I did this until she was back asleep, but again, as soon as I took my weight off the playpen and started to turn back to bed, Oakley was awake again and crying.

I turned my attention back to her and she quieted down. So I pulled up some pillows and a sheet right next to her playpen and laid down where she could see me in the darkness. She scuttled over to the side of the playpen and we stared at each other for a while before we both fell asleep.

Unfortunately that was not the end of the night, as every half hour or so she would wake up and begin crying. I too would wake up and whisper quietly to her that I was still there beside, that everything was still okay, that she had nothing to be afraid of. Sometimes it took a little bit for her to hear me over her crying, having to wait until she stopped for a short breath, but when she heard my voice beside her she quieted down again and went back to sleep. I never wanted to use anything more than a quiet voice being fearful she would be roused from her state of slumber and fully wake up. So I settled for a still small voice and continued my reassurances until she was ready to hear.

And as I laid there whispering to my daughter it occurred to me that this is how God often speaks to me--In a still small voice. A voice, that too often I refuse to, or can't hear over my own crying and complaining, and trying to solve my problems on my own. A voice that does not call louder than that quieted whisper, but waits until I am ready to hear and listen. It also struck me that, like Oakley, I forget that my Heavenly Father is always there, whether I can see him or hear him, or not. God is always there for me, waiting for me to come back to Him, waiting for me want to listen to His promises that He will always be there to protect me and guide me and love me.

Today's Attitude (Portrayed by James Blunt)

There is a song on the radio right now that makes me cringe every time I hear it. It is a song that sums up the attitude of the world today quite nicely--and it's not a good attitude. Worse yet, it has a nice tune and is sung by a popular artist, which serves only to make people want to listen to it and internalize the theme.

The song is "Same Mistake" by James Blunt. I wanted to avoid putting the song on my blog because I didn't want to promote it, but sometimes it is necessary to share the idea and hope people stop to read my comments. I was able to find a YouTube video that did more to help me than hurt me: The video plays the song, but rather than showing Blunt's video it simply puts up the words to the song, saving me the bother of quoting it.




My problem with the song is the fact that the narrator is willing to admit he has a problem, which on the surface seems like a good thing, but he is unwilling to do anything about the problem. Rather, he asks that others take away his choice so he doesn't repeat the mistake--He is not mature enough to take responsibility for his own actions.

This is an issue that I see all the time with my students; they are perfectly willing to acknowledge they have shortcomings, but rather than fixing the problems they choose to blame others for the mistakes they make. "If you wouldn't ask me to do ______, then I wouldn't have to tell you I didn't do it." "You didn't give us time for ______, so I didn't finish it all." etc., etc..

I have heard people blame God for the same things. People wonder why God gave us free will if he was going to punish us for making the wrong choices. "If he is so powerful why doesn't he just force us to do the right thing?" "If God didn't want me to do that, then He shouldn't have let me be tempted to do it." (or worse, He shouldn't have temted me to do it)

I even catch myself in this attitude from time to time: blaming others for giving me a choice when I choose to do the wrong thing. Or not stopping me from doing something I shouldn't be doing. It's not a good attitude to have. I need to accept responsibility for my actions and work to improve myself.

This attitude is very prevalent in our society and Blunt's song serves only to reinforce it. It has no positive message, no sign of hope for change, just a negative mind-set that perpetuates a big problem present in society: I will not change, so if you want me to act differently you better change.

Change

Jen and I were talking on the weekend about buying a house (something that is still at least another 2 years off) and I made a comment that I didn't think I would ever want to buy a house because like change too much. I don't usually like staying in the same place doing the same thing for a very long time. That means that every year or two (at the most) I start to get a bit antsy, restless, ready for a change. If I buy a house that means I'm stuck where I am, that I've made a commitment and have to stay. That isn't something that I've liked to do. I grew up with a lot of change in where I lived--3 different provinces and moving between two of them twice a year for four years, and 4 different cities; and since I've been married (11 years) we have lived in 3 different cities and 9 different houses. Likewise, I have had more jobs than I care to recount.

But I got to thinking today that for the first time in my life I am actually happy in the job I am in and extremely happy with Grande Prairie. I go to work most mornings excited to be a teacher (though sometimes I come home a little less excited) and I hate it when I have to miss days. True, it has only been one year, but I am really very satisfied and feeling fulfilled. I'm even to the point where I am thinking I could make a home out here in GP. And that is a nice feeling.

Loss, Pain, and God's Faithfulness

Since I heard the news of the tragic loss of Terry and Juanita Stauffer's precious daughter, Emily, I have not been able to stop thinking about how they must be feeling and also reliving the death of my daughter, Kadence, 9 years ago. I am writing this post for my own outlet; I don't mind you sharing my thoughts, but this is personal reflection and not meant to detract from the pain of the Stauffers at this time, or to say that my feelings are more important than anyone else's who has gone through the loss of a loved one.

One thing I have learned from my experience is that the pain itself never really goes away; it dimishes in strength for the most part, to a dull ache, but you never get over it. We keep the ashes of Kadence on our television set and I am reminded of her daily. Some days I look at her urn and smile, remembering her smile and her laugh, the times we would nap together, the time I had her all to myself for a day and we went to the Street Performers and enjoyed the stares that a newborn baby gets from strangers. Other days, days like today, I sit and cry for a while and wonder what she would be like if she were still alive, about all the good times we never got to have, about her not getting a chance to grow up and have kids of her own. I miss her and that will never go away. But I am thankful for the time I had with her and would not have traded that for all the pain that I have felt.

The pain subsides and God's faithfulness increases as I continue to lean on Him and his promise that I will meet Kadence again one day in a place where no one ever dies, or hurts or loses a loved one, a place where there is no pain or tears.

When Kadence died it opened my eyes to the reality that you just never know how long you will have someone with you. It made me realize that I should live every day like it could be my last, or someone else's last. This is a realization that all too often fades as the world continues to move all around me, and in times like these, when I am reminded of how fragile our lives really are, it makes me thankful that I have a second chance to remember.

One never really gets back to their life as it was before. My wife and I always said that we had to make a new life, because the life we had with Kadence is gone; we can't get it back; all we can do is go forward and create a new life with what God has given us. That can be a tough thing to do, but God is faithful. He is with us always. I'm not sure how people go through life in general, and times like these in particular, without a faith in God. Terry said on his blog, and was quoted in the Edmonton Journal, that "We are realizing from the inside the value of good, Gospel theology right now (http://newlumps.blogspot.com/). I don't know for certain his thoughts on this idea, but these are mine: Without a personal knowlege of and relationship with God I don't know how people survive pain and loss. I'm not certain who all reads my blog but if you have been brought to this page and read this far and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ I urge you to contact me or a local pastor to find out how you can have a relationship with Him, because when it comes right down to it, that's all that really matters in life.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Stauffer family at this time and to anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one. May God's strength lift you up and sustain you as you continue to follow in his steps. God bless you all.

Shooting Blanks

Well, an update on my surgery at the beginning of summer: according to the woman who answered the phone at my doctor's office (not sure the correct label--nurse?) I am shooting blanks. Her words not mine.

After being asked if the result made me feel a little sad I responded with a resounding NO! I can admit that undertaking the operation itself made me feel a little sad, but at this point I am ecstatic that all that pain and discomfort was not for nothing. So I guess that's it. For those of you wishing Jen and I would have more kids I guess you'll need to start praying that the procedure reverses itself.

Hello Sick People

Since I have only had two people leave a vote on the poll, one to hear more about English lessons and one saying it's my blog, I figured I would pass on some Englishy things that I find interesting. Here's one.

Today we watched an episode of House in L.A. 9. House is an excellent example of the process we use to create something. First, we find a way to make the creation interesting--something we want to do For those of you who have seen the show you'll know that House rarely accepts a case that he doesn't find interesting. Likewise, we rarely like doing things we find boring, and often do a poor job of it when we have to. Second, we do some research about what we are creating. House, or rather his underlings, takes a medical history, run tests, MRI's, break into houses, etc. Third, we create the thing. House treats his patient for what he thinks is the cause. Fourth we evaluate our creation to see how to improve it. House doesn't just send his patients home; he evaluates whether or not the treatment is working (which it never does until the last 5 minutes). Fifth, we consult others to improve it. House discusses the case with his team, doctor friends, and whoever else he needs to to get the answers he needs. Sixth, we recreate the thing using our ideas for improvement. House continues to come up with treatments until he finds the one that actually works perfectly. We need to continue to recreate our writing until we have it just right. While the order may vary some and we may do more than one draft, this is the creation process we all use to produce something of quality--a building design, a new recipe, a cure for a disease (House), or a piece of writing (L.A. class). The list goes on and on for anything we want to create and do a good job with. And that's today's English lesson.



This video made me think of the sickness going around our house and why I'm not a fan of going to the doctor.

You want me to drink what?!?

Continuing on with risk taking, it is interesting to stop and think of all the wonderful things we have because someone was willing to take a risk. Below is a quote from Calvin and Hobbes that I think helps to make my point and may encourage you to try something new. I used this quote in my classes today as the quote for the day. Every day there is a quote on the board for the students to copy out and respond to. It helps students come into class and get focused, has them start considering ideas from others, and enables them to analyze the quote and respond. We then take a minute to share their thoughts which is also important in an English class.

The quote for today was from Calvin and Hobbes and went like this:

"Who was the first guy that took a look at a cow and said, 'I think I'll drink whatever comes out of these things when I squeeze them?'"

Sometimes trying new things, even things that others might think are odd, can lead to something good. Without a brave soul to first taste the stuff squeezed out of a cow we would not have things like yogurt, milkshakes, cheese, ice cream, and, well, milk. What else might we miss out on if people did not take risks and try new things.

Students were asked to make a post using this quote and to research and comment on a weird but cool invention. In my search to do the same I came across some interesting products. Here is one of my favorites and the site I got it from (with a lot more cool inventions).

Cup and Cookies

You can view this invention and other neat ones at http://www.fwdemails.com/2007/11/24/cool-inventions/

The comment on this invention, by the author of the site, asked how you prevent having the cookies fall out when you drink. I think it is fairly obvious that you simply drink from the side where the cookies aren't. This way the cookies face up instead of down.

If you like cookies and coffee (which I personally really don't) then this is the coffee cup for you.

The Sickness

Over the last week our household has been hit pretty hard with a nasty cold . . . or something. Last Thursday I woke up with a sore throat. By Friday I had difficulty swallowing. It quickly made its way into the sinuses caused headaches and dizziness. I was sore all over and exhausted.

I hate getting sick. On Friday I was determined not to let this cold beat me and continued to live my life as though I were well. I have found that by doing so has stopped the cold in its tracks. But not this time. After going to my staff party Saturday night I couldn't make it to church the next day. I also had to get a sub in to teach my classes on Monday and Tuesday. I hate being sick. Planning for subs is a lot more work than simply planning my own lessons. And yeah, it meant I still had to work while being at home sick.

Today is Wednesday, and though I felt improved today, still am not 100%. But I was teaching and it felt good to be back.

The thing I hate most about getting sick, beside feeling terrible and having to get a sub, is passing it on to the rest of the family. On Saturday and Sunday Knox also was not feeling well, though he seemed to get over it without getting the brunt of it. Monday Oakley began to show symptoms and Jen is talking about taking her to the doctor tomorrow if she hasn't significantly improved. Declan went to bed feeling badly last night and was up a lot crying. She missed school and dance today, but is determined to make it tomorrow. We'll see. So far Jen is sickness-free and we are all hoping she stays that way, because if she gets it the whole house falls apart.

Pray for us.

The Ten Billion Dollar Question That Was Answered Ten Thousand Years Ago

In case you haven't heard, one scientific research project, that has been in the works for roughly 20 years, and has a price tag of Ten Billion Dollars was put to use for the first time today. While I would seriously question any scientific research project that uses this much money (and who knows how many more are currently being undertaken) this one spent this outlandish amount of money to answer a question that we already know the answer to: How was the world created? My 5 year old daughter could give them the answer, and, while she has no concept of money, I'm certain she would accept the 10 billion dollars for her trouble. Since God created Adam in the Garden of Eden, man has had the answer to this question. How we can build multi-billion dollar machines that send microscopic particles speeding around a tunnel at just under the speed of light and still not be able to comprehend that God created the world is beyond me.

Putting aside the religious argument, I still can't comprehend spending that much money on a science experiment when all around us people go without food or shelter or other basic necessities. Our priorities are so messed up that its difficult for me to do anything but shake my head and say "We deserve the messed up world in which we live."

As if that is not bad enough, it will be another ten years and a lot more money before these same scientist are able to make their machine do what they built it to do. It will be ten more years and a lot more money before these same scientist are able to discover that their machine can't possibly hope to do what they built it to do, because the universe was not created from a big bang. Picture myself shaking my head and muttering "idiots" under my breath.

New Blog Link

I have added to my links the blog I began for school. Rather than repeating ideas both there and here I figured I would link the sites. English is now a big part of my life and I am constantly inspired by what I am teaching the kids. Most of the time I will put those inspirations up on my school blog. If you are interested in those ideas you can sift through the homework reminders and look for these thoughts.

If enough of you out there would like me to post those thoughts, or interesting tid-bits on this site so you don't need to sift, then let me know. It is easy enough to duplicate the post on this site as well. If you would rather I didn't let this site be overtaken by English as my life has (I imagine my wife, for one, is already sick of hearing about school related items) then just remain silent.

It's up to you, faithful readers!

P.S. I put up an interesting YouTube video entitled The Shakespearean Baseball Game on the other blog. If you like Shakespeare, or baseball, check it out.

Video Fixed

For those of you who were unable to watch the video, it has been fixed. Apparently YouTube undergoes periodic maintenance and their videos don't work. Continue to check back if it happens again.

The Cake Song

I began another school related blog for students and parents so that they could keep up to date with homework and tests and things of that nature. It is interesting to see some of the reactions start to roll in. I had one parent call me up today asking what a blog was and why I was using it. I tried to explain the best I could (though it is much easier to 'get it' by looking at one) but at the end of the conversation she still wasn't convinced. It didn't help that I mentioned she would get some more information on it tomorrow because I am having all my students do blogs this year instead of journal writing in class. This applies to every student in ELA, from grade six to grade twelve. There has been a bit of resistance now from students as well as today I was going over internet safety and the ongoing blogging assignment they will have to complete. Basically, I have asked them to, on their own time, complete 2 blog posts a week for the course; they can blog about ANYTHING they like, but the senior highs need some depth of thought. Junior Highs go all year, senior highs are semestered. I spoke with the senior highs about it today, and had decided to search out a variety of blogs to show them so they could get an idea about all the options they have.

By now you may be wondering why this post is called "The Cake Song". Well, last night as I was searching blindly for good blogs to show (by repeatedly hitting the "Next Blog" button at the top of my blog) I came across a blog with a video called "The Cake Song". I thought this would invoke some laughter and help them see just what they can do with a blog. Check it out below if you like stupid, but addicting videos. Ensure you have your volume on and up BEFORE clicking on Play.



It did its job with the students. As funny as you think it is to blast the volume and dance along while you sit in your own home, try to picture 18 senior high students blaring the song from 18 computers, all started at different times. It was a blast! By the end of the class most of them seemed excited to give blogging a try. We'll see how it goes tomorrow as I walk them through setting up their blog and ensuring proper settings.

As for the slow-to-catch-up-with-technology parents, I guess I will have to be patient and hope they are willing to move out of their own comfort zones and out into the wonderful world of the world wide web (or as Homer Simpson calls it "the interweb").

First Day of School

Well, today was the first day of classes for the family and we all survived. I began teaching today--grade 6/7, 9, 10, and 11 English Language Arts. Things went okay. Some kids were a little chatty, and I'm hoping it was just because it was the first day, but I doubt it. That's okay though, I'm excited to be back.

Knox had his first day of grade 2 and Declan had her first day in grade 1. It all went well and they had a great day. Declan has a teacher who is new to the school and is in a portable, but her teacher seems nice and she is looking forward to a full day of school this year.

Jennifer made it through sending Declan to school for a full day and had the day at home with Oakley. She was a bit sad, but had more time in her day not having to go to the school at lunch.

I introduced my classes with a poem by Rudyard Kipling that I thought I would share here as well. It's a beautiful poem that asks us to consider what kind of person we are and how we will live our lives.

"If"

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

By Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936).

The Uninspired Post

Well, it's been a week and I have not posted anything new; I am feeling guilty and thus "the uninspired post". But please don't stop reading because of my own lack of inspiration. Who knows what this post might inspire within you.

Let's talk this through a little. Nothing has really happened in the last week to make me jump on my computer and begin typing one of my usually phenomenal posts. As I spoke with my parents last night on the phone I realized that this week has been pretty much uneventful for me. A lot of this, I think, stems from the fact that school starts two days from now (for the kids in a week tomorrow) and I have been trying to cram as much relaxation into my last week as possible. I guess I figured the best way to do this was to do nothing. And so I did nothing. The kids had swimming lessons, my wife had her mother, sister, and cousin over, and I sat all curled up with my laptop and tv remote and did nothing. Looking back on the week I feel a little bad about this, but, then again, not really. It has been a very relaxing week, and after being bored for a lot of it I am certainly ready to head back to school.

I love teaching and am looking forward to another year--my second. I have big plans to improve the things that could have been better and to help a least a couple students appreciate English Language Arts a little bit more. This year is going to be a little more work than last year because I am teaching more courses than last year. On the other hand I do have a good base for the courses I taught last year so it may all even out in the end. One big thing that is going to add to my work load is that Jennifer is working (teaching dance) 4 nights a week this year, whereas last year she wasn't teaching at all. The kids are also taking some dance lessons a few nights a week. In all it should be a really good year. (It seems odd to think that this is the beginning of a new year, rather than January first starting the year. I guess that's what happens when you are a house of teachers and students.)

I think that's it. I will try to keep posting regularly (that's why I waited until summer to begin a blog), but in the meantime: Have a good year!

The Dream Giver

At church yesterday the pastor referenced a book called The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. The book is written as a modern day parable of a man seeking to fulfill his God-given dream.

I have not read this book (but intent to give it a read when I get the money and time), but would love to hear from you if you have read it.

There seems to be some criticism on the internet of the book's ideas, mainly stemming from the term "dream" and how it can be misconstrued as living your own dream rather than the life that God has intended for you to live. This point was briefly brought up by the pastor and he made it clear that as far as his use during the sermon, the term "dream" was to mean the plan that God has for your life.

I thought this book sounded interesting, as was the sermon, and it stuck with me for a couple of reasons. First, the theme fits nicely with the theme of this blog: taking a risk in life because that is what life is about, rather than living in the safety of comfort and familiar (words brought up frequently in the book from what I can tell).

And second, it made me begin to reflect on what God may be wanting me to do with my life and whether or not I am listening to Him and if I will be willing to obey. Am I really where God wants me? How will I know what God wants from me for certain? Do I have the courage to leave the harbour if that is what God wants? If I am to be honest with myself I think I would have to say that I am not certain that the life I am living now is what God really wants for me. But I don't know for certain. My walk with God recently has not been what I know it should be which is not ideal for hearing His voice and certainly is not helpful when it comes to listening to His voice.

Where I am heading with this post is here:

1. If you have any comments about The Dream Giver or Bruce Wilkinson let me know.

2. If you want to share ideas about God's plan for your life and how I, or other readers can support you, then please share.

3. If you could pray for me and my walk with God that would be appreciated. I have been convicted recently to do better in this area and could use your prayers to help me stay motivated and avoid backsliding. I realize that my own prayer and Bible study will be essential in order to hear God's voice in my life and for me to want to listen to Him.

4. I posted this fairly personal post with the hopes that from time to time you will hold me accountable to item 3. I know many of my regular readers are Christians who will be more than happy to help me out with this. I have found that making goals and intentions known to others is important to succeed with them.


God Bless.


P.S.

The last evening before we left my parents house we were playing a game called "Quiddler". I played the word "AA" and was told my next post needs to include this word.

I have no good way to work the word into this post but here is what I have found out about the word.


AA [ah ah]: A type of lava having a rough, jagged surface. It is relatively slow moving in its molten state, advancing in the form of massive blocks with fissured and angular surfaces that ride on a viscous interior. The blocks range in size between the size of a football and the size of a house.

Further understanding of the word comes when compare to the word

Pahoehoe: A type of lava having a smooth, swirled surface. It is highly fluid and spreads out in shiny sheets.
: Basaltic lava having a smooth or billowy surface.

Olympics

The Olympic Opening Ceremonies began today and I found myself underwhelmed with mixed feelings. I say underwhelmed because the Games are rarely something that gets me as worked up as I feel I ought to be for an event of such magnitude. The topic of the Olympics always stirs up a mixture of emotions for me; I love the idea of the games, and I love opportunities for our great country to show its stuff, but I find the sports usually quite boring to sit through and the coverage and interviews often more so.

At this point I should mention that it's not Olympic sports that I find boring per se, but that I find it tedious to watch almost any sport on TV (baseball is my one exception (if it's the Blue Jays), but even then there are some days I just can't do it).

An example of what I mean is happening as I sit here at 10:40pm typing this post. Men's cycling is currently being televised and it is far from interesting. Some people find golf or tennis or yes even baseball boring but at least there are variances in these sports that can make it interesting. But biking?!? The announcer just said it's been a pretty good race so far, and I am wondering what makes a race good or bad. I will admit that some of the comments made are interesting, and the announcers do try to explain a lot of what is really going on. It is not my intent to sound snobbish, I do understand that what these athletes are doing is not easy, and there is more to it than what is seen by the "non-biking" viewer; but as a non-biking viewer I find it difficult to care.

CBC has already been doing a good job of breaking up the cycling coverage with other things that some may find interesting, and I can take a bit at a time. I do plan on watching the games and cheering for Canada as much as I can (both time wise and interest wise).

I really do love the idea of a true international competition. Baseball has a World Series, which is anything but a World series. The Olympics offer the opportunity for countries to put their best athletes forward to compete. It must be a totally awe-inspiring experience for those with the talent and drive to compete at this level. What a great reward for all their hard work. The Games also provide regular citizens the chance to celebrate their fellow country men and women, and their country. I like that, and like supporting Canada by watching our athletes.

One other thing that I wanted to mention was the fact that the host city is different every year. CBC does a great job of showing us the history and culture of the host city and country. I do like learning more about other parts of the world in a fun and interesting manner, especially since I have never been further east than Quebec and briefly through a couple northern United States. I would someday love to see more of the world, but deep down feel like that is unlikely to ever happen (not that it is necessarily unlikely, just that it feels that way to me). This will be one thing that I intend to push myself to do: To leave my comfort zone, make the plans that need to be made to get out of North America, and take the risks that are involved.

Canoe Trip

Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a risk, unless you consider having three generations of Groff males trapped together in a 12 foot aluminum tube for four-and-a-half hours on a moderately wide and flowing river a risk, but today was certainly an adventure new to me, and I think that is definitely in keeping with the theme of this blog.



Bethel Baptist Church offered its men the opportunity to do some paddling today on Rainy River. In all there were 5 canoes and a kayak that pushed off from a boat launch in Fort Frances at 9:30 this morning and traveled for approximately 15 miles (about 24 kilometers) down river. It took roughly 4.5 hours. The weather was beautiful--sunny with a bit of wind to keep us cool and to keep the bugs away. Unfortunately the wind was blowing against us most of the time, and when it picked up it created some pretty good waves for us to cut through. But the trip was great. We even saw some bald eagles, about 12 or so, as well as a pelican take flight from a large rock in the middle of the river when we passed, and 5 pelicans flying together overhead.



Dad, Knox, and I had one canoe which was fun. As soon as we pushed off, Knox started screaming about the tippiness of the canoe and how he wanted to go back. I figured his hysterical fit was tipping us more than anything so I took us to the dock and as soon as we were stopped he jumped out and ran. We coaxed him back and prayed with him about his fear (He had just learned at VBS that God has the power to help us be brave) and he was really good for the rest of the trip. Isn't God good! He did have a bit of a fit when he thought we were lost (which we weren't), but calmed down and rested in the bottom of the boat.



I have never canoed that long at one time before and was unsure how I would feel afterward. I am doing pretty good right now, aside from a bit of a sunburn on my quads where I forgot to put sunscreen, and I am fairly exhausted (still headed out to the States for a while tonight thought). I suspect that DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) will set in tomorrow, and be even worse on Monday, but I will deal with that when it arises.




In all it was a great day, with a nice BBQ after, and something that I have never done, but am happy to say that now I have. Get out there and try something new over the next couple days and leave a comment to share your success.