Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Long hours, bright spots

It's been a busy two days so far this week. You might know. After a pleasant, peaceful, leisurely week off, the first days back would have to be packed. Yesterday afternoon, my superintendent surprised me by arriving 5 hours early for our board meeting! We spent a couple of hours doing personnel business (I have at least one teacher to find for next year) before he went off to amuse himself for a couple of hours. I had finance committee at 5 and board at 7. Fortunately, I have a supportive group of people to work with and it's not really the chore it could be. Still, it was stressful to essentially be under the gun for several hours straight. I got home exhausted after having been at school for 14 hours!

Today, I was out straight again, with faculty meeting at 3:15 and church board meeting at 7. That meeting lasted longer than school board last night. Again, both meetings went well. It's just tiring to be "on" for 14+ hours straight, without any breaks. Not that I'm complaining. There are plenty of enjoyable and sweet moments in my day. Take this morning, for example. As principal, I like to visit each classroom at least once a day, not to check up on the teachers so much as to let them know I am interested in what they are doing, and that I am there to support them. I also want the students to know I care about them and their education.

So, I started with the PreK/K classroom. I arrived just as they were finishing up their worship. How precious to hear their prayers! They were thankful for so much. An almost endless list. Put a completely different spin on my outlook on the day! I moved on to the other classrooms. One, I found outside praying around the flag pole. And the junior high and high school students were in the midst of a prayer meeting. What a powerful reminder of who is really in charge of our school. What better way for the students and staff to start the day than under the watch care of their Saviour!

Meanwhile, outdoors, something beautiful was happening. While yesterday the buds were all but bursting open, today, they all had burst forth. Magnolia, forsythia, azalea, even dandelions, all painting bright spots within my line of vision everywhere I turned. And the birds! Singing competitions going on in every tree.

I love this time of year!

2 comments:

La Tea Dah said...

What a busy day for you! I enjoyed your post very much. There is something about 'education' that is satisfying and so rewarding. God bless you!

Christy Woolum said...

I am glad after that busy day you were still able to appreciate the flowers of spring. This time of year does get hectic doesn't it?