I love my church!

Every now and then, something happens that makes me think of things that I know, but don't often think about or verbalize. I was hit with one of these last night and today, of how much I love my church. My church is 80-something years old, and I had known "of" my church all my life, way before it was my church. I have been a member of my church for 10 years. That's easy for me to remember, because my friends son Noah was born a week before or week after I joined my church and Noah just turned ten in August. I use Noah's birthday as my anniversary date at my church. By the way, my church is First Missionary Baptist Church in Auburndale. (http://www.firstmbc.com) I was reminded again how much I love my church on Friday night, when I sat with Pastor Price at the AHS football game. A local tradition is that after half time the cheerleaders throw little plastic footballs into the crowd. Different business help pay for the footballs and the organization gets their name printed on footballs. I don't know how or why this was started but they've done in here in Auburndale as long as I can remember, even when my sisters were in high school – and one graduated in 1980 and one in 1983. Some of the footballs Friday night on Friday night said "First Missionary Baptist Church." How cool is that? Mr. Jimmy (as my niece calls him) who is our Youth Pastor was also at the game. It is amazing to watch high school age kids wave and yell "Hi Pastor!" I bet they will remember for a long time that their Pastor was at their game.

Today, our church hosted what we hope becomes an annual event the "Auburndale Sportsman's Expo." Most of the planning went on while I was in London this summer, so I came back not knowing anything about it. I guess this was the brainchild of Pastor Will, who is our Associate Pastor. Pastor Will and his wife Amy are some of my most favorite people in the whole world. I know that's not grammatically correct, but it is very true. This thing today was HUGE! There were guest speakers and prizes, auctions, booths, barbeque, exhibits, and a special area for kids. . . It was amazing. I heard someone ask the guys at the registration table what they owed our church for coming. They couldn't believe it when they were told nothing. Then, they asked what our church was getting from all this, again the guy said nothing – just an opportunity to give people some time with their friends and family and a chance to let us minister to your needs. How can I not love my church? I watched all the volunteers from my church run around everywhere today, doing all sorts of jobs from parking cars to serving food to passing out prizes and taking tickets. I was reminded of the passage in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, when Paul is talking about how every part of the body is important, and no part is more important than any other is. Every job today was important and it made me sad that my life is so caught up in my job and my schoolwork for FSU that I didn't have a job, and didn't even have time to know what a big deal this was. I heard that the guy who was there from the Bass Pro Shop said to go ahead and put him on the list for next year. Me too – put me on the list. Next year, I want one of those orange shirts.

 

P. S. Check out all the incredible decorating the ladies from my church created. That's another thing on my list for whenever this Master's degree is done – I want to be on the decorating crew!
P.S. again - I left my card from my camera at my sister's house. I'll have to add those pictures tomorrow!

Friday Night Lights

I don't know about everybody else, but in my little town, which I dearly love, high school athletics are a HUGE deal. So, that is part of the reason that on many Friday nights in the fall, one can find a whole lot of Auburndale's population at Bruce Canova Stadium, watching the Auburndale Bloodhounds play football. I honestly don't care much about high school football, but my nephew plays in the band, so on many Friday nights, I take my place in the stadium as well. Tonight was one of those nights and was a perfect night for football. I was trying to think about what made it such a nice night and I really can't pinpoint any particular thing. The Bloodhounds lost 9-7, but it was a pretty good game. My niece loves to watch the cheerleaders and the band – that's all she cares about. I have taught middle school for so long that I have a good number of students who have moved on to high school, so I'm always listening for names of "my boys." My family and I always laugh, because there are very few times we go out in public where someone doesn't say "Hello Ms. Jimmerson." Tonight was a usual night, the woman selling tickets teaches with me, we barely got in the gate when someone said "Ms. Jimmerson" and then on the way up the stadium someone yelled my name. I love that, to be perfectly honest. The weather was nice, not too hot; it rained earlier, so there was no rain, no bugs, and a nice, clear night. I know that Hurricane Ike is getting ready to beat up Texas, but it was a perfect night for us for football. I love the sound of the bands, and the smell of hotdogs and hamburger cooking and the whole atmosphere. It was a great night. It was even more fun when my pastor and youth pastor came, and to watch our youth pastor eat a boiled peanut for the first time in his life. He's from Chicago, and I don't think he'll rush to have any more anytime soon. It was really cool to sit at a football game with my pastor – but that's for another post. Of course, there are the eternal questions that I wonder about – why does a high school have 22 cheerleaders? Isn't' that a lot? And why are there girls who won't graduate until 2012 on the varsity cheerleading squad? And why do cheerleaders choose such unattractive uniforms? The high school in my town has uniforms with one shoulder only. Why would anybody choose a one-shoulder outfit for girls who jump around and cheer? Every single one of those 22 cheerleaders, regardless of their size or shape, sometime tonight was pulling on the side with no shoulder. And isn't it a shame that the announcers have to remind people to take off their hats while the band plays the National Anthem? Didn't people used to know that without being told? Over all, though it was a great night. If you haven't been to a high school football game recently, find one and go. Its great fun – and pretty cheap! You'll probably enjoy yourself as much as I did.

Prevention Lessons

I have had the dubious honor this week of having the county prevention nurse in my classroom. There are some really great things about that and some negative aspects as well.

Here are the good things first!

    1. Mrs. Barfield, the nurse taught all of my classes (all 155-ish students) every day all four days of last week, and will finish up tomorrow.

    2. The extra free time gave me LOTS of time to catch up. I know it sounds inefficient to be behind after only 2 weeks of school, but it's true, it happens. I did lots of sorting and putting away, the letters my students write to me on the second day of school, the parent information sheets that I send home, they are all filed, hole punched and put away!

    3. Someone else teaching all my students every day. Did I already mention that?

    4. Mrs. Barfield is a fabulous teacher, as well as a nurse. She is so matter of fact and easy for kids to understand. She just puts it right out there and has better classroom control than lots of teachers I know.

 

Now, the negative things about the health lessons:

    1. I teach Geography, it sounds really stupid to explain to people why the nurse teaches in my class instead of science class. (The FCAT – there's not one for Social Studies, there is for Science, so we take time away from Social Studies because it apparently isn't that important to the state of Florida anyway! That's also why monthly, I get to traipse all my students down to the nurse's office to do head lice checks! NOTE- this is NOT my idea!)

    2. For the first two days of health, the boys and girls are separated while they learn the lessons about puberty. I get the boys. Trust me; I could label a diagram of the male reproductive system in my sleep! The same lesson seven times in one day, followed by the embarrassment of 11, 12, and 13 year old boys having the learn about the female reproductive system. For some strange reason, on the day of that lesson, my boys won't look at me when they leave the room and they are really glad my desk is in the back of the room, not the front!

    3. Being constantly reminded that there are so many things that parents should teach their children, which apparently they never get to. I'm amazed that kids who are so streetwise can be so clueless about their own bodies.

    4. Only one more day!