No, wait. She's 11.

It is so freakin' hard to remember that my little Annie is only 11.

We have conversations about her advanced math class and the boys in gym class and fashion and what-not. She keeps asking to read the books I'm teaching my high school students. She goes to youth group now. She washes dishes, wants to cook dinner (or at least helps), does her own laundry, and feeds the dogs (sometimes without any prompting).

And then...

She spends 5 straight hours watching Hannah Montana.

She reads Junie B. Jones and Mr. Men books.

She runs screaming through the house, yelling, "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!" while the dogs and her brother chase her for the sheer fun of it.

After all, she's only 11.

Obligations

Well, another week come and gone. I'm down half a pound to 175 even.
Yay.

Keep it up, fellow losers!

I'm stuck.

I can't decide what to write about. I am saddened by this.
--sigh--

Warning! Nothing funny here. Move along.

I just wanted to take a sec to let you know that I found this really cool restaurant search tool online. It's called Foodie Bytes, and you can browse menus and everything. You can search by city, by restaurant, by type of food, by food item....

For a full review, check out my post over at Gluten Free in Baltimore. It's pretty cool.

Celiac Disease has gone to my head (and wallet)

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I -- The Diet Contest

Part II -- “You look allergic.”

Part III -- It was Thursday

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Thanks for the comments last week. I'm glad you’re enjoying my story. This week, I don't have the next episode ready: It's been a crazy week. Instead, I'm going to share with you a current snippet of my life with celiac sprue.

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I went to the grocery store today, and like I always do, I looked for new gluten-free products in the freezer case. I didn't really expect to find any; I don't shop at a specialty store or anything, so I usually just make do with what I can find or simply do without.

Today, I found two - TWO - technically FOUR if you count variants - new products! Oh, happy happy happy day. I almost did a little dance right there in the freezer section. I mean I would have, but I kinda forgot how joyful I felt in the midst of the shock. Three of the four items WERE ON SALE! $2.99 for a box of gluten free Van's toaster waffles! Oh, happy day!

So........

I bought these.

$6.95. Not on sale. TOTALLY worth it. I haven't had doughnuts since last spring.

And these.

And these.

This, my friends, is what we call "stocking up". Did I mention they were on sale?

Happy day.

Oh, how I miss you.

I was teaching today... BUT instead of being focused, my brain was elsewhere.

My current position was suddenly, surprisingly considered for elimination this week.

On Sunday, an article was published in our local paper: the School Board was considering the elimination of Commonwealth Governor's School. I just transferred to CGS in October. There was no warning, no discussion, no hint of this possibility to the students, teachers, or the board of CGS. Just an article in the paper stating that on Tuesday, the School Board would vote on whether or not to keep CGS for the 09-10 school year.

On Monday, there was nothing short of uproar in all CGS classes. That afternoon, a letter arrived from the superintendent claiming that the paper was wrong in its reporting, and that his intention was simply to renegotiate the contract, but the language in the resolution didn't really seem to match up with his letter.

On Tuesday, there was a second article in the newspaper. This article was about the Spotsylvania County School Board meeting (one of the other counties involved in CGS). Their school board drafted a request to our school board to ask Stafford to keep CGS. Tuesday evening, the board room was packed. The meeting started at 7, and the board heard testimony from about 50 people. Shortly after 11, they cast their votes. CGS gets to stay.

Today, I was busy. Super super busy. And the students were wound up -- several of the seniors said that they wished they still had college essays to write so that this experience could be their "pivitol moment". The teachers were finally relaxed, even a little giddy, after the scare. It's not that we would have been out of a job entirely (most likely), but we would have had to change programs. No one wanted that.

I did a lot of personal reflection these last few days, and I found myself a bit homesick.

I miss the pile of friends (peers and students) at North. I was stressed, and I realized that they were always there for me. The kids would even ask what was bothering me sometimes. I miss that. Even though my friends at CGS were going through the same thing, even though we all were stressing together, it just wasn't the same.

I miss you, North. I love my new job, my new peers, and my new students, but I miss you.

UltraChrist, part 2

It occurred to me, when I first found (stumbled over?) UltraChrist, what an awesome idea it was. It actually doesn't bother me a bit. (I know, I know, but hear me out!)

I mean, how great would it be if Jesus WAS like a superhero? If he swooped in and saved the day? If he was always there - physically there - to protect and defend? If he could just show up, flip the tables of the corrupt, clean out the evils of the government?

Then it occurred to me
...the people who actually got to hang out with Jesus were kinda hoping for that, too.
...we're probably all rather looking forward to living out the chapter in the Revelation where Jesus returns to Earth and does battle.
...we're often confronted by others who want to know why we go through rough times if God loves us so much?
...ironically, the preschoolers' favorite worship song is "Jesus, You're my Superhero".
...how many people would really love to have a superhero.

It's all in the perspective. God is my superhero, sans-spandex of course, but my superhero just the same. He's never let me down. Even when my life was really lousy. Maybe even extra-super-mega-lousy. He's always there to help me find a way through.

God's way of working my life isn't necessarily the way I expected, but that doesn't mean He's MIA or ignoring me. He's still there. He still cares. (And I bet he's got an awesome sense of humor.)