A school year that came and went.....

It has been a long time since I have updated our blog. Maybe because I've been crazy busy! My goal was to update at least once a month, well clearly that did not happen! My school year literally came and went! I was the busiest I have ever been. I had a GREAT group of kids this year and they all did so wonderful! I bonded with one in particular, his name is Cody, and he is precious. Chad got to hear so many "Cody" stories almost everyday. He is adorable and made my year even better! I love my job and working with the kids I work with! This year I got the opportunity to spread my wings a little bit and work with two other groups of children other than "my kids." The first group happened accidentally. This past summer Frenship had a group of boys on a little league team called "The Lubbock Westerners." They ended up making it all the way to the World Series and got second place. It was the most excitement this town has seen in a while. Well, after the boys made their way back to the 806, the school was preparing them all for a crazy home coming. You see, these boys were celebrities! They had a huge parade, a bus that circulates throughout our town with their names and faces on it and they made the cover of the yellow pages. To make the "transition" from celebrity to 7Th grader, the principals asked that all the teacher help them and to keep the kids as normal as possible. I was already close with one of the boys, Jay Pendergrass, and automatically became a familiar face for him to turn too. The first day the boys came to school was actually our fourth day. They rules had already been covered and one of those rules was no book bags in the classrooms. Jay in a a panic came to my room saying he didn't have a locker yet and pretty much thought his life was over! I took him to the office and talked to the lady in charge of locker assignments. She promised Jay he would have a locker by the beginning of next week and that everything was OK and that he could take his bag to class with him and to explain to the teacher what is going on. Well Jay came back to my room in fear that this whole "explaining" thing would not work out, and asked if he could leave his bag in my room. To lesson his stress level I agreed. The next couple of class periods came and went and I returned to my room to find three more Lubbock Westerner bags in my room. I thought "man, Jay has a lot of bags." Then the bell rang and Bryndan, Steven and Bo came in to get more supplies from their bags. I said "Hello?" They smiled and said hey and thanked me for letting them keep their bags in my room. Then I see Jay pop his little head in. I asked Jay how the word got around and he as innocent as possible said, "oh I told them." All I could do was smile and hug the kid. I thought, no biggie, just a day of boys crud on my floor. The next day the newest Westerner joined the FISD crew. He transferred from Trinity and was a nervous wreck. I was in the office when he was enrolling. His name, Garrett Williams. He is as precious as Jay! I told him I would show him around and walk him to his classes. After I gave him and his father the grand tour, I told him I would show him my room so if he needed anything he could come to me. His dad was very nice and told me Garrett was very nervous and he has me to check in on him from time to time. I took Garrett to my room. To my surprise I found four Westerner bags on my floor again! Garrett then laid his bag on the floor and said "Jay told me about you." I just smiled and let it go. After the first couple weeks of school I started to ignore the fact that I tripped over a Westerner bag almost every day. I quickly became the boys mom at school. I would give them lunch money if they forgot it, write them passes when needed, they ate lunch with me almost everyday and I literally became their BFF. I was told this on many occasions. My classroom would smell like athletic boy after 1st period everyday and I was constantly picking up after them. After a while, It became my everyday ritual. As the year went on I started to notice a couple more bags appearing...these were regular bags. Everyday after school my classroom became the "meeting grounds. The boys had recruited a few others to join the Ketchersid locker room. It was ridiculous! I tried a few times to kick them out and not allow their bags to be on my floor and you would have thought I killed their dog. Sad Sad faces and bottom lips would appear. Jay told me once my room was the only place he felt safe and could smile. (You think they had me tricked or what) I gave in to these boys and literally let them do whatever they wanted! It wasn't all bad. These boys taught me a lot and helped me and my kids as well. Cody didn't have any friends, and it was hard for him to be social with other kids his age. I will never forget the day Garrett asked to come eat with me and turned to Cody and said "hey Cody want to eat with us today?" My heart fell to the floor. I never pushed him to do that or to reach out. He did it on his own. Throughout the year Garrett, Jay, Bryndan and Cameron became Cody's friend. They would talk to him even when Cody wouldn't respond. They knew he had a few problems and they didn't care. I have never been more proud. They are such great kids.

My second group of kids I got the pleasure of spending time with happened because I thought "WHY NOT?" A group of 8 young ladies changed my life this year. One in particular. Her name is Christiana and brand new to Frenship. Her mom knew I was the cheer sponsor and asked me if there was a Prep Cheer class her daughter could be in, even though she was in the self contained special education program at our school. I thought "why not?" Then that idea got stretched even further. I have known most of the girls since they were in the 5Th grade. I knew they were a great group of girls and knew they would love to cheer. SO instead of a prep cheer class, I went to my principal and asked if I could start a Special Olympic cheer leading squad. He said "why not?" I got on the phone and contacted several area business's and asked for donations. The girls needed uniforms! We got the donations and we were ready to go! Practices began and the girls were excited! My other cheerleaders were so supportive! They loved this idea! They wanted them to be apart of the pep rallies! Before I knew it, the word got around, and my little idea was making news. Not just local news, but headline CNN news. I was shocked. I couldn't believe this little bitty idea had blown up to be a huge deal! It was such a humbling experience. The girls were awesome! Never changed a thing. They just wanted to cheer!!!! They got an award from the school board and a TOAST award from Justivacare. The school had a huge assembly to give us the award and the students were so supportive! Standing ovation. There wasn't a dry eye in the building! It was so wonderful!

I guess you can say this year has been so amazing! I learned a lot at FMS this year.

OUR AWARD

THE BOYS