2010 in Review

Ok, Friends, if you're interested in our annual news, here goes.  If not, feel free to delete :~P 2010 was a busy, blessed, and beautiful year -- with a few kinks thrown in to make us appreciate the rest! Shane is continuing with his doctoral studies at NCSTATE in Raleigh -- probably just over half done with course work.  It is a long process, and hard on our schedule and our finances!  I am so proud of him for doing this (and doing well, so far!), but I'll be absolutely thrilled when he is finished!!!!!! I have enjoyed a fringe benefit of getting to visit my sister in Durham more often and lots of special time with my nephew, Chandler, who will be 2 on March 30.  He loves Aunt Nene and the feeling is quite mutual.  I find him smart, funny, and fascinating!  I've watched him grow and change and learn and it is utterly amazing.  He'll be welcoming home a sibling late February/early March -- I'll love him/her regardless, but must admit my fingers are crossed for a girl.  Shanda and Stephen are doing well. We do have one other chance for a niece, as Shane's sister, Kelli, is pregnant -- due in June.  We enjoyed spending time with them in June for Wylder's birthday.  Unfortunately, we had an emergency when our best friend, Randy Spruill, ended up in the hospital with an aneurysm.  We left immediately for the Outer Banks.  Randy underwent a 12 hour brain surgery and was in the hospital/rehab from mid-June to mid-September -- not much of a summer for the Spruills.  We visited a weekend in August right before we went back to school, and Randy was still not talking, walking, or doing much else.  We had our regular Christmas weekend with them a couple of weeks ago, and he is walking with no assistance (no cane, no walker, or anything else!!!!!!)  His talking is (almost) completely normal, and his voice sounds basically the same.  His sense of humor is well intact, as is his zest for life.  He continues with various therapies to try to regain as much capabilities as possible.  His deficits are in his left arm/hand, vision, and some processing skills (mathematical stuff, for example).  We all appreciate your continued prayers for the Spruill family.  They are an amazing force in the world, and not surprisingly, they have faced this with grace, gratitude, and grit!  We are excited for all the miracles we've witnessed in this family this year, and are hoping 2011 is much LESS eventful for them. We are back in GA for our second visit of the year, and are enjoying our time very much -- Christmas traditions alive and well -- shopping, cooking, games, puzzle, family time. . . .we are blessed to still have Grandma Nita with us well into her 80s -- mostly healthy, mobile and living on her own with her husband of (almost) 2 years -- Papa Al.  We are bittersweet to be here with almost all the family.  Last year this time Randy was in Afghanistan and Josh was also there.  Both are home now, safe and sound, praise God!  Now, we have 2 new military family members, as Nelson Rey and Julia's boyfriend, Jonathan joined up.  Both of them will probably end up in Afghanistan or Iraq. . .Also, Randy, Marina, and Mason are leaving here directly for Alaska -- their new orders.  We will definitely miss them being so close!  We have enjoyed tons of backyard parties, date nights, playdates, ball games, etc. while they've been in Fayetteville.  The good news is perhaps we'll get a visit to Alaska -- the bad news is we will certainly not see them as often.  The other young nephews are doing great -- Wylder will be 3 in June and Braden just turned 2.  Josh and Sophia are still stationed in Italy, and that is the gaping hole this Christmas as they are not coming home.  We miss them very much. We are both still teaching at Union Chapel Elementary in Pembroke.  Shane is teaching 6th grade (language arts this year) and I am teaching 2nd grade.  I have a lovely group of  25 students that I am enjoying very much and cannot believe the year is almost half over.  Shane has two blocks of 21 -22 students and is team-teaching with my former assistant, Jolena Locklear.  As usual, he is stretched too thin with too many responsibilities, but it has provided opportunities for him to do some additional trainings throughout the county, which is good experience and (sometimes) provides extra income. . . so that is a positive.  We both presented at last years' NC Reading Conference and are both slated to present this year as well. I have been blessed with the same assistant for 2 years now, and she is a friend as well as a colleague.  We enjoy working together. We are also both still involved with the Robeson County Reading Council.  Shane is finishing his tenure as president of the organization and I am in my 4th year as Young Author Chair.  While it has been an interesting experience, we will be glad when his presidential time is over.  It is a lot of responsibility and requires a lot of time. I am serving as chaplain for the second time for my educational sorority, Alpha Delta Kappa.  We enjoy monthly meetings, doing altrustic projects, and fellowshipping/supporting each other. In April, Shane and I began making some drastic lifestyle changes in regards to health and diet.  We dove in full-force when school was out in June.  Due to the changes, Shane lost 30 lbs and his sugar is well under control.  I have lost 51 lbs!  We have cut out all wheat, no processed sugar, as much natural, organic and fresh foods as possible.  I have also integrated exercise, which has helped me in myriad ways.  Currently, I am doing zumba 1-3 days a week at work, and fitting in whatever other exercise I can.  We bought new bikes this year, too, which we have enjoyed. In November, we had our annual Thanksgiving Praise service, with about 25 folks coming to sing and pray and worship  and fellowship together.  We enjoyed a variety of soups/crackers/breads, and ended our evening with the traditional bonfire/marshmallow toast. We enjoyed our staff retreat in November as well, traveling to Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, VA.  We had some nice time with our friend, Jonah Doeller.  Shane presented for the retreat and had tons of schoolwork to do for his doctorate, so we didn't get a chance to do much else, but it was nice to get away. Also In November, we began attending a new church in Whiteville.  It is a contemporary, non-denominational church, with a worship band and over 1500 members on 3 campuses.  While it is very different from the church that Shane and I were raised in, and the change did not come easily, it has already been such a blessing.  We are beginning to get involved, and while we don't fully agree with everything, we find the overall spirit of the church to be very in line with where God has been leading us in our prayer and study.  It is very focused on showing God's love in the world, as evidenced by our mission statement "changing lives that change the world".  We find the services very motivational and Bible-based.  And the people we've met and fellowshipped with so far seem to have a wonderful zest for Jesus and his story in our world.  We enjoyed our very first candlelight communion service last Wednesday, which was absolutely wonderful.  Our hope is that God is going to use us in mighty ways in this new community called Barefoot Church (named after the community in North Myrtle Beach where it began).   While we will miss the Christmas Eve services in person, we are hoping to catch in on the Internet campus tonight, and look forward to Christmas services on Sunday and baptisms!  If you're interested, you can check it out at barefootchurch.com.  Or if you're local, we're meeting in the old Badcock building behind McDonalds.  Sunday services are at 9:30 and 11:15.   And while we realize that our Church of Christ friends and family will be disappointed in this decision, please know that it did not come easily or quickly, and that it was accompanied by lots of prayer and study.  We hope that we can still fellowship as friends and family, and still consider you our brothers and sisters in Christ, and hope you can do the same.  We wish you all the best as we journey together into 2011. Our prayer for you is good health, happy times, and more blessings than you can count.  If hard times come your way in 2011, our prayer is that God will grant you strength, patience, and perseverance to overcome your trials.  Our hope is that we'll find joy in each others' company, whether face-face, on-line or via written communication.  We love you all and thank you for being a part of our lives!  Many blessings, and much love, Shane and Tonnye   Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!  ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Plant a tree in your state parks

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Blessings,
Tonnye Fletcher

 

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilder

The Fishing Trip

It was a lovely vacation until the day of the fishing trip. I was excited; hoping to see whales or dolphins or something amazing, but I also felt very anxious, since I had never been on the ocean before. Some family told me I should take some medicine, but my husband didn’t want me to, because he was afraid I would get sleepy and not enjoy the day. It was a beautiful day and the warm summer sun shone down, yet there was a cool breeze from the water. We went to the wharf to board the boat our family had chartered. There were six of us, along with two crewmembers. It was supposed to be a half-day trip, but Capt. Bryan said we might have to go out further to get any good fishing in, so we agreed to a full day trip. The ride out was incredible. The boat went so fast and the spray felt cool and refreshing. I wasn’t bothered by the motion – the boat virtually flew across waves. We saw a school of flying fish --nothing – then, suddenly several flashes of silver would erupt from the waves like fireworks. They would sail through the air, sometimes for quite a distance before diving into the water once again. It was a sight to behold! We rode for miles into the ocean – no land visible in any direction. It was a little disconcerting, but I was okay – until we stopped. When the boat was still, it wasn’t still. Suddenly I understood The Pirate Ship I’ve ridden so many times at Six Flags. Only this was worse – much, much worse! Soon I wasn’t feeling very well. . . I took a Dramamine, knowing it was already too late. I ate crackers to no avail. I went inside the cabin. That didn’t help either. I was seasick! What a terrible feeling! It was miserable on a thousand different levels. Somehow I survived the day, although I didn’t enjoy it. It was eleven very long hours on the ocean. No whales, no dolphins, and we only caught one fish– a mahi-mahi that ended up costing us over $1,000! However, it was an experience from which I learned. As I reflect now, I consider the day and compare it to my reading experience. Like the day, I began my reading experience with both excitement and trepidation. Like the boat ride, there is sometimes excitement, sometimes fear. The waves carried us far out into the world as reading has always done for me. There have been highs and lows in my reading over the years, as the boat rode high and low in sync with the waves. However, unlike the fishing trip, reading is an adventure I will choose over and over again in spite of uncertainties. I don’t know when – if ever – I’ll go on another deep sea fishing voyage. For some things, once truly is enough!
Tonnye Williams Fletcher
Forever Young Author
Union Chapel Elementary School
Robeson Reading Council

Fingers of God

Today Shane and I walked on the beach at Cherry Grove. We were all the way at the end where the inlet and the ocean meet. It was low tide, so there was lots of room to walk. For a while the sand was dry and bleached perfectly white and it had smooth flowing waves. Then we got to an area that was hard, smooth and damp. Around a tidal pool, there was an area of sand that was heavily ridged. Along the edges of another tidal pool, the edges had a terraced look -- layers and layers of sand, slightly graduated. In some areas, the water had cut deep canyons into the sand. Other areas had shallow rivulets flowing. One area looked pithy, like a pumice stone with millions of tiny holes. Some areas had gentle depressions, as if someone had raked their fingers through the dampened sand. So I began to think of fingers on the sandy shore of our lives. I thought of how God sometimes allows us to hang loose and free -- natural and flowing. Sometimes he allows the rivers to carve canyons in our souls to develop our character or to help us appreciate the blessings we have or to have a feeling of empathy for others with canyons carved in their souls. Sometimes we find ourselves full of tiny holes, soaking up all the positive and negative life has to offer. Sometimes our lives are flat and smooth with very little chaos, and sometimes chaos produces heavy ridges -- ups and downs, some wet with tears, others dry and thirsty. As God dips his fingers into our lives, we have to trust -- even when he refrains from dipping his fingers into the landscape of our lives. We have to trust that if he created the oceans and the tides and the tidal pools and all the configurations the same sand can create under his craftsmanship, then certainly our lives will be no less beautiful. Whatever his fingers are doing or not doing in your life, step back, take a look at the artistic piece he's composing, and if you don't like what you see, have a conversation with the sculptor and then watch and see what your life becomes.

Bring on the Gravy!

I spent several hours yesterday with my family -- more specifically with Daddy, Shanda, and Dale. We planted 14 rows of Irish potatoes. . . .Shanda and I sat on the setter behind the tractor, dropping potatoes into the ground. Daddy, of course, was driving the tractor, and Dale walked behind planting the ones that didn't go deep enough or fixing any little problems the setter (or Shanda and I) had. It wasn't the hardest job, nor the easiest I've ever done. Shanda was thrilled to be dirty (city-living really doesn't agree with her), and I must admit it felt good, although my manicure suffered, and now I have semi-permanent potato and dirt stains on my thumbs. My butt was temporarily numb, and today my upper body is slightly sore. But it is a good sore-ness. It was cool to be a kid again with an adult perspective. In so many ways it felt like "old times". Dale being a typical brother -- teasing, aggravating -- we sang and laughed together. Daddy laughed at us and with us. Hopefully this summer we'll have lots of potatoes for potato soup, mashed potatoes, French fries, potatoes au gratin, etc. But we've already reaped the greatest reward -- time well-spent with people you love. That, my friends, is gravy! :~)

Are You SURE You Want to Be a Teacher?????

Okay, if you have any dreams of becoming a teacher, stop reading right now! If I had video-taped part of this day, it could have been part of a teacher boot camp program. . . .

9:30 AM A knock on my door -- ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher with a Hispanic family. She introduced me to a new student for my class. Problem: He's straight from Mexico and speaks no English. He's not happy to be here (Read here: Understatement of the century as evidenced by his burying himself in his mother's side, copious crying, and wailing. . . .) I try to say, "Hola", but he is not ready to hear me. ESL teacher talks with him to no avail. Still, he cries; still he wails. . . .We call out one of my other Hispanic students thinking it will help. He's not ready to hear him, either. His wish is simple -- he wants to go home! Finally we give up temporarily. ESL teacher says, "We'll bring him back in a few minutes. He needs some time." OK with me. . . . so I step back in my room. . . .what I see is Ms. April standing beside the desk of one of my students who is throwing up repeatedly. Ms. April is holding the trash can and paper towels and looking not a little disconcerted. So I press the intercom button to call the office and ask them to send a custodian.

9:40 Custodian arrives, starts cleaning up; The dad brings new student back (kicking and screaming no less) He tries to get new student to go into the room -- reminds me muchly of trying to put a cat in a sink full of water -- arms and legs went out in every direction -- clawing, scratching, and grabbing anything he could to keep from going in. . .(In fact I think he must have gotten Dad, because there was blood on my door in the aftermath. . . .) Dad wrestled him in, while custodian was trying to get in and out with broom, mop . . .and sick student was trying to get out with trash can in her hands in case she got sick again.

9:45 New student is in, Dad is gone; sick student has called home -- someone is on the way to pick her up; sickness is cleaned up, custodian is gone.

Now new student is fighting me right and left. . .He wants his mama; he wants his daddy; he wants to go home. . . .He wails, cries, smacks his head, yells at me, tries to get to the door repeatedly. . . . . and this replays for the next 2 hours -- intermixed with my 15 other students asking a million questions -- "What's his name? -- Where's he from? Why's he crying? Can we introduce ourselves? Why does he spell his name like that? Doesn't he speak English? . . . . ."

After a while, we do try to introduce ourselves, but he cries through the whole thing and won't look at anybody.

I assign another Hispanic student to be his shadow (friend, helper. . . )He sits on one side and I sit on the other (I'm still afraid at this point he's going to bolt for the door as soon as he gets a chance. -- and BTW, I did have to restrain him a time or two to keep him from making a run for it. :~\) I tried to reassure him, but he only wants his mom, his dad and to go home. So I tried to go over the reading story with the rest of my children. No chance. . . he is wailing too loud and the other students are way too distracted. At one point he calms down slightly, and as I'm trying to read over him, and his student helper turns to me and says, "Mrs. Fletcher, you need to 'shh' -- he needs it quieter. . . ." (I'll just let that one hang there a while. . . .)

11:45 Blessedly, lunchtime finally arrives. My main worry is if he's going to try to run when we get into the hallway. So I position myself on one side, with his student shadow on the other. I held his hand all the way to lunch, and he was much calmer. He didn't want anything to eat, but finally did eat a little bit; sat with his new friend -- saw a couple of brief, tentative smiles.

12:30 Back in the classroom; the closer we get to the room, the more upset he gets. I kept trying to think what I could do to make him feel more comfortable. I decided to try to introduce the rest of my class to some Spanish, and him to some English by playing some songs I have in both languages. . . .That didn't help -- he got more and more upset. . . .I finally gave up and had Ms. April take them to the carpet to read the reading story. While they did that, he and I sat at the computer going over simple addition facts -- numbers in Spanish, then English. He smiled quite a big, began repeating numbers in English, and I was feeling pretty good about our progress. Eventually he tired of it, and I moved him to another computer and put him on Starfall.com where he could hear the English alphabet and letter sounds and read simple stories in English. He worked happily on the computer for about an hour -- peace -- ahhh! Finally! The class went over some math in preparation for a quiz tomorrow.

1:45 Took a bathroom break, and he actually went to the bathroom. . .came back and got right back on the computer.

2:10 They called over the intercom and said he was supposed to ride the bus home. . . the wailing started again. . .oh, no. . . .I'm trying to make arrangements for the rest of my kids so I can walk him to the bus. . . then they call back and say, oh, nevermind -- his parents are coming to get him . . . .whew! OK -- He's ready to go home, and for that fact, SO AM I!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:45 We head outside, and he spots his mom right away. They're going to pick him up tomorrow. I assure him he can go home, but I'll see him tomorrow "Hasta la manana. . . "

Now, let me just say, I cannot imagine how he must feel and my heart is truly going out to him, and I really wish I had taken Spanish, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow (especially considering my assistant will not be there tomorrow. . .), but I'm very glad it's Friday, and if you really, truly still think you want to be a teacher, you should probably see a therapist :~)

Winter Battle

Drill Sergeant Winter has his way. . .
He sweeps in amidst an entourage
Of frosty air and bone-chilling temperatures.
He barks out orders to the ranks of fallen leaves,
Marching them across frozen plains
In perfect formation
To the cadence of January winds.
Occasionally the army of leaves gets caught in a cyclonic battle,
Swirling into the air as the skirmish
Escalates.
The cold, gray days of battle and marching in formation
Seem unending,
Until finally the batallion of leaves is left
Frayed and in disarrayed piles
As the war ends
And the wind dies
And winter surrenders
To spring

Welcome 2010

It is New Year’s Day. The beginning of a new day, a new year, a new decade. I’ve lived through 42 New Year’s Days, and each one has been different, with different accomplishments, struggles, and things to look forward to. I wonder what this 43rd year will hold for me. What will I do with it? How will I use it? I don’t want to have any regrets – I want to use it up and extrude every bit of life from it there is to live. New Year’s Resolutions. . . .sometimes they get a bad rap. Perhaps you’re one of those who says, “I never keep them anyway. . .what’s the use?” I think there is a use. I believe in the power of new year’s resolutions. Think about it. Every successful retail businessperson knows the value of taking inventory. You look at your stock: the things that sold well that you need to make sure you reorder; the items you thought would sell, but didn’t; the items that served their purpose, but their time is up; the seasonal items. You look for the things that need to be thrown out, put on clearance sales, reordered, etc. And while our lives are not retail merchandise, the principle still applies. We need to examine our lives (and our possessions) and see what is broken that can be fixed, or if it is unfixable and needs to be discarded. We need to take stock of all the good things in our world that we should give thanks for and make sure we nurture those things. It is a sort of “cleaning house”, but not so much the physical items, but all the emotional, mental, psychological, too. What is healthy – what do I keep? What do I toss? But it’s also about orienting ourselves. A ship with no anchor is tossed with the tides. A teacher with no objectives is not very effective. A person without goals is just going through the motions. We need goals – objectives, purpose – in order to be effective human beings. It is not enough to sail through our days. We need to live them with purpose. I read a lovely (fictional) book this summer called Twenty Wishes. The ladies therein were in different stages of their lives, but they inspired each other to create a list of twenty wishes – and they each approached it in a different way. Some began tentatively, not sure what to wish for; others threw caution to the wind and made big wishes. The cool thing is that by the end of the book, many of their wishes had been fulfilled. Magic? Fiction? I think it is simply having a goal in front of you – making your wishes tangible. Looking at them daily. . . .as the Bible says (paraphrasing here – it comes from Deut. 6 if you want to read the exact wording) write them on your forehead, on your doorposts, think about them in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. . . . .it’s talking about the precepts and principles of God, but I believe it applies equally to anything we need to keep in front of us all the time. Make your wishes. Call them that, call them resolutions, call them goals, purposes, objectives – call them anything you like. But make them. Life is short. Let’s not waste it wondering what could be. Let’s make things happen in our lives. Pray about it, put it in your mind, and set about making your wishes come true. Shane and I have made our twenty wishes – this summer at 3:00 in the morning at Denny’s. I wrote them down. I think it’s time we revisit them – tweak them and make them real for ourselves. This life is ours. We’ve been given the gift of today. What would happen if we made every today count in our lives and the lives around us. What will you resolve? What will you wish? What will you make happen for yourself in 2010? Happy new day! Happy new year! Happy new decade! Happy new life!