Thursday, November 27, 2008

Long Time No Blog

Well when school started the blogging seemed to stop. I've been busy like everybody else but I think I just didn't feel like sharing anything as well. But....today is Thanksgiving and I certainly have been thinking about the many things that I am thankful for.....

Spiritual blessings - God's neverending love, grace, mercy and forgiveness; the gift of prayer

Blessings of love - my husband, my daughter, my mom, sister and brothers and all of the family that comes through marriages and extended family; the gift of friends...true friends that stay with you through the good and the bad;

Physical blessings - so numerous but heres a few that come to mind first -
a job that I love (teaching kids about music); a warm (and cool) home;
plenty to eat, a great bed to sleep in, a car that works, clean running water,
healthcare insurance and despite having Multiple Sclerosis having decent health;

Icing on the cake - Music, flowers, my dog Sasha, children's hugs and laughs, living in a country with so many freedoms, and especially today - my favorite - Pumpkin Pie!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Good ol' days?

Many times I get emails with sentiments of how things used to be or you hear someone say..."things are just not like they used to be." Well I certainly can identify with these feelings at times. Perhaps that is why I love to go to the downtown Temple Dollar General Store. Just walking into the very old building with its quaint musty smell, hardwood floors somehow takes me back in time to Duncan's Five and Dime in downtown Kilgore years ago in the '60's.
But on the other hand....the other day my mom mentioned how that she had to quit working back in the 50's when she was pregnant with Vern. No, it wasn't due to health reasons...but due to the fact that when a woman started showing she could no longer be out in a public job. Wow!!! It got to me thinking...maybe the good ol'days weren't always so good.


So step back to 1960 when I was born and then imagine how crazy these things would sound:


  • Barak Obama - African American Democratic Presidential nominee

  • Sarah Palin - Mother of five Republican VP nominee

  • Cell phones, computers, not to mentions families having more than one in their homes

  • The Internet - Ebay - Google -

  • Video - live feed of hurricanes, wars, Olympics brought right into our living rooms

  • Access to all kinds of music with the touch of a button

  • Having a choice of more than 3 different TV stations

  • Sonograms, MRI's, improved cancer treatments, vaccines, etc.

Well obviously I could keep typing and perhaps you've got a few of your own to add. I know that many wonderful values have been lost in these present times but I'm certainly grateful for the improvements that our world has seen.


James 1:17 - Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights


Sunday, August 24, 2008

friendship in unexpected places




Tonight I have been looking at all of my families' blogs and realized that it's been quite awhile since I posted something new on mine. I turned around and realized that September is next week, school is starting on Tuesday and the summer is over. I always have mixed feelings as we transition from one season to another....at least when it comes to going back to school! I love teaching, but I'll be honest... I love my summer mornings...getting to take my time walking SashaDog and piddling around the house.

Well speaking of Sasha dog....we had a tiny stray kitten come up in the yard yesterday and MamaSashaDog appeared in full force. We aren't really cat lovers and with cat allergies in the family, we couldn't keep her but neither could we just let her get run over so went we brought in the house until the animal shelter opened. Sasha licked her and tried to get all of the fleas off of her then she let her share her food. She never left her alone. It was pretty sweet.






Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Student Sightings

Elementary music teachers have a wonderful and unique advantage. Not only do you usually
get to teach everyone at the school (which in Temple averages about 500 students), but you also experience the joy of seeing them grow up year from the innocent 5 year old to the not so innocent 5th grader ready to move onto middle school.
Almost every outing that I make to the grocery store, mall or even a wedding, brings encounters with students that I currently teach or students that I formerly taught. In some cases it also brings the opportunity to see students I taught with their children who I also have taught.

Sometimes I spot them and just smile and pass on by if they don't recognize me. Other times I hear a voice yell out me....Mrs. Lightfoot!!!! If they call out Mrs. Thweatt!!! then I know without even looking that the voice is coming from the school of Jefferson where Audrey went and I taught from 1988-1998.


In the picture above on the right, I had the opportunity to pose for a picture with one of my former students Ashley Hill at a recent wedding we attended. I remember her beautiful voice singing "Part of Your World" and she sat on the stage of the CAC dressed up like Ariel, The Little Mermaid. Then I had the wonderful opportunity to teach her sweet daughter, Kelleigh at Thornton.


In the picture on the left, we happened to run into these guys..cousins and former classmates of Audrey, Braxton Brown and Korell McBride. They had posed 12 years ago together with Audrey at her 10th birthday party after giving her a rose. Korell and Braxton were outstanding performers in many of the shows we did for that group. I just happened to have my camera in my purse so after hugging them and getting the latest scoop about them, I went for the picture.


Sadly sometimes I spot former students and it's not a joyous moment. Recently I saw on the news the mug shot of the young man who tragically struck and killed a Temple resident and then fled the scene. I instantly remembered him as a young sweet boy who liked to help me. Those moments usually bring me to tears and then I know that God allowed me to remember them so that I can pray for them.


Now that Tim is also working in the school system we often make a fun bet about who will see the most students when we go out.


When I really think about it, teaching brings with it an awesome responsibility but the rewards are awesome!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

sisters


Yesterday afternoon I posted my first blog and unbelievably my sister posted her first blog at almost the exact same time. Neither one of us had told the other and had not spoken at all that day. Both us chose blogspot.com to set up our blogs and both mentioned that we were looking at other families' blogs.


Well, Janice, I guess great minds think alike and at the same time:)

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Inspirations



A Rainy Afternoon in Temple....and after surfing over other friends' and families' blogs I was inspired for the first time to set up one of my own. As a musician, I rarely express my creativity or inspirations in a written format. My musical improvisations come so easily to me when I sit at a piano, but this format of expressing oneself is somewhat foreign to me. I will see what happens with this effort.






So far since May 15, we've been really busy with graduations, weddings, birthdays and baby showers in our family. I've had the wonderful blessing of seeing my own daughter graduate with high honors from Marymount Manhattan College in NYC. She's been my inspiration for so many years to keep pushing myself to do better. As a young single mother, struggling with many setbacks, I would feel so discouraged, but the bright-eyed toddler in front of me with the mischeivous grin always snapped me out of the dumps and gave me strength to keep going. Now I see her as a beautiful young woman and feel humbled that God allowed me the privilege to be her mom. I recently wrote a song for her. If I could figure out how to include it, then I will add it in.






Life can be overwhelmingly busy, but on this rainy afternoon, it's been nice to have a quiet interlude of sweet memories and reflections.