The Greatest Gift

First of all, thanks for the great feedback on the education post. More of those coming, especially since I have just finished a week of exams that my school made optional. Interesting.

The extra time during exam week and this week leading up to Christmas has made me especially focused on the true meaning of GIFT. I have always been a huge fan of Christmas: the holiday carols on the record player, running down the stairs in my PJ's to see full stockings and a bright Christmas tree, "O Holy Night" at the Christmas Eve service...Christmas is my favorite holiday, probably because I grew up with so many cherished traditions and have such fond memories involving family on that day every year. I remember waking up and literally shaking with excitement upon the instant realization that it was Christmas--yummy food, lots of presents, laughter with family. YES!

But this year the focus has completely changed for me. I am so, so aware that I have been given the greatest gift in my son. He is my ultimate gift, given to me every day when he wakes up with his beaming smile and hearty laugh, given to me every moment when he burrows his face into my neck and squeezes me tight, given to me every time people see him and remark how happy he is...it simply never loses its magic. I can't believe how in love I am. I fall in love over and over and over again. I am given a gift over and over and over again. He elevates everything I have ever known about love and gifts.

A family in town recently lost their 13 year-old son. They went in to wake him up for school and he wasn't breathing. When my neighbor told me this story, I lost it. I have never really been an emotional person, but Will has heightened my sense of life and love so much that I feel things so much deeper than I ever have before. And when I thought about those parents grieving the sudden loss of their son, I couldn't take it. I ached for them; I still ache for them. Even the notion of anything happening to Will paralyzes me.

Dr. William Petit was interviewed by Oprah a week or so ago, and while the interview haunted me, I couldn't pull myself away. I had just finished a unit on forgiveness with my seniors, and Dr. Petit's reflections on the brutal loss of his wife and two daughters added something to my own thoughts on forgiveness. But what stuck with me was when he said that when you lose a spouse, you are a widow/widower. When you lose a parent, you are an orphan. But when you lose a child...there's no word for that. I nodded my head and held Will tight. There's no word for that.

2010 has taught me a lot. One thing I know for sure now is that when it all comes down to it, family is what is most important. Will will be my greatest gift this Christmas. And he will be my greatest gift on Dec. 26, and on Dec. 27. If there is nothing under the Christmas tree for me this year or ever again (which I am sure my amazing family wouldn't allow), I would still be the happiest I have ever been on a Christmas morning because I will be holding Will. I will be seeing this glorious holiday through his eyes, striving to give him the beauty and joy of the season that my parents gave me. I don't deserve Will. Somehow I was given a healthy, beautiful, joyful baby boy that captured my heart at the moment of his birth and continues to hold it in his sweet hands to this day. I now want to live my life giving back.

Merry Christmas, dear friends. Know that you are great gifts in my life as well.

I am so blessed by your friendship. May you and yours have a joyful holiday.

Thoughts on Education: Stress and the High School Student

The title of my blog suggests I write about topics like teaching and cooking, but let's get real: this space has turned into a glorified photo gallery of our life with sweet Will. I am thrilled I have been semi-able to keep this blog semi-current with pictures, but I have also been yearning for a space where I can record random thoughts on education. I don't believe I have anything profound to share. There are many, many people who have loads more experience and insight than I. Rather, I want to make sure I record what I am thinking and feeling as I continue this adventure commonly known as teaching.

Today's snow day afforded me an opportunity to read the "Room For Debate" forum in today's NYTimes about stress and the high school student. It led me to think about what I know for sure about education in America--at least in my experience:

1. Everyone says it because it's true: the number one factor when it comes to student success is the quality of the student's teacher. My mom knew this 20 years ago. She researched the teachers I might have the following year and got involved enough in the school to help me get in the best teacher's classroom. I am convinced her work played a huge role in why I love learning and school today. Teachers matter.

2. Good teachers work hard at it. Bad teachers are unprepared, lack passion, and keep their distance from their students. But good teachers? They are up-to-date on the hottest topics and resources in their fields, they make the effort to help a single student despite the fact they have dozens to tend to, they make the lessons specific to the needs of their students that year, and they show their students they care about them as people by asking them about outside activities, writing encouraging emails, and incorporating their interests into the class.

3. Good teachers deserve to be paid better. Michelle Wie knows what she is talking about: good teachers should be paid like the professionals they are. I don't need or even want a lot of money, but it is disheartening sometimes when I realize that my salary continues to dramatically lag behind that of my peers.

4. Stress in high schools is very real. Our students are way overcommitted. But I think the stress is overrated. Some stress is good stress. And like we all do sometimes, we get super stressed out and break down and complain about it...and then it subsides and life seems fun again. High school students are old enough to deal with this. Yes, we need to try to take steps to not overwhelm them unnecessarily, but when they sign up for 5 AP courses and 3 leadership positions and 2 community service commitments, they are going to be stressed. Do they need all of this to get into the "best" college? I am not so sure.

5. Parents and families play huge roles in the educations of their children. I am heartbroken when I learn the stories of my advisees each year; more often than not, they are dealing with serious issues in their families that weigh on them considerably. Conversely, those students who have dinner with their families most nights and have relatively positive relationships with their parents often experience great success at school. I know all families look different, and I am not trying to advocate for certain forms, but I notice a difference between the students who at least feel like they have a family and those who feel pretty independent from one. Teenagers might push their parents away, but I think most desperately need to know that their parents love and support them no matter what.

6. Everyone should go see "Waiting for Superman." Powerful.

Okay, that's enough for tonight.

My Oh My! Will is 1/2 a year old!!

On Friday, our sweet Will turned 6 months old!!!! We celebrated by taking him to see Dr. Dodd for his 6 month check-up and giving him his third round of shots. Yeah, I don't think we will do his 1 year check-up on his actual birthday. Giving him those shots was torture. And I think it wasn't fun for him either :-).

To make matters worse, we decided (ahem, Sara decided) that chaperoning the high school dance on Friday was a GREAT idea. Clay disagreed. Nevertheless, we found ourselves suddenly in the role of welcoming a high school babysitter into our home for the night. WHEN DID I BECOME THIS ADULT?? I remember BEING the babysitter, especially for my favorite family the Williamsons, and thinking that the parents I babysat for (who were and still are awesome) had it all together and were such cool parents and had a house and two cars and KIDS...Wow. I am not nearly as together as they are, and our house may not be as cute or fun, but there I was, walking our sweet babysitter (one of my students) through the paces and buying junk food I thought she might like and laying out Will's pajamas and bottle for bedtime.

I am no longer the babysitter. I now hire babysitters. This is CRAZY!

Crazy amazing is what it is. Will is 6 months old. 6 months ago Friday Will came into our lives and immediately stole our hearts and hasn't looked back since. I continue to say it, especially now that the holidays are upon us: he is my Christmas every day. I don't need anything else in my life ever. All I want for Christmas is my family and Will and Will's 2 front teeth--which are coming in!! His two bottom teeth are now unmistakably visible, and he is eager to chew on everything in sight:

Mom, this sign tastes so much better than it looks.

Chewing requires focus.

But here he is at 6 months! He still looks just like Clay--and I love it. The families on campus have started calling him "Clay, Jr."

Dr. Dodd said he looked super healthy. His height is 28.25" (90% percentile), his weight is 19 lbs, 4 ozs. (75%), and his head circumference is 17.75 (80%). Looking good, my man!

Thank you for the Christmas outfit, Grandma and Grandaddy! And we continue to LOVE the Christmas pillow you made us, Gege! BEAUTIFUL!!!

Here he is after bath time last night :-)

I love this one. He looks so mysterious.

He loves Ashley! And so do I. Thank God for best friends. Ashley has been the best running and walking partner in the worlddddddddd.

This series was intended to be a little good luck message to Aunt Brittany this week as she tackled business school exams...but Will saw it as yet another opportunity to eat paper.

Look at that face! My love!

This week has been all about Christmas shopping (work? what?). SO FUN. But I was also keeping my eye out for a winter hat for Will. He really needed one, and I really wanted to get him one with ear flaps. I snagged this one at Greenlife. I think he likes it.

Now he just looks like he has dreads.

Will is THE happiest little guy. He loves smiling and laughing.

Someone stopped me the other day when Will, Cam, and I were going for a walk. He is a colleague of Clay's, and after cooing with Will and petting Cam, he looked at me and said, "Clay is just different this year. He is so...happy." And I totally got it.

LOVE.

I mean, look at that SMILE! How can we not be insanely in love with this guy?

Here we are at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, where we thought we might get Will's picture taken with Santa. When we found out the minimum package was $50 (WHAT??), we decided to get our own pictures outside near the trains.

This is Will giving you all a kiss.

This week is an exciting one for us. Not only is it exam week (which means break starts Friday!!), but John comes in town from Azerbaijan!!! Will hasn't met his uncle yet, so we are pretty excited to have two of our favorite guys hanging out together.

And as I write this, it is flurrying outside.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Will's first. We can't wait.

Thankful!

Somehow we managed to find our way to the beach for Thanksgiving. Thank you Gahan family! We were blessed with warm temperatures (Clay went swimming in the ocean every day!), yummy food, and lots of fun family time. And thanks to the patience of Kay and Carey, we were also blessed with this family picture. Coming soon to a mailbox near you, folks :-).

Okay, this picture isn't in Destin, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Will loves his godparents Kat and Nate!

Okay, now we are back in Destin. The traveling and change of scenery threw Will off a bit, so when we finally got him down for a nap in the middle of our bed, I couldn't help but document it.

The tongue continues to crack us up.

How cute is this onesie that Carey bought for all the baby boys (3 of them!)? Happy Turkey Day!

Will loved being cuddled by his Grandma and Grandaddy.

Okay, friends, get ready for a funny progression of pictures. I know there are a lot of pictures here, but the sequence is just too funny for me not to include them. After Thanksgiving dinner, we lined up Joseph, Will, and Leo on the couch so we could try to get a picture of them in their matching outfits. Easier said than done. Sweet Will was leaning all over the place.

Will to Joe: If I fall, you're going down with me.

Joe to Will: Hey, buddy, stay upright!

Leo: Wait a second, you're falling into me now?

They will look back on this picture one day and smile.

Okay, picture time is over!

Our little family.

Will and Grandma before the official family photo shoot.

Here is another ridiculously long set of pictures, but hey, this is my online photo album too, so I figure why not?

I must have 10 pictures of Clay and Will napping together at different times. Adorable.

Opening an early Christmas gift. Thank you thank you for the Christmas outfits!

I love Grandaddy!

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Christmas Cards!

Confession: We still have all of last year's Christmas cards hanging on a photo board in our kitchen. Every once in awhile, I move them around so different faces smile at us as we open the fridge. Although most of the cards read "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays," this isn't the first year I have left them up year round; they just make me too happy. I love seeing the beautiful photos of our dear friends and family, and I love the different designs of the creative cards. Going to the mailbox every afternoon during the month of December is like a mini-Christmas: each card is like a little gift. And this year, Shutterfly is rocking my world by helping us send some of ours out for free! If you are a blogger out there, you need to check out this deal. I have always used Shutterfly for our holiday cards, but this year I am extra grateful for their generosity.

Shutterfly has some great cards this year. Clay and I have narrowed it down to our following favorites, and we would love for you to vote on your favorite!

Go here if you want to check out all of Shutterfly's 2010 designs.

Hooray for Christmas Card season!