Friday morning, I went to my 3 month doctor's appointment to see about my blood lab results. My numbers were all fine except for my blood pressure. When Dr. Smith learned that I had gone back to teaching full-time this session, he put his hand on my shoulder and told me that I would get the same speech he had just given his daughter. Bottom line ----go back to teaching part-time. This really has been a difficult session for me because it is Ramadan and the new students are such low level. I dreaded going into my afternoon class until one of the young men (who is a tall, burly teddy bear) looked up at me from his desk and said, "Teacher Marti, I like you!" Another had written on the white board, "Techer Marti, have nis weekend." Those are things that keep me going! You gotta love 'em!
Friday evening, Bill, Chinami and I enjoyed dinner at Gliori's Italian Restaurant. Ian and Phyllis sat at our table for awhile and chatted while we pigged out on the freshly made hot breadsticks. After dinner, I put our leftovers in the restaurant refrigerator while we went out on mainstreet to enjoy the Gospel Sing in front of City Hall. (This would never happen in California!!) Several churches in Tecumseh and Shawnee contributed special groups. The Archer Family had 4 children under 12 years old (2 girls and 2 boys) who sang difficult songs in harmony while their father played the piano. They were great!! There were also several quartets that sang songs that everyone knows like, "I'll Fly Away" and "Victory in Jesus".
Saturday morning, we went back to mainstreet Tecumseh to enjoy more of Frontier Days. We took our camp chairs and watched gunfighters, Indian dancers, the high school band concert and a parade. We chatted with neighbors and drank Dr. Pepper. My friend, Kim Rawls, was working in the Chamber of Commerce booth and Bill bought a T-shirt from her for Chinami. I loved it so much that we bought two more. It was designed by my mother's friend who painted the inside of the Oklahoma State Capitol. Her name is Barbara Hertz. Also, while waiting for the parade to begin, several politicians came by and chatted. I asked Scott Pruitt what his spiritual beliefs are, and he had no problem telling me about his church and his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He even told me to read the book of Romas. Next, I talked to a young kid named OdNeal. When asked the same question, he was in a state of confusion. He told me about his gramma, and how politics had changed his life. The poor kid was so confused that I knew he would lead people into more confusion.
This morning, I taught a Bible lesson on how to maintain relationships with people. Paul has lots of advice on the subject in I Corinthians. It's been stimulating to have Chinami in our home. She enters into conversations around the dinner table. She told us about reading, "Frankenstein" in her university English class. We talked about implications of cloning, and how people learn to express love. The more we discussed, the more I realized why it is important that God loves us for what is in our hearts, and not for what we do. Many people are still trying to get to heaven with their works while their hearts are evil. It doesn't work!
After church, we went to China Buffet with 5 of our international students. Ted had come to church to say, "Good-bye". He's leaving to go back to Japan on Tuesday. Sun (Korean) returned from summer break and is back at OBU with Diana and Jasenia (from Peru). Of course, Chinami was with us. After lunch, I called Mom only to find out that she was at her church. One of her class members had an 80th birthday celebration.
Sofia called this afternoon to tell us about her first day of school. Because of her birthday, she had to wait a year and I'm afraid she's going to be bored. She can already read and is doing addition and subtraction. However, she's very social and couldn't be more excited! I should probably pray for Mrs. Jones, her teacher!!
Next blog, I'll post some pictures.
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