Dare I Dream of Spring?

This week we actually got up to almost 40 degrees! I got out my spring jacket and wore it to work a couple of days instead of my winter coat. Oh, how great it was, to see the huge snowbanks actually shrinking. But then the forecast was for another snowstorm last night. And it missed us! I have no idea where it went, but it didn't come here. The last I heard they were saying southern Iowa might get 8 inches of snow. But we got nothing and I am so very glad. All the melting snow did cause some flooding this week, but I didn't hear of anyone having anything too bad from it. Our back yard and side yard were underwater as the creek overflowed, but it does that every Spring. The sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining and it is 26 degrees above zero! YEAH! The tom cats are chasing the females so Spring is definitely in the air.


This has been a truly horrible couple of weeks at school with so many sick kids! I normally treat 40-60 sick kids in one day, but the last couple of weeks I've had many days of 80-100 kids. One day I sent 18 kids home sick and there were already 90 who had stayed home sick. Another day I started my day with 3 kids vomiting in my office before school had even started! Shall I get on my soap box? I have been so frustrated and angry this week, not with the kids being sick, but with the parents sending them to school knowing they are ill. If a child arrives at school with a temperature of 101 and immediately has their head on their desk or is vomiting before they even get their coat off, you can't tell me there was no indication at home that they were ill. On Wednesday we had a two hour late start for inservice and as soon as school started I had children in my office very ill. When I asked why they hadn't simply stayed home, they told me their parents were divorced and they change homes on Wednesdays. So they had come to school ill so I would call the parent they were transitioning to, to come pick them up so they could be sick at mom's house instead of dad's. Now WHY couldn't the parent who had them, call the parent they were going to and say OUR child is sick? If divorced parents choose to hate each other and retaliate against each other, that is their choice. But for goodness sakes, grow up and be a parent and love your children. It takes a responsible adult to step up to the plate and care more about your sick child than to hold out for your rights as to whose turn it is to have visitation. Oh, I get so upset when I see kids abused or neglected! There are so many parents out there that should have to get a license to have a cat, let alone have children.


Today is Valentine's Day. Yesterday, our school was simply inundated with flowers and balloons and candy sent to children from parents, grandparents, boyfriends and girlfriends. But the sad reality was that out of my 1200 kids, probably 120 of them got all these gifts. That means over 1000 kids got nothing at school and probably a lot of them got nothing at home either, and seeing this huge display of deliveries had to make so many of them feel even worse than usual, more unloved than usual. I have a bulletin board in my elementary/middle school office and the kids love to write things to put on it. Of course I give treats when they do so that helps the interest. For Valentine's Day, they wrote on little pink or white hearts who or what they love. It's always fun to read what they write. Most of course mention family, friends, chocolate, or pets. But then there are the more unique ones; music, jello, Pittsburgh Steelers, a certain teacher, and of course the real people pleasers who say the school nurse (me).


Wherever you are and whomever you are with, I hope you feel loved. John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son to give us the gift of eternal life. Now THAT is LOVE! Happy Valentine's Day.