El Paso trip: December 7

Tuesday I was back up at school to eat breakfast. Plus, this was going to be my first day to eat lunch with the kids ... three shifts of lunches! I had hardly been at the school at all ... really ... just for breakfast the prior day. But when I arrived with Emma, Chris and Matthew Tuesday morning, there was a whole group of kids wanting to sit with us and share our fun! One little girl, Katiera, gave me a big hug and said she was so glad to see me!
The school has been emphasizing the problem of bullies and ... what to do! I'm glad for it. We had a nice talk together, the kids and I, about what it means to have someone do or say something to you that is mean ~ and also, how NOT to be a bully ourselves! But then, if we all just did what Jesus instructed: "Love your neighbor as yourself" that would completely take care of any bully problem whatsoever!
In the cafeteria, there are beautiful murals painted on most of the walls ...
This picture of Diana was taken as she was leaving for her newspaper interview regarding her winning science experiment that is going to launch with the very last shuttle flight! We're so happy for her success with this project.

I met the children for lunch, but didn't take any pictures. It's tricky to take pictures and ONLY have your grandchildren in the photo ... so many other children are crowding around!

Matthew's lunch is first, so we sat together and enjoyed a nice chat. A little girl in one of the other kindergarten rooms came into the lunchroom crying her eyes out. It just about broke my heart to watch her. So I gave her a sympathetic gaze and she went through the lunch line and found a spot right next to me to eat her lunch. Her name is Liberty (how beautiful) and she is a beautiful Hispanic girl with thick waist-length black hair and the saddest eyes I've ever seen. I asked her why she was so sad and she told me that she missed her mommy. So I just right away jumped to the conclusion that her mom was deployed (because lots of moms are!). So I told her how sad that must be to be so far away from her mom. I asked her when the last time was she had seen her ... and was so surprised at her answer! She told me she had seen her mom that morning, that she just lived across the street from school, and she missed her mother (this was told to me while Liberty was sobbing her heart out). Whew. I tried to distract her, so we talked about her name and how pretty it was and I asked her a bunch of questions, coaxing her to eat her lunch ... and we became friends.

Chris's lunch period was next. We had a whole bunch of his friends join us at the table. He is a very friendly young fellow and enjoys lots of social interaction. Chris is just an easy kid to be with! As each group finishes eating, they go to the playground to play, making room in the cafeteria for other classes.

Emma's group came next. She was so excited to see me! She introduced me to her good friend, Rochelle. Rochelle is a little Philippine girl ~ she is darling! I also met Cheyenne (who is NOT American Indian ... she's as blonde as Emma!) and a few other friends. Everyone ate their lunch and then Emma showed me around the school a little bit until the bell rang!
We did homework again Tuesday after school ...
Christopher made this "shaker" at school Tuesday ...
Matthew resumed a bunch of coloring projects he was working on ...
Christopher found time to paint quite a few pictures ...
Matthew joined in on the fun ...
Emma finally finished her homework and was able to paint too ...
It was Emma's turn to help in the kitchen, so she made the chocolate pudding we had for desert and used her new piggy utensil to help her stir it all up!

Our mission after supper was to make Christmas cards and pictures for a few folk the kiddos haven't seen in awhile (like Grandpa and Grandma Hand, Grandpa Pahman and Shane). So that's what we did! We used foam stickers and markers. The children did a beautiful job. Now all I have to do is remember where I put them, get them in the correct envelopes and mail them!

We read a cute story at bedtime ~ "Auntee Edna" by Ethel Footman Smothers, illustrated by Wil Clay. I picked it up over at Eerdman's clearance a few weeks ago. It's just a sweet story about an old aunt and her nieces ... but it's well written and everyone seemed to enjoy it!