Wrapping Up Week 2

Ahh, Friday!  The day we all anticipate and look forward to.  Today wraps up the second full week of school here in the desert.  So far, so good.  For the most part.  The kids are all quite happy and enjoying their new schools and classes. They are making friends and getting involved.  We are falling into the routine of the school year and finding our rhythm and groove with after school activities.   It's a bit crazy some days...but it's working.  I am hoping to fine tune just a few things in the coming week or so and then we should be SET for the year!  Here are some of my thoughts as we come out of these first two weeks...

First, Arizona education is totally in the crapper.  The budget cuts in this state are mind boggling and seeing them lived out in real life through our students...heart breaking.  Clara went from a class of 21 children in Texas, to a class of 34 children here.  That's her homeroom group.  Her math class has...are you ready?...47 children!  One teacher.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  That makes me totally sad.  The playground equipment for her grade is condemned.  So at recess, the kids just wander around in the dirt.  There is NO MONEY for these poor kids.  The teachers are over worked under supported and totally and completely OVERWHELMED.  My heart breaks for those children who struggle academically, because they are pretty much screwed.  The teachers are basically forced to just throw the information out to the kids and then it's up to them to make sure they understand it for themselves.  Not all children have parents at home who can or WILL take the time to step in and reteach what was taught in a day to make sure their kid stays on top.  It's a sad, sad state of affairs educationwise in AZ.  I don't know what the answer is.  I find there to be some fatal flaws with the very limited # of charter schools here in the area and there are not many private school options either.  I will lose my ever loving mind if I homeschool again (go on...you know you were thinking it, seeing as I have done it before)...and so, for now, we just wait and see how this whole thing plays out.

Next...the swim program here is entirely lacking.  Lacking lots of things.  Organization, a set schedule, a POOL!!!  That's right.  Our high school uses the community pool for their practice time, as do all the other local high schools right here in the area.  They closed the community pool in the spring to re do the whole aquatic center into a big fancy thing.  It was supposed to open August.  But, due to many, MANY snags and hitches...the pool is still VERY much under construction and there is no clear date of when it may open.  Not even a month!  AND SO...all of the high schools are trying to compete for time at the very few remaining pools large enough to hold any kind of practice and training in.  Max's team is being bused a solid half hour south to Amphi High.  The bus leaves an HOUR after school gets out...drives for half an hour or more, the kids swim for just over an hour, then are bused back to the school.  Arrival time?  Supposed to be 7 pm.  More often than not...it's been later.  That makes for a VERY long day for a kid who heads out at 7:30 a.m. each morning.  We are checking into another swim league this afternoon and hope to be able to enroll Max with them to help balance some of those days for him.

And finally, I find the advancements in orthodontics to be simply amazing.  Clara was fitted with a palate expander last week.  It's QUITE the contraption!  Talk about some serious metal in a mouth!  Here's a shot of it...

Clara's palate expander

This contraption has a small key that inserts in a TEENY TINY hole in that center plate, which, when inserted, allows you to crank a small wheel, which in turn applies pressure that slowly, but surely forces her palate to separate and widen.  She has been a real trooper with this adventure.  She's had sore teeth, slobbery days, difficulty learning to talk around it.  And eat.  She said the pressure feels like someone is trying to rip her nose apart.  It hasn't been too terribly bad for her though.  Until the last two nights.  Clara, as of this morning, has exactly 3 turns of the wheel left to complete her expansion to where the doctor wants it.  We were SO excited to find that we were so close!  Unfortunately, these last 3 or 4 turns are, hands down, the most painful.  We turn it at night, right before bed, so that hopefully she can drop off to sleep and just sleep through the discomfort.  Last night was rough and she was especially uncomfortable.  We gave her some ibuprofen and tucked her in, all tearful and sad.  I know it will be rough going this weekend, but thankfully, will be behind her as of Monday morning!  Then we wait 8 weeks while her palate heals and then she gets fitted with braces to start pulling those 4 front teeth back together.  It is all quite the process!  Truly amazing!

I still cannot believe we live here.  I cannot believe how blessed we are.  Waking up in the desert every morning is just...an indescribable gift!  I love being back.  Love seeing the mountains.  LOVE the monsoon season action.  OH how I have loved the monsoon rains and storms!  Here are a few of my very most favorite shots of the month!

I LOVE how you can literally see the wall of water and storm sweeping across the clear sky.  Love the sunset action contrasting with the darkness of the storm.

And oh, how I love this boy of mine!  See the rain behind the fireplace?  

I love the way the energy from the lightning bolt here illuminates the column of rain coming down from this cloud.  Awesome.

This is the picture the newspaper published.  Stunning light display!

I love the power of this bolt, the coolness of the clouds  an the silhouette of the ground this bolt is obviously striking!

I LOVE that after it rains, so often you see a rainbow.  This was taken from my back patio, looking toward Pusch Ridge.

And last, but not least...I love the sunsets that come with monsoon season.  SO rich and warm and beautiful.  

We are blessed beyond reason.  And I am so grateful and thankful each and every day!  Education may be in the crapper, swim might be a disaster...but all that aside...life is beautiful here in the desert!!!