Stone Aged

If you never had the pleasure of trying to pass a kidney stone while in the presence of 27 nine and ten year old kids...than you're just not experiencing life to the fullest.

About a half a week had passed and the ever present pain across one side of my lower back had been looming.  I had one prior stone to this one and like falling off my bike, I remembered well the sensation of pain.  

"All right, everyone needs to take their seat because we have a lot to,...." it was at this point, out of habit, that I flicked my pen in the air, typically catching it on its way back to earth; only I missed.  I stopped mid sentence as I stared at my pen a whopping two and half feet out reach in front of me, laying on the ground.  

Typically I would reach down with minimal effort (something in the form of a reverse sit up so I counted it as exercise whenever I would miss the flying pen) and snatch up the pen to attempt the flick again. It was my own version of a mulligan.  This day, this past week, was different. With the surging pain across my back, the pen might as well fallen into the Grand Canyon.  

"What's a matter Mr. Kelly,"  came a little voice from the girl sitting near the front of the room.  Ohhhh, she cares about me and notices my pain.  "are you too old to bend down and pick the pen up?"  That of course, got a number of chuckles from the students at large.  

Old man jokes?  I've got sharpened crystal clawing it's way through my lower back towards my bladder and they're making old man comments.  Kids, how about we play a little game called, "Does it hurt" and we can compare pain.

Not quite sure which pained me more, the stone or the old man jokes at my expense - pretty positive it was the stone.  

I managed to get through the rest of the week, moving slower with each hour of the day, but by the weekend I was able to dilute the stone situation  and was back to normal by Monday.  

Start - Think

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

We start the day with a salute to the flag, morning announcements, and daily happenings.  What if we could start with the Lord's benediction?  What if we had it twice a day?  

Have you ever had a quote, saying, motivational / inspirational phrase that transformed the way you looked at things?  I had been trying like crazy to find a free moment in my teaching day to wrap up the final editing and changes I needed to do before sending my manuscript back to the editor.   I would finish a lesson, check to make sure all the students were on track and working on the given assignment... before racing back to my computer to knock out a few more paragraphs.  

Yesterday was the big push.  I need to crank through a ton of pages!  It was crunch time; down to the wire; do or die;  sink or swim.  I had to get the load done during the day because at night it was Sam's birthday celebration and St. Patrick's Day - which no respectable Irishman works the evening of St. Pats.  Yesterday was also (for me) know as the 'Day of Interruption'.  No matter what the time or situation, I had a student back at my desk continuously.  It was as if they were in a tag team wrestling bout and I was the opponent.  Even at the end of the day, I became flooded with visitors up until the point that I had to leave.

New day, new strategy.  I awoke early and headed off to school to get a 'jump' on the work load. Only it wasn't as much of a jump as I had hoped for ... more like a pounce.  With consistent interruptions this morning before school, I thought to myself, I still have a little prep time ... that's when I will accomplish the majority of the work left.  It was at the moment the kids exited the class, that I spotted a good friend heading towards my room for one of our chat sessions.  I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.  Rather than frustration setting in, I just assumed that God had different plans for me with this book. Perhaps it was fine the way it was and He was just keeping me from messing it up - may His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.  

Kingsmen Volleyball

Kingsmen Volleyball 6th grade squad captured it's first win yesterday in a close third match 25-22.  The girls have been steadily improving on just about everything - which is the way it's suppose to be.  

Hannah has been working this season with just the left arm in play.  I was not really excited about the whole idea at first.  The thought of her using her right arm to hit the ball was not on the Road to Recovery and Therapy.  But, both Hannah and Kim assured me that she would just use one arm and be fine.  

If I didn't see it, I would not think it would be possible, yet Hannah seems to manage just fine with the one armed bump.  Although as a non-professional volleyball coach, I still give my pointers to make her play better.  "Dad,.. what do you possibly know about volleyball?"  This is what I get.

Book Phase

And here we go,.... I received a phone call today from the graphic designer to discuss the book, the contents, and a general idea to help him with the design layout.  After our conversation it was off to the drawing board where he will lay out the beginning design based on our conversation.  Once the basics are concluded, he meets with the design team who tosses in suggestions.  Within two weeks we should have a preliminary look.  The process will take about a month of going back and forth before a design is settled upon.

As of two minutes ago I received the first round of edits back.  I'm actually a bit nervous to open them currently because,... well, it means the work is now here and ready for me to get started. They give you about two weeks to change, add, approve what will become the text.  Then it's back to the editor for another go round.  

Lastly, I have the option of audio book, book trailer, or book website.  Apparently it's all up to me as to the direction we move from here.   I need to go sit by a fire sometime soon.

Peace and prayers