good news at last

damian's biopsy came out negative! he's well on his way toward remission.
janet's in guatemala! it marks a milestone in her journey of healing and growing.
heather's coming to town this wknd. will have lunch w/some old friends.
bennie's sister, susan is pregnant. :)

it's not total equilibrium, but it's good news.
i've been saying that life just gets better and better every year, and it's still true.
i know sorrow better, i know grief better.
i know mercy better and grace better.
i know the power of prayer better and the sweetness of answer better.
i know the bitterness of disappointment better and the difficulty of acceptance better.
i know myself better and i am better.

it used to be that i looked forward to the betterment of life year by year.
i find myself more tentative in experiencing the betterment of life as the scope of betterment increases year by year.

i think i wouldn't mind much if life got better and better every other year...

kids say the darndest things...

so i'm sitting at coco's w/2 of my students who've won a brunch w/their favorite 3rd grade teacher. here's a snippet of our conversation:

ms oh: what do you like the most about school?
kid1: recess, lunch...
kid2: homework!

ms oh: mmhmm. what's the hardest thing about school?
kid1&2: mmm...the desk. yeah.

ms oh: ohhhkaaaay...lemme rephrase my question...what's the hardest thing to do at school?
kid1&2: getting the playground apparatus!
(we have one of those mcdonald's playground equipments fenced in the corner of our playground that classes take turns using, based on perfect attendance)

ms oh: when is ms oh the scaaariest??
kids1&2: ...mmm...on halloweeeeen!!
ms oh: haha...well, i guess that's good...at least it's not during math or lang...wait a minute, but i wasn't dressed up for halloween...!
kids1&2: ohhhh, yeahhhh....

my life, the 3rd grade life...

history in the making

ohjeanius has finally entered the 21st century. i have a blogsite.
reason? i need good news.
this past wk was a bombardment of bad news.
friend diagnosed w/leukemia, fellow teacher had hysterectomy, another colleague mourns the loss of her mom.
anybody out there with some good news?