Children are Children

For several years now I have been tutoring reading through a faith based organization in Lincoln called City Impact https://cityimpact.org. Up until this year I have always tutored first grade. I loved it. I didn't think I could love it more. I was wrong. This year I was assigned to tutor English Language Learners. I had no idea what to expect and if I'm honest I was anxious, at first. I had no idea how I was supposed to communicate with students who didn't speak my language.

I tutor inside the classroom which is different from the way it was with first grade. I was used sitting at a small table in the hallway with my student.Now I rotate through students approximately every 10 minutes for about 2 hours twice a week. I realize that that doesn't sound like a lot of time but we have a great curriculum and we accomplish a lot.

I work with students from Liberia, Jordan, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Guatemala and perhaps other countries that I don't know about yet. All of these kids are learning to speak and read English along with learning all of their other school subjects. These are amazing children! They are willing, quick learners.

Their teacher is compassionate and dedicated.  All of the ELL teachers host a Thanksgiving feast every year so the students can experience American culture.  I was invited to help them make pumpkin pie. What fun we had! None of them has ever had pumpkin pie before. The spices were mostly new to them also. Though some did recognize the scent of cinnamon. I supervised while they took turns mixing up the pumpkin custard. Their teacher took it home bake. They got to taste the pie at the feast.

Even though these children speak so many different languages they still manage to communicate with each other. It is so fun to watch them interact. What I have learned that children are children. They love to play, to learn, to help, receive high fives, and give hugs. They understand smiles and kindness. They are amazing. Many of them came from dangerous situations in their home countries but in the classroom they are children, no different from my own grandchildren.

Easy Rolls

     Growing up I remember my mom being a good cook. I still make some of her dishes. She was not a baker, however. She was big fan of the mix.  And so that is how I initially learned how to bake. As a young wife I remember eating Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family. My mother-in-law, Mama Ann, was a baker. She seemed to make everything from scratch. Gradually I collected many of her recipes. One of the first recipes of hers that I mastered was Easy Rolls. As I am wont to do my first effort in making these easy rolls was a failure. I did't thoroughly read the instructions first and I killed my yeast by putting it into the hot milk. Now a days I can whip these up very easily but for some unknown reason I usually only make them at Thanksgiving. They are a family favorite.

              My copy of the recipe is about as old as the number of years I've been married.

Autumn

Growing up in south Texas I never really experienced fall. It always seemed to me that there were just two seasons; hot and less hot. I realize that is an exaggeration but it was how I perceived it. When we moved to the midwest over 25 years ago one of the things I looked forward was autumn.  It has not disappointed me. Twenty years ago we planted a maple tree in our front yard. I look forward to its color very year. 

Sleepovers With Ira

Mark and I love when Ira sleeps over. He is so much fun. It does take a lot of energy, however. He has tendency to wake up super early when he sleeps over. We always make a special breakfast which must include Papa's baked apples. Sometimes it is homemade pancakes or waffles or even special oatmeal.

Natalie and Scott spent their anniversary weekend in Omaha to celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss. After they dropped off Ira we asked him if he wanted to go to the museum or the zoo. Initially he said museum. As we were getting ready to leave he said he wanted to feed giraffes. I explained the giraffes were at the zoo so we changed our destination. Up until this day Ira had been afraid to ride the train and the pony and was a little leery of feeding animals, too. So when he announced he wanted to ride the train I bought the train tickets right away along with lettuce for the giraffes. First we saw the red panda and then we headed to feed the giraffes. He was so excited. Since he was so excited about the train we went to do that next. He was such a big boy. He sat on Papa's lap and took it all in. I was holding his hat and accidentally dropped it while we were riding. Afterwards Papa stayed back to wait for the zoo employee to walk the track and retrieve it. While Papa was doing that Ira and I headed into the main part of the zoo. Right away he said he wanted to feed the goats. While we were feeding the goats he announced that he wanted to ride a pony. So after Papa caught up with us we got a pony ride ticket. He rode Samson the smallest pony. Papa held his hand the whole way. He conquered his fears that day and we had so much fun in the process.

                     We made homemade pizza for supper and Ira helped!

Channeling My Inner Lucille

Back in February of 1974 I started working at the National Bank of Commerce in San Antonio, Texas. I worked there for 5 years until Katie was born. One of my co-workers was Lucille. She had been widowed at a young age and never remarried. She was in her late 50s when I first met her. I learn so much from her. She not only taught me how to bake and cook by sharing her recipes with me but she also taught me about hospitality by inviting me into her home. You could go to her home for lunch on Thursday and sit down to a feast fit for royalty. Once, for my birthday, she made me a coconut cake from scratch with fresh coconut. I can still taste it it was was so delicious. She was an early riser and would often bake a cake in the wee hours of the morning, bring it to the bank via the bus (she never owned a car) and serve it to us still warm from the oven. Her cake of choice was usually coffee cake. I remember one time when she made it she had chopped up maraschino cherries and scattered them across the top. It made her giggle when she showed me that the cake was extra special that morning. This week I made her special coffee cake although I didn't have any cherries to make it extra special. Tasting that cake brought back happy memories. Food does that to me. Lucille died 3 years ago. She was 97.