E for ???

Alphabets according to Samaya:

A for Apple

B for Ball

C for Cat

D for Doll

E for aanna

wait...what......?????

aanna is Elephant in malayalam .. I guess that solves the mystery of E for :)

That thing !!!

Yesterday I was testing a student and in this test she had to look at a picture and name the picture. I am also required to record her response verbatim.

One of the pictures she saw yesterday was this

Her response:(with a super serious look on her face)

" I am not sure of the name. Mom has it in her room and it makes her mad ! But I am not sure what it's called "

My response:( with a serious look on my face too... [I don't know how I managed that] )

"Great answer , let's move on "

I thought .............

The other day as I was working with my favorite Grade 1 student, the white board easel which another teacher was using, on the other side of the room, crashed to the ground.

This is the conversation that followed

Student: Oh my goodness!! (While running to the other side of the room )

Me: Wait!! Stop!! Where are you supposed to be?

Student: But Ms. Thomas

Me: No!! Where are you supposed to be? What are you supposed to be doing ?

Student: Sitting at the desk and working…. But… When I heard the crash I thought. Can I tell you what I think ?

Me: Do you think this conversation is important right now? In the middle of the activity?

Student: Yes! Of course!

(Without waiting for my response)

Student: See, When that sound came, I thought that the board fell on Ms.A, then Ms. A fell on the chair, that the chair broke and Ms. A and the chair fell on the desk. As the chair fell on the desk, I thought I heard the floor break and I thought that Ms. A will be falling into the next classroom (my classroom is on the 1^st floor). So see Ms. Thomas, this is what I thought and when I thought that, I thought that I should go and see if there is a hole in the floor like I thought.

(After seeing my blank stare)

Student: Now, wasn’t that important?

A day to remember !

Yesterday, I woke up earlier than usual. So that gave me time to nurse my sore throat with a hot cup of green tea and pray. As per my normal routine, I got dressed for work, picked up my lunch bag and stepped out the door.

I normally put my hand inside my handbag; touch my keys as I close the door. Yesterday I did the same thing. Well I THOUGHT I did. As I see the door close the reality of the situation hits me. The cold metal I felt in my hand bag, the cold metal I THOUGHT were my keys, were actually a pair of earrings. Did I forget to mention that by keys, I mean the key to my house, my car keys and my office keys! Since there wasn’t anything I could do about it at 7 am, I decided to take an auto to work.

Ever since I got my car, I have rarely used an auto so I had conveniently forgotten the art of haggling. I should have been suspicious but instead was surprised and proud of myself when the auto driver willingly reduced the quoted price of 150/- to a 100/- on my first demand. Later in the day however, when I proudly spoke about my regained haggling techniques did my colleague lovingly remind me that the normal charge is 50/-.

As I drank my way through 5 cups of green tea feverishly praying that the sore throat I had doesn’t escalate , I kept in touch with the security guard of my building and the maintenance manager and they assured me that in the evening they would arrange for someone to come and open the door. And true to their words after I had returned from work ( thanks to a colleague who decided that my haggling techniques weren’t that advanced and dropped me off ) , I was introduced to a gentlemen who was equipped with 3 things, a rope ladder, hammer and a chisel. He said he would be able to retrieve my key for 600/-. Keeping all that had transpired in the morning in mind, I very quickly said YES!

Even though the day I had was tiring and I wouldn’t want to repeat this any time soon, I went to bed super grateful.

Grateful that God provided me with an auto that got me to work on time.

Grateful that God provided me with a job that had facilities to allow me to drink umpteen cups of green tea

Grateful that God introduced to me to a wonderful colleague 2 years ago who would help me out by dropping me home

Grateful that there was someone around who would help me retrieve my keys

Grateful that in a situation that would normally have me panicking, He kept me calm and gave me an opportunity to be grateful.

At the end of the day:

"God's Grace is immeasurable; His mercy inexhaustible; His peace inexpressible."

New Year's Resolution

I am not one for New Year's Resolution. This year however I decided to make and 1 and I really hope to follow through.

My resolution is to be more regular and consistent with my blog. Yeah it's a big ask... but you know what, I think it can be done. I have always loved writing and I think it's high time I got off my behind and do this....

So to all those who read or happen to just come by my blog..... stop by soon....

Happy New Year !

An Aunt !!

I am going to be an Aunt... AGAIN.... and this time around

Wohoooo.....

I know I haven't blogged in a bit.... I really didn't feel like blogging.. but this... it just had to be told ..don't you agree....

More later....

:)

The WOW factor !!

A TURTLE or A SMART BOARD ?

Which of this holds the most WOW factor for you ??

Today a group of 1st graders walked into a classroom. In the classroom , directly opposite each other was an aquarium containing 2 turtles on a table and on the opposite wall was a smart board.

More than half the class went...'oh... is that a smart board !! '

PROOF !!!

Here is PROOF that I am BLESSED with very interesting and wonderful friends ...

and yes..

those that blog hop would have definitely recognized one of them as the very famous and brilliant blogger Scatterbrain

My Niece Say's

My Niece Says The most Adorable Things - 1

My bubbalicious, adorable, beautiful, wonderful niece is 1 1/2 years old. So being the good 'speechie' aunt I took it upon myself to 'guide ' her to speak in sentences :D

So.. when ever she wants something , and I am around I have a routine and I make her repeat after me ... ' Tante (name of item she needs ) please ' and the adorable thing that she is does so using a mixture of words and signs !

A few days ago went to her mom and asked for water through signs. So Kavi, decided to follow the same routine that I do. She said , "Samaya say, Amma please " and Sam promptly replies " Tante please "

Friends :)

I blog often about my life , my home , my family and my work. I just realized

that I have never blogged about those I work with.

I love my work even more because I have these amazing

people to work alongside.

As these pictures show we are a serious bunch !

Thank you guys for everything :)

A Testimony !

I a very uncomfortable speaking / going up in front of people. I am more of a backstage person. So for a person like me this is the best medium of telling others.

Over the last weekend, at my church here in Chennai, we had a Super-natural conference. During the first night, our pastor called out those with back aches (which I suffer from quite frequently) to come forward for prayer. Remember I said that I am not a big fan of crowds...well I didn't go up then. The reason I gave myself was that at that point in time, my back

was not hurting (which in all honestly it was not!!). That night by the time I got home I could not sit. Even walking was impossible.

The next day, we were put into small groups for prayer. This time I asked for prayer for my back. And so those they prayed. Once the prayer was over, they asked me if I felt better. I didn’t and I assumed that well maybe soon and with more prayer!! (Silly me!!).

Soon after that it was lunch time and following that, I was in charge of KLUB (‘Sunday School’). It was during that time I realized that I had been walking around and lying on the floor / jumping up and down and through it all my back had not ached. Not even once J

I was amazed. I was thrilled!!

Wait...

This just gets better.

The same evening, our evening session began with worship which lasts for approximately 45 minutes. Once the worship was over I sat down and it suddenly dawned on me…. I had stood the entire time… the entire 45 minutes…. Wohoooo

Why am I ecstatic about it??

Well…. Here is why…

Ever since I came to Chennai and began going to Ashraya ( 3 years ago) , I have not been able to stand through a full worship set as sooner or later m back would hurt and I would be really uncomfortable. So I would have to sit down

This has been happening for 3 years!

So now do you see why I felt what I felt? After 3 years of being uncomfortable with standing, I finally got to do it without any problem !

And the icing on the cake….

The same thing happened on Sunday morning. A full worship set.. standing….

How blessed am I? How wonderful to feel his hand of healing.

You know, from the day I accepted Him, I knew he would work miracles in my life. I knew I was cared for. Sure there were times when it seemed far far away and almost impossible but even then deep down I knew I was taken care of and loved. But when this happened…. This just took my faith to a whole new level. Now I know there is more there. There is so much more that He can do. It’s just sky rocketed my faith.

I write this will full belief and faith that I will be able to stand through all the Sunday worships and much much more without my back causing me any trouble. And should it come again, it will be healed as quick!

Those that read my blog, I pray that you too feel Him work in your life and you too feel His presence and know that you are so much loved and cared for !

Need I say more :)

??????????

While I have things I want to write about....

I do not feel like writing ....

So then, the question remain...

To blog or not to blog....

Christmas Word Scramble

Me: Since we are closing for Christmas break today, let’s do a word scramble ok. Remember ALL the words are related to the Christmas Story.

Student: Oh… that’s easy….

Me: Great... Let’s get started!

Me: This (YARM) is the name of Joseph’s wife. Joseph and ………..

Student: Juliet

Me: This (TSRA) is what we put on top of the tree…..Remember it’s scrambled

Student: Rats

Me: This (NAMGRE) is where Jesus was born.

Student: Manager

Me: Christmas story is about this (ESSJU) person’s birth

Student: Jessie

Me: Great... NEXT activity!!

Student: See..Told you it was easy Ms. Thomas. You did not believe me. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE ! 

Kids Say The Darnest Thing

Conversation between my most favorite Grade 3 student and me

J : So Ms Thomas…  Well you know.. you get me…

Me : I do? 

J: Yeah you know what to do to get to me work.. and that works…

Me: That’s great right

J: Sure .. but I also know what to do to tick you off… I just pretend to be dumb… it works all the time. I wondered why you never picked up on it …

Me : Well silly me then huh… I shall be prepared next time… I will know you are pretending.

J: Well what if there is no next time?

Me: What do you mean?

J: Well what if I never pretend to be dumb anymore and just do all my work?

Me: Well that will be too difficult for me to handle.I think I would get ticked off seeing that…

J: Well in that case …. From now on…. I will do just that….

Me  :Do what?

J : Ms Thomas… you are really really slow… I said from now on … I  will never pretend to be dumb 

anymore and just do all my work.. so that I can tick you off….

Me : Are you sure…

J : Most definitely… 

Me : Okkkkkkkkk then.... 

The miracle in Room 2602

(A conversation between a student whom I adore and me @ 8:30 in the morning)

Me: J , why are you not writing.

(All along he is sitting there staring right through me)

J: Oh! Ms Thomas… I have become blind.

Me: You have what?

J: Become blind. You know can’t see anything, can’t do anything.

Me: Oh ok. Well take 2 minutes and see if the blindness disappears.

J: Ok!  Sure.

(After 2 minutes, during which time he sat still and continues to look straight ahead!! I admire the commitment!! )

Me: Has the blindness gone?

J: No!!

Me: Ok well then come. I have heard about this blindness and immediate action has to be taken. Surgery is the ONLY option. I need to take you to the nurse and the hospital and we need to get in there and remove the problem. Only then would the blindness would disappear.

( I proceed to take him by the arm and walk towards the door)

J: Oh... wait… wait… give me a minute.

J: Oh wow....it’s a miracle!!

Me: What?

J: I can see!! It’s a miracle.

Me: Yes indeed it is… definitely a miracle 

The Water Slide

It’s summer break for me. So my sister, my niece and I headed over to visit my folks. After boarding a train and a rickety flight we finally made it to Salalah. Out here since there is not much to do, my folks have membership at a hotel nearby so we get to use their pool, gym etc.

So the other day all 5 of us (Dad, Mom, Sis, Niece and I) headed down to the pool. This pool has a water slide and although it’s not very big, it’s pretty alright. My sister and I took turns at it and after much nagging and convincing my 6’2 dad decided to have a go.

We saw him climb and sit down so we waited.....

We saw a huge gush of water come and so we waited.....

And then.....

We saw 2 hands over the edge of the slide .....they were slowly moving along the edge....

And that’s when we realized it ...

Soon after dad had sat down, the water for the slide had got turned off. So the poor man had to slide himself down the slide.....

We hope to go there again this week.. let’s see what happens !!! 

Kid's say the darnest thing.

I have a Grade 2 kid in my class who is all things male. For him tennis rules, karate is amazing, plays ONLY fighting games on the Wii, draws only aliens and ninja’s, never uses the color pink in any of his coloring coz well “pink’s a girl color”, writes about tennis and how he defeats the evil person with his snake like moves,  loudly proclaims that Hannah Montana is “ewwww”, is very happy to complain if he is asked to do anything out of the ordinary, and very happy to use “Oh! man, do I have to? “as a figure of speech.

So imagine my surprise when the other say I heard him exclaim, “oh sweet nibblets “. 

ME (1) – EXHAUSITON (0):

Ever since summer has visited Chennai, my so called busy life is tiring me out even more. Even though I spend all day in one or the other a/c classroom, by the end of it all I am tired. Yesterday I think I was sleep by 930... That’s how tired I am. Most of the time, along with physical exhaustion comes mental exhaustion. And that is something I always DREAD. Once the mental exhaustion sets in, it’s a never ending circle. It was a game and exhaustion ALWAYS won!! I know, I went through it last year. Everything makes a difference. Everything goes wrong and I seriously begin to wonder why.

This time however it’s a different tale.

Are things difficult? YES.

Are things going wrong? DEFINITELY.

Am I finding it difficult to cope? YES.

Are things working out the way my silly human SELF want it to (in short, will MY WILL be done)? NO

YET…. Despite this I am FINE.

I think the crucial moment in this so called saga I call is my life is when I realized that I got to stop relying on MY WILL and stop praying for it. There were (and still are) days I feel so broken and so lost and ready to give up and then I realize that these are the days I tried to do it all on my own. Pretty soon the realization that, it’s not MY WILL that should be of concern, but HIS, came into play. Let me just tell you all this. I was someone who had my life planned out when I was a teenager. So you can imagine the shock I was in for. It’s a great ask for a person like me to be told that this is something I don’t have control over. It’s a great ask to be told that “now is not the time “. It’s a great ask to be told to “wait”.

So now what?

I am listening as hard as I can. I am learning to let go and trust. I am praying for help in everything I do. I learning what faith is all about. I am learning to depend. I am learning to believe that things that are going difficult are soon going to get easy. Things that are going wrong, will soon find the right way and more importantly I will cope and be fine. I know, because it’s all part of HIS will.

I believe that there is a rhyme, reason and purpose for this part of my life. I can’t wait to find out what….. And that Ladies and Gentlemen is a whole different blog!!