For the Love of the Kids

I met someone who worked for twenty three years with kids in the juvenile system, children and youth, and with developmental and mental issues that have interferred with learning. Kay is a reading specialist and probably not paid very well, and yet, she has given a third of her life and half of her working career to provide reading instruction to low performing students. No doubt she would love to discuss classic literature and read wonderful essays but instead she reinforces phonemic awareness day after day with grown kids. Hers are one part of the many unseen sacrifices, the unrewarded efforts that noone knows about. She does it for the love of the kids.

Corinne's Carriage House and Museum

Monday night, my daughter's 4H club visited Corrine's Carriage House and Museum. What a delight. You have to know where you are going to find it because,like most things worth getting to, it is in the country and up a hill off the road with very little to mark the way. Joe Tetz, the collector, has an eye to restore and preserve stage coaches, a post wagon, horse drawn herses and sleighs and other ephemera connected with the transportation that made America. To find it, from Allentown, go west on 78, north on 100 and turn left onto Werley's Corner Road. Proceed a mile and a quarter and turn right onto Bauch Road and follow that for 2 miles. There is a mail box right after Schockerie Farm. Turn right and head up the road. Joe's sister has decorated the museum with old quilts. There is a team of Friesians in the barn and they will pull the couples horse drawn herse for your funeral if you'd like a bit of Lehigh Valley style. Joe is under a unique contract with the military--he repairs the casson's so they keep rolling, rolling along. They bring them to him.....

Living, Learning, Blogging

I caught Thomas Friedman on Charlie Rose last night. Friedman's article, "It's a Flat World, After All" published April 3, 2005 is available through the www.NYTimes.com website (sign up to get free access.) As a reading specialist, I am learning how to motivate students to learn and read. From Friedman's article, I see the need to change the way we educate kids. I'm thinking about using his article as the basis for a differentiated curriculum that I have to write for a school project. I will share more about this as I re-read it and come up with ideas.

Writing VoiceChanges and FanFiction.Net

I was looking through a desk drawer and found an old diary. I was surprised at my own writing voice from so many year ago; that it had not changed that much, and that despite some accomplishments I seem to be at the same place. How do characters change through the chapters in a novel? How am I changing as I pass through the chapters of my life. The old adage, "if you don't know where your going, any path will take you there" comes to mind. I need to stay grounded in the word of God and be still and know that He is God, and spend time alone talking with God and seeking his presence. Creating a believable character that changes is what I would like to be able to do.

Many kids are learning about writing through www.fanfiction.net
The website is set up to extend books, cartoons, in the voice of the fan. I mention it because fanfiction is another mission field for a caring Christian voice.

Kingdom Eyes

Those with eyes to see, let them see. I am going to apply for a part time job today. I already have a part time job but two will make one full time life and I will have two vocations. Two mission fields. One is silver and the other gold. I will apply for a college learning support position. Given my own history with college, this might be where God wants me. I don't know. I'm taking a step in a new direction by writing the application.

My daughter is in a junior talent show today. There were over 100 video submissions and a cut down to 40 and today, a cut down to 10 and the announcement of a grand prize winner. Is there a mission field on American Idol? I think Nadia is a Christian and I vote for her every week. Who knows where God takes us? Everywhere, in all that we do, he is fine tuning the focus of kingdom eyes.

Why Should We Care About Your Character

I met with an agent today. "The Write Stuff" writer's conference gave me the opportunity to pitch my book idea. Since 1997, I've been thinking, writing, and researching the life of one Moravian missionary. Her name is Margarethe Jungmann Bechtel. I gave a synopsis of her story, the life that I am attempting to fictionalize. One question from the agent made me freeze up, a question that I should have been prepared for. "Why should a reader care about your character?" the agent asked. Why indeed. Why should we wonder what it was like to walk through the woods to a new life, why should we wonder what it was like to not have roads, why should we wonder why a woman would lose a husband, a baby, and continue to pore out her life on a mission field. I couldn't answer the question to satisfy the agent. What will make a reader turn the page?