A good day

Today was a pretty good day at church. Jonathan gave the scripture in primary, and Stephen I got to sit together and learn about the new duty to God program. Later, we spent some time the kitchen table and worked on scouts and Cub Scouts. Even getting his second class badge this upcoming Wednesday and soon to be done with the first-class apartments as well. Overall, what are the best parts today is going to the Berkeley household and sharing a meal. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lockdown

In class today, we had a lock down. Supposedly, there was an intruder on campus. Ontario PD came to check things out. Because of that, we miss all of first period! The students have to come to school late for second. And several did not show up. You're in class. I'm trying quick demonstration of the Dragon voice recognition software. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Browning House

Today, at the Browning house, we had a nice will talk about computers. They're trying to decide themselves what is the best choice. Their Mac is done. Curse you Apple! The realization comes with knowing what is best way to meet their needs, which is why we're having a good blogging demonstration.

Korie really wants to blog and do her photos. While the iPad is a great photo tool, it may not meet her needs if she really wants to go all out. Unless of course she were to subscribe to some kind of online repository to back them all up and share them with everyone.

They will likely get an iMac or something a little more robust, regardless, it was fun to show them what the iPad can do for bloggers who really want to post without all the typing.

Blogging

Colony high school, we had a great lesson on blogging! It was really fun to show the children my blog. It is fun to explain how Google makes their money. It was fun to also talk about the amazing way that they too could be a successful blogger someday. Now since this is just a test, I am not going to shut up! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The above is a slightly edited version of what I created using Dragon Dictation on my iPhone and then copying that text it generates to my Blogpress iPhone app.

I Love my Job

Bonnie has been very good to me and given me a great deal of time this week to get ready for school to start next Tuesday. She is wonderful! Colony has also been extremely good to me. It helps that it is a newer school with a small business department. It is amazing to have so many toys, ahem, I mean tools, to use to make my job so effective.

I have a very large room with wonderful student workstations where the computers are off the desks and out of the way so that I can see the students more. They also are faced toward me with a huge mirror at the back of the room to allow me to see what is going on with their screens if I must. Also, the computers are taken care of by the district office. This means that I don't have to create users and that I have very powerful tools for classroom management, file distribution, etc.

It is amazing to have so many things working so well. I will get to spend much more time teaching and less time solving problems. My department chair, Randy Wormdahl, has also been amazingly supportive. For example, I am typing this on an ergonomic wireless keyboard that he provided for me. It is so good that I am almost tempted to get one for my Mac at home. Perhaps I will just have to do all my heavy typing while here at school instead of worrying about things at home. I also have a sheet fed scanner that lets me make amazing PDF files on the fly from large stacks of paper documents. Can you say heaven? To a teacher who loves to go digital, this is a godsend.

Well, it is that time of day again, time to hang up my hat and head home. I just feel very blessed right now to be working here. Also, everyone that I have met has been amazingly kind, friendly, and helpful too. Life is good and I truly feel blessed by my Father in Heaven.

We Are Each Other's Angels

I really need to blog more often if I want this to be a meaningful journal of any kind. Last Wednesday, we had a tremendous spiritual experience. Our dear friend Maryann Bingham was struggling with some personal sorrow and we had her over for a meal together. Talking and testifying together of our faith in God and his plan, we managed to get through the meal okay with more smiles than we had before.

Prior to the meal, while just visiting, Rebekkah’s new seminary teacher came over to give her the lowdown and buttress her up a bit.This remarkable woman, sister Hudrlick, has been teaching the “zero” period seminary class for years. She is amazing. She puts so much devotion and dedication into her calling that it is truly amazing, using her upbeat personality and constant smile while keeping them with high standards. In case you are unaware, LDS youth attend seminary before school here in Southern California. The “zero” period class starts even earlier for those who already have a zero period class at the high school. So, Seminary starts at 5:30 AM. Yes, it is really that early.

While she was here visiting, it was fun not only to watch Rebekkah’s interaction with her, and my silly shaking of my head when she didn’t know answers to some questions that we have been studying for forever (like who members of the first presidency of the church are), but it was also fun to watch Maryann’s interaction with it all. She told me not to worry, that she has been there and done that with her son Jay during his confirmation classes when he seemed to know nothing too. I guess it is just what kids are like in these teenage years and I need to be more patient as a parent.

After the meal, our wonderful home teacher came over. His name is brother Demke. He has truly been there for us for years, performing blessings in our home over sick children, always visiting each month, and constantly showing a great deal of patience with our children. His lesson was taken from the first presidency’s message about Charity: the Pure love of Christ.

It was a powerful lesson where he brought in extra material and unabashedly shared his testimony despite the fact that Maryann is not a member of our church. The spirit of God was very strong in the room. After the lesson, she thanked him as well since that was something we really all needed to hear. She commented that she has been involved in service sorority in college and has always felt very strongly about the need to serve other people.

Even though we had given him no advance warning, I asked brother Demke to then help me in administering to Maryann a blessing of comfort. The spirit was strong then too and I know that some of the words that I said were truly directly from the Lord and not just the feeble mind of Pete. She ended up staying with us until nearly 11 pm visiting and sharing in our love for each other and just having a friend to talk to about life and all of its ups and downs.

Then, this past Sunday during Fast and Testimony meeting, I shared with the congregation this experience and testified how I know that we are all meant to be here for each other and to help each other in every way that we can. I truly love the Lord and am so grateful he doesn’t make life something where you are expected to wander through it alone.