Some Parents Do Understand

Yesterday one of my students' mothers came in to give her son some asthma medication. Before she left, she approached me at my desk and said that she totally understands what I'm going through and she fully supports me. She said she'd heard all the talk, and that she thinks it's ridiculous. She then told me she was going to send my principal a positive email about me.

After school today, she came in and elaborated a bit on the situation. Seems a mom who doesn't even have a child in my class is one of the parents who is complaining. Can you believe that? Sheesh! Anyway, we had a good conversation and came to realize that we really are "sisters in Christ." She shed a few tears for my situation and gave me a lot of encouragement. She told me how much her son enjoys being in my class and how pleased she is with his progress. Later in the day, she forwarded the very complimentary email she sent to my principal. What an angel. Here's a snippet of her email to me:

It's so wonderful how Jesus keeps putting other Christians in our path to help us over the humps.

Yes, it is.

Speaking of my principal, we had a good talk yesterday. After what happened on Monday, I was reluctant to talk to her. If it had been my previous principal, I would have been in her office in a heartbeat, but I've got such a strange relationship with my new principal that I didn't know if she'd support me, or not. Turns out that she's very supportive. She said she's been fielding these complaints, but that she's tried to keep them from me so as to not stress me out. She said I've done nothing wrong, and that she checked with human resources and they told her that I'm not in violation of any policy. She said she'd come through my room when I'm out to make sure the kids are not out of control, and she excused me from attending anymore inservices where I would have to be out of the classroom during instructional time.

I made a point of showing her my plan book so that she could see how prepared I am two and three weeks ahead of time. I wanted her to know that there's no excuse for a substitute not to cover the right material and to assign the right homework.

Anyway, it's been nice to receive some support in the last couple of days and I feel much better about the situation. Thank you to all my blogging buddies who weighed in with support and suggestions. You ladies are just the best. I've been reminding myself of what the Lord has already seen me through and this is peanuts compared to that. One day I'm going to enter His glory and all this petty stuff (and petty people) won't matter one bit. So, like the author of Hebrews, I'm going to keep running with endurance (Lord, please supply that!) the race that is set before me.

Onto other things...

Regarding the neighbor's dog, because some of you had asked about that, things are much better. Although I never received a response from them, it looks like they have barricaded the side of their yard so that the dog cannot get to their side gate and near my bedroom. This keeps the dog way to the back of their property. She barks much less because she cannot see every person or animal that goes by. And when she does bark, it's not as loud (to me) because she's behind their house, and their house extends further back onto their property than mine does - so she's way back there. I'm happy with the outcome. I hope things between us will defrost in time.

I'm still having digestive issues and my head still hurts like the dickens. I'll get myself back to the doctor if things don't improve by Friday. I'm taking Tylenol every four to six hours just to deal with the pain, and that can't be good. Right?

Two more days until I get a week off for Thanksgiving!