Event full

This weekend, Saturday to be precise, I spent the day in Red Earth and watched both our boys and girls team kick some butt. They both came in first place in the tournament. I was very proud of the way they played and their achievements. Hopefully the feeling of success will stay with them for awhile.

Sunday, I locked my keys in my house. Not good when it is -30. However, I had neighbours take care of me. One set of neighbours fed me. The other set came home fairly early and was able to give me the spare key. It was slightly frustrating to be locked out of house again, but it pales in comparison.

Sunday, I found out that there has been another murder in Trout. A teenage boy (a former student) was drunk and allegedly beat up an elderly gentleman in the community, while, again allegedly, one of my student's mothers watched. Then the young gentleman went around town yelling, "Old vs. the young. Old vs. the young.". He got picked up by a couple who lived close to him since it was very cold out. They took him to his house and asked him to get out of the car. He refused and allegedly beat up the driver of the vehicle who was in critical condition on Sunday.

My heart is heavy and weary of this pain. I was talking to a former student yesterday about the layers of pain that some people have in their life and how there is never enough time in between painful episodes to completely heal. I told her how I want to take away some of the apin but am unable too. Hopefully I can provide enough joy and success to battle the pain. Successes such as winning a volleyball tournament and learning how to sing a round for the Christmas concert. Joy such as knowing that they are loved and respected.

Pray for us.

This morning I woke up to a phone call at 6:30 in the morning. "Hey Light. You need to get up and turn on your oven. I think that we ran out of propane." Sure enough, my nose felt a little colder than normal. We had no heat or hot water in three of the teacher's houses. The school still had heat though. I was disappointed because I was really hoping for a cancellation of classes. I got to school to discover that my classroom did not have heat and the stoves in the kitchen were not working either. No lunch available? Then we will cancel school. So kids were dismissed at 11:00. (We feed all of our students a hot lunch here).

Also cancelled this week - our Christmas concert, our staff party and Christmas in general.

Darkness

It has been a dark weekend - snow and early sunsets. I have to keep on reminding myself that the winter solstice is almost upon us and that soon the days will get longer and lighter. I hope that my heavy heart becomes filled with light too. Right now it is filled with confusion, frustration, anger, bitterness. I feel like all of my hard work here is slowly unravelling into a mess and I feel helpless to stop it.

So I spent the dark weekend with friends. First, stimulating the economy in Slave Lake. Then spending the day crafting in a house with music and apple cider. Sometimes our conversations would sway into the dark bitterness that we feel. I am going to try to keep it light, try to see the positive. Hopefully the Christmas holidays will make things right again.

Christmas

Ths snow is coming down.
Christmas
I am watching it fall.

I am getting in the spirit of things. Decorated the house and have two Christmas presents almost made but have SOOO many more to go.

Really I should just get off the computer and go do festive activities.