From best to worst to...?

My week has been a roller coaster. Specifically, 'Vertical Velocity' or the 'Maliboomer'. Thankfully, I can recall Nate Miller quoting Madagascar at Indian camp..."Put your hands in the air Maurice! It's more fun that way!" Monday was pretty much the best day ever. Sounds cheesy, but if you've ever spent a decent time furthering the education of a small child, you will understand. Kinder, at our school, ranges in ages from ages 3 to 6. Quite a difference. I have them first thing in the morning so as soon as school worship finishes, I take them up to put their mochilas away and then we go outside to let the wiggles escape. While the kids are enjoying recreo, I make worksheets or coloring sheets for the letter of the day. Actually, we just recently finished the alphabet so I've been doing new things. This particular day, I decided to review the numbers, 1-10. Esteban is our youngest kid. He's also very small. He is 3. Everyday I make him a worksheet just like the other kids and try to explain that he should trace the letters even though I know that he will just scribble on it. I mean, he's three. You gotta give the kid a break.  This day was progressing like any other day. I wrote the numbers on the board, made the kids repeat them and then passed out the worksheet. They were just supposed to trace the dotted lines. The older kids trace and copy. Sofia needed her pencil sharpened so I went on search. By the time I finally found it, Esteban was screaming at the top of his lungs, "Teachherrrrrr!!!!!" with his precious little baby voice and accent. I turned and asked him what was up and he pointed to his paper. There on his paper, perfectly traced (as far as 3 year-old skills go) was the number 3. Esteban was grinning from ear to ear. I was so excited, I squealed and gave him a high-five. I then watched as he finished tracing the rest of the numbers. Every last one. He then scribbled all over his paper, but I didn't care. It made my day. I showed everyone. Yolanda was so happy she kissed him on the head. If you haven't experienced the joy of teaching someone, do it. It's the best feeling in the world.

Tuesday was looking up as well. I had the day's tests printed, all the rest were written, I had grades entered, and I was about to get a jump start on the following week's class planning. I was smack-dab on schedule. In the middle of the night, I woke up with a dry throat so when I woke up, I made sure to fill my water bottle back up. I'm the type of person that likes to use objects for more than their standard use. I am one of those that use their water bottles to hold hair ties. No big deal, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. My water bottle is a bit fancy. It's no spill which means there's a clever little button on the side that opens the mouth piece. It works like a dream. Unfortunately, the hair ties slipped down on top of the button and opened the mouth piece. So when I threw my water bottle on my bed, I unknowingly unleashed a waterfall of liquid onto my beautiful laptop. Long story short, it died. No power.

Now, it is Thursday. My dead laptop may have resurrected itself. It only powers on when the battery is in use. If I use the plug, it dies. Weird, eh? So while I'm in Nicaragua this weekend (Calle and Nate need to renew their visas so we're leaving for the required 36 hours), I'm leaving my laptop in rice. Let's all pray that this does the trick and restores my school planning tool and connection with home, to full health.