Earthquake in Haiti

A 7.0 earthquake has devastated the poor country of Haiti. The Estes congregation has supported an orphanage in Haiti for several years, and it had just been decided that the Henderson congregation is going to join them in this work rather than return to Guyana. It is very difficult to see the people suffering in Haiti in particular the children. One of the children at the orphanage that Estes supports was killed when the earthquake caused a wall to collapse on him. One of the children at East Chester is trying to collect 1,000,000 pennies to help the children in Haiti.

Week 1

1. One of Tennessee's longest serving politicians died following a brief illness. Somerville native John Shelton Wilder, Sr., died Friday, January 1, at a hospital in Memphis at 88 years of age. I remember Lt. Gov. Wilder attending many, many Freed-Hardeman events over the years.2. Alabama wins the National Championship!!!! Roll Tide Roll!!

Principal Reflections

We only went to school three days this week because of weather, but that's ok. I wanted to take some time to think and reflect on the first half of this school year I've spent as principal of East Chester Elementary School. Somehow the word principal doesn't describe me. First of all I feel extremely lucky to work with the faculty and staff at East Chester. Since I student taught at East in 1989 I've wanted to teach here and be a part of this special family. The teachers at East Chester genuinely care for each child that comes through our doors. A lot of behind the scenes work goes into seeing that these little children's needs are taken care of. I can honestly say that everyone employed at East Chester works very hard to provide the very best educational experience possible for each of our children. My job is now very different from the job I've loved for 20 years. The day still flies by, because I am still extremely busy with a variety of jobs. Spring and I try very hard to be in as many classrooms as possible each day. I love being with the children, but whenever I visit a classroom, I miss my classroom very much. I gave so much of myself for 20 years that I almost feel lost when it comes to the chores that come with keeping a classroom running efficiently. I know that I've made many mistakes in the first half of this school year, but I hope that the children feel the love and genuine care and concern we all have for them. Each day I end announcments with, "Let's all work hard today and remember to do the right thing." If the children can learn those two important ideas at East Chester, hopefully they will do well at the middle school and later in their lives. I'm very lucky to be at East Chester.

National Champions!!!!

Well, its been a long season. I remember the night we played Virginia Tech to start the season. I felt pretty good about most of the games until the Tennessee game. Boy, it took some luck AKA Mount Cody to win that game. Then we survived the Auburn game. I wasn't sure how we would do against Florida, but we dominated that game. I was really nervous before the national championship game because the "experts" were picking Alabama and that usually means that we don't play well. We were out of school Thursday and Friday because of weather, so it was very nice to get to relax (haha) and enjoy the game. Becky, Carter, and Laura Beth came over to watch the game along with Lee, Margaret, and Terry who have watched every game with us this season. We were not thrilled with the way Alabama started the game to say the least (winning the toss and not deferring the kick, fake punt, etc.) and then we were really concerned when Colt McCoy had to leave the game. We all like him, and certainly didn't want him to be hurt. We also didn't want to hear all the people say that Alabama would have lost if Colt McCoy had've played the whole game. Anyway, the end of the night when the National Championship Trophy was presented to Coach Saban was SWEET! Roll Tide Roll! I can't wait until next football season starts!!!!

2009

Tonight when I read the Chester County Independent, I thought about all the events that happened in 2009. I thought I would put some of them down in my blog so that I wouldn't forget them. Michael Jackson, Natasha Richardson, Patrick Swayze, and other famous people passed away in 2009, but I want to remember the things that happened in our town of Henderson.

January: Barak Obama took the official oath of office at his inauguration.

February: FHU's Lectureship: "Crying Out to God: Prayer and Praise in the Psalms" I (with lots of help from Becky) presented our VBS/Bible class lessons about David and Psalms.

On the 27th we had a record snowfall in Chester County - about 12 inches.

March: Mrs. Carolyn Ward was taken from the parking lot of Fred's and later found murdered.

April: Chi Beta wins Makin' Music with "In Living Color." More cuts were make in FHU's budget with 12 more people losing their jobs.

May: CCHS graduation: Jessica Steele was valedictorian.

June: VBS: We taught about Jesus' miracles: feeding the 5,000; calming the sea; healing the 10 lepers; and the empty tomb were our lessons in the 3 year old class.

July: Chester County Sheriff Mark Davidson passed away after battling brain cancer. We also had some bad storms in July - one storm happened during church services on Wednesday night. We all went down in the basement and stayed for quite some time before feeling safe to go home.

August: School started and so did my job as East Chester's principal. I'm so lucky to have Spring with me and the wonderful faculty and students at East.

September: CCHS beat McNairy in football 39-20 for the first time in 16 years.

October: BBQ Festival

November: Mallerie Graves passed away after a long fight against very severe Post Hepatitis Aplastic Anemia.

December: The Henderson National Guard unit left for training in Mississippi before going on to Iraq. Mike Huckabee spoke at FHU's Benefit Dinner. Henderson Police Captain Dennis Cagle dies following attempted robbery. Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the state attended the funeral service for Cagle at Loyd Auditorium to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.

The Independent also listed some other facts:

Top 5 U.S. Scenic Drives:

1. Seward Highway, Alaska

2. Highway 1, California

3. Beartooth Highway, Montana/Wyoming

4. Zion National Park Scenic Highway, Utah

5. Custer Scenic Byway, South Dakota

Top 5 Social Networking:

1. Facebook

2. Myspace

3. Twitter

4. Fixster

5. Linkedin

Top 5 Football Movies

1. Rudy

2. All the Right Moves

3. Any Given Sunday

4. Friday Night Lights

5. Invincible

Top 5 Breed of Dogs

1. Labrador Retriever

2. Yorkshire Terrier

3. German Shepherd

4. Golden Retriever

5. Beagle

Christmas at Nana's House

After lunch at Wayne's parents, we went to Cherokee to my parents' house. My mother found out on Wednesday that she has a stomach ulcer, so she wasn't feeling very well. Mother, Daddy, Chris, Stacy, John, Joseph, Wayne, Katy, Daniel, and I enjoyed time together. We enjoyed finger foods together: ham & cheese rolls, cheese ball, chicken ball, sausage balls, candied pecans, fudge, cherry delight, popcorn chicken, Bagel Bites, Granny cookies, sugar cookies, cookie sandwiches, and coconut cake were on the menu for this family gathering. After we ate, we opened presents. It was so fun to watch Joseph open his presents. He got so excited each time and would say, "How did you know that I always wanted one of these?" John brought Daddy a flag from Iraq - that was a special gift. Chris got Mother and Daddy a 26 inch flat-screen TV. We all got wonderful gifts, but we would all have traded them for Mother to feel better. Hopefully, she's on the road to recovery and next Christmas she will be back to her old self. Merry Christmas, Choat Family!!!

Christmas at MawMaw's House

We started Christmas Eve morning by traveling to Florence to Wayne's parents' house. We were joined by Wayne's sister Tina and her husband, Steve. Their daughter Stevie and her boyfriend, Landon, were also there along with their two dogs. Wayne's aunts Carlene and Faye also came as well as his cousin Zack. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together: ham, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, potato soup, grape salad, peas, and rolls. Dessert was a choice between turtle pie, lemon pie, rice krispie treats, pecan pie, and fudge. We all got wonderful presents. In the pictures Pawpaw Scott is opening knives he picked out; Daniel is opening a video game; and Katy is opening Transformers movies. Merry Christmas, Scott Family!!!