From today's Our Daily Bread

William Adams (1564–1620) is believed to be the first Englishman to reach Japan. Taking a liking to Adams, the ruling Japanese shogun made him his interpreter and personal advisor concerning the Western powers. Eventually, Adams was presented with two swords with rank of a Samurai. This showed just how much the Japanese revered Adams. Because William Adams served his foreign king well, he was also rewarded with greater opportunity for influence.

Centuries earlier, another man in a foreign country also had great influence over his king. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to Persian King Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:11). In the royal court, the cupbearer would test the wine before it was given to the king to protect him from poisoning. But this position also meant he had the king’s ear as a trusted advisor. Nehemiah’s integrity, administrative gifts, and wisdom made him a confidant to his ruler, which paved the way for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

Like Nehemiah, each of us has been given a unique sphere of influence. Raising children, church or community work, and employment all provide a platform where we can have a beneficial effect on others. Has the Lord placed someone in your life upon whom you can have an influence? — Dennis Fisher

There Was A Cat

So I let the dogs out on the front porch as I sometimes do and unbeknownst to me there was a cat on my porch. Well the cat jumped up in surprise as can be expected and the dogs who were probably just as surprised to see a cat on THEIR porch jumped into action. The dogs went after the cat and the cat freaked out. She (I'm calling the cat a she) tried to get out over the gate and didn't jump high enough so then she sprinted across the porch and tried to jump over the railing jumping a little to the left and hitting the house. The whole time the dogs are going after the cat and the cat is totally freaking out. I'm freaking out a little bit and yelling at the dogs to stop and they are not listening. So then the cat makes one more try jumping over the railing and makes it over. Me and Adam are both yelling at the dogs now and they did not jump over the railing after the cat. We put them back inside as that was enough of an adventure for all of us.

FSUSD (part 2)

After speaking with the district office again I was informed that the only way to get Angela into B. Gale Wilson School is to apply for open enrollment. Adam decided to go down there in person and speak to someone. He went to the office of Secondary Education and ended up talking with the secretary. She informed him that the only way to get Angela to go to B. Gale is to apply for open enrollment. He was not satisfied with this so he asked to speak to William Luna who is the head of Administrative Services. She gave him directions to get to his office. When Adam got up there he found Mr. Luna's secretary. He explained the situation to her and she informed him that if we wanted Angela to go to B. Gale we would have to apply for open enrollment and there was nothing we/they could do. Not being satisfied with this Adam informed the secretary lady that if Angela is not enrolled at B. Gale Wilson school we would have no choice other than to home school. This got her attention and all of a sudden she was very cooperative. She went into another office and when she came back out she told Adam that she would e-mail the principals of both schools and let them know. We just need to get her file from Sullivan and make sure it gets to B. Gale. It's as simple as that.

FSUSD

So I am very frustrated with the school district right now. They have changed the boundaries for the schools so now my children go to different schools. Now this wouldn't be a problem if I could get a straight answer from them as to which school my incoming 8th grader is going to go to. I first learned of the boundary changes a while ago. An old neighbor of mine informed me that her daughter (who is in the same grade and school as mine) was going to be moved to B. Gale Wilson. I immediately went to the school web site to find out where our attendance area landed us. I was informed by the web site that they were in the process of updating the system and I needed to check back on June 24th.

The morning of the 24th I got online first thing and was greeted with the same message. Later that day, however, I got on and there it was. So I typed in my address and to my surprise the school of residence listed for 7th and 8th grade was B. Gale Wilson. I called the office of secondary education and asked them if my daughter who already attended Sullivan would be moved to B. Gale Wilson or if she would stay at Sullivan. She told me that I would be getting a letter in the mail explaining the situation and there would be a part to fill out if I wanted her to stay at Sullivan otherwise she would be going to B. Gale along with my incoming 7th grader.

By the way, I never got a letter. On July 1st a letter was posted on the web site explaining that if your incoming 8th grader was already at Sullivan she/he would be able to stay at Sullivan and would be automatically enrolled there. This not only confused me, but upset me a little bit. My husband really wants both kids at B. Gale Wilson. So I called the district again and spoke with another lady. I explained the situation to her (that I didn't want them at different schools) and she told me that since I had an incoming 7th grader at B. Gale my 8th grader would be able to go to B. Gale, too.

I explained to her that according to the letter she was going to be automatically enrolled at Sullivan so how do I go about getting her enrolled at B. Gale. She didn't know. She told me that I have to speak with someone in the open enrollment office. Of course there was nobody available to talk to me now so she told me to call back on Monday.


Ugh! I don't even know what I want anymore!

What a great time