APS Adventures

I've been working as a nutrition services sub at Aurora schools since October, and it's been fun. I wanted to share some of the memorable moments:
In October I spent a week at Peoria Elementary. It's interesting to hear people tell why they work at APS. Lisa said that she had been on disability because of breathing problems, but she went back to work to escape boredom.
11-3-11 at Vista Peak K8: We served quesadillas and I gave a little boy one with melted cheese that had oozed out of the tortilla just a little. I told him it was a smile with the tongue sticking out; so then he showed it to all his friends.
In November at Frontier K8: We were serving lasagna and focacia bread. One little girl said, "You're pretty." I, in my hairnet, thought she was talking about someone else. Kathy had to tell me that she meant me :)
11-7-11 at Elkhart Elementary: these ladies have a way-too-tiny kitchen which they endure with amazing patience! Next year they're getting a new kitchen which they desperately need.
11-17-11 at Central High School: At our lunch break, Samantha prayed, "Jesus, bless the people who prepared this meal." Amen!
Thursday, 11-18-11 at Gateway High School: Awesome Thanksgiving turkey for lunch!
My favorite memory at Gateway was watching Shaun rock out to tunes while scrubbing sheet pans with great zeal. Wish I had that much energy!
While I was at Gateway, I helped in the snack line. I accidentally called a male student "honey". Don't know what he thought of that.
11-30-11 at Vista Peak K8: Before I woke up on this morning, I had dreamed that I was in a kitchen with a walk-in cooler that had a temperature of 51 degrees. That was a nightmare!
I always get a kick out of the sign on the milk box at Vista Peak. It says: Do Not Play in the Milk Box. Actually, the sign is there for a reason, but it just makes me laugh.
When I was serving the kindergartners, one little boy was having a hard time handling the tongs. He served himself one piece of lettuce, then gave up. Instead of getting his greens, he got his green.
12-16-11 Still inspired by Shaun at Gateway H.S. Today chicken was on the menu and I got to scrub those nasty sheet pans.
Beginning in January, I became a regular at the Aurora Hills brand new middle school.
On Jan. 12 one of my coworkers was choking from an allergic reaction to chicken, and Victoria rescued her by doing the Heimlich. Thank God for Victoria and her CNA skills.
1-20-12 We were trying to guess when Fikreta's baby would be born. The due date was mid-February. Mary guessed Jan. 29th; the rest of us guessed nearer the due date. Fikreta's baby girl was born on Feb. 3. Nobody guessed it.
2-1-12 Another day of busy people in tight spaces. I heard a loud "Oh!" Elaine, carrying a pan of buns, had collided with Maria. There was laughter.
2-16-12 The February birthday cake was chocolate with white and chocolate swirled frosting, chocolate sprinkles, and cherry chips. Beautiful!
Alex was making sweet and sour chicken in the tilting skillet. She asked me to get four-inch pans, but I thought she said orange pans. That hood fan is noisy!
We learned that if green bananas are refrigerated, they'll never ripen.
One coworker asked me if I wanted to go to the beefcake review. My husband told me that I have a beefcake review at home.
Friday, Feb. 17. There was bubble wrap with the tostada shells, so I took it home and we stomped on it to celebrate Friday.
2-24-12 My mother-in-law was in the hospital and had stopped breathing, so they had put her on a ventilator. I got this news while at work. When I told Sonja, one of our subs, about it, she said that her thoughts and prayers would be with me. That meant a lot. BTW, my mother-in-law is now recovering nicely, which is a wonderful answer to many people's prayers.
Feb. Sometimes I'm good at stating the obvious, like this: "It's a lot colder in the freezer than in the walk-in cooler."
2-29-12 I have met some interesting people while working for APS. Cherry plays violin for the Aurora Symphony Orchestra. Tawnya is a hair stylist who does a lot of weaves.
3-1-12 Lunch break conversation: Merna says that celery helps cure insomnia. And recently one of our subs told me that the white membrane on a grapefruit helps clear up mucus when you have a cold.
March: Being tall is nice, because I can help Rocio get stuff off the top shelf of the walk-in.
Won't mention any names, but I heard that at one cafeteria, a kitchen employee was sweeping dirt into the cafeteria for the janitor to clean up. And the janitor was sweeping her pile of dirt into the kitchen and leaving it there. But that's all in the past.
That's all I've got for now. Thanks for the memories, APS.

How to Impress the Lord

I've been thinking about Matthew 15:22-28 where a Canaanite woman whose daughter was demon-possessed asked Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel....It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
I don't think Jesus really thought that this woman and her daughter were dogs. I think he saw the woman's faith and was setting her up with an opportunity to show even more faith. And she passed the test with flying colors. Her response was, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
I see here humility, desperation, the intense love of a mother, and a lot of faith in the one who heals and who is willing to heal. This wasn't lost on Jesus. He was very impressed with this Gentile mommy and commended her for having GREAT faith.
I'm a Gentile mommy myself, and the thought that I could impress God by believing that he is a kind healer makes me very happy.

A Girl Issue

Guys, bear with me; this is not a problem that men usually deal with, though sometimes I have wished that they did. But many of us women struggle with it, and I have suffered years of stress and anxiety because: I think my house has to be perfectly clean. Last night my daughter was reading a book at the kitchen table, and she was using the pepper shaker turned sideways on top of the book, to keep it open while she read. I envisioned pepper spilling everywhere, got angry, took the pepper shaker away, and said, "Hold the book open yourself." This morning when I was confessing my sins to the Lord, that attitude came to mind right away.
This runs very deep in me. When I was a child, I didn't enjoy watching the Three Stooges because they made messes and didn't clean them up. No kidding.
Mom gave my sister and me Saturday cleaning chores. I remember complaining that my sister didn't straighten up the place well enough, and I would go around behind her and put away all the stuff that she had neatly stacked. It was a jealousy thing; I wished I could be as popular and well-liked as my sister was, but socializing wasn't my strong suit. So I decided to be the one who did everything right. What self-esteem I had was built on that.
And all these years later I found myself still believing the lie that I couldn't be a good person unless I kept the house perfectly clean. But Romans 5:17 says that righteousness is a gift that we receive from Jesus. For free. So, next time I see a mess in my house, Lord, please remind me that you took away my old, sinful self and gave me the gift of righteousness, and I don't have to do any work to keep that gift.

What I Would Preach

I got a good night's sleep and I feel healthy for the first time in four days, for which i'm very thankful.
I came across a quote from Brother Lawrence: "If I were a preacher, I would preach nothing but practicing the presence of God."
Which set me to thinking about what I'd preach if I were a preacher.
I'd start by preaching that Jesus died for our sins, and that He puts to death our sinful selves and makes us new, righteous people when He comes to live in us.
I'd teach people to give up on self-sufficiency and to depend on Jesus.
Then I'd preach practicing the presence of God. And that's all I would preach.

A Blessing

I've got a bad cold which comes with a lot of aches. So I went to Wal Mart to get a pain reliever. I was looking at the Tylenol when I heard the resounding of about thirty wind chimes. A mom had bumped her cart into the display, much to the delight of her small daughter. I smiled at the little girl and said, "That sounds pretty, doesn't it?"
The girl stood by the display for several minutes, making them chime quietly. It was such a sweet moment--God knew I needed some cheering up.