I decided to start the column a little earlier this week since I had all that trouble last week! There is nothing worse than having all your work wiped out late on Sunday. Mind you, isn’t that the way it always goes? I came in from San Antonio after a wet weekend with my San Antonio grandkids, sat down to write the column and zap! The lights went out for about five seconds, and my paper disappeared into cyber space!

Thursday was the band performance evening. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop have been working extremely hard to get our kids ready for the big event. I can make book on the fact the main office loves having him next door. The sound of sweet music has returned to our campus once again. Although he does not like to take credit for this miracle, fact of the matter is, he has worked a wonder in our music program. Our students have responded well to his tough love policy. I hope everyone enjoyed the Thursday evening performance. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful sound produced by our young musicians! Hats off to everyone!

Congratulations to all the students who received awards on Thursday evening. We are extremely proud of our new inductees into the National Honor Society. This year the elementary students were invited to attend the ceremony. We want to encourage them to set their sights high.

Our TAKS results were very satisfying. Thanks to the wonderful scores of 3rd, 5th, and 7th, Mrs. Wyatt and I are sporting pink hair. It doesn’t show that much on my hair but you could see Mrs. Wyatt coming for quite some distance!

She and I will gladly dye our hair to show our delighted approval of their hard work. We even went out to the teacher’s dinner decked out in pink! The only rub was when someone, who will remain unnamed, splashed water from the fountain and my lovely pink hair dripped onto my face and white jacket. I feared for the worst, but fortunately the pink sludge came off that lovely white thing! We had a great time together sharing laughter, good food, and happy stories. Thank you Linda Harris, for planning such a super event.

Friday was the Graduation Fish Fry. This important fund raiser was well attended. This class is dear to my heart, and I will miss them. As usual, the Richland Community turned out in force to support our kids. The fish was mouth watering good, the hush-puppies spicy and delicious, and the desserts were to die for! I hope they collected a ton of money for their Project Graduation.

Baccalaureate was Sunday at the Christian Church. This is always a sweet tender service. The choir performed “Forever Young,” the lyrics were extremely touching. Andrew Fowler addressed the congregation and Nigel Bates read the scripture. The message was “Rules of Life for A Stick Horse Cowboy.” The reception that followed gave everyone a time to hug and kiss the graduates. We have another successful community event under our belts.

The Booster Club held a meeting to elect the 2009-2010 officers. The new president is Jayme McGinty, VP Maxine Robbins, Secretary Jason Lewis and Treasurer Lara Smith. The outgoing President Ann Reyes, and Treasurer Kara Lee Fikes, were heartily thanked for their dedicated work in 2008-2009. If you aren’t a member, or would like to volunteer to help out at events please give any one of the new officers a call. I’m sure they’ll put you to work!

Our campus was buzzing with people on Friday. Over 75 coaches were signed up to attend the coaches’ clinic offered by Head Coach Jerry Burkhart. I’m not sure if they come here for the excellent speakers and clinics, or if they attend for our delicious food. Everyone knows we have the best cooks!

The Booster club provided meat and desserts for the teacher luncheon on Friday. The rest of the food will be provided by the ladies of the First Baptist Church. I expect about 30 teachers and school staff there. It isn’t much but it makes a nice break away from school. The rest of the day will be spent cleaning rooms, fixing grade books and preparing for next year. I appreciate the church members for pitching in and helping. Billie Behrens always comes over and helps keep things moving.

This is finals week, as well as our final week of school. Students will be released Thursday after lunch. Everyone expected to be out for Memorial Day, but somewhere in the planning stages we failed to keep that day free. We have many young men and former soldiers who are honored on this special day. Hopefully next year this will be corrected. I will take the time in class, to honor our fallen soldiers and our fighting troops. God bless all of them!

Dena tells me that her eldest son Justin is due to be deployed to Iraq this fall. That brings our total to around 20 young men and women who are fighting for our country. Raise a flag in their honor whenever you can. Remember their families in prayer whenever you can.

The prayer list at church has grown by a few more people. It has also shrunk by one. Les Hammitt is doing well, now that he has a solution for the sleep apnea that was causing his body to produce extra blood. It seems amazing that something like lack of sleep could cause such drastic repercussions. David Evans, Mary Cummings, Sputnik Bush and several others need our prayers for their fight against cancer. Please lift them up as you go about your week.

Praise God for the refreshing rain that fell this weekend! We had about ½ inch of slow soaking rain. What a lovely green happening. I’ll have to pull weeds more often, but the garden is looking great!

I hope everyone has a blessed week.