We are on a scheduled School Improvement Day this morning - that means that we all go in 2 1/2 hours later than normal. It was nice to be able to sleep just a wee bit this morning - still had to get up to get Dipstick to his bus stop. It's quite cool this morning and the weathermen are predicting cloudy with a chance of showers. However at the moment the clouds are scattered and glimpses of the sun can be seen. I am thankful for that as the last couple of days have been rather gloomy.

Last night I drove another cross country meet for the boys - the last one that the middle school and high school have together. No PR's for the boys though I felt both ran fairly well. Stretch especially had a nice kick at the end of the race - I can't always see him take off for the last 100m but this time I could. He was pretty discouraged when we got home though - feeling rather like the other guys on the team would prefer he was not on it. Guess there were comments made about me as the bus driver (and his mother) and my appearance as well as other comments about personal stuff on a couple of the other guys. Stretch didn't share all of it with me - just enough that I could see how much he was hurting. I'm certain some of it is that he seeks to live out his faith by his actions and words rather than "preaching" - that is guaranteeded to bring in some "picking on". His character shows through - he doesn't take shortcuts on the races and practices when others do. Some of it is also due to the fact that teenagers can be just mean.

It hurts me as his mother when I see him hurting - I still want so much to be the "protective mama bear" and stand up for him. But I know that I absolutely can't do that. He's going to have to learn to handle this kind of junk by himself - all I can do is stand by to comfort and encourage and pray for him.

Guess it's about time to scoot and get ready to drive.