I'm writing this from Kansas

Things are feeling more hopeful w/ the students. I reorganized the Spelling Words list so we're learning the shortest ones first instead of learning them alphabetically, and Evelyn whipped out the 4-6 letter words. I'm hopeful we can practice enough to get her through at least a couple rounds of the Spelling Bee.

Also hopeful-- it's looking like I'm going to be able to stay here through mid April. I'm still waiting to hear from a couple people about how that would best work out, but the prospect makes me a lot more motivated to go to the schools. When I thought I only had 3 visits left w/ Mitchel & Leisha, it seemed almost futile to go at all. I have hope/motivation now that I can organize something w/ some kind of continuity for the rest of my time w/ the kids. Also, it looks like the Special. Ed. Coordinator is going to get all the Deaf students from other schools together once a week, but she's bringing in a teacher from Belize to work with them (and the teachers, hopefully). Finally, Evelyn's parents said they were cool w/ me coming to get Evelyn (via bus) on Sunday mornings and bring her to church at Nancy's.

And now: to explain the title of this post. My mom called me at 11am yesterday morning to tell me that my grandfather was in intensive care and I should think about trying to come home sometime in the next couple weeks. With my school schedl, this week looked like best option, and going on a weekend seemed like the best way to avoid missing lots of classes w/ the kids, so the next thing I knew I was looking at flight options, booking a standby reservation for that afternoon, and was on a plane by 4pm! What's more surreal is that I was seated in the same row as 2 GC students I know!! They were headed back from their spring break. Flying into Dallas was super mind boggling; I just kept thinking, "Wow, I did not plan to be in the US when I got up this morning...." It feels a little like I fell through some hole in the time/space continuum and got dropped in my bed at home somehow. Airplanes move much faster than is natural for human consciousness I think....

Anyway, I will probably fly back on Wednesday. It was good to go to church this morning, and to see my grandpa and family this afternoon. He should be able to go home tomorrow or the next day, and either Home Health or Hospice should be able to help my grandma there. He was tired but smiling and joking this afternoon. I don't know how long someone can hold out w/ liver failure, but I'm glad I'm here now.

I should get back to the busy-ness of deciding how best to use my short time here.

Take care.