Exciting Possibilities (Plus a Nasty Encounter)

There's an exciting development with the school these days.  We're looking at a new school building and if we get it, it may affect my decision about what to do after this school year.  Here's what I'm thinking:  First of all, if we get the building, which is a 12-year-old unused school building, it will be a miracle.  There's no possible way that we could ever afford a building like this without an act of God.  It's apparently a magnificent building worth millions; it's not for sale, but it sounds like we would be able to rent it for the same amount of money we pay for our not-so-nice (to put it mildly) converted apartment buildings.  That in itself is amazing.  There are lots of factors in this that make it very much seem like God is at work, and I'm hoping we'll know in the next few days if we have the school.  If we get it, there would probably be a need for para pros in the classes because the classrooms are much larger than what we have now.  If this is so, then there's a possibility that I could be a para pro and have freedom to work with another ministry on the side, which sounds ideal to me.  Also, the new building would need lots of work because although people have never used the building, birds have made a home of it for these 12 years.  Scraping bird poo doesn't sound very appealing, but I have a very strong desire to help get the building ready for the next school year.  I'm actually more excited about restoring the building than anything else, as strange as that may sound.  The building also needs windows, toilets, etc., so it will take lots of money, time, and hard work to get this place ready.  But, God is more than able to handle all of this - if He supplies the building, He will supply the contents as well. 

That's the bigger picture of what's going on with the school, but thank God for the smaller details of each day that make life so interesting.  Take yesterday for example.  It wasn't a good day, but it was definitely eventful.  I stayed late after school to catch up on some work and to clean my classroom.  When I finished my paperwork I was the last one in the building, and I headed downstairs to get some hot water to mop my floor.  As I was going into the kitchen, a cat ran past me to the front door which was closed.  There I was with an empty mop bucket it my hand and a wild dumpster cat frantically scratching at the bottom of the door trying to get out.  I tried to talk calmly to the cat and hoped it would let me come near enough to open the door, but as I came towards it, it ran past me and up the stairs.  I ran up too, and saw it go to the second floor towards the second grade rooms.  I looked in one room and then I found it on the veranda.  It saw me and went nuts - jumping and clawing at the windows, hoping to escape.  Then it ran into another classroom and I followed it in and shut the door behind me.  The cat was running and jumping all over the room, knocking things over, and clawing at the windows. I kept trying to calm it down, but then it started hissing at me and I decided that I couldn't be nice any longer.  I got a broom and started trying to pin it down so that I could grab it behind it's neck and take it outside.  That's the most obvious and sensible thing to do, right?  I finally got it pinned down & I think it either urinated or sprayed some malodorous substance; whatever it was, it was terribly stinky.  I tried to grab it by the back of it's neck, but I didn't grab it high enough.  It pulled a Linda Blair on me and turned it's head completely around and then it managed to get it's legs around and tried to claw me.  I let it go, saw blood on my hand, and realized that it had succeeded in it's attack.  Yikes.  Ferrel cat scratches are not good.  I left the room, washed my hands, and prayed sincerely that I wouldn't get a disease from this cat scratch.  I decided that I needed a garbage bag to put this demon-cat in.  I got a bag, went back in the room, and prodded the cat out from behind a shelf with the broom.  The cat jumped back onto the window and caught onto something at the top.  There it was, hanging on for dear life, with me holding a garbage bag underneath it, praying that it would fall in.  It lost it's grip, but it fell to the side and missed the bag.  At this point, it was too traumatized to put up much more of a fight.  I slowly drew the bag over it until it had nowhere else to go but in the bag.  Once it was in the bag, I think the cat gave up hope completely.  It just laid there, totally limp and defeated.  I took it outside and opened the bag, gave it a nudge, and away it ran.  I was so happy to be rid of it.  I cleaned up the room that had been trashed, cat pee included, and then proceeded to mop my floor.  It was getting very close to time to go to church, so I needed to hurry.  I finished mopping my floor and as I was pressing the mop in the bucket drain, I accidentally knocked the bucket full of dirty water over on the floor.  Sigh.  I cleaned that mess up & rushed home to catch a ride to church.  I still had that nasty cat smell on me & I had to change coats & run out the door.  The stench lingered in my nose all night, but thankfully no one else could smell anything.  Church was good, and afterwards Rula and I had dinner at a nice restaurant, which she paid for even though I asked her not to - she's pretty stubborn.  But, I was thankful and we had a really nice time.  The day was long and full of surprises, and I was so happy to finally get back home for the night and look forward to a day off today.  Hurray for the Sabbath!!