I have many things on my mind tonight, all these things fluttering around like ticker tape during a celebratory parade. Some of these things (not that you asked) I’d like to share:

Barbaro the horse died - many cried. His owner said a simple yet profound statement this a.m. as she reflected on her loss (yes, losing an animal is like losing a family member for many of us animal lovers), she said "grief is the price we all pay for love."

Homeschooling my son, Sam - is still a very real option for me this August.  As if a sign, this Sunday’s Sun-Sentinel had an article about home-schooling. What did I learn? The number of Florida children educated at home has more than doubled from 25,000 in 1996 to 53,000 in 2006. In FL it became legal to homeschool 21 years ago.  I go to my first homeschool meeting this Thursday night!

No matter what happens in life, having a few good sister friends helps so much in life. As I prepare for for the CEFL Sisterhood Weekends in NY and FL, I contemplate the effect my sister friends have had on me. I have three really good inner circle friends and my sister-in-law Enid is my closest friend within my family. What’s interesting is how unique and different we all are from each other.

I thank God that we’ve all been able to withstand the temptation to walk away from each other when it would have been easier to say "the heck with this". As one that never really allowed people (esp. women) to get to close to me, I have to say that I thank God I changed my ways and allowed the risk of being hurt for the great joy of being loved and accepted with all my quirks. I know that I still irk my friends and family with some of the things I say and do but they have chosen to "stay with me" anyway as I have with them.  With that committment, I’ve learned to love more, to realize tomorrow may not come so love real good today, say thank you, say I love you and be vulnerable even if they don’t say it back. All I can say is that sisterhood is powerful.

Well it seems that over-paid corporate executives continue to make dumb moves, like Radio Shack mass emailed folks letting them know that their positions had been eliminated. Imagine that, coming to work, sitting at your desk, reading your email to say your fired. But there are more dumb moments in business read about them here.

for me in the very near future. I have two children, one is special needs and unless God heals him he will always be "my baby" and then I have Sam. Sam is my first and I love him so, he’s having such a hard time in 4th grade. I’ve been reading so much about the education system that affects "most boys" note I do not say "all" (as some boys seem to do well).  I mean did you know that:

1. Boys get the majority of the D’s and F’s in most schools–in some, as high as 70%.
2. Boys make up 80% of our discipline problems.
3. Of children diagnosed with learning disabilities, 70% are boys.
4. Of children diagnosed with behaviorial disorders, 80% are boys.
5. Over 80% of school children on Ritalin or similar drugs are boys. As of 2004, the number of boys on Ritalin approached 5 million!
6. According to the U.S. Dept of Education, our sons are an average of a year to a year and a half behind girls in reading and math skills.
7. Of high school drop-outs, 80% are young males.
8. Young men now make up less than 44% of our college population.

* stats from "The Mind of Boys-Saving our Sons from Failing Behind in School & Life by Michael Gurian

Studies done in England, Canada, Australia have all resulted in identifying across the board that its not the boys with the problem but the schools. However, interestingly enough, no U.S. press ran those research results.

I cried today for my son. He desperately wants to "get it" but I also cried because as a mom I have to make a decision, he’s God’s gift to me and my first job is to be the best mom I could be and that means making sacrifices. So in my mind, in my heart tonight, I ponder the option of homeschooling my son because he matters that much to me. Because how he is educated spiritually, emotionally and otherwise is my gift back to God. So, while others may think I’m crazy (esp. after getting all this education) to even consider staying home to teach my son, I kinda feel a sort of honor about it. I’ll be praying about this. But I ask you to consider the current crisis in education and our little men. Especially if you have sons.  I am grateful that its still early enough for me to do something about my son before I lose him and his interest in school. I’ve seen many that didn’t have that luxury of early opportunities and there sons never really reached their full potential. I don’t know what will become of my son but one thing I want to tell my Lord is that I did all in "my" power to "train him up in the way that he should go", the rest is up to Him.

Here’s a missed opportunity I laughed about yesterday with my hubby. Four years ago, I opened up in prayer for Senator Hillary Clinton at a party in Jimmy’s Cafe in Manhattan for Hispanic Heritage month. I bought a friend with me who shall remain nameless and asked her to bring a camera so she can snap a shot of me with her. Guess what, she forgot the camera and I now have no picture. To think that I could have had a picture with the first female next President of the U.S. 

But seriously, its going to be an interesting race for ‘08 with her and Obama involved. Of course, politics is never clear cut and with all the masses having voted for Bush…well, let me not go there. But in case you are interested, here is what she believes about issues concerning women and Obama as much as I like him, doesn’t even have the topic of women as part of his list of issues.

For most of my adult ministerial life, I’ve committed to working with and for women and young girls. Now as mom to a boy, alot of things are starting to make me think of adding or shifting my focus a bit. There are many moms of boys out there wondering what to do with their boys who are having trouble in school. Me being the inquisitive soul that I am had to find out if there were any issues risen about the way boys and girls learn. Alas, I did find out that there is and its many things. This all concerns me because I want my son to succeed. He’s never had any trouble with school until this year in 4th grade. Some say its a "phase", others say "he’s lazy" (like his teacher) and I think its a combination of those things plus the fact that some teachers just don’t know that teaching boys versus girls has to be different. I’m meeting with the principal and if need be the Broward Board of Education.  In all of Broward county, there is only one single-sex classroom. I have not heard of an all boys school "yet" but I’m looking.

Take a look at this excerpt found at the National Association of Single Sex Public Education.

"Take a look at the cover story from Business Week magazine, "The New Gender Gap: why boys are falling behind girls in education." The article documents "a stunning gender reversal in American education": Boys are falling behind in school, with the result that a smaller and smaller proportion of boys are going on to college. As that article makes clear, the problem is not that the girls are doing better; the real urgency derives from the fact that boys are doing worse, relative to the performance of boys 15 or 20 years ago. A growing percentage of boys are losing interest, giving up, and/or dropping out. Business Week concluded that a root cause of the decline in boys’ academic performance is that "educators [have] lost sight of the learning style of boys. . . Instead of catering to boys’ learning styles, many schools are force-fitting them into an unnatural mold. . . Educators also haven’t done nearly enough to keep up with the recent findings in brain research about developmental differences." In another article, columnist Jen Horsey agrees that the failure of the education establishment to understand that girls and boys learn differently may underlie the growing gender gap. She suggests that single-sex education may be the most cost-effective remedy for the problem. "

Someone emailed me today telling me they heard about me from this Encyclopedia which you can purchase at Amazon.com. It’s called the Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America which is a 3-volume set and its not cheap. I didn’t even know I was going to be in it and uh, no one verified some of the information. Although I did go to Fordham’s Ph.D. program for 1 year I didn’t graduate as I moved to Florida. I would love to get my hands on it but I can’t afford it. It’s funny, I’m unemployed but I did make it into an Encyclopedia. But no worries, my ultimate reward is in heaven.Lots of things that could change my life are in the works right now but I can’t comment until it’s a done deal. In the "mean" time, do pray for this sistah who needs some Benjamins to flow…

I saw the movie Rocky Balboa last month but in preparing for sermons in 2007, I want to use the story because of its message that life sometimes knocks you down but its how you keep fighting that matters. It’s so inspirational. When you are getting ready to do battle for the cause of Christ, I can think of no better mood music to gear up for the fight than this! Most of the clips from the movie are on my Ipod "Depression Buster" playlist. Its great for me when I feel like this moving forward with what God has called me out to do seems so hard, when I want to quit, then I hear this music, I look at the little boxing gloves my sister-in-law Enid gave me once, and I say…its on…AGAIN. That’s what we constantly do in this Christian life we lead, we get tired, we fall, we get up, we fight, again and again, but one day…one day…the fight will be over and we will be with our Savior. I wonder if we all will enter the pearly gates joggin’ in with this song and the angels and the Trinity will be there to say, well done!

Me and my younger son, DJ stayed home this week while my hubby and my older son, Sam went to PR to visit Grandma. My son was hoping they’d miss the plane so they could stay longer. They come home tonight. I can’t wait. I miss my men.  Here are some pics of them in PR. Next to visit, ME! I haven’t been there since 1989!!! Before I was married.

This is Sam at El Morro in San Juan.

This is Sam in "El Parque de las Palomas" (Park of Birds)

Isn’t this a great profile pic of Sam looking at mountains he’s never seen! We live in Flatland Florida lol.

Sam praying in a church in San Juan.

Sam in "El Yunque" in PR. Its a rain forest!

Sam and his dad, with a mutant leaf!

Nature at its best.