Feeling Appreciated

Wow. Do I feel special? Check.

Yes, yes and oh yes!

This last week was teacher appreciation week, but there were so many things that made the week special and wonderful.

It all began with my sister Jody (who is one of my all time favorite people) flying to town. I am the recipient of an award for Alpine School District called the "Accent of Excellence" award. I was only allowed one guest at the banquet and Jody flew in just for the occasion. We spent days just playing, shopping, running and taking a break. Wow. So fantastic.

The banquet was on a Tuesday night and since Jody was the only one able to attend with me, I was able to get together with my other family that lives close to celebrate at a restaurant on a Monday night.



Tuesday was the banquet and Jody and I got all gussied up. Jody curled my hair and Aly did our makeup.






They gave me a beautiful corsage at the banquet. One of my students attended and paid a tribute and my principal and his wife were in attendance.





One of the sponsors actually presented the award after the student tribute and I had to also say something.











The rest of the week was teacher appreciation week, so I was spoiled for three more days. One day all of my students decided to give me flowers... metaphorically. They decorated me and had a great time. We give each other flowers (metaphorically) all the time in class (something I learned in the schools in Africa) so they decided to give me some flowers this time.





Then they decided to give me real flowers too! They each brought one single flower to create two beautiful bouquets. Another day they each brought me a piece of fruit to fill a huge basket. The PTA fed us wonderful catered food, which sure beat my usual cereal lunch.

Probably the best gift I received was a binder made my my teacher aide. She had all of my students write me a letter and draw a picture to accompany it and she put it all together in a nice book entitled Team Jensen. What a week!!