Shaken, But Our Spirits Aren't Broken!

Our small rural county was impacted by the August 23rd earthquake. We lost both an elementary school (1 of 4) and our only high school for the county, but we just recently celebrated Day 100 in our elementary schools this past Monday! We've been "Roaring our Way Through the Rubble" as one of our t-shirts created this year says!

One of the teachers at the displaced elementary school (now fondly called "TJ West" since it is settled into the field behind our western-end elementary school) is one of the finalist in a makeover contest that could really help this school out! Right now, it's basically a "mobile school" (what a politically correct term for trailers!). Everything is outside, including bathrooms. (I am fortunate to teach at one of the newer schools which only received cosmetic damage).

It will take over 2 years to build a new elementary school. God bless those teachers who stay positive day in and day out! There were so many stories of courage and bravery as parts of that school, as well as the high school, literally collapsed, but amazingly no one was fatally hurt! This even has made our small tight-knit county even stronger. The outpouring of support from surrounding communities has been amazing as well! It really does make your heart feel good! :)

So, since we are all supporting our fellow teacher, I thought, why not link out to blog land? If you could link up the image/link above to your blog and encourage your readers to vote for Marcy Pennella at Thomas Jefferson Elementary (Louisa, VA), that would be AWESOME! Thank you so much! :)

(By the way, this is my first attempt at a linky party and this is about as large as I can get the image to get....if those veteran "linky" partiers would like to leave helpful comments, that would be so well appreciated!)