Whatnot

Having read over my last few blog entries, I realize, I just don’t have that much to say in the blogosphere.  For the time being, I am abandoning my blog until such a time as I feel I have something to contribute beyond “I ate cereal today and my kids are awesome.”

I do feel I have a lot to say, only I really want to spend my time saying it in person and interacting with real live people – SO, if you are in the area, or are going to be, look me up and let’s grab a coffee and talk.  

tim-at-syracusevineyard.org is a great way to get in touch with me.  My wife can be reached at Melissa.wheeler –at- gmail.com

I now officially (though this began long ago) stop pretending to blog.  I might still read yours though.  So there.

Our church started a reading program partnering with a struggling school in our city.  In this program, volunteers read with a child for 30 minutes a week (sometimes a bit more) and work on fluency and inflection in reading (which improve understanding greatly).  Children who raise their reading test scores 20% are entered into a drawing and 8-10 kids get to go on a field trip to a shoe store in the mall and buy whatever shoes they want.  They get pretty excited.

The school we are working with this year just gave us some figures.  Of 68 fourth graders in this school, only 7 are reading at or above grade level.  61 are reading below grade level, if they can read at all.  

That’s not right.

Fall is here…the cool northeastern nights (mid 50’s and mid 60’s once the sun sets), changing leaves, and the arrival and departure of the GREAT NEW YORK STATE FAIR.  The NYS Fair takes place each year about 1.2 miles from my house.  We can hear the mainstage concerts in our back yard (Kenny Chesney, yea – cue sarcasm).  We take our boys during the special “ride all day” pass days, and for $15 per kid they can ride all the rides without tickets…We went opening day and had an amazing 11 hour day of fun, food, fun, food, and little rain…

BUT I digress.  Fall brings with it the packing up of the fair, the shipping off to school, the return to work for my wife (a teacher) and a fall season of ministry, friendship, and life.  Fall can be fun, but I’m still a bit in denial.  

I’ll  pretend it’s summer for a bit longer…our neighborhood bar-b-q never materialized….maybe there is still time.