My favorite Christmas

This Christmas has been one of my all-time favorites. I love my family, I love that we all get along so well and have such a fun time together. It is so fun being an auntie to two of the cutest kids in the world! I am sad that our time together is coming to an end and am already looking forward to our family vacation in August!

The cousins waiting in front of the Christmas tree to open gifts.

My cute family (minus my brother in laws and niece and nephew).

Micah loving the King's game (his favorite part was the mascot!).

Sydney at her best!

Part of the reason this has to be one of my favorite Christmas's is because of the generosity I have seen from people. I was able to hand deliver the gifts from my class to the Oates and they were blown away and felt blessed, which is exactly what I wanted! They are an amazing family! It was fun visiting with them and getting to know the kids a little more.

This past Friday my class held a bake sale to help raise money for Isaiah and his family. Isaiah is a son of a childhood friend that was diagnosed with leukemia in May. My class decided to adopt him and his family for the year. As a class we decided that instead of giving gifts to each other, we would buy gifts for Isaiah's family (a total surprise!). We raised over $400 and I was blown away at the generosity that was shown during this bake sale. People just generously donated money without buying any baked goods. My students were so excited and so proud, it was fun to watch. Now comes the fun part of shopping for these gifts and presenting them to the family when I am home next week. God is so good and His goodness has shown through in a huge way this week.

Along with the bake sale, I was able to lead 11 of my students in a prayer to accept Jesus into their hearts, something that was not expected or planned but just a divine appointment.

On Friday, my 4th grade teacher from Cali was in town and wanted to come visit my classroom, I was SO excited and it was so fun to see her! She was only there for about a half hour but it didn't matter to me. The fact that she just wanted to see me was what meant so much.

So, this has been a week full of emotional highs and has been one of the best weeks of my life. I have seen God like never before and the generosity and love of people have amazed me. Here are some pictures of our fun times on Friday. Enjoy! :)

My adorable class

These pictures do a pretty good job at capturing the cuteness of the kiddos in my class. Even as today was a rough day, I do have to say that I love them very much. Through all of their craziness and misbehavior, they have sweet spirits and they are the reason I teach!

Julia and Zach are so sweet!

Katelyn proudly displaying the can used for collecting the money for "Isaiah's Christmas Fund." I am very proud of the kids as they have not complained one bit about not receiving a gift from a classmate. Instead, we are giving money to go towards a gift to help Isaiah and his family. That is the true meaning of Christmas!

Preston and Jared working away on spelling sentences.

Let it Snow!

The snow has been coming down for the past few hours and my roommate and I decided to go play in it for a bit and here are some pictures that don't quite catch the beauty of the snow!

Different Generations

Today my students went on a field trip to a retirement center and played BINGO with the residents there. It was amazing to watch the interactions between the students and the older folks. At first, my students eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets as they had no idea what to do (even though I prompted them on what to do and say) and at the end of our time, they were sad to leave and saying goodbye to their new friends. It was a joy to watch this interaction.

With people at retirement homes, you never know what to expect. You never know if they will really talk to you or just stare at your blankly. I struck up a conversation with a lady who had been a teacher for over 40 years and I really enjoyed our conversation. It got me thinking how fun it would be to visit people in retirement homes and just get to know them and their stories. I don't have a lot of extra time but would love to make some extra time in order to do this.

Why I love teaching...

So, my kiddos are learning about the Pilgrims seeing that it is November. We are doing a stimulation activity that is a lot of fun, basically they have to pretend they are living in the time of Pilgrims and arriving in a new land.

Today we were playing a game where they have to answer questions and based on their answer, they were able to move their ship toward America. As one of my groups was answering a question, I look over and see another group on their knees praying that God would give them the right answer. They were SO serious about this and one teammate was actually coaching another. It was the cutest thing!!! I looked over and just had the hugest smile on my face when I realized what they were doing. How precious!

Volleyball Season

Tonight was the awards night for the volleyball season. I must say that it was very bittersweet. I am looking forward to having more time but I am going to miss working with these amazing girls and their families. This has been one of the best times I have had in a long time. I grew to love these girls so quickly. I also grew to love Sally, the amazing lady I coached with. What a great time that I am so thankful for. I am already looking forward to next year. Here are some pictures of the joy I experienced! :)

"I was really cute when I was little."

Kids really do say the darndest things. I laugh on a regular basis because of things my students say. I need to start a quote book and keep it going. One student told me the other day that since his desk was right next to mine (there was a reason for that!), he was too easily distracted by me working so close to him. Hmmm....

My volleyball girls are doing great. We have had a game break for the last two weeks, which has been kind of nice but I miss games! We have two next week which I am excited about! Tomorrow night we are all going out to dinner and then to a Huskies volleyball game. I am so excited to see such experienced players play!

Missing Daddell...

Most of you know that my precious grandpa, Daddell passed away this last spring. For awhile I was kind of numb to the whole thing and this summer is started hitting me more. Tonight, I am missing his sweetness and silly quirks. He was a wonderful man and I am so proud to call him my Daddell.

Crazy Busy

Wow, it has been a while since I posted and a lot has happened. I am still loving my job, especially coaching girl's volleyball. These girls are precious and make me smile and laugh every day. It is such a joy to look forward to practice at the end of long days with my kiddos. I love my students but they are a challenging class that make me crazy at times. We are still working on following directions the first time and not talking so much in class. It is hard to train them!

I am hopefully going to get some pictures soon of my class and my volleyball girls. When I do, I will post them. I know that blogs are more fun to look at when there are colorful pictures! :)

Every day, I am thankful for this new school and every single person there. I am amazed at what a great experience this has been and it feels so great to be happy and content.

First Days of School

I must say these first two days have been the best first days of school during my teaching career. This school is amazing and the extremely nice and encouraging people here make the transition so easy. I love my students already, they are extremely high energy but who isn't in second grade? They make me laugh constantly and are sweethearts that often let me know I am loved!

Today was a bit harder as they wanted to test the boundaries and rules but as soon as I laid the law down, they were fine.

Ahh....it feels so great to be so happy and content in my job, it makes life so much more enjoyable!

Why being an auntie is so fun...

Here are some recent pictures of Micah and Sydney. I don't think I have to ellaborate on why I love these kiddos so much.

Blown Away

Wow, I am almost speechless when it comes to talking about my new school and this week. I have never felt so much support and love from my coworkers and parents of students. This new school is amazing and I am so thankful that God has brought me to this wonderful place. I know this is the honeymoon stage and some things will come to light this year that won't be so great but I just have a great feeling about this school and this new year.

I overheard my boss talking to one of the teachers this afternoon about me and my new class. Apparently I have a few students who have behavior issues. Anyways, Ron was talking to the teacher about how much faith he had in me to take on this class and that he knew I would do a great job. That totally made my day.

I am totally exhausted and at times feel overwhelmed thinking about all I have to do before the first day of school on Tuesday. But above all else, I am blown away at God's goodness and this new place I am working at. God is good all the time!

Changes

Wow, it has been awhile since I have posted on here. This summer has been great but flew by way too fast! I start work bright and early tomorrow morning.

My life has been full of changes these last few months as well and I am feeling the stress of that right now. I am transitioning to a new job that I am very excited about (teaching 2nd grade in Bellevue), I have moved and am living with a great girl that I am getting to know as much as I can. The hardest change for me is that I just drove my best friend across the country to MN as she is moving there. This year has been one of the best in my life as I had so much fun with Kirsti both as a roommate and friend. We had great times and have made many wonderful memories. I know our friendship will last a lifetime but it is hard when she is thousands of miles away.

I am exhausted as I am still in central time zone even though I am back in Seattle. So, that is all for now. I promise to update my blog more frequently.

Disneyland

I just got back from a week down in southern Cali. I was visiting my relatives and spending some time at Disneyland. I love that place, I don't think you can ever be too old to enjoy Disneyland. We also ate breakfast at Knott's Berry Farm which was always a tradition for my family when I was younger, so it was fun to be able to revisit that memory!

Now I am back in WA and enjoying the summer time. I am looking forward to some down time to relax and reflect. I also am looking forward to spending time with Heather and Micah (and Steve when he isn't working!) this summer!

Fun pictures of the students I have grown to love

You know it is the last day of school when...

1. Cell phones ring off the hook in the classroom and students find joy in getting them confiscated.
2. A student starts of the pledge of allegiance with "I pledge allegience to the American Flag..."
3. A student asks where he can find "what are those things called that you use to wipe down the tables?" wipes would be the correct answer! :)
4. Teachers need more than one coffee drink before noon.
5. The hallway smells of many different odors after the lockers are cleaned up. The joy of having a classroom right next to the hallway of lockers! :)

It is summer now! Hooray!!!

The last week of school

This week is just weird, there are so many mixed emotions. It is sad to think that I will most likely never see these kids ever again. There are so many students who have touched my life in such a powerful way and those are the ones that will be missed the most. So many students have been telling me this week how thankful theyh are for me and how much of a difference I have made in their lives. Some of these students statements are a surprise as some of them don't make their appreciation for me very evident sometimes. Then there are other students who love to make it known that I am not their favorite teacher.

I think what I have learned the most as a middle school teacher is the meaning of tough love. There are students who are stinkers and it is very evident that they could care less about me as a teacher and they are plain rude. But I still have to love them and that has been a challenge, I am not going to lie! I have learned a lot about grace and unconditional love these last two years. Middle schoolers need tough love and sometimes that has been so hard to give. Their is one student in particular that makes it known every day how much he hates me and it is so tempting to go off on him but I can't let my pride get in the way. He is entitled to his own opinion and my job is to respond in love, no matter how hard that might be.

God is good and I am thankful for these last two years at this school, no matter how hard and rough they have been. Through it all, I have learned a lot and I am thankful to have grown so much in so many ways.

3 more days to go until summer (not that I am counting or anything! :) )

Some people should not be parents

So, we have new neighbors downstairs and they have two very small children. Most of the time, a lot of screaming and running around can be heard and it gets pretty annoying. So, I am laying in bed tonight at 10:30, trying to fall asleep and these kids (I think they are like 2 and 4) are screaming, running around and banging a lot of stuff around. Whose idea was it to have these kids awake at this time in the evening? I am not sure these parents are the brightest bulbs on the tree.

So, my roommate Kirsti decides to yell "shut up" loud enough that they can hear and it is silent for a few minutes. Then it starts back up to which we respond with pounding on the floor, trying to get our point across. So, with that said they are finally quiet but now I am wide awake.

Oh to be able to afford a house....

Exhaustion

No matter how much sleep I get and how much I try and take care of myself lately, I am just exhausted. I am not sure if it is just because it is the end of the year or what but at the end of the day, I want to just crash.

I think part of this is emotional exhaustion as I am preparing to leave a place I am familiar with and have to say goodbye to my students that I dearly love and the teachers I care about. Don't get me wrong, I am definately looking forward to my new job but saying goodbye has never been easy.

I am just tired of being tired! I want energy, I find myself praying over and over again for God to give me strength and energy to make it through the day. Because of my exhaustion, I have become super edgey a lot too which is not fun for the people I come in contact with!

Soon and very soon it will be summer and I will be able to rest and relax, I am ready!

Welcome!

Hello friends. I thought I would step into "blog world" and try this out. I am going to try and post as much as possible. What I want this blog to be is a place for discussion and insight. If you know me well enough, you know that I love to think about a lot of things and discussing these thoughts is the best way for me to process this. So, if you want to comment on anything please feel free to jump in at anytime.

I am also looking forward to reconnecting with old friends through this site and getting to know where they are at and what they are up to!

Thanks for checking my blog out!