"Ah ha" moment

Today has been one of those rare yet wonderful days were I've seen an "ah ha" moment form for my students. I simply love these days. We've been learning about Africa and all the many problems that the people deal with on a daily basis. Yesterday they learned about AIDS, which just so happens to be a wonderful lesson as well, but I'm writing about today. So in talking about AIDS I guide them to the conclusion that to be able to talk about ideas for helping the problem we must have more understanding about each country and to do so we must be able to learn about human development and being able to measure that development. Oh I am excited all over again. Yes I'm a geography nerd. So in any case we discussed what a "good life" might include and how what we value, someone else in a different culture might value differently depending on where they live and who they are. I must stop here and say that this discussion included a great deal of participation, which is always great. If you were looking in my class today you would see productive chaos. Yes this truly happens. They may all have something to say in the discussion but when it came time to write their responses all were quite and actively writing. Oh what delight. We went on to discuss how to measure development. For example the literacy rate can be used to help measure knowledge in a society. I love when students have to think out side their knowledge box for new information. We concluded with realizing how many countries in Africa are developing and comparing population pyramids. So to follow up we will look at current development in Africa and the issues that many countries face with improving the lives of Africans. This will hopefully lead them to be able to come up with their own improvement plan for the growth of human development. It will be exciting to see how this goes. I can only hope they will have another "ah ha" moment.

I truly hope that I did not bore you with my exciting lesson plan about human development. I was just so excited about the productive chaos going on in the classroom today I just had to share.

My new home

The clouds have rolled in, the wind is blowing and the temperature is dropping. I love the fall. The leaves turning all brilliant colors. The mums blooming. Pumpkin carving. Wearing sweaters. I could go on and on.

I have finally come to a moment where I can take a breather and take it slow for the rest of the night. I am sitting in my new home. I've put everything in it's place, planted mums outside, and even cooked dinner. It feels simply wonderful. I am so blessed by God. He has given me this home and roommates to be able to afford it. He has given me a family so unique and willing to help. I could not have accomplished all that I have in such a short time (I completely moved everything out of my apartment on Friday) without them.

Fall is here and as my heavenly Father says there is a season for everything under the sun. I look forward to this season.

Life as I know it

My life has been crazy the last month. I'm certainly not delusional to realize that it will continue to be so.

One of the many things that has kept me busy has been looking for a house to rent. God opened an amazing door with another teacher I work with to be a room mate. It would be great if we could find another person to rent with us. As for the house it has truly been a whirlwind. We found two houses and one we were a day too late and the other only five minutes too late. But this week that all changed. After a whole day of looking at more than a dozen houses (mind you most of them looked the same, cookie cutter type) we found one. It is truly exciting to be able to live in a home instead of an apartment. It's also amazing that I've been doing a bible study about faith. You know when ever you begin to be stretched you will certainly be tested. And so I have been for the last few weeks and I know it's far from being over. But through our times of testing and perseverance we grow and change. Praise God. I know pray that I will come out of the testing and stretching more refined and more like Him.

School continues to be busy without exception. But I love teaching and I love my students. The day is always new and I can never predict how the day is going to go. I always hope for the best, it is most definitely not perfect and I find myself frustrated at times. But this week has been nice. I haven't taken work home once. That's very rare. I keep thinking that someone should do a show titled "My life as a teacher". It would be rather entertaining and surprising.

This past weekend I went over to Branson with my family to have a weekend with my cousin who will be going to Iraq soon. It was a blast. Short and full of lots of exciting memories. It was great to go to Silver Dollar City. My family had not been since we were little. My mother just wanted us to go on all the rides so she could see us laugh and smile afterward. I love moments in our life like that. Certainly it was exhausting making a quick trip there but so worth it.

I think I have exhausted my thoughts for the moment. I will try not to wait almost a month before I write again. But you never know what the month is going to bring. Speaking of October I love the fall!!!!

What thoughts I have....

If you wanted to know what kind of week I've had all you would need to do is have seen my home. I did not make my bed all week, clothes were everywhere (in my opinion), and many dishes remained in the sink dirty, mind you. And if you know me you would know that I like things around me in order. I wouldn't consider myself annal or obsessive about being neat, but for me as long as my world has some order to it I can handle the stress or overwhelming feeling of not being adequate. But this week it was a long week. By the time I got home everyday after work, and usually after running numerous errands I had no energy to work on keeping my place clean. Today was a long day. I did not want to come home and get my house in order, but I'm going out of town this weekend so I was not about to leave it this way before I left. I like coming home to a clean place. So I took the time to clean and straighten up, and yes unload and reload the dishwasher. How long did this take me, you might ask. Less than an hour, and I even watered my plants, while talking with a friend. So, the point of complaining makes no since. Although I must complain that not sharing the load is at times frustrating but nothing I can do about that at the moment, except for continuing to trust and obey.

There are times that I feel completely scatter brained. And by my ramblings on I'm sure you can tell. I really do love what I do. In many ways I'm learning the art of being a teacher. From watching my coworkers, friends, and my own sister I now realize that I will always be learning that art. Never will one day be the same, nor will I ever truly be able to predict what might occur during that day. And on top of that every hour will be different, every student will be different. The blessings and joys of being a teacher cannot be replaced. The exhaustion is at times surprising. The learning on going. What will it take to master a thing that is always changing? I have no answer, but to keep going, sharing, and never ever stop learning or trying to be or do more than the day before.

Life hardly ever goes the way we plan it to. But I know a God who knows the plans He has for me and I believe Him. "He who promised is faithful." So even though it was a long, hard, and even lonely week. I'm not alone in any of it. Just as I will always be learning about being a teacher, I think I will always be learning about my Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and my heavenly Father. I honestly do not know how people keep moving forward without faith. I wonder at the work God is doing in my life and hope in His promises. He carries my burden when I give it to Him. He is faithful.

My thoughts continue on but I will stop here for tonight. May you not forget how great the small things can be.

Don't bother the snake

There is a snake outside my door and for the time being I am completely content with it just staying where it is. I am sure after the tropical storm that just went through here it was trying to find a dry place to rest. I suppose if there was a man in my life I would ask him to take care it for me but being that there is no man currently the snake can stay where it is in hopes that it moves on soon. Aside from the snake we had a spectacular sunset tonight. Tropical storm Erin came through this morning with lots of rain, wind, and humidity. The area is facing flooding all around here but even after such a fierce storm the sun shines through. How much in our lives do we experience storms that cause much damage and after they are gone we are blessed beyond measure in ways we never expected.

This week was our first week of school. At the end of it like most teachers and students I was completely exhausted. I did not go anywhere as soon as I got home Friday night. I did not want to talk with anyone or do anything really. I love what I do, I love the people I work with, but at the end of the day it does take a lot out of me. I need to be refreshed before I can go at it again. I can truly say at this moment I am so looking forward to the year ahead of me. The challenges will be interesting. I have this feeling that although it will be hard at times the joys will be without measure. So my storms may come but I know that there will be breathtaking sunsets waiting.

How great is our God!!!

Wow, I've had one long, crazy week. When I first walked into my classroom I was completely overwhelmed, but once I got to work it's really turned out good. There were a few times that I kept wondering around trying to figure out what to do next and a little bit scatter brained, but I think I'm almost ready for the 1st day of school. It's very exciting and scary all at the same time. I keep having the dreams where I've got everything together but nothing works. I don't think things will not work but I'm trying to be prepared for whatever comes my way.

On an absolutely positive note I went to a new church today. The church I have attended for the last year is good, I like it but I've never quite felt that stirring to want to get involved, I've always held back. So I've been thinking about visiting other churches. I come from many different background but most of my growing up years were attending a Methodist church so I thought why not try that first. There is a church in the area that I've passed a few times and always thought I should visit. So today was the day. I decided to go not knowing anyone or anything about it. And what a surprise. First of all the worship was wonderful. Today they began singing sacred hymns. And then I was so blessed to hear a young group of women sing "His eye is on the sparrow" and "How Great is the Father's love for us" with no music. It was beautiful. And to top it all off I knew the pastor from Chrysalis (a young adult ministry I was involved in for many years during high school and college). I have no idea if this is where the Lord will want me but I'm praying about it and will visit a few more times. And I must say that I actually wanted to find somewhere to get more involved and I hope to have the freedom in doing so at this church or where ever God would have me. How great is our God!!!!!

What a great way for me to start the school year, with so many blessings.

I'm not ready

I just went to my school today and I'm in a different classroom, which I knew was coming. But here I am knowing I'm going start teaching in 1 week and I feel completely unprepared. Overwhelmed doesn't quite describe how I'm feeling. I know that all will come together and it will be just fine, but even knowing that I still have to get ready. My sister (who is an art teacher) and I were working on some lesson plans together when she began to write out a "to do" list. My response was there is so much I have to do at the moment that I don't even know what I need to do first. For me I have to get the big stuff in order first so I can make a list and prioritize all that I need to get done. So today I've accomplished one big task; I moved all the boxes from my old classroom to my new classroom. Tomorrow will be moving furniture and cleaning. It's times like these that I do wish I lived in the same town as my family or had a few friends that had some spare time to help out. Really only because it's so much more fun doing work together than doing it alone. But I have music. And I love listening to music.

So for now I'm on my way to Hobby Lobby!!! Fabric always helps brighten a room :)!