G

One of the many cool things about living in Houston now is that I often get to go pick my nephew up from school. While my brother is out catching the bad guys and my sister in law is saving lives, I get to spend time with their most precious life - G. I picked G up the other night and we came home and had our dinner then I decided to put on some Christmas music. G was singing Jingle Bells in the car on the way home, so I thought he'd enjoy it.
So, the music was on and we were playing in his play room then we decided to come into the living room and dance around to the music. By this time, he was getting kind of tired. And when he's tired he of course makes the sweetest face and throws his arms up and says, "hold you" (meaning of course for me to hold him). And, what kind of aunt would I be if I dare say no? So, there we were dancing around the living room with his head on my shoulder listening to beautiful Christmas music. I've honestly never really been a huge fan of Christmas music until that night.
This was a night that I definitely do not ever want to forget. I love that little boy so much and pray that he will one day understand that love...and, understand that Jesus loves him even more!

today

I have quickly realized that teachers complain a lot. I've also noticed, sadly, that I've started to join in on the complaining. It's very weird to me to think about complaining about the job I've been praying to get for over a year...but, yep, here I am, the sinful complainer.
At first, I was really good because it was still very fresh on my mind as to the incredible blessing it was to simply have a full time job. Teachers would complain and I would just simply respond with a story about how as a missionary I made less than $20 thousand a year and that this last year I was working two jobs and couldn't even afford to live on my own as a 30-year old with a college degree. Man, last year sucked...just thought I'd throw that in there...
So, as I promised, here is another update. I'm a sinner. I complain and fall into the trap of being one of 'those' teachers. I just hope I quickly am able to get out of it. I'll update you and let you know soon!
Enjoy this picture of my family in the meantime. These were taken by Kelly Hornberger (www.kellyhornberger.com/blog). She's incredible. You should check out her pics.

The school year is in full swing!

I know I promised to update this more regularly. Every time I went to update it with something I would stop myself because I always wanted to put at least one picture for every post. And, I just didn't have pictures to go with all the posts I wanted to do. But, I have resolved that I do not need a picture for every post...but, you will get at least one just because I can!
Since I last updated, we have added a new little guy to our ever-growing family. My oldest brother and his wife had Tommy Allen on Monday, September 28th. It was so much fun to actually be there for the whole thing. I got to be at the hospital all day (I had a sub for my classes) and hang out with my niece and (now) oldest nephew. C and I had our hands full for sure with those two but it was all worth it when we got to meet sweet Tommy. Here is one of the many pics:

I promise to update on a more regular basis now that I have overcome the thought of only being able to post if I have a picture to go with the story. If anything, I'll just keep posting cute pictures of my niece and nephews. Here is another one of the oldest nephew, G:

My loves

Here are some recent pictures of the loves of my life. Enjoy!

My Classroom

Cy Fair ISD has what's called "Open Concept" teaching. All of their elementary classrooms are in one big open area, divided only by little cabinets. So, with my ADD, this should be fun trying to teach while also listening to three other teachers do the same.
Here are some pictures of my room. It was definitely better than I thought it would be; bigger, and kept up very well actually.

This first one is of the hallway side of my room:


This one is another hallway side and my 'desk' is in that back corner where the main computer station is:


These are the lovely cabinets dividing our rooms. This is also the corner where I now have our 'small group' section set up:


This back area is where I will have the 'classroom library'. You can kind of see here how all 4 classrooms are connected at this point.


Last one to complete the room. All the tables are now arranged neatly in my room, thanks to Sydney (one of our high school students now going onto Baylor).


This is my classroom. I will post more pictures once I get it all decorated and ready for the students.

Update

So, I had to create a new blog because of some safety concerns with my brothers job. Just a quick recap of my life this past year:

1. I moved here last May, started working at Bath & Body (just transfered from Chicago).
2. My first week here I completed my Alternative Certification course to be a teacher.
3. I Immediately got plugged into helping with the student ministry at Faithbridge by going to High School and JHigh Camp, then to Honduras for a LeaderTreks trip as an adult leader.
4. As soon as I got back from my two months of ministry with Faithbridge, I resumed my search for a permanent teaching position in Klein ISD.
5. I wasn't getting enough hours at Bath & Body so I took a job at Starbucks.
6. I continued working with the students at Faithbridge as a small group leader.
7. A permanent job didn't seem to be working out so I decided to start subbing and getting my face in the schools.
8. I worked for a while subbing in the day and working at Starbucks at night.
9. I then was able to move out of my mom's house and into my own apartment with my store manager.
10. I continued my search for a permanent teaching job, with no luck and MUCH frustration.
...skip to more frustration and not understanding the job situation...
20. I GOT A JOB!!!!
21. I finished out the school year subbing and went right away into summer ministry with Faithbridge.
22. I came back from Costa Rica as an adult leader with a voicemail from Cy Fair Human Resources as well as a message from another principal to set up an interview.
23. The message from HR was a job offer and when I went to the interview I immediately fell in love with the staff and really wanted to be offered this position.
24. Just a few short hours after my interview, I was offered the position as a 5th Grade Social Studies/ELA teacher position at Matzke Elementary in CyFair ISD.

That should catch you up on the last year of my life. I promise to work harder at keeping up with this blog with many stories from my kiddos.
Oh, and my niece and nephew are INCREDIBLE! More pics to come