I have had the worst two days in recent memory, which is not a very fun thing to write about, but I have to get it all out there.
Monday- My day started with finding out that I failed my certification test. It is called the BTLPT (Bilingual Teacher Language Proficiency Test) and basically tests my proficiency in Spanish. I did really well on all of the parts except for the speaking part. It is so frustrating! I had to drive to El Paso that day and I was ridiculously sick during the test. I am really hoping that being healthy will help my mental capacity and enable me to pass the speaking part, but I am trying not to get my hopes up. I have until January to think about it anyway, so no rush. I am trying to figure out a way to practice my speaking, but I am coming up empty. If you have any ideas, let me know.
Then, it was my first day of full-teach in 3rd grade. I don't know if the kids could tell that I was having a bad day and were feeding off of it or what, but they were terrible! They were blatantly ignoring me, and some were actually arguing with me! I have never dealt with a class like that and I do not like it all. It was so frustrating. My cooperating teacher was also having a terrible day, so that just made it all worse. I literally came home yesterday, put on my pajamas, and watched tv all evening. Jason convinced me to go get ice cream after dinner (of mac and cheese) but I didn't anything other than that. It was bad, and I was hoping that today would be a better day. It wasn't...
Tuesday- I was so ready for this morning. I was ready to have a good, productive, successful, enjoyable day. Blah...
At 8:55 school starts. I begin by doing the necessary administrative procedures. After that, I start explaining the work the kids will be doing during the reading group time. Most of the way through that, the principal comes over the intercom "Lockdown! Lockdown! Lockdown!" with a very panicky voice. We all did the procedure as if it were a drill, and we tried to keep the kids calm and quiet just like we were supposed to. I had a feeling it was the real deal but I wasn't sure. After 20 minutes the bell rings and the principal comes back on the intercom "Lockdown procedure is over, staff will be debriefed after school." And that was that. We eventually got info that there was a shooting across the street. Apparently there was a road rage incident, they pulled over across the street, a fight broke out, then there were shots fired. I don't think anyone was hurt, the shots were fired into the air, but it was still incredibly scary.
After that, an acredidation team came to visit the school. Everyone was very tense and worried about staying on schedule, saying the right things, and doing the right activities. My teacher was so stressed it was almost palpable. It turned out to not be a big deal at all, but we didn't know that until the end of the day. And, to top it all off, we had a student vomit in the middle of class. She had been feeling sick all day and it just finally caught up to her. Thankfully I had stepped out of the class for literally 30 seconds and it happened then, which is good because I might have joined her, but I felt so bad for her. The kids all reacted pretty well, and the little girl went home. It was just the icing on the cake for the day.
I really hope that tomorrow is better, but there are no specials or pull outs on Wednesdays, so it is going to be a LONG day even if everything goes well. I'm not looking forward to it, but I can't imagine it would be any worse than the last two days have been. I'll let you know if tomorrow is better, but I'm not holding my breath. Prayers are appreciated!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Plans and changes
I feel like a lot has happened and not much has happened at the same time since I last posted. This week felt pretty uneventful. We had an early release day on Wednesday, which was nice, but it was a pretty typical week. I'm still having trouble adjusting to this student teaching placement... I don't know what it is: whether I am just so used to the Lubbock school system and this is too different, that I am not clicking as well with this teacher, or that I have not fully adjusted to being home. I just am not sure what to do to finally settle in. I still feel like I have to go visit my parents whenever I have some free time because I will be going back to Lubbock any day and I won't get to see them for a while.
On the other hand, I love being here and I feel like the next logical step is for us to have kids. Jason doesn't quite agree with me, though... He wants to have a while for us to be "just us" before we think about kids, which I understand, but we have been married for more than 3 years, we own a house, Jason has a job, I will be done with school in a month and a half... doesn't it make sense to have kids now? I see how my sister's kids are and how much we both love being around them and I wonder "when is it my turn?" My parents are getting to have the "grandparent experience" now that my sister doesn't live with them and I see how much they love it. I want for them to love our kids just as much, but sometimes I can't help but think that my sister took that from me. I know they will love all of their grandchildren, but sometimes I wonder if our kids will be as special to them because they already will have at least two. I don't know, just some things I have been thinking about. I know it is going to be a number of months before we actually consider it, but I so badly want to be a mother that I can't help but think about it often.
I am really missing my Lubbock friends. It is so hard being an hour different than Lubbock because every time I think about calling anyone I realize it is an hour later and it is inconvenient for whomever I want to call (like dinner time or bed time...). I just so badly want to be able to call my friend and just be able to drive over to her house to decompress from a hard day at school, go eat Fazoli's, and play the wii or watch a chick-flick. (You know how you are.) I miss her, especially, but I miss my other Lubbock friends as well. I miss going to church at FBC, painting pottery at Clay Cafe, and having girls' nights out. It is still taking me a lot of time to get used to living here, like I said earlier. I have no idea how we are going to make friends. Jason is not quite ready to get into a home fellowship group through church (like a small group that meets during the week) or to start working in the children's ministry at chuch. I know we will meet people there, but until then we are still hanging out with our parents mostly. Not that that is a bad thing, it would just be nice to have some friends our age. Actually, Jason has friends here. His high school buddies are still here and they hang out at least weekly, and while I enjoy spending time with them they are not the same as girlfriends.
Ok, sorry I'm just ranting. We are seriously persuing our kitchen remodel. The bathroom, closet, and office (finally, after this weekend) are all done and the next project is the kitchen. It is painful thinking about how much it is going to cost us, but we will get it done and it will be much more functional and I will be able to be a better wife because hopefully I will enjoy it enough to want to cook some more. Yesterday I finally got to see the cabinets and counter tops I picked together and I LOVED them. They are just exactly the way I pictured them in my head and it made me so excited! It is going to be hard to stay within our budget, but thankfully the people we are working with are very kind and are able to give us a whole lot of options for what we like. I will post pictures of all the completed projects when we get more batteries for the camera.
I hope you have a blessed week and I will write again when I have a chance! Take care and God bless.
On the other hand, I love being here and I feel like the next logical step is for us to have kids. Jason doesn't quite agree with me, though... He wants to have a while for us to be "just us" before we think about kids, which I understand, but we have been married for more than 3 years, we own a house, Jason has a job, I will be done with school in a month and a half... doesn't it make sense to have kids now? I see how my sister's kids are and how much we both love being around them and I wonder "when is it my turn?" My parents are getting to have the "grandparent experience" now that my sister doesn't live with them and I see how much they love it. I want for them to love our kids just as much, but sometimes I can't help but think that my sister took that from me. I know they will love all of their grandchildren, but sometimes I wonder if our kids will be as special to them because they already will have at least two. I don't know, just some things I have been thinking about. I know it is going to be a number of months before we actually consider it, but I so badly want to be a mother that I can't help but think about it often.
I am really missing my Lubbock friends. It is so hard being an hour different than Lubbock because every time I think about calling anyone I realize it is an hour later and it is inconvenient for whomever I want to call (like dinner time or bed time...). I just so badly want to be able to call my friend and just be able to drive over to her house to decompress from a hard day at school, go eat Fazoli's, and play the wii or watch a chick-flick. (You know how you are.) I miss her, especially, but I miss my other Lubbock friends as well. I miss going to church at FBC, painting pottery at Clay Cafe, and having girls' nights out. It is still taking me a lot of time to get used to living here, like I said earlier. I have no idea how we are going to make friends. Jason is not quite ready to get into a home fellowship group through church (like a small group that meets during the week) or to start working in the children's ministry at chuch. I know we will meet people there, but until then we are still hanging out with our parents mostly. Not that that is a bad thing, it would just be nice to have some friends our age. Actually, Jason has friends here. His high school buddies are still here and they hang out at least weekly, and while I enjoy spending time with them they are not the same as girlfriends.
Ok, sorry I'm just ranting. We are seriously persuing our kitchen remodel. The bathroom, closet, and office (finally, after this weekend) are all done and the next project is the kitchen. It is painful thinking about how much it is going to cost us, but we will get it done and it will be much more functional and I will be able to be a better wife because hopefully I will enjoy it enough to want to cook some more. Yesterday I finally got to see the cabinets and counter tops I picked together and I LOVED them. They are just exactly the way I pictured them in my head and it made me so excited! It is going to be hard to stay within our budget, but thankfully the people we are working with are very kind and are able to give us a whole lot of options for what we like. I will post pictures of all the completed projects when we get more batteries for the camera.
I hope you have a blessed week and I will write again when I have a chance! Take care and God bless.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Carnivals, Halloween, and closets
This week was much less busy, but it still felt crazy. The beginning of the week was relatively easy. I went to a math workshop on Tuesday, but it didn't really apply to me since I have never taught math in this curriculum before. I was pretty bored, but I guess it was good for me to go to in case I end up teaching 3rd grade in the future. The weird part was that it was at a building named after someone I knew. She passed away a while back, but she was the mother of a childhood friend of mine. It was kinda strange. A nice tribute to her though.
Tuesday evening we carved pumpkins with my brothers. They have never carved pumpkins before and didn't even know what they were doing until they came to our house. They were so cute, they carved every single side of their pumpkin, lol. David wanted to carve the scariest thing possible, so he picked a scary Jack-o-lantern face. Sam carved Frankenstein. They also did bats, ghosts, initials, a lion, etc. It was really fun to see how much they enjoyed it. Jordan also came over and he colored a pumpkin. He helped me clean out mine a little, but just ended up hurting himself whenever he had a sharp tool, so we just avoided that as much as possible.
Thursday was our fall carnival at school. I convinced Jason to go to see all the teachers that are still at the school who he had growing up. I am student teaching with one of them, and there are 3 others at the school still. He had a blast and I thought it was awesome seeing how excited the teachers got when they saw him. It made me think about my elementary teachers and I wish I could go visit them. We will see if I can work out a time to go over there, but right now I will have to settle for hearing stories about little Jason. He has such a good time, it was really cool.
Friday evening we had our date night after cleaning up the house. We never go to dinner on Fridays because the restaurants are always really busy, but we did this week. We went to Teofilo's, which was delicious. It is a restaurant we never think about going to, but I'm glad we did. I had a delicious chile relleno... mmm...
Saturday we got to sleep in. After getting up I spent the morning cleaning our house. I feel like that is all I get to do on the weekends, lol. I actually got to go to lunch with my sister, her boyfriend, and her babies. It was nice to spend time with them. Jordan dressed up as a boxer and was absolutely adorable. Then I got home and we finished cleaning the house and got the place ready for our dinner party. We just had Jason's parents, my mom, my sister (and her posse), and a friend of ours. My dad and brothers were hunting deer. It was a great evening full of fantastic food and wonderful people. Too bad our house isn't better organized or it would have been perfect and we wouldn't have had to close all our doors so people couldn't see in the messy rooms, haha. We are getting closer though! We had a few trick-or-treaters, and I'm glad we didn't have a ton. It was a pretty relaxed evening.
Today we went to church, went to lunch, got an estimate for our kitchen remodel (OUCH!!) and then spent the afternoon working on finishing our closet and working on homework. Jason's parents came over to help with the closet (which they have practically done all the work for) and I was working on homework. I don't know what we would do without them working on our house like they do. If only they could do all the work for the kitchen we would be set! haha. Yeah, we won't even go there... yet.
Overall this was a good week. I feel like there are a lot of things to write about, but then I never write quite as much as I expect. I hope you had a great Halloween and sorry that the blogs don't come more regularly. Once a week just seems to be the norm.
Jason's pumpkin and my pumpkin
Sam's pumpkin and David's pumpkin
Tuesday evening we carved pumpkins with my brothers. They have never carved pumpkins before and didn't even know what they were doing until they came to our house. They were so cute, they carved every single side of their pumpkin, lol. David wanted to carve the scariest thing possible, so he picked a scary Jack-o-lantern face. Sam carved Frankenstein. They also did bats, ghosts, initials, a lion, etc. It was really fun to see how much they enjoyed it. Jordan also came over and he colored a pumpkin. He helped me clean out mine a little, but just ended up hurting himself whenever he had a sharp tool, so we just avoided that as much as possible.
Thursday was our fall carnival at school. I convinced Jason to go to see all the teachers that are still at the school who he had growing up. I am student teaching with one of them, and there are 3 others at the school still. He had a blast and I thought it was awesome seeing how excited the teachers got when they saw him. It made me think about my elementary teachers and I wish I could go visit them. We will see if I can work out a time to go over there, but right now I will have to settle for hearing stories about little Jason. He has such a good time, it was really cool.
Friday evening we had our date night after cleaning up the house. We never go to dinner on Fridays because the restaurants are always really busy, but we did this week. We went to Teofilo's, which was delicious. It is a restaurant we never think about going to, but I'm glad we did. I had a delicious chile relleno... mmm...
Saturday we got to sleep in. After getting up I spent the morning cleaning our house. I feel like that is all I get to do on the weekends, lol. I actually got to go to lunch with my sister, her boyfriend, and her babies. It was nice to spend time with them. Jordan dressed up as a boxer and was absolutely adorable. Then I got home and we finished cleaning the house and got the place ready for our dinner party. We just had Jason's parents, my mom, my sister (and her posse), and a friend of ours. My dad and brothers were hunting deer. It was a great evening full of fantastic food and wonderful people. Too bad our house isn't better organized or it would have been perfect and we wouldn't have had to close all our doors so people couldn't see in the messy rooms, haha. We are getting closer though! We had a few trick-or-treaters, and I'm glad we didn't have a ton. It was a pretty relaxed evening.
Today we went to church, went to lunch, got an estimate for our kitchen remodel (OUCH!!) and then spent the afternoon working on finishing our closet and working on homework. Jason's parents came over to help with the closet (which they have practically done all the work for) and I was working on homework. I don't know what we would do without them working on our house like they do. If only they could do all the work for the kitchen we would be set! haha. Yeah, we won't even go there... yet.
Overall this was a good week. I feel like there are a lot of things to write about, but then I never write quite as much as I expect. I hope you had a great Halloween and sorry that the blogs don't come more regularly. Once a week just seems to be the norm.
Jason's pumpkin and my pumpkin
Sam's pumpkin and David's pumpkin
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Weekly update
Looks like that is all I am going to have time to do for the next few weeks. My life is chaos... I'll try to give a quick rundown of my week:
Monday- Woke up early and drove to El Paso. It was a four hour drive, plus stopping for lunch. Jason's parents drove me, so I didn't have to do the trip on my own, thankfully. We got there about an hour early so we drove around the UTEP campus (weird) and had some ice cream before my test. The test was ridiculously difficult. On top of having a cold and having to drive 4 hours, it was a 3.5 hour test! There was reading, writing, listening, and speaking parts to the test, all in Spanish, and I have absolutely no idea how well I did. I thought I would find out last week, but I didn't, so I just have to keep waiting. I am honestly not sure whether I passed or not, but I figure I have a really good excuse if I didn't: I was sick! Hopefully I passed because I don't want to have to pay the money to take it again. We drove back right after I was done with the test and got home around 11 pm. It made for a really long day.
Tuesday- I got to sleep in a little bit, which was nice because of the long day that Monday was. I didn't do nearly enough productive things on Tuesday, but I did a few. I got the window on our campershell fixed, finally. It broke this summer and we never got it fixed before I went to Lubbock. After that I was able to meet with my supervisor for my student teaching split here. She is super nice and has a very convenient connection... to the principal at the school that I want to teach at when I graduate! Apparently they are really good friends. It is an all-bilingual school that just opened in Albuquerque and my supervisor is sure they are going to want to expand next year. I am so excited about it because she got so excited about it! I will keep you posted on any developments. After meeting with her I went and spent some time with my new niece. She is just precious.
Wednesday- day 1 of student teaching in NM. I am with Jason's second grade teacher. It is really different because the schools are sooooooo different. I had 13 students in TX, but in NM I have 25. That is not the only difference, but it is one of the biggest. I am looking forward to learning from my cooperating teacher and to getting to know the school.
Thursday- Day 2 of student teaching. I felt much more comfortable Thursday than Wednesday. The kids are getting used to me pretty quickly, which is nice, so I know it is only a matter of time before they start asking me things and pushing my buttons to see what the limits are with me. I just hope I can get used to having so few resources in this school compared to TX. They aren't even allowed to make copies! I don't get it, but something is working because their test scores are pretty good. I am going to learn a lot.
Friday- I had planned on being really productive Friday as well, but it didn't happen. I did fill out a job application, but that was about it. I spent time with my sister and her kids while Paul was out running errands. It is nice being around them so much and getting to know Shelby while she is little. I wasn't around Jordan much when he was this small, so it is kinda nice. I started working on Shelby's baby blanket for Christmas, but I ran into a roadblock, so not much got done. That is all that happened on Friday, though, but it was a pretty good day.
Saturday- Another lazy day. Though I did put a box away, work more on job applications, and cleaned the house a little bit. I spent a lot of time with my family again. We went to lunch with Jason's parents as Jason and Ken took a break from working. Then, I went to town with my mom while Jason was working on pulling out our old fence with his dad. I had a really nice, long talk with my mom (that's another post...) and it was a good afternoon. We took the puppy to "puppy class" and ran a couple of errands. Then, Saturday night, we went bowling with my parents, siblings, niece and nephew. Paul even came. Me, Paul, Lauren, David, and Sam played lazer tag while Jason and Jordan played together and my parents watched Shelby. The boys had never played before, so that was fun. Then we all bowled together. I have no idea who won, but it was so much fun seeing everyone play and helping Jordan. I think we all had a good time. Lauren spent most of the time feeding and holding Shelby, so she didn't get to bowl much, but I think she still had a good time. It was a great day.
Sunday- Today we went to church, Home Depot, lunch, then came home so I could do homework, in that order. We went to lunch with my parents and Jordan, which was fun. I got most of my homework done and I filled out another job application. I am always curious as to whether I filled out the application completely right, so that is hard, but I just have to trust myself. After doing homework we went to a house warming party for Jason's cousin. It was nice to spend that time with Jason's family and extended family. They are hillarious. And after that we went to hang out with some of Jason's friends to watch Sunday Night Football. We don't get to spend all that much time with them, so it was nice to see them. Then, we came home and I have been doing this ever since.
I know that was a really long update, but I had to write about my week because so much stuff happened! Tomorrow I get to get back into the classroom and learning more about teaching! I'm excited to see what this coming week holds and I will keep updating when I have time. Take care, and I hope you enjoyed reading about my incredibly crazy life.
Monday- Woke up early and drove to El Paso. It was a four hour drive, plus stopping for lunch. Jason's parents drove me, so I didn't have to do the trip on my own, thankfully. We got there about an hour early so we drove around the UTEP campus (weird) and had some ice cream before my test. The test was ridiculously difficult. On top of having a cold and having to drive 4 hours, it was a 3.5 hour test! There was reading, writing, listening, and speaking parts to the test, all in Spanish, and I have absolutely no idea how well I did. I thought I would find out last week, but I didn't, so I just have to keep waiting. I am honestly not sure whether I passed or not, but I figure I have a really good excuse if I didn't: I was sick! Hopefully I passed because I don't want to have to pay the money to take it again. We drove back right after I was done with the test and got home around 11 pm. It made for a really long day.
Tuesday- I got to sleep in a little bit, which was nice because of the long day that Monday was. I didn't do nearly enough productive things on Tuesday, but I did a few. I got the window on our campershell fixed, finally. It broke this summer and we never got it fixed before I went to Lubbock. After that I was able to meet with my supervisor for my student teaching split here. She is super nice and has a very convenient connection... to the principal at the school that I want to teach at when I graduate! Apparently they are really good friends. It is an all-bilingual school that just opened in Albuquerque and my supervisor is sure they are going to want to expand next year. I am so excited about it because she got so excited about it! I will keep you posted on any developments. After meeting with her I went and spent some time with my new niece. She is just precious.
Wednesday- day 1 of student teaching in NM. I am with Jason's second grade teacher. It is really different because the schools are sooooooo different. I had 13 students in TX, but in NM I have 25. That is not the only difference, but it is one of the biggest. I am looking forward to learning from my cooperating teacher and to getting to know the school.
Thursday- Day 2 of student teaching. I felt much more comfortable Thursday than Wednesday. The kids are getting used to me pretty quickly, which is nice, so I know it is only a matter of time before they start asking me things and pushing my buttons to see what the limits are with me. I just hope I can get used to having so few resources in this school compared to TX. They aren't even allowed to make copies! I don't get it, but something is working because their test scores are pretty good. I am going to learn a lot.
Friday- I had planned on being really productive Friday as well, but it didn't happen. I did fill out a job application, but that was about it. I spent time with my sister and her kids while Paul was out running errands. It is nice being around them so much and getting to know Shelby while she is little. I wasn't around Jordan much when he was this small, so it is kinda nice. I started working on Shelby's baby blanket for Christmas, but I ran into a roadblock, so not much got done. That is all that happened on Friday, though, but it was a pretty good day.
Saturday- Another lazy day. Though I did put a box away, work more on job applications, and cleaned the house a little bit. I spent a lot of time with my family again. We went to lunch with Jason's parents as Jason and Ken took a break from working. Then, I went to town with my mom while Jason was working on pulling out our old fence with his dad. I had a really nice, long talk with my mom (that's another post...) and it was a good afternoon. We took the puppy to "puppy class" and ran a couple of errands. Then, Saturday night, we went bowling with my parents, siblings, niece and nephew. Paul even came. Me, Paul, Lauren, David, and Sam played lazer tag while Jason and Jordan played together and my parents watched Shelby. The boys had never played before, so that was fun. Then we all bowled together. I have no idea who won, but it was so much fun seeing everyone play and helping Jordan. I think we all had a good time. Lauren spent most of the time feeding and holding Shelby, so she didn't get to bowl much, but I think she still had a good time. It was a great day.
Sunday- Today we went to church, Home Depot, lunch, then came home so I could do homework, in that order. We went to lunch with my parents and Jordan, which was fun. I got most of my homework done and I filled out another job application. I am always curious as to whether I filled out the application completely right, so that is hard, but I just have to trust myself. After doing homework we went to a house warming party for Jason's cousin. It was nice to spend that time with Jason's family and extended family. They are hillarious. And after that we went to hang out with some of Jason's friends to watch Sunday Night Football. We don't get to spend all that much time with them, so it was nice to see them. Then, we came home and I have been doing this ever since.
I know that was a really long update, but I had to write about my week because so much stuff happened! Tomorrow I get to get back into the classroom and learning more about teaching! I'm excited to see what this coming week holds and I will keep updating when I have time. Take care, and I hope you enjoyed reading about my incredibly crazy life.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
New babies and sickness
My sister had her baby on Friday! Little Shelby Grace weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz, which is way bigger than they expected her to be, so we were all very thankful about that. Apparently she was born after 3 pushes, so she practicaly walked out. She was healthy and went home yesterday evening. I met her today. I have a cold, so I had to wear a mask while I was holding her, but it was totally worth it. She is precious and I am looking forward to getting to know her. Paul was there with them when we got there this morning, and we know it will be only a matter of time before he moves in with them, but we are hoping they don't rush into anything. It appears to be Paul's baby, which I think we are thankful about, but he had decided he wants to be the dad no matter what which is mature of him. I still don't think my sister understands how hard it is going to be to have two kids on her own, but she has a lot of help so I think she will be OK. At least I know the kids won't suffer.
So as I mentioned I am sick. I had a temp of 100.3 earlier, which isn't the worst fever I have ever had, but it certainly doesn't feel good. I have a terrible headache and a stuffy nose, but hopefully my fever is gone and I won't have to deal with it tomorrow when I go to El Paso.
Yep, El Paso... I have to take my last certification test in El Paso tomorrow, and thankfully my in-laws are going to drive me down there so I don't have to make the trip alone. I am nervous because I am feeling sick, but hopefully I will pass it the first time and not have to worry about it any more. I'm sure God didn't let me take the test earlier in the year because He knew how much practice I would get during my first split of student teaching, and that would prepare me for the test. I just have to pray that I don't have any kind of mental block and that I use the skills God has given me to pass the test. Pray for me!
So as I mentioned I am sick. I had a temp of 100.3 earlier, which isn't the worst fever I have ever had, but it certainly doesn't feel good. I have a terrible headache and a stuffy nose, but hopefully my fever is gone and I won't have to deal with it tomorrow when I go to El Paso.
Yep, El Paso... I have to take my last certification test in El Paso tomorrow, and thankfully my in-laws are going to drive me down there so I don't have to make the trip alone. I am nervous because I am feeling sick, but hopefully I will pass it the first time and not have to worry about it any more. I'm sure God didn't let me take the test earlier in the year because He knew how much practice I would get during my first split of student teaching, and that would prepare me for the test. I just have to pray that I don't have any kind of mental block and that I use the skills God has given me to pass the test. Pray for me!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
So close I can taste it
I am almost halfway done with student teaching! I can't believe that my 8 weeks in Lubbock are already over! It seems like just the other day I was pulling into the driveway with my truckload of stuff to unpack and start my adventure here alone. Now BAM! I am done with Lubbock and headed back home! It has been wonderful, crazy, and a definite learning experience. I am so excited to put into practice all the things I have learned already. Not to mention, I get to meet a whole new class of students a week from tomorrow and I get to learn abot teaching 3rd graders! I know they are going to be quite a bit different from my 5th graders, but at the same time they will still be independent and I will be able to joke around with them a little bit. I really think I am going to like my teacher. I have heard really great things about her. Hopefully I can get into contact with her tomorrow and we can introduce ourselves and get some of the logistics figured out for when I start. It is going to be great to be home!
On the flip side of that, however, I am going to miss my friends tremendously. One in particular, whom I have seen at least 3 times each week since I have been here. We always joke about not being able to be friends anymore because we don't want to get close and then me have to leave. Yeah, so much for that. If anything we hung out more, lol. She is a huge blessing in my life and these past 8 weeks would have been absolute torture without her. I am praying we will be able to keep our friendship just as strong, even while living 300 miles apart.
It feels really weird to be leaving Lubbock. Don't get me wrong, I am going home, to my family and my husband, but I'm not ready to leave behind all my friends here. Plus I know I will not be coming back here until December when I graduate, which is a really long time from now! I hope I can keep in contact with everyone but I know that is not really all that realistic. God has a plan for all this and I have to be open to it, I just hope His plan keeps my friends in my life. Meeting new people back home is going to be difficult. Very few people I was friends with in high school are still in Albuquerque, so I am going to have to make new friends. Our church is so big that it is hard to meet people there unless we join a home fellowship or something, but that means stepping out of our comfort zone, which we are not terribly excited about. We also want to work in the children's ministry at church, but we aren't entirely sure we will have time. All of these things are riding on how demanding my schedule is once moving back. I'm not sure I am ready to grow up quite yet!
Speaking of growing up... my sister is going to have her baby on Friday, if she doesn't have her before then. The doctors are going to induce sometime on Friday. That makes things very interesting because I will be coming home on Saturday and my sister has already asked for my help this weekend. I told her I will do what I can, but I have a certification test on Monday that has to take priority. This stupid test is in El Paso (ick) because they are not offering it in Lubbock. So Jason's wonderful parents are going to drive me down there so I can take my test, however long that takes, then they are going to drive me back home. I wouldn't be able to do it without them and I am so thankful that they are willing to do that for me!
OK, gotta go to bed. Please pray for my sister. Things are about to get really tough for her, and I'm not convinced she knows what to expect, no matter what she says. She is going to need the Lord more than ever starting on Friday, and I would ask that you pray that she would recognize that sooner rather than later. Also, please pray for me: moving home, certification test, meeting friends, and settling back into my life in NM. Thanks and if I can ever pray for you just let me know! Take care and God bless.
On the flip side of that, however, I am going to miss my friends tremendously. One in particular, whom I have seen at least 3 times each week since I have been here. We always joke about not being able to be friends anymore because we don't want to get close and then me have to leave. Yeah, so much for that. If anything we hung out more, lol. She is a huge blessing in my life and these past 8 weeks would have been absolute torture without her. I am praying we will be able to keep our friendship just as strong, even while living 300 miles apart.
It feels really weird to be leaving Lubbock. Don't get me wrong, I am going home, to my family and my husband, but I'm not ready to leave behind all my friends here. Plus I know I will not be coming back here until December when I graduate, which is a really long time from now! I hope I can keep in contact with everyone but I know that is not really all that realistic. God has a plan for all this and I have to be open to it, I just hope His plan keeps my friends in my life. Meeting new people back home is going to be difficult. Very few people I was friends with in high school are still in Albuquerque, so I am going to have to make new friends. Our church is so big that it is hard to meet people there unless we join a home fellowship or something, but that means stepping out of our comfort zone, which we are not terribly excited about. We also want to work in the children's ministry at church, but we aren't entirely sure we will have time. All of these things are riding on how demanding my schedule is once moving back. I'm not sure I am ready to grow up quite yet!
Speaking of growing up... my sister is going to have her baby on Friday, if she doesn't have her before then. The doctors are going to induce sometime on Friday. That makes things very interesting because I will be coming home on Saturday and my sister has already asked for my help this weekend. I told her I will do what I can, but I have a certification test on Monday that has to take priority. This stupid test is in El Paso (ick) because they are not offering it in Lubbock. So Jason's wonderful parents are going to drive me down there so I can take my test, however long that takes, then they are going to drive me back home. I wouldn't be able to do it without them and I am so thankful that they are willing to do that for me!
OK, gotta go to bed. Please pray for my sister. Things are about to get really tough for her, and I'm not convinced she knows what to expect, no matter what she says. She is going to need the Lord more than ever starting on Friday, and I would ask that you pray that she would recognize that sooner rather than later. Also, please pray for me: moving home, certification test, meeting friends, and settling back into my life in NM. Thanks and if I can ever pray for you just let me know! Take care and God bless.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Less than two weeks!
I can't believe that I am already going to be moving home in less than two weeks! It is crazy! I feel like I just got here and that I am finally settling into the routines and getting used to living with the amazing couple who have opened their house up to me. But no, in 10 days I will be headed back to my home, my husband, my family, and my puppy! I'm so excited to be going home, but at the same time I am not quite ready to say goodbye to all my friends here. Next week is going to be pretty difficult, and I am sure it is going to go by really quickly.
I have handed back basically all of the subjects I have been teaching and I am pretty much back to just observing. I teach some here and there, but mostly I just watch and help out where I can. Next week I am going to be observing in other classrooms and I am very curious about how that is going to work. I may spend half of the day with another class and then half of the day with this class, just so I don't completely ditch my teacher. We will just have to see how it goes, though.
Anyway, I am completely ready to go home and completely not ready to say goodbye to everyone here. It is a very strange way to feel and I hope I can figure it all out before I leave or I am going to feel very incomplete and confused. Pray for me!
I have handed back basically all of the subjects I have been teaching and I am pretty much back to just observing. I teach some here and there, but mostly I just watch and help out where I can. Next week I am going to be observing in other classrooms and I am very curious about how that is going to work. I may spend half of the day with another class and then half of the day with this class, just so I don't completely ditch my teacher. We will just have to see how it goes, though.
Anyway, I am completely ready to go home and completely not ready to say goodbye to everyone here. It is a very strange way to feel and I hope I can figure it all out before I leave or I am going to feel very incomplete and confused. Pray for me!
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