My sweet, patient husband and I slept in until 10:47 this morning. I feel horrible when I do that because I feel like I've wasted so much of my day. My momma always says my body wouldn't let me sleep that long if it didn't really need it. I hope she's right. I do feel slightly better today after battling two weeks of ickyness.
I'm still feeling overwhelmed by life, and really, by yearbook. This too shall pass, I guess.
I began this post last Saturday (2/11), and I'm just getting back to it now. I'm thinking that says a lot about how my days have gone.
This past week, I got to go to the SC Teacher of the Year Winter Workshop, and I left feeling rejuvenated and immensely proud of my profession. As the National Teacher of the Year, Michelle Shearer, said, "There are 47,000 teachers in public schools in South Carolina, and every single one of them could be doing something else. Teaching is a choice that we make to impact the future." My only wish as I left the beach on Friday was that every teacher could experience that workshop and be reminded of why they started down this path and why teachers matter so much.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Settlin' In
It's cold. Who knew? Yesterday, my husband and I strolled around the neighborhood while I wore flip-flops and capris and joked about getting a tan. It was only a partial joke as I really think I could have had some serious bronzing going on. Today, it's cold and rainy and our heat is running again. Global warming is no joke.
I'm currently trying to get in the mindset to read 20 papers on topics my students value. These are personal supported opinion essays where each student picks a topic about which he or she is passionate and then supports his or her opinion with research. I'm hoping some of them will be fun. Praying, is probably more accurate.
Speaking of praying, I've been spending my 20-minute trek to school in prayer and worship. It honestly seems like the absolute best start I could have to a day. This morning, I was listening to my David Crowder Band Church Music cd, and my favorite song touched my heart in the perfect way. Know that this song always moves me, but not in quite the way it did today...
Isn't it amazing that God would be jealous for someone like me? That love is amazing, and I am so unworthy...yet so very honored and grateful.
I'm currently trying to get in the mindset to read 20 papers on topics my students value. These are personal supported opinion essays where each student picks a topic about which he or she is passionate and then supports his or her opinion with research. I'm hoping some of them will be fun. Praying, is probably more accurate.
Speaking of praying, I've been spending my 20-minute trek to school in prayer and worship. It honestly seems like the absolute best start I could have to a day. This morning, I was listening to my David Crowder Band Church Music cd, and my favorite song touched my heart in the perfect way. Know that this song always moves me, but not in quite the way it did today...
Isn't it amazing that God would be jealous for someone like me? That love is amazing, and I am so unworthy...yet so very honored and grateful.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Above Water
I am so busy. It is my own fault. I don't say "no." It is simply not a part of my vocabulary. However, I am working extremely hard to keep my pretty brown-haired head bobbing just above the water. Luckily, life hasn't capsized me yet. Still yet, I don't know that being just ahead is something I should be proud of...should I?
I start each day with a "to-do list" that seems to be a mile long. Everything on it is not something I have to do; some of the list is made up of wants. I never get everything marked off in a given day. I'm beginning to accept that this is life...at least what life looks like for a responsible adult.
I guess this is all to say, I haven't been blogging with any sense of regularity. I am busy. I am "Weight Watching" (8 pounds gone). I am teaching. I am being a wife. This week, I'm working on making some time for me.
I start each day with a "to-do list" that seems to be a mile long. Everything on it is not something I have to do; some of the list is made up of wants. I never get everything marked off in a given day. I'm beginning to accept that this is life...at least what life looks like for a responsible adult.
I guess this is all to say, I haven't been blogging with any sense of regularity. I am busy. I am "Weight Watching" (8 pounds gone). I am teaching. I am being a wife. This week, I'm working on making some time for me.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
I Failed at Blogging This Week
I'm not really sure what happened to me keeping up with my blog this week. Oh yes, I do. It's called having 67 new students to get to know. That has consumed my life this week. By Friday, I was tired, worn out, and in desperate need of a lengthy nap. And to think, we only had school for four days. Wow.
This week, I will only be teaching for four days again because I will be attending the SCCTE conference in breathtaking Kiawah. I can't wait, but I still have a lot of preparing to do. I am an eternal procrastinator.
My fasting is still going well, though there have been days that I might have wanted a Coke so badly I wanted to validate my drinking one. I still haven't. I'm spending more time in prayer and believe in my breakthroughs.
It's late. I need sleep. School starts way too early.
This week, I will only be teaching for four days again because I will be attending the SCCTE conference in breathtaking Kiawah. I can't wait, but I still have a lot of preparing to do. I am an eternal procrastinator.
My fasting is still going well, though there have been days that I might have wanted a Coke so badly I wanted to validate my drinking one. I still haven't. I'm spending more time in prayer and believe in my breakthroughs.
It's late. I need sleep. School starts way too early.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Anticipation
As a teacher, I have tomorrow off from school in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. I'm a huge fan of MLK, but I prefer his wife. While he did a great job of getting civil rights started, she kept the fire burning all those years after his death. That takes/took amazing courage.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I get three new groups of students. One class is made up mostly of kids I've taught before, so I'm ready for those; the other two groups are brand new to me. Something about that makes me nervous. I'm ready for some new challenges, but I'm so accustomed to the students I've had for the past 90 days. They are unique in their own ways, and I will miss them terribly.
Really, the start of second semester is like a whole new year for me. New syllabi, new lesson plans, new kids...and it is nerve-wracking. Typically, there are two nights a school year when I know I just won't be able to sleep. One is the night before school starts, and the other is the night before second semester.
If you think about it on Monday, after you've celebrated the courage and amazing integrity of MLK, Jr. and his wife, say a prayer for me that these students will be gems...even if they do take a little polishing.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I get three new groups of students. One class is made up mostly of kids I've taught before, so I'm ready for those; the other two groups are brand new to me. Something about that makes me nervous. I'm ready for some new challenges, but I'm so accustomed to the students I've had for the past 90 days. They are unique in their own ways, and I will miss them terribly.
Really, the start of second semester is like a whole new year for me. New syllabi, new lesson plans, new kids...and it is nerve-wracking. Typically, there are two nights a school year when I know I just won't be able to sleep. One is the night before school starts, and the other is the night before second semester.
If you think about it on Monday, after you've celebrated the courage and amazing integrity of MLK, Jr. and his wife, say a prayer for me that these students will be gems...even if they do take a little polishing.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Fasting
Each year, my church participates in a churchwide fast following Jenetzen Franklin's model. We fast for 21 days, praying for God to move in our lives and praying for various breakthroughs. My parents are doing the Daniel fast (no meats, sweets, breads, processed foods), but I have decided to fast soda, Facebook, and my spirit of negativity, more specifically, complaining.
In the past few days, I've begun to notice how often and how quickly a complaint rises on my lips. Whether it's a negative statement about myself or another person, a complaint about my workload or our finances, I am not nearly as positive as I would like to be. I know that this negativity does terrible things to my spirit and to my witness, so I am fasting this negative trait that has bombarded my life. It is my hope that God will take it completely away from me.
As for soda and Facebook, they are addictions. Soda is not healthy for me and yet I partake in it anyway, and Facebook distracts me from many other things I could be doing with my time. I am fasting Facebook as a way to refocus my priorities. At first when I was making the decision to fast, I considered Facebook, and this voice in my head said, "No way! That's too hard!." A much quieter nagging voice kept pestering me, reminding me that this wasn't supposed to be easy.
So here I am, Day One. My Facebook app has been deleted from my phone. When I attempt to go to the website at school, luckily, this is what I see:
In the past few days, I've begun to notice how often and how quickly a complaint rises on my lips. Whether it's a negative statement about myself or another person, a complaint about my workload or our finances, I am not nearly as positive as I would like to be. I know that this negativity does terrible things to my spirit and to my witness, so I am fasting this negative trait that has bombarded my life. It is my hope that God will take it completely away from me.
As for soda and Facebook, they are addictions. Soda is not healthy for me and yet I partake in it anyway, and Facebook distracts me from many other things I could be doing with my time. I am fasting Facebook as a way to refocus my priorities. At first when I was making the decision to fast, I considered Facebook, and this voice in my head said, "No way! That's too hard!." A much quieter nagging voice kept pestering me, reminding me that this wasn't supposed to be easy.
So here I am, Day One. My Facebook app has been deleted from my phone. When I attempt to go to the website at school, luckily, this is what I see:
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Slow-Paced Saturday
I love a Saturday. It is definitely one of my favorite days of the week. I love waking up, realizing I have no pressing things to do like go to work or church and rolling over to catch just an hour or so more of sleep. There are few things as relaxing as my Saturday mornings.
Now, I'm sitting here, looking around my house at all that needs to be done to get it "straight," and thinking I should have set my alarm clock this morning. Four years into this marriage, and Hank and I still really haven't found a cleaning schedule that keeps our house insanely neat at all times. And more than most people, I love an insanely neat house. Something about it comforts me and makes me go to sleep with a smile on my face.
Somehow, though I absolutely love a clean house and the smell of cleanliness, I am not a cleaner. This is a personality flaw, I'm sure, but the idea of intense cleaning overwhelms me, and I'm usually left not really knowing where to start. In our family, Hank is the cleaner...and the cooker...and the laundry-doer, you know all those normal jobs that 1950s men declared were for women. He sometimes jokes that he'd make some man a wonderful wife.
This year, I've declared that I'm going to be much more helpful around the house with tidying and cleaning and laundering, but I haven't yet figured out my system. Do you have a weekly cleaning system that enables you to keep your house tidy at all times? If so, please share. This 2012 woman is in desperate need of one!
Now, I'm sitting here, looking around my house at all that needs to be done to get it "straight," and thinking I should have set my alarm clock this morning. Four years into this marriage, and Hank and I still really haven't found a cleaning schedule that keeps our house insanely neat at all times. And more than most people, I love an insanely neat house. Something about it comforts me and makes me go to sleep with a smile on my face.
Somehow, though I absolutely love a clean house and the smell of cleanliness, I am not a cleaner. This is a personality flaw, I'm sure, but the idea of intense cleaning overwhelms me, and I'm usually left not really knowing where to start. In our family, Hank is the cleaner...and the cooker...and the laundry-doer, you know all those normal jobs that 1950s men declared were for women. He sometimes jokes that he'd make some man a wonderful wife.
This year, I've declared that I'm going to be much more helpful around the house with tidying and cleaning and laundering, but I haven't yet figured out my system. Do you have a weekly cleaning system that enables you to keep your house tidy at all times? If so, please share. This 2012 woman is in desperate need of one!
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