Happy Memorial Day/Everwood

So, Katie and I invited four people over for a picnic/cookout today. Didn't hear back from them until today and turns out they couldn't make it. So the house is clean and we have the day off with nothing to do. Around 9 o'clock, I realized I'd gotten dressed to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel and, other than that, I watched 8 episodes of the first season of Everwood. (14 in the past weekend.) Sounds pathetic, huh? Yeah, I agree ... only nine days of school until summer vacation!

Mr. and Mrs. Aaron and Liz Santavicca :)

Wow - it's been a long (but nice) 24 hours! As most of you know, I spent four wonderful years at Grove City College, three of which I spent 99% of my time with three of the best friends I could've ever imagined having! Sometimes I think about the summer before college when I spent EVERY day praying that I'd have good friends at college. When I realize that when God heard those prayers, He had hand-picked Aaron, Katie, and Nate, I'm so humbled by His sovereignty. You're lucky if you find ONE friend like them - and I got three! (Plus a few more back in Massachusetts!)

So today was Aaron's wedding ~ the first one of us to get married. What floored me about it was that three or four times he told me how much it meant to him to have us there. My automatic thought response was 1.) How the heck could I NOT be here? and 2.) You better not even THINK about not being at my wedding ... I think it's a necessity to be with your friends for life's most important moments and this wedding was definitely one of them!

The Lord really laid it on my heart this weekend that He specifically brought Aaron and Liz together to work as partners for Him. It made me think that I certainly don't need to rush or worry about meeting my future husband if God's already picked Him out for me. It's not always easy to think this way, but I'd certainly rather spend my time building my relationship with Him until He brings that person to me instead of wasting my time searching for my own relationship creations. Hmmm ... did that make sense?

If I had to choose one emotion for the whole weekend, it'd certainly be "overwhelmed." Basically, I became overwhelmed with how much you can love your brothers and sisters in Christ. To watch one of my best friends be SO happy today made me SO happy. And it makes me think of the other times when he was suffering that I couldn't help but truly feel that pain. I think that's an awesome blessing. Whatever that verse is ... about rejoicing in each other's joys and suffering in each other's trials ... I'm too tired to look it up. That's an awesome, awesome thing - that we can love each other so much that we can honestly rejoice AND suffer with them. Today was definitely a day for REJOICING! :) And to think that the ONLY reason we can even give or receive that love is because Christ first loved us.

So ... to Aaron and Liz ... congratulations and may your marriage shine brightly as a symbol of Christ's love for His children. I was blessed to be a part of your wedding day! I love you!

Winding Down

Katie yelled at me for posting a comment on her blog about not updating and then never updating myself. I guess things have happened, but they never seem to be important enough to relive by posting them on my blog OR they were so upsetting that I didn't want to think about them after they were finally resolved. So I'll do a quick update ...

Last Friday, I went on my class field trip (with third grade) to Pymatuning and Linesville, PA. I finally saw the gigantic mass of giant carp eating bread like piranas. Really, that's the best way to describe it. I need to get directions there so that I can take people when they come from MA. When I bring friends to New England to visit, I take them to Plymouth and Cape Cod and things like that. When I bring them here, I take them to see giant carp? Can someone explain to me why I chose to live HERE? It's funny how the little decisions you make eventually end up in a big decision and you - all of a sudden - realize you bought a house 11 hours away from home.

There was also a big blow-up in C.O.O.L. between myself and three teachers. Truth be told, they made things up (be it rumors or lies, I don't know), told my supervisor, and then he met with all of us. He'd hoped to TALK things out, but they just sat there staring at me and I ended up walking out crying and saying, "I'm done." (While I was thinking, "I certainly don't need to take this crap from any of you.") So, I spoke to my supervisor on the phone that evening and worked things out. I spoke to one of my friends at the meeting for a good hour on Saturday, and then I truly didn't have the energy to speak to the other two that weekend. We avoided each other Monday and, wouldn't you know, things were back to normal today? It's so high schoolish that I'm just forgetting about it and understanding that I learned a lot about people in the incident and now I know how I can act with each of them. It's over.

We did biggest loser at school for the past six weeks and I ended up coming in second. We did two rounds and over both of them, I only lost 13.5 pounds, but I made $30 out of the deal. Pretty sweet. :) And we had a good time supporting each other.

I received my Certificate of Approval for foster care this weekend. Haven't gotten any calls, yet. As far as I understood, I'll be called whenever they receive a referral for foster care, whether the kids meet my specifications or not. I'm always free to say "yes" or "no." I think it's sporadic when they receive referrals, however, I'd assume I'd get one sometime in the near future, even if I don't accept them. I can't imagine what I'll do over the summer if I don't have a job OR kids to take care of! I think I'll be bored out of my mind (and quite poor, as well!)

Took the puppies to puppy play day on Saturday and bought an outfit for Santavicca's wedding. (Ahhh!) That's this weekend. There are only 12 days left of school (10 with the kids). It'll be nice to sleep in and have time to work on the house. My life isn't so exciting, so I think I'll end it there. Thanks for reading!

Sick Puppy!

I have never experienced owning a sick pet, but I can't say as I like it! When Dawson had surgery, he was kinda weird, but he didn't usually seem to be in PAIN. Since yesterday afternoon, Dawson has had terrible diarrhea (spelling?) at least once every two hours, but usually more often. Needless to say, I "slept" on the couch so I could hear him whining and take them both outside. For each hour in the night, I probably spent 30 minutes sleeping and 10 minutes outside with the dogs in the RAIN. The rest of the time was spent laying on the couch thinking about how tired I would be today.

I WAS tired, but got over it by running errands and mowing the lawn. I don't think anyone hates Wal-Mart as much as I do now-a-days, with the exception of Katie. I wonder if HER hatred for the place has seeped into my thinking. I spent $19 on hair stuff at Wal-Mart today. Necessary? Probably not. Stocking up on some things while they were on sale and I had coupons. I hate spending money on things that are literally temporary. I know it's ALL temporary in the grand scheme of eternity, but I'm specifically talking about food and cleaning stuff. I'd much rather buy furniture or put it towards my savings for a fenced in backyard (so the dogs can run.) I can't believe how much of my life is spent trying to make like easier in regards to taking care of the dogs or actually taking care of them. I can't imagine having children. LOL

Not a very interesting post, but I wanted to take a break before cleaning the second floor. Hoping Katie will want Chinese tonight, but considering we had it twice last week, it's sort of a long shot. :)

Sex Ed

I think every human being should, at one time or another, sit in a classroom of fourth grade girls while the nurse gives "the talk." When my twelve ten-year-old girls asked me to stay in the room for moral support during "the talk," I didn't think anything of it. As the nurse put in "the movie" and then was called to her office, I realized that it was just as uncomfortable as an adult teacher as it was when I was in elementary school (the fifth grade, I think - and it wasn't as detailed as this time!) Anyways, these are some things that were said that I think you might enjoy ... I don't think any of them are offensive and, if they are, I apologize in advance.

So, the nurse just got down teaching the girls about "menstruation" and said they they could expect to get their periods when they were eleven or twelve years old. Directly after that statement, she explains that if an egg meets a sperm then a baby is created. If you could've seen the deer-in-headlights eyes of most of the girls. One girl's eyes in particular looked like they were going to pop out of her head and she sort of yelled, "What if you don't want that to happen, you don't want to have a baby?" The nurse calmly replied, "Well then, you would refrain from having a sperm meet the egg." OK, is THAT an explanation? The child promptly replied with an attitude, "Well, how do I stop THAT from happening?" It took every muscle in my body to keep from both laughing and peeing my pants. It was hysterical.

Another girl, quite bluntly, asked, "Hey, I keep seeing the Trojan man on the television and I NEED to know what a condom is." Response to that: "Ask your mother."

On a not-so-light-and-funny-note, I was disturbed when a student said her mother went on birth control when she was 13 because she wasn't ready to have a baby. She innocently asked, "What's birth control? I think I'll go on in when I'm 13, too, because my mom doesn't want me to have a baby." Seriously, the children in the world today are in such need of sound moral Biblical teaching.

A highlight of the conversation was when the nurse began talking about needing to talk to an adult female, either mother or second-mother-type-person, about these things and one of my students (who I mentor through a special program) pointed at me and mouthed the words, "That's you." People wonder how Christians can have an impact in the public school system and, to me, that moment says it all. We're called simply (but NOT so simply) to love these children with the love of Christ. What an awesome calling!

Hope you enjoyed those snapshots from my life! ;)

Goodbye Anthony ... :(

So Katie and I think Anthony and Carrie have something going on ... they sing together all the time and did you see her freaking out when he was singing for the last time. Even said, "I love you." Hmmm ... think she's robbin' the cradle? ;)

Rough day today. I got really mad when my coverage was taken away from me this morning for a training that I "had" to be at. Finally someone covered, but she shouldn't have been the one that had to.

Also, my friend Jenny, who had a baby and then got sick ... well, I've really wanted to talk to her to find out where she stands on her belief in God. She seems like a really good person and very interested in her Catholic faith. Today she walked into lunch and asked me if I'd seen the billboard on State St. that said, "There are so many choice on earth. Eternity only has two. What's it gonna be?" or something like that. I said, "Yeah," and made some small talk. As if I'd missed my first cue, she then said, "It also makes me nervous. Like where do I fit in there and how can I be sure." Basically, that's saying, "I have a belief in God, I want to accept Him and be with Him for eternity, but I need the Gospel presented clearly." I don't think I deserve for God to give me another chance like that! I totally blew it. My only comfort is 1.) my mistakes won't mess up God's will and 2.) I can always say, "I've been thinking about what you said at lunch ... I know how you can be sure ..." Pray for me and my lack of boldness, please.

I'm sure someone will be able to comment on me not being able to mess up God's will. ;) Night!

Foster Care

What a day ... early dismissal followed by a meeting where I had to plan the 4th grade curriculum for next year, pretending that I was going to teach fourth grade, and knowing that there's a huge possibility that I'll be teaching first. And trying to just keep my mouth SHUT.

Then Tabitha came, the caseworker with the foster care organization that I'm working with. The recruiter, Tim, had to come down from Erie for me to "meet the caseworker." That entailed coming in with the caseworker and saying, "Hey girls, this is Tabitha. Tabitha, this is Kim and Katie." Why the crap would they make him drive an hour and a half to say that, only to have to turn around and drive right back to Erie? I SO could've introduced myself. That was silly!

Anyways, the girl didn't look much older than me and she reminded me of Jodi Henkiel. (Did I spell your name right, Jodi?) Anyways, she talked a lot. Hold on, that's not a bad thing, Jodi! She was just super-friendly and made me feel comfortable immediately. She had a lot of information that she had to cover, but I'd already heard it from Tim in January during my first meeting. I'm still super-interested in foster care, but afterwards, Katie said, "I'm sure glad that I'm not the one doing this - because it's a huge responsibility." Now that seems to make Katie seem irresponsible, but that's not the case at all. She's totally right. I think having my own kids would be less of a responsibility. ;) Because foster care requires adult supervision 24-7. Also, the adults watching the kids, other than myself or Katie, will need to have their clearances sent into the agency, as well. Can you picture this? "Excuse me, would you like to baby-sit for some children (who potentially have mucho baggage) and, by the way, before you can baby-sit for a mere $10/hour, I also need to get criminal background checks for the government." That'd scare me off from any baby-sitting job I know. Any 18 year olds out there in western PA who wanna take up that responsibility? Heh ... that's what I thought. And if you don't meet those regulations, please pray that I find someone that does eventually. LOL

OK, Katie just said, "Aww, it's working, that means you're never going to sleep." I'm gonna prove her wrong and get off instantly. She's still trying to vote for Anthony ... she has been for an hour. She just got through! Alright. Peace out. Random question ... How many people do you think can get through at one time when voting for the next American Idol?

Simple Things

It's amazing how happy I can get over simple things. In my mind, a $5 purple bath mat from JCPenney totally transformed my bathroom. A free corner shelf from my neighbor fit perfectly into my dining room tonight. Then, to top things off, a simple light-colored FREE desk from my neighbor was exactly what I was looking on. It'll be nice not to use the computer at a child's desk anymore. Tonight, Katie even suggested we put the printer on the new desk instead of under the desk (and our feet!) What a wonderful day! :)

Observation

So this morning I found out that the superintendent would be at my "learning walk", but she didn't end up coming. In fact, none of the administration did. I was actually a little disappointed because my lesson went REALLY well. :) That's OK, I'm still glad we had a good start to the new unit on poetry.

I've had a field student for the past three weeks and this past Friday was his last day. He was AWESOME, but it was kind of fun to do all the teaching again today. I actually went into work early - I used to do that all the time, but sort of stopped come November. It really helps me prepare for the day and get into a good mindset. The only reason I woke up on time was because we left ALL of our windows open ALL night. The thermostat read 52 degrees when I woke up. That's really cold! (I felt like I was back at home with my parents ... I think they set the thermostat at 52 or so ...!)

I left C.O.O.L. early today to clean for the final interview/evaluation/meeting tomorrow afternoon for foster care. It was such a nice surprise because when I came home, Katie had already accomplished quite a bit on the list. I'm hoping to mostly finish things off so I don't have to leave her a list for tomorrow afternoon. I don't know why I'm so nervous - they already like me (and Katie) and have basically approved me. I just don't know what the caseworker will be like. I'm sure when I meet her, I'll be fine.

I'm off to mow the yard. My neighbor mows my front lawn about once a week. What a blessing! But it usually means I have to be out there mowing that afternoon because I can't stand there being short grass in the front and long grass along the side. The caseworker probably wouldn't even notice, but I'm gonna go put a tank top on and get a wee bit of sun before it goes down. I'll attempt to post on the "time" issue tonight before Everwood.

Two Posts In One Day!

So I met "hot Matt" tonight. Tricia's had this friend, Matt (a.k.a. "HOT MATT") that she's talked about for quite a while. Katie and I had a farewell dinner for Tricia at Rachel's and she brought Matt along. We're in agreement with his nickname. ;) Not the biggest conversationalist, but turns out the thing that he was most interested in was 1. the house and 2. foster care. Go figure.

I have 14-20 people coming to observe my classroom tomorrow morning. I have to teach a reading or a writing lesson. Thing is, I should be in the middle of a poetry unit, whereas I haven't actually begun the unit. It's hard to keep up towards the end of the year with all of the extra activities and testing going on. And the thing is at 8:45 so it's not like I can do a mega-lesson and be on-track when they get there. Should be interesting. It's not an "observation", but a "learning walk." Teachers are supposed to learn from being in each other's classroom. I think they do, but it certainly feels like an "evaluation" when they're in the room! I like to tell my kids that they are observing their behavior. ;)

Busy week at school. Five full days. In-service afternoon on Tuesday. Bully prevention training Wednesday morning. Actually, I was double-booked for training on Wednesday morning, but my principal chose for me to go to the bully thing. The other option was MY turn to go on a "learning walk" all morning. Turns out I get to be "walked on", but I won't get a chance to do the walking. That sucks.

Oh well. Out for the night. Almost gonna get eight hours of sleep! Exciting ...

By the way, I'm going to comment tomorrow on my almost-married friend's point of view of time according to a person who is single, a person who is engaged, and a person who is married. That'll be good. It'd be better if I went on about it now because he sort of pissed me off, but it'll probably be more thought-provoking if I wait until tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm a little concerned that I actually have one of these web log things now, but let me explain. I thought they were really lame. However, I found myself always updating myself on my friends' lives by reading their logs. Then, last night, come to find out, even Katie started one! And if Katie can start one, they can't be that lame. So here I am.

For four years in college, I couldn't make it home for Mother's Day, but I always was home for Father's Day (and my mom has not let me hear the end of it!) So this Mother's Day, I planned on surprising my mom by travelling home for the weekend. Then I was asked to sing and play at a memorial service, thought I was going to have to lead worship this morning, and scheduled my final interview with the foster care case-worker for Tuesday (which means mucho cleaning this weekend!) So, I feel rather terrible that I'm not home for Mother's Day ... next year, OK Mom?

Yes, so, I have a blog. And I will probably update it more often than is cool for a few weeks and then leave it to the world wide web without touching it for years. We'll see.