Right now

I'm at a point

beyond exhaustion.


Everyday

I hold back tears

that are inevitably coming.


Someday

I'll see that light

at the end of this dark tunnel.


But today

I can just hold on

And pray I'll make it through-

Right Now.


Everyone has always said your first year of teaching is the hardest. I expected it. But there are just some things that you can't be prepared for.

Please pray that I will continue to love what I'm doing ... and that my enthusiasm will outweigh my exhaustion. That my 12 hours a day in the classroom will pay off. That my countless hours planning at home will be evident in the implementation of my lessons.

And most importantly, that i will reach each child where they are at, and help them achieve what I know is in each one of them.

SO many changes.....

I haven't posted in forever....but due to everything going on right now I think it's understandable.

Here is what I have been up to:

1. I moved to PA. That's right, I never thought I would say that. Yes the roads aren't that great but the schools are amazing!

2. I have a new roommate...Kirsten. She's teaching high school in Carlisle.

3. I have a job. I'm going to be a first grade teacher at Bermudian Springs Elementary School.

4. I have been decorating MY OWN classrooooom! I can't wait to post pictures of it. The hard part was going through all of the old teachers stuff.... very overwhelming.

5. Meet the teacher night is MONDAY! That means I meet my kids for about 5 minutes and then they are taken away and I am left with the parents for an hour. Pray they don't eat me alive....

6. WEDNESDAY is my first day of schooooool!


After countless hours of conferences, in services, and inductions I am feeling a bit drained. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. As you probably know, a teacher's first year is far from easy. Pray that I keep my enthusiasm for teaching!

I'll post pictures soon!

I GRADUATED!!!!

I GOT A CALL BACK FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW FOR A SCHOOL I APPLIED TO :)

Now I have to teach a lesson to "enhance comprehension of an expository text through the use of a graphic organizer."


The catch is.... I have to teach it to the Superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, and assistant principal. They are "pretending" to be my students. Oh boy. hahaha

Monday at 2....please keep me in your prayers :)

13 Days and Counting........

I can't believe there are only 13 days left until I graduate. Tuesday (the 5th) is my last day of classes ever... in my undergraduate career anyway. It's so sad to think I won't have my roommates to be with everyday. The same girls I have lived with since freshman year.....In the past we always had the fall to look forward to because we would see each other again. But on the 16th, after our graduation ceremony, I'll be standing on the turf taking pictures with all of my friends. I'll be saying goodbye to people that I know I will never see again. And I'll be forced to say goodbye to the girls that helped me survive college. I know I'll see them again- but living without them just won't be the same.

Friends you meet at college are of a different breed. You literally live with them. You eat with them. You fight, make up, and cry with them. You make a mess with them and then get motivated to have a huge spring cleaning day! They know you inside and out because... well... they have no other choice. haha Even though I know we will keep in touch.... graduating makes me feel like I'm leaving my 2nd family.

Has anyone ever heard Reggie Dabbs speak???? Those of you who go to creation may have heard him. He spoke at a youth worker conference at my school last Saturday. Anyway he is great and so inspirational!!!!! I definately think he should come to our church :). Look him up!

I had my first interview for a REAL job yesterdayyyyyy! I'm growing up! haha


And this will most likely be my last summer in Salisbury...weird.

Sooooo I've read a few posts about Valentines Day and what different people did so I thought that I would share mine. We went to one of those Japanese restaurants and it was sooo much fun!

Ever since I was little I have always loved Valentines day. Now I know that there are some "ogres" and "haters" out there but personally, I love it. I blame my mom. She always made a big deal of making a hunt for Matt and I to find candy. She would come up with rhymes and clues but our present would always be in the same place....under my parents bed. In elementary school I would make those little Valentines for all of my friends. In fact, the past few years in college I have gone to WalMart to buy the corny little valentines again to give out to my friends. The past two years I have bought Tinkerbell ones. My friends always look forward to it!

Anyway yes I can agree that we should show love EVERYDAY... but it's just fun to have a day that we can dedicate to the love we have for our friends, family, and maybe even a special someone ;-). Who cares if Hallmark makes a lot of money off of it. It's fun! And that's what I have to say about it!

Over break I met up with some friends from school! A lot of people are going away this J-term on different cross culturals...it's weird to think that this time last year I was already in Costa Rica...I wish I could go back. Anyway, one of my friends in the picture left yesterday for Hawaii. Here are some pics from our little going away party.

So I am back in school....but this time as a student...weird. It is definately different sitting in my seat and being told what to do rather than vice versa. Hopefully it will go well. This J-term I am taking a course called Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. Little did I know that this course was going to be completely discussion...which after seeing my class today I'm sure it's going to be a constant debate. For those of you who know me well, I tend to be pretty opinionated so pray that I don't do or say anything stupid haha and also that I will have patience for others! Haha

It's my last semester....weird.

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

Portfolio Time!

Well the semester has drawn to an end. This means I will be getting a life back and MAYBE even post regularly. I only have 3 days left student teaching.... it's bittersweet. I love my students but it has been very challenging. Now my final project is to create a portfolio to represent myself as a teacher....it's taking forever!

But good news! My principal did an official observation of me teaching and told me she wants me at their school...so it looks like I will be applying there for next fall...is this really happening? I never thought I would be a PA girl.

Enjoy the pics of my little kids :)

The Joys of Kindergarten

Setting: We were practicing what to do during a fire drill because we were told we were having one the next day. We explain how it's just a test and it's nothing to get upset about. We lined the kids up, walked outside, and turned to face the building.A woman walks out.....

Bobby: Be careful! There might be a fire in there tomorrow!

Then the following day... Bobby runs full speed outside as soon as the bell rings. We finally catch him and line everyone up. We are told we can go back inside when Bobby bursts into tears in line. I tried to calm him down and figure out what in the world could be wrong with him. I finally got him to talk, and in between his tears, this is what he said:

"WE ARE GOING INTO THE FIRE!!!!"

My roommates have come to expect a "Bobby" story everyday when I come home.

Random pictures from my life!

We ended up getting 2nd place in rec volleyball. :( I wish we won but we lost to a team that has a 7 ft tall giant on it....go i think thats an ok excuse.

So I have always enjoyed playing volleyball...even though the only thing I'm good at is serving. This fall some of my guy friends begged my roommates and I to join their rec volleyball team. In order to play "beach volleyball" outside you have to have at least two girls on the team. I really didn't want to because I was intimidated and didn't want to make them upset when I messed up. BUT they insisted we all play. Our first game was 2-1. Even though we didn't win, we were still happy that we won one game in the set! After that we won two games against other teams... making our overall score 2 wins to one loss.

Then last night happened. The guys that live across the hall from us have been taunting us and talking "smack" saying that they were going to win. We were scheduled to play them last night, and to be honest, i think we all kind of thought they would win. They are good volleyball players. They have a system. Bump. Middle front person sets. Then a big guy spikes. It's uniform.....My team on the other hand...not so conventional. We are diving all over the place, doing anything to hit it over. The guys constantly surround the girls just in case we hit it the wrong direction or something. ANYWAY the guys across the hall know what they are doing, while we basically do anything we can.

It turned out to be an intense game... neck and neck the whole time. We managed to win the first game and we could tell they were completely shocked. We should have won the 2nd game, but made stupid mistakes and lost in overtime. Then it came down to the 3rd game and we were 4 points behind. I think we all lost hope. Then out of no where we caught back up. (At one point i got spiked in the face by my own team hahaha) Anyway we had gone and finally they were like ok next point wins. It was my turn to serve... and I won the winning point! How crazy is that? If i hadn't have gotten it over, they would have won!

Sorry this is a long post. It's just really funny to me. I never thought we'd be good. But after the game the guys across the hall were extremely mad. We were afraid to talk to them (even though we knew if they had won that they would have rubbed it in our faces...but thats the difference between girls and guys i guess). Levi ended up bringing over candy for us girls as a peace offering I guess. We had laundry riding on the game... but I think i might give them a break haha

Freshman year I was randomly assigned to be on the 3rd floor of Solly. I didn't know anyone and no one knew me. Who would have thought that I would continue to live with these girls all four years of college? Although some of the friendships from freshman year have faded and new ones have developed, I still have my Solly girls by my side! My college career wouldn't have been the same without them!

***Kara and Jules (the Asian and the girl with dark brown hair) have birthdays in the summer so we never really get to celebrate them. This year we decided to have a surprise party for them. I baked a cake and we decorated the apartment and invited probably 30 of our closest friends over. They were completely surprised and had no idea what was going on. ANYWAY, I say that because after the party, some of our friends were taking roommate pics for us...and these are two of them!

My First Day of Kindergarten!

One of the guys across the hall kindly got up at 7 am last Friday to take a picture of Heather and I on our first day visiting our class that we are student teaching in. We go in every Friday for 5 weeks and then start full time October 6th. Right now we are taking other classes everyday and participating in workshops. It's a little overwhelming, but I know it will be fun! I go in again tomorrow. Right now we are doing assessments for the students to try and figure out who should be placed in the Extended Day Kindergarten Program. These are the students that could use extra help, especially in literacy.

Anyway pray for me! So far one of the boys colored himself from head to toe with red marker claiming to be spiderman. hahah I wasn't there for the actual incident but it was interesting that he was able to do this without the teacher knowing haha Good Times.

I'm backkkkkkkkkk!


I have so many stories and pictures but I can't do it all now. I'm just letting you know that I survived the trip and loved it. my words will not be able to come close to describing Costa Rica or the people I met there and on the trip! I feel like a part of me is missing now even though i'm real excited to be home.


i'll post pics and or stories soon!

Christmas Traditions


Every year I look forward to Christmas, not necessarily for the presents (although that is a plus) but for the traditions we have. My mom is big on traditions (I think she got that from Nannie). Every morning my dad wakes up really early (like before the sun is up early) so that he can go downstairs and start the fire and make sure everything is ready. When Matt and I were younger, we would wait on the stairs until we heard the Chipmunk music, which meant we could go downstairs. Now that we are older though, my dad usually makes sure we are up and ready for present time. My mom would always shower and get dressed before hand because my dad would tape christmas morning, but now that we don't do that anymore I think she does it just to be funny. I remember begging her to hurry up when I was little because we weren't allowed downstairs until she was done. When the music started my dad would be at the bottom of the stairs, probably more excited than we were, and so we raced down. We always open stockings first in the family room. We have to force my mom to open hers because she's always too busy watching us. After thats over my dad leads the way into the music room. He opens the door and we see that once again, they have outdone themselves. We aren't one of those families that open presents one a time because we get too excited. But we do have to wait until mom and dad hand us our presents. They always have some little plan of what order we have to open them in. For example. One year I think I got to open American Girl doll accessories so that I knew I was getting the real thing! They are so tricky. Anyway after presents my mom has us eat breakfast in the dining room. We always eat breakfast casserole and it's always great. As soon as thats over we have to clean up our presents and trash right away and bring everything up to our rooms. Presents, breakfast, and cleaning is all over by 12 noon. Crazy huh? But then we have the rest of the day to enjoy and celebrate!

Why is it that professors try to cram as much work in as possible before finals??? I'm sure all the other college students know what I'm talking about.

I still have about a week left here. I'm ready to be done. I'm overstressed, overworked, overwhelmed and OVER SCHOOL! haha

I can't wait to be home and curled up around the fireplace with my family and kitties. I usually feel as though I miss out of the Christmas season because there is too much work to do at school. I am excited to be home, even if it is only for a short time. I kind of even miss the banjo....wow did I just say that? Mom, don't let dad read this :) hahah

Anyway, Chipmunk music, cookie baking, and Christmas shopping all awaits me when I get home. I can't wait! I will see many of you on the 23rd in church! (I get back the 22nd from NYC and then Christmas dinner at my Pop Pop)

Merry Christmas!

We took Christmas pictures in our apartment the other day. We probably took over 50 pictures! I feel bad for the girls we got to do it for us :) Anyway... I'm counting down the days til I can actually say I DON'T HAVE HOMEWORK! Well I guess I still have to read a textbook for my Costa Rica trip... but I mean I get to go to Costa Rica so who cares! It's kind of sad though because by the time I get home (after our usual early Christmas dinner at Pop Pops) I will only have like ten days to be home. Even less than that if I go to visit Alex at all! Oh the price we pay for fun! Haha I leave January 3rd for my trip but I'm going back to school the 2nd so I can wake up early the next day. The bus leaves school at 9:30 am. BUT a girl I met that's going on the trip is going to come stay with me for the night! So that's fun!

Only about 2 weeks left! My last exam is Wednesday night, the 19th, 6-8 pm.