I'm not sure if I can put into words the thoughts and emotions of the day. Definite lows and definite highs... This will be one day I won't forget. I'm really confussed about where God wants me. I thought I knew. Now I don't. This morning I was confident, this evening I can't even put my thoughts straight.

So for now, I'll set them all aside. I won't sleep otherwise.


Things to smile about today:
:) Grounds for Thoughts and a good conversation
:) Knowing God is in all of this somewhere

Cute shots of me...

well... at least I think so. :)







This is me and Aunt Tonia. These green bowls were the entertainment for our families on some weekends. (I'm on the left and Tonia is on the right)



















Not sure what I'm doing here...


















Is this not one of the cutest pictures you have ever seen? I had to wear my socks like my daddy and I couldn't hold the kittens tight enough. The poor thing looks like it was use to me dragging it around!















Here I am getting ready to perform. I loved to twirl when I was little. I actually won some trophies in some competitions!

As promised...

Notice the stripes on one side and the dots on the other... and the green shirt underneath... what was I thinking?

I told you to expect blue tuxes... :)

Lots of pictures...

... or not. You were going to get more than this, but it is taking way to long! I'll have to post more on another day. So, enjoy these two for now. What's to come? Mom and Dad's wedding day... wait until you see the robin's egg blue tuxes and some cute shots of me! :) I do have one really bad school picture that I might share. The outfit and hair says it all. Anywayz, until then...

G & G Ropp

G & G Armstrong

It's good to be back. I'll be honest, however, and admit that it was hard. I spent part of today crying because I had to leave and thinking about moving home, and then crying somemore because the thought of leaving BG is just as sad... if not a little more. I got to see both sides of the fam this weekend and both sides asked when I was moving back. This is normal for mom's side, not normal for dad's. It caught me off guard. Anywayz, I won't post the battle that is going on inside of me. Just pray if you think about it. What I really want is to be where God wants me to be... devoted to my blood family or my spiritual family? I don't know.

G Ropp started giving me things this weekend that she wants me to have once she is gone. The whole idea doesn't sit well with me, but I see her point. She wants certain people to have certain things and if she doesn't do it now she is afraid it will all end up in a garage sale and no one will get anything. I find it funny that she is giving things to the grandkids and not her own. Not sure exactly why, but I'll take them. I've got some cool pictures... maybe I can post them. My favorite that grandma gave me is of her and gpa on their wedding day 50 years and 1 day ago.

I wish I could post more, but it is late and I just got home an hour ago. I enjoyed my day off. :)

Things to smile about today:
:) Day off
:) family gatherings
:) old photographs and memorable items
:) "Good morning Mr. Sunshine, you brighten up my day..."
:) Oven roasted pumpkin seeds
:) being in BG again

Story update

I haven't written a lot of stories about school lately. It's not that I don't have a lot of stories... I just have been slackin I guess. Unfortunately, the few that I can remember right now weren't the most positive situations to have in the classroom. :)

For example:

Story #1
Last week some time, one of our older boys thought it would be funny to put straws and their wrappers in the toilet. Once I figured out who it was (which wasn't that hard because he said, "Hey G, watch my spitwad fly."), I took him into the bathroom, gave him some cleaning gloves and had him fish them out. He wasn't to happy and it actually took him about 5 min. before he would reach into the toilet. There was no way I was getting them out for him!

Story #2
Yesterday one of our girls decided to write her name on our shelf with a colored pencil. It was obvious who had done this because the writing style had matched the name (writing is unique at this age and very easy to decifer). When I took her over to the shelf, we sat down on the floor and I just pointed to her name. She looked at me and said, "Sorry?" I told her that if she had been in a store or at the library, that her parents would have had to pay a lot of money to get it fixed. I also told her that if she would have been a little older, that she would have had to talk to a policeman because it was considered damaging property. She took a good 10 min. to scrub off her name. This is the same little girl that decided to decorate the bathroom with toilet paper. She got away with it 3 times before we caught on to who it was.

Story #3
There was more food flying today during lunch. Someone else mooned the class yesterday during lunch and the boy in the first story busted his lip open when he fell. He was running away from a teacher because she was trying to talk to him about throwing food.

Story #4
We have this long, narrow rug that we use for one of our math works. I would guess that it is close to 15 feet in length. One of our girls decided that it would make a really good outfit and wrapped it around her entire body. She couldn't walk she had wrapped it so tight. There was even a little left over to hang off of her shoulder. Why didn't we catch this? I was giving a lesson, T was sitting at the rug getting ready for conferences, B was on the other side of the room putting out little fires that were very loud, and this little girl was very quite about the whole process.

Story #5
There is lice in our room.

Story #6
A glass container shattered today in the room. The children didn't understand that they couldn't help clean it up. That was a loud 10 min. process.

Story #7 (This is a cute story)
Today I was working with a 3 on her conference packet. I wanted to find out how high she could count. She got to 10 and stopped. I asked her if she could count higher than 10 and she responded with, "... 9, 10, higher, higher, higher, higher." I couldn't help but laugh. She was so honest in her response. She is to cute.

Well, those are my school stories. I think I have caught you up m.a.b. :) All I have to conclude is that conference time is crazy. We just got the children into a routine and doing there number and language work without having to be told and now it has gone out the window. With one teacher constantly at the conference rug... it all goes to... a crazier time in the classroom.


Things to smile about today:
:) Greatest hits of the Bee Gee's ( I couldn't help but get the cd at wal-mart. It was only 9 dollars!)
:) "higher, higher, higher"
:) one more day before my three day weekend!
:) the sunrise this morning

... days of the week...

I can't believe that it is Tuesday already. It feels like yesterday was Sat. I'm excited that it is Tuesday, however. It means that I am one day closer to going home. My schedule is already getting filled. Sat night we will be having dinner at mom's and watching either a game or a movie. My aunt T. and uncle D will be coming. I miss seeing them. G and G might be coming too. Which reminds me, I need to call my brother. Anywayz... then, on Sunday I will most likely be visiting my G's church. Well, I guess more of my family goes there now, but it will always be her church. She went by herself for years. Then I"ll be off to a football game where Sis is cheering and then on to a bonfire for my other set of G's. I'm so excited that I have Monday off!!!!!! I think taking that day off has been the smartest thing I've done in a while. :)

I don't know if the above paragraph makes sense. I'm really tired right now. I had to get up at 5 this morning and these pretty blue eyes aren't use to that. Tomorrow and Thurs will be a 5:30 wake up time and then Friday will be semi-normal. (6:45) :) I'm trying to get to bed earlier to make up for it, but still... the last time I saw 5 am was when I started a book on a Friday night and kept reading until it was done Sat. morning.

I just realized that I have typed a lot of the days of the week in this blog. Maybe that should be my title. Okay, I'm back.

Group tonight was good. I didn't really get to visit with anyone, but I was more than happy to take care of lil' Lil. She is too cute. I was sad that I only got to stay for a short time. It's quite the lesson to learn of always putting someone else before you. I know that I do that with the kids at school... and I have always tried to put others before me, but the everyday life moments and activities that need to directed to better help another person is another ball game. (FYI, I'm staying with Christin this week. It has been really good so far!)

Okay, I'm going to bed now. It's 9. Good night

Things to smile about today:
:) Quiet morning and being the only one up and moving
:) 4 new packets done for conferences!!
:) upcoming time with family
:) short but sweet time with friends

Hmmm.... Not sure what I'm going to write as I'm sitting here. I just decided that this would probably be more fun than watching the football game. There are so many flags thrown that it gets aggrevating! :)

Well, my car is fixed. The ignition cylinder was bad. So... $436 later I have a car that starts every time. The timeing couldn't have been worse. (Well, maybe it could have, but it didn't seem like it at the time.) I had to have my car this weekend because I am staying in Weston for the next several days. Christin had to get to work and I was responsible. And... I only have 10 payments left! Couldn't it have waited until after the car was paid off? Then at least it would have felt like one more month's payoff. Oh well, it's done and I (knock on wood) shouldn' have to do anything to it for a long time. I just went over 50,000 miles!

Enough about my car.

I get to go home this next weekend. I am taking a personal day a week from Monday. It will be nice to have a three day weekend with my family. It is actually my grandparents 50th wedding aniversary. There is going to be a big bon fire and hopefully all of the cousins. Some of them I haven't seen in 8 years. It's a big family, but still.

Things to smile about today:
:) Peaceful afternoons
:) Friendships
:) Understanding

For the second time in just a short span, my car has decided to not start. (The reason I didn't make it to knitting tonight.) The last time (full story can be read on a different post) they told me that it was a computer chip that set off the theft system. So, I'm thinkin the same problem has happened again. Only this time, I'll probably need to replace the chip. Not exactly an expense I was planning on. What makes this whole thing so delightful, is that it happened after "business" hours and I have to wait until tomorrow for answers. I don't like that. Period. I'm not upset... cause that wouldn't do any good.

Anywayz, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Simply because it is Friday. :)


Things to smile about today:
:) in depth conversations
:) blog lists
:) hint of warm weater

The day we have two visitors in the classroom and the children were crazy. Of course, the children were not crazy at those exact points in time, but had just calmed down. I'm sure they thought we were nuts. Both Tricia and I were on our last nerve. We didn't lose it with the children, but there are times when you have to stop and count to ten. Tricia actually used her fingers to count on today. I just smiled and counted with her in my mind. :)

One little boy told me that his doggie had to go to the vet today. When I asked why, he responded... "She's not allowed to have puppies. She's not married." Yes, this is the same little boy who was dumbfounded that I wasn't married last week.

Another child came up to me to ask what my favorite colors were. When she came back, she handed me a picture she had drawn with those colors! :)

Then, on the playground, one of our girls was swinging and said... "... and the cute boy on Scooby Doo. His name is Freddy."

Dinner tonight at the Dilbone's was awesome. It was a small group, but we had lots of laughs.

(Thank you roomie! Dinner you made the other night was such a blessing. I appreciated it greatly.)


Things to smile about today:
:) Where God has me at such a "young" age in life
:) "Apple juice"
:) all 36 children in our room
:) Dilbone's
:) Chris Tomlin

Just a cute story to share with you.

Our paraprof.'s husband came in today. After she introduced me to him, she then went to introduce Tricia. One of our boys came up to me and said...

Boy: "Is that yours?"
Me: "Is what mine?"
Boy: "Is that your husband?"
Me: "No, that's Miss Brenda's husband."
Boy: "Oh... where's yours?"
Me: "I don't have one."
Boy: Jaw drops, eyes go wide and he continues to stare at me for a good ten seconds. "Why?"
Me: "I'm not married. I don't have a ring."
Boy: Mouth finally closed. "Oh..." and he walks away in disbelief.

:)

Be in prayer for Tricia. She was having to discipline one of our boys today and she fell hard. When he went to run away from her, she took a step, slipped on some stones that had (most likely) been dumped out of some shoes, and fell forward. Her left arm hit the cubby, scrapped and then she hit her left breast. This is more serious than it sounds because she recently had an expander put in so that she could have her implant in a month. (Her 8th surgery since the cancer was found 2 years ago.) My prayer is that if any damage was done, that it will not postpone her next surgery. She has been waiting a long time to have this chapter of her life closed.

Things to smile about today:
:) The thought of being married
:) God's protection during stressful times
:) tomorrow being Friday (this has been the longest school week ever!)

It's 7:43 p.m. and, if not already, my roomie will soon be seeing and listening to Keith Urban. How could she not be any happier? There will be sweet dreams tonight. :)

So, the laugh for the day...

Today we showed the first three geometric solids. Cube, Cone and Sphere. This is exciting work because two people can work on it at the same time and play a hide and seek game with them. (one child hides it behind their back the other guesses which one is missing). Anywayz, I was playing this with one of our 4's and he guessed correctly for all three. The first one he identified as the cone. Then he correctly identified the cube. And thirdly, he identified the safari. It sounded more like sfari... which to him, was the same thing! He knew what the beginning sound was, he just forgot the ending sound! I enlighted Tricia of our new work and we both got a kick out of it! :)


Things to smile about today:
:) Safari
:) Dinner/planning time with Tricia
:) Reconnecting with old friends

Today was a hard day. The morning was loud, but they were working... for the most part. Then lunch came about. Some of the children lost it. One child was 100% defiant and would not put on his slippers, walk to his table, eat his lunch... anything and everything you asked you couldn't get an answer. I couldn't even get 'no' out of him. He just cried and grunted and basically drove me nuts. This child is also very strong and is a little over weight. I would have taken him to the office way before I actually got him there, but he would let his body go limp in my arms. I literally could not pick him up. Finally, after 20 min. of having to restrain him (yes, that was my weight training for the day... no need to lift tonight) he started screaming that he wanted to go home. So... I manipulated him. :) I told him that if he really wanted to go home, then we needed to call dad and the only way we could call dad was to go to the office. (Deep breath) We finally got to the office and the office staff were a huge help. Needless to say, he was stubborn enough that he wouldn't cooperate in the office and therefore, missed his lunch time. Don't worry, we didn't let him go hungry. As soon as his body was under control and the afternoon demonstrations were over, he went to the snack table and ate his lunch.

To finish off the afternoon, one 5 yr. old boy cried most of the time because he wasn't getting his way (interfering with other chidren's work), another 5 yr. old cried because he knew he had hit his friend and thought he didn't like him anymore (sounds minor, but to this particular child, it is more than he can process at one time and caused an explosion, chair flipping, self-negativity, etc...).

Add those three crying all at once (at some point in time during the afternoon... I forget exactly when) to 1 new child who started yesterday and is doing well given the environment and 23 other children who need to talk louder so they can be heard because the others are crying... and you get a glimpse of my afternoon. :)

Okay, enough venting. I'm really looking forward to tonight. We have group out at the Dilbone's. It will be refreshing to be around adults. :)


Things to smile about today:
:) the smell of jelo when first mixed with boiling water
:) walks at night with a good friend
:) the conclusion of a long day and recognizing at what point in time my nerves ran out and God's kicked in

A guy must have designed the doorknob...

... at least that was my roomie's conclusion, but I whole heartly agree with her! :) Despite some hurdles, the new knob is now installed. We can now use our front door again. There's just something about walking out my backdoor and right into someone else's front lawn that doesn't sit well with me.

Anywayz, D and I went shopping today. Found some cute stuff. There were these really REALLY comfortable, soft sweaters that we were looking at, but in the end decided not to get.

I also went out and shot a roll of film today. I don't know if I'll get anything good, but it was fun. If nothing else, I enjoyed being in the country. No car or truck noises. No neighbors within ear shot distance... I really enjoyed the true quietness and stillness of the back country road. Part of me misses that. This living in town is for the birds. So I guess it is easy to conclude that most of me misses the country.

Pray for my step-dad and his family. He lost his mother a little over a year ago, and this weekend, one of her sister's died. Mom and Mike are probably in W. Virginia by now being able to visit with the rest of the family (that is where most of them are). For as big of a family as they are, there are only two siblings left. That leaves Mike's generation and younger. I'm sure that this is a difficult transition for all of them.


Things to smile about today:
:) Country air (even if it is filled with corn dust)
:) friends
:) my new purse (thanks Sara D.! )
:) an evening of silence and getting things done

So I'm experiencing something that I have not experienced in a long time and never to this degree. Unfortunately, it isn't fun. In fact, it's pretty ugly.

My pride.

Tonight, I was sitting a coffee shop listening to some wonderful music and went to get up to help the lady who was working bring in some chairs from outside. Instead, I kicked the table with my foot (accidently) and sent a big cup of coffee onto the floor (sorry Dilbone). It created quite the puddle on the floor. I started to clean it up and realized that it was worse than I expected. So where does the pride come into play? There were four people sitting there, whom I had just met, and they saw the whole thing. One of them instantly jumped up and asked if I was okay. (The hot coffee had spilled all over my hand as I tried to catch it.) I didn't really pay much attention to his question, but wanted to clean it up quickly. The more I cleaned up, the more my pride started hurting. It's a wierd feeling. I've not had to work through these emotions at this level before. Looking back, the event itself wasn't even all that bad. It isn't like I completely wiped out or did a flip in the air or anything. I think maybe it was because I had to ask for help? I don't know. All I know is that I left frustrated with myself because I had quickly let this become a heart issue. An ugly heart issue. I'm not even sure what to do next. I've been praying, asking God to forgive my pride... what else is there to do?

On the other hand, when I left, the owner's wife (he and his wife are parents in my room) told me that both her and her husband have noticed how happy I have been this year. She explained that I didn't look unhappy last year, but that this year I was just happier. (Did that sentence make any sense?) Anywayz, it was good to hear that a difference can be seen in my life. I truely am happier in the classroom.


m.a.b. - Last night went very well... at least as much as I stayed for. From what I can tell, more families showed up than had originally signed up for the event (no surprise there :) ) and the sheriff did make it!


Things to smile about today:
:) Recieving a picture of a family from El Salvador
:) a good book
:) (eventually) learning lessons that help me become more like Christ