Hats off...

to those of you who went to large high schools and survived! I graduated with 48 others and then went to college with maybe 2000 others. Therefore, I was completely unprepared on Thursday when I went to attend a training I had to go to that was being held in the lecture hall (yes, that's right at a high school) at one of our district's high schools when the bell rang!

Never in my life have I been so scared and I'm not being dramatic. I really was scared. I didn't think anything of being at the high school until I got out of my car and that's where I officially left my comfort zone. I am thankful to the person who I heard say awhile ago that you could always find the front office to a school by looking for the flag pole. Those of you who know me well know how I am with directions so I was feeling good about myself when I found the flag pole. I walked into the school having read the sign on the door that says that all visitors must check in at the main office and began looking for the main office. Well, I immeidately see stretched before me in a long hallway a seperate office for each person that all fits into one office at my elementary school...registrar, attendance, assistant principal, etc. and I wonder to myself 'I wonder which one of these offices I should check in to?' I then look to my right and see, what do you know...the 'main' office. Relief spreads through me and I remind myself that I can do this. I walk into the office and tell the girl that I am there for the training and as she is scanning my drivers liscence, she asks me if I know where the lecture hall is. I say no, and she proceeds to tell me to go out of the office to the right, take a right at the next hall and follow it into the main foyer and then take another right. Then I will see three sets of stairs and behind the one in the middle there is the lecture hall. Okay, I can do this. I step out of the office walk to the next hall and take a right and the bell rings! My heart is POUNDING!!!! I try not to make eye contact and I'm holding my purse very close to my body while hiding the sticker given to me in the office that identifies me as a visitor. I take a right in the main foyer and then I see one set of stairs, not three. I look again, but I keep walking because I don't want anyone to know that I don't know where the heck I am going! I walk and I walk and then up ahead I see another set of stairs (she failed to mention the three sets of stairs were miles apart). The whole time I am walking I am trying really hard not to bump in to anyone because I am afraid they will beat me up because there is no way they are going to recognize me as a teacher even though I was wearing my badge. I was also thinking, 'just keep walking...you can't turn around because then they really will know that you have no idea where you are going'. I figured if I never found that middle set of stairs that I would just keep walking until I found another door and walk outside just like that is what I intended to do. I was fully prepared to leave without having been trained...scary. I did find the lecture hall and it was just as big as the room where Dr. Cail's psychology class was held at OC and I was at a high school! Crazy to me! I am so thankful I went somewhere small! OC was all this girl could handle!

On a completely different note, our patio is completely finished! Here is a picture with the flagstone completed!

What I've Been Up To...

Well, since tomorrow marks the beginning of another school year, I thought I would take the time to give you a brief overview of my summer.

Most of June was spent doing things to the house. We had briefly placed it on the market, but after not getting much interest, being frustrated with our realtor, and realizing that we really didn't need to move, we decided to stay. So...I decided to finally make the house our home. I'd held back a little because we never planned to stay here for very long and then when we thought about putting our house on the market a little over a year ago, we put all of our pictures away. So it had been a house for us, but not a home for awhile.

It all started with the garage. Those of you who have visited know that the garage was a disaster and couldn't even be walked through very easily. Well, a HUGE thank you to my friend Katie. We tackled the garage together and spent 8.5 hours organizing and now it looks awesome and can fit my car!

After cleaning out the garage, we had a huge pile of stuff to get rid of, so over Father's Day weekend, my mom and I had a yard sale and got rid of a lot of it. What didn't sell went straight into the back of my dad's car and on to Goodwill. Love it!

At the end of June, Jason and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary by going to Rockport, TX (near Corpus) and staying in a bed and breakfast for a few nights and exploring the area. We went to the aquarium and the USS Lexington both in Corpus and then went to the beach in Port Aransas.

In June, I also spent a week in Oklahoma visiting family and friends that ended with a train ride home.

Beginning in July, I started watching a 31/2 month old baby named C.J for a family that we go to church with. It gave me a lot of practice in how long it suddenly takes to do EVERYTHING! We went shopping, to the grocery store and to pick his sister up from daycare.

In mid-July some of the girl cousins came to visit! We had a great time and went crazy shopping! Jason left town for the weekend. :) We had such a good time, we decided to make a cousins trip an annual thing. Can't wait for the next one.

Throughout July and the first part of August, we continued to work on the house. I decluttered every single cabinet, drawer and closet (this happened before the yard sale, by the way). We replaced all of our mini blinds with the 2" wood blinds, I updated all of our pictures and put all our frames back out, I ordered our wedding album (that is a long story) finally, we bought new furniture for the guest room so that our company doesn't have to sleep in the living room, Jason completely relandscaped our front and back yards complete with irrigation system, and we covered our back patio! Whew! We were busy. We still need to clean up in the back a little bit and they are coming this next weekend to put flagstone down. Then we will order our patio furniture and we will be finished with the outside. We do want to replace the fence, but that will have to wait. Below are the pictures of what we have done. I know the outside pictures are kind of dark, but I had to get this done tonight and that was the best I could do. Hope you like it!

I just remembered that we also got a new dining room table that will expand and seat up to 8. I love it, but I'm too tired to go take a picture. If you want to see it, go to Mandy's. She has the same one, but with different chairs and I don't have the bench.

I also am in the process of applying to grad school at UT to start next fall. I took the GRE on Monday and did fine, so the process can continue. I am hoping to get my masters in Special Education in the area of autism and then either get certification to be a diagnostician or a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst), which would allow me to do ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy with students with autism. We'll see what happens! A lot can happend in a year.

I think that catches you up. I got tired of posting pictures on this because it is slow, so I will also put some on Facebook. I hope you are doing well!

Ahhhh Summer!

Well, I made it! I never thought the end of this year would come, but it did. It was the hardest year of my professional career so far. My kids were hard from the get go, but then I got three new students with three weeks left in the year and that turned everything upside down. They are precious of course, but they have very significant needs in areas that I've never dealt with before. They are also taking away one of my paras for next year, or so they say. My principal and I are fighting it, but so far we've been told no for keeping her. I am praying for that to change, but preparing for the fact that it may not. It will be interesting...
So...I'm very much enjoying my time to relax. I've never experienced stress to the level I did this year so my summer resolution (thank you Katie for that phrase) is to make sure to enjoy every moment of every day. I've already spent a lot of time by the pool and read three books and I'm just getting started.
We have some fun things planned for the summer! My family will come visit in June I think and then I will make my trek to Oklahoma at some point. I am also going to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to visit my friend Jill who just moved there and had baby number three. Jason and I are also going to Rockport, TX which is near Corpus and Port Aransas for our anniversary. We are staying in a cute bed and breakfast for three nights and plan to explore that area of the coast and spend some time at the beach.
In mid-July I will start watching baby C.J. He is the baby of a family we are in small group with at church. I will watch him three days a week while she is at work until he can start going to the same day care as his sister.
Jason and I are also planning some big changes for our house. We had it on the market for a while, but after some praying and thinking, we've decided to be content with where we are and do some more saving and paying down the little debt we have left. So, we will be covering and expanding our back porch, installing an irrigation system in the back yard, installing a water softening system, getting new bedroom furniture, redecorating a few things and finally getting all of our pictures out and making it look more homey. I am very excited! Our garage is still a disaster, so on Friday my wonderful friend Katie is coming over to put her organizational magic to work! I can't wait!
I have also started training for my next race. I am going to do one that is in Oklahoma so stayed tuned for details on that race. It is in September, I think. I haven't decided yet if I am going to join Team in Training again or not. Still thinking through that one.
I think that gives a brief overview of all our upcoming events. Now that I have time to think again, I should be able to post more often and will put lots of pictures up as our house changes.
Love you all!

'How Can I Keep From Singing'

I am upstairs with my computer listening to this song by Chris Tomlin on my ipod. How appropriate since I came up here to try and put words to the many thoughts that have been floating through my mind and my heart in the last year ( I know...that is a really long time to mull something over).
I had someone ask me why I believed in God a while back in a way that was meant to challenge my views. I stumbled over my words and left the situation feeling so dumb. How could I claim to have lived something for almost all of my life and not be able to put into words the 'why' behind my beliefs? So, that is the question that I've been mulling over for the past year or so and here is what I think:
The person I was talking to wanted to know why I believed based on scientific evidence. Well...if you know me at all, you know that science is NOT my thing. Don't get it and don't really care to. So you can imagine that I didn't have a lot of debating material in the forefront of my mind when the question came up and I still don't (although I have done some reading and research to strengthen the scientific side of my beliefs), but I do KNOW why I believe...

• because God didn't have to make a giraffe with a long neck and spots; He has a sense of humor and values uniqueness
• because I see the sunrise in my rearview mirror on my way to work in the morning and it reminds me of 2 things: 1) that God cares enough to paint the sky and 2) that His mercies are new every morning
• because I can see the awesome power of a thunderstorm
• because I can go to the 'Bodies' experience and leave wondering how anyone can think that all of THAT happened by accident
• because I have experienced God blessing me with a husband, a home, a job, a wonderful family
• because I have experienced the 'peace that passes all understanding' when it doesn't make sense
• because I get the honor of looking into the eyes of children everyday and am reminded to have the faith of a child
• because I watched my mom expereince the loss of my grandma with a grace and strength that only makes sense when you know that your mom has confidence in the heaven where grandma is spending eternity
• because I experienced the loss of a student and could still see the power of God at work through that storm
• because God has continued His faithful work on me; growing me into the godly woman I long to be by patiently teaching me lesson after life lesson

My conclusion is that God gives us plenty all around us every day to confirm His awesome power and existence, we just have to have open eyes, ears and hearts to recognize it. The real truth is that we won't ever know all the ins and outs and I think that is for our own good. God knows we couldn't handle it. But, He also knew that faith would be hard, so in His great love he sprinkles our day with glimpses of His grace, faithfulness and love.

My goal is to try and keep a running list of the ways I see God in my day to day life. Feel free to join me, it is sure to brighten your day!

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Only 4 more days!

Well, as you might have gathered from my last post, this school year has gotten off to a rough start. However, things are starting to look up. My wonderful family came to my rescue a couple of weeks ago and it has made a world of difference. Most of my stress was coming from the fact that I felt like I wasn't able to get ahead with what I was wanting to do at school. So...mom, Jessica, Aunt Barbara and Valarie came down for a weekend and helped me work in my classroom! It was AWESOME! The weight that is off my shoulders since then is remarkable. We worked on Saturday from 9am to 6pm and then cut out some more laminating at my house later that evening. It was fun, but let me tell you how we knew our brains were friend toward the end of the day:
One of the things we were working on was making some winter type hands-on activities to go in my centers so my mom and Aunt Barbara were coloring and cutting out gingerbread men and gingerbread houses. Here is how the conversation went:
Mom: 'What color do you want your buttons Mr. Gingerbread Man?'
Silence
Mom: 'I can't hear you!'
Good times and yes, Aunt Barbara had her scissors packed in her purse. :)
There are still rough patches in every day, like today when we were walking down the hall on the way to lunch (always a disaster) and one kid tripped over another and before I knew it, four of them were on the ground. Dominoes! However, I have a bright moment everyday that reminds me why I do what I do. I think God gave me this year with these kids to remind me how much I need to lean on Him for strength and wisdom.
My most recent and consistent bright moment is one of my brand new little boys who came to me at the beginning of the year full of meltdowns and knowing the word 'fish'. That's it. Now I hear him say at least five new words every day and his smile will melt your heart. Sweet, sweet boy.
Well, time to go cook dinner and then off to volleyball. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Mercy!

I don't know what else to title this post. It is my most common word used this year at school. I have never experienced anything like the year I am having. In the past I thought people were crazy for getting burned out over their job, but now I understand where that is coming from. It is a combination of kid number one, data, three year olds, kid number two, data, ever-changing curriculum, kid number three who clawed kid number four in the neck today, data, 'oh, could you please change your room to look like this', kid number five, 'could you please switch _____ and ______ in their small groups for the millionth time', kid number six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve who have turned three within the last four months and are clueless, data, walking 18 three and four year olds down a forever long hallway to the playground, kid number thirteen who thinks its fun to flop on the ground 30-40 times a day in a four hour period while screaming, more data, 10 kids on the autism spectrum, one kid with Down's Syndrome, kid number forteen who likes to eat the rice in the sensory table, ARD meetings where no one listens to the teacher who works with the kid all day (after all what do I know), kid number fifteen who imitates EVERYTHING kid numbers one, two, and three say and/or do, data, kid number sixteen who likes to run away while looking back at you and smiling, data, kid number seventeen who will have an accident in his pants before he will just go to the bathroom if its not the next item on his schedule, did I mention data?, and finally kid number 18 who just started today after turning three last week.
Thanks for letting me vent! I'm sure none of that makes a bit of sense, but welcome to the world of my brain on a 24/7 basis. Too many kids and not enough hands is the moral of this story. I feel like I play 'Wack a Mole' everyday. I get one situated and then I turn around and another one is out of wack and on and on the day goes.
I keep thinking 'it will get better, its the beginning of the year'. Um...surprise! It's now November! I've resigned myself to the fact that this is going to be the norm for this school year! Thus, the title. I need it and the kids need it from me if we are all going to survive!
It used to be that my job was birth control. Now, I'm starting to think that if I get off birth control and have a child of my own life would be great! Only one to worry about, not 18! And... the only crazy parent to deal with is myself! :)
How many days until Thanksgiving break?

What a Day!

Well, I think life is about back to normal, I think. On Labor Day I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon and it was awesome!! I was able to race in honor of my former student, Ruth, and Matthew's brother, Samuel. It was such an honor and more of an emotional experience than I expected it to be. I knew I would get emotional when I crossed the finish line, and I did, but I got emotional several times throughout the race as well. It was so cool to have so many people out there cheering for me and our team. When I crossed the finish line it was the most amazing feeling to know all of the hard work I had put in both in training and fundraising had paid off. I had accomplished my goal in honoring those two sweet kiddos. They really were a source of inspiration. Any time throughout the process I felt like giving up I would remember why I was going through all of it and it was easy to keep going.

I am glad that it is over for now. I was ready for a break, but it is something that I will do again for sure. I would love to make it an annual way to honor those who've fought cancer. It is a great feeling to be a part of such a great cause.
I have to tell everyone that I have the most amazing husband and family. Jason has been to every single one of my races from start to finish. He gets up at 4:30am with me, helps me get ready, yells for me at many points in the race, and is always waiting for me at the finish line with a huge hug! My family was the only family that was there for the start of the race. They made me feel like an all star. Every time I saw them on the course it was a line of people behind their cameras, yelling for me while taking my picture. It was so much fun to have them there.



School is well underway and it is going okay. There are a lot of changes in my classroom and so I feel like I'm doing a lot of things for the first time and its hard. New schedule, new kids, new classroom arangement, new related service providers, etc. A lot to get used to. We are getting the hang of it and I know that it will be a good year.



Below are just a few pictures from race day. I will try and figure out a way to post them all (Matthew help!) because there are so many good ones. Maybe there is a way to do it on Facebook. I will do my best. I hope everyone is doing well. We are sure blessed here in Texas!

before the race











they found me in the water by standing on a bridge that I swam under and got some really cool shots!











me on the bike

the girls after the race

the transition area-yes my bike is in there somewhere. we had to drop our bikes off the day before the race. they had security all night long for this area.