A child of God educating other children.

I highly doubted that I would work today, so Tim and I stayed up pretty late last night. Then at 6:20 this morning the phone rings! I had already decided last night that if I got a call for a para-sub then I wouldn't take it 'cause I have a lot of cleaning to do around the house, but if the call was for substitute teaching then I would take it 'cause I want to get into a teaching position in the Fall.
Well, the call was for a substitute teaching position. Although I was exhausted and would have loved to stay in bed, I accepted the position. I was the Media Teacher. I had a few computer classes and I got to read a story to a couple Kindergarten classes. I enjoyed the day, just was tired all day. I did get to meet a couple more members of our church by being there. Not as many as at the other elementary school I was at last week, but it was still nice.

When I got home today I checked our messages, and had one from Cindy asking me to drive down to Oklahoma with her this week. She is going Wednesday-Friday. While listening to the message I thought, "Oh, that would be fun to take a road trip and spend time with her, and hopefully get some Sonic." Then when I started talking to Tim about the possibility he mentioned me calling my parents and seeing if they could come up and see me while I'm in OK. Right when he said that I just started bawling. I didn't realize how much I missed my family. I know I have been homesick often since moving, but I didn't know to what extent. It just seems unreal to me to think that I could possibly see my parents this week!
They still have to talk about it and make a decision if they will come and see me in OK. I already committed to going, so now I'm just praying that they can make it. Dad said that G'ma and G'pa W are going to be up at the camp grounds, so they will be pretty close to where I will be, so hopefully I can see them too maybe. We've only been up here for almost 3 months, which isn't long, but talking to Ruth tonight made more since as to why I am so ready to see my family right now. Tim and I have been through a lot of changes with this move, so it's a nice thought to get to see my family right now.

I need to go clean our kitchen, we're out of spoons. And then I want to soak in the tub and go to sleep early.

Posted in: family, teaching on Monday, April 30, 2007 at at 5:56 PM 1 comments    

The good news...

Today was great! I subbed in a 1st grade classroom and absolutely loved it! The kids were great, and my nerves were under control. I owe today's success to God, 'cause it wouldn't have been so great without God guiding me through the day. I pulled together everything that I have learned in education and the skills worked. There was a handful of students that needed constant redirecting, but nothing too hard. One of them ate up ever positive reinforcement I gave them. That makes me feel good personally, but then wonder why they are so thirsty for it. The teacher I subbed for left everything easy to find and explained everything well so I didn't have a problem. And best of all, I get to go back to that same class tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to that! :)

And for the bad news...

My car has been acting crazy lately. The other day I noticed my speedometer stopped working, and with that my power locks don't auto lock when I start driving 'cause it doesn't know my car is in motion. Then I noticed that the green arrow that shows when to shift up doesn't light up anymore either. And the odometer isn't working either. Yesterday the service engine light came on also. And then to top it off, today on the way home from school I noticed the check engine light was off, but then as I was turning (or trying to turn) off of the busy road I was on my steering decided to go out, and then my car wouldn't go when I put on the gas. So I coasted as far away from the intersection as possible and forced my steering to the right. I called Tim to pick me up and after a few minutes tried starting my car to see if it would go, and it did. I was able to get the car home. Needless to say, my car has decided to quit on me all at once.

And to top all of that off...the lady at the Saturn dealership sold us a warranty that she said would be good at any GM certified dealership, 'cause we told her that the closest Saturn dealership is 2 hours away, and so she gave us her word we could go to a GM. Well, she is wrong. I called every dealership in town, and the GM certified one will not honor a Saturn warranty. Our weekend is packed, so sometime next week Tim will call the lady and see about getting our money back for paying for a warranty that wont do us any good, then decide how to financially pay to fix my car.

And I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted, and should sleep really well.
Oh! My box of gifts came in from my parents and Katelin today. I was so excited to get it! I'm going to use my new cute summer purse tomorrow, and I already started eating the beef jerky and tried the gum. Yumm! Thank you Mom, Dad and Katelin for my presents!
Now off to bed! :)

Posted in: car, family, subbing, teaching on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at at 8:49 PM 0 comments    

Connor, Davis, Amanda, Tim, Dana, Amanda, Mark

I turned 24 today! Woohoo! I had a good birthday. Parts of it were hard, such as being homesick for being away from my family...but Tim was great. He even decorated the house for me! We have streamers and balloons all over our living room and I even had a crown to wear. :)

I also got a few calls from people in the church with birthday wishes, and talking to family was great. I also got non-stop text messages from facebook with all my birthday wishes from people on there. My phone's battery died early tonight with all the excitement, so I need to plug it in. :)

We had Amanda and Connor and Davis and Bria over and Amanda and Mark over for dinner. We had Papa John's pizza and DQ ice cream cake...which we have a lot left over of. It was great, just sweet....and I like ice cream, but I don't eat it much. :)

Then all of us played Mad Gab; boys against girls...and the girls did an overwhelmingly great job at it. Then we played Taboo and the boys were harder competition.

I have really enjoyed this whole birthday weekend. It was nice getting to hang out with Tim's siblings, and our new friends here in town.

Now I'm exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

Thursday and Friday I am substitute teaching for a 1st grade teacher. I'm really excited. I've been getting more calls from the district lately. Praise the Lord!



Davis helping me blow out my candles.
Connor taught us a new way of cleaning our socks...
Or just a fun way to play with fire. :)

Posted in: birthday, family, friends, marriage on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at at 9:36 PM 2 comments    

This weekend has been fun so far. Wednesday night Tim and I spent the night at Dan and Maggie's. Thursday Glory flew in and we all and David hung out for the day. We ate some good burritos, and tacos for lunch then came back to the house to eat some Happy Birthday Ice Cream cake for me. Yum! Then we all headed to the park for a walk. It was so much fun to play on the playground. It's been a while since I've gone down a slide. So much fun!

Yesterday Amanda came over with Davis and Bria. We all walked down to our lake and had lots of fun hanging out. Davis had a ton of energy and made a new best friend in Glory. Then Tim took Glory's senior pictures. He did a great job on mine last year, so I showed Glory those and decided to do hers! :) They are so pretty!

Today we drove around town a little, saw a couple open houses, at some good Papa Murphey's Pizza and played Simpson's Clue. Now I think Glory and I are gonna do some Cardio Hip Hop.

Posted in: birthday, family on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at at 2:25 PM 1 comments    

I had a great day yesterday! It finally got warm enough up here for the ice on our lake to completely melt. The day before we still had quite a bit of ice on it, but not anymore!
I went over to Amanda and Connor's house to visit for a little while. Then at 2 I went over to another lady in the church, Robin's house. It was fun visiting with her. Her family moved up here from Kansas in August. So they are pretty new to the area too. I love meeting people from down South too. I just feel an instant connection with them 'cause we can relate to all the changes and things you have to get use to of the Northern culture. The main thing is getting use to taking your shoes off when you go into someone's house. Definitely something we're not use to. :)

Then last night Tim and I had Amanda and Mark over for dinner and watched "RV" with Robin Williams in it. Grace (Tim's sister) had mentioned many times that it's a good movie, so I had been wanting to watch it for a while. It was very funny, I think we laughed through the whole movie.

We also watched American Idol, which I was very pleased with. And I'm actually listening to country music right now 'cause it got me missing it. Phil Stacey was amazing last night. Country music is his nitch and he did a GREAT job! I was so excited for him that I voted for him for the first time. Awesome job Phil! I thought Lakisha totally bombed her performance. She picked a song that meant something to her, and I love the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood, but it wasn't a song for Lakisha's voice. Jordin Sparks did well as always. And Melinda Doolittle was just my favorite as always. And I think she just looked gorgeous last night! I loved her outfit and how her hair was done. I think last night was her best performance overall. So of course I voted for Melinda also. :)

I wasn't impressed with any of the other singers. I thought Blake did okay. I was glad that the judges finally pointed out Chris' nasally singing. It gets on my nerves every time I listen to him. I just can't handle it. I'll be okay if he is voted off tonight.

I was mainly excited 'cause Melinda did awesome as always and Phil did an incredible job! I really like his personality, I think he is a really sweet guy and humble and just likes to have fun, so it was great to see him in his element.

Posted in: american idol, friends, melinda doolittle, phil stacey on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at at 9:20 AM 1 comments    

I need to get to bed, but wanted to write something since I haven't in a while. Wednesday I got 2 cavities filled and my jaw hurt until Saturday from keeping it open the whole time. Thursday Tim got his teeth cleaned and I went next door to see about getting on with a temp agency in town. Friday at 8am I went in for testing and short interview with the staffing agency. Thursday at 10:30am-2:40pm I was a para-sub at the Jr. High School in town. For the most part it was good. Most of the students were really sweet and fun to work with. One class was difficult with a couple behavior kids I had to pretty much babysit to try to keep them on task. I didn't enjoy that.

Friday at 4:30 Tim and I left for Minneapolis with a couple of the girls in our youth group to go to M.O.V.E. (Mission Outreach Venture Experience) We had worship at First Covenant Minneapolis and slept over at the church. Saturday morning we had worship then went out to our work site. We painted a room in the basement of a Baptist church in St. Paul. Then we went back for worship and headed home after stopping for dinner at Dan and Maggie's.

Today was another full day. After church we had a youth leader meeting then came home for a short nap then back up at the church for youth group. I just finished making my lunch for tomorrow. I am going back to the Jr. High School to be a para-sub for the whole day for a different person. I enjoyed my position as a para on Friday much better than when I was in the High School. Hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.

I need to wake up extra early 'cause I've been playing phone tag with the district sub coordinator. I am certified for elementary now, so I can substitute teach now instead of just do para-sub, but I need to talk to a lady first, and she will be out of the office before I am done at the school tomorrow, so I'll have to call her early before I leave.

I have loved participating in ministry along side Tim. It is such a great experience, and everything is so much better now that we are married doing ministry together.

Posted in: marriage, ministry, work on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at at 8:50 PM 0 comments    

Jr. High youth group was a blast tonight. After a creative game of dodge ball, 3 of the youth competed in our own version of Deal or No Deal. The youth were so excited and involved with the game. Tim even had each student pick others to be their "family" to help with decisions. It was so loud with excitement that it was hard to hear Tim yelling in the microphone for me to know which boxes the students were choosing. To end the evening the students broke out into groups of 5 or 6 and looked up scripture and answered some questions. Tonight was to get the kids thinking on how they make decisions in their lives. I have had the opportunity to be with the younger girls when we break into groups. I love hearing them think and encouraging them to think more. One thing I have learned over the last couple years, is that if you keep on asking the right questions, the students can usually come up with the correct answers on their own. I love it!

The outcome of American Idol tonight was just great! I was very happy to see Haley Scarnato gone tonight. Tim made the great observation that the contestants last week were very sad to see Gina gone, and tonight didn't seem too upset. I was glad that Phil Stacey is sticking around. I don't think he is a great singer, but I really like his attitude with everything. And I think his wife is just adorable. I was happy to see that it came between Sanjaya Malakar and Chris Richardson for the last in the bottom 3. Chris' voice is just way too nasally for me, and I think he is just going off of his looks for this competition...which obviously didn't last for Haley. I'd like to see Phil outlast Sanjaya and Chris, so we'll see what happens.

Posted in: american idol, chris richardson, Deal or No Deal, haley scarnato, ministry, phil stacey, sanjaya malakar on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at at 8:25 PM 1 comments    

Easter Sunday was wonderful. It's nice to enjoy all the firsts with being married. God has blessed Tim and I with such a wonderful church family. The youth put on an Easter breakfast to raise money for our 2008 mission trip to Belize. There was a good amount of people that came to help support the youth. The youth worked so hard at making the breakfast possible, and there were lots of great adult helpers and parents that contributed also.

David and Adrienne were able to come up and spend Easter with us also. We all went and had lunch at the home of a family in our church who invited us over. Being with friends and family that you love makes holidays even more special, so I am so grateful for that opportunity. This was my first year to be away from my parents and sister for Easter, so it was very nice to have plans. I still get homesick, but not as bad now.

The other day Amanda and Connor came over. They have been cleaning things out of their house and had a couple things that Tim and I are so happy to have from them. They continue to make us feel welcomed and blessed. Then tonight Tim and I had dinner at another couple's home, Amanda and Mark. They're another young couple our age that we met last week. We're slowly getting to know people our age. It'll come as time passes while we're here. I'm still adjusting to things, so I'm okay with taking things slow. :)

I still don't have a job. I had to redo my fingerprints for my certification, so I got that done tonight after dinner. Now I'll mail them in tomorrow and pray that these are good for them to keep. I had an interview Saturday to be a photographer's assistant. I was pretty excited about it 'cause I love photography and thought it'd be a good opportunity to learn more about it, but I would have been working a lot one and one with the photographer who is a man. He is looking for a female assistant to be around when he's doing wedding photos and girl's photos, but that would also require other times when it would just be the two of us. Tim holds the standard of never being alone with a female who isn't me or family, and I really appreciate that and admire that of him. With that, I need to hold myself to the same standard. I'm a little bummed to turn down a photography position, but I know God will have the perfect job for me. I did enjoy meeting the photographer's wife. She was really sweet, and they were both complimentary about my portfolio cd of some of my favorite pictures. She had just had surgery on one of her legs last Saturday. I've been praying for her recovery. We talked a little bit, and like most people it's hard to just lay around and rest when there are things to be done. Although the job wont work out, it was fun to meet new people.

Posted in: Easter, family, friends, marriage, photography on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at at 9:35 PM 0 comments    

My mouth dropped when I saw the results on American Idol. Gina Glocksen was one of my favorite contestants on Idol, and I hate to see her go. I have looked forward to her performance every week. I guess thats what happens when you don't vote though. I have continued to vote for Melinda Doolittle, and was very pleased to see her in the top 3 tonight. I hope next week doesn't have any shockers.

Posted in: american idol, gina glocksen, melinda doolittle on Wednesday, April 04, 2007 at at 9:38 PM 0 comments    

I thought Spring was here. But man was I wrong! We have about 4 or more inches of snow on the ground right now. It's April! Sad news, I was told that Minnesota can even get snow in May. That's just crazy! All the snow from our previous snow fall had melted and the lake has even begun to defrost. In one of the pictures you can see the water (not ice) on the lake with the snowy ground. This snow is wet, as our last fall was dry. So the roads were very scary to drive on. I went to Amanda's today to hold Bria for about 4 hours while she was able to get some cleaning done around the house. I slid a couple times, but God kept me safe. I think I'll stay off the roads for now on until things are clear though.
A good side to this cold...I'm really hoping that the temperatures in the high teens will kill off all those nasty black bugs that popped up on our warm days. That would be wonderful! I felt bad for all the birds that had already migrated back up here though.
I wonder when it actually gets warm for at least a week at a time up here. :)

Posted in: weather on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 at at 7:00 PM 1 comments    

C-Groups was very good tonight. All day I was thinking about the topic for tonight and getting things prepared, and my heart was very heavy. Come to find out I am very passionate about girls dressing modestly. Not only does an immodest girl cause a guy to have impure thoughts, but it can cause girls to have envious and jealous thoughts. I have seen a lot of the girls in our youth groups pictures, and know how they dress outside of church, so I was very nervous about talking about the topic with the girls. We haven't been here very long, and modesty with the ways girls dress can be a touchy subject. I prayed and prayed for tonight, and I called my sister up. It was great getting to call Katelin for advice. I loved it!

While thinking about the topic and playing the lesson in my head of how I thought it could go I started thinking, "we could have a whole conversation on modesty and no one learn anything because everyone can have their own opinion on what 'modesty' means to themselves." So we started the night off in prayer that God would keep everyones hearts open and have the conversation not get too touchy. And then we had the girls cut out magazine pictures of outfits they thought were modest and immodest. That way they could get a visual in their head about what we're talking about, and it was them showing us what they think.

Since Prom and Summer are coming up we talked about formal dresses and swimsuits. That's where things got touchy and girls were silent for a while. After reading more on inner beauty we paused to get the girls to open up with what they were thinking and ask questions or have any disagreements. And it was good. The girls really were rethinking the way girls (and some of them) dress. And what kind of swimsuits are appropriate and which ones are not. And they came up with an idea of how they can put modesty into action not only in their lives, but to encourage their peers.

For the most part tonight was the girls finding out how visual guys are, and how they work. And that we need to take responsibility over the things we can change. We don't want to be the cause of any guy stumbling. We're going to get deeper into things next week. God totally had control over tonight. Pray for the girls, 'cause I think most of them left still thinking about what we talked about. Pray that they will seek after God in all they do and stand up for themselves and others. Dressing modestly not only shows respect of one's self, but the respect that person has of others.

Posted in: ministry, modesty on Monday, April 02, 2007 at at 7:48 PM 1 comments