Still recovering...

And I still feel like pooey...but I know it will be worth it in the end. I think I'm starting to get my sense of smell back, but unfortunately that comes with that 'sick' smell/taste...so I think I'd rather it be back the way it was!

The things I miss the most?

• My sense of smell


• Hot showers


• Spicy food


• My own bed


• Sleeping!


• Laying down flat


• Exfoliation! (I can't wait to scrub my face again!)

Mom's been way too good to me though; I know I'm a terribly whiny patient. Dad's taking me to my post-op tomorrow so I'll let everyone know how that goes!

Post Surgery

Thanks for all the prayers and support this week! It means so much to know I have so many people that care about me.

So far so good - I'm not in much pain, and ironically the pain has more to do with my limited sleeping positions rather than the actual procedures.

The official diagnosis: chronic frontal sinusitis, chronic ethmoid sinusitis, chronic spenoid sinusitis, deviated nasal septum, turbinate hypertrophy, chronic maxillary sinusitis

So for the run down of the procedures: septoplasty, bilateral frontal recess clean out, bilateral total ethmoidectomy, bilateral sphenoidectomy, bilatera maxillary ostea enlargement with antrostomy, ME/TRF - Landmark - bilateral turbinate procedure

Sounds like fun right? The procedure took him about two hours because once he got in there things were actually worse than originally anticipated, which didn't really surprise me at all considering I've been dealing with my gnarly sinuses for 31 years.

So far I don't have any bruising on my face, just one nasty one where the IV was because she couldn't find a good vein. I think that was the most painful part of the whole procedure! (But it could just be the Vicodin I'm on now blocking the pain!) I have to wear a 'mustache' gauze because my nose is still bleeding, but not bad. Just enough to be annoying. I can't bend over at all so that's made eating fun since I can't really see my face or my lips, and my neck is pretty sore because I think I'm over compensating by holding my muscles too tight. I have to sleep on my back with my head elevated, which is not comfortable at all, so I really only sleep in one hour increments.

Overall I think it went really well. I didn't expect to feel like doing anything for a few days, but I'm already tired of being cooped up and limited, though with my 'mustache' I definitely won't be leaving the house till my post-op appt on Wednesday.

Baptist Hospital was great. Other than the initial meeting with the pre-assessment lady (who I reported to registration yesterday when all my paperwork from the pre-assessment turned up missing!) everyone was amazing. I'm definitely going to be writing to HR to sing their praises. I was so scared by the time I got back there that I was in tears, and they were really comforting and helpful.

Here's to being able to breathe again in the near future!

Home Sweet Houston

So, I just realized I never posted that I accepted a new position teaching Reading Resource at Garfield Elementary in Pasadena, TX, which means I moved! (OK, so those of you who read this know already since I posted on FB, but I figure I should keep the blog as current as I can!)

It's been a little less than 3 weeks since I moved, and I have to say I love my apartment! It's so quiet even though it's right off a highway, and it's pretty much in the middle of everywhere! I'll have to post some pics once I finish getting everything squared away; still have a few Goodwill boxes around an some pictures to be hung. But I'm pretty much settled in.


Good thing too since we start in-service MONDAY! I got to see my classroom yesterday and see my campus beyond what I saw at the interview. Love it! It's huge - we have over 900 kiddos! I'm in room 6 :) I'll be posting pics of my room soon too - I have a door and WINDOWS!!!



Thought I'd share some pics I've taken around the apartment of the community pets. There are ducks everywhere around here since we're right off a private lake (my building is right on the lake!). These are the ducklings we have right now with Momma. According to the other residents of my building, she started out with 12, but right now we're down to 8 :( There are several small flocks all over the place, but Momma and babies stay between buildings 18, 19, and 20. (I'm in 19).

This is the first morning after I moved in when I went for a walk. This is across the sidewalk from my apartment.

In case you are wondering, you can fit 10 ducklings inside of a medium sized Tupperware container, without the lid ;)

These are the babies as of a few days ago. They are growing so fast :)

The things we miss...

I guess it seems silly that it's hitting me this hard, but I really miss my little Paisley. It's so hard not knowing exactly what was wrong with her, and having had to give her back because I knew I was not stable enough to put another dog down only three weeks after I lost Midget. But these last few months when I've been home by myself, really made me wish I would have fought harder for her. So I wanted to post the few pics I have of her in memory of my sweet little girl.

Capturing Kid's Hearts

Despite the negative outlook of having to give up a week of my well earned summer vacation, I was somewhat looking forward to the Capturing Kid's Hearts retreat with my coworkers. Vidor ISD was big on it when I was there, and I was excited to have the opportunity to get to attend, even though again, I was slightly bitter because it was in the summer, and work-related anything was not what I wanted to be thinking about after the year I'd just barely completed.

But it was definitely worth it. I didn't expect it to be so heartfelt and emotional, but again it was a room of mostly women, so I shouldn't have been surprised. By the end of the three days, I had a totally knew perspective of how my classroom should have been last year and the many places where I could have really changed the dynamic of my room by employing very logical and loving techniques. The object wasn't to change the kids, but to change my approach to the classroom environment and my daily attitude in general.

As our trainer, Karen, continued to remind us, CKH isn't a Magic Pill to fix all our problems, but an amazing tool which makes negatives turn into positives when used correctly. I certainly have a lot to think about right now, both personally and professionally.

Getting Ready for Grad School

My first book for my first graduate class arrived this weekend! My first class is in mediation which is required by all MEd degrees at ACU. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get it cheaper on my Kindle than the traditional book price, but at this point, cheap definitely trumps technology (the irony being this is an ONLINE degree).

I logged on for the first time today to start my online orientation. The technology nerd in me cries out, "This is so cool!" I like taking classes in pajamas and not scaring the people sitting next to me! I'm really excited to see how I fair having to time manage myself as far as my education. As someone who definitely needs structure and deadlines, this should prove very interesting. But since this is something I've wanted for several years now, the motivation is definitely there.

My start date is June 27. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out! Here's to the MEd class of 2013!

OMG...What a Year!

Well, 2011 has not been good to me, but I still know that God is in control. Even if I don't understand why I have to face the things that I have to face, I know He has a purpose. But I won't lie; that only makes it tolerable, not easy.

Along with an intense and trying year as a 1st year teacher, I lost my best friend to a collapsed trachea and congestive heart failure. It sounds silly I'm sure, but I still fight (nearly two months later) to find a way to exist without Midget. She was my best friend for 17 years - I can hardly remember a time when I didn't have her. Even when I lived away from her, I always knew she was there. I would go home to visit my family and cry when I left because I had to leave her behind. I found this amazing website that has made me custom jewelry from her paw print, so she can always stay with me (http://www.4pawsforever.org/pages/custompaws_gallery.php). But every day, I still expect to come home and see her sitting in her chair, waiting for mom and me to get home.

Then I met Paisley, a yorkie mix at the Beaumont Animal Services. She was 5 months old and adorable. It took a few days, but I adopted her and brought her home. I fell in love, but knew that she was sick. I couldn't get her to eat, and she drank bowl-fuls of water at a time. When I took her to the vet, he wouldn't check her for parvo, but did diagnose her with a rare parasite common for dogs in poor health conditions. He gave her a B-12 shot, so she ate a few meals, but still couldn't keep the medicine or any food down. Diarrhea and vomiting for a few days...and then I called Animal Services to find out that they had an outbreak of parvo. And Paisley was showing all the signs.... I ended up making the decision to take her back and let them test her...but they pretty much told me that she probably had parvo. I never did find out...I had to leave her there for fear of having to make the choice to put another dog down less than a month apart. But now my heart is broken because I've lost two so quickly.

Which means no pets for me for a while. I'm still struggling to deal with it.

But there are several upsides to this year....well, two, I guess. One, I finally got into graduate school! Yippee! Two, I found out that next year my principal is going to allow me to go back to teaching special education! I'm hoping at this point my year will start to turn around!

There Is A Time...

This past week marked an odd experience in the career of any teacher, and I prayerfully hope I never have to experience it again in the future. We found out that on Saturday, March 26, one of our first graders, the daughter of one of our second grade teachers, died mysteriously in her home on the couch after complaining of abdominal pain and laying down to try and sleep it off. http://madyson-williams.memory-of.com/photos.aspx On Thursday, the day of her funeral, we had our own memorial ceremony at the end of the school day. I unfortunately didn't get to attend because some of our students had to stay in because of behavior, but my students came in crying and emotional like I never though possible. Most of them didn't know Maddie or Mrs. Williams well, but for me to say that my homeroom is usually heartless is an understatement. They typically laugh at anything which borders on emotion or heartwarming. (For example, I showed a video of "The Little Match Girl" at Christmas to all the classes....my homeroom laughed when the little girl freezes to death at the end. The other classes all cried like normal human beings, but not my kiddos!) But they were uncharacteristically moved by compassion and sadness for Maddie's family. We played a song by Mandisa over the loudspeaker called "He is With You" based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Though being a science teacher I often get the open-ended questions which I can answer with "because God made it that way," I had an unusual opportunity to share His word, and I was going to take it. If the state of Texas wants to start getting rid of teachers, I'd rather give PAISD a good reason to let me go than to have them have to fish for it! My students loved the song and having noticed that I was singing along, asked if I knew who sang it, etc. I opened the discussion quietly with, "Did any of you know that the lyrics of that song are based on a book from the Bible?" A few said yes, but most shook their heads. So I told them that they are words that come from the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes. I have one little boy who keeps a Bible in his desk to read during D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) so he can ask me questions about the Bible , and he immediately pulled his out of his desk so he could look it up. The other kids kept asking if they could read it when he was finished, so I asked them if they would like me to read it aloud to the class. All of them nodded eagerly and said yes, so I had one of the kids get the Bible off my desk so I could read it. After reading, the conversation proceeded to my translating the meaning from NIV to more kid-friendly language and ultimately ended with me sharing the gospel and the ABCs of accepting Christ. That lasted for 20 minutes until the bell rang (to which all my kids went, "Awww..."). Then the kids that come to my room to wait for the bus wandered in and the discussion continued for another 45 minutes! What an amazing gift for me in the midst of a year of my life filled with doubt, anger, and anxiety! The verses in Ecclesiastes had me thinking about God's purpose in Maddie's death. First, I know very clearly from his word in Eccl. 3:2 - [There is] a time to die. Second, many times an early and humanly unexplainable death is sometimes God's way of saving an innocent child from a horrible attack by those who follow Satan and his ways. A dear coworker shared a story similar to this which helped speak this truth to me, and I am so blessed by her open heart! Third, going back to Eccl. 3:7 and using the words of Mordecai from Esther, "[There is] a time to be silent and a time to speak" and "If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise...from another place...And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" I only claim royalty for myself because I am the daughter of the Most High and the King of Kings, but let me say that I knew in my heart He opened up the door for me to share His Word and His Truths with my students that day, which would have not been the case in the moment had He not chosen to take Maddie. My heart cries for the difficulties ahead for her family, but what a time for Him it was! I was blessed with the time to speak and not be silent! Though I may never know what seed He planted during those times, He was clearly at work in the third grade. My two coworkers both had the same blessed opportunity I did, though they shared different scripture, the outcome of His was the same. We all agreed - let us face the wrath of the state of Texas, because to have remained silent would have been far worse! For all of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 click below: http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Ecc&c=3&v=1&t=KJV#top

Getting ready for grad school

Well, the process has officially started...I'm getting ready for grad school! I've been looking into the online program at Abilene Christian for several years, but had to wait for the two years of teaching requirement to pass. Although it still hasn't passed, my A-M-A-Z-I-N-G advisor, Robin, passed my resume on to the dean of admissions, and he okayed my student teaching and aide experience to count as part of that requirement. So I just have to have a great Statement of Purpose and references, and I should be in! I've been debating about doing the Digital Learning program versus the Special Education program, but the more I think about it, the more my heart is in it for Special Education. They also offer a certification for the Digital Learning, so I may opt for that after the MEd. Who knows what God has in store at this point! If I've re-learned anything, it's that God is always in control.

Hard to Argue with Child-like Logic....

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." - Luke 18:15-17

On few occasions, I am reminded why I chose to do what I do. Most of you know the struggles I went through to make the leap to teaching, and most of you know the extreme measures God used to get me here because I was fighting His Will for my life - out of nothing but pure fear of change and unknowns.

Anyway, after a long prayer time this morning asking for a renewed spirit during a difficult time at my campus, I showed up a few minutes late and frustrated with myself for not being better prepared....blah, blah, blah, the usual. I knew my science material very well so I wasn't overly concerned, but I still like to feel over prepared (not that that EVER happens). Consider it a flaw in my OCD personality.

Either way, today's science lesson was the conclusion of our lab on natural resources which fed into determining which resources are renewable and which are nonrenewable. After finishing our lab, I started one of the programs I use called EduSmart which is an interactive teacher's aide program (would be great for a SmartBoard if we had them.) It starts off showing 5 different types of renewable resources: oxygen, soil, fresh water, animals, and plants. (Our definition of a renewable resources is any natural resource that the earth can make more of almost as fast as it can be used up.) Per our discussions, I start asking students to think of things that could be made of animals and plants or something that needs oxygen, soil and water, and where the oxygen comes from, etc.

In my morning class, very unexpectedly, one of my "trouble" students raises his hand and says that he thing people are made of a natural resource. I assumed his logic was based on the fact that we eat plants and animals so we must be made of them. I fully expected to have to correct that by saying our bodies use those things to get energy and nutrients which we'll talk about in the 5th six weeks. But his answer truly caught me off guard.

Intrigued, I asked why he though people were made of natural resources. His response was this, "Well, God made people out of soil, which is dirt, and soil is a natural resource. So we have to be made from a natural resource."

Someone tell me how to argue with that!?!? I could do little to argue. I said, "Well, I guess we are made of at least one natural resource then aren't we. It's a good thing God made the soil for us then isn't it?" The whole class agreed, and we continued our lesson.

But it hit me hard. The child-like faith Jesus mentions in Luke and Mark was right there. So simplistic in it's design is the faith of a child. It's still very pure without all of the mess we bring into our minds as adults, twisting and turning faith till it fits our own version of "logic". We manipulate faith if we aren't capable. But as children, their minds can't do that yet. They simply relate to the beauty of what they know.

How I needed that small reminder of what it is to have pure faith! In a time of transition, where so much rides of my faith in Him and His plan for my life, I can only hope to survive by living the on un"adult"erated faith like that of a child!