...the two football game weekend...

Yep. I willingly watched two football games this weekend. The first - from my big comfy chair watching my Aggies proudly dominate that other team...OUch. And the second with Hilary and a bunch of strangers in the Yellow lot outside Reliant where it was 48 degrees and raining on and off. Yep. I did that. Me. The girl who missed the two biggest games of her college tenure thanks to Business Law. I have to say I enjoyed it - once my body went numb and hypothermia set in the game was enjoyable. I was very relaxed on Friday during that game. And stressed beyond reason on Saturday. Though again, the helped me forget a lot of that. So here I am officially a Texan in more ways than one now that I'm beginning to watch football..

post-Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Jazi celebrated her first Christmas with her new forever family in Nederland this year with Mom, Duncan, and me.  She could have cared less about the tree and the gifts.  Her present was running around in Mom's backyard.  To copy the phrase, she "runs like a deer" - leaping and jumping.  Kind of reminiscent of Pepe Le Pew from Looney Tunes...

She is still very active and healthy.  Our goal is to go through training to become a therapy dog this year.  She has the perfect temperament - as long as you don't give her rawhide.  She gets a little possessive over those for some reason, but nothing else.  So easily avoided - she just doesn't get any.

2012 was a very blessed year for me.  I got a wonderful new job, a wonderfully furry child, and great roommate, and I continue to be blessed by the presence of those God has placed in my life.  I am so grateful for social media to be able to keep in touch and stay in touch with friends that I don't see all the time.  It can certainly be a dangerous addiction, but I believe it can me as much of a blessing!  Thanks for praying for me!  "I thank my God every time I remember each of you!" (Philippians 1:4)

...You can take a dog for a walk...

"This is my after-walk happy face."

...but you can't tell her how far to go!!!  Jaz is doing super, but she definitely wants to determine the pace and distance of our outings!  When we first get going she'll run with me for a while, and she looks like a blur next to me...today, however, we rounded the corner that leads back to the apartment, and she proceeded to sit down in the street and look at me like she was saying, "This is as far as I go."  I had to pick her up to get her out of the road!!  We usually go about a mile and a half.  And she has a 'boyfriend' we see every night - Rowdy, a Wheaten terrier who looks like a teddy bear and is so soft I just want to snuggle with him.  He's only 9 months old - so apparently she likes younger men ;)  (No comments from the peanut gallery, please - you know who you are!)  We get to make lots of new friends and always get compliments on how sweet and cute she is...but who can resist that face!?!  And it's hard to miss the dog with the flashing LED light on her collar in the dog...which is the point of having it in the first place!  We're going to try out the dog park in Nassau Bay and on Bay Area soon.

...I'm spent...

Financial Peace University is going well...I am learning that I spend way too much money on food.  So I'm hoping my budget will force me to eat less and slim down - I think I'll call it the Dave Ramsey diet :)  But if I stick to it, I will have the first of my student loans paid off in about 8 months.  Which I'm technically supposed to do before I attempt to buy a house...again...  It's such a tough choice.  Maybe I'll just find the Boardwalk Monopoly piece at lunch tomorrow and win $1 million so I don't have to worry about it...there goes that whole spending too much money on food again...

My New Personal Trainer

Jazi is heartworm free!!!  Dr. Marcoux gave us the all-clear yesterday morning, and I can't remember a time when I was more thrilled!  She told us she was glad Jaz was healthy, but she was going to miss seeing Jaz so often - she doesn't have many patients who enjoy having their chest listened to so much that they fall asleep on the exam table :)

We went to Petco after the appointment to get Jaz a present for being heartworm free.  She got a new sweater and a blinking LED light for her collar when we walk, and it's dark outside.  She was shivering this weekend with the semi-cold weather so I figured I better get her something to keep her warm while they're on sale :)

After a long nap, we then went for her very first official walk about halfway around our lake.  Then she took another long nap.  Being a real dog is apparently very exhausting!  She got to see Hilary and Belle for a little while and sleep through her first Texans game (and I napped with her during the 3rd quarter).

I also spoiled her with two new toys I bought months ago on sale at Petco - and her favorite toy that she now carries everywhere is her neon pink hedgehog.  She still won't play with the real one she lives with though!  She also has a personalized toy box courtesy of Aunt Hil and Thirty-One :)

This evening when I got home she had a very clear agenda:

1. Water
2. Potty
3. Pull every new toy out of my toy box to make sure they are still there.



a very exhausted baby with her new hedgie and toy box

4. Eat

So we both ate and then went for a run.  And she LOVES to run!  She looked like a little rabbit hopping and zipping all over.  I had to run to keep up with her, but we actually kept pretty close to the same pace the whole walk.  She stuck with me for about a mile (when she wasn't stopping quickly to sniff something incredibly amazing) before she slowed down to a good cool down pace.  We went just over a mile and a half.

 Once she made it up the stairs, she went straight to her water bowl and then crashed on the ottoman before I even had my shoes off!  She napped for about 20 minutes, but then it was necessary to pull all her toys back out.  She is now running around the living room from toy to toy.  It really is like a kid at FAO Schwartz for the first time.

Her favorite is still hedgie!  I think we will make a pretty good team!!  She is my little survivor, and I know God gave us each other for a very special reason.  I think we rescued each other.  I'm not glad she had to end up at a shelter, but I am glad God put us in the same place at the same time so I could bring her home.  Now that she's healthy, it's going to be even more fun watching how God uses her in my life, and us in the paths we cross!

I Can See the Light!!

There IS light at the end of the tunnel!!  The heartworm journey is almost at its end, and I am so ready to treat Jasmine the way a dog deserves to be treated.  And I'm hoping her energy will inspire me to have more - and get me outside and moving while the weather is about as nice as it gets in southeast Texas.  We only get September, October, November, and March where the outdoors are tolerable and the mosquitoes are minimal, right???  Dr. Marcoux at Egret Bay Vet Hospital has been AMAZING!  Jaz, Duncan, and I are trying to figure out what we will be getting the staff as a present for getting her on the road to recovery.  (Duncan loves his sister - she just doesn't like him much if he's not in his 'kennel'.  She loves to lay next to his cage and watch him run on his wheel though.)  If you have a pet, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put them on heartworm preventative!  The treatment to kill the adults once they've grown and reproduced is expensive, dangerous, and very taxing on both the pets and the humans who love them!   It has been a long three months!
Duncan went through his final quilling the past few weeks (which means he is officially an adult now) - so I have had two very grumpy 'kids' this month and will be glad to see both of them back to their sparkling and prickly personalities soon!  And I know Jaz will be so excited to hang out with her BFF Belle again in a few weeks!
And of course - with all this additional expense, comes - budgeting!!  Hilary and I are taking a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University course at her church on Sunday evenings.  I'm much worse with money than I thought!  And I'm going through hand sanitizer very quickly touch all that dirty cash- ew.  (If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey's cash-envelope system - check it out at www.fpucentral.com.)  It's really making me focus on where my money goes, and I am trying to help it stay put instead!  But boy I miss my large McDonald's latte every Monday/Friday morning!  I'm suffering through office coffee at the moment to save everything I can for Dave's 'baby steps'.  Alternative sources of caffeine are a must :)  I will keep everyone posted on that one!
Apparently I also failed to mention that I'm working back in the insurance industry - on the business side of things rather than IT, but I think pretty much every has figured that out by now!  But that's another story for another time...goodnight, All!

New Journey with a Rough Start

Goodnight - hope you don't need this pillow...

So for those I haven't told...my newly adopted dog is beginning heartworm injections tomorrow.  I'm absolutely terrified even though our vet is amazing, and I feel so blessed to have been led to her.  The office manager at my complex goes to church with the vet and her administrative assistance, who also used to manage my apartment complex when it first opened up and will maybe be moving into the same building I'm living in - in January.  Such a small amazing world that God uses to link His people together.  I started a page for Jaz to document the whole treatment - sort of therapy for me I guess.  Anyway, please keep us in your prayers - I know she is going to be hurting and  not really understanding what's going on.  It breaks my heart to put her through this after only having her for such a short time.  I don't want it to mess up the trust I've gained from her.  She's really been such a blessing since I've had her, and I really don't want to lose her or see her suffer.  Thanks, my friends!

Remembering What She Taught - the R.M.S. Titanic

"My mother had a premonition from the very word 'GO.' She knew there was
something to be afraid of and the only thing that she felt strongly about was
that to say a ship was unsinkable was flying in the face of God. Those were her
words." -Eva Hart, Titanic Survivor

To anyone who has known me for even a brief moment, it’s unlikely you don’t know my strange obsession with the Titanic. From childhood, long before Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio brought Her to life, She has been a fascinating topic of which I have devoured numerous accounts of Her discovery, recovery, survivors, and victims.

I’ve seen what has survived in museums, and those who didn’t in cemeteries. I’ve watched movies and documentaries, and lost myself in the sometimes conflicting accounts of Her existence.

How can I put my fascination into words? When I found the quote from Eva Hart, I
knew. My love of the Titanic is somewhat based on a love story, but the symbolism of Her life which has me mesmerized – is the very symbol of the fragility and arrogance of the human race.

There were innocent lives lost in the face of human arrogance; a fact that I never intend to devalue in my assessment. It is not those lives I blame – nor do I intend to place blame on any which many already blame for Her demise. The fact is that many built Her up to be something so strong “even God Himself couldn’t sink.” The media, the engineers, the construction crew, the management – all condemned Her and those aboard Her with the word ‘unsinkable.’ She was built to defy nature and to defy the God who created those who created Her.

How often does history repeat itself? Didn’t Eve allow Satan to deceive her into
thinking God wouldn’t take her life? Wasn’t almost all of humanity wiped from the earth save a few handpicked by Him aboard an Ark? Didn’t an innocent man die at the demand of the masses because He seemingly went against God’s laws – which were written by men who were twisting His words? Because the crowd was uninformed, didn’t understand, or didn’t want to? Our arrogance as a race takes us back to the garden and repeats, over and over, throughout history.

And continues beyond the death of the RMS Titanic. But She sank at the feet of the Father – because men said She couldn’t.

Our God isn’t vengeful, nor can He be called mean. It can be argued that He caused Her sinking because, after all, the earth is His creation. But the earth is now Satan’s domain, as noted in Job. God allows Satan access to humanity, but God still controls Satan's access to us. It remains that our choices are those which condemn us – free will, which a merciful and loving God allows.

Many of those who deemed Her unsinkable no doubt faced certain humility as they watched and felt her sink. How many hearts went out to those who faced an innocent death – because of the decisions of a few and the declarations of many?

Wasn’t that what happened at the cross?

The Titanic story will be repeated. I’m sure it has been in recent history and perhaps just not touched me like Her fate and the fate of Her passengers did. Perhaps other
situations exist which bring to light the same realizations to others. My heart goes out to those who lost their lives, wishing history had been different for them.

The same is true for Jesus.

I wish He hadn’t had to die for my arrogance. My sin. My foolishness. But He did.

And I’m forgiven.

We have no survivors of Titanic left on this planet to share Her story. Fortunately, we have Jesus who conquered death for us many years before so we can be around to retell Her story.

And His.

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!

A Post About Nothing

Haha...so it's been since August, and I still have 'blogger's block.' There is literally nothing exciting that I can post here. Nederland is still Nederland - boring, dull, slow, etc., etc. The good news is that I'm praying about my move at the end of the school year. I'm applying to my usuals in San Antonio and also in the Clear Creek, Friendswood, League City area - hoping now that I've got some experience under my belt I might be able to get on somewhere outside Jefferson County.

I can say the last few months has been a huge growing experience for me personally. I know a lot more about what I want - but even more about what I DON'T want for myself and my future, though unfortunately it usually takes a mistake or two for me to realize those life altering revelations. God is so good; however, He never lets me suffer long and is true to His promise that I'll never have to go through more than I can handle.

Someone very dear to me said recently, "When it comes to life, all anyone needs is love." (Not quoting the song or Moulin Rouge, by the way.) That person was recently removed from their job, and was told flat out, "Love isn't enough anymore." I'm frightened by that statement, but see that dark thought hovering over this area like a thick fog waiting to descend. Perhaps it's my obvious and life-long disdain for the area I must always call my birth-place, but it seems so many people are desperate for something here and fill that need with something else that feeds the darkness. There is no room for love here anymore; I just never thought I'd hear someone say it!

More than ever I'm desperate to leave; knowing this time, I won't be coming back. It won't be long before I can move Mom (I hope) and turn my back on this place for good. I can only keep filling out job applications and continue praying for God's will to coincide with my desperation to be free of this place.

My Summer Endeth

Tomorrow marks the end of my summer vacation, since I've been asked to attend a week-long training for my new role as a 3rd grade Math/Science enhancement teacher (basically reteaching hands-on what they are learning in their Math/Science classes where the new subjects are introduced).

I have to say I'm looking forward to the school year - even if it means I no longer get to sleep in and have limited responsibility. I'm nervous about having more students and more responsibility, but I know it will be fun. I just hope I don't let the administration down since they have so much faith in me. It's scary!

I've been browsing the web for helps and implore my teacher-friends to give me ANYTHING you can for math and science intervention teaching. I've got some ideas that work in my head, but who knows what will happen when I actually get in the classroom! Prayers are welcomed - for the teachers and the students!

The World Famous San Diego Zoo

It was everything I'd dreamed it would be and more!

Though our day started out rough with a nail in the front passenger tire of our rental car, we did eventually trade out the car and make it to the zoo. Poor Hilary had to listen to me squeal and take a million pictures at the entrance before we even made it into the zoo :) I was so excited to finally see the zoo's sign that I'd seen when I was a little girl, I think I might have hyperventilated a bit.

First of all, the zoo is beyond huge! And of course, I wanted to see everything; it was so hard to decide what to see first. However, what we saw first was most unexpected - a peacock, not in a cage, but sitting freely on top of the ticket booth making a very loud and obnoxious squawk (which Hilary can immitate perfectly, by the way.) Apparently there are three or four of these Indian peacocks that wander the zoo freely making their highly annoying and LOUD "may-awe, may-awe" noise. (Again, ask Hil :) We ran into these guys several times: one was eating a Skittle, another was trying to sneak into the gift shop by the entrance - but the best was the one posing with his plummage open for everyone. I mean, literally posing. Wherever the groups of cameras were, he would slowly circle around to face them. Like he knew he was beautiful and wanted to make sure everyone got a great shot! I took a few pictures standing next to him.

We got lost amidst the monkeys several times en route to the tigers and hippos. Sadly, the tiger was hiding from us, but we did see the pygmy hippos, and I so wanted to hug them :)



My favorites? Hmmmm...that's tough. Of course I love the elephants. The ones at the Zoo are the older elephants, and from what I could see they were all Asian elephants. You could look at their faces and tell they were older, but still adorable! I wanted to play with them so bad! The zookeeper even got one of them (Mary) to trumpet for us! We watched them eat and play for a while. Then we moved on to the giraffes.

I think the giraffes enjoyed the crowd that they ensue as well - at least the seemed to look at the camera it was pointed at them. Unless there was food involved. One of the zookeepers came out and fed them "giraffee snacks" while we were there. Apparently Thursdays - Sundays there are certain times that you can go and feed the giraffes for $3 or so. Darn that we went on Wednesday! Anyway, we still got to watch them line up fore cookies, which is hilarious considering their size.

The pandas! Apparently, the SDZ is one of the few zoos which has a successful giant panda conservation program, since several have been born at the facility since 1987 when they began the program. We got toe see baby Yun Zi who will turn one on August 5 this year. He is currently only 48 pounds and unbelievable adorable. He's still very uncertain of himself and is extremely curious. He loves to climb the trees in the exhibit and will do just about anything for a red apple, just like his mamma. We saw three of the adult females and this adorable little guy :)

I only took about a million photos - ok, 724, but who's counting? So clearly I can't post them all. Needless to say, I hope that I can go back to the SDZ some day! It was so worth the trip and to know that there are places doing so much to protect our endangered animals.



My last on the list of favorites has to be the meerkats. They run around like crazy and get the greatest looks on their faces. Both the zoo and the Wild Animal Park had a meerkat manor, but we spent more time at the one in the zoo. These guys are hams for the camera. Several of them would stop and look at me while I took a picture, then scurry off after I put the camera down. Can't say they aren't used to being adorable!