I am a REAL Teacher!

So, my first day with my kids was on Monday. The day went much better than I thought it would. I only had 2 criers! It was much harder to get them to sit and listen than I thought it would be. I also blanked several times throughout the day and would completely forget to do certain activities or not explain something well. It is definitely a learning process. I am still trying to get my classroom in a working order that works for my students, assistant and me.

I have already fallen in love with my kids! I have a few handfuls. C likes to think the schedule should go as she wants it. She will cry and pout if she can't have a turn on the computer or it isn't her day to be the leader. D is something else. I am pretty sure he has ADHD. He won't sit still for more than 1.5 minutes. No joke! And I am not trying to making them sit for long or anything crazy like that. I just want him to listen to one picture book or sit long enough to finish his snack! He definitely keeps me on my toes. S is a special little girl. She had brain trauma as a baby and is definitely behind. She is such a sweet heart though. This week has been a lot of playing games, singing songs and doing free centers (blocks, pretend center, puzzles, etc.) We will start with the heavy stuff next week. Hopefully we will have procedures down a lot better by then.

I never really realized just how hard this job is. Especially when you are just trying to get them to walk in a line! How in the world do you teach that? I just thought everyone was born knowing it. LOL. Oh the fun I am having. I am enjoying it and if it stays this crazy, I will lose some weight. I haven't had time to finish my meal all week.

In other news: I went to a Hillsong concert last night with Sierra. Jake knew we wanted to go and entered to win us tickets on Air 1 (a national Christian radio station). And he won! That was a major blessing. We wanted to go but the tickets were $45. We had such a great time. I was fantastic to be in a room of believers all singing to Dad! I enjoyed just watching the raised hands and people praising with all their hearts! Not to mention how great it felt to be in true worship again. It is hard for me to feel that in my Sunday services here. Sierra and I talked about how we didn't realize how great the BCM worship was until we didn't have it anymore. We were "lost in worship" as Sierra put it.

Sorry it took me so long to update. My life seems so crazy these days. To close here are a few pics of my kids

Lies!

So, in my quest to have a relationship with Dad again, The Enemy is at his usual antics. In the back of my head I can hear things like:

• This is only going to last a few weeks and then you will quit again, so why even try?
• You haven't even done the right thing to get back to Dad yet anyway. So why are you wasting your time?
• But that other book you are reading is so much more interesting.
• Going to sleep instead of reading the Word would make you feel better.
• Is learning about Him really going to help you?

Now, I know all of the answers and replies to these things. I know that they aren't true and they are silly tries to bring me down. But I just wish they would go away. My thoughts are that they are proof of how childlike my relationship is at this point. I think that as I continue you in that those will go away. Of course, then his attempts might get worse. But Dad won't give me any more than I can handle!

Trying to Get Back

First, let me show you some pictures of how our house building is going...

I took these yesterday. It looks like they are about to pour the foundation. Here is the front.

Here it is close up. I can only tell you a little about what is going on. The wood is the frame for the concrete. The white you see is a tarp that is covering lots of dirt. The black lines that make a grid are cables that help make sure the foundation is good and sturdy. And the black things standing up are the pipes for plumbing and electrical.

This is our backyard. It dips off into a creek.

Last week we went and picked out things for our home. We picked out: carpet color, stained concrete color, the brick (black and reds), the siding color (a light yellow), the front door color (red), cabinets style and color, and indoor paint and trim. All we have left is lighting and appliances. Picking out things for a house is very tricky. You have to pick it out so fast and you are hoping the whole time that it all goes together. I never realized how many choices there are in building a home! I can't wait to see it all done.

The school year is fast approaching. I only have one week left of daycamp and then I have a week free until I have to report to the school. I will spend that free week, working on my classroom and getting as much done as I can to make it look nice, organized and functional. I am getting nervous and excited all at once. We have our first faculty meeting tomorrow from 9-2pm. It will be nice to see everyone again and plan for the year. I hope I am a good pre-k teacher!

Ok, down to business. Since, I have graduated and left the BCM and supportive Bob and Deb behind, I have been finding myself drifting from God. Not in any horrible way, I was still going to church and making the major decisions that I should. But not the little decisions, like truly trying to learn from the service and our Sunday school lessons, or spending time with him daily, or showing His love to others in as many ways as possible. (Ok, so those are horrible things to miss.) I was in what you call a 'rut'. It was starting to show in my attitude and in my marriage. Again, not in any major way, just little things. I have been quick to think of myself first, be snappy towards him, and just not feel so close to my husband. Before we got married, I never realized how much my relationship with God would reflect in my marriage. Our marriage is at its best when we are putting God first. I have known for awhile that I needed to get back on my feet but I was waiting. Waiting for what you ask? I dunno, some major break down or sign from God, some major problem in my life to bring me spiraling back to him, some great speaker or song that snaps me back in place. But after some prodding from God and watching my best friend get back on her feet, I realized that all I was waiting on was myself. I needed to make a decision to live for God on a daily basis because I want to and for no other reason. As I type this, I realize how simple that all is. Why did it take me so long?

So, in short, please pray that I will begin to live for God as an adult married woman, not some college girl with people to make sure she is doing her quiet times.

Jaclyn: I hope you enjoy your time with him. :)

Darla: I am glad you are settling in well. I hope you figure out the bus systems soon. You are so brave for traveling in a foreign place like that.

Wicked

Wicked was amazing! We had great seats, 10 rows from the stage. It felt like we were right there with them. It had great music and was just funny! 

I got all dolled up, after Jake questioned why it was taking so long, then we went downtown to eat. We ate at a little mexican restaurant, El Guapos, it was very tasty. Then headed to the show. I was worried that Jake wouldn't like it. But he thought it was "brilliant." I think this was a good show to introduce him to musicals. Hopefully, he will take me to more of them! We also ran into Cody and Breanna there. They also enjoyed it. 

I have spent the week at a workshop called Great Expectations. It's for teachers. It was good, a little boring at times, but good information to know. 

Anticipation...

For my birthday and our anniversary, Jake bought us tickets to see the Broadway Musical Wicked. The musical tells the story of what happened before Dorothy dropped in. It is the tale of what made the Wicked Witch so wicked. It was originally a novel by Gregory McGuire and they took it and made a musical. I have read the book and heard the soundtrack. I am super excited to go and see this. I LOVE all performing arts, especially musicals. Our seats are fantastic! Seven rows from the orchestra.

And for this special occasion, I got a new dress...

And shoes....
This is the first time that I have wanted to get so dressed up since our wedding. It is really nice to have a special occasion to look forward to. I hope we get more of these opportunities in the future.

Jake's Foot

So, I realized that I never posted about Jake's foot. Let me tell you a little story:

Mabe and Toni had come over to visit on a Friday evening. We wanted to do something. It was between ice cream and bowling. Mabe and I wanted ice cream and Toni and Jake wanted to go bowling. Eventually, Mabe and I caved and we went bowling at Andy B's in Jenks. We got our shoes and programed our names in and started bowling. As Jake threw the ball for the first time, he sort of twisted his left foot onto the side but kept bowling. After two more frames he began to talk about how much the top of his foot was hurting, he even said that he might have to go to the hospital. Well, needless to say, I was skeptical. Jake is kind of a big baby when it comes to these things, and it often turns out to not be so bad in the end. I told him to see how it felt in a little bit, and to quit bowling and elevate his foot. So the rest of us finished our game and headed home. By this time he wasn't able to put weight on his foot. I told him to ice it and we would see how it felt in the morning.

Ok, before you think I am a horrible person, let me explain myself to you. Once, when we were still dating, I got a phone call from Jake at 4:30 in the morning. He had been getting sick all evening and was convinced that he needed to go to the ER. Being the sweet girlfriend I was, I took him. After three hours and one missed class later, the doctor told him his stomach was just empty and the acid in his stomach was giving him cramps. He gave him an antacid and told him to go to bed and try to eat something after a few hours. Ever since, I have been skeptical of his need to go to the ER often. Not only was I thinking it wasn't so bad, I was also worried about money. I didn't want to have to pay hundreds of dollars for the doctor to tell us it was a sprained muscle.

Back to the story: It wasn't feeling better the next day, so he called in and we decided to wait it out a little longer. He iced it and kept taking ibuprofen. At this point, it was only hurting him when he put weight on it. After there had been no progress on Saturday night, we decided we would go to urgent care on Sunday morning. The doctor did an x-ray and sure enough, the bone leading to his pinky toe was fractured. They put him in a boot and told him not to work.

So, he went 6 weeks without working. He got very bored but enjoyed his time off. Except of course, the fact that he wasn't getting paide. He finally went back to the doctor this past Thursday and he said it was healing fine, that he could go back to a shoe and return to work. Needless to say, this was a big relief for us to get him back working and having something to do during the day!

Praise God that we are just now having a crunch with our money. But Jake will get paid in two weeks and it will all be back to normal. I love how God will provide in times like this.

As You Wish...

Sorry I haven't been updating much. It was easier during the school year when I got online everyday. 

My last update tells you that we were thinking of building a home. Well, after looking at what houses were on the market and finding nothing at all close to what we want, we went for it. We signed a contract to build a home. We are building a three bedroom, two bath, two care garage,  1700 square feet home. With a nice sized yard, jacuzzi bath tub and private toilet in the master bathroom.  I am a little nervous, a house is a lot of money and a big commitment. But very excited! The nice thing is, that if something were to happen and we needed out of the contract, they would let us get out. That is only because we are building in a housing addition and they will always be able to sell it to someone else. The builder has been super helpful, given us great deals and kept us up to date on everything.

Here is a picture of us in front of our sold sign. (Even though we actually haven't paid anything yet)

Here is what our lot looks like. Without the house of course :)

I am spending my days working at the Daycamp at FBC Tulsa. I work with the kindergarten class. They keep me busy. It is a lot less structured than school, so that was hard to get used to. We go to the pool and the park twice a week and a special trip once a week. So, we are out of the building everyday. 

I have been busy making things for my classroom. I know it will be a crazy year, so the more I get done now, the better I think it will be. I am very excited and nervous. (There seem to be a lot of things in my life to be nervous about these days, lol.) 

I have also been reading a lot. Lately, it's been the Harry Potter Series. I am on book 6 out of 7 these days. I have been reading a book and then watching the movie. I wanted to get ready for the new movie. Next, it will be The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Wicked. That is to get ready to musical Wicked (super excited about this). 

Jake and I celebrated our one year anniversary and we are still making it!