new chapter.

http://dieingtoself.blogspot.com/

happy new year!

oops.

life got a little crazy, and i kinda forgot about the blog. i guess i'm not exactly cut out for the whole blogging experience.

okay, well, pretty much everything in my life since i last wrote has revolved around school. it's been a pretty awesome semester for the most part. hard, but lots of fun. had a couple of incidents. caught students cheating, had to write one student the detention that got him expelled, but for the most part it has been a very productive, very fun year.

i love my job.

let's see, what else happened since i last wrote?...my dad was released from the hospital after about a week. he's home now, obviously. he was doing better, but he seems to have caught a cold recently and isn't doing so hot. my sister got her class ring in. little tyke grows up so fast. i got my wisdom teeth pulled the 23rd. i miss meat. like, for real.

our church: some other churches in our fellowship have gotten together and are trying to finish off work on our church. it should be done fairly quickly, actually. and they're doing it all on their dime. so, hopefully, before long, i'll be posting pictures of our newly finished (much improved) church building. it's amazing how God blesses!

if you think about it, two older ladies in our church are very ill and not expected to make it much longer. they are both very sweet, Christian ladies and have lived full lives. if you think about it, pray for their families and friends and that these ladies won't be in too much pain in their final hours. they've been around here forever and their presence will be greatly missed. they are mrs. edith enbey and mrs. evelyn hammonds.

i will leave you with a glimpse at four of my five classes. scheduling conflicts made it so i didn't get a picture of one big class before break. :( also, the pictures are small and lo-res. for legal reasons, i'm sure you can understand, i can't put much up about them. their pretty sweet kids though. i have around 65 students when all is said and done.

my 7th grade bible class

one of my 8th grade algebra classes

the other of my 8th grade algebra classes.
these kids are characters...

my smaller 9th grade algebra class.
the other one has 20 students in it; it's a shame i didn't get their picture.

well, i hope you had a merry christmas and you have a very happy new year!

life comes at you fast.

"when peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

it is well, with my soul,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

though satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed His own blood for my soul.

it is well, with my soul,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
my sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and i bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

it is well, with my soul,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

for me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
if jordan above me shall roll,
no pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

but, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
the sky, not the grave, is our goal;
oh, trump of the angel! oh, voice of the Lord!
blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

it is well, with my soul,
it is well, it is well, with my soul.

and Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul..."

-- horatio g spafford: it is well with my soul

christmas is coming...

i know this is random but...it's like a week till october, so i have a bit more confidence in admitting that i'm SO EXCITED for christmas!! i can't wait to decorate around the house and my classroom and the church. it's gonna be so awesome. last year was kind of a bust because of the storm, so we're planning to go all out this year. plus, it'll be the first thanksgiving in 4 years that i'll be home for. so, i'm pretty excited. cause, i heart the holidays. woohoo for christmas!

ps - thanks to those who've been praying for my dad. he seems to be doing a little better.

pray for my dad

his edema is getting bad. he may need to check in to the hospital to help control it.

he's in a lot of pain, and he's having trouble breathing.

fail

well, it's been a while, needless to say. to those that keep asking me for updates and probably feel a little dejected that i've been giving sparse and uninformative responses, i'm sorry. it's been...hectic, to say the least. i'll do my best to give an update that's not too long or boring, but a little more informative than, "life's good."

first, i love my job. it's amazing. my kids are, for the most part, awesome. i've had some ups and downs, but things are slowly becoming normal and comfortable. since progress reports officially come out tuesday, i think it's safe to say the school year is underway. mostly, my kids and i are getting along, but i have a few with attitude (high school freshmen), a few that have mood swings from day to day on how they feel about me (also freshmen), a few that just hate math, a few that are shocked that their grade suffers when they don't do their hw, and a few parents i could live without. for future reference, please don't be these parents: kids lie. all kids. any kid given the opportunity, if they think it will keep them out of trouble, will lie. please do not ever assume your child will not. if your child is making a bad grade, do not assume it is the teacher's fault, particularly when everyone else in the class is doing fine. further, do not call the teacher and tell them that your child is upset because they are used to making a's and b's not b's and c's. teachers play along, but they don't actually have any sympathy there. i'm of the philosophy that a student earns their grade, whether an a, a c, or a 0. you will work for a grade in my class.


so i've dealt with a few parents over the last few weeks. there are the ones who know their kids will do anything to get out of work and want to make sure their kids are doing their work or want proof so they can beat them into submission. then there are the parents who think their kids can do no wrong and will even believe the most outrageous tales a kid spins. for instance, one student accused me of saying i would never pray in class, that the students must pray for themselves, and of yelling at them when they don't understand and refusing to answer questions. what that student failed to mention is that i'd already passed out quizzes and was not about to close my eyes while they were out, that i yelled at one student (not the accuser) who was not doing their work and was being disrespectful, and that this student never asked questions in class. further, this student was upset because i did hw completion grade (0 or 100) and they hadn't finished their hw. this student also went on to make the highest grade on the test in that class a couple of days later. i must be a terrible teacher.

moving on...i love my job. despite the rant above, most of my students and i have an amicable relationship. my seventh graders are awesome; i love that bible class. my eighth graders are cool. they do frequently remind me of why i don't miss middle school at all. but they're pretty cool kids and because they're in accelerated courses, they want, mostly, to be in my algebra class. my ninth graders are where i have the most issues. this class is required for them and several would rather be anywhere else. and they make that known from time to time. otherwise, they're good kids. lots of personality.

i love my car. i now have a 2004 volkswagen passat. it's so cute! i love my car. :)


early august i had a conference in florida over the curriculum we use at pensicola. that was interesting. they have a beautiful campus, i'll give them that. small, but beautiful. people there were really nice and the beaches were beautiful. however, conservative is an understatement. i haven't worn a skirt for that many consecutive hours since i was probably six. the church services were awkward. i always thought sounds of liberty and chucky b were conservative. these people didn't move. not that they were bad singers or the music was off or anything like that, there was just no personality. which, i'm sure, is what they were going for. ya know, it's all about God, not us. which i get, except i believe God gave us individual and unique personalities for a reason. i don't think He wanted us to all look, act, sound, and think uniformly, and i think that follows into worship. i think we're meant to glorify God as He created us, uniquely. within reason obviously, there's a time and place for everything, and there's a difference between uniquely worshiping and unbiblical behavior. but i don't think God wants to look down and see everyone worship in the same way. how boring would that be? anyhoo, beautiful campus. and, news to report to all liberty friends, no blue and pink sidewalks. sorry. funny story though, i was wandering around, exploring the campus by myself while i had some free time, and i was in this one area where i kept passing only guys, so for a few seconds i wondered if i was unknowingly on some kind of "blue" route...i thought it was funny at the time.




anyhoo, life has been crazy. fun, but crazy. a sad admission: i'm starting to get more and more into the christmas spirit. i'm super excited about being home for thanksgiving this year!

i'll try to keep this updated a little more often in the future.

hope all is well with you.

happy july 4th!

ok, so it's been a while. not much has been going on until this last week. we spent a week and a half redoing my sister's room, so it's totally different colors now, the furniture's in different places, and i think when all was said and done we took out around 10 of those huge black garbage bags -- the ones for like leaves and stuff -- around 10 of those full of trash were thrown out. not to mention a huge amount of stuff went downstairs into storage -- stuff she's had but hasn't seen since we moved in six, almost seven years ago. so we did that. i've been working on stuff for the church, like the youth room and the church's web site (which by the way is all new and you should check it out, even if you're nowhere near the area and will probably never stop by -- biblebaptistgalveston.org) and some other stuff.

anyhoo, wednesday i got a call from my employer that they were having their summer math tutoring thing and they had more kids than usual and the teacher running it needed help. so he asked if i'd be available to help thursday and next week. well, i could help thursday, but i can't next week (because i'll be out of town; i'll explain later), which he thought was great, because i apparently i was the first person he thought of, which i was flattered by until i started thinking, "did he think of me because he thinks i'd be a good choice, or because he thinks i need tutoring?..." so anyway, thursday! i had so much fun! i didn't actually teach any of the lessons; we split them up and she would teach the lessons and i'd help the kids on the work they were doing on the lessons they just learned. it was so awesome, and it made me so excited for the fall! yay!

actually, it makes me a little sad that i can't help this coming week. she definitely needs the help, and i had a lot of fun and could use the experience. but i can't because this week comes -- drumroll please -- the long awaited vacation! yup, early tuesday morning we're leaving this hotter-than-hades-island and going up to branson, mo for vacation! my mom and i are very excited. plus we get to see some old family and friends while we're up there that we haven't seen in a while. it's exciting. we're gonna relax and shop and see a few night shows and go to silver dollar city a few days and, most importantly, i'm not gonna think about everything i have to do before the school year starts when i get back. speaking of, i'm in desparate need of a car and i have no money. please pray for me. my parents my be able to help me out, but that's kind of a last resort kind of option. so, please pray that i can find a car that runs well and is not expensive and that dealership will let me finance out payment on. kinda that vicious cycle -- need the car for the job but won't have the steady income for the car until i start the job...

anyhoo, i hope you have a fantastic fourth! i plan to read some. which is what i've been doing in my free time (i've never denied that i'm a nerd), but my mom thinks that if i keep reading like i've been i won't have any books left for vacation. so, she stole my books!! the theif. i'm going after them later...call it operation: bookworm. wish me luck... :)