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.