Holiday Season!

The holidays are nigh upon us! And goodness me! That means the year is almost over! It's a pity really... I've just become accustomed to writing "2013" on everything! ;-)

I realize it has been quite some time since I have updated you all on what has been going on. I haven't forgotten you. On the contrary! I think of my Midwest family and friends daily!

Life has been very busy! Each day I teach I fall more and more in love with what I do. I've been sick on and off the past several weeks... just those nasty colds that go around this time of year. Being a young teacher (Strike One), being in a completely new geographic area (Strike Two), and keeping a full schedule (Strike Three) has made me especially susceptible to these bugs. I look forward to the day when I've built up an immunity to most of the bugs that go around school! But even through the sicknesses I've had, I realized that I still LOVED being at school with the kids. I miss them so much over the weekends. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself over Thanksgiving break! And Christmas break... oh my. We're not even going to talk about that!

A few cute stories for you tonight...
The second bug I had made me lose my voice for a couple days. (I'm prone to sore throats and losing my voice as opposed to stomach stuff... I know you wanted to know that. ;-) So I had no choice but to whisper all day long. The kids are so sensitive to my mood and how I'm feeling! By the end of the days when I had no voice they were talking in whispers too! Not because they were trying to, just because they were matching my tone! ;-) I told them, "Boys and girls, you don't have to whisper! I just can't talk any louder than this." And they would respond with a surprised, "Oh! I didn't realize I was whispering!" So cute!


This week during Science we were talking about how the earth was different after the flood and how some animals (such as dinosaurs) couldn't survive long after the flood because of the differences on the earth. Someone asked me a very specific question about something that happened and only an eye witness could have answered.

Me: I know I’m old, but I’m not THAT old!
*Class Laughter*
Student 1: No, you’re not even thirty yet!
Me: No, I’m not.
Student 2: You’re not old. You’re not even married yet!
Me: Nope, I’m not.
Student 3: Why aren’t you married?
Me: Well, that just hasn’t been part of God’s plan for me.
Student 3: I’m sure you will get married soon.
Student 4: (Raises Hand)
Me: Yes?
Student 4: Well, you know how when God created Adam and he didn’t have a wife?
Me: Mmm-hmmm?
Student 4: And you know how God took one of Adam’s ribs and made Eve?
Me: Yes? (Thinking to myself… “Where is this going??”)
Student 4: Well, I think that God just has one of your ribs and is waiting to make your husband with it. You just have to find the man with a rib that looks like yours.


And there you have it folks. THAT is how you know if you are supposed to marry someone. You and the other person have matching ribs! Who knew it was so simple?

Identity: Who am I anyways? (PART 3)

In the last post I detailed how I found out that I did not have a job the following year. I was in despair and at a complete loss for what to do next. It took about a week before I was even able to stomach going online and looking at job listings. I started by re-activating all of my job applications from the previous summer when I had been job hunting. And then I expanded the criteria. I went from just hunting for jobs in the surrounding states to opening up my applications to all 50 states. I was finally able to just say, "You know what Heavenly Father, I don't think I know where I'm supposed to go next. I don't know what you're going to have me do. And quite frankly Father, at this moment in time, I really actually don't have much of a preference. Please take me where you want me to go."

And He did. If I remember correctly, I started applying for jobs on May 21st or 22nd. That week I came across a job listing at Providence Classical Christian School. I had put off applying at Christian schools for two reasons: 1) The pay is not great  2) The applications are at least twice as long as the applications for almost any other school. But the PCCS website intrigued me and I found myself agreeing with the classical model of education. I decided to apply if the job listing was still valid, if for no other reason than to have one Christian school application done. It would be so much easier to apply to other Christian schools if I had a base application to work off of.

I didn't get the chance to apply to any other Christian schools.

May 27th - (Happy Birthday sister-in-law Evie!) I received an email that confirmed that the job listing was still active but time was running out. They were hoping to announce the new teachers at the end of the week. I rushed to send in application. Talk about motivation to finish a lengthy application!

May 29th - I finished sending in all components of the application including an essay, my testimony, and other parts. I received an e-mail the same day requesting to set up interview for next day. Wow. God was really working! But my tentative self couldn't and wouldn't believe that I already had an interview scheduled. I decided that this interview was a gift from God to help me get back into the groove of interviewing.

May 30th - I interviewed over the phone at 12:30 Eastern time/9:30 Pacific time. The interview went really well! I really cannot stand talking on the phone... my quality of communication just goes way down since I rely so much on body language and facial expressions when I am talking with people. I was so nervous but also comforted knowing that so many people were praying. The interview started off by the interview committee beginning with prayer with me... praying that I would have clarity of mind as I answered questions and that they would be gracious listeners. They prayed that this time would be glorifying to God. Wow. Right from that point I began to relax and become so much more comfortable. I literally leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on another chair. That was the fastest hour long phone conversation I have ever had. It was a blessing to talk with the interview committee. As I talked with them I became more and more convinced that I would LOVE to work at this school. I went home after school that afternoon just praying for God's will and for contentment in wherever he would take me, even if was all the way to Washington state!

Well, I received call at 4pm that afternoon and was offered the job as a 2nd grade teacher..

June 5th - I signed the contract.

This whole experience... losing a job, finding a job, driving across the country, getting into a serious car accident and losing my car, living in a new place with new people all around... has challenged me in regards to where I find my identity. This past May I was just starting to wake up to my identity problem, even though I think I realized that it was an issue lurking in my heart prior to this time.

Once my family went back to the midwest after dropping me off I began to seriously deal with more identity issues and with who I think/thought I am/was.

-friends? Who are they? Why are they my friends?

-family? Where do I fit? Why?

-church? What was my role? Why was I comfortable? What is my role now in a new church?

-God? What was was I looking for in my relationship with my God and Savior? How was my love for the Lord playing out in every day life?

-possessions? My car. It was who I was. My house/personal space. I let it define me. 

Basically, I started to seriously ask myself, "How have I let my perceptions of myself rule my life?" We all have certain ideas about ourselves, but sometimes those ideas get so big that they begin to rule our lives. Why is this a bad thing? Why should I not lean on my perceptions of myself? Isn't self-criticism a good thing sometimes?

I think to a degree we do need to evaluate ourselves and make changes where changes need to be made. For me though, my perceptions of myself were unrealistic and caused me to have an unhealthy view of myself. More importantly, it caused me to question the goodness of God's work in creating me. I was basically telling God that he had made me wrong... that I was supposed to be someone else. I have always struggled with constantly finding fault with myself and then being unhappy with my life. I then have a tendency to try to control everything in my life in order to compensate for the parts of my life that I'm displeased with. 

Why do I have these problems? Where is this giant issue coming from? What caused it? How can I prevent it from ruling my life again? Do other people struggle with this? Who? Why?

In recent months everything that I have ever known in my day-to-day life has been stripped away: location, family and old friends close by, my car, my books, my furniture, and so on and so forth. Of the few possessions I did bring with me, most have remained in boxes and been put in the basement because there is no room for them. And that seems to be the work that God is doing in my heart. He is asking me... Where do I find my identity now? Why? Where am I looking for comfort and peace? And then he is whispering into my ear, "Dear daughter, there is no room for these extras. Your identity must be completely in me. Not in all these other little things that you are clinging to! Put them away. Don't look to them. Trust me to fill you with the Spirit and do not rely on this world to create an identity for you."

Do I still struggle? Certainly! Every day... hour by hour even! But there is an awareness there now, and I thank God for making me aware. Because knowing that there is a problem is the first step to being able to battle it and overcome it.

Identity: Who am I anyways? (Part 2)

So yes, I've been learning a lot in each and every area of my life. School, church, driving around Seattle, Washington geography, the best places to shop, where to find the best cup of coffee (which so far is Walnut Street Coffee), finding the little nook and cranny bookstores, what sports teams are popular and which ones I'm supposed to root for based on where I live (it's the Seattle Seahawks and the University of Washington Huskies), and many other little things.

But really those are just the little things. The heart of what I've been learning is not at school, not at church, not in Seattle, not even in Washington state! The heart of what I've been learning is... well, in my heart! It is something that I have struggled with my entire life, but never really had an all out-and-out battle over it. It's been a dormant issue in my heart for many years, always lurking on the edge of my perspective into life and my interactions with different people: new acquaintances, old friends, even close family members. Looking back I would say that God really began bringing it to light last May. He wasn't exactly gentle in the way he tore it out of the dark recesses of my heart. It was more of a one minute I had no thoughts of ever dealing with it and the next minute I was forced to confront it and start dealing with it.

See, I have a problem. I am not comfortable... with who I am.

I want to be someone different. Someone who is cool, fun, exciting! An extrovert! Someone who is funny and witty. Someone who has a ton of experience and can hand out expert opinions like they're nothing. Someone who is a born athlete... or at least athletic in some ability. I want to be that beautiful girl. Or someone who is incredibly intelligent. I want to be that well-read friend. Perhaps someone who has traveled and seen the world has a well-rounded and developed point of view and opinions. Straight hair please! No, curly! Thinner if you don't mind. No ankle problems... healthy as an ox! Someone... someone... someone not me!

Quite honestly all of these wants have had a regular residence in my mind, and they have sapped so much of my enjoyment of life and the abilities God has given me. But I get ahead of myself.

May 13th was the day, I believe, that God challenged this point of view head on. At least, this is the first time that I specifically remember and that I am able to identify. I was sitting in my classroom at school in Indiana, making plans for the 2013-14 school year. I had been promised the position for the 2013-14 school year and was really looking forward to my second year of teaching. I finally had the room that I had inherited de-cluttered and re-decorated. I had finally gotten the students in the classroom under control (I inherited a lot of discipline issues). AND I had gone through the application and interview process as required (just formalities I was told). But everyone was sure that I had the job. Surely my efforts and work this past year had paid off! I had worked as a full-time teacher, taking on all the responsibilities and fulfilling all expectations even though I was technically only a substitute. After-all, it had been promised to me way back in November! The principal had told me time and time again how impressed she was and often talked with me about "next year" and things she would like me to do then. I had every confidence that I had a job there the next year. But on the afternoon of May 13th, the principal came in to talk. She talked about how there were so many great candidates for the 3rd grade position... my position... the position I had worked so hard in for the past six months. She talked about what a wonderful job I had done both on the job and in the interview and how the interview panel had been "blown away".

And then she finished up by saying she thought it would be a good idea if I started applying for other jobs.

I don't tell you all of this to ask for pity. Not at all. God has brought me to another school and blessed my life immensely. He has taught me so many things and done such work in my life... I would not change a thing. So please don't feel sorry.

I tell you all of this just to illustrate how unexpected this announcement was. I was shocked. My mind was numb. Another dear, dear teacher at the school came in to my classroom a couple minutes after the principal left it and immediately saw something was not right. After talking over what just happened with her I realized I needed clarification. What exactly HAD just happened? I ended up having to wait a couple of days before I had the opportunity to talk to the principal. When I went in and talked to her I asked what exactly was going on, and it was then that she told me they were going to offer the job to someone from Texas who had a record of high test scores. (Blah. Don't get me started on test scores as a basis for hiring!)

Well, I made it out of the building and barely to my car before I absolutely lost it. I sobbed all the way home and called my mom in a panic. I'm not proud of it but I lay on my living room floor sobbing in absolute agony. (My poor, supportive, loving mother listened patiently to me and then prayed with me over the phone) As I lay there doubtful, torturous thoughts flew through my mind. "What had happened? What was going on??? What in the world had I done wrong????? Why am I not good enough? If only I were someone different..."

And there it was. Looking back I can see very clearly that the reason the situation was so traumatizing was because I was definitely not secure in who I was. I had staked my identity in my job! I had failed to stake my identity in my Savior, who never changes, and instead had declared myself to be a person based mostly on where I worked. When that identity was snatched away in a moment, I wasn't sure who I was anymore. I was lost totally and completely.

I spent the next week in a slough of despond. There were still three weeks of school left. How in the world was I supposed to finish them? I came into school just on time. Not early as my habit had been before. I left as soon as I was allowed... no more staying late for me! I avoided talking to any of the other teachers if at all possible. How could I face them??? I was so embarrassed.

But God doesn't leave His children without help. No, He longs to aid them. He desires to help! Indeed, this difficult time was ordained by Him in order to help me. He is not satisfied to leave me in a dissatisfied state with myself. In fact, He sent His Son to die for me, so that I might become one of His very own daughters. Christ died that I might have an everlasting and firm identity in Him!

During this time my mom sent me a link to a sermon. I don't remember what the sermon was titled or even who delivered the sermon, but one quote really stuck with me through this difficult time. It helped get me through and eventually helped me look forward and realize that Christ was doing a work in me, even if I didn't understand it yet. The quote was,

"Jesus Christ takes his disciples to places they would never go

in order to achieve in them what they could never accomplish on their own."

I pushed rewind on that sermon so many times to hear that quote. I began to have a little tiny awakening that this was a part of God's plan too. He was taking me somewhere I wouldn't have gone myself in order to a work in my heart that I could never do on my own. 

And He has. 

(To be continued... again)

Identity: Who am I anyways? (Part 1)

Wow! I can't believe that on Saturday I will have been living in Washington for three months! It really does seem quite unreal to me! These three months have been a huge learning time for me in so many different ways. 

Just learning the new curriculum and being ready to teach from it has been huge. The spelling curriculum and grammar curriculum are really very rigorous... plus being prepared to teach Bible (the students always have excellent questions so I need to make sure I'm as ready as possible), immersing myself into ancient Egypt for the history curriculum (which is fascinating but time-consuming), figuring out how to incorporate the geography with history and add on the other skills, science and finding time for it and how to make it interactive (the students just have workbooks... no textbooks), and the math curriculum is brand new to the school, which means we are meeting about it, talking it over, and spending a lot of time preparing to teach it. But I love it. I love learning all of these new things and really gaining more of an appreciation for the world God has created and placed me in. It truly is awe-inspiring to study these things and then exhilarating to turn around and teach them to a group of children! 

But I haven't just been learning about the school and the curriculum. I've also been learning about the geography of Washington, specifically of Seattle. I've been amazed to realize that I have already started to get my bearings as far as where things are and in which general direction I need to go to get places. Now don't get me wrong, the street names are still EXTREMELY confusing! They all seem to be numbers with directions tacked on the beginning and end. Apparently that means something but I haven't figured that out yet. You can have a 128th St. N, and NE 128th St, and a NE 128th Pl. all meet in one intersection... talk about confusing! But overall, I feel like I'm getting the hang of where things are at and where the major Washington landmarks are located.

I think I'm finally starting to remember more names at church. It's really is difficult when I only see them once a week. I'm thankful for a ladies fellowship that one of the teachers invited me to with ladies from her church. We'll be reading through a book. And the ladies at my church are starting a monthly get together as well with talk of starting a Bible study as well. I'm so thankful. I have just been so hungry for good Christian fellowship where we are able to be a part of each other's lives and to spend time speaking truth into one another's lives. Sunday's are good for the beginnings of that, but Christian fellowship is meant to go so much further than the door of the church!

(To be continued)

See you in the funny papers!

I seriously feel like every day in my classroom is excellent material for a cartoon artist. Some of the things the kids say!!! And do!!!

On Monday, the day was kind of dragging by and I could just tell that the kids were having a hard time staying engaged. So I started wracking my brain... what could I do to help them? I have heard very often that a good teacher switches things up and is always doing unexpected things. So I decided to try my hand at doing something unexpected. I asked the students to get out their Bibles for our Bible lesson and turn to Genesis 12. As they were flipping to the spot I walked to the back of the room, grabbed my black scarf and a white shower curtain with gold trim that was hanging in the cabinet and stepped outside the back door to transform myself into one of Abram's relations. I came back in and took my merry little class on a journey around the grounds, telling the Bible story as I went. The loved it. When I led them back to the classroom they all went in and sat down. I became myself again and snuck in through another door. They thought it was absolutely hilarious that I pretended to be surprised and confused that they had gone on a journey to the land of Ur and then to Canaan. Their delighted giggles rolled around the classroom as they recounted the tale that the other me had told them. I wish I could remember some of their comments, because they were just so cute and funny! I know, I know... I need to start writing this stuff down!


I introduced our first chapter book for Literature this week: The Courage of Sarah Noble. I prefaced it by saying that while picture books are certainly enjoyable, chapter books are ten times as wonderful. I told them that I really believed that by the end of 2nd grade they would all love chapter books much more than they loved picture books. And so throughout this week I have been encouraging them to choose a chapter book over a picture book to read in their free time. Today I got a sweet reward for my persistence. Little J (who is a jolly-figured little fellow and speaks with an adorable lisp and is always so serious. Also, I'm seriously afraid he might be able to teach the class better than I sometimes!) had his dress shoe on my knee as I tried to double-tie it for him. The laces are round and short making it difficult for his sweet, chubby little fingers. He was talking to me about something or other, I don't remember what, but as I finished he started walking away and said his serious little way (and make sure you read it with a lisp!), "Oh, and by the way Miss Wesner, you were right about one thing."
"Oh?" said I, "What is that?"
"Well, I agree, chapter books are SO much better than picture books."


This was also the week where the class as a whole really, really, really seemed to relax and accept me as their teacher. How can I tell? What was different? Well, for starters, they all started giving me hugs this week. :) I love that! I received three pictures and a little letter from some of my students. Love those! And also, I was called 'mom' several times this week.

I miss these little heart-stealers! Can't wait to see them again tomorrow!

What's your favorite part?

"Good morning L---! Good morning R----! Good morning H------! I missed you all so much! Good morning S--! Did you have a good weekend? Good morning J-----! Good morning, good morning, good morning!"

Hugs.
Smiles.
Listening to what they did over the weekend.

I love it.

I am seriously so happy. Almost every minute of each day at school is wonderful. I love each of my students so much already... and I miss them so much over the weekend!

Highlights of this past week:
Me: "So what has been your favorite part of second grade so far?"
Several answers were of course math, literature, science, gym, music, and all the normal stuff and then there was this one"
Me: "S--? What is your favorite part so far?"
S--: "Ummmm..." looks shyly down and then back up, "You."

So stinkin' cute! After he said that, all the other students were little dears and couldn't wait to say something similar. It just warmed my heart. Then there was another incident...

Just a couple days ago we were out at the pick-up line at the end of the day and M----'s mom came up to me and said...
M-----'s Mom: "I just had to tell you this. At dinner we go over the highs and lows of our days. My husband (C---) asked M----- what his high was and
M----- said, 'School'.
When C--- asked him what part of school M----- told us that his teacher was the best part about school! C--- said, 'You just really like your teacher, don't you?'
'Yeah,' said M-----.
Then C--- asked M----- what the low part of his day was
and he said, 'Leaving her there.'

Well, melt my heart! I've got some little charmers in my class! I'm so glad that we are all getting along!

Little E--- and sweet H----- are always giving me hugs. They are all enthusiastic learners and follow directions quite well. Of course they have their faults and their moments, but overall, I cannot imagine a better start to the year! I am SO excited to go to school each day!

I can't believe I work here... but it must be for real... because I got my ID badge this week and it says that I really do work here!

By the way, my hair is pretty curly now. The rain and moist air are creating a rather different hairstyle for me.


We read the Velveteen Rabbit this week. What a good book. I teared up while reading it to the kids. Ooops. ;-) Kinda embarrassing. Haha!
So Thursday we had "Shabby Stuffed Animal Day." The kids were so excited to bring in there favorite stuffed animals and share them with me and with each other! I love that I can just do fun things like this as the inspiration strikes. I love teaching!


In other news, my sister, Christy, is coming to visit in THREE WEEKS AND ONE DAY!!!!!! I'm so exciiiiiiittttteeeeeeeeeddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, just a little excited anyways.


I'm really enjoying all the healthy food options out here. And it has been so much easier to work on my gluten-free, dairy-free cooking. I can really tell a difference with staying away from dairy. The gluten doesn't seem to be as much of an issue, but I'm still experimenting with it. Anyways, last weekend I made some gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate chip cookies and some gluten free, dairy-free apple crisp. May I just say, YUMMILICIOUS! They were so good! They didn't even have the weird aftertaste or odd texture that gluten-free baked goods often do.

This weekend I'm going to try gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie. We'll see how that turns out!

I miss all you wonderful mid-westerners so much! 

Hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall colors for me! It's still green here. :)

Roots

Roots. The part of the plant that collects water and nutrients from the soil around and transports these life-giving things up to the rest of the plant. A plant cannot have life without healthy roots. And people cannot live a full life without putting out little rootlets into their surroundings. But they are hard to put out! It really takes a lot of work! ...especially for an introvert like myself. But little by little I can see my circle expanding.

School
I'm a learning more and more names and matching them to more and more faces. Providence is really a tight knit little community. But not at all clique-ish, which is wonderful. The teachers and other staff and reached out and plucked me off of my lonely little path and have done so much to make sure that I feel welcomed and included. A couple of the other teachers invited me to a Bible study that meets on Tuesday nights. I attended with them last night and met several other ladies who have beautiful souls... it is so good to know and SEE God's remnant meeting together!
Parents have also been so welcoming. It's especially nice when I meet another parent who doesn't even have a student in my class and they say, "Oh! So you're the Miss Wesner that we've been looking forward to meeting!" or "Oh! You're HER! We're so excited that you're here!" or "We've heard so much about you! We're so thankful that you are a part of Providence!" This has happened so many times over the past weeks and it has been such a blessing.

Today one mom came into my classroom after school to talk to me. Her husband actually just took a teaching job at Providence as well, and the whole family just moved to Seattle from California. Anyways, she had home-schooled all of her kids before the moved here, and so my heart just really reaches out to her son who is in my class. He has so many of home-school traits that I can identify with! Most of all he has had trouble adjusting to the structure of being in a classroom and having to sit and remain seated, to have good listening posture, raising his hand, standing to answer... all those little things that you simply do not have to do when you home-school! Anyways, she came in to talk to me this afternoon and she told me how much her son is just loving school every day. She told me that he is always talking about "My teacher this" or "My teacher that". And then she said,

"It must be so special to be 'my teacher' to 17 different children! You are the light in their little lives right now! I can just see it in my son's face or hear it when he talks about you and what you all are doing in class." 

And it dawned on me... I really am their teacher! And we ARE having a wonderful time in class! And I DO love being the "my teacher" in their sentences. This really is a one of a kind profession and I feel so blessed to be called to it! Thanking the Lord for equipping me and giving me the education I needed to have this job! 

How has God equipped you... and when have you last been thankful 

for the gifts and skills God gave you? 

When have you been full of joy because of the gifts God gave you?

I know for me it has been far too long. And it is absolutely shameful that I have not given thanks more recently or more often for the gifts which God has so lovingly and thoughtfully imparted onto my person.

Church

Church has been good. I have really been enjoying some good fellowship with the ladies there. I do wish it was more often than just Sundays though. I miss the mid-week meetings. And I feel as if I am not really truly a part of the lives of the people there. I know that it is difficult to have a meeting in the mid-week but I still miss it. For one, we rent the building on Sundays, and don't have in the rest of the week. For another thing, so many people travel from such a distance (I learned this past Sunday that one couple travels 45 MILES!) that it is really hard to meet in the middle of the week, especially when you take the Seattle traffic into consideration. 

So that is an item for prayer if you are praying. I long for some good, deep, meaningful fellowship times with like-minded believers. Pray that there would be perhaps a Bible study or something that would allow me to get to know some of these other believers better than Sunday fellowship allows. Thank you! :)

Roommates

It's an interesting thing living with other people... so many different personalities, so many different backgrounds and life stories, so many different convictions, preferences, and ways of doing things. And so many different types of friends! I have met friends of each of my roommates now, and I realized... a person really is very much like his/her friends. Not only do friends often share interests, but also a sense of humor, a similarity in the way they look at life, and lots and lots of common experiences. 

Other areas that my roots are growing outward

I'm actually finding it much more difficult to put rootlets in other areas besides school, church, and roommates. But I'm trying! I've been visiting the Saturday Farmer's Market (love that place), and am slowly expanding the map in my head. I'm using the GPS less and less and have a better and better idea of where things are at. I'm enjoying trying out the Northwest way of doing things. I guess the hardest part of putting little rootlets out in areas other than church, school, and roommates is that I really just hate doing things by myself! There are so many things that I would love to just go and do, but quite honestly, I can't seem to make myself go and do them by myself. I have also caught myself talking to myself a lot... and I mean A LOT! It's getting a little out of control. I need a good friend to talk to.

So if you're taking requests, this is request Number 2: Please, please pray that God will send a good friend for me. Someone that I share interests, convictions, the same love for the Lord, and a sense of humor with. Someone that I can just call up for a coffee date to chat and spend an evening with. Someone that will go with me on these crazy little adventures that I want to go on, and someone who I can join on their adventures. I know this is a tall order and that a good friend like this is hard to find. But our God is not intimidated by tall orders. Actually, now that I come to think of it, this really isn't a tall order at all for him! After all, He did speak the world into existence! He can bring a friend across my path. So please pray with me!

Hope this little update gives you an idea of what's going on here. I would LOVE to hear from you! Missing all my Midwestern friends so much! 

I love my job. The End.

I don't want to make you envious, and I don't mean to brag, but I really, really, really, really, REALLY love my job!

The first week had the usual first week stresses and anxieties, especially the ones that come with being in a new place with new people and new procedures. But the kids are GREAT and the parents are AMAZING!

So many families stopped in before the first day of school just to introduce themselves and say hello. Several of the parents offered to come in and help get the classroom set up or make copies before school started, and several more sent me e-mails or made similar offers when I met them on the first day of school. In addition to that, many families sent me notes or emails last week just to let me know that they were praying for me and for the class.

I am feeling just so blessed. So thankful.

And at the end of Friday last week another parent dropped off some flowers and some coffee... so sweet and thoughtful!!!

One of the best parts about these flowers is that a certain dear friend in Plymouth gave me some of the exact same kind of flowers last year, and they lived just behind my desk the rest of the school year. Of course, I couldn't bring those flowers with me, so it's nice to have African Violets smiling at me on my desk again. :)

With so many people offering to help with copies and laminating, and cutting things out... with grading, and filing, and sorting, with organizing and helping out during the day, I have felt so much stress just roll away. I'm actually enjoying my prep times! It's the fourth day of school and I could probably go home right now! And it's only 5 o'clock!

And those little ideas for fun and engaging lessons that I had to suppress last year for lack of time and flexibility in teaching are starting to dance around in my head again. I just can't wait!

I didn't mind getting up at 5:30 this morning to come to school! I didn't feel stressed or rushed when the bell rang! And I'm starting to find my rhythm in teaching this group of students and they are starting to fall in place behind me as I pipe my merry tune. They are working so hard. Being so diligent. Getting so much done!

All that to say folks. All is well here in Seattle. God is good, as He always is and always will be. What a blessing to serve this kind God!

Washington Scenery

I've been spending a lot of time outside lately. Just soaking up the sunshine while I can! Already there has been a shift in the weather... the temps are cooler and there is a continual breeze. The native Seattle-ins (or Seattle-ites?) have been telling me that this is the best summer since the 1970s! I'm thankful for the beautiful weather! 

Some pictures of what I've been seeing as I spend time outside. I know some of these will look really similar, but I couldn't decide which ones to share, so you get to look at all of them. :)

These first few are of a sunset on Lake Washington. Lake Washington is to the east of the Puget Sound. These pictures are taken from Waverly Park in Edmonds... which I think is quickly becoming one of my favorite places. 

And the next couple are at a park in Lynnwood. This path is actually a raised path. It's kind of a swampy area all around and underneath the path. Very interesting!

Thinking about going to Mt. Rainier this weekend. We'll see. :)

The Classroom!!!

Yay!!!!! I have spent quite a bit of time in my classroom the past couple of weeks. I'm so thankful that I have had this time to work on it without having to worry about lessons or teaching during the day. It has helped sooooo much!

The room is probably about half the size of my room last year... maybe a pinch smaller. And there is no built in storage in my classroom this year. So I have spent A LOT of time shuffling things around, trying to solve the storage puzzle. I have re-organized cabinets and bookshelves at least two times each and some as many as four or five times. And they'll probably change again once the school year start rolling and I become familiar with what I need access to the most with this group of students and the curriculum that we are using. 

Please join me on a tour of my room. :)

There are three doors in my classroom. This picture is taken from the door that leads outside to the playground. It is the door that the students do all their coming and going through. Almost all of the classrooms have an outside door that the students use in order to reduce congestion in the one short narrow hallway that the school has. The door to the front right of my classroom leads into the 1st grade classroom. The door to the left at the front of the classroom leads right into the office area. Looking across the hall I can see the door that leads to two secondary classrooms and another door that leads to the 5th and 6th grade classrooms. Next door to me (to my left) is the 3rd grade classroom and through the 3rd grade classroom is the 4th grade classroom... kind of like a mirror image of my room and the 1st grade room.

My desk and my aide's desk. I'll have an aide for two hours in the morning. So thankful for her already!

My desk.

Keeping the family close :)

Some of my containers from last year, although they are slightly more beat up after six months of use and a move across the country.

Missing my nieces and nephews so much! I'm keeping them in my line of sight. :-)

More pictures of loved ones.

I'm using my aide's desk as a catch-all space for the next week here. I'm still trying to get myself organized.

Teacher books and binders on the top, library in the corner (almost all my books are still in Indiana... I miss them so much!!!), student mailboxes above the library, still trying to find a functional place for the homework bin, supplies that still need some organizing on the honey colored shelf, and manipulatives in the white cabinet to the left.

At least this cabinet is fairly well organized! It's my math manipulatives for student use and some history timelines.

Easily accessible white boards and clipboards for student work.

I'm using the same pieces for a board I had last year, but I'm using it a little differently this year. Instead of using it as a library check-out system this year I'm going to have the students fill out a little card on what their reading and what they like about the book and then clip it to their assigned T-shirt.

Student work display area with a little space to the right to display a poster for what we are learning in class or perhaps an anchor chart.

The rules board and the objectives frames. I cannot seem to get those frames to hang straight in a row! They keep tilting this way and that. :-(

Class rules... I LOVE how I can actually teach these rules with sound, Biblical reasoning behind them. I have a whole lesson plan written out with verses backing the rules and a good discussion on why we have rules and how we can honor God by following the rules. 

I'm planning on using these to just jot down what the main idea of the lesson is that day or the focus of the week. Not going to be writing formal objectives in these frames this year. (Don't worry, I'll keep writing formal objectives in my lesson plans!) I just want the kids to be able to look at these frames and see the key words and remember what we were talking about.

And THIS, my friends, is the reading curriculum! I'm so excited to be teaching from BOOKS!!! Real, physical books with opportunity for character development, a chance to explore the world that the stories create, to delve into engaging activities that help my students identify with the characters or time periods, to take field trips that go along with the stories...
I'm so excited to teach my students how to LOVE READING for the sake of reading!!!
I'm so excited to have a book that we read together, and to get to be creative in finding ways to make it come to life!
I'm so excited to be the one who gets to pick out the vocabulary that my students don't know and teach them!
I'm so excited to travel and explore these pages with my students!
I'm so thankful... so very, very thankful that I've been given this opportunity to be a teacher who is allowed to be creative.

Math books, science books, and spelling notebooks. Not quite as excited about these as I am about Literature, but I still am excited to have the opportunity to teach these subjects at the students' pace. All this week in the new-teacher meetings guess what they've been stressing?
"Quality... not quantity. Teach a little at a time and teach it well. Don't move on until the STUDENTS are ready! You have the freedom to and are encouraged to divert and help students as they need it. You'll finish when you finish. Set the foundation firmly, and the students will move quickly through the last part of the curriculum.

I'm expecting a lot of rainy days... a lot of indoor recess is my guess. Hopefully this is enough to keep them captivated. :)

The schedule board... the only magnetic board I have in the classroom. I will move the slips around each day, removing and adding in as needed.. We'll see how it works... and if I remember to do it. Hahaha! These types of little tasks tend to slip my mind once the school year gets rolling.

Just the calendar board... pretty basic.

The attendance button board.

The view from the front of the room, standing in the doorway leading to the office area. The windows at the back of the classroom look out on the playground. Fortunately, the entire grammar school shares a recess time so it shouldn't be a noise distraction to have the playground right outside.

Trying to solve some of the storage issues with these too. All sorts of goodies hidden in these containers! :) And then the black boxes on top will be used for Math Groups. Each day for about 20 minutes I am going to try and work with a group of 4 or 5 students to focus on a skill that they are struggling with or just time for reinforcement of the skill we are working on that week. Everyone else will be working on an activity in one of these boxes, just depending on which math group they are in...

And here are the groups. I gave the groups names that had to do something with Egypt, since here at Providence, that is the big 2nd grade thing. We get to do a detailed study on Egypt. Anyways, each box will hold a different activity. Really, the math groups will just be a concentrated review time if the students are working independently from the box activities, and a remedial time if they are meeting with me. They will only have one activity to complete each day, which will hopefully allow them to settle in and do it well, as well as avoiding the wasted time that moving from center to center causes.

This space is really bothering me. Really, it's just office supplies and binders filled with things that I might need, but am not sure about yet since I haven't taught this curriculum before. I need to figure out how to make this little corner more functional.

Up above the board is the historical timeline. We will be focusing on the kingdoms of Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, and the unification of the Upper and Lower kingdoms this year.

I had to include this picture for my Plymouth friends.
My dear friends, this is ALL the technology that I have to incorporate. And I am perfectly okay with that. I think that I'll be using it a lot, since I'm using so much of my board space for displaying other things. I'm glad to be able to keep it simple. :)

Standing at the back row of desks, looking to the front of the room. I now have 18 students this year. I'm so thankful for the blessing of being here! I'm really looking forward to a great year!!!

Portland Visit

It has been a while since I posted last, but quite honestly, I haven't been doing anything terribly interesting. Not unless you count a play-by-play on what I've eaten for lunches each day and how I spend my days at school as interesting. Personally, I hate reading things when the author has written words that amount to nothing in meaning. So, I just waited until I had something (hopefully!) worthwhile to say. I'm going to share some pictures with you of a visit to Portland that my roommates, Tami and Victoria, and I took last Saturday. One of the most interesting things about visiting Portland was getting a better grasp on the setting of some of the books that I have read. Enjoy!

We started off by getting some lunch from Portland food trucks. This city block of food trucks was the setting for a part of one book I was reading, and it was lovely just how much the actual place matched the imaginary place in my mind!

This guy was playing as we walked into the Saturday market... and was still playing as we walked out a couple hours later. He was quite talented!

 Part of Portland...

Someone told me that Portland is known for its bridges. There certainly were a lot of them!

Not even sure what this is! But it looked urban and cool ;-)

Behold! Powell's Bookstore! It was my favorite part of the whole trip. (Go figure!) I found a really neat planner called the Uncalendar (it's a planner, but you write in the dates for when you use it so you don't end up with a whole bunch of wasted space, and it has tons of room for lists, goals, prioritizing, reminders, doodle boxes, phone numbers... and just about everything else a super organized, OCD person could wish for!), a cookbook called "Cooking for One"... which is just what I needed! I mean, I like stir-fry and eggs but sometimes I would like to have other food too. ;-) I also picked up copies of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and a book on Egypt (I'm working on becoming an expert before I get to teach a detailed unit on it a little later this year.

It certainly was an interesting place to visit!

We stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts. It probably is a tourist trap... but the doughnuts were really good and VERY different! We bought a dozen and then shared them so that we could try as many as we could. My favorite was the Bacon Maple Doughnut (it had real bacon strips on top of the maple-flavored frosting!)

The line for Voodoo Doughnuts...

While we were in line this Monster truck pulled up and started handing out free monsters to whoever wanted one. I'm not a Monster fan, but the crowd was thrilled. The interesting thing is that this kept happening throughout the day with different items... Monster, yogurt, coupons... Portland is apparently a very giving city! Haha ;-)

The bricks on the Voodoo Doughnut were painted gold and, although the picture doesn't show it very well, they had a glitter coating on them too. It was very eye-catching.

All those people waiting in line for a doughnut!!! It was only about a 20 minute wait time though. The workers were very efficient! 

The box.

Good things come in pink boxes!

On our way home after a long day in Portland! And the weirdest thing happened when we were coming into Seattle and started seeing the skyline and driving between the tall buildings... 

...I felt like I was home.

Such a weird feeling... I was NOT expecting that! So it appears that I am adjusting... and maybe even starting to feel at home in this outrageously large city with crazy traffic patterns!