Visit from Mi Madre

I am soooo excited! My mom is coming to visit!! She'll be here from late tomorrow night until next Monday afternoon. I can't wait to introduce her to my students, show her around the school, and introduce her to the many wonderful people who now have significant roles in my life here in Montana. I don't really have much planned for us to do, but just having her here will be amazing. Maybe one of these days I will have time to post some pictures and/or video of the past few months. Life is crazy right now. Hope everyone is doing well. God bless!

Oh Man...

So I had to leave work early on Monday because I had a fever. I missed an afternoon staff meeting. Apparently, during this meeting, our superintendent informed the staff that there are going to be significant cuts next year. Awesome...If I lose my job at the end of this year, I will probably have to move back to California, seeing as how there are NO jobs in this area. Yikes!

I know that God is sovereign. He very clearly led me here. Does that mean that He will keep me here? No. Is He still good? Yes. Is anything impossible for Him? Nope. Am I still struggling to keep my anxious thoughts under control? You betcha. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I'll let you know if I hear anything else...

I'm a Real Montanan!!!

Guess what, everybody?! I hit a deer this morning on my way to work!! Guess that makes me a true Montanan, right? In case you're wondering, I'm fine, and so is my vehicle. I was only going about 20 mph, so it wasn't too bad. The deer didn't die instantly, but I am pretty sure that she (yes, she) wandered off to die in peace.

When I got to school, I got out to look and see if any blood or hair was stuck on my car. Nothin'. No proof. But I really did!! My kids were/are so proud of me! My mom, on the other hand, was more concerned about the deer :).

So today in one of my classes, the kids were creating couples. I told them to cut it out and that the only person they should be trying to marry off is me. One of the girls suggested that I marry one of my 7th grade boys, since he was the one "performing the marriages." His response was, "Ewww!! I'm too young to die!!" Nice, right? Oh the joys of teaching middle school. I wanted to tell him that his mom has said that she would be proud to have a daughter-in-law like me, but I thought that would be way too embarrassing for him. His punishment--after school today, he has to come to my classroom and tell me all the reasons that a guy would be lucky to get to marry me!! Hahaha. That should be pretty interesting. I'll let you know he said :)

Fish-Tailin' My Way Around MT

So...it's winter up here in Montana. The past two days have brought several inches of snow and a bunch of ice. My whimpy California car is rear-wheel drive. Therefore, I do a lot of fish-tailing on the roads up here. I'm told that I need to invest in some sandbags to put in the back of my car to give it some extra weight.

For those who know me, you won't find my reaction to this problem surprising. When my car is fish-tailing, I smile and kind of do this nervous laugh. I probably should be scared or freaked out, but I just find it kind of fun.

Other than that, life is pretty much back to the normal grind. Christmas break was great, but it was not exactly relaxing. I spent all of my time running from place to place, visiting precious friends and family. It was so wonderful to spend time with the people that I've missed so much. That being said, these past three days being back at work have been exhausting! I didn't get any planning or grading done over the break, so I felt behind from the moment we started back up. Add to that that my two favorite students are starting to act up and misbehave! What's up with that?! It makes me feel so discouraged! I'm sure it'll pass. I tend to always feel this way when coming back from the long Christmas break.

Anyways, everything is going well up here. I am loving the snow and learning how to be a good winter driver. I need to get Montana license plates so that people don't make assumptions about California drivers based on my inabilities :). That's all for now. If anyone still reads this, drop me a comment and let me know.

The Perils of Speaking Truth

Yesterday and today have been full of parent/student/teacher conferences (where the student is in the conference with me and their parents). I was scared to death...students' parents are scary! Now that I am a good 80% through with them, I am finding that I am much more bold than I thought I would be. Shocker, I know :) Even with the good kids, I am challenging them to step up and be the Godly role models that they can be.

So far I have made three kids get teary-eyed and one mom and one student full-on cry. The kids who got teary-eyed are kids that I see being drawn into the peer pressure of middle school (gossip, bullying, making stupid choices, etc.). I told them that I expect more of them. With every single student, I have praised them for the gifts that I have seen in class--from their attitudes to their friendliness to their respectfulness toward me. No child has gone without hearing words of encouragement from me during their conference. However, there have been several of the students that I have called out and spoken the harsh truth to. I told them to "man up" or (for the girls) "step up" and work toward attaining the Godly character that we talk about every day in devotions and weekly in chapel.

The mom who I made cry...It was a GOOD thing. I told her son that I SOOOO appreciated who he was. He is smart, kind, funny, hard-working, and on and on. But I also told him that he is a leader, and with that comes certain responsibilities. I told him that he needs to start walking away from bad situations and from wrong conversations. I told him that he could be THE example of a Godly young man in my classroom, but that I feel like he's letting that slide so that he is seen as "cool." His mom starting tearing up and said that they (his parents) had been telling him exactly that for several months now. She thanked me profusely for seeing in their son all of the amazing qualities that he has, but she thanked me even more for caring about him enough to speak the truth into his life.

Wow. I've just really felt like the Holy Spirit has guided these conferences and that the Lord wants me to not baby these kids, but to challenge them to go above and beyond. Here's the deal...I have them for one year--two at best. It is not only my job to teach them the facts and subjects they need to know to move on, it is also my responsibility to see that their character grows while they're in my class. Part of my job as a Christian and as a teacher at a Christian school is to do everything in my power to make my kids look like Jesus more by the end of the year than they did at the beginning.

That's a lot harder to do at this middle school level than it was when I taught preschool!!! And I am sure that a few of my students are mad at me/hate me. I know that certain kids will be shooting daggers at me with their eyes come Monday. But the truth is, part of teaching is speaking the hard truth into a child's life...No matter what their reaction may be. If I ignore their character and behavior outside of class simply because they are getting good grades and being "good" while they are physically in my classroom, I am doing them a huge disservice!! And I am not doing my job as their teacher!

Am I wrong in this?! I don't regret anything I said. And maybe absolutely nothing will change in those kids' hearts or behaviors come Monday, but I've done my part and not ignored the Spirit's leading in calling them out. Luckily, every single parent was on board with what I said. Ok...I'm done with my rant now. Don't know if anyone will actually read this, but I just felt like I needed to say it.

My Newest Addition

Ok, so those of you who know me know that I am BY NO MEANS a pet person. That being said, I have a confession to make...I now own a cat. Some of you have heard the story through my Facebook posts, but I'll repeat it just in case there's some random person following this who hasn't heard.

Last Friday night, we had a middle school event called Mad Mad Nights (the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders all get together for pizza and a fun activity). A few of my 7th graders found a kitten wandering around the school. It was soooo skinny that you could feel every one of its vertebrae. I asked to hold it and it immediately burrowed its head into the crook of my arm. I held it the entire time. When it was time to go home, none of the other teachers would take her. I told my coworker/best friend up here in MT that I would take her for now if she would come with me to pick out some cat "crap" from Walmart. I thought she would back down and offer to just take it home with her (since she already has 2 dogs and a cat)...but, she didn't. So...I have a cat.
At first I was going to name her Annie after Little Orphan Annie from the movie. That name just didn't seem to fit her, though. Annie seems like a name for a playful or spunky kitten. Mine just likes to eat and sleep--which is fine with me! So, with the help of some friends and family, I finally decided on Kali. Where did that come from, you may ask? Well, I moved from CALIfornia to KALIspell. Her full name is Kali Jo. It fits her perfectly.

She's kind of temperamental. She gets mad at me when I have to leave her in her "house" while I'm at work. She punishes me by hiding under the couch for at least 30 minutes when I let her out. Then she eventually peeks her head out and decides to forgive me. Last night, I came home for a little over an hour, but then had to head back out to a volleyball game. She freaked out when I put her back in her house! She knocked her food and water bowls over trying to claw her way out. It was soooo sad.

My friend's husband said I might as well name her Sfen--meaning Single ForEver Now. He thinks that I have sealed my single fate by getting a cat. I tried to tell him that I would happily give this cat up for a man, but he didn't seem convinced. I may not even keep her...we'll see. I have to pay more for rent every month if I keep her. I could probably get away with just keeping her inside and not saying anything to my landlady, but I just feel like that's dishonest, ya know? So, we'll see.

Hope you're all doing well! I'll try to upload several videos I've got in the works (first snow, first fishing trip, Kali, family reunion, and more). I've just been swamped at work...
Oh! I almost forgot! My very first California visitor is coming up on Thursday!! I'm so excited! My good friend Michelle is coming up until Sunday and I cannot wait to see her! And, I'm hoping to show her off to my peeps up here to prove that I actually had friends down in CA :)

Single's Toast

So I know that I created this blog to share with you my adventure of moving to Montana.  I had no intention of turning it into a personal journal, but I'm starting to change my mind.  I thought I'd maybe share something with you that has become very special to me. 

You see, over a year ago, I had a best friend named Gina.  She and I were both single and loved to go out together.  We would almost always order a glass of wine (or a girly, fruity drink in my case).  One night, we decided that we should have a specific thing to toast to every time we got together.  I volunteered to write the toast.  I took it very seriously  :).  I went to a park, sat down for about an hour, and came up with the following.  I know that it's mushy and girly, but deal with it!  Although God has answered this prayer/toast in Gina's life by bringing her an amazing man with whom to share her life, it is still a prayer for my own life that I hope to one day see answered.  Be gracious when you read this...it had been awhile since I'd accessed my poetic side :).

A Toast 

To surrendering our hearts to their ultimate Lover

To giving up our dreams to their original Author

To working faithfully on what our God has set before us

To our continued pursuit of righteousness and faith

To living this life we have been given listening to the voice of our loving Father and not that of the Enemy

To not letting our hopes for tomorrow speak louder than our divine calling for today

To building our character to that of Biblical proportions

To the sovereignty of the Creator’s hand and the perfection of His timing

To finding men like Timothy—passionate, mature in faith

and obedient to the Spirit’s leading

To men who are courageous in heart, adventurous in spirit, solid in faith

and strong in Godly character

To one day seeing the goodness of the Lord in the smiles of our children

and the embrace of our soul mate 

And, finally, to having fun and faith while we wait.

To fun and faith!