What a difference a school makes..

Like every good teacher is supposed to do, I sat back today to reflect on how the school year as been going so far. With 5 days under my belt, it is amazing the difference a school makes. I have a different attitude and a whole new outlook on the profession. This time last year I was already stressed counting down the days until the year would be over. I had IB, IEP, and ADD (love the alphabet soup, uh?) up to my ears and was seriously swimming. Today I feel very refreshed and loving my kids and the profession. My kids are polite, cooperative, and ready to learn. I am a much better teacher b/c I am actually getting to teach rather than spending my whole day solving conflicts. Don't get me wrong...all sets of children have thier challenges but I just feel like I can breathe this year.

So I like cheesy movies..

I guess it's part of the territory of being an elementary school teacher. The last couple of my days my students have being sharing stuff about themselves and almost everyone of them said their favorite movie was High School Musical. I was like what is this movie; I had never heard of it. So today one of my students comes in with the the movie and says my mom says you can borrow this! He really wanted me to watch it evidentally!

Being the cool teacher that I am, I brought it home and watched it. OK I'm going to make a confession here..... The movie was actually good. Now most of you would laugh hysterically at the cheesiness of this movie but I have to say that it is the cleaniest movie for kids I've seen recently. There was no violence, no sex or sexual anything (not even kissing) and everything turned out in the end. It promoted unity and the breaking of stereotypes. Overall I really enjoyed it despite the chessiness and the fact it was a Disney movie. (Google it if you're interested) Ok I'm going to bed...these kids are wearing me out. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Michels

Kristi and Lance got hitched this weekend and we had a great time catching up with lots of friends from Rocky Mount, camp, and church. The wedding was beautiful and fit their personalities so much. I mean really where else would the bride strike a pose before getting the kiss. The second picture just proves the goofiness. The bottom picture is of Lance who was so desperate to dance with Kristi's grandmother Dink that he got in her walker! Congrats guys...we're really excited for you!

And the fun has begun...

So yesterday was the first day of school...yes on a Friday. Why you ask? Well NC has passed a law that school can't start before Aug. 25 and Wake County thought, "Hey let's start school the first day we can." So yes we started school on a Friday. It was very awkward to say the least b/c you knew you couldn't really start anything b/c the kids would forget over the weekend.

Anyways, the kids all came in very excited and loaded down with school supplies. They were all very excited about their school supplies and mounds of tissues and ziplock bags. They are all very cute but as a whole they are the most talkative group I have ever seen. I was very surprised how talkative they were because half of the students were new to the school. But the positive spin on that...I'm glad they are all getting along and being nice to one another.

It was also nice to see a few familiar faces around school as a couple of my previous students had moved to my new school too. Overall the first day went well and I'm excited to see what the year will bring. Let's hope this optimism stays!

Classroom pictures

New school and another birthday

So it's that time year of again....the days are getting a little shorter each day... kids are getting restless and teachers are getting anxious. Yep it's back to school time. This year's back to school is quite a bit different for me. For those of you who don't know, I have transfered to a new school in my same system. This change has been very positive so far. The best part is the drive...its decreased my driving time from 25 mins. to 5 mins. :) In all honesty, the school as a whole is just a positive change. I have an excellent team who really works as a team to accomplish more. I have a principal who is personable and generally cares about her staff. Another change I wasn't expecting was the shift of social, economic and racial lines. Almost all of the parents (and all had a mom and dad)showed up for meet your teacher night and all of them want to come in and volunteer. It's crazy! I'll try and post some pics tomorrow (I left the camera at school) of my classroom.

Today was also Jeremy's birthday! Because of the school-craziness, I didn't put as much as effort into the celebration process. We did have an excellent dinner tonight at Rio Churrascaria, the Brazilian Steakhouse. I don't know if you have ever been to one of these places but it's awesome. First you have this awesome salad bar with a variey of exotic foods then they come around with these huge skewers of meat. They keep coming until you turn your little card over to red. It was yummy but I definitely over ate. I definitely recommend it!

Fun weekend ahead as Miss Kristi Riley gets married...I'll update afterwards

Our new car!

I am proud to announce that Jeremy no longer drives an old beat up, no power Saturn. As of yesterday, he is the proud owner of a 03 Toyota 4Runner. The Lord has blessed us tremendously lately with a full time job with benefits and free tuition for Jeremy. This blessing allowed us to replace his car which was seriously showing signs of aging.

We are excited about our 1st big purchase as a married couple and wanted to share it with you.

Pictures from South Africa

I've made a yahoo album of some of my S. Africa pictures. This is only a sample...there were just way too many to share.

Click on the title of this post to go to the pics.

Words could never adequately describe..

my trip to S. Africa. Here is but a summary...


Sawubona! (Hello!) Thank you so much for your prayers and support for my trip to South Africa. The Lord used this trip to teach me more about Himself and give me a deeper passion for seeing others come to know Him.

From the very beginning of the trip, the Lord began to teach us that our ways are not always His ways. He stretched us and made us fully rely on Him. Our first day the country experienced record lows and received its first snow in 20 years! Due to the weather, we were unable to do any of our planned camps. Being a person who loves to have things all planned out, this was a stretch for me. The Lord provided as always and we were able to take time to learn more about the people of South Africa and the effects of the Apartheid on the culture. Again the Lord showed His faithfulness and provision the next day when we were finally able to minister in the Simunye community. We were well received by the children and as our time progressed we gained more and more kids. Saturday we held a soccer camp and had over 400 kids come out! We were able to present the gospel to them over 5 times, even in their language. Sunday we were blessed to attend worship service led by one of our Zulu brothers and to help him host a Sunday school where over 200 kids showed up!

For the second half of our trip, we were able to work at another primary school in a different community. We had fun teaching the story of Jesus, singing songs, and making crafts with over 200 kids! During this time, we were able to present the Gospel more than 10 times and we saw one adult and one child come to know the Lord!! The harvest is ripe in South Africa and the children there are so hungry to know who God is! Please continue to pray that the seeds we planted will come to fruition.

Personally, the Lord used this trip to take me out of my comfort zone and stretch me to rely on Him for everything. Though I have been a Christian for many years, it is still difficult for me to share the gospel with others easily. Boy, was I broken of this during the trip! I had the chance to share the gospel daily in front of huge crowds with a climax of 800 students one morning in an assembly.

This trip was truly life changing! I have fallen in love with the people of Africa and hope one day that I might be able to return. Thank you for the part you played in this trip; I could not have had this experience without your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for me as I go back to teaching this week. Pray that I will be as bold in my witness here in the States as I was in Africa.

I'll post pics too above

Sawubona!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am safely back in the US after an amazing 11 day trip to S. Africa. I don't have time to update you now but I wanted to let you know I am safe and back (yes, we flew back yesterday during the crazy would be terrorist attack and yes I was in JFK for it all...super fun!)

I'll update later. PS Sawubona means hello in Zulu which is one of the many languages we encountered while we were there