Just a Little Chicken Fried and Cold Margarita on a Thursday night....

 Thursday evening Sarah and traded our bedtime for the Zac Brown Band Concert.

It didn't matter how tired we were because it was such a great show. It was really fun to see the songs come alive with so many different instruments in the hands of some awesome musicians.

Gotta Love some Chicken Fried!

Less Labor for Labor Day Weekend

Phew, teaching is hard. The work NEVER ends. I'm so happy to have a day off today even though I've been working most of the day! I'm finding peace in the knowledge that the first year of teaching is the toughest as I keep trucking though lesson plans, grading papers, creating powerpoints, calling/emailing parents, tracking data, and planning for the Art Club and the class trip to Little Rock.

These things are helping me to stay sane:

Drawing from students (NOTE: the protein shake bottle)

 Homemade crafts by my friend Callie

and a quick road trip to visit this pretty lady! 

And - during Advisory last week, my homeroom scholars shared prank stories. It was a great community building conversation. The best story was about one of my scholar's putting a hamster up his brother's pant leg while he was sleeping (and then held the bottom of his pants so the hamster couldn't get out). Love it.

Star-Spangled Start to School

The first day of school (which was in the sanctuary of the church next to our portables) our principal played the saxophone to start the day. It is just one of his many talents.

Legit First Week

The first week of my first year of teaching is complete. (and two more days now that I am publishing this post) There are just a few things I want to document and share.

First, I have the best students. Overall they are very engaged and eager to learn. I may need a reminder of how wonderful they are frequently as the year goes on, but they truly are special. And they constantly make my laugh.

The first day I knew the scholars in my homeroom were awesome. One of my students was disappointed that he didn't have homework and told me that he needed homework because he was going to college. I just want to box up that enthusiasm for him and me when we all get tired and frustrated this year.

Last Tuesday, I taught all my students our restroom expectations, which are incredibly important since the bathrooms are in our rooms in the portables. One of my slides for my boy classes said, "Please, for the love of Pete, put down the seat." First, one scholar asked who Pete was. The next asked if he was my boyfriend.... and I did my homework that night to find out that the expression is actually another way of saying, "For the love of Christ" and Pete is representing St. Peter. So the next day I told that class I had some more news about Pete for them and would tell them at the end of class. They were not so impressed to know that my "boyfriend" was a saint.

And last for this installment I have some really honest responses to "How do you use math outside of school?" In addition to money, time, cooking, etc., I had answers such as changing the channel on the remote, dialing the phone, and counting how many kills you get in a video game. I love it!

Mac Virgin

Last week I started my big girl job and just happen to have a school MacBook to use this year.

This is one of the less productive things I've learned:)

Oh My God They're Back Again

A few weeks ago Kristi and I traveled back to the 1990s by attending the New Kids on the Block / Backstreet Boys concert.

= PURE JOY

(especially after we held hands with Donnie Wahlberg)

Paint Party

As part of my 25th birthday celebration, I wanted to go to a paint party. Art Jamn is in Cooper Young and provides all the supplies and help you need to create a masterpiece. You just bring wine and snacks!

Kristi, Callie, and I were in our element. Martha was expecting paint by number...

But she had a couple of "assistants," so we all ended with something we were proud of. 

Definitely a fun girls night activity!

Happy 4th!

Note: Despite the less than thrilled faces in this picture we all enjoyed the Redbirds fireworks on Saturday night. (When you sit on the Bluff it is hard to pay much attention to the game.)

Note to self: Get some sun on those legs!

Yarn & Sticks

Until I saw this idea in a magazine last week, I did not know that pom-pom makers existed. Now that I own not one, but two pom-pom makers, I can make as many pom-poms as I want:)

Glued to some sticks found outside they make beautiful flowers in our new place!

Sprucing up the Schoolyard

Last weekend Neighborhood Church had our second Weekender, which is one of three weekends a year that we spend together learning, worshiping, praying, eating, serving, etc. Neighborhood Church has been an adopter of Peabody Elementary, especially the playground. We spent Saturday afternoon raking mulch, pulling weeds, and giving the playground a new face before school starts again.

I spent most of my time working on this sign... my cup of tea for sure. (Note: a few families left before we hung the sign because all the kids were hot and dirty to say the least!)

Outdoor Fun

Although it's HOT, summer means drinking lots of water with outdoor activities on the side in Memphis. The  2nd annual Lonnaroo was held on the Georgian Woods lawn. Per tradition, the dress code is "Sexy Casual" which I translated to "No sleeves." We didn't have quite 100% participation, but many attendees showed up without sleeves:

Also a summertime favorite: Concerts at the Levitt Shell

The last show of the season brought out friends from many parts of my life: Arkansas, MTR, and Neighborhood Church. 

STJ & STL

After living with a native for a year, I had to go see St. Joseph, Michigan myself. Mike and I were not prepared for the cool weather, so we borrowed sweatshirts that just happened to be identical for the weekend. We put MTR's mark on Lake Michigan.

We piled up the mini-van and road-tripped from St. Joe to Holland, home of Hope College. Holland is a very picturesque town and Mike found a few reminders of home at the Peanut Shop.

Campus is beautiful and it was really fun to connect stories with places.

Sunset on the Beach:

I broke the long drive up by spending the night in St. Louis with Mike both ways. Mike took me to see the Cathedral Basilica Saint Louis, which made me feel like I was in Europe again. 

Hoedown

All the 2012 residents moved in at the beginning of June and we welcomed them properly with a Hoedown, MTR-style.

Appropriate attire was required and we provided BBQ, Cotton Candy, Corn Hole, a photobooth, 3-legged race, country line dancing, urban line dancing, and prizes (dates with graduates).

And, these are two of my fellow Power Center Academy 9th grade team members! Stu is teaching history and Erin is teaching art. I'm really looking forward to working with them!

Martha the Triathlete

On our way back from the wedding in Cookeville, we stopped in Nashville for Martha to complete her 2nd triathlon.

She rocked it (well, except for leaving a few necessary things in the car, so I got to make just a few extra uphill trips to the car).

Yay Martha!

The Ordu's I Dos

Brittany, a fellow 2011 MTR graduate (doesn't that sound better than resident?) got married a few of weekends ago in Cookeville, TN. Her husband Kelechi played football for Tennessee Tech. I saw him play versus Arkansas last fall.

Kelechi is Nigerian, and they did an awesome job of integrating Nigerian customs with American during the ceremony and reception.

We had a caravan from Memphis and stopped to change clothes and eat at Chick-fil-a.

Brittany's Initials went from BS to BO. What an improvement!

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Ordu!

MTR in the Commercial Appeal

The day of graduation, The Commercial Appeal printed an article in the Faith in Memphis section about the MTR. David Waters has written about Neighborhood Church, and was present when David came to NC to share more about the vision of MTR. He interviewed me along with David and Robin to write this article.

Here are a few exerpts:

Virginia Boyd wants to serve God and Memphis by becoming the best math teacher any city school kid has ever had.

David Montague and Robin Scott want to serve God and Memphis by helping Virginia do that.

"You don't have to talk about the love and compassion and mercy of Christ to demonstrate it," said Montague, a former stockbroker turned public school evangelist. "Becoming the best math teacher a kid's ever had is a valid response to the gospel."

Montague and Scott are leading the Memphis Teacher Residency, one of many nonprofit organizations that have responded to the Gates Foundation's $90-million challenge to put an effective teacher in every Memphis City Schools classroom.

Like Teach for America and the Memphis Teaching Fellows, MTR seeks to recruit, train and support outstanding urban educators in Memphis. What makes MTR different is its mission to do that "within a Christian context."

MTR's "Christian context" comes in the motivation, not the implementation.

"It's a shared mission, that's the heart of it," said Scott, a former Indiana public school teacher and MTR's director of education. Teaching in large, urban systems "is too hard, too demanding not to have a sense of mission about it," Scott said. "You have to see urban education as a calling."

MTR recruits and accepts only candidates who believe that teaching in large, urban public schools systems is a Christian calling, not just a career. But candidates also must believe they should not discuss their faith in a public school setting.

"America is not short on information about the gospel," said Montague, a former Christian missionary who directs MTR's work from offices in the basement of Union Avenue Baptist Church. "It is short on demonstrations of the power of the gospel."

....

"So far, we can't prove that MTR has any value whatsoever, but I swear I believe what I'm about to say," Montague said.

"What's happening in Memphis City Schools is the greatest opportunity to bring glory to God since Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Everyone really is watching Memphis. The president is watching. Bill and Melinda Gates are watching. The whole nation is watching.

"I believe the MTR has this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform education one school and one feeder pattern at a time. And in doing so, we have the opportunity and potential to transform and redeem public education in Memphis for God's glory. We have the opportunity to do the impossible, and by doing so, prove that God is real and powerful and faithful to His promises to those in need.

"And the whole world will know of it."

Masters Graduation

Now that I have completed my Capstone Project:

My students have thrown me a surprise party:

I have chaperoned Senior Prom:

Friends and Sisters have come into town to celebrate...

My Masters Graduation!

As I told my sisters, just call me Master V!

Grit and Grind

I believe you will remember this Memphis Grizzlies team for the rest of your days.

I believe the community needed a run like this.

I believe it's about more than basketball.

I believe in Memphis, in its people, and in its ability to surmount its problems with faith, joy and hard work.

FedExForum brimmed with Memphis in all its diversity, black, white, yellow and brown. The place rocked. Never mind the rising Mississippi. Come hell or high water has never had quite the same ring.

I believe that Tony Allen is an example of what can be done through hard work.

I believe Zach Randolph is living proof that you can overcome past mistakes.

I believe in grit and I believe in grind.

I believe the Grizzlies won more playoff games than any No. 8 seed in history.

*Text from Geoff Calkins column after the Grizzlies lost round 2 game 7 in OKC.