Volleyball Party!

It's so late, and seeing that I'm not feeling well AT ALL, I should be sleeping.

But tonight was so much fun that I just have to write about it.

Just kidding....I'll write tomorrow.....

Maybe they don't love me...

I don't even understand. I feel like I'm bending over backwards for them. I feel like I'm helping them by discussing things instead of instantly throwing punishment at them. I feel they don't even care.

I feel like giving up.

In the middle school, demerits are thrown around like candy. They are given at every sound, at every talking, at everything that an authority figure thinks is a problem. Therefore, they are useless. The kids who need them have gotten so many they are ineffective. The situations aren't listened to, the kids feel like they aren't heard and are being blamed for the wrong things. Yes, yes. they probably deserved a demerit for something else, yet weren't caught, so this one is legitimate. True, but no excuse to not listen. So, I don't give many demerits. I feel like there has to be something else I can do to them/give them to do, as impact. Or I'm a big idiot, care too much and am too soft, causing the constant commotion in my classroom because of it. I don't know. Who knows. The balance in middle school is SOO hard. They are so annoying yet are growing up. They are so immature but have so many great thoughts. They are hilarious but extremely disrespectful. They love life yet are so self-centered.

They don't care.

I'm trying something new-if the 8th graders do well throughout the week then I'll provide and allow them to chew gum on Friday. Small incentive to get them to at least try or pretend to care. Today was their first time to have it and it didn't go too badly until they started popping bubbles while they were taking tests. I know that I HATED it when people would make noise during a test. It messed my thinking up SO much, so I try to make it silent.

They don't care.

They are all about themselves and no one else. They want EVERYTHING and will work for nothing. They make me SOOOOOOOOOOO MAD! I work so hard at trying to help them. I bring them gum and mints and let them have it during tests and don't give many demerits. AND THEY DON'T CARE. They are still rude, still disrespectful, laugh at EVERYTHING, still sneaky, still SOOO IRRITATING.

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH x 100.

Good thing I have a class coming or tears might start. I can't cry and then teach 1st grade. Too many questions and too many soft hearts that are worried about what's wrong with me.

Praise the Lord it's the weekend.

Kids say....

3rd Grade:
Me: Don't be so dramatic, it'll be okay.
Girl: Yah, don't be a drag queen.
Me (a very quick correction) Drama. Drama queen.
Girl: Or a king, a drama king.
Me: Right, drama king. (phew!)

Kindergartner: You look neat! (what K kid says neat??)

Me to Kindergartner: I like your Pumas. They are really cool. Can I wear them?
Kindergartner: No, they are too small. They are only in kid shoes. But, I think they sell human sizes at the store too.

I look at a 1st grader while I'm teaching, and he's looking at me cross eyed. I stop, look at him, and wait for him to focus. He snaps out of it when he sees I'm looking at him, as if he's not weird for doing it.

Kindergartner: Ms. Senorita Peffer, are we having our siesta today? I'm soo excited for our siesta!! (um...no, it's a fiesta. But, I'd rather have them all come take a nap. That'd be fine too.)

And her name is.....Isabel!

So many times we think that God doesn't hear. Or that God doesn't know what He's doing. OR, that He really doesn't know what we are going through. But....He does.

It's been a battle with searching for another roommate. Who in the WORLD needs a place from April until July in Lorton? NO ONE. I posted it on a church site and then, when no one was answering, I put it on Craig's List. (Not my brother....the website.... :) I got some pretty interesting responses. Most people kept saying they wanted to know if they could "send me money in excess" and have me "send the extra on to Mr. Blah blah." Dad, dear ol' dad saved me from scam after scam. What they are doing is sending you a junk cashier's check, waiting for you to send the extra to someone else, and then the cashier's check is no good-you're out of money AND don't have a new roommate.

I had given up, only finding people looking for roommates, not people looking for places to stay and decided that I'm going to have to just endure this trial of paying 230 extra each month.

AND THEN....Isabel emailed.

I thought it was going to be someone else from Craig's List and was disappointed and skpetical from the start. THEN I saw that she got my info from McLean Bible website...and I got a little excited. We emailed back and forth, Wendy and I trying to see if she was a real person.

She's real. We met her tonight. She's probably going to be our new roommate.

WOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! She's super cute, solid, has a hold on life (unlike some others...) has friends, has a full time job and loves her family. She loved how big the space is and is so grateful that there's a dresser for her to use. It's the same distance for her from work and the traffic wasn't bad. AND.....AND....she has a pretty nice sized TV. YESSSsssssssssss! We're sold. :-)

I'm going to email her tomorrow and tell her that Wendy and I are 100% go for her to come in April and get a read on how she feels about it. I'll let you know if we need help moving her in! AND if she doesn't like it, we even have another person who is looking for our exact situation and needs to leave in July.

Our neighbor was talking to us, telling us about how many times we think God's timing should be NOW and that it's going to be totally wrong if it isn't--and then bam! He shows us again and again and again that He has it under control. It wasn't past His limit. It wasn't outside of His reach or His will.

Prayer requests-I haven't done this before, I don't think, but here it goes.
Wendy's fiance really needs a job and wisdom on future decisions.
I need to find a place to live in the fall, or 2 more roommates to come live here. There are so many things that are up in the air.

And yet...we need to remember that even though it feels past our limits, God knows. He has other limits.

He knows.

A Night at the Movies

I don't know if anyone will appreciate this, but I need to write it down for me. Feel free to read over my shoulder.

Tonight was such a fun and funny night. I laughed so much tonight.

Tonight was a girls night out with Erin and Wendy. (Remember, Wendy is my roommate and a 1st grade teacher at school, Erin is my best friend here and a 3rd grade teacher at school) and we decided that we'd go see Pink Panther tonight. Erin made a crack about seeing Mike (our Sunday school teacher/associate pastor) and Cathy, seeing that the last 3 times we've gone to the movies, they are coming in right after us, usually to see the same movie. We are a group of 20somethings and they are 55+. Hilarious.

As we are walking, I saw one of my 8th graders and his sister, which was my 8th grader last year. Then, in the automated ticket line, I see an 8th grader, a 7th grader, three 5th graders and a 2nd grader and a mom. The 2nd and 5th graders are soo pumped to see me. We talk for a little bit and laugh, then they head off to buy snacks.

Dialogue as follows:
8th Grade boy: Ms. Peffer, what are you seeing?
Me: Pink Panther.
8th: Noo!! Really?
8th Grader's mom: Oh yah? So you'll keep an eye on them? ;-)
Me: Nooo! It's after hours. I'm not responsible for any of them.

(I purchase ticket)

Same 8th Grader returns to me: Ms. Peffer, were you serious about seeing Pink Panther?
Me: Yes, see? (show ticket stub)
8th: Man! I gotta tell 7th grade boy! Hey! She is! She's wasn't kidding!

Then I see 6th grader and her dad walk in, laugh and buy tickets, then go back out. Erin goes and gets seats before we are stuck near the kids. I see my favorite 8th grade girl and yell down to her. HEY!!!! She waves with embarrassment. :-) Mission accomplished.

We sit and then 5th graders and 2nd grader come and sit right behind us. I loved it. Their comments and laughs were priceless. They made the movie 3x as funny with their crazy comments.

A guy is lying on the floor and 5th grader asks: what? they aren't even going to help him up?
Me,turning around: S, he's dead!
S: Ohhhhh.......I thought he was asleep!
D: Look at that horrible dress!
J: (missed a line about foreplay, everyone is laughing) What did he say?
I love it when they don't get jokes. It's great.

We are leaving the theater and I see my newest 8th grader and he doesn't look at me, yet he's saw me.
Me: Hey A!
A: DON'T say anything!!!! (he said this in such a way that he was embarrassed but liked it enough to make a joke out of it.)
Me: oh um....so sorry.... and put my hand at the side of my face so he can't see me.

We walk outside and there's a posse of 7th and 8th graders. There's at least 13 of them. They all look and act so funny, giving little weird waves and small comments. We laughed and laughed and walked over to get icecream. About 5 mins later, as our backs are turned to the door, Erin sees the posse coming to the shop. They see us, double over in laughter/agony, point and then refuse to come in because we are in there. Again, we errupt with laughter.


There were so many great things that I gathered from this experience.

1. I am everyone of those kids' teacher. I knew them all. Wendy and Erin don't know them, but I have some sort of connection with each one of them.
2. I LOVED seeing how awkward and embarrassed they were as middle schoolers seeing their teacher in public.
3. I think it's sooo funny that they acted as if we were old and decrepit and it would be weird to see their teachers at a movie theater.
4. It was a bunch of kids, hanging out together, from the same Christian school. Sometimes kids just endure their Christian school friends until they can hang out with their other friends. This was a good group of kids seeing a decent movie.
5. They wouldn't DARE eat ice cream at the same place as us, even AFTER we saw them come and then walk away.
6. I truly do love them. I loved seeing them tonight.
7. They are going to talk about this for a week. And....some might not ever forget it. :-)
   

As I replayed all of these events in my head on the way home, I just kept smiling.

I love being a teacher.

The bee is dead.

They have killed the bee!!!

For the past year and 1/2, there has been a "bee" buzzing in my light in the Spanish classroom. There have been multiple requests to get it fixed and nothing has been done about it. Until today.

This is the routine thing that happens with this light. You turn the light on, it buzzes for about 15 minutes. Then, the light dims a bit, and in 5 mins, because I haven't moved around in the classroom, the light turns off. As soon as I stand up, the light turns on, and the buzzing begins again.

OR, I finally get the buzzing to stop and I have to turn the lights off so my students can see the projector and the powerpoint. Then, I turn the lights back on and BBBBBBZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... how in the world can students think with that?? They couldn't. I couldn't. I would have this sense of HUGE relief when the buzzing would stop.

Today was the day of the killing.

He came in and change the little box in it that was suuuuupppper hot (the balast). There was melted plastic and other stuff that showed him that this should have been changed long ago. It could have been a fire hazard.

So, no more buzzing, no more bee and no more irritation!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!

Baby, it's cold INside...

Tuesday morning, our maintenance man pops his head into prayer meeting and asks us to pray for the boiler.

The BOILER???

At 7 am, the boiler went kablooey. We had school Tuesday and then we were told to dress warm for Wednesday and he would see how it was Wed. morning and then make the call about what to do next. There is a boiler in the area that we can get, but it takes 3 days to get it and then 5 days to install.

So, Wed. came and went, a little chillier, but not too bad. Then, last night the low was about 15 degrees, leaving the building without heat in cold weather for over 36 hours. This morning it was 56 degrees in our classrooms. And STILL...we had school. There was ice on the INSIDE of my classroom window today. There are space heaters in each room, which constantly trips the breaker. I borrowed Erin's for a little bit and I'm still saving the heat in my room by keeping the door closed. The kids think it's great that they get to wear their coats in the classroom, or wrap up in blankets while learning about David and Goliath. Harold brought around hot chocolate to all of the classes today for an extra special treat.

It's all cute and fun.....but it's cold. And it's going to keep getting colder. And it won't be cute and fun anymore after today. Today's not even very fun. Tomorrow we are having our Black History Celebration with a program and a lunch served to the kids-fried chicken, collard greens, maccaroni and cheese, etc. It's going to be very cold tomorrow. And we will still have school. It won't be cancelled because of the program.

I always wanted to be one of those kids whose school name was on the ticker at the bottom of the news station and beside it said: no heat.

Well. Calvary Road Christian School: No heat. Yes school.

LET'S GO STEELERS!!!!!!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!

On Friday, we had a Sports Team day as our last day of Spirit Week. I wanted to call all of the Steelers fans to the office so I could get a picture, but it didn't happen. Here are the few that I got!

1st grader Tracey and me.

All of these kids were in ONE kindergarten class!

Maysa, Adam, Julianna and her teddybear, Stephanie and Grant.

Yesterday I got the coolest thing in the mail, too. My mom called me and told me to check the mail. I went out and found a package and then told mom, I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!! It's a Steelers' Tshirt! She told me no, and I was bummed. Then I ripped it open and...YESSS!!! I was right! An AFC Championship Tshirt with Palamalu and Ben. It's beautiful!

But, what's more beautiful is the fact that my parents sent it to me. It made me so happy. I asked mom, as I was opening it if there was a note inside. She said, nope, Dad sent it. You get what you ordered, nothing else. No love. :-) But, it was full of love. Thanks Mom and Dad!

So, I'm all geared up, along with my Steelers football balloon I bought for myself at the grocery store, and I'm off to Taby and Greelpy's to hang out with the homegroup.

GO STEELERS!!!!!!