Another Joy of Living Here

Remember how I told you one of the perks of living in DC were the men in uniform??? Well, I found another one! Last night Nate, Laura, Erin and I headed into the district for "Screen on the Green." During the summer they show movies on the lawn of the Capitol. All I could think of while I was there was the scene in The Wedding Planner, with Jennifer Lopez sitting on the reserved tree branch with Matthew McConaughey, talking about brown M&Ms and how they are best for you because they don't have any food coloring-because chocolate's already brown. The only thing that was missing was the reserved tree, Matthew McConaughey and the brown M&Ms. :-) (By the middle of the movie, Erin and I were really wishing we had that reserved tree....laying on the ground is rough!) Even with those things missing, it was still an amazing time.









So, with the Capitol building shining brightly and standing majestically behind the movie screen, the Washington Monument standing even taller behind us, a Merry Melody cartoon began playing, with that slobbery Sylvester interrupting someone's sleep. After that was over, the most bizarre thing happened....the HBO symbol showed up on the screen, a little song began to play, and people sparatically stood up and started jumping up and down while waving their arms and heads side to side. It was SOOOOO odd!! We didn't know what to do! We looked around at people, making eye contact, and they kept going as if this was a normal thing to do! I still don't understand, but all the regulars seemed to have great ol' time doing the movie dance.






Rachael is in VA!!!!!!!!! I'm going to enjoy some time at her Dad's house, ski-dooing, hanging out etc and then she's coming up here Monday-Wed and then we are going to Baltimore to enjoy that city and take Rach to the airport. I'm going to take Rach to the Screen on the Green so she can enjoy the whole experience.


I might even join in on the movie dance..........

Desire and Discipline

I feel like I'm all mixed up. I feel like the world is spinning, yet I'm standing still...and I'm getting quite dizzy. Nauseous. Confused. Anxious. Unsettled. Restless. Empty. Lonely.

Every summer since I can remember, I've always started to long for structure around the beginning of August. I would talk to myself, saying---Abby, are you dumb? It's summer! Who wants to go to school, come home, do homework, eat, study more, shower and go to bed everyday, in that order! Be free! Enjoy the laziness of summer! Don't worry!

Well, I'm a creature of habit. I'm longing for it. As I'm typing this, I'm yelling at myself. I've had one AMAZING summer and I shouldn't want it to end. I feel so mixed up. I was home in PA for a month and then I was back in VA for 5 days and then I left for church camp where I was a counselor for the Older girls (rising 6th and 7th graders). I got home on Saturday and didn't know what to do with myself. Today was church and spending time with friends. Again, I felt so out of the loop about things that I didn't want to hear one more thing that I missed. I'm leaving for Richmond on Thursday morning to visit Rach at her dad's, where we'll veg, spend time with her family, ride sea doos, and have great conversations--ones that have been on the back burner because we haven't seen each other for a long time. I'm so excited to see her! But it's another addition to my craziness feeling.

Desire without Discipline always results in Disappointment.

Tonight at Frontline, this hit my soul. I feel so mixed up because I have all of these desires, yet no discipline.

Desires
Teach overseas
Spend time in God's word and reawaken and deepen my stagnant relationship with Him
Learn Spanish
Teach overseas
Destroy my debt
Casual, confident conversation and mingling with guys, leading to dating
Prepare for school
Teach overseas
Make my house a home
Destroy my debt

All these things I want, yet I'm doing NOTHING to make it happen. Nothing. How can God even take me serious about teaching overseas when I'm not trying? I need to make my relationship real with Him, I need to grow the desire for evangelism and I need to destroy my debt. I'm not even making one ounce of effort to save. I'm not spending like crazy, but I'm not budgeted.


Disappointment. I think that sums up all those feelings.

Count down to family vacation: 22 hours!!!

Just wanted to let you know that things have gotten better since my last blog. I've enjoyed being LAZY, trying to get back my time that I gave to work all school year. I think I worked 60 hour weeks. Literally. I think I'm entitled to some R & R., don't you??

I traveled with Laurie (AND Tomtom, the most amazing present ever, and to prevent the last entry from happening again----THANKS DAD AND JAY!!!!!) to Naomi and Louis's wedding. It was so amazing. I loved it. Pictures will be coming soon.

So, tomorrow we are leaving (Mom, Dad, Jay, Abby (the sister-in-law, to clear up the confusion), Me, Craig and Ty) to go camping at Ohiopyle State park. We hope to go to Falling Water, white water rafting, canoeing, biking, paintballing, natural water sliding, play some tennis, volleyball, hillbilly golf, boardgames, and MAYBE get some sleep and some fire watching in. Dad is exhausted just listening to the list of things we want to do. We just want to play together. It's been so long since us siblings and parents played. AND we get to smell like campfire. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Until July 7....Adios!

Abby and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

On Saturday, I had one of the worst days possible. The image above (created by Ty and me) really sums up my day.
I left Rachel Delp's house at 10:20, which is plenty of time to get to the wedding at 1:00 in Williamsport, 2 hours away. I was doing fine until I missed my exit and had to turn around. No problem. As I was going back south, I saw a sign for a road that I was going to need. So, instead of going back to the exit I was supposed to get off of, I decided that it would be better to get off here, saving time. I kept driving, trying to find 22W. I found S. Carlton street which was supposed to take me to 22W. But, it turned into 320E. I thought that maybe it was a different name for it, until I realized that they are opposite directions and couldn't POSSIBLY be the same thing. That's when I started to panic. Harrisburg is so confusing! I called dad, starting to tear up, asking him for help. I had to call mom because dad wasn't near a computer. I got back on the highway and took the wrong road. Called dad again and Jay and him were on speaker phone, trying to find me on googlemaps. Then I heard Jay say...uh...too far up... it was going to take me 1 hour and 45 mins to get to the wedding. Time: 12:15. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started bawling. How in the world could this happen??? I was having second thoughts about going to this wedding but decided I needed to go, and now this! Jay and Dad were doing their best to make me feel better, but all I wanted to do was cry and drive home. After hanging up with them, I cried my heart out to God, pleading for direction and speed. I was so mad.

I was coming up to the church and saw the bridal party standing outside on the deck. Yep..... I missed the wedding. The ceremony just ended and I walked into the basement and up the back stairs. No one would know that I missed it! People didn't see me at the ceremony and were asking if I was there. I had to tell them the drama, so my secret was out.

I got to see Nomes, which was GREAT. She's so excited for her wedding in two weeks. I also saw a lot of other people from BBC, but it wasn't as great as I anticipated. I was expecting to be attacked with hugs and compliments on my dress, necklace, etc., but I wasn't. It was a "hey" from most of them. I know that after college, things change and everyone gets into different stages of life, but I hoped that friendships could have endured through that. Yeah, so most of my friends are married. It doesn't mean we can't talk on the phone or have a great time when we are together. It was just a big let down. The newlyweds were BEAUTIFUL, the reception was great and yummy, and their dance was amazing, but the reuniting with old friends wasn't so great. Even though I wished it to be different, I almost half expected it.

I left for home around 5:30, found Rt 80 just fine, and thought I was golden. I could drive Rt 80 home with my eyes closed! BUT, there were 2 torrential downpours while I was driving, causing me to hydroplane a couple of times and fear for my life. THEN, I get a message on the AM station that a section of 80 was closed and I needed to follow a detour. A DETOUR!!! At this point, I thought, what next? A speeding ticket? An accident? A flat tire? Come on, I'm ready for it! It couldn't get worse!

Getting on 79 was priceless, and then seeing the outlets was amazing. I stopped off at MCDs for a McFlurry, something to make me feel better. I got home at 10 and was greeted with big hugs, 6 roses, new carpet and bed in my room and cable on my TV!

So, that's the saga of Saturday. I'm so glad it's over.

Can you hear it?

Listen......can you hear that?? Can you hear it???

It's the sound of summer vacation.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................

The home stretch!

All the papers are checked. The grades are in. The room looks bare. SCHOOL IS ALMOST OUT!

Today was the last Monday of the school year, and the first day of the last week of school. I didn't really have a last week of school last year. We went on our class trip and then we had musical practice all week, then graduation and done! Today I had my kids turn in their science books. We are studying smoking and the affects it has on a person. It's been pretty cool to see their responses. A lot of kids have relatives that smoke and they are now really worried about them. I'm doing my best to gross them out to keep them away from it.

You know, the good ol' healthy lung/smoker lung comparison and the x ray of someone smoking and how it shows up on the picture. I also showed them pictures of mouth cancer and lung cancer and heart disease...all the things that you are at risk for. It was really interesting to listen to the questions of some of the kids. They were asking questions without saying, "I'm afraid my dad's going to die. What do I do". They were getting good at asking questions in third person.

Do any of you remember the 30 min after school special with all of the cartoon characters (Daffy, Bugs, Alf, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Teenage mutant ninja turtles, the chipmunks, etc) together, telling us not to do drugs? Well.....I found it on google video!!!! Its called Cartoon All stars http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-940551580328756105&hl=en. I warned them that it might be a little funny (seeing that the cartoon people were wearing 80s cartoon clothes) but that the subject was very serious and they needed to be mature and learn. I showed half of it to my kids today and they really want to see the rest. They are so curious about drugs and what things are that their attention is focused. I need to use that to teach them things they need to know. I think that Christian schools and churches in general do a bad job of informing kids with a biblical view of issues. They just hide from them. Kids brought up in strict Christian households grow up believing that sex is a BAD thing and that it is a sin to talk about it. Drugs are not to be talked about, but completely avoided. Forbiddence breeds curiosity and experimentation! (climbing down off of my soap box)


All that to say....just 3 and 1/2 more days of school with my favorite 5th graders. I keep looking forward to a break and a change, but I forget this is my last time with them as my class. It's my last time as a 5th grade teacher (for now!). Wow.

The answer is no. I don't get to show the movie to the class. They say that they want to keep the rule about G movies only a firm rule and since there is a G-rated movie for the book available, then there isn't really a problem.

Yep, my bubble has been busted. The kids complained but I told them that a rule is a rule, and we need to follow it, without complaining. (I better go and change my heart and make sure my mouth stays closed so I follow my own instructions!)

A New Adventure

About 3 weeks ago, I told the principal that if Paul, the Math teacher, didn't leave, then I wanted Ann to teach 5th grade and I would teach Elementary Spanish(k-5) and Middle School Girls' PE. I offered to do Spanish because I love it and I want to get better at it for my future life. About a week later, I was told that, as of right now, I was going to teach 5th grade (without the math class) and 3,4, and 5th grade Spanish. It sounded good when he explained the time needed for teaching and prep. It would be less time to do the Spanish then the math. I said I would have to talk to the Spanish teacher first, but it sounded like it could work. After all, it would be less time. So, I was mentally preparing myself to do a BUTTLOAD of work.

I thank God for the friends he has given me. Erin brought me to my senses when we talked about it. She said, "Abby, don't do it. No way. You'll have 2 Learning Explosions (a themed-week) and Reading Week, and grading and learning 3 new 5th grade subjects, and then 3 new grades of Spanish to teach. You'll burn out. You'll hate it. Tell him no. You're not going to do it. I won't let you."

So, after that verbal beating (just kidding! It was the voice of reason-a voice I'm so grateful for!) I decided I'd write down the reasons why it'd be bad and talk to the principal.

A week later.....


On Friday, I was called to the Principal's office. Yes, it's still scary, even as an adult. The principal tells me that the math teacher is staying. Ann is teaching 5th grade. I am teaching.......elementary PE, (K-5) 6th grade PE (co-ed) and 7-8 grade PE (co-ed). AND 3-5 grade Spanish. I AM A SPECIALS TEACHER!!!

Let me tell you, so many emotions have been running rampant in my heart and so many thoughts have been taking my mind captive these past 4 days. Each day I wake up thinking, man, I'm the PE teacher. I was excited because this means SOOO much less work to take home. Thinking about that at the end of the school year always brings joy. I can wear workout clothes everyday! I won't have to do Learning Explosions or Reading Week or Standardized testing. But, I won't get to have fun with my OWN class of 12-16. I've grown so close to my kids this year. We have inside jokes and they feel so at home in my room. I WILL have a learning explosion-it's called Field Day. The MOTHER of all Learning Explosions. I won't get to teach reading-my passion. I have so many things, so many books in my room that I won't get to use next year. Where am I going to PUT all of my things???? I have the Spanish classroom, but I don't think that will work like I want it to. I got really down about not having my own classroom yesterday. Slight internal funk. Everyone I called to tell about the situation said, awww.....are you okay with this?

This morning, as I was journaling to God, He let me see how good this will be. This will be SOOO good. I view this time here in the states as training for me to get ready for teaching overseas. This is just one more area that I get to be trained in that I will be able to use on the mission field. Who knows what I'll be doing!! Spanish will make me study and get better at the language, which is what I've been longing to do for a long time. I will have created so many games for all ages of kids that I could teach anyone PE in any school. I can use sports as a ministry to get the kids of other countries interested in hearing the gospel. I need to also use this time to get into shape and practice what I preach to my students. I also get to have my 5th graders again!!!

I am enjoying this journey. Each step seems awkward and hard and different and unattainable with my strength, yet God is bigger than me. God is bigger than the Kindergarten PE class that won't listen. Bigger than the Middle school giving me attitude.

God is big and I'm along for the ride. New adventure, here I come!!!!

This blog article has been removed as the writer has reread it and could see some possible things that could upset people and hurt me in the long run. It was a good rant, but it needs to be deleted. :-)

Fears

Possible Root Canal at 3:30.


AGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

17 days of school left....just 17 more days of school....I can do it! I can do it!! (looks at the clock, 11:45pm, Sunday night) I CAN'T DO IT!!!!!

The NEW YMCA

Each year, during Reading week, the teachers make up some crazy thing about reading and do it in front of the kids. They love it, we get paid to dress up like goofballs and dance around! What other job would allow you to do that?? Ann, the other 5th grade teacher, and I wrote the words to the song and the girls and I collaborated ideas about the motions and props, and we created a masterpiece. Erin, Jessica, Amanda and I (the first year "suckers", minus Jessica) did the production called R-E-A-D, to the tune of YMCA. It was amazing. There are no words to describe it. You'll have to see it yourself.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!

Today...... I got handed my contract. He told me that he can't promise anything, and things might change, but as of now, I will be the 5th grade teacher next year. WOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I have such mixed emotions because I don't want Ann to move. I don't want her to go through that changing and adding of work. She would be moved into middle school to teach math and something else (that's the dangerous part----the unknown. We all sign unassigned or job determined contracts.) I want things to stay like it is now, without the P.E. part. I could do without that. :-) But, they can't. There will be about 13-16 15th graders next year, so there's only one 5th grade. This means I "get" to teach Language and Math and History next year too. yeah. wohoo. I need to work on my heart attitude about that.

I have a ton to do, but I'd thought I'd let you know the great news! Praise the Lord!

Laying it down at His feet.....AGAIN

I don't know when my future will be predictable. I don't know when I'll be able to say, yes I know EXACTLY what I'm doing next school year. I know, many of you out there who have been at their same job for the past 20 years are jealous of my annual job changing. Well, you can have it!

There will only be 1 fifth grade next year. That means that Ann or I will be changing our job. I wasn't okay with that about two months ago, but after laying it down at His feet, I was able to move on and accept the idea of maybe teaching 4th grade. Then I heard that our principal doesn't like to move 1st year teachers. So, that means I might be teaching ALL of 5th grade next year. I've enjoyed the subjects I teach and also have enjoyed the subjects I DON'T have to teach (I enjoy the fact that I don't have to teach them!). Again, after worrying and stressing out and tearing up about the possibility of that, I laid it down again and I was okay.

Over the past week, people have been getting their contracts. People. Not me. I don't know what's going on. Erin reassured me with the thought that he wouldn't just NOT give me a contract without having problems that we've discussed previously. But, anyhow, I don't have my contract. I think he doesn't know what to do with me next year. He doesn't have an answer to the question of, "so, what am I teaching next year?"

I JUST WANT TO KNOW!!! I have picked it back up from before His feet. I have taken it back into my own hands to have me worry about it for a little bit. As if I can figure things out and worrying will help. I know the facts. I know the truth-God knows ALL and sees ALL and knows EXACTLY what will happen. Yet, I pick it back up.

Lord, help me to lay it back down.

Filling in Bubbles

Good morning! This past weekend was SOOOOO beautiful here! On Saturday it was 85 degrees here! I sat in my back "yard" (which is really a fenced in weed pit) and graded papers for 3 hours. It's April 21 and I have my first sunburn!!!! I'm so proud. :-) Saturday night Robin and I went to a game night at McLean Bible Church. It was for the 20s, 30s and 40s of the area to come and play Taboo, Catchphrase, Apples to Apples, etc. Erin wasn't here this weekend, so she sent me forth to scout out the area and make some connections so she could just slip in and not go through the painful and difficult part of meeting new people. Thanks Erin! We met some nice women, a guy nicknamed Thor, God of thunder, and one brave man who dared to join a table full of estrogen to play Catchphrase. I think I was the youngest one there. I didn't really succeed in scouting out the area (aka I didn't really talk to any guys) but there weren't many my age there. This was my first step of "putting myself out there" and it wasn't as successful as I'd wished. Oh well, there's always next time!
This is the week of school that we all dreaded each school year. Filling in bubble after bubble after bubble after bubble after bubble. Taking a small break, a sip of water, a much needed trip to the bathroom, and then it's back to the bubbles. We, as the teachers, have a script that we need to read to make sure that we are making it as standard as possible. It's quite funny. I don't have to really teach this week, so that's nice! NO PE!!!! My days will be filled with going to each hand-raised child saying, sorry, I can't help you with that. Sorry, I can't answer that. You're doing fine, keep going! I'm sorry, I can't tell you what that word means. They know I can't answer questions, yet they will STILL raise their hands. I better wear good shoes!