Bethlehem, Year 2

I love Bethlehem. I can't explain how great it is to be part of the performance and mostly part of such a great church family. I'm working in the wine booth and I'm innkeeper 1, since someone dropped out last minute. It's been fun.

My class went to the Children's Discovery Museum today. These are my favorite pictures:

Laughter

Things are getting better, I think. I've had a hard time this school year, especially with teaching and my whole work environment. This week I was afraid that I had lost all passion for working with children. But today was wonderful. The only thing I can say is that God answered prayers. Nothing was different, but I loved being with my students today. I feel like I'm slowly breaking through to my biggest trouble maker, Robert. I love this kid so much and it is hard to see him struggle inwardly so much. The best part of today was during a read aloud. I have Robert sitting right in front of me. He always talks and wiggles and gets up and sings and does whatever else he can to get attention. Today he started to get up and I stuck my foot out and it threw him back in his seat and he started laughing so hard and then it was a ripple effect of laughter and I could not stop laughing with tears rolling down my cheeks and I kept trying to get back to the reading but would burst out laughing again and that would set the whole class off again. It was so good to be in a happy place.

Voting is ridiculously hard. All the arguments seem dumb to me. And why do they write in all caps? DON'T THEY KNOW THAT'S HARDER TO READ? And they make everything seem like the end of the world is going to occur if you vote yes or no. All of California is going to be taken over by murderers and global warming and the decline of morality and the bird flu!!!! Sigh.

The rain is lovely. Today as I was teaching the trees were sideways from the wind and then after school it misted with the sun still shining. So beautiful. And it feels like such a change at a time when I really need a change. The first Bethlehem work day was on Saturday and I remembered that I love working at Bethlehem and talking to people in my church and feeling useful. It rained most of the time, during which I stayed in the big containers helping to unload... or just hiding and watching everyone else stand in the rain.

Sunday school is getting better now that I have a curriculum, although I'm pretty disappointed with my choices. Compared with real school, it seems very childish to be teaching 2nd-5th graders using flannel board and modeling clay.

I planted some flowers in pots in my patio. I don't think they'll last long, but they are lovely for now.

We had a great field trip to Johnson Farm in the Santa Cruz mountains. I love this picture of one of my students, who hardly smiles in class.

Quiz: Could You Be a 2nd Grade Teacher?

Quiz: What does this mean:
"a was sherin a tomeiro abribari was sherin samntin eos. Den wi lain up. Den wi start waci. wi ser tenciu to ebribari."

Answer:
"I was sharing a tomato. Everybody was sharing something else. Then we lined up. then we started walking. We said thank you to everybody."

Conversations I had today with my kids:

Omar had written the word "I" as "a." (A went to the store.)
Me: What letter do you think spells "I?"
Omar: A?
Me: No. What letter do you think spells "I?"
Omar: E?
Me: Oh, dear. We have a lot of work to do.

We were writing penpal letters today.
Me: Priya, your penpal asks if you know how to sing.
Priya: Hums to herself. No.

Mexico Video

Here is a video that my bible study leader made from the trip to Mexico:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tqpvWkkRjE&fmt=6

Anger

One of the other 2nd graders gave a note to one of my 2nd graders that said, "Do you want to have sex with me?" Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I was so upset when I found that out. I'm just going to take all of my students home and put them in a box and not take them out until they are back in my classroom. The world is too messed up out there and there is so much that I don't understand about their lives. It makes me want to be a positive influence in their lives that much more.

It's Good News

I got to Bible study this evening and the person who was supposed to lead couldn't make it so I did it. Usually I would spend a few hours and days worrying about it, but for some reason today I felt like I could trust God to say what He wanted to say. I was amazed by how the Holy Spirit used me. I learned so much tonight in the passage we read and everyone else felt like they learned a lot, too.

God really opened my eyes up to something tonight in Romans 10:14-15, which is:
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'”
Paul is talking to the church in Rome about spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. Usually when I think about sharing the gospel, I think of inviting people to church. But I had a huge realization that I need to share the good news that Jesus Christ loves us so much that he died for us and saves us from our sins and gives us life and peace and joy. And that's not the same as "Jesus wants you to go to church where the pastor might tell you the good news." I feel like I can't even put into words how much of a change in thought this is for me. It's way easier for some reason to invite someone to church than to tell them how great Jesus is. But so much more meaningful to share the real good news. I feel scared but hopeful.

Mexico

This weekend I went to Ensenada with 14 other people from my church to build a school for orphans. It's an ongoing project through Azusa Pacific that teams from the U.S. help complete whenever they can. We flew down to San Diego and then stuffed into a van to cross the border. I didn't feel like I was in Mexico since we were out in a fairly rural area by ourselves.

I had a great time. I love work projects where I can get dirty and it was nice to get to know people better and be with them for three days straight.

Friday and Saturday I scraped walls and taped walls and primed walls and painted walls. On Sunday I learned how to grout, which I thought was fun, although it lead to a few blisters. As I was grouting, I was thinking about the body of Christ (aka Christians) and how in the Bible it says that we are all a different part of the body. God has made us unique and we have skills for the jobs he has given us and we should appreciate the skills and differences of other people. This trip was such a picture of that. I came on the trip knowing pretty much nothing about building, but was able to learn from other people. And there were so many people skilled in different ways -- people who knew how to tile floors, hang doors, install lights, do plumbing, paint, cook, clean, build walls. And if everyone hadn't been there, we wouldn't have got it all done. It's the same way with life. We can't do everything by ourselves. God has created each of us to fill a piece of the puzzle and we are meant to be all working together.

When I got home this morning, I thought about fellowship. I didn't fully appreciate the fellowship of the trip until I woke up this morning and felt so empty without a bunch of people around me to sit by, laugh with, talk to, be with.

Back to School Night

This went sooooo much better than last year. I had things that I actually wanted to say to the parents and when they asked me questions, I knew the answers because I actually know what 2nd graders learn. Hooray!

Before I began, a school board member and a district office worker came to watch (yikes!) and then while I was giving my spiel the superintendent of the district came to watch (double yikes!) and then my principal joined (triple yikes!). It was okay, though. I tried my best to ignore them and focus on the parents.

Thankful.

My class is wonderful. And so is Joanne's mom for helping me figure out centers. My students were silent and did their work for the whole hour. Lovely.

Yesterday was "Worship in the Park" and it was a perfect day as my church had a big BBQ and worship in Central Park. And I got 2nd place in the hula hoop contest. :)

For I am Convinced

that neither death
nor life
nor angels
nor demons
nor things present
nor things to come
nor height
nor depth
nor any other created thing
will be able to separate me from the LOVE of God.

And that gives me hope and life.

That whatever happens this year, if unexpected things happen, if I turn down the wrong road, or anything else, still God will be there with unfailing love.

I had such a good weekend on this past holiday weekend. It was perfect.

Friday night Ashley's parents came into town so of course we went to dinner and played games.

Saturday morning I had a good talk with my parents. I think I said a lot of what I had been thinking about my future and hopes and dreams that were on my heart that I had never really put into words all at once. After living through so many blessings from God and my life taking turns I never expected... moving to Santa Clara, going to Africa, having a great job, meeting great people, I'm excited to see where life is going to take me and I am glad my parents are there with me, even if not in the same city.

Saturday I spent the entire day by the pool at Ashley's apartment playing games. It definitely felt like vacation.

Sunday I taught my first Sunday School lesson. I'm going to be teaching grades 2-5 in the mornings, maybe every other week. I'm pretty sure it's where God wants me to be serving in the church right now. I'll admit I had a negative attitude about spending my day off teaching, but it's a need that I have the skills for and I think it is going to be a good thing.

Sunday afternoon I went to lunch with Ashley's family again. Then I went back to church for the evening service, where we had a potluck during church, trying our best to replicate the church in the book of Acts. Then I went to Sharon and Jerry's for swimming!

Monday Fion and I went to Vasona Park in Los Gatos. Such a lovely day! We walked around and then went on the paddle boats. Fun! Then I went to a big get-together at Sharon's again where all the guys have a LAN party and all the girls swim in the pool and make food for the guys. So stereotypical, but fun! I mostly hung out with little kids. It was so fun having them babble on at me and hang on me to get "waterski" rides in the pool.

Singing hot, hot, hot!

It's 101 degrees today and we have no air conditioning! Lovely. My class this year is good so far. I have some boys who are starting to be trouble, but other than that it is starting out a lot easier than my first year.

God is Good

Two of my students and their moms came to my church this morning. They liked it and want to come back with their husbands. I am filled with joy because I have felt so welcome and loved at this church and I pray that they will too. And if they stay, I get to see two of my favorite students every week. :)

Details Count

This is from the "Cinderella story" that one of my boys wrote:
She felt sad and needed to sleep in the dark, dark, dark, room but on the side of the top there was a little window and in front of her house and farther and farther there was a town and there was a castle filled with love.
Isn't that poetic?

Sometimes I think I need to do big and important things. But today I went to one of my kid's baseball games and talked with his mom and ended up inviting her to church and knew with such certainty and joy that for two hours that was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Did I Love Them Enough?

We had the placement meeting this morning. This is where the 2nd grade teachers get together and place the students into the classes that they will be in for 3rd grade. I understood that I have to give these kids away to a new teacher, put them into the hands of another person. My heart is screaming, "but these are my kids!" I suppose three first grade teachers are giving up their kids to me, too. I hope that I enjoyed them enough. I hope that I loved them and showed them the world and gave them tools and empowered them. I hope that they will somehow be better people because of this year, even if they can't remember anything about 2nd grade when they are 28 years old. I feel sad for so many things that I did wrong this year, for so much that I didn't teach them, for so many times that I became angry and annoyed with them. I hope the good outweighed the bad. They will always be my first class. They have grown so much this year.

Open House

After 5 pricks and strands of dead deadly viruses floating around my body, I feel like I am really going to Africa. The travel doctor at Kaiser was really nice and helpful and took a long half-hour with me talking to me about all my needs for immunizations (which really aren't that many in S.Africa).

Open House was fun to put together. I am so proud of all the work my kids have done this year. It was fun watching the kids excitedly showing their parents all their stuff. The superintendent came by classroom. Luckily I knew what he looked like. I was a little disappointed that only 12 of my kids came and that my principal didn't swing by. Not that these two things matter that much, but they are connected to bigger problems at my school. But it was a great evening and here are some pictures of my lovely classroom:

Lake Nacimiento

I had a fun weekend camping with Ashley and Thomas. I did nothing except play games, talk, make s'mores, and enjoying being outside. It was a great day of relaxation and then Ashley's family came up and we played more games and went out to eat in Paso Robles.
Open house is next Tuesday and I can't believe that school is over in 5 weeks! I'm trying to enjoy my class while it lasts.

Mountain Thrash

Today I hiked the Sky-to-Sea Trail in Big Basin with the Jr. High and High School group from my church. We started at the park headquarters and hiked 11 miles down to the beach where a BBQ was waiting for us. So fun and beautiful! Here are a few pictures:

Fion at a creek crossing:The waterfall where we ate lunch:
A banana slug!
Poppies
We made it!

Sandcastle Cake

Look at the cake I made for Joanne!

Spring Break

“Oh, just put us together with a little glue here and there and we’ll last a few more years.”

--my friend Billie, age 84

Highlights from my spring break:

- visiting Santa Barbara Island, soaking in the heat on the itsy bitsy island 46 miles off the coast of Ventura

- helping Kristen with her wedding invitations

- having lunch with a friend in SLO

- spending time with Ashley at her apartment

- messing around with my guitar

- helping the ladies at my church with the rummage sale

- going to Lick Observatory and Mt Hamilton

A Good Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend. Highlights:
- I finally got all the "things-to-do" post-its off my desk.
- I practiced guitar
- I went on a walk around the neighborhood
- I started report cards while watching Season 1 Friends at Ashley's
- I visited an old lady who showed me pictures from Russia and told me all about life in the 30s-40s
- I hiked Mission Peak
- I played around with Photoshop
- I went to church
- I hung out with the Impact group trying to do a NYTimes crossword

Ouch

I fell hard on my knee ice skating tonight! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. It sure was fun, though!

If you want to see the video I made from the Impact retreat, I put it on youtube. It's mostly people sledding down a hill.

Boing!

I just got back from a place called Sky High with Impact. It's a big room with a bunch of trampolines hooked together, and trampolines angled on the sides. Soooo fun! They also have a foam pit that you can jump into from a trampoline.

This weekend I went to Sara's bridal shower and spent the night at Ashley and Thomas' and tried to learn a little bit on my guitar. It was a lovely weekend and I'm hopeful for a nice week of at least a few days of sun!

Tech Museum

Joanne and I went to the Tech Museum in San Jose today. Is there a limit to how many pictures I can put on this blog?

This robot drew our picture!

Well, it sort of resembles us....
This planet Earth was the coolest thing ever.
Here I am protesting for using pig organs to save human lives.

DNA made out of books...
My forehead is hot.
This robot used blocks

How to Eat Good Food

I had a wonderful weekend of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing and playing pinochle with my family and friend. Happiness. :)

When I got home Joanne and I went ice skating in San Jose. I didn't fall! We also made sushi...

How to make a yummy Japanese meal for two very hungry girls:

1. Make green tea
2. Wash colorful vegetables

3. Cut vegetables and put them in a bowl

4. Mix tempura batter.

5. Deep fry vegetables and shrimp

6. Layer rice, avocado, cucumber, and tempura shrimp in a square thingy on top of seaweed and then roll it up.

7. Eat!

We Love Books Day

We had a fun day celebrating literacy! I kept the day pretty calm in my classroom. This picture is one of my girls during the read-in, with my autistic kid in the background spending the entire time displaying the contents of his book box. The guest author, Tim Myers, was great with the kids and a really good storyteller. The kids were also excited about the fire fighter who read a book to our class.

Happy Week

This is the craziest week but it's going well since it's stuck between two vacations. Here is my meeting schedule for the week:

Monday:
All day grade level meeting
We Love Books Committee meeting
Union meeting

Tuesday:
BTSA meeting
Bible Study

Wednesday
All day math training
Staff professional development
Tutoring
Meet with coworker to plan

Thursday:
BTSA SP meeting
(maybe go to Ashley's to watch Lost -- does that count as a meeting?)

Friday:
Vacation!!!


My secretary called me today and said someone delivered me valentine balloons and chocolate. I racked my brain trying to figure out who it could be. It turned out to be from the family that I am tutoring! They go to my church and asked if I could help their 4th grader with writing. I have been to lunch with them twice, but don't know them that well. What a smile it put on my face!

I am so excited for Valentine's Day.... we are going to have a guest author and a read-in and a fire-fighter come to read in my classroom and a valentine exchange!

Impact Retreat

This weekend I went with Impact (my Bible study) to the snow. It was a great to spend a whole weekend with them. We stayed in a cabin in Arnold, CA. We had a speaker who talked about Missions. He went to Kazakhstan on STINT (Short term missions with Campus Crusade) for a few years. It was so interesting to here about his experiences and see pictures. He came back with a wife, so it was even better to hear her perspective about life there, since she is from there.

We also went sledding. We had a nice, safe run on the left side of the cabin that I went down once but we got kicked out by the neighbors who were worried about us running over some young trees. So we shoveled a run on the left side of the cabin and I got peer-pressured into going down it. Let me say that I should have listened to my common sense, because it was hard ending into the bank of snow.

We also played lots of games and ate lots of food. Today we went to the Moaning Cavern (Mom, have we been there?).

Sorry that I have no pictures -- I was using my video camera, so I will have video eventually.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Someone pressed the “fast-forward” button on my life and left me behind. I worked from 8-5 at school today and brought boxes of stuff home to work on. My GLAD training was really good but now I have two new units to start on Monday and Rylan and I were working like crazy today trying to get those together. I have butcher paper and files and markers all over my living room right now. It is nice, though, because I am listening to Singing in the Rain (I can’t figure out why the picture isn’t working, but I’ve seen it so many times that I can picture it in my head.) Last night I went to IKEA and got a rug and pillows so I have a reading corner in my room now. Perhaps it will be my sleeping corner when I am all worn out after this weekend. Also, I have to start thinking about centers. Rylan and I convinced my principal to give us two weeks to try centers, although it is not officially what we are supposed to be doing as a school during our Language Arts block. But my kids are missing grammar and phonics and all the structure stuff in the reading/writing workshop model.

I would like it if files on my computer were color-coded. Whoever makes the next version of Windows should do that so I can make all my "social studies" files blue and all my "science" files green because I am tired of having to make sub-sub-sub folders for everything.

Here is a picture of my classroom and my new reading nook.

Writing on my blog is really not what I should be doing right now. I have to go plan Bible study for tomorrow. I just got home because I had 4 days of subs to plan, but it was pretty fun planning with Rylan and tomorrow morning we are both going in early to finish up stuff and enjoy coffee together.

I got to hold a 2 month old baby at church yesterday and every time I think about it I get so happy! I forgot how much I love babies. He really was the cutest thing ever.

Last night I went on a car rally with Impact. Tim made directions that were supposed to confuse us that led to a "secret destination." Then the two cars are supposed to "race" to see who gets there first. Well, I drove, and I am the slowest driver ever. I was happy that I drove, though, because we were going on windy dark roads in the rain and I probably would have been carsick. It was fun catching up with a few friends and then eating dinner at a lady's house from church.

On Saturday I played pool with my friend Fion. Here are a couple pictures:


I was very thankful for the many games of pool I played at my grandparents' retirement village when I was younger, because I could play decently even though it has been a long time. Well, I started out good and then at the end I had a streak of getting the white ball, and then the black ball, intot he pocket. Oops.

Mmmmm Lunch

As I eat my tofu-eggplant-bok choy-zucchini yumminess, I will give you a quick update on me. (Don't worry. I had waffles for breakfast.)

My birthday was nice...it is so good to get cards and phone calls from all the people in my life. My friend/coworker Rylan made me a cake for school and brought cupcakes to my classroom. My friend Fion from church surprised me in the morning by coming to my classroom. Joanne's and her parents took me out for dinner and last night I went to Ashley and Thomas' for dinner.

This week was difficult with students. I am having little patience with their persistent chatter in class and drama on the playground. I made Iveth cry once again. I am thankful for the weekend to give me a chance to check my attitude. Next week I only teach on Monday and then have GLAD training from Tuesday to Friday. Sub plans are going to take a while.

My new hobby is reading. If I didn't feel guilty for sitting and doing nothing, I would sit and read all day long. I am reading Martin Luther King Jr.'s Strength to Love. He uses big words that are so beautiful to read. I think reading it is making me understand more that he was just a man. I mean, a great man, but so often we idolize him and I forget that he was human. I just finished I Kissed Dating Goodbye (ha ha ha...). And it is the cruel irony of the world that I'm reading The End of Poverty while eating dinner, using a dollar bill as a bookmark.

Blessings

2008 has been crazy so far. My kids still say "2007" every morning when we do calendar. :) I feel refreshed for school after the break. I like being with the kids a lot more. Yesterday I had my post-evaluation conference with my principal and she had a lot of good things to say about my teaching. She's a very positive person. I finally dealt with my problem child during ELD mixing and have a discipline procedure that I think might solve the problem. At least it was the first day in ELD where I felt like I had some control and could smile. This month I am getting pulled out of the classroom for many trainings and Monday is a holiday. During the last week of January, I am out 4 days! Those sub plans are going to be hard to make!

Last Saturday I went with my friend from church to her company party in San Francisco. We took CalTrain there and back (missed it on the way back -- oops. Good thing one of her coworkers is compassionate and my brother is always available for being my MapQuest). We got there a couple hours early and walked around the city and then had a dinner at a fun restaurant. It was fun to get to know her a little better.

Tomorrow should be a fun, easy day. I'm looking forward to the long weekend. Joanne and I are trying to plan a bit of fun somewhere.