new hair!

I cut my hair! Ta - Da! My friend (and fellow fourth grade teacher) Heather got hers cut yesterday too, so we made a little stir at Reedy Creek. We also had the same pants on today . . . what can I say? You work on that hallway, you start to think the same.

So you can see a before and after, I've kindly included two pictures. The first is my 4th grade team on International Day. I may have provided the African wraps. We took this in the hallway while waiting for the "International Fashion Show" to make an appearance. Thus the 500 students all around us and the strained look on our faces.




I know, we're pretty cute. :)

I think I'll go to Boston

I laugh sometimes at my life. Last weekend I drove to the airport, hopped on a plane, and *bam- I was in Ohio. Driving back through 4 states on Sunday was a little more real as I was very conscious of every state line and every hour ticking down to arrival at home. However, it was a great road trip, our rental car was SWEET, and I have a new dream of living on a farm in Virginia - for a summer.

Anyway. This weekend I'm jetting out of school a little early to catch a plane to BOSTON! As in Red Sox, Marathon, Tea Party, and Massacre. I just got this amazing email from friend Kelly with more helpful information than one could even dream of. There are 18 hyperlinks in her email! Whoa! And now I'm SUPER PUMPED about the weekend. Which, of course, has a story. The girls had planned this as a surprise for me, a last hurrah before my move, and bought tickets and everything without my knowledge. Unfortunately, they bought them on SkyBus, which went bankrupt a month ago. Erin's complete devastation about the demise of SkyBus clued me in to something fishy . . . anyway, we got new tickets, but I figured it out and the surprise is no more. Instead, the thrill of anticipation!

One of Kelly's fantastic links led me to yet another dream . . . a children's bookstore blogger. Oh, my dream! One of these days I'm going to get my masters in media science (aka children's librarian). Until then . . . I'll read the blog of this Boston bookstore and imagine . . .

nothing to write about . . . or is it everything?

I've been struggling recently with the blogging, saying I have nothing to write about. It just hit me that the reality is just the opposite - I have too much to write about, it's hard to filter.

School - We're taking End of Grade tests this week. The police came today, which - though it had little to do with me - is disconcerting, and something was stolen from my classroom. How disappointing! I had planned an encouraging, 'build-each-other-up!' activity, only to use the materials in a 'write what you know about the situation' way.

Africa - I bought wellies online to bring me cheer as I wade through the rainy season. I wore them to school once . . . but then it didn't rain! Tell me how an 85% chance of thunderstorms can become sunny blue skies!? I looked foolish. I've been to both of my grandparents' churches . . . giving little talks to the congregations. A new experience, the first of many times, I think! I make pretend packing lists in my head at every opportunity. I wait anxiously for news of what I will teach and where I will live.


Life - driving to the beach, concerts in NoDa, staying up late on a school night (!) to watch movies, barbecues, Cinco de Mayo, dentists and doctors, podiatrists and optometrists, laundry and grading and dinner planning, Zumba and pilates and afternoon runs . . . I keep busy enough. I've stumbled across some alone time recently of a quality sort - yesterday running the greenway off of Tryon . . . an unseen path tucked between Tryon and 85, running in the shade along the creek. A blissful moment. Today there was a thunderous rainstorm, complete with hail and a standstill on the highway, but I made it home at last, only to sit on the porch for the better part of an hour. I was completely mesmerized by the rain. It felt great just to sit and give my thoughts free reign for a bit. I highly recommend it.

That's it for now, just the ramblings of a busy teacher planning a move around the world.

How Pigeons can make me Happy

I don't normally write about school, but it does occupy most of my time. And I do enjoy my sweet kids and all of the crazy drama of my classroom. And yes, it's wearing, but it's rewarding and I am so thankful for my class and my time teaching here.

Last Friday I my kids were completing various projects I had assigned when I saw another 4th grade class heading out to the pigeon loft. This teacher has a grant to raise the pigeons and her class does a lot with them. I surveyed the mess and progress we'd made that day and wistfully watched them head toward the great outdoors - and innumerable photo opportunities. When my friend invited us to come along and see the new chicks, we basically dropped it all, left this kids with late work inside, and tore off to the loft.


My class had visited before, but since I know next to nothing about the birds, our time at the loft consisted of, "Oh, look at the pretty bird!" and "Don't TOUCH that!" This time the other teacher handed the students to release in the air, and the kids were just in awe. Or maybe it was me who was in awe. But it was a beautiful moment, and what can beat playing outside in the middle of a school day?

The Simple Life

I took the day off on Friday. I have 4 doctor's appointments to complete before moving, and I have 10 sick days, and my kids had a long test to take - so I scheduled 2 appointments for Friday and left the sub with the test. Can't wait to see how it turned out. :)

What a wonderful day! I just felt like a person, with a life, who could drive around during a workday. I interacted with adults. I ate when I wanted to. I went shopping. It was good for my soul.

This is how I started my perfect Friday . . . on the porch, with a perfect breakfast.

And the day progressed from there, wonderful all the way.

On a photographic note, I'm pretty sure that picture is overexposed and the histogram would show a lot of bars on the white side of the graph . . . but I didn't think about that until way after I was taking the picture, and I can't edit, so there it is. Feel free to edit it for me and email it back. :)

100% (!!)

It's official . . . according to my calculations - I'm 100% at both outgoing and monthly pledges! Whoa!

I just feel really blessed right now. On top of the news that I'm completely funded, I got an email from a friend at RVA with pictures of furniture . . . furniture for me! A teacher is leaving and is blessing me with many pieces of furniture. It's just amazing how the Lord provides. Just this week I've been mentally tallying the furniture there that I am giving away/selling, and starting to imagine how I would furnish a house of my own . . . in Africa! And then, just like that, an answer - before I could even get properly worked up about it.

But that's just how He does it.

As a side note, if you were still planning to support me but hadn't gotten around to it yet - any extra money goes into my 'work funds,' which can be used for ministry-related expenses. It will also keep my monthly salary consistent if there are months when monthly giving falls short. Also, friends of mine are struggling to get support raised for their family of 4 to go to RVA in June. Let me know if you are interested in that giving opportunity.

AND . . . if you want to watch, here's a good video of RVA. I know one of the kids featured - we lived with his family for a week when I had my semester in Tanzania. Connections!

Update: AFRICA is on the horizon!

I feel like it's getting so close! While there are still many 'unknowns' in my life, I'd like to focus on what I do know:

• I'm moving to Kenya June 27th. AIM sent me an email last week with my flight itinerary - 40 other AIMers on that flight over! 40 new friends. :) We will meet in New York on the 25th to check out and then be on our merry way to Nairobi.
• My support raising is going well! I am at 100% of my outgoing funds!
  
• I am at 91% of my monthly funds. This means I only need $163 more in monthly giving. Sooo . . . that's 8 people giving 20/month. Or rather, 3 giving 50/month + 1 giving 13. Or 5 giving $10, 2 giving 25, and 3 giving 15. Or something like that. Anyway, I'm thrilled to be at this point. Back in October, raising all of this seemed insurmountable. I knew it was going to be an exercise in faith and God has proved more than faithful! (I should have known - when I started getting checks a month before my letters we postmarked!)
  

So, I'm happy to be here. I'm not going to say it's 100% carefree-happy. I've moved predictably from denial to acceptance, and that reality check has brought a lot of grief as the calendar marks surprisingly few days until the end of school - and leaving Charlotte, leaving Oklahoma, leaving the familiar. (Swallowing down that lump in my throat!) But more powerful than that is the deep-rooted assurance that this is where I'm supposed to be. This is not my own doing! I did not conjure up thousands of dollars and a teaching position and a plan for my life. No, the great Author wrote these pages before I was even born. And that's why I rest in this joy of anticipation, of being in the center of His will.

April 2004. Masumbo, Tanzania