Season 4 LOST!!

I'm currently sitting at Barnes & Nobles (my favorite place in the whole wide world!!!) with a few of my students. They are gift wrapping as a fundraiser and I am "supervising." I can't complain. I would probably hang out here on my own free will.

The search for a roommate continues. We are exactly 4 days away from Christmas break, and soon I will be getting a whole new group of students. CRAZY!! I can't believe I'm almost done with my first semester! Here's to hoping for a less stressful 2nd semester....

Guess who I'm going to see in concert Saturday!!!! Bethany Dillion! With Shane & Shane!!!! I'm so stoked. I love them. I went to their Christmas concert last year and it was thebomb.com. Can't wait! I don't know if Daniel is as excited about it as I am, but oh well.

So random. I'm sitting here typing away and some of my students come over to ask me a question and the guy at the table facing me says "YOU'RE a teacher? How old are you?!?"
But it led to an awesome conversation. He just got out of the Army. He was in for 3 years and most of that served in Iraq until he got injured. Spent 18 months in a hospital over there. Anyway, had a great conversation just about the attitude of the troops and such, but he said something really interesting. He said you go over there believing in God and your country but you see so much pain and turmoil, that you no longer believe in any of that, especially not religion. He said to survive you can only believe in yourself and the other troops watching your back. This is hard for me to understand. I would think that at such a low and difficult place in your life you would lose belief and hope in everything BUT God. Something to contemplate. He said he misses life there though, fighting for our freedom. He feels unsettled here and like he's just coasting with out a reason to fight. I hadn't heard this perspective before on the war. Gives me something to think about.

I'm very ready for Christmas break. I'm looking forward to sleeping in!!

baby hippos and early mornings

I have decided that I officially detest waking up so early. My 4:30 am alarm has now become a 5:15 am alarm. Arrival at school by 6:15 is now more like 6:45... Waking up so early wouldn't be that bad if I went to bed earlier, but well... I'm not giving that up just yet. When I was "younger" I used to think about being an adult. Living on my own, being responsible for myself, having my own place... who knew it also included lack of sleep, bills, and sending kids to the principal. I miss being a kid...

I'm watching the news and they just showed a picture of a baby hippo... TOO cute. I want one for Christmas... Go here to see the video.

Blogalicious

Well I'm once again blogging at work. I feel so rebellious.

Thanksgiving Break was wonderful. Home was refreshing. I missed my family so much! I can't believe how much the kids have changed in just the past few months! They keep growing and growing! Nothing too exciting happened over break, which was nice. I loved getting to sleep in, lay around the house, read, and play with the kids. That is my favorite type of break. I took a lot of pictures. I'll post some later.

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Now back at school the kids are definitely still on break mode. I'm not complaining though because amazingly enough they have been pretty quiet (ie: sleepy) in class. We are doing a unit on debate for the next three weeks. I'm really starting to enjoy debate and my students like having a reason to argue. My debate team has an out of town tournament this weekend so I'll be chaperoning 11 students for the weekend at a hotel... say a little prayer for me. It will be fun though. One of my students won 2nd place in novice poetry last tournament, so I'm hoping for another trophy this weekend. I sure complain a lot about coaching debate, but I'm really starting to enjoy it.

Only 2.5 weeks until Christmas break. However, I'll admit that my mind has been focused on a different break... summer break. I'm already starting to make plans for the summer (although I know they will all change between now and then).

My lease will be up in February and then I'm hoping to move into a rent house. I'm looking for some roommates if anybody has any ideas! I miss having roomies. Living by myself is lonely and boring. Even if I'm not there all that much, it's just nice knowing you are not alone.

I've started reading Same Kind of Different As Me. SO good. Part of it takes place in Fort Worth which is cool because I can picture the places they refer to. The story is very powerful. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it is a must read.

My classroom smells weird today. It's kind of making me nauseous... Well, I've run out of things to say.