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| So, with school beginning and all, it's been quite hectic. I don't usually get on the net at home any more due to the change in status. And since xanga is blocked from school, I can't usually post during school.
Things are actually really really great. Hectic, but I think I'm slowly getting into the swing of things. Teaching Pre-Algebra which means ONLY ONE PREP! And for you teachers out there, I know you're feeling me in terms of knowing how much of a pain multiple preps can be! :)
First couple of chapels have past as well. Not too much of a hitch, although I should start getting on top of things considering I have no speakers booked past next month. Yowzah!
Student Council is going alright as well -- Homecoming stuff is coming up very soon and I need to make sure all is well on that end as well. Busy busy busy, but I'm starting to relearn the important lesson of "one step at a time".
Slowly but surely things are building. I feel like I'm in the middle of trying to revamp a lot of things at school -- aiming for long term goals, but getting started is extremely difficult. I.e. chapel band and stuco protocol. Also starting to put all my lessons on power point slides so that I can work off them next year and so forth (although I guess next year I am hoping not to be teaching Saxon). Everybody's been real encouraging.
I'm excited b/c tomorrow we start the Precepts class on Daniel.
And last but not least.. I think I'm getting sick. :) Ah, the germs that get past around the school. Gotta love it!
Sorry this was not very thought provoking... just thought I'd get something up out there in cyberspace. Hope all your schooldaze are going well as well...
Godspeed! | | |
| here are 2 "blog" entries that i thought were soooo great that i wanted to "feature" them. better than anything i could've written.
True Freedom and Perfection
Why "Islamaphobia" Is a Brilliant Term
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It's kind of ugly. My heart, that is. Not my physical heart, although I'm sure it's not a desirable thing to look at per se. I'm talking about my spiritual heart, my soul, my passion for the things I say I'm passionate about. Last week we were coming up with a list of people to invite to a "pool party". We wanted to keep it small and intimate, kind of low key. Most all of our close friends are fellow Christ-followers and are friends with each other -- if not at least they are acquaintances. When a couple of them had cancelled on us, we began to go through some more names of people we could invite. Hubby threw out a couple who aren't believers. They aren't the closest of friends, but Hubby has known them for awhile. Believe it or not, my first gut reaction came flying out of my mouth, "But she smokes!" I exclaimed referring to the female half of the couple. Hubby gave me this look of astonishment and he repeated what I said. Immediately I felt this pang of guilt when I realized what I had said and furthermore felt horrible when I realized what I really meant deep down. Even now, as I tell the story I am thoroughly embarrassed of myself. The real reason was not because she smoked. The real reason was because I know that she, well they, really, don't adhere to the same ethics and values that we did and I wasn't in the mood to put on my "game" face and be "an example".  The thing that I find most horrific about what this revealed about my heart is that I guess I've convinced myself that I try to love others and I do want people to know God. The truth is I guess I only want to love others and want them to know God only when I'm ready. How selfish and totally not God-centered. My sister recently shared with me how one of their close friends decided recently to surrender his life to Christ. I've known for awhile that her and her hubby have been building a relationship with this man intentionally and were really hoping to be able to minister to him. It was so encouraging to know that all their actions were not in vain and that though the whole time they felt that they weren't doing enough or doing anything, in fact God was really using their lives to impress Himself upon this man. The truth is I've become hardened to those who don't know Christ. Not hardened in a vindictive sense. But hardened in that I don't see the needs because I'm so self-focused. I get nervous. I don't know what to say. I feel like we don't have much in common nor do I always find myself entertained or amused by the same things. I just feel like I don't click with "them" and as much as I want to reach out, I'm beginning to realize the reality is I just don't. I don't think I was like before. Part of me (though I know there's really no excuse) feels like it's because I've surrounded myself into this little religious bubble these past few years and I just got comfortable. And that's not how it should be. Lord, forgive me for being so self-focused and unaware of my hardened heart. Please change my heart and continue to teach me to love others. | | |
| So, in my post about trials, I mentioned a girl by the name of Isabella. She is the daughter of a couple we are friends with. She's only 2 yrs old and about a few weeks ago was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Now, to put this all in perspective, let me inform you (in case you didn't know, like I didn't before being informed...) that bladder cancer in a child is very rare. In fact, there are only about 300 cases in the entire United States each year. And the kind that Isabella was diagnosed with, the doctors said the last person they saw it in was a 17-yr old boy. This kind of cancer is typically found in adult males -- ones that have smoked or abused their bodies with substance abuse. Even the 17-yr-old, though young, had abused his body with drugs. So, basically, Isabella's case was extremely rare. An awesome part of being in God's family is that your support network is larger than you could ever imagine. People and their churches all over the states were praying for little Isabella. The week she was going to start chemo, her parents received a call. The doctors said they were holding off starting chemo and wanted to run more tests. One of the pathologists didn't agree 100% with the diagnosis and thought they ought to be more careful. After more testing, the mass that they thought was cancerous had changed so much that they were concluding that it wasn't cancer anymore. Recent update? THE DOCTORS HAVE NOW CONCLUDED IT'S JUST AN INFECTION TREATABLE WITH ANTIBIOTICS!! Now, if that ain't a merciful act of God!  That's my God for ya!! The organization I work for, CEAI , is up on youtube. You can see our informational shorts at this website. I highly recommend checking it out especially if you're a teacher in the public schools!! May help you if you ever get attacked for being a Christ follower: http://www.ceai.org/fvideos/video_071607.html | | |
| I think this is an ironic story, not all that funny -- although admist the chaos, which is okay since it's partially... okay, mostly my fault, I suppose it is funny.
ANYWAYS.. here's the story:
I'm calling Aetna to make sure my testing is alright and I found out that I needed to do a little leg work to make sure I am precertified for my MRI. Well, I do A LOT of leg work and I finally get some answers. I decide to call Aetna back to make sure my stress test is okay and I get a message that goes like this... after I say a bunch of robotic yes and no's: (this is not an exact quote, but you'll get the point)
"We're sorry. All of our customer service representatives are in a training session. Please call back in an hour."
WHAT?!?!?
I know, I know.. I don't know the exact situation going on in the Aetna office and for all I know they are low on staff, but they couldn't have one person to answer phone calls, even at a slow pace? One person who couldn't receive the training at a different time than everyone else?
I've just never received that message before! And at the end of the message, there were no other options. It just hung up on me!
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