Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Long Time No Blog




So sorry I've been MIA for almost a year! No great excuses, just life happening all around me. I'm sure you understand. Forgive the stream-of-consciousness of this entry. It's random at best.

I am three days away from finishing my first year back to teaching. It has been such a learning experience. Not only have I learned tons about Geometry and the melting pot of students and their issues at my campus, but I have grown so thankful for my job. The campus I am on is far from a typical middle-class, white population. We have both extremes and every combination in between. It has challenged me in so many ways.

God has been gracious to me in that he has provided a fun group of friends for me at school. This is probably been the most encouraging thing for my coming from Tascosa High. I have felt accepted and cared for all year...and I'm still amazed at how quickly they let me into their "group". Yes, apparently cliques exist as adults. Regardless, my need for belonging has been met at school. The women I get to hang out with at school are not at all like my Crusade co-workers. Oh my, not at all. It often boggles my mind how different my "circle of friends" is now compared to a mere year ago. So, yeah, it is my mission field. How well am I doing with plowing this field? um, well, uh....it is tough ground. Some of them are protestant believers, some catholic, some -I'm just not sure. We don't talk about faith much...sometimes politics, but Jesus doesn't really come up much.

It is almost like I'm reinventing myself. I went from professional Christian to almost "closet" Christian. So weird. I'm learning how to be confident and verbal about my faith but it is such a slow process it seems. It is much harder than I thought it would be....hard to seperate myself from the gossip and negative conversations.

Blah blah blah....I digress. School is only part of my life. My "professional" life. Then I come home to my family. I love my new family. It has been a difficult year in so many ways. I'm glad our one year anniversary is next week. It is a milestone and I'm glad to have the first year of this learning curve behind me. Don't get me wrong....I love being married..and Mark is the perfect man for me....(so much I could say here...) There is so much I have not figured out yet....who knows if I ever will. I'm learning who Kyler and Addison need in a momma. I'm learning who Mark needs in his wife. I'm learning who Andrea's family needs me to be. I'm learning...slowly....but learning...how to walk with Jesus as a wife and mom.

It's funny, in a way, that I have this internal dread of the upcoming summer months. Yes, I am glad to be out of the classroom for a while, but, if I'm honest, the summer is tough. I'm not totally sure how I did it last summer. I think I was in survival mode...now I'm trying to thrive. So, since I love to plan, I have this great idea that if I plan our summer out (not completely) there will be less unstructured aka "makin-mama-crazy-time". Mark has been a huge blessing to me in this category. He has a degree in childhood development...so he know how to motivate kids and keep them buys. He and I have come up with chores for each of the kids to do this summer....which they will do for an allowance. If they do well with this we've promised to get a puppy in July. How's that for motivation?!! My husband is a genius. I love him.


So, I have a few goals for myself this summer. Hopefully, I'm being realistic. Check in with me in a couple months. I desperately need Godly accountability....

So, here are my goals:

1. Establish habitual times with Jesus...whatever that might look like.
2. Paint/redecorate Kyler's room
3. Pursue relationships with women at church.
4. Make (or at least start) Kyler and Addison's scrapbooks.
5. Take pictures
6. Loose weight

So, here we go....