Please Pray for Matt Chandler

The pathology reports of our pastor's tumor weren't good. The tumor is malignant and is not encapsulated. So, while the doctor removed a large part of the tumor, he did not get all of it because of the nature of the tumor. Matt and Lauren are meeting with several doctors today to discuss options. Please pray for wisdom for them as they make these weighty decisions. The following is from Matt's Twitter page, written just a few hours before they got the results:

"Path report is 2ndary at best...good report doesn't mean much, bad report doesn't mean anything...my days r numbered and nt by ths report"

In case you weren't able to decipher it, here's what he said: "Pathology report is secondary at best...good report doesn't mean much, bad report doesn't mean anything...my days are numbered and not by this report."

Wow. May I suffer so well.

Quick Update

Although my weekdays have been somewhat stressful since Thanksgiving, my weekends have been AWESOME! :) Last weekend, Deanna and I watched some Christmas movies on Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up early, ran some errands, and then went Christmas shopping. I went early in the day to beat the crowds. (You know it will be a madhouse when the mall offers valet parking.) Deanna was at a school thing and Megan was in Fort Worth, so I was able to wrap all of my gifts when I got home around lunchtime. Sunday morning Deanna and I went to the first church service in our new building. It was GREAT to be there, but it was also bittersweet since Matt (our lead pastor) was still in the hospital recovering from brain surgery. You can catch up on the whole story and read updates here. God is doing a great work through it all. It has been amazing to watch the faith of their family (especially during Matt's video the day before his surgery - you can watch it by following the link above), to see how the community has responded (calls to prayer on the wall at Starbucks and the digital sign in front of Celebrity Car Wash, just to name a few), and to see the church local and church universal come together to love on and pray for this man. May God continue to be glorified in all of it. After a great church service, I came home and did some reorganizing and painted a baby shower gift. Then I relaxed for the rest of the day. :)

This weekend was lots of fun, too. I even started it early on Thursday night. My good friend Vicki cooked a delicious dinner, and she, our friend Gloria, and I had each other crying tears of laughter for about 3 hours straight! Those two ladies are two of my most special friends out here. I love the fact that they are both over twice my age (roughly...I think), and it does not matter one bit. They are great Christian ladies who have had a tremendous impact on my life out here. Friday night was very relaxing as I was in bed by 9:15!!! That should tell you about the week I had. LOL. I got up early Saturday morning to run some errands and then came home to clean, clean, clean. I kid you not, people - I cleaned for four hours straight! Why, you ask? Mary Beth and Michael were coming, of course! It is my life's goal to impress MB, and Michael had never seen the house before, so it was important for it to be clean! :) We had an excellent dinner of Mexican lasagna, and then we played Phase 10 while watching "Miracle on 34th Street". It was so. much. fun. I can't wait to do it again!!!

Today consisted of church, lunch at home, Christmas movie #1, Christmas movie #2, a pretend nap, dinner, pretend grading, and blogging. :) I hope you've enjoyed this scintillating post, and now I'm off to bed. Love y'all!

Thankful

On this Thanksgiving day, I thought it would be appropriate to list the top 10 things I'm thankful for. Since I just can't seem to blog regularly, maybe I will just start posting relevant top 10 lists. LOL.

Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For:

10. I am thankful for my house. It is worth all the trouble I went through over the summer! :)
9. I am thankful for my job. It is not always easy or immediately rewarding, but I know that I affect our future while teaching in the present. That's pretty cool, but it also brings with it a heavy (and sometimes tiring) responsibility.
8. I am thankful for my great roommates, Megan and Deanna. Without them, I would not be such a happy homeowner. ;)
7. I am thankful for my church. I am ready to meet more people by signing up to volunteer!
6. I am thankful for air travel. Driving 9 or so hours to see my family would get old quickly. That said...
5. I am thankful for my car. That 2001 Honda Accord has done just about everything I've asked. We've had a few gasoline issues in the past, but overall, it has been good to me, and I think we've got a few thousand more miles of togetherness. :)
4. I am thankful for my Mississippi State University education. GO BULLDOGS!!!
3. I am thankful for my health. I was sick last week with a sinus infection, but that really pales in comparison to people with life-threatening illnesses. Anywho, it was a great reminder of what a blessing my healthy, working body is and how I should be taking better care of it.
2. I am thankful for my friends and family. I have to list these two together because I have so many friends that I love as family and many family members that I am fortunate enough to also count as my friends.
1. I am thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, without whom the other nine would be irrelevant.

There are so many other things I could list, but that would take up the rest of my posts for the year, and y'all have other blogs to read! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Long Time, No Post

Why, oh, why can't I be consistent with this blogging thing?! It has been a whole month since I blogged last. I've been home to MS twice, celebrated Deanna's birthday with a party, and partly decorated for Christmas. Whew!

I know some of you will say that it is too early to decorate for Christmas, but look, with three of us in the house, it is incredibly hard to line up our schedules! Especially when two of us go out of town for the holidays. It is just not worth all of the decorating work to put it all up AFTER Thanksgiving only to look at it for just three weeks before going home for Christmas. So, we decorated early. :)

In other news, the nurse sent me home early from school early yesterday to go to the doctor. I had virtually no voice all weekend, and then I started having sinus trouble on Monday. Anyway, the doctor gave me two prescriptions and told me I could stay home from school today. Yay! It was nice to rest and actually start to feel better!

I need to be cleaning instead of blogging. My mom, Aunt Tina, and my cousin Deandra are coming to visit for the weekend. Yay! I always get excited when family comes to visit. We will have a fun weekend, and we are going to see "The Blind Side" on Friday night, too! Yay!

Hope things are good for the three of you that read this! ;)

Feelin' crafty...

We had a bit of a problem in our media room upstairs:

The black curtains from the apartment just weren't long enough for these LARGE windows. What's a thrifty, lazy girl to do?

Buy some cute, coordinating fabric and fun fuzzy ball trim and HOT GLUE those bad boys on! Yep, this fabulous "after" photo was brought to you by fabric, trim, and my trusty hot glue gun! Lest you think I was smart enough to think of this myself, let me point you to the Nester. She does all sorts of window "mistreatments". They're great!

Apparently, I was in a super-crafty mood this weekend because I also created a blog to display my paintings. Who knows? Maybe you need a painting for your house, your office, your friend's birthday, etc., and I'm the one to do it! LOL.

Some days I really enjoy where I work...

It's really too bad that so many of them are like yesterday, where the teachers go, but the kids do not. ;) Instead of being off yesterday like Deanna and Megan, I had a Staff Development Day. Fun, right? Well...actually it was! Our administrators put us into teams with people we don't get a chance to work with often, and then each team was given a clue. We had to figure out the clue, head to that location, and complete an education-related task (Amazing Race-style). When we completed each task, we received our next clue...AND a recipe ingredient. There were ten clue-related tasks total, but task #11 was...wait for it...BAKING COOKIES with all of our ingredients in the school's brand new culinary lab!!! It was freakin' awesome! My team made chocolate chip, but other groups made pumpkin, snickerdoodle, chocolate peanut butter chunk, etc. The whole staff met back up at 3:00 for a debriefing/survey/cookie sampling. Good times. :)

Hmmm...what else is new? Oh, Deanna got a dog, Lola. You can read all about her on Deanna's blog. I linked to it in the first paragraph. She is pretty great, and that is saying a lot since I am not really into pets. Also new: I am playing volleyball again on our staff team. Today was the first day I was able to play. We lost our first match, but we won the second match which just happened to be against the other Academy team. It was SO FUN!!! I was a little anxious about playing at first, but I am so glad I put myself out there. What else, what else? Most of the house is decorated/liveable, so if you're in the area, please call us up! It has been really great to be able to have people over for dinner and such.

I guess that's about it for now. I am still updating my "25 Things" list, so if you haven't checked it lately, you can find it here. Enjoy!

OMG...I am so overwhelmed!

It's official.

This is the story of my life.

I feel like I am constantly overwhelmed by something. Right now, it's school. Teaching a new curriculum (9th grade Pre-AP English) is kicking my butt. Since the house-buying lasted all summer, I wasn't really able to plan much before school started. (And let's face it: I had other things I wanted to do! It was summer, after all.) I feel like a slacker because I am totally relying on the other 9th grade teachers for lesson plans. I am having trouble convincing myself that it is worthwhile for me to spend time creating new lessons when I am not even sure that I will teach freshmen again next year, though. And I'm tired when I go home. Woe is me.

There are also homeowner-ish things I need to take of. For instance, I painted my bedroom this weekend. I could have graded papers, but I didn't. I painted instead. :) I also need to hang curtains. Three or four sets, I believe. And the laundry...I always seem to be behind on laundry. Geez.

Will I ever be caught up??

ABC's of Summer (at Tiff's request)

A: Aunt Tina helped us move, but she kept us entertained with all of her inappropriate (but hilarious!) sayings.
B: Bahamas! See post below.
C: Camera. I will be using it soon to post pics of the house. I promise. One day.
D: Dad & Sherry came to visit me for the first time in the three years I have lived in TX.
E: Everybody and their momma; that's who I feel like I see every time I go home to Columbus! Love it. :)
F: Facebook. Summer provided LOTS of time to catch-up on there!
G: Grandparents. Mine are the best; both sets sent $ to help with house-buying needs.
H: Homeowner! I am one. Yay!
I: icanhascheezburger.com; one of my favorite websites ever.
J: Jessica, my cousin, came out here to help us move. Love. her. :)
K: Kalamazoo. Quite possibly the one place I didn't make it to this summer. LOL.
L: Lisa's birthday dinner @ Taco Diner was the first true summer activity.
M: My mom. She brought Aunt Tina and Jessica out here with her as move-in help, cleaned the apartment and the house, and bought several housewarming gifts. :)
N: New roommate. Megan has officially moved in! Yay!
O: Over. Sad, but true; summer is almost over for 2009. :(
P: Potter, Harry. Movie #6 was pretty darn good, but only because I went to see it with Mrs. Patsy and Mary Beth! :)
Q: Quitting "Jon & Kate Plus 8". What took me so long?!
R: Refrigerator! My first grown-up, home-owner purchase.
S: Swimming pool. Between the apartment and the new house, I have spent lots of my summer around the pool!!
T: Tutoring at HLC. Not often, but I still did it!
U: Umbrella. Can somebody please tell me where I can find a freakin' outdoor umbrella for my patio table?!
V: Victory. After 3 failed attempts, I finally succeeded with House #4.
W: Wedding #6! See post below.
X: Xylophone spines. Yep. See them for yourself at Ripley's Believe It or Not in Grand Prairie.
Y: Yard sale. Hopefully this weekend.
Z: Zebra print cleaning gloves. Just bought them today. Maybe they will inspire me to keep my house clean. :)

Boo. I forgot to blog last week.

Oh, well. At least I posted two entries the week before that. Surely that counts for something. Anyway, during my absence, I finally bought a house. Pictures later...when I've recouperated from moving and everything is all set up and nice and pretty and picture-worthy. :)

Hysterical!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Anybody know if I can get away with this at Fairview?!

Eliana Noah

Last Saturday, I attended a memorial service for a co-worker's stillborn baby. Amanda and I used to tutor together at HLC quite a bit, and she and her husband, Charlie, lived in our apartment complex until last month. It had been a while since I had seen her though, and I was shocked to hear she had been pregnant. I was heartbroken to hear such sad news about such sweet, godly people.

It was an honor to be present at the service. Two other co-workers and I went together. Although we were several rows back and to the right, I could see Amanda during the service. I watched her whole-heartedly sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "It Is Well With My Soul" with the rest of us. And after her husband and father-in-law spoke, I watched her sing "You Are God Alone" and "Blessed Be Your Name"; it was obvious she meant every word, even though her pain is real and great and deep.

After the first two songs, two members of the youth group read Isaiah 55:8-11 and Lamentations 3:22-24. (Charlie is the church's youth pastor.) Charlie made his way up to speak next. Even though they were about halfway through the pregnancy, their baby was not developing on schedule, and they never got to find out if they were having a boy or a girl. Charlie explained this when he explained the name they had chosen: Eliana, a girl's name, and Noah, a boy's name. Eliana means "He has answered our prayer" in Hebrew, and Noah means "comfort". What a testimony that name is! Although God did not "answer their prayer" in the way they had hoped, God still answered. In His infinite wisdom and perfect plan, He knew what He was doing when he formed Eliana Noah. He knew what He was doing when He took Eliana Noah home. And in knowing that, Amanda and Charlie are comforted.

Charlie also read a letter he had written to their baby. He spoke of all the things he wanted to teach her if she had been a girl and of all things he would have taught him if he were a boy. He also spoke of what he would have taught his child either way. He wanted to teach him/her about the goodness of our Lord, and how great He is, and how He is near to us in the good times and the hard times, and how God created everything, and how He had sent his son to die for our sins. He wanted to teach his child how he/she could depend on God for anything and everything.

Instead, Eliana Noah has reminded Charlie and Amanda of these truths because Eliana Noah knows God in a way we cannot...in a way we can only hope for...until we are there, too.

House #4 Might Be A Winner...

So, the house I mentioned in the previous post didn't work out. But..."we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28). I know that's the case here! House #4 is cheaper, is in a better neighborhood, and has a pool! I will post pictures as soon as I can. If everything goes well, we should close on the 30th and take possession on the 31st. We probably won't move very much that weekend, though, because my dad and his girlfriend will be in town, and Megan and her life group are helping another member move.

Since we didn't get the other house, I will have to amend my list of "25 Things To Do Before I Turn 26". I guess I'll do that later...

Summer is Slipping Away...

Good grief, people, it's practically mid-July!!! Why do I feel as though I have had no summer?! Look, I know all you non-teachers out there are probably thinking, "What the heck? You've had 4 weeks of vacation already! What are you complaining about?" To that I just have to say that most non-teachers just have NO IDEA what all goes into being a teacher, bless your little hearts. I need all of the paid vacation time I can get! Plus, I'm teaching a completely different grade this year, so I basically have to start over with all of my planning. GAH! So...because I don't want to face the inevitable...I am putting off these new lesson plans for as long as possible. To do that, I need summer to slow down!!!

In totally unrelated news, we are having house problems. The beautiful, perfect house that all of us roomies are in love with is not appraising for enough $$$. Thanks to a new law that went into effect May 1st, we may not get this house. FYI, we were supposed to close this coming Monday. For now, closing has been tentatively rescheduled for the 20th. Please be in prayer that everything works out the way it is supposed to. I'm really not in the mood to attempt to buy a FOURTH house. :/

Bahamas 2009!

I am just barely making the cut for my post-per-week challenge! Thankfully, I had decided to do one post per calendar week and not every 7 days...

Anywho, as promised, I updated my last post with pictures from the wedding and am back today to blog about my family's trip to the Bahamas. My mother, my Aunt Tina, my cousin Deandra, and I drove to Memphis EARLY in the morning on Monday, June 22, to begin our adventure. We got to the airport a little after 4 AM. We were SO tired. We changed planes in Miami, and then headed to Nassau. We had a fun taxi driver named Stanley on the way to the hotel. Unfortunately, his van was not so fun! It QUIT on the huge bridge between Nassau and Paradise Island! We were literally stuck at the top of the bridge. He finally called a friend to come help, but as soon as he hung up, the van cranked! We didn't have any more trouble with it, either! LOL. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived and got setup in the hotel, so we just kind of chilled that night. Mom went to bed way early, but Aunt Tina and Deandra and I went swimming. It was very relaxing after a long day of travel!

On Tuesday, we were up-and-at-'em fairly early. Our hotel (Comfort Suites on Paradise Island) had free breakfast. Yum! Also, the CS is the only hotel on the island that is partnered with the Atlantis resort. Basically, we saved $$$ but still got to use all of the private, resort-only amenities of the Atlantis. Awesome. Here is a little taste of the Atlantis resort:

On Wednesday, we spent more time at Atlantis's water park, Aquaventure, and the beach. Aunt Tina and Deandra have always wanted to swim/play with dolphins. Fortunately for them, the Atlantis offered it on site. I doubt many of you know this, but when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the dolphins that were rescued from Gulfport, MS, went to live at the Atlantis. Michelle was the last dolphin rescued during the ordeal, and she was the one my aunt and cousin got to swim with! Mom and I tagged along as the camera crew, so here are some fun pics from their awesome experience!

We also went out to eat on this little vacation. My mother and I planned to split an appetizer sampler thing for our meal because it had several different things on it that we both liked, plus a Bahamian favorite, conch fritters. Now, this was my 3rd trip to the Bahamas, and I had successfully eaten fried conch during trip #2; however, I had never experienced the conch "fritter". Hmmm...

Basically, we had no idea which item on our plate was the conch fritter! I had tried fried conch once before, remember, so I just assumed the fritters were the fried items on my plate. Mom proceeds to try them. "This tastes like chicken," she says. "But chicken tenders weren't on this sampler," I reply. We argue back and forth about this for about 5 minutes until I ask the poor people at the table next to us if I can borrow their menu to check. I was right; no chicken tenders on this plate! It turns out they were just a bonus (I suppose), and the conch fritters were the small hush puppy-looking items on the plate. I blame all of this confusion on Mom's fruity drink!

Thursday morning we took a ferry boat to Nassau, so we could shop for souvenirs at the straw market and touristy places. Here's a nifty little collage of that side trip:

We went back to Paradise Island around 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon, so we decided to go back to the Atlantis. Unfortunately, while we were there Aunt Tina had a wardrobe malfunction! The plastic clasp on the back of her bikini top broke! We searched high and low and asked all around for a safety pin, all to no avail. Finally, I played Mrs. MacGuyver and repaired it with a Tootsie Pop and the wristband from a waterproof camera. I must say I'm very proud of my handiwork; she was able to wear it the rest of the day and the next day! In fact, my wardrobe fix is still in place!

We spent Friday morning enjoying a few more hours at Atlantis, then we went back to the CS to shower and dress for the trip home. We had a really fun taxi driver who took us on the scenic route back to the airport. Everything was so beautiful. It began raining not long after we arrived at the airport, and our plane to Miami was delayed about 45 minutes due to weather. Once we got to Miami, we were further delayed due to maintenance problems with the plane. We arrived in Memphis around midnight, I think. Thankfully, my ever-energetic Aunt Tina volunteered to drive home! Mom and I finally made it to bed around 3 AM on Saturday!

All in all, we had a great trip, and I'm so thankful that I was able to go back to the Bahamas. It's definitely a trip worth saving up for!

This post took like 5 hours to do, so it might be a few days before the next one!!! ;)

Wedding #6 - Updated with Pictures!

No, not my 6th wedding! (I'm still working on #1 in that department.) It was my 6th time to be a bridesmaid. My good friend (and former roommate) Meagan married Jon (I don't know him well enough to call him Jonathan...ask Kerry) Koch yesterday at 6:00. Everyone was beautiful/handsome, and everything went well. :) The reception was outside at Meagan's parents' house. The garden and tents and barn were BEAUTIFUL, but boy, was it hot!!! It was great fun, though. Once the sun went down, and everyone had eaten, we all moved to the barn for some dancing. The DJ was scheduled to play until 11:00, but the police showed up around 10:30. Apparently, a neighbor thought the festivities were too loud. The DJ turned the music down one or two notches and kept right on going! Deanna came, too, and she took lots of pictures! The first picture below is from the rehearsal, and then the collage below that is from the reception.

Aren't we gorgeous?! :) Kerry's wedding was Wedding #1 two summers ago. I'm so honored to have been a part of both Ellis girls' weddings. Now if I can just find a way to participate in Ben's wedding, I'll be 3 for 3.

My mom, my aunt, my cousin, and I are flying to the Bahamas tomorrow. Please pray for us as we travel...it has been a while since I've flown over the ocean. ;) Next week's post will undoubtedly cover the tales of the trip. See you then!

PS- If you have my cell number, please DO NOT text me until Saturday. International texting fees are not pretty; call me if you need to chat. Love y'all.

25 Things To Do Before I Turn 26

Yes, I'm blogging two days in a row. Don't we love summer vacation?! Anyway, on to the list! I need to get moving since I only have 8.5 months to do these 25 things!!!

1. Buy a house (Officially closed on 8/4/2009)
2. Take a surfing lesson
3. Take a snowboarding lesson
4. Invite friends over for a backyard BBQ (8/11)
5. Visit Melissa in Kansas (9/11-9/13)
6. Visit Meagan in Oklahoma
7. Create an Etsy shop (7/8 - TheBlankCanvas)
8. Post one blog entry a week (6/16, 6/21, 7/4, 7/11, 7/16, 7/22, 7/24, 8/4, 8/11...) Okay, I have not done very well on this one, but I counted it out, and I need 37 total entries starting with this post and ending on my birthday to average out to one per week. I am going to try to make that happen instead.
   
9. Walk around my new neighborhood at least 3 times a week
10. Go to San Antonio
11. Spend New Year's at Disney World with Megan H., Deanna, and (maybe) Daniella! No $$$ = not gonna happen :(
    
12. Convince Megan H. to start a blog (7/2 - YAY!)
13. Go to another one of Grace's soccer games
14. Make a teaching scrapbook for the last 3 years
15. Paint more canvases
16. Harass Deanna until she takes a photography class
17. Buy myself a Moissonite ring (maybe for my 26th birthday?)
18. Dance at Lisa's wedding (Lisa, are you reading this?! LOL.)
19. Get into the next membership class at The Village
20. Figure out the possibilities of starting a home group at our house - I don't really feel called to do this one anymore. I will pray about it and see if that changes between now and March 1st.
    
21. Make something to thank Sharon, the best department head EVER
22. Have another yard sale
23. Learn a ballroom dance (I know...we watch too much "Dancing with the Stars")
24. Work at Sonic (Yes, I am serious. I have wanted to do this since high school.)
25. Go to the Dallas Aquarium

Alrighty, there you go. I will attempt to come back and cross these off as I do them. Fun times!

School's Out!

So, another school year has come and gone. Sad, but also exciting because...it's SUMMER VACATION, people! Well, for some of us it is. :) What have I been doing with all of my free time? Buying a house and reading blogs. I'll post some house pictures later. All I have are pictures from the realtor, though. We can't move in until July 19th. Who wants to come help us paint and move furniture? Oh, no one? That's what I figured. ;)

Anywho, on to the blogs. First, I stumbled across the Nesting Place blog. She is a craftsy-decorator type person. I love it. While reading her blog, I found June's blogs. In 2007, June and her husband, Marvin, (not their real names) decided they would not spend money for a whole year (besides paying for the absolute necessities). I spent three days reading through the entire year. She's hilarious. You can check it out at Bye, Bye, Buy! In 2008, June decided she would blog about her eating habits while she tried to eat healthier. My eyes are tired, so I haven't read all of the 2008 blog, but you can read it at Bye, Bye, Pie! The names crack me up. I don't know if she has a theme for 2009 or not. I've just been reading new entries as they appear on Bye, Bye, Pie! Deanna makes fun of me for laughing out loud while reading June's blog. Oh, well. It's worth it.

Peace out, people. I've got to go get fitted for a bridesmaid's dress.

Perhaps There's A Possibility That Last Weekend I Might Have Had Fun...

Please forgive the long title. I learned to write like that from the artifact descriptions at the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. More about that later. :)

I'm so proud of myself; I did something fun every day last weekend! This is a rarity indeed. On Friday, I went to the Rangers game with my friend Katie. (She's my neighbor at school.) Her boyfriend had gotten tickets for them to go with a bunch of his coupled-up friends, but he forgot about his night class. That meant poor Katie was expected to show up and sit with a bunch of people she didn't know! :( After she begged and pleaded and made sad faces at both me and Lisa (another young English teacher at my school), I agreed to go...like she really had to twist my arm to go to a baseball game! ;) Anywho...it was great fun! The Rangers won, and there was a great, FREE fireworks show after. Byron showed up during the 8th inning, so Katie was able to leave with him, and I got to go home instead of out with people I really didn't know.

After my late night, I slept in for once on Saturday. Yay! Deanna says I should do this whenever possible; she thinks I'm sleep-deprived. Once I finally dragged myself out of bed, I spent several hours cleaning and getting ready for our special guests - Mary Beth and Michael! :) They came over Saturday afternoon to spend the night. We cooked a delicious dinner and dessert, and they taught us how to play a card game called Nerts. It was awesome! Even though we were having great hangout time, we all had to turn in early (MB & Michael at 9:30, and 10:00 for Deanna and me) for our big day on Sunday.

At 3:15 Sunday MORNING, we were all up and moving. I threw some cinnamon rolls in the oven while we got ready, and at 4:00 we headed to Dallas with our cinnamon rolls! Last Sunday was the final day of the King Tut exhibit, so the tickets were half-price from midnight until 7:30 AM. Our tickets allowed us to enter between 4:30-5:00. That's right, folks. We were up and being educated at 4:30 on a Sunday morning. It was great fun, though. Practically everyone there was delirious and/or sleep-deprived. Some of us (primarily MB and me) were also appalled. The grammar and punctuation throughout the exhibit was AWFUL. I sure hope those signs won't be used anywhere else! Also, we never got any definite facts about anything. "Maybe" this belonged to King Tut. "Perhaps" this woman was his mom. These vases "might have" been used for a ceremony. There's a "possibility" we were lied to, and nothing in the exhibit had a thing to do with Tutankhamen!!! LOL. We did have a good time, though!

Holy Cow - It's mid-May!

This entire school year has flown by, but the month of April did especially. What with the TAKS testing and swine flu scare (My school did NOT get out, by the way!), half of April was gone right there. My mom's birthday was on the 29th, and then I went home to MS for the weekend. I got to spend the weekend with Katherine and Shawn in Meridian, but on Saturday morning, I drove up to Columbus for Meagan's wedding shower. After the shower, I took Mom to eat at Huck's for her birthday. Then I got right back in the car and headed to Meridian. It was quite a whirlwind trip!

Just as I was getting back to Texas, Deanna was preparing to drive to AL. (Her school DID get out - lucky!) Tuesday night while she was gone, someone knocked on our apartment door. Let me just say, it scared the bejesus out of me! No one was there when I crept downstairs and peered out the peephole. (Trust me, at that hour, I was NOT opening the door!) Long story short, the security officer came and checked it out, didn't see anything, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to get some sleep. I ended up taking a half-day at school and came home and went to sleep.

Currently, I'm in the middle of house-hunting. It's not as fun as it looks on TV. I took a break this weekend for some great fun that will get its own post. Check back soon!

So, It's Been A While

Thanks to all of my blog-stalking friends, it has come to my attention that I need to update. :) The weekend after my last post (Feb. 21-22), I flew to B-ham for Grace's birthday party and baby Jack's dedication at church. What a fun 24 hours! (Seriously - that's how long I was there.) I would not trade that trip for anything! It came at just the right time.

The following Friday (Feb. 27), my lovely 3rd period class threw me a surprise birthday party. They were so cute about it! They even got our floor principal to call me to his office for the first 15 minutes of class, so they could decorate. They blew up balloons, hung streamers and decorations, wrote on my windows, and then threw confetti on me when I walked in. They also had a "Happy Birthday" PowerPoint slide up and music playing! We had two cakes with drinks, AND they bought me an entire outfit! Too funny! They did an awesome job and were so proud of themselves. :)

The week after my birthday was filled with work for graduate school. I got an A on my group project, though! The next week was Spring Break (hallelujah!), and I went home to MS for half of the week. On Wednesday, Melissa flew in from NC for a scrapbook convention-type thing. She and her mom spent the night with Deanna and me, and we had a big 'ole time! They were so fun!

After Spring Break, I had a huge paper due for my Wednesday night class. To make sure I got it finished on time, I took a half-day off of school on Tuesday. It worked; I made an A on the paper, and Dr. M. announced to the class that I had a "perfect" paper. I better have; my friend Drew would've never let me forget it if he, the Biology teacher, made a better grade than me, the English teacher! LOL. Well, I think that was a pretty good catch-up attempt. I believe I covered all of the major happenings. Check back to see what happens this week! :)

Happy Birthday, Grace!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmk9iZhU4Q8

Sorry about the camera set-up! I couldn't figure out how to make the file editable. :)

25 Things About Me (in addition to my list on Facebook)

1. Not that it currently matters...I have decided that I do not want a "real" diamond engagement ring. Watch the movie Blood Diamond. You might change your mind, too. "People back home would not buy a diamond if they knew it cost someone their hand." -Jennifer Connelly in Blood Diamond
2. I had chicken pox as a toddler. I have a scar on the right side of my nose because my mother (not me, the toddler) knocked off a scab.
3. I am my mother's only child but not my father's.
4. I may buy a house between now and August.
5. I want to learn to play the piano.
6. I had to have 6 baby teeth pulled before I got braces in the 6th grade.
7. I don't think I will continue to get my Master's in Education...maybe in English - not Education.
8. My favorite movie is It's A Wonderful Life. Dangerous Minds is a close second.
9. I still want to be Mac from the TV show JAG.
10. I have been to the Bahamas twice.
11. I have parasailed.
12. I started babysitting when I was 11 years old. Ricky was 5 months old. What were my aunt and uncle thinking?!
13. Incorrectly used punctuation drives me nuts. See my "Punctuation Peeve" post.
    
14. I made an 800 on the verbal section of the SAT.
15. I almost majored in political science in college.
16. I paged in the Mississippi Senate my junior year of high school.
17. I tutored my school's football team in every core subject during my senior year.
18. I was a teacher's pet and loved it.
19. I hated my kindergarten teacher because she refused to call me "Kristy" and instead called me "Kristin" for the entire year.
20. My dating life peaked in the 7th grade. Looking back, I'm kind of grateful.
21. If I get married and have kids, I totally plan on being a white version of the Huxtables from The Cosby Show.
22. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is my favorite book.
    
23. I like to make s'mores in the microwave. I have Bess to thank for this.
24. I usually get up before 8:00 a.m. on the weekends.
25. I have never broken a bone. Just wait...it'll happen this week! LOL.
    

Bummed

So, today was a pretty good day at school. But then I had to go to my first night of my 2nd graduate class. For the first half, I loved it. The teacher is hilarious (but she has no idea). She's very quirky. I could've sat and observed her for hours. And then she started handing out the assignments. No big deal until we had to pick groups for a big project. I am in a group with the two most annoying, racist women in the class. What's our topic? Ethnicity! You've got to be kidding me. Sadly, the presentation is due the day after my birthday. The day before my birthday will be spent judging Destination Imagination (but I'm excited about that). Two days after my b'day is the state English test. I'm so disappointed. I was all pumped about my 25th birthday, but now I'm feeling quite deflated. :(

I know it will all work out. I know this is an opportunity for God to work. I'm just not happy about it at the moment. ;)

I'm Exhausted

One of my grad classes started back last night. :(

I'm exhausted because of it and how it made my schedule go yesterday:
5:30 - Wake Up!
6:40 - Leave for school
7:35-2:35 - Teach
2:35-4:00 - Counsel/tutor students
4:30-7:15 - Scary graduate class
7:30-8:45 - Bible study (home group)
9:00 - DINNER
9:45ish - Bedtime! I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

It's not that horrible, but I am so tired today! And 9:45 is definitely earlier than my usual bedtime! I wouldn't be quite so worried except for two things: 1) this class is a research-heavy class (lots of work!) and 2) my other class begins Monday!

Please pray for me whenever you think about it. I have less than six weeks before my students take the state exam for English. (Unfortunately, it falls during my birthday week. Boo.) Jasmine is still having problems. Alex is supposed to be released back to school this week. I have LOTS of homework for Wednesday's class already. Oh, yeah - update your blogs! Some of you are slacking! :)

Punctuation Peeve

It's exam week, and all is quiet on the classroom front. So, what is Ms. Watkins doing? Grading? Planning? Nope; she's blog-stalking!

And while I have been perusing friends' blogs (and their friends' blogs, etc.), I keep noticing the same punctuation error. However, before I bust some folks out, I would like to say that none of my friends that are listed on my blog roll are guilty of this error. :) So, what's the error, you ask. Misuse of apostrophes!!! Guys, when you get married that means there are TWO of you with the last name. Not that one of you suddenly has possession of something. Here are some examples with made up names.

It should be: The Garcias - not The Garcia's
The Lees - not The Lee's
The Longs - not The Long's

So, dear friends, if you know someone who is making this mistake, either direct them to this post or tell them yourselves! Thank you. That is all.

Breaking News...

I don't know if anyone actually reads this during the day (I know I usually check my blog list at night!), but there has been a development with a student from my previous post.

Alex, my sweet, disturbed Alex (student #1 from yesterday's post) just came by to let me know that he's going to a mental hospital today. This could be either just what he needs or a nightmare. Please, please pray that he encounters godly men and women at this place who will take him seriously. He has consistently written in his journal about demon voices for the last 5 months. I'm not into all the hocus-pocus stuff, but I do believe that there is spiritual warfare going on all around us that we have no idea about. Alex may very well be hearing from demonic voices. Who am I to say? If not, there may be some health issues going on (mild schizophrenia, anyone?). At any rate, he comes from a family of Jehovah's witnesses who have excommunicated him but won't let him leave his family or believe his story. He needs someone to listen to him before he does something he can't take back. He has been on my heart for a while, and I've tried to share the Jesus I know with him as best I can without compromising my job.

Please pray for him when you have a second...like now. :)

Good Day :)

Today has been such a great day at school that I just need to share. It's not that anything really exceptional happened, but it has been better than most of the days in a while. I have been feeling a little burnt out about the whole teaching thing lately. Maybe the break just ruined me for work. LOL.

Anyway - today was good. My "disturbed" (for lack of a better word) student, who writes very dark things in his journal, came by and discussed the possibility of talking to the counselor about his negative thoughts. Most of the time he seems depressed and according to his journal, suicidal. At any rate, discussing counseling is a huge step for him. Pray that he follows through.

Sandy, the student whose mother pulled her out of school, returned today - a month early. She was so excited to be back! I hope she stays on the straight and narrow. :) I thought she would be back this week, since I talked to her on the phone Monday. It was so dramatic: her ex comes to my door during 4th period, knocks, and then waves for me to go outside. He's like, "Ms. Watkins, Sandy said to call her at this number," and hands me his phone. So I walk back inside to copy down the number. When I take his phone back, I ask, "Is something wrong? Do I need to call her right now?" He shrugs, "I dunno. She just told me to give you the number." Then why the heck didn't she just email me the number?! LOL. Turns out the principal wasn't returning her calls. No idea what she wanted me to do about it. :)

Then Jasmine (my recovering cutter) stopped by during lunch. We didn't stay in touch over the two-week break. She was in Houston, and I was consciously trying to wean her from my attention (for both of our sakes!). She stayed the whole 30 minutes catching me up on everything. She said she was ready to be "done" with Larissa. I think she's beginning to realize how toxic that "relationship" is. God seems to be answering that prayer "slowly" but surely! (I know he's never late!)

Anywho...that was my day. Thanks for letting me share! :)