One Warm Coat

My campus is hosting a donation drive for One Warm Coat this year. Basically, we have several bins around the school where we can drop off outerwear and belts until December 8th. I will make my donation tomorrow, and if your area is having a drive like this, I encourage you to find something to donate as well! :)

We have lots of students at my school that need warm coats, too. This year, one of my favorite team members, Tom, took matters into his own hands. He noticed two of his law girls, SG and LC, had gone without coats the past two years and assumed this year would be the same. A few weeks ago, he asked if I would deliver the coats to the girls without mentioning where they came from. He said he was bringing two coats that his own daughters no longer wore. I told him I would be happy to figure out a way to deliver the coats and promptly forgot.

I parked next to Tom this morning, and he promptly thrust two brand new coats into my arms. So today during my conference period, I hunted down SG. Y'all! It was awesome. I don't teach her, so I introduced myself as her team leader, congratulated her on her professionalism, and presented her with the coat. (I tried not to make it seem like a handout.) She was ECSTATIC. She just kept repeating, "But it's so pretty!"

Wow. Merry Christmas, SG. Merry Christmas.

Go Read Callie's Blog!

As most of you know, my friend Callie has been blogging about her life with brain cancer for the past year. In her most recent post, she links to two other blogs: one belongs to a Holocaust and cancer survivor and the other to a college friend who had a massive stroke. Take a minute to visit Callie's post and check out the links. I just spent an hour catching up on Katherine's story.

It will make you grateful, I promise.

Sad Times

It's been a rough two weeks for the Academy faculty.

One of our special education teacher's sisters passed away last Monday. She was 36 years old with 8 children. Last Wednesday, a married teacher couple lost one of their extremely premature twin girls. On Friday, my friend Lisa's sister passed away unexpectedly after a routine surgery. She was 41 years old with 5 kids. Then, over the weekend, a family member of our principal's secretary was killed by her husband who then shot himself. Wow.

The campus is not dealing very well. Morale was already low, and these recent tragedies have pushed us to the breaking point. Please pray for me and my school family! Pray especially that my words will be His words, and that they will speak life and hope in the face of death and loss.

Thank you.

#8 - Work at Sonic

Close enough:

#7 - Buy A Newer Vehicle

I actually checked this one off way back in August. Deanna went with me to help haggle for my new 2010 Honda CR-V. Thanks, Deanna, for being my photographer! :)

Here it is loaded down for the very first time! I helped Deanna transport all of her new classroom stuff to school.

Right before school started, I drove the Accord home to Mississippi one last time where I sold it to my father.

He was gracious enough to let me have one more moment with my Accord to say goodbye. You were good to me, Accord! I really do miss you!

Yeah, yeah...

I haven't posted in a WHILE! In my defense, though, I have been crossing things off my "26 Things" list. :) I will update about those later in the week. Tomorrow, I will be spending $979 on a root canal at 7:30 in the a.m. This is my plea for your prayers, as I am super nervous.

Please, please, PLEASE pray for me between 7:30 and 11:00 tomorrow! You're the best.

All my love,

Kristy

#15 - Indoor Rock Climbing

 

My former student Jasmine helped me cross this one off my list last week. We went to Exposure Indoor Rock Climbing in Carrollton and had a blast for about two hours! We took turns climbing and belaying, so we were always busy and burning calories. A few websites I checked out claim that you can burn up to 700 calories an hour while rock climbing indoors. We had so much fun! I will definitely be heading back with the roomies - hopefully before school starts! :)

#13 - Double My Savings

Check!

The arrival of my "First Time Homeowner" tax credit effectively doubled my savings. Sadly, I must post this now before I deplete my savings to make #7 happen.

Summer 2010

Places I've been...
Columbus, MS
Hot Springs, AR
various locales in the DFW area (especially Tappy's!)

Movies I've seen...
When in Rome
Letters to Juliet
Just Wright
Date Night

Killers

Books I've read...
After
The Pursuit of God (Tozer)
Jumped
Divine (Kingsbury)

Hinds' Feet on High Places (Hurnard)

People I have spent time with (in no particular order)...
Mom
Dad
Aunt Tina
Jessica
Grandma & Paw
THE ROOMIES!!!
our bible study group
Mary Beth & Michael
Melissa
the Rabaduex gang
the Boswell family
Gloria & Vicki

Katherine & Will Thomas

Work I've done for school...
NOTHING ;)

Journal Entry

dear diary:
today

i loved the smell of
cookies at the curriculum writing meeting

i loved the sound of
my tablemates giggling at their emails
i loved the taste of
my ice water on the way to work...VERY refreshing

i loved the sight of
the beautiful weather outside the window

i loved the feel of
wearing flip flops to school :)

#24 - finish Don't Waste Your Life

Check! Item #24 on my "26 Things to Do Before 27" list is complete.

I finished Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper earlier this week. It was excellent! I hope to post some excerpts on here soon.

What have you been reading lately?

26 Before 27

1. Try red wine.
2. Take a surfing lesson.
3. Take a snowboarding lesson.
4. Exercise 3 times a week.
5. Host/attend some kind of social gathering each month.
6. Pool party! :)
7. Buy a newer vehicle.
8. Work at Sonic.
9. Make a teaching scrapbook for the past 4 years.
10. Visit Meagan in Oklahoma.
11. Spend New Year's @ Disney World.
12. Visit Eileen.
13. Double my savings.
14. Lose 15 pounds.
15. Go rock climbing (indoors, though - with supervision!)
16. Get into the fall membership class at my church.
17. Visit Seaside.
18. Do something scrapbook-y with Melissa.
19. Enjoy time with my roommates.
20. Finish decorating the media room.
21. Do some type of mission trip.
22. Write my Compassion kids more often.
23. Clean my bathroom weekly.
24. Finish Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.
25. Finish The Search for Significance.
26. Take more pictures, especially of the things on this list!!!

Today's Diary

dear diary:
today
Thursday, April 15th, 2010

*
i loved the smell of
someone's lotion in 1st period

*
i loved the sound of
two of my freshmen guys teaching two friends how to play Scrabble in my room after school; it seems like only yesterday I was teaching them how to play

*
i loved the taste of
my Fuji apple at lunch

*

i loved the sight of
Juliet (Bobbi) & Romeo (Cristian) acting out the balcony scene during 1st period

*
i loved the feel of
making Shakespeare fun and relevant

Journal Entries

So, I came across these cute journals the other day while reading this blog. Anyway, I thought this would be an excellent idea to use as posts occasionally. That way, five years from now, I can go through my blog and remember random things. ;)

dear diary:

yesterday

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

i loved the smell of

spaghetti for dinner

i loved the sound of

the birds in the attic...not

i loved the taste of

the Cadbury Creme Egg from my Easter basket

i loved the sight of

Lola lying on the deck in the sun

i loved the feel of

my new yellow cardigan (on clearance at Banana Republic!)

Javier's Quote

My Pre-AP English I classes (freshmen!) have been working on a To Kill A Mockingbird unit. Yesterday, my 3rd period watched the second half of the movie starring Gregory Peck. During the trial scene, Sandra kept making comments and asking questions for clarification. I had repeatedly told her that I would pause the movie to answer questions AFTER the trial scene was over.

Javier came in about 30 minutes late because he was completing an ESL test elsewhere in the building. He missed most of Sandra's comments. However, he made it in time for my final exasperated answer of "Just WATCH!" Of course, two seconds later, Sandra made a comment.

Javier's completely dead-pan response: "No wonder guys don't take you to the movies."

I nearly fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. Love him. :)

I Love My Principal!

So my 7th period has been pretty bad for most of the year. My floor principal, Mr. Reyes, has offered to start visiting them each 7th period to keep them on track. On Thursday and Friday, I showed a movie to my classes as a reward for all of their hard work leading up to the TAKS test on Wednesday. However, I did not feel that 7th period had done enough work to warrant the reward. Mr. Reyes decided that they needed to do a writing assignment for half the period and then present it during the second half. Here was the prompt:

"Our school has too many students. We must cut 30% of the students by next Friday. Defend your spot on this campus. WHY SHOULD WE KEEP YOU? (Seniors, you are not exempt from the cut and will graduate from a different campus if we decide not to keep you.)"

Oh, you should've seen their faces! Many of them overlooked the fact that it was a prompt and totally panicked thinking it was real. The room was SILENT until lunch. When they returned, let's just say their presentations were very passionate. A few of them even became emotional. I was very impressed by their arguments, and it was quite possibly my favorite class with them all year.

Thanks, Mr. Reyes!

5 Questions

As promised in yesterday's post, here are my answers to the 5 Questions tag from Deanna.

Instructions: Answer 5 questions with 5 answers, and then tag 5 people.

1. Where were you 10 years ago?

>I was surviving the second half of 10th grade at Columbus High School.

>I was getting ready to go skiing in Colorado with my church for Spring Break.

>I was having fun with our German exchange student, Soo-Bin. Miss you, BuBu!

>I was missing volleyball.

>I was learning how to joust in Mrs. Wallace's English class. Fun times!


2. What is on your to do list for today?

>Catch up on my sleep.

>Clean/organize/decorate the craft room.

>Finish laundry.

>Write out some lesson plans.

>Make plans for Spring Break.


3. What five snacks do you enjoy?

>Chips and dip

>Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies

>Slow Churned Caramel Delight Ice Cream

>Snickers

>Flip Sides Crackers: Original and Garlic/Herb


4. Where are five places you have lived?

>Columbus, Mississippi

>Starkville, Mississippi

>Lewisville, Texas (South)

>Coppell, Texas

>Lewisville, Texas (North)


5. Name five things you would do if you were a billionaire.

>Change jobs?

>Purchase a condo on the beach

>Travel

>Adopt internationally

>Give it away


Now, I tag...1. Mary Beth, 2. Kerry, 3. Megan K., 4. Callie, 5. Melissa

Happy Birthday to Me!

I turned 26 on Monday. Lucky for me, my birthday fun started last Wednesday (2/24) when my friend Melissa came to visit! She made a special trip all the way from Kansas to visit me and deliver my birthday goodies. Since she is a scrapbooker, I normally get awesome handmade gifts from her, and this birthday was no different. She made this awesome dry erase to-do list out of a square frame, scrapbook paper, and embellishments. So cute! I will be back to post a picture later.
On Thursday, my mom and my Aunt Tina came into town. They spent Friday shopping (while I slaved away at school), and then we had a delicious homemade dinner that night. We shopped, did yard work, and ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday. It was my first time to eat at CF, and it was delicious!
For my actual birthday, Deanna and I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Guero's, where I was surprised to find our friends Vicki and Jesseca sitting at our table. We had so much fun! Megan had to work at the MK meeting, so we met back at the house to eat my indescribably delectable marble birthday cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. I will have to post a picture later. It was beautiful AND tasty. Earlier in the day, I received a barrage of emails from facebook telling me about all of my great friends posting on my wall, several visits from old students, and lots of texts/phone calls wishing me a great day. It was AWESOME!

I am making an intentional effort to post more often, so check back tomorrow for my "5 Things" post. :)