Compassion International

Did you know that I sponsor three children through Compassion International?

Well, now you do. :) Their names are Miriam, Stifani, and Gabriel. And I don't write them nearly as often as I should.

To be honest, I just don't think about it. Or I'm really busy. Or I'm lazy. And then I receive one of their letters in the mail and remember why I signed up to sponsor them in the first place.

Last week, one of the bloggers I follow traveled to the Philippines with Compassion International. She and others on the trip committed to blog about what they saw and heard and felt while they were there. I've been reading their posts for the last thirty minutes or so and just finished this one. It's about the kids without sponsors.

Please read it. You have time.

So...I suck at blogging.

What else is new? :)

Too much has happened since my last post to record it all here. I may be sneaky in the next few weeks and past-date some posts, so they will appear on the blog in the order they happened instead of a month or two later.

Anyway, I'm currently busy trying to survive the last few weeks of school. I am SO DONE with this year! It seems like everything has been made to be more difficult than necessary. The students have been checked out since, I don't know, March or April?! I found out last week that my BFF here at school has been transferred to another campus. :( AND to top it all off, we've basically been told to expect a more difficult year next year because of budget cuts. Please pray for me and every teacher you know. Yes, we get summers "off," but you really have no idea what's expected of us during the school year. Just FYI, it's not only teaching! :)

Heart Attack

I missed updating last week because I made an unexpected trip home to Mississippi. My dad had a heart attack Wednesday night but didn't decide to go to the hospital until 3:00 the next morning. I don't know what he was thinking! Anyway, the doctor put a stent into the offending artery immediately; however, he also found three more blockages to be dealt with later. When I decided to fly home, we didn't know yet if Dad we need bypass surgery ASAP or not. It turned out that his heart was not strong enough for more surgery right away, so they will monitor him for about six months and then check again. In the mean time, he is supposed to eat healthier, exercise more, and stop smoking 3 packs a day! So far he seems to be making better food choices, can walk a little over a mile, and is down to 5 or 6 cigarettes a day (instead of 50). Yay for progress! :)

Thanks again to all of you who prayed for him and my family. Please continue! :)

15 Before 28

Since I just had another birthday, that means it's time for my annual to-do list. :) If I were to continue the format from years past, I would be creating "27 Things To Do Before 28." Let me go ahead and tell you - there is NO WAY I can/want/will come up with a list of 27 things. However, I do have "a couple, two, three things" I want to do this year, so without further ado, here's my list:

1. Take a snowboarding lesson. (Yes, it's still on my list! Don't judge me. LOL.)
2. Create a scrapbook for my first five years as a teacher. (See parentheses above.)
3. Blog weekly, even if it is just a "week-in-review" type post.
4. Lose 15 pounds by July 1st, 2011.
5. Serve on the Guatemala 2 short-term mission trip.
6. Install new countertops in my kitchen.
7. Replace my laptop.
8. Visit Eileen.
9. Visit Amy B.
10. Visit Bess & Nick.
11. Save $10,000. (Not sure how I will do this because of #6-10!)
12. Finish the guest bathroom makeover.
13. Downsize by donating/recycling/throwing away at least 5 bags/boxes of "stuff."
14. Go roller skating again. :)
15. Become a Little Village volunteer.

Wow! This list might actually be doable. Wish me luck. ;)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Before the month of March is over, I figured I needed to write a post about my birthday which was on the 1st. It was AWESOME. :)

Well, having to proctor the English TAKS test (our standardized state test, for you non-Texans) wasn't exactly awesome, but the rest of the day sure was! Megan started the day off right by giving me a McDonald's gift card to buy my birthday breakfast. How fun is that?! Then I went to school and stared at the walls, out the window, over my students' heads, etc. until about 2:15. Boo. (One of my sweet PACE kids did bring me brownies, though. Thanks, Sergio!)

After school I went home and took a nap because some of my fun friends were coming over at 5:00. Daniella was on pizza patrol, and I just mingled with people and ate my Totino's pizza. I am still totally on a Totino's kick, by the way. For dessert, the roomies presented me with a super fun cookie cake with - wait for it - a big roller skate on the top! That's right, people. My 27th birthday had a roller skating theme. Don't be jealous.

Once we had a sufficient sugar high from the chocolate chip and M&M cookie cake, most of the party crowd headed to the local skating rink. I was fairly concerned that we would be the only people over the age of 12, but thankfully, I was wrong. Oh, I skated my heart out! It was such a fun party. I am so thankful I have great friends who will put on skates and act like a bunch of ten-year-old hoodlums for me!

When the roomies, Melissa, and I got home from the skating rink, I was finally allowed to open my gifts. EVERYTHING was great, and I loved it all! I received way more than I deserve, but I am truly thankful. This was one of my best birthdays ever!

Snowcation 2011

This is what our house looked like the morning of Tuesday, February 2nd - after I received a call from my principal at 5 AM telling me school was cancelled.

Then school was also cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. :) Don't worry, though; we found plenty to do around the house! On Tuesday, I steam-cleaned the carpet, caught up on TV-viewing, and took a nap. On Wednesday, we ventured out to Target, Panda Express, and Hobby Lobby. While at Target, I found this:

Oh, we spent many hours playing Nancy Drew! It was glorious, and we still haven't beaten it yet. That's on the schedule for this weekend. :) One day I made I made some chili. It was quite yummy, and I froze what we didn't eat for later.

On Saturday, we had our home group over for Bible study. This meant we spent all of Saturday morning cleaning, and Deanna made Rotel (cheese dip to Megan). Most of us went to the 5:00 service, and a few of us continued on to dinner at McAlister's. It was nice to be out of the house.

For Super Bowl Sunday, Deanna made homemade salsa and Daniella made soft tacos for us. Megan couldn't be there because she was dogsitting at her parents. :(

This was probably my favorite meal of Snowcation 2011, even though Deanna's salsa burned off my taste buds! ;)

So...about that blogging thing...

Why is it so hard to blog after a blogging hiatus?! I swear any time I go a few days without posting on here it turns into a few months. Then I feel like my "comeback" post has to be GREAT, and then I'm totally overwhelmed, so I continue to, you know, not post. Boo on that!

The only interesting thing that has happened in the last few weeks is that I had the flu, a sinus infection, and an upper respiratory infection AT THE SAME TIME and missed two days of school. The most interesting thing (well, at least the most FUN interesting thing) in the month of December was going to Disney World with Deanna, Megan, and my cousin Jessica. That was pretty sweet. Way sweeter than the flu! :)

I need to be better at documenting my life, so I am going to make a serious attempt to post more often. Wish me luck, leave some comments, and say a prayer or two (or three...or four). ;)