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Saturday, March 7, 2009

So Much to Be Excited About!

... And to be thankful for, really. As much as I've struggled [and complained] through this school year, it is actually, finally winding down. And as God would have it, a lot of things are falling perfectly into place. I honestly feel like I can take a big deep breath and know that it's all going to work out. This is not to say that I'm one to easily lose faith. I always know that things will work out in the end, but in the throws of all the chaos it's just really hard to SEE things working out.

Ok, so you're wondering what am I going on and on about. First of all, I'm in a fantastic mood because of the weather this weekend. It's GORGEOUS here, and I'm just dying to get out and walk around Centennial lake in my flip-flops with Sheppie (hahah, good story). I do plan on doing that today, though! So that is just my little reminder that summer is on it's way and I just need to hang in there a little bit longer. I'm also having a really great weekend in general. Last night we hung out with the Cookes, who are still in town from delivering their 2nd gorgeous baby girl. We had pizza, then the boys went off to see Watchmen while Laura, myself, and the baby girls went back to the Cookes' house to watch TLC and chit chat the rest of the night. It was very much needed girl time :) and I can't say enough about how fun it was to hang out with the babies! It truly did me some good.

If that wasn't enough enjoyment, I had mentioned that we've been thinking about vacations for this summer. However, planning a vacation completely depends on when my classes are going to be taking place this summer. They're the last 3 I need before my internship so I have zero flexibility in when and what to take. So we had pretty much decided through our discussions the past few days that we really wanted to go for the cruise. My sister is right - if we don't do it now, who knows when or if it will ever happen. Well this morning I woke up and thought - you know, it's a weekend, registration is somewhere around the end of this month, maybe Hopkins has posted the course schedule. I've been checking almost daily for about a month now to no avail. So sure enough when I logged in, one of the announcements on the page was that courses for 09-10 had been posted! I was so thrilled that I immediately started searching. As God would have it, all three courses I need are being offered and one of the cruise weeks is entirely open. Hooray! So that really made the decision for us. We're aiming to depart from Baltimore on July 16th and return on the 25th. Here's the itinerary...

It's a 2-day trip to and from Baltimore, and a day at each stop!

I know what you're thinking - does it get any better than that? Could there possibly be MORE good news? There is!! If you don't know already, I've been rather stressed out about my internship next year. There are a lot of hours I have to complete and, while working full time, I've been worried about when they're going to get done. On top of that it's the time of year when administrators start making schedules for the next school year. So another concern of mine was - what will I be teaching next year? I've worked really hard this year to archive all of my lesson plans so I'm not writing them next year (since that has been my #1 stressor for the past 6 months-- and I can't even believe it's only been that long). However, if I end up teaching something different next year then all of that doesn't really help. So once again as God would have it, while at the copier on Tuesday morning, my department chair walks by and tells me he wants me to consider something for next year: GT (gifted & talented, for those non-teachers). Right now I teach 3 classes of honors US history and 2 classes of standard world history. So I promptly explained that I have NO problem teaching GT next year as long as I'm not teaching a new subject. And he said - Ok. Done. You've got honors and GT US next year. I almost jumped for joy right there in the copy room! One of my other fears about next year was that they would give me the same subject, but all regular level kids. Nothing against them, but regular kids (which include below grade-level) take a lot of energy I'm not sure I'm going to have next year. Managing behavior is probably my least favorite part about teaching, and regular level kids give you a run for your money in that department. No thank you. I will be perfectly happy with my honors and GT :) The only thing left to work out is still when/where I'll be doing my internship hours. But I can hardly bring myself to care about that right now :)

Well, I'm guessing this has been long enough for you (for now). I still need to get myself together a little, pull out the flip-flops and take Sheppie over to the park! Then we're heading over to OM to see my kids perform "The Wiz." After that we're meeting friends in Fells for a birthday -- what a night! Tomorrow I'll be back up to Westminster to check in on Dad and then meet with the sibs to figure out what our next steps are. I've found that he's doing really well for the most part and we can probably cut our visits to 3-4 times a week instead of 7. I can't lie, driving up there twice a week has done a number on my mental health, gas tank, and most importantly time with Josh. But I know it's the right thing to do, and I'll never look back and wish I hadn't taken care of my dad when he needed us.

Ok, I'll end for real now :)

1 comment:

  1. Oh yay! I'm so glad everything is working out as you wanted! Your summer sounds very exciting and I hope you two enjoy your cruise, with how hard you have worked this year girl, you DESERVE it! whew!On a side note, I may just be the only person who reads this and never sees you LOL but I'm DYING to know what your shorter hair looks like, it's been months! Any chance of a picture?

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