5 Random Wednesday Questions

I assure you we are still bloggers! Aron is up to at least 11pm-12am each night doing school work and teaching continues to consume all my time. Aron swears he will post soon and since I haven't written in two weeks, I had a thought. Because we are both too busy to write too deeply on our blog at present, I thought I’d leave you all with some silly and perhaps interesting questions to answer (this is borrorwed from a friend's blog...Ashley, if you stop in, let me know :).

1. If you could name yourself something a new name, what would it be and why?
2. What is one thing that continually frustrates you and why?
3. What’s your favourite thing to eat for lunch?
4. How do you know when you’ve made the ‘right’ decision when you come to a decision-making crossroads, so to speak?
5. What’s the first thing you think of when your alarm clock goes off on a Monday?

Grace and Supreme Pizza

It's time to post anew. Unfortunately, my life is pretty much my students; school is all-consuming, but in a good way. I hope I don't bore you with too many stories. I am finding fulfillment in my job and loving connecting with students on a daily basis. Recently, I have had several talk to me about some tough stuff (cutting, loneliness, anger, etc) and it's cool to be able to talk to them. I'm very close with one girl in particular. She bought me a Starbucks card loaded with $30 two weeks ago. I was stunned; it was an incredible gesture. However, I began to sense that she was trying to 'work' her way to earn my love and attention each day. It was cool because yesterday we talked after school and I laid out GRACE to her, plain and simple--nothing you can do will change how I think of you, how I care for you, how I treat you. I told her about how I believe in God and He does this for me daily. It was powerful (I actually cried a little). I have about 4 students that I just really want to adopt and since I can't do that, I want to do all I can to love on them in a healthy manner, come alongside them, and encourage them. I have been meeting with one guy for several months now, for extra tutorials and teachers are so complimentary. His math teacher told me the other day, "He is a different kid. I don't know what you are doing, but it's working!" He has an 89 in there (unheard of!). I'm thrilled. I sat in on a conference of a student today who's parents seem to have given up on him. I told them that I would do whatever it takes to see him maximize his potential.
I'm home now and it's Wednesday night--Aron and my date night. In the hopes to save money, we are going to cook a Freschetta supreme pizza and watch a movie here. I love date nights! I love my husband!

Detentions and Eraser Wars

For some odd reason, my students just can't seem to get back into the swing of things since the Christmas break--over 2 1/2 weeks ago! It was one of those downer weeks where I turned into 'angry teacher,' which I assure you, I am not. Ask the students. One of my pervading beliefs as an educator is that it's important to respect the students (too many teachers do not). I have a good relationship with most of my students, but for some odd reason they just didn't listen as a collective group this week. It was annoying. I wrote up about 15 of them. When I worked our 2 hour Thursday School (detention) last night I had two boys that got into an eraser war, for which I had to write them another Thursday School. Ugh. I'm looking forward to resting this weekend and enjoying my space from the students that I normally enjoy very much.
suz

The Wisest Magi

The oft' forgotten, yet no less important, fourth Magi 'Gnomi' (Fontannini got it wrong... who says there were only three wise men!!!) was captured on film this Christmas at the McKay's. The rare photograph displays Gnomi's keen ability to calm the baby Jesus with mad free-style skills and offerings of fresh cut daisies.

Yes, our children will grow up each Christmas saying 'They forgot Gnomi daddy, they forgot Gnomi!' Each year on bent knee, I'll faithfully remind their sad little eyes of one unshakable truth... 'Little Gnomi is in your heart! No one can ever take that away from you... remember that! Gnomi is in your heart...'

Home again, home again

We arrived back safely from our CA romp on Friday night. For those of you who didn't know, we took a 3-day, cross-country road trip and drove Aron's truck back to Dallas. We took I-10 and stayed the first night in Tucson, AZ. We slept in, got up the next morning and were on our way after we getting our Starbucks fix and Del Taco breakfast burritos to boot. Day 2 was the longest day, by far, as we traveled through Las Cruces, NM (where I learned that my grandpa's mom's family was from), into El Paso, and finally ending up in Midland, TX for the night. We rolled in about 1:30 AM and crashed. After sleeping in again, we were off after picking up Starbucks (of course). The drive was really quite beautiful and although I grew up touring alot of the United States by car on childhood family vacations, it is just now I am realizing that a significant amount of the US is empty. What wide-open spaces we have! A highlight of our road trip was me reading the book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey to Aron. This helped keep him awake (as he refused to let me drive even once, telling me this was my vacation--what a sweetheart!) and gave us new depth and insight into the life of those people who struggle with addictions. If you can get past the heavy language and often times, heavy imagery, in the book, we highly recommend this read--you'll never look at an addict the same way again.

Happy 2006!

A Feast To Remember

Our night at the Hotel Del Coronado with family was a beautiful memory in the making. Thanks to Ma and Pa McKay for springing for the crew!!! The cast of Lamb's Players invited us to experience Christmas dinner with the 'Marshall Family', a well-to-do turn of the century Coronado family. With fantastic food, loving family, and Christmas song we'll all remember the outing for years to come! Merry Christmas to you and yours.
A

Christmas Break is Here!! (well, almost!!)

Finals wrap up tomorrow and let's just say I can't wait for 2pm to roll around and it's 8:30 the night before! While I really and truly love my job, my co-workers, and my students, I am highly anticipating a much-needed Christmas break. Aron and I fly out to CA on Monday and I am eager to see family and friends, eat In-N-Out burgers, get yogurt from Golden Spoon, have Dannielle cut and color my hair, see the ocean, go to a tea party at the Ritz for my nephew, enjoy the Christmas wonders of SoCal, eat a Pedro's burrito, go for a run around lake MV, and sleep in.

suz

Frequently Avoided Questions

Evangelicalism as we know it may be in its final death throws... In Frequently Avoided Questions Chuck Smith Jr. and Matt Whitlock propose this may not be a bad thing. Our generation no longer searches for pat answers, they're tired of the guilt, tired of black and white, they're tired of the finger pointing and judgment. Conversely, they're yearning for authentic spiritual transformation, thirsting for someone to listen, for someone to journey with. Are postmodern 'new-school' Christians willing to compromise the truth? No, yet they are much more comfortable with not having all the answers; they've come to expect a degree of tension in life. Far from giving us the answers FAQ attempts to teach us how to ask the right questions. I highly recommend this read. (Thanks Steve for passing it on!)
A

Another year for Aron

He turned 28 yesterday and it's just hard to believe that he'll be 30 in two more years. He and I are now both officially in our "late 20s." What does a person look like that is this age? I don't feel 27 and I know that he doesn't feel 28. Age is a funny thing. For me, teaching students keeps me feeling young. On Friday, which is jeans day, I was wearing a pair of jeans (obviously), a sweater, and my Converse, and one of my students told me that I looked like a student! Perhaps this is a compliment?! Anyway, back to Aron, and the reason for this post. His birthday was pretty low-key, but I know he felt loved. A favorite gift was from his pops who got him a sweet new microphone for recording music and he's been using it every day since he got it last week. He'll be signed and famous in no time! :)

Outing to Narnia

I didn't grow up with Lewis as I'm sure many of you did. For those who did I assume you've spent the majority of the day staring at your monitor pretending to be productive, all the while recovering from the 12:01 am showing you had to see last night. I hope it was worth all your co-workers having to pick up the slack?! Don't worry about it... (whisper) we all know it was. I have come to appreciate a little Clive Staples now and again. Particularly when it's cold and dark outside, coffee is within reaching distance... Oh, and I happen to be in Europe... Unfortunately many years have passed since all of these beautiful beautiful factors have happened to align, correspondingly my passions for Lewis have diminished by degrees due to the irresponsible neglect. Strangely, my waning passions remain quite eager to catch the new feature release. Thankfully we have the privilege of viewing the film tonight with the College and Career group, our first official outing. Upon our return both Suzanne and I will weigh in on the evenings events. Stay posted...