I'm trying to remember...

what I was like in 10th grade? Was I as annoying as the Grade 10s that I teach are? Was I as unmotivated and as lazy as the majority of my class is? Were the boys then as obnoxious as they are now? (...Probably.) My 10s are beginning to frustrate me!

Some recent asides:

I love Pancakes. (Not the food, although I like them a lot, but my parents' doggy. She's so cute. She's sleeping beside me as I type, making little doggy involuntary movements and noises. I wonder what she's dreaming about).

Speaking of dreams, I had a bad dream last night. I dreamt that my sister (travelling in Asia right now) got hit by a bus and died. I woke up not remembering my dream right away, but feeling a sense of sadness that something bad had happened. I prayed for her right away. I hope she's doing okay.

My cousin Simon passed away on Saturday. He had been fighting an ongoing battle with leukemia and that coupled with his down syndrome complicated most of his young (12 years) life. Our family had been preparing for his passing for a couple months now because his condition was already starting to get worse last month. God finally decided to end his physical suffering and take him home to be with Him.

Dale has been in BC since Saturday. His lola passed away last week so he flew to Vancouver for her funeral. He's coming back tomorrow night. I know this sounds cliche, but it's true when they say "you don't know what you've got til it's gone". He's only been gone 3 days but I miss him so much! Since moving here and getting settled, we've only really been around and hung out with each other (aside from my family) and when he left I really felt an emptiness and loneliness. Cheesy I know. But he really does complete me.

I'm really cold right now. The house is cold and Calgary is freezing! It's Christmastime in April! =P

My heart is heavy. We hear devastating global news every day but of course, when it concerns people you know, love, trust, admire, the impact is far greater. I don't discount what has been said and taught because I know it was the Word of God and it blessed me, built me up, spoke wisdom into my life. As much as we cannot underestimate the power of God, we cannot underestimate the lengths to which the Enemy will go to deceive and destroy even the brightest, most committed. Let this be a warning that no one is exempt - regardless of status, maturity, age - from deception in any form. We must guard our hearts above all because it is the wellspring of life.

Classroom Creativity

I spent a good chunk of the weekend planning and marking. (Ah, yes, the life of the English teacher). I just read through a bunch of extended metaphors that I had my Grade 10 class write as part of our poetry unit. Some of them are just pure ingenious. I have to share them. Enjoy!
Tree Person

People are like trees
hard on the outside
soft on the inside?
truth be told trees change, evolve, expand
people too

they grow big and tall
long and thick
we stretch, we curve
we stretch, we swerve
we both support the love bird

preparation is key
we all pack it away
for those rough times
when we're out of dimes

always around others
without a choice
we learn to get along
even with age
we find peace and
support each other

||insert HILARIOUS drawing of a tree with arms and its bushel of leaves as hair||

Pillows

Friends are pillows
They come in many shapes, colours
Fabrics and sizes.
They support you through thick and thin.

Everyone has different preferences in pillows,
Just as everyone is compatible with different people.

Different pillows are used for different tasks.
Some are used occasionally
and are there for you in good times,
but some are used daily
and support you in good times and in bad.

Bad pillows become lumpy quickly
but good quality ones
can last a life time.

Pillows add sparkle to any room;
they make any situation better.

Self Cut Bangs & Friends

Friends are self-cut bangs.
Bangs come in all shapes, lengths and
colors, just as people come in all
varieties.

After cutting your bangs, they'll look
awkward or unappealing, and you'll
question why you cut them. Similarly,
when you find yourself settle into a
new group of friends, you may feel
like you don't belong there.

Not long after, you'll discover that your
bangs compliment your look and they
just took a little time getting used to,
just as you feel you're starting to
belong to this new group of friends,
and that your personalities go well
together.

Occasionally, you'll feel as though your
bangs are out to get you and are
purposely not co-operating. Similarly,
you'll sometimes have disagreements
with friends and feel like they're
purposely putting you down.

If you decide that your bangs are
unsatisfactory and completely clash
with your personality, you can opt to
change the style of your bangs. If you
grow tired of your friends, you can just
ditch them, moving on to a more
suitable group.

Throughout life, the style of your bangs
will change like seasons. Likewise,
friends come and go throughout your
life, and it takes practice to find the
niche where you belong.

Hello, Hewlett.

That's the name of my new laptop. You can probably guess why ;P My darling husby surprised me yesterday when I got home from work with a brand spankin' new computer just for me! I've been using my parents' computer to do school stuff because Dale's old Toshiba keeps overheating and shutting down. My ibook has been deficient since last summer. The saying "Once you go Mac you never go back" certainly doesn't apply to me. I told Dale that the next laptop I want will be a PC. So yesterday I come home from work, eat, and go to the computer to check my email, facebook, the usual quick check of random sites. Then Dale says, "Why don't you use your computer to do that." Not catching on, I think he's referring to his computer. So I say, "I don't want to use your computer because it always shuts down on me!" There's a short pause before he repeats the phrase "Why don't you use YOUR computer to do that", with added emphasis on the "your". So here I am today with my new pal Hewlett. He's clothed in a beauty of shiny white. I'm totally in the new computer phase: washed hands before usage, Norton checks every 5 minutes, etc. This baby has 7 hours of battery life!!! I hope he lasts longer than my Apple did.

Anyway, I'm almost near the end of my second week of work. I've experienced an array of emotions since starting, all of which I am continually surrendering to the Lord. There's so much I want to already know and be able to do as a new teacher, but I can't because time isn't on my side. I've only just begun and at this point in my career, it's all about trial and error. I'm trying to get over the superficialities of the job and really develop and improve my teaching practice and knowledge of student learning. This week I realized that I really need to get involved with the school community instead of just hiding away in my classroom, as much as I need to because of all the constant planning/marking that demands immediate attention. One thing I definitely want to learn how to do sooner rather than later is to relax. Flexibility is not something that comes naturally for me. I like doing things according to plan; but I know with teaching that doesn't always happen.

The Lord is continually teaching me what it means to trust Him, rely on Him, depend on Him. It's in the little things as much as it's in the big things that He desires faith to believe that He is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. I wonder sometimes how unbelievers deal daily with the stresses of work, worries of life, and unexpected circumstances that surround them without God in their life. I know what it's like to live off of the last of the strength left in me and what it's like to draw strength and wisdom from the Lord and nothing compares to the latter. The benefits of living by the Spirit are countless, the foremost being that He fills my soul and the longing deep within that only He was meant to fill. My heart sings praises to His Name!

I'm counting down until the new Office episode begins. Ten more minutes! Welcome back all my favorite actors and most especially the bubbly feelings I get when I see PB & J!

Alberta air...

has dried me out. My hands are cracking like crazy, I'm itchy everywhere, and my contacts feel like they're going to fall out only a couple of hours after I put them in! I knew it would happen because that's how it was before. I'm still waiting for my feet to start up (they haven't yet! and neither has Dale's, so I haven't gotten inadvertently scratched at night yet). Other than that, and the fact that I see my family every day (and Mark and John twice so far), it doesn't really feel like we're in Calgary. Work's the same. So's the kids. It's funny because when I was hired, the principal told me all this stuff about the kids at the school being motivated and very academic, but I have yet to see that because some of the students are straight up slackers. Well, it was only my third day today ;P The English classes are separated into more homogenous groups in terms of academic success. So there are two sets of English classes for each grade. I, apparently, teach the more "academic" kids; the ones who are average to above average (whatever that means). There's a kid in one of my classes getting 27%.

Pictures of my classroom and me hard at work at my desk (haha, more like posing for the camera!)

It's been a busy week and I'm thankful it's the weekend tomorrow! My brother came for a couple of days to visit and we had some after-dinner last night (I say 'after-dinner' because just a couple hours before we had dinner at Sushi Boat) at Joey's with Trace too. She is leaving for Asia next Friday. We got to spend some time together earlier this week and were able to talk about what has been going on with her. In a nutshell, lots has been happening. If you've been praying with me for her (and Rob) please continue to. Here's us siblings at Joey's:



If you didn't notice (but you probably did!), Marybeth shaved her head. She's gutsy and it's crazy but I think it suits her! It reminds me of Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta. She said she wanted to get rid of all her dead hair. I told her she could have just grown out all the dead hair but I guess she really really wanted to get rid of everything, and fast!

Anyway, it's been a few days since I've been able to have some down time. I haven't been able to do my Believing God study yet (I'm on the last week!) so I think I'm going to do that now, and spend some time with the Lord.

...after I have some McD's fries courtesy of John David (the game's on right now and the Davids are over).

Later!