Adventure #12: The Things that Make a Life

I can't believe tomorrow is the start of November. The time seems to be flying by and yet going so slowly. Ashley and I were talking about this the other day and decided it is because the weather still feels like summer. Its still at least 80 degrees every afternoon and everything is still green, or at least as green as things get in Arizona. :)

Things in my classroom continue to go pretty well. They have been really talkative ever since Fall Break, but I have been slowly, but surely figuring out ways to calm them down and get them to stay quiet for a few minutes so I can teach :) We had our fall party on Friday and it went really well. I had a bunch of awesome parents in to help me and I think the kids had a lot of fun! I'm not really sure they learned anything all day because they were so excited for the party, but that's okay!

I was thinking this afternoon about the things that make a life. When I moved down here in July, I left behind almost everything I had ever known and I started off on a new adventure, the adventure of making a life for myself. It has been a very interesting journey thus far, with lots of twists and turns that I was not expecting but there have been so many wonderful things along the way!

The things that make up a life are not the house you live in or the car you drive or how much money you make, though those things play a role. I think the things that really make a life are the little blessings that come along. The gorgeous sunsets behind the mountains- something I haven't had since living in Colorado!

The picture doesn't do justice to this beautiful sunset!

Being able to drive around in November (almost) with the windows down and the music blaring in shorts and a t-shirt because its still 80 or sometimes 90 degrees out :)

Having a job that I love! I am excited to get up every day (almost- if it wasn't so early it would be everyday!) to go to work and do what I love. Most of the time it doesn't really feel like work because I get to hang out with kids all day and watch the light go on in their eyes as they learn something new and celebrate with them when they finally get 100% on their spelling test. I feel so blessed to be able to do that because I realize not everyone is lucky enough to love what they do everyday.

Having friends to hang out with. We have kind of established a routine each week and its a great one. Monday night we go to the Lights for good meal and Monday Night Football. The games aren't always great, but its so much fun and so relaxing to be able to sit around a kitchen table with a family and enjoy a meal and talk and laugh and tease and joke. Then Tuesday night we have small group. Its another wonderful night of talking and laughing and listening to stories and supporting each other as we go through life. I feel blessed and amazed everytime we hang out with these people because they just kind of feel into our laps. We happened to go to the church and sit in the row in front of them and we instantly clicked and found friends who understand so well where we are coming from and what we do everyday. Then on Wednesday we catch up on grades and gear up for the end of the week. Thursdays we go watch softball and cheer on the church team and chat with the ladies about the crazy things people name their kids! (Orange jello, come on people what are you thinking?) Then Friday comes and we celebrate another week being completed by going out to dinner then crashing on the couch and dreading the huge pile of grading to get done. Then there's cleaning and catching up on Saturday and church on Sunday and getting ready to start it all over again!

Carving pumpkins with two of my favorite little girls!

There's so many things that make a life, and make it wonderful and I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life

Adventure #11: We made it to Fall Break!!

I can hardly believe it is Fall Break!! I remember thinking in July when I was getting ready to move that I just had to make it to this break and then I could process everything and figure out what in the world I just did. Well now its Fall Break and I'm still blown away by the fact that I am sitting in Arizona. But here's a little bit about what I have processed so far :)

As I think about all that has happened since July when I found out Ashley had gotten a job, and then I got a job, the overwhelming feeling is God's amazing blessing on my life! Last year when Ashley and I were student teaching together in Delano we kept saying that we needed to get jobs at the same school in the same grade because we loved working together! We kept dreaming about that, but we never imagined it would come true! But then in July we found out we would be teaching at the same school. And then we got down here and randomly the principal asked me if I wanted to teach 1st grade with Ashley. Our dream was coming true and it is wonderful. We love being across the hall from each other- we make faces at each other and send our students back and forth with notes!

Then there was our apartment. Ashley looked up apartment complexes online and found one that looked like it would be good. So we put in our application and security deposit hoping that it would work out once we got down here. We drove down and looked at the apartment right before we signed the lease and it was perfect. Its a wonderful size, in a perfect location- right next to the pool, the office, the mailboxes, and right on top of the model so there is no one living under us! Plus its in a good location in the city- close to all the shopping and only 5 minutes from school!! Its a small blessing but an important one too :)

Then there is our school. The facilities are beautiful, the people are amazing and supportive and fun to hang out with and the kids are so great! And there's our church. It was the first church we visited and we randomly found it on the internet and decided to check it out. But we love it- the pastor is awesome and the people are so friendly. And we just so happened to join the small group of teachers. There are like 11 or 12 of us and all but 3 of us are teachers and everyone is from the Midwest (Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota). Its so nice to have people who understand where we are coming from!

God has really blessed us so richly! There are so many other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting. He sure has shown himself faithful in everything! I feel am so thankful for all the ways God has blessed me in the last few months.

Fall Break has been amazing so far! It is so weird to not have anything to do or anywhere to be. I have really enjoyed being able to sleep whenever I want and do whatever I want. I got some scrapbooking done, spent some time in my classroom getting things orgainized and ready to go, and running some random errands. Now Ashley's friends from Crown Heidi, Joyel, and Kim are here visiting us. Its fun to see some familiar faces from Crown and to show off where we live :)

School has been continuing to go well. I finally feel like I have gotten into a routine and am starting to figure this whole thing out! Sometimes anyway :) I am really enjoying my students and the school. I love teaching and am thankful every single day for the opportunity to be teaching these kids.

We are off to our favorite Mexican resturant and to enjoy the rest of our Fall Break. Thanks again for your all your love and support!!

Oh and for those of you who are worried about my eye it is finally almost completely healed. There is still some blood in my eye, but I think it will be gone in the next couple of days and its not painful at all anymore so I forget its even there :)