Good-bye to polka dots!

After many attempts at trying to get rid of the polka dots.... I was finally successful! Adios polka dots.... hello cute new blog background! :-)

Ice storm!

So this morning I woke up to find out that school had been cancelled. It was supposed to have been our last day of classes before Christmas break... Merry (early) Christmas to me! :-) Luckily I had given my gifts to my kiddos yesterday... and had wished them a very Merry Christmas just in case we got the ice the weather people were calling for. Turns out.... we did! Here are a few pictures that I just took. (Oh - and on a comical note - a friend and I signed up to run a 5k this evening... yup, it sounded much better two months ago! Not only is it snowy, icy, and cold out... but the lady in charge of the race told me, two days ago, that the race would be held "no matter what"..... So Amy and I will be leaving in about an hour and a half.... to drive 30 minutes away... to slip and slide our way through the "Dashing Through the Snow 5k"! Ha, ha! It should be a good adventure, if nothing else. I'm thinking that we'll at least go there... pick up our shirts... try to run if it's not too slippery.... and then see what happens!)

So... pictures of the ice storm... isn't the Lord's creation beautiful?!

More fun at school!

We were studying kinetic and potential energy... so we brought in toys ("science tools" :-)) to help us learn! (The students also had character presentations... which is why you might see some mustaches and costumes!)

Fun at school!

Fun with indoor recess!
More fun with indoor recess!

Playing chess! Doing a puzzle!

December

So I've been pretty terrible about updating my blog. I often look at it (either with good intentions of posting... or with hopes that someone else will have posted for me... not sure which!).

Here's a little bit of what's been going on in my life as of late...

It's hard for me to believe that I've been back in the States for nearly 6 months already. I would have to say that I feel I'm still adjusting. The Lord has provided a job (teaching 5th grade) that I'm really enjoying, a place to stay (with my parents for now), and a church. These things are certainly helping to make the adjustment a bit easier.

I've enjoyed a number of fun wintery things over the last few weeks - like snow, decorating the house for Christmas, baking fun treats, and Adopting a Family (through my church). I'm looking forward to being able to deliver gifts (with my small group) to the family that we've adopted!

I am about 6 weeks from finishing my master's program (and am very much anticipating the end!!) and am looking forward to being able to get more involved with other things once my grad. school program is finished. I'm hoping to get plugged into a Spanish-speaking church and am also hoping to get connected with a youth group.

One thing that I've really been missing is being surrounded by like-minded people from the beginning of the day (with staff devotions) to the close of the day (with numerous after school and evening small groups and Bible studies).

Hopefully this gives you a little bit of an update as to what's going on in my life...