Wedding post...finally!

Yes, I know it has been three weeks but I figured it was time to finally post about my weekend in Birmingham/Rome!  The bridesmaid lunch, rehearsal, dinner, all the prep. before the wedding, pictures, ceremony, and reception all seem like a fantasy now!  It could not have been more perfect and I am SO blessed to have gotten to spend time with all of these beautiful people!  Thank you Taylor and Josh for letting me be a part of your special day! Love you guys!

Some of the bridesmaids at the super cute bridesmaid lunch Mackenzie and Taylor's aunt did.  Mackenzie even surprised Taylor with by playing/singing a song from Wicked on her guitar! So precious!

Don't know where'd I'd be without these lovely ladies!  Fab Four since 4th grade!

Beautiful ceremony centered around the love of Christ.

Love this of everyone!  Brittany did great with the signs!

Another favorite of the entire wedding party with the barns behind us!

One of my favorites with the girls.

The bride and I!!!

With our boots!

Absolutely stunning bride!

Love this family SO much!

Not only was the wedding a blast but I got to see another best friend and the family as well!

Pinterest perfect reception.

After we sent them off to Hawaii with a shower of rose pedals, I booked it to Rome to spend a little over 12 hours at home.  Hung out with Carrie on the mountain for a while, went to church and had lunch with the family, and then even got to enjoy some Berry College soccer!  Cannot wait to be back for Mountain Day and actually get to talk to people and catch up!  Only a few more days!!! This week we have 9 weeks testing.  Pray for my kids as they take these tests and that they would use the test taking strategies and things they have learned in class.  I am very nervous that they are going to take these tests and show that they haven't learned a thing since August 6!  :/  Should be an interesting week since our schedules are thrown off with the testing but I'm glad it is a short one!  Hope to see most of you next weekend!!

Routines and blessings

Life in Mississippi is slowly but surely getting into a routine.  And if you know me, I am a huge fan of routines!  Every day still brings a new struggle at school but love has been so much more evident in my classroom and we are working on bringing in a sense of urgency as we learn everyday.  There is SO much to learn this year and we don't have a minute to waste.  When my kids really understand this concept, we will truly be on our way to achieving incredible things academically!

Last weekend I was blessed to be able to be apart of Taylor and Josh's wedding and it was hands down the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen!  Everything was absolutely perfect and it was so wonderful to see friends and celebrate with them.  I hope to share some pictures with you all soon! I also spent a little time (barely 12 hours) at home and at Berry.  As fantastic as my weekend was, I did miss Hazlehurst and worshipping at FBC.  Although First Baptist is very traditional and definitely not what I have been used to over the past 10 or so years, I really enjoy it.  The people at FBC are so welcoming, the worship is sincere and takes me back to old school Calvary (singing "No Other Name" today brought back SO many memories), and I love the pastor.  He is no Steve Andrews but I am always challenged and encouraged by the message.  The message today was so meaningful as he spoke on the feeding of the five thousand in Mark.  Incredibly applicable as I think about the Lord using me just as he did the disciples to work relentlessly for those who need Him most.  It can be such a tiring and overwhelming task but He has called each of us to work for His glory and all things are possible through Him.  First Baptist has definitely contributed to the sense of routine and consistency as I am finally getting settled and feeling at home in Hazlehurst.  I am continually amazed by the blessings the Lord has given me!  

Hurricane, Paycheck, and more!!

We survived the hurricane!  Isaac definitely made an appearance in Hazlehurst.  One that caused a 2-day hurrication from school, power outages across town, several downed trees, huge puddles, and one sleepless night for this girl.  I think the April 27th tornadoes/wind that knocked down trees all over Berry made me paranoid of trees falling.  I didn't sleep but like 45 minutes on Wednesday evening (on the bathroom floor none-the-less) due to all of the debris hitting the house from every direction!  Praise the Lord we had no leaks or fallen trees.  Just lots of branches and limbs around the yard that we will eventually pick up if it ever stops raining!  As scary as the whole hurricane experience was, it was SO nice to have a little weekend in the middle of the week!  And it was even nicer to go back for Friday and then have a three day weekend!

But wait, it gets even better! Not only do we have a three day weekend for Labor Day, we also got paid on Thursday! Again, PRAISE THE LORD! Angie and I went grocery shopping today and it was so nice to be able to buy real food instead of whatever $20 would buy us.  We are looking forward to a day of shopping on Monday to hit up all the big Labor Day sales and reward ourselves for a challenging first month of teaching.  Don't worry, I already made my budget so nothing too extreme for me!  Many of the things I plan on purchasing this weekend are for the wedding next weekend!  I am thrilled to get to be apart of Taylor Andrews and Josh Hines big day in just 7 days!  Not only will I only have a three day week because of it but I also get to see my best friends that I grew up with.  Since we started college, the time that Taylor, Becky, Chelcie, and I have had together has been very limited so I am super excited to spend two days with them!  (One more reason to celebrate next weekend- Becky just got engaged this weekend as well! Three down...I'm the only one to go!! HA) Since I'm already going to be in Birmingham, might as well drive the extra two hours home for some much needed family and Berry time.  If you cannot tell, I am VERY excited about next weekend and all of the tiresome fun that it will entail.

Before then though, I have three days of teaching and giving my all to my students.  During the hurricane, I was able to get ahead on some lesson planning and I am finally getting to the point where I actually feel like I know what I am doing.  We are getting into a regular schedule now that we have our reading curriculum and I have already seen improvements both in the quality of my students work as well as in their behaviors.  I'll finish this very excited and joyous post with something one of my students wrote on her science test this week:

Question: If you have a seed, what do you need to do to turn it into a plant?
Student's Answer: "I will have to give it soil, sunlight, water and air.  And I will give it some plant food to make it grow into a beautiful flower and people will take pictures and ask me how to plant a flower!"

Some days, I want to come home and cry or pack up and get out of here but then I am reminded of precious things like this that my students do and say and am reminded of the reason I am here.  Happy Labor Day everyone! Can't wait to update you on the exciting wedding/Rome weekend!

Loving Unconditionally

I decided to blog tonight as a way to de-stress and take my mind off the chaos that was today.  It wasn't the worst of worsts but I was very overwhelmed with our curriculum and feeling incapable of teaching my kids ALL they need to know to close the achievement gap (TFA puts a lot of pressure on us not to just be exceptional teachers but to be TRANSFORMATIONAL as that is what most of our kids need).  I know it is only week 3 and it will come but some days it just gets frustrating.  Thankfully, I know the ONE who IS capable of all things and who will give me the strength each and every day to be the teacher that my kids need.

I also wanted to reflect on some thoughts I had this weekend.  Friday night, I went to our high school football game.  There are about 4,000 people in Hazlehurst and I'm pretty sure every single one of them was at A high school football game.  Notice, I did not say OUR football game because all of the wealthy families were at the Copiah Academy game and not Hazlehurst.  While at the game, I realized why my children act the way they do.  I realize why they are so mean to one another and why they hit each other and why they call each other ugly names.  They do this because it is what they see around them and the environment they have lived in their entire lives.  It was so heartbreaking; I was faced with the reality that I had been trying to avoid all along: I am not here to teach my kids reading and writing and math.  I am not even here to teach them how to get along with one another.  I am here to LOVE and to LOVE unconditionally.

Reflecting on the environment that my kids live in, I was reminded of Rob Bell's book, "Jesus Wants to Save Christians".  Throughout the book, he summarizes the actions of the Israelites and how God delivers them and commands them to keep his commandments but then what do they do...they turn right around and begin doing the exact thing the Lord had delivered them from.  It is almost like a cycle where the Lord delivers them, tells them to obey, then turn the page and they are doing wicked things and disobeying God, but God continues to love them and have mercy on them.  He never gives up and continues to pour out his love even when they seemed unlovable.  And the same is true towards us today.  We all screw up and become self-righteous and sometimes we even think we have done something unforgivable.  But the Lord is merciful and loves us so much that he is always there with open arms.  Some days, I feel like I cannot love my kids.  At various moments throughout the day, I want to leave and let them fend for themselves and if they kill each other, oh well!  But then I am reminded of the Lord's never ending love for us.  And how undeserving we are.  My kids need LOVE.  And for many of them, I might be their only source of love.  I know that it will be a challenge and there will be days that I might not know HOW to love them.  But those are the times I am especially thankful for Christ in me.  The only way I can teach them is if I love them and hopefully through my example, they will learn to love one another as well.  The most important thing I cannot forget is that EVERY ounce of my love comes from the love of the FATHER.

Now I'm off to lesson plan and get everything ready for tomorrow.  Oh, and also figure out my grad school classes as those officially started today! YIKES! Please pray that I would love each and every one of my students whole-heartedly each and every day with love that only comes from above.  Pray also that they would be receptive of my love.  I'll leave you with "A Teacher's Prayer".  My housemate, Angie gave a copy of it to me right as school was starting and I need to write it on my clipboard so that I can be reminded of it constantly throughout the day!

A Teacher's Prayer

Lord, let me be just what they need.
If they need someone to trust, let me be trustworthy.
If they need sympathy, let me sympathize.
If they need love, (and they do need love), let me love, in full measure.
Let me not anger easily, Lord but let me be just.
Permit my justice to be tempered in your mercy.
When I stand before them, Lord, let me look strong and good and honest and loving.
And let me be as strong and good and honest and loving as I look to them.
Help me to counsel the anxious, crack the covering of the shy, temper the
rambunctious with a gentle attitude.
Permit me to teach only the truth.
Help me to inspire them so that learning will not cease at the classroom door.
Let the lessons they learn make their lives fruitful and happy.
And, Lord, let me bring them to You.
Teach them through me to love You. 

Finally, permit me to learn the lessons they teach.

Chaos

Chaos- a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack of organization or order.

Chaos is the word that came to mind to describe the last two and a half weeks.  It has been a whirlwind of moving into a new house (after living out my car and sleeping on Jenna and Amber's floor for 5 days while they were fixing up the house), spending WAY too much money, cleaning and setting up my classroom, and attending training after training.  Some of those trainings included ReadWell for 2nd grade (p.s. I'm teaching 3rd grade), Positive Behavior Intervention Systems, district/state policies, SmartBoard, and Common Core Math curriculum.  O yeah, and at some point in there, I was preparing for the first day of school.  I prepared for the first day but then kinda forgot about the rest of the week until Monday night when I had no idea what I was going to do on Tuesday! Talk about learning a lesson.  I'm hoping to plan for the next TWO weeks over the course of this weekend.  

I made it though.  I survived my first week as a teacher.  And I only wondered what I had gotten myself into four or five times throughout the week! Ha ha! It is so much harder than I ever thought it would be but I also have no doubt in my mind that it is what I was born to do.  I love every single one of my 24 students (even the one that threw a chair on the first day...she's my mission this year and each day has gotten a little better).  We did a lot of culture building this week and I am SO ready to really get into the content next week.  We have so much to do and learn this year in order to reach our big goals and conquer mountains!  I'm including some pictures (my mom actually took all of them) of both my classroom and our house. Big shout out to my parents for driving over last weekend to bring my stuff and help me finish up my classroom.  Also HUGE thanks to Angie's parents!  They were here all last week and it was such a blessing to not have to worry about dinner or organizing the house or our plumbing issue.  They really took care of us and allowed us both to solely focus on school.  Thank you Lord for putting so many incredible people in my life.  

Angie and I in front of our house after church at First Baptist Hazlehurst!

My classroom before I cleaned, moved anything around, or did anything.

I spent a whole day cleaning out and reorganizing these shelves.

It was pretty boring...

We're climbing mountains in Room 508!

Behavior chart provided by the school but I added my own twist to it.

Of course I had to start with the BC!

Crazy to think that my kids are too young to even really know The Climb by Miley Cyrus.

Finally was able to hook up my projector to my laptop at the end of this week.  Technology has such an impact in a classroom!

Park Ranger and Positivity Regulator are definitely my favorite! Love seeing my kids encourage each other!

Still working on defining all these words for my kids.

Thanks to my Aunt Dee and mom for donating these "gear lockers".  Thank you notes from my kids for the "cages" as one calls them are coming soon!

Lots of changes

We finished up our First Eight Weeks Kick Off at Delta State last Wednesday and I took the opportunity of having a few days off to go home!  I spent some much needed time with my family, got a hair cut, hung out with my best friend Lisa in Atlanta (and did some shopping at IKEA), went to a wedding and got to see some of my closest friends from Berry, did some more shopping with Morgan in Rome, and then loaded up my car to head back to Mississippi!  I was in Georgia for less than a week and it was a very rushed few days with lots of people to see and things to do before officially moving.  Even amidst all of the craziness, it was still great just to be home for a few days and spend time with friends and family that have had such a deep impact on my life. 

I’ll post some pictures from the beautiful and super fun wedding of my good friend Trevor.  His now wife Kelsey battled and defeated leukemia this past year and their relationship is such an incredible representation of Christ’s love and the hope we have in the Lord as believers.  I really value my friendship with Trevor and am so excited for he and Kelsey as they begin their new life together.

In more recent news, I am now in Mississippi for good! The only bad part is that Angie and I cannot move into our house yet because they are still fixing a few things and painting.  We are hoping to be able to move in this weekend though!  In the meantime, I’ve been sleeping on some very generous friends’ floor in Byram. 

We started training on Wednesday with the Barksdale Reading Institute.  They work in four different schools in Mississippi and train and pay the administrators in those schools as well as train and provide coaching support for all of the teachers in Read Well.  So far, I have enjoyed it and am excited to implement it in my classroom!  Sitting in meetings/trainings, however, is not really my favorite thing to do.  Especially when there is so much work to be done in my classroom!  I know it is necessary and we start Hazlehurst training/pre-planning next week so there is time built in to work in our classrooms then. 

Hopefully by the next post I will have pictures to include of our new house (including the washer/dryer we just bought) and maybe even of my classroom!  There is lots of work to be done to prepare for the first day of school.  I cannot believe school starts in a week…where has the time gone!?!?! 

Thank you all for your prayers, support, and words of encouragement during the time of transition into this next season of life.  I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in Hazlehurst!

I can't believe he's married!!!

Crazy friend and one of the groomsmen, Will Reese!

Love this girl so much! 

My Story

Today started the first day of our four-day Orientation (also known as the First Eight Weeks Kick Off) where we are reflecting on the things we learned during our Institute experience and preparing for August and the first weeks of school.  The majority of our session today was about our story.  We talked about the character in our story (me), an inciting incident that motivates or moves us, the brutal facts or challenges we face or expect to face, and the vision of an ending.  It was very interesting as I realized that my story is basically a recreation of my life purpose that I formed when I was in Winshape.  They encouraged us to share our story through a letter or blog post so here goes…

I fell in love with Sonia at the orphanage during my 2nd trip.

I’m not sure at exactly what point it hit me but it was sometime during my second trip to Mexico.  The Lord opened my eyes to the need and despair of the children at the orphanage and the church where we held VBS.  Not only did He open my eyes but He also broke my heart.  My heart ached for the brown-eyed children who were born into a world of absolute poverty and who would very likely never see the world outside of Piedras Negras.  It was during that trip that I knew my life’s fulfillment would come through supporting and sharing the love of Christ with broken and hopeless children.

Some of the girls at the school in Nava, Mexico.

During my sophomore year of college I created my life purpose statement: "My life purpose is to love and encourage the children in the community where God has called, especially broken and orphaned Latinos, in order to develop in them a passion for education and to compel them to be full of hope, meaning, and purpose in the Lord."  It wasn't until my student teaching experience my senior year did I realize that the needs of the children in Rome, GA are in many cases the same as those beautiful brown-eyed children in Mexico that I had committed my life to serving.  It was then that I started looking into Teach for America.

One of the poorest neighborhoods in Piedras.

                                                                            When I was placed in the Mississippi Delta, I knew that I would face the realities of poverty and racism but I was not prepared for this.  During my summer school experience teaching Kindergarten in Belzoni, MS, I was shocked to see houses that made me think I was back in Mexico and to hear five year olds predict that "everyone is going to get shot" in a book with a picture of a family on the cover.  My purpose here became incredibly real to me over the last 5 weeks.  It is not to save these children from the failures of our history but instead it is to show them the love that comes only from our Savior and give them hope of who they can become.  

House down the street from my school in Belzoni, MS.

In just three weeks, I will begin teaching kids whom I was told not to assume have ever been to Jackson, 30 miles north of Hazlehurst.  I expect to have students not interested one bit in coming to school.  I know many of my students will be reading several years below grade-level and will get frustrated easily and want to give up.  I learned these lessons this summer; I had a number of kids who had never even been to school but already had negative connotations towards it.  I had parents who were very guarded and almost judgmental as we discussed the successes and failures of their children. Not only was I presented with the brutal facts of the situation and what I had to look forward to in August;  I also learned some ways to overcome them.  

A handful of my kids had rotten teeth, but all had beautiful smiles!

I had one student this summer who was a problem from day 1.  He was always in trouble and for the first two days of school, both he and I would leave school angry at one another (I taught the last hour of the day so of course he only left mad at me because I was the reason he didn't get a prize).  We had community night after the second night and of course this child and his mother showed up.  I was determined to share my frustration with his mother and ask what suggestions she might have for dealing with him.  Turns out she has some of the same problems at home.  Then I decided to actually talk to this child that I was struggling to love and just have a genuine, non-school related conversation.  Best decision I made all summer.  We formed a relationship which I realized we had not had.  Before, I was just the teacher and he was the kid who always needed to be in time out.  After our talk at community night, I was someone who wanted to hear about how much he loved dinosaurs and he knew that.  We talked about making right choices and thinking before getting angry over something he could have controlled.  He knew that I cared and that I believed he could do well.  Although he wasn't the perfect child the rest of the summer, he was definitely a different child than the one I had tried to ignore the first two days.  I learned about the power of relationships and the fact that before any learning can take place, a child needs to know that you care and believe in them.  It seems like common sense but for some reason it took this child to get it through to me.  Glad it happened this summer and not in October!        

Always have been a sucker for brown eyes.

While Institute opened my eyes to the issues that my kids and I will deal with every day, I also gained a lot of insight into how to combat those issues.  I definitely don't have all of the answers and know that there are plenty more challenges to come but I am so glad to have the support of TFA over the next two years.  Ultimately, it is my hope and desire that my students will leave my classroom feeling loved and valued, and with the knowledge they need in order to no longer be restricted by the injustices of our society.  It is so sad that my kids in the United States of America grow up with the same lack of opportunity as the kids that initially broke my heart in Mexico.

"One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education."