Sad Week

I'm supposed to be writing the next chapter of my dissertation, but that can wait.

Last week I was so so sick!  It came on suddenly and left just as quickly.  But not getting to see my guy for several days was not fun (I didn't want to get him sick, since he leaves for NYC next week).  Not to mention the thought of not getting to see my precious Heely next week if I was STILL sick was making me really sad.  Add on to that my last day at my first rotation was Friday, let's just say I was a ball of emotions last week.  Poor guy for putting up with it.

On thursday, I had my students feel out an evaluation on how they felt of me as a teacher.  Here are some of their sweet/funny responses:


"What was your favorite lesson I have taught?"

• "My favorite lesson was the skeletal system because we made a model"
• "When we drank the kool-aid" 
• "When we made the s'mores"
• "The model that I finished"

"What is your favorite memory of having me as a teacher?"

• "That you always help me a lot and made science really fun for everyone"
• "That you were always trying to help"
• "That you always helped everybody"
• "When you taught us kinetic energy, I really understand it a lot better than I did last year"
• "The first day I was here, you were the kindest teacher here"
• "The party"
• "When we ate the s'mores"
• "When I had a question, you were always there"
• "On your first day, everyone asked if your eyes were real or not"

"What is one thing I should change in order to be a better teacher?" 

• "Getting everyone quiet, p.s do not be afraid to yell"
• "I think you shouldn't change anything"
• "You're fine just the way you are"
• "You should come teach on Mondays instead of going to your college classes"
• "We could make s'mores more often"

"What would you like me to remember about you?"

• "I want you to remember me like one of the students you helped the most"
• "My name"
• "That I was loud"
• "As the kid with the jacked-up knee and the awesome handwriting"
• "How I am a bad kid"

"If you have anything else you would like me to know, tell me here"

• "You're the best teacher"
• "I would like that one day you could come back"
• You were one of my favorite teachers I have ever had and I hope to have you again"
• "Don't go"
• "Without you everyone will feel like they're in a trash with a lot of diapers in it."
• "You're going to be a great teacher and you have a good sense of fashion"

It made me so sad on Friday to have to leave them, and I will definitely always remember them.  They have left such an imprint on my heart and I just hope that somehow I have impacted their lives as well.

Poor Little Heely

Poor baby Heely has a fractured collar bone.

I know... it's the saddest,  most pathetic thing ever. Like I mentioned before, my sister had to have an emergency c-section.  Baby Heely was stuck in the birth canal and in order to get her out, one nurse had to sit on my sisters chest, and another had to push baby girl out in the other direction.  Somewhere along the way her little collar bone was fractured.

I take comfort in knowing that babies can't feel as much as we can, but still... Poor Little Thing.  She screams every time we try to change her clothes.   The doctor said she'll be good as new in a few weeks, and until then we will just need to be extra cautious with her little arm.  So pray for a speedy recovery for our sweet little girl.

Get Excited!

I just remembered....

A precious precious package came in the mail for me last week....

My DIPLOMA!!!

Oh.  My.  Gosh.

I am so stinking excited.

My parents always told me how much a college degree would mean to me, but I never thought it would mean this much.  It probably means so much because of all the hurdles I had to jump through to graduate on time.  But it is the single material thing I am the most proud of!  I can't wait to hang it in my office someday!

Half My Heart

Half my heart is in Central Arkansas still.  I didn't realize that leaving my precious niece would be so difficult,but it is.  I'm so jealous of everyone that gets to visit her and spend time with my sister.  Right now they are staying at my moms until Shannon recovers, and I'm so sad I can't be there to keep them company!

On a different note,  tomorrow is my first formal Pathwise observation!  I never get nervous for observations, but I do get a tad bit anxious for everything to be perfect and for my kids to be the angels that I know that can be :)   So if you think about it tomorrow, say an extra prayer for me!

Well, I'm pretty tired and need to get to school early in the morning, so a short blog post it is!

Heelyn Elyse Hanks

My precious baby niece arrived into this big world on Friday, October 22nd,2010 at 9:02 p.m.  She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz (exactly how much I weighed!) and was 21 1/2 inches long.  She's absolutely perfect.

My poor sister was in labor since 7:30 that morning and pushed for 3 1/2 hours determined to have her naturally.  She ended up having to have an emergency c-section.  We are just thankful they are both ok, happy, and healthy!

Very proud Grandma!

I'm so completely in love with her already.  She's precious and absolutely beautiful.  I love that she has my nose too, of all things!

Her poor little head is slight cone-shaped due to being in the birth canal for so slow.  You can't see but she has very strawberry blonde hair.  So.  Cute.

Right now baby and mom are doing wonderful.  They were released from the hospital today and Kyle, Shannon, and Heelyn are staying with my parents while Shannon finishes recovering.  My mom is thrilled to have a full week to spend loving on her grandbaby.

Baby Heelyn is on her way!

So I'm sitting in class--a class in which my professor insisted that we bring our computers to, bad idea-- and I'm very very bored as we analyze test scores and use excel to do way to many complicated math equations.  I thought I became a science teacher so I wouldn't have to do complicated math anymore.  Not so much so.  Anyway, so I'm bored and I thought I would update my blog since I seem to be straggling at that lately.  I might also change the look of it around.  Just maybe.

I got the greatest phone call EVER today!

My sister is in the early stages of labor!!!  She's dilated at 2 cm and the doctor told her if baby Heelyn doesn't come on her own, he will induce her on Friday!

Woo hoo!!!!

I get to meet and hold my precious niece this week!!!  I am SOOOOO excited!

I can hardly sit still I'm so excited!

Sunday

Sunday is my favorite day of the week.

My guy works in the world of retail, and as most know, those hours aren't always the greatest.  He typically works late nights and weekends and this sometimes makes seeing each other difficult because I work Mon-Fri 7:30-4ish.  But one of the things that amazes me the most about him is that I never have to ask for his attention.  I am his top priority, and I love it.  haha.

So back to Sundays.

My guy knows that I love Sundays, but in the beginning of our relationship he always had to work on Sundays.  Recently he told me that he switched his schedule so he would always have Sundays off and they would be my day.  Oh.... how I loved this.

No guy has ever done that before for me and it makes me feel so special.

So I love Sundays because they are "our" days.  We go to church, go to lunch, and then just do whatever.  All day.  It's absolutely wonderful.

And yes, we are still waiting on this little bundle of joy to make her appearance....

I can't wait to meet her!

As a Family

If there's one thing my mom always taught me growing up... it's this.

Whenever things got tough, whenever bad things happened, whenever we didn't know how we could possibly get through another day, she always told me we had to pick up the pieces and we'd get through it, "as a family".

When my sister got pregnant, unexpectedly at a young age,  "We'll get through this... as a family"

When my beloved Uncle died.  "We'll get through this, as a family"

Divorce.

Breaking my leg.

Having my heart broken.

Sudden Deaths of Close Friends

Pain

Fear

Loss

That's right... "As a family"

You see... Any problem that has affected one member of my family, has affected us all.  We all got through those difficult times by relying on each other, and relying on God.

So I knew today when I got that phone call that she'd tell me those words I'd heard all my life...

"We'll get through this, as a family"

And that's just what we'll do.  Because, you see, although life might throw twists and turns along the way.... it's always a beautiful ride.   And while cancer is the single, scariest word our human minds can process, it's not scary to God.  It gives Him the opportunity to show up in a BIG way.  And that's just what we need....

Document This

Let's document this!

For the FIRST time in my life, I actually got schoolwork done on a SATURDAY!!!

Ok, maybe its not the first time... but normally when I say I'm going to do something productive on a Saturday I procrastinate until Sunday and am super stressed (and hating that I didn't do it on Saturday) on Sunday.  

But seriously,  I got my first chapter 95% done!  Woo hoo! This is awesome because it means I will wake up with a fresh mind tomorrow and can go back in and add a few more thoughts to it.  I love being able to write this way because I always get more creative the second go around, unfortunately my procrastinating self doesn't allow for much of this!

So... YAY for me!!!

Distractions on a Saturday Afternoon

I'm supposed to be writing the first chapter of my dissertation, of which I've written only 4 sentences.  I guess it's a good thing I decided to get started on this on a Saturday instead of procrastinating until the usual Sunday which I'm infamous for.  Instead of writing about ESL study strategies, I would rather be doing a million other things such as....

Venturing to Starbucks for a seasonally Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Walking around the Farmer's market as I hear the familiar rumble of Bikes, Blues & BBQ which graces my lovely little town with the presence of thousands of bikers every October.

Finding great deals at Dillard's sales today.

Getting caught up on writing up lesson plans for my portfolio that were previously taught.

Oh well...  it's back to the drawing board.

On a brighter note though... I am very proud to say that since I have started teaching fully on my own I have only brought home one stack of papers to grade.  A very wise teacher once told me to never bring home papers to grade, and I hope to take his advice for my own teaching career.  It's all about taking advantage of the precious stolen moments throughout the day and arriving early each morning to get a jump start on the day!  I'm so thankful that I don't have thousands of papers to grade each night along with the other million things I must do every day!

Shannon's Maternity Photos- Sneak Preview

Could my sister be any more gorgeous?  Oh and it doesn't help that Summer Colclasure is an amazing photographer as well!