A day couldn't get any worse...

I now can say that I confidently understand the saying, "When it rains, it pours."

Yesterday was a day like that.

1. It all started by having a conference with a parent who withdrew her child from our class because of an incident/threat from another student.

2. The day continued with another conference with another parent, in which we were left with the only option of asking mom to take this student to another school because he was not being helped in our school.

3. Lastly, we had a student picked up by social services last night because of abuse in the home. Yikes!

All this to say, yesterday was a rough today. I am trying to have a positive outlook on life today, but my heart hurts for these kids, my eyes burn because of the many tears shed yesterday, and my head hurts because I was up all night worrying and having terrible dreams about these kids. Pray for them...they need it! Life isn't fair and these kids don't deserve the situation they've been put in...all we can do now is hand them over to Jesus.

My kids are walking in...I gotta go! Sionara...

blessed by the life i've been given...

So, Friday was a bit of an interesting day at school! I know that majority of you who read this remember me talking about a little munchkin. He was in my class last year and is also in my class again this year. He is a piece of work and I love him to death. Last year, we had a ton of behavior issues and he was just wanting attention. I have managed to build a really good relationship with him over the past two years.

When we got back to school this year, we found out he had been initiated into one of the worst gangs in Aurora (realize, he is 9). We have had parents complain of their children being exposed to gang signs, gang pictures, and lingo. Also, we found out that he has pulled knives on kids at the park close to his house. He has also been making sexual innuendos to both boys and girls in our class....ahh, makes my heart break. Well Friday during spelling he was his normal self, joking around, and some foul language got involved (nothing new, of course...we've heard it all out of his mouth). My co-teacher and our paraprofessional ignored the language, as we usually do and he tends to stop. He continued to be disrespectful and then started talking about gang stuff again, how it's cool to hurt kids. Lastly, he was pretending to be smoking weed and offering it to kids around him. At that point, my co took him to the director's office. We come to find draw pictures of weed and joints, along with more of the gang symbols. He was at this point suspended until Wednesday.

I struggle with this situation. Oh, the hours I have spent praying for this kid over the past years. I know the suspension needed to happen in order for mom to maybe wake up, but I know that all he has been doing all weekend long is hanging out with those gang kids. He has more time now where he doesn't have to go to school, so he thinks its a vacation. If you think about this little mister...just pray! I keep hoping that if enough prayers are lifted up, we can change this situation....that's a bit of my heart today. 

grace....patience....and a lot of energy!

Whoa, I cannot believe we are already in November. The weather is turning chilly in Colorado, and I just don't like it. I get to school when it's dark and I leave when it's dark...no me gusta por nada! 

I have to admit, school is blatantly just kicking my keister. I cannot seem to get ahead. I keep telling myself that it will get better. I think I entered this year feeling very confident and excited, even though I was going to be in a brand new grade level. At this point, I sometimes want to quit. I feel like a first year teacher all over again. The things I did last year, don't work this year. The lessons I spent hours on last year, don't work this year. It's all new content, it's a whole new level of independence, and there are days like today when I feel like I suck as a teacher. I would like to ask you to pray for creativity, for passion, and for energy over the next 3 weeks. I realized today that in exactly 20 days, I will be sitting in the presence of my amazing family enjoying the thanksgiving holidays...I need grace and patience to reign in me over the next 20 days. Please pray with me...

Life is just busy....

So I had my dear friend Laura over for dinner last night, she was in town visiting an old high-school friend. She repeatedly stated that I was bad at blogging....hmm, I have definitely heard that one a lot in the past. I'm not sure what it is about being so bad at this, but often times I just don't feel like I have a lot going on in my life besides teaching. Though you all love me very much, I doubt you want to read post over post over post about teaching. I am going to attempt....keyword here...to be better at informing people of the happenings in my life. So, here we go....

Last night, as I said Laura came over for dinner with her little button...Sally Jane. Oh my gosh, I swear that she is cutest baby ever! She was so good, and just hung out with us. I got my baby-fix and I forget how stinking cute they are. Remember, I work with 9 year olds all-day, but I miss the babies! :( 

Friday night, I went to a dud of a halloween party with my roommate Brit and some girls from school. We dressed up as the girls from Grey's which was fun....however, the party was lame. We ended up sitting on the couch talking about school, hmm, how fun does that sound? Got home late and crashed, slept for over 12 hours. AMAZING! 

I have come to the conclusion that I am not sure if I like Fall Back, because I worry too much about getting off on my sleeping patterns. I woke up this morning at 7:30 (normal time), which because of fall back is 6:30. I convinced myself that it was too early to get up, so I laid in bed until about 9:00/8:00. Now I have that jet-lag, feeling hungover headache that doesn't go away! Hmm...not so fun.

Well, as I said, here is my first attempt at being better. I will post some pictures from this weekend when I get them downloaded...Later gators!