A Tribute...

I have been thinking a lot over the past couple weeks about the fighting over civil rights. It all started about two weeks ago when we were talking about courage in our classroom and emphasized the great things that Martin Luther King Jr. did during his life. Since then, I have found myself repeatedly thinking about what a different world we live in because of what civil rights activists fought for. I feel like it is on my mind more because of the classroom that I have. In my room, we have about 6 caucasians, 3 african americans, and about 18 latins. Looking at these dynamics make our room so interesting, and these kids have so much to learn from each other. I feel like the exposure to different demographics, characteristics, backgrounds, and races make these kids more accepting of people and cultures. We had a discussion the other day about what our classroom would have been like even sixty years ago. The kids came to the conclusion that they would never have been allowed to be in the same classroom. Many of them expressed concern because they have friends who are of a different race. They expressed frustration about fairness and equality. It was amazing to see them thinking about the reality of these situations. I just wanted to send out a tribute, since it is Martin Luther King Jr. day, to all the people who fought for integration, desegregation, and love. Thank you for your strength to change our world. We can change things if our hearts and minds are unmoveable.

A bit melancholy...

So I just returned last night from a wonderful 10 day vacation in Ecuador. We arrived on December 22, and spent the first three days in Quito. We enjoyed a wonderful Ecuadorian lunch at our maid's house, a great Christmas dinner with the Stucks, and a fantastic traditional fondue dinner for Christmas Eve. It was a bit different than our normal Christmases, but better that I could have ever asked for. On the 26th, we began our trek to the wonderful beach of Same with some old family friends...Stucks, Clines, Millers, and Paynes...an absolutely wonderful group of people. It is crazy to think that some of us having been vacationing together for 10 years now, and we are all grown up now. It was just like old times. We spent many a hours playing football, basketball, and mafia. We enjoyed the wonderful food of Bernabe's. We laid on the beach, and did our round robin dinners. We even braved an evening in the lively city of Atacames...it was just like old times. We returned to Quito the night of the 31st, with a brief stop at the ghetto fireworks stand, where we purchased a ton of illegal...but awesome fireworks.
What is Ecuador without a rocking New Year's Eve. The Clines hosted a wonderful party at their place, with games and snacks. At 11:00 we headed down to the park for a fireworks display, put on primarily by Riley and Austin...wow! It was awesome. A few close calls, some screams, and an hour later....we had surely set off the best fireworks in Quito. We rang in the new year with smoke, fire, and great friends. My last day was spent packing, enjoying time with my family, and a great evening with friends.
I boarded my plane early yesterday, the 2nd to return "home." It feels weird writing "home" because I still don't know what is home. I thought I was okay calling Denver home, but being back in Ecuador reaffirmed the reality that Ecuador really is my home. I have been in a melancholy mood all day today, almost on the verge of tears. I am not wanting to be in America right now....in all honesty, I miss Quito. I miss my sense of community there, and I miss my dear friends that I have spent so many years investing in.
I think the hardest thing about leaving Ecuador this time is not knowing when we will be going back. This was the last big sha-bang to Ecuador as a whole family. It was a great end, but it is definitely getting to my emotions not knowing when or IF I will return. I know this is really long, but it's been a processing in the making. I been thinking and going through a lot in my mind, so here it is....all written out!

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! 

Sickie...

So I think I have the stomach flu. I woke up about 2:30am feeling very nauseous, and was up the majority of the night. I skipped school today and just now managed to feed myself some chicken noodle soup...we'll see if I can keep it down. I have come to the conclusion that having the stomach flu is on of the worst things in this world....I hate it! My poor roommate was sick all last week with the same thing, and I had prayed that I had avoided the flu....however, I guess not. Please pray I am feeling better tomorrow because I have about 9 straight hours of parent/teacher conferences!