The 77th Dear ____ Post

Dear Rain, We had you almost continuously for a little over 20 hours, starting yesterday morning and ending this morning. You made for interesting conditions walking home from a friend's house last night and made for an incredibly cool night last night. I did enjoy the nice breeze and cool temps you brought. But I'm not the biggest fan of being drenched while walking home or wondering if the streets are going to flood, causing damage to people's homes around the city. I think you should just come in lighter doses from now on. Cool things off for a bit. But try not to bring so much that floods occur. Yep. That's sounds good.

Dear Fried Rice, You've always been one of my most favorite foods. I made you earlier this week. You may not have been as good as some I've had before, but you still were pretty tasty. I think you're going to be a fairly common meal from now on... Yay for easy recipes! :)

Dear Fish Tacos, I made you with a friend last night. You are probably my favorite dish made with fish. ...so good!

Dear Sabrina (the movie), I watched you for the first time last night. I was a little skeptical at first. But you know what... You turned out to be a really good movie. Yay for happy endings! :)

Dear Working in My Classroom, You were my plan for all day today. But considering it looked like a monsoon had hit when I looked outside this morning, I chose to wait to start you 'til a little later. Now I'm here, finishing up this post, and I'll start on you. It's always nice working in my classroom, playing my worship music, and talking to all the students that walk by my window and stop to say hi.

Dear Alabama Football, You start back today. This day always makes me a little homesick. I wish I could be watching that first game with my family, cheering on our favorite team. But that's ok. I'm wearing my Bama shirt here and will watch at least part of you tonight before heading to bed. Here's hoping for a good season and yet another National Championship title. Roll Tide! :)

Dear Updated Teaching Certificate, I finally have the corrected version of you. You came a couple weeks ago, but included a (pretty major) typo. So after one phone call with an incredible rude employee of the State Dept., I finally got the corrected version of you in the mail yesterday. It makes me happy seeing that extra line at the top, saying I'm qualified to teach ESL. It makes all those years of staying up late (and waking up early) to study worth it.

Dear Teaching ESL, I think I'm starting to love you...finally! It's been hard. Anything new and unfamiliar is often difficult at first. But I'm finally feeling like I'm getting the hang of it. I think I'll always miss teaching elementary school - just like I've missed teaching Special Ed. since I left that. But I do enjoy you. I love feeling like I'm making a difference in the lives of my students. I love when that "lightbulb" goes off and a student finally gets something they've been struggling with. I love getting to know a new group of students. I love having students ask me to come watch them play sports or listen to them play music. I just love my job! :)

Dear Lunch, Tomorrow I'll be having you with the other Kids Club workers. I've been praying that we'd have some other staff members/adults be willing to join with us and help teach our kids. And we got them! I'm so thankful for these people. I can't wait to see what God has in store for our elementary kids this year! I'm so thankful to be a part of this awesome ministry!

Dear Cutest Animal Picture, You're what a friend sent me this week. She knows I love these cute little guys, so she emailed me this picture. It definitely made me smile :)