What's Up December

Happy Wednesday Y'all

Today, I'm joining Shay, and Sheaffer for their What's Up Wednesday link-up. 

Every month we answer the same list of questions based on how things are currently going in our lives. And since Christmas falls on the last Wednesday of the month, we're sharing our usual What's Up Wednesday post a week early.

The questions are...

 

What am I eating?

The other night, I made dinner for my Drama Team and the guys who will be helping us with sound and lights for our big Christmas Program. Spaghetti and Meatballs, Green Beans, and Garlic Bread was what was on the menu. The biggest surprise of the night, though, was seeing how it was, indeed, possible to fit a total of 20 people in my tiny little apartment. It was noisy and fun. And I loved every minute! :)

 

What am I reminiscing about?

Christmas of my last year teaching Elementary (5th grade)... My class decor theme for the year was "Rockstar" themed. And I called my 5th graders "Rockstars" all year. So naturally, I gave them a fun rockstar-themed gift for Christmas.

This class was such a fun one. It was a big class (big for DA, that is). But they were such a great group of kids. They still are! I love that now, as 8th graders, the ones who are still here at DA will often stop by and say hi periodically. :)

 

What am I loving?

I'm loving hanging out with these kiddos each week. They're such a great group of kids. And they're so incredibly talented. The other night was their big Christmas program. And it turned out so well! I loved seeing all their creativity and talent in action. It was such a fun night! And while this picture is from our practice night, I love it because it shows them all in one shot. Y'all... Seriously, I am so proud of this group of kids. They've dealt with me, a newbie to leading this program/team, and they've made it through two of their biggest programs/performances of the year, dealing with all sorts of issues along the way. And they've just done so so well!

What have I been up to?

All things Christmas - We had our Kids Club Christmas party last week. Then we had our class party this past Friday. We had our big Drama Christmas Program on Sunday. And over the course of the past two weekends, there have been our Elementary and our MS/HS Christmas concerts/programs. Not to mention a few fun Christmas crafts with my younger students and some fun Christmas coloring for my older students to tackle after they finished their midterms... So yeah - It's been all things Christmas over here, for sure :)

What am I dreading?

Let's be honest. I love traveling. I love flying. I even love waiting around in the airport. But, what I dread/hate the most is sitting in a cramped seat on a plane with very little leg room for hours and hours. That part is so not enjoyable!

What am I working on?

As of this afternoon, I won't be doing any work for a full 2 weeks. Ah, Christmas Break, you are finally (well, almost) here. I am so very happy to see your arrival. Because while I truly do love what I do, I am so very happy to NOT be working for a little while. Just saying :)

What am I excited about?

Have I mentioned getting to see my family soon? :)

What am I watching?

After their exam this morning, a few of my kids are hanging around 'til the bell rings. They didn't have a scheduled exam during the last exam slot today. So I told them  I'd let them watch a fun Christmas movie of their choice. So we'll be watching Home Alone and having a Home Alone Party, complete with cheese pizza and pepsi :)

As for me, personally... I have been super busy with various things happening at school and finishing up the class I was taking, too. So I haven't really watched much in the last couple weeks.

What am I reading?

Other than the Bible and the devotional book I'm reading, I haven't read a lot the last few weeks, due to how busy I've been with everything that was happening at school. However, Christmas Break is here (well, after administering today's exams). So I have a couple books packed in my carry-on, ready to read on the long flights back to the States.

What am I listening to?

Christmas music, of course :)

What am I wearing?

I've been wearing these reindeer antlers as much as professionally possible. After all, they do make my day far more fun :)


 

What am I doing this weekend?

Spending time with my family! I'll head to the airport tonight. And then my flight leaves in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow and I'll be in my sweet home Alabama for 2 full weeks. I'm so ready to see my family again!

What am I looking forward to next month?

I love my family. I love spending time with my family and being back in the U.S. However, at the same time, I love the work I'm doing. So yes, I'm also looking forward to getting back to Dakar on January 2nd, which is a few days before I have to be back. This will give me some time to work in my classroom a bit before the craziness of my "normal" schedule resumes with the arrival of 2nd semester.

What else is new?

My latest class FINALLY finished. This one was definitely informative. But this 8 weeks about did me in. I'm definitely not as sharp as I used to be when it comes to working long hours and taking a class too. I'm so glad I have a month before my next class starts. :)

And that's what I'm up to this month.

What about you?

What are YOU up to this month?

Favorites from the Week

This week's edition of Friday Favorites is full of some things which have brought a smile to my face recently. Things like...

How about cute little kids, playing with puppets one day, since they finished their assignment early? 

 

Or a Christmas party in Kids Club, which included ice cream and coloring :)

Or memories from Christmases in the past...



Finishing up the class I was taking definitely made me smile.

Our Staff Christmas party was a fun night, full of smile producing moments.



And Saturdays at the ball field make me smile too. In fact, I told a friend yesterday that it makes me sad to not be able to go this week.

  

 And yes, when those days at the field include watching games, ice cream, and a bit of green grass... Well, that's definitely worth a few smiles, too :)



 Seeing my students loving the Bible always makes me smile!



Another thing that's made me smile recently is all the work that's gone into preparing for our Drama Christmas Program that's happening this weekend. I'm so excited to see all of their hard work and creativity pay off :)



And speaking of those props pictured above, another fun, smile-producing moment from the week was having this sweet girl helping me "jazz up" the props, by adding glitter to a few of them...

 

Knowing that I'll be seeing my two favorite nieces in less than a week has most definitely made me smile this week. After all, look at those cute little silly smiling faces. Oh my word, I so miss these two little girls :)

 There are so many other things (and people) that have made me smile recently. I could be here for days typing if I listed them all...

So what has made YOU smile recently?

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Today, I'm joining Erika, Andrea, and Narci and for their weekly Friday Favorites linkup and sharing about a few favorites from the past few weeks, which have made me smile :)

Click one of their names to and join the favorites fun, too.

Oxygen Mask

Want to know what's on my mind today?

Oxygen Masks 

One of the safety announcements you hear on a plane is...

In the event of a change in cabin air pressure, oxygen masks will drop. Please put the mask over your face to begin oxygen flow. 

But it's what they say next that's been on my mind...

Apply your oxygen mask FIRST before assisting others.

So, when I saw the image below floating around Facebook, it got me thinking.



I'm a member of a few different teacher-themed groups on Facebook. And lately I've been noticing a trend in almost all of them...

Almost every day, there are a handful of people who post about being burned out or totally exhausted and even some from teachers who are questioning whether they even want to continue in the field of teaching at all.

Have I felt that way? 

Honestly... I was on the verge of burn out at one point in my teaching career. My schedule kept getting fuller and fuller and there was no reprieve in sight. And I felt that if Christmas Break would not have come when it did, I just would not have made it much longer. 

And that's coming from me... 

Someone who 100% prides herself in following the passion and the call God has placed on her life. 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I live and breathe teaching.

And yet, there I was...

Consistently putting the "oxygen mask" on my students - 100% meeting their needs, doing whatever it took to teach them, to differentiate as necessary to meet their individualized needs, to help them grow and succeed, to see they left my room feeling loved and encouraged...

I did it all.

And then I would go home after school and crash.

I stopped having people over (something I love).

I stopped going places after school/in the evenings (which I love to do).

Basically, every single evening, I would come home, crash on the sofa and rotate between watching a mindless TV show and sleeping through a mindless TV show. And I would do that until it was time to go to bed at night.

I was basically coasting through life, so to speak.

And then Christmas Break came.

And I finally had some time to stop and breathe and reflect. 

And do you know what I realized?

I realized two things.

~ one ~

 I was succeeding at my job of teaching/taking care of the students. I was meeting all of their needs. They were learning. They were happy. They always felt loved and encouraged. Yet, I was failing at taking care of myself. 



Or to use the oxygen mask example... I was so busy applying all of their oxygen masks, that I'd forgotten my own and as a result, I was struggling to breathe.

 ~ two ~

I'd forgotten something even bigger than that...

I'd gotten so busy in the day to day responsibilities of my job, that I'd forgotten to focus on The One who gives me breath in the first place. I'd gotten so busy in my work, that my own prayer and Bible study time was slacking. 


The irony of this is that my job - which is a ministry related job, no less, includes teaching children the Bible and all about God's goodness. 

So there I was, studying the Bible enough to prepare lessons for my students... Praying with my students in class, praying for their needs, praying for their requests, praying before meals... 

Yet, at the same time, I was bottling up all of my own feelings/requests... I was keeping them all tucked away inside and not handing them over to God. I was dealing with some stuff and not giving control over to God. 

I spent so much time and energy on my job (my ministry) that I had no time and energy to spend on myself. I was exhausted all the time. I was super stressed. I was not physically/mentally/emotionally healthy. I know that. And I put on a brave/strong front. I continued to excel at my job. But internally, I was a mess.

So what did I do?

I had a nice, long chat with God, the giver of breath and life.

I asked Him to help me.

I asked Him to help me give it all to Him...

My students and myself.

And I asked Him to help me to better take care of myself so I could continue to take care of these precious gifts He'd allowed me to teach. 

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Today, I'm joining Ashley and Erika for their monthly Tuesday Talk link-up, where we, bloggers, come together and talk about whatever is on our mind at the moment.

And yes, I do realize that it's Friday :)

If you missed my previous Tuesday Talk posts this year, you can click on the links below to check each of them out.

January - Introduction to Me

February - The Little Things

 March - You Might Be A Special Ed Teacher If...

April - Spring Break in America

May - Home Assignments  

June - He's here.

* No post in July *

August - A Lesson on God's Provision and Love

September - Who Holds the Future

October - Do It Again by Elevation Worship 

 * No post in November *

I'm a Teacher

 For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a teacher. This goal never changed. In fact, I always told anyone who would ask... When I grow up, I want to be a teacher, a wife, and a mommy. 

Some of my earliest memories are of me lining up all of my stuffed animals and dolls and "teaching" them some lesson I'd created or forcing my little brother to sit still and be my student as I pretended to be his teacher.

In 2008, I graduated with a B.S. in both Elementary Education and Special Education. I was blessed to get hired on fairly soon after graduation as an Inclusion-based Special Education Teacher at the school where I did my student teaching/internship. I absolutely loved it!

Now, fast forward 11 years...

I've earned a Master's in Teaching ESL. And I'm currently working towards a second Master's in Teaching Exceptional Children (Special Ed) with an Dyslexia Endorsement/Certification. I've now taught in 3 schools (in 2 different countries). I've taught General Ed. Elementary, ESL, Inclusion-based Special Ed., and Self-Contained-based Special Ed.

I love teaching. I know that it is truly what I was called to do. And thankfully, God furthered that calling by adding missions in the mix. So I've been able to have the privilege of calling myself a Missionary Teacher.

Teaching isn't always easy.

And teaching overseas definitely isn't always easy.

But it's worth it.



Will I always be a teacher?

I don't know. 

I honestly don't know what the future holds.

But for now, I can honestly say...

I love what I do.

I love that I can say...

I'm a Teacher.



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Today, I'm joining Erika, Andrea, and Narci and for their weekly Friday Favorites linkup and sharing about my favorite of a job :)

Click one of their names to and join the favorites fun, too.

Currently

 Happy Thursday Y'all

Today I'm joining Anne from In Residence for her monthly link-up, where we share what's currently going on in our lives. And each month, Anne gives us a list of prompts to use to guide our posts. 

December's prompts are...

  * wrapping *  baking * lighting * sending * enjoying *

I'm currently wrapping up prep on semester exams. This week, we're working through our last few new lessons. Next week, we'll wrap those up and then start on exam review. And then the following week will be Exam Week.

This'll be me in just a couple weeks :)

I'm currently baking nothing. However, next week, I will be doing a lot of baking. We have the Kids Club party, our class party, and a Drama Team dinner, as well.

I'm currently lighting the tree in my classroom each morning when I get to school. I so love Christmas lights. And while I won't decorate at home since I won't be home for Christmas, I will totally decorate my classroom. Ah, I so love Christmas lights and decorations and all of that :)

I'm currently sending New Year's cards (or at least, I will in another couple weeks) to family and missions supporters. Since I just sent out a missions update letter, I thought it might be a bit soon to send a Christmas card. Therefore, the idea for a New Year's card seemed like a good one :)

I'm currently enjoying the anticipation of the arrival of Christmas. I love how excited my students are. I love getting to do so many Christmas crafts with my younger students. I love seeing their joy over the sparkling lights on the tree. I especially love teaching in a Christian school at this time of year, allowing me to share about the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I just love it all. Christmas is such a fun time of year!

And since it’s my blog, and I can, here are a few more Currentlys :)

I'm currently feeling ready to see my nieces (and the rest of my family, too, of course) again. Ah, I can't wait! :)

  I'm currently finishing up the assignments for my class. Everything is due next Tuesday. And then I'll be finished for a month. As much as I love learning and researching and all of that, I must say... I'll definitely be glad when I have a break from being in student mode.

Ok, so I've started them, obviously. But I still thought this was funny :)

I'm currently reading through the book of Luke in the days leading up to Christmas. I'm reading a chapter a night and journaling through that. And I must say, I really am enjoying it. 

  So what about you?

What are your currently up to?