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Encouragement

God is so good to me.

Last week was one of the longest and hardest weeks I have had in a very long time. I was incredibly discouraged almost every day and really feeling the pressure of my job. I always seem to have so much to do, yet I am not the kind of person that can stay up all hours of the night and function on less than 8 hours of sleep.

I think the correct description of my current state would be "burnt out".

Yet God is faithful and good.

My wonderful husband has been amazing this past week. He cooked dinner for us every night and rubbed my feet/back/neck when they really hurt. He helps me grade if he can and then does other tedious jobs for me. Today he cleaned the entire apartment while I wrote lesson plans. He never complains, but serves me and loves me. I just love that God has blessed me with him!

Teaching is hard. I won't lie. I am challenged every day to love my students and not whine or complain about anything I am supposed to do. Most of the time I feel completely overwhelmed but the Lord sustains me.

Monday was a particulary stressful trial. I called Carolyn on the way home because I knew she would listen as I talked and then provide me with much-needed encouragement. That night, at 2 in the morning, I got the longest text message in the world:

"I am praying that as you wake up this morning that you put your hope in Christ to affirm you and uphold you emotionally and spiritually and that you would acknowledge that He supplies you from His own power with strength to endure with patience. I am convinced that the verse I quoted is of the very heartbeat of our Daddy God who cares so much more about our dependency on Him and surrender to Him than about giving us the answers we plead for. Wake up this morning and thank Him first for this opportunity to see His power, to know more of His providence and to worship Him despite what it seems to be costing you. Before you open the door to your classroom just present your requests to Him, rest in His peace and say, “Unless You build the house, its builders labor in vain (Ps. 127). Jesus, I love You. This is for You, Love.” I am thanking Him for having already answered you. Remember that He is a God who calls us His dearly loved children (Eph. 5), who delivers us from our fears (Ps. 34) and who created the Earth and the land (Jonah). So go be a testimony to the joy and hope that Jesus gives despite the weight of the world. I love you and I am praying for you. Your Love has got you. And He is so pleased with you and wants you to know that. :)"

Later that evening I received a second message from her:

"One of the things that God has taught me in the past couple of years is that whenever I am struggling in one way or another or in a place of attack or sin, that I am just one small stone of a temple and that what I am undergoing is for the building up of the whole body, not just my own sanctification. Most of the time, what God allows me to experience is for the purpose of intercession. I may not know who it is that I am praying for, but I am reminded that I have a brother or sister somewhere who needs prayer for the same thing I am dealing with and so I pray for them instead of for myself. There is someone God wants you to be praying for while you are experiencing this discouragement. Someone is experiencing the same things."

Did I not tell you that God is good? I love my sister! I hope you don't mind that I posted this, Carolyn. I think others will be blessed by your words.

Tonight I am tired and I have a lot ahead of me this week. Please pray that I will rest in the Lord and rely on Him for strength. :)

Goodnight!

I Love Thursdays

Writing on here is like talking to a long lost friend.

I miss you, friend.

Life has been filled with school, 8th graders, dead car batteries, trips to College Station and wonderful conversations with my girls.

My Thursday Girls.

Every Thursday, I get to breathe, get to pray for others, and get to share ideas and life.

Thursdays are like an almost-the-end-of-the-week pick me up. Eight or so of us girls meet downtown and bond over lattes and bagels with cream cheese. We leave when it's dark knowing that we are loved and prayed for.

We started off our group as four girls who had been led to Houston but had never lived here before. We felt alone as we began our next big stage(s) of life: new jobs (and marriage, for some o us). We prayed for God to bless our group and God gave us big visions and dreams for our little meetings on Thursday nights.

Since February, we have more than doubled in size and continue to grow almost every week. The way that God has woven our lives together is really quite incredible. We challenge each other, encourage each other and devote time to one another in prayer as we desire to live lives that are pleasing to God.

I love Thursdays. If you are a girl who lives in Houston and you're looking for some friends, feel free to email me and I can give you details of the group. We'd love to have you.

-K

Sunday Night Break

I guess it's been a pretty eventful week. I've been crazy busy and barely had any time for rest.

Friday was going to be a wonderfully relaxing day where I barely had to use any energy, but that changed once I found out that I had a flat tire after arriving at school. It was flat flat. I spent the day trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get home since Austin had five appointments that day. I thought I would be able to get someone to come change it while I was teaching, but apparently no one does that. Austin ended up being able to come with one of his colleagues after school to change the tire. Unfortunately, that meant that I left school at seven pm. On a Friday.

I've been pretty lucky though, with cars. I've never been pulled over, gotten a ticket of any sort, been in a wreck, or had any sort of emergency happen while driving. I should count myself blessed!

Saturday made up for the fact that Friday was pretty exhausting. Austin and I had breakfast at Buffalo Grille (yum) and then spent the morning browsing around Cactus Records. Austin is pretty retro - we have a record player in our living room. No CD player, radio or iPod player.... just a record player. I would say that most of our "entertainment" money is spent on music and movies. We love going to Half Price Books or pawn shops and looking for records or CDs. Austin normally buys records, and I buy CDs. Austin suggested that we go to Cactus Records to look for a "modern" record for me. I don't get excited about classic rock, so the only kind of stuff I listen to on record is either Frank Sinatra or musical soundtracks.

Cactus Records has a lot of new artists' music on record. However, the only things that I found that I liked were some Coldplay albums that I already had on CD and then a giant compilation of John Mayer live performances. That's what I really wanted - it had 4 records full of my favorite John Mayer songs. But the collection was $41 so we decided against it.

Instead, I left the store with Mat Kearney's new CD. I found it used for half the price that you'd normally find it! :-)

We spent the rest of the day at the Galleria, drinking the tea samples from Teavana and trying to find Austin some new jeans. No other guy on the planet seems to be his size - tall and skinny. Apparently if you're tall, you're fat, and if you're skinny, you're short. You can't be both according to Macy's.

Today I've been working on school stuff all afternoon. It never stops! I should probably keep going since I'd like to be in bed in an hour.

Goodnight friends!

Every Weekend Should Be Three Days Long!

Yahoo Labor Day!

I have enjoyed it immensely. I went with Austin, his parents, and his sister and brother-in-law to the Farm for the weekend. It was great to relax and enjoy sleeping and hanging out. I probably ate too much food but it was wonderful to have time away.

Some exciting news: Kristin, Austin's sister, is going to have a baby and she just found out the gender of the baby on Thursday! She's going to have a girl! I'm excited because girls are all I know. It's going to be great being an aunt. Austin and I say that it's a practice run before we have our own children. ;-)

So I've taught for two weeks already. It's flying by! My kids are pretty great for the most part. I have four amazing periods and two periods that are on the challenging side. I just reorganized the seating charts so hopefully things will be better from now on! The only bad thing right now is that this weekend I started feeling a little under the weather. I'm achey and have a really stuffed up nose. I've been using my sinus rinse since I started feeling bad and taking Airborne like nobody's business, so hopefully I can kick it in the butt soon. I hate feeling sick!

Oh, one more thing to make the sick thing worse - Austin and I got home this evening and discovered that our water doesn't work. We asked our neighbors if they were having the same problem and they said they didn't have water either. Fun, fun. If we don't have water in the morning I will NOT be a happy camper.

Right now, we can't even flush the toilet.

Or wash our hands.

Gross.

Well, I need to go finish getting ready for this week. I'm going to bed early tonight!

-Katie

The First Two Days

Since I have a spare minute or two, I'll update you guys on my first two days of school!

Yesterday went really well. I met my precious kiddos (did I mention that I LOVE middle school students??) and they are amazing. I have one class that will be a challenge because I have something like 24 boys and 6 girls. They won't quit talking! I have some quiet classes and some classes that are going to be a blast.

It's going to be a good year.

Last night was not as fun as the day, however. I got home with a migraine and was exhausted from not sleeping well and waking up at 5 am. I still had a lot to do and I was overwhelmed. Luckily, I am married to a wonderful man who loves to help me! He did so much work for me last night and I didn't break down in tears like I thought I would. He even brought me some pretty purple flowers and a bottle of blush wine. :-)

Today went well also. It was more like a regular day so we went over procedures and rules of the classroom. I don't like talking for 40 minutes but it was necessary to get everything done.

The best part of my day was receiving an email from an angry parent saying that she wanted to have a conference with me, her daughter and the principal. Her daughter asked to use her cell phone at the end of class to tell her mom that her bus was late. I said no, and apparently that was completely unacceptable. After I got the email I immediately looked up cell phone use in the middle school handbook and I was relieved. Sure enough, it says students cannot use cell phones on campus, even to inform parents of late buses. It's even in bold and underlined.

The principal replied so I wouldn't have to.

Whew!

I was surprised that a parent would get so upset about that. The student is the sweetest girl ever and didn't even complain or whine when I told her "no".

Sigh...

Tomorrow we start "real school". Yay for science safety training!

I also get to meet with my mentor to let her know how the last two days went.

So far, so good.

And now it's time to plan for tomorrow.

-Katie

Tomorrow

...is my first day of school!

I think I am as ready as I can be. I can't believe it's finally here.

Please pray for me! I will probably be nervous.

-K

School is... Around the Corner

"Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

Name that movie. There's a clue in my post title. Gotta be one of my favorite movie lines ever. I really want to make a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils just to have one to look at. I imagine a bouquet of pencils to look something like this (just no cup and all sharp pointy ends facing up):

However, this is much prettier:

Mmmm.

School.

If you haven't been able to tell by the fact I've been missing from the blog world for weeks, my life is crazy.

I just spent two weeks going to teacher trainings every day. There's nothing more exhausting than sitting in a chair for 6 1/2 hours every day. I honestly think I've gained weight from it (None of my pants fit, anyways... I want something to blame. No, I'm not pregnant.).

I left my school today feeling pretty prepared for next week. My room looks great, if I do say so myself! It's big and beautiful and has lots of bright colors in it. I wanted it to be a place that felt fun and exciting, and I think I got there. It is so surreal to think that my room will be filled with wonderful 8th graders in just three short days.

My team is great so far. I have been bonding with several teachers and my school is finally beginning to feel like home. Last semester was... horrible, really. I remember feeling so lost and not "with it". My students were terrible and I felt like a failure as a teacher. I really hope that this year will be better. I have had quite a few people tell me that this year is going to be a great year. You know, it is really nice to hear that from people!

I am so glad that I have a super awesome mentor. She is the department head and I knew her last semester. She is so helpful and I know that I am really blessed to have her as a mentor. Plus, she's an Aggie. :-)

Really, I never expected to feel like this just days away from starting my first real teaching job. Over the summer I was a nervous wreck. I told my girls group to pray for me and so for weeks they have been praying that I would have peace. One of the girls told me a while back to meditate on the fact that God is always present with me and that I am not alone. I just love that. I can tell you that I am so comfortably chill right now as a result of that meditation. I don't feel alone and I don't feel stressed. I have so much peace right now and it is amazing! I'm not even completely prepared and I feel great!

Today I was walking down the hallway after visiting another new teacher (I just know we're going to bond), I thought about how blessed I am. I wasn't 100% sure that I was going to like it at my school, but I still trusted God. I didn't want to teach 8th grade science, but I still trusted God. Now, I am grateful that I don't know what's ahead and He does! I have an amazing new school to teach at, a wonderful group of teachers to learn from and get help from, and I'm really excited about teaching 8th grade science. TAKS scores were not great last year and so I see it as a challenge to bring up those grades.

Thank you, Lord, for everything. :-)

So I promise that this was going to be longer than this. My brain is exhausted from working for 9 hours straight today.

At least I got free lunch today.

And a $150 gift certificate to the teacher store.

Sweet.

-Katie

I Swear,

I have very good intentions of writing on here soon.

I check this page every day and think about how I want to write.

I have lots to write about.

Just not much time.

But soon.

-K

Mmm, Science Fiction.

One of the things about getting married is that you do things that your spouse likes to do. One thing Austin enjoys is watching sci fi movies. He enjoys this a lot. I had the privilege of watching all the Star Wars movies with him and now I'm watching the Star Trek movies (starting with #2 because apparently the first one was pretty crappy). I'll be honest though - I don't really get into this stuff. I think most of them are kinda corny. I did watch the new Star Trek movie with him and I liked that, mostly because the special effects were up-to-date. Still, I love to watch these movies because Austin loves them. :)

So today I spent nine hours with two children: a 9-month-old and an 11-month old. Fun times. I absolutely love babies and the crazy screaming/crying/pooping does not stress me out, but having two babies do that at the same time is slightly overwhelming. They were not siblings (obviously) so there was only one of everything and that was difficult, especially since the 11-month-old is a toy thief. Nap time was super fun because 9-month old refused to sleep in her crib (she wanted to be held) and 11-month-old cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep. I have these kids for the next two days and I have some new and different strategies cooked up in my mind...

Well, this whole blogging thing is keeping me from watching the movie, so I'm out.
-Katie

The Slate Has Evolved...

I have been doing a lot of comparison shopping for my teaching supplies. As it turns out (and I predicted this), the teacher supply store prices are insane. I am not going to pay over two dollars for a single Expo dry erase marker.

Right now, Walmart is the place to buy some of the basics. Their glue sticks are 25 cents and you get two in a package. I spent $3.75 for 30 glue sticks, and you can buy the exact same thing at Office Depot for $13.99. Give me a break! You can also get Crayola colored pencils (12) for a buck. For those of you interested, Big Lots is the place to buy scissors - you get a pair of those antibacterial ones for a dollar, and they aren't the kiddie ones. I think a 14-year-old can be trusted with normal scissors.

I went to Hobby Lobby also and found a little gem in the clearance section. I had seen this new invention on the Container Store website and thought it looked cool, but not cool enough to spend $19.95 on.






It's called the Cocoa Slate, and it's basically a customizable dry erase board. It's double-sided with clear plastic on each side and a slot to put your own paper in the middle. This was ideal for me because when I am teaching, I often reach for paper to show a student how to do a certain math problem, diagram or graph. I use a LOT of paper this way, and I thought I could save some money buy "going green" with the dry erase board. The Slate also comes with a CD with over 500 inserts that you can just print out and stick inside. (I just discovered that http://www.cocoaliving.com/ has the same templates for free, just in case you lose your CD. Very handy!) Ingenius.

Hobby Lobby had these in the clearance section for just under $11. I bought one and I love it! It came with magnets but I think I'm just going to hang it by the handle. I have a feeling that my students will want to play with it. I might make it a reward for good behavior/work. :)

In other news, Austin and I went to Denton last weekend to see my family for the 4th of July. It was a lot of fun! My Pop (dad's dad) was there and so we got to see him. We played a lot of card games and enjoyed seeing everyone.

While at home, I found a CD that I had forgotten about. A few years ago, a man named Andy Gullahorn came to Community Church (my church in College Station) and did a little show. I think he was friends with Ross King or something. I bought his CD and then never really listened to it. I brought it back to Houston and I am now in love! His music is amazing and I love his clever and humorous lyrics.

Some really exciting news now - I'm going to be an aunt!! Austin's sister is pregnant and due just after our one year anniversary. I have already decided that it's going to be a girl, but I guess we'll see!

I think those are the only updates I have for right now... I wanted to post some pictures but the memory card from our camera is not being identified by my lovely laptop. I'll get Austin to fix it later. ;-)

Love to you all!

-Katie

Any Minute Now...

I always get really antsy around the time that Austin gets home. It's like I am by myself all day and then in the evening I get reminded that there's this other person I live with who is about to return so I switch out of "hermit" mode and get really excited!!! Yay for conversation and hanging out!

I heard that USA beat Spain at soccer?? That's about all I know, but since when was the US good at soccer? This is news to me. I guess we're pretty much awesome!

So for some reason my car's AC has decided that it will go crazy on me. Why it chose the summer to freak out is beyond me. The air still blows but the actual air conditioning stops. So it's just blowing insanely hot (and humid, might I add) air around the car instead of cooling me down. I tend to arrive at my chosen destinations in a pool of sticky sweat. Not so awesome. Austin and I just hope the car lasts through the summer and long enough for me to start getting big-girl paychecks. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

I just remembered that I haven't checked my Google tracking thing for this blog in a few months. Apparently I am down over 17% in the number of visits to my website. I don't know exactly what it means, but I think it has to do with the fact that I rarely update anymore. Oops.

Well, my back is starting to hurt since I'm sitting on the floor in my dining room, so I'm gonna end this post and get to the nearest couch.

Peace!

My Big-Girl Job is Scaring Me...

The summer is in full swing. I am enjoying my "off" time but in the back of my head I can't stop thinking about school.

What goes through my head most of the time is I have so much to do.

I feel like I haven't got the slightest clue where to start. I want to buy things for my classroom. But what do I need?

What is the best way to organize the classroom? How should I arrange the seating?

What do I do on the first day of school?

What if my kids get horrible test scores and I feel like a failure for teaching them nothing?

It's at times like these that I just have to switch my worrying off and tell God my concerns. He cares for me.

I want a teacher with one or two years under their belt to go shopping with me and help me furnish my classroom because I feel overwhelmed.

Okay, enough about school.

The one downside to summers are the gazillion weddings. I'm not sure how many I've been to so far but I still have at least three or so to go. Thankfully, the next two weekends are wedding-free. Austin and I are going on a camping/the Farm trip with our Sunday School group and then next weekend we are going to see my family up in Dallas. Pop's going to be there and I'm so excited!

I have stuff I need to do now so I'll have to write again later.
-K

June 6, 2007

Two years ago was a special day - I met Austin for the first time! I can't believe that it's only been two years. And we've been married for 5 months. You do the math. :) We don't waste time! No, we are not planning on having kids soon. That we can wait on!

Since I haven't written in forever, I have so much to update on. Since you don't want to read a novel, I will use bullet points and summarize:

• My birthday came and gone. We left for New York on my birthday and headed to Austin's cousin's wedding. Afterwards, we hung out in the city for a few days. I got to see two Broadway shows: Phantom of the Opera and Mary Poppins. They were both incredible!
  
• School has ended. I am breathing a sigh of relief because that long-term sub job was HARD! I am now officially excited about teaching for real next year. I am trying to plan how to organize and decorate my classroom. I want it to be cozy, clean and fun. Austin and I went to IKEA today and I got a lot of ideas!
  
• It's SUMMER! Which means lots of time to plan, prepare, chill, hang out and relax. It's going to be awesome.
  
• Austin is paying for me to have voice lessons this summer from his own voice coach. I am excited and a little nervous. I love singing, but not in front of people. He's hoping that these lessons will give me confidence in my abilities. He might be more excited about them than I am!

I think that's pretty much it. I am watching Sister Act right now with Austin and so I need to pay more attention. :)

-Katie

Perks of the Job

Last week I got to hide in a dark, locked classroom for 30 or so minutes while one of my students was escorted past my classroom and out of the building.

Actually, he ended up going to ISS.

I was responsible for getting him suspended and this student has a history of attacking teachers (no joke here - there was a lockdown at the school 2 months ago).

So just in case, the assistant principal told me I should get somewhere safe.

You're never really prepared for that sort of thing.

The fun part was that he was back in my class the following day.

Oh boy.

5-Minute Update

1. I have a job! I will be teaching 8th grade science at Baines (where I am doing the long-term sub job now) next year. I've been told the current 7th graders are awesome so I am super excited.

2. This means that I am a Longhorn... which I never thought I'd say.

3. Austin brought me flowers and a candy bar today because I had a break down last night. Things at school were getting overwhelming and I wanted to quit.

4. I didn't quit. I was extra cheerful today knowing that God gives me strength and helps me love my not-always-so-precious 8th graders.

5. I have returned to the world of grading and feeling super tired. I have a feeling it will be like this for a while.

6. A huge chunk of my students are failing. Yayyy previous teacher.

7. It's relationship status season again! That's what happens in the spring - relationship statuses change. People start dating, they break up or they get engaged or married. Seriously, check Facebook and you'll see.

8. Austin's watching some sci fi movie that I have no interest in. It will make it that much easier to grade.

9. Back to grading!

10. -Katie

"Don't touch me! You have swine flu!"

Seriously. I have heard that phrase a million times this week.

Every 8th grader is convinced that a) the person sitting next to them has swine flu and b) they will catch swine flu and die.

They Chlorox-wiped down their desks yesterday and 1/2 of a large bottle of anti-bac hand gel is gone already (after a day).

And I get to teach these kids all day.

Tomorrow is day one of 8th grade TAKS - it was supposed to be today but since Houston flooded and school was canceled on Tuesday, everything was pushed back a day. The social studies test is on Monday so yay... TAKS gets to last even longer this year!

I really hope that I get to be a bathroom monitor so I can actually read something. If I am put in a classroom (which they can totally do since I am a certified teacher) I will cry.

Speaking of crying, I almost broke down at school today.

I wrote 4 referrals and confiscated a phone. Then the science specialist wrote some more referrals. It wasn't too pretty.

Let's see... one student said my voice was annoying and he "just thought he'd let me know". Later he called me racist after I wrote him a referral. Two girls threw hissy fits after I wrote them referrals too and I wanted to pull my hair out. One girl kept arguing with me about why it was so unfair.

"Unfair...??? Let me tell you about unfair!" I wanted to scream.

Unfair is the way I am treated every day!

Yet I pray that God gives me the patience and love to persevere and return each day. These kids need so much love.

The funny thing is, despite the way that "mean Mrs. Cox" appeared in the classrooms today, I still had kids telling me that I was their favorite teacher.

"Seriously, Mrs. Cox, we didn't learn anything until you got here. We have learned more in the past two weeks than in the past 8 months."

That just about made my tough day worth it.

That, and 7th period. Unfortunately I had to start the period by warning them: "At least 5 referrals have been written today and I took away a phone and gave it to the principal. Seriously. Don't mess with me."

God blessed me with amazingly well-behaved students for the last 50 minutes of the day. They were awesome! I got to spend all my time with three special ed kiddos who needed the attention so badly.

I love working with struggling students. It really is a passion of mine. I don't think I have a gift for working with all special ed kids, but I do like to work with really struggling ones. We played a science review board game that the science specialist had made for them. Most kids thought the game was boring and didn't take it seriously, but the sped kids loved it. I sat with them and read the questions and made sure that they didn't hog the dice or roll again if they got a one. It was the best part of my day, and they didn't even finish the game (which is crazy since most groups played about 5 times during the lesson).

Now I am physically exhausted yet emotionally and spiritually energized after meeting with my Bible study girls. We really need a name of some sort. I am truly blessed by our weekly meetings. I love my girls!

I think I'm going to go take a nice hot bath.

Goodnight, friends!

-Katie

P.S. I found the picture above online... it made me laugh! I am seriously going to do this if we all are forced to wear masks! Which makes me think... do the masks really do a lot? Surely it can't really protect you very well... (Maybe I'm stupid...?)

No School

Due to the crazy weather yesterday and this morning, Fort Bend ISD is closed! It was a surprise to me this morning, although I was trying to figure out how I would get all the way over to the school I'm at with the flooding that occurred.

So I have a rainy day!

What am I going to do with my rainy day?

Right now, I am enjoying relaxing on my bed and listening to John Mayer's album Heavier Things. It's great rainy day music (and winter music... and mellow music...). I think I'll spend my day cleaning and organizing and menu planning. Maybe I'll even make it to the grocery store. We'll see.

The day is full of possibilities.

-Katie

P.S. The photo above was taken by my sister Kellie. You can view her amazing work here and here.

Ok, So Maybe I Want to Teach 8th Grade Now...

Did I mention that I have a job?

Heck yes.

Not a real-life grown-up job, but a long-term sub job. (We're working on the grown-up one...)

I get to teach science to 8th graders!!! Their teacher is sick or something (been out for 2 weeks already... could be gone all year, who knows. Could be gone forever... = possible job?!?!)

Anyways, today was my second day. It is going great so far! I love the kids and they are already begging me to stay and be their teacher from now on. I guess that's a good sign. :-)

I got the job because I subbed at the middle school last week and asked about jobs for next year. They said they didn't have any openings at that moment but were looking for a long term sub and asked me if I had a lot of experience teaching science.

Oh, did I.

I sent in my resume that afternoon after meeting the principal and assistant principal (and it just so happened that I was subbing for the science department head that day... so I met her, too). The next morning, I got a call telling me they wanted me to be the long-term sub! They actually wanted me to start last Wednesday (the day I got the call) but I still had other sub jobs for the rest of the week. So I started yesterday.

It's a new school with great teachers and kids bored out of their minds (well, the class I am taking over anyways)!! Today we made a model of a chunk of land and cut it in half so we could model the three different types of faults. I was absolutely shocked because the kids LOVED it - they told me they had never done anything that fun before!

Are you kidding me? These poor students!!! Apparently their teacher just made them read from the textbook. I wanted to cry when I heard that.

I can't take the credit for the fun activity, though. We have a science specialist in the school who has been planning all their lessons. According to the students and two teachers, they really haven't learnt anything all year and are at risk of failing the TAKS.

I am so glad that God has given me this opportunity. I can't wait to get to know the students better.

Oh and one random thing - after I introduced myself yesterday and told a brief summary of my life story, a student came up to me at the end of class. She told me that she was born in England and lived there until 2 years ago! I asked her where she lived and she said Leicestershire. I about died because NO ONE seems to know about that area! She lived in Oadby, only 3.5 miles from the center of Leicester, where I used to shop and attend church. Her house was about an 18 minute drive from where I used to live.

Imagine that!?!

She had even heard of my junior high/high school.

I wanted to hug her. :-)

It's a small world.

-Katie

He's Not Finished With Me Yet...

This week has left me wondering why my life has turned out the way that it has. At this point in my life, I am searching for a job as a middle school science teacher. If you would have told the 10-year-old me this, I probably would have laughed, and not believed it. When I was younger, my interests were much different.

Art was my passion when I was in elementary school and middle school. I carried around this art case that had a ton of sketchbooks, how-to books, pencils and other artistic utensils inside. I loved that thing. I would sit for hours and draw people's faces.

When I was seven, my parents bought an acre of land (and didn't build on it until I was 20). I was fascinated by the blueprints for our future house and became obsessed with drawing my own blueprints. I would color them and add furniture and everything. For a very long time, I wanted to be an architect.

Art was such a huge part of my life all through middle school. It was my best subject in school and I wanted to continue taking art classes. However, I could only choose three extra subjects to take after 8th grade. I had chosen art, design technology and information technology, but the teachers would not allow me to take 3 classes that all had huge projects as part of their coursework - the limit was 2. For some insane reason, I decided to take art off my list and take German instead. I was very good at German, but I look back now and wonder why on earth I thought it was more important than information technology (that class was horrible - my only B).

From that point on, art started getting squeezed out of my life. I still had design technology and I loved it. I got to make things with wood, metal and plastic and still be creative. It was my favorite class ever, hands down. I wanted to continue taking it after my sophomore year of high school but my school didn't offer it. It was at that point in my life that I chose to take math, chemistry and English literature for my junior and senior years of high school. The art was gone forever.

Suddenly my life had gone from art-filled to science/math-filled. I had always loved science and math but I had never thought that I would choose a job related to those subjects. I went to college thinking I wanted to major in engineering, but after a year of painful physics classes I changed my mind and choose teaching.

I got to take one art class during my sophomore year of college and I loved it (my teacher said I was the best in class... which was the best compliment ever).

Thinking about all of this just made me think: why? Why did all those things happen that shut art of my life? Recently in Bible study we were talking about creative gifts that God had given us and the ways that we used them. While answering that question I realized that it was a part of me that was missing. I felt like I have lost part of my personality.

That hit me hard.

I talked about it with Austin a lot. I wondered why God wanted me to pursue something that was completely different to what I was passionate about as a child. I am passionate about teaching math and science to middle school students now, but it is something I would never have expected. I still miss art.

I believe that God allows us to make choices for ourselves instead of choosing every single detail of our lives for us, but still has a plan for us. I know that I will never know why I was supposed to be a science teacher instead of an architect or an art teacher. But I trust God and will follow Him.

The title of my post is from a song called "Wait and See" by Brandon Heath. Look it up if you don't know it. I love that God is not finished with me yet and He still has a plan for me! I am excited to find out what it is. :)

I know that as far as art goes, I plan to incorperate a lot of art into my science classes. I'm not sure exactly how yet, but it's going to be awesome!

-Katie

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11