Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A Blessed Life

Eric and I were looking on Facebook yesterday and saw that someone had posted a new blog. He went on and on about how stupid it is to have a blog and that nobody cares enough to actually read it. While he was saying all of this I remembered that I set up a blog about a year ago and never kept up with it! So here I am, blogging, my husband would be so proud.

It is very interesting, and exciting to see how my life has changed over the past few years. 2009 was my dry season, my season of learning to wait upon the Lord. It was a very difficult year to say the least. Last new years I knew that 2010 was going to be different; I knew something was coming and I was so very excited. God had told me in November of 2009 to wait until March of 2010 for something big to happen in my life. He also told me that in the summer of 2010 I would be planning my wedding. Well on March 11, 2010 I met a guy named Eric Matthews. Josh and Paige had mentioned him to me before and now Josh was making it happen! He introduced us after ZOE and that is all it took, three months later decided to get married and here we are now married!

In 2010 I also graduated college, I was all set to move to Austin and teach there. I didn’t know anyone in Austin but my best friend was planning on going to grad school there. I asked God that if I was supposed to move to Austin that Sarah would get into UT. This wasn’t a big request in my mind, Sarah was Vice President of the student body at Texas Tech and a straight A student. I got a call later that week from Sarah, she had gotten into every school she applied to except for UT. I asked God that if he wanted me in Lubbock than to give me a big reason to stay in Lubbock. The next day I met Eric....

I had prayed and prayed for a teaching job in Lubbock but it was not looking good. I interviewed at several places but was either turned down or just knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wasn’t suppose to work there. LISD was my top pick but they weren’t hiring at all. I had pretty much come to the realization that I wasn’t going to get a teaching job my first semester out of college. It was about 2 weeks before elementary schools started back and I was helping my sister paint her new kitchen when I got a call from the principle at Preston Smith Elementary with LISD. The next day I interviewed and a few hours later I got a call saying they wanted me as their new fifth grade teacher!!! I was so excited, just when all hope was lost God showed up.

Needless to say, 2010 was a year of tremendous blessings over my life. I have always heard the old saying "when God shuts a door he opens a window." I saw this happen over and over in my life. OUR GOD IS SO FAITHFULL! I have been blessed with such amazing people in my life, an amazing family, a wonderful job, and an unbelievable husband! Eric and I are so excited to see what God has in store for 2011. We are still learning so much about each other and having a blast doing so!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Student Teaching

I am actually sitting in my fourth grade classroom right now. The students are gone to PE and i have nothing else to do! I am in my fifth week of student teaching and it is getting better every day. Im not going to lie; my first couple of weeks were rough. I was pretty sure i had chosen the wrong Carrier and wanted nothing to do with teaching. I am now dong my full teach, which is when i am basically the students full time teacher. I make the lesson plans and stand up in front of the class all day. now that i am actually the one relating to the students teaching has become so much fun! i absolutely love my 4th graders! i have never wanted to teach anything over 2nd grade but now i never want to teach anything below 4th grade. My students are hilarious and keep me entertained all day. I am tired pretty much all of the time but at the same time i look forward to coming to Honey Elementary every morning. I will leave Honey is 2 weeks and move to Roosevelt, at first i was very excited about leaving but now i know i am going to miss these kids terribly. This semester has been extremely busy for me, i student teach all day and then go and work at a daycare. I never realized how much i enjoy talking to people my own age until i was surrounded by 10 year olds for 15 hours every day!

I am very excited about what God has for me. You know that feeling when you know something bigs about to happen? kinda like you have been in a waiting period for a really long time and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know God has something coming for me and i am not positive what it is. Im kinda hoping its a move! If my plan and Gods planned could match up then that would be great. My plan is to move to Austin this summer and teach there for a few years. Im really hoping Gods plan is in the same ballpark as mine :) i know whatever his plan is will be greater than anything ive imagined! I cant remember the last time i was this excited about something, this anchore of school that ive had attached to me for the past 4 years is about to be gone and i cant wait to see whats next!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

trying out this blogging thing

So i have read many blogs over the years and get a great laugh from most of them. I figured this blogging thing has been around for years yet i have never actually done it. I always thought it was a little weird to write out your thoughts for the world to read but eh i guess none of my thoughts are really all the private so ill let you all in :)

I am about to finish my 7th semester of school, tomorrow is my last day. It is so hard to believe i am about to graduate from college.I feel that over the past 4 years my life has changed so much. I have learned so much about myself and about the things God has for me. I have grown up so much compared to where i was when i was 18. I have met so many people over my college years and so many people have come in and out of my life. It is amazing to see the different seasons i have had come and go within the past 4 years and i have learned so much within each season.

Although i have had so much change over the past 4 years i realized that family always remains the same. Not necessarily as people they never change but as a family we always find the same things comforting. I am sitting here at midnight watching "Whose Line Is It Anyways" with my brother, a tradition we have carried on for almost 8 years without actually noticing it has become a tradition. For some reason Jay and i can never seem to go to bed before 1AM even if we have to be awake at 7:00 we always stay up and watch TV together. Its something so simple but one of the few things i missed when i lived in Abilene. When i think about my life changing and the new chapters i have ahead, it is things like watching stupid shows with Jay and the comfort of just being home that i will miss the most.

I am going to be a real grown up next year with a real job which is exciting yet scary at the same time. I change my mind almost everyday on where i want to teach and where i want to be. Today i was working in the childcare room at Zachs Club and they were watching "suite life on deck" which is these two boys whose mom is a singer on a cruise ship and the boys live on the boat and go to school there. So as of right now my goal is to become a teacher on a cruise ship. I dont think things like this really exist but i figured it was worth a shot. Some days i want to just stay in Lubbock and teach in schools i am familiar with but other days i want to move to Seattle, Austin, San Fransisco or anywhere fun. But if there is one thing i have learned over the years it is; usually whatever i plan in my head is not what God has planned for me. Its something i just got to ride out till the very end and see where i end up.