What I Want My Students to Know

Teaching is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is also the most rewarding thing I've ever done. Today, I had a couple of situations where I had to go out of my way, out of my job description, to get a student the help that he/she needed. I was thinking about this my whole (hour long if there's no traffic) drive home. 
I want my students (and their parent/guardian) to know that I am going to advocate for them.  I want to be known as a teacher who cares so immensely about her students.  I hope that my students know that I want what is best for them.  I hope they know that I love them. 
I pray for these students. I pray that they will know how cared for they are.  I pray that they will see Jesus through me. 
I find myself thinking about them when I'm doing things outside of school.  Do they have someone at home who can provide for them?  Did they get dinner tonight?  Did somebody pay the electric bill so they have A/C at their house? 
My heart is just so heavy with these thoughts lately. I hope that my students understand where I am coming from and why I am the way I am. I'm tough on my students because I care so much. 
I want my students to remember me as the teacher who made a difference in their lives. 

Life Lately (part 2)

What a crazy couple of months it has been since I have written. We have moved, unpacked (kinda...), got a new kitten, started the new school year, and had a hospital stay.  I am so thankful for everyone who helped us with the move! We are so blessed to have people who care about us in our lives. We still have some things in boxes, but I think I will get to those eventually  soon. :) Billy is the newest Abernathy. He is such a feisty little thing. He definitely knows how to get on our nerves, but he makes up for it by being extra cute. He is our indoor/outdoor kitty. Right now, he only hunts grasshoppers, but I'm hoping he will graduate to larger prey. 

I started back at Hutcheson JH this fall. It's amazing what a difference a year can make in terms of teaching experience. I learned so many different things last year and changed a lot of my procedures and how I run my classroom. It also helps that I don't have any "double block" classes. I had to get used to teaching everything I needed to cover in 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes. I love my students so much already. They are interested in learning and I can tell that they care about school. Last year, I did not love my job. I dreaded going to work every day. This year is such a different story. I love teaching, again! 

About a week ago, Thomas started complaining that his stomach hurt on the right side. He said he thought it might be appendicitis, but decided to wait and see if it got better. On Tuesday, he decided to make a doctors appointment. They couldn't seem him until Wednesday afternoon. When he went to the doctor, she told him to go ahead and go to the ER. (He calls me at this point and tells me that he is going to the ER. I'm in 7th period, trying not to panic) I decided to stay at school and get a little bit of grading done while he was still waiting to be seen by the doctor at the ER. When I got to the hospital, he had seen the doctor and had some blood work done. I went to get dinner and when I came back, they had just done a CT scan. The scan revealed that Thomas was right. It was appendicitis.

Wednesday night he had the appendectomy. I stayed the night at the hospital. The couch/bed/thing I slept on was not super comfy, but I was so glad that Thomas was okay. We got to go home Thursday evening. Everyone at Hutch was so great about helping me out with everything while I was out. I am so thankful to have an awesome team!!

Thomas is still recovering, but he is doing really well overall! Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes! 

Adios 2013!

Hey y'all! Happy 2014! I have a hard time grasping the fact that it is already 2014. 2013 absolutely flew by. I thought that I would post some highlights from 2013 so I won't forget them!

• In February Tom and I adopted Barli.
• On April 12 we celebrated our 7 year anniversary.
• On May 18 we got married and had a fabulous time celebrating with family and friends.
• In June I was hired to teach 8th grade math in Arlington.
• In July we were approved to rent a house in Mansfield.
• In August we moved into the house and Tom graduated from A&M.
• Later in August I started teaching!
• In September Tom started his job at Polk Mechanical.
• On September 11 Barli had her leg amputated.
• Throughout the fall we went to a few Texas A&M Football games (Rice, Vanderbilt, UTEP)
• We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in Mansfield.
• Christmas day we ate lunch at an Asian buffet

We have been so incredibly blessed this year. We are so looking forward to see what 2014 has in store for us. I have absolutely loved having these 2 weeks off of work. I definitely needed to have this time to reflect on the first semester of school and what I need to do differently in order to be the most effective teacher I can be during the second semester. Teaching has been a completely different experience than I was expecting. Please continue to pray for me during this second semester. I appreciate it, y'all! 

Long Time No See

Hey y'all! Sorry it has taken me so long to write again. I have been so incredibly busy! Thank You, Jesus, for these next 5 days off school!! I desperately needed them (and so did the students!). I have so many things on my mind right now. I feel like making a list. Lists calm me down and help me feel like I have slightly more control than I really do. 

• I love looking at stars and finding ones that I remember from taking astronomy in college. Tonight I found Venus and it comforted me. I guess it made me feel better because I know that I am not alone in this crazy universe. God created so much more than what we can see or even fathom. Here's the picture I took of Venus. 
  
• 3 years ago today I found my princess kitty. I can't believe that she is 4 years old! 
• We don't know Libby's or Barli's exact birth dates. I decided that the day I found Libby (November 26) would be her birthday. When we got Barli, we decided to make her birthday the same day as Libby's. We know Barli was born sometime in November, so November 26 sounded good! haha
• Teaching is the hardest thing I've ever done. Like ever. I don't know how people do it for 30+ years.
• I really, really, really love being married. It's like having a sleep over with my best friend every night. I am so glad that I found someone who I can share silence with.

Life Lately

Hi y'all! Sorry that I haven't written in what feels like 100 years! Did you know that having a full time job is not easy? I didn't know. I was definitely surprised. I honestly did not think it would be this hard. I hate feeling unprepared, but honestly, that's all I feel lately. I have such a great support system, though. I have really had to learn to rely on them and on God who is enough for me.  This morning while I was doing my Bible Study Fellowship lesson one question really stood out to me. It asked "What positive and/or negative thoughts does the word 'saved' bring to you? Why?" Here's my answer: "Rescue - I am completely helpless without God's gift of salvation. I NEED to be saved, rescued. It's not a matter of need versus want... It's not up for debate. I NEED a Savior." That's what I have realized over the past 4 weeks of school. I cannot do this without Him. I tried. Ask me how that went. The past 2 days where I've started my day with God, meeting Him in my kitchen before school, have been INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT than the other days I've been at school. I have had more patience, more empathy, the students have been better behaved. I know that it's God.  A little update on Barli: She had her leg amputated today. This was an extremely difficult decision to make. I posted my thoughts on it here. My super awesome, loving, caring, stud muffin husband dropped her off at the vet this morning. I am so thankful that he was able to do it so that I didn't have to. I am having a really hard time with this. I feel so silly for crying about it, but it literally makes me cry. We will pick her up either Friday evening or Saturday morning. What I keep thinking is that I'll never see my dog with all her limbs again. Please pray for me that I'll have peace with our decision and for Barli's recovery! 

My Hope is in Him

Remember this post? I know it wasn't posted all too long ago, but it is my most read post. I love that people have seen what I wrote about how God's will cannot be stopped! I have learned that so many times this past year.
It was almost exactly this time last year when I was offered the Dallas position. On Monday the 17th, I interviewed for a position at Hutcheson Junior High in Arlington. I initially was interviewing for a science position, but after talking with the principal for a while, we got to talking about how much I love math. I was able to change his mind about what position he was interviewing me for (which I think is cool) and he told me that he would be considering me for an 8th grade math position. I got a call Tuesday afternoon from the principal officially offering me the position! I cannot tell you how much of a relief it was to receive that call! The LORD was so there with me during the whole interview. I felt so calm and collected. I had been praying that He would give me the right words to help convey my points and help the interviewer understand where I was coming from. Obviously God was with me! I cannot believe that after a year of looking, God has found where He wants me to be.

I am beyond thrilled to be joining the staff at Hutch and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this year! Please continue to pray for me as I start my first year of teaching. Pray that I have patience, that my students will know how much I care for them, that the staff will welcome me and be willing to help me when I need it, and that I will be a light for everyone that I meet! Thank you, LORD!!!

His Perfect Will

If you don't know me in real life, let me tell you a little bit about me! I grew up in Mansfield, TX, a small (but fast growing) town outside of Fort Worth. I graduated from Mansfield High School in 2008 and started classes at Texas A&M University that fall. I graduated from A&M in May 2012 with a degree in Math and Science Education.

I, like most college grads, fully expected to have a job right out of college. I applied for countless numbers of jobs, and was severely disappointed when all my peers were receiving calls for interviews while I was still waiting to hear from one school. I finally received a call from a Dallas ISD school wanting me to interview for a 4th grade position. I was so nervous! My first interview went pretty well, I think. I don't remember much of it at all. I drove back down to College Station (I was living in CS for the summer) and sometime in the same week I received a call for another interview, this time in Red Oak. I drove back to DFW and interviewed for a 5/6th grade math position. This interview, I remember, went really well. So well that they had me interview with the curriculum director of the district. I went back to CS and sometime that week, I got a call from the Dallas school offering me the position. I didn't pray about it, I didn't talk to Tom about it, I just decided that the first job I got offered is the one I should take. To make this long story a little bit shorter, the entire thing fell through. It was really sketchy and I thank God every day that I did not end up at that school.

That doesn't mean that I didn't still want a classroom. I had 6 or so more interviews, which led to my tutoring position at Farrell Elementary in Arlington. This job was such a blessing. I was in 3rd grade (a little young for me) helping prep the kids for their upcoming STAAR test. I started at the end of October and finished at the end of April. I learned so incredibly much while working at Farrell. I learned all about Response To Intervention (RTI), strategies for teaching language arts and reading. I am so thankful for the team I worked with at Farrell. They helped me become a much better teacher and I don't know where I would be without them!

Now it's the end of the school year and I'm seeing all my peers from A&M talking about packing up their classrooms and how they feel about it being the end of the year and here I am, still jobless, not sure where I'll be next year, not knowing where Tom and I will be living. I am having to choose to think positively about this! I cannot let Satan get a grip on my mind and let me think that I am not good enough to be a teacher, that I won't get a job, that nobody wants me. I have to rely on my knowledge of God, that His perfect will cannot be thwarted, that He has a plan for me and it is far greater than anything I could ever imagine. I have to know that He is making me wait because there is something out there that is meant for me. I have to remember that God's timing is perfect. I have to continue to pray for His guidance, that He will lead me to the place that I am meant to be. My favorite verse that has helped me so much during this entire process is Exodus 14:14 "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." I find so much comfort in the fact that my God is bigger than anything in this world and that He fights for me every second of every day! Thank You, LORD, for Your amazing promise to fight for me!!