Overdue Post

Wow...well, I guess it's evident that school keeps me busy since I haven't posted since I went back to school!  It's hard to believe a quarter of the year has passed!  I'm enjoying working, but I'm still trying to adjust to this commuting teacher's schedule:

  I leave the house by 6:40 AM (some mornings, it's a little later...) to sit in traffic for an hour or so (The morning commute is so unpredictable, and sometimes it only takes me 40 min.  It really depends on interstate traffic, accidents, and lights functioning or malfunctioning).  School begins at 8:30 and ends for me at 3:50 which means I leave closer to 4:15 or 4:30 on some days.  I begin my commute home with my fingers crossed that it goes smoothly (once again, unpredictable).  It's hard to believe that I only work 16 miles from school with as much time as I spend on the road. 

So, now that I'm home, I begin cooking or preparing something to eat.  Thankfully my husband is more than willing to help me get things started since it is already 5:30. After eating, it's time to clean up the kitchen, get some work done that came home with me (grade papers, search for lesson ideas, plan for future units, blog hop for assessment ideas), spend time with Tyler, tidy up around the house, run an errand or two if needed, bathe, read, etc.  And now, it's time for bed.

I know that I shouldn't complain because most people have much busier schedules than I do, but I'm just trying to get the hang of it.  I couldn't imagine having to care for children too!  I hear of people running from soccer practice to gymnastics to piano, etc.  I'm so glad I have a many years before that becomes part of my weekly routine!

Pretty soon I'll be able to blog about my first year of marriage since our anniversary is coming up in November!  Can't wait to share the milestones of the past year as Mrs. Wales!

B2S= Back to School!

Where has the summer gone?!  It feels like these whirlwind months of June and July came and went without much warning, and now it's B2S time.  I love August for several reasons:  I love B2S sales at stores (this includes clothing and.....SCHOOL SUPPLIES), it's a birthday month in my family (Mom and brother), I get back into the school routine (consistency in schedules and routines make me happy), and....wait for it....I start getting paychecks again!

I cannot express how absolutely THRILLED I am to be at my new school this year.  Teachers technically went back to school yesterday, and all of those last minute finishing touches to the classroom are making things that were once a little fuzzy, unclear, and left me with uncertainty come together so nicely!  I am trying to do better than I did last year with "planning" ahead, and I started working on my first social studies unit today.  It's going to be pretty awesome!  I love how creative I get to be with the curriculum for these older kids (even though I loved the little ones in their own special way).  My first unit is on MAPS, and I think those are pretty fun, anyway.  I'm so looking forward to meeting my students, too!  I hear such great things at school about their personalities, their creativity, and their abilities, and I can't thank God enough for guiding me to the perfect place for me to teach.  I'll be keeping you updated!

DIY Fun-ness!

Here are the promised pictures...it was being silly earlier and wouldn't let me post:

Paper flowers- bouquet in progress

 

 Completed bouquet for desk in music/sewing room

 

Curtains made from 3 yards of fabric plus recycled sheers from my old bedroom

 

Sunflower painting semi-completed

 

 Messenger bag

 

 My favorite fabric in the WORLD made a cute grocery bag holder for the pantry

That's all for now...

Lately...

Don't you just LOVE summer?  Not the 100+ degree heat index or the humidity that causes one to sweat as soon as you open the front door, but don't you just love the open calendar (well, somewhat), the ability to stay up late and sleep in, and the "down time" that you never seem to have during the year?  Well, let me just say that this summer has been incredible thus far, and I still have over a month to enjoy it!  Yay for private school that starts school at a reasonable date!

Even though  my schedule's not packed as it is during the school year (mostly due to working 5 days a week from and ONLY having the weekend to get things done), I've been staying "busy" with little DIY projects, visits with friends, reading, and planning for school.  As far as my DIY projects, I've completed several sewing projects (which I will post pictures of these shortly) including:  curtains for music/sewing room, messenger bag, grocery bag holder, and hot/cold pack and wrap.  I've also been making paper flowers like CRAZY after I saw a tutorial post on the Jones Design Company blog/website.  Planning for school has really just begun...

I went last week for my first inservice to find out that I'll be team-teaching 3rd-5th grades.  I'm really excited about this, and have no clue how it will work yet, but we'll figure that out in time, haha!  I'm so thankful to have a job at a WONDERFUL school with new and WONDERFUL people that I can't wait to get to know.  I love the warm and friendly atmosphere when I go there (because of the building, it really feels like your in a home), and I am really looking forward to a fantastic year! I just finished reading "The Daily Five" which is the management/structure of their literacy block.  It's going to be fun to see this structure in action.  I have some more reading to do (Guided Reading for Grades 3-6 and 6 Traits of Writing), and that will keep me occupied on some of those lazy summer days.

Just been thinking about where I was just over a month ago, still job hunting, and I can't thank God enough for this awesome teaching opportunity.  To know that I have some flexibility and freedom in my instruction, and that I'll be able to really get to know my students (since I'll only have 16 this year) and their goals and needs, brings me such joy!  God knew exactly what I needed, and even with a little less pay than a public school can offer, I am confident that God will continue to provide for us.  He's always been faithful!

Our Weekend Getaway

Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone around town is having babies?!  (I really think it is just the age I am, because a few years ago everyone got engaged which leads to lots of weddings, and now babies).  Whatever the case is, I am thrilled for all those who are expecting or enjoying their brand new little ones, but just in case anyone's wondering (which no one is, I'm sure), our plans are to wait a few more years!  We love our little family:  me, Tyler, and Daisy the dog.  And if we had little ones right now, how could we have gone on our awesome weekend vacation last week?!

Seriously, Chicago may be one of my favorite cities to visit.  I mean, I've only been twice now, but I haven't been disappointed!  We took the train from Hammond to Chicago, which was a lovely and stress-free trip (unlike flying and having to deal with security, lay overs, baggage claim, etc.).  We arrived 15 min. before departure, walked on the train, picked our seats, placed our luggage in the overhead compartment, pulled out the leg rest, and enjoyed the ride.  We ate dinner in the dining car (Tyler got a steak, of course; I got baked chicken with veggies) which was delicious, and then enjoyed our audio books and roomy seats' leg rests for the rest of the evening.  We arrived around 10 the next morning in the Windy City, and walked into Union Station with our bags in hand straight to the McDonald's to eat hot cakes and sausage.  Yum!

We were fortunate enough to check in to our hotel early (we were so glad for showers!), and then headed off to see the city.  We were in walking distance to downtown, and decided that we'd take advantage of the mid-70 degree temperatures (that the Chicago natives were complaining about) and walk to Willis Tower.  The wait at Willis tower was over an hour and a half, and I didn't want to waste my day waiting for the elevator (I mean, literally).  So, we caught a bus (with our nifty and affordable unlimited CTA passes) and headed over to Navy Pier.  We enjoyed the ferris wheel, the views of Lake Michigan, fudge, and the souvenir shops there.  It's just a fun place to go, and did I mention how nice the weather was?!  Didn't get to go on a cruise around the city like we'd planned, but we'll save it for our next trip.  After a nice nap at the hotel, we went to eat at Cafe Ciao a few blocks from our hotel.  It was cute, quaint, and DELICIOUS.  I will go back next time I'm in town.  We were running a little late for our NKOTBSB concert, and we opted to walk the "approximately 8 blocks" from Cafe Ciao to the United Center instead of catching the bus.  Looking back, I don't know why we chose option A...it was a long way.  We made it inside and found our seats just before Jordin Sparks took the stage.  Then the squealing began and New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys made their grand entrance and put on a great and entertaining concert.  We finally made it back to the hotel after midnight after some public transportation fiasco:  day 1 complete.  Needless to say, we crashed and decided to sleep in the next day.

We woke up Sunday morning and packed up our things to head out for our last day.  We were thrilled to discover how easy it was to rent a storage locker at the train station, and we stored our bags there for the day.  We spent the entire day at the Museum of Science and Industry, and could have spent another day there if we had more time.  It was phenomenal.  It was a mixture of untouchable exhibits as well as hands-on discovery activities pertaining to the exhibits.  We did the Omnimax thing and went inside of a tornado, wandered through the space exhibits with actual capsules that had housed astronauts in space, looked down at a capture U-Boat and saw inside one of the torpedoes, and the list goes on and on.  It was three stories of great science and history exhibits, and I don't think we saw but half of them.  We can't wait to bring our niece and nephew with us when they're a little older and can enjoy it with us!  :)

We got back downtown that evening and went back to Union Station to get our bags and eat before leaving at 8PM.  It was a smooth and easy ride, and we arrived back in Hammond just after lunch the next day.  The first thing I wanted was a Coke from Sonic (no Sonic + no Coke= Chicago) :(  Can't wait to go back and enjoy more of the city sights!  It was definitely a wonderful weekend getaway!

Our "need" for idols

Don't you just love starting off the day soaking up some truth from God's word?  This morning I was reading about Sarah and Hagar and Abraham in Genesis 16 and in Genesis 21.  The current study that I'm using is entitled "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter and it's about confronting our modern-day idols and acknowledging God as the one true god.  It's been fantastic so far.  The chapter I'm currently reading  is all about why we have idols.  Today I read that many of us run to idols (defined in this book as "anything functioning as "God" in our lives") because we believe that they will bring us what we need.  Sarah "needed" a child, which back then was pretty important.  Sarah's desire to build her family was so great that she took things into her own hands when she perceived that God wasn't coming through for her.  So, she gave her servant Hagar to her husband so that she would bear a child for him.  Sarah decided to depend on Hagar (her functioning idol here) to fulfill her need.  This was Sarah's way, not God's way...Ugly things happened (Hagar does have a son, Ishmael), and Sarah ends of hating Hagar.  Lots of people were hurt, and it was just an all-around nasty situation.

Now, God's way...God fulfilled his promise to give Sarah and Abraham a child.  God's plan didn't involve a servant girl, and it didn't involve heartbreak and hurt.  "At the very time God had promised them" (21:2) Isaac was born, and Sarah and Abraham finally became parents.  God hadn't forgotten Sarah's need, and God didn't neglect to keep his promise.  But when we are waiting on God, it requires a little faith.  Sometimes it requires a lot of faith, the longer we wait.  However, God's plans for us are not to harm us.  God keeps his promises because God loves us.  

So instead of depending on ourselves, our friends, our jobs, our money, or whatever else is functioning as our idol in our time of waiting, let's just depend on God.  He's got the answers, and He will always come through- at the exact moment that is best.  I love that song by Jesus Culture that says "when the oceans rage, I don't have to be afraid, because Your love never fails."

Just coming out of a time of waiting, I can see now how God's plan and God's timing really are better than my own.  I hope that season of my life will always be a reminder of God's faithfulness even when the wait is hard.  Praying for some friends this morning who are waiting on their adoption from overseas.  I have a friend who is waiting for a job, just like I was.  My husband is waiting for classes to be offered so that he can finally graduate and be done with college.  Most of us are probably in some sort of waiting room.  I hope that we can be patient and faithful as we wait on the One who is faithful.

Ready for vacation!

Our Chicago vacation itinerary is complete!  I am so ready to get away and enjoy a fun trip with Tyler.  Here are some of the highlights of our trip: 

-Travel via Amtrak train
-Museum of Science and Industry
-Skydeck at Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)
-Backstreet Boys/New Kids on the Block concert
-Navy Pier
-Sightseeing cruise on Lake Michigan
-Moosejaw (for Tyler)
-Magnificent Mile Shopping/Sightseeing
-Millennium Park

Don't you wish you could come with us?!  It's going to be so much fun...plus the highs (temp.) are supposed to be in the 70's (a nice break from our 95+ degree weather).  Praying that the predicted rain holds off, though!  Windy City, here we come!