The First Day of the Rest of My Life. . . Well, Almost =]

Well it is official, student teaching is now underway, it has begun,it is currently happening!! FINALLy is all I can say!! Woohoo!! And let me tell you it is so awesome, I am completely LOVING it!! Seriously, I love it so much even I can't believe it! Ok, I guess I will start from the begining.

In case you didn't have a chance to read the previous post, I am in Miss Newsom's first grade classroom. To be completely honest, this was not the grade I wanted to be in at all! Not even a little bit. I really wanted 2nd, but I also like the bigger elementary kids (2nd-4th or 5th). However, there was no one else available that had either been teaching long enough, or didn't already have a student teacher, hence me going to first grade. Let me tell you though, I could not be HAPPIER! I am so glad I am there. The first day of school was great, it was wonderful to watch exactly what it is I should do when that door finally shuts behind me and I am left alone in a room with around 20 little faces looking at me for what to do next. This is vital, and something I was so excited to see.

We do have a room full, 23 students to be exact, which is one over the limit, so we have now reached the "exception" zone with class size. The other 2 first grade classes have 22, making it reach a grand total of. . . get ready, 67 six to seven year olds. Needless to say, it gets a little crazy! I don't really feel the pressure of having so many kids, but that's probably because I have a great teacher! We get along great, and that is such an amazing blessing, and probably what has made this transistion so smooth!!! I am trying to remember to write everything down, so that way I will help myself when I have my own classroom.

Speaking of my own classroom, that is the thing I am most excited about, having my own classroom. I was walking through the hall the first day thinking to myself, "This is great, I am having a blast, I really actually love what I am doing. This is exactly what I am supposed to be doing, and I know this because I get a joy out of being here." It isn't a happiness, it is a joy, and that is so much more than I could have asked for!! I was worried before (like I do everytime before I go into a classroom) then I got in there, and was like, "Yes I can do this for the rest of my life." Wonderful stuff to find what you are supposed to do and actually be trained and able to do it! God is so good!! So yeah, that is the chronicles of the almost first day (not the first day, since it is not my first day as a classroom teacher).

Changes

Changes are happening all us right now in the Clifton household. For starters we now have a new member of the family, s little black lab mix , 6 week old puppy named Sadie. Yes in case you're wondering she was a spur of the moment thing! We took friends over to get one of the 8 puppies left at Kandis and Charlie's house and came back with one of our own per Mark's request. He has always wanted a lab puppy, and said he wasn't planning on getting one until he was leaving and couldn't put the one he was holding down! I know, I know, what were we thinking? To be honest with you I'm not sure yet. She is just a baby, but training her to use her crate and all has been much more of a challenge than it was with Ellie! We will continue to press on though and see where thiz takes us! Right now I'm trying to keep her awake sp she will sleep when I leave ( though I doubt thAt happens, she isn't too fond of being in there right now).

I was telling Mark I think I got too spoiled with Ellie and how good and easy of a dog she was and is to train and take care of! She really has been wonderful and a great addition to our little family! I can't imagine life without her now! We have really bonded over the summer! I have always wanted a dog relationship like that. One that is just easy, almost like they just understand and get you. I love how easy she is to travel with and how much Mark and I love to take her places! It is a blast and really adds to a trip, plus she loves the car so that is good! She has taken well to Sadie being here, playing mommy since she is bigger right now! I'm worried about her though because he hasn't been eating very much in the past couple of days and now she is limping around:(. We are giving it a couple more days to see if it gets better! Poor Ellie girl!

Also on the horizion is student teaching! Woohoo! Finally at this point in my college career and it feels good! I'm excited to see alm the stuff I will be doing and to learn the tricks of the trade! I mean come on, what other profession to you get this kind of opportunity with? Tonight is the Elementary Open House/ Meet the Teacher day, so I will be there with the teacher whose room I am in. It is a first grade classroom, and I have Mrs. Newsome, whom I love! I am excited about this upcoming year, now that I have had a chance to come up and meet her! Well until there is more time! I'll try to post s pic from the phone if I can!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

I have finally downloaded pictures from my camera onto my computer, so here a few of them. Some with captions, some without, all fun!

These first few are from World Changers!



These are the great kids that made up my crew for the week! We had a blast and got stuff done!

These are a two of Mark's face a couple of days after the incident! It is looking much better each day though!



These next few are some of what we did today. We got up, ate some breakfast, watched some television, and then talked about what we were going to do that afternoon. We have both been wanting to get out of the house and take Ellie to do something active and all, so we thought, "hey we should go to the lake, take a picnic, walk around, and swim, and have a nice little family day!" So we get up, make our lunch, get on lake attire, pack up Ellie, and step outside. . . only to be greeted by dark clouds, and a humid rainy day! We then felt like big dummies for getting everything ready for a lake day without looking outside at the weather! However, this does not discourage us long, and we decide to go ahead and go and make the best of it. When we make it there, it is dark and windy, not looking to good for our picnic day at all. We end up eating in the car, which actually proved to be a lot of fun, and we had a good time with it. After we finish that, we decided to get out in the rain and let Ellie out to run around! She LOVED IT! She just ran around, smelling everything, and inspecting all spots! We are getting her more accustomed to water, she isn't afraid of it necessarily, just gets tired of having to hold her own body weight and swim at the same time. We ended up heading out after a couple of hours of just good wet fun because the thunder wasn't letting up and we didn't want to chance anything! It was so fun, to just decide to do something spur of the moment, and the adapt to the conditions surrounding us.

This was our picnic basket

Me sad it was raining

Us before we all got wet!

And after a good day in the rain!


I have also purchased new items to help complete the look of our house, but haven't had the chance to take any pictures!! Let me tell you how excited I was to get the things I did! I went with my mother and the first stop we made was at Mardel, this new Christian and Education store in Longview! They were having a HUGE sale on teacher stuff so I just had to go! I was able to get many items for myself and a couple for friends too! Everything I purchased was on sale for five dollars and most things were over ten dollars without the sale price! I spent the some of my birthday money on this, and it was well worth it. Then we headed to Hobby Lobby which is right next door, and saw they were having a sale on their furniture! Inside the door was a hutch type thing that I had been keeping my eye on for the past month and a half. It had consistently been going down in price and was there marked down to $166 from $500. I knew this was my last chance to get it, since me and about 4 other women were eyeing it at the same time. I called and checked with Mark before purchasing it, but not without having another $20 taken off for various damages! I was so pumped, and it looks great in our kitchen! We then headed to the spot of the day that we came for, TJ Max where I had planned on buying stuff for our master bath since we having nothing for it! I ended up finding hand towels and curtains to hang up to disguise the washer and dryer spot. Mom was able to find another thing of curtains that were marked down to $10 from $17 and we got ours for that price as well! Since it was all purchased at TJ Max it was much cheaper then at an actual department store! It all looks so good and I am happy with my purchases!

Speaking of the curtains, they aren't just disguising a hole in the wall where a washer and dryer should be, but there is an actual washer and dryer there! Thanks to the GENEROSITY of my Noni and Poppy we are now washing clothes in our house for the first time in our marriage! They decided to buy a new washer and dryer and gave their old ones to us! I cannot tell you what an enormous blessing this has been, or how incredibly thankful I am for this gift!

Well I think that is all for now! Should be enough, don't you think =]

Things are Finally Starting to Slow Down

Well our busy busy summer is finally starting to slow down! I have had a blast, though it has been exhausting, I wouldn't have traded it for anything else in the world. I am so excited for this next semester as I begin my student teaching (in the 1st and then 6th grades), but also very nervous about being at the school so early everyday! I am nervous about being able to learn everything that comes my way, and retain it all. I want the experience to be a good one (and I am confident it will be) and to get along with my teachers, and leave a good impression. I just want to do as good of a job as I can, and am worried I guess, but in a good way.

There are so many changes going on. I read all my friends blogs talking about the things that are going on in their lives and it serves as even more of a reminder that adolescent life is really behind me, and I am now lodged full fledged into this adult world of work and bills and responsibilities. I love it when I am able to go back to my parents house for a while and forget this is the place in life I am =]. I am super excited for my friend LeeAnn, her blog is called The Good Old Days, and is on the right side of my blog, as she is setting up and getting ready for her first year as a classroom teacher. She has a few pictures up on her blog and it is starting to look really good! YAY for her!! I can't wait to hear how her first year goes as she starts teaching her sweet little first grade babies! I need to go and see her and her new place, so LeeAnn I know you read this, let's get together!

Mark and I are doing ok. Mark actually had a tiny accident with a burn barrel, trying to be nice and burn some trash for my parents while they were gone to see Adam in SD. He has never used a burn barrel, and decided that gasoline needs to be used to start the fire going. Well you are not supposed to do that! He dropped it in, and it shot flames up and they singed his face and hair. He is fine, but looks like he got into a fight with someone. His nose and cheeks are blistered, and he had to cut his hair shorter than usual. He came back in laughing, and told me he had to go home and take a shower because he burnt his hair. It made me not freak out from the beginning. So be praying for him, as his face is soreish from what all has transpired. If he lets me take a picture I will and place it up here later.

I hope the rest of the summer goes by nice and smoothly and prepares me for this upcoming year and semester.

We're Back! (For Two Days)

Hello blog!! It has been a while! Well let me say it has been that way for good reason! As said in the previous entry we are runnin' and gunnin' going here, there, and yonder with our youth! And let me tell you what an awesome youth we have! I could not be more impressed by or excited about the kids that are in the youth group. Each and every one of them are so special, add in part to the dynamic of the group, and are just all around good kids.

We went to youth camp first and had a blast. It was a good time to get to know all the students and for them to get to interact with us even more and really to just be thrown into it so to speak. God really spoke to a lot of the kids, and kicked off the summer in an amazing way. I really believe it helped set things up for World Changers and the upcoming school year. One thing that was really cool from the week was the way God spoke to many of the students about foreign missions. We had around 3 students within the course of one night come up and tell us at different times they felt God saying they/the youth needs to go on a foriegn mission trip. To my knowledge the church has never been on a foriegn mission trip, and Mark and I had discussed earlier how cool it would be to take the youth on one about a month before camp happened.

Then there was a week in between the day we got back and the day we left for World Changers. If you don't know what World Changers is, it is an organization through the North American Mission Board in which churches can bring the youth group up to work on houses in various cities around the nation. There was actually one going on in Longview the same week we were gone. The kids (and adults) can do anything from roofing a house, building a deck, putting up vinyl siding, painting, just anout whatever you could possibly think of. While they are doing this, they also go on walks around the neighborhood, telling others what they are doing, asking if they need prayer, and talking to them about Christ. It is a long and hard week that has your days begin at 6 AM with breakfast, and out the door by 7 and at your jobsite from then until 4 (and you aren't allowed to come back earlier). You are put into "crews" usually with someone from your church and people from other churches. It is fun, stretching, and completely something that a youth group needs.

I was put on a crew with no one else from Harleton on it at all. Everyone had atleast one other person they knew, except for me. Hwoever, I could not ask for a better crew. I had prayed about it real hard a few days before we were actually there, just that I would be on the crew God had for me, that group dynamics would be good, etc. He answered my prayer above and beyond, and for that I am grateful. I couldn't jabe asked for better people to be with all week. We were in Henderson, Kentucky, where the weather is a little more bearable, and not so stinking muggy! Mark and I once again got to learn a lot about some of our youth, God continued to reveal the desire in some to go on a foriegn mission trip, and just worked all around. One of our students didn't get put on a crew with any other high schoolers from Harleton, and was in fact the oldest student in her crew by a good two years. She was bummed the first day, and frustrated becuase she felt that way because she knew "God has a reason for it." It was really cool to talk to her on the next to last day and hear her say, that "Even though I didn't get what I wanted and some other people did, I got exactly what I needed." God works in awesome ways and I am so excited to be serving Him right now.

Tomorrow Mark and I head out again for another camp where Cliftones are the band. This one is in Quaw Paw, OK at a Sky Ranch camp. The church that will be there is Macedonia, where Mark used to work, so it will be exciting to see some familiar faces we haven't had the chance to see in a while. Please pray for us that it would be a good trip, that God would continue to move and speak to us, and that we would be open and listening to what that is. It is the end of a long stretch, so pray for strength, patience, and understanding for us as well. We are tired, but in a good way.

Well until later. . .

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!!

Woohoo, summer sure is in full swing now! We are getting ready to hit the ground running so to speak. There is so much to do and it semms like never enough time in which to do it. My list gets longer and longer as my motivation, endurance, and desire get shorter and shorter.

We have gotten quite a few things done this week that were necessities. For instance,we have started digging post holes and placing posts in for a back fence (thanks to Mark), we put in a washer and dryer in our house (still waiting on complete hook up, but at least they are in), gotten Ellie groomed (she looks GORGEOUS btw!), written thank you notes, paid bills, made dinner, cleaned dishes (no small feat in our house), and started weeding the flower bed. However there is still a ton left on our plate.

Let's start with the flower bed. My grandparents have lovingly picked out and up flowers for us to put into this thing, and showed us how to do it all (plant, weed, water, etc), but right now it looks like a grass jungle! I feel so bad about it! They have put in so much money, time, and effort into showing us the ropes and getting everything started, but we havn't been home enough to keep it up! I am trying my best though to get out there at night and begin just getting grass out of the way, that was we can see to pull up the root! It just needs a little TLC, and it's getting it, just in doses!

There is also the mess that is now our house! Like I said, we pass ourself coming, so unpacking and repacking are always happening and always looking as if the suitcase blew up in our room! The kitchen counter and table are a catchall for anything and everything, not to mention the two rooms now packed with all the wedding gifts we weren't able to have before hand for lack on room! It is sorta driving me crazy, but everytime I think about doing it, or look at it, it becomes so daunting a task! Still I must get it done! Between work, church, camps, nights out, and so on, I don't know when I can do it!

Now I must start repacking for youth camp this coming up week! I am super excited about it and think the kids are gonna have a blast! I am praying we all learn alot and really grasp the jist of what this Christain walk is really about! After that it is back to work for a week and then it is off for around 8-9 days for World Changers! This is going to be a blast as well! We are super excited about going! Then its back home for four days and off with the Cliftones to play at Macedonia's Youth camp! Poor Ellie! We are currently trying to find a place or a person to keep her while we are gone soo much! We thought my parents were going to be able to, but dad was seriously allergic (though we got her cut, so maybe it will be different now haha lol). So we are back at square one. If anybody wants to dog sit or house sit for a couple of days or so be our guest haha! She will be fine, my mom can come and let her out and all, it just wont be the same.

Anyhoo, I better get back to work, it is actually going by halfway fast today (thank goodness). Tomorrow we are going to tie up loose ends from the mission project a couple of weeks ago, then I have a hair and eye appointment (not at the same place thankfully), then church, then camp!

Happy Anniversary To Us!!!!

One year ago today I was just waking up, eating breakfast with my bridesmaids, and getting ready for the day I had been looking forward to my entire life. Now I am laying in the bed, arguing with my husband that I can blog and talk to him at the same time! He says "whatever" and gets up, he really wants to go and work out.

Anyways, back to what I was saying. One year ago today I was prepping for the most important day of my life (well one of them), having fun with all my girls, and anxiously awaiting the "I Do" moment. One year ago my dad looked at me, took me by my arm, said "You ready kiddo?" and walked me towards my prince charming and the rest of my life. One year ago today, my mom helped me slip into my wedding dress, zipped me up, looked at me, and we both lost it. One year ago today, I walked down an aisle, got married by a great friend who performed his first wedding ceremony with us. One year ago today, I wore the most beautiful dress in the world while listening to the sweetest song I had never heard before , written for me by a fourteen year old boy, and sang to me by the same 22 year old man. One year ago today I cut into the perfect wedding cake, enjoyed amazing wedding punch, talked to wonderful people, and finally left under a sea of rose petals into a beautiful charger limo provided by my aunt and uncle! Needless to say, this day was and is pretty special to me, it is one I will not forget for my entire life, and it was the most special day I could have asked for!

Right now we are in the Gaylord Texan hotel in Dallas, getting ready to go Grapevine MIlls Mall! It is an anniversary get away and perfect! We are having a blast and it is so special to be celebrating today with him by just having fun! I will post more later about what we did and pictures from around the hotel!