I've spent the past 40 days off of Facebook for personal use as my sacrifice for Lent.
Disclaimer: I totally used it for Tastefully Simple stuff and PWOC Bible study stuff. God and I worked it out. No biggie.
The idea was that I was giving up something that I rely on and waste a lot of time on to show God that I don't need it because He is all I need. Because, really, do I need Facebook in my life? Not really. I mean, sure there are times where it's convenient to have, especially now that we've become a society where everything is shared, announced, and updated in milliseconds on the social network. But by giving up Facebook and worshiping God by showing Him that He is more important than Facebook, He showed me a lot of things and opened a lot of new doors.
I spent the beginning of Lent hanging out with my sister and her fiance who came up to visit. Instead of sitting on the couch on my phone/laptop checking Facebook, I actually interacted with Mindy and Clay and enjoyed all of our time together, present in the moment. We cooked dinner together, had sister time, game night, and just truly enjoyed being together for the long weekend. For the first time in a while, I actually felt like I was present in the moment instead of distracted by my phone.
I also got to spend a weekend with my beautiful sisters in Christ in Washington DC at the Global Prayer Gathering for the International Justice Mission. I spent 3 days deep in God' presence as He opened my eyes and my heart to injustice going on all over the world. From forced labor to sex slavery, so many of God's children are stuck in the dark, and it was incredible to be surrounded by 1200 other believers lifting up these mission workers and enslaved people together in His name. God called me to get out of my comfort zone and showed me some areas of my life He's calling to, but that's for another blog post. He also answered a long-standing prayer for more Godly women to build friendships with, which was amazing.
I had the opportunity to reunite with two of my absolute best friends from Ohio during this 40 days, and to just enjoy being together for the first time in almost 2 years! We laughed, we reminisced, we ate junk food, and we enjoyed every minute of our time together. It gave me a chance to show them around Drum and Syracuse, to introduce them to some of my Army family up here, and to finally share this chapter of my life with them. I absolutely loved having them here, and was so sad when they had to leave, but it was such a blessing that God worked out that they could be up here for almost 5 whole days with me!
God also opened a new door in terms of a job for the summer. I've been praying and very worried about what I would do when the school year ended and I couldn't sub anymore. With graduation coming in August and my loans coming out of deferment, I knew I needed something and I just kept praying that God would provide. Boy did He ever! A friend in PWOC introduced me to one of her wonderful neighbors and her 4-year-old son. She was in desperate need of full-time childcare for her son in their house, and after a 2-hour interview we realized that so many of our thoughts on children and development are on the same page. I start at the end of this month spending Monday through Friday with this sweet little boy who just needs some boundaries and love, and God has truly come through more than I could have ever hoped in terms of providing for our finances.
Lent also saw the end of another grad school semester, the completion (and passing) of my Master's thesis paper, and some more weight loss - woo hoo!
But the best part about Lent this year? That I have developed a deeper and strengthened relationship with God. As we're into Easter weekend at this point, the sacrifice and love that Christ showed to all of us has never been more apparent to me, and I'm so thankful for His grace and mercies, which I don't deserve but which are always enough!
So happy Easter to you and your family. May you spend tomorrow surrounded with people you love, celebrating God's love however you see fit. No matter what you do, though, don't forget to take a moment to sit in peace, surrounded by His presence, and thank Him for His undeserved but immeasurable love.
He is risen!
Showing posts with label grad school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grad school. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
2013 Highlights Reel
As usual, I'll end my year with a reflection. I know it seems cliche, but as I'm going on my fourth year of writing this blog in January, it seems only right to finish up the calendar year and the blogging year all at once. Also, the OCD in me requires things to be tied up with a nice little bow before I can close one chapter and start the next...
2013 was a year with a lot of ups and downs for us, and I think even that is an understatement.
Let's go to the highlights reel, shall we?
We struggled with stress, anger, disappointment, sadness, fear, doubt, and worry this year, but God has been gracious and has seen us through every single circumstance that we've experienced. He has let us experience the good and the bad, and blessed us for our perseverance through both. No, it definitely wasn't fun going through the not-so-awesomeness, and there were times where we questioned every part of what was happening and why it was happening. But you know what? God is good, and He never once let us struggle without His presence there to guide us and keep us going.
How can we appreciate the good times in our life without experiencing the bad times?
It's something that I've tried to remember when things suck. If life was always sunny and we never had to experience bad times, then the good times wouldn't matter as much. I don't know about you, but I find that I appreciate the good things more when they are few and far between (extra money, good hair days, a properly made pumpkin spice latte, you get the idea). When good times are abundant, yes life is awesome and the stress levels run low, but eventually I stop appreciating the little blessings and good days.
When you throw in a few bad days to mix it up, I can honestly say that those good days are suddenly so much better and mean so much more in the long-run.
What 2013 our "best year ever"? Not by a long shot!
Did it give us an opportunity to grow, to learn, and to appreciate the good days when they came? Absolutely!
So what does 2014 hold for us? I have absolutely no idea but I know that no matter what it is, God's already there. How awesome is that?!
Wishing you and your family a very blessed (and safe!) New Year's Eve and 2014!
2013 was a year with a lot of ups and downs for us, and I think even that is an understatement.
Let's go to the highlights reel, shall we?
- We survived our first North Country Winter this year, which involved more snow and colder temperatures than I had ever expected!
- We spent the year getting to know some of our new best friends at Fort Drum, who have now become our Army family.
- H reintroduced himself to fishing and filled our freezer with Pickerel and Northern Pike (which we still haven't eaten our way through - any one up for a New Year's fish fry?!)
- I started grad school and successfully completed my first semester with a 4.0 and all of my brain cells.
- We celebrated our second wedding anniversary!
- Even from far away, we got to watch our nephew grow from a rambunctious two year old who only spoke a few words here and there, to an even more rambunctious three year old who is so smart and handsome with a great sense of humor. Watch out ladies!
- We celebrated both H's sister's engagement and my sister's engagement to some awesome guys.
- I became more involved in both PWOC and the FRG, which has opened some doors of opportunity for me and taught me a lot about who I am
- We finally had our first family camping trip, which we've been talking about doing for over 6 years now!
- We got our first dog (and then gave him back when his owner returned from deployment)
- H taught me how to change the oil in our Jeep (not sure if that's more of an accomplishment for me or him haha!)
- I know there's a ton more awesome things that we did, celebrated, learned, and experienced in 2013 that I'm missing, but bear with me since I still haven't had my morning coffee yet ;)
We struggled with stress, anger, disappointment, sadness, fear, doubt, and worry this year, but God has been gracious and has seen us through every single circumstance that we've experienced. He has let us experience the good and the bad, and blessed us for our perseverance through both. No, it definitely wasn't fun going through the not-so-awesomeness, and there were times where we questioned every part of what was happening and why it was happening. But you know what? God is good, and He never once let us struggle without His presence there to guide us and keep us going.
How can we appreciate the good times in our life without experiencing the bad times?
It's something that I've tried to remember when things suck. If life was always sunny and we never had to experience bad times, then the good times wouldn't matter as much. I don't know about you, but I find that I appreciate the good things more when they are few and far between (extra money, good hair days, a properly made pumpkin spice latte, you get the idea). When good times are abundant, yes life is awesome and the stress levels run low, but eventually I stop appreciating the little blessings and good days.
When you throw in a few bad days to mix it up, I can honestly say that those good days are suddenly so much better and mean so much more in the long-run.
What 2013 our "best year ever"? Not by a long shot!
Did it give us an opportunity to grow, to learn, and to appreciate the good days when they came? Absolutely!
So what does 2014 hold for us? I have absolutely no idea but I know that no matter what it is, God's already there. How awesome is that?!
Wishing you and your family a very blessed (and safe!) New Year's Eve and 2014!
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Baby K Update
It finally happened - we're pregnant!! It still feels very surreal, like it's all a dream and I'm going to wake up tomorrow and realize that we still have months of trying ahead of us. I'm writing this on August 25, but I won't actually be publishing it until September 15 due to waiting until we're officially at 8 weeks before making the announcement public. Here's our story...
Things around our house have been...stressful...to say the least. I quit my job about a month ago to go back to school full-time, which has made money a bit tighter than usual for us. We're doing just fine, paying bills and such, but going from two incomes to one is an adjustment to say the least. I'm preparing to start my first semester of grad school tomorrow, which has me both excited and nervous, but I know that this is a door God has finally opened for me so I'm putting my worries in Him. H is about to head back to his original unit as they return from deployment which is going to shake up his work situation more than he'd like. He's had a great run at his current unit while his original unit was deployed and made a really good impression on a lot of his CO's, but with his original unit coming home and the transition back to that unit comes having to start back at square-one in terms of proving he's a squared-away soldier ready to take on responsibilities and start going to schools.
So, yeah, to say our household has been under stress lately is a bit of an understatement.
When I realized I was a few days late, I just chalked it up to the fact that I'm under stress and didn't think too much else of it, especially since last month I thought our timing for making Baby K was off due to my trip home for my cousin's wedding (H didn't come with me, and while we "took care of business" prior to me leaving, I didn't think we were close enough to my O date). Then I caught myself crying while watching a touching segment on ESPN's SportsCenter. Yes. I cried while watching a piece about a Make-a-Wish kid and the Arizona Diamond Backs. That's when I knew I needed to test.
Fast forward to about 12:30pm and I'm crying in the bathroom over the two VERY dark lines on my positive test. H had just gone back to work from his lunch break, and I've had a plan since April about how I wanted to surprise him with the good news, so I went into "freak out, cry, happy dance, gotta get this surprise put together" mode. Thank goodness for my bestie #2 up here who went through pregnancy/delivery at Fort Drum and knew how to direct me - calling the doctor, setting up a blood test, getting all goofy excited for me over the phone. The usual. :) At 3pm I took another test, just for kicks and giggles (and to make sure I wasn't the fluke patient who would have a false positive test - do those even happen?!). Again, two VERY dark lines. Called the doctor and scheduled myself for bloodwork the following morning, and eagerly started putting together H's surprise:
To say H was shocked is an understatement. I'm pretty sure he sat there silently, staring at the items in the box for a solid 10 minutes before anything actually registered in his mind. (For the record, H is the third man in his family to have his name, so we have always referred to Baby K as "the fourth", hence the blue note). In fact, I'm pretty sure it didn't actually settle in until the next afternoon when I got the call from my doctor's office confirming my two positive HPT's.
So it's official - Baby K (or Nugget, as I've been calling him/her) is due to arrive April 27, 2014! I'm exactly 5 weeks pregnant as I write this, and my parents just left from visiting for the weekend. It was amazing getting to tell them in person, since I really thought I'd have to do it over Facetime or Skype with us being 500 miles away from them. We surprised them at dinner on Thursday night, and they are almost as excited as we are. Tonight we'll be calling H's mom to tell her, which I'm a little more nervous about. It's her first grandbaby, and my parent's second. We've told a very few select close friends, but as for everyone else...well they have to wait until September 15 to find out :) And chances are, if you're reading this, you probably just found out today, too!
Go have a celebratory drink (or two) for me, since it'll be a looooong time before I can have one, and remember to trust God in His timing - it'll all work out when He's ready for it to.
xoxo, M
Things around our house have been...stressful...to say the least. I quit my job about a month ago to go back to school full-time, which has made money a bit tighter than usual for us. We're doing just fine, paying bills and such, but going from two incomes to one is an adjustment to say the least. I'm preparing to start my first semester of grad school tomorrow, which has me both excited and nervous, but I know that this is a door God has finally opened for me so I'm putting my worries in Him. H is about to head back to his original unit as they return from deployment which is going to shake up his work situation more than he'd like. He's had a great run at his current unit while his original unit was deployed and made a really good impression on a lot of his CO's, but with his original unit coming home and the transition back to that unit comes having to start back at square-one in terms of proving he's a squared-away soldier ready to take on responsibilities and start going to schools.
So, yeah, to say our household has been under stress lately is a bit of an understatement.
When I realized I was a few days late, I just chalked it up to the fact that I'm under stress and didn't think too much else of it, especially since last month I thought our timing for making Baby K was off due to my trip home for my cousin's wedding (H didn't come with me, and while we "took care of business" prior to me leaving, I didn't think we were close enough to my O date). Then I caught myself crying while watching a touching segment on ESPN's SportsCenter. Yes. I cried while watching a piece about a Make-a-Wish kid and the Arizona Diamond Backs. That's when I knew I needed to test.
Fast forward to about 12:30pm and I'm crying in the bathroom over the two VERY dark lines on my positive test. H had just gone back to work from his lunch break, and I've had a plan since April about how I wanted to surprise him with the good news, so I went into "freak out, cry, happy dance, gotta get this surprise put together" mode. Thank goodness for my bestie #2 up here who went through pregnancy/delivery at Fort Drum and knew how to direct me - calling the doctor, setting up a blood test, getting all goofy excited for me over the phone. The usual. :) At 3pm I took another test, just for kicks and giggles (and to make sure I wasn't the fluke patient who would have a false positive test - do those even happen?!). Again, two VERY dark lines. Called the doctor and scheduled myself for bloodwork the following morning, and eagerly started putting together H's surprise:
To say H was shocked is an understatement. I'm pretty sure he sat there silently, staring at the items in the box for a solid 10 minutes before anything actually registered in his mind. (For the record, H is the third man in his family to have his name, so we have always referred to Baby K as "the fourth", hence the blue note). In fact, I'm pretty sure it didn't actually settle in until the next afternoon when I got the call from my doctor's office confirming my two positive HPT's.
So it's official - Baby K (or Nugget, as I've been calling him/her) is due to arrive April 27, 2014! I'm exactly 5 weeks pregnant as I write this, and my parents just left from visiting for the weekend. It was amazing getting to tell them in person, since I really thought I'd have to do it over Facetime or Skype with us being 500 miles away from them. We surprised them at dinner on Thursday night, and they are almost as excited as we are. Tonight we'll be calling H's mom to tell her, which I'm a little more nervous about. It's her first grandbaby, and my parent's second. We've told a very few select close friends, but as for everyone else...well they have to wait until September 15 to find out :) And chances are, if you're reading this, you probably just found out today, too!
Go have a celebratory drink (or two) for me, since it'll be a looooong time before I can have one, and remember to trust God in His timing - it'll all work out when He's ready for it to.
xoxo, M
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Where has the time gone?!
We've been in New York for 9 months? REALLY?
Where has the time gone? Seriously. It definitely doesn't feel like it's been that long. Maybe 4 months at most. But we've survived our first fall and winter in the North Country, H hit his one-year mark in the Army, and I've been teaching my preschoolers for eight months. Okay, I guess it has been that long. Wow that went by fast!
I know it seems crazy, but it feels like in the past 9 months there really haven't been that many interesting things going on to talk about. To be honest, it's almost felt a little stagnant. Not a bad stagnant, but definitely non-moving. Like I'm treading water.
As much as I've loved teaching at the preschool, it's not where my heart truly is. It's been almost 2 years since I've been in a high school classroom as a lead teacher, and I can feel myself losing a grip on the idea that I'll ever be back in one, especially here in New York. Up here, it's almost a requirement to have your Master's degree to be a teacher, which has put a damper on my ability to get back into a classroom. Thankfully, though, it looks like I'll be starting my Master's degree (back at good old BGSU!) program in August which will definitely help with the treading water feeling - almost like I'm finally starting to swim towards the far shore instead of just stay in place while I watch it like a dream.
I've also had to deal with homesickness more often than I anticipated. It's not terrible, but it's enough that every couple months I just feel like I'm missing out on everything back home. I've had to miss one very important wedding already this year, and there are at least 2 more that I can't attend. As the weather gets warmer, I keep feeling like "oh this is a perfect day to go grill and hang out with Krista and Abbie"; but of course, they're 600+ miles away. I'll find myself bored on a weeknight where H is in the field and all I want is to hang out with my sister and watch a movie. It usually only lasts a few days, and I do have some good friends who are up here that have been wonderful, but nothing beats being back home with my family once in a while.
Okay, enough with the Debbie Downerness of this post. While I've been dealing with the whole "treading water" and homesickness stuff, some amazing things have been happening! Both of our close friend couples up here have had babies in the past couple months! It's so wonderful to watch our friends' families expand and grow, and it's been an encouragement for us to try to start our own family. We are trusting God's hand in all of this and know that His timing is perfect timing, but we're hoping that sometime this summer we'll get some good news about our family doing some of it's own growing and expanding!
H passed the one-year mark for being in the Army back in March, and it's been a very interesting year for him. The unit that he originally got placed in has deployed, although he did not go with them. His particular company was kept behind on Rear Detachment (rear-d), and he's been temporarily moved from his original unit/company (an all-infantry unit) to a new unit/troop (a cavalry unit). While at first he wasn't excited about moving around like this, it's actually been a HUGE blessing in disguise. He's been able to move to a unit that is much better in terms of professionalism and training, and it's opened a lot of doors for him in terms of taking on leadership roles, going to training schools, and being taken seriously as a career soldier. He'll have the opportunity to go to the Soldier of the Month Board in a few weeks, which means he can (hopefully!) rank up sooner than anticipated. He's been able to prove himself a lot to his temporary commanding officers, even so much as to have them telling him that when his original unit returns from deployment, they want him to fill out paperwork to be permanently moved to their cavalry unit. He's really excited about that prospect, because in the cavalry unit he's got the ability to actually progress his career and get to where he wants to be a lot sooner. Praise God!
We also got to go to our first Military ball this spring, which was fantastic!
I've been able to start advertising and selling my cupcakes to friends up here, which has been amazing. It's like a pipe dream of mine is finally starting to come through, thanks to the support of H and his love of seeing my dreams come to fruition. It hasn't been anything crazy and big, but it's been enough to make me feel like I'm more than just a girl baking in her kitchen for free. (Yes, I'm about to shamelessly plug by business...but it's my blog, so I can do what I want! haha) Check out Lovebites Cupcakes :)
Riley kitten has grown a lot, and is officially the queen of our house. She's been so wonderful to have in our family, and it seems strange to think about our family before she was in it.
Okay, so I guess more has happened over the past 9 months than I'd realized. God has truly been blessing us up here. We've found a great church family where H gets to usher occasionally and I help with Sunday School. It finally feels like H's career is on-track and he'll have the chance to see some of his dreams come true. I'm able to attend grad school (finally!) and will hopefully be in my own classroom within the next year and a half. We've made great friends, gotten ourselves established and settled in up here, and are starting to work on growing our family. God's got His hand on us and we are truly blessed!
My goal is to actually update more than just every few months from now on. I know I've said it before, but with all the amazing things that are coming our way soon, I want to keep things updated more often. In theory, we'll use the blog to track the progress of trying to conceive and our pregnancy so there will be lots of updates from that! :) Hooray for blessings and change!
-M
Where has the time gone? Seriously. It definitely doesn't feel like it's been that long. Maybe 4 months at most. But we've survived our first fall and winter in the North Country, H hit his one-year mark in the Army, and I've been teaching my preschoolers for eight months. Okay, I guess it has been that long. Wow that went by fast!
I know it seems crazy, but it feels like in the past 9 months there really haven't been that many interesting things going on to talk about. To be honest, it's almost felt a little stagnant. Not a bad stagnant, but definitely non-moving. Like I'm treading water.
As much as I've loved teaching at the preschool, it's not where my heart truly is. It's been almost 2 years since I've been in a high school classroom as a lead teacher, and I can feel myself losing a grip on the idea that I'll ever be back in one, especially here in New York. Up here, it's almost a requirement to have your Master's degree to be a teacher, which has put a damper on my ability to get back into a classroom. Thankfully, though, it looks like I'll be starting my Master's degree (back at good old BGSU!) program in August which will definitely help with the treading water feeling - almost like I'm finally starting to swim towards the far shore instead of just stay in place while I watch it like a dream.
I've also had to deal with homesickness more often than I anticipated. It's not terrible, but it's enough that every couple months I just feel like I'm missing out on everything back home. I've had to miss one very important wedding already this year, and there are at least 2 more that I can't attend. As the weather gets warmer, I keep feeling like "oh this is a perfect day to go grill and hang out with Krista and Abbie"; but of course, they're 600+ miles away. I'll find myself bored on a weeknight where H is in the field and all I want is to hang out with my sister and watch a movie. It usually only lasts a few days, and I do have some good friends who are up here that have been wonderful, but nothing beats being back home with my family once in a while.
Okay, enough with the Debbie Downerness of this post. While I've been dealing with the whole "treading water" and homesickness stuff, some amazing things have been happening! Both of our close friend couples up here have had babies in the past couple months! It's so wonderful to watch our friends' families expand and grow, and it's been an encouragement for us to try to start our own family. We are trusting God's hand in all of this and know that His timing is perfect timing, but we're hoping that sometime this summer we'll get some good news about our family doing some of it's own growing and expanding!
 |
| Sharlot and I on Valentine's Day - one of my best friends up here! |
H passed the one-year mark for being in the Army back in March, and it's been a very interesting year for him. The unit that he originally got placed in has deployed, although he did not go with them. His particular company was kept behind on Rear Detachment (rear-d), and he's been temporarily moved from his original unit/company (an all-infantry unit) to a new unit/troop (a cavalry unit). While at first he wasn't excited about moving around like this, it's actually been a HUGE blessing in disguise. He's been able to move to a unit that is much better in terms of professionalism and training, and it's opened a lot of doors for him in terms of taking on leadership roles, going to training schools, and being taken seriously as a career soldier. He'll have the opportunity to go to the Soldier of the Month Board in a few weeks, which means he can (hopefully!) rank up sooner than anticipated. He's been able to prove himself a lot to his temporary commanding officers, even so much as to have them telling him that when his original unit returns from deployment, they want him to fill out paperwork to be permanently moved to their cavalry unit. He's really excited about that prospect, because in the cavalry unit he's got the ability to actually progress his career and get to where he wants to be a lot sooner. Praise God!
We also got to go to our first Military ball this spring, which was fantastic!
 |
| At the ball in March 2013 |
I've been able to start advertising and selling my cupcakes to friends up here, which has been amazing. It's like a pipe dream of mine is finally starting to come through, thanks to the support of H and his love of seeing my dreams come to fruition. It hasn't been anything crazy and big, but it's been enough to make me feel like I'm more than just a girl baking in her kitchen for free. (Yes, I'm about to shamelessly plug by business...but it's my blog, so I can do what I want! haha) Check out Lovebites Cupcakes :)
Riley kitten has grown a lot, and is officially the queen of our house. She's been so wonderful to have in our family, and it seems strange to think about our family before she was in it.
 |
| Baby Riley Kitten - not so little anymore! |
My goal is to actually update more than just every few months from now on. I know I've said it before, but with all the amazing things that are coming our way soon, I want to keep things updated more often. In theory, we'll use the blog to track the progress of trying to conceive and our pregnancy so there will be lots of updates from that! :) Hooray for blessings and change!
-M
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Life Update
Okay, so while it sometimes feels like my life is solely consumed by teaching now, it's not. I've had a lot of other great things going on outside of work, and life is truly great right now!
I got into grad school! I will be starting my masters degree program in January at The University of Toledo. I'll have a Masters of Arts and Education in English and Education with a focus in English as a Second Language. Whew, that's a mouthful! Basically, it just means that I'll be licensed to teach students whose first language is not English. I had a great experience with it during my student teaching, and I want to follow that and see where it will take me. It's a great endorsement to have, and I want to explore the influence of incorporating all cultures into an educational environment on a student's academic and social success. I'm applying for the TEACH grant, which will pay for my tuition if I qualify, so fingers crossed for that! So I start in January and will just take one or two classes at a time for now.
Things with H are great, too. I was a little worried because of everything that had happened when Mike and I moved in together, but so far things have been wonderful! There are still times that we have to learn how to live together (ah, the great dishwasher debate...haha) but we seem to have a good balance of things. I feel awful about the fact that I'm gone all day and don't have the energy to clean or do dishes when I get home in the evening, which leaves a lot of it up to him to do, but I do as much as I can and he's very understanding of my work situation. We've found a nice church here in BG that we like, and we've been going to that (well, when we can) which has been great. God is really blessing our relationship, and I a so thankful for having hi in my life.
We had a talk yesterday at dinner about the whole Army thing and whether or not it's fair for me to be giving up so much to follow him as he moves around to follow his dream in the Army. He feels like it's not fair to me. I tried to explain (without crying, because Lord knows I always cry when we talk about this kind of stuff lol) that I can't imagine my life with anyone else and that I would follow him just about anywhere. Also, I can follow my dream of being a teacher just about anywhere we go for the Army; he can't follow his dream of being in the Army if he stays here in Ohio so that I can stay here to teach. I know it sounds crazy, and I'm sure there are feminists everywhere who are cringing at this idea, but I know that I can find a teaching job just about anywhere we go, so why wouldn't I follow him to an Army base so that we can have a future together? It's going to be a crazy ride, but at least I'm doing it with the most supportive and amazing guy God could have blessed me with.
The most awful thing that has happened in the past month? Our DVD player broke! :( Okay, okay--I guess that's not a big deal. But JP had just given us seasons 2, 3, and 4 of How I Met Your Mother to borrow, and now we can't even watch them! I keep pricing out DVD players, but the cheapest I can find them is like $30 and I just don't want to spend $30 on a DVD player right now. I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy it anyway, but geesh---couldn't there be a cheaper one somewhere out there? Lol!
So, as of right now life is wonderful. Adjusting to work is taking some time but I love the kids and my coworkers. I'm excited to start grad school. And things with H are pretty fabulous right now. God is truly blessing me!
I got into grad school! I will be starting my masters degree program in January at The University of Toledo. I'll have a Masters of Arts and Education in English and Education with a focus in English as a Second Language. Whew, that's a mouthful! Basically, it just means that I'll be licensed to teach students whose first language is not English. I had a great experience with it during my student teaching, and I want to follow that and see where it will take me. It's a great endorsement to have, and I want to explore the influence of incorporating all cultures into an educational environment on a student's academic and social success. I'm applying for the TEACH grant, which will pay for my tuition if I qualify, so fingers crossed for that! So I start in January and will just take one or two classes at a time for now.
Things with H are great, too. I was a little worried because of everything that had happened when Mike and I moved in together, but so far things have been wonderful! There are still times that we have to learn how to live together (ah, the great dishwasher debate...haha) but we seem to have a good balance of things. I feel awful about the fact that I'm gone all day and don't have the energy to clean or do dishes when I get home in the evening, which leaves a lot of it up to him to do, but I do as much as I can and he's very understanding of my work situation. We've found a nice church here in BG that we like, and we've been going to that (well, when we can) which has been great. God is really blessing our relationship, and I a so thankful for having hi in my life.
We had a talk yesterday at dinner about the whole Army thing and whether or not it's fair for me to be giving up so much to follow him as he moves around to follow his dream in the Army. He feels like it's not fair to me. I tried to explain (without crying, because Lord knows I always cry when we talk about this kind of stuff lol) that I can't imagine my life with anyone else and that I would follow him just about anywhere. Also, I can follow my dream of being a teacher just about anywhere we go for the Army; he can't follow his dream of being in the Army if he stays here in Ohio so that I can stay here to teach. I know it sounds crazy, and I'm sure there are feminists everywhere who are cringing at this idea, but I know that I can find a teaching job just about anywhere we go, so why wouldn't I follow him to an Army base so that we can have a future together? It's going to be a crazy ride, but at least I'm doing it with the most supportive and amazing guy God could have blessed me with.
The most awful thing that has happened in the past month? Our DVD player broke! :( Okay, okay--I guess that's not a big deal. But JP had just given us seasons 2, 3, and 4 of How I Met Your Mother to borrow, and now we can't even watch them! I keep pricing out DVD players, but the cheapest I can find them is like $30 and I just don't want to spend $30 on a DVD player right now. I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy it anyway, but geesh---couldn't there be a cheaper one somewhere out there? Lol!
So, as of right now life is wonderful. Adjusting to work is taking some time but I love the kids and my coworkers. I'm excited to start grad school. And things with H are pretty fabulous right now. God is truly blessing me!
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