the last and the first.

"How was your last day of student teaching?"

is a very common question in my life currently. It makes my heart beat a little faster and a grin come on my face for different reasons. For one, I have actually completed something well. I feel like I did a job well done when it comes to this category.

Another reason is because I had the greatest kiddos in the world. No exaggeration there whatsoever. Every single class threw a surprise party for me. I've never had a surprise party before. Before first period, all of my little jokers were sneaking in grocery bags and boxes and refused to make eye contact with me. It was like they thought: "If I don't see her, she can't see me." Cute little boogers. Each class had a cake for me and they made cards and wrote me thank-you notes. My fourth period went all out with a banner and apparently they had been preparing for this for days, if not weeks. Like I said, cute little boogers.

My teacher even gave me a fantastic present: She "robbed the English office" and gave me a ginormous bag of school supplies: grade books, pens, pencils, dry erase markers, high lighters, etc.

It was hard for the bell to ring at 2:18 but it happened. I loaded my car up with my loot and headed for home. While driving I made a few phone calls to fellow LTN-ers and mi madre and left voicemails that sounded something like, "I AMMMM DOOOONNNE. D-O-N-E. DONE! DONE, DONE, DONE!" I'm sure they enjoyed it.


On my way home, I checked my Twitter to find out that my beautiful friend Caleb's grandmother wasn't expected to make it through the night. I immediately U-turned in the middle of Gorman Street and headed to The Ranch. I don't have an update, but I do know that God is Sovereign and Caleb and his family are in His hands. If you're the praying kind, I'd appreciate it. Caleb's grandfather past away back in the summer and this is an incredibly hard time for his family.

After Caleb had to leave, I headed out to dinner with some other LTN girls to celebrate the conclusion of this crazy ride. It was super fun but exhausting at the same time.

My darling Ally, one of my best friends in the major, leaned over and asked if I wanted to catch a movie with her. We headed out to the $1.50 and caught up with friends, Risa and Dre. We went to see Easy A, which is an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. If there wasn't so much cursing in it, I would totally buy it and use it in my classroom. It was super cute, but all of the four letter words ruined it for me.

On the way back from the movies, Risa said, "Hey Rebekah, are you going to Hannah's tonight?" CRAAAAAAPP!!!! My girlies were having a Christmas party and I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN! I sped over to UWoods and joined in the celebration for a couple of hours.

By midnight I was exhausted and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.


"How was your first day of not student teaching?"

is another popular question in my life.

True story: I spent it in bed.

I didn't set an alarm. When I woke up, I took the dog outside, came back in to bed and watched a season of Friends, a couple of movies and a few episodes of Will and Grace while eating many, many bowls of spaghetti. The only reason I changed into good sweatpants instead of holey ones was because My Kelsey texted me, "There's too much cheese ball left over from the party last night. Go eat it." I consequently spent the next 7 hours at their apartment.


A couple of you have noticed the mention of a dog in my Tweets and my blog posts.
Well, it's official: My puppy has come to live with me!

It's a long story, but she's here and I'm loving it. She's a lot of work and I definitely cannot be as independent as I once was (ie, I had to come home last night at 3 am instead of crashing on my girls' couch because I didn't want Milley to be alone), but she's worth it.

My Hannah hates animals. Cannot stand them. I find it amusing because we're so similar in almost everything else and she's also the most caring human being on the face of the planet. But it's true, she hates dogs. She puts up with Milley because she loves me, but that's about as far as it goes. My Hannah has noticed, however, that Milley seems to have taken on my personality in the many years that we have been together:

1. Everyone that walks in the door is there to see her.
2. She will crawl into anyone's lap and demand attention, and she's just so cute, you can't help but love her.
3. She doesn't understand the concept that some people just don't like her.
4. She's stinkin' dramatic.

Case in point: I was enjoying my day in bed yesterday, but every now and again I would get up and take Milley outside to do her business. About 4pm yesterday, Milley was done sitting around. She wanted to go on the run that I promised her (before I knew it was going to be raining all day) and she wanted to dance around and get dirty and sweaty--I wasn't having any of that. I was beautifully curled up in my beloved bed and wasn't planning on getting out that day. Milley came up put her nose up next to my nose and starting licking my face and whining a bit.

"Baby, I am not taking you outside. Now come lay down."

She whined a bit more until she realized I wasn't playing. Then, dramatically, she plopped (not laid, plopped) herself onto the floor beside my bed and sighed loudly. After a few sighs, she looked up to see if I had changed my mind. When she realized I had not, she sighed some more. Looked up. Laid back down. Sighed some more. Looked up. Laid down. Sighed some more.

When she realized I really was not moving, she huffed (not sighed, huffed), and rolled over so she was no longer facing me.

Diva.

things.

Things I Should Be Doing:
1. Walking the dog.
2. Brushing the dog.
3. Writing (any of) my book(s).
4. Vacuuming the house.
5. Cleaning my room.
6. Scrubbing the toilet.
7. Scrubbing the bathtub.
8. Making my portfolio.
9. Creating my estimated-to-be-more-than eleven page long paper.
10. Researching Bible Study books for next semester.
11. Spending time with my Jesus.
12. Cooking.
13. Reading a book for pleasure.
14. Finishing the six, read it: six, loads of laundry that I've been working on for a week.
15. Straightening the house.
16. Cleaning out my car.

Things that I'm Actually Doing:
1. Watching Barbara Walter's Oprah Special.
2. Scratching the dog behind her ears.
3. Typing on my blog.

Welcome to my Friday. I don't care if you judge me.

You want to know why? Because I finished student teaching today. And I'm heading out with the LTN girls tonight. And so, the to-do list can wait for tomorrow.

days 17-20

Day 17.

I am thankful for Diet Coke.

Yes, I did just say that.
No, I do not care if you are judging me right now.

Diet Coke has been my energy source is Clearwater Beach Summer Project 2008. I completely blame Kerianne Bethea for my addiction. She's probably giggling herself into a frenzy over in Spain having just read that.

But in all seriousness, I drink at least a can a day. Whenever I get my Harris Teeter VIC Card emails alerting me to what is on sale for the week, the first thing I check is to see if Diet Coke products are Buy 2, Get 3 Free. It doesn't matter how many refrigerator packs I have in the house at the moment...if they're B2G3, you best believe I'm firing up The Reba and heading to HT.

Thank you, makers of Diet Coke, for helping me pull all-nighters, get through crazy days, and sometimes just calm down during a movie at night. I greatly appreciate your genius invention.



Day 18.

Erin Byrnes Green. This name means nothing to some of you, but to me, she's been my constant companion for the past three months. Erin is my cooperating teacher here at Garner and she is uhhh-mazing! Her energy level keeps me happy all day. She has amazing ideas for the classroom and just how to effectively love your students. I have learned so much from her.

Some of the other LTN girls do nothing but complain about their CTs. I only remember complaining about her once. Some of the other girls don't like their CTs at all--Erin and I talk on the phone every weekend, text little stories to one another; we've been to each others' houses; we plan double dates that one day we will go on if I ever get a boyfriend. I've all ready warned her that next year I'm going to be sending her an email a day asking what I should be doing with my students. My life would be vastly different if I had been assigned anyone else. Thanks, Big Guy, for having a hand in the small details.



Day 19.

On that same note, my kiddos are such blessings. I know that I've complained about them a ton, but oh my heavens! I miss them on the weekends and I hate the fact that I have planning 2nd period because that just puts 90 more minutes between me and them! My future students have such shoes to fill!




Day 20.

I am incredibly thankful for my job. No, not my "job" at Garner...but the real one that writes me a paycheck every now and again. I love working for Barnes & Noble! I have so much fun and I adore the people I work with. On top of that, I have the world's greatest boss! Lynn has been so understanding about my demanding schedule outside of work from my second interview a year and a half ago, until this very day. I've never had a problem not working on Sundays or taking off two months to go to the Middle East. I could complain about some other people in charge, but it all boils down to Lynn. I've been told that I could probably get better hours at another store or definitely have less of a commute at another store, but because of my most fabulous Lynn and the absolutely fantastic people I work with, I could never leave. It would be really easy for them to fire me because I request so much time off, but they keep me around, and I am so happy they do! I miss it during my stints of not working and I look forward to my alarm going off at 4:30am during the holidays so I can go open shop. Now how many people can say that?

a whole bunch of THANKS! (days 6-16)

A friend of mine is doing "No Miss November" on her blog. When I started doing the days of thanks, I kind of figured that I would be joining her. However, student teaching immediately sucked all of my time away from me and I was barely keeping up with grading and planning and eating/sleeping. There was nooooo time for blogging.


But, now that I have given back two of my classes to Mrs. Byrnes, my time has freed up and I can relive the joys of blogging again! Yay!


Since I'm on my school computer and therefore have no pictures, I'm going to be doing the silly little things to be thankful for so the rest of my posts can be of the utmost detail and pictures!


Day 6.



I am thankful for kind text messages. I have blogged before about how people have forgotten about kindness and how badly our world is in need of it, so although "kind text messages" might be something silly, it's still true.


I was having a rough day at school a few days ago. It was a bad day--I've certainly had worse--but my kids were just really needy and I had enough. Then I checked my phone in between classes and I saw a few text messages from friends saying "Hey! I love you!" or "I miss you and would love to grab coffee sometime." or "You're my favorite". The first thought in my head was "SOMEONE LIKES ME!" Silly, I know, but the smallest things can mean the world to somebody.


Day 7.



I am thankful for music. Music puts me in the best of moods. I had a stocked iPod and can always enjoy a tune or two to either cheer me up or pump me up or something. I grew up around music. Nearly my entire family sings and some of my best childhood memories include singing Christmas carols or jamming out in the car. My favorite present of all time is a mixed CD. They're precious!



Day 8.



I am thankful for my LTN Girls. For those of you that don't know what "LTN" means, it's the graduation code that State has assigned for English Education. I have no idea why, but that's what it is. I am very, very thankful for the girls in my major that supported to me, listened to me, let me cry on their shoulder, passed along ideas and lesson plans. We've been through some insanity together but we've pulled through. The six weeks before student teaching we had two classes together for a total of 4 hours together. We also normally spent the two hours in between those classes together.
These women have edited my writing, critiqued my teaching, encouraged my laughter, and loved me unconditionally. Some of them drive me crazy, some of them I couldn't live without, but in the end, I know that we were all placed together for a reason.

Day 9.



I am thankful for books. Big shocker there I know, but seriously. They are my escape. They're one of my guilty pleasures. They are my ability to travel without leaving my couch. They provide me with an education and common sense.



Day 10.



Along the same lines, I am thankful for stories. My kiddos and I normally have "story time" about every other day. They'll give me a theme, topic, or word for me to tell them a story about my life. It's fun for me and it's a break for them. I think I reeled them in to this idea when they gave me the word 'bacon' and I was able to tell them a 10 minute story about my Clearwater family. My kiddos also have amazing stories that they tell me through their journals or just after school. It's entertaining and educational all at the same time.



My grandparents have always been great story tellers and have let us into pieces of their past. My dad also has some amazing stories from his childhood. It's his dream, as well as my Granddaddy's, for me to write down a lot of our family stories so that we can pass them down.



About a year ago I spent an afternoon with Granny and Granddaddy (my mom's parents) listening and writing down their stories. It was an amazing afternoon. I learned so much. It has really inspired me to continue this idea with both sides of the family. It's one of the items on my bucket list and I'm hoping to work on it this upcoming summer.



Day 11.



I am thankful for crafts. Once again, silly, I know, but I've been doing them forever! My mom was creative in ways to keep us kids entertained and out of her hair when we were little and that desire has not gone away since then. I knit on a regular basis; I have Disney princess coloring books that I pass Saturdays with; I cross-stitch. I am even having a "cheap and crafty Christmas" this year. Megan and I have no money so we're going to take simple, cheap decorations and put our own special twist on them this year to decorate our apartment. My girls are even coming over to help!



I am also planning a "crafty weekend" this weekend. A friend of mine has her own Etsy shop and makes greeting cards and other fun things. Laura is incredibly creative and if you ever need something, I highly recommend you give her a call! She also took the photos of me and siblings for Mama's Mother's Day gift this year. I was in a pinch for a birthday card and decided to give her a call. She helped me out with a super cute card at the last minute and it gave me an idea! 'I could do this!' I thought. 'Not as good as Laura, but I want to do something cute for my kiddos...I can make them each a cute little card!' So this weekend I'm planning on cleaning off my DVR, knitting, scrapbooking, Christmas decorating and making fun cards for my kiddos! Yay!


Day 12.



I am thankful for my self-esteem. I have taken plenty of psychology classes and so I am sure that someone along the line has told me how one develops their self-esteem, but I don't remember. After working with girls through Crusade and reading the journals of some of my students, I am so thankful that I know my worth. That I know how to make myself feel better. That I know that the lies that the media tells us are not true and that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Of course, like any other girl, I have my days, but overall, I think I'm pretty well off.



Some of the girls that I have spoken with are their own worst enemies. Their dreams will not come true because they won't get off the couch long enough to make them happen. I have a fantastic life with fantastic friends and a fantastic family and fantastic prospects for where I am to go from here.



Day 13.


I am thankful for discounts! As a college student, I love anything free but I realize that we live in a capitalistic society so therefore I sometimes have to fork out cash. But I do LOVE those moments when I have a coupon or I have a discount card or there is a sale and I can save a bit of cash or get more for the same price. Whether it's Buy 2, Get 3 Free Diet Cokes at Harris Teeter, or 50% off Kim Rogers cable knit sweaters at Belk (seriously, my favorite tops for cold weather!) or just a free cup of coffee because of my Panera Card...that little bit of saving makes me smile! May I please add that this past weekend I ran to HT to pick up a few things...and I finally did it!! I SAVED more than that I SPENT!!! I have been told by a few of my coupon-queen friends/relatives that this is the thing that sets apart queens from just coupon-ers! :)


Day 14.


I am thankful for my daily reads! If you haven't noticed, I haven't been big on the whole blogging thing for very long. My cousin, Hannah, has been doing it for nearly forever and is nearly a whiz kid at the whole thing, but me, not so much. I would rather have a cup of coffee with you and tell you about my life. Nevertheless, once I got into the "blogging community" a bit more than as a visitor, I have become quite the fan! I have a handful of blogs that I check daily, and then a few others when I'm looking for a way to pass the time. But this one goes out to my daily reads:

Laura is a friend from school. Sophomore year, for some reason I signed up for this awful literature class. Seriously, it hurt to wake up and run across campus for this class every other day at 9:10. One of the two things out of it: Laura Underwood. Not only did we have Renaissance Lit together, but we also had an equally painful Spanish class right after it. I believe these classes were the start of my notorious skipping of my college classes. (ATTN PROFESSORS: Please do not tell me that I have three days to miss your class. Because I will take all three. And possibly a few more. Tell me attendance is mandatory and you're worse than Hitler when it comes to stipulations.) Anyhow, Laura is absolutely precious. She's a funny writer, an amazing photographer, a sweet friend, a creative artist, a vegetarian--but don't let that turn you away!--and a runner! She's honestly an inspiration to me and my blog. You should check her out too! :)


Laura is also the girl that took our Mother's Day photos. She even put some on her blog! I was so honored. Please note that these pictures were taken before my brother decided to chop off his helmet of hair. Laura, I think we Sandersons may be in need of another photo shoot soon :-)



Hannah is my first cousin on my mom's side. She's the one older than me. She's a pretty fabulous cousin and the closest thing to a big sister than I'll ever have. Hannah works for our family's gun store. A few of the other featured people on her blog is her sweet husband Lee who we are so thankful that she brought into the family, and also my "niece" Eden, who we are also so thankful she brought into the family. Hannah's a riot and writes in a stream of consciousness. Her blog keeps me updated on the happenings of Wendell that I miss out on while living here in Raleigh.



The Pioneer Woman is the newest addition to my reading list. I adooorrreee her. She's sassy, Southern, and sweet as can be! I don't normally read "celebrity blogs" because they're probably fake and are also pushing some type of advertisement...but how can a mom of four who lives in the middle of no where on a cattle ranch be fake? I feel like that's a life that would keep you pretty humble and pretty straightforward. I feel like if we ever met in real life, we would be friends. Our humor seems very similiar and also our writing styles. What more can a friendship need?


She's also an author of a book (not just a cookbook, but a real one, with stories!) "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". It's all about her courtship with her husband, whom she has affectionately named "Marlboro Man." On top of this book, she also came out with a cookbook just over a year ago. Oh, Santaaaa?



Last but certainly not least, is Miss Christin A. Kubasko! I've known Christin since I started coming to Crusade and for her last three semesters of school I was in the same Bible Study as she was. Since graduating from Meredith back in May, she is now at Appalachian living the good life as a grad student. Her blog is as cute and glittery as she is, and sassy to boot! I absolutely love her and her blog!


Thanks ladies for keeping me entertained day in and day out!


Day 15.


I am thankful for snail mail :) Silly, but true. Writing letters is one of those things that I wish I were better at doing. It's not that I don't have the time, it's just that I seem to fill the time with other things. But, I truly enjoy getting letters. Sweet emails are cute too, but there is just something about the joy that I get when I find a letter in my mailbox.


Day 16.


I am thankful for Western medicine. I don't know how many of you have had to encounter hospitals or medicines or doctors from people that don't live in the States...but wow! America is so blessed. Whether it's a simple OTC drug or my prescription glasses/contacts--my life would be incredibly different if I didn't have access to the prescriptions I do.


I am quite certain that this is the longest post that I will ever write in my time as a blogger. I'm not caught up yet, but I'm thinking that a few hours at Panera tonight will fix me up right.

thankfulness: day 4

November 4th

Today, above all else, I am thankful for chocolate and Tylenol. Can I get an amen???

It wasn't a bad day at school...it was just incredibly overwhelming. There were lots of kids and lots of needs and just lots of stress in one room which all compiled together to give me one massive headache. So what did I do? I came home, grabbed a Pepsi, some brownies, some Tylenol, and landed on the sofa with my remote in my hand for the next two hours.
Judge all you want, but there's my thankful thought for the day.

Garner High School, Room 1003

I wake up every morning, probably later than I should, but still earlier than anyone else I know, only to hop in my car and drive to Garner Magnet High School, Room 1003.

My kiddos are great, and I love them to pieces.

They are incredibly creative and usually well-behaved.

One of my few pet peeves is that they can't seem to tell the difference between the "Turn In Work" and the "Graded Work" boxes.

But I always know that I have the power when I open up a folder on my desk...
...to find the answer key :)

Finally! Pictures!

Here is my Senior Year so far in photographs.

FALL RETREAT

One night at dinner, the most legit group of people sat down around me, and it was the best meal that I've had in all four trips.

All of my girls, grandgirls, and great-grandgirls that were at Fall Retreat.

This is my definition of joy: having my surround me.

(P.S. This isn't half of them)

BARN PARTY

One of my "step-girls" Megan.

(There's two junior studies on West Campus. I have mine and then I adopted another while their leader is studying abroad. I love them like they're my own but they're only on loan.)

Sarah Beth is one of my closest friends in Raleigh. She's a Meredith girl and neither of us remember how met, but I know that I'm sure glad that we did.

My baby girls, grandbabies, and great-grandbabies that we could wrangle up in five minutes.

Okay. I know that this is a very unattractive picture of me, but I have a point.

PHOTOBOMBING IS ONE OF MY BIGGEST PET PEEVES EVER.

No seriously. I scrapbook and have a million picture frames, so to not be able to frame pictures because of some disrespectful idiot in the background pisses me off so bad. Jason and I had literally spent five minutes wrestling Alecia to get a good picture and I was so aggravated by this point. Now if you photobomb once and then move so I can get a good one, that's fine. Whatever. I'll put up with your immaturity for one picture. But seriously, grow up people.


FOOTBALL

(L to R) My Hannah, My Kelsey, My Rachel, and My Lauren at the Western game.

(L to R) My Lauren, My Kelsey, My Hannah, and My Sami.

RESTORING CLASS TO AMERICA PARTY

Okay, I need to explain this one. A friend of mine threw a "classy" party. He and his roommates had canopied their back yard in twinkle lights, they had Michael Buble and Louis Armstrong and the like blasting from the speakers. They had candles lining the sidewalk and sparkling cider in the flutes. Everyone was dressed in their best and some smoked cigars and pipes and IT WAS one of THE BEST PARTIES OF MY COLLEGE CAREER. I am not even kidding. If I hadn't gone on two summer projects, it would surpass anything that I know.

Alecia (a former Oasis girl), Suzanne (another Oasis girl), and Brittany, "B.Knox" Knox (another of my step-girls.

And also, since this is my blog, so I can show off whatever I want...

Drum roll please...

MY NIECE EDEN :)

I feel like I should explain this. Eden is my cousin Hannah's daughter. My family is super close and just love each other a lot and so we decided for my generation to be the next generations "aunts and uncles" instead of just cousins.
So this is my niece, and I'm her Aunt Rebekah.

Does she not have the SWEETEST smile in the world? She is honestly one of the happiest babies I have ever known. And she just LOVES to smile for the camera.

This is Eden with her other great-grandmother, Granny T. Eden and I share Granny P, not Granny T. But I just love this picture of her...my little diva.

She's all sweet now, but little Miss Personality is coming all full force by the minute!

Eden's mom loves to take lots of pictures of her and so she decided to do a pumpkin photo shoot. I didn't think any of the pictures came out with the smile that I know of her but this one just shows her off! Cute as a button!!!

I went to go visit Eden about a week ago as I was heading back to Raleigh from a weekend in Wendell. I dont' get to see Eden much since my life is in Raleigh and her life is in Wendell (and I had also spent about 1/6 of her life in the Middle East), so I really wasn't expecting her to be comfortable around me or give me some good smiles. She had been under the weather so I wasn't expecting her to be a very happy little girl that day...BOY WAS I WRONG! I walked in the door and smiled at her, and she gave me the biggest smile! She immediately reached out to me and we played for the next thirty minutes. I "ate her belly" and she just laughed and giggledand smiled. We read the Wolfpack book together and I also read her the Colors book (she just loves pink, purple and green, just like her Aunt Rebekah!) She even showed off some of her rolling and crawling skills for her favorite aunt. Now, Eden is a baby that never. sits. still. (I wonder where she gets that trait from? Hmm...) However, a couple of times I picked her up and she just laid her head on my shoulder and just sat there for a bit. For such a go-go-go! type of baby, I considered this a big deal for her to trust me so much as to relax on me and just give me some love. It was a great day. She is just too cute for words.

Other than this, my life is filled with Student Teaching and topped off my cooking, Bible Study-ing, and sleeping. But hey, it's a good one.

PSAT

I'm currently sitting in my "next door neighbor's" classroom proctoring the PSAT. Thrilling, I know. Although I'm incredibly glad high school is over anyhow, just sitting in this room with all of the tangible stress just gives me one more reason to be glad to have "been there, done that, bought the tshirt."

I keep saying that my next blog entry will have pictures, but most of my updates come from my school computer, and therefore, I don't have any pictures with me to upload. My internet has had a mind of it's own recently in my townhouse so I can't exactly trust it to deal with my precious pictures. Maybe someday...

Student teaching is still going well. I have taken over both of my freshman English classes right now, and I pick up the African American Lit class on Monday. That will make me full time. Eek! It's exciting and exhausting all in one.

I had a very interesting event happen with a student yesterday...I can't go into specifics, but let's say I might end up testifying soon. Whoo hoo. Other than that, I love my kids. I really do. I am beyond blessed to be at Garner. As much crap as my East Wake folks give me about being here, it's totally worth it. I've even told my principal that if he can get me a job here, I'll sign a Letter of Intent right now.

A few stories that I wanted to share:

Yesterday, after The Event with one of my students, I came back into the classroom and asked my kids, "Why do I want to be a teacher again?" All of them had some smart comment or another about 'because you get to have ME!' or something like that. A few of them came up and gave me a hug. One girl even said something to the effect of: "Miss Sanderson, does Mrs. Byrnes ever have to come back? Or can you just stay with us?" Cute little munchkins.

Another girl had an epiphany:

"Miss Sanderson! You're not really a teacher right?"

"Well, honey, I'm your teacher, but no I don't have my certification yet, no."

"So, that means that you're still looking for a real job?"
"Yes, love."
"You should get a job here! And then, since we're freshman, you can have us again! And we'll be just like the Freedom Writers!"

As cute as this was, I immediately began thinking about how I would have to plan new units every. single. summer. for the kids in order to stay with them throughout their careers. Don't get me wrong, I'd do it because I adore them, but heavens. That's a lot of work.

I'm missing my LTN girls like WHOA every single day. To go from this fabulous community every day, all day, to being by myself, it's no fun. I just wish that we were together for moral support or something. We still have our PR dates on Fridays, but Fridays are so incredibly far apart. If any of you are reading this, I love you, I miss you and I can't wait to see you soon :)

I had dinner with Whitney Ledford last night. We ate some fabulous (and cheap!) Mexican food and told all of our crazy children stories. While I've been having kids propose to me, she's been lighting her projector on fire. No big deal. It was so good to hear stories that I am actually going to make it through this insanity.

That's pretty much my life in a nutshell.

My next post will have pictures.

Maybe.

joys of student teaching.

I'm always bored the first hour and a half of my school day. It's African American Literature which is the class that I am least involved in. I am also NOT a morning person so to be expected to be awake and happy and attentive is just so far beyond what I am actually capable of. However, today was a great day. First period and beyond. Just the small things put a smile on my face.

a.) I learned how to work the big bad copier all by myself.
b.) Two of my kids came in and sat on my desk and told me they had missed me this week.
c.) My Co-Teacher brought in chocolate.
d.) She also filled up my tires with air for my journey to Fayetteville this afternoon.
e.) I was interviewed for the student newspaper since I am only one of four student teachers this semester. I feel so special :)

I've still got the second half of third to go and also fourth period (which is my favorite class) but I'm looking forward to a great day at work to begin a great weekend with Crusade!

A Box of Chocolates.

This has been my life lately...life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get.

NC State classes are going well. I have one professor that is really enjoying abusing his power over us. It's been a bit overwhelming, but that's over (HAAAAAALLELUJAH!) and now we're splitting the classes up again. However, one good thing that I can report is this:

This professor that was enjoying abusing his power is a professor that I really have disliked in the past. However, after I completed the one assignment (yes. one. that's how HUGE this joker was.) and we just discussed Hamlet the rest of the week, I began to realize how much I was actually enjoying myself. I remember him telling us a few times that he enjoys student teachers more than any other students so maybe it's that or maybe he's just a nicer person a year later. He's one of the most intimidating people that I've ever met but he actually smiled this week. I near 'bout fell out of my chair when he laughed, but I am really learning a lot and I loved the things that he was telling/showing/teaching us this week.

We had our first legit (aka with Bibles) BStud this week. I'm pretty sure I stepped on some toes, but the girls seemed to handle the whole thing pretty well. I love them more than life and sometimes that love has to be tough--they'll thank me one day. This semester we're walking through the Book of James and I'm expecting big things. Well, rather, I'm praying for big things and waiting patiently for the Lord to show up.

My Hannah turned 20 on Wednesday. Oh man, I'm old.

This is where the box of chocolates comes in to play. Last night at Crusade I found out some news that I could have lived without. I just have to keep reminding myself that God is in control and I love the small fingerprints of how He has been orchestrating this whole thing for years.

Spencer Shell is a friend of mine. 21 years old. Artist, lover of Jesus, involved with Cru/SV, runs 6 miles a day. While running on campus yesterday he collapsed. Praise the Lord it was on Dan Allen where it was highly populated and someone called for help. Given that he was just out for an afternoon run, he had no ID on him. But, he just "happened" to be wearing a Crusade tshirt. One of the paramedics had an onlooker use their Smartphone to Google Campus Crusade for Christ at NC State and the first contact number they found was Mike Mehaffie. Now, Spencer just "happens" to be in Mike's Bible Study. The paramedics asked that since this unidentified person belonged to our group could we send someone to ID him. Mike went and immediately recognized Spencer. Turns out, Spencer went into heart failure while running and is still in the ICU. I don't care what God you believe in, I beg of you to pray for Spencer.

Another Crusade person lost their father yesterday as well. Jan Shin is a senior and was one of the first people I met at Crusade. Praise the Lord though her earthly father is gone, her Heavenly Father is not.

NCSU Cru is at a loss for words except for these:

GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

a real live adult.

that's how i've felt recently.

i ran out to the harris teeter the other night and while i was on my blackberry doing business, i shopped around and saved $28.50 on my entire grocery bill. i saw a few friends around there, and we were all education majors and we had fun with our coupons and different in-class stories.

thursday was also known as crazyday. i had class all day and as soon as that was done, i ran home and threw on a pretty little sundress so i could go to the open house. i met 40 students and their parents and even some siblings. it went so great! i love these kids! most were either incredibly excited or scared out of their poor little minds. and my teacher is GREAT! take me and make me a yankee and you have my cooperating teacher. she's enthusiastic and creative and has a ton of energy. near 'bout curses like a sailor, but it's all in good fun. they all called me Miss Sanderson and it freaked me out.

after the open house, i rushed back to get to crusade's first meeting on time. the pastor at vintage 21 church spoke and did an excellent job. however, it was kind of weird. i didn't know the majority of the people in the room, and it's been about three years since that's happened. nataleigh timberlake had fun telling me that it was "our last first crusade meeting ever." that might not be true for me since i want to join staff, but it's definitely true as a student. i don't know if it was a post-lebanon thing, or if it was a "i'm a senior" thing, but it was so weird. it bothered me that we were all together...and not fellowshipping with not-yet believers. i'm interested to see how this year is going to pan out with these thoughts in mind.

friday was...interesting. it was a full day of turning in papers and giving presentations. about 8 of us went out to lunch during our 2 hour break. we went over our presentations for that day and we talked about the joys and horrors about our individuals cooperating teachers. i'm loving spending the entire day with the same twenty girls. we know each other very well and we have a lot of laughs together. it's great to have a solid group walk you through this...interesting semester in my life. after my classes, i shot home and threw some laundry in the washer and then went across the street to spend some time with two of my favorite kiddos, Mason and Carson Hetzell. after babysitting, i went back to Raleigh and my Allison Tart spent the night.

we slept til noon on saturday and then got ready and went to the "I'm Having Crusade Summer Project Withdrawal DINNER!" i heard some stories about what the Lord did across the universe this summer and then went back to wendell to babysit some cousins of mine, edward and analee apple. so. stinkin. cute. analee painted my nails and edward and i took turns chasing each other around the house. we then ate lots of cookies n cream ice cream and watched 'Annie' until we all fell asleep in the sleeping bags in the playroom.

i started off the long weekend as an adult being called Miss Sanderson...and i ended it covered in pink nail polish who slept in a cinderlla sleeping bag. welcome to the life of an over involved twenty one year old :)

world of syllabi.

My mom tells me often that she looks forward to my phone call at the end of the first day of every semester. It's the day where I get all of my syllabi for the semester. The minute I have one in my hand, I read over all of the assignments, and throughout the day I get more and more stressed out after seeing the number of things that these people wish me to accomplish during the course of a semester. Many, MANY four letter words rush through my brain during the first few days. Apparently my stress is her entertainment.

This was no different. I only have two actual classes this semester since I am student teaching, however, each class is two and half hours long. That's a ton of work that has the potential to be assigned in a day. Like today for instance, three papers were assigned in my first class, and then a presentation was assigned in my second. All of these things must be accomplished by Friday. Oh joy.

I could sit here and complain about this day for a while, but I'm going to stop now.

Here's some good things about today:
1. I parked in the Coliseum Parking Deck for the very first time with my legit parking pass. I felt so grown up.
2. Both of my classes are all girl. It's rather fabulous. The only men I see are my four professors (two professors per class).
3. There's only 21 of us in my classes. It's the same 21 that will be graduating together.
4. I did some serious coupon clipping today. Coupon clipping makes me happy.
5. I had a great discussion about Lebanon with one of my professors. I ran into him at the bookstore and I was speaking Arabic on the telephone and for some reason he was curious why this white, blonde haired, green eyed girl is speaking Arabic.
6. I got a babysitting gig with the Hetzell's for Friday night. These kids are my favorite 5-year-old and 2-year-old in the entire. world.


Just a small update for a crazy day. I'm sure this is going to get more and more interesting as the student teaching experience goes on.

Eight Things.

so i've seen these things where you go through each month and sum it up in a nutshell. and then i've seen "top ten must haves" for certain parts of life. i have liked what i have seen/read, and so i decided to combine them. it's the eighth month of the year...so here's my eight top things/moments/memories of my two thousand ten :)

(in no particular order)

08. day at the orphanage: monsurieh, lebanon.
07. encouraging emails from america to lebanon.
06. communal nap times in lebanon.
05. slop. it's this new recipe that i've concocted...and i'm a fan.
04. PASTA AT ROADSTER'S ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!
03. erin/todd/matt visit for the weekend.
02. jewelry show at vegas.
01. cirque de soleil at vegas.

it's been fun.

and i'm a senior tomorrow. in college.
i'm. freaking. out.

we'll see how this whole "tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life" thing goes...