Class of 2012

a lovely evening

highschoolers...

the Moon and Venus graced us with their presence

One of my very dear students (and me!)

El Fin

Today was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.  AHHHHH!!!  

All day I kept shrieking with my students, with "I can't believe it's over!!!" and "I'm gonna miss you!!!" which would be followed by "We're gonna miss YOU, Miss!!!" which I find utterly adorable just because of the double "miss" (yes, I'm a nerd in all forms, including language). 

It was a wonderfully simple last week.  No stress - just hello, here's your test, this is grade, have a great summer!  So strange to spend SOOO much time with people, and then it's over so quickly.  And of course you want it to be over because, well, it's friggin exhausting...but because it's a professional relationship with a bunch of kids, I always feel this at the end of the year, and I'm beginning to understand a little more what I long for.  Closure. We try to say what we feel and do the proper goodbyes, but they're teenagers and I'm their teacher so it's AWKWARD and as we all know, teenagers aren't the greatest communicators (hahaha), so it leaves me wishing I could convey more of what's in my heart to these wonderful images of God who have so blessed my life these past 10 months (well, most of them). 

So to my lovely students, I will freaking miss you. 
This video made me cry thinking of the gift of this part of my identity that God has given me.

anticipation

Summer is coming.  

It is swelling up in the distance like the monsoon rains.

And I am SO excited to see it looming in the distance. 

The high today was around 100, which is going to start being a regular thing again, so I got Darcy a new pool.  Last summer I got her a kiddie pool, which she loved!  and then she chewed to bits once it got colder and she no longer needed it.  So I tried to circumvent such inefficiency and got her one of the black, plastic feed trough/water tanks that are used for livestock...which she almost is (?).  

Like this!

Only my backyard is a barren wasteland of dirt, with a few specks of weeds and wood (what's left of her once-doghouse).  The above photo is CLEARLY not Tucson...though I wish I could import the trees and puppies for a few days :)  But it's a good relative size to my dog.

And as of yet, she's not quite so sure of the thing yet.  She loved her pool, but she seemed rather scared to go into this - because it's bigger? black? smelled like horses? or something else? hmmm...

Anyways, all this to say playing with the dog in her new pool with the wind and the lovely evening lighting made me all the more excited for summer.  

6 DAYS.  School is OVER in 6 DAYS.  I love my students DEARLY.  I will miss seeing them 5 days a week.  But teachers NEED extended time off...and I can hardly wait for it to arrive, yet have hardly thought about it all at the same time.

Any suggestions for the summer?  What are you going to do?  Any Southern AZ ideas? 

i heart mis vecinos

I'm gearing up for a camping trip with my students (YES, you can pray for me).  And while this morning was the peak of my stress, I feel like this evening has been the opposite. 

I went to the campsite straight after school to check things out - it was GORGEOUS!  I love everything about going out there - the drive, listening to music FULL BLAST (check out our awesome new music!), the outline of the mountains against the sky, and the mountains roaring up as you approach the canyon.  Today, I didn't stay long but there were beautiful purple thistles blooming.  Thistles are actually one of my favorite "flowers" (I'll snag a pic this weekend), so I felt like it was a little offering from Jesus saying, "See!  You love it out here!  This trip is going to be great - don't worry.  You've planned, and I will take care of the rest".  

It helped me realize I'm scared of disappointing my students.  I am such a chill, relaxed person - more likely to enjoy walking around and sitting outside more than attempting to summit a mountain or constantly need to be doing something- Hence God's intended assurance that he will take care of the trip.  

THANKS.

Then the best part of the evening is as I was consolidating camping gear in the garage with the door open, 4 of the neighborhood kids decided they should play in my driveway.  :D!  I've talked to them a few times, but because I'm the resident not-great-Spanish-speaking white chick, I'm somewhat of an enigma I think, and a little intimidating. So they started coming around on the scooter, then the football got a little closer, then talking, then "Can we have some water?", and "Can we see your house?", and stories of how they lost balls to Darcy in the backyard.  I felt so bad!  And she was NOT calm when they came in the backyard...humph - dang dog...

But it was such a little gift from Jesus as I was feeling ever-so-lonely today and wanting people just living life around my house so it didn't feel so empty and lifeless.  

Gotta love the creative way he answers our longings...

Gems from last week

This is how often I was home this week...

I've started using my guest room as a painting room and place to spend time with God.  It was also my dad's birthday this week, so it was fun to craft him a small present.

One of my TA's made this - his Mini-Wheat Man - with disregarded staples. Ahhh what high-schoolers do when they're bored... 

I am not proud to say that I showed my students the honey badger Youtube video. I thought they would find it amusing, but I forgot how crass it was and how much high schoolers latch on to things. 

 This shirt appeared shortly after.

Life is craaaaaazy

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks.  SO MUCH.

My dear friend Coleen was here and we shared many moments like this:

We laughed SO DANG MUCH when she was here and it got me thinking, "Why don't I do this more often?"  I guess there are friends you can just be silly with, but it left me deeply missing her and her husband (two awesome peeps!), and praying for more silliness in my life and people I can share life with in general. 

It was also ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!  And Coleen (along with the lovely Village) helped me throw a first-rate St. Paddy's Day partay (and in case you're wondering if I spelled "Paddy" wrong - check this out).  It was an absolute blast!  But of course we still had to hit up the Dubliner for some Guinness and Irish stew...mmmmmm.....

  

 Then here's just some random amusements from the past week:

My students made little paper people at lunch - so cute

Ice formed on the roof of my school - ICE!!! It got to 34 degrees one morning last week, and the high yesterday was 88. Tucson, you're so weird.

I went to my students' Spring Concert where various bands and the choir performed. Here are two of my students who I spend a lot of time with, through lunch and astronomy club, doing trumpet solos in their jazz band - they were so good! Way to go Albert and Jorge!

Sadly the stupid auto flash went off when I was taking this, and by the time I turned it off, they were done...so - crappy picture quality but you get the idea...

And now, I am officially on Spring Break - WOOHOO!

 

Everyday life

Here are a few snippets from life this past week...and I got a new grey dress, which made it fun being a girl today :)

Erin, Julie, and adorable Everest

a teacher's favorite thing to find on her desk

 One of my former students at work with a gorgeous sunset

 the sunset from Summit before my star party

my parents are visiting! it's been very fun, and they've been EXTREMELY helpful fixing up thing that I never have the energy to do 

SCHOOL IS STARTING!!!

((And just cuz this post felt a little wordy and picture-less, here's a link to some of our church's awesome tunage.  Play while reading!))

AHHHH!!!!  School starts TOMORROW!  But I think I'm feeling prepared (possible?) and here's why::

More details to come on the lovely evening I had and the plans God gave me for the year (which was so dear and wonderful of him), but I wanted to jump start everything by detailing the gifts that were oh-so-lovely today:

-I am down to one dog again.  REJOICE.  But Lizzie took one last nap with me on my bed this morning while I read...

-Persuasion.  The book I was reading while the dog was having twitch-provoking dreams...by Jane Austen (of course!) and it was...there's no better word than LOVELY.  It was a morning of REST.  Staying in my pajamas, drinking an Americano, eating tortillas - all on my fluffy, wonderful bed.  It was just such a LOVELY morning.

-The Village.  My church is such an amazing place.  If you've never gone you should - Sunday nights at 5 PM.  Rod's message was awesome, and it makes me think how grateful I am that we can all be our true selves there.  

-The Auld Dubliner. God has been telling me all week to go sit there and spend time with him.  I have been disobedient for the sake of economy.  And he told me tonight that he will take care of me if I spend $15 on a date with him.  So, I went!  It was so encouraging and yet very random (more to come).

Hope your Sabbath, your DAY OF REST, was just as wonderful - realizing yet again how GOOD and GIVING Jesus is...and that you were able to rest in him being GOD and you being HUMAN. 

Crater lab

One of the pluses of having 75 pounds of used flour from a lab on impact craters