Monthly Archives: June 2005

I never really liked that song…but as the Baylor school song its not that bad. So I think that the first part of summer was so boring bc Cliff was gone. Because I have had several days with not much to do and they have been kinda nice, so I have come to the conclusion that those first few were just so aweful because my sweet lovehead wasn’t here. So I hung out with Erin last night and she is leaving in a few weeks. I do not think it has set in yet how much I am going to miss all my friends once they are actually GONE! Because I still have two of them here, even though Missy is in Penn. for another week or so and Erin is moving all her stuf this weekend. Its always scary and exciting to think about having to make new friends. Now, granted, Erin, Missy, Lydia, and other moving friends, are all going to have to make friends in a bigger sense than I am because they are in a totally new spot and I am still here with some of our other friends like the Hoods, Sprinks, Gohrings, Etc… but I will still be around different people at work everyday, and I am excited to meet the other teachers! I hope there are some about my age!! aw…but I still don’t want them to all move…
Ok ok, I guess I should stop whining. Okay…another subject, I read two Francine Rivers books while we were on our trip. They were okay, but both had a similar theme…husbands who are blind to the way they hurt their wives and children and those around them. It was really sad to read and I found myself wondering if I was harsh on Cliff as I read them because I was frustrated at the husbands in the books. They were okay books but I find myself needing a more satisfying read. Also, I have decided to give up watching shows like Law and Order and reading murder mysteries. I find that it just fuels fear that always lingers within me. Whenever I am alone it makes me afraid of things I have read about/watched and those things just pollute my mind. So I am going to take away that source of pollution!

1. chocolate sundae from Dairy Queen
2. Cliff’s truck works now
3. fun times with friends
4. a nice dog and cat
5. a job
6. our house
7. I found our Belize maps

I do not really have the creativity in me to think of a title. I just watched Star Wars Episode 6. Now I have seen all but one. My kitty jumped up in my office chair to sit by me. well really he is sitting behind me so its not that comfy but oh well.

1. safe travel in Pensacola
2. kids coming to VBC
3. yummy spaghetti dinner
4. our truck having problems close to Waco today instead of waiting til we got to Dallas
5. girls night last night
6. my parents
7. Cliff

Cliff and I just went to see the newest addition to the Sprink family, Lucy Jane! She is so pretty!! There have been so many sweet girl babies born over the past year! Lucy, EmmaMerie, Maddie Lipe, my cousins’ girls: Claire, Kailey, Dani, and Hope! Wow! Its been a girl year! I know we do not want to have a baby now, but I the more that I am around these babies, the more I am excited about when we can start thinking about that. For now, I just like to hold and play with them

On another note, I think teaching half day would be nice. You get the morning to get stuff accomplished and then you work in the afternoon. I am kinda ready for my class to be over. The kids are nice but I am ready to do something else. Yesterday went really well though. My 4-5 graders were all occupied on different levels and activities and paced themselves. Three of the kids created neat kaleidoscopes on a computer program, while others who thought it was too hard and were getting frustrated did something else. One of the kids who is really quick was able to be occupied the whole time. I don’t know how today’s lesson will go for him, but we’ll see.

Last night Cliff and I had such a nice time hanging out. I fixed dinner and then we went to Target and Office Depot and Walmart and then came home and watched Star Wars Episode 4. I have never really seen any of the movies until I saw 3 at the theatre with Cliff and Jon and Lydia, only becuase Cliff and Jon wanted to see it. Then I saw two later at the Gohrings. They are okay, but I do not think that I would want to sit and re-watch them. Not like Youve Got Mail or something, that I would watch over and over But it was fun, kinda like a date night that we might wouldve had before we got married where we just hung out. He wanted to look at Basketball cards since he donated some of his to the church auction for Uganda. I just enjoyed playing at Target, although their clothes have disappointed me lately. We did stay up kinda late watching the movie though, and I have been sleeping horribly lately. So I think I really need to work on going to bed earlier. Anyway, enough rambling, here are my thankfultudes.

1. fun clothes from Amelia’s Attic
2. seeing Lucy
3. four days left of class
4. clean fresh sheets
5. date night with my love

I really like messages, so if anyone wants to leave a comment, they should!

So I finally got my middle schoolers to talk today!!! I have been dreading class becuase they are so shy and don’t know each other and maybe bored too I don’t know, but they have not been very talkative at all, despite all my efforts. Well today we finally got to talking. I just thought of a random question…such as “What would you do if you suddenly had a million dollars?” They slowly started opening up and chatting. We got to talking about cars and what country they would go to and siblings and how they are annoying. Most of my kids are the oldest child, so that could be part of the maturity and lack of being very loud and attention seeking, as it seems most middle children or babies are.

So that made me very happy, especially since a Mansfield school and Tennyson, Waco’s best middle school, called me today. It just makes me think, did I really listen and was I supposed to take that job. But after struggling with that, I think God is reassuring me that yes I did what he wanted me to do, and I just need to learn from this that I am a valuable teacher who people want to hire and next year I should set my sights high and feel confident to go wherever we feel His calling.

Also today in my 4th and 5th grade class, it was very fun. I like it when I do not follow my lesson plan at all and it goes well. I totally did things differently, didn’t do some things, did others that I hadn’t planned on at all, and I thought it went very well.

Well now I guess I will go try a new recipe I just found in the Kraft recipe magazine that I got in the mail. I really get tired of cooking the same old things and we are trying so hard to eat healthier so I think this will be good. I just hate thawing chicken…

1. Crosstalk is tonite
2. our 8th graders did well on TAKS
3. we get to make tessellations tomorrow
4. my middle schoolers talked
5. i slept well last nite for the first time in a while
6. my car air conditioner worked the whole way home
7. my 4-5 graders thought the things we did were cool
8. i got to talk to an intern friend
9. my cat is nice
10. my dog is soft

Anyone know what a Mobius Strip is? Well I taught some kids what it is today and it is very wierd and interesting. It is a one-sided loop of paper. Here is a better explanation of what it is, complete with pictures. Thankfultudes:

1. chocolate cake from the refrigerator
2. when my students are interested in what they are doing in class
3. my sweet cat
4. cuddles with Cliff
5. Bethie being engaged

So far I really like my second class (4-5 graders) and my first class is just so shy and not talkative. Not that I am really a talkative person myself, so I don’t really know how to motivate them. There are only five of them and they do not know each other. Maybe I am babying them with what I am teaching, but it doesn’t seem like stuff they do not already know. Oh well, I need to go do a lesson. So here i go…

This has been a lovely yet tiring weekend. We went to my parents house for my graduation party on Saturday with family and friends from the area. It was soooo great to see everyone because since I have been at college I haven’ t seen much of the extended family and I really miss all the get togethers!! I got some really fun teacher stuff too I start teaching my summer class tomorrow. I hope it goes well and the kids have fun with it. I think I am pretty much organized and ready. okay before bedtime, here are my thankfultudes..

1. a nice kitty who really missed us
2. finally being out of the car
3. yummy Wendy’s food
4. family!!!!!!
5. little cute babies to hold (Daniella and Hope are just precious!)
6. a cleaned off desk
7. a card from an old teacher (Mrs. Faircloth!)
8. teacher bags
9. a sleepy puppy
10. country apple body splash

Good night world!