Crazy April

This month has been nutso.

Chris has been especially stressed out. He's had ~10 projects due in the past two weeks. As soon as he finished those, he began finals. He has five in the next three days. I know he (and I) would really appreciate some prayers.

April got ridiculously crazy at school for me too. I somehow ended up staying at school until 4:30 or 5:00 every night. (They stop paying me at 2:45...) We just finished TCAP week, and next week is SAT-10 for my second graders. I would also appreciate some prayer for sanity.

My beautiful friend Leslie got married last Saturday!

I was so honored to be a part of her day! She fed me Mountain Dew and watermelon on my wedding day, so I brought her sugar free Red Bull on hers. I think we're even now.

It was so fun to make new friends with Leslie's other bridesmaids.

Since Leslie obviously picks great friends (ahem), any friend of Leslie's is a friend of mine!


Chris and I have finally organized our summer schedule. Looks like we have 2 weekends in Nashville total from now until August. That sounds alright to me! Lots of visits with family, a few special trips for just Chris and I, and a month-long clinical in Houston, Texas! It's busy times, but we are so excited. Pray for safe travels everywhere we go and that we are able to spend some quality time together while we are bumming off our sweet friends and family.

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." -Psalm 94:19

Nuggets

I make Chick-Fil-A quality chicken nuggets. No lie.

That was so you would still have a reason to like me after all this complaining I'm about to do.


Teaching is hard.
I am an educator, mother, nurse, accountant, event coordinator, advertiser, cheerleader, nutritionist, counselor, interior designer, performer, dentist, tech support....the list could go on and on.

Most days, I feel really unqualified. In my totally biased opinion, I attended the best teacher preparation program in Tennessee. During my internship year, I did student teaching from 7:00-3:00 and attended class from 4:00-8:00. Every day. For one full year. At the same time, I also completed an action research project, which culminated in a 118 page paper. And I still feel completely unqualified to be a really great teacher.

Completely unrelated side note--it's getting a little annoying to work this hard all day and come home to news reports of how teachers are the problem with education. Dear media, Spend a day in my shoes.

New cities are hard.
I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how open to change you are, moving to a new city is hard.

This wasn't even a major change. I went to middle/high school in Murfreesboro. I'm kind of from this area. My parents still live here. But it's different now.

It's hard to explain how it's different. I had good friends when I was in high school. I kept busy playing for the most awesome softball team ever. But I don't really have anything here now. I go to work, and I come home. When I crave restaurants, I crave Downtown Grill & Brewery and Long's Drugstore. I get the urge to ride my bike down Cherokee and finish with a Mountain Dew Icee from Weigel's. Then I remember I'm not in Knoxville anymore.

Adjusting has been hard. And almost one year later, it's not any easier.


God is good.
I already know that after all this complaining, Chris is going to make me list the good things in my life. So here it goes.

God brought us here to teach us a lot about relying on Him for everything. Five days after I moved here, I got a job at the best school I've ever been a part of. Provision. Between my salary and Chris' tuition, it doesn't make sense that our budget consistently stays in the green. But it does. Provision. God led us to Itchy, who turned out to be the most perfect companion on all those lonely nights when Chris is studying. Provision.

Life is hard, but I feel good knowing a) they've been harder, and b) God promises to work everything out for my good anyway.


So let me know if you ever want to try my chicken nuggets.