A little perspective

So today I found out a student of mine might be anorexic.   This of course broke my heart, but what made me really sad is that I didn't notice it first.  I mean, I noticed she was lethargic and stopped turning in work, but instead of talking to her and digging deeper, I just got frustrated by her grades and lack of effort and harassed her to come after school and make up her work.  I also talked to a mom of another student of mine and found out she was recently adopted from a really bad family and was having a hard time adjusting.  Its the second to last week of school and I am just now bothering to find out this information?

I thought I got into teaching to help middle school students find their way, build their confidence and realize God's love.... instead, working where I do has turned me into a assessment driven greedy data monster.  I hate it. I hate that I get upset over kids who have gum when they could have abusive parents. I hate that I yell at kids for not focusing when they might have been up all night taking care of a little sister.  I hate that I am excited for school to end instead of sad to see them go.  This year has resulted in complete and utter burn out and I don't like that feeling.  Next year I need to find a way to renew my perspective. I wish I had a little refresh button on my outlook like I do on my webpage.  I am thankful for the summer break ( even if I teachsummer school it will be a break from the same place, same kids, same issues) and hope that I can start next year with  a better viewpoint.  God wants me to be a teacher, I am sure of that. But I am equally sure that his sole purpose for me being a teacher is not to get the best data of my school.   I need to remember that- feel free to remind me at any point when it is obvious I need reminding.

It happens to us all

So most of you know that a few months ago Shane and I adopted a sweet little dog from the Humane Society and named her Paisley. She really is adorable, pretty well behaved and super fun.  Here she is!

She is pretty cute- but a little tricky.  We made her a little home in the shower that she stayed in during the day ( partially because she was on heart worm treatment and partially because we weren't really sure that we could trust her in the house all day long without us). We put her kennel in because she likes to hang out in there during the day, but even with her tiny little legs managed to jump up on the kennel and out of the shower. I mean, it took her a few weeks to manage this ( she isn't the brightest crayon in the box) but I was still pretty impressed. 

Anyways, now her heart worm treatments are done and we get to walk with her and play fetch and have all kinds of fun.   We buy her lots of toys to keep herself entertained with, but her recent favorite is an empty waterbottle. I tried to upload a video to show you how cute she is, but I failed.  Maybe I will try again on facebook. 

I started writing this blog about her because of a tragic event that happened this weekend.  The event shall forever be called " Bad Haircut". We have all had them - the haircut that is so ugly you don't recognize yourself or want to be seen in public. Well, now Paisley is one of us.  I tried to put a few pictures to show how not cute she has become, but the pictures still turn out kinda cute.  Its our fault really, we told them to cut it short. She was shedding so much and looked really hot- little did we know what we had requested.  Her body is completely shaved, and apparently below that adorable strawberry blonde hair is white fuzz. And her face is all boxy and still fluffy. It is really quite ridiculous. We will love her anyways and just hope it grows out.  It happens to the best of us- we will just make sure it doesn't happen again.   Sorry Paisley, we let you down.

The power of good friends and musicals.

I'm not going to lie- the last few months have been rough.  The move to Houston shook me a little more than I expected it to. I always thought of myself as a confident, friendly sort of lady.  All that seemed to change as Shane and I moved to this foreign place.  You may think I'm exaggerating calling Houston a foreign place, but it really is. There was a lot to learn.  I now take four freeways to work, as opposed to the one freeway I took in Tucson, once a month, on the way to phoenix. People don't live places here- they stay there. For example " I stay up north, or I stay near the Medical Center".  The church we attend is ginormous and after almost a year there I still feel like a small fish in a huge sea.  Also, there are a million different types of bugs, the likes of which I have never encountered before and hope  to never see again.

Overall, I really like Houston. My work has been a challenge and is a whole other story, but the city itself is really cool.  There are a ton of trees which I love, and we live super close to museums, the zoo ( of course!) parks and tons of restaurants.  There are a lot of neighborhoods with different personalities to explore.  The biggest change has been losing the community we had in Tucson.  I mean I always knew I had great friends, but I didn't really know how much of my life they truly were.  I have made a few good friends here, but the group of people who could come over to our place and play with us every weekend isn't here and that has been really hard

But this weekend, this glorious weekend has renewed my spirit.  Thursday our friends Melissa and Casey came over with their two friends Brad and Stacy for our usual brinner. We have started a fabulous tradition of eating brinner ( waffles, eggs and bacon to be specific) and playing Settlers of Catan. Its delightful every time.  Then Friday came with a wonderful surprise. Our dear friends Amy and Austin had travel difficulties which landed them in Houston for the night.  I found out at around 4 pm that they were coming in a 9:30 and staying the night.  There is absolutely nothing better in the world than seeing old friends. It's like a cup of tea on a cold night- it warms the soul. It was like bringing a little piece of home to Houston.  It was exactly what I needed.  I was able to be myself, I mean really be myself, and we laughed more than I have in a while.  Their stay was short, but it was a breath of life that I really needed.  I am sure God knew that and delayed their travel plans, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't mind:)  There might have been some tears when we departed, but I left feeling loved, happy and missing home.

Tonight Shane and I are going to Jekyll and Hyde- a musical I have been wanting to see for a while.  Shane bought tickets for my birthday and I am excited it is here!  Overall, its been a wonderful weekend and gave me hope for many wonderful weekends to come.

Thoughts and things....

 I have really enjoyed reading the blogs of my friends lately, and thought to myself, self, why not make your own? I agreed with myself, naturally, and here I am. Honestly, sometimes I just want to get my thoughts down and this seems like a good way to do it.  I feel like I am sort of stagnant in my life right now, and maybe if I saw it in a new perspective, I could appreciate it more.  Or maybe my life is lameface and trying to write about it will encourage me to get out and do more. Either way, writing this blog is totally out of my element and I like that. Here I go...you are welcome to join me:) - I have to warn you, Shane once referred to my typing style as " typing with total abandon", which is a nice way of saying I type almost identically to how i think- so its a bit of a fast paced mess.  Good luck.