Honeymoooon!

I am so stinking excited! That is the place where Aaron and I are staying for our honeymoon!

We are staying at Rosario Resort and Spa in Orcas Islands, Washington State. We always get the polite "Oh, that's nice." when we tell people but we would enjoy that way over any beaches. One of the activities I am really looking foward to is whale watching!

I shall be watching Free Willy to prepare. How does that end again?

I am so giddy right now that birds are following me and mice are making me dresses. I had such a wonderful weekend with my almost-husband. I hate that it is over. The weekend is something I always look forward to and then it goes by in a flash!

I could be on the show The Weekenders... except it doesn't exist... and is a cartoon. I miss that show. I wonder if it's on Netflix. If not I need to add it to my list of things I would want on there such as Boy Meets World and Doug.

This weekend started out by going to this recital dedicated to songs from the Rat Pack. The professor in charge of putting it together said her students didn't know who the Rat Pack was. That better be one one of those things older people like to say to make our generation look stupid or I shall never forgive them.

I thought Aaron and I were going to hang out but his work called and apparently he had a shift he overlooked. Been there, done that. I spent that night watching A Conan O'Brien documentary and King of the Hill as well as working on some homework.

The rest of the weekend we just hung out and did a lot of geocaching. Geocaching is basically a digital treasure hunt where people hide either a small container with valueless trinkets that you swap out or just a log sheet where you write your name and the date you found it. People who aren't geocaching are called muggles and you are supposed to look in a way that doesn't draw attention to yourself. It's hard to be stealth when you are looking around light posts and benches.

Sunday, when we went, we ended up at this beautiful park that we always pass but never go to. It was so picture-book. The kids were playing in the playground, almost everyone had a cute puppy with them, couples sitting on benches, old men reading, and joggers that make you feel bad about yourself. They even had this one area made for prairie dogs and ground squirrels to make there home. That was quite a show because a dog got in and was playing a real-life version of wack-a-mole. A prairie dog would be out of the hole, the dog would get closer with her tail wagging, the prairie dog would make clicking noises to warn others and dart into his hole. Then another prairie dog at the other end of the critter corral would hop out and the game would begin again.

Along with a geocache, we found a kite and a dog chain.

We are already talking about how we are going to do geocaching in Arlington/ Fort Worth. It's such a unique way to learn about the town you live in. I'm excited the adventures of married life. I love that I am marrying someone who loves this mini-adventures as much as I do.

Leaving Fifth Grade Behind

I wish I was better at updating this blog. Truth is, between wedding planning and student teaching, this isn't really a top priority for me.

So here is an update on what you have missed since my last post in January. I have finished teaching fifth grade and I am starting kindergarten tomorrow. Today is the last day of Spring Break which should have really been called wedding planning week.

Fifth grade was tough. Not necessarily in planning. I had two different classes I taught so I taught the same things twice in one day. It was more emotionally exhausting than anything else. Most of these students came from a tough family life at home so it was really interesting as to how they would behave that day.

It wasn't hard because of discipline. I was told I am good with classroom management, which is rare in a student teacher. It was more of I wanted to fix each child. It was really hard not to take what they were going through personally. You wanted to be that one person they could feel safe around and doing that for 56 students can take it out of you.

They were sweet students. Although they are getting to the middle school age, they are still children. They still will give you a hug five minutes after they get in trouble from you. Every single one of these students touched me and I hope I made some sort of impact within the six weeks I was with them.

If anything else, I hope they have a better appreciation for Jazz music because of me!

I'm typing this on my iPhone so I'm not sure how grammatically correct this will end up. I'm laying in bed trying to get on student teaching schedule.

This is it. This is my last semester of college, perhaps of school in general. Of course at this time I get all nostalgic. Of course when am I not. It doesn't help that Aaron and I have been looking for videos and pictures of us when we were cute to make a wedding video.

My how things have changed. Sometimes I wish I could forget about the pain and suffering of the past. I can't complain, though. I feel like my life is one big story of God's love and protection over me. I have such a peace of not knowing what my future holds. In fact, I am way less sure of what the future holds now than when I was a freshman.

I sure am happy. I am not one to be sappy in public, besides the five day count down on Aaron's wall. God has blessed me with someone who is the bee's knees. It starts four years before I ever met him.

At my school, we didn't have sex Ed. We had a purity class. Now the only thing I really remember for that class (besides the obvious overall objective of that class) is we made a list of our perfect guy. My list included that he must not only be a Christian, but passionately pursuing Him ;love his mom ;like sports but not necessarily be athletic; have good taste in music; make me laugh; be a good leader. Those are just a few examples of my long list. Well God took that and ran! Who knew that my future husband not only hit every single item on that list, he lived five minutes away from me since eighth grade and we would be each other's first kiss.

I prayed to God that He wouldn't send me someone until we were ready. That doesn't mean I was patient. I had many people tell me my list was too picky. I almost listened to them a couple of times. I got frustrated with God because no one who came close to my list pursued me. It wasn't until I was actually content with being single did God open my eyes to Aaron.

I guess the whole point to this blog is to give hope to those who are getting frustrated with God's timing. Trust me, He has an amazing plan. This story is just a glimpse into how much God has protected me with His timing.

Not so Fun

Is anyone else at the point where they have breakdowns all the time? Here I am, Senior year of college and I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. There, I said it. And I am scared to publish this. I have told people that I am uneasy with the idea of teaching. But if you know me, I have always wanted to be a teacher.

I feel like I am lying everytime I talk about being a teacher in class. I used to get so excited when we watched videos of classrooms. Now I dread the idea of molding 22 minds everyday. Maybe I am just overwhelmed by school. I have been doing non stop school since I started.

I know that God is in control but right now I just feel so helpless. I have been so sure of what I wanted to do since I could remember. I would graduate from college, get married, and become a teacher. Well I am so excited about two out of the three, but I don't want just an MRS degree.

I know God has a plan for all of this. I know He is going to provide for me. He has never let me down before. Maybe I will get my excitement for teaching back once I student teach. Maybe I won't. I wish I could say "Oh well, God will provide something" and start whistling along the path.

This blog isn't about getting attention. In fact I wouldn't really care if anyone read this one. I just needed to say it out loud. Honestly I am just terrified for life outside of school. I am a really good student. Now I won't be a student anymore?

Aaron keeps telling me that my identity is not about what job I have. I am trying really hard to accept that fact.

As a Christian, I understand that my identity is in Christ. It is just really hard to fully accept that.

I just wish this feeling of uneasiness will go away.

Put the Camera Down!

It seems lately that anyone who can afford a camera insists that they are a photographer. *Disclaimer, this blog is not talking about anyone I know, so if you are a photographer or like taking pictures please do not take offense. This blog is mainly focusing on people who have no artistic ability whatsoever.

Today I am featuring a website called youarenotaphotographer.com. These are some of my favorites.

What kind of sick experiments are the government running now?

That's right, let's only remember the baby for his slobber.

This is a deleted scene from Escape to Witch Mountain

That's right folks, a rare baby picture of Pocahontas' grandma.

I guess you can call this a "shotgun wedding"; or a case of wife or death; or To some marriage is a word, to others-a sentence.

Obviously the rose represents a deep-seated love between two chairs.

Believe it or not, this is an ad for a photography company...


And finally, this blog would not do bad photography justice without some pregnancy photos:

It is very admirable of this woman to love this man even though he is a only a pair of arms.

Wasting time

This semester I am only taking three classes (if you don't count choir). The reason I can get away with this is one of my classes is a six hour class. It is a senior level class and I have been warned about this class since I was a freshman. It will be really beneficial for me in the long run but it is a ton of work. It meets every day for 1 1/2 hours and is taught by two different professors. Fortunately one of the professors is my favorite so I will respect the work I am doing.

Typically the class starts at one everyday but right now I am killing time because we had to sign up for interviews with the professors. They basically ask what you want to teach, how social studies applies to that grade level, why collaborating teams are important, and we have to bring an object that best represents us as learners. I picked play-do because I am a kinesthetic learner, I am not afraid of failing because sometimes my creativity turns into something beautiful, I am good at working both individually and within groups, and I am really flexible. One of my roommates helped me come up with play-do.

Yesterday in choir our professor told us to read the syllabus. Of course everyone never reads syllabi unless it has the schedule on there. He was tricky though, at the bottom of the page he said text or email him before five that day and one of our absences in the future will be forgotten. That's right, I was one of the five that texted him. Of course I can't take the credit for it, another roommate of mine read it and spread the good news. But that isn't to say I wouldn't have read it since I was marking on my calendar all of the important dates this semester.

Since I always post a picture in my blogs, here is a picture of a dancing monkey: