Oh ...You Silly Rollercoaster of Life!

Oh my! I can't even begin to tell you how crazy this day was! I feel like I was just thrown around on an upside down, arms hanging all over rollercoaster!

5:00am-wake up. tired. starting to feel a little depressed. questioning why I am doing this.

6:00am-exhausted. falling asleep.

7:15am-meeting with one of my "trouble girl's" mom. I was super nervous. I called the mom last night, asking her for a meeting to discuss her daughter. We met at 7:15 and I was feeling like a little girl trying to act like a big girl...I felt like I was playing teacher in my basement. The conversation went very well, and the girl was an angel all day in class!

8:00-still dragging...

9:00am-when is lunch?

10:00am- fell asleep in the bathroom...

11:00am- Teaching kids! Yeah! Highlight! I love being in the classroom

12:30pm-back to being exhausted...

****12:50- Special announcement from our School Director that we had an emergency meeting in the libray. (Great, 10 minutes off of my short break...)

12:50: He told us to bring laptops to take notes on... His tone was serious as he told us that we were not meeting our goals and were needing to stay late at school today for an extra 3 hours! What?! The buses were going to pick us up at 8:00pm and take us straight to our Learning Team Night Classes at Georgia Tech. Urg....

I thought I was going to officially enter depression...

He built up this new strategy that the staff was going to teach the teachers. We were all dragging...

.......Then....after a ten minute build up the staff surprised us and told us that the buses were waiting in the parking lot and that we had the ENTIRE afternoon off!!! No Learning Team Night Classes! No afternoon sessions!!!

Ahh!!!! My eyes welded up with tears! My friend Elaina started crying! What the heck is going on?!?! I was so excited!

We had NOTHING to do this afternoon?!?!

We all ran to the buses with our stuff and greated the bus drivers with HUGE grins!

Then...they made it better! They gave us coupons for Barnes and Noble, pedicures, manicures, masssages, and told us that there was a BBQ on campus at 5:30!

Sweetness!

So, me and some girls went to Midtown Atlanta and got our nails done! I fell asleep in the massage chair! : )

What a wonderful afternoon!

How amazing that a horrible morning can be transformed into such a beautiful night!

Oh man! I love surprises!

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations

The Only Constant is Change...

(I did not take this picture!)

Wow...where to start? These past three weeks have felt like months.

Quick Summary of What I'm Doing:
-I'm teaching in inner city Miami this Fall through Teach for America. I am so stinkin excited!

-Right now, I'm in inner city Atlanta training for the summer. The training is hard. It's a total boot camp. I'm teaching 3rd Grade at Woodson Elementary School (Gettin' It Done Woodson!)

-My schedule is 5:00am to about 9:30pm (and then I write lesson plans at night for the next day of class)

-I am learning about how to work. I don't work harder; I work smarter!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel like I've been thown into a hurricane,

and I don't know how to swim.

It's been a whirlwind of learning,

thinking, trying,

messing up, and laughing.

For the first time in the past three weeks, I got to b r e a t h e. Tonight, I went to this wonderful church...It was such a great treat. Thank you Lord for Your perfect timing.

I am seriously struggling with my desire to change the world as well as my desire to enjoy the world.

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy...If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But, I rise in the morning torn between a desire to improvef the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
-E.B. White

Christianity is not as black and white as the Pharisees claim it to be...It can be messy. People are messy.
Embrace the fact that things get messy!

Hold the non-negotiable parts of scripture closed hand. Hold the gray areas open hand.

Look to scriptures...not to American Christian culture.

I am learning so much right now. I wish I could pin-point a common theme or trend to pass on to you!

But...for now I'm going to have to leave you with this: You sing all around...But I never hear the sound. Lord, I'm amazed by You. Lord, I'm amazed by You. Lord, I'm amazed by You. How You love me.

Lyrics I'm Humming:

Psalm 13 by Shane and Shane