January 2012

I thought I would start pooling together the highs and lows of each month.  This month has more highs than lows and I hope that every month turns out this way.  Even with the lows, I know that God will teach me something valuable.

Lows:

• So many times this month, I've heard comments from teachers about how we're coming to the end of our program, disappointment from Whit about not being able to do a Spring Break trip next year due to student teaching, and questions from my parents and everyone else about where I plan on starting out with a big kid job.  Honestly, I'm soooooooooooo ready to be done with school, but at the same time, I'm just not quite ready to grasp the fact that I am growing up and have to get a real big kid job next year.
• I did not want to come back to school.  I hate living up here.  I'm not a city/town girl.  Never have been, and if God leads me to live in this sort of environment, He'll have to help me with some heart work.  I have been really homesick for the open spaces of the farm this month.  I've missed being able to see Ruby every day and being able to see my grandparents whenever I want to.

• Early this month, I sadly realized that Strupp autocorrects to Stupid.  

Highs:

• I was able to bring in the new year at one of my favorite places on Earth, VCBC!  It was great to bring in the year praising God and celebrating with amazing people.
• I got to spend the week before school with my best friend.  I taught her how to sew.  It was so good to spend so much time with her when we hadn't been able to do that for a while.  She was a pretty good student.  :)

• I finally got a new computer and with it comes Skype!  I am NOT phone person.  I don't even have texting and I don't care to use Facebook chat.  I love being able to Skype!  It's practically the next best thing to being with an actual person.
• This is one of my last 2 full semesters here at UNI and I have gotten a lot of information about student teaching.  This makes me feel really good.  Yeah, I talked about growing up as a low above, but the fact that I've come so far in my education and that I'm almost "ready" to be a teacher is a great feeling!
• One day, I received a very excited voice mail from my momma.  I had been dreading this particular Tuesday just a little bit, but Momma said that she was in and out of her appointment before her scheduled time!  Momma is coming up on 3 years of her last round of chemo.  After 2 years, her chances of having the cancer return, drops; every year after that, it continues to drop.  Her chances will never completely go away, but the more years the better!  :)
• Today, I finished reading the ENTIRE Bible!  I started reading the Bible in one year, last February.  It has a been a remarkable year.  I've learned so much, read stories I had never read before, met new people in these pages, and learned many new things about passages that I've read before.

All things considered, dear January, you were a pretty great way to start the year.  :)

"He makes every ordinary moment extraordinary.  He sees every mistake and makes a masterpiece from it."

Favorite picture from January

1/30

Seriously, I'm beginning to think that Mondays are not that bad.  Call me crazy, but today was pretty good!  Usually, I just don't sleep well at school.  Last night, I had a different pillow and hid my annoying clock and I slept SPLENDIDLY!  I got to go to Bible Study at Jenny's where she made us breakfast!  I had Monday or Thursday's camp breakfasts as options!  We caught up on each others' weeks and how this week looks, and shared prayer requests and praises.  We dug into our new book.  We are going to be studying Esther and we are using a Beth Moore book.  I'm really excited about this!  I spent the rest of the afternoon not doing too much.  I read and Facebooked and watched FRIENDS until it was time to go to class.

The worst part?  My friend, Lindsay Lu, was supposed to come visit me today, but got into an accident.  Thankfully, she is okay.  Also, she is super glad that her prayer got answered that I now have Skype!  :)

Monday, I can take you!

Down the Road

Sometimes, the simplest thing can take me back.  Today, it was a bag of California oranges at Wal-Mart.

Donna and Errol always bought their oranges like this.  It's just one of the many things that I remember about them.  We went to their house almost every other Saturday for all of my childhood and into my teen years.  They loved watching us and we loved being at their house.  It was always filled with love and laughter.  We never knew what we would end up doing at their house.  In the summer, we were usually in the garden or drawing with chalk.

In the winter, we went sledding or made a snowman.

They never slowed down.  They were always working in the garden, going to visit their daughters or coming to support Peyton and I in whatever we were doing.  Donna was usually in the kitchen or at work and Errol was in his shop or in the timber.  Every time we had snack, we usually woke Errol up from his nap with the scent of cookies!

God blessed me so much by having this amazing couple just down the road from me.  They adopted us as their grandchildren, and we adopted them as our grandparents.  Seriously, how many kids get lucky enough to have 3 sets of grandparents?  If my future husband and I are half as happy and in love as these two were, I'll be the happiest girl in the world!

I miss you both so much!

Dear Tuesday

Dear Tuesday,

I was thinking today that you just don't get much credit.  Sundays are church days, everyone hates Mondays, Wednesday is halfway, UNO Thursday, and then  Friday and Saturday are pretty good friends of mine.

Today though, we're buds.  Today was a pretty good day.  I didn't have Lit class, instead I had fun digging through lit textbooks and laughing with my group.  Today, I got a very excited voice mail from my mother exclaiming that she was in and out of her appointment before her scheduled time.  The best part my dear Tuesday?  She doesn't have to go back until the end of July.  I forgot to ask her if she took a real book or her Nook, just to make Dr. Link's day.  Today, I had my favorite dining center salad, BLT Chicken!  :)  Today, I applied for camp.  I hope I get the job!  :)  Today, I got more information about how the rest of my semester looks.  Today is one of those, "Thanks, God!" kind of days.

Yeah, it was a long day, but I think you're moving up in the ranks, my friend.

Sincerely,

Katie

PS-I've never eaten at Ruby Tuesdays.

Beating the storm

I've been so ready to go back home ever since coming back to school to start a new semester.  I have 3 day weekends for a while and I took advantage of it.  I decided on Wednesday that I would head home on Thursday.  I was going to leave right after class so I could make it home in time for supper and be clear of getting stuck in the storm that was headed for CF.

It was so good to be home!  My momma had meatloaf waiting for me!  It is my favorite!  :)  The night was spent relaxing and catching my parents up on what had been going on the past couple of weeks.  We played Phase 10.  I lost badly, like always.  Every time we play a game, I always ask myself, "Why did I agree to this?"  Rarely do I ever win.  It was fun just the same.

Friday morning as soon as I was ready for the day, I got bundled up in multiple layers and headed outside.  Ruby was so excited to see me!  She just couldn't quit jumping!  I miss her when I'm not home.  We wandered around for a bit, and of course I could not pass up the occasional opportunity to throw her into a snowbank or two!  :)  The rest of the day was spent playing games with Momma; I somehow managed to beat her in every game we played, relaxing and Skyping with Reed.

Saturday I was a lump!  I loved it!  The Love Saga was on, which I rarely pass up.  I had the house to myself, so I worked on a little homework, but not much else.  I also spent too much time on Pinterest.  For supper, I treated my dad to a big bowl of popcorn and we caught some of a Clint Eastwood movie.  I later challenged him to a game or two of Rummy and I came out the ultimate victor again!

I don't like it when I have to leave home.  Today was no different.  Dad advised me to stay home from church because the roads were a little slick and I so missed the fellowship.  Shortly after lunch, he gave me the hurried okay to get started back.  He wanted me to leave before it got colder.  He's always watching out for me.

I really do love my weekends at home!  :)

Floyd and Jean

Oh, my grandparents.  They make me giggle so much.  I called to talk to Grammy about Grandpa's birthday present and about disappointment about not being able to come home for his surprise 80th birthday party.

My dear grandmother can talk an ear off a horse!  I always know how our conversations will go.  She will catch me up in just a few minutes about her day to day and then promptly say, "I guess I just don't know anything else."  Sometimes, up to 45 minutes later, she is still talking!  :)

My dear grandfather is another story entirely!  Our phone conversations are over in mere minutes.  He usually answers the phone, asks some questions, I ask him some questions, small pause, "Well, do you want to talk to your grandmother?"  I giggle every time, mostly because I know that is it coming!

Birthday month is coming up for both of them.  Grandpa will be 80 and Grandma isn't that far behind him.  I'm so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents in my life!

Betty White

Last week, I read Betty White's book, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't).  Betty White is one of my favorites.  She is hilarious and by reading her book, I got the sense of how humble she is.  I watch reruns of The Golden Girls and I'm getting pretty hooked on Hot in Cleveland.  She makes me laugh so hard with each of her characters!  I completely recommend her book.  It was a good easy read that left me with a happy feeling.  The best part?  I found out that Betty also owned a dog named Bandy.  Small world huh?

My favorite quote from the book:

"If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble."

Happy 90th Birthday, Betty!

A Bus Ride Can Change Everything

Today in my Lit Methods class, we had to do a quick write about who or what inspired us to be a teacher.  Yeah, this question has been asked and answered 100 different times in 3 years.

Kaitlin Glandon.  Basically everyone in Sigourney knows this young girl that has a big heart.  She used to sit with me almost every day on the short bus ride to school.  She would always say hi to me when we saw each other.  I was given the opportunity to go back to her classroom for some experience when I was taking a class at Hills.

I remembered writing a note about one very special day with Kaitlin.  This is from April 24, 2009.


So this morning, I did my normal routine, and got dressed in a yellow SICL champs shirt from a while ago. I REALLY wanted to wear my new black headband and was looking at myself in the mirror, and decided that my outfit just didn't look quite right. I looked through the other shirts waded up on my floor, and found last years black homecoming shirt. I get to school and walk into the cafiteria and scan the crowd. I find my friends and wade in. I gaze around the crowd some more, and I see Kaitlin Glandon. She looks up and smiles at me and I say hi. As soon as she sees what shirt I'm wearing she unzips her coat and shows me her shirt...the exact same one! She was SO excited that I was wearing the same shirt that throughout the day whenever she saw me she would immediately point to her shirt. It was fun to really connect with Kaitlin today even if it was just simply because of a shirt. I think God made my first outfit not as becoming as the second because He had something special for me to do today. Oh, the little blessings God sends our way! Thank Him for EVERYTHING...even if it's just a simple change of clothes!! :D

One of the best things about this sweet girl?  She always has a smile on her face!  :)

Monday pick-me-ups

Usually, people cry about Mondays.  You won't hear me crying this semester about them!  First off, I don't have class until 4.  Secondly, I get to start Monday at 9:45 with Bible Study!  :)  Yeah, some of you might have doubts about how I could truly be happy about this plan, but really, it's the best!  It's about more than Jenny always having something good to eat, or being able to see everyone.  It's really about how we have the opportunities to share about what's been going on in our lives, how we've seen God working and what He's been teaching us and being able to share praises and prayer requests that we have.

Sometimes we cry, lots of times we laugh, we ALWAYS talk, but mostly we come ready to bear our hearts with things that have been weighing on them, or lifting them up.  It's about connections too.  Sometimes, I think I'm the only one who's going through a particular situation, and then someone shares almost the exact same story.  It's kinda crazy how God works sometimes.

God has blessed me in a big way with Mondays!  :)

Teach Me How To Sew

This week was one of the biggest adventures I've been on in a little while.  I taught my best friend how to sew.  You wouldn't think it should be that difficult, but if you're thinking that, you haven't met Whitney.  Where I am borderline 50's wife, she is the opposite.  When she came to me with the project of making her boyfriend, Caleb, a t-shirt quilt, I told her that she would be doing the bulk of the work.  I did the best I could.

All of the cutting took the first day.

She learned how to use the sewing machine on Wednesday.  She got along fairly well.  It wouldn't be up to Grandma's standards, but I'm not too worried.  She used the, "It's my first quilt," excuse a lot.

We used my t-shirt quilt as a model.

The almost finished project.

I'm going to attempt something new with this project.  I will try to learn how to bind a quilt differently than I usually do!  :)

Oh, Shafranek!

Today, I decided that it was time to head into town and visit Shafranek.  I hadn't been in to see my former Ag. teacher in a long time and I had a finished FFA scrapbook to show him.  I was glad I asked if he was in the same room as usual, because he wasn't and now has a room mate.  I honestly don't think he'll ever leave that place.  They feed him too well for him to leave!

He was jolly as ever.  We chatted for about 2 hours about EVERYTHING!  Farming, FFA, hunting, dogs, school, teaching, and rivalries were topics hit.  That man sure can talk!  I talk a lot, but he sure did outdo me!

Naturally, I was anticipating the "Shafranek, I have to pee" story to come up and it did.  I'm glad that story still makes him laugh hard.  He enjoys telling it to just about everyone. 

One thing that he said was, "If I couldn't give those kids all my energy, I didn't want to be there any more."  What a great statement for when it's time to get out of teaching.

I had a good time visiting with that old man.  I pulled so much stuff in his classes.  There was never a dull moment in that shop!

Rubber Band Ball Drop

Friday rolled around and I was ready to get to camp.  My dear mother freaked me out a little bit, so I left earlier because of the weather.  The roads were good right up until the one that leads down into the valley.  Needless to say, my car was in neutral until the road flattened out.

It was unbelievable good to see everyone again and catch up.  There was a lot of screams, laughter and talking.  I managed to hit Gwen and Gaby with a snowball every time we were outside.  Lots of games were played and fun had.  I knew that it would be smart for me to get into bed at a decent hour on Friday so I could stay up real late on Saturday.

At worship the next day, Alison and I were able to lead the group in Joshua 1:9 with the actions.  Junior 2 memories resurfaced!  The devotion for the morning was about Selah.  Selah means stop or pause.  We talked about applying Selah to our lives.  Psalm 3 and 4 were read.

Polar Plunge.  Seriously, this was one of the funniest moments of the weekend.  Many did this and it was funny to hear the shrieks as the warm bare feet hit the snow-covered dock.  Even better was the faces of those that plunged and had the shock of that freezing water.  One even jumped off the blob tower.

They were really excited!

After supper that night, I got caught up in playing with Sam and Dani.  They wanted me to scare them as they ran by and then they wanted to play Hide-and-Seek.  Toby joined in too.  It was so much fun to join in on a little kid game and laugh with them in their excitement.

The devotion for the night was about 2012.  We had to write down goals and things we wanted/needed to change in 2012.  Soon, those papers will be sent to us in the mail so we can be reminded of what we need to do.

The rest of the night had games and skits.  So much laughter sending 2011 out.

Andrew said we could keep the costumes!  :)

A little bit before midnight, we were given champagne poppers and Daniel Paczok had the rubber band ball ready to drop.

Watch out New York, you've got nothing on Robin Hood!

An attempt at watching UP with Reed failed, but I stayed up until 3:30 anyway.  Even with that late bedtime, I still woke up early and peppy!  I might have accidentally on purpose woken up Gwen and Gaby.

They still love me!

Baked oatmeal only increased my good mood.  The only thing I was not looking forward to was leaving.  I love that place so much.  I've had so much happen there and met so many people and have created friendships that carry over to more things than just camp.  I've been praying a lot about where I'll be this summer.  I want to go back to camp, but we will see what adventure God will lead me on.

My new friend, except that he's practically gone already.