October 2012

Can it really be Halloween already?  Am I really 22?  This month has FLOWN by and we are on the verge of November, people!  This month has been FANTASTIC with a few bumps like every other month.

Low:

• Right away on the 1st, I started my Phase 2.  The only downside was the HUG+E adjustment to an early bedtime with an early rising to follow.  I'm finally on a better schedule and now I go to bed super early and get called a grandma.  No big.
• The state decided to change/add to some rules for lincensure and now I have to take 2 Praxis 2 tests instead of one.  EXPENSIVE!  These are both 2 1/2 hours long, and not fun at all.  Not looking forward to actually taking these things...
• For 2 weeks of this month, I was driving my father's car because mine needed lots of love.  I really need my baby to last just a little while longer.  It needs to get me through student teaching and a bit longer if possible!
• Naturally, on my birthday I would break a contact.  Because I don't wear disposables, I had to order a new one and get it sent to me.  All I have are my crooked glasses that practically fall off my face.  Can't wait until my appointment over break!
• I had everything for teaching today EXCEPT the lesson plan and the main activity.  Yep, this Wednesday felt more like a Monday.  Luckily, my mentor teacher is AWESOME and was a tremendous help and I got through.  Note to self, don't forget that sort of thing again!

High:

• My Phase 2 experience has been WONDERFUL!  I absolutely love what I am doing and I really enjoy teaching at the junior high level.  My students are a blast and I have a wonderful mentor teacher.  Last week, I got to teach the students how to make Blueberry pancakes!  :)
• Momma & I hit up the World's Largest Garage Sale and I came back with quite the load of books!  :)

• My friend, Rach came back into town for the night and we got all the girls together for a night at Carlos o' Kelly's!  Such a wonderful time with some wonderful ladies!  :)

• I got to go home for 2 amazing weekends!  I love going home!  It's the best!  :)  One night involved a football game.  The other weekend was harvest and my birthday!  :)
• Camp.  Love camp, especially when it is 4 State time!  :)  Celebration of October birthdays also took place with Tums, Alison, and I!  What fun it was!

• Level 3 was last week.  What an exhausting, exciting week!  I learned so much and it was completely wonderful!  The best I ate all week was conference nights when there was food brought in.  :)
• My birthday was wonderful!  I got to hang out with my family and friends and was reunited with my bestie for the afternoon!  Love her!  :)

• I SCORED REALLY WELL ON A PRAXIS!!!  One down, one left!  :)

Seriously, this has been a wonderful month and I am only 5 1/2 weeks from graduation!!  :)  Life is so good, and I am so thankful!

This would probably have to be my favorite picture of the month!  :)

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

-Ephesians 3:12

Buddy Seats & Birthday Parties

Thankfully, I was able to go home on Thursday night and spend 3 days at home.  I didn't get home until about 9 on Thursday, so I was only able to unload my car and catch up with Momma before burrowing under the covers of my own bed!  :)

Friday was all about me.  I was the only one home and it was DELIGHTFUL!  I attempted to try a new cookie recipe, but I FAIL at chocolate chip cookies.  Thankfully though, my grammy has a hard time with them to, so I don't feel shame.  I was also going to try to make ear warmers, but didn't want to make a pattern.  In short, I got a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing done at the same time.

Saturday I got the Daddy Wake-Up Call at 7 am.  We were headed to the Hunter's Breakfast at the Fire Station!  :)  This is one thing that I look forward to on my birthday weekend.  I love pancakes and I love seeing a lot of people that I don't usually get to see.  I ran into my high school math teacher, and lots of other familiar faces.  Of course, I got many questions about school and gave repeated answers with joy because I know these people care about me.  The rest of the morning was spent with Dad.  We rode back to move the cows and it was a beautiful sight!  The frost was still covering everything and the sun was still climbing.  Simply stunning!  Ruby was having a hay day until I had to hold her so she wouldn't chase the cows.  Honestly, it felt like I had a noisy baby in a church.  She needed to be quiet, but wouldn't be.  We also got into the last field of corn.  What a beautiful day it turned out to be and to be in the field, no less.  After lunch and a quick run to Ottumwa, I rode out to the field with Grammy riding on the buddy seat.  That thing is not made for extended rides!  Then I climbed up in the combine with Gramps.  Seriously, I swear that cab has gotten smaller!  We used to squeeze Gramps and at least 3 grandkids in there.  Now, it barely seems to fit both of us!  I love these rides.  Gramps shares so many stories and we have lots of good conversation as we travel down the neatly planted rows.  When I got back to the house, Momma had my favorite meal on the table.  I seriously love meatloaf!  Yes, I might be the only one you know who feels that way, but it is true!  :) I love nights that end with a big bowl of popcorn too!

Sunday I woke up to the smell of Jiffy muffins wafting through the house!  Since it was my birthday, I also got to drink out of the famed Happy Birthday mug!  Milk of course, this girl doesn't do coffee!  I got a couple of wonderful calls from close friends and I do appreciate all the wonderful wishes on Facebook that I received!  God has blessed me an awful lot!  :)  We headed to Tasos' for lunch with everyone.  Such a wonderful time with some of my favorite people!  :)

All too soon, though, it was time to leave and head back to Cedar Falls.  On the plus side, I did come back to 2 wonderful birthday cards in the mail!  :)  I can't wait to see what all is awaiting me on the 22 side of the fence!  :)

Drop-off Zones & Blueberry Pancakes

Phase 2 & Level 3 are my last stops before student teaching.  WHOA!  I still can't believe just how close I am to having my own classroom instead of just visiting one for a short time.  Having my own students instead of just "borrowing" some for a little while.

Like I've stated in earlier blogs about my experiences, I've taken multiple times where I pray over my placements, my relationships with my mentor teacher and the students I will teach, and the things that I will learn.  I've prayed for challenges (I know, call me crazy) so that I can learn.

God has answered in so many ways!  I LOVE the school that I have been placed in for 8 weeks!  The first day was a little stressful because I ran a little late and then there is only one road right in front of the school.  Yep, that's where there is congestion as parents drop off their kids in the morning.  Usually, I write out a prayer in the morning just to help me focus on praying.  Sleep is very important to me at this point and so I haven't been able to do that lately.  Instead, I've been praying as I walk to the parking lot, and then as I walk  across that drop-off zone into the school.  I feel so ready to take on the day that way.

I have an AMAZING mentor teacher who has taken in 4 Phase 2 students for the semester.  She also graciously let me participate in my Level 3 experience in her room too.  This meant that I would stay in her room all day, all this week, and stick around for conferences.  Basically, I was her shadow for the week.  I was able to take over a lot of teaching responsibilities too!

There have been a lot of challenges in the past 4 weeks of Phase 2, but they have all been a HUG+E learning experience.  I know that there will be more challenges to overcome as the next 4 weeks happen, and I am so ready!  I'm learning a lot about interacting with junior high students, and students with special needs.  Honestly, I cannot even begin to explain how big of a blessing this experience has been!  I love these students, and I've even ran into one of my campers a time or two!  Small world when one of your girls that you really never thought you'd see again goes to the school that you are having many field experiences at!  God's blessings are all around!  :)

The stupidest thing that I struggle with is working with the iPad, but on a high note, my struggles make one of the students smile and giggle at me.  This is HUGE!  It is so hard to get him to talk, show any emotion, and laugh, so being able to get him to laugh at me struggling is so great!  Yesterday, I was in charge during Functional Living.  This is where students learn a lot about independence through experience.  Wednesdays are devoted to cooking.  I was so looking forward to this!  We were making pancakes, and I was to teach them how to flip.  Uh-oh.  What did I get myself into?  I'm the type of girl who can work with 12 cakes at a time on the griddle at camp, but when I come home and am only in charge of 4 at a time, it's a complete flop.    I kept talking about camp for the whole period!  :)  Thankfully, it went well and with added blueberries, the pancakes truly hit the spot!  I was given so much affirmation from the associates in the room.  It just makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

I am so incredibly thankful for the road that God has brought me down and the continued guidance that He provides.  I am still praying over and waiting anxiously for my student teaching placements, but I will know soon enough!  :)

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

-Proverbs 23:12

Pre-birthday Pandemonium

I had been looking forward to 4 State since the summer ended, and it completely lived up to expectations!  Thursday I did send a message to Andrew saying that I had a teacher bedtime.  :)

Jani was the driver of this adventure and it was so much fun!  Jay and I tried hard to catch a picture of an Elect Hildebrandt sign with no luck.  Naturally, on the way out of town we had to make a Scratch stop!  :)

When we got there I was jumping up and down running around mostly out of excitement and a little because it had been a long ride and I really had to go to the bathroom.  It was so good to start running into my camp friends.  I quickly ate and headed to the Lodge to help register.  When Lu arrived, it was chaos!  She practically knocked me out of my chair.  When Autumn got there, we got our birthday presents!  :)

God has truly given me some awesome friends through Village Creek Bible Camp!  :)

Since our dear friend, Alison, couldn't come, we had a couple of pictures of her floating around doing camp things.  It was almost like she was there!  I drank out of my favorite mug and she drank out of hers!  :)

Gwen came and we redid a picture that we took last year, except this year, it was a Pray! shirt stack!  :)

That night we played a game called Passport.  The #1 thing I learned about volunteering for this game is to not volunteer to be the first stamp that people needed.  I was mobbed and literally PINNED against the wall until I stamped close to 200 pieces of paper.  My poor horse stamp nearly ran out of ink!  Shortly after worship, I called it a night.  Really, I didn't get to sleep until around 11:30, but it was good to be back at camp!

Saturday I had bathrooms right away at 7:30.  What an adventure!  I worked with a great crew who made cleaning those bathrooms used by lots of teens quite a bit of fun!  I was able to have a TAG time in between that and the start of my kitchen/servery shift.  It was such a stinking beautiful fall day to sit in a swing overlooking camp and breath in the calm chill of the day.  I love working in the servery!  It is so much fun and I love being able to connect with some of the campers through quick conversation as they go through the line.  After the lunch rush, and I quite literally mean rush, Debbi sent me to my kitchen home-the bakery nook.  I love that little corner!  :)  I got to make nearly 150 Snickerdoodles before leaving for the Craft Room.  It felt good to be back in the "Vince" shirt!  This is the Craft Room Facilitator shirt that used to be Lu's dad's shirt when he worked at John Deere.  

I had a little break and I wandered for a little bit and ended up at the Outdoor Chapel.  One of my favorite places on camp property is sitting on one of the benches overlooking the creek.  The bubbling and lapping of the water has such a calming effect.  While I am the calm, cool, and collected type, it had been a while since I had truly sat, not moving, just listening.  One of the hymns that means the most to me came to my mind.  I sang It Is Well a few times before breathing in a sigh filled with peace and joy and taking those steps back towards the people.

I had dishes at supper.  I had a great crew to work with on a Mexican Pile-Up night!  This is quite seriously my favorite camp meal.  It just makes my belly so stinking happy!  :)  I did manage to slosh so much water around and down my legs.  To make matters worse, it was nasty, dirty food water!  Soon after that shift was done, I was headed to bed.  

Believe it or not, I somehow managed to get right around 9 hours of sleep.  At camp.  During 4 State.  Everyone I told could hardly believe me!  I honestly felt like a new woman after that much sleep!  LOVELY!  :)  As I sat enjoying breakfast, Dave came up and asked me to step in the kitchen in place of Katrina who had to take out a trail ride.  I stepped in and Debbi put me back in my kitchen home to help Sarah with the cookies.  We frosted and sprinkled nearly 200 cookies and I somehow mustered up enough self-control to leave the cookies on the pan and not consume countless amounts of them.  I then got moved to the servery again.  Debbi knows me and I am so glad!  I absolutely love where she puts me!  :)  Again, it was another rush for food.  I was then able to eat and say goodbye before loading up my stuff and hitting the road with Lu and some very tired AGWSR girls.

Pinky Prayer Group

I haven't been able to go lately, but Tuesdays are Bible Study nights.  I have had the blessings of being in Jenny's small group since I first started at UNI.  Honestly, I don't know what I would have done without her!    This semester we are going through the book and video series The Mingling of Souls by Matt Chandler.  I hate having to miss, but this series is FANTASTIC!  We're walking through Song of Songs and it is crazy how so many of the lessons apply to so much more than a male/female relationship.

We start and end each time with prayer.  At the beginning we start out sharing about our week and any prayer requests.  The first prayer we focus on the praises and prayer request of each lady.  The last prayer of the night we focus on praying about application of the lesson to our lives.

One night, a few of us had brought snacks and so we all had sticky, licked fingers.  We typically join hands when we pray, but not that night!  It was decided that we should join pinkies instead since those fingers probably hadn't been licked.

That was weeks ago and we still continue to join in prayer by our pinkies.

Sometimes, I join people in prayer by sitting on laps, in hugs, over Skype, or just side by side.  It is always a great feeling of fellowship, no matter the seating arrangements or distance, to join together in communication with our Heavenly Father.

South of I-80

I was excited all week to go home.  I hadn't been home in weeks, and I was getting desperate for my winter coat.  It's kind of known that UNI has one of the windiest campuses in the nation, and it's no lie!  It was quite brisk this week!

When I got home Friday, Ruby was delighted to see me!  The feelings were mutual! I missed that dog!  We went for a walk to the pond and the smell was incredible as the wind picked up the hot dirt and bean dust mix.  That is fall!  :)  When we ventured to the pond, I wasn't expecting what I saw.  The pond is low.  The new shore line is a good 6-8 feet from where it should be.  We finally turned back and I took a trip to Gramps & Grammy's.  They were busy getting things ready for the winter.  I helped with the fences and holding gates.  There is still a terrible smell coming from their bin from the fire over 3 weeks ago.  I got Gramps talked into going to the football game with me.  It had been a while since I'd been able to go to one, and I wanted to go to one where I knew they wouldn't get murdered.  As much as I love my Cobras, everyone with any sense knows that they are going to get KILLED next week at Regina.  This was the lowest attended football gams I've been to in a VERY long time, and it was even Senior Night!  None the less, it was a blast!  Great job on scoring within the first 5 minutes!!  I naturally had to make my rounds and see who I could see.  I ran into Driscoll, Mrs. Webb, Julie Tremmel, and Mousel.  Julie and I joked about living North of I-80 and why anyone in their right mind would want to do that because it gets so stinking cold!  I told her I had layered up for the game and planned on taking plenty of clothes back with me.  Honestly, I can't even tell you how the game ended because with 7 minutes left of the 3rd quarter, the Cobras were winning 50-7 and the cold wind had picked up.  Gramps and I called ahead for popcorn and it was good to share a bowl with the grandparents.

Saturday brought rain, and thankfully, lots of it!  :)  By the end of the weekend it was right about 2 inches.  I got Dad talked into going to the top of the garage for some of my books and stuffed animals.  While I didn't find the books I wanted, I did find a lot of great treasures, including 3 of my FAVORITE stuffed animals as a kid!  :)

Sadly, I don't think Simba will ever talk again because of the whole battery corrosion thing that comes with sitting in the garage for a good 10 years or more.  I didn't know they were going to get put away for so long!  Naturally, I had to bring them back to CF!  :)  Saturday also brought time, lots of time, with my niece and nephew.  Bryan and Sonya came to lunch and then Alex and Blake spent the night.  This is where I should apologize on behalf of my very mature older brother for the obnoxious statuses yesterday that didn't sound at all like me.  That's what brothers are for, right?  He also tried to scare me by showing me a trailer for a movie and telling me all the sneaky things Blake does.  It was actually a very good afternoon.  It had been so long since I'd seen them!  Why would Blake want to take a nap when he was spending time with me?  Because of the whole lack of nap thing, he practically fell asleep at supper, but then was a stinker when it came time to rock to sleep.  After getting a sleepy Alex from the couch to the bed, it was time for me to crawl under the covers too.

Blake likes to play opossum as I found out this morning.  He can also now crawl out of the playpen.  We headed to church and he had a great time in the nursery with Audra and Meredith!  :)  I love coming home and going to church.  I love being back home with my church family who have supported me through the years.  I love them all dearly, and it is always good to be welcomed back!  :)  On the way back home, we slipped by Gramps & Grammy's because she had made me some goodies as usual.  :)  Finally though, it was time to give the kids back, load up a car, and hit the long road back to the city.  The big difference this time was the car.  I left in Dad's car because mine needs work bad and I don't have to time to leave it anywhere.  I really need my car to work well for a little while longer.  Hopefully, in the next 2 weeks, I won't lose the car because I forget that I drive it now, and I hope that college isn't too hard on it since it is usually babied in the garage.  Welcome to the C lot!  :)

I love weekends no matter how many layers, inches, or diapers they involve!  :)

Supportive Soles

What an AMAZING week!  So much has happened, and while I am completely exhausted at the end of the week, I have had so much good come that I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Phase 2 is going beautifully.  This week was really great to interact and begin to get to know the students that I will spend the next 7 weeks and 3 days with.  They are amazing kids, and while they have drawbacks from being in the general education classroom, they still shine in their own ways and it is so cool to see that light.  They all smile so big and laugh so loud!  I LOVE them already!  Also, with Phase 2 comes teacher clothes.  I made a goal last semester of not repeating the same COMPLETE outfit and only missed it by one day.  This semester, I go more times and I am already one week into completing that goal!  By December 5th I plan on being a Mix-and-Match Master!  :)  I am also figuring out how rushing to class from the parking lot actually feels.  I've never had to really do that before, so why not throw that into my college experience during my last semester?  The first 3 days I was wearing my flats everywhere.  My legs killed.  Those shoes are cute and comfortable, but not supportive enough for those long, brisk walks.  Now, I must rock the Nikes with teacher clothes look to the parking lot and back.

Yesterday, my teaching partner and I had a meeting with our supervisors to talk about what we have learned this week and where we plan to start with our teaching.  We got a lot of great input and constructive criticism.  We also thankfully got plenty of questions answered.  While we still have plenty of planning to do before we start teaching on Tuesday, I am feeling more prepared to start teaching and really working with these students.

I was so looking forward to this weekend.  I shut out plans of driving anywhere and was planning on using it as a regroup, homework, movie weekend.  My momma came up on Friday night and we spent the night in the hotel.  It was RELAXING!  It was just so good to have my momma come for the weekend and to be able to talk about life and stuff.  I keep trying hard to work ahead and am getting myself worked up over my deadlines when things aren't due for a while.  Last night I told myself to quit that and I didn't take anything with me.  Strupp doesn't stress!  Today, we went to the World's Largest Garage Sale!  It was fun and we saw a lot!  I found an AWESOME booth of a retired teacher and dug through her books.  I gleaned so many from her boxes!  I got a pretty great deal too!

Monday starts Week #8 already!  I only have 9 more weeks of school until I don on that cap and gown and cross that stage.  It is coming so fast!  I'm so grateful for all that Week #7 has brought me and all the people that I have interacted with this week.  :)

Lord, Prepare Me

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living
Sanctuary for You

Every single Sunday after every single staff meeting, we joined together in prayer and ended with this chorus.  

I love staff meetings on both Saturday and Sunday.  We all come together and talk about the week we just finished and the week ahead.  We talked about things to be aware of, who was coming in, who had a co-counselor, where we were living, things to do for the weekend, and then we would group up to pray.

I treasure those moments spent in small-group prayer.  We would sit closely and open up our hearts to our Father.  In these moments we would pray over those campers we just sent home, pray for the ones we would meet, and our own personal prayer requests.  

We would then come back together, hold hands, and Camie would pray again.  Our ending was the above chorus.  Then we were off to another week.  We would meet the campers we had just prayed for.  We would take on challenges that we had just prayed for.  We would begin to see the change over hearts that we had just prayed for.  

We don't always know how our prayers are answered for the campers when they leave, but that doesn't stop us.

A few summers ago I was involved in a children's ministry.  Every day we had a key phrase.  One of the days was, "God hears, God answers."  He always does, even if we don't see the answers.

Crisp, Clean, and White

Then:  I hated having to wear the button up, white, collared shirt because that meant that I would have to wear the stupid FFA scarf tight around my neck.  I loved FFA, but I didn't care for that part of the official dress.

Now:  It's my go to.  I love putting a cute, bright cami underneath with a fun beaded necklace on top.  I'm the clean-cut type of girl and I love this shirt!

Today began my first day of a new field experience.  Teacher clothes!  I can honestly say that I didn't want to become a teacher for the wardrobe.  I am much more comfortable in a pair of my favorite blue jeans and a wore out old t-shirt.  I even had to don on my teacher name tag that had been tossed to the side since April.  I had to wake up early.  I woke up earlier than I did at camp.  This could end up being a long semester.  Naturally, I wouldn't know about road construction on the way to my school and I had to take a small detour.  When I got to the office, the ladies assumed correctly who I was and gladly pointed out the way.

This room is exciting and new.  I love the kids already!  This room is very different from the room I was in last year and I'm looking forward to the challenge that this class will bring me.  I'll be working with kids that have disabilities and I'm excited to gain a new perspective.  The associates are very helpful and our mentor teacher is excited to have us.  We are being given the opportunity to teach Social Studies for about 6 weeks.  This is going to be a stretching and growing process for both my partner and I because we both love the subject, but haven't been given opportunities to teach it yet.  We will also have to make many accommodations for all of the individual needs of our students.

The time flew by and it's only the first day.  I can't wait to see what the rest of this experience will bring, especially when we begin teaching instead of immersing ourselves in IEPs.

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

-Proverbs 23:12