Been a while, so this is random...

Basketball is in full swing and that is why the posts have not. I am coaching 8th grade, JV and assisting Varsity. I am loving it. The kids are great and I enjoy the bus rides, I know I am weird. We had a tournament this past weekend and we have one this next weekend as well. We are doing very well this year. The girls are so much fun to be around.
Thanks to MoMo I have become absolutely obsessed with making picture collages. I kid you not, when I have a minute to spare which is few and far between I make a picture collage.
I am so thrilled about Christmas. Christmas music and wearing Christmas socks have been on since right after I finished the turkey on Thanksgiving. I am telling you if you have not heard Kelly Clarkson's Oh Holy Night, oh holy cow, you must it is a good one. I love the lights, the smell, the trees, the reindeer. I will put it this way I love everything about this time of year except the bell ringers outside the stores.
So, the past 2 weeks at school we had 6 kids from China come over and check things out. In March 6 of our kids get to go over there, it is some swap students thing that our school was chosen for, pretty cool. Anyway, 2 of the boys were in my pe class and they were awesome. We had an American feast for them one day and gave them brownies and well a bunch of junk food really. They hated the brownies and Dr Pepper, my kind of boys. They were the cutest things ever and said American girls were beautiful and to that I said thank you.
I sat and had many conversations with these two intelligent boys and in one conversation I asked if they believed in God and they both said no. Now fast forward 2 weeks and I am sitting at lunch with some of my basketball girls and the two boys come and sit across from me. One of them, Karl, looked over and said, "can we um um p-r-a-i-r?" I said, "Pray?" He said, "yes yes pray." I went on to ask if he wanted me or him to pray or me to teach him how to pray and he said, "you teach you teach" He repeated after me and then when he was done I told him good job and then he bowed his head and repeated it all over again. It was awesome. There are many stories from the past 2 weeks that is just my all time favorite.
Maybe my next post will be my collages, I have never posted a picture on here and it will ruin my streak, but what the heck. I think people just go to blog sites to see the pictures.

Just Happened...

Alright, when I sub I usually find a student that enjoys watching TV almost as much as I do. So, I have found one in the class I am currently subbing. We were talking about shows, Brothers and Sisters to be exact, and discussing the happenings thus far in the season. If you do not watch, which you should, there is gay brother on the show. She had a question about the gay brother and from across the room another student yelled out, "my brother is gay". What?!?! The student talking to me froze and awkwardly replied, "I was talking about a show". It was awesome. I am still laughing about it.
On the subbing story note, I was talking with this same TV loving student the other day during class and we were discussing Gossip Girl. I was replaying a scene and said, "Why did you sleep with him?" At that moment I realized that another student had walked to the front to get something and heard it all. He was astonished and tried to slip away slowly with fear that he was not supposed to hear what was just said by the sub. I fixed it and explained the whole thing to him.
I love these kids.

I am Blessed...

School has begun, well a while back. Coaching is great. Vollyeball ends Sat. I must say I am ok with that, not because we only won 4 games but because that means baketball is soon approaching. Here is the deal, I like playing volleyball but I like coaching basketball. I thought it would be different. Maybe it is because I coach middle school volleyball and high school basketball or maybe it is because they yell at me when I do not sit down on the bench in volleyball and let me tell you I cannot coach sitting down. Now, this does not mean that I hate coaching volleyball or that I hate middle school girls, because I love them and it. There is just something about high school basketball that I love and those girls that I have gotten close to on the team. So, October 15 starts the season and the fun. I am also teaching a pe class here. I thought it would not be fun to teach pe, I will just say it because of the non athletic kids, but I love them. I would have never gotten to know these kids here because they do not play sports and therefore are not the "well known" kids in school here. But, they are awesome people. We play kickball, volleyball, soccer, mafia, duck duck goose-that is right and the animal game. I had to stop playing athletic games because it was hard for me to watch and not coach. I am working on making up more games. It is a Mon, Tues, Thurs class and it lasts an hour and a half which does in fact get very long, but they are sweet kids and I have enjoyed getting to know them. I am also subbing, which I hate, but oh well. Little extra money never hurt. All this to say I am blessed. I am blessed to form relationships with these high schoolers and get to talk with them daily about their lives and get to share my life with them. I am blessed to work with the staff I work with and make fun of the kids with them and go to lunch and share life with them. I am blessed because I get to work at a place that share Jesus Christ as the common Lord in life. I am blessed because I get to meet the kids' parents and learn where they came from. I am blessed because I get to see my parents everyday and hang out with them. I am blessed because I am blessed for so many reasons. I just need to remind myself of them from time to time.

Back from The Port...

I am back from my three and half month journey in Portland, OR. It was a great time had by all. I made friends for life, crossed many bridges, went through many tunnells (honked everytime), learned how to clap and stomp at the same time (thanks Ike), grew spiritually, went berry picking, fell in love with so many kids, said pop or soda instead of the generic coke, drove by Donald Miller's house everyday I could-do not judge me, came really close to hitting many a pedestrian (they will just start walking across the street), saw mountains daily, hiked the waterfalls, was able to breath because of the real trees, never had to pump my own gas-it was great, sweat my butt off daily (thanks to no A/C anywhere), rode on public transportation, went to the market, saw many crazy people, had bubble tea, ate some good salmon, laughed, loved, hugged, prayed, talked, had a blast and most importantly saw a handful of vanagons daily. Those are just a few things from my adventure. I have to admit it took a little bit for me to fall in love with it, but once I did it was head over heels. The mountains are beautiful and the morning air is just right. I absolutely loved that downtown is split by the Willamette river, it is amazing. Walking around downtown is wonderful. Oh yeah and I had to get used to walking everywhere. That is just what they do and I it grew on me. I enjoyed immensely that everyone just does their own thing. It does not matter what is in style or the latest trend, people just wear and do what they want. People are kind and not judgemental. The people in Portland are crazy they start random parades in the street, many women do not wear bras, sometimes you cannot tell what gender they are, mohawks were frequent hairstyles on kids, riding on really tall bikes and many other things that I frankly should not mention on here. At first my comments were "only in Portland", but I quickly got used to it so I hardly noticed the strange happenings. It was a great summer. I took over 2000 pictures all summer. The summer program went by very quickly, but it was fantastic. I actually feel bad now when I throw a can or plastic bottle in the trash can. Worshiping at Pump was awesome. I am forever thankful to be a part of the pump family. I think the most important thing I learned was to just live simply.

Looked Fun...100 Things

1. I split my gum in half and chew one on each side of my mouth
2. I rarely burp and hate when others do
3. My favorite color is blue
4. I love the smell of gasoline, sharpies and freshly mowed grass
5. It is official- I am a mac lover
6. I hate wearing jeans and pretty much never do
7. I really want to see Mount Rushmore
8. I love staying up late
9. I take a shower every morning
10. I buy a new shampoo each time I run out
11. I love commercials
12. Jingles are my favorite
13. I love folding clothes
14. I love ironing clothes
15. I am obsessed with tunnels and bridges
16. I hate using my blinker b/c of the sound it makes
17. I hate not matching, but after living in Portland I embrace it
18. I have never put make-up on myself
19. I love to be dared
20. I love tan lines, especially flip flop lines
21. If I could change one thing-I would sing like a bird
22. I love useless facts
23. I love coaching
24. I love travelling
25. I love cherry coke a little too much
26. I love mexican coka
27. My senior year in high school I became allergic to bananas/cats/cookie dough/canteloupe
28. I have been disfellowshiped from the church of christ
29. I lost my toenail at a Kelly Clarkson concert
30. I have met and stalked Kelly Clarkson
31. I have met Cal Ripken Jr 3 times
32. One time he said he was going to hit a homerun for me and he did
33. I hate when people slurp their drink
34. I do not really like chocolate
35. Mo and I moved 4 times in 4 semesters
36. I love sharpies
37. I have to honk my horn when going under a tunnel
38. I eat a bag of popcorn almost every night
39. I got hit by a bike in college
40. I lost my short term memory for 9 days
41. Still do not remember those 9 days
42. I watch way too much tv-do not judge me
43. My closet is organized by colors-rainbow
44. So is my dresser
45. I have never hit snooze
46. I would rather sleep on a couch than a bed
47. I have not worn deodorant in over a year
48. I write my letters backwards
49. In third grade a boy stabbed me in the butt with a mechanical pencil
50. I love movies
51. I say color like colon with an r at the end
52. I put an l in the word both-bolth
53. I was born in Hobbs, NM
54. I have lived in 10 different cities
55. I do not like talking on the phone
56. This is getting difficult
57. I only drink water with packets of flavor in them
58. Peach tea is my favorite flavor to put in water
59. Other than the packets I do not like peach tea
60. I enjoy being the middle child
61. Never had middle child syndrome
62. I never have to look at menus b/c I get the same thing
63. I have grown to love salmon living in Portland
64. I love going to baseball games
65. I have a goal of visiting all the mlb fields
66. Wendy's is my favorite fast food
67. My mom's spaghetti is my favorite food
68. I could eat it daily
69. I really want to go to Haiti
70. I really want to go to Africa
71. I want to be on the amazing race
72. I love reality shows
73. Documentaries are the greatest
74. I love to organize things
75. Some might say I am ocd
76. I hate feet
77. I do not like it when people touch my head
78. I love and always will love sing song
79. I miss playing flag football
80. I cannot really swim
81. I do not cry very often
82. I enjoy hanging out with friends
83. I love remember whens...
84. Laughing is my favorite thing
85. I do not use a sheet, only a comforter
86. My ears are not pierced
87. I had surgery on both knees in high school
88. They are numb from the surgeries
89. I want to have a lot of kids when I get older
90. I kind of never want to grow up
91. I do not turn the radio up very loud in my car
92. I love kidd kraddick in the morning
93. I love to draw
94. I do not get sick very often
95. I only use pilot G2 blue pens to write with
96. I got in school suspension when I was in third grade
97. I broke my nose doing a skit in the locker room before a bball game in high school
98. I broke my toe playing hide and seek in the dark in a church in middle school
99. I hated middle school
100. College was the best 4 years of my life--I love the friends I made for life in college

So, I say it wrong-whatev...

For those that know me, I say the word color wrong-always have. For those that do not me well, I say it like colon with an r at the end. Get over it.
At church this morning, I leaned over to some kids and asked if they wanted to color. The little 5th grade girl looked at me and no lie said, "What's a color?"
Fine, I say it wrong. That is right I admitted it, finally.

A Masterpiece...

I am currently in Portland, OR until Aug 19. Since being here I have met many people, but there is one little guy that is pretty much my favorite. His name is Isaiah and he is 6 years old. Now, the first day I met him he shook his butt and said he was "shaking his money maker" since then the laughs have not stopped. Today, after school, he wanted to make a sandwich and split it with me. He said he wanted to make it out of his secret ingredients. Let me tell you they were not a secret for long. This sandwich that we split consisted of ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and bar-b-q sauce. That is right, dead serious. You know what I actually ate my half too. It was for sure a masterpiece. I look forward to sharing more sandwiches with my boy, Isaiah, in the future let's just hope he allows me to make them.

Old/Irony

I was subbing the other day and made a joke about Fraggle Rock and they all just looked at me. I have never felt so old.

I said I would never...wear a windsuit or live with my parents.
The other night I was driving home to my parents house while wearing a windsuit, oh the irony.

School...

I really do not understand why kids say they hate school. All it is is hanging out with friends, honestly. There is some work, but let's face it, they either do not do their work, copy from others, work in groups, or have no friends and get finished quickly. I know they do not listen or pay attention. They think it is so boring, but why all they do is talk to friends in the hallways at the desk next to them or across the room from them. When they do not have a class with a buddy they text them all during class. If they must talk to their friend right then, they meet up in the bathroom or somewhere. I know you are stuck inside all day, but not really. I know you have to listen to a teacher, but who really does that. I know you have to actually bring your books to class and hand things in every now and then, but that could be taken care of easily. Now, do not get me wrong I hated school too, but now that I think about it why did I hate it so?
It is funny to watch kids flock to other kids like them and to hear conversations between middle school kids and the drama of high school kids. But, sometimes I just hurt for those that I see by themselves constantly. One kid comes to mind.
Let me try to set him up for you, this will not give it justice.
Crazy bed hair daily (night showerer, obviously), shorts pulled up so high it is sick, the woven belt and the loop (no lie), huge glasses that are constantly at the end of his nose, tall socks, white tennis shoes, he always has three items that he is carrying: one being a roller backpack another a small bag on his back and the other you could probably guess it a band instrument. While holding all these things, he runs from class to class. I will top all that off with he sounds like mickey mouse when he speaks. This was classic the other day he was late for track and when we asked him why he told us in his mickey voice, while looking all around that his mom made him take two showers and he had no clue why. Oh to be a middle schooler again, I do not think so.

Spring Break...

You have not seen an angry mob until you tell a 100 plus passengers to change from gate C7 to gate C21 due to a missing part on the plane. Wow, I heard a huge sigh and then just moaning. The people that were the best to watch were the passengers in group A, obviously I flew Southwest. They were pissed because they for sure had their choice of seats, then in a matter of seconds all that was messed up. It was completely out of their control. This mad mob of passengers was literally running through the airport to beat the others to the gate. I noticed through all the confusion a sweet lady in a wheelchair. She was told that a worker would come back for her because they also had to wheel three others. She sat there and watched the angry mob dart around the chair people flew past her paying no attention, some hit her and some brushed by her and others did nothing short of juked her to get around the wheelchair. Granted, she was a preboarder so she need not worry about where she was in line, but still it was sad to watch people run so carelessly around her. I heard many complaints of not getting a good seat and plans of one rushing ahead and getting in line while the other carried the luggage of the two. It was a sight to see. Once everyone got to their places and called the people picking them up, we heard over the speaker that there was now a flat tire on this new plane and it would be another hour or so before we took off. The groaning and complaining had escalated at this point as people began reaching for their cell phones. This was so great to witness and I was able to eat dinner now, so very content. I love hearing people talking to those around them and meeting new people. I got to make some friends while we waited. We finally boarded and took off.
This was all possible because I was able to spend some quality time with Mo and Blake in Nashville. It was so great to see them. It felt like old times when we all lived together, just conversation has changed a bit to real life instead of chapel or some kid that looks like a bumble bee in history class. I also spent time in San Antonio and that was great as well.
Hopefully, it will not take me so long to post again, no promises though.

Subbing, not a career...

It has been a while. I will try to catch you up on my oh so thrilling life.
Subbing has been full of great moments and not so great moments. Let me just say that a few times I have felt as though I was back in high school, b/c yes I have been in trouble as a sub. The kids are great, well sometimes. I often hear, "Are you the sub?" To which I quickly reply with a much deserved sarcastic remark like, "Do I look like your teacher?" or a "I bet you already know the answer" or my favorite, "Nope, just holding the door open for you." I have occasionally let the ole foot in mouth get me a few times as well. One time I asked 2 students if they were dating and they denied that and the class began harassing them, so I had to go a step further and ask if they were friends with benefits, why do I do things like that just leave it alone.
I am also coaching JV and assisting Varsity girls basketball at Southwest Christian High School in Ft Worth. I am loving almost every minute of being an eagle. I could not have hand picked a better group of girls. We were doing pretty well until district began, you know the games that count. They are young and they are learning. I have really enjoyed getting to know them aside from basketball and hearing all the boy drama as well as friend drama. It has been a great experience and I hope to continue this for a while.
Not to mention I am living with the parents, which pretty much speaks for itself.