Thanksgiving update
Howdy all! Yeah, I know....long time no write. Instead of writing a massive entry to catch everybody up, though, I think I'll just take the opportunity to reflect on what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving....
I'm thankful for my job, my colleagues, and my students. This schoolyear has been busy (as always), but it's not nearly as insane as last year. I have a much firmer sense of direction with all my classes, since I have taught almost all the same students before, and I'm not inventing the curriculum. Granted, there's still a lot of inventing going on, but I can build on the progress I've made already. Also, we have a new principal and a lot of annoyances from last year have gone away (like the weekly hour-and-a-half staff meetings). Overall, my second year is a lot better.:)
I'm thankful for all my family being together this weekend. I've missed Rachel and Sarah, even though we recently got to go down to Cincinnati to see Sarah be Cinderella in "Into the Woods." That was quite the memorable road trip, and a nice break in the monotony. She was amazing in the play, and it was fun to stay at her apartment (reminded me of old times), talk to some of her friends and meet her new boyfriend Joel...though who knows what he thinks of us after Dad being overly intimidating and Jessica and I being overly hyper and talkative. :-0 :-P Overal, I'm very grateful for the close relationship I have with my family, even though some people like to give me crap for still living at home every time they talk to me ....:-P
I'm thankful for choir and my faith-sharing group. My parents have lead faith-sharing groups at St. Mary's for years now, and last summer it was on my heart so start one up for young people. So I got up and made the announcement after Mass the Sunday over Labor Day weekend, and even though at the time I was dying of nerves and a sense of futility (since who wants to read the Bible and share their faith these days? :-P) I actually got a group together! There are 9 of us overall, some new friends and some people that I knew my whole life from going to the same church but never really got close to. Anyways they're an awesome group, and it's always great to make new friends.:)
I'm thankful for my boyfriend Jerry, who is probably the most newsworthy "change" since my last update. He's 25, the 6th of 8 kids, from Posen, Michigan (way up North), used to be an assistant manager at a golf course but is looking for a new job, and is really into his faith. The funny thing is that my sisters had actually spotted him at Mass over the summer and had matched us up (unbeknownst to me) before we had even met. Anyways, we met when he signed up for faith-sharing, and I was impressed by his devotion and zeal for the Faith. So, yeah, I'm thankful that he joined faith sharing...and thankful that we started going to Mass together and hanging out and talking for hours afterward....and thankful that he wanted to start learning guitar and asked me to teach him....and thankful that he asked my dad if he could court me (as intimidating as talking to my dad is....), and thankful that we've been together for over a month now (well over a month unofficially, and three weeks since he talked to my dad, heh), though, amusingly enough, the frequent guitar lessons have kinda fallen by the wayside ever since he didn't need an excuse to come over anymore, heheh. But yeah....we have a lot in common, he's very sweet to me, and I'm very happy:)
OK, that's about it...all my gratitude kinda gives an overview of everything that's changed between the last update and this one. I hope everything is going well with all of you! I am thankful for all of you as well (gotta keep with the theme, hehe) even though I'm not so thankful for busy-ness and distance which makes it hard to keep in touch. :-/ Anyways, I will hopefully be back here soon, and will see many of you at New Years! Love you and miss you all~
I'm thankful for my job, my colleagues, and my students. This schoolyear has been busy (as always), but it's not nearly as insane as last year. I have a much firmer sense of direction with all my classes, since I have taught almost all the same students before, and I'm not inventing the curriculum. Granted, there's still a lot of inventing going on, but I can build on the progress I've made already. Also, we have a new principal and a lot of annoyances from last year have gone away (like the weekly hour-and-a-half staff meetings). Overall, my second year is a lot better.:)
I'm thankful for all my family being together this weekend. I've missed Rachel and Sarah, even though we recently got to go down to Cincinnati to see Sarah be Cinderella in "Into the Woods." That was quite the memorable road trip, and a nice break in the monotony. She was amazing in the play, and it was fun to stay at her apartment (reminded me of old times), talk to some of her friends and meet her new boyfriend Joel...though who knows what he thinks of us after Dad being overly intimidating and Jessica and I being overly hyper and talkative. :-0 :-P Overal, I'm very grateful for the close relationship I have with my family, even though some people like to give me crap for still living at home every time they talk to me ....:-P
I'm thankful for choir and my faith-sharing group. My parents have lead faith-sharing groups at St. Mary's for years now, and last summer it was on my heart so start one up for young people. So I got up and made the announcement after Mass the Sunday over Labor Day weekend, and even though at the time I was dying of nerves and a sense of futility (since who wants to read the Bible and share their faith these days? :-P) I actually got a group together! There are 9 of us overall, some new friends and some people that I knew my whole life from going to the same church but never really got close to. Anyways they're an awesome group, and it's always great to make new friends.:)
I'm thankful for my boyfriend Jerry, who is probably the most newsworthy "change" since my last update. He's 25, the 6th of 8 kids, from Posen, Michigan (way up North), used to be an assistant manager at a golf course but is looking for a new job, and is really into his faith. The funny thing is that my sisters had actually spotted him at Mass over the summer and had matched us up (unbeknownst to me) before we had even met. Anyways, we met when he signed up for faith-sharing, and I was impressed by his devotion and zeal for the Faith. So, yeah, I'm thankful that he joined faith sharing...and thankful that we started going to Mass together and hanging out and talking for hours afterward....and thankful that he wanted to start learning guitar and asked me to teach him....and thankful that he asked my dad if he could court me (as intimidating as talking to my dad is....), and thankful that we've been together for over a month now (well over a month unofficially, and three weeks since he talked to my dad, heh), though, amusingly enough, the frequent guitar lessons have kinda fallen by the wayside ever since he didn't need an excuse to come over anymore, heheh. But yeah....we have a lot in common, he's very sweet to me, and I'm very happy:)
OK, that's about it...all my gratitude kinda gives an overview of everything that's changed between the last update and this one. I hope everything is going well with all of you! I am thankful for all of you as well (gotta keep with the theme, hehe) even though I'm not so thankful for busy-ness and distance which makes it hard to keep in touch. :-/ Anyways, I will hopefully be back here soon, and will see many of you at New Years! Love you and miss you all~