A Different Flavor

Time for my weekly update. So much seems to be happening so quickly here. I am now drowning in a pile of grading. (You really gotta love looking at one and a half feet of paper that needs to be graded by next Friday!)

Tonight I am meeting with my small group from my evening church. It is a group of eight girls that gets together once a week to talk, hold each other accountable, pray and study the Bible. I am very excited about this opportunity that God has placed in my life. One day I was thinking, "I should really join a Bible study," and the next day a couple of my friends asked me if I would be their eighth person after someone dropped out (they keep the groups to eight people). So, wha-lah. I think it will be really good for me.

I have met some amazing people here in Colorado, yet no one like my college friends. Sometimes I still miss that time in life so much. It isn't that I don't appreciate the friendships I have in my life now. They just have a different flavor. I can't just sit in class and be fed by my ym or education buddies. I also can't walk up the stairs or across campus when I'm bored. But maybe that is a good thing considering the fact that I don't have time to be bored! I've already committed two nights a week to church. And I've been looking into getting involved with Young Life. I went there last night to hang out, and next week the director and I are going to get together to discuss the opportunities that are available to me there. I told myself that this year I would get more involved in my community by doing youth ministry. I never knew that it would be so hard to fit something I care so much about into my life. I hope it all works out.

Although second-year teaching is graciously better than first-year teaching, it is still hard to be a teacher and be committed to anything. I don't know if I can handle this lifestyle forever. I believe that teachers are amazing people. I'm not talking about the people like me that decide they'll try out teaching for a few years and see what happens. I'm talking about the people who dedicate their lives to teaching, knowing that things will always be an extreme form of crazy/busy. Even after you have mastered the curriculum, there is still so much to do and so many ways that your students can be reached. It can sometimes be hard to teach in a CSI school in Colorado because there are only two schools in the state. I don't have the support I would have if I were teaching in Michigan or Iowa or even California.

I've been thinking about what that really means lately...CSI education. Strongly rooted in reformed theology, we believe that children are best educated through the triangle of the church-home-school (wow! that sounds like something I'd write on an essay in college for bonus points!) . I read an article earlier today that said the school part of that triangle is getting larger, the church smaller, and the home even smaller. Syd (as quoted to me at one of my school's inservices...a cool moment in my life) says that this triangle is broadened by throwing media into the mix. There is no doubt that our culture is constantly changing. I am now expected to not only be an educator, but spiritual guide and mom as well. No wonder I feel guilty every time I take that pertinant time for myself! One thing I've learned is that if I don't, I become a raisin, dried up on the couch. For example, last May when I (not jokingly) did not have an ounce of energy in my to leave the couch from 4-10pm. Blame it on decision making, job cuts, and my oh-so-difficult class. I don't want to have another month like that! I love being active. I have returned to the busy lifestyle I had in college; but it is so much harder now. I miss life when I had flexibility and random free hours throughout the day.

Well, enough for now...I need to pack up my school things so I can go to Jon's and get my house/pet sitting instructions for the weekend!

Adios, mi amigos.