Thankful Thursday

Noah just finished up the second day of his huge eighth grade test.  Things have been really stressful around here as Noah has ridden the emotional rollercoaster of being in his "test-year."  For many of his classmates this test determines their entire future.  It determines what type of high school they can get into and that determines if they can go to college.  It is a very complex and stressful system.

I am so, so thankful that Noah has broader options.  I am thankful that with a bit of hard work he can go to college in America.  I am thankful that he can take the SAT and other college entrance exams multiple times.  I am thankful that he has this experience behind him and has learned the value and terrible-ness of standardized testing.  (Yes, I am an English teacher... sort of.)

I am thankful that our plans for our summer stateside are coming together.

I am thankful for the Lord's goodness and provision.

I am thankful for the opportunities that we've had over the last few weeks to share about our hope.

Sunday Sneak Peek

motorcycle man

gangsta girl

My students play waaaaay too many video games.  So, they are always asking me what random words mean.  The most common ones that I hear are... ghetto, gangster, thug life, and pork chop.  I always know that I'm about to hear a good one when we are in the middle of a lesson, I haven't asked a question, and a boy raises his hand.  Of course, it never has anything to do with the topic.  It drives me nuts!

Children's Cultural Games

Also, this week we had another round of cultural children's games.  This game was really funny.  The kids had to put their left hand on their chests and hop on their right foot while trying to steal each others' handkerchief.  I played with them for about 10 seconds before I was too tired to move decided that maybe I should be the referee.

It has been a busy and fun week for the kids and teachers.  Praise the Lord we had a few really pretty days so we could get outside.  The weather here is really unpredictable.  It changes drastically in a matter of hours during the spring.  Short sleeves one minute a winter coat the next.

Children's Day Celebration

Today is International Children's Day.  We had an official ceremony at school this morning and then the rest of the day off.  Yesterday we asked the kids to wear cultural costumes and bring finger foods.  We had a big party the last two hours of school.  

I don't know what happened, but I didn't get a single picture of myself.  I wore jeans, a t-shirt, Converse, and a baseball hat.  I was totally American.  Most of the other kids who dressed up as Americans were Indians with a few hip-hops and kids in jeans thrown in.

I am a total sucker for a kid in a costume and my students did not disappoint.

Japanese

Mexican

Turkish

Arab

Some of the girls from Lucy's class.
They were all dressed as Americans... except Lucy who was dressed in a Spanish mantilla.

Just your typical everyday group of Arabs, cowboys, and Turkish soldiers.

Lucy and her friend Ilayda

My favorite little Arab!

Sunday Sneak Peek: Babysitting

We are babysitting these little angels this weekend.

Lucky for us (or not) they brought their skates! Ha!

I love hanging out with these little pumpkins.  It brings back happy memories of when I had little kids!  It is a sweet and exhausting life stage!

More Baseball Pics

Yall, the baseball fun continues!  My students are still begging me to play.  Maybe that has more to do with how boring my class is than with how fun baseball is!

Today I was so pumped.  A big group of my middle schoolers begged me to borrow my baseball set so they could play during our hour long lunch/recess.  Normally each class has it's own soccer game going somewhere throughout the campus.  They never mix.  However this group was from 6th through 8th grade.  I was really surprised and happy!

They really picked up on how to play the game.  They were hitting the ball well and making good plays in the outfield!

Observations

1. For the most part, when driving, Americans think about where need to turn and maneuver their car into the appropriate lane beforehand.  Here, folks enjoy turning in any number of directions, including backing-up, regardless of the lane they are in, and usually at the very last minute.  When driving in the left lane be careful for folks making righthand turns from the right lane... without looking!  Actually, when driving make sure you are looking all around you all the time!  You never knew when a car is coming or where it might come from!

2. Don't get me wrong... I like the movie The Sandlot.  I have watched it 11 times over the last two weeks!  My students loved it.  But, during the chase scene at the end of the movie is there no way they could have, 1. shot from different angles or 2. used a neutered dog.  I have seen enough canine gonad to last me a lifetime!

3. The weather is trying to kill me!  It gets warm and beautiful for a day or two and then the cold wet weather comes storming back into town.  It is particularly annoying that the beautiful days are weekdays.

4. I am loving coffee more and more all the time.  Two years ago I wouldn't touch the stuff.  Now I'm not sure I can live without it!  I'm only 37.  Where does this go from here?

5. We are starting to plan our summer schedule.  We will stateside.  YAY!!!  During our time in Georgia Justin and I will attend our 20th high school reunion.  First off, how is it possible that we graduated 20 years ago.  Secondly, at our 10 year reunion it was like, "Heyyyyy!  Oh my word!  How in the world are you?  What are you up to these days?!"  Now we are all on Facebook and "communicate" regularly.  I think it will be like, "Was that chicken dish at P.F. Chang's really as good as it looked in you FB post?"

6. Satan probably loves mosquitos.... and humidity.... and fish sticks.

Stop! Collaborate and Listen!

Well, it turns out that this is a real thing...

Praise the Lord for Netflix!!  Now I won't have to miss a single second of this television gem!  

I would have loved to be in the room full of television execs when this idea was pitched.  I'm guessing it was the last pitch of the day and many a cocktail had already been consumed!

Sunday Sneak Peek: Sleepover

Lucy went for her first sleepover with a local friend.  They have been begging us forever and I've sort of put them off.  But finally we made it happen.  They had the best time!

Her mom sent me tons of pictures:

happy to be home

pizza for dinner

science experiments

dress up

bedtime

after bedtime didn't work they watched a little bit of television

today they went to see Cinderella and then out to lunch

Let me take a Selfie!

Me and my girl snuggling on the bed watching The Pioneer Woman on Netflix.

It doesn't get any better than this!

Losing It

Friends, today I showed my true colors!

All week the middle school classes have participated in a soccer tournament.  Today, Noah's team finally got the chance to play.  They were pitted against the team that everyone had picked to win... the 7th graders.  Well, the main players on the 7th grade team are some of my um... er... more "active" students.  So not only did I want Noah to win, I am not ashamed to say that I wanted the 7th graders to lose!

The tensions were high.  The entire middle school filled the stands.  They brought their drums and horns.  They were cheering and chanting.  It was just like being at a professional match... except all the loudness was contained in the gym!  I'm still deaf.  But that's ok because my voice is also gone!

Being the mom of the goalie in a big game is ridiculous!!  I thought that they were going to have to carry me out on a stretcher!

Warming up before the game
They call Noah the panther!

The 7th grade classes starting to assemble.

Both teams in a photo before the match.

 I tried really hard not to be THAT mom, so I didn't take very many pictures.  But, lawsey mercy, I cheered!  Most of the other teachers sat in the middle of the stands, so as not to choose sides.  Not me!  I was all up in that 8th grade section.  We were cheering, chanting, and screaming out lungs out!
Noah's team was highly outplayed.  But, (this is not a biased opinion) Noah is a really good goalie so he kept them in the game.  About halfway through the second half, they were down 3-1 and one of their players got a red card.  Things looked hopeless.  But then they came alive.  They scored a quick goal, and then another in the very last minute.  We went nuts!!!

They added a 5 minute overtime and the 8th grade boys scored another 2 points!  Yall, I lost it!!  It was awesome.  Everyone agreed that Noah was the Man of the Match.  He saved tons of goals!  It was amazing!  I was puffed up with pride the rest of the day!

The winning team

The tournament continues next week.  They have to play the other 8th grade team.  It will be interesting because their soon to be opponents were cheering their guts out for Noah's team today.  We'll see what happens when they play each other on Tuesday.

I hope I survive!

Spelling Bee

Today we had our elementary Spelling Bee finals.  Lucy had gotten out in the semi-finals on the word champion. She was devastated but I was secretly happy.  Working on spelling words is a lot of work! Plus, I was worried that if she did well people would say it was unfair.

I was the main presenter... which had me sweating for days just thinking about it.  The whole elementary school was told to wear yellow and black.

Lucy and I before leaving for school.

The elementary kids at morning assembly in their black and yellow.

Some of the classroom teachers posing with our champions frame.

One of the other English teachers getting things kicked off before she handed it over to me.

One of our 2nd grade finalists.

The Spelling Bee went really well.  I was so amazed and proud of how well the kids did.  They really memorized some difficult words!  I think everyone had fun in the end.  But it was so stressful trying to make sure that everything was completely fair and that each word was spelled correctly.  Our little third grade winner was so cute when he won.  He was shocked!  He just stood there with his mouth hanging open!  It was adorable.  On the other hand... the second runner up for the 4th graders cried her eyes out when she lost.  It was so sad!!

Batter Up!

A few months ago I got the bright idea to introduce my students to baseball.  Noah has a real bat, gloves, and baseballs.  But I knew that we couldn't play with those.  I searched high and low for a wiffle ball set.  Of course, I couldn't find one, but I did find one that was similar to a Nerf set.

I found the Sand Lot movie and showed it to each of my classes the first week.  Stupid me thought that the movie would go a long way in explaining baseball.

NOPE!

Apparently things like hitting and throwing a ball, knowing when to stop running, strikes, outs, and pretty much everything associated with baseball are very Western and very hard to grasp.

I tired my best, yall, but the game we played was baseball's distant cousin... weirdball.

Regardless, we all had so much fun and the kids were crazy about my baseball unit.  In fact, bad weather rolled in yesterday evening so not all of my classes got to play.  They are begging me for their chance.  They come running up to me in the halls wanting to know when they get to play.  The entire school was hanging out the windows watching us.  Everyone who passed by had to stop and give batting a try.  

P.S.- Students LOVE to see their teachers strike out!

I am praying that the weather next week is beautiful so my other classes get to play!!!

base hit

This school bus driver (in the black jacket) wanted to try to hit with the real bat.

I had to tell this sweetie, "There's no crying in baseball!" when he got out.

Most of them hit like this.

Not everyone found baseball super exciting!

The German teacher wanted a chance to hit!

During recesses I let them have a chance with the real ball and glove.
I was pretty certain that someone was going to end up with a black eye.

My 5th Grade baseball cuties

Noah's class
That's Noah at pitcher.

After class Noah took two of his friends over to the side and taught them to throw and catch with a baseball glove.
They did pretty well!

If nothing else, everyone had a good time and was happy to not be stuck inside the classroom!  What a fun two weeks!  I'm hoping we can continue next week!