Our First Week of School

It's early Saturday morning.... I should be sleeping, but my body won't relax and my mind is thinking of a million things that need to be done today....so the first of 2487 loads of laundry that need to be done is in the washer, the dish washer is working overtime to catch up on the pile created from throwing lunch dishes and dinner pans on top of each other and my grade book is out ready to record grades for the first assignment of the year!

What a week it has been....to sum it up in a couple words...Exhausting. Energizing. Emotional. Exactly where I'm suppose to be!

Tuesday morning I work up and left the house before anyone else was awake...Mae has been such a trooper - sleeping most of the night and waking for a brief moment before falling back asleep in her car seat on the way to daycare. It was the first time I didn't drop the boys off at school on their first day of school - that was rough. But daddy pulled through and sent me a picture of our third grader and first grader! Plus we attend a pretty awesome school where several other moms captured their first day for me. It takes a village!

The boys were excited to see friends and wear their new school clothes. It started off a busy week trying to get into a new routine of having daddy drop them off. It's awesome for Jesse to spend some time with the boys in the morning and helping the boys become more independent. Yet for me, it's hard not being the last voice they hear before they head into school. I took that for granted...now it's a quick kiss while they sleep as I slip out of the house in the morning. Yet, evenings were fun catching up on their day in between running to soccer practices and getting ready for the next morning. Gauger even lost his second tooth this week while brushing his teeth! I'd say the boys had a great start to their school year!

Gunner & Gauge - 2015

Thanks to Ms. Melissa for capturing Gunner & friends.

And despite their whining, Mrs. Judge grabbed a couple pics for me! 

My first week of school started off with an assembly....I grew up a Shark, went on to be a Spartan, now am a Blue Jay mom and was introduced Tuesday as a Huskie teacher to a gym full of students I would soon be meeting! I just prayed as I walked across the gym floor that I didn't trip over my feet :) Thankfully, the entire staff at Breckenridge HS/MS have been amazing - very welcoming and encouraging and I'm pretty sure if I would have fell they would have helped me up and made it look like we had all planned it :). 

My class schedule allows me to interact with seventh graders up to seniors. I teach a general agriscience/FFA class, then a full class of Botany, two classes of Zoology, an Alternative Education Ecology class and I wrap up with an Ag Leadership/Ecology class of upperclassmen. Students who take Botany one year and Zoology the next year receive a Biology credit. A majority of my students also participate in FFA. Follow us on Facebook if you get a second - you'll be able to see everything we're up to! 

For the first week, we spent our time getting to know each other. Every student made a PowerPoint telling me a little bit about themselves, but also so I could see what they knew about setting up a presentation....because much like real life, they'll be working in groups and should know how to form their thoughts and present them to others. We finished up the week with marshmallows and toothpicks....building teamwork skills while building the tallest, freestanding structure. 

Using our shop for labs, the students worked in teams...possibly some future engineers!

As fun as the first week was, it was also filled with a ton learning experiences...more for me than the students. 

My major take away from the week....I can't control every moment in the classroom. Ideally, I thought I'd teach, share the assignment and then they would ask me a ton of questions and want me to be right there showing them...kinda like how a new parent thinks their baby will always want them to hold their hand.......naive, but with good intentions.I was reminded, quoted from a friend & fellow teacher, I can teach them what to eat, why to eat and what to eat, but they need to actually  chew their own food". I realize this seems like common sense, but man it's hard to not hover! 

When I left yesterday, I thought how great the first week had went but I'm trying to keep in perspective it was still the honeymoon, new teacher, new school year phase. For my very first week of teaching, I'm going to say it was a win....and as much as I hope my students learn from me, I'm sure they'll be teaching me more than they will ever realize.....

And now I'm off to tackle a house that may have accumulated more dirty dishes and clothes than I realized we had.....

Our first day of school picture! My mom even gave me lunch money. :)! 

p.s. Thanks so much for the texts, phone calls, emails and messages this week. It's so awesome doing life with all of you!

There is always a plan....

My first day with Farm Bureau Insurance was my thirtieth birthday.  I was so excited about the future...who I would meet, what I would experience... 

 I met amazing people...as clients and colleagues. I sat across many dining room tables in the evenings talking about insurance, but also watching families grow and change. My team and I helped them work through rough times and celebrated the good ones. It has meant a lot that you opened up your lives to my agency. Thank you. 

My husband and I were fortunate to travel with the company to experience places we only dreamed about. We "locked" our love on a bridge in Paris, our boys met Captain America at Universal Studios and we saw beautiful Hawaiian country side with great friends. Jesse and I always looked forward to seeing other agents and their spouses...sharing hunting stories, catching up on families and making memories together.

And now on the eve of my 34th birthday, I'm wrapping up my insurance career and introducing Ryan Methner as the new agent providing quality service to my clients.....

Where am I going?? Well God has had a plan up his sleeve....34 years in the making...

I started typing out all the intertwining of people's lives into mine to show you how intricate this plan really was....coaching basketball, applying for a loan, working as a paraprofessional for a short while, helping FFA State Officers after I was done with my term, ....but I had to delete it all or you would have fallen asleep reading, not that I was writing something boring, but there were so many times in my life - small moments & large moments that God put before me not realizing it was all part of the plan....and a wise person told me once, "You can't go wrong when you follow God's plan".

So I'm thankful for all the turns God laid before me. For His direction when I went off path...at times waaaay off path. I'm thankful for the experience and the friends I've gained along the way. And I'm thankful to join a community who knows what it means when I say... "I believe in the future of agriculture."

I'm beyond excited to say that pending school board approval in August, I am the new Breckenridge High School Agriscience Teacher and FFA Advisor! I can't wait to be placed into students' lives and help them with the plan set before them....plus check out my awesome classroom!!!

I can't even begin to think about how His plan will continue over the next 34 years! Happy Birthday to me!!

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