Five- Minute Friday

Okay, it's going to be a two-post day.  I had already written my post on "What I'd Really Tell you Over Coffee" to link up with the Girls over at Home Sanctuary when I saw Lisa's Five-Minute Friday topic, "If You Met Me."  I didn't think just linking to my long post would be fair, so I'm double-posting today. 

You should read both. :)



If You Met Me.....

Go.

You would see that, while I'm not old, I'm starting to have crinkley-wrinkleys around my eyes and mouth, and that I like them, because they are from smiling.  I love to laugh and smile and be happy, all of which happen from spending time with people. 

You would find out how much I love teaching, and how I feel like it's my ministry, even though it's not "Ministry."  If I could teach a class just about life, I would do it in a heartbeat.  I love talking with students about their lives and learning with them the tools to live successfully (not the world's definition of success, by the way) and joyfully.  That's why I teach leadership and life skills in Student Council and why I love pow-wows and tangents about the World and life in Spanish.

You would know that I love Husband, and that we are working on being our grown-up selves and learning from the One, and that we're excited about the growth and stretching He's having us do.  And that we're going to start trying to have kids and that it's scary (see other post from today).

And you'd know that I'm busy, but that I hate the word busy, because it means almost nothing in today's society.  And that I am working on trying to find balance and margin.

Stop.

That was fun.  I'll have to remember 5-Minute Fridays from now on!

Sadie's Week

It's Sadie's Week at my high school.

You know, Sadie Hawkins. The dance where the girls ask the guys. Except for at my school, it's a big dang deal. Sure, girls ask guys, but also groups of people go together for fun, like Homecoming. We have lots of events going on during the week and a huge assembly and big decorations at the dance.... and spirit dress up days all week.

Our theme this year? Time Warp. It's a Back to the Future meets Grease meets Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (which none of my students have ever heard of) meets all the decades, including "the future."

How do we get to dress up?

Well, yesterday was Hippie Day. Lots of peace signs, flowing skirts, headbands, peasant blouses, and more.

Today, 50s Day. Most girls are more for the "Pink Lady" kind of a look since they seem to all have outgrown their poodle skirts from elementary school. The boys are rocking the slicked back hair, white tees, and leather jackets.

Tomorrow, 80s Workout Day. I fully anticipate seeing a plethora of spandex and neon colors. Oh dear.

Friday we journey back to the present and have a school colors spirit day, which could result in outfits of all sorts.

For the dance itself, kids can wear whatever decade they want - I've already heard that several cavemen are attending.

Anyway, each day I've been putting on Pandora and setting it to the approximate decade of the day. Yesterday we rocked out to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel. Today, it's a lot of doo-wop and motown. Tomorrow, some Cindy Lauper.

I'm having THE best week. It turns out that I grew up listenting to 50s and 60s music because my dad is (old). Please note, my mom is not old - in fact, she's several years younger than Dad.

Regardless, I feel like I'm back in my childhood, especially today. I know ALL the words to ALL the songs. I just want to dance around and sing and be happy and silly. Forget teaching!





The downside to Sadie's week? I'll be here pretty much from 6:30 am to 10:30 pm on Thursday and from 8 am until midnight on Saturday.

But right now, I'm not thinking about that.

I'm just doing the hand jive.

The Pow Wow

If you've ever read me before, you know by now that I am a high school Spanish teacher and a Student Council Advisor.  I LOVE teaching.  I love the a-ha moments when a kid finally gets it, I love it when they answer their own questions.  I love playing and speaking and listening and being with these students.  And I'm tough.  I have high expectations, and I don't back down from them.  I show grace, but also accountability.  And usually, my students rise to the occasion.

The real reason I love teaching though, is that I love my kids. 

I do.

I just love them. 

Some of them are in desperate need of that, you know.

Every so often I hold a pow-wow.  We turn the flourescent lights off, gather up in a circle, put on some mellow music, and talk about life.  Stories range from the mundane to the silly to upcoming events and athletic tryouts.... and then someone shares something big.  My parents are getting a divorce.  My dad has been deployed for a year and is coming home this weekend, and I'm scared of how things will change.  My mom has cancer.  My friends are into drugs and alcohol, and it's hard for me to stay away from it. 

The atmosphere in the room completely changes.  There's a spirit of love that flows out from each student, almost immediately.  They begin comforting each other, sharing stories of how they've dealt with similar circumstances, giving advice. 

Don't get me wrong - someone always throws in a funny story or two in the midst of the serious that sets us all to laughing hysterically - it's not a depressing pow-wow. 

When the pow-wow is nearing it's natural end (be it a feeling or the end of class approaching), I insist we end on a positive note.  Each person shares something they love about their life, and the smiles and laughter finish out the pow-wow.  They hug each other and walk out of the room feeling connected and cared for, some of them for the first time in a while. 

I love pow-wow.

What most impresses me is that I never lead them to share deeply.  Given the opportunity to do so, they just do.  I don't tell them, hey, encourage him, hug her.  They just do it.  I don't prompt them to share their similar stories and make supportive connections.  They just do.  They are dying to be loved, to know that others care, and to show that they care, too.

Some teachers would say pow-wow is an irresponsible use of my time.  I say not.  I'm teaching them to be people, not just to conjugate verbs.  In 10 years, they won't remember half of anything from my class, but maybe they'll remember what it felt like to be heard, to listen to others, to show and be shown love. 

And maybe they'll do the same for someone else.

The day of a recent pow-wow, a boy (a cool, tough, basketball playing, has-it-all-together boy) came to class with a class-transfer paper.  He'd switched in at semester and, after a couple of weeks, decided it was too hard for him and was going to switch to an easier teacher.  At the end of the class period, after sharing and listening, he looked at me and simply said, "I'm staying."  The next class day he walked in with his transfer paper, tore it up, and threw it away.  He had experienced pow-wow. And love.

Now, I'm not saying I am wonderful, or that I'm doing anything special or worthy of praise.

What I am saying is that I love teaching.  I work with kids who, although they are punky little pains sometimes, have a lot more to them then I'd know if we didn't pow-wow. 

And they are full of love, ready to give it, if someone just would show them how.


Joining in on the conversation "Love is a Verb" over at InCourage. 

Picture This: Coffee Company 9/24

Picture this:

Who: 20 - 30 high school boys and girls, myself, and Husband

When: Tonight and Tomorrow

What: sleeping over in the school, playing Sardines, having a dance party, cooking breakfast, and working on pre-Homecoming decoration stuff. 

That's right, StuCo is having a lock-in tonight.  We'll get together here tonight, play a bunch of fun games, be silly, and eventually, go to sleep (boys in one room with Husband, girls in the other with me).  Tomorrow morning we'll get up and cook breakfast: pancakes, bacon, cereal, and fruit are on the menu.  Once we've cleaned up, we'll head to the cafeteria where we'll start painting, building, and doing other preparation tasks for next week's Homecoming Dance.  The more we do tomorrow, the less we do next Saturday, when we're here again (minus the sleepover).

Wish us luck!  (Especially Husband - this is his first lock -in. :)

And, for those of you who had trouble "picturing this," I will try to get some real pictures today and tomorrow and share them with you all next week!

Something to Offer

Do you ever find yourself wondering if you have something to offer? Anything to offer? I do. A lot. And as I delve more into this crazy world of blogging and am completely and totally inspired by the words of wisdom I read from other bloggers, like the wise women at (in)courage, my good friend Dawn, and the Coffee Company Girls, that thought begins to creep in a little more and more. Do I really have anything to offer? I'm only 27, I have no children, why would anyone care to go on my journey with me? Especially since my journey is rather dull? And so on the thoughts go.

I think I'm in a season of purposelessness. Not that I think I don't have a purpose. I do. I'm a teacher. I LOVE teaching. I'm the gringa that surprises people by the fact that I'm a fluent Spanish teacher. I'm the Student Council advisor passionate about leadership. Clearly, God has laid my path on this road and inspires me to be a better teacher and to really care for kids.

Some of my StuCo kids on a Scavenger Hunt. They make my day, really.

Still, it's as if I can't get a grasp on the bigger picture. I know what it is- I know that I am in desperate need of Jesus-time and to get His Big Picture and to live in a daily relationship with Him, but I'm having a hard time with that. That's why I love reading others' blogs, because I get to read about their journey with Him (and just through life)- and it's not that they're writing about how perfectly they are living- in fact, they're often sharing some way they're humbly learning. It's that what they're writing about is real and shows growth and I'm inspired and encouraged by them. But still stuck.

I guess what I'm seeing is that maybe I'm not purposeless, but feeling desperate for growth and change, which then of course, I think is silly, because what am I desperate for? There aren't any really hard times in my life, I'm not going through anything that challenging. And I guess the point is that, in reality, whether we're experiencing something hard or not, we as human beings are still desperate for Relationship. So I'm not really sure if I have much to offer anyone else, but I have to get back to offer my whole self to the One who will make sense of everything. I suppose that means I need to find the motivation/gumption/persistence/discipline to really delve into my relationship with God, knowing that He'll meet me.... but that feels easier said than done.

Perhaps what I need to do is borrow an expression from Nike and "Just Do It."

What I love about new days, by the way, is that you can alway start over. Let go of yesterday's mistakes and failures, and start over. So, today, on this Friday, let's call it a new season and start over. Gotta keep trying!