Hello everyone!
This week was a tiring but good week. Since this was the last week before Spring Break, I was extra busy during the school day but had no after school activities. Being done at 2:15 instead of 4:30 was nice, especially since I was pretty worn out by Thursday. It was also helpful to have the extra time to make last-minute preparations for the scholarship party on Wednesday.
School this week had its ups and downs. I am pretty proud that over 80 students are now signed up for the college scholarship I have been promoting for a month now. About 3/4 of them came to the half hour "party" during advisory class and we gave away a whole box of free books, a bunch of college materials, many boxes of doughnuts/cookies, 4 jugs of juice, and tons of little bags of chips. All of it was donated (our school has done pretty well with getting plenty of donations)! Every kid that came also got a newsletter from College Bound about preparing for college now and using career websites. I feel pretty good too, because the principal and school counselor personally congratulated me on my efforts. Since the scholarship is not actually due until the end of the school year, I'll probably have another, shorter push in May. But, for now, I get to rest from this project and move on to something new.
Some of the downs this week are that several of my students have been misbehaving more lately. Now that the big 5 paragraph essay is in and with SB coming up, some of my sixth graders chose this week to be rowdy and defiant. They got pretty mad when I started handing out lunch detentions and having stern talks in the hallway! I also have another student who, for unknown reasons, decided they no longer wanted to be tutored anymore despite the great progress that's been made so far. Despite my best investigative efforts (talking to other teachers), I still have no solid idea of what might have brought about this change of heart. After Spring Break, we'll have to figure something out... It isn't just my students who have been having a hard time focusing lately. The whole school is stressed, it seems, with the looming school closure, since teachers and students will all need to adjust to a new school next year. The principal called off all after-school meetings for the two weeks after Spring Break (to give the teachers a rest) and canceled the in-school dance on Friday due to unruly hallway behavior. Hopefully, Spring Break will do a lot of good for everyone!
In other news...on Tuesday, we went to community group and had a lovely breakfast dinner together. I got my wish to be able to contribute to the meal! Kayle and I brought Belgian waffles, whipped cream, and strawberries (our favorites!). We also had a new family join our group who has 1 son already and another baby coming in about 2 weeks. Two more women also announced pregnancies this week, bringing our total up to 7 (well, 6...see below)! There was talk of having a big baby shower for the 5 women whose babies are due in the fall. Sounds fun to me! Also, Lexi, whose husband leads our CG, had her baby on Saturday: an 8 lbs, 3 oz girl named Selah Grace Clayton. Kayle and I will probably visit sometime this week to hang out with Lexi, see the baby, and bring dinner for their family.
On Wednesday, I went to Proxy and hung out with some more kids. For the "game," we analyzed a popular song to identify what messages the song was portraying and see which of them were compatible with Christianity. I think it was a valuable exercise, since the various forms of media bombard us with all sorts of ideas and we need to be able to evaluate which are true and good and guard against (and understand) those that aren't. The junior high split off from the high school this week, and we had small groups about the feeding of the 5000 and what it means to be "lost sheep" and to "have compassion." The girls in the junior high group are so sweet (the small groups are usually divided by gender, so I know the girls much better)- two of them always find me in church and give me a big hug!
When I was home on Friday, I ran some quick errands after dropping Kayle off at work and before spending the whole day preparing a puzzle hunt for Kayle. This was a random endeavor modeled after an annual event put on by Microsoft that has teams solving difficult puzzles involving everything from Braille and Morse code to ciphers and logic grids. Kayle found the website with the old puzzles in an archive and he/we sometimes solve them for fun. Since I had an all-day choir retreat on Saturday, I wanted to leave something fun and loving for Kayle to do while I was gone. My makeshift puzzle hunt basically had envelopes hidden around the house and, when he solved one puzzle, the answer led him to the next puzzle. After preparing my surprise all day, it was really hard for me to wait until the next morning to tell Kayle. I managed to hold my tongue until we were in the car and driving to the choir retreat. When I got out of the car, I handed him the first envelope...
The choir retreat was essentially a 7.5 hour practice! We have 4 songs total for Good Friday and Easter, 3 of which are in Latin and 1 is a gospel choir piece (that I know from high school and REALLY like). We made a lot of progress during the day, and our choir director is very skilled at improving our sound and catering to our varied skill levels. Unfortunately, after today's (Sunday) practice, we only have one more rehearsal left! I think we'll be ready, but it will probably require some at-home practice listening to YouTube recordings online... After the Saturday singing marathon, Kayle and I went on a nice, romantic dinner date to Applebee's.
Today, we went to the 11:00 service at church, and I had my 2.5 hour choir rehearsal. The sermon was really good (again)- it spoke about how God can use suffering in our lives to improve our fellowship, to aid us in understanding the depth of God's love, and to demonstrate the gospel if we suffer well (like Christ) with hope in God. This week, Pastor Mark was also on Nightline for a full episode, since our church hosted a debate over the existence of Satan. The full debate and episode videos are on the Nightline website. It's really exciting to be a part of a church that is growing so much and yet so determined to glorify God in everything! Just recently, the services have been packed and they just decided to do 5 Easter services instead of 4 to be able to accommodate all the members and visitors. Sounds like we'll have a full house for our choir debut! I am happy that so many people are hearing the gospel and embracing it in a city that is one of the "least churched" in America.
Wow...what a whirlwind week! It will be nice to have a week to rest over Spring Break, but I am hoping to make myself useful to Lexi Clayton and maybe some others in my CG. I get so bored at home alone after a day or two! Kayle and I will probably go spend a day/night at one of the beautiful islands northwest of here. Plans are still in the works! We'll hopefully, finally, buy a couch this week too...
Finally, when we went to the grocery store this week, I was distracted by a book title as we were checking out. In the car, I asked Kayle how much the bill was. At first, he jokingly said, "$20," but I knew that was wrong. I pressed him further, and, when he didn't tell me right away, I said, "was it more or less than $80?" He smiled and said, "neither." I was annoyed, because I thought he was still messing with me to be funny. Then, he pulled the receipt out of his pocket and handed it to me. To my great surprise, it read $80.00 exactly!! I felt a bit sheepish after that...
Since I'm not at school all week, feel free to call me anytime. We both miss you and love you all!
Take care,
Angie and Kayle
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