Never Can Say Goodbye

When you are heading towards graduation in college, everyone talks about the challenges of finding a job, figuring out what you want to do, or what your life plan is. No one really tells you how hard it is going to be to leave your friends. You head to college and become the best of friends with these people, become each others family, and then BAM! College is done, you have to pack up, say goodbye, and move away from these people you have just spent 4 years living with and around.

Well I have been hard core missing friends lately. So this past weekend, thanks to an extra day off courtesy of President's Day, I headed back to the Midwest for a visit with 2 of my best friends from college, Adrian deLange and Kaylee Engelsman.

The weekend's activities consisted of staying up crazy late, eating some delicious Culver's (which I have so dearly missed!), touring Calvin College and Seminary, playing games, and laughing until I literally fell on the floor. Let's just say it was a GREAT weekend. These 2 know me so very well, almost too well at times, and it was wonderful to be around dear friends again.

As little sleep as I got over the weekend, I realized that I felt amazingly refreshed after returning. Friends can have that much impact, I don't know about everyone, but I know for me definitely. Living far away from most of my family and friends has been a challenge. Reestablishing a life, making new friends, and finding a different form of family has been tough, I'll be honest. The good thing is that my school and the people around here have been so gracious in getting to know me and being so welcoming. Another huge plus? I have great friends like Kaylee and Adrian that let me take a mini vaca to hang out with them and make me laugh until I cannot breathe. True friendship, right there.

So today I am thanking God for my friends, be them childhood, high school, college, or new/more recent friends. You mean so very much to me and I can't imagine my life without you.

"How do you know you've found your best friend? When you are ready to talk to them about anything, even though they know everything about you already."

Crazy Days and Fridays

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you felt like you spent every day running around just trying to keep your head on straight? This past week was one of those for me.

We've been starting practices for the school's spring production. This year they are doing 101 Dalmatians. The elementary school students have some practices during the day, which makes the school days crazy. I am helping out which has been fun to get to know a bunch of the students and use my crazy high school experiences with drama.

Friday was an especially crazy and fun day because it was pajama day! The students came decked out in the pajamas holding blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. I was a huge fan of this day simply because I got to wear my pajamas too. When it comes down to comfy pants and a bath robe vs. tights, a skirt, and a sweater, I'll go with the comfy ensemble any day!

To add to the craziness of pajama day, we also had a fuzzy party. My students earn pom pom (or fuzzies as we call them) for their good behavior. The jar was filled so we had a little party, with a movie and a treat. I went to the library Thursday night and picked out this incredibly cool deep ocean video with amazing clips of different animals. I knew my students would like it. Within a minute or two of watching it, I started hearing some complaints about the movie being boring. I told them to give it a chance, and just a few minutes later my entire class, myself included, was staring at the TV, accompanied with sounds of "ooooo!" "oh my look at that!" "that is so cool!"  It was awesome to see them getting into it, to really marvel at the amazing creation God has made, annnnd to admit that I was totally right about the movie! :)

Of course, the day wasn't crazy enough, so I just had to go and thrown in some shaving cream in the mix. Yes, I said shaving cream. For math. Why? Because I'm crazy, plus it was just too cool to pass on doing. I was a bit scared of how it would turn out, but my students did really well! They spread shaving cream on their desks and wrote out their double digit subtraction problems in the shaving cream. Needless to say, they did quite enjoy it! It was so fun! The clean up, not so fun, but it was totally worth it.

All in all, it was a crazy day and week. Friday I was falling asleep by 9 or so.  No worries, I made up for it by staying out late Saturday. And by late, I mean 10:30. I know, I should learn to reign it in a little. What can I say, the life of a teacher is a crazy one!

Using some mad math skills!

Post College Life

I am a recent college graduate. I have a feeling I can't say that much longer. While I graduated May 2011, May 2012 is coming up fast, when a whole new bunch of graduates will be taking over the title of "recent college grad". Makes me feel....old!

Where is this recent age epiphany coming from? Well, I just read my dear friend Anna Gesch's blog. She is a friend I have known literally forever, and is also a year younger than me. She just posted about being in her very last semester of college. We have had many talks about the future and she was one person I went to often last year when I was freaking out about life. Ahh, I remember it well!

Her post really got me thinking. Last year, I was graduating and didn't have 1. a job or 2. a fiance/husband, unlike what seems like the majority of my class.  I had no real plans for my life other than applying for tons of jobs. Everyone else seemed to have a plan, but I didn't. So I went home that summer, no job, no plan really at all. It ended up being one of the most amazing times of my life. I got to travel a bunch, spend lots of time with family and friends, help out at church, and really stop and take a break from the craziness that had been the past 4 years of my life.

The most amazing part of that time in my life was the patience and trust in the Lord I had to have. I am slightly OCD. I like to have things just so, to do things my way, and to have them go according to plan. This was something I couldn't even come close to controlling. It is one thing to say "yes, of course I trust God with everything" when your life is just humming along according to your plan. It is another thing to cling to God and trust when your plan is thrown out the window. I had to trust that God had something amazing in store for me. 

And He did have something amazing in store for me. I look back now and realize that the waiting was to force me to come back to trusting God fully, for everything. How amazing it is to be able to come through these situations able to look back and realize that God was doing it all for your own good! His plans are perfect, and while our lives are not perfect, we can trust that God will always do what is best.
 
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11