School

It's the weekend! Sweet! I just decided that going grocery shopping on a whim is probably not the best move I could make. I came home with semi-useful items and then remembered more useful things once I got here. One thing about shopping at Krogers that I do love is the electronic coupons. I sat in the parking lot and loaded several to my card before I went in. These coupons allow me to buy some brands that I might otherwise avoid. Today they gave direction to my shopping. Possibly not the best idea. I think though that I'll have enough food for a while. It's just sort of random food. Tonight I plan to have French Toast and sausage because I need to use up some semi-stale bread.

I'm really starting to enjoy my tutoring time, and I think some of the kids like me as well. When I stopped by to talk to the third grade teacher, one of my girls who I only started working with yesterday told me that she wasn't going to let me leave because she wanted to stay with me forever. Sweet. I guess it'll be even sweeter if she says the same thing after I start making her write next week. The job started kind of slow and I felt a bit useless some days because I didn't have any groups. This was the first day though that I had three full hours of pull-out groups. This means I have to run back and forth finding these kids and returning them. I also don't have a permanent home so I'm holding my sessions in the library.

Sometimes these kids say the craziest things. Just yesterday, when I walked into the third grade classroom, this little girl looked at me and said that I look different every day. I didn't even think these kids noticed me since I hadn't really been doing anything with them yet.

Today I felt sort of bad for the sole boy in my fourth grade group. The girls had finished their spelling sheet from their teacher so I gave them markers and paper to write their words in all different colors. It's still amazing that such a simple activity brings them such great joy. The boy was still trying to meticulously copy down the run-on sentence on the paper. He is almost always the last one finished because he doesn't read or write very quickly. Everyday he asks me if we will have time to work on their drawings. I'm not sure he's finished one yet (the first day I let them make name tags for their folders and another day I asked them to draw a scene from the book we're reading.). He's still pretty cute though when he gets excited about answering questions.

A Tired Puppy

I've been working my two jobs for almost a week now. It's only Wednesday but I'm exhausted. Thankfully I only have 3 hours at the school tomorrow. My week is front-loaded with all of the busyness. On Mondays I get to school at 8 am (which involves leaving the house at 7:15 because of morning traffic). I tutor for three hours. Right now my tutoring is not very defined because the teachers haven't put me into groups yet. The best part of the time is when I take my 4th graders to the library for guided reading. There are only four of them, and they all have such varying personalities. Today somehow while talking about dinosaurs we ended  up discussing when a mother goes from protective to overprotective. After tutoring, I chill out on campus or somewhere in town until 4:30 when I have to be at the BCM building for leadership training and regular Bible study. I don't leave town until 8:15 or so and then it's the 30 minutes home and to bed for me.

Tuesdays are longer because I tutor in the mornings, man a prayer table on campus for 3 hours and then lead a Bible study at 8 pm. It leaves me about five hours in the afternoon to chill on campus which gets tiring. I don't want to drive back to the house because I don't have the money to spend on that much gas. My poor little Roxie is getting a lot of miles on her. I'm happy to say though that she hasn't had any problems since her alternator was replaced over Christmas break. Let's hope she stays that way.

I'm enjoying my jobs but I think I'm going to be one tired puppy every Wednesday. Hopefully soon I'll have some kid stories to share.

In other news, a deer died in between my house and the neighbor's house. I'm really unsure what caused it to die there, but I woke up one morning and there it was...antlers and all. After much internal debate, I decided to leave it alone and not bother the neighbor. A few days later I was sitting in my quiet living room when I heard gun shots close by. Looking out the window, I saw three guys shooting this frozen deer and then dragging it to the woods behind the house. I think that was the neighbor. Sure hope so. Needless to say, I turned on the alarm system and made sure the doors were locked just in case. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

Well there's a bit of an update.

Stepping Out

**Sorry, this is a double post from my personal blog, but there are different people reading each site.**

School starts this week, and for the first time in my life, I will not be attending. When I first started planning this post in my head last week, I thought I would feel sad at this moment. I imagined an empty ache would ring in my heart. But that's not the feeling I am experiencing. Yes, it's odd, but it's also strangely exciting. There won't be any papers to stress me out or discussions to attempt to stay awake during. Of course there also won't be any friends to meet on the sidewalk or crazy late night study sessions. I can't just waltz over across the hall to my friend's room or tell someone to meet me for dinner in five minutes. Things get a bit more complicated from now on, but I've always liked a good complication to struggle with. 

The most exciting part of this new step in my life is the possibility. My entire life lies before me. Yes, I kind of have a sense of what I want to do, but who knows where God might take me. In the immediate present, I am super excited about working with the BCM. I met with the leader today to discuss ideas and we are chock full. I sure hope those college students are ready for us. The elementary tutoring job is a bit daunting, but I am starting to realize that God can use me and mold me during this experience as well. He can teach me about being out of my comfort zone and give me an opportunity to share his love with some kids who might feel a bit unloved. 

I do expect some loneliness and nostalgia simply because I'm not living in a dorm room with my best friend or going to classes every day. The pay is much better but the drive is farther. There are ups and downs to this next part of my life, but I think I'm ready to take it all in. God has so much in store for me and I'm just ready to be used for his purpose. After all, what else matters?

Riding the Bus

This past week has been crazy! I started working as a bus monitor, and so far I really enjoy it. I have worked on a bus with special needs children, as well as a bus full of elementary school kids, mainly riding with them in the afternoons. Since I have never been a bus monitor before, I have had to really get to know the rules on the bus and make sure that everybody follows them. Even though the buses have most of the same rules, they all operate at least a little bit differently, mainly because of the drivers' personalities and the personalities and individual needs of the children. Due to this, I really have to stay on my toes whenever I change routes. 

Although I was a Child & Family Studies major in college, I spent more of my time inside the classroom learning about children than actually being around them. However, I have gained some experience recently in being around children. I talked to the elementary school boys about their toy cars, four wheelers, and dirt bikes, while the little girls asked me how I got my hair to look the way that it did and how old I was when I got my ears pierced. One little boy raised his hand just to tell me that he thought I was pretty, which I believe took a lot of guts and made my day. For the most part, the children have been well-behaved, which has made it easier for me to adjust to my new job. 

In other news, I have been helping one of my friends remodel her house. I have pulled carpet and tack strips, sanded down plaster that was used to patch holes in the walls, and stripped wallpaper. I have been going there in my free time and trying to get as much done as possible. Although I enjoy working on home remodel projects, I will be glad to see her house whenever the walls are painted and the new carpet has been installed. Because that's when the decorating can begin! 

If you want to know more about what has been going on in my crazy life, then feel free to contact me. Even though I'm not a very private person, I still don't want to put all my business out for everyone to see on the internet and would prefer if we talked one-on-one! Haha! Also, if you have any advice for how to keep misbehaving kids in line, then I would appreciate that as well. I know a couple of the 20-somethings have quite a bit of experience in that field. 

I apologize for this post being so random, but I felt like I needed to post an update on here, but am also too tired to re-read it and edit it like I normally try to do. Hopefully, I will be able to do better about making regular posts in the future. 

Until next time, 

Miss Ellaneous