Dinner and a Lesson

I know, two posts in two days... That's gotta be a record or something. But, this story MUST be told because it's just too good to keep to myself. :)

So tonight, I decided to make this yummy new dinner from a recipe that I found on Pinterest (where else?). Here's the link to the recipe so I don't have to retype it all.

Cooked noodles laid out to try to keep them from sticking to each other

The recipe called for chicken, but I used ground beef instead - added with various cheeses and some milk

Spread the cheese and meat mixture over the noodles and rolled them up

Topped with more sauce and some parmesan cheese

And then came the problem.... It said to cover the dish and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Joe walks in the door with about 10 minutes left on the oven timer. About that time, I said "Something smells burnt... Did you turn on the heater?". I head to the oven and open it to find a pretty good amount of smoke and this...

So sad....

I pulled the pan out as quickly as I could and at that point, I was certain that my hard work had all gone to waste. Thank goodness I was able to lift the lid off before it actually touched the food and our meal was saved. The funniest part is that we have the most sensitive fire alarms ever, and they didn't even go off! They go off when I'm baking cookies and the oven door is open, but not when our apt fills with plastic-smelling smoke. Go figure...

Two positive things came out of this experience, besides the awesome meal, which I'll definitely be making again. 1.) I now know that plastic melts in the oven (Who knew?). And 2.) I have something to add to my Christmas list because I ruined one of my favorite wedding gifts! Oh the joys of a new cook in the kitchen. :)

Giving Thanks

Just a small list of things that I'm super grateful for right now (and an update on the life of the Thompson's):

1. As always, I'm super thankful that my family is healthy and happy. Joe and I have been blessed by time with different parts of our family in the last few months, and we're so looking forward to all of the various family gatherings in December!

2. Our new home!!! We have been looking/researching homes over the past month or so, and we found one, fell in love, and bought it in a matter of a few days. Crazy, I know. People keep telling us we are so lucky at home quickly this process has gone so quickly and smoothly. For those of you that don't know. The house is in Forney, and we are set to close on December 29th.

We can't wait to move in and get all settled. I guess we should start packing, huh...

3. Fun times - I've gotten to spend time with different friend groups over the last few months, and every one of them has been so special to me. From the fair weekend when Mal came in town, to the Taylor Swift concert, to the Halloween party, to the rockin' awesome Spazmatic's 80's concert we went to last weekend. I'm so blessed by so many amazing friends to enjoy all of this fun stuff with!

4. And today I'm thankful for Christmas music. I LOVE the anticipation of waiting for Thanksgiving to be here so that I could officially allow myself to listen to all of the joyous sounds of Christmas music. My awesome mother -in-law bought me the new Michael Buble Christmas CD this past weekend, so I got to kick off the season with a fresh new Christmas playlist. Next up on the Christmas list is Glee and N*SYNC! Don't judge me :)

Gentle Reminders

**I'll warn you ahead of time, this is a long post. I just feel like this is something I need to document for myself and my fellow teachers. I tried to shorten it several times before posting, but it was pointless. :)

Today, I was reminded of why it is that I became a teacher, and what my goal is when my students leave my room every day.

Here's the back story:

On Friday, this young lady really frustrated me. I actually wrote my first office referral of the year because of what she did. She's one of those kids that teachers get annoyed with very easily. She's a kid that makes small bad choices here and there and you really worry that they're going to come back to hurt her in the end. Despite all of this, I give her the benefit of the doubt, more often than I probably should. Some might think this is because I'm naive about her intentions when she asks for something, but really it's because I feel like she needs someone to be on her side. There are always kids that stick out each year as someone that you would "go to bat for" because you want to see them be successful. This is my girl.

On Friday, however, she broke my trust. She asked to go to her locker, and instead decided to skip part of my class so that she could roam the halls for 15 minutes. Needless to say, I was very annoyed by this. When I got her back to my classroom (after having to track her down on the other side of the school), I had a talk with her in the hallway, and I let her know how disappointed and upset I was. This particular incident bothered me the most because I do always give her the benefit of the doubt, and I felt like she made a fool out of me. After lunch, she came up to me and said "I'm sorry that I made you mad. I realize what I did was wrong. I don't want you to think that I'm one of those kids that doesn't care". I accepted her apology and told her it was ok, but that she had broken my trust and that it would take a while to build that back up.

So, back to today. The student came in for some after school tutoring. After we discussed her grades, she sits down in front of my desk and says, "Mrs. Thompson, I never knew that you felt that way about me". (I should also tell you that English is her second language, so sometimes it takes a few tries to really say what she's trying to say). I asked her what she means, and she began to cry. She goes on to tell me that she didn't know that I trusted her, and that no one in her life has ever trusted her, not even her mom. She said that she didn't like that she had disappointed me. My heart simply melted. Our conversation continued and I encouraged her to learn from her mistakes and to remember that life is full of choices, and now is such a pivotal time in her life to decide what paths she's going to go down.

All I kept thinking was here's this young lady that God has placed in my classroom for a purpose! This sweet 12 year old girl is just looking for someone, anyone, to give her a chance. What an amazing reminder of why I have a passion for teaching and a passion for children. They need me. I need them. God needs me to be their beacon of hope. As a friend put it tonight at dinner, "You may be the only Jesus that she ever comes in to contact with." How powerful, and scary! I'm not so sure that I am always ready for that big of a responsibility, but I'm so glad that God is a good God, and He gracefully sends me reminders of what my purpose is. If I can teach a kid math, I'm doing good in the eyes of my administrators and the school district. But if I can teach a kid to make good, moral choices and to learn from their mistakes, I am doing what God has designed me to do. I'm leading them to Him. It's a slow process and I rarely get to see the end result, but how rewarding to see glimpses into how my influence can make a difference.

Thank you God for today.

A Teacher's Woes

I'll be honest, I need to vent for a few minutes.... If that makes you not want to continue reading, that's fine. You won't hurt my feelings. I just need a place to make my voice heard today.

I have spent the last two days giving my students a district-mandated timed test. My students had 60 minutes (spread out over two days) to complete 20 in-depth math questions. If you're not a teacher, let me give you some background information here. The state of Texas will be giving a new standardized test this year, called the STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness). The test is going to be timed, so in preparation, our district has started timing the kids on various tests or assessments, so that they can get used to the pace that they are going to be required to work at on the future test. I totally agree with the decision to do this. If they're going to be timed on the standardized test, then we're going to need to help them build up their skills to be able to master that test.

So back to my venting. I have spent the last two days watching hard working 11 and 12 year olds read questions, underline and circle important information (strategies I really stress in class) and solve problems to the best of their ability. When I say they were hard working, I truly mean that they worked REALLY hard for the 60 minutes that they got. Did I have the occasional student doodling with a highlighter on their pencil or staring off into la-la land for a few minutes? Yes. But the majority of them really gave me 100% for the hour that they were working.

And despite their strong efforts, I had at least 40 kids (throughout the day) that were not able to complete their test. So now, I will get their results back and know that there not an accurate depiction of what my students are capable of. Needless to say, this does not make me happy. I hate that they worked so hard for that hour and will have nothing to show for it because they did get to finish. I hate that I had to pressure them throughout the testing time to "make sure they were keeping a good pace so that they would finish on time". I hate that there are kids that rushed through it for fear that they wouldn't finish in time. I hate that one of my students felt the need to apologize to me because she just couldn't finish it. **Side note - She was so sweet in her apology, and I assured her that it was in no way her fault that she didn't get to finish and that it was not going to impact her math grade.**

Don't you think our kids have enough pressures in their young lives, without having to worry about how fast they can solve math questions?? I just want to know who makes these crazy decisions. I know it's not a teacher, that's for sure...

Long Overdue Update

I can't believe it's been over two months since I last blogged. Joe and I have been adjusting really well to married life. We are currently both trying to get over being sick. I got sick on Sunday and missed two days of work, and now Joe's fighting the yucky cold symptoms. He missed half a day today. I guess that's part of being married. In sickness and in health, right? On a positive note, we're officially all settled into our cute apartment. We even bought a futon for our guest bedroom, which I'm so excited about! We're expecting our first house guest this coming weekend, so that was our motivation to get the guest bedroom in order. I'm excited to have one of my roomies from ACU, Cagney, coming in town to stay with us next weekend. We're having a mini ACU reunion with all of our friends, and it's going to be so much fun! New husbands. New babies. Lots of changes since the last time we were all together, so I can't wait to spend some time with my girls!

Another exciting piece of news, we got our wedding photos back from Chelsea and they are awesome! Here are a few of my favorites!

Joe messed up on part of the vows, and this picture really captures that moment perfectly lol

Not sure what we were talking about, but I like my face in this one. :)

Hope you're all having a great week! I'm really going to try to get back to blogging more. I like having a place to get my thoughts out and keep track of what's going on in life. Now that things are slowing down, surely I can find more time to blog, right? We shall see.

Mr & Mrs Thompson

It's official, we're married!! Woohoo! The wedding day was everything we could have ever imagined and more. I truly had a fairytale wedding. It was amazing! Thank you to everyone who helped make it possible. Here's a few candid shots I got on my camera.

Joe and I at the Ritz Carlton

Here's a link to a sneak peek video of our wedding: http://www.vimeo.com/26236590

Clay Hervey is so talented! I can't wait to see the full video.

Teacher Moment

Here goes a post that is not wedding related.... I know... Crazy right?!?!

Today was a bittersweet day in my teaching world. TAKS scores came back for my precious sixth graders, and I get the unwanted responsibility of telling them if they passed or not. It's a bittersweet day because I LOVE getting to celebrate with my babies who have worked super hard and passed, but having to tell the kiddos that didn't make it, that the failed is just so difficult. I always try to present it in the most positive way that I can, but it's still tough.

One of the biggest highlights of the day happened in 1st period. I was pulling kids out individually into the hall and telling them their verdict. One of my boys that has been coming to tutoring since March to make sure he was ready for TAKS came out. I told him he passed and a huge smile appeared on his face. I sent him back into the classroom to get the next student. A few minutes passed and he stuck his head back into the hallway. He looked me in the eye and said "Thanks for teaching me, Ms. Griffith." I told him he was very welcome. It was one of those moments in life that you think "If only I could take a picture of this moment so that I never forget it." (Have any of you ever seen The Office episode where Jim and Pam "take pictures" with a pretend camera when something sweet happens - that's how I felt). The best part is that this kid is one of those that knows how to push my buttons at times. So, for him to take the time to stop and say that to me truly warmed my heart.

It was a reminder that even when I am frustrated, tired, worn out, at the end of my rope, someone is counting on me to help them. Someone is looking to me for guidance and direction. I hope I never take advantage of the little opportunities (i.e. students) that God gives me each school year. As this year comes to a close, I hope that my students know that I love them and that I believe in them.

On that note, 7 more school days until summer :)