walking next to you...

and if you know me, you know i love them:

noapte buna:)

the other night, my sisters got me so excited about my coming trip that i packed. normally, i am a little ocd about packing but not a week and a half early. oh well, what can you do?... :) three dresses, leggings, tights, boots, and flats. a couple other necessities and ready to go! yesterday, ian came up with this one. i was/am so impressed. these guys, they are just so creative. they def use the creative box in their brains. some people don't know how to, the guys that come up with these names, they KNOW!
the only problem with that birthday statement up there and in the above photos??? it is NOT my birthday! one of my period three students wrote that her birthday is on tuesday. when period four came in and saw that they immediately happy birthdayed me! i corrected that so quickly but somehow it stuck and they celebrated me! they sang and wrote birthday notes all over my boards and i just about died of laughter!!! i laughed so much. lena, the cheeck biting thing did not work this time. we laughed so much and my heart was so joyful, even if it isn't really my birthday! the last thing, one of the taller students in my class, jp, decided he was going to leave me a birthday note WAY up high on the board so that i couldn't possibly erase it! i caught him when he had nearly finished. and when the group walked out the door, i found little messages on the other board...i didn't see that happen because there was a large group of students in front of me. this was probably one of the nicest fridays i have had in so long and i am just all smiles. the students here, they are so brilliant. friends, i so hope you believe me because it is so true. AND not only are they smart, they are the funniest ever!
happy weekend to you! do something fun and fally. carve a pumpkin or drink some cider or something. the students are going to halloween horror nights...i will NOT be going:)
ps...tomorrow, chloe is coming home. she is toby's little sister and i know, i know, another cat? but she is so lovely and she really needed a home and toby needs a sister! i will post a photo soon.

today was one of those days. you know, where at the end of the day you just can't help but look up and say thank you and thank you. last night was such a disasted but it is in the past and today helped me really put it there. i don' know if i can stress enough how great of a place this is...not the place necessarily as much as the people. they are life changing.

today was just beautiful. fall is here and there is good music all around and just goodness in general flowing out of people. something wonderful happened. my students wanted a photo taken with me today and ah! that just was wonderful. so of course, we took one:

meet from left to right, my sweet and wonderful friend and fellow teacher, cheneille, and students nicole, audrey, and nick. and me! sporting my super duper monteverde tie! which i, mentioned earlier, tied all by myself with the help of mr. englishman on youtube:) thank you sir.
just before lunch i received the most wonderful gift. it was their good morning and they wished me one as well(lindsey, this seriously made my day...and just a bit later, you made it EVEN better:) this photo:

dear jessica,
i found your stash of paste magazines and truly, this morning, that is EXACTLY what i needed. i hope you don't mind that i am going to borrow them! thank you my friend,
roxi

part of this was written yesterday, part today, just try to keep up:)

side note---> i started writing this yesterday afternoon and after leaving the school quite a bit happened which is why this didn't get finished. let me pick up where i left off and we shall see where that will take us:)
the above and below come courtesy of ian. he knew this some of the students would have a hard time with this one, that some perhaps would not understand...but a few already got it and the laughter that came as a result was the proof! and it also looks like this:this one, i think, was a personal favorite for many...it was up there for like two weeks:) i think it is totally safe to say that my time here is being well spent:) i have been adjusting and the thing that has made the process such a smooth one are the people. those whom i work with, the students, and those outside of the school environment. a combination of the three is making my time here so pleasant and i am utterly grateful. monday night was a really neat night for me. marlena asked me to help out at the burning and of course i said yes. i always love it when i get the opportunity to music with her because she is absolutely brilliant. the service was so wonderful and just towards the end, shawn shared a story and it just nearly would have knocked me off my feet had i been standing. he talked about baseball when he was younger and how he just couldn't understand the importance of being in the out field just waiting...and waiting...and waiting. he thought about being in other places but no, he was stuck out there watching kids hit balls, run, and so on. and he just stod and waited. UNTIL finally a kid hit the ball and it disappeared. and he looked around for it and didn't see it anywhere. well, that is, unit he looked at his glove and noticed that the ball was tucked away in him glove! he had served such a purpose and was not able to see it until he caught that ball and realized how important his position was! how lovely is that! well, while i was sitting there, shawn began to pray and the words, 'ask and i'll give the nations to you' flooded my mind. that is a song by shane and shane and i heard it for the first time years and years ago but when i heard it for the first time i sort of felt like it was my anthem because for as long as i could remember, that was the deepest and is the deepest burning of my heart. to be among the nations. i remember from a very young age talking to my mom about these things. i remember my firs time out of the country and how important that was to me and how it changed my life. well, monday night, that all came flooding in. and i just wept. i was reminded of my heart and it hit me. i work at Montverde Academy. the Creater of the Universe made it that i would be SURROUNDED by the nations. we finished and i was able to talk to marlena about what i experienced and my heart was so full that night. yesterday, i was able to share it with a new friend mindy. mindy is one of the sweetest gals. she is a teacher here but she also oversees the bible club here and ccc, the service i get to sing for every once i a while. i sang on sunday night and there was a little crack in there and it made me feel so insecure but mindy just encourage and encouraged me. yesterday, after i told her my story from monday night, she paused just for a bit and said something that sent a shiver up my back. she told me that the Lord opened a door for me to be able to sing to the nations...41 to be exact. 41 nations are represented here at Montverde. it doesn't matter how many cracks or whatever come out of my mouth, they don't care! i shouldn't care! this is such a neat thing! just a while later, i remembered that i had noticed something a week ago and kept meaning to ask about it but kept forgetting. as i drove up the street, i noticed this little sign that read YWAM oralndo. well, being that i know a number of people who have been involved in the program, i was interested in finding out about that little sign so i finally asked mindy about it! and she knew as much as i did. BUT she also told me that students at the school were asked her about possible missions opportunities! and YWAM would be perfect for these guys! so she gave me homework---call YWAM! so i did and they were so excited and i was so excited and we will be meeting soon to discuss a partenership AND that sign, that is their new training center! five minutes up the road from Montverde! hello!
i sort of skipped around school the rest of the day, just marveling in how the Lord works. how He is so faithful to provide. and i decided to go for a drive to lena's to tell her about it, and it happened. i heard this horrible sound, my car swirved, i pulled over, and flat tire. really flat. i had to move a little bit up the road because i was in a very tight spot. i had a few nice people stop to assist but i let them know lena and shawn were on their way. one nice sir, ato, and his sons got out and help and between ato and shawn, we were good to go to the tire shop. well, long story short, it kinda was a disaster. my car is at the shop currently, there is a very bent rim. and last night was srt of rough. and i was so mad at myself because i knew it was just an attack and i think that i parially failed. i tried so hard to smile it off but by the end of the night, there were tears involved. HOWEVER, i woke up with a smile on my face this morning. God is faithful. it is ok if you are reading and don't really buy into that, but i do and i hae experienced that faithfulness too many times to doubt it:)

anywho, i have my tie on this morning....YOUTUBE is magical. this english man taught me how to tie a tie thins morning:)

happy wednesday:)

ok, so i don't ever really use that but today that is all i can think! i am going to blog tonight. the post, it is going to be FIRE. just within these past two days too much has happened! but so much goodness! i just cannot believe it, seriously. i just can't!

happy fall!

so, i am just sitting in my classroom on a lovely sunday afternoon grading and finishing up a test. why? because i can:) busyness never seems to end here but that is not me complaining because i love what i am a part of here. the past few weeks have been nearly maddening for me but i have gotten through simply with the 'one day at a time' approach. that is one that i am really bad at and the Lord knows it and luckily, He is a really good teacher:)

i have been learning so much in the past couple months since this change took place. change being the move to Florida. it could not have come at a better time and the more that time passes by, the more i realize that and the more i am grateful. even though i will experience pain here and there, i am slowly learning that God, in His grace, can heal, and does heal. and just knowing this brings a great amount of peace to my heart. and it's not just me, we all go through things and that will never change. healing does not come over night but that is a good thing because as it comes, we can experience rejoicing. if it came quickly, we might miss it or just forget to rejoice because we just want to be done with it. time is always key, always.

i am finding healing through the people around me. and the Lord is restoring my heart. and there is a crazy amount of hope in the air. that even though i don't know where He is taking me, He has plans that are bigger than i can ever imagine. hope. hope is real. even when we can't see the end result or how God will get us there. it is real. hello, look how far He has already brought me, and trust me, it wasn't because i am so faithful. i lack there, i admit, but HE is faithful:) all of this doesn't mean that i don't have bad days, because i do, but God is in those to! last week, the cutest thing happened, and i was so grateful for it. i was sitting at lunch and i could feel someone's eyes on me. i turned around and behind me was the cutest little blonde kid looking right at me. he smiled and turned quickly, so i turned. when i turned again he was looking right at me, smiled, and turned quickly. we continued in that pattern for the next few minutes and i laughed so much and the gratitude in my heart was flowing. being grateful for the little moments and remembering them is what gets us through some of the hard times we encounter.

i love that i am going home in two weeks. i love that my entire family will be together again even if only for a weekend. i love that i will see their faces and get to hug them and plant kisses on their cheeks:) my heart races when i think about being there.

i hope this week is everything it was meant to be and some extra on top! our Creator can totally do that:)