What to do with a bunch of people from Louisiana

So, as the aftermath of Katrina continues to haunt those from Louisiana, we in Houston take these people in. There are people all over the place, Louisiana plates everywhere. Local Churches, businesses, and the Red Cross are doing all that they can to help these people. The Astrodome (our historic baseball stadium, which is not longer used for a baseball stadium) will be used to house those who were sheltered at the stadium in Louisiana. Hotels are booked solid, and radio stations are collecting money and gift cards to give to them. Our local Dollar Tree has been making a lot of business in the past few days as well.
I heard on the radio today that there are a lot of women who are pregnant and close to delivery can't find doctors to take them in, because they don't have any medical records. There was one doctor that called and said that she was willing to take some of them, but obviously could not take them all.
I never thought that a storm could cause so much hardship and pain. It hurts us here in Texas, just to see our neighboring state in so much pain. We do what we can, but there is only so much that we can do.
*On another note, please pray for Chris and me. We are both having problems at work, and are kind of at a period of "what do we do?" I found out from a few other co-workers that myself and one other teacher that was there last year are still at the same pay as last year (I knew that part), but all of the people who were hired this year were hired making more than 4,000 more than us. That may not sound like much when you figure in that it is yearly, but when you figure that I only make 18,500 in a year, and they make 23,000 a year, divide that by 10 months and then 2 pay checks a month. Before tax, I am getting 925 per pay check... It figures to just under 800 after taxes. They are making 1,150 per pay check and after taxes for me that would figure to about 1,000. Please understand, this is not jealousy, this is pure anger! I was lied to in my meeting about my contract. The principal told me that day that the school could not afford to pay any teachers more than 18,500 a year. I don't believe this school is remembering that God comes first... Everything about the school is making it seem like a public school. Chris is having problems with is supervisor. They are using him and taking advantage of him because he works hard and does his job. It is not fair to him, they make him drive all over Houston, and don't pay gas or mileage. He wants to quit, but we can't afford for him to do that. Just please pray.

Good news...

Okay, so Chris and I went shopping for a love seat today, and we found one on sale! We had a budget, and the budget allowed us to get both a love seat and a recliner! And to top it all off, our mall now has an Orange Julius!! Yeah! Such a good day!

Ah, the weekend!

Well, it has now been two weeks since the school year began, and my class is still great! They are a good bunch, and I thank God for that... it is the only reason I feel called to stay there! I talked to the principal today about getting a day off to take care of getting my drivers license and social security card changed for both name and address. She first insisted that I could do both of those online. I told her that I tried it, and you have to go to the offices for name changes. I am way past the deadline for the address change, but I blame that on the County Clerks office for taking way to long to send us our marriage license. Anyway, so she asked me who I had to cover my class for the day... I almost started laughing, but she was serious. I proceeded to tell her that it was not my responsibility to find a sub, I have the right to my personal days, and the sub is up to them. Well, she found a sub, and I have Monday off. Probably one of the worst days of the work week to go to DPS, Social Security and Medicaid, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

My students don't know that I wont be there, because I was not informed until after school. I pray that they will respect the sub!

YEAH! A MONTH!

Ok, so Chris and I have now been married for a month! And some more good news, we finally got the marriage license back. So, we can now show that we are married! Now, I just have to find the time to get down to the DPS and the social security office to get all my documents changed. That is about all that is new here...

Oh! I had a bad kid today! She refused to do anything that I asked her to do. The secretary came in the room and took her to the office and she had a talk with the superintendent... That didn't help, she was still a little brat. Needless to say, she did not get recess today!

Is this job ministry?

So, I was talking to one of my co-workers today during my break. We talked about the great detail that the principal expects us to have in our lesson plans. We compared ours to one another, and to difference in them were amazing! By the guide that we were given to follow (by the principal) I have a page per subject, per day, hand written. My co-worker had a page per subject, per week. Both were approved as acceptable. So what do I do? Do I cut back on my detail? Do I try to mimic her shorthand? Or do I continue the way that I have done? Either way, I still don't see the ministry in it. So much emphasis is placed on the TAKS correlation that I have a hard time knowing if the kids are truly getting anything out of the lesson. I have decided that I will not include a TAKS correlation in my Bible lesson. It is bad enough that we have to correlate the TAKS into the lessons, but Bible is one thing I am not messing with. My co-worker and I are also discussing the possibility of team teaching. We want to get a bit of a break from teaching the same kids all day. This was an idea given to us by the principal, and now we may go through with it. I could get out of teaching Social Studies!

Well I think that is all for now!

An evening with the greatest son...

Well, I went to Astroworld with Katie today and had lunch with the radio DJ. It was fun, but it was way to hot outside! We only stayed about 3 hours... I got sun burned! Katie and I won a bunch of stuffed animals for Kailey (her daughter) and Christian (my son). When I got home, Christian was still here, he was supposed to go out with his mother. We had dinner, and then went to see a movie. On the way there, Christian was telling me that he would rather have a brother because he does not want dolls and barbies in his room. I told him he would not have to share a room with a sister. Then, he wanted to know how much money we have in the bank. I told him he did not need to know that, just that there was enough. He said "you would tell the baby, but you wont tell me." I looked at him and I said "Christian, you are just as important to me as the baby will be, and that will never change. I would not tell him/her anything that I would not tell you." That made him smile!

We had a great time at the movie. I finally got to see Star Wars Episode III. I hope Ryan and Travis don't read this, I am sure they would like to comment about that... And yes my birthday is still May 4th! ("MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU" *Ryan).

The word is out...

Ok, so I finally told my parents about the baby. Mom is real excited, dad thinks that I am not good at money and it is not a good idea, but deep down, I know he is happy for us.

I won tickets to Six Flags Astroworld, but I can't ride any of the rides. So, I am taking Katie and Maurice, and Christian is going as well (he has a season pass). Katie and I will sit around and talk, while the boys ride the rides :)

We will have lunch with one of the radio DJ's from one of my favorite radio stations. It is kind of neat, it is a Salute to teachers deal. Katie signed me up for it, so she gets to go :)

Well, that is about all for now. School is going great, my students are mostly little angels! I will continue to write about them, because I am sure things will change as the year goes by :)

Bye for now.

To busy to blog...

So, two days down, a lot more to go! The kids are great! Twelve little first graders in my hands. These kids are very smart for their age, and I am blessed for that! I have one student who is very emotional, and he always seems to think that everyone is out to get him. It is sad that after two days, this is already showing. His father did tell me that he is ADD, so if he is on meds, that may play a part in it. I plan to conference with the parents on this one! I made my lesson plans based on what the ABeka curriculum suggested for the first week... HAHAHA, that was a joke. We finished the phonics for the whole week yesterday, and the kids are bored with it! They just want to read. I spoke to the principal and she said "move on! Don't waste time on it if they all know it!" So, yeah! We are into our readers on day two (FYI, that is not supposed to happen until about the 3rd week.) My class is smart!! They also fly through math, and beg me to move faster in that! So, this is going to be a fun year...

I can't wait to see the principals face when I tell her about the baby!

Adventures of the growing belly...

So I realized over this past week how hard it is to set up a classroom when you are not supposed to lift anything heavy. I am the queen of rearranging furniture and trying to make things look different. It is not going to be easy to keep myself from that habit! Chris and I have been noticing that my belly is not as flat as it used to be; so either I am eating to much fast food, or the baby is making room for his/herself. According to babycenter.com my uterus is now the size of a grapefruit and the baby is nearing 2 inches. That seems so small, but it is some much bigger than 3 weeks ago! It is going to be hard to wait until March to see him/her, but I know it will be well worth the wait! I am going shopping tomorrow for some clothes that wont squeeze my belly. I hope there are a few cute outfits out there! That is all for now. Please write on your blogs... I need something to read at night before bed :)

When God says stay...

So today was a very long day! Christian and I spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon working on my classroom. For one day, it looks pretty darn good! Open house was tonight... And you know, that sign I was waiting on to tell me whether to stay at this school or get out of my contract, it came today! Right before I was about to leave, there were two ladies and a little boy outside my classroom. I asked them what grade the young boy was in and they said first. I unlocked the door and brought them in. Tyler, the little boy ran to me, gave me a big hug, and said "I can't wait until Monday!" He remembered me from last year. What a little cutie! So anyway, that little act made me realize that my anger towards all the changes was making me forget the most important part of my calling; being Jesus to the kids! Tonight, Tyler was Jesus to me!

By the way...

Ok, those of you who keep asking about wedding photo's... Here is the site. When you get there, look in the top right hand corner and click on the words "View Recent Events" the code to view the photo's is gwyn_chris

Enjoy!

http://www.photographybyniki.com/

Another day, another dollar...

Well, today was a little better, but I am so tired. Meetings are boring! Our day started at 8:30am in the library (though I was there at 7:30 working on my room). We were treated to a gourmet breakfast from McDonald's, and then it was more meetings! At 2:30pm we were done! A few of us went to the teacher supply store to pick up some stuff for our rooms. When I got back to the school, my room was to hot to work in, so I went home (5:15ish). Now, I am home. Chris had the day off from work, so when I got home, the house was cleaned up, and he was working on dinner. I love my hubby!

Well, I need to go, apparently I type loud ;)

I want out of my contract!

Okay, so today was the first day of inservice at the school. We sat in a meeting from 10:30am to nearly 4pm. We did stop around 12 for lunch... This stuff is so boring! Basically, the new principal wants us to teach the standardized test. I asked a question about our science curriculum and basically she said that it did not matter because we are teaching from the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). Our main focus is now making sure the students can test well on a standardized test... What happened to the Bible, our Christian faith, isn't that the reason parents put their children in Christian school? Those of you who took education classes with me, or know me well enough to talk about my education beliefs, know that I hate standardized testing; not to mention teaching just that. These kids need more than just a stupid test. They need experience, discovery, and excitement in the classroom. Limiting them to just the test takes away a lot of that!

After work, I met Chris at my parents house. Christian had spent the day with Charlie (my baby brother). We had dinner with the family... My dad is an amazing cook! After dinner, Chris, Christian and I headed home. I have to work early in the morning, and I am not used to getting up! So I need to finish filling out all the stupid paperwork, even though I don't want to be there, and then it is off to bed for me. Hope all is well with all of you!

Too much to do!

Okay, so we did not make it to the Medicaid office today, we had to take care of the paperwork for Christians school and get money transferred from one bank to another so the car payment will go through... and now, it is too late. Chris is going to go by there on Wednesday and get the paperwork. That is about it. Miss you guys.

Not much new...

Well, there is not much new news to tell... I got to be real lazy yesterday while Chris was at work. When he got home, we went shopping for a bedding set for Christian's bunk bed (my parents got him a new bedroom set). We are working on getting the house in order today. All the gifts that we got are sitting on the table in the dining room and some are under it too. The larger ones crowd the garage. We are trying to figure out how all this stuff is going to fit. Somehow, it will work! Well, I need to get back to work. Ew, work... I start in-service on Tuesday :(

Bye

A bit of news...

Well, since I goofed on Kayla's blog, I figure I should put it out in the open.... I became a mommy on my wedding day, since Chris has a son from a previous relationship... and he lives with us. The new news is that we are going to have a baby in the spring. That is about all I know, I have not seen a doctor yet(A- no time, and B- no insurance). I will be seeing a doctor soon though, so please don't preach to me about it, I heard it a few times already. I will be on Chris's insurance very soon, but until then, I am going to let the state pay for it... I pay my taxes... that is what it is for! That is about it for now.

A loooooooooooooong week!

Ok, so... It has been a week as I have been out of town... I went to my friends dad's funeral, and then basically straight to camp for a week. Christian and I went to horse came, and it was awesome! He got to ride this really nice horse named Rosie, I got stuck with a stubborn horse named Dollar. This horse did not do what I told him to do, he followed what the other horses were doing... I nearly fell off when the ranch hands took their horses running, and dollar decided to follow. All in all it was a great week, but I was so ready to come home to Chris, that was very hard being apart for a week, after only being married for a week... Now, it has been two weeks! :)