A Brain Dump to Begin the Week

...This has been the longest two week stretch ever. It started with an inservice day two weeks ago and has since contained two basketball tournaments, two trips including a flight and a bus trip, as well as my normal loads of teaching and grad school. Part of the reason the two weeks have seemed so long is that I inherited the girls' basketball team with about 30 hours' notice and have been, all of the sudden, going full blast with them on top of everything else. I'm not even going to pretend to be on track with anything any more. I'm just straight up behind on it all.

...That being said, I have officially made my varsity coaching debut in basketball. I coached a tournament last weekend where we finished third and this past weekend we took fifth in another tournament. Funny story-- being good sports actually cost us a chance to play for the championship. We finished third in our pool after losing a tie breaker by 4 points (as in 2 baskets). We played two teams we could have blown out by 40 to 50 points. We actually held one of those to a complete shut out, 32 to 0. I am a firm believer that no game needs to be won by more than 20 points, maybe 30 points playing young players, so I took active measures to stop my team from being that bully team. Well, we shot ourselves in the foot the first game against our #1 pool team when we just did not show up to play and lost by 30 points. We then blew out the next two teams, including the shut out, and then putzed around and ended up tying with a team we would beat 7 times out of 10 any other day. We lost the tie breaker to the #2 seed because they put up 4 more points against opponents than we did. And we could have easily posted another 50 points if I had let my team and/or we had shown up to play. I have no regrets about not posting a bigger score or being beaten when we didn't earn the victory anyhow. But I am snarkily amused the #5 team in the tournament should have been at least the #2 team and possibly the champion (I think we'd go 50/50 with the top team if we played well) just because they were good sports. What's the lesson learned? Play hard in every game. Never be the bully. And always wash your hands after using the bathroom. That's just common sense.

...I wouldn't go as far as to say that I am home sick, but I have really been missing my family back in the States. I blame it on the chance to coach the varsity basketball team. It is something that I could actively share with them and they could be around to see. Rehashing the game through text is just not the same as sitting down to talk things through in person. And sharing about victories with a 13-hour time difference is just not the same because it's usually a good 8 or 9 hours before I hear back from anybody. But this is just a good chance to remember the opportunity I have been given to improve myself while investing in students' lives through a game I love. I am also being reminded of all of the people who have chosen to invest in me through basketball throughout the years and I continue to push myself to make them proud. Always pay it forward.

...We leave for our annual school service trip a week from today and I am looking forward to it. We will be going to serve some Karen people in western Thailand, literally within walking distance of the Thailand-Myanmar border. I enjoy the opportunity to work with students outside the walls of the classroom to complete meaningful work by their own hands and efforts. Some kids love it, some kids hate it, but all kids always walk away changed regardless.

...With everything going on, I am continually reminded to live with grace, truth, and perseverance because this is the only life I will be given and it is my real life. I keep reminding myself:

(via)

I know this is meant for parents, but my students are who God has given me to invest in right now so they "my children" for this season of life. And for most of these students, I will have them for only one year so I must make the most of the opportunity that has been given me.

Soli deo gloria.

Glory to God alone.

26|| Growing Up Is Hard to Do

PS- I am still planning to finish up "The Blog-tember Challenge" even though I have missed the deadline by a long shot. Don't judge... It will be fun to finally finish! 

How have you changed in the past year?

I have grown up a lot in the last year.

I suppose it's probably not the best admission-- to be 26 (almost 27) and growing up, but I have never really been one to do things as expected.

I look back to this time of the year last year and I was teaching full time, coaching two teams, going to grad school, and realizing that some people were not as I expected them to be. At this time last year, I realized how alone I really was on my current path in life and I didn't like the direction I was headed or the person I was becoming.

I made many different decisions last year. Some choices were definitely better than others, but I own up to every last thing I did. I tried some things outside of my comfort zone, I allowed myself to enjoy experiences I would have usually avoided, and I worked to live in the moment.

Now I am half a country and an entire ocean away from where I was last year. I still don't have life figured out, but I am more comfortable with the direction I am moving. I am still far from where I want to be or the person I want to become, but I am learning how to find a balance in life. I am still teaching full time and going to grad school, but I have taken a year off from coaching because I knew it would be healthy for me. I miss coaching so much, but I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone and refused to deny an opportunity placed before me. I am learning how to continually prioritize people over things and let work take the back seat. I am also learning how weak of a teacher I am and how much more growth I have to achieve in the classroom.

My honest prayer is that I will never again become complacent with where I am in life and that I will always push myself to grow and to change. I remember sitting on the school bus at 23, looking out at the night sky, and being so grateful that I had landed my dream job so early in life. I loved those years and my experiences, but I am grateful that God has pulled me out to something new. I hope that at this time next year, I am again in a completely different place than I am now because that means I have continued to become the best person I can be.

The Lord made me for his glory. May I always strive to meet my potential as He created me to be.

25|| SMH and LOL... As Said by the American Teen

Grab a guest post! Swap blogs with someone, and share about anything. :)

I am cheating a little bit today. Kelly asked me to guest post and am sharing the same post with my own readers because, honestly, I think this is too great to keep from anybody!

Both Kelly and I are English teachers, both of us work with high schoolers, and both of us have heard quite the funnies from our students.

As grown up as high school students try to be, they are still such kids at heart and leave Kelly and I in stitches at the end of the day. They also leave us in tears, both literal and hypothetical, at points as well, but the memories of the laughter are what bring us back after the particularly rough days.

I am in my fourth year of teaching so I, by no means, have everything figured out, but I do have a solid list of funny things my students have said “over the years.” (Have I even earned the right to say that?) I have also included some funny moments with the elementary kids I have coached because they were just too good to keep to myself. Clearly, nothing is off limits with kids. They tell it like they see it, which is both entertaining and frustrating.

Without further adieu, I share with you ten of the funniest moments in my teaching (and coaching) career.

10. Junior boy: Hey Miss McNary, when is the State B Boys' Basketball Tournament?

Me: Like March third through the fifth?

Boy: (To his study hall) Hey guys! It's March 34th and 35th!

9. A Very Shocked Freshman girl: (Reading her teacher-revised essay) Seriously? You're 

    telling me that a fetus and a feces aren't the same thing?!

8. Fifth grade girl: Ms. McNary... My sister (who I taught in English 10) and I googled you 

            last night.
    Me: Oh? What did you find?
    Student: You are on Pinterest.
    Me: Yes, that is true. Anything else?
    Student: No... You're really as boring as you say you are. But Google has pictures that 

            really are you!

7. A Very Enthusiastic Third Grader: Miss McNary... I really like your outfit today! It's 

    better than some other days. Did your mom pick it out? My mom always picks out my 

    best outfits!

6. Seventh grade basketball player: When I have the basketball, am I an offenser or a 

    defenser?

5. Freshman girl, now Valedictorian candidate: Miss Aubrey! I can't find the antecedent 

    for my verb!

4. (With a 4th grade basketball player)
    Her: Coach, did you know my sister (who I taught in English 9) got a new boyfriend?
    Me: How nifty! Do you like him?
    Her: Yeah, I like him a lot better than her last boyfriend.
    Me: Oh?
    Her: Yeah, her old one bit her neck all of the time. I don't know why she'd want a 

          boyfriend who 

did that. I mean, that's not even fun to get bitten. My sister says 

          that's just what you do when you get a boyfriend in high school.

    Me: Uhh... Umm... They should play video games or read a book instead.

3. Student: The clothing was cucumbersome and heavy.
    Me: Uh... You mean "cumbersome"?
    Student: (Turns incredibly red and puts his head down on his desk) I can't believe I just 

          said that!

2. Student: Is Mark Twain Shania Twain's husband?
    Me: Yes, of course.
    Student: Huh... And I was just being funny. I really am smart!

1. Student 1: Miss McNary, is today Fat Tuesday or Super Tuesday? 

    Student 2: Today is Taco Tuesday and that's all that matters! 

(It was Super Tuesday.)

Bonus! Junior boy: Ms. Aubrey, your Thai accent isn't very good and your Mandarin    

          accent isn't very good either.

Me: Yeah... Those weren't really skills necessary to thrive in North Dakota.

I have quickly learned kids are kids... Be they in Thailand or the States. I count it one of my greatest blessing that God has given me this season to work with the youth of this world. 

May your day be blessed. :)

2|| Happiness, A Little Re-Post

Write about what makes you happy, from the little joys to the huge game-changers.

This spring I wrote 32 Things that Make me Happy. I am reposting those 32 things today, not because they are the only things that make me happy, but because they are still so true. Please enjoy!

One. Living in a part of the country with four seasons. As much as I am OVER the snow right now...
Two. Having grown up in North Dakota-- I love the rolling plains and wide open skies!
p

(via)

Three. Waking up early each Thanksgiving morning for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Four. Seeing a student finally make a connection and get something.
Five. Standing in a gym on a Friday night while hearing basketballs bounce and smelling the popcorn.
Six. Hearing the first crack of a baseball bat each spring.
p

(via)

Seven. Finding a new pair of shoes that fits just right.
Eight. Looking down at my gas guage and knowing that today is a day I will not have to stop and fill up.
Nine. Crawling into my bed at the end of a long day knowing that it was a day lived and spent well.
Ten. Being able to see as many different places as I have.
p

(via)

Eleven. Realizing the fact I am living in God's will and purpose for my life as a teacher.
Twelve. Seeing my family together around the dinner table.
Thirteen. Sitting around a bonfire on a summer evening.
Fourteen. Getting completely lost in the stars of a night sky.
p

(via)

Fifteen. Driving through the countryside in the summer and fall evenings.
Sixteen. Updating my planner for the next day... Especially when I've been productive!
Seventeen. Folding laundry that is still warm from the dryer.
Eighteen. Putting the last piece of said laundry away.
Nineteen. Holding a baby.
Twenty. Eating supper that I have had time to make myself .
Twenty-one. Spending the first, crisp fall night watching football.
p

(via)

Twenty-two. Relaxing in the recliner and catching up on my Tivo-ed shows..
Twenty-three. Catching one of my favorite movies on network TV for no reason at all.
Twenty-four. Smelling the first evening spring rain.
Twenty-five. Jogging outside on a cool, still night.
Twenty-six. Submitting the last assignment for a class and knowing it's all out of my hands.
Twenty-seven. Browsing Pinterest and obnoxiously feeding my wanderlust habit.

Twenty-eight. Realizing that I have found a book I simply can't put down.

p

(via)

Twenty-nine. Dreaming of all life can be but knowing it's everything it's supposed to be right now.
Thirty. Shopping online and then waiting for the packages to arrive!
Thirty-one. Knowing we have only 34 days left in this school year!
Thirty-two. Living my life with the knowledge that it is not my own. I take such security in that!

Wasn't Quite Ready for This One

Well I certainy did not intend to fall off the face of the earth for almost three weeks. In my defense, I spent one of those weeks in Omaha going through a completely intimidating and mind numbing professional development session for the AP course I will be teaching this fall. Any confidence I had going in to this fall semester has been completely shattered and I'm about as humble as they come right now. #Imaybringmyblankietothefirstdayofclass #Teachersdon'tdothat?

This summer has been an odd one. Overall, I'd say it has been a tough four weeks. For the first time in a long time (maybe ever?), I feel a door closing. Like straight-up-shutting-with-a-deadbolt-lock-for-extra-security-closing. Don't get me wrong... I completely understand that if God wills, He will break that deadbolt with a snap of His fingers (or however it is one breaks a deadbolt-- I don't really know how to break through a deadbolt and isn't that the point?).

When I moved away for college, I swore I was never going to move back home. But I won't lie. I always felt a little piece of me that wondered what it would have been like to live at home again and not be a high schooler. I saw a lot of other people my age doing it, but I also I knew I was right where I was supposed to be as a college student in Grand Forks. God presented me the opportunity to come home for a spell and I'm so grateful. I'd be lying if I didn't say these three years were very trying-- the first year was difficult as a family and this last year was very difficult professionally-- but I wouldn't trade them for all the buffalo wings I could ever eat and that's saying something!

At the risk of sounding like a complete downer, I super excited about what's to come. I feel like I'm getting my life back. I didn't realize how much I had ceased to be my own person. I moved home and fell so comfortably into the role of teacher and coach. Some people looked at me as my dad's mini me. Other people saw my as the head coach's mini me, even after I became a head coach myself. I think I could easily live the next 20 years of my life doing the same things each season and I wouldn't have given it a second thought. 

I moved home because, by doing so, I was taking myself out of my comfort zone. But now home has become my comfort zone and it is my time to move on.

I talked with a co-worker last week who is also leaving the school and he made a comment about it being so hard to leave. I think I would be more scared if I found it easy to walk away from things than the difficulty I'm experiencing. I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I am walking forward in God's will and His grace as I make my way to Thailand, but that doesn't mean my heart doesn't hurt and I don't keep in mind the faces of the students I am leaving behind. I know that their lives will go on without me and they'll quickly fill the gap of my absence with the new teachers and coaches-- I wouldn't want it any other way. But I see that the hurt means that I left part of myself with those kids.

When they would ask why I stayed, I would tell them the truth-- I was given an option to move home and give back to the school that invested so much in me. I spent three years at THS as a student and I returned for three years as a teacher and coach. In many ways, I feel like my debt (albeit hypothetical) has been paid. I can honestly say that I left my position at THS in a better place than when I inherited it. It is always my goal to leave whatever I do in life in better shape than when I came upon it.

In short, I guess I find myself mourning a loss I didn't anticipate. I always knew my Trenton job would be temporary, but it certainly was comfortable. My plans were to stay two years longer, but God said three was enough. Again, I eagerly anticipate what is to come, but I will always think of what I have left behind. It's a bittersweet thing, leaving what I am behind. They have already filled my position and I pray the person whom they chose to fill it will experience success. I pray she will be able to see the students for who they are and understand their circumstances, but will be able to challenge and stretch and educate them more than I was able to. I pray the students will give this new teacher the respect she deserves and they will not hold my mistakes and failings against her in any way. I pray they will also forgive her any mistakes and failings she may make against them because it's simply inevitable.

Until then, I will keep watching baseball, eating Mexican food, and listening to country music. Mine is a lovely life. :)

Maybe Someday

Sometimes I just dream. I can honestly say I’m happy with where I am in life right now, although it’s never where I would have placed myself. As I daydream (or plan where I think I’d like my life to end up), these are some of the ideas that come to mind.

Maybe someday…

I will have a job in formal, full-time ministry.
p

I will be working in full-time academia as a college professor.
p

I will finally have this teaching thing figured out and I will be a competent, confident high school teacher.
p
I will have finished law school and be a practicing lawyer.
p

I will be a stay-at-home mom with my own mess of children to look after.
p

I will be putting dinner on the table as my husband gets home from work.
p

I will be sitting in a gym watching my own children in their athletic endeavors.
p

I will be sitting in an auditorium watching my own children in their musical endeavors.
p

I will be on the sidelines coaching my own children in their sport of choice.
p

I will be homeschooling my children and we’ll have all sorts of crazy projects going on throughout the house.
p

I will be meeting with my children’s teachers for parent-teacher conferences instead of being the one leading the conferences.
p

I will have completely packed up and left the United States behind to live in a one-room shack somewhere across the ocean.
p

I will have another Master’s or a Ph.D. or may have gone to law school… I wouldn’t mind being a professional student. (And I just outed myself for the nerd that I really am.)

I feel I would be just as happy for any of these things to happen and maybe none of them will ever happen. But I have found that a good pondering session always does my heart some good…

These are my wonderings for today. :)

In-Betweens, Runs, Minds, Days, and Dresses

One. This week has felt odd. It has been some sort of in-between of basketball tournaments, weather seasons, and buckling down for the last 11 weeks of the school year. I feel like I may have hit some rhythm at this point, but I’m still not all too sure.

Two. Due to so much of the in-betweenness, especially with post-season basketball tournaments, my workouts have all too much ceased to exist. I am panicking about how I am going to build up mileage for my half marathon in May, but I officially started over on Wednesday night with my back end back in the gym and I am just going to have to do as well as possible until May actually comes.

Three. I was going to stop observing winter on March 1, but the -42 degree wind chills prevented that. Same with March 2. But since March third and its balmy 11 degree highs, I have been showing as much ankle in as many bright colors as I have wanted to. We still have some snow on the ground, yes, and the eastern part of the state had blizzard warnings Wednesday night and delayed starts or no school yesterday, but it’s mind over matter folks. MIND OVER MATTER!

Four. I teach only twelve days in March between spring break, a personal day, and the Close Up trip. For that matter, I teach only one full week (this week) but this first stretch of nine days sure does seem like a killer!

Five. And just because we need something good and shallow to end this post with, since there already hasn’t been a single thing of substance yet, I’m really wanting this dress. I don’t own much green, but I really do like wearing green and blues. I like the detailing around the waste and I see this dress being a good three, if not four, season dress.

Enjoy the weekend!

Little Did I Know...

I am eyeball-deep in disorganization, waist-deep in graduate school, knee-deep in documentation, and completely over my head in correcting and all I can manage to do is sit back and laugh at myself. My life is so ironic-- I don't know what to do with myself most days.

When I was little, I remember wishing I was smart enough to do something "important." I wanted to have the job that pushed me and pulled me in a million directions at once. I wanted the job that was fast paced and kept me busy. I wondered what it would be like to work 80 hours a week.

Oh don't worry... I don't wonder any longer.

Now I know.

I always imagined engineers or lawyers or bankers or doctors in such positions. Don't worry. I'm a teacher doing the very same thing right now. 

I should have seen it coming-- my dad worked the exact same hours when he was in education. And now I'm doing it myself. Even without coaching, I could easily work fifteen hours each day. I know that I am not the strongest teacher out there and I wish I had more constructive accountability. I don't like the number of days I feel like I just barely make it through because I ran out of time to do things well. But I also have to remember that this is only my third year so I can't expect to be perfect at this point in time. I have been trying to do a few things exceptionally well each day so that I don't have to go back and re-do them next year. But even that is a struggle all too often. I'm also building off some of what I did last year so that I'll be even stronger for next year.

In short, I feel wicked overwhelmed right now and I'm looking forward to the day I feel like I have a better grasp on things. However, today is definitely not that day.

And I doubt tomorrow will be either.

Licenses, Tournaments, Life, Crunch, and the Drawing Board

As has become my usual, I am linking up with the ladies of The Good Life, A. Liz Adventures, Carolina Charm, and Hello Happiness for "5 on Friday." Please join us!

One. Now that I finally got my teaching license figured out (It wasn't my error... needed to send in some additional paperwork that should have been taken care of when I first was contracted two years ago but I was given a five year license at the end of it all so I am good and happy!), I need to get my driver's license renewed. It's not like I didn't know exactly when I was going to expire four years ago when I last renewed it and it's not like I didn't have the ten months previous to renew it and it's not like I didn't talk about renewing it at least twenty times and it's not like I didn't try once because I did. But, my driver's license is now expired and, at this point, I won't be getting that baby renewed until basketball season is over. Here's to concientious and increasingly defensive driving.

Two. We officially start our post-season tournaments tonight. We are going into the tournament as the fourth seed after finishing in a three-way tie for second during the regular season. Plain and simple, our goal is to win the tournament. We certainly have the skill set to win the championship... We need to come into the games with our heads on straight and the team's interest as our first priority.

Three. Not that I am a non-procrastinator anyhow (see #1) but I feel like life has such a sense of uncertainty right now. I can attribute this uncertainty to a couple of big things as well as a number of smaller things. I'm looking forward to things panning out in the next couple of months... Whatever that will look like.

Four. Oh boy... I am really starting to feel the crunch of race day. February has completely kicked my tail and I haven't gotten a decent run in for awhile. I've still been attending my boot camp class and I've practiced as much with the high school team as possible, but I still feel so far behind. I will clearly be hitting the dreadmill hard once basketball season is over.

Five. I'm sorry if I'm a broken record at this point, but grad school is kicking my tail. I thought I would get a short reprieve from grad school after this week of madness, but after a talk with my professor tonight, it's back to the drawing board on Sunday to fix my research project. It's almost midterm... Almost midterm... Almost midterm...

It's a Girl Thing

Something I have come to realize about myself in the last couple of years is that I really dislike the spotlight. Now, I recognize this is coming from somebody who has no trouble standing in front of a room and carrying on like tomorrow will never come so, perhaps, I would be more accurate in saying this- I don't like having attention placed upon me for any reason having to do with personal accomplishments, recognition, or the like. Crowd control? Yes. Anything else? No thank you. However, I can truthfully say this is a 180-degree turn from where I was at growing up. 

Ready for a little secret? I loved the limelight as a child simply because I needed to know people liked me. Ready for another secret? I have, only in the last couple of years, decided to take stand against my insecurity and form, for myself, the healthy self image God intended me to have.

Well, that's a weight off the proverbial chest.

What I have really come to recognize after working with girls in a variety of contexts is the super difficult position in which our young ladies are placed in today's society. I was entirely overwhelmed at the beginning of my first summer at camp with all of the girls and their emotions and their general need for obsessive reassurance over the most trivial of daily issues. (No, I do not care whether you wear your purple shirt or your black shirt and, no, I don't think anybody will remember you wore that shirt to run to the bath house to brush your teeth last night. No, I do not think you are weird for wearing that shirt again and I promise to tell nobody... I'm just not going to tell you the last time I have, or haven't, washed this hoodie. Ha!) The all-consuming insecurities faced by these girls at all ages just broke. my. heart. And the staff wasn't immune to petty insecurity either. Approximately one night each week was spent in the bathroom over analyzing what other people may have thought of our behavior at a specific point, how the boys possibly did- or didn't- view us in a specific situation, whether we'll ever measure up as "big girls" in a consumingly degrading society... any sort of lighthearted material (*ahem*) we could muster at whatever hour of the day. Let me assure you... Girls in the school are not any different than those girls at camp. Uffda!

But, I digress. That summer, my heart really began to break for young women as a general subset of population, especially young Christian women. We, as a collective Christian community, are seeking to raise and disciple girls at a time where we are asking them to be meek and mild, supremely intelligent and self-disciplined, simultaneously be "in the world but not of it", and sharing the light of Christ with all while being strong, secure, and capable as the creation God has created each to be. Other than the fact some of those demands are directly contradictory, we are placing a ginormous burden upon out girls, many of whom are struggling to love themselves while we demand they show love to everybody else. Now yes, I often say that life is not about me and selfishness is not healthy, but I fear the number of girls we are losing because they become so overwhelmed with everything that they count it all a loss.

It seems like at least once a day, in whatever class for whatever grade, so many of my female students talk about how yet another boy ignored them for whatever reason or another boy did them wrong in one way or another. Some of it is teenage angst, but you can also tell that some of those girls actually believe it. I am so grateful that my dad sends me a little gifts every once in awhile, both because I felt special that he remembered and it was also a good example to my girls that life is what you make it. Of course I wouldn't have turned down flowers (or anything else for that matter!) from anybody else (I mean... the mysterious "KJ" sends me flowers every year on my birthday and I eat it up every year!), but I'm choosing to think that maybe they were just given an example that security and acceptance doesn't need to come from outside sources.

It's so tough to be a girl... Especially when you don't know where true love and acceptance really are.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that is did not know him. 1 John 3:1

Getting Back on the Proverbial Horse?

Oh well hey there! This semester is off to a running start. I always swear I am going to budget my time more wisely and be more productive in my days, but then my usual habits take over and I find myself behind like usual. Blergh. Such is life. 

I went through a really tough week of getting only two or three workouts in because I had niether the time nor the energy to get anything more done. Then I finally dragged my butt into the gym on Thursday (I think?) and suffering through an eighteen minute run. It was only eighteen minutes (Day 3-2 of C25k, specifically) but it was terrible. However, I was proud of myself for getting back into the gym and winning the mental battle for myself on that one. Last night (Sunday) I went back into the gym and had an excellent 30 minute run. I was about dead by the end of it and was definitely ready to be done, but it felt good.

Tonight I was back at boot camp after I missed on Friday for coaching, but it was good to be back. I feel like I am finally making the switch in mindset to where I look forward to working out again. I was sore for about two and a half weeks straight, but my body has finally adjusted. Things are still far from easy and I honestly haven't seen the numbers move on the scale yet, but that's okay. Actually, the whole scale deal is a little discouraging, but I know my diet has been far from the best lately and I haven't been drinking enough water.

This week I want to be more conscious of what I choose to eat and that will not be the easiest because I have three away games this week. However, I have to start somewhere.

My goal is to run a full 3.1 miles with no walk breaks on January 31. I'm not worried about time or pace right now... I just want to make the mileage mark. I think I will be able to make it through those miles in the next 11 days and I'm looking forward to pushing myself to make the mark!

Finals, Yo-yos, Planners, College, Books, Makeup, and Weekends

Well I clearly missed "Five on Friday" this week so I'm moving on to "Seven on Sunday."

One. Well, this week sure got away from me. It was the last week of the semester at school so along with administering finals, student work that magically appeard from all over the place, parents and students alike all worked up as to why said finals and work weren't graded and in the book 3.8 minutes after submission, we've had practice all week, a four game quadruple-header on Thursday, a triple-header on Saturday, and I never really did sleep more than four hours a night.

Two. This week had also been one heck of a yo-yo week. Well, it wasn't been so much up as it had been crashes and then back to baseline. But thankfully there were enough good things in the week that the baseline was been frequent and attainable. 

Three. I have switched back to my beloved classic Franklin and my life feels so much better again. I tried to downsize planners this last semester and I just couldn't handle it so back to the big ol' binder we go and I am loving every minute of it!

Four. Between undergraduate credits required to earn a new edorsement and my graduate level courses this semester, I will be taking nine credits... While carrying on with life as normal. This is my last semester of structured class, though, so at least I have that light to come up on at the end of the tunnel. I'm looking forward to my classes this semester and I'm secretly all nerdy excited that one of my profs already posted the syllabus so I'm not too upset about getting classes underway on Monday.

Five. To date, I have really enjoyed all of Dan Brown's books (especially The Lost Symbol) and I have been super stoked to read Inferno since it came out last May. I even considred buying it while in Thailand on my break from reality this summer, but I just couldn't justify the $30 on a hardcover book that I knew I'd be able to check out from the library. I started the book once this fall and couldn't get into and I started it again about two weeks ago and I still can't get into it. I'm about halfway through it and I'm darned and determined to finish it just so I can say I've read it. I have one more Dan Brown book to read after Inferno and then I will have caught up on all of his books. 

Six. Not that I have ever been skilled at all in the area of makeup, but I have recently decided that I am going to learn to wear eyeliner. Easier said than done... Uffda. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for making eyeliner look more chic and less like I just lost a boxing match and/or an morphing into a raccoon?

Seven. I was definitely spoiled by my two and a half week Christmas vacation. This weekend is a typical two day weekend and I am far from ready to go back to work tomorrow. But only 18 more weeks of school... We can do this!

New Years Resolution... Yes, Just One!

I have one resolution this year and it is to run a marathon. 

I have neither had time nor made time for this goal in the past, but I feel like this year is the year. 

This spring promises to be a tough one between teaching full time, coaching, and taking nine credits, but such is life.  Life isn't slowing down for awhile and I'm not getting any younger... And I'm ready to take charge and do something for myself. I feel like I have lost a piece of myself over the last couple of years and I want to figure out what that is.

Running 3 miles is not something that comes easy to me, so I know 26.2 miles will be the most difficult thing I've done in a long time. I'm excited to do something difficult. 

I've gotten all to content with doing only the things I know I will be good at and/or those things that I know I will be able to finish without too much inconvenience to myself.

My baby steps to running my marathon are as follows:

1. Run a 5k on Friday, January 31.
2. Run the Fargo Half Marathon on May 10.

This year is going to be the year. As I've said before, I am looking forward to the changes 2014 is going to bring and I pray that one of those changes is a self-improved, more disciplined self.

Soli deo gloria.

Monday PSYCH!

My alarm went off this morning and I thought it was Sunday morning. Too bad it was actually Monday morning. But this is my last week of work before Christmas break! And it's not like I won't be earning my paycheck this week... As things stand right now, I have a full week of teaching and then a game every night this week. On Tuesday, we have both a game and a practice so that will be an extra busy night.

If I survive, though, I will have two weeks of minimally interrupted break time and that will be fantastic!

Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...