Snow Day

Well, the university finally did it. They cancelled classes because of the snow storm we are getting. The snow and wind picked up through the night, and boy was it whipping around! When my alarm went off, I listened to the news to find out that all of the schools in the districts around here were closed, some other colleges, and the city pulled the busses off the roads. That alerted me right away - the lack of busses running. I got up and called the university's storm line and sure enough, classes are cancelled for the morning and afternoon. Usually during bad weather, if the busses are still running, the university is open and advises students and faculty to use their own judgement about coming to class.

I also have a class at 6:30 on Monday evenings, but as of now it is undecided on whether or not any evening classes will be cancelled or not. The school will make that decision around 3:00 this afternoon. Im hoping and praying the classes are cancelled...

As of right now, it apears that the snow has stopped for the most part (maybe some flurries flying around) and there doesn't appear to be much, if any, wind. The plow hasn't been around to do our street yet, nor has the guy that plows out our driveway.

According to Environment Canada's website last night, the snow is supposed to turn to rain this morning and end early afternoon. At that point - or sometime in the afternoon - it's supposed to start snowing again and the wind is supposed to pick up as well. However, we are in the Maritime provinces, so that could change at any time.

So, today will hopefully be productive and I can get some (or most) of my two math lesson plans worked on and possibly finished (they are due Wednesday), go over my lessons for our group Social Studies unit plan and fix them up, and work at other bits of school work that need to be done this week. Though, to be honest, I also want to work on some knitting I need to get done and maybe do some rubber stamping and make a couple of cards.

Well, I will end this post for now. Hopefully it won't take so long until the next post! Have a blessed and Christ-filled day!

It's The Weekend Again

Another weekend is upon us, the sun is trying to shine through the clouds (it is bright out) and some flurries are fluttering to the ground. It is the middle of February; hard to believe the month is going by quickly - or somewhat quickly. Soon it will be spring, the snow will be gone, the temperatures will warm up, and I can't wait. I think I am tired of all the snow and cold of this winter.

Yesterday the grade two class where I observe, held their Valentine's Day party. The kids were excited from the moment they walked into the classroom. They wanted to pass out valentines immediately. However, their teacher had to remind them to put the cards away until after lunch. She had been explaining all week that the party would be in the afternoon, and the morning was just like any other school day. She had even spent about five to ten minutes the afternoon before reminding the kids, getting them to tell her when the part was, what they were supposed to do with the valentine's when they got to school in the morning. They knew the answers. Yet, she had to get stern with them several times because the kids kept asking when they could hand out the cards, eat the food, etc.

All in all, the little party was fun. The kids really enjoyed getting to go around and put their cards into the construction paper pouches they had worked on during the week. The pouches were taped to the back of the child's chair, and the teacher explained to be careful or the pouch would rip off. A couple did get ripped from their chairs, but it was accidental both times and more from brushing past them rather than putting someting inside.

This coming week is a little busier than last. I have a presentation on Thursday (there are four of us in the group), we are meeting on Monday again to put things together, and will probably have to meet again to work on the lesson plan we have to submit for the presentation as well. I also have two speaker's responses and an article critique due on Tuesday and Wednesday. Other than that, the bulk of my work next week will be in working towards next weeks assignments, presentations, etc.

Today is going to be busy trying to get some readings done, searching for an article to critique (really it's more of a review of the article, but they call it a critique), look into starting two lessono plans for my math class, looking for info to bring for our meeting on Monday regarding the presentation next Thursday, as well as hopefully beginning to create my portfolio, a wellness plan (for phys. ed. class), and phys. ed. resource binder. It all adds up quickly!

On top of all that I want to do some crafty things this weekend as well. I need to work on a scarf (knitting) that I have to do for an exchange group I'm in, something for my best friend for our "after Christmas gift exchange" which we decided to hold on St. Patrick's Day (neither of us had the time or money to do anything at Christmas so we decided to put it off until March). We did this one other year as well, only we chose Thanksgiving to do it then. So, I need to figure out what I'm going to do for her and get cracking. I also want to try and do some scrap booking or work on some handmade cards this weekend as well.

Well, I am starting to ramble, and there really isn't much more to talk about, so I will end here. Have a blessed and Christ-filled day!

It's Sunday

I had a nice relaxing afternoon with my best friend and her nearly nine year old daughter today. We used to get together pretty well every Sunday after church, but since I've been home from Korea - especially since I started back to school in the fall - we haven't been able to hang out too often. It's because of the amount of school work I have, and I generally need my Sunday afternoons to work on presentations or critiques or other various pieces of homework related stuff.

It was a really nice day today, weather wise. It was supposed to go up to around +7C or +9C, but I don't know what if it did or not. It was definitely mild and sunny, though. It's also supposed to go down colder tonight, so I would expect some slippery roads in the morning. Maybe I'll luck out and they'll cancel school tomorrow, but I doubt it; they never cancel unless its extremely bad and they've pulled busses off the roads.

We had a nice surprise this weekend. My younger brother, his significant other, and their son came up yesterday and stopped in. We didn't know they'd be here, and my brother said they had only decided that morning to make the trip up since the weather was cooperating for once. We haven't seen them since Dad's funeral in August, so it was a nice surprise.

Well, I'm going to head off and make a phone call and hopefully get to some knitting or reading before bed. Have a Christ-filled day!

Thank You Lord

This past week, Wednesday in fact, I had a group presentation for one of my classes. I was so stressed out in the days leading up to it because I seemed to be having difficulty preparing for it. One thing I failed to "remember" was that I was leading the section where we were presenting scenarios to groups in the class and they had to discuss them and come up with ideas/answers. That isn't exactly something you can prepare for much since you don't know what their answers would be.

Well, by Tuesday I was quite stressed and couldn't focus or concentrate on trying to find some information on the topic so I could have a little something to contribute before or during the discussion of my section. I did the one thing I should have done in the beginning. I prayed. By this night, I also had to do an article critique for another class, and that was eating up a lot of time as well. Prior to praying, I was beginning to become quite frantic.

I also prayed when I got up early on Wednesday so that I could focus on finishing the critique and finding some info for the presentation. The prayer worked again. I also prayed before the presentation a few times. Let me tell you, prayer works. I was calm and not frantic at all; I was able to focus on the task at hand. I had some classmates tell me after the presentation that I was relaxed and did a great job (I was actually nervous and my hands were shaking somewhat during the presentation, and I felt like my mouth was full of cotton when I was speaking). I truly believe that God helped me through that.

I don't know, yet, how we did on our presentation (I should interject here that I also prayed for the others in my group) - we should find out on Monday. However, I do know that when I turned to God for help, it was there. God hears our prayers. He is always there waiting for us to turn to Him. It is usually us who skip off ahead and come running back when we need help. What we should be doing (and I include myself in this as well), is walking with the Lord, by His side, and be in constant communication (prayer) with Him. I know I fail miserably at this. I am still, afterall, a work in progress.

But, I can only give the glory and praise and thanks with regard to my situation to God. He is the one who calmed me and helped me to stay focused on my task. Thank you Lord. Prayer really does work.

I Wonder Why...

This semester seems to be more difficult for me. I can't seem to get my focus or motivation up, and when I do, it doesn't last very long. The only thing I can think of that is causing this would be the fact that I only had four days of vacation over the Christmas break. The rest of the time (2 1/2 weeks) I worked.

Today in Sunday school the pastor (he teaches the class) asked if we needed any prayer and I had mentioned this fact to him, about not being able to focus, and he prayed for me. That was good. Also, we went over the Armor of God and he had mentioned at one point that we should pray before things happen during our day - if we have a meeting to go to, if we are going to meet up with someone, if we have school work to do, if there is a lot of work to get done, or anything at all. He said it's a good idea to pray in the morning (or before you face the particular situation) and ask for God to help guide your steps along the way.

Tonight before I tackled some of my homework (which I had been struggling to do all afternoon), I prayed for God to help me focus on what I needed to do. It worked. I got my article read and am ready to do the one page "report" on it. It's not due until Tuesday though, so I might wait until tomorrow to work at it. I also need to find some research on Gender Separation in classrooms for my group presentation this coming Wednesday.

My group met last week to figure out what we were going to do for our presentation. We've figured out how we're going to go about presenting (mostly involve the class and have them present what they find out from info we give them) and who is going to do what part. For my part, I am in charge of the scenarios. We are going to present two different scenarios and have them come up with ideas of what they would do or not do if they were faced with that particular situation, and why. So, what I'd like is to have some info to contribute somewhat (give facts or something, i.e. 'studies show that...').

We have another group meeting tomorrow afternoon and I found some articles on the subject, but I don't know if they will work with the scenarios. I'm just afraid that the others in the group are going to think that I'm not doing anything (with regard to research and doing my part well enough). It just seems like I'm the only one struggling with this. And the fact that I can't focus just makes things feel worse...so, I am going to pray about it again.

Dear Lord,
I pray that you will help me to focus on my studies. Please help me to stop procrastinating and to get some motivation. Help me to do my work as though I'm doing it to present to you and not my professor and fellow classmates. In Jesus name, amen.