Quick Catch-Up

As I awoke this morning, I thought it was still the middle of the night. It was still quite dark, not a sound could be heard. I looked at the clock and was 7:45am. In my neck of the woods at this time of year (as I am discovering), the sun doesn't rise until around 9:00...well, that's when it is visible above the horizon. You can watch as God paints the sky with beautiful shades of red, pink, and orange shortly after 8:00. At any rate, it still seemed like I had only been asleep for a short amount of time.

I'm still tired and will no doubt be napping throughout the day, and possibly going to bed early tonight. I am very thankful that I was able to get home for Christmas (up until a couple of days before I flew home, it was looking like I wouldn't be able to get back for the holiday), and I think I am still on the Atlantic Time Zone. I'm also quite tired from travelling - two flights (one for two hours, the other for four) and a car ride that lasted around twelve hours in total (we stopped for the night in one small town and headed back on our way yesterday morning) will definitely wear you out! But, as I said, I am very thankful that I was able to get back home to visit family and friends for just shy of two weeks (which, I might add, went by far too quickly!).

Since my last post, I found myself quite busy with work - and yes, I definitely felt worn down and out as well. I had to do up report cards (21 kids in my class), and two days of parent/teacher interviews. The first day we went from 2:30 until 8:00, and the next day my schedule started at 2:15 and went until 5:00. It was quite draining, but I survived.

Not long after that, we began the process of practicing for the Christmas concert. My class played two songs on the recorder, sang a song with the grade 2 class, and performed their own (rap) song with tumbling moves (cart wheels, front and back flips, some breakdancing, etc). Rehersals were typically disappointing as the kids didn't want to co-operate, wouldn't stop talking when they needed to listen, focused too much on what the "tumblers" were doing that they wouldn't do their own parts, etc.

I was working with the music teacher on this, and we both got frustrated a lot. But, we gave it to the Lord, prayed, and in the end the kids gave a FANTASTIC performance during the concert! They pulled it off without a hitch (and we had thought that our best tumbler would be out because two days before the concert he bruised his collar bone, which had been broken during the summer...thankfully he recovered and was able to take part)!  I am so proud of my class!

School starts again on January 3rd, and I'm actually looking forward to going back. I'm praying that things will go well this semester and that I've finally got my head above the water (the first semester of a first year of teaching is difficult - actually the first three years, or so I've been told by many, are the most difficult of the teaching profession. I am praying that I will be a little LOT more organized and that I am better able to manage the time and not get behind on lessons. There is so much that I hope and pray for this semester, and only with Jesus' help will I be able accomplish this.

So, now it's your turn to update me on yourself. How was your Christmas? What was the best thing that happened to you, the best gift you received or gave? Let me know in the comment section!