What I Learned Tonight

Don't mess with old people's way of playing dominoes.

1. Don't switch the direction of the playing order. If you do, a certain lady will yell at you everytime it is her time. "Don't you know you are going the wrong way?" (Ima)
"Ima, it doesn't matter, we are going this way now." (Dorothy)

2. Don't help teammates if they can't reach the place to put the dominoe. Because, Ima will say, "What are you doing Mega, playing for everyone else?" After that we decided to only play the ones we could reach.

3. Whoever starts the game, wins the game. Ima kept winning and the other ladies could not figure out why she always won. Well, she was always the first to play. I caught on, so I tried to play first so I could win. They still didn't let me win. One of them cheated!

For a class assignment we are spending time at one of the many nursing homes in Spring Arbor. They are funny to watch and even funnier to play dominoes with!

Me & Abbs

Happy Easter

Puerto Rico

Here are some belated pictures from my spring break missions trip to Puerto Rico.







The group drove to Ohio to catch a Jet Blue flight. Once we got there, we realized the flight was canceled due to maintenance issues. Instead, they chartered two smaller jets to fly us to JFK. Those planes ended up being two hours late.

Then from JFK to Puerto Rico I was watching the in flight map. I could see we were headed the wrong direction in PR. When we finally landed the pilot said, "Unfortunately we are in San Juan instead of Juana Diaz. There is a volcanic ash cloud over Juana Diaz. We cannot fly over that area." It took two hours for a bus to come get us and then two hours to drive to where we needed to go. It was a long day of traveling.

Again, the camp is right on the Caribbean. It was a beautiful week. (What week isn't beautiful when you are in Puerto Rico?)



















Lydia and I had some fun while we were painting. We got the job of painting all the rocks around the parking lot and the palm trees.

The camp director said we were painting the trees because Americans come to Puerto Rico looking for white palm trees, so he doesn' t want to disappoint them. The real reason we painted the trees was so the ants don't ruin the trees.



Some of the girls looked beautiful after a 12 hour day of work. We painted in the morning then poured a cement wall in the afternoon. We did 80 bags of cement in 6 hours.









We went to Gilligan's Island for the free day. It was a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. We went snorkeling and swimming in the pretty blue water.

Lady Vols...Number 7

Do bad days always get worse?

YES!

Grey's Anatomy has got to be the best show EVER!!!

Guatemala

Girls Night

Jeanette, Liz, Me


I don't normally stay at school on the weekend, but I had my weekend packed with school stuff. Liz, Jeanette, and I decided a girls night would be fun. We had dinner at our favorite, Los Tres and then made strawberry slushes and watched Mean Girls at Jeanette's apartment. Her husband is a volunteer fire fighter, so he let us try on his gear.

Back to P.R.

-Last week the leader of the trip last year, Ben, asked me to be the student leader of the Puerto Rico Spring Break Missions Trip this year. I was surprised to get the call, but very excited. I am looking forward to this trip because it is a chance to be a leader for my peers.
-This weekend, Ben, Jeanette, and I picked the team for the trip. It was hard to do, but I am excited about the group.
- Last year I was able to go to Puerto Rico with Liz. This year I can't wait to go with my other roommate, Lydia. She applied to go on the trip and was accepted.

Teacher Time

I feel like all I do is lesson planning. Last week I spent over 12 hours working
on unit plans, bulletin boards, and learning centers. That must be the feeling of
a teacher.

Meticulous work is microfiche. In the library, there are 92 boxes with three levels in each box that have to be unloaded. Not only taken out of the box, but out of individual envelopes. This my friends is the definition of meticulous work. It took 6 hours to empty one box. There are only 91 more to go.

Matt & Me

Funny People

Right now, I am in an Intro to Computers Class. It is every Monday night. There are some funny people in here. This one guy just said, "I don't want to know what a kilobyte is. I just want to know how to run this dang computer!"

I am totally with him. Who gives a rip about this stuff. I just need to know a few things before I can take my other computer class at Spring Arbor.

"Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun
Please shine down on me!"

Just a song I have been singing for the last two weeks!
Yes thats right. We have been mowing in rain.
I don't think it is ever going stop.

Go Tigers!!!

Last week, the Puerto Rico Team went to a Tiger's Game. We had tons of fun.

WOW!!!

Some lady just came into my work and asked where the bathrooms are. First of all, she had a lazy eye, so I wasn't sure which one to look at. Then when she got out of the bathroom, she had toilet paper trailing out of her pants. Hilarious!!! Okay, maybe not to you all, but I have been in this litte room for 3 hours by myself.

Today I found out some good news about next year. First, I got accpeted to the Guatemala Cross Cultural Trip. Which means next January, I will be there. Second, I found out my housing for next year. I got a village. Which is sweet. There are two room and a bathroom for 4 people. I am rooming with Liz, Lydia, and Lydia's friend from home. Hallelujiah I finally do not have community bathrooms.

My Baby

On March 30th I was actually home to see my baby calf born. I was on my way to observe at school and I stopped by to see how my heifer was doing. I was surprised to see the water sack hanging out. I called my dad to come home and help. In the middle of my math lesson, I got the call to come home. By the time I got there, hooves were coming out. Dad, Brent, and Papa helped pull the calf. Instead of putting my hands you know where, I sat by the momma's head and talked to her. I felt to bad for her. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she stuck it under the feed bunk, so we couldn't see her. I was kind of worried when I saw the calf's tongue because it was blue, but as soon as the head was out she made the cuttest moo of all time. I was hoping the whole time for a heifer (girl) because I am too old to show steers (boys). Thankfully it was a girl. I was so excited. We have never had a heifer born at our farm, only bulls. I named her Cobalt. She is super cute. She already has a halter on, even though she doesn't like it.

What to do?

Here is my venting for the day. I am trying to figure out my life. Right now, my plan is to be in school for 4 1/2 years. This would have me done with student teaching and graduating in Fall of 2008. However, I am considering making it a 4 year plan by taking 3 summer classes at LCC this summer and two next summer. This would make my student teaching in the spring of 2008 and able to get a job when the school year starts that following fall in 2008. This probably sounds really confusing...it is! Right now I am in between Spring Arbor and LCC trying to figure out what credits will transfer. I really like the 4 year ideas because then I don't have to pay another semester of SAU tuition. (a.k.a.- a lot!)

If anyone has any brilliant ideas, I'll take them. Sorry for the venting. Everyone does it!

Puerto Rico

Finally! Here are some pictures from my Spring Break trip to Puerto Rico. It was a lot of hard work, but worth every minute of it. I will definetly never forget it!

Some of the girls from the Barrio loved playing volleyball. We would play until church started and then play again right after church.

The whole gang. There were 13, counting 2 leaders and a student leader.

This is the view from lighthouse on Coffin Island. On our day of, we took a ferry ride to this island. 6 of us made it to the top of the island. It was a rough hike since all we had were flip-flops to wear. The red buildings are where we started from.

Instead of taking the trail back, we ventured to the edge of the island so that we could walk the beach all the way back to the red buildings. (My favorite #2 picture)

Our leaders, Ben and Jeanette, Me, Angie, Kelly, and Mandy were the ones to make it up to the top.

Sunrise in Puerto Rico!!! (My favorite picture)

My friend Liz and I applied to go on this trip together. Thankfully, both of us made it. I don't know what I would do without her. We grew so close together. Next year we are Roomies!!!

Wednesday night we watched a movie at the camp director's house. He had a projector that showed the movie on the side of his porch. Right next to us, was the ocean. What a way to watch a movie!

Thank you to those of you who supported my trip and prayed for me. We got more accomplished for the camp then any of us thought we could do. God was definetly at work!