Koala Lou

If you have not read Koala Lou, by Mem Fox, can I recommend it to you? It's such a cute story about a Koala who loves his mom. Over and over she would always say, "Koala Lou-I do love you!" After the mom has a whole bunch of other koalas, Koala Lou doesn't think that his mom loves him anymore, so he joins the Koala Olympics so his mom will say, "Koala Lou-I do love you!"

We had a long talk in class about how it may not seem like our mommies or daddies don't love us, but really they love us so much and sometimes they just don't know how to say it. We all shared stories of a time when we did something to upset our parents. One kid said he 'organized' his mom's boss' desk. He was in big trouble! Whoops! I told them that if their moms didn't love you, they wouldn't have had you.

To that, my Mary Kate raised her hand and said very sure of herself, "Having babies is hard work." She then started to make pushing sounds and get very dramatic. I tried to hold my laughs in.

I said, "Mary Kate-how do you know what having a baby is like?"

Mary Kate: "I know Miss Dobie. I've had a lot of baby......(long pause).....dolls."

To this she just started cracking herself up, which got me to laugh out loud too.

More Thoughts

This last week at school was really difficult, but got easier as the days progressed. It was so hard dealing with Angel’s death. I went to the memorial for her on Thursday night. It was beautiful and simple. There was a priest that did the service, and he kept on saying that because we live in “Christian Culture” the service will be done with a Christian emphasis. The priest, who didn’t even know Angel nor had ever met her prayed many prayers with the “we will see you again” emphasis. Instead I wish he would had shared the gospel.

It saddens me that this man had the opportunity to share, and instead just went with the ‘christian culture’ mindset that heaven is the next step for everyone. I didn't know Angel enough to know whether or not she had a relationship with the Lord but generally speaking, the priest should have shared Jesus!

I also was getting cranky because of all the speakers. I don’t know the people who spoke at the service’s hearts, but I did know a few of them, and they too just read poems or spoke of Heaven and God in the ‘christian culture’ mindset.

These people really had no clue that they were talking about our Heavenly Father, all-knowing, all powerful, all merciful God. One speaker said that whatever your last job was on earth is what you’ll be doing in heaven, so Angel will be teaching the special needs children in Heaven and what better job in Heaven than a teacher!

I am so sad by this. Heaven is all about praising and worshiping God and nothing else!! We will not be teaching children, running businesses, acting as lawyers, etc. I’m trying to be sensitive but also stand up for the injustice the mindset of Heaven for non-believers. If you live in the christian culture, that does not guarantee you a golden ticket to heaven.

Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Ask Him to be Lord of your life and when you die, you will be with him.

Its Been Forever...

Gosh, I haven't blogged in ages, but my excuse will be that if its not one thing, its another. I feel like blogging is so great, because I record cool things that happen in my daily life and then will have the opportunity to go back and read about them, but at the end of the day, after a long day at work, the last thing I want to do is sit down and write about what happened.

So much has happened in the last month! I got really sick, had to go to a hearing to fight for my job, I tried to buy a house, reality sank in that I will be paying full rent by myself, and a co-worker and friend was tragically killed in an accident are just to name a few.

My students have been driving me up the wall for the last month. This last week seemed to go a lot better. It all started when I took a day off to go observe other first grade classes. BTSA (a school-payed class I had to take for two years) paid for me to go, and its important that I do that, but I didn't want to leave my babies all by themselves. For one, I just don't like to do that, and for two-I know they would turn into monsters once I stepped foot outside the classroom. I have to have them on such a tight leash that any loosening and the kids will go nuts!

The students turning into monsters is exactly what happened. My sub who was an ex-cop and an ex-teacher told me my class was the worst class he had EVER subbed for in his life. Woah! That makes me feel proud!

Now here I am...scared to take another day off. The following week though I had to take two days off to attend the hearing to fight for my job. It was very important I was there, so I asked my friend Eliza to sub. She did a better job, but it sounds like they wrote sentences and sat in time out the majority of the day. At least it was a safe environment for the kids.

I won't find anything out with my job until next week, but I have a feeling I will be getting the really, for real, the district isn't fooling around lay-off notice next week. Then I'll get another one in July that says: please come back, we layed off too many teachers and would be in big trouble if you don't come back.

So if that happens, I can get unemployment for two months during the summer. Sweet. Is that wrong? I really don't know. I know as Christians we should be self-sufficient and not need the support of the gov't, but what if I don't need it, but would love the extra cash. Is it wrong to take it anyway? HHmmm.

This last week I've been mourning the loss of a friend and fellow 4th grade teacher named Angel Arrellano. She was driving down south and was in a horrid accident and was killed instantly. My school community has been dealing with this, and helping the students to deal with the loss of a teacher. My school's students come from rough homes and for many of them-school is their constant in their life. I would go as far to say too that some teachers are the students' 'mothers' as the moms at home are not really present or involved in any way. The 4th grade class was a SPED (special ed) class. Not physical disabilities but the students are slower, and a lower level accademically then the rest of the students. These kids are already more troubled, and then to lose their teacher----it has been hard.

More on that later.

Right now I need to load up my car for my drive down to SLO to visit my grandma, Mommers, and celebrate Mother's Day and her Birthday! Woo!

Weekend Recap

I had a busy but restful weekend and wanted to write all about it before I forget it all!

Friday was Good Friday and after a very stressful day at school a big group of people met at PF Changs and surprised my roommate for her 23rd birthday. We surprised Sara and the meal was wonderful. Even better than that, a stranger paid for our bill + tax & tip! An older single lady was sitting behind us, and I don't know what it was, but she picked up our bill! When someone from the table asked for the bill, the waiter said that the lady behind us had paid but she didn't want us to know until she had left. That NEVER happens! It was so cool!

We then went to church and had a Good Friday service at Calvary. There was a great turn-out, with great worship and communion and prayer.

Afterwards a bunch of people went over to Heather's to celebrate Sara just a little bit more. Heather baked a beautiful cake and it was a great time to get to know some people just a tad more. We then got to play the glorious game of Mafia! I am not a good liar, but was able to trick a few people.

It was fun to be able to celebrate with Sara her 23rd year. I have known Sara since 2004 and its been fun to be able to witness first hand how God has molded her into a woman who loves Jesus.

Saturday I woke up, went to Costco then was off to my mom's to visit with my Grandma. We hung out and made dinner together. Ellen and Emily arrived a few hours later and we watched The Sound of Music for the thousandth time and then said goodnight to Grandma!

Since 2003 I have made it my tradition to attend the community sunrise service at Lover's Point and was able to make it this morning.

I came home, picked up Emily and we headed out to my mom's again to hang out with my grandma for the day. We found Easter baskets, made dinner and even got my 88 year old grandma to play the Wii. (Pictures hopefully to follow...)

I got to hang out with good friends, my family, take a few naps and celebrate all the things Jesus did on the cross!

Families

So when I was younger we had to say this prayer before every dinner we had together as a family:

We are a family

We need one another
We love one another
We forgive one another

We work together
We play together
We worship together

Together we use God's word
Together we grow in Christ
Together we love all men
Together we serve our God
Together we hope for heaven

These are our hopes and ideals
Help us to attain them,O God
Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen

Last night's study totally reminded me of it again. God is so good and has given me a great family family, but has also blessed me with an incredible church family. I love em!

Victory!

So tonight the city of Pacific Grove approved the growth of The Bridge in PG. They had to send out letters to 159 neighbors and put a big yellow sign in front of the big yellow house.

After all the letters were sent out, and the sign that was posted, there was only 1 letter of kind of disapproval, asking that the sign not be there. I think overall the people from The Bridge had the same complaint that they didn't want the big yellow sign in front of their house either. Nobody showed up this evening to dispute the growth, and in a year there has not been one complaint from the neighbors.

The president of the PG chamber of commerce came to the meeting tonight, sporting his Bridge t-shirt. This guy isn't a christian but just a community member who sees that without the guys from the Bridge many things would not be done in Pacific Grove. He went on to list all the things that have been done, including helping and clean up of the Feast of Lantern Festival, serving at the Feast of Salads, Highway 68 clean up, PG Triathalon set-up, help and clean up, PG Concourse, Yellow Brick Road Help, Monarch Sanctuary clean-up and removal of trees, and the list could go on and on.

It's true what the president said. With CA's fiscal situation, PG cannot afford NOT to have The Bridge around. Without them, many events that bring money to Pacific Grove would be waay understaffed.

Anyway... Woohoo! Congrats guys!

New Visa Info for UK

This was taken from my UK pastor's prayer requests... He is a pastor/missionary in London, England. Would you pray with me?

At the turn of the year the British Home Office quietly changed the rules for people entering the country to do volunteer work. They are now considered as workers, even though they will not be paid. Therefore they are required to have the proper paperwork and pay for visas. They are no longer considered tourists.

This applies to individuals and groups of people. Small groups are now going to have to pay for visas along with their airfare and accommodation. And those planning to host these groups are required to advertise the positions in mainline newspapers, even though these so-called positions are voluntary and not remunerated.

There are two main options. Either groups will be forced to fill out reams of applications and comply with unreasonable financial demands, or some groups will simply not comply, and try to fly under the radar. Those that are discovered might harm the movement by their actions.

He is going to try to talk to his local Member of Parliament tomorrow night, to ask him to see if there is anything that can be done about this. Please pray that he would have the boldness to do this.

Meet....

Fish Stick!

I went out on Thursday night to take some clothes back and Marshall's and drove past Pet Smart and for some ODD reason, I parked my car and went inside and came out with a fish. (I think I don't know what inspired me, but I am now the proud owner of Fish Stick, a female Beta.

Male Beta's were 5.99 and females only 2.99, so of course I went for the cheaper! Males are normally bigger with bigger fins and females are smaller and are produced more than males. The guy at Petsmart said that a Beta can live outside the water for 15 minutes! Interesting!

I read Marley and Me on the cruise and instantly became an animal lover. Marley and Me the movie was based on a non-fiction book and that book made me appreciate animals. Although I'm not going to go out and buy a cat or a dog anytime soon, the fish is bringing out the animal lover in me more and more everyday.

I found myself, the first night I got her, worrying about Fish Stick. My house is usually cooler than most homes and the living room gets really cool in the middle of the night. I actually woke up with that thought and brought her to my room where it was warmer. I even considered making her a class fish for my first graders, but then decided against that as I already love her and know my kids would destroy her within a few weeks!

Spring Break 2009

My friend Stacy and I left last Monday morning at 6am to drive down to Long Beach to catch a Carnival Cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. It was a great time to get away. I slept, didn't think about teaching, read an entire book and hung out with Stacy.

It was a very uneventful drive, minus the time I got pulled over. A cop got behind me and stayed behind me for awhile, he pulled out next to me, and then slowed down, got behind me, turned on his lights and pulled me over. Stacy started praying hard-core and I kept my hands on the wheel. I rolled down the window and said, "What did I do wrong Officer?" He told me I did nothing wrong, he just wanted to let me know my gas tank was open. Cops aren't usually that nice. It sure scared the crap outta me, but thankfully no ticket only a helpful suggestion! Phew!

We got down to Long Beach by 11:30 and were able to meet up with Jaime and Andrea for lunch. I got to deliver their Christmas presents that I never sent!


Next we headed out to the boat, parked our car and went through the registration to get on the boat! Our room was small but we had a great window that allowed us to look at the ocean the entire trip. The first night we were pretty much passed out by 9:30-it was so nice to be away!

Alwyn was our cabin steward who made us cool towel animals every night. He was from India and is on the 4month/2month on the boat off the boat schedule. One of the best parts of being on the ship was that our entire cruise staff was international.





Tuesday morning we parked out in the ocean and we were able to visit Catalina Island. It was beautiful. It looked like Pacific Grove only on an island. We got some great photos, walked around and went back to the ship. There was a little boat that took us from the boat to the shore.




Wednesday morning we woke up in Mexico. Stacy and I took a $3 bus to the town centre where we took another bus to La Bufadora where we had hundreds of Mexican Natives attack us to buy things.

Stacy and I would begin to go into a shop and then about 5 different people would come at us in all directions offering us perscriptions, purses, wallets, clothes, churros and even boyfriends.

We would go into a shop and when people would attack us we'd leave. I really wanted to buy a purse, so we finally went into one shop and took matters into our own hands. We walked in and firmly (haha) told the poor guys that if they bothered us that we'd be outta there faster than we walked in, and if we had any questions we'd ask them. It worked and I got myself a real leather fake branded Dolce and Gabana purse! woo!

I then had some fish tacos, and we boarded back on the bus, went into town and walked around before getting back on the boat.

I was excited that there was a Starbucks and I was able to buy an Ensenada mug to add to my collection of mugs from around the world!


Thursday we had all day on the ship and arrived back in Long Beach at 6am where we drove home around 9.

Stacy had her camera with her more than I did, so when she sends me some I'll post them!

If you've never been on a cruise before, you should check them out! They are super cheap with all food and lodging free, because the cruise assumes that you'll spend at least $100 on drinks, a couple hundred on gambling, another hundred or so on excursions, $50 on photographs taken by a professional on ship, etc etc.

If you are cheap like me, you only pay gratuities and you're good to go!

On Friday morning the cruise people put our bills under our doors and some of the bills were half way in the hallway, so of course I looked! Thanks to the drunkards across the hall who spent $750 onboard and to others like them--cruises are cheap!

=)

Spring Break

Tomorrow is our last day before Spring Break, and I am stoked! My friend Stacy and I will be going on a cruise to Catalina and to Mexico. I am most looking forward to not having cell phone reception or internet access!

Pictures to come later. =)