I was going to blog this morning anyway, and then I got an email from my birthmom saying, "I haven't heard from you in a while... Are things really good or really bad?"
I don't know how to answer that. There's nothing exciting happening in my life right now, but there's a lot in the works. And it's all stuff that requires me to just wait and see. So, at small group last night, my prayer request was for peace as I wait it out.
Bernie and I are still talking. I had to spend Friday night at home doing work, so he suggested we watch a movie together while I was working. "OMG, Eclipse is on! Let's watch that!" I suggested, totally not meaning it. But he agreed. And watched the whole thing. At one point, I was apologizing for the terrible acting, and he was like, "We're in this together, baby." It was fun to have the Edward vs. Jacob debate with him, and also to watch the movie again now that I've been to the Olympic Peninsula. He called me after the movie, and we were on the phone for five hours. (Just for the record, that has never happened before. There are a few people- Kristin, Amanda, Paula- who I usually talk to for about an hour. But five hours is ridiculous.) However, as much as I am in like, I can't let myself get too carried away when he still hasn't come to visit. Which he might. Very soon.
While I haven't actually been doing much over the past month, I have been planning. Smoky Mountains are going to be amazing. And I plan on spending at least a month in the Sierras this summer. It works out perfectly because Bernie wants to do some big wall climbing (where it takes multiple days to complete the climb, so you actually sleep hanging from the cliff) and live at Camp 4, and I want to... well, there are like, a million hikes I still want to do there. Tuolumne Meadows is calling my name. And we have a score to settle.
I know this is not exciting news to anyone else, but I led four data review meetings yesterday, and they went really well. Last year, I'd go back to my classroom and try not to cry afterwards. This year, I felt like so many positive things came out of each meeting. These can get tricky because people often take things personally. When you see that only 34% of your students are benefitting from core instruction, and the goal of the meeting is to figure out why and put some strategies in place to fix it, it's easy to be discouraged and to feel like it's your fault. But I don't think that happened yesterday. We had some really great dialogue, and teachers are willing to try some new strategies. A lot of the teachers were just impressed by the spreadsheets; they've never even sat down to examine the data. So, although the meetings weren't perfect, they were a huge step in the right direction, and I'm so happy with how everything went.
So right now, I'm waiting. It's the calm before the storm. Things are about to get crazy. I know I should try to enjoy this quiet time, but I'm so excited for whatever God has planned for me next.
I don't know how to answer that. There's nothing exciting happening in my life right now, but there's a lot in the works. And it's all stuff that requires me to just wait and see. So, at small group last night, my prayer request was for peace as I wait it out.
Bernie and I are still talking. I had to spend Friday night at home doing work, so he suggested we watch a movie together while I was working. "OMG, Eclipse is on! Let's watch that!" I suggested, totally not meaning it. But he agreed. And watched the whole thing. At one point, I was apologizing for the terrible acting, and he was like, "We're in this together, baby." It was fun to have the Edward vs. Jacob debate with him, and also to watch the movie again now that I've been to the Olympic Peninsula. He called me after the movie, and we were on the phone for five hours. (Just for the record, that has never happened before. There are a few people- Kristin, Amanda, Paula- who I usually talk to for about an hour. But five hours is ridiculous.) However, as much as I am in like, I can't let myself get too carried away when he still hasn't come to visit. Which he might. Very soon.
While I haven't actually been doing much over the past month, I have been planning. Smoky Mountains are going to be amazing. And I plan on spending at least a month in the Sierras this summer. It works out perfectly because Bernie wants to do some big wall climbing (where it takes multiple days to complete the climb, so you actually sleep hanging from the cliff) and live at Camp 4, and I want to... well, there are like, a million hikes I still want to do there. Tuolumne Meadows is calling my name. And we have a score to settle.
I know this is not exciting news to anyone else, but I led four data review meetings yesterday, and they went really well. Last year, I'd go back to my classroom and try not to cry afterwards. This year, I felt like so many positive things came out of each meeting. These can get tricky because people often take things personally. When you see that only 34% of your students are benefitting from core instruction, and the goal of the meeting is to figure out why and put some strategies in place to fix it, it's easy to be discouraged and to feel like it's your fault. But I don't think that happened yesterday. We had some really great dialogue, and teachers are willing to try some new strategies. A lot of the teachers were just impressed by the spreadsheets; they've never even sat down to examine the data. So, although the meetings weren't perfect, they were a huge step in the right direction, and I'm so happy with how everything went.
So right now, I'm waiting. It's the calm before the storm. Things are about to get crazy. I know I should try to enjoy this quiet time, but I'm so excited for whatever God has planned for me next.
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