Genera Conference and Decisions

So I have been trying to make some decisions and here are some conclusions

 1. I want to go to grad school...for what I am still unsure law school or education administration, literacy coach, speech pathology, nursing, idk!!!!

 2. UAA is not the college for grad school...it'd be silly to pay out of state tuition at UCA if I stay here another year

 3. Need to get a permanent teaching license and I can do that fairly easily here or Arkansas

  4. Moving home to get a permanent teaching license and investigate going to law school is a    good call 

Saying goodbye to good friends here is going to be really hard. I will always love my year in Alaska and the lessons I have learned at my special school with my special students.  

General Conference is amazing. I am so excited for this weekend and the enlightenment that always comes. The love and connection I feel for the saints throughout the world is amazing. I am excited for mom and dad who get to attend in person this time with Janeen and Eldon. 

 

Roadkill

So I saw some roadkill yesterday driving home from work and smiled and thought of home. Not too many furry creatures running around here in the arctic weather to get smushed. Certainly not any armadillos to get crunched. I was telling my friend how roadkill made me smile and she thought that was hilarious...the little things you miss from Arkansas.

Spring Break- not so "springy" but that is okay

Well I still can not believe I have made it through my first three nine weeks of teaching. I love my students they are each a treasure in my life. They come from varied backgrounds and all of them have their moments but I love them each for the good that they possess. I called my female student "Janeen" the other day (which is my little sister's name). I must have been really exasperated..=) of course immediately after I said Janeen I busted up laughing...then I could not be upset.

Last week one of my little darlings on his way out of our classroom down to the "practice hall" - a room where they can practice good student skills such as NOT swearing at your teacher, or following directions, or NOT throwing things in the classroom. If they are ready to practice they can process out. Processing out means they have completed several academic tasks calmly. If they can not walk out of my room and down to the practice hallway they are escorted out by our "intervention coaches" aka security. If they are fighting against our wonderful intervention coaches then they will start off in the gray room. The gray room is a room with a lock on the outside. It is empty and guess what color it is?..you guessed it gray. This room is watched 24/7 if someone is in there. This student was swearing at me therefore; he needed to go practice good student skills; on his way out he flipped over several desks, threw his book, tore up his worksheets, and then picked up my teacher podium - a music stand- and chunked it at me. I managed to dodge it except one of the legs hit my shin. ouch!! But I did not want to let him know I got hit so I kept quiet and calm and walked with him the rest of the way to the practice hall.

Spring Break so nice! Sunday I drove out to Eagle River with Cole and some other YSA's to a preparedness fireside. Cole was cracking me up. The setting sun was shinning on the mountains way out in the Mat-Su valley and it was gorgeous!

Monday- I did some errands, went to my favorite store here - Value Village- like goodwill but better. I found some books, a coat, and some new jeans a size smaller than last time I bought jeans YAY!! Monday night was FHE. Cole taught on Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "The Infinite Power of Hope" it was a great lesson and such a powerful talk.

Tuesday- Cole and I went to breakfast downtown ( I think Cole was repenting for not being social on Monday you big bum!) and walked around. It was nice to have a good reason to get out of bed early...We watched a ship come through the ice in the ocean so beautiful and had a good time talking about me possibly getting arrested for a traffic ticket I got back in November. I plead not guilty and still have not gotten a court date mailed to me. I figure it is their job to contact me, right? Tuesday afternoon Matt and I went shopping for some Ammo so we could go shooting later on this week. We also picked up some wonderful grub at Artic Road Runner. YUMMY.

Wednesday- Cristi and I went around town. We picked up some groceries at Fred Meyers. Went to the Celtic store and picked up some UK chocolate. I got some to send Amy my Canadian sister in law. Then Matt and I went to Birchwood to go shooting. He has a Walther .22 , .40 and a colt .45 (those are all pistols) and a 708 rifle. We had a great time shooting. That was my first time at a range. I liked the .22 pistol and the .45 . It was nice to do something different and get out of Anchorage. That night I watched Strictly Ballroom with Cristi. It was hilarious.

Thursday - I had a new chiropractic appointment. It was sooo nice to get adjusted. I miss you DR. Hurley! My neck is completley straight instead of having a c curve..so my neck muscles do a lot of work keeping my head upright...thus lots of tension headaches. Then I met my friend Bethany for lunch and we went and visited our friend Charlotte who is really sick. Then I went to my friend Katie's for taco salad. She was keeping her 1 year old nephew. It did me some good to be around a little one. I just love them. We had fun playing peekaboo and I would hide his little stuffed bear in his pockets or in my collar and he would have fun pulling it out. He was such a cutie! Then we went to Coldstone for some yummy ice cream!

Friday- I came to school to study for my praxis test I am taking tomorrow at 7:30 am. Kay Papakristo is here too. She is such a lifesaver I would never had made it here without her to vent to and celebrate with. I love that woman! We did lunch and drove around and found exactly where to go for our test tomorrow. I took a practice praxis test and made a 77% so I hope that is a passing score...if not i am not smarter than a 5th grader and I teach them. =0)

Saturday- I will take my Praxis test and then me and Cole had talked about going to a benefit lunch thing involving soup and pottery bowls and then to a baptism of a friend in our ward.

Sunday-church and then Monday back to school. Spring Break has flown by. I have had some good times with good friends.

Symphony

I was able to attend the Symphony here in Anchorage tonight with a great fella from out ward. We had a good time. I was noticing that in order to be a good conductor one must have really great hair to flick all around while conducting. We had good seats and when the conductor took a really deep breath I could hear it. It was great.


Walking to the show we saw some of the Fur Rondy fireworks. I am still trying to figure out what exactly Fur Rondy is. Some sort of celebration tied into the start of the Iditorod race. Those of you who don't know I absoluetly LOVE fireworks. So beautiful and sparkly so fun!! Anywho during the show I noticed that some of the musicians were so stoic and serious and others were very expressive in their movements and facial expressions. I liked to watch the ones who were expressive. It helped me feel what they were playing.

I also thought how life is like a symphony. Sometimes our parts are quiet and repetitive and other times at the conductors signal we are soloist and crescendo into all the volume that our instruments can play. Sometimes we are silent and wait on the conductor to be brought into the music again. I know I feel like now my part is small and quiet and sometimes it feels like I am on a 100 measure rest wanting to play the part that is divinely mine to play but I sit waiting on THE Conductor to get to the part in the symphony where I get to join in. I love the idea of us all being connected and how we all echo parts of the same music at different times. As the melody went from the violins, to the wind insturments, and then the horns it was like the generations of time: family traditions, gospel knowledge, love all being passed around and around. I know that if I stick with The Conductor, He has a big finish for all of us at the end. Where we all play and play together; it will be so grand! This is not very articulate probably cause it is late here but I wanted to write down those feelings while they were fresh.

It was the best day. I read ( the fire and the covenant) while the magical white flakes from Heaven fell and fell. After I slept in. Alaska so gorgeous, esp now that we are getting more sunshine!