Fastest Week Ever!

With finals completed before the break, this week was a blur. Kids got new schedules, I had loads of paperwork to complete, and lots of other stuff to get done. I cannot believe that it is already January and we are into the second semester of the school year. It seems crazy!

After being home for two weeks, I realized something... I miss Iowa, a lot. Anchorage is great, don't get me wrong, but there is just something about the midwest that is irreplaceable. Family bonds are different, life seems more centered around faith and church, and the people I consider closest to me are close by. So, if you are thinking "wow I wonder if she is considering moving back," you are correct. I am seriously contemplating making the big move back to the midwest, pending a job of course.

Oh yeah, and there is Mark ;) I miss him, lots and this whole 3,500 mile, long distance relationship is harder than I thought it would be (I guess I am not, in fact, superwoman). Who knew that I would turn into the mushy girlfriend type? I frequently find myself thinking things that used to drive me nuts when it came out of other people's mouths, funny how the tables turn.

So pray for me, that God will guide me as to where I am to go, and what I should do because heaven knows I am going to need some assistance :)

Holiday Hangover

As I am sitting here in the Minneapolis airport on my 4 hour layover several things have come to mind most of them trivial but one thing sticks out: optimism. Over break I was constantly reminded of how people need to learn to let the small things go and live life. With the holidays full of family and friends, the biggest outcome is typically stress. We become overwhelmed and start letting the little things bother us. People start nitpicking and complaining about all of the things that went wrong, and forget to focus on all of the things that went right.

Now I am not trying to belittle those of you who had a seriously stressful holiday...trust me, I get that, somethings are just out of our control. However I do think that most of us just need to take a step back and relax. Planes get delayed, weather acts up and people even burn the Christmas feast, but after all of that most of us end up together and fed. There were a couple of times that I got frustrated with the way things were going and then I stopped and looked at the following situations I could have been in:

5. I could be struggling to find a job and home.

4. I could have crashed into a tree again...

3. My house could have burnt down.

2. That plane could have crashed and hundreds of people would not have made it home for the holidays.

1. I could be 9 months pregnant and riding on a donkey, only to arrive at my destination and have to stay in a stable with animals...oh yeah, and then go into labor.

Alas, I did not find myself in any of these situations. I did burn the cookies, my planes got delayed, I got sick, and was late to the New Year's Party but in the end, my family and loved ones were together and things went very well.

For those of you who really did struggle this holiday season, through loss, grief, or just the circumstances of life...I wish you all the best, and pray that God blesses you with a more fruitful and positive 2010.

T-8 Days until Des Moines!

That is right, the countdown has begun! I will be home in about 8 days and cannot wait to see my family...all of them including Max, and of course my friends :) While all of the Midwest was covered in a lovely yet paralyzing blanket of snow, us Alaskans have been praying for it. The only thing that we have been blessed with up here is a ridiculously large amount of fog, which incredibly inconvenient, does make for quite the beautiful scene.

Our kiddos, up here in the tundra, get to take their finals before Christmas break, and for all of you back home who get to vote for school calendars, I would highly suggest it. The students get to take their tests when the material is still fresh in their minds, have a relaxing break, and come back to a fresh start, not to mention the load it takes off of the teacher's shoulders.

It will be so nice to come home to family and friends for two plus weeks and not have to worry about grades or making sure my students are prepped for tests. I can relax knowing that I have the post break start up all planned and ready to go, and that my finals and grades are all in the system come this Friday. As of Saturday, I am home free! See you all soon :)

Trapper Creek

This past week I enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving Holiday with Mark. It was really fun to be able to show him all of the sights and take him out on the town. The downfall of taking in visitors is that the planes come and leave in the wee hours of the night. I picked him up at 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning and dropped him off at 12:15 a.m. this morning.

Getting up last Tuesday took quite a bit of effort, but the staff let me leave at 11:00 am, so I really can't complain. After I got off of work, we headed off to Moose's Tooth for a good hot meal. That night Mark got to experience the joys of Eddie's Sports Bar and the cutthroat game of trivia that we play every Tuesday night. Needless to say we did not win the $1,000, but neither did anyone else, so there is hope for us this week. Leslie and I beat the boys in a rousing game of darts and Mark got to meet the illustrious Jack, our older bar trivia buddy with a crazy sense of humor.

I took Wednesday off so we could drive around and see the city. We made it out to Earthquake Park just in time to see the mountains and the city before the snow set in. Somehow, even though he lives in the Midwest, Mark did not own snow-boots which brought us to the Army/Navy store and then on to Fred Meyer for some warm foot gear (I am really quite positive that there is anything that Freddie's does NOT sell). The day ended with a top-notch meal at Simon and Seafort's where he ordered the Kobe Meatloaf Sliders and the juiciest prime rib I have seen in a long time. I ate a pea salad (which was delectable despite the name) and the most delicious scallops and (gasp) quinoa EVER! It was just too bad that the snow had set in and blocked our view of the Cook Inlet.

The snow continued well into Thanksgiving day where we overslept for the 8:30 A.M. Packer game and were a bit suprised to see that the Lions had scored a touchdown in the first 2 minutes of the game. Slightly depressed, I got to cooking the meal and thankfully the Packers won. This year the stuffing turned out MUCH better than last year (I think the trick is to NOT bake my own bread and use rice loaf instead) and the pie crusts weren't half bad either. I will have to do a bit of poking around for better seasoning options for both the stuffing and the crusts. Other than that, the sweet potatoes were yummy and I didn't over cook the turkey!

Sleeping in on Friday morning was AWESOME, but the best part was getting packed to head up to Trapper Creek (right across from Talkeetna, about 2.5 hrs. north of Anchorage). Upon exiting the apartment, we were greeted with a good 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and no evidence of its termination. The drive up was crazy, and it is a good thing I know how to maneuver when it is coming down...10 inches of snow makes for some interesting driving, I love my Subaru! We got in around dinnertime and relaxed as the snow tapered off in hopes for a clearer Saturday.

Saturday brought the chance for Mark and I to try our hands at ice fishing. Nate drove us out to a gorgeous remote spot near Cottonwood Creek. We then took a half mile hike out to a fishing spot, where only Leslie and I caught fish (the boys were a bit upset). I had the chance to try out my snowshoes and absolutely LOVE them! I know that they will be frequently used this winter and I really hope I get to go back up north again soon.

We ended our amazing vacation with a drive up to Denali State Park (about 100 miles south of the National Park) to see the views of the mountain ranges. Even though Denali and Mt. McKinley weren't visible, God is good and blessed us with a clear and sunshiny day! I am posting a few pictures on here but your best shot to see them is to check out my facebook page.

Message from student

This is from a paper that I had turned in from a student. I have changed his name and not made corrections (except for those in which the meaning is altered):

My name is Jonah. My family calls me Jared but my friends call me J. I was born and raised in Hawaii, Honolulu. I lived in the ghetto my home town called K.P.T. Hawaii. [We] had a lot of Samoans, Hawaiians, Tongans, Figins, Tahiti, Aotenoes, Philopinoes, Chinese and Micronesian and chuckies. Every day was a new day. People gave thanks to God for a lot of things which is really good to do. Not all wa good in my whole family use to be in gangs like my brother, he's in a gang still yet. I still have a lot of cousins in gangs. My my brothers pastor Jerry used to be in a gang S.O.S , sons of somoa. We all had problems SOS was a little gang now it rew in Cali, Hawaii, Samoa, New York, all over the states. When I was in 4th grade that's when I joined the gang called y.s. young scrapers. Scrapers mean fighters. I been in a lot of gang fights breaking things. It was life to me. Every night I sneak out to meet up with the gang. It was only samoan's and Hawaiians and Micronesians in the gang. Then I moved to a different gang when I was in 6th grade. I was in the gang called P.Y.G, parcrype young ganstahs, all that was until I was in 7th grade. We stole a lot of things and fight a lot but right when I heard from my family I'm coming up to Alaska, then I was mad. i moved up here in Alaska and liked it. I changed my life up here. No more fights, I changed a lot and gave my life to God and doing good. That is my story.

Resilience

When a young child is growing up, he or she is frequently told to get up and brush it off...to make the most of a bad situation, just keep moving. Resilience. I have been told by many people that I am a very resilient, I bounce back easily and have very little trouble adjusting to new situations. I learned, during my time at Luther, that this is an admirable quality for students to have, that we should instill this in our youth. for the most part, I feel that this is true...kids need to learn how to take what life throws at them and make the best of it, but sometimes I think that we are training kids to become hardened, overly independent people.

The students that I work with have had their share of bad luck. They face tons of different situations including addiction, homelessness, abuse and poverty and most of them overcome it on a daily basis. Unfortunately, these kids have learned that they can only depend on themselves, that they have to be resilient on their own.

Some of my high school students are the most fiercely independent people I have ever met, which makes it difficult to teach them how to depend on people. These kids grow up thinking that they are the only people who can change their lives, which is what educators and other adults have taught them over the years. However, even though kids do need the ability to face their demons, they also need to learn how to ask for help. It is our responsibility to teach them that they can work together with other people, that there are services out there to help them.

How can we teach them that there are resources to assist them without teaching them to take advantage of those very systems...these are all very loaded questions and they require some serious thought as to their answers, answers that I don't have and that frustrates me. I want to be able to teach my students to become valuable members of society and realize that they are worth more than just a welfare check or punching bag. I want them to know that they can depend on each other for support, and that they don't, and shouldn't, have to go through life alone.

Mwooo Ha Ha Ha Ha

Halloween up North, I can't wait...maybe. Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays. I am not a big fan of scary movies, I don't like people sneaking up on me and I think that women in skanky nurse outfits are strange. I think that this year I shall go as a Zombie :)



It has gotten colder here but for the first time in a few years, there is no snow on the ground. The radio stations have announced that parents should leap for joy because they won't have to worry about the neighborhood traffic jams of parents driving their witches and warlocks around for candy.

That being said, the kids here are pretty geared up for the big day, and that is the one thing that I do enjoy. I LOVE seeing what all the little ones pick as costumes and I love that, for the most part, this is a family holiday.It is one of the times during the year that parents go out with their kids and act as protectors. There is an awesome family bonding that goes on during the night of spooks and jitters, and it makes me smile.

PICTURE:

A moose pauses while eating a leftover Halloween pumpkin sitting on a porch at an Anchorage, Alaska, home on Jan. 17, 2007. Heavy snowfall is driving moose to seek food in the city. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)