Scary times

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And to think that I teach in the district where this happened!

My first tag!

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Well that would have been fall of 1997, the beginning of my junior year. It was my first year as a member of the color guard. We got to attend practice every day with the marching band and performed during half time at those exciting Cy-Fair football games. They were always the highlight of my week. I was never good enough for drill team or cheerleading so color guard and choir were my extracurricular activities! My best friend was Mary Hermann, who is now Mary Farmer and has 3 kids!

2. What were you doing 5 years ago?

Unlike everyone else who has responded as being their SENIOR year of college,I had taken that semester off and I probably was in my sophomore year. I had been accepted to UH and was waiting to start classes in the spring. I was also in my first relationship with my boyfriend Ricky.

3. What were you doing 1 year ago?

I was trying to figure out what to do with my life! I went to 2 different interviews for a recruiting position and realized the corporate world was not for me. I then started researching grad schools and seminaries to see if I wanted to pursue my Master's. I was also solidifying my relationship with the Lord and letting go of past behaviors as well as asking the Lord for direction as to when I could quit waiting tables. Very hard time in my life but that is when I grew a lot spiritually.

4. What did you do yesterday?
I woke up at 5am, made it to school by 7am, had 3 good classes, went to Wal-Mart on my conference period,picked up lunch and made it back to campus 30 minutes before my next class only to find out I had missed a meeting! My partner Miss K had to cover for me (thank you and sorry for that)!! After lunch, I have my 6th period class that is full of actors and one in particular was doing all the Simpson voices through out taking notes so I stopped the class early and had them sit in silence. Oohh they loved that! This bad mood spilled into 7th period who were unusually quiet but only because I told them I was not happy. Things got better and my class was doing just fine until I had to move a student for excessive talking and asked me, "Why do you act like you own this class? Why do you think you are the leader of this class?" He was sent right to the office!!!!!!!!!! My 3rd job is staying after for d-hall on Thursdays so that ended at 4:30 and I stayed at the school till 7pm to grade and get organized. I ended the evening by watching tv and grading some more, making my lunch for the next day and reading my Bible before bed!

5. Snacks I enjoy:
Trail mix with chocolate mixed in, Archer Farms granola and fruit bars, Greek yogurt with honey and pecans, mangos, and baked pita chips!

6. Things I would do with a $100 million dollars...
I have to admit I have daydreamed about this one too many times so first and foremost I would pray about what to do with the money. I would give most to my church, missionaries, ministries in the country I visited this summer and then I would give lots to my parents so they could stop working and enjoy retirement. I would also share with my siblings (sharing is what we learn to do when we are young!), I would give some to Miss K because she needs to remodel the kitchen at school, pay off debt, and then I would travel to some amazing places!

7. Locations I would run to....
New York, Chicago, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, and Salem because I have never seen those cities and heard many wonderful things about them! Then onto all of Italy, the rest of Greece I have not seen, Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Japan to name a few.

8. Bad habits I have...
Umm, none ? No, I am not as perfect as I would like to be...I focus way too much on doing my hair that it makes me late to school, to social events, and (gasp) church!
I say that I want to be in shape and eat right but it does not matter how many healthy groceries I buy or how close the gym is to my house or how much time I have, I will eat bad food if it is righ in front of me and I will skip the gym because I am too lazy! I also have a tendency to assume too much.

9. Things I like to do...
Read, read and read! I love to watch HGTV and talk about the shows with my mom, scrapbook when my mom comes into town, have deep, meaningful conversations with friends, drink coffee first thing in the morning and drink hot tea at night before bed. I absolutely love to laugh and be goofy with my family and I also enjoy a fair amount of alone time.

10. Biggest joy of the moment:
Knowing that He calls me faithful

I am going to tag Mary F., Sally, Huan and Jen L.

Okay, okay

It has been way too long since I last posted and I am sure no one checks this everyday to see if I have written, except maybe Emily. I can't imagine people being interested in what I have to say but I do enjoy reading my friend's blogs.

School has started and whoa, I thought the restaurant industry was tough. Try dealing with hormonal, defiant, disrepectful, quirky, squirrely, weird, talkative adolescents!!! This is a whole new set of things to deal with and ones that I had not prayed enough about. I spent the summer just amxiously awaiting the start of my new career yet nothing prepared me for this. It is on-the-job-training! Has it been hard? Yes. Has it been emotional? Double yes. Am I glad I am here? Yes. Do I believe this is where God wants me? Yes, but I have already questioned that a few times!

Hard times aside, I know I am constantly being taught how to live for Him. He is sharpening me...molding me, this clay mass, into His design. When I feel that I am the worst person for the job, He reminds me that when I am weak, then He is strong. Beth Moore read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 last night and I remember stumbling across those verses just a few short months ago. 26 Brothers think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by the world's standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. These verses tell me that He has chosen me in spite of my weakenesses and flaws. I have a history and He wants to use it for my future.

Havanna-Day 2

We began the day with breakfast at the hotel and a team devotional.We were then greeted by Pastor Derys, along with our 2 drivers, ready to take us on a tour of this foreign city. Derys is a pastor at Iglesia Evangelical Pentecostal Church in Santo Domingo. He became a Christian in 1995 and later married his beautiful wife, whom he met at a church he was speaking in. He and his wife now have a young son and daughter. He said he felt a call on his heart by God to become fluent in English so he could serve as a translator for visitors to his country. We all hit it off with him right away! He is quite the jokester and knew how to roll with our American humor. We even taught him typical hand gestures and sayings, like "y'all." We thank God that he was so willing to spend the week with us because without him, I do not know how we would have gotten through it all!



He knew an immense amount about the city and it's culture and was able to educate us on our tour. As we were walking through downtown, I was really amazed at the structure of the buildings. They all had a uniqueness about them. Not buildings that you would find in many parts of the U.S. because our country is so young. These buildings have character. Different colors of paint, some without paint, run down and some pristine. They just looked old but that is what I appreciated about them. We also saw tons of cars from the 1950's. They had old Chevys and Fords. AMAZING! They still have mechanics who keep those cars running in this present day. Most of their cars are European and few are Asian since the U.S.A. will not export to them. We did see one F150 and a Nissan SUV. I wonder how they got those into the country??





We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Barrio China, where there are no Asians. Huan was pretty much the token Asian through out our entire trip. He was quite a hit. In fact, the locals nicknamed him Jackie Chan! Everywhere we went, people loved to make comments about him. After lunch, Pastor Derys took us to the seminary headquarters. This place trains pastors and missionaries, as well as teaches people how to use computers. They have a huge ministry that sends missionaries throughout the country, as well as provide resources for pastors to start churches. Pastor Park, a pastor in Houston, began this ministry in the country. He started with a vision and it has grown immensely! He comes 3 times a year to visit and is always there to congratulate the graduates from LIT. This is something our team would like to be involved in supporting.

The rest of the day was devoted to dinner at Pizza Nova and more touristy stops in the city. We ended the day with a cannon ball shoot off. They do this every night at 9pm. The city officials used to set off the cannon every night to tell everyone to be at home and in bed. Kind of like a city curfew. Tons of tourists attend this nightly event so the locals were selling their jewelry, figurines, art work, food and drinks. One guy bartered with Karen and I about some bracelets and we did not even ask him to! 2 bracelets for 3 CUCs(equivalent to roughly $3, give or take a few). This girl can't pass up a good deal so I happily bought my two!

There was so much more to see in this city but with limited time we could not see it all. We all enjoyed the day so much and I would like to one day be able to see the city in it's entirety. It was truly amazing. I cannot possibly compare it to any place I have visited before. A city I cannot forget!

Back on American soil

I arrived yesterday at 11:05 a.m. save for my luggage, without eating breakfast (everyone knows how important it is for me to eat) , had a very tense ride home from the airport, but lukily was not pulled into the interrogation room at customs and was able to be on the internet the entire day. I am very thankful to be home safely and so grateful to our Father for allowing me to serve Him in this truly amazing country. FYI: I will not be mentioning the name of the country for safety reasons. Pretty much everyone knows where I went. :)


Day 1: We made it to the airport just fine but security stole my packed tuna fish kits and canned fruit because they contain liquid. What?? "Where is the sign that says that?" I asked. "Any liquid is included in that rule," the 2 mean women told me. After they pulled everything out of my backpack and saw that my muffins got squished, the lady asked me if I still wanted them. Well, of course I do! You just took most of my food so I am not letting you have those too!! I walked to my team frustrated already but thankfully everyone offered to share their tuna with me. I just love them! I never had to lack for much food on this trip because so many people brought snacks to share. Thank you Lord!


We arrived in the airport of Havana to many stares and looks. Pastor Darys, along with a few other locals, met us there and took us to the hotel Panorama. Even though it was around 12 am, we could not stop staring out the window the whole way to the hotel. There were tons of people walking the streets. Where were they all going? I was asking in my head. There are no real traffic laws so pedestrians cross the street at their own risk and cars shoot out from every corner. I never even saw a speed limit sign. We were definitely at the mercy of our driver who thankfully brought us safely to the hotel where we checked in smoothly and took pictures of this crazy place. Sleep came easy that night after a long day of travelling.


More to come...

Sharing my faith

As many of you know, I have been in certification classes all week through Texas Teachers ACP. We meet at the Renaissance Hotel (in Greenway Plaza) banquet room everyday from 9-4. I even had class on Saturday! Luckily the last class is this Friday and then I am off for my trip!

I have been learning quite a bit about Classroom Management, Lesson Plans, Rubrics, Communication and how to not upset your student's parents. To be honest, I was not too excited about going to class everyday and working on top off that because that means I would be around people all day in class and then have to entertain customers at the restaurant at night. People exhaust me!! (Don't get me wrong, I do love people) I had asked the Lord to let me be Light to my classmates this week and not stay in my little reserved comfort zone. Well, He did just that!

For 4 days straight I had eaten lunch with the same girl and later we were joined by a guy that sits close to us in class.Our conversations have run the gamut from subsituting to Oprah to relationships. Last Friday we actually got to talk about God! I shared my faith with the both of them. The guy, Chris, believes that all religions preach the same thing and basically lead you on the same path. The girl, Rachel, had been raised Catholic, but she and her husband attend a non-denominational church. She has read the Purpose Driven Life and spoke about her role as a mother and how her children are God's children and she is just there to raise them. Chris did not have much to say but I know he heard our conversation. The Holy Spirit spoke through me because the words coming out of my mouth were all His. Praise the Lord!!

For so many years, I have been afraid to speak up about my faith. I was afraid of what others would think of me. Especially when I have not always been a great witness for the Lord. God really convicted my heart because I am so willing to go on a mission trip to share the Gospel but afraid of stepping on the toes of my fellow Americans. Yes, I will be persecuted. Yes, I will not be included into the group. Yes, I will lose friends. But the reward is great.

"What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart. Psalm 40:8

A week of blessings

Sunday: Social planning meeting (or socialites as Courtney lovingly calls us)

Monday: In the morning I got a call from José, the principal of Watkins Middle School, letting me know that now there actually was a second position available for a Family and Consumer Science teacher. Wow!! I am going to teach with Emily? Thank you Lord.

Tuesday: A double shift at the good ole' Capital Grille. I can't wait to leave!

Wednesday: A missions meeting where we got together with our prayer partners to get to know each other. This touched my heart because I am all about relationships! We then headed to Candelari's Pizza (6002 Washington Ave) to bond over my favorite food. Having these meetings every week has really brought us close together. I am really loving them!

Wednesday late night: I finally came alive and it was way too early for bed (9:30). I had an enjoyable evening of great conversation until 2am with miss Emily.

Thursday: I had to work in the lounge at my restaurant, which I detest because of the flirty business men who frequent our bar area but my manager insists that every girl has to rotate in there. It is against my morals! But he will not take that as an excuse.

Friday: Another socials meeting to plan out the summer (look forward to a fabulous summer Lighthousers).

Friday night: I went to an Astro's game with The Life class in which they won! We had dinner at the incredibly ghetto Chacho's on Westheimer and ended the night with a little dancing at Palmano Pizzeria (3026 Chimney Rock Road). I met some wonderful people and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Saturday: I caught up with a wonderful friend and then it was onto dinner at Mykonos Island for Emily's birthday. We had an amazing group of 10 girls who laughed, danced, shared, goofed off, and encouraged each other. I truly felt at home. Happy birthday Emily!!!

Sunday: Father's Day. I have to say that having my father in Surprise,AZ has not allowed us as much one on one time. We talk occasionally on the phone and we visit when he and my mom come into town but it is not the same.

I'd like to say that my father has taught me a thing or two in raising me:

1. How to ride a bike

2. How to work (he was my first boss)

3. How to drive

4. How to prepare for an interview

5. How to find a guy who is a spiritual leader

As well as spiritual maturity. He had a rough upbringing but luckily came to know the Lord right about the time he met my mom. I thank the Lord for that tract he got saved from. I really appreciate all he has done for our family and it is amazing to see how God has grown him. He loves the Lord and each day is learning more about how to be a spiritual leader. He is truly wonderful!

This week has been quite full as you can see and for that I am thankful. It has been a cry of my heart to get a job, to develop close friendships, to be part of my church, and to grow in my walk with the Lord.

Thank you God, for blessing me.

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:9