One Down

179 to go! My first day at Lincolnton Middle School went well today. I arrived extra early and got most of the last minute things accomplished in time. It's great not having to drive an hour to school! I spent most of the day with my homebase (discovery/AA - get the names mixed up because every school I've worked at has called it something different). My student's assignment for tonight was to work on saying Procita correctly. Who knows how many of them will stick to that?!?! It's amazing how some of these kids let their true colors shine through very quickly. We are lucky though because one of the other 8th grade teams were already taking bets as to who would send this one kid to ISS first! None of us had any major complaints about our kids after today.

Today was also my first chance to practice with the JV team at Lincolnton High School. Our first home match is tomorrow afternoon. It's going to take a little while for all of us to get used to each other. It's going to be hardest for me to try to figure out Coach's rotations. It was starting to make more sense to me as the day progressed. I'll keep pushing the fundamentals and hopefully the rest will fall in line. I'm working on names so I can stop saying "hey you." I even got to design the team t-shirt today too. The girls just don't know that I out weighed all of their choices! On another random volleyball note - ALL of my girls from Heritage made the high school team this year. At this point several of my ABC team has made their various teams as well. That's the one downfall of coaching my own team right now - I won't be able to see them in action. I'm so proud I could pop anyways. Maybe I do know what I'm doing when it comes to volleyball. Well I've got to go do some homework! Thanks for all the prayers today and keep praying for me as I try to remain hopeful in transition...

Two Teams - One Coach

Go Lady Wolves! (LHS)

Go Lady Wildcats! (LMS)

I can very proudly say that I have officially become a member of two teams this week. I am the current Junior Varsity Coach of the Lincolnton High School's volleyball team. I also officially joined the ranks as the assistant coach of the future Lincolnton Middle School's volleyball team. As someone lovingly pointed out to me yesterday, I am laying the foundation to build my own program - all I have to do is wait for Coach Richardson to retire. I'm excited! I love being back in the gym and am already plotting how to take this program to the next level! Thank you Jesus for putting me exactly where I need to be to enjoy this! I will try to have links to my game schedule sometime this weekend. The server is down currently and based on the lightening outside I need to give the computer a break!

On the edge...

...so I'm one step closer to realizing a dream that at moments I have forgotten I had. As I type, Melanie is on her way (literally been in the air since 11 AM) to reaching one of her dreams. Melissa is enjoying life in Kentucky after a great summer with God and her husband. Plus many others, who read this but won't tell me, are on the verge of good things. I will reveal more to you tomorrow when I get a definite answer but I am very hopeful about this.

On a small side note, I received in the mail yesterday my first issue of Christian Counseling Today magazine. Each afternoon/evening I have devoured an article or two from this magazine. My subscription comes from my hopefully soon to be starting counseling program. It also a benefit of becoming a member of the AACC. We'll have to wait and see what God is going to do with this, but I am enjoying it thus far.

Brain Mush

Not much to say about today because my brain is still trying to recover from the stretching and bending it did today. Today was the day of the mother of all faculty meetings. Don't ask me what it was about because I don't think I could tell you much. We watched a few "training" videos. The one that always gets to me is the one where they do a mock lock-down drill. All of you in NC or who have been in NC in the past couple of years have seen this video. It makes me sad every time I see it and my heart starts pounding knowing that it could happen to us this year. I spent the afternoon with my teammates plotting the plan of action for the Coastal Cruisers this year. I happily added my two cents of information and was an objective ear/voice for many things "that we've always done this way." I think we are all going to get along great. Now when we get to the 8th grade meeting on Thursday - that should be interesting to see how we ALL mesh together...

Melanie came through on her last trip to Charlotte from Asheville for awhile. We went and got ice cream at Morgan's Calf-A. She enjoyed a peach smoothie and I had Moosetracks and Muddy Sneakers ice cream. We hugged and prayed. Now she's in Charlotte. She's looking forward to a long plane ride with loving teammates of her own to greet her in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. I think she loses most of tomorrow on her journey. Keep Melanie in your prayers as she transitions to this wonderful experience in front of her.

I came home and mowed my yard. In the midst of that, I had a great conversation with my neighbor. I even had the chance to tell her that I would be praying for her to find a job. We traded phone numbers and assured one another that we would help in any way possible. Sometimes God takes things away to make room for new things close by. Now I'm going to go unwind some. It promises to be another full day at school tomorrow with the swearing in of the new superintendent in the morning and a math teachers meeting in the afternoon. Maybe one of these days I'll be back in my classroom!

Insignificant

At times you feel insignificant,

But you are loved by God,

Who created this whole picture.

In fact, He sent His ONLY Son

To this insignificant planet

Not only to show us how to live

But to show us how to die

The best part is that because He died

We don't have to

Pray on that for awhile!

Confession

I feel the need to confess that I am struggling with being hopeful in this transition time. There are just so many things moving and shaking right now and all I want to do is crawl into my hole to hide for a few days. That's not possible because I've already started school full-time. I think that my finances are my biggest struggle at the moment. I know God provides and I can give you all the right church answers to my struggles. As I sit down to pay bills, I easily lose sight that He will provide. I am a numbers person and they are quickly getting smaller. It's hard at moments to understand because I am very careful with my money. I may not stick to my budget as well as I could, but I'm not extravagant in any purchases. I've done better with fighting my urges to eat out more often because it's just easier than cooking for one. Several bills that I expected to come back smaller because I was out of the country for most of last month came back the same or a few came back larger! It's so hard to make it on my sad teacher's salary - especially when school systems don't pay you for the summer. I pray to Jesus that I can find a more permanent school home to hopefully balance things out some this year. I'm going to have to squirrel away money again this year. It's always things for myself that get sacrificed too. I need new glasses, new shoes, new school clothes, two new fillings, three medicines (monthly) - not to mention laying hands on my loving laptop every time I try to use it for anything of significance. I realize that I have a lot more than most people. I know all the "answers" but I just wanted to make my feelings known. There are precious few of you who read this blog anyways, so I can spill my guts here without it coming back to haunt me. Of course there are volleyball coaching possibilities hanging over my head at the moment too. More on that later in the week...when I'll hopefully have some answers. I need to get away from my desk and my taunting checkbook and calculator.

Shifting Gears

Here I stand on the brink of another transition and all I can think is how tired and worn out I am. We completed our Hickory Community Mission last week. It was a pretty successful week. I had a great group to work with and even worked through sickness all week. I took a day off to go visit the doctor to obtain some antibiotics so I can be ready for school stuff this week and next. Otherwise I was right next to my group each day in the 100 degree plus weather. God was gracious to give me the strength I needed for each day but not much more. I've spent this weekend catching up on sleep and on conversations with loving friends. I talked to one person in particular for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday, but I hadn't had the chance to catch her in over a month so it was wonderful. I got a brief Melanie glance on Sunday afternoon and was put on the calendar for between now and her departure on Tuesday - TWICE! I talked to the recently engaged Rena and got to hear the engagement day drama and excitement. Today I'm trying to catch up with my new teammates at school, who called to introduce themselves to me last week. What a great feeling to be welcomed and wanted!

I have great plans for this evening. I'm going with Lori and Courtney to see The Bourne Ultimatum. To be up to speed I watched The Bourne Identity this morning and am getting ready to watch The Bourne Supremacy in a few minutes. I'll get around to housework eventually this week. I just wanted to get a quick post up so you know I'm still alive. I'm shifting into teacher mode slowly, but it'll be here soon enough. I'm also highly anticipating my Biblical counseling stuff coming in soon. Besides being pretty worn out I'm doing good. We had a GREAT share time at church last night about our Canada trips, and I even convinced my parents to come to it. Well I need to get to my movie so I can be done with it by the time we go to see the new one tonight! Drop me a line when you get a chance!

Family Time

So the past 24 hours have been spent with the family. I wish it could've been more but it was quality. My favorite niece and nephew were at my parents house last night. They are on their way to Florida for a family vacation. Like Mom said this afternoon, "You just never know what is going to come out of these kids' mouths." Jasmine especially has some lines that come out and you just have to laugh at her. I've realized the toughness of Zeke too. He and Dad were playing football in the front yard. Zeke went for a long ball and managed to catch the ball with the side of his face. I heard the smack from where I was sitting on the front porch. Give the boy some major props though because he didn't even stop...just picked up the ball and went back for another pass. My favorite Jasmine moment of the visit was when she saw her new princess outfits from Grandma and Pop-pop. The look on her face was priceless - a mixture of awe and total excitement. Where was the camera when you needed it?

Upon returning to Hickory I was able to enjoy dinner with my other family. The Arnold family and I went to the newest barbecue place in Mt. View. It was good! I am saddened by the fact that they are more than likely moving away by the end of this year. Lori and I talked about our various roles for the Hickory Community Missions next week. God is trying to change my attitude towards this whole event and I'm trying to yield to Him. Pray for me this week as I develop my role here in this mission trip.

I'm going to go order my first set of classes for a counseling program I hope to start soon. I'll give you more information about it when I talk to you for real. Have a great Saturday night and Sunday!

Busy Days and Nights

It's been a busy couple of days, but good and beneficial. I think I may have finally found the counseling program that I want to complete. I also think I can afford this particular program as well. I've realized more and more how much I enjoy talking to people and helping them find hope and perspective in life. I pray that God will continue to open doors for me to minister to people in this way.

We've spent the past few days finalizing details for our Hickory Community Missions. We are doing a "mission trip" in Hickory with the youth. We are going to be serving in several area ministries and organizations to give the kids a taste of what is available for them at home. We go and get pumped up on foreign mission fields and struggle to bring it home. The purpose of next week is to expose people to what is available to them here in Hickory. It's just hard for some of us being so close to the end of our previous trips. We are tired and worn out, so pray for us as we do the fine print work of this trip. Fortunately, we had some great hands in the pot working their tails off while we were in Canada. May God bless them for their faithful work while we were gone.



I have to say one of the hi-lights of my week was Wednesday evening. I was able to take in a performance of The Lion King in Charlotte. The show was tremendous (even though I had seen it before). The company was also excellent. I was able to expose a very dear friend of mine to the joys of Broadway shows. She is a theater junkie at school but this was her first "real" show. I told her that I've corrupted all other shows for her because Lion King sets a very high precedent. We talked almost the entire ride home about all the amazing things in that show. She knows all the theater vocabulary and I sounded intelligent enough to maintain my end of the conversation. It also gave me a chance to be in the same place with Melanie before she heads out for Thailand in a few weeks.


Now I'm headed to Rock Hill for some much needed, but brief, family time before diving into the Hickory Community Mission on Sunday. At least the t-shirt will be cool because I designed it! Not too long after that it'll be full school mode once again. Oh the joys of being a teacher...again!