So many Good things!!

So, lots has happened since I last blogged. I've been busy, so it's been awhile. First off, the teacher that I was with doesn't work there anymore, which (sigh!) is a relief. I did get convicted this morning in church, however, of the gossipy attitude that I've had towards him. I've bad mouthed him to anyone and everyone that will listen, and that is not right. I know better than that. No matter what I personally think of him, I should be praying for him before anything, not being critical of him. So (gulp!) I'm sorry for handling that situation the way that I did. Please genuinely pray for him. Pray for me, also, that God would take away my gossipy, negative attitude. It doesn't help anything. It actually tends to make bad decisions worse.

Next, the Joye twins that belong to Wade and Ferris (you can get to their blogs from mine) went home this past week!! Yea!! That is such amazing news!! These twins were 3 months premature, and there was a pretty good chance in the beginning that at least one, if not both wouldn't make it out of that hospital, but God allowed the sun to "STAND STILL" over those baby girls, and He was faithful to his promise. He told Wade and Ferris early on that their girls would be healthy, no matter what they were told by doctors. Now, they are healthy, happy girls at home with their parents. Keep praying over these girls and their parents, and keep checking their blog. It will really encourage you!

Church was fantastic today! We had almost 200 people in both services combined! WOW! To think, a year ago, we started with, like, 15 people! God is amazingly ridiculous! We trusted Him, and like always, he delivered! Rodney and I went into today kind of glum. We've dealt with some things the past two weeks, so, please keep us in your prayers as well. The music was rough during practice this week, and we were concerned that we would be more of a distraction, but it went really well! We had a few technological issues, but other than that, it was great! God showed up and it was wonderful!

We went as a church and watched "Fireproof" Friday night. We rented out a showing of it and passed tickets out to people we know. We packed the theatre out! That was a fabulous movie. If you haven't had a chance to see it, GO! It will really inspire your marriage. Whether your marriage is awesome, or maybe feels like its falling apart, go see this movie. With all the movies that promote divorce as soon as things go bad, it's nice to see a movie that you can see from God's stand on it.

Now, I've gotta go take care of the 7 children that are in our house!! Yikes! It's great! ;) Our friends Adam and Andrea are on a date! We are glad to help. I'm sure quiet times in their house are few and far between. 5 of the children here are theirs, and the oldest is at our pastor's house having a play date!! Fun times!!

Music Lessons

So, Rodney and I had our first vocal lesson today! We heard of a vocal coach through our friend Alexis. She is awesome! She allows us to do our lessons together, since we sing together in the band, and she only charges us the price for 1 person. How cool is that? Also, she is going to start giving us both piano lessons next week!! Yea!! I have always wanted to learn piano. I am extremely excited!

Onto my school drama. Today was really no better than the others have been. He is now "attempting" to teach, by pulling stuff directly off of other teacher's lesson plans. He teaches things that are wayyyy too difficult for our kids. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept that our kids are EC, even though supposedly, he's an EC teacher. I'm so annoyed. He left at noon today due to back pain, which was nice. He's barely there in person, anyway, I'd rather him not be there at all. Then at least I can teach the kids in a way that they are going to understand. We really had a fun afternoon. We had recess, then we went inside for some Math. We practiced multiplications tables, which they all really struggle with, and them played a Bingo Multiplication game. I couldn't find any game pieces, so we used Goldfish crackers! ;0 I'm so creative. Of course, they became snack after the game was over! Haha! That's all. I'm going to bed!

I'm really close to fed up!

So, I'm gonna use my blog to vent..I hope that's cool with everyone. Like I have mentioned briefly in previous blogs, I started working with a teacher this year that is new to my school. He's not a new teacher, just new to this school. Supposedly, he's taught for, like, 20 years. The last 10 or so have been in a high school BED class (Behaviorally and Emotionally Disturbed). Well, this year, he's with me in an elementary SED room (Severely Emotionally Disturbed). We have 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

From day one, he's been lost. He says he's overwhelmed, but when anyone tries to help him, he refuses to accept it or listen. For the first 2 1/2 weeks, I ran the class. I planned the lessons, taught them, did all the paperwork, prepared and graded homework, and handled the majority of the parent contacts. After figuring out that he was sitting on his booty doing nada, I decided that was not cool with me. He was doing NOTHING. Everytime I tried to talk to him about it, he would tell me how awesome I was and how much he appreciated what I do. He also said that, hopefully by Christmas he'd be ready to take over. WHAT?!?!?! Oh no. I don't think so. I get paid squat. I work for health insurance basically, and because I genuinely love my kids in the class. I decided to step back a bit and see what happened in the room. Chaos broke out. The kids fought, and screamed and went bananas, all the while the "teacher" messed on his computer, while I "handled" it. I went to the principal. She is wonderful, and she said that she would handle the situation. She has spoken to him, but he still is clueless. I went to three teachers that have EC inclusion classes and made copies of their lesson plans. Yea, he hasn't done ANY yet this year. He took those lesson plans from a month ago, and glued them into his lesson planner book (that I got for him). He then, after all that I have done to try to help him, has been making rude sarcastic remarks to me the last few school days. Ugghhh. I really would like to punch him in the nose. For real. I so do not get paid well enough to deal with his drama.

So, hopefully, he'll get fired and we'll get a new teacher. A good one. That would be awesome. It's hurting the kids more than anything, because they are stuck with me doing the best I can at teaching, when they need am experienced instructor that has it together, and can handle the issues in a SED classroom. It's not a "normal" class, and he, when he does lead with teaching briefly, tries to teach them like they are high functioning students, which none of them are. So, any advice on what my next step should be? I'm tempted to call the school systems anonymous line and tell them to get someone over to observe him ASAP. Then maybe he'd get the boot.

Also, to completely change the subject, tomorrow, my sister in law, Rachel has a OBGYN appt. She is about 24 weeks along now with her 2nd baby girl. Her first daughter, Carly, passed away this past March at 4 months old from a heart defect. She was born extremely early, and weighed only 13 ozs. Pray that tomorrow, the ultrasound shows a perfect baby girl, who measures right on time with her due date, which is January 1st. Last appointment, she was measuring about a week behind, which has Rachel very nervous, because Carly stopped growing in utero due to complications, and had to be delivered by emergency section at 28 weeks. God is in control, and we believe that when all is said and done, we will be able to hold and love and kiss on a healthy, happy, beautiful, Hannah Kathleen Elliotte. I can't wait!! ;)

I don't know if i'm gonna make it.

So, school is killing me. My classroom (I'm actually the assistant who does everything) is chaos. I love the kids, but they are so difficult. Ugghh. I can't even talk about it. It's just miserable right now. Anyway, we are having our new sermon series start on Sunday. It' s gonna be awesome. All the sermons are based on TV shows. We are going to be incorporating secular songs in the services..I'm doing Carrie Underwood's "Last Name". We purchased professional quality lighting that my hubby and Darrell put up today. We extended the stage out 4 feet, and recarpeted the kid's areas. We are ready to ROCK AND ROLL! Come and bring lots of friends. 1st service 9:45 and 2nd service 11:15. Be there!!We also are starting 2 services...again! God is incredible! It's only been one year yesterday since the launch of our church. It's amazing to sit back and look at what God has done. I'm so glad to be a part of it. We have met the most amazing people since we started. I have made such amazing friends. It's funny, before we were Christians, we really didn't have any friends. Not any true friends, anyway.

So, Friday is a very important day in history...maybe one of the most important ones ever...MY BIRTHDAY!! ;) Yes, boys and girls, I am celebrating another year of life. I'll be 26 years young. Wow. I can't believe in a few years, I'll be 30. Ugghh again.

Some more exciting news...I think I'm going back to school. I printed the application for Fayetteville State, and filled out the tuition request form for my two previous colleges, so my first steps are complete. It's gonna be hard to find the time, but I really want to do it, and I'll be great at it. I am getting great experience as an assistant who does everything. (I'm really not kidding about that..EVERYTHING.) I believe, though, that God will provide the way for me to go back to school and finish in a timely manner. I'm excited!! I want my own classroom. Not a room that I run and don't get the credit for. (I'm a little bitter, sorry)

That's all I have for now.

Anybody out there??

So, out of pure curiosity, does anybody READ this? I rarely get a comment, so, either no one reads this, or I am just so boring that no one cares. ;) I think I would rather the first option! I am playing on the Net while Rodney is out playing basketball with a few friends from church. We had a nice Labor Day. Last night, we had a few families and their kids over for dinner. One of our friends brought "Guitar Hero" for the PS3. It was incredible. I absolutely rock on the guitar! I'm pretty smokin on the drums, too. Also, I found out that Adam Gregory has an inner ROCK STTTAAAARRR! :) You rock, dude! We had so much fun. I think I got to bed about 12:30am! Wayyy late for me. We had 10 kids here!! Ahhhhh!! ;0 It was madness, but so much fun! I love kids, especially when I can send 'em home with their Mama at the end of the evening. Today, we decided to venture to SouthPoint Mall in Durham. Wow, that is a friggin HUGE mall! It was really nice. I bought a new aromatherapy candle from Bath and Body Works. It is Lavender Vanilla Sleep. It is ridiculously great. we bought the Sleep pillow spray the other day, and it is wonderful. We also bought the Eucalyptus aromatherapy candle the other day, and it is graet as well. I also bought a really cute shirt at Aeropostale for 5 dollas!! What a deal! It was alot of fun. Anyway, I am now going to light my new candle, pop some popcorn, and watch Diego with Bren. Goodnight!