just pour them over ice

i have very mixed feelings about many different things. thus, the bulletin post. enjoy.

• the spurs won last night! i didn't stay up for the entire game, but stayed up way later than i usually do. i was draggin' today, but it was totally worth it. go spurs go!
• being a loyal spurs fan means NOT being a fan of mavs. the only thing i like about them is their coach...excuse me, ex-coach. avery was fired. i'm very sad for him. i think he's wonderful, but i know he'll bounce back. i love him.
• did i mention that the spurs won????!!!
• i'm currently watching american idol. i'm not a die-hard fan or anything, but i've noticed a trend lately. all of my students are avid and opinionated viewers of this show. it's sad when i can't even converse with them about something like american idol.
• um...why am i so concerned about what my third graders think?
• speaking of my class, i left town on friday so i had my first sub. i was N-E-R-V-O-U-S. i had a dream saturday night that i asked her how it went and that she responded, "your kids were horrible!" they were not. i went to my classroom to do some work on sunday and found a rather lovely note saying that they were great. i just couldn't handle it if someone had something negative to say about my class. i'm such a pansie.
• how do you spell pansie?
• for some strange reason, i am very relieved that april is almost over. nothing really bad happened this month, but i'm just glad that may is here. i so don't get myself at times.
• i found the perfect birthday gift for kelli today. and no, i'm not telling you!
• i'm out. i have friends to hang out with!!!

i want to

i really do.

but i just can't make myself update this thing. my mind goes blank every time i log in.

this stinks.

no, i have not fallen off the face of the earth

i've just been...busy. and out of town for the past two weekends. needless to say, i have a lot of catching up to do.

i'll do it tomorrow. tonight i'm catching up on lesson plans that should have been done by now but were not because...well, i was out of town. duh.

adios, amigos!

being hit over the head with a 2 x 4

if you've never heard how God called my dad to the ministry, you totally need to. i won't be the to tell you because frankly, i wouldn't do a good job. maybe i'll get him to put it on his blog, but it's much better to hear it in person.

anyway, one thing my dad always says when he's telling the story is, "i wish that i could say that we moved to san angelo because we had great faith. instead, God had to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 to get my attention." while that statement was meant to be humorous, it always makes me think about what God may be trying to get me to do. my own head has bumps - many bumps. and there's a fresh one from yesterday.

i've been doing my Bible study on prayer, and i try to come to school with enough time to pray because i love praying at my desk. it was here i got the latest bump.

wednesday night, i found out that someone who i thought was my friend had been saying ugly things about me. it had to do with a certain decision i made a few months ago, and while it wasn't an easy decision, i knew from prayer that it was the right one. i knew some people might not agree with it, but i didn't expect people, especially this one person, to be so ugly about it. i was angry because that person has no idea why i made the decision that i did. he has never once asked about my situation. he has compared me to other people who are in totally different circumstances. and to make matters worse, he has told others about it in a way which could make them question my relationship with God. i was beyond angry - i was furious.

i went to sleep thinking about it. i woke up thinking about it. i got to school yesterday morning, opened my Bible, and saw the title for today's devotion:

"praying with forgiveness"

ouch. talk about a huge bump.

it doesn't matter that i think i'm right (i AM right, by the way!). it doesn't matter that i was portrayed as someone other than who i really am. Jesus has called me to forgive.

i remember a long time ago lennon was preaching on forgiveness. my situation at that time called me to forgive even though it was easier to hang on to my anger than to let go of it. but i clearly recall lennon saying that if you need to forgive someone, pray for them. don't pray that God would suddenly take them out of your life. but pray that God will bless them. pray that God will bring them into a relationship with Him if they are not already one of His children. pray for their well-being. God brought all of this to my mind as i was praying yesterday morning. He showed me that i would never truly have peace if i let this stuff bother me all the time instead of going to Him in prayer.

yippee!

it's friday, and although we have school today, i'm having a great day!

• my kids are being sooooo good.
• my dad dropped by my classroom earlier this morning with books for my classroom library. he and my mom hit a garage sale and got a great deal. i'm such a nerd; i love books. it was a pleasant surprise!
• because of an elementary track meet in odessa tonight and tomorrow, many of our students will be leaving at 1:00 for odessa. i will have 7 kids at the end of school. do you think i'm actually going to teach? heck no, techno! we're watching movies.
• have i mentioned that it's friday?!
• i'm drinking a dr. pepper.

yessireebob. life is glorious.

i'm wearing a cute outfit today

and i've gotten lots of compliments on it. it's made me very happy.

one of these days i won't be so shallow.

but today is not that day.

need a yard guy?

one of my sweet little boys informed me this morning that his dad let him mow their yard this weekend. you could tell he was so excited about it by the way he was talking. later on, i was listening to about five of the kids talk about yardwork (don't ask me why). suddenly this boy's eyes lit up and he said, "miss hernandez! i can do your yard! just tell me where you live and i can come do it."

um.....sweet offer, right?!

when i informed him that there was already someone who does my yard, another girl piped up and said, "you can do my yard! but it has to be cheap because my mom just lost her job." i was suddenly interested to see where this conversation was going. the boy looks up as if thinking, then says,

"okay, $20 for the front yard and $10 for the back."

"no way! that's too expensive!"

"how 'bout $15 for the front and $15 for the back?"

it was here that i saw my teaching career take a nosedive. on one hand, i was completely mortified that he didn't figure out the math. the boy can do equations, fractions, mixed numbers, you name it. he's one of the top math students. on the other hand, it was hilarious to see his hopeful face, just knowing his friend was going to agree. i was saved from laughing out loud because another girl had already started. i looked at him and said, "sweetie, $15 plus $15 is the same as $20 plus $10."

his reaction was a sheepish grin and "i knew that."

he was just making sure that we knew our math. that's what it was.

riiiiiiiight.

ohmyword

being the huge ace of cakes fan that i am, i checked out the charm city cakes website last night. i looked at all the amazing cakes that they had in their picture gallery (loving it!), and out of sheer interest clicked on the process for ordering cakes. THEY ARE BOOKED UNTIL NOVEMBER 2, 2008!!!

good thing i'm not getting married before then.

kleenex and an open mouth

i've been looking forward to this break from school for a little while now. although i'm not sure what i needed a break from, seeing as spring break was a mere three weeks ago, this was supposed to be a nice and relaxing time. thursday night my throat started hurting. it has led to a cold. darn it.

my throat still hurts, i keep sneezing, and i can't breathe through my nose. i'm currently sitting on my bed with a pile of kleenex next to me (i'm too lazy, i mean sick, to get up and throw them away), my mouth open so i breathe.

this is the 3rd cold in 4 months. i hardly get sick. i'm so miserable. =(

someone come take care of me before i die.

i think some dr. pepper would really help. or chick-fil-a. or both.

i stand corrected

the screaming in the aforementioned story was not my mother. it was kelli.

sheesh, that girl is dramatic.

sorry, mom.

oh sweet bliss

i am a lover of sleep. not just any sleep, but in-your-pjs-under-the-covers-in-a-dark-room sleep. that is the best slumber of all. there are two things about me and sleep:

• i am a very deep sleeper
• i like to sleep completely under the covers, head and all

my mom tells me that even as a baby she would put me in the crib for bed or a nap, and when she would check on me later i would be completely under the covers. ah yes...

when i was about 10 or 11, we had a rather large thunderstorm. my dad was out of town that night, so it was just my mom with the four of us. i was sleeping soundly, unaware of the storm raging just outside my window. i started waking up because i could hear someone screaming and yelling. i didn't wake up suddenly but rather came out of sleep very slowly. i sat up in bed, removed the covers from my face (remember-completely under the covers), and looked around. the screaming was my mother. apparently we were under a tornado warning and we had to go sit in the hallway (no basement-darn). she had been trying to wake me up for a while, but i wouldn't budge. i grabbed my pillow and comforter and went to the hallway. i remember trying to go back to sleep when i heard my mom talking to my uncle on the phone. she was saying something about a window having been broken because the winds were so strong. i was immediately intrigued. i had no idea what was happening, so i rudely interrupted her and asked which window it was. like any good mother, she ignored my rudeness and kept talking. i was not put off so easily. i kept asking her over and over until she finally yelled, "YOURS, BETHANY!" what? did she mean that my window had broken? without thinking about why i was even in the hallway in the first place, i walked back to my room and stood there. good grief, my mom was right. there were pieces of glass all over my bed and the area around it. somehow in my sleep-induced fog, i had walked around the glass in my bare feet without even knowing the glass was there. i never heard the window burst over my bed. who knows how long i would have slept there, completely oblivious to the storm. but i do remember my dad mentioning that had i not been completely under the covers, the glass could have cut my face. talk about a wake-up call!

i was reminded about that incident last night. again, we were under a tornado warning and i didn't even know until my dad called at midnight to tell me. "did you hear the sirens?" he asked. um...no i didn't. i was completely out of it. i turned the t.v. on to watch the weather, and had full intentions of staying awake until the tornado warning was over. yeah, right. i fell asleep. it's a good thing nothing bad happened. i might not be here to give you all of these fascinating details.

i love God's protection.

11:00 p.m.

still awake.

i gotta stop this.

an endless cycle

this whole week i have had trouble staying awake in school. like while i'm teaching. bad, bad teacher.

i've had coffee. i've popped the tab on a dr. pepper at 8:30 in the morning (it was a gift from one of my students, and she wanted me to drink it right then - i can't deprive her of that pleasure). i've tried my hardest to go to bed earlier than usual. yet here i sit, 10:36 p.m., blogging away as though i don't have to get up early tomorrow.

have i mentioned that i'm slow about a few things?

but tonight, there are several things on my mind. manipulative people, horrifying situations, missed opportunities - it's thoughts like these that make me even more aware of my need for a Savior. and it's thoughts like these that keep me on my knees.

sick

this thing in eldorado has me sick. completely and utterly sick.

what's worse is that my own students are painfully aware of this situation. i'm sure they're not the only ones who have an idea of what is going on. what do i say? how do i comfort?

Jesus, help us.

fellow seniors '02

i think that there is only one of you who actually reads this blog, but oh well.

remember that saying that mrs. a would always tell us?

"kindness is a virtue."

i was in her room the other day, and i saw the saying on her bulletin board. apparently none of the other classes have gotten past that first virtue either.

i don't feel so bad now.

because my mom said so...

apologies to all for my lack of posting. my mom has mentioned quite a few times this week that i have neglected to blog lately. sorry.

what to say, what to say...

first of all, last week was crazy. maybe if i had been paying attention to the school calendar, i would have realized that. but no, i went along, blissfully unaware of the super busy week i was going to have.

i should really start paying attention to stuff.

oh man...

live museum is over.

in case i haven't told you, live museum is an event that the 2nd and 3rd graders do every year. they each pick a notable person from history and write a short report about that person. then they have to memorize the report and they present a "live museum" for the public. it is usually planned the same night as the school's open house, so prospective families can see it too. my kids did so well! i'm very proud of them.

but, in usual bethany fashion, something embarrassing happened to me. i was standing near the door of the gym talking to some people. i vaguely noticed that there were two little boys standing next to me but i didn't really pay attention to what they were doing. i should have. one of the boys shoved the other one...right into me. my ankle turned. i fell.

did i mention that the gym was full? oh man...

but, like i said before, live museum is over. for that, i give thanks.

things i don't understand

we're in the computer lab right now. i've spent the last 10 minutes telling my class to keep their voices down. they wouldn't do it so i told them they couldn't talk at all. that was five minutes ago.

now i hear voices, and i know they're not in my head.

they don't know this yet, but this afternoon is not going to be fun for them. not listening to ms. hernandez is not a smart thing to do.