in the know

i am and continue to be fascinated by all the [legal] ways that you can stalk people these days. i mean blogging is fantastic. i read blogs of people i don't even know (it's okay to say that, right?!). then there's facebook (and as one of my friends said, "i'm glad he didn't make his profile private so we can see all his information!" i laughed for days). or you could just do a plain old google search.

you may now add twitter to the list. i had heard of twitter from mark batterson's blog, but my ultra cool and hip dad showed me how to use it. i love it! you can now follow me on twitter and hear all the fascinating details of every single day of my life. all you need to do is click on 'follow me on twitter' on the sidebar and you'll get texts with updates from yours truly.

aren't you excited?

follow me...i need friends!

was it the dark circles under my eyes that gave it away?

i have had way too many people tell me that i look tired this week. monday as i was walking into the building, one of the teachers stopped me and said, "bethany! you look so tired!" not a good sign.

this morning, another teacher that i haven't really seen all week asked, "so how have you been? you look tired."

then today as i was giving a test, one of my students stopped me and asked, "miss hernandez, are you tired?" when i asked if they could tell, the entire class responded with a resounding "YES!" giggle, giggle, giggle. (first graders giggle a lot.)

maybe the fact that i closed my eyes and put my head down tipped them off. i guess i'll never know.




p.s. for those of you on the edge of your seat waiting to see if my kids earned cupcakes tomorrow, the answer is ...yes. but mostly because i want a cupcake too.

keep 'em coming

i wasn't about to post another whiney blog, but i thought of something today that i really wanted to share.

about 2 years ago, some of us chi alphans went to kentucky for the first world missions summit. it was an amazing trip, and i still remember the missionaries we met and the way that God moved during those days. the first service took place in the evening, and before it even started, we got there early to get good seats. we were sitting in the second row (right behind thomas trask, i might add) and i decided to use the time to pray for the summit. i began to pray that God would use me how He wanted to use me. i didn't hear an audible voice, but i did feel that God was calling me to work with chi alpha. sounds silly, especially since i was already doing that, at least to a certain extent. but this was different. God was calling me to take a more active approach in the ministry. the next morning, our group had gotten some drinks from the starbucks inside the convention center (isn't God good?) and then sat to plan our day. as we were looking at the different classes that were offered, lennon mentioned in an offhanded way, "if any of you heathens (he really does love us) want to work with chi alpha, go to this class."

i sat there for awhile, and then asked, "are you serious?" when he said yes, i told him about my experience the night before. that jump started my involvement in chi alpha. i was already involved, but after that, i was even more involved.

then student teaching and teaching happened. i had to quit my job to focus on student teaching, which was very necessary. but since then, i feel like i've lost part of my identity. i loved everything i was doing in chi alpha. and then it stopped, partly because i became a teacher.

i will never regret my choice to be a teacher. and i will never sacrifice my students' education because i'm having an identity crisis. but the past few days, i have wondered about my calling. did God forget about me? is this what He wants for me now? did i just imagine being called into the ministry?

in the midst of this wondering, i came across an incredible post by mark batterson, "released from and called to". (click here if you want to read it, but you gotta scroll down some. for some reason i couldn't link just that post.) it was so freeing. i believe with all my heart that right now i am to be a teacher. i love what i do. i love my students. i have lots of cute stories because of it. =) and if this is what God has for me, then i'm happy. but if i end up being more involved in the ministry, then it will happen in God's timing. and He will make me aware of that, especially through my circumstances. i can rest knowing that God has it all taken care of.

revelation

at this point in time, i have questions in pretty much every area of my life. some of it is a little personal to share on a blog for everyone to read, but i know that many of you have been there, done that, blah blah blah.

the thing is that i don't think i could ever put into words exactly what i'm feeling. oh, i've tried with some friends, but the conversations ended with me feeling like i didn't really get across what i was trying to say.

suffice it to say that i am completely lost. tonight as i drove to my parents, revelation by third day came on the radio. this song embodies every feeling, every thought, everything relative to what has been on my mind. i especially love that the lyrics are right on the screen for you to see. i think the one that i identify with the most is "i haven't got a clue." oh yeah...

fantastic

fantastic. that is my word for the day. pretty much because i had the most fantastic day today. it wasn't just any one thing, but many things that united to make a happy, happy bethany today.

the day actually started out a little rough, but something happened to my little darlings right after lunch/recess because they were the most angelic kids i have ever seen. i was explaining their work to them, and i noticed that all eyes were on me (rarely happens) with no one talking (never happens). some even had their hands folded on their desks. such angels. i told them that if they could stay still and not talk, even during our other activities for the day, then they would all get something from the treasure box. one girl raised her hand and asked, "so basically, you want us to be perfect?" i nodded my head, to which she emphatically replied, "okay!" okay...

they were actually full of questions, such as what if everyone except for one person is quiet? what if we whisper? what if we stay quiet the whole week? do we get an even bigger prize?

i told them we should take it one day at a time. trust me, a whole week is a little ambitious. but yes, they do get a surprise if they stay quiet the whole week. haha.

anyhoo, right after school i had an appointment to get my nails done. they look fantastic! i love getting them done; makes me feel like the princess that i am. =) after my appointment, i headed over to my wita's house to have dinner, then cake and ice cream for my little cousin Lexie's birthday. today she turned the big 6. that's right, folks, 6. of course, spending any amount of time with my family is always fun. crazy, but fun.

now i blog. the dishes are washed, the coffee is set for tomorrow, and i am getting sleepy. an early bedtime would be the fantastic ending to a fantastic day.

junior high humor

today we ended out the week with another friday night basketball night. ryan, hannah, and micah all had games, and of course i love to watch. i had invited pauline, since we hadn't seen each other in awhile. but i was pleasantly surprised when i looked up and saw two other friends walk through the door. i was so happy to see them! like pauline, i hadn't seen them in about two weeks, and i was really needing some girl time.

well we definitely got girl time tonight! as a matter of fact, i missed most of the game because i was talking. (yes, i know-that gets on people's nerves). we were talking and laughing and pretty much acting like a group of jr. high girls. then we went to eat at logans where the jr. high humor continued. i can't talk about it though. i've been sworn to secrecy.

now my bed is calling my name. sweet dreams. =)

the thing about first graders

they pick their nose. a lot. and no, it's not just the boys.

gross.

"today i am reminded of my shortcomings"

i've mentioned before that one of my goals this year is to read through the Bible. i should probably be farther along than i am, but lately i've put more effort to be consistent. anyway, today i read something that really had me thinking.

i was reading in genesis 41, where pharaoh has some disturbing dreams that no one could interpret. the cupbearer realizes that he forgot all about joseph, the one who had interpreted his own dream while he and the baker were in prison. the cupbearer talks with pharoah, and begins with,

"today i am reminded of my shortcomings." (genesis 41:9)

i literally stopped reading right there because something clicked. there are so many things that remind me of my own sins. i disobey God. i find ways to get out of doing what i should. i take the easy way out at work sometimes. i get mad easily. i sin.

today was not a great day. it wasn't even a good day. my kids frustrated the life out of me. they didn't listen. they ran around the room. they ran into each other. they yelled at each other. they were disrespecful. and as i stood in front of them, getting ready to blast them for their behavior, i heard in my head:

"today i am reminded of my shortcomings."

how am i any different from my first graders? i know how to act; i know how i should live. but i don't. i sin. i throw God's commands back at Him as if to say, "i don't care what i should do. i want to do things my way." then, like my first graders, i cry, whine and complain when things blow up in my face and God disciplines me. why? i bring this on myself.

"today i am reminded of my shortcomings."

i think that being reminded of my shortcomings is good for me. it reminds me that there is no way that i could ever be in control of my own life. the only way to truly live my life is to depend on God for his direction and guidance. but it also reminds me that God can turn my shortcomings into something beautiful, something to be used for His glory. what could be better?

i'll keep them one more day

there are days that i feel like teaching is just one big emotional roller coaster. the past two weeks have been crazier than ever. last week was such a bad week, but this week has been so much better.

today, though, i decided i would keep my kids for one more day.

i was handing out some work when my kids asked when they were going to music. i told them that it was canceled for the day so they wouldn't be able to go. of course, i braced myself for the shock and horror on their faces.

"what?!"
"why?"
"what happened?"
"what are we gonna do?"

in the midst of their ongoing tirade, one cute little boy looks at me, raises his arms, and says with a big grin, "yay! more miss hernandez time!"

he gets candy for the rest of the year.

why i threw my alarm out the window

i was NOT in a good mood when i woke up this morning. not that i normally am, but today was worse than usual.

and by the way, if you are one of those people who wakes up singing and in a good mood, i can never spend the night at your house. because if i do, and you start singing, i will not be responsible for my actions.

anyway, back to my bad mood. i was having this amazing dream where i was buying super cute shoes at 80% off. 80%!!!!!!! and guess what happened when i got ready to pay?

the alarm went off. i had to pray for control. you know the answer to this problem, right?

that's right-go shoe shopping.

swap

so you know how fridays are supposed to be the best day of the week and mondays are supposed to be the worst?

i've noticed a trend in my weeks, and it's pretty much the opposite. this past friday was horrible...absolutely horrible. i know that some of it had to do with the fact that my kids didn't go out to recess for two days because it was so stinkin' cold. and added to that fact was that their library was canceled made for one crazy friday afternoon. but bad friday afternoons are becoming more the norm than the exception.

today, by comparison, was so smooth. my theory is that by friday, my kids are tired and therefore act out more. monday, not so much.

i'm beginning to like mondays way more than fridays. way more.

it's that time again

friday morning in our teacher meeting, i noticed a girl scout cookie order sheet going around. actually, i noticed it because all the teachers got excited....

"girl scout cookies!"
"i love girl scout cookies!"
"oooh, i'm getting some! are you finished with the sheet yet?"

during all the excitement, i was reminded of the fact that i still had thin mints, my absolute favorite, in my freezer. i bought 5 boxes of thin mints from diamond and still have a box left. did i mention that i bought these boxes 2 years ago? don't worry, they're still good. i checked. like 5 minutes ago.

so anyway, i bought a fresh box from this teacher's daughter. i figured it was time.

crab legs and a crazy table

kelli and i each received a red lobster gift card for christmas this year, so we decided to spend it on thursday night. my mom and sarah were so gracious to accompany us and offer us entertainment for the night. as it turns out, we didn't need it.

when we got there, kelli decided to be adventerous and order something she had never had before: a pound of crab legs. what followed was a hilarious night of kelli trying to figure out how to eat them and the rest of us laughing at her. my mom taught her how to crack the crab legs and then use the little fork to get the meat out and dip in the melted butter....THAT was my favorite part. what was not my favorite part was when sarah said that the cracker (i have no clue what it's actually called) looked like a toenail clipper. ewwwwwwww.

the infamous pound of crab legs


kelli likes them, sarah does not


i had the scrumptious shrimp scampi. yum yum!

the future of solid rock church

what precious gifts from God!

lots to say

long day.

funny moments.

pictures to add.

too tired to care.

maybe tomorrow.

don't hold your breath.

tired?

i got home at 4:30.

i just woke up.

i think i might be a little tired.

add starbucks to the list

so...i'm pretty addicted to chick-fil-a. you know this already. and i could easily be addicted to starbucks, but i really try to curb the constant desire for white chocolate mochas.

i've tried to quit going as often as i used to, especially in the morning when i would go through the drive-through on the way to school. since school has started (yes i know, last week), i haven't gone in the morning. i was pretty happy with myself.

then today happened. one of the teachers came into my room while my kids were at recess and asked if i could go on a starbucks run with her. i totally caved. now here comes the embarrassing part:

after we had ordered, we were sitting in the car waiting for our drinks. after the guy had given them to us, he asked if i worked at a bank. i told him no, but also mentioned that i sometimes went in the morning. his face lit up with recognition and he said, "that's where i've seen you!" the other teacher just started laughing.

so now i'm known at chick-fil-a AND starbucks.

this has got to stop.

joey's home!

and for this we are all extremely thankful. i sure did miss that boy!

i think my dad may have some pictures on his blog. go check 'em out!

seth's first basketball game

after many basketball practices and much anticipation, seth debuted in his first ever basketball game...at 8 o'clock this morning. yes, it was a chilly morning. and yes, it was early. but after a quick trip to starbucks, kelli and felt awake enough to cheer at his game.

first of all, seth is absolutely, hands down the cutest basketball player EVER. i got some pictures of him playing, but some of them came out dark. even though they didn't keep score, we estimate the score to be 34-4. yeah, we won. and the best news is that seth scored 2 points! he dribbled the ball down the court and made a lay up. such a natural! it was so fun to watch 1st and 2nd graders attempt to dribble the ball and run at the same time. there is even one on seth's team who is so stinkin' cute that whatever he did just cracked us up. he's a friendly little fellow, and while his team was on offense, he struck up a conversation with the boy guarding him. they were so intent on their little chat that they failed to notice that the game had moved down the court.

ah, ymca basketball...so fun to watch! i'm sure it's going to be an exciting season!

seth and kelli after the big game

inanimate object

today was inanimate object day at school.

no, i'm not kidding.

since i was not in the mood to make or buy something, i wore kelli's striped shirt and claimed to be college-ruled paper. i meant to hang a pencil around my neck, but i kept forgetting throughout the day.

there were some extremely adorable costumes. in my class i had a cotton ball, a giant paper clip, a snowflake, a deck of cards, a deck of uno cards, duct tap (hilarious), a stuffed animal, and a shopping bag. tomorrow is crazy hat/hair day, so i can't wait to see them tomorrow. it's gonna be wild!

i forgot

yes, i forgot to have a picture of those of us who had a super teacher shirt made. i really meant to. but the next thing i knew the day was over and everyone had left.

but my forgetfulness probably has to do with how my day started. i had great plans of getting to school early and working on some projects that have kind of been sitting there. anyway, my alarm is always set for 5:30. roddick started whining sometime in the night, so i rolled over to check the time.

6:42.

i really thought i was dreaming. i didn't even start freaking out because i was convinced i was dreaming.

i was not. and the freaking out began. you can even ask kelli how much (she laughed at me, but she did think to start the coffee for me-what a sister). now that i think about it, it was hilarious. but not at 6:42 in the morning.

i'm going to bed now so hopefully we don't have a repeat of this morning.

500

i got all ready to blog about my fantastic day, when i realized that this is my 500th post.

500! that's a lot!

man, this has been some day. i was NOT ready to go back to school. in fact, i had a pretty crummy attitude about it. this week is a little different in that every day we can dress up as the theme of the day. i thought that it would be a really rough, crazy day but it was actually a pretty smooth day.

so today's theme was lumberjack/princess day. guess what i was?!

that's right...a lumberjack.

of course not! i had no idea what to wear, but kelli, as usual, dressed me. (i actually told her i should dress as myself since i am a princess-she wasn't impressed). i wore a pink dress that joey gave me for christmas, black tights, and super cute two-tone pink flats that i found at wal-mart. ($10-no lie). i also had a wand and a tiara (borrowed from pauline's daughter, diamond. thanks diamond!). when i got to school, one of the principals let me borrow her bright green boa, which made my outfit complete. i was a pink princess! i do have to say that i got lots of compliments on my fabulous shoes. yay for compliments! yay for pink shoes!

tomorrow is superhero day. being the creative person that i am (and not a fan of capes and tights), i went to total sports and had a shirt made that says "super teacher." and in true bethany fashion, the shirt is pink with glitter green lettering. and yes, i plan to wear my pink shoes tomorrow. i can't wait!

if i can remember, i'll get a picture.

(and sorry there was no picture of me in my princess outfit. i can't take a full length picture of myself and i felt too vain asking someone else to take a picture of me. maybe i'll dress up in it and have kelli take a picture later on. maybe.)

i'm not ready

school starts back on monday.

i have worked in my room the past three days-taking down the christmas decorations, changing the bulletin board, making copies, doing lesson plans, changing desks around, cleaning, organizing myself for the semester. it's taken me longer than i thought it would, but i'm finally ready for monday.

but really, i'm not. i don't wanna go back to school! (i said that in a whiny voice, in case you couldn't tell.)

i miss college. big time.

earrings

i love earrings. just love 'em. i'm always looking for new pairs to buy, and i even got two pairs for christmas.

but unfortunately, i've lost two pairs in the last two days. yes, a pair a day. sad, i know.

now i need more earrings. and i should probably buy more than two pairs, huh?

that's what i was thinking.

"2009 is our year!"

happy new year! this is a time of year that i love-a new beginning and a fresh slate. there will be many opportunities, moments, and blessings that are just waiting to happen.

i had lunch with pauline yesterday (LOVE that girl) and as we were talking about the new year, she said, "2009 is our year!" it made me realize all the things that i really want to accomplish in 2009.

i'm bound and determined to change some things about myself. i'm not very big on resolutions, but i just had to share this with you, especially since publishing this on the web holds me accountable. ready?

1. read through the entire Bible this year (it's a family goal)-because there's no way i know everything about God or my faith
2. actually apply what i'm reading and studying, much more than i am now
   
3. drink more water/cut back on dr. pepper-need i say more?
4. cook at home more rather than just picking up chick-fil-a on the way home (which, by the way, is NOT on the way home)
5. take voice lessons-it's been over 3 years, and i can tell my voice is nothing like it used to be. anyone know a good voice teacher?
6. learn to play the piano...again-basically i want to be a better musician all around. just because i changed my major in college doesn't mean that my love for music died. i still love it. music is a huge part of me, a part of me that i don't ever want to deny. which brings me to #6...
7. learn to play the violin-i know nothing about the violin, except that it makes pretty music. and since i'm completely clueless about the string instruments, i think this will be a good challenge for me. but that's not the only reason i want to learn to play the violin. it goes with #7...
8. enroll in grad school-it's time, don't you think? i want to be the best teacher i can be and as a future reading specialist (God willing) i want to know exactly how music aids in the reading process. i already know that it does, but i want to do my own research, especially since i've decided to take on voice, piano, and violin (insert overwhelming scream here).

that list looks pretty darn impossible right now (especially #3). but i hope and pray that through the process of working on this list, i will learn how to trust God more and continue to rest and rely on Him only.