Excerpt from October

It's officially October.  Fall weather is taking it's time to get here, but there's so much to look forward to this month: birthdays, family, NC State Fair, 5K run, Halloween, life groups at church, etc.  The first week of October proved to be a long one.  With all of the icky weather and the sickness going around there wasn't much to be excited about this week.  Work has been somewhat draining as well.  Among four different schools, I'm trying my hardest to stay on top of things.  My elementary schools are no problem, but one of my middle schools has been a bit of a challenge as I've been trying to sort out his accommodations, class placement, etc.  The staff haven't exactly been openly supportive so that's caused me to be a bit on edge.  Nonetheless, as of yesterday afternoon I officially made the changes necessary for my student and I feel like I can finally breathe.  Because this change was kind of a serious one, I can't help but think "I hope I'm doing the right things."  There's that little voice in the back of my head that keeps repeating "What if?"  Much too often, I've ignored hat voice and have seen the effects of it later.

For example, on Thursday I went to see my second grader, same time as I do everyday and he was carrying his equipment (microphone for hard of hearing students).  I was on my way in and by chance, ran into him in the hallway.  I saw him with the mic and noticed it swinging and thought to myself, "Wow, he's being kind of rough with it."  But because we were heading toward the room and I hadn't even had a chance to really transition and was lugging a huge bag and then some with me, it didn't occur to me to tell him to be careful with it.  Well, 2 minutes later when we entered the room, we noticed a piece was missing.  Oh boy, my paycheck flashed before my eyes!

Here I Am.

I'm back!  I guess blogging has never really been my niche.  Although, I must say I kept up with this one pretty well this year.  So, I have a lot to catch up on being that I haven't blogged since the end of September.
Here are the highlights:
October:
1)  Color Me Rad 5k w/ Leo
2) Halloween weekend:  haunted house, hanging out with Leo and Martha, etc (I dressed up as a marathon runner for school)
3) Dinner w/ Ms Dale and friends for her birthday
4) Found out I got into NC State's grad program!  :)
5) State fair w/ Melissa
November:
6) Introduced Ricky to Dame's Chicken and Waffles and he got to meet Ms. Woods
7) Mom's Birthday (we had a surprise party at pf chang's!  I organized it and made her a book)
9) Started "talking" to A
10) Thanksgiving
11) Caught up w/ Emizzle & Jess
12) United Way Grant Award reception (I was awarded $1,000 for my project "Technology for the Senses")
December:
13) Reindeer Fun Run 5k w/ Derrick
14) Went on a date w/ A
15) Stopped "talking" to A (and was rather melo-dramatic about it lol)
16) Disney World/Orlando, FL w/ mom and dad and uncle bro and aunt why for Christmas
17) Caught up with old friends over Christmas break (Matt, Tasha, Jess, Shan, Leo)
18) Tons of Christmas parties and food before Christmas break (sign club had a Christmas party and we invited some deaf friends to come)
19) Workshop in Greensboro and got to catch up with old friends (Amber, JennJenn)
20) Had a random "thing" with Amber's roommate lol


Other random memories from the past 3 months:
-Life group is going well!
-Tina is back in the area teaching again; wasn't a big fan of being a flight attendant
-Taught lil miss LW "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and she rocked!
-Saw the movies Django Unchained, Jack Reacher, and Pitch Perfect over Christmas break
--Got kinky twists and I LOVE them although I scratch my hair way too much
--Martha came to lifegroup with me one night which was swell
--speeding tickets =/
--Got a new laptop (finally) which I am using right now!

It's been a very full and happy end of the year.  I've learned a lot.  I look forward to all that 2013 has in store (friendships, relationships?, grad school, teaching, etc).  Onward!