I Went to Disneyland!!

I'm just going to warn you right now: You're going to be jealous by this post unless you've been to Southern California (specifically Disneyland and Magic Mountain Six Flags) in the past seven days.

Ryan, Me and Craig and in front of the Magic Kingdom. Did you know they are giving away Dream Suite nights where you actually get to sleep in the castle for a night? Amazing huh?The Incredibles, Me, Ryan and Craig

You heard it here folks. A friend of mine celebrated a birthday last week and instead of planning the lame old regular party, we decided it would be a grand idea to visit the happiest place on Earth. Of course, when we originally talked about it, we didn't actually think we would go to Disneyland. I mean, what 26,27 and 29 year old people who are all teachers in the last little bit of the year actually take time off of work to go to Disneyland? Well...me and my crew do. And oh my is it soooo much better than I remember it.



In addition to being the first people in line to meet Mickey Mouse, having front row seats for Fantasmic and the Million Dreams Fireworks Spectacular, riding EVERY important ride in both California Adventure and Disneyland at least twice, watching the Disneyland Electrical Parade while enjoying a spectacular bottle of wine at the pseudo winery in California Adventure and getting more wet on Splash Mountain that once thought possible, we were also lucky enough to spend a day at Six Flags.



Imagine if you will a nice Monday morning...we exit our convertible that we rented for the weekend onto the grounds of Magic Mountain. We walk up to wait in line for the park to open. As we're waiting, there is a rather large group of people just hanging out and workers are doing this little dance/entertain the crowd thing. Being three lovely high school teachers, we of course have no problem making fools of ourselves, so we begin to dance along with them. Imagine our surprise when they announce that they have chosen us to be the openers of the park for that day?!? At first we're thinking "no big deal...just going to walk in front of some people." No. That isn't it at all. In order to be the openers of the park, one must ride on a float with a variety of characters, dance around to "Celebrate Good Times" and then at just the right moment, push down a giant TNT thing that releases confetti into the air thus announcing that Magic Mountain is open for the day. Yep. I did that. I'm kind of a big deal. People know me.


So yeah. Went to Disneyland for a few days. Had an absolute blast. Love my friends. Enjoy the pictures. (Don't I look cute in the picture with Minnie? I love her!)

Ryan, the shortest Mickey Mouse ever, Me, Craig

Sigh...

You know when you get to a point in life when really the only thing you can do is sigh? Like (and for the record I actually stopped and erased the word "like" because I really do hate using it lest I sound like a high schooler...I mean, I spend enough time with them, I don't need to talk like them too...but it fits here) there isn't any other solution or thing that can make you feel better. Generally speaking sighing is reserved for situations that you are exasperated with or just want to give up on...so I suppose this doesn't really fit because I don't want to give up, but really what else is there to do?


Some students that I may or may not work with at a rather large suburban high school (always want to protect some shred of anonymity right?) are making some rather POOR choices as of late and I think all that is left to do is sigh. A few weeks ago a bunch of them went on a trip to NYC, some of them smoked an illegal substance, some of them got suspended. It was the talk of the town. You would think that making an example of a few prominent students would be enough...but alas, another group of students are on another trip and the very same thing happens. Really? What are they thinking? It's almost like a slap in the face you know. We spend all of this time talking about making good decisions and how choices affect our futures...yep. Been talking to myself apparently. This is the part of the job that I abosolutely hate.

But here is the part of the job that I absolutely LOVE!!

We beat the rival by one point. Sure...that brings our record to something like 2-7 but whatever. For those brief moments life was grand.

And here are a bunch of CHAPERONES...yep adults at the high school dance getting our picture taken.

Why wouldn't you want to be a high school teacher? Perhaps I'm just a little bit premature in passing out my sighs.

Loving People On Purpose

Hmm...it's been awhile...though how can you really be disappointed when the last blog I posted had a picture of me in a Christmas sweater and my friend in a full length red velvet dress? If you're complaining after that, get a life. Take pleasure in the simple things. Really.

While there are numerous things I could write about...went and visited my dad and his side of the family over the holidays, just finishing up Semester One of teaching year three, moved into a new house with a roommate again...all of those fail in comparison to something serious that has actually been on my heart lately.

Relationships. (No. Not a relationship. Just relationships in general. And by the way, wouldn't you be really mad if you were reading about me having a boyfriend via a blog? You should be. That's a lame way to spread the news. Sorry to those of you who have written blogs about dating new people)

The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.

Love God passionately. Love His people on purpose. Both of these statements seem to be pretty simple to understand, but for some reason they all of the sudden have this new found meaning and urgency to them. Loving God passionately and loving His people on purpose is what I was made for and if I'm not doing that, something is wrong.

Remember how I was talking about how restless I've become as of late? Well over break I received a job offer to work at a charter school in Baltimore. It came with more money, more opportunities, pretty much more everything. I was pretty excited about it when I came home and immediately began telling some people from work about it. Though in the midst of my excitement, there was something that just didn't feel right about it. I didn't understand why I WOULDN'T want to take this job...

So I thought...and prayed....and thought some more about what it was that was holding me back from doing this until something hit me.

My relationships. These people that I thought I just worked with on a daily basis have become something to me that I never expected. They're my friends and I love them...but honestly, I have a lot of friends. My friends at work have become people I love on purpose...a card on a big game day, coffee while talking about a student, a smile and a hug when they're getting divorced. Over the last three years our lives have become this interconnected sort of thing that all of the sudden makes perfect sense. God knew exactly what He was doing when He brought me to this place...I just didn't trust that He did. He knew that these people were going to become a part of me and that I was going to become a part of them and that no amount of money or no grandiose opportunities could take me away from it. Not yet anyways.

It seems that all too often I try to take things into my own control. I get restless. I want to change. Me. Me. Me. Funny how God shakes things up huh? It's like when Peter calls out to Jesus and He commands him to step out of the boat and walk on the water. Everything is going fine for Peter...he's walking on the water, but then he looks away from Jesus and SPLASH!! He falls. That's like me...everything can be going just fine...walking along on the water, and the moment I take my eyes off of Him it all falls apart.

So yeah...a bit random, but not really because I've been challenged to love people on purpose. They're there for a reason. He knows the reason. He'll let me in on it when the time is right.