Housing update

Since my last post over a month ago we have lived among boxes and waited for closing day to arrive. Tomorrow's the day! We had hoped for last weekend...but after Saturday's all day downpour we realized it would have been a miserable moving day.

We'd appreciate prayers as we spend the next few days getting settled in our new home.

BIG birthday present :)

A little over a month ago Matt asked me what I wanted for my birthday. We both laughed as I said "a house." Here we are a little over a month later, on our way to buying our first house :)

We met with a realtor a few weeks back and thought it would just open the door to allow us to look at houses that we liked. 2 days later we looked at 3 houses. 3 days later we were putting an offer on the house. That evening our offer was accepted. Things have been moving along quickly as we look ahead to moving in the end of October.

View from the kitchen into the living room

Entry way--and a view into the dining room (which we'll probably make an office for now)

Living room

That's the big news for us :) We're excited to be entering this new adventure in our life.

first day

Overall, it was a wonderful day. I have a great group of students who are already showing eagerness to learn and excitement for 3rd grade. Their eagerness and excitement began to dwindle as the day wore on. Normally, I may take this rather personally...however I realize it was the near 95 degree temperature in the room that brought about the droopy eyes and sleepy heads. Tomorrow is looking to be more unbearable, although I think the ice pops I bought tonight may help :)

About 20 minutes after the students had arrived and were hard at work one of the boys called me over and told me in a soft voice, "Mrs. George, Thank you for our morning work. Thank you for being so nice. And, you are beautiful."

About 2 hours into the morning, after we had practiced our fire drill line up I gave my students about 5 minutes to go play on the playground. One of my girls ran up to me with her arms held out wide, looked right at me and proclaimed, "Has anyone ever told you that you are the greatest teacher EVER?"

Well...how can I not be excited for what this year has in store? I pray that God can use me to change the lives of each student whom he has entrusted to my care. Please pray along with me this year as I will undoubtedly face great challenges and even greater successes.

my classroom

I spent last week in my classroom preparing for the year ahead. Between last year being my first and the year's rocky start I never really felt good about the set-up of it all. This year I love it! Thought I'd share some pictures of where I spend a lot of my time...

This is the area to the right when you walk in the door. It is my writing center/sign in table/small reading carpet. I think this corner is my favorite space in the room :)


This is just a better view of my sign in table. I especially like my $2 fake plant :) There's another one by my desk.


This is the carpet area, straight ahead as you walk in the door. This is probably my 2nd favorite place in the classroom. Notice a trend? I enjoy the comfy reading areas :)


This is my desk area...I've still got some work to do here. But you get the idea. I have a window view :) Can you find the other $2 plant?

I have one more day of preparation before the kiddos come Thursday :)

why I do what I do...

http://vodpod.com/watch/970676-dalton-sherman-%E2%80%94-dynamic-speaker-extraordinaire

This is why I teach.

It's a longer video...but well worth watching. This boy was gaving the opening day convocation to 20,000 Dallas teachers.

Old Time Base Ball

Last Sunday we joined John and Amy for a day of base ball. It wasn't baseball the way we usually think of base ball. It was 1865 rules and attire.

I especially enjoy the touristy cooler :)

Amy and I enjoyed watching these two boys who would have fit right in with Laura Ingalls and her antics :).

They even had the little kids changing the score and outs.

a year ago...

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary :) It is hard to believe that it's already been a year! This year has been filled with blessings, challenges and growth. I love going through life with my best friend beside me...it makes all of life's moments extra special.

This weekend we were able to get away to celebrate our year together. We were so blessed to have found such a wonderful bed & breakfast.
We arrived Friday evening to find the hosts and another couple sitting on the porch enjoying the view over Seneca Lake. We quickly settled our stuff and joined them for some porch sitting. We soon learned that the hosts were originally from Rochester area then moved to their vacation area to build this beautiful home. We also found that the husband was a former RIT baseball player. The baseball conversation took off as we continued to enjoy a relaxing evening. We woke up Saturday morning to the amazing smells of breakfast. The 4 guest couples gathered around the large breakfast table as our hosts served omelets, french toast, fresh fruit, scones and endless coffee. Matt and I mentioned that we were planning to go kayaking that day and before we knew it our host had already called and made kayak reservations for us.

We spent the next 3 1/2 hours enjoying the views of Seneca Lake as we kayaked a total of 8 miles. We were sore, but the time together, the beautiful views and the workout were totally worth it!
Sorry about the last picture...you do what you can when you need to use a pile of rocks for your camera stand and the only view of the lake looks directly into the sun.

We headed back to the bed & breakfast for some more porch sitting and a round of ladder golf before we headed out for an early dinner. Our hosts had suggested a restaurant on Keuka Lake with a beautiful view. They were right...it was a beautiful view...however, the food could have been a little less greasy. By this time we were ready to crash for good after our busy day. We went back for an evening of good conversation with our hosts and a few of the other couples.

Sunday morning we woke up to another amazing breakfast: egg casserole, pancakes, fresh fruit, banana bread and coffee. The weekend was perfect. If anyone ever needs a nice get-away place let us know...we'll gladly pass on the information. You can't beat the incredible hospitality and relaxation we enjoyed.

it's been too long...

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog this summer. I'll do my best to capture what's happened this summer:

*Grandma passed away on July 14th. Thank you for everyones thoughts and prayers.

*I've been able to catch up on scrapbooking :) I think I'll have our wedding album finished by the time summer's over.

*What summer isn't complete without a weekend at a cottage? John and Amy invited us to join them for a weekend at their family's cottage. It was the perfect time of relaxing and enjoying the company of good friends. Check out the pictures on Amy's blog.

*Matt has always told me about the civil war re-enactment at Genesse Country Museum. This year we were finally around for the event and spent the day wandering through the village and going back in time. It was an incredible event!

*This past weekend we traveled home for a Brown family reunion. It was a great family weekend. We spent Friday and Saturday with my family then went to Matt's parents for the rest of the weekend. Standing out to me as one of the best times was hearing Laura's laugh for *most* of the car ride home on Saturday. She loved having an audience to entertain.
This box cover helped with the entertainment. And of course, I gave it a try as well...but didn't look nearly as cute as Laura. I'm sure Andrea will make that photo known soon enough :)

*And lastly...the large beam in our apartment *almost* fell on Matt last night:
Last week I noticed the beam was slowly inching away from the ceiling. We let our landlord know, he checked it out and assured us we'd be okay until he returned from vacation. We were fine for the week. Last night they came to fix it and realized they didn't have all the necessary tools. Right after they left we went to the kitchen to get some cookies and milk, came back to the couch, sat down and CRASH! Do you see the fan cord? That's all that kept it from falling on Matt's head! Fortunately, 2 hours later the beam is fixed and secure!

grandma

During these past 2 weeks I have been reminded of the great blessings of family. It started with a week long family reunion in Michigan. I'll be sure to post more about the week later, but for now something else...
The blessings continued this week as I had the opportunity to spend this week with my parents at our cottage. I planned the trip over a month ago and little did I know then that the timing of the trip would be the perfect chance for me to visit with my grandma in the nursing home. We are pretty sure she is facing her last few days here on this earth and although this brings sadness, it also brings reminders of God's promises. I know she will be going to the place God has prepared for her. She will be seeing Jesus face to face. And I know her broken body will be restored!
My mom and I have been sharing scripture and song lyrics back and forth that have been encouragement to us over the last few days so I thought I'd share some:

Christians never say goodbye
We only move to our home up high
Free from pain...with Jesus we will reign
______

When we all get to heaven
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus
We'll sing and shout the victory!
______

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. -Psalm 84:10
______

If you are reading this, please keep my family in your prayers at this time.

***I realized after I posted that I should mentioned this is not the same grandma who I previously posted about. She is doing better and recovering well.***

School's out for summer!

It's hard to believe it's already June and I officially survived my first full year of teaching. I think when I look back on my teaching career in 30 years I may actually be able to say that the first few months of this year were the most difficult. One student made those months particularly difficult...and all it took was him slapping me and he was out. I can laugh about it now...but it truly was a test which I can now say I passed. After those trials I was able to really get to know the other students in my class and realized how incredibly blessed I was to spend this year with them.

Tomorrow morning I take off for Michigan for the family reunion. I'll be there all week, Matt will be joining us on Thursday. I'm sure I'll have plenty of memories and pictures to share when we get back next weekend! Stay posted!

our life in pictures

With the end of baseball season, Matt's graduation and the end of the school year I'm not sure where time has gone. I figured a collection of pictures would be the best way to update...enjoy :)

Matt's done! He graduated!

Matt's graduation present:

Well, his present is the grill...but somehow I got a patio set out of the deal too :) We've since had to move our grill to the front porch. CrAzY Rochester winds!

June provided opportunity for yet another girls' weekend. With Beth heading off to South Korea and Karen getting married in October it was a necessary get together. We were able to pull off a surprise bridal shower for Karen. We're so excited for her! We also enjoyed the precious time of worshiping together at church.

This week we received news that my grandma had been admitted to the hospital. They discovered a tumor and an enlarged aorta. Matt and I went to visit over the weekend and I was so blessed to have the chance to pray with her and share my faith.
She went into surgery on Tuesday evening with a predicted 5% survival. As a friend of mine said "someone must have forgotten to tell God about that 5%." God had other plans and brought her through the surgery successfully. She is still in ICU under close watch.

I think that's enough for picture updates for now. Only 7 more days of school!

my teacher wanted to be the hero...

I've recently been teaching my students what it means to add voice to their writing. I got this idea from my colleague and needed to share the outcome.

At the beginning of writing on Friday morning I gave each student a blank piece of paper, told them to write their name on it (a direction that is still CONSTANTLY needed) and proceeded to tell them for the next thing to work there was to be no talking, and no laughing. I walked behind my desk, pulled out a bag of fudge stripe cookies, opened the bag and started eating one in front of them. I was sure to let them know how delicious the cookie tasted and smelled. I then went back to the bag and grabbed another cookie. By this time I have some students turning their backs on me, others pleading (without saying anything) with me to give them one. I believe I became even more obnoxious with the second cookie, letting them know how great it was.

After finishing the 2 cookies I closed the package and returned it to my desk drawer. I then instructed my students to spend the next 4 minutes writing about what had just taken place.

After those 4 minutes had passed I gave them the chance to share what they had written. I thought you'd enjoy reading some of their responses:

"She didn't share. We wanted some good chocolate chip cookies and I bet they were delicious!"

"You made me feel like I wanted to explode!"

"It made me mad and angry. I will just take the cookies and hog them all!"

"Mrs. George ate cookies in front of us to make us really hungry. Mrs. George also described that they were good to make us even more hungry"

"She didn't even stop to give us one, not one single crumb! I love these kind of cookies! I felt really jealous because I don't usually get them!"

"I turned my back so I did not have to think about it!"


There were many other great responses, but on with the story :). I then went back to my desk and grabbed the bag of cookies. Upon giving the "no talking" direction again I placed one cookie on each students' desk. Their faces lit up, they were so excited...until...I informed them that they couldn't eat it. I gave them another few minutes to write again:

"My teacher wanted to be a grinch!"

"My teacher wanted to be the hero of saving us from hunger. But it's not fair she gets to eat one and we can't. I'm soooooooo made at my teacher. If I had a cookie I would rub it in her face too. I would say aha you can't have any! That's what you get! Now she's not the hero."

"This really does not bother me because I have these cookies at home all the time so when I go home I'll just have some."

"We finally got a cookie (yay!) and we can't eat it (aw man!). If you ate it why can't we eat it?"

"You are sharing with us, you are the best teacher. Except now we can't eat it! I am through with this, I am going to eat it anyways!"

"When you turn your back I will eat all the cookies in one second!"


Don't worry, I let them eat their cookies and their stories quickly changed back to my being a good teacher :) They understood my reason for our activity and now recognize the voice in their own writing! Mission accomplished!

I am...

I am: a child of God, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a teacher (thanks for the great answer Amy...with one change).

I think: I'm glad God is writing my story. ("We find ourselves in the middle of a story that is sometimes wonderful, sometimes awful, often a confusing mixture of both, and we haven't the slightest clue how to make sense of it all...we try to interpret the meaning of life with only fragments, isolated incidents, feelings, and images without reference to the story of which these scenes are merely a part." The Sacred Romance)

I want: the coffee table we found today :)

I wish: that more people would accept the love of our Savior.

I hate: folding laundry.

I miss: living with my college girls. Who wouldn't want 5 additional wardrobes, 5 shoulders to cry on, 5 prayer warriors, and 5 best friends.

I fear: losing those close to me.

I feel: proud of my husband and all his accomplishments :)

I hear: NBA Live (Matt's playing).

I smell: fresh air (I love having a sliding glass door to open :)

I crave: the Olive Garden desserts we have waiting in our fridge for later (or sooner).

I search: online for houses for sale, knowing full well we're not ready to buy yet.

I regret: the years when I didn't make my family a priority.

I love: being married to my best friend.

I ache: for the children in this generation who don't know what it means to grow up in a loving home.

I care: about my students.

I always: buy sweedish fish when I drive long distances by myself.

I am not: always as confident as I want to be. I sometimes forget that I was "wonderfully made" in the eyes of God.

I believe: in the power of the blood of Jesus.

I sing: in the car. When Matt and I sing in the car it becomes a competition to see who can sing the MOST off key.

I cry: easily.

I lose: whenever I play Yahtzee against Matt (who else gets 3 yahtzees in a row on the first 3 turns?)

I never: turn down skittles.

I need: to get serious about an exercise plan.

I am happy: to be an aunt to such a beautiful baby girl.

I hope: to be a blessing to those I come in contact with.

CONGRATS!

My brother called tonight and asked if I had enough practice being an aunt. I asked if my answer would change the news he was about to share. They are expecting their first baby. So exciting!!!

Congrats Kevin & Dawn! We are eager to celebrate with you in this exciting time! Love you!

new summer do

For awhile I've been wanting to do something different with my hair. But well, I just didn't know what that something different would be. I figured it out:


I told my hair dresser I wanted style and less hair! Thick hair is definitely a blessing in the winter when I need a heater. But when warm weather comes, it is not fun to spend 20 minutes with a hot blow dryer attempting to style it. It's then that I give up and throw it in a pony tail.

It took me 5 minutes to do my hair this morning! I'm going to like this!

I have more to post about but will spread those out over the next few days :)

more faith and less doubt

I never came to you, my friend,
and went away without
some new enrichment of the heart;
More faith and less doubt. --Grace Cowell

I found this beautiful quote on friends and feel as though it perfectly captures the way I feel after each opportunity to spend time with the friends God has blessed me with. Heidi, Beth and I have been great friends since college. We've stayed close over the years and look forward to each girls weekend we can have together. We stayed up late (ahem...I actually made it until midnight 2 nights in a row!), ate junk food, shopped, talked, laughed and even fit in a chick flick.

One of my favorite parts of spending time with my girls is going to church together. I love that it's a priority and passion we all have that helps develop our bound. These are the girls I've laughed and cried with, the girls who have seen me at my most broken times, where some would run, they have stood beside me, prayed with me and helped me grow. I love standing beside them as we worship God together. Thanks for your friendship girls!

Looking forward to the next girls weekend in June :)


On another note, my hubby is RIT's athlete of the week! I'm so proud of him! Love you babe!

Spring Break

We were blessed with amazing weather last week...definitely can't complain. I returned to school today and heard endless stories of people who traveled south and had cooler weather than what we had here. What goes good with great weather? Baseball of course! Matt had games Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Matt's parents came up Thursday for the baseball packed weekend. We spent Friday together while Matt was at school. We went for a walk and found some great shopping deals :) That evening we met up with Bethany and decided on pizza before heading to the movies. Although we rarely choose to pay full price for movies we thought it'd be worth it to see Ben Stein's Expelled. An added bonus: a girl from Bethany's team was working the ticket window and gave us all the senior discount :) Not bad!

I'll admit I'm not usually one for watching, let alone enjoying documentaries but I highly recommend this movie! Ben Stein brings to light many circumstances in which scientists and/or professors have been forced to leave their jobs because of their belief in Intelligent Design versus Darwinism. In addition, he interviews many Darwinists who struggle to identify scientific proof for what they believe. I know I can't do it justice so please...just go see it!



On another note...prior to break Matt and I spent a weekend dog sitting for Beckett while John and Amy headed out of town for a few days. It took about 2 of the 4 days for him to settle in and realize he was stuck with us for a few days. We survived the weekend despite the endless bell ringing (his trained way of letting you know he "needs" to go outside). He's figured out the system: ringing the bell every 10 minutes on a nice day is a guaranteed way get outside and enjoy a few minutes of sunshine. No really though, he is the most well-trained puppy I've ever met. It was fun for Matt and I to have a puppy for a weekend. We did however realize that we're not ready for one of our own.



Looking forward to an upcoming girls weekend with Beth and Heidi. I'm sure I'll have more to post after that :)

can I call another blog "update"?

Alright, I know I keep saying it. But I realize I need to get better at updating my blog. So hear it goes again, another promise that I'll do better...we'll see :)

It's official...Matt has a real job! We thank all of you who have been praying for us as we wait on God's plan. God made it all very clear to us about a week back when Matt received word from the White Plains job (down near NYC) that he hadn't gotten the job. Not 10 minutes later another offer was presented to him. He had interviewed 3 weeks earlier with the place he worked over the summer. Just that morning at breakfast we both commented that that particular job probably wasn't going to happen since he hadn't heard back. Ha...God had a different idea :) Matt has accepted the position and we'll be staying here in Rochester :) It was a clear answer to prayer and a clear decision to make.

Although the whole search was an emotional roller coaster I can't put to words how it helped to bring Matt and I even closer together. If that was the plan God had for all the questioning and wondering then it was well worth it.

Hmmm...what else...

Matt and I went to see the play Peter Pan this weekend. It was INCREDIBLE! The sets were immaculate, the singing outstanding and the special effects flying was unbelievable! And to top it all...the show was performed by middle schoolers. Matt's cousin goes to one of the Greece middle schools and was one of the lost boys (there were at least 50 of them, in addition to the 50 some indians and 50 some pirates!!!). We were in for a surprise when Peter Pan's entrance onto stage took him high above the stage!

Hmmm...what else...

Oh, I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to share after this next weekend when Matt and I dog-sit for this little guy. John and Amy are heading out of town and asked us to take care of Beckett while they're away. Matt and I would love to have a dog, but can't in our apartment so maybe this will be a good substitute. We went over last night to learn all we needed to know to make sure he survives the weekend (or is it for our survival?). Amy had written her "sub plans" with Beckett's rules. I think he must have known something was up...he spent all evening trying to eat the plans. But hey, I guess you can't put too much past a dog who graduates from obedience school with honors.

Thanks for checking in.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Thank you for choosing me as your wife! Everyday I thank God for bringing us together and allowing us to walk through this journey together. Thank you for loving me!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!

Beach and Baseball

Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Myrtle Beach with Matt's parents for two things:

The Beach

and Baseball

I left last Friday right after school, planning to meet Matt's parents in Pennsylvania for the trip. About half-way to PA I started driving straight into a snow storm. From Cortland to Binghamton wasn't too bad...it was when I crossed the state line into PA that I started to think that they don't even own snow plows. I couldn't see in front of me, couldn't tell where the lines were on the road and couldn't get around the crazy drivers choosing to navigate the "middle" lane at 15 miles per hour. I finally met up with Matt's parents, had dinner then we decided to drive through the night (it was already 7:30pm). We were eager to get out of the winter weather! We arrived in Myrtle Beach at 9:30 Saturday morning. Although glad we were there, we weren't quite sure what to do to fill our time till we could get into our condo at 3:00. Well, we resorted back to our reason for being there...we went to the BEACH :)

Each day included a walk on the beach followed by an afternoon of watching the RIT tigers on the field.

It was an amazing week! It was such a blessing to spend quality time with my in-laws. We made tons of great memories (and collected just as many seashells :)


Matt was able to sneak away from the team to spend some time with us.

All week we'd driven past immaculate mini golf courses (there were huge regular golf courses too...but none of us are avid golfers). We knew we had to go before we left. We had a few hours Tuesday morning before Matt had to be at practice so we ventured out to find just the right course. The one we picked was Peter Pan themed...and way better than any mini golf course I'd ever been too.

I'm not really sure who won...for some reason I can't seem to recall that memory :)

Baseball season is in full swing after this week. Matt is supposed to play next weekend in PA, but with this crazy Northeast weather I'm not sure the fields will be ready. I'm not-so-secretly hoping the games will be canceled so he'll be home for his birthday this Saturday.