The light at the end of the tunnel...

Have you ever heard someone say that the light at the end of the tunnel is just the oncoming train? Sometimes I trick myself into thinking that I will find some relief or end to life's constant go go go once some chapter or season has come to an end, but I need to remind myself that life doesn't stop, and that at the end of one thing comes the beginning of another-for the good or the stressful : )

The current tunnel is this school year, my first year teaching. The end is a mere 3 1/2 weeks away-but I have to keep myself in check so that I just don't wish all my days away, but that I can absorb each moment for what it is worth and laugh and cherish every crazy moment that happens on a daily basis with my kids.

Last week was our week of standardized testing (The CRCTs for those of you familiar with Georgia Public Schools) It is brutal, stressful, they threaten you with the loss of your teaching license if you administer them wrong, and they tell you myriads of stories and statistics of teachers who have indeed lost their jobs and their license to teach over these crazy tests! Everyday I came home exhausted with a pounding headache and neck ache due to the tension and stress that occurred during the four hours every morning that I had a group testing. Each day was a different subject matter-and each day the kids got more and more antsy as they were forced to be quiet and sit still for what felt like an insane amount of time.

The testing environment is crazy-walls stripped bare- strict rules about communication- "Raise one finger for a kleenex, two fingers for a new pencil, no getting out of your desk, and absolutely no verbal communication with the teacher! I can't answer any questions about the exam, I am not even allowed to know what is on it" YIKES! 

As you can imagine some of the students are a little on edge. One of my colleagues told me a week ago that usually at least one kid a year pukes under the pressure. I thought that was ridiculous! That teacher also told me that he had only had 1 student ever puke in his classroom in his 16 years of teaching. I had a student puke my first 2 months of teaching, so he said I was in the clear : ) 

Well, low and behold, testing came about and not only once, but twice, did I have a student barf during testing. For which some of the teachers think I deserve an award (to be honest I just wanted to go home haha)  Now this might sound sad for the student, and somewhat gross for the others, but in all honestly the one thing on your mind is "Did he throw up on the test document? I need to get a hall monitor and email and administrator! I need to stop testing and record the incident and record the time the students ceased testing due to the disruption!" I'm thinking about legal testing ramifications while a student stares at me with puke all over himself-I tell him "Don't worry sweety, we'll get you cleaned up, as I run in the opposite direction to get out my testing manual and incident report"

All that to say-lots of signed statements, paperwork, and moving my class to various alternate locations later-I survived testing and will live to teach another day : ) 

Here are some pics from our past month-clearly we have been busy because they are sparse!!!

 Lemon and Raspberry Layer Cake Mom Woodward and I made during their visit in mid April. We were so blessed that not only she and dad came to visit, but that grammy and grampy made the trek down to our stomping grounds as well!!! It was so great to have them all in our home. We were able to show them Shane's new school, take them to our church, and spend some quality time sharing stories with each other!

 Our attempt at a more fresh take on dessert- making our own parfaits with raspberries, strawberries, granola, blueberries and whip cream!!! Ended up being very indulgent-whoops. 

 Our first craigslist sale ever! Posted it and sold it in the same day!! (Ikea bookshelf)

We just ended the month celebrating T.J. and Kelly Anderson's wedding last night! (Shane coached with T.J. at Mountain View for the past few years)  So happy for them both and their adventure ahead.

Ready or not, May, here we come! 

-M.W.