Missing

I miss my Grandma Perkins a lot lately, but especially today. I stopped by to see her grave. I did that a year ago, and there wasn't a headstone then, so I was grateful there was one today. She is buried under a big, beautiful tree. It was close to 9 PM at night, and the cemetery was deserted. Just barely enough light to find my way. I love that she's buried under that big, beautiful tree, for a few reasons. The first being that it's easy for me to find it. The second being that it's such a peaceful area. I sat by her grave and talked to her for a while, and I felt a peaceful contentment. I felt her presence with me. I wonder what she would say to me if I told her my current situations in my life, the choices I have made recently, and the decisions I need to make for my future. I can hear her saying, "Quin, you are a beautiful woman. God made you intelligent and wise to make your own decisions.." something like that. I used to hate when I was little, how my grandma would call me Quin. She REFUSED to call me Tawna. She was the only person I would let call me that. It took me a really long time to embrace my full name. But now, I treasure that I let her be the only one to call me that. I have a lot of friends who now call me that, and I always am reminded of my grandma when I hear it.

I am very proud of my heritage, and the family I come from. I know that my grandma was an amazing woman who had a Christlike heart and I want her to be proud of me. I need to keep her in mind as I make some important decisions in my life. I love you grandma. Thank you for helping me to love myself.

Obsessed

I've recently put myself on the bandwagon of looking up first grade teaching blogs. I am officially obsessed!! How have I not discovered these blogs sooner?! As evidence on my own blog, (look to your right-do you see all those new teaching buttons? Yeahhh..can we say just a LEE-TLE bit much?) you can tell that I care more about looking at teaching ones than at other blogs lately, which also includes updating my own. But I came across a blog entry today that had me laughing out loud. Any of you that are teachers can totally relate to the following. It describes perfectly what I go through on a day to day basis!

You Know You Teach First Grade When...

- Your once neatest handwriters are suddenly writing their names illegibly. Because they're attempting to write in cursive with no formal instruction.

- You've been through no less than 762 glue sticks.

- You've considered changing your name for the day just so you don't have to respond to Ms._______ seventy-eight times in an hour.

- You're fairly certain that a select few students will never recognize the written difference between a "b" and a "d" no matter how many times you correct them.

- You get just as excited as the kids do when the Scholastic book order comes in.

- You welcome inventive spelling if only to have something entertaining to read.

- You wish you got a dollar every time you told your class to "be a level zero in the hallway" or to "get in line" when walking down the hall.

- You have at least one Dr. Jean album on your iPod.

- Calendar activities exhaust you. {Maybe that's just me... I'm hoping that doing it on the SmartBoard next year will alleviate some of my pain!}

- You love your students' goofy smiles due to their jack-o-lantern-like assortment of *missing* teeth.

- On that same note, you are driven *12 kinds of crazy* when students repeatedly get up from whole group time to get a tissue to wiggle a loose tooth.

- Your heart goes pitter patter when hear your firsties read, smiling at the fact that you are the one responsible for that.

Although this time of year is very exhausting in teaching, with kids being ready for summer, and sick of being with the same peers for hours every day (even my really well behaved kiddos have started fighting with each other lately!), I absolutely love and adore them, and I absolutely love and adore what I get to do everyday. I'm constantly learning, seeking for new ideas, figuring out ways to help my students succeed, laughing at the funny things they say, and moved to tears by how tender their precious hearts are. Teaching truly is my calling for life, as one of my student's parents so very kindly pointed out to me recently. I was made for this. Please bless that me telling myself that can get me through the last few crazy weeks of school!