Ok, everyone needs to check out the snap photography link that is on my side bar… Colin has a MI post about him! It is super cool!!
If anyone cares to listen October 30, 2006
I have always prided myself on being a good listener. Growing up I never had to be the center of attention, I usually would get cut off in a conversation by one of my siblings that needed to get their word out more than I did. I have and still am fine with that, being a Christian is not about me any way, I like being available to help by just being supportive. However, I think I missed the memo about the recovery center for those that enjoy listening. I didn’t realize how wiped out I could feel in this position. Maybe I just need someone that would be willing to be my listener, someone that will let me talk about whatever is on my heart and not always find a way to fix it, or a story to top what’s going on in my life. Well, at least on this blog I can pretend like people are listening (all 3 of my faithful viewers any way).
A few weeks ago, Pastor Mark, our guest speaker talked about using the tools God has given to us to minister to our friends and family. We are all called to be missionaries, but not all of us are called to do it on the other side of the planet. When I think about my ministry and where that is, it is sort of big. I have 3 co-workers, male PE teachers, and about 250 kids in my classes. I know I may not be called to minister to all of them, but I sure try… not to mention that I am the only girl teacher and have to take care of a locker room all by myself, (about 450-500 girls through out the day) and that really gets overwhelming. Today was sort of an one of those overwhelming days at school, I had a somewhat late night yesterday spending time with a really good friend so I didn’t get as much sleep as I usually do. This morning started with organizing the days activities and deciding what would occur for the week in class. There seems to be one day each week that my students act more odd than usual. Today was that day. I want to be a good teacher, but sometimes I feel as though the kids don’t really care to hear what I have to say or see what I want to teach.
My sixth period class in particular…
It took half the period to get all of the students dressed out in their PE clothes and when we finally were ready I had to escort a few girls back to the locker room because they didn’t get the memo that dressing out wasn’t an option. I came out of the locker room to find a student huddled in the corner in so much pain because they had been attacked by several other students from that period. This student had been punched, and kicked and the kids that did it were supposedly, “just fooling around.” It was so bad that this kid could not get off the ground without sever sharp pains to his side, I called security, and the nurse to get the student help right away. Finally an ambulance and fire truck were brought to the scene to take the student to the hospital. He probably has broken ribs and sever brusing all because I wasn’t there to stop them. Not to mention that I have had a migraine since Saturday that I was finally able to go to the Chiropractor for today. Today’s events made it that much worse. I tried to call my husband to explain what had happed and I couldn’t get a word out without tears coming down my face.
So, this is my group to evangelize to, these students are my kids. Events like today make it very difficult to desire to bring kids of my own into this world. I don’t remember ever having to deal with things like this in school. How can I guarantee that I would be able to protect my own kids when I can’t even protect my students?!?
Maybe tomorrow will be better, thanks for listening…
Girls Night Out October 22, 2006
So, a few weeks ago we (Jamila, Meagan, Tasha, Laura, Janie and I) went to BJ’s for a girls night out. Being married now for 3 years, I don’t get out much. But I must say I had a really great time. Tasha took some really great pics. We definitely need to do that again. When is everyone available for the sleep-over and treats?? Send me your comments peeps!
iPods October 18, 2006
Ok, so I have had this iPod Nano since last Christmas and it is starting to wig-out on me. I tried to upload some more songs, and then update my iPod and it said it was full. Normally that would be fine, but it has 4GB room and only about 3.5 of it has been used. AND now it is saying there is some sort of corrupted file!
And all I wanted to do was listen to music while going for a run, but I didn’t even go for a run because I was on the computer for an hour trying to FIX the dumb iPod!! Oi!
Watching you October 17, 2006
Ups and downs of a day October 14, 2006
Today was my cross country kids first day of competition. We took them (all 33 little middle school kids) to the 59th Annual Mt. Sac Invitational. This is one of the biggest cross country meets of the year. The competition has separate races for Elementary school, Middle School, High School, Jr. College and regular colleges. Hundreds of schools from around the country (specifically high school and college) come to compete with the best. Being a brand new school, our kids are not the best, and pretty much have zero experience. But they did great! I was soooo proud of all of them… some were having a real hard time at practice, many not completing their workouts (they would walk if they got tired). I am pretty sure all of the kids ran the entire race without giving up. Some students even suprised us! We teamed up with a middle school in our district to save money on bus fair and help unite the middle schools in our area. We had a great area set up for the kids to rest in, and for the most part they were very well behaved. We had an unfortunate event in which a student stole money from one of their teammates, and they are being removed from the team. I was really frustrated about this, but this student has had several chances and keeps making the wrong choices.
On the upside, the parent of the student that had the money stolen was very supportive and is going to take care of the incident with the school.
When I got home, for some reason I had TONS of energy. I sweeped and wiped down my entire kitchen floor, (on my hands and knees) I cleaned up the living room, vacuumed downstairs, cleaned the bathroom upstairs and did 3 loads of laundry. Then I showered and now I am a little tired.
While I was in the midst of cleaning… my neighbor from across the way rang my door bell. She is an older woman that lives right across from me that we have chatted with several times. Their son owns the condo they live in and they were staying in it for the summer. They are moving back to Canada for the winter. They are trying to sell their dinning room table and asked if we knew anyone that needed one (let me know if anyone is interested in buying it). Out of the blue as we were walking to look at it she asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes, and we briefly talked about church and how bummed we were that we had not talked about it before that. She also told me that a lady in another condo was a Christian and hosts a Bible study close by. She asked if I would be interested in coming and I gave her my information! Ok, yes it was 2 entries ago that I asked God to help me develop deeper relationships at school and wherever he wants me to. How funny that today I would do a little of both. I stepped out of my comfort zone with my neighbor and I am a little nervous/excited of what may become of it! Plus, I met two coaches at David A. Brown that are pretty great too. And, I work with a really cool PE teacher at my school. He and his wife are pretty great. They really care about kids and enjoy what they do.
How amazing it is when you ask God to make you grow and it actually starts to happen! I have always been shy and scared to talk with people I don’t know that well. I am always nervous that they will not like me or think I am fake or something. My friends and pastor have really encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and serve and love people. Lord, please help me to step even farther out of my comfort zone to love people even more!
My Pets October 9, 2006
So the yearbook lady at school has her students interviewing different teachers for different pages in the year book. There is a Pets page that some of the girls stopped by the department to discuss. Well, I don’t have any pets (they would die of bordom). But, I do have plants! The girls were pretty sure that they had to be pets not plants, so they moved on. Well, a few days later they stopped by again, and this is what they said, ” Mrs. Gilliland, after discussing it among each other we decided that your plants can qualify as pets.” They took a picture of me, and then asked me to e-mail a picture of myself with my “plant pets,” to the yearbook teacher… below is a picture of me and my pets. 
Desparate House Wives October 9, 2006
Ok, so I decided to stop watching Desparate House Wives on Sunday nights from 8-9pm and start reading my Bible, well… it is 8:50 and WHY AM I ON MY STINKING COMPUTER!?!?!?
Today Pastor Matt gave an amazing message, God really uses him to spread His love to the Church. Today was the fourth week in our “Mission Impossible,” series. The message was about who our target should and should not be when it comes to spreading God’s message. (I.e, our target should not be people from other churches that already know God, but instead those that are seeking to know Him.) Check out www.sandalschurch.com for more.
So, I have decided to step out and grow… (wow, look at that a step of obedience who knew) I thought I was just terrible at witnessing, when in fact I was focusing on the wrong people. My husband and I came to the conclusion that we have a tuff profession to deal with, not many educators are curious about God, they already have their mind made up about Him. And the kids, well if they ask, I will most certainly tell.
Ok, here goes… God please use me to be available to share with those that want to know more about You and help me to be aware of those around me that want to know Him. Please help me to seek out those that want to know you instead of those that want to fight with me about you.
Easy to say, let’s see what happens next. Will I blow it, or will I let God actually use me?
To be continued…
Cross Country Practice October 5, 2006
So I have a few jobs at school:
1. I teach 5 periods of PE a day, our current unit is gym activities (Nationball, Commander Frisbee, Medic etc.) and 2 days a week of cardio (run/walk on the blacktop until the fields are ready for the Bulldog trail.
2. I am one of the Leaders of the Snowboard Team to start treding in January.
3. Cross Country Coach: I am one of 2 coaches, the other just had surgery so he can’t run with us, so I get to pretty much lead.
4. I was asked to be the cheer coach, but said no.
5. I was asked to be on the SST team, but said no.
6. I am a second year BTSA Teacher.
So, now that all of my jobs have been announced we had our first day of cross country practice after school. There are about 40 or so kids interested, and we decided to start them off today with an 18 minute contiuous run to see where they were at. Well, all but a few pretty much died, ok, so they didn’t die, but they didn’t run the entire time… we have lots of work to do. In the mean time I will stay in shape because I will be running with the kids at each practice. Our first invitational is October 13th at the Mt. Sac Middle School Races.
