Lunch Duty?

For those of you who don't know the story here is the low down. At my school we get one semester with 2 free periods and one semester with a duty and a free period. Most of the time the duty is study hall in your classroom. This is slightly annoying because you have to supervise kids but overall it is not that big of a deal. You can grade papers, work on lesson plans, work at your computer etc. My first year teaching I had a study hall in my classroom, my second year teaching I had lunch duty, and my third year I had study hall in the auditorium 4th hour. Let me tell you, lunch duty was not fun. I had to supervise teenagers eating lunch for 64 minutes everyday. Yuck! But, I really worked hard at putting in my time without complaining too much because I knew everyone had to do it sometime. Well then things got annoying...not much happened with schedules so when I had 4th hour free again last year I was worried I would get lunch duty. Thank goodness I didn't but I had to supervise an 80 person study hall in the auitorium that was 30 min., lunch and then 30 more min. So, I had to take attendance twice, calm the kids down twice and be super strict. I liked it better than lunch duty but it was still the 2nd worst duty I could have had.

After putting in 2 bad years of duties I was really hoping this year would be better. Well in August when the schedules came out I had lunch duty again. What?! Not only was I annoyed because of lunch duty (someone else needed a turn) I was sick and miserable because of being pregnant. The last thing I could handle was school food, being on my feet and morning (all-day) sickness. Thankfully a co-worker of mine switched with me so I could do it 2nd semester. The bright side was I would only have half the semester of duty because of my maternity leave and I wouldn't be as sick. The down side was I'd be 6 months pregnant and growing at the start of lunch duty. Well, here is where the story gets good. Another co-worker of mine volunteered to give me his study hall and take my lunch duty so I wouldn't have to be on my feet for 64 extra minutes a day. And the study hall is even going to be in my classroom. I can work on sub plans and be seated at my desk for that extra time. I didn't even have to ask either. I just am so grateful that God provided me with this kind person who took me into consideration. It might seem like a silly thing to you readers but it is a big deal to me. I've been praying about this situation and God has answered it in the best way possible.

So the answer to my question Lunch Duty? is not this year!

Wild-card Weekend Predictions

Well, the NFL playoffs are upon us.  It's been a tough year for me being a Packers fan, but I will certainly enjoy being an objective observer of the NFL playoffs.  For those of you who don't follow football, I pity you.  You are missing out.

Also, for those of you who only like college football, the NFL actually has a playoff system to determine its champion.  That means the top teams in the league play each other in a single-elimination tournament until 1 team remains.  It is an amazing concept and I hope it catches on some day in college football.

Anyway, on to this weekend's games and my predictions(*):

Cardinals vs. Falcons:  The Falcons have the better record, but the Cardinals are at home.  The Cardinals have a really bad defense and a really good passing offense.  The Falcons can run the ball and have a rookie QB (Matt Ryan).  I'm going with the team that can run the ball.  Falcons 31, Cardinals 24.

Chargers vs. Colts:  Two of the league's hottest teams meet in this match-up.  The Colts have won 9 straight games, while the Chargers won their last 4 games of the year to get into the playoffs.  The Colts are solid on both sides of the ball, while the Chargers are weak on defense and explosive (yet inconsistent) on offense.  I'm going with Peyton Manning's acting ability and the Colts.  Colts 27, Chargers 20.

Dolphins vs. Ravens:  The Dolphins are one of the surprise teams this year, making it to the playoffs after going 1-15 this year.  Despite a solid defense and a good running attack, I don't see them defeating the Ravens who boasts the league's 2nd-best defense and a great rushing attack.  Also, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis scares me.  Ravens 24, Dolphins 10.

Vikings vs. Eagles:  Could I possibly predict all 4 away teams to win on wild-card weekend?  That would be....well, wild.  The Vikings have been an enigma all year, while the Eagles realized they were a good team the last month of the season.  This game will come down to who will be able to run the ball (both defenses are solid against the run).  Adrian Peterson is too good to not have a big game.  I'm going with the home Vikings.  Vikings 27, Eagles 24.

*Historically, my predictions have not been accurate.  Please do not use any content displayed here as insight for wagering on the games.

New Year = New Look

I've been bored with the way our blog looks for a little while now but haven't been motivated to make it look different. After spending 3 days cleaning, organizing, and rearranging some stuff in our house to make room for a baby I decided to update the look of our blog too. Plus I don't want to mess anything up in our house so I've confined myself to the computer. So if you're a google reader person check out our actual blog sometime. I changed the background just a bit and made a new pregnancy ticker. If you visit the actual blog I hope you enjoy the look. And I hope Matt doesn't think its too girly but if he wants more say in it he needs to blog more often:)

I also decided to post some of my goals for this year too.

My New Year's Resolutions...
1. Gain 15 pounds
2. Switch careers from high school teacher to stay at home mom
3. Survive childbirth

I think that's enough to think about for now.

24 Weeks

I can't believe how quickly things are moving in this pregnancy. Now that Christmas is over I can officially get into baby mode. I can start organizing more, thinking about and actually putting together our nursery and just preparing my life in general for having a little one around. One of the more serious things I need to do is spend more time with God. I've already noticed that the highs and lows (more oftens lows) of this pregnancy have bitten away some of my normal quality time with Him. But the thing is, I(we) want to raise our children in a way that is honoring to God and teach them how to love God too. To do that I need to be depending on God and committed to spending my time with God. I have a feeling motherhood is going to be a lot more distracting than pregnancy so I need to be keeping good habits now:)

Here are a couple pictures from today.

My Grandma picked out this cute music jewelry box for me for Christmas with a picture frame on top. I decided to make it a box for the baby's room. (This is officially my first piece for the nursery.)

Here is my 24 week belly shot and me modeling my new pillow. I have 4 pillows that I sleep with every night and I really wanted one of these cool pregnancy pillows, but I didn't want to spend the cash to get one. So I dug out some fabric that I got on sale for Matt a while ago and my mom made the pillow for me for about 20% of the cost of buying one.

My Pedometer

One of my favorite presents this Christmas was my pedometer from Matt. I've been wanting one so I can keep track of how much I walk everyday. I am not doing very good at exercising during pregnancy so I thought counting my steps might help motivate me. So here are the results so far. Don't worry I won't post them all the time but I thought Christmas season was amusing.

12/24: 2462 steps = 1.08 miles
12/25: 1148 steps = 0.50 miles
12/26: 1085 steps = 0.47 miles
12/27: 2797 steps = 1.23 miles
12:28: 1037 steps = 0.45 miles
12/29: 7584 = 3.35 miles

I did a lot better today than the last few days but my feet hurt like crazy now. I think the baby weight is starting to get to my feet. And I'm still going to get a lot bigger:)

5 Days of Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday and spent 5 days in 5 places celebrating with friends and family. I'll give a quick rundown with a few pictures.


Christmas Eve, Day 1: We woke up in the morning and opened our gifts to each other. Later that night we went to Christmas Eve church service in a barn. It was really cold but a really neat experience. We went to dinner at a delicious Chinese restaurant with some of our church friends after that.

Our friend from church enjoying Chinese food. It was soo good:)

Christmas Day, Day 2: We drove to Matt's aunt's house and spent the day with extended family eating delicious Christmas Ham.

Day 3: Woke up at Matt's parents' house to eggs benedict and opened presents with his family. Then we had Christmas ham again for lunch and lazed around all afternoon.

Me, Matt, Rachel, Joshua, Jared and Yvonne after opening all our presents.

Day 4: Woke up at my parents' house opened presents and then had monkey bread and egg casserole for breakfast. Then we had spare ribs that my dad grilled for lunch. Yummy.

My sister Laura and her husband Brett wearing their new hats.

Day 5: Woke up at my parents house and went to church with them. Then we drove to my grandparents had steak for lunch and opened presents.

Basically we ate, laid around and opened presents for 5 days straight. Not bad.

Merry Christmas

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this." -- Isaiah 9:6-7

A manger.  A freakin' manger.  Of all the places to show up in this world, that's where God decides to make His "grand entrance."  And to think that thirty-some years later, He makes His most memorable mark on a wooden cross at His own execution.  It's not what I would have picked out for the plans for God coming down to earth.  I would have given him a golden crib at birth and a millionaire mansion as a retirement home.  

Thankfully, God doesn't fit into my feeble plans or follow an expected path; God's ways are higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:9).  Finally, after enough frustration and attempts of controlling my life, I'm learning that at times when things seem the most unexpected or the most out-of-place (like in a manger in a stable), it is there when I can see God most clearly.  I'm tired of looking for God in the ways I want to see Him -- in my plans, on my time schedule.  Now I'm starting to look for Him in the ways that He wants to show Himself (Isaiah 17:7-8), even if it's inconvenient or if I'm not in control.

Yes, Christmas is a great day because of great food, family, and sometimes great presents; but more than that, it is a great day because it reminds me that God always has a plan, even if it happens to be different than my own.  And as I'm figuring out, God's plans are always better than mine anyway.  In math terms: God's plans > my plans. 

Merry Christmas!!!!

P.S.  If you're looking for something to do on Christmas Day at 4pm, please tune in to ABC to watch world-class basketball as the Lakers take on the Celtics.  You will thank me later.