political nba.

It’s no secret that there is a very big election looming around the corner. You go on Facebook and everyone is using their freedom of speech to state their opinions. Great. But I can almost ensure you that your link, rant, rave, or bashing via Facebook will not change my vote tomorrow. You watch the local evening news, NBC nightly news, morning news, any and every news station is covering the election. They keep saying the same thing over and over and over. Yet we still watch.

Well, in our household we still watch anyways. Chris loves politics. I mean loves it. I can enjoy developing my opinion and learning about a candidate but not the way Chris does. Chris loves the election process, the news coverage, the interactive maps on CNN, the political signs, the books, the election return results, the list could go on. He cancels plans for the presidential debates. He reads article after article about Obama and Romney. He will be planted on the couch tomorrow evening with the laptop and TV both tuned into CNN. He loves it.

When he was a child, he would go around stealing political signs from people’s yard. He would spend this childhood evenings reading 100’s of pages about each former president. He even remembers the childhood president song. This isn’t a new love for him. Rather one that started 20 some years ago.

Tonight at dinner CNN was on. I asked what new information they had about the election. His answer? None. He then makes the comparison that CNN is his ESPN. That politics are his NFL football. The election process is his March Madness. You get the picture.

To each his own. I will never understand this passion of his. But I will say that I am looking forward to this election passing and regaining some control over the remote. Maybe once the big Romney/Obama tension has settled, I can finally switch the TV to HGTV and catch up on House Hunters.

I’m not saying this to criticize my loving husband of mine, rather sympathize with all of you political nba wives out there. May we support and love our husbands through this election process. Once it’s over we will then come to realize CNN is still on every evening because we will HAVE to hear about how the new house, congress, senate, and president will function after that special November day.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, at least he’s not stealing political signs anymore.

teaching. living. learning

One thing teachers are always doing is teaching, right? Right. We’re always learning too. This week (Thursday and Friday) my school took two days away from the sneezing, coughing, laughing, energetic kids to attend the annual ACSI teacher’s convention. This year the format was different. They brought in many big name speakers to help us Christian teachers get re energized, learn new teaching strategies and help us understand the importance of our jobs [they actually trust me with 19 6/7 year olds…whoa!]

There were a few highlights of the conference. I will outline a few.

James MacDonald: I am not usually a fan of preachers preaching at me while I’m at a conference to learn about teaching. But this man spoke words into my life that I’ve been needing to hear for the past 4 years of teaching. He spoke about how ministry is lonely, challenging, has conflict and can be down right hard. He gave us encouragement of doing our jobs well, loving our students the way Christ loves us and finding strength in the Lord. Over and over he spoke these more-than-simple words: “I won’t quit, I won’t quit, I won’t quit” [even when it gets messy and hard].

Harry and Rosemary Wong: If you’re at all familiar with the world of education. I’m sure you’ve heard of these fabulous educators. They have written the [life changing] book The First Days of School. This was a required textbook in college and one that I have read over and over and over. Simply stated, this book is what runs my classroom. We had the privilege of hearing them speak live. They gave great ideas and practical suggestions of classroom management and teaching delivery. The added bonus to this you ask? While our staff was out to dinner on Thursday night, guess who walks into the restaurant? Harry Wong!! I even shook his hand and introduced myself.

Spending time with other staff members: The joy of going away together as a staff is to spend time with each other. This is something that doesn’t happen at school [lesson plans, kids, papers, to do lists, etc]. It was nice to eat meals together, stay up late talking, and just building those friendships.

Speakers I didn’t agree with: For most, this usually isn’t a highlight of a conference. After sitting for two straight days, listening to speaker after speaker, I enjoyed the ones who kept my attention by making me mad. I won’t name names or give details. I just simply enjoyed having something to disagree with!

All in all it was an uplifting time away from school and the kids. I was glad to get home and start the weekend. Monday will be here soon enough and I will get to take all the information I learned back into the classroom [hopefully].

Happy Saturday to you all!