This blog is moving!

Moving to a new address. I'll give the new site in a few days.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:30

I've been thinking about the future lately and what it will hold for me. Of course, there's no way to be certain what will happen. I have been desiring to become a teacher. However, I must be honest with myself. I do not know I will be allowed to ccontinue. That was dependent on my observing teacher's evaluation of me. I knew of one area she said she could not give me a good review on. It's complicated, but I was unsure how much interaction I was supposed to have with the children and the teacher and I hardly ever spoke to each other. There wasn't a place near her desk to talk to her. I sat by the door in a small chair at a small table. It was only my second observing classroom. There were other issues too, but I won't bother telling them. So, I knew that and I just let it go, because everything in education was SO confusing last year. I won't go into detail. It turns out, apparently she hardly liked me at all and told me that I should find something else to do and needed to find a career where I could work independently. Wow, how she even knew answers to some of the questions, I'll never know. They had nothing to do with my skills and more to do with her guessing how I am. Ugh.

I wonder what I can do know, other than work. I am still looking for a job. Maybe take some lessons I've been wanting to take and maybe move like I have waiting to do. I don't know. I will need to pay money back and the scholarship money will be defunct. I feel discouraged, all that hard work for nothing. Like a new farmer, sowing his seeds, keeping them watered, trying to find the right mix of compost or fertilizer to help them grow only to have nothing grow or to have one heavy rain cause a flood and destroy all he'd worked for. That's how I feel right now. But I have the faith.
"Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Emmanuel, "God with us" comes to my mind for he is with me, encouraging me on the path of his righteous. The path he has for me now. He's given me a lot of hope and education. I had a wonderful opportunity even though it's ending. I got to go to college and be educated. Some would have loved such an opportunity and I know I have been blessed to have had it. I do not regret it. As difficult and down as I feel, I have it pretty good and realize it. I may wish for things to be different. There is some reason for this and I will find out one day what God has in store for me.
“There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend” Katharine Butler-Hathaway

New Take and an update of the summer

Taking this blog a whole new direction-focusing on myself, my relationships, my life. Experiences in college, varying interests of mine, my relationship with God as a more liberal believer. Liberal doesn't equal Democrat/Liberal either. My political stances won't be of concern. Here I will state my position at times, but mostly I will stay neutral. Anonymous comments will be deleted, please give some kind of name for yourself if you desire to comment. I will try my best to update often. I don't take the Bible as the literal anything, but more as a book that reflects how life was back then from the perspective of the authors. Time period is very important in studying the Bible. If it's good, people aren't hurt, and are helped by any action, I believe that's what we, as humans, should do. Enjoy the blog.
UPDATE:
Today I am going to get two books for school that were not in stock when I went to pay and buy books a couple weeks ago. Classes begin in two weeks and I feel like I haven't done even half of what I'd hoped to get done this summer. Things have been so busy. The dryer was acting up-cleaned it out and now it's good. The garage ceiling needs painting-it's half done. Mowing grass, making compost, keeping up with the garden-which is growing lots of cucumbers and tomatoes, less green beans and no peppers, broccoli or swiss chard. I only got one batch of lettuce this year *sigh*.
What else caused a veered course this summer? The fridge/freezer isn't working right, so I've ordered a new one. $750-burning a hole in the wallet.
I went to the movies this summer and prior to that I hadn't been in 5 years-imagine that. With movie tickets almost $9, no soda or popcorn or junk (not that I could have that anyway), it adds up fast. As a college student still looking for a new part-time job, money isn't exactly plentiful. I did not finish that scarf and it may have to wait. I've almost finished my cross stitch. My room is almost clean. I've been cleaning deep this summer-do I need it, is it really important to me, is it important for classes/college, do I really, truly and honestly think I will use it at some point, honestly? No, it's gone then. I have thrown out A LOT of stuff this summer and am now working on organizing what's left so it's easy to find and the room is tidy. While I am doing this, stuff is scattered everywhere in piles and it's driving me crazy. I really hate piles of stuff everywhere, but I am dealing with it for now so that everything in the end will be easy to find and when I move here soon (hoping by next summer), moving and organizing will be MUCH easier. So that's been my summer so far. The weather has been hot here most days. Humid too, VERY humid, ugh. Only one dry spell with about 10 days of no rain back in June. Other than that, it's been a mix of sun, clouds, rain and lots of thunderstorms. When the rain comes-there's often been a storm with it.
My brother had a birthday in July-14 years old and he'll start high school this fall. The old crappy principal my sister and I had has officially retired so my brother won't have to have him. Who they get now will be interesting. That's about all I can think of for now.

An update-long overdue

It's been awhile, I will update with new posts soon and say what's been going in. Here's some basic happenings since I last posted. I finished the semester and had 10 days off in which I cleaned then went back for a 3 week summer class for 3 hours each day. It kept me very busy. When I finished we got company from Florida and last week was beautiful and quite hot. It's been hitting about 90 everyday with horrible humidity-thank god for air conditioning ; ), what a wonderful invention. Right now it's sprinkling out here and there and quite ugly out, but with the heat we've had, we sure could use some water for the garden so I'm not going to complain-some rumbles of thunder here and there. No storm yet, which I highly doubt will occur anyway.

Thoughts and Prayers

The year is winding down-just 2 weeks left and only 4 (of 40) hours left to observe. Summer is rapidly approaching and I am ready for a one week break before my summer class. It's only 1 course thought and it'll be for just three weeks.
What's going here? Not much. It's been beautiful weather this past week. Today isn't so nice. It looks like it may rain and the rain looks it may stick around for awhile-it always seems to be crappy weather on the weekends-I wonder why that is?
I think I'll only ONE hard final-I am so happy. It's been a long semester. Only math will be difficult it seems. Next semester I will have my last math course-then no more math classes! Yeah!
A life begins, another one ends. With sadness I post of a death. The mother of my sister's friend passed away yesterday. She was only in her 30s and leaves behind a three-year old daughter.
The economy is very poor right now and is affecting my family greatly. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. I still have a brother who'll be entering high school next fall and if my family needs to move, they really want to BEFORE my brother will start high school. They really don't want him to start late in the year. THe transition can be harder when it's done mid-year. Prayers and thoughts couldn't hurt.
With that all said, things have been going pretty well. I do hope I at least get a C in math so I won't have to retake it and stay in school longer. I honestly just want to be finished-the sooner the better.
Many blessings as April rounds it's end! (I can't believe it's almost May! Can you?)

It's a baby!

It's a girl! A good friend of mine had her baby today. Congratulations to the new mom and dad for healthy baby and good luck to all three of them. Many blessings for the future!

Tragedy at Montcoal

It's with great sadness that I write this post. I live in West Virginia. If you have followed any news, you have likely seen or heard about the Upper Big Branch Mine Tragedy that occurred Monday. 29 men have lost their lives. Some families lost more than one member. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. They are pulling bodies out now, no one else managed to survive. It's a true tragedy and loss and did not have to happen. Also, if you live in West Virginia and want to try and protest Westboro Baptist, please don't. The best way to stop these media suckers is to ignore them. They play on tragedy and have no life. They are former lawyers, they know the laws and howto get around them. Must be miserable bearing so much hatred in their hearts. Waste of a life if you ask me.

It's Spring Break??

What's the point of a Spring break if you don't a break from college work anyway? And someone needs to tell professors they sound arrogant when they tell you about what a fun and relaxing vacation and break they will have then turn around and give you a 3 page essay and a study guide for an exam the day you get back. Thanks, you enjoy your break and I'll work without one. Be glad I'm not a revenge seeking person who dabbles in voodoo or witchcraft. If someone in your class is, you asked for it. Thank goodness there's only 6 weeks left when we get back. Frustrated here and exhausted. I know I have 3 more papers to write before the break ends but I seriously feel like ONE more might find me bald. Happy Spring Equinox, though I'm not smiling here. Last round and one more year down.

Long time, no hear from? staying quite busy.

**An earthquake has struck Chile of 8.8 magnitude. The earthquake has caused tsunamis. A tsunami is due to strick Hawaii, Japan and other Asian coastline along with Austrailia and New Zealand. Thankfully, people have been warned and are seeking safety inland and to higher ground. Keep the people of the sticken areas and soon to be stricken areas in your thoughts and prayers.**
***Update: Only a mild wave hit Hawaii-Chile is the only place that really suffered***
I haven't posted in quite awhile, but no one appears to read the blog anyway, so it's just for me. College started and because I'm clearly intelligent *cough* I decided to take 17 credit hours or 6 classes instead of my usual 5 classes/15 credit hours. I question my sanity in doing such a thing. It's wearing me out and it's almost 6 weeks in. I have about 8-9 more weeks to go. I just recieved my placement letter last Thursday. Of the 30 people in the class, I was one of the last to recieve it, again. I say again because I was among the last to recieve my placement letter last semester. Once again, I get to observe a 5th grade classroom. I'm a little disappointed because I personally perfer younger children and would rather not teach children past 3rd grade when I become a teacher. I need to take a preprofessional test before next fall, but have not signed up for it. I am still studying for it. The math portion is all but dumb and the writing portion barely gives any time. I have got to sign up sometime in the next week to schedule a time for the test. The place is a little out of the way because they can't, for some reason, give you the test at the University.
I turned another year older since I lasted posted. Yeah for being 21! I just got over a very bad cold. It took me an entire week to feel better and another two weeks to lose my gross cough and stop hacking up mucus. Not fun at all. My sister brought it home, gave it to my grandmother who gave it to my brother who in turn gave it me. Lucky me!
Anyway, I stopped doing wordless wednesday. I don't have time to take pictures for one and forget about for another. It may be a few weeks before I can post again. My classes this semester are almost like torture. This is the first semester since I started college that I actually feel like I have to force myself to go to class every Tuesday and Thursday. My classes are terrible. My afternoon classes are the worst and they shouldn't be considering one is a major core class, education. He (the professor) seems to enjoy what he does, I guess. But no one ever seems to have the answer he's looking for yet he wants people to participate. Why talk when no matter what I say it's going to be wrong? It's like being back in public school again. He talks and talks about his perception of the problems in public school and with teachers, but seems to be doing the very things he doesn't like. 2012, the year I am pushing to be finished with University can't seem to get here fast enough and I don't like to wish time away, but I know my professor next semester won't be any better, I met her and she's the only one who teaches the class. She thinks you don't have a job, you don't have other classes, you don't have children/a family (many people at the University do indeed have children, I do not so that doesn't apply to me.), only her class and observations. Ugh. Next semester, I'm only taking 15 hours, I do well with that many and won't push my luck again. Lesson learned.
My other classes are either subjects I don't actually care for and/or are just boring. I don't care for math, but my math class bores me to tears, almost literally. My math notebook isn't full of problems, it's full of doodles. On the plus side, I am improving my art skills. My english class is apparently a speech class as well and I do not like it, at all. So many papers and essays, my fingers are going to fall off from typing. I do not care for speaking in front of a large crowd of adults but it's much easier to speak to college students than to high schoolers in high school. No one laughs at you in college for mistakes. And everyone is just as nervous as you are. No one's going to make fun because they are just as nervous. The group speech though was dumb. 2 to 1, they win on a dumb idea to demonstrate in front of everyone. Thanks a lot professor *grumbles a little* Okay, complaining down.
A question: Why would a historically black college turned university that is half non-traditional students, meaning many live off campus and have families of their own, with students from all over the country and even from other countries and about half of the student body not full-blooded caucausian need a class about life and about race and gender?
Answer: You don't, they just want your money so they require it anyway. They rip you off as it is. It is now banned to sell books outside of the campus store, so they can give you less than half what it's worth and resell it for a much higher price. RIP-OFF!!!
Rant over. I'm better now. It will end eventually. "This too shall pass." Waiting for Spring of 2011. I have a few non-rant posts I plan on posting sometime later, maybe during my Spring Break in late March, sooner if I get some time.
Shalom,
Nelli

Wordless Wednesday #3: Red Sky on a Summer's Night