Wasting Paper.

I don't think that I've ever fully understand what it meant to waste paper until I started at Blackshear, the amount of paper that this school goes through is incredible. I mean, I get that having 22 students per class with a total of 18 classes requires a lot of paper when printing out worksheets and such but what I'm talking about is the amount of unnecessary copies that are made every day. There is one printer on the second floor that all the computers on campus can print to and every time I try to print something I always have to first fix the printer because of a paper jam, and then I have to wait 5-10 minutes before my stuff actually prints out because there are a whole bunch of printing jobs before mine that teachers never bothered to deal with.

Today, I tried to print out some story problems to use with the third graders and of course I find that the printer is jammed. I spent about 10 minutes trying to find the jam...I took apart every part of the printer that I could but it still said that the printer was jammed. Just as I was getting frustrated a hymn came into my mind:

This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through

My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue,

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord, you know I have no friend like you,

If heaven's not my home, O Lord what will i do?

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door,

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

Really, this seemed like a weird hymn to pop into my head at the time but as I kept humming it I realized how much of a blessing it is that my home is not in this world. I was getting all worked up about the broken printer but I'm thankful that my life is not build upon things so easily broken like a printer, I have a hope that is eternal. As soon as this thought came into my mind I was no longer upset about the printer. It didn't get fixed right away but the process of trying to find the problem became more fun than annoying. I never did find the jammed paper but I did manage to get it working again and I'm pretty sure that I fed in an entire ream of paper...yes, 500 pages...before my pages printed but I no longer allowed it to affect my entire day. 

What was another lesson I learned from this experience? Never try to print things in a hurry on a Monday morning because you will probably spend an hour waiting. Apparently, teachers print out their entire lesson plan for the next week on Fridays and when they don't print right away they don't try to fix the printer; instead, they keep sending the document to the printer until they give up. Then, someone like me decides to fix it and five copies of the same lesson plan comes out...each document being 20-30 pages long. I felt horrible watching all that paper getting wasted so I've decided to bring some home to use as scratch paper or to just print the my student's activities on them...the other side is still usable anyway. 

Brrrr....

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I heard that the cold front was coming to Houston but I experienced it yesterday. We had a high in the 60s and it overcast and slightly windy the entire day. When I woke up this morning I didn't want to get out of bed because it was freezing. I finally got up and went downstairs to check the thermostat and saw that my apartment was 67 degrees...it felt the same inside my apartment was it was outside. For some reason I remember that 67 in Seattle felt comfortable but I wore a long sleeve shirt and a sweater just to stay warm today, I'm not sure what that means for me when I do go back to Seattle in a couple weeks. haha

Last night we had a combined sharing meeting with the high school group on the topic of our relationship with God and since I was asked to facilitate a group with Jill I've been spending time before the Lord reflecting upon this topic. The three subtopics were morning devotion, preparing for Bible study, and godly time management. None of these topic were new to me but I feel as if I've gotten a new perspective of godly time management since I've started working. Maybe it's the fact that Stephanie chose to call it "godly time management" but I've never made a real connection between time management and my spiritual condition before the Lord; to me time management in college meant being efficient with my time so that I'd be able to complete the tasks before me...which included reading the Bible and praying. Now that I'm working I'm at work for eight hours every day and then I'm able to leave work at work and come home  It's nice because once I'm home I don't have homework to do or exams to study for but I've also developed this attitude where I feel that I've earned the evening to relax because I truly am exhausted. Plus, there are the regular meetings that I attend throughout the week so any time that I have to myself I feel that I have earned the right to do whatever it is I want...which usually involves reading blogs and catching up on TV shows. Days can go by like this before I realize that I still haven't had time to prepare for Bible study or that I haven't progressed any further in reading The Normal Christian Life.

Preparing for this discussion reminded me that my attitude is wrong, ALL of my time belongs to the Lord and what I do with my time is a reflection of how much of His life is in me.

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5: 15-17

May the Lord once again place a sense of urgency within me so that I won't allow time to dwindle away; that even my time of "relaxing" may have eternal value.

This is why I teach.

Many times over the last month or so I've wondered why I chose to teach in a program like that one I'm in; there are plenty of "easier" schools for me to get involved with. Today reminded me why I enjoy these challenges as disheartening as they may be at times. Since the kids have started to get restless and are constantly asking to work with other tutors we decided to use a rotation system during our tutoring blocks so that they'd get a chance to work with all of the tutors. A couple people were skeptical about how it would work because our time with each group is short and transitions tend to take up time; but, I'm happy to say that the kids proved us wrong. The kids that usually have a hard time focusing were actually the most productive it was exciting. haha I worked with rounding to the nearest tens at my station and it was amazing to see it click with some of the ones that tend to lose focus. It was cool because not only did I get super excited but I could see that they were excited too. They were trying to act like they didn't care but I could tell that they were trying really hard not to smile when they got the problems right. I go to work each day without any idea of how the day is going to play out but it's always wonderful when my students chose to learn; this is what makes all the painful days worth it and this is why I chose to teach.

Commit your works.

Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3

As I spent time before the Lord this morning this verse caught my attention because it is something I've been struggling to do. Part of me has been reluctant to seek before the Lord regarding my plans for next year because I am afraid of what He may reveal to me. I know that once I place this decision into His hands He will give me an answer that I need to obey. I'm running short on time because I need to get to work but my prayer is that He may continue to soften my heart so that I will be willing to submit my will under His. I know that He has a plan for me and I know that I need to commit all that I do into His hands but I need Him to break my stiff-necked nature so that I'm willing to humble myself. At Bible study on Friday we had fellowship  about making decisions with eternal value. Although His way for me may not necessarily be easy for me to follow at first I know that my willingness to submit to His way is the only way to gain anything of eternal value. Hopefully we can all learn to commit our works, both the big and small things, into His hands so that His plan may be established in our lives. What a beautiful testimony that would be before the Lord.

Wine Tasting.

Last Monday I went to my first wine tasting class ever. The few times that I've had wine I haven't been a huge fan but since this was for Jamie's birthday I decided I'd go and maybe taste wine that I'd actually enjoy. Jamie and Susan are both wine lovers so this was totally their kind of a class. The class was focused on French wine and it was fun learning about the wine from different regions of France. The instructor was friendly and knowledgeable but honestly everything was so new to me that I didn't understand a lot of what he was saying...especially when it came to being able to taste various elements of the wine. Susan was able to distinguish some of the elements like apple and cloves but all I could say was whether or not I liked them. haha We tasted six types of wine...starting with two white wines, a rose, and then three red wines along with handouts that were helpful because it told us what was in the wine and what it would be paired well with. Surprisingly, there were actually a few that I enjoyed so I'll be sure to be on the lookout for those if I ever need to buy wine. haha

The girls at the end of the class.

Afterwards we headed over to Emily's place and had a pretty late dinner. Emily and Susan spent the afternoon setting it up and it was beautiful...pinterest worthy. I loved the lights and the autumn theme, it was one of the few evenings where I was able to enjoy being outside since I've arrived in Houston. The temperature was perfect and the stars were out...it truly was a wonderful evening full of delicious food and getting to know the other girls. 

Happy Birthday Jamie!

Words for the weary.

The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple. 
Isaiah 50:4

Thursday was a rough day at work. I'm not sure what happened Wednesday night but the entire 4th grade class was not themselves on Thursday. Three of my students cried and I had to pull two students out of class to have a chat about respect. In our tutoring classroom I sit in one corner and due to various reasons the tutor that works diagonally across the room from me has little respect from the students she works with so her group is often quite disruptive to the rest of us. On Thursday one of her students actually told her to shut up when she asked him to do something and then he kicked her under the table and accused her of kicking him. I was shocked by the level of disrespect but after being here for the time that I've been here I shouldn't be too surprised.

Waking up Friday morning  was difficult but during my time of devotion I read Isaiah 50 and verse 4 became an encouragement to me. It truly is the Lord that sustains us each and every moment and it is He that awakens us morning by morning. The more that I talk to my co-workers and students the more burdened I feel to pray for these kids. Most of them have little control over the environment they're growing up in and many of them are victims of poor choices made by their parents/guardians. My prayer is that I may have a well-instructed tongue so that the words I speak may sustain the weary. Throughout the day there are many words that I want to say to both the kids and to my co-workers but I realize that they may not all be words that can help to sustain the weary, I need Him to awaken my ears so that I may listen and speak the words He gives.

Here are pictures to recap parts of this weekend:

My roommate got engaged this weekend! Don't have the group pics yet but here's us waiting/hiding.

Typical Solomon.

 Crunchy chicken: nut-crusted, provolone, buttermilk ranch, pretzel bun

Quinoa: corn, tomato, butternut squash, chimichurri

Tuscan Kale: golden raisins, toasted pine nuts, parmesan

Jazz Festival. A nice way to relax after a busy week at work.

To end a busy Saturday we had a engagement celebration dinner at Peking Cuisine but I was too hungry and forgot to take pictures. The food was delicious though, trust me. 

Fattening Weekend

It has been a busy weekend of eating and playing. It started out Saturday morning with a baby shower for a sister at church as well as for Stephanie. I failed and forgot to take picture of the cute set up but I did get a picture of the diaper cake Susan made for Stephanie.

It was nice to hear the advice that older sisters had to give about raising children and although I don't see myself with kids for a while longer I will definitely meditate upon what was shared for future purposes.

After that, I attended a gathering that the Chinese Gospel Group had to celebrate the mid-autumn festival. I went because a sister kept inviting me to attend and I felt bad about rejecting her previous invitations to events before. Even though I was reluctant to go at first because I didn't know any of them and because it would all be in Chinese, I praise the Lord that I went because it was encouraging to see and hear the testimonies of  brothers and sisters with a background quite different from mine. Although I didn't feel like we had much in common we were still able to fellowship because we shared a common Life. Of course there was also a lot of good food, it's amazing how much food the sisters are able to produce in a short amount of time.

 This is not even half of the choices of food there but I was still stuffed from the baby shower earlier in the day that this was all I could manage to try.

Sunday was a dumpling making party with the YES group. Spring is a pro when it come to Asian cuisine so we try to get her to cook for us whenever we can. Last time we got together to make cong you bing and this time it was dumplings. We made the standard chives and pork dumpling but we also decided to be adventurous and try to make Korean kimchi dumpling. Spring did the important part of putting in the sauces so I still don't really know what she put in there but at least I know the other ingredients used. haha The kimchi dumplings turned out yummy but I think that we squeezed out too much of the liquid so there wasn't much kimchi taste. Oh well, we can try again next time. 

Spring hard at work mixing the ingredients together.

 Girls hard at work wrapping the dumplings while....

 The boys are busy playing video games. Typical.

Don't worry though cause we put them to work afterwards. 

I'm happy to say that I still feel fine with no signs of food poisoning. The kitchen was a complete mess afterwards though, I should've taken a picture of it but we were too busy trying to clean it up so we could go home. Waking up this morning I could feel the food from this weekend still sitting in my stomach. As much fun as this weekend was I'm ready to go back to my regular eating habits and hopefully lose the couple pounds I'm pretty sure I've gained. :)