Love wins!

Well... I forgot my book today for subbing so it looks like I'm blogging. I'm at the middle school today, which is not my favorite, but is at least better than the elementary schools. Only problem with elem is time frame, the days extend into lacrosse which is a pain. The good part about middle school is that I get 2.5 hours in the middle of the day for planning and lunch. So I watch shows on hulu! Today  I actually get to teach something which is nice, but weird considering I'm subbing math.

I'm currently listening to Rascal Flatts new album (Don't worry, students are still at lunch for another 10min) and I give them credit because once again they have created a flawless album. I may actually even like this one better than "Me and My Gang" (which had the stupid "Backwards" song), but its currently tied with "Still Feels Good." And I don't own any of the other albums in their entireties. Thanks to my fantastic hubby I get to listen to this album today (He got it for me) and during lunch (He lets me use his laptop.) Speaking of my hubby who I love tremendously... my favorite song on the album is "Love who you Love" with a chorus that goes like this...

"Love who you love
With all that you have
And don't waste the time that flies so fast
Love who you love
And say that you do
Hold on as tight as they'll let you
Love who you love"

Good call Rascal Flatts... good call!

Can't take many of those days....

Yesterday was a stinkin' long day.. Long in the technical sense as I was up at 5:20 for subbing and didn't end my day until I got home from lacrosse at 10pm. And long in the emotional - I cant take anymore stressful things happening - sense. It was exhausting... I'm exhausted... and I'm back subbing again today when all I really want to do is sleep. I feel like I'm accomplishing Steve's big fear and am a walking zombie today (!), but at least I'm at the high school where I prefer to be and get to see lacrosse girl's all day long. Either way... don't ask me too many hard questions, my brain just can't function to process them today.

Subbing yesterday was the end of my floater sub position at the middle school. A few of the sixth graders who had been annoying every other day were actually calmed down and in good attitudes yesterday. Also, I think their teachers figured out how they needed to separate them for testing rather than leaving all of the talkative ones in the library at once. I was also the queen of card tricks yesterday. I know approximately 3 - 1 is super lame, 2 are decent - but many of the boys in the library were learning and perfecting card tricks which thankfully kept them busy. We've (the other 2 subs and I) have been able to leave early everyday because testing was over and no more students needed supervised and thankfully yesterday I was again able to leave at 1:30 to run home, see Steve, and change for lacrosse before heading to our game.

Meanwhile... during subbing, I was fielding calls and texts from Christy and Leah about our game because poor Nathan (Christy's youngest) was having trouble breathing and they had already been to the ER twice. Leah already was not going to be at our game because she had her last major review class (WOOT!) and couldn't miss it, understandably. So... dilemma. Big game against Cleveland Heights @ Heights. Do I take the girls myself and coach both games? Do we cancel? Does Christy drive up separately just in case Nathan needs to go to the ER again? What to do... What to do...

I ended up taking the girls myself (40 of them) and coaching both games myself. Talk about stressful. If it had been Walsh or Green I wouldn't have been stressed, but naturally it was a big game! Unfortunately both teams ended up losing, JV lost 4-10, Varsity lost 3-12, but did so with grace and integrity. Reffing was fine in the JV game, however the other game was unbelievably aggressive, especially for a JV team. Our girls played their hearts out, did their best, and had a few really nice goals.

Varsity was another story... it was reffing like you wouldn't believe. Amazingly one sided, completely unfair, and this is not coming from a "we lost" perspective. Its coming from a frustrated coach, who can't believe that refs would find it okay to treat a team of girl's that way. Yes we lost, by 9, and I am not at all saying the reffing was the only cause for losing. Heights defense was very good, and they clobbered us. But had it not been for reffing we certainly wouldn't have lost by 9. It was 3-6 at half... it was obviously a close game. We got called for charging when we were out of bounds, got called for charging when we had no visible sight of the goal due to 4 defenders all in shooting space, got a yellow card for "check to the head" when there was no wind up on the check and the stick touched the girls arm, got called offsides and had to turn the ball over when we clearly had 4 back already... just a sad, frustrating situation. Unfortunately I couldn't really say anything to the refs because the calls would have gotten worse. In the end though, I am proud of our girl's. They played intense the entire time, they never gave up or hung their heads, and they never played dirty like the other team did. There's a point where it isn't lacrosse anymore, and its just a graceful style of wrestling.... Dear Refs, I give you 2 red cards.

If that wasn't enough... While frustrated, sad and angry about the game driving home from the bus, I got a call from my good friend Kaitlyn in SC about our friend Andy. Andy's brother passed away unexpectedly yesterday after having fallen from his 4th story (5 floors because the group was recessed) dorm window the night before. It was obviously a freak accident, authorities aren't sure yet how and why he fell. Kaitlyn talked to him yesterday a few hours after his brother died and she said he was simply in shock... as anyone would be. Not that its the same, but when my brother fell off the cliff and broke his back, our entire car ride from NC to OH was shock. Not knowing whether to cry, or be happy that he was at least alive, or what... In any case... please pray for Andy and his family. Eric was the youngest of the 3 brothers, and the family has a tough road ahead of them.

Okay... there's my longest day ever in the last few months. The good part of yesterday? I have an amazing husband who held me when I got home, let me exhale all of my frustrations as he listened patiently, and packed my lunch for me for subbing today. To know that I get to come home to Steve every night will always be a blessing.

Ohhh... so that's what my low fuel light looks like.

I've been realizing over the past couple weeks just how many things have come into my life and new experiences I've had since I met Steve. Some of them I don't know what I ever did without, and some may seem strange. But when any of the following happen, I get a little smile on my face because no matter if what's happening is normally considered good or bad, its good to me because it's from Steve. So here goes...

Before Steve....

-I didn't belly laugh on a daily basis. I laughed, sure.. but not a deep satisfying laugh every day.
-I never knew what my "low fuel" light looked like. I had never let my gas get low enough to see it.
-I didn't have random articles of clothing appear in my home without any idea where they came from.
-I had no idea that I liked Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles Chips. Who knew?!
-I knew a lot less about geeky technology things.
-For that matter... I knew a lot less about comic books too.
-I didn't have an appreciation for Scrabble.
-I had never watched a Zombie movie.
-The sheets were always tucked in, all the way around the bed, every day.
-I didn't really know how often I talked in my sleep...
-I had never experienced someone sleepwalking.
-I didn't have an appreciation for apple computers and products.
-I had no idea grocery shopping could be a legitimate fun date.

More to come... that's it for now! I love my husband!

H-A-N-G-M-A-N

I have the most ridiculous sub job ever right now!!! Currently, me and 3 other subs are Supervising students who are on breaks from proficiency testing. Basically - we're babysitters... students come in to the library to take breaks from their tests or who are exempt from testing to read, play games, work on homework...etc. Anything quiet. So its pretty mundane. Most periods of the day there are less than 10 students in here, so its pretty quiet, and we've got an easy handle on the students. Monday, during 4th period a bunch of 6th graders ended up in here and reminded me of why middle school students are my least favorite age!
I have this job for 5 days, M-W-F-M-W - its nice that students get a break day in between testing now. I know I could have used that when I was testing! Students come and go, teachers come down and drop students off and pick them up again.
I made the mistake Monday of not bringing a book with me, and there's only so much I can do on the computer that the district does not restrict.
So I'm spending a lot of time playing games with students such as Battleship, Hangman, and Sorry. I'm an expert Battleship player... fyi!

Stick Checks and Yellow Cards and Draws, OH MY!

(Written Monday, the 20th)
Big week in lacrosse this week coming off of another big week! Last week we were short on games compared to this week but certainly not short on excitement. We played Stow last week in a big rivalry after having beaten them in overtime last year.
Stow was one heck of a game! We ended up winning 19-15 but not without going back and forth in the difference between their score and ours. At our closest we were tied -At our best we were up by 8!!! You'd think that would be cause to settle the ball and relax a little... however, last year our team was down by 9 to Stow with 11 minutes left, tied it in regulation and won in overtime. Stow fought back with 5 quick goals to make it 18-15 there at the end. We finally had our girls settle with the ball so we stopped making unnecessary turnovers and got one more goal with 2 seconds to go. It was an AMAZING game... truly one I will take with me to Connecticut.
Saturday we made our annual trip to the Hannigan Galipault Tournament (HGT) in Columbus. Extra fun for me as I played in the tourny in High School, it is help at my rival high school, I get to catch up with my former coach, and my parents come every year. We play 2 games, and usually we play pretty fair for the tournament... win neither or win one, rainy weather...etc. Not this year! We played Summit Country day first and won by 5, girls played well, and we got a freshman jv player in with 1min 30sec to go and she got a goal! It was a fun game despite the other coaches complaining about each and every single call. Secon we played Scioto (rival for me in high school :) ) whom we've played 3 times at the HGT in the last 5 years and beat them by 2. It was back and forth all game, and a few of their girls were pretty nasty. Not to mention we had a ref who would not give Kent a call, and no, that is not bitterness, its unfortunately the truth. But despite his best efforts to throw the game we came out on top and game Scioto their first loss of the season! WOOT!
On to this week.... Mon (Today) - Laurel, Tuesday - Hudson, Thursday - WRA, Saturday - Kentston. CRAZY! But we love it :) Our girls will be exhausted by the end of the week, but I am confident we will have multiple things to be excited about. One of our girls - conveniently named Laurel - tore her ACL and Meniscus last year during the Laurel game, so she has a vengence to finish the whole game and probably score a few goals. Kent has never beat Hudson - so there's a BIG rivalry there. Not to mention Christy went to Hudson and would love to beat them. WRA is always a game we'd love to have under our belt - plus my Mom-in-law JoAnn may come as well as my favorite family that I babysit for. And Kenston on Saturday we've never played in lax, but doesn't mean we don't want to win this week outright to improve our winning streak to 8.
Thats right... we're on a 4 game winning streak! This is the best I have ever seen Kent look in the 5 years I've been here and it is such an awesome thing to be a part of.
However the week turns out, it will be a good, busy week, and we will be exhausted at the end of it I'm sure. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!
I wanted to post pics from the tournament, however I bring Steve's laptop with me when I sub (THANKS HUBBY!) and I don't have any pictures on here :) Check them out on Facebook soon though.

Moving Ups and Downs

So I'm really excited to move to Connecticut. Really I am! Its an amazing opportunity that later in life Steve and I may not be offered and may not be able to take if we don't now. The area is beautiful, the school is great, and the fact that we were both offered jobs? Priceless. So we are pumped, and we understand that blessing that is being handed to us through these positions...

But this is gonna be hard.

Most everyone we tell that we are moving is excited for us, but sad for us to leave. We feel the same way. A few times a week, I get really sad when I start thinking about having to say goodbyes to people. Yesterday, I told the family I've babysat for almost 4 years that we are moving, and that news added to the news that their neighbors are moving had the mom of the family in tears. Talk about hard for me to be excited about moving in that moment... I wanted to cry with Elena because it will be so hard to move away from the lives we've made here, and our friends and family. We hope and pray that the paths between Ohio and Madison, CT will be well traveled. It will be friends ad family visiting and falling in love with Madison like we have that will make moving seem easier and more and more worth it. By no means so I have any doubts or hesitations, I whole-heartedly believe in what God is providing for us, and know that it is right. There are amazing teachers and staff at Grove whom we have already met, and I'm sure more who we have not met yet. We will find our community, our closest friends there, and those that become like family. It won't be right away though I'm sure, and I'm trying to be okay with that. Moving to Kent for school doesn't seem like much of a move at all now!!!

Either way... I will bawl my eyes out everytime I say goodbye to someone while reminding myself that we will be back to visit very soon. I will probably cry multiple times once we get there just being an emotional girl and adjusting to everything. But I am confident that this will be good for us... Mike and Elena and my parents up and moved to new cities away from everyone they know right after they got married, and my parents especially have told us its awesome and that we should go. They are more excited to visit us in Madison than in Akron anyhow!!

Okay Madison, this isn't the last I have to say about you... but I need to get back to teaching now.

Hey, random! Meet my brain!

Subbing day again... I'm finding these are the best days for me to post, because more often then not, I have a planning period with nothing to do, or classes in which students are just watching a movie/working on projects/doing busy work. Today is the first job I've received through being a preferred sub. All it means is that I get to see jobs first from the teachers who have me on their preferred list before the rest of the teachers in the system get to see it. Its pretty sweet, I actually got called directly about it last night. The teacher I'm subbing for is pretty cool as is his wife who I've gotten to work with through subbing. Its fun because I see a LOT of lacrosse girls today, and I enjoy the classes I'll teach. The reason I see so many girls is because they all are in love with the teacher I'm subbing for so they have signed up for his class specifically, and all know where to find me! (My cheek itches right now and I can't get it to stop... stupid allergies...)

This is a busy week, which means my brain is on overdrive with lots of random thoughts! Here goes...

In Jesus: Steve and I had an incredibly blessed weekend Easter weekend. We were able to go to Columbus for the day Saturday to spend time with my brother and parents, and Sunday after Mosaic (which rocked) we went to Cleveland to be with Steve's family... and while I don't want to detail them all, Steve and I were seriously stunned by the amount of surprise blessings that came our way over the weekend. Jesus is good... our friends and family are amazing... to say the least...

In lacrosse: Our girls play Stow this Wednesday which is a HUGE game!!! Steve's mom is going to come watch which is sweet, as are best friends Tiara and Megan. And we head to Columbus Saturday for the Hannigan Galipault Tournament which can basically guarantee crappy weather and surprising wins for many at the tourny. Its fun because I played in the tourny all through High School and for the 5th year now get to be a coach.

In friends: Tiara is coming to town!!! Besty and MOH comes to town tonight to stay until Thursday and will officially be our first house/apartment guest! I'm pumped to spend time with her and am so excited she'll be at our game as well.

In work: Monday - babysit, Tuesday - sub, Wednesday - sub, Thursday - babysit, Friday - sub! Busy, busy, busy... but on the tail of multiple "disagreements" about finances between Steve and I, I can't help but see my busy schedule as God's way of providing.

In marriage: Not so busy, but very blessed and overwhelmed. And we get a few date nights in a row... crazy! That never happens! Last night we went to see the movie "Adventureland" at the theater which has Bargain Movie Mondays! ($5 tickets which include a free small popcorn!) It was a sweet movie... and kind of representative of Steve and I. The main dude was a kind of nerdy romantic, the main girl Steve described as artsy, and they end up in NYC which is one of our new favorite places. (Disclaimer.... I cannot relate to the big flub-up the girl has in the movie! But I won't give it away here...)

Other ridiculously random thoughts in my head...

• In the first period class today (in my room, different teacher) there was a kid who looked exactly like a kid named Ross who went to my high school. It was flippin weird! Naturally I had to text Jenna and share with someone who would understand. If I could have taken a picture to show how freaky alike they looked without being a creeper I would have.
• Chalk Holders... have you seen these? The little containers that the chalk slides into so you can just hold the plastic container when writing on the board and not get chalk all over your hands? They're not new by any means... I remember asking my mom to take me to the teacher store when I was younger to buy them because I thought they were awesome. I also had a pen which could be pulled out into a pointer. With random things like this in my possession why did I ever doubt I was supposed to be a teacher??!??!
• Shane & Shane: Big fan of these guys... even more so lately. Thanks to pandora (Steve and I are slightly obsessed) I can type in Shane & Shane and have an entire "radio station" made of all music that sounds like these guys. Thank you Pandora for feeding my growing fascination with these musicians. New favorite song? "Beg" by these guys.

For now... thats my random. So as to not make this post 500 feet long, I'm gonna do another one that will be shorter about something completely different. I'm excited for lunch today... I made a huge batch of Hot Chicken Sandwiches last week and get excited every day when I realize I still have some left that I can heat up for lunch! That's a big 'ol WOOT!