I wish I had more time to read. It's one of my favorite things to do, and I just get so caught up in everything around me that it falls to the back-burner. Maybe a priority adjustment is in order.
That said, this week was Spring Break for me and Beth. I don't think next year we'll be so lucky, but this time it was the same for us both. Here's the break-down:
Saturday, March 15 - Relaxed the first part of the day, then attended a beautiful wedding ceremony for Ashley Thomas and Tim Krason, then drove to Birmingham.
Sunday - Church with Beth's family, lunch for her birthday, relax the rest of the day. Her mom bought Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for dessert, and it was divine. =]
Monday - I graded papers while Beth went shopping with her mom for her birthday.
Tuesday - We left Birmingham to go to Atlanta. We had time for shopping at IKEA, visiting with cousins, and dinner with old friends at Figo (a pasta place I highly recommend) before heading to a cabin in North Georgia for a few restful days alone.
Wednesday - It rained. Good thing we were in the cabin! I must say, while we were lazy bums, this was perhaps my favorite day of the week. We woke up around 11:30 or so, made breakfast, and then promptly fell back asleep to the sound of rain on our tin roof until some time around 3. I don't get days like that very often, but it sure is awesome to rest...really rest. We went shopping that evening at an outlet mall nearby.
Thursday - We made breakfast, and then both of us worked the majority of the day on school stuff. Can't leave the jobs behind forever...oh well, we got a lot done in the solitude of the cabin.
Friday - Left for Atlanta, saw more old friends, found a great study on Nehemiah that we're going to start doing together, and then headed back to Birmingham. I hate Atlanta traffic.
Today we got up, got ready, loaded the car, killed the battery in the car, transferred stuff to another car, picked up a friend, and drove home - it was long...really long...but oh, so worth it. I am so excited to be back in my home.
Is it bad that I don't really want to go back to school?
3.22.2008
3.12.2008
Train Up A Child
Beth continues to tell me that she feels little 'flutters' inside - that's the baby telling us hello.
Speaking of the baby, we're going to the doctor in a few hours to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. How exciting! All the girls in the dorm are excited and waiting for us to get back and tell them the news, and the students/teachers at my school are anxious to find out, too.
An update on my students. They still surprise me every day. It is such an astonishing thing to me that they will goof off and not pay a lick of attention all year, and now that it is exam time these are the questions I hear:
"Mr. Kirchner, will you show me my average? I need to know what I have to score on the exam."
"What extra credit can I do, Mr. K? I have to bring my grade up."
"Will you help me with this problem?"
As if scoring well on the exam is going to help some of them...
What ever happened to just "credit"? I mean, if they had done their homework, studied, asked questions all along, they wouldn't have to worry about extra credit to bring their grade up. Last Friday I had gotten to the end of my rope with them asking me for extra credit or telling me that I don't give enough or saying that they need it and I have to give it to them, so I made them all write me an essay discussing this question: "Why do you think you deserve extra credit?"
Awful is about the only word I can come up with to describe the essays I received. I am surprised that any of them passed the State English Test. What makes it worse? Almost every last one of them wrote all kinds of reasons for why they deserve extra credit, and every single reason was something they are expected to do for just plain credit. You don't get extra credit for taking notes in class, or paying attention, or doing your homework, or "because I'm doing better than last semester."
It is frustrating, to say the least. What worries me the most is that these are our future politicians, voters, doctors, nurses, mechanics, waiters, teachers...I get down just thinking about it.
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
Lord, may I do just that - in my classroom and in my home - and maybe this generation will not just grow up, but grow up and make a difference for You.
Speaking of the baby, we're going to the doctor in a few hours to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. How exciting! All the girls in the dorm are excited and waiting for us to get back and tell them the news, and the students/teachers at my school are anxious to find out, too.
An update on my students. They still surprise me every day. It is such an astonishing thing to me that they will goof off and not pay a lick of attention all year, and now that it is exam time these are the questions I hear:
"Mr. Kirchner, will you show me my average? I need to know what I have to score on the exam."
"What extra credit can I do, Mr. K? I have to bring my grade up."
"Will you help me with this problem?"
As if scoring well on the exam is going to help some of them...
What ever happened to just "credit"? I mean, if they had done their homework, studied, asked questions all along, they wouldn't have to worry about extra credit to bring their grade up. Last Friday I had gotten to the end of my rope with them asking me for extra credit or telling me that I don't give enough or saying that they need it and I have to give it to them, so I made them all write me an essay discussing this question: "Why do you think you deserve extra credit?"
Awful is about the only word I can come up with to describe the essays I received. I am surprised that any of them passed the State English Test. What makes it worse? Almost every last one of them wrote all kinds of reasons for why they deserve extra credit, and every single reason was something they are expected to do for just plain credit. You don't get extra credit for taking notes in class, or paying attention, or doing your homework, or "because I'm doing better than last semester."
It is frustrating, to say the least. What worries me the most is that these are our future politicians, voters, doctors, nurses, mechanics, waiters, teachers...I get down just thinking about it.
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
Lord, may I do just that - in my classroom and in my home - and maybe this generation will not just grow up, but grow up and make a difference for You.
3.03.2008
Psalm 139: 13-14
Beth thinks she felt the baby move around last night!
How awesome is it that we are created in such a way as to make an effect on the world before
anyone has even seen our face?
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
It is incredible to think about trying to give my Lord the praise He deserves, but it is even more incredible and humbling to think that there is another life coming to this world. A life that is being knitted together just for the express purpose of glorifying God. A life that is meant to praise Him.
I can't know the reality that Beth feels right now having our child inside her womb but oh, how I know the reality of my Father in heaven who teaches me more about who He is every day. My Lord who shows me how to walk in his truth. My God who uses our little baby to reveal Himself to me in such a profound way. Thank you Lord!
How awesome is it that we are created in such a way as to make an effect on the world before
anyone has even seen our face?
"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
It is incredible to think about trying to give my Lord the praise He deserves, but it is even more incredible and humbling to think that there is another life coming to this world. A life that is being knitted together just for the express purpose of glorifying God. A life that is meant to praise Him.
I can't know the reality that Beth feels right now having our child inside her womb but oh, how I know the reality of my Father in heaven who teaches me more about who He is every day. My Lord who shows me how to walk in his truth. My God who uses our little baby to reveal Himself to me in such a profound way. Thank you Lord!
3.01.2008
Your Calling
Do you ever wonder if what you are doing with your life is what God has called you to do?
Beth and I had a long conversation the other night about how frustrated I get with the students where I teach. I feel like I can't get through to them and get them to be more motivated. I tell them all the time that I don't just want them to pass my class, but to do their best and to remember that the choices they make now will decide what their future is going to look like.
You know what most of my students do when I make that speech? Stare at me blankly. Look the other way. Ignore me entirely.
You won't know this unless you're married, but when you marry the right person you will know it and be reassured of it all the time. I know this because Beth reminded me that it's not my only job to teach Geometry. She reminded me that I can't know who really is listening or who's life is impacted by what I do and say in the classroom.
She said, "You know, Jacob, all you can do is live your life in a way that glorifies God." She's right. They may not learn a lick of geometry this year. They may get more detentions than they have ever gotten. They may hate me for holding them to a standard that they have never been held to before. At the end of the day, though, they will all have seen me walking a walk that matches my talk - and that is worth it for me.
An interesting thing happened the next Monday morning at school.
As I walked down the hallway at 7:02 a.m., I heard "Mr. Kirchner" from behind me. One of my students was standing there and said, "Do you mind if I come stay in your room until everyone gets here?"
"Of course," I said. So he proceeded to follow me down to my room and sit there with me until about 7:30. Without any prompting from me at all, he started telling me about how he had been kicked out of his house that weekend, and how frustrated he was with his mom,and about things
that had happened to him growing up, and how he doesn't want any of that to hold him back because he wants to graduate and go to college and make something of himself. He told me things that he has never told anyone before. Things that are hard to hear about, but even harder to live through.
He came Tuesday morning as well.
As I came up the stairs Wednesday morning, I half-expected to see him standing there, waiting on me. I didn't. He was absent from school that day.
Thursday came and while he didn't come early to my room, he was in class and even came to my classroom during his study hall - the last period of the day. He said, "I wanted to come see you because it's my last day here. I'm going to another school."
I may never see him again. I may never know what happens in his life from now on. But I know this - God used me. He put me in that kid's life for a reason, even if it was just to listen, and I won't ever doubt again that I am doing what I am called to do.
If none of my students learn geometry this year, it's okay with me, because as far as I'm concerned I've done my job.
Beth and I had a long conversation the other night about how frustrated I get with the students where I teach. I feel like I can't get through to them and get them to be more motivated. I tell them all the time that I don't just want them to pass my class, but to do their best and to remember that the choices they make now will decide what their future is going to look like.
You know what most of my students do when I make that speech? Stare at me blankly. Look the other way. Ignore me entirely.
You won't know this unless you're married, but when you marry the right person you will know it and be reassured of it all the time. I know this because Beth reminded me that it's not my only job to teach Geometry. She reminded me that I can't know who really is listening or who's life is impacted by what I do and say in the classroom.
She said, "You know, Jacob, all you can do is live your life in a way that glorifies God." She's right. They may not learn a lick of geometry this year. They may get more detentions than they have ever gotten. They may hate me for holding them to a standard that they have never been held to before. At the end of the day, though, they will all have seen me walking a walk that matches my talk - and that is worth it for me.
An interesting thing happened the next Monday morning at school.
As I walked down the hallway at 7:02 a.m., I heard "Mr. Kirchner" from behind me. One of my students was standing there and said, "Do you mind if I come stay in your room until everyone gets here?"
"Of course," I said. So he proceeded to follow me down to my room and sit there with me until about 7:30. Without any prompting from me at all, he started telling me about how he had been kicked out of his house that weekend, and how frustrated he was with his mom,and about things
that had happened to him growing up, and how he doesn't want any of that to hold him back because he wants to graduate and go to college and make something of himself. He told me things that he has never told anyone before. Things that are hard to hear about, but even harder to live through.
He came Tuesday morning as well.
As I came up the stairs Wednesday morning, I half-expected to see him standing there, waiting on me. I didn't. He was absent from school that day.
Thursday came and while he didn't come early to my room, he was in class and even came to my classroom during his study hall - the last period of the day. He said, "I wanted to come see you because it's my last day here. I'm going to another school."
I may never see him again. I may never know what happens in his life from now on. But I know this - God used me. He put me in that kid's life for a reason, even if it was just to listen, and I won't ever doubt again that I am doing what I am called to do.
If none of my students learn geometry this year, it's okay with me, because as far as I'm concerned I've done my job.
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