A week less ordinary

This week was not your average week at school. For one thing, there were TAKS tests being held on three out of the five days. The third graders took the Math test on Tuesday and those who failed the Reading, took a retest of that one on Wednesday. All principals get really paranoid about TAKS and the condition of the entire school that day. We are all highly encouraged to take field trips. Third, fourth and fifth are all on the same hall so if one of them is testing and we are not, we have to move to an alternate location. It's pretty crazy.

So, on Wednesday while ten of our students took the retest, my co-teacher and I were put together with the rest of our students into a spare classroom. It was pretty strange and hard to get anything done. In the end, we decided to just put on a movie. The other three third grade classes had it worse as they were all crammed in the gym.

On Thursday the fifth graders were taking their Reading TAKS test so we went on a field trip. We got a tour of minute maid park, our local major league baseball stadium. It was a cool tour but a little short. We were left to kill time with the kids for a few hours at a park. It reminded me a bit of being a camp counselor again. The kids' incessant questioning and whining was driving me crazy.

We survived the field trip. On Friday, the moment I had been training for my entire life, came, the faculty basketball game!!!! I actually had trained a bit by shooting around with my dad and Neha at the gym. I just wanted to look like a competent player and make my students proud. Well, my team lost but I still had a great time. I was by far the best girl and that made me feel really good. I wish I had had more playing time but it was just a faculty game anyway. Everytime I scored a basket, I felt like a Houston Rocket as the whole gym erupted in applause. The kids held signs to support their teachers. The best part was that there were several kids that I knew from other grades as well as some I did know who had signs with my name on it. I expected that from my own students but it was really neat to see it from other kids as well. What can I say? After that hot cheetos costume, I am just really popular!

That's TAKStastic!

So, the last round of TAKS testing is upon us. I have already completed my last tutorial including my last Saturday tutorial. Hallelujah! I especially dislike Saturday tutorials. Big Surprise, huh? It's not the actual tutorials themselves but the very idea of being forced to come to school on a Saturday. The principal gave them and us McDonald's cheeseburgers and french fries for this last Saturday. The kids were pumped but it didn't seem much of a reward for the six- ten hours these kids had been spending in tutorials each week for the last five months. Unfortunately many of them will still fail.

As a disclaimer, I must say that I do get paid to do tutorials. But I don't need the money so it feels more like I am being forced to do it. But hooray it is over!!!!

We have the Math TAKS on Tuesday which I have been cramming my kids for all week. We are supposed to try for 90% to pass the Math but it is looking more like 80%. Please pray. I would love a TAKS miracle. The retake for the Reading TAKS is on Wednesday. I really think some of the ten kids who failed will pass this time.

On Thursday the fifth graders take a TAKS Science test so we are going on a field trip to Minute Maid Field. We are getting a behind the scenes tour. I am excited. Afterwards we are going to hang out in a new park downtown. It should be a nice relaxing post-TAKS retreat for students and teachers.

May should be a lot of fun. Instead of cramming for standardized tests, we can help the kids have fun with learning. Oh and I get to teach Social Studies again. Yay!

Reflections on the road

I have been meaning to write this for a week so I will apologize for its untimeliness.

As I rode my bike for 150 miles in the MS150, I had a lot of time to think. I was surrounded by people that I didn't know. My dad left me in his dust at mile 1. Being on a hybrid bike and not training much meant I couldn't even dream of keeping up with him. He's become a fairly hardcore biker in recent years. He has lots of gear including these funny spandex leg warmers and sleeves.

Anyway, lots of time to think meant lots of Liz-style relevations. And now I share them with the world... for better or worse.

If you have never been a part of an organized bike ride, there are a few things you should know. There are a lot of rules to these things, both written and unwritten. When you are riding in such a large group, you need to announce your pressence when passing someone to avoid a collision. The average person just shouts "Left" as they pass you on the left. Though you are supposed to say this everytime you pass, I didn't mind when people passed several feet away from me without saying anything. Being on a hybrid bike, I got passed a lot. But it drove me crazy when someone would pass inches away from me- close enough for me to identify the gatorade flavor on their breath. It was very dangerous. If I wasn't concerned about my own safety, I would have veered right into them. That would teach them to be more polite, right?

I spent most of the ride wishing I had a road bike as I watched people who were obviously in worse shape pass me by over and over again. I coveted other people's bikes. In fact I convinced myself of my need for a road bike so much that I bought a bike the Friday after the race. Next time I ride I will also have some sort of speakers. You are not allowed to wear headphones but I was very jealous of those people with speakers. It was amusing to take note of the musical tastes of the other riders.

I know I had some other musings but I am tired from riding my new bike 20 miles this afternoon and I desperately need a shower.

I have been pretty busy lately trying to squeeze my MS150 training into my already hectic schedule. For those of you out of the loop, I am riding in the MS150 this weekend. It is a 150 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I really haven't trained as much as I should.

I didn't train very much for the first one I did three years ago. I also didn't go to sleep until 4am. I think going to sleep at a reasonable hour this year will make the experience much better. Anything's better than Saturday tutorials, right?

On Tuesday, we went on a field trip in order to clear the school so the fifth graders could focus on their Math TAKS test. We took all our kids (77% of the English kids and 98& of the bilinguals) who passed the Reading TAKS test to a place called Incredible Pizza. It was pretty incredible. It was a big all you can eat pizza buffet and game palace. Wow! Those kids could really put away the pizza. I thought they were going to explode. I saw a girl double fisting a sports bottle of coke and an ice cream cone. I am pretty sure some kids were going back for eighths. The place had lots of video games that dispense tickets to exchange for prizes. I felt like a kid again as these types of places were my absolute favorite back in the day.

I played a fake deal or no deal game and won the grand prize- 200 tickets! I was a natural. Maybe I should go on the real thing. Then I lucked upon a machine that was malfunctioning. I was supposed to get 4 tickets but was given 400! A-MAZING! 15 years ago, this would have made my year. I ended up using my winnings to buy some treats to bribe my kids with. Yay!

I want to write more but I need to get my stuff together for the MS150. Eek! 150 miles!!!

Tales from the third grade

I want to share a few funny story with you:

There is a kid in my class. I will call him Steve. Steve is a bit of a whiner. Everything and everyone seems to bug him. Well, the whole class was practicing how to look up words in the dictionary. All of a sudden, Steve comes up with yet another complaint. He said that another kid, Richard, had called him a crybaby. When I approached Richard, he said he looked up the definition of crybaby in the dictionary and it said someone who complains a lot. He pointed out that Steve does complain a lot so therefore he is a crybaby. The kid had a point. Steve even agreed that he dis complain a lot. I basically told them that though what Richard was saying was true, Steve did not appreciate the title so he needed to stop calling him that.

Belated Blogging

It has been far too long since I have blogged. I am tempted to recap the last two weeks of my life but that would take far too long.

Instead I will just write about today. I got observed by my principal and it went really well. My students behaved and the lesson was good. Then my mood soured a bit because the air conditioning was not working. This made both me and the kids understandably testy. Overall, temperature aside, it was a really good day.

After school I had Young Life. We normally have it on Wednesday nights but this time we crashed another school's club. The other school's group is very different from mine. Mine is primarily lower income black and hispanic kids with a few white kids.

These other kids are very wealthy. I also feel slightly uncomfortable with preppy rich white kids. My own high school was full of well-off students but only a few who would be classified as wealthy. I don't have much experience with the truly wealthy. The girls from the other school were almost wearing a uniform. It was uncanny. They wore a specific style of NIKE running shorts, an oversized t-shirt and brown leather deck shoes.

Those of you who know me, know I must match my clothes. My friend, Britany once dared me to go unmatching for one day and I simply couldn't. My Young Life kids are meticulous matches. If they are wearing black and yellow shoes, they wear black and yellow clothes. If they wear a red shirt, red shoes. These white kids didn't match at all. Athletic shorts and deck shoes? Weird! Everytime I am with those fancy kids, I am glad that I work with the kids I do. I am sure those rich kids are great and I know I would like to swim in their pools and marvel at their mansions, but I know I am where I belong.

Our group "invaded" theirs. They hold their meetings at a local tennis club. I am sure the neighbors were a bit nervous as about 25 of our kids were walking down the street wearing all black and camo. When we got into the club, we sprayed them with silly string. Unfortunately I gave my can away. I just got showered with the stuff with no way to retaliate. It was still fun. After the spraying, we joined them for songs and games and a Jesus talk. Good times were had by all.

The streak ends at Beer Island

The 1993 Houston Rockets championship was the best sports moment of my life. The 2005 University of Texas football championship does come in a close second, though. The reason that the Rockets' championship trumps the Longhorns' is due to my absolute obsession at the time with all things basketball.

I played basketball on a regular basis, papered my wall with posters featuring my favorite players, and wore basketball jerseys. I also collected basketball cards (this accounts for my extensive knowledge of the teams and players of that year). My friends and neighbors also caught Rockets fever after the team won the first 15 games of that season.

We would get together at a neighbor's house to watch the games on Pay per View. My friends and I made voodoo dolls of the players from the other teams. We would rip them apart when necessary. The adults would drink as they got excited and made amazing comments about how one of the other team's player resembled a farmer and how one of our players must buff his head in a bowling ball buffer. And when we played the New York Knicks for the championship, we used to marvel at the enormity of Patrick Ewing's nostrils.

We made many jokes at Patrick's nose's expense. The on-going one was that we could fit a roll of quarters up each nostril. These were not the nicest comments but if you look at the guy's nose I am sure you will see where we were coming from. The great irony of this joke came when I worked at a local record store after college. Patrick was an assistant coach with the Rockets and a regular weekly patron of our store. So here I was, working a cash register with a roll of quarters within arms' reach, when Patrick Ewing- my sworn enemy comes in. God could not have set me up any better to finally determine if Patrick's nostrils could indeed house a roll of quarters. Thankfully or not thankfully- depending on how you look at it, common sense prevailed and I resisted the urge.

When the Rockets won, I was in Heaven. My friends and I celebrated by going outside and banging pots and pans. We held up signs that said, "Honk if you love the Rockets!" and people honked.

So, now that you know a bit of my history with the Rockets; let's fast-forward to today. To be honest, I haven't kept up with the Rockets in the past few years. No other NBA team has stolen my affection, though. I am always a Rockets fan at heart. I recently found out that the Rockets were on a roll again. I decided to become a real fan again. I watched them tie for the second most wins in a row.

Last night, I watched them lose for the first time in 24 games yesterday. Luckily I got to watch it with one of my favorite people and one who was just as zealous as we watched the Rockets in 93, Neha Patel. We went to this place near my house called Beer Island. It looked a lot like a frat party with a hand-painted banner in the front. It was a bar but it did not serve mixed drinks- just beer. The cliental was odd to say the least. Several people brought dogs and for a moment, it seemed that two were going to fight. There was a strange 50ish biker chick with several jump drives hanging from her neck. She was accompanied, quite naturally I must say, by a large biker-esque guy with a mullet. There were some young college-types. There was a lady who was quite loud and enthusiastic, wearing a duct-tape shirt that said 22-0. She really should have updated it to 23. She was obviously excited but strangely alone. She made a lot more sense when her friend came, also loud and also wearing a homeade shirt.

Overall, it was a fun/funny atmosphere despite the loss. And I always love to spend time with Neha. Despite the loss, I am still going to be a fan.... at least for this season.

Spring Break has begun!

My Spring Break has officially begun! Whoohoo! I have already been very productive. I went to the post office, the bank and got a much-needed haircut. I also got a CT scan, which is like a fancy x-ray.

I have had sinus problems since high school but for the last year I seem to have a perpetual sinus problem I can't seem to shake. My doctor told me I had a really bad septum and this CT scan is supposed to show him if my sinus's will need sugery.

The CT scan experience is pretty weird. After reassuring the workers many times that there is absolutely no chance I am pregnant, I had to lay down on a table covered with sheets. Then they put some kind of lead apron on my midsection to protect the baby maker. The CT scan machine looks like a giant donut and is at the end of the table. I don't know if they do CT scans for other parts of your body but for mine, I had to have my head in the middle of the donut. The technician told me not to move. I don't know about you but when I am told I cannot move, despite being perfectly capable of being immobile before, I seem unable to stop moving. Can I breathe? Can I blink? The woman should have been more specific.

The machine flashed lights and moved and made noises while I struggled to contain my movements. I decided to close my eyes in order to no longer worry about the question of blinking. I feared I was moving too much as I breathed, though. Don't they understand that I have bad sinuses? I need to move a bit in order to breathe.

After I went through one cycle of whirring noises and strange lights, I had to do it all over again but in a much more awkward position. I was on my stomach with my head raised and facing forward. They had a little chin shelf to make the not moving thing possible. This time was shorter but definitely less comfortable. Overall, the whole thing wasn't too bad at all. I think about all the weirdly invasive medical tests Sarah has had to go through these past few months and know I have nothing to complain about.

As for complaining, I keep putting off riding my bike even though I know I need to. The MS150 is less than a month away and I have only done minimal training. I am going to try to go to Galveston this week and ride on the seawall. I just get bored when I am going long distances. Oh well. I need to end this blog entry, suck it up, and go for a ride.

Cancer sucks

I am about to go take a nap between school and going bowling with the YoungLife kids. But I want to do a quick little blog first for my random faithful readers.

I hate cancer and it sucks. These things are pretty obvious but it seems that almost daily I hear of someone who is less than the cultural 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon away from me, and has cancer or has died of cancer. I am just getting so tired of it. The latest was Yoon Koller. She was a lady from my church. I didn't know her well but I went to school with her son, Andrew. He's a really nice guy. Apparently she found out that she had stomach cancer two months ago and now she's dead. She was younger than my parents and I believe several of her children are still in high school. It just doesn't make any sense.

I am thinking of doing a reprinting of my "cancer sucks" shirts. I must admit that the slogan is clever and truthful but the reason to reprint is because so many people keep getting diagnosed with various cancers. It does make a great "So I found out you have cancer and I have no idea what to say or do" gift. But I wish there was no need for these. If any of you are interested, let me know your size and color preferences. I wish I didn't know anyone to give one too but unfortunately I know far too many. Cancer sucks!

Full weekend

I had a busy weekend. I have been feeling the allergy burn again lately. It seems I am allergic to those times when Houston weather changes dramatically. That is pretty much constant in the Spring. Despite feeling slightly under the weather, I had a good time.

On Friday, I went to Sarah and John's. Sarah had her mastectomy on Thursday or as I prefer to say; she lost one of her girls. We watched a lot of Seinfeld and ate some lasagna that a nice lady made them. I was also given a quilt by Sarah's mom. I have been waiting for about 15 years for one of these babies. Sarah's mom is a quilting phenom whose work you may have seen in those quilting magazines I am sure you all have subscriptions to. Anyway, I finally got my own and it is awesome!!

Sarah is doing well. She was really sore but in good spirits. On Saturday we even ventured out of the house. We went to the mall so Sarah could buy some shoes she'd had her eye on. We figured she deserved it. The shoes ended up being named "Comfort shoes." Coincidence? I think not. I acted like an offensive lineman to protect Sarah from unwanted bumps from random passer-bys.

Then Saturday night, I watched my favorite mullet documentary and played a lot of wii with one of my friends. I am feeling sore today. I dominated at wii tennis. I am issuing a challenge to anyone who thinks they can take me on. Bring it!

Today my parents and I went to College Station to see my brother and his wife. They were in town from Colorado Springs for their nephew's christening. It was great to see them. I really miss having my brother around. We got to jump on the kids' trampoline. I love trampolines!!! So, basically I had a great weekend. Now, it's back to the land of lesson plans. Thank goodness Spring Break starts in four days!!!!

TAKS and losing one of the girls

Today was the dreaded Reading TAKS test. If my kids do well, my life is good. If my kids do poorly, my life will suck. It's a lot of pressure on them and even more on me. It wasn't the most fun day because the test takes all day and they have to be quiet all day. It's hard for adults to be quiet that long, let alone 8 and 9 year olds. I am so glad it's over. We should get the results after Spring Break.

Tomorrow is Sarah's mastectomy. She is losing one of her girls. The doctors have told her many things but because she is such a small person all over, it shouldn't be too bad. Please keep her in your prayers. She still has a lot of decisions to make in the future about reconstruction and all that.

Amy's wedding continued

I realize I need to end my account of Amy's wedding weekend.

I think I left off with the wedding day. We all got into the limo and headed to the church, which was convienantly located only a few miles away. My groomsman, Frank and I lead the bridal party procession with flair. Amy's niece-3 and nephew-1, were the flower girl and ring bearer, respectively. Actually Annika, the flower girl, refused to be refered to as flower girl and instead prefered to be called the princess. She even wore a tiara to prove it. She did a fine job walking down the aisle, though her brother, Kai had some trouble. Eventually he made it down with some assistance from his father.

Amy's friend, Karen and sister bawled when she went down the aisle. I was strangely unaffected. I never seem to be able to predict when I will lose it at a wedding. Sometimes I try to make myself cry to feel like I am really getting into it. If Amy and I had just left Maui where we were spending 90% of our free time together, I am sure I would have been upset. But now I figure I will see her just as much, if not more since her husband has a good job.

Anyway, Amy looked awesome and Shawn seemed to have tears in his eyes. Amy's dad definitely did. Amy's brother, Ryan performed the ceremony. I always like it when family members do the wedding since they have a lot of insider info. It's definitely weird when you can tell the person marrying the couple doesn't really know them.

After the ceremony, we were supposed to go immediately to take bridal party pics. Unfortunately Amy and Shawn stood in the hallway too long and an unexpected receiving line began. This delayed the pictures quite a bit as they schmoozed with their guests. Finally we headed out into the wintry weather for some pics. It was freezing. The groomsmen kept lending us their jackets to cover our strapless shoulders. The pictures looked great, I am sure but I was glad to get back in the warm limo.

The reception was fun. Lindsay, Amy's sister, started a little jellybean war. She tried to throw jellybeans into our cleavage. It was a fun game, for sure. The food was excellent and there was quite the array of pastries. Amy's cousin/Bethany's brother, Graeme was the MC. Canadian weddings always seem to have a friend or family member who announces stuff and makes sure things run smoothly. Graeme made up a great song at Bethany's wedding about how there better be gluten-free in Georgia. Bethany is allergic to gluten. It was just hilarious. The song he wrote about Amy was equally entertaining. It was all about how Shawn needed to be prepared because Amy was addicted to lululemon pants. For those of you who don't know Amy, she pretty much only wears pants from lululemon, a Canadian yoga/athletic wear company. The song was very fitting.

The speeches were good- funny yet heartfelt and it's always nice to see a man cry. I was excited about the bouquet toss but was thwarted by Kristy Bartunek. She gave me a hard shove from behind and dashed my hopes of catching the bouquet. I am not superstitious. I have already caught two. I am just competitive. Later Kristy and I made our fun by taking random pics including ones where we were wearing other people's coats.

After the wedding, we helped clean up and went back to Amy's to change. Then a bunch of the former YWAMers went over to Courtney Mowat's house to hang out. It's always interesting to see where your friends live. I called it the Courtney reality tour. Courtney lives in a teenager's dream house. They have a pool, hot tub, pool table, ping pong, huge media room with leather lazy boy style theater seating. And a projection screen with a wii. There also seemed to be endless snacks. It was awesome!! We had a lot of fun. I'd like to have a house like that when I have teenagers so they will want to hang out at home and not get into trouble.

The next day, Amy's dad drove me to the airport and it was back to teaching. Hmmm...

My eighth bridesmaid gig

I have been meaning to write about Amy's wedding all week but I have been a bit of a slacker. Well, I am finally getting with the program after watching the movie, 27 Dresses, tonight. I definitely had some things in common with the main character. We even had the same fav part of a wedding- the groom's face when he sees the bride. I think this is just natural when you spend all day getting ready with the bride. You really just want to see what he thinks of the whole thing. I especially love it when they cry those subtle manly tears. Matt Laskey was classic!

One interesting thing about the movie was that the guy she ends up with is an actor I had a huge crush on as a teenager. So, if the bridesmaid chick is me, then I end up with a hottie!!

Now to real weddings- Amy's. It was so great to get to hang out in Canada with Amy and her fam. I really love those people. I wish I had been able to come earlier but it was hard enough to get permission to miss two days.

Thursday night was the bachelorette party hosted by Amy's sister, Lindsay. It was quite the phallic fiesta. I think a bachelorette party is just more fun when the couple is waiting until their honeymoon to have sex for the first time. Lindsay made an incredible chocolate cake topped with a naked Barbie and Ken who slightly resembled Amy and Shawn. There were rice krispie treats that spelled out "SEX." There were also some strange penis-shaped cupcakes. We played pin the penis on Spiderman and drew penises on paper plates. Good clean fun! There were even penis straws. A funny thing happened with the penis straws. I put one in my purse and forgot about it. The next day, Amy's brother, Ryan was looking for a pen to sign the check for pizzas. Apparently he zoned in on my purse as a potential pen holder. He grabs what he thinks is a pen and tries to sign for the pizza with a penis straw. Awkward! That will teach him to dig through my purse!!

On Friday, we attempted to sleep in. We ended up helping to set up the reception area and sanctuary at the church. After Bethany and Matt's wedding, I am an expert at putting chair covers on chairs. Luckily there were a lot of other people around helping. We soon tired and went back to Amy's house for a nap. That night we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at a family friend's house that was huge and cavernous. There was even a part that closely resembled a dungeon. My friend, Kristy from Maui was there and we had fun taking pics in the cavern. The food was incredible. I couldn't get enough of it.

Amy gave the four bridesmaids photo albums and lululemon gear. For those of you who are not Canadian or unfamiliar with 80% of Amy's wardrobe, lululemon is a trendy Canadian yoga clothing line. I feel cooler now that I own more lululemon gear.

We went back to Amy's and hung out a bit and went to bed. It snowed a little that night. This made the snow on the ground look a little nicer. In the morning we went to get our hair done. I had a picture of what I wanted but the lady informed me that she did not know how to do cornrows. I don't think Canadians understand black people because the picture of the hairstyle did not closely resemble corn rows. Oh well.

After the hair, we went back to Amy's to finish getting ready. I am getting tired right now. I will have to continue this tomorrow.

Tastes like a chicken shake

Today at Young Life I had to take one for the team. We did a fairly gross game. We blended three different McDonald's value meals. There was a nugget meal, cheese burger and the unfortunate fish filet. A student was assigned to each of us and if they correctly guessed the ingredients to the shake, the leader had to chug it. Oh, that Cindy!!! Why did she have to guess nuggets. The fact that the shake smelled exactly like chicken nuggets may have been a dead giveaway.

After the successful guessing, we had to chug the contents of our glasses. In case you were wondering fries, chicken nuggets and Sprite don't taste nearly as good as one. It was sick. I was mainly grossed out by the chicken scent. Luckily I didn't have to chug it all. I think I won since the burger guy and fish guy weren't drinking near as much. I have a feeling theirs were a lot worse- especially the fish filet. I couldn't get the pureed chicken taste out of my mouth all night.

What can I say? Suffering for the Lord.

Now I need to go pack for my third Canadian adventure this year. Hooray for a mini-vacation from the TAKS test!!!

Unexpected Emergency Room

This weekend was busy, well actually Saturday was really busy. I started the day off with the dreaded Saturday tutorials! I don't mind the actual tutorials themselves because it seems more productive and fulfilling to work in smaller groups. I just hate coming to work on Saturdays and even more than that, I hate being forced to come in on Saturdays.

After tutorials, my teacher friend, Helen and I went out to eat at the local "Lesbian deli," my mom's nickname, not mine. Then we went to the art museum. It was fun. I like hanging out with Helen. She seems to have a lot of negative people in her life so I like being a positive influence. She is also fun to talk to.

After the art museum, my mom and I drove out to Sarah's house in Pearland so my mom, the nurse, could give her a post-chemo immune booster shot. She wasn't doing so hot when we got there. She had broken her impressive "no puke" streak that she'd been cultivating in high school. For those of you who don't understand the true ramifications of this, watch the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's impressive streak ends with the fateful black and white cookie.

Sarah also had a fever. When a cancer patient has a fever, they have to go to the emergency room. I dropped my mom off and met Sarah, John and John's family at the emergency room at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It was not crowded since it only serves cancer patients. Sarah got right in. We were there for about 5 hours as Sarah was pumped with lots of fluid, antibiotics, and magnesium. We never really figured out where you would normally get your magnesium quota from. Luckily she got to go home.

Overall, it wasn't too scary though Sarah really looked like she had cancer to me for the first time. Sure she's bald but other than that you wouldn't know she was sick. It was hard to see her sick. I am so thankful that this did not happen until her very last chemo.

The last time I was in an emergency room was in Bangladesh. It was a very different experience. As for my own health, I am having some serious sinus issues. I have been put on a month's worth of antibiotics and three weeks worth of steroids. Not the Schwartzenagger kind. After all this I have to have a CAT scan to see if I need sinus surgery. Compared to cancer, it seems like nothing. I may end up going with the surgery to end my six month streak of back-to-back heinous sinus infections. I will keep you posted as I am sure you are on the edge of your seat for news of my whacked sinuses.

No mo' chemo!

Tonight I went to a "No mo' Chemo" dinner for Sarah. This was to celebrate Sarah's last chemo. One treatment down, several to go. Next is surgery, then radiation and more surgery. At least she's done with chemo. Her hair will start growing back, which is a really exciting thing!!!

And now for a few reasons I love Houston:

Reason #1- Last weekend I hung out with my friends, Jane and James who live in a primarily black part of town. The neighbors are super friendly and have been very welcoming to Jane and James, despite the fact that they are Asian and Honky, respectfully. Anyway, when we were driving in the neighborhood, we saw an incredible vehicle. It was a goldish champagne colored Buick Regal. In case you couldn't identify the make and model, the owner had it painted largely on the doors in silver cursive. The doors were not the type ordinarily found on the grandma-ish Buick. I think the type of doors are called suicide doors or lamborghini doors. They did not open out but up. It was pretty incredible!

Reason #2- We have a local celebrity called "Mattress Mac" who owns Gallery Furniture Store. He actually achieved a more national fame when he was featured on "Conan O'Brien." Conan was inexplicably only on at 3 am in Houston. He showcased the crazy commercials that are on at that time of the night. There is a furniture guy who uses a real chainsaw to demostrate how he slashes prices. Mattress Mac likes to say, "Save You Money" as he is holding a small wad of cash and jumping enthusiastically. He is often wearins a shirt that looks like it was made out of an American flag. He actually came to my high school and modified the "Save you money" to "Don't do drugs!" Very powerful and life changing for me.

All that was to say that on Monday, President's Day- They are having a search for Miss Gallery Furniture. I can't even imagine what an honor that would be. The store actually opens at 5am that day for auditions. I don't think I want to wake up in the 4's and then teach a full-day of school and tutorials. But wow, what a dream come true! I guess we'll see how I feel on Sunday night.

Wonderful Weekend

For those of you not in Houston, this weekend was exquisite! It was warm enough to wear sandals and shorts but not at all hot. This is not typical Houston weather.

The weekend started off well despite an unnecessarily hard fought battle to gain approval to take off two days to be in my YWAM best friend, Amy's wedding. It was nice to finally get the yes. I had already bought the plane ticket and the dress. I figured if I ended up being denied, I would just wear the dress for those two days of school I was supposed to miss. I really don't think two days is bad for a wedding in another country anyway. Luckily my kids kicked butt on their fake standardized test the day before.

So, I was riding high going into the weekend knowing that I was going to get to be in my eighth wedding. I really am a professional.

When I left school the weather was warm and breezy. I took advantage of this and went for a bike ride. I am trying to start training for the MS150. On Saturday, I had to do Saturday tutorials, which I hate. I mainly hate the concept of being at school on a Saturday. Luckily God was was merciful and made the weather cool and gloomy up until noon when we were dismissed. I called up my friends, Jane and James and we spent the day together. It was great! We played disc golf, road bikes, ate pizza and played video games. It reminded me of being in YWAM where I would hang out with friends all day. After each activity, we'd just try to figure out what's next. I feel like now I mainly hang out with my friends for one activity and one hour. I miss the all-day hang out.

On Sunday, I was treated to a lovely banana pancake breakfast served by the aforementioned, James and Jane. Then I went to church and then played disc golf with Sarah. A great weekend!!! I heard it is going to get into the forties later this week. That's Houston for you!

Sucks to school, hooray for Young Life

I just love Young Life. Yesterday I went to a basketball game for some of my Young Life girls. I am glad I went because it turned out to be their last game and therefore my last chance to use my "D-Fence" in a logical way.

Luckily it was a home game. This made it easy to find someone to hold my fence. It is really done best as a two-man job. A kid I know named Jarvis was my fence man this time. He is the kind of kid who is not ashamed to yell "fence" with gusto. But despite our best efforts, the team lost by almost 30. I considered that n improvement from the game I watched where they lost by 50 to this same team.

Last week I missed Young Life because I was sick. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I came back. I feel like school piles weights on my shoulders and Young Life takes the weight off. I think it's technically Jesus that takes it off. Anyway, instead of feeling more tired after teaching all day and then being a Young Life leader at night, I feel energized and rejuventated.

I don't know what this means. Maybe I was spoiled at YWAM by my incredible boss-type people. The regular world is tough. I wonder often if teaching is for me. It's a big time-consuming job. I really feel I need to try a new school before I make my final decision. 90% of my issues with the current job surround one person so I would like to see what teaching is like without that person. Lately I have been leaning towards getting a master's in school counseling. I am so tired of the hype surrounding our state's standardized test, the TAKS test. I HATE IT! I think you get to bypass most of that as a counselor and hang out and care about kids. That's the part I like best about teaching. I missed the deadline to enroll for next year's masters program. I guess that's a sign I should think about it more. So, those of you who pray, pray that I figure out what I am really supposed to do.

Also pray that I can go to my YWAM best friend, Amy's wedding. I am meeting some resistance even though I am in it. Pray that everything works out. I would be devastated to have to miss such an important day. Also I paid a lot of money for the bridesmaid dress and I have no foreseeable balls to attend in the future.

Shopping with Bing

Today I took my Chinese friend, Bing, shopping. I am emphasizing her ethnicity because she is an international student I befriended through an organization in town. Spending time with her makes me wish every international person who comes here had an American friend to explain things to them.

Today I took her for bbq. I had a fun time trying to explain what bbq was and what the South is. She was confused why the "south" is not actually the states in the south but really the states in the southeast to mideast.

Our goal for the day was to find Bing an outfit she could wear to an upcoming job fair. She is an engineering grad student and wants to get a summer internship. So, we went business suit shopping. It was good to help her but business suits are pretty boring. I am very thankful I do not have to wear one.

She told me some interesting stuff about China. They still have the one kid rule and if you break it, you have to pay an on-going fine. So, only rich people can have more than one kid. She said that the laws are different in rural areas so families have help on the farm.

She also said she has heard that some families have a second child that they keep secret. They would have to obtain false birth certificates for the kid to go to school. I am glad I live in America where people can procreate as they wish.

I am happy to report that we accomplished our mission and purchased a fine business suit. I am sure Bing will wow them with her snazzy new duds and get an internship in no time.

My dad breaks the rules

So, last Wednesday was career day at my school. I don't remember having a career day at my school when I was a kid but they were often part of television shows like Full House. Uncle Joey didn't show up at this career day but it was still good.

The way this one worked was that professionals came to our class in groups of three for three rotations. My dad was in the first rotation for my class. Unfortunately he had to follow a representative from the SPCA and an animal cop. The animal cop was one of the ladies from the show, Animal Cops." She goes where animals are being abused and arrests those doing it. She even remarked on our class turtles, Gary and Susan. I had been told it was illegal to sell turtles that size but how could I pass up $5 a piece at the Flea Market? She said that having them as pets is illegal but you can have them for educational purposes. They are really more like class mascots than educational tools but I wasn't going to tell her that lest she take them away.

So, my dad had to follow the animal cop. Somehow law is not as interesting as animals. He did a good job, though. He tried to use third-grade friendly language and examples. He used some of my kids' names in his examples, which is always a hit. The best part of the whole day was when he called on one of my students. She said that he had broken a rule. When he asked what, she said, "You called Miss Hightower by her first name." She had a point and we all had a good laugh as my dad explained that being my dad gave him the right to call me by my first name.

The other guests were pretty good with the exception of this geeky middle-aged audio/visual technician. He explained his job in technical terms that even I had trouble following. He spent more time talking about Chicago than his job, which was probably good since his job was so boring.

One of my students' fathers came and shared about how he had come to Texas from Mexico and didn't know English. He also told them that he had failed the fifth grade. But despite these challenges, he is now a very successful technologies specialist with a post-graduate degree. This was great for them to hear since many of them have failed grades already. I was glad he shared that with them.