Thanksgiving in Denver was great fun. We cooked Thanksgiving dinner together, but the highlight was getting to talk and talk and talk and catch up. It was really nice not to have to worry about job searching and lesson planning for a few days, too. The vacation was welcome and needed!
We had one particularly exciting adventure. Catherine's parents drove up from Grand Junction on Friday afternoon and "kidnapped" us for the evening. They took us up to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we were going to watch the light parade. However, it turned out (faulty advertising) that the parade wasn't till the following night. So we went out to dinner, walked down the aisle of lights at the hardware store, and bought a game with leftover change. Actually, we pretty much paid for everything that night with the change. It was pretty amusing to watch cashiers' expressions as we marched up to pay a dollar in pennies for a set of dice! We figure we brightened their holiday weekend. ;-)
This week I'm teaching full time. Yesterday was a bit rough, especially since I felt really out of everything after having been gone for five days. I was so stressed I wasn't even hungry for lunch -- and that never happens because I always have a VERY healthy apetite. :-) However, today I ate lunch again, and the whole day was fun. Mishaps and all. I need to work on pacing -- I almost ran out of time to do any math with the 2nd graders today. But we had fun doing lots of other things like learning a new game in P.E., asking lots of questions about pets, writing about imaginary pets (one student had a pet dinosaur who liked kids and allowed him to ride on its back. Another had a pet crocodile that was brown, had smooth skin :-), liked to take showers, and acted like a dog), and reading about pets. Can you tell what my unit is about this week? I like teaching.
I'm still searching for a job. Thanks for the tips and contacts that some of you have sent -- they're very encouraging. I'm still looking anywhere, but especially around Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.
This morning our Bible lesson was on Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Reading up on them last night, I was amazed at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's confidence in God. As Nebuchadnezzar threatened them and tried to cow them by his anger, they simply said, "We don't have to defend ourselves before you. We know our God is strong enough to save us. But EVEN IF HE DOESN'T, we still will not serve your image." The pastor here in Zuni has been preaching on Ruth recently (I know, appropriate book choice ;-D), and he has taken the angle that God took away everything Naomi wished for and thought would make her happy, only to show her eventually that He is the only source of true joy. Don't get the wrong idea; my life is wonderful right now. But I am being forced to depend on God for my future security, provision, hopes, home, and lots of other things and sometimes it's hard to trust. I'm thankful for these reminders that God is enough.
p.s. Guess what?
It snowed today! Not enough to stick, but enough to brush my face and hands during recess and make me very, very happy! Especially because in our morning prayer at school I prayed for it! God is cool!