Three-ish days

So I completed the first three-ish days of student teaching. So far it is a lot of fun. I have the best mentor teachers I could possibly have. I am working with Steve Barrus and Ryan Snelgrove. They are both loved by their students. The other faculty members kept telling me what great teachers they are and how lucky I am to teach with them. They like to have fun while they are teaching and that is good because it reminds me to have fun. I am worried that I will take student teaching too seriously and forget that teaching is a creative and fun process. I am teaching 10th and 12th grade. I wear a name tag every day to school that says "Mrs. Garrard - Teacher Candidate". I am very official. I realized on Wednesday, the first day of student teaching, that this is going to be the longest "job interview" I will ever have.

On the second day of teaching, January 3rd, there was a power outage. The power went out during zero period. Outside it was -10. It was about an hour later when they decided to send the students home because of how cold it was and there was no power. Snow days are so much better when you are a teacher. I got to come home and cuddle my sick baby girl who has bronchiolitis. I went to DI and found 101 Dalmatians on VHS, as well as, The Sword in the Stone and Hercules. I love DI.

We have 1:30 church now. I actually enjoyed all the morning time I had to prep, especially because Delaney was taking a nap and I had the house all to myself. My back is really hurting because I did some bridges to strengthen my core/back. That's what I get for working out. Boo.

On my first day of student teaching Delaney woke up at 6:15 am. The same time I woke up. She followed me around as I got ready. She was really supportive during breakfast. She was so happy, but that is because she didn't realize that her world was about to be rocked. We have some amazing friends who are volunteering to take care of Delaney while Mike is in class and I am teaching. I miss my little girl so much but it is fun to see how excited she is when I come home. Tomorrow Mike starts classes. He is excited to start his final semester of classes. I can't believe that college graduation is this year! We will both walk in graduation in July. Crazy. Time has flown by. This is going to be a crazy semester but a very rewarding one.

Also I received a phone call from Denise Bekkedahl. She was my English teacher in high school for a couple different classes. She is the teacher that inspired me to become an English teacher. I loved talking to her and receiving tips on classroom management. It feels great to know that she is in my corner and that I have her as a resource.

To Create

I am starting a goal this year of 365 days of journal writing. Each day there is a new question to answer. The first question was "What is your number one goal for the year?" which is very fitting for the first day of a new year. My goal is to create a life I love. This goal was inspired by my Aunt Tammy's recently released blog, http://www.creatingalifeyoulove.net/ and I love it. My aunt is an incredibly talented writer. She has always been very supportive of my love of creative writing. Reading her blog reminded me of the joy I feel when I am creating something. I had a pottery class in high school that I loved. It was very therapeutic to shape the clay on a wheel and watch all my hard work become a beautiful piece of art. I love writing but often I am too lazy to do it. I will explain it like this: I have great desires and ideas but it is just a lot of work to make them the way that I want.

Creating brings such great happiness to my life. I understand Heavenly Father's love for His children because we are His creations. Just like Mike and I created Delaney. Delaney is our greatest joy. I never imagined that anyone could make me this happy. I am in constant awe of her. I am always amazed at how perfect she is. It is an obsession.

Another example of creating is cooking. I love baking and cooking. I love putting together food to feed my family. It brings me a lot of satisfaction. I believe that creating is the key to happiness in the life. So that is my goal this year. To create. To love my life by striving to concoct, devise, formulate, invent, invest, produce, start, design, and discover.

Today I began my student teaching. It is an opportunity for me to begin my goal of creating. I will be teaching and it is one of the best ways to create. I will learn so much. I will become a better mother from this experience. A better wife. A better person. It is an exciting time for our little family. It will be hard and challenging especially with Mike taking 15 credits and me doing my student teaching but we have already been so very blessed in our righteous desire to complete our degrees. We have amazing friends who have stepped up and volunteered their time to take care of Delaney. We are very excited for the new year and all the new joys and challenges it will bring.