Ready for Week 2

Well, last week pretty much knocked me on my bottom, but it's not gonna keep me down! I'm feeling rested tonight and ready for week 2 of being a professional. Lots of things in my lifestyle have changed in the past week. No time for blogging, no time for running, not even much time for eating. I was so blessed this summer to be able to relax and do all kinds of leisure activities, but it was such a drastic change from what this past week has been. I've really enjoyed meeting all my kiddos and their parents. I still trust that this is the position in which God placed me. I'm just really starting to understand what life has been like for Ross the past two years in which evenings and weekends are so precious.

I hope to blog more soon when all the beginning of the school year madness calms down a bit, but for now I need to go spend these last few hours of this weekend with my husband! ;)

blog slacking.

Oh, I know it's been awhile and I even have good posting material...I've just been so overwhelmed and exhausted the past 2 weeks. Have no fear though...my blogs will return. In the meantime, please say a prayer for me as I'm starting my first job.

I hope you are all doing well and for those of you in in-services this week...I feel your pain. Keep hanging in there...I know it will all be worth it when we start seeing our little kiddos!

We all float on okay.

Well, my final days of summer are wrapping up. I start my first job on Monday morning bright and early! The first week of work is spent doing staff development type work...going through school procedures and policies, trainings, meetings, etc. Since it's my first time working there, I'm actually looking forward to learning more about the ins and the outs of the school. I've mentioned before that I've been working on my room a bunch and I promise there will be pictures soon. It's really coming along nicely, I just want it to be completely finished before I share the pics.

This week I was really starting to feel overwhelmed. I started doubting myself and felt incompetent at teaching these kids. I started to feel pressure of making sure my kids progress and succeed and I began to really stress. Praise God though because soon after all these negative thoughts started flowing, He reminded me that not only did He place me in this position, but I can do all things through Him....with an emphasis on THROUGH HIM. He reminded me that's it not all about ME and I just need to lean on Him and trust Him. Where I am weak, He is STRONG! So, thank you Lord for convicting me of getting wrapped up in my world and forgive me for forgetting that You have brought me to this place and prepared me for this.

He has blessed me so much through this process of finding a job. And just recently, He reaffirmed that Oak Hill is where He has called me by bringing my good friend Taylor to work right across the hall from me in the half-day pre-primary program! I am so thankful to be working so closely with another SLP! Taylor and I worked together for the past year in a preschool for kiddos with autism, so we have a lot of the same clinical experience and techniques. It will be so great to have her there with me.

Ross and I leave tomorrow afternoon for a wedding in Champaign/Urbana, IL. The town of our alma-mater. We are so excited to be visiting our campus for the first time since we graduated 2 years ago. Ross will be playing the drums with the band during the ceremony, so I'm very excited to hear him do that. He used to play drums in college, but since we've moved to TX he's mainly been mastering the bass. Another bonus is that we get to stay with one of my dear friends who also just got married, so I'm excited to catch up with her.

I hope all of your summers are wrapping up nicely as well and that you have a beautiful end of week and weekend. :)

Dragging my feet.

I mentioned awhile back that I have started running again and lately my runs have been few and far between. I really am trying, but I have a lazy summer mentality going on and if I don't make plans to meet someone, then I either don't go at all or I run a measly couple of miles at a seriously SLOW pace with several breaks. It's kind of pathetic. I'm not sure what the problem is. In the past I've been able to get really excited about whatever my goal happens to be and I'm able to use that as prime motivation. But this time, I feel like I'm just dragging my feet. Anyway, I really think this week is going to be different. I started off today with a really nice 3 mile run followed by a 3 mile walk and it felt good. I have plans to run 2 more times and swim 2 times this week with Molly and then a 6 AM Saturday morning run planned with Robyn (because that's what time mom's run on weekends...CRAZY :). Anyway, if all that works out I'll have about 12-15 miles under my belt for the week. Here is a link to my training log that I try to keep up with at Runner's World. It has several of my workouts for the past couple of years.

http://traininglog.runnersworld.com/profiles/2b6b1d447e3d4f6a9d9a4e85234fa9ab

As you can see, it's pretty pathetic considering I've been trying to build up mileage this summer. But anyway, I thought it would be good for me to share that with you in hopes of motivating myself to improve my mileage (since there's a chance someone could be checking in on me). If you are a runner (or swimmer/walker/biker) and you like tracking your progress over time, this training log is a great tool. You can find it at the Runner's World website which is also one of my favorite magazines and websites. There's so many tips and motivational stories and articles. I really enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone who likes being active.

Hope you all started the week off to a good step and I hope to hear from you and your blogs soon!