Visiting Cait

Laurie B. went to parent's weekend at Caitlin's college and graciously invited me along. Rob B. and Stephen A. came along too. We had a great time visiting a cavern and an historical (and fun) museum, going to a soccer game, hanging out in the hotel and with Cait in her dorm and attending Cait's church. This was the last parent weekend Caitlin will have at her college - she'll be graduating next May!

Excited because we're about to see Cait

Hugs!! (there was a playground at the caverns - Caitlin's standing on some sort of climber)

*pictures by Laurie B.*

I love changing my blog :)

As you can see I've changed my blog around again - three columns now and a very pretty background if I do say so myself. :) I tried to do some other stuff too, but so far it hasn't worked yet. I'm not quite done, but I have to go eat now so I can be to church on time.

I'm so addicted to personalizing my blog!

Two months later ...

I'm all done school!! Practicum 2 is over (I had a blast with the children, but I'm not supposed to post pictures of them - sorry) and I have my official associates' degree. Yay!! I'll be starting school in January for my Bachelors', which I'm actually excited for now instead of dreading.

I resigned from my job as church secretary at the end of August so that I could start working in my field. Unfortunately, the job that I had fell through. Thankfully, the church hadn't found anyone to replace me yet so I'm still here until I get a job in my field or they find someone else to do my job. Please pray that I get a job in my field quickly - I really want to start gaining experience and spending my days with children instead of at the computer.

My dad's eyes are completely healed from the cataract surgery. There were absolutely no complications and he's been able to see much better now. Praise God!

As of this Sunday I am taking over as Nursery Director of our church. Aahh!! I'm not sure I'm quite prepared for the responsibility of it all, but God is faithful and I believe He's asking me to do this. The more I get into it the more work I realize it is, but I have a very qualified Nursery Administrator (Haley W.) to help me and, as Pastor Mark keeps reminding me, I went to school for this.

Great Opportunity

I got to have lunch with my state's Commisioner of Education and a bunch of other higher ups in the system this past Wednesday. The Commisioner came to my college to discuss Early Childhood Education issues with my professors as well as some local leaders in the field. I was chosen to represent the student body. I didn't do much besides introduce myself and listen during the lunch, but afterwards when they got a tour of the lab school I was able to give a little bit of information about being a student there and the type of education I received. It was an intimidating, but fun time and I am so honored that I was chosen to be there.

Cute moments

Yesterday at my new Practicum site we were talking to the kids about the weekend and the special day coming up (they're not allowed to celebrate Holidays, but birthdays are ok - so Happy Birthday America!!). One of the teachers was talking about red, white and blue and asking the kids why those colors are so important to America. One of the little 4-year-olds chimed in with, "Cause it's the grand ol' flag!" :)

There is a little girl at my Practicum site who just turned 2 years, 9 months and is now able to be in the preschool. She's teeny-tiny and absolutely adorable! She holds her own pretty well with all of the older kids, but she also does a lot of playing on her own (completely appropriate for her age by the way). Her favorite thing to do is paint. She goes to the easel at least twice a day just to paint a picture. On Wednesday her arms and hands were covered with paint. As she was admiring her artwork (the paint on her hands, not the paper she had been painting) she looked up at us and said, "I do love it." "What do you love?" She held up her hands, got a huge smile on her face and said, "Paint!"

Flowers :)

I found this picture on the computer. I took it last year in the dark.

God is so good to us. He didn't have to make beautiful things for us. He could've placed us in a drab world, but He loves us too much. Thank you God for giving us such beautiful representations of your love!

Question

What do you think is more important?

1) Helping a friend move boxes from a family member's house to their own
or
2) Attending a Bible Study that you've commited to, but missed last week because of Father's Day

I'm having a hard time deciding if my responsibility is to my friend or the Bible Study.

God is Stronger ... Right?

My dad got sent for blood work two weeks ago because he's had a constant infection and a high white blood cell count ... I'm sure some of you already know where I'm going with this. This morning, after what felt like months of waiting (it was actually only a week) the doctor called us with the news - my dad has Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and he's had it for 2 years. Ouch. The doctor seemed optimistic though - he said that my dad's white blood cells doubled in 2 years and they don't start worrying until they double in 4 months. Which means that my dad could feasibly live another 20 years. I'm not sure what his quality of life will be, but at least he didn't say 6 months. So right now all it means is more doctors appointments and more blood work. My poor father already spends so much of his time in the doctor's office - diabetes, multiple chronic breathing problems, glaucoma, nerve damage, broken back/back surgery, getting older in general, and now this. He's taking it surprisingly well - he doesn't understand why my mom and I are so worried, to him God is in control and what happens will only bring glory to our Creator. I wish I had that much faith.

*Oops! I was wrong - my dad doesn't have glaucoma, he has cataracts. I also forgot to add osteoporosis to his list of ailments.

I graduated!!!!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009, I graduated with an associates degree in Early Childhood Education from Mt. Wachusett Community College. I have been working on getting this degree for 3 years instead of the usual 2 in an effort to not go into debt. And it worked - I'm debt free!! :) I'm not quite done with the degree though. I still have one more Practicum to do. I'm working at it right now though and should be done by mid-July. I'm so excited!!! Next step will probably be working towards a bachelor degree because they're eventually going to be required. One step at a time though.

Walking into the "auditorium" (otherwise known as a gym).

Some of the people that came out to support me - thank you guys!! :)

There it is - my empty diploma cover. Good thing it didn't have the diploma in it because it would have been misspelled - when they called me up they said "Christina E. Salliby" Definitely not my name. Oh well though - the actual diploma should be right.

After party at my house - cake and ice cream and lots of fun. (Caitlin left for Cyprus at 4 the next morning, but she still hung out with us - she loves me.)

My parents couldn't hang out after the graduation, so we had the official parent/graduate picture at the house after. I couldn't have gotten this diploma without them - I have the best parents in the world!

My graduation gift from my parents - internet access for my laptop!

The after after party - we all headed to Mack and Marci's house when my dad kicked us out because he wanted to go to bed.

I'm so excited I graduated!!!

My Last Day with the New Loves of my Life (aka - Practicum 1 is over)

*I had to take the pictures out of this post for safety reasons. All notes written in red are descriptions of what the pictures were*

My first student teaching experience is complete. Three months of spending three mornings a week with the same kids is over. :( [It was actually over in May, but I'm not that caught up yet]. I learned a lot and grew to really love these kids. I'm going to miss them so much! Here's a peek into a morning spent in Pre-K at BCDC:

*children reading in a small tent*

Hanging out in the tent during free play.

*two little girls at the art table - gluing shapes to a paper plate*

Art time - not too many kids interested that day, which is unusual for this classroom.

*a little girl reading a book, wearing a basket as a hat*

Reading in "the one person area" during free play (notice the basket on her head).

*teacher and children lined up, holding onto a rope*

Headed out for a walk (my place was always in the back of the line).

*children on the swings - flying high*

Swinging. I lost track of how many times I heard, "Ms. Christine! Can you push me?"

*many children on a climber, including one that is perched at the top*

The little guys sitting at the top? He's not supposed to be up there.

*a little boy in a hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up), a jean jacket, a baseball cap and sunglasses*

He's afraid of bugs.

*teacher and little boy looking at an I-Spy book*

Indoor quiet time after being outside for so long.

*picture of the whole class plus one*

Me, my cooperating teacher Ms. Carolyn, and the Pre-K class (the little guy in the orange shirt at the end is not actually in the class - he just snuck into the picture).