louisiana living.

we christened the new place last night, with our "freedom" party (don't worry blogosphere...pictures are sure to follow). let me preface everything i write with the statement- i am incredibly blessed. my life has become this fairy tale (fairy tale to me, i think) version of imperfect perfection. if you would have told me one year ago that i would be living in a gargantuan early 20th century home in the most beautiful area of the capital city of louisiana, i would have looked at you like you were a total crazy. if you would have continued speaking and told me that i would have spent my last 5 weeks of summer teaching a bunch of incredibly bright and vivacious 6th graders and enjoying it more than practically anything i've done in the last 3 years of college, i would have mocked you in disdain. then, if you just had to keep running your mouth and said something to the effect that i would probably never find fantastic friends to make my life lovely and exciting, i actually might have agreed with you. fate has twisted all of these situations into this amalgamation of the things ive needed most to grow as an individual. im acutely aware, more now than ever, of my relative imperfection and the long road that i have to travel in order to even be close to the person that i want to eventually become, but for the first time in a long time, i feel like im actually on the road that leads to that happy conclusion.
that sounded a bit cryptic. let me put my life in terms that are a little easier to understand. my last day of summer school was this friday. my students were unusually rowdy, as per the last day of school is. at least they got to walk into my classroom where Justin Bieber was blasting (i tried to get Chris breezy going, but youtube decided to stop working. my students LOVE the chris brown). we chatted about the big goal (more on that later) and we talked about where they wanted to be in 10 years. the lovely, ambitious things that came out of their mouths made me so happy. when i asked one special student where she wanted to be, she said she wanted to be a lawyer because they help people, and that she wanted to go to hale college. We all stopped and kindle asked her where that college was. after some prompting and a little correcting, this student realized she actually wanted to go to Yale. most of my students have these big dreams, and i must admit, i thought that they wouldnt have them. i was biased, and at least i can see that now. but practically every single one of them wanted to something big with their lives, and it always involved college. and not just any college, but ivy league colleges. because of the luck of my draw with the roster, i feel like i got the privilege of teaching the smartest kids going into 6th grade. every single one of them is so capable. all of my students made at least 10% improvement on their math scores (most made more like 20% increases, one student made an improvement of 34%!!) i just cant believe that there is a system in place that makes my genius students feel as though they aren't smart, or can't do grade level work. it just doesnt make any sense is all. but back to the last day. we listened to bieber, i gave a stirring college presentation (heavy on the sarcasm there) and then amy (my fellow teacher) gave hers. we then fielded questions about college, my favorite questions being "were you scared to go to college?" its funny how we become these fearless leaders in our classroom, we aren't people anymore, we are teachers. it was astute of our student to pick up on the fact that yes, we do in fact get scared (hello, i was scared almost every day walking into the classroom. the trick is not letting them smell the fear). after our college presentation, i let the students have mini donuts and juice that i had picked up from my favorite walmart on the way. (i had decided to drive to school again, simply to listen to taylor swift at full blast with my windows rolled down and the sun rising. and for the promise of a pre-school diet coke). then, we had our awards ceremony. we had printed little certificates for all of our students and we gave a little spiel about each student and then they heard their name and got to come shake our hands. not our best planned moment, but i think the kids liked it. i tried to describe each student accurately, but its hard to know how to say so many things you feel and think about students. one of our students LOVES to dance like Michael Jackson. so, i made him moonwalk up to get his certificate. one of the perks of teaching. then, we cleaned our room and walked to lunch in our straight and quiet line one last time. however, we were about 15 minutes early to lunch for some reason, so i had to round them up and corral them in the cafeteria. not an easy task. but i did get to sit at each table and talk to everyone a little bit. that was my favorite part of lunch duty, getting to talk to my real students, not just the ones that show up in our room everyday. they are such dorks. i always felt right at home.
the afternoon was supposed to be a "carnival" for all of the students with good behavior. it was more of a huge punishment for everyone involved because it was three outdoor games and it was hotter than the freakin surface of the sun. i kid you not. i thought i was going to spontaneously combust. my students commented on how red i looked. awesome. i got to run the "trashketball" game. basically, students ran to a point in the grass, crumpled a piece of paper, then tried to shoot it into a trashcan. hilarious. especially because the boys would get all into it and actually use basketball technique and talk a big game. they LOVE it. i have some funny anecdotes, ask me if you want to hear them. after that, it was the end of the day. i hugged my students and sent them on their way. and that was it. weird how it happens like that. they just walked down the hall like it wasnt the last time they would ever see me. i miss them. i hope with my whole heart that their next teacher helps them to realize their potential. i got my first phone call from a student yesterday. it was tranquasia. and that girl has some attitude. but i broke through. and it made me SO happy.

yesterday, we made the drive to BATON ROUGE. i am now, officially, a resident of this wonderfully humid place. i think that it may quite honestly be the most humid, disgusting weather place in the entire world. someone phrased it wonderfully yesterday, "the amazon has nothing on baton rouge". agreed. we to our house, and fell in love all over again. it is SO cute. and palacial. we got all our stuff moved in and then went to get our stuff out of storage. from storage, we went to sams club, where i now have a membership. so exciting. im really putting down roots! we got the essentials (toliet paper, paper towels, bread) and then drove back to our home in a torrential downpour. we ate subway sanwiches on our air mattresses, and our first houseguests came in. we have mr. huff, will, and joe living with us for the next few weeks. they are absolutely wonderful people, and already showed their appreciation for our hospitality by buying us some hugs (those nasty fruit juices we loved in elementary school) cheez its, and bagels for tomorrow morning. love those boys. i mean, men. after more errands (like buying our first piece of furniture- a table for a certain game played yesterday) we got ready in our freedom apparel (i was the only one who wore the visor) and had our first party!! not too many people came, but enough SLAers came to make it a good time. we danced, i drank way too much diet coke, and then, i went to bed around 2am. i woke up to a chorus of snores, and about 7 extra people sleeping in all random corners of my house. it was one of those moments that made me love my life too much.

then, got dolled up and went to church. it was small, but nice. the institute building is right on campus (and i LOVE campus) i walked in, said hello to the first people i met, and grabbed myself a seat. i didnt even fall asleep during sacrament meeting. and i really needed the sacrament and the meeting today. i kept staring at the picture of Christ on the wall and desiring to come to know Him better and to serve Him better. i came away with a new resolve to do better, but i guess i do that almost every sunday. one of the speakers talked about loving people like Jesus loves them. for some reason, i found this particularly profound today. i want to love people with open arms and let them know that i would do anything for them. i think that if people could describe me as someone who would do that for them, then life has been a success. the speaker read a quote that reminded me of how life without love is nothing. there is no point in anything we do if love is not the prompting factor. how absolutely profound. when it all boils down, it wont matter what i did, who i did it with, or the prestige attached to it if i didnt actually love those around me and develop those personal relationships. gah. my weakness needs to become my strength in this one...

so im still not hired. im going to start praying about it, maybe you should too. while sometimes out here i feel like an island unto myself, im incredibly happy for the most part. its all about enjoying the journey after all, right? (pictures will be up later tonight. be sure to check back...there are some gems)