Big Girls Don't Cry

If you were at my sister's wedding, you witnessed one of the numerous embarrassing moments of mine. I was never much of a crier until the moment Heidi started walking down the aisle with my dad. My face twisted and contorted to try to hold back the tears but the floodgates opened at that moment and have never quite shut. (For the record, I was thrilled about Heidi marrying Dan; I just suddenly realized that my life was changing and I would never get to live with my sister again and in a matter of seconds, I became one of the "emotional" girls I had always felt superior to.) Now I find myself crying at the most random moments about the most absurd things. Really, who cries during the Hearst Castle informational video? The only problem with these over-active tear ducts, is that I struggle to hold back tears when teaching about certain subjects. There's nothing worse than trying to talk while forcing back tears- my voice squeaks and cracks and it's just plain embarrassing. This past week, I've had to fight back tears numerous times. Some of you may be thinking, "Oh my, what awful things has Katie been going through?" None! I was teaching about the Vietnam War and showed the following picture which gets me chocked up every time I teach about it. Luckily, I don't think that particular class noticed that I stopped mid sentence to get a drink of water.

I then made the mistake of trying to tell a story to my junior highers about the power of prayer. Every time I've told the story, I've cried so what the heck was I thinking trying to tell it in class? I actually did cry while telling the story and had to stop in the middle to control my voice. If they weren't sure before, now my students are positive that I'm a bit of a freak. Here's the short version of the story for the curious:

" A missionary in Africa was a pilot and flew to the same spot once a month to get supplies and filled up his plane with the things he needed. He always stayed at the same spot, which isn't so wise since thieves will recognize patterns. One trip, a band of thieves planned to rob him of everything but when they went to rob him, they found 14 other people staying with him. Later, one of the potential thieves approached the man and asked who these 14 other people were. The missionary was quite baffled and insisted he was by himself that night. When the man returned home on furlough a woman from his church asked if anything significant had happened on that particular night. She asked because she had woken in the middle of the night with the overwhelming sense that he needed prayer and so she called the 13 other people in their bible study and they all prayed."

I heard this story during my training for OC International. They were telling us about how when praying for others, we should picture ourselves actually with them. I've found this is a great strategy and has helped me focus when I'm praying for others.

Lately we've been having some really neat conversations in my World History class with the 7Th and 8Th graders. We're learning about the Roman empire and thus have been talking a lot about Christian persecution and why the world hated us then and still hates us. Political reasons aside, it is clear that the spiritual battle against Christians was and is a fierce one. Fredy asked if I actually believed that demons exist and it was so neat to to hear the other students share their opinions and supernatural experiences. I mentioned that, in general, missionaries often are on the front lines of spiritual warfare and cute, little Ude (in the picture) nodded his head emphatically and told about a time an angel clearly saved his family's life. Cory then talked about when his family's plane was shot down in Peru, the accident which took the lives of his mom and sister, he saw an angel following the plane. Seeing the faith of these children amazes me and brings tears to my eyes (I know, surprise, surprise) They drive me crazy but also entertain and inspire me.

Speaking of my crazy junior highers, I took some pictures of them today. They were supposed to be in study hall but were without supervision and thus, doing anything but work. Being the adult that I am, I went into their room and further distracted them and taught them how to do the "zombie face." (They named it) I taught them how to do this face a few days ago and they seem to have perfected it. (There was a reason I showed them the picture of myself with my brothers making this face- long story)Such fast-learners:)
Here are my two junior high girls, Jenny and Jessica. Junior highers are hard enough, but junior high boys are a very strange breed and I am forever grateful for my two girls.




Silvio was absent for a week and I wasn't sure why until he showed up with a shaved head and scabs all over his face: chicken pox. Bummer. He is pretending to read in the picture. Can you spot Ude in the picture? Freaky Fredy is never one to shy away from a camera. He insisted that I take another picture of him after the one you see below because he didn't look "cool" in the first shot but as you know by now, I prefer "goofy and awkward" to "cool."

I've been coaching the boys' basketball team and it's been a surprisingly excellent stress reliever. I realized yesterday that I must have a lot of built up frustration and I just needed to yell at someone. (I realize I have issues) At practice, the boys were moving slow and sloppy and they saw a new, slightly frightening side of Miss Katie. No veins were popping out like my dad's or Trent's, but I had them doing many push-ups and I think the moms were a little bit shocked and frightened by my tone:) It's been an interesting experience coaching boys. Teaching how to set a screen got quite a few giggles since one must "protect yourself" as you screen; as did learning how to box out since you use your rear to push your man back. I also had an awkward moment when putting them into teams. We had a "white shirt" team and "colored shirt" team but that takes too long to say and I'd yell, "Pass it to a white!" and "Give it to the coloreds." Of course our multi-ethnic team got a kick out of this and cracked up every time I slipped and forgot to say "shirt."

Let's see....what other awkward moments have I've endured/enjoyed this week... Still adjusting to the chalk board and end up with chalk on my clothes almost every day from leaning on the board; yes, usually on my butt and usually a student points it out.

* Monday morning I hit snooze and ended up sleeping 5 minutes past when my ride picks me up and had to run down the street in my PJ's to tell them to leave without me and then call my field director to come give me a ride. Three of my students ride in the car I usually ride in so they saw me at my best:) Love those humbling moments.

* I had to ask Madalena to check me for lice. Actually, I'm not too embarrassed by that but anytime you have to ask someone to check you for bugs, tends to be a tad awkward. The kids that went to Swazi with us the previous weekend all had lice so I got the call to check myself. No, I didn't have it.

* I just realized that I've been ordering the "Galinha chicken" at the King Pie restaurant, thinking galinha is a type of chicken. It just clicked yesterday that "galinha" is Portuguese for chicken and those ladies must have been giggling behind my back for weeks.

* I tried to buy batteries at the gas station today. With very limited Portuguese, I had no clue how to say, "batteries." How would one pantomime "batteries?" I couldn't find them anywhere and had to ask. I decided to ask in English while showing with my hands the shape of batteries. It almost worked. She brought me cigarettes. No, I did not partake:)

My new friend Lindsay claims she doesn't have awkward and embarrassing moments. I'm thinking if she hangs out with me long enough, some of my awkwardness is bound to rub off on her. I manage to acquire at least 5 moments a week. Speaking of Lindsay, she really has been a God-send. I'm still pummeled by all the work I have for school but having a friend at school somehow helps keep things in perspective. Her class is literally next door although it is an entirely different world as seen in the picture:) She is one of those people that you meet and feel like you've been friends forever. I fear she may have an evil plot to make me weigh 300 pounds though. She makes the most incredible chocolate chip cookie dough (not cookies, just dough) and I have very limited self-control when it comes to cookie dough. Pray for me. Just kidding, well not really, please do pray for me, but you don't need to pray that I'll stop eating so much cookie dough. God is so good to me!!! I still don't really understand why He is; why He showers me with blessings when I've done nothing to deserve them. When I needed encouragement, He brought it in a number of ways. One of those ways, is through Lindsay. She dropped off the cutest book in my room that has prayers from children. Child-like faith encourages me so much so it warmed my heart to read these honest prayers. Sorry to sound cliche with, "warmed my heart;" I couldn't think of any other way to say it. Also, have you noticed my increased use of semi-colons? We're learning about them in 9Th grade grammar so I'm trying to implement what I'm learning.
Amen Charles, amen.