Thursday, May 29, 2008

Weekend in Palo Duro Canyon



We spent part of our Memorial Day weekend in Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas. The "Grand Canyon of Texas," as they call, is about four hours West of us, and it is well worth the drive! The red rock formations are gorgeous!



And the mountain biking is spectacular! Matt and I had a great time on the trails. I took one good spill around a tight corner, which was good training for what we had in store for us.



We went on a short ride Saturday evening before preparing our dehydrated kung pao chicken. Then we road for about two and a half hours on Sunday morning. That was the best ride I've ever been on. Matt has done some crazy riding in St. Jo (North of Dallas) though. This trail is much more challenging than our usual course in Wichita Falls and it was exhilarating!





We saw this wild turkey roaming through our campsite early on Sunday morning. Turkeys are usually elusive so we thought this was a treat for us. We walked around carefully taking pictures, trying not to scare it off. We got too close a few times and it startled away. Then it came back again, and again, and again. Apparently we weren't the first campers to befriend the "wild" turkey.





The Indian's Paintbrush is absolutely beautiful this time of year and it fills the low grassy areas of the canyon.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Last day of school!

Today was our last day of pre-k school. The extended care program will continue through the summer. I will work through the summer and aide in the fall until I begin student teaching (God willing...this has been a long process) next spring. The end of the year is bittersweet. Even though there are many days I want to wring these kids' necks, they truly are amazing and we have learned so much from each other. It is hard to let them go into the hands of another and move on. They are really sweet and wonderful children, especially one on one. This is us outside of the church after our field trip to the fire station last week.















The sweetest thing happened at nap time today. One of the children in my class, Landon, has an incredible personality. He is the one who has caused me the most anguish, but he is also the one I will miss the most. The year has gotten progressively better. During the fall he would sometimes ask about my Dad. He always wanted to know his name, what he was doing, and where he was. He wasn't sure what to think when I said my Dad was in heaven. Anyways, so today at nap all the other children were asleep except for Landon and he was whispering these adorable questions to me as I lay beside him trying to get him to sleep. The conversation went something like this:

L: Where's your Daddy at?
B: In heaven.
L: What's he doin' there?
B: Playing cards with Jesus. (This is a response I developed to this question over the year because it makes me smile and remember my Dad is having a great time in heaven.)
L: Do you get to see him?
B: Sometimes.
L: Do you miss him?
B: Yes.
L: How do you get up there?
B: Um, I don't. He comes down to me.
L: Does he walk?
B: Sort of.
L: How?
B: The angels help him.
L: Is he hurt? Is he sick?
B: No, he was sick, but he's not anymore.
L: What are the angels for?
B: Jesus sends them from heaven to protect us.
L: When is he gonna come back?
B: He's not. When you go to heaven you stay there forever.
L: Oh, I'm gonna go there, I am...

And these are moments that make me so glad to be a teacher. Amen.

Monday, May 19, 2008

This is our boat

































































We bought this boat last August so we could escape the Texas heat by diving into . . . bathtub temperature lake waters. Makes sense, right? Really though, this boat is wonderful!! Texas has some nice lakes, and although they don't compare to Michigan lakes, they afford us a terrific place to water ski and enjoy being outside the city limits.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Just getting started

This is the first official blog post. I'm not sure if we'll keep this going. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my email, but with everyone so far away, this sure is a nice way to keep in touch. The best part is that I get to choose all the fonts, colors, and layout. I've always loved that!

The weather here is beautiful and warm. This weekend we went to the lake for the first time this year. It was a gorgeous day with some awesome skiing. I will post some pictures of the boat soon.

Next week Matt begins his master's degree at Embry Riddle. It's kind of strange because he only decided a week or so ago that he was doing this program and he's already about to sign up for classes. I also found out that I've been accepted to the teacher certification program, but I won't begin until the fall. It will be interesting, I'm sure, to both be in school at the same time. That's how it was in our undergrad, of course, but we didn't have to share a house and -more importantly- a computer then:)

Well, I must get some rest. Tomorrow is Water Day at school and I am manning the mud pie station!
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