My Christmas Miracles

So here I was laying in bed, praying actually, that I would just not be sick anymore.

For those of you who live with me/know me pretty well, you already know I have probably had every sickness known to man in the last 2 months. Weird colon problems, strep throat, mono, head to toe itchy hives... I'm currently feeling nauseous...it's going around my apartment... it only seems logical I would get it too... haha

So here I was, feeling sorry for myself. Then I remembered something Clint showed me a little bit ago. His mom always finds a Christmas miracle every year and writes a little blog about it. So I stopped praying to not be sick and instead prayed for a Christmas miracle. Then I realized how many I've already had and I have to share.

My students are angels.
I realized this month how absolutely INSANE kids get from really little things. Snow for example, or even just really cold wind if we're being honest haha. Also, pictures coming back from the school (yes. I got my class picture today. I'm framing it this weekend! ) And if little things get them excited, you had better believe that Christmas would make them crazy.
But they aren't.
The other teachers are amazed at how mellow my class is. I know it's not me. I haven't been very consistent with their schedule this week and I give them art projects and they still are just so so good. And o how grateful I am for that.

I am safe
There have been some sketchy things happen around my apartment complex in the past few months, some coming way closer to home than I would ever want. When all is said and done though, I am safe. I carry my pepper spray around with me everywhere I go and my apartment has our FHE brothers and my strong Clint who is willing to escort us around the parking lot and anywhere else we don't feel safe. I could go through this category alone and find enough Christmas miracles to last the whole blog... a cell phone out and ready, the right words to say... I am so blessed.

Peace
I think this is my biggest one. It's not anything I can measure like the others, but it fills my heart everyday. Life is crazy. I'm not saying this to get pitty parties or anything, I don't want you to feel bad for me. That isn't the point of this post. Things in life are chaotic right now, but I have so many miracles that I see everyday and peace fills my heart.
When Christ was born, the angels brought glad tidings of great joy. They proclaimed peace on earth. I know my peace comes from this same source. The love I feel from everyone surrounding me, the patience and understanding of people that are counting on me to teach their children or to help the girls in my ward, the overwhelming feeling that things will just work out... I know these feelings come from the prayers said on my behalf and the fact that the Lord is aware of how much I can take. I have learned so much about the Atonement through all of this. I have learned to take the things that I cannot handle and give them away to the Lord. Of course, I'm not perfect at this, but I'm getting better... hopefully. I have learned that I can't do all of this alone. I need the help of people around me, I need the help of my family, but the most help I get is from the Savior, after whom this season is named for. The things I have gone through haven't gone away, but the promise of peace proclaimed to shepherds so long ago is real. I feel it everyday. It makes me happy.

So these are my miracles. Thanks for sharing with me.

Merry Christmas

Geometry

Miss Pitt: Boys and girls, today we are learning something new. It is called geometry! Only really really smart kids get to learn geometry but I think you can do it. Tap your head if you have heard the word geometry before (a few kids tap their heads). Now I want you to touch your nose if you can tell me what it means....

One little boy touches his nose.

Yes bobby (obviously not his real name)

Bobby: That's when you sit at the computer a really REALLY long time and you look at a bunch of stuff and its the names of your family from a long time ago. Like your ancestors.

Miss Pitt: Well Bobby, that is genealogy.... close, but geometry actually means we're going to learn about shapes...

O the mormon moms that would be o so proud if they knew what their kids knew in second grade :)

Salami

During our weather reports today:
student- miss pitt, have you ever heard of a salami?
me-yes... they are yummy...
student- no, they are very dangerous!!
me- oooo, you mean tsunami? yes. they are dangerous. and very different than salami...

O my kids make me laugh :)

Testing

(If at any point this post gets too long... I made a summary at the bottom. Just for your convenience <3)>

So I had an epiphany the other day.
First, story for you.

I was giving out a test to my kids. It wasn't a big deal. I just needed to know what they already knew and what I needed to teach. I passed out the tests and one of my kids started having a stress out. I really thought he might cry. I tried to calm him down...

"buddy, this is going to be ok. I just need you to try your best and it will just tell me what we still need to work on."
"What if I don't know the answer?"
"Then we can work on it together and figure it out. It will be ok, I promise"

We took the test. He may or may not have failed...

This is the thing. I love him more for it. I get to spend a little extra time with him and we'll figure it out and I'll be pushed to be a better teacher because I will figure out a different way to explain a concept that seems simple enough to me. He'll figure it out. I know he will. It may take time, but we have time. It's only October.

Ephiphany.
Maybe I'm this kid sometimes. I'm not saying that I'm going through this hard test or I'm depressed or anything. I'm actually loving my life a lot right now. But it's a universal concept I think. Tests come along. I can imagine Heavenly Father looking down at all of us-his little class of struggling students- and just saying "it's going to be ok. Just try your best and it will just tell me what we need to work on. If you don't do well we'll work together and figure it out." We might cry a little. We might stress out. The fact of the matter is though, that we have time to figure it out and we'll try to see another side of the same concept and we'll spend a little time on our knees, working out things we don't understand with our Heavenly Father.

This is my favorite part. Like I said, as a teacher, you really grow closest to the kids who you know are having a hard time with a concept. You think about them all the time and how to reach them how they need to learn. Then, you just love them that much more. And I think that's a hard thing for me to grasp as the other party. I think that if I don't get something done exactly right that people might get mad or upset... like my facilitator at school when my class is noisy in the halls, or my bishop when relief society doesn't have a piano player or two people to pray before the moment of... but ya know, I think it's probably a lot like teaching. These people know I'm trying. My Heavenly Father knows I'm trying. They all love me a lot. And the thing is, I might fail. It's a possibility. But because I'm trying, they love me more. Just like I love my students that much more.

Ya know, it makes me excited to be a mom one day. I bet they have these epiphanies with their kids all the time. I mean, my kids right now are really not even mine if we're being honest... haha and I just love them so much.

Summary if this was waaay too long of a post to read the whole thing:
I love being a teacher.
I love epiphanies.
I love my life.
And I love figuring out truths that make life o so happy
<3>

Top 5

Updates.

1. Hair Cut!!!
I chopped off all my hair. I really really like it. It is a. so much faster to do every morning and b. a much needed change :)









2. Class Pet!!!
(yes. you get 3 exclamation points for each. that's how excited I am.)
Clint and I went to Petsmart and I got a fire belly toad for my classroom. I love it despite the fact that I have to feed Mr. Tiki (the name my class came up with) live, yes LIVE crickets everyday. The things I sacrifice for my kiddos ;)
3. Cute Boy!!!
You may have noticed. I talk about this boy named Clint all the time... that's because he is my boyfriend. And I'm loving my life having him back from his mission! We dated freshman year and he left for Brazil for two years to serve a mission. I didn't tell him I'd wait for him and consequently only got like 5 letters in two years... but HE'S BACK!! I'm really happy. He is so so sweet. He is from Idaho, going to BYU studying genetics and biotechnology and he is basically a track star for BYU. He throws shotput and discus (which means he's very strong). I like him a lot and here are a few reasons why.

1. He is always telling me how lucky he is to have me around.
2. He is really really good at calming me down when I have stress attacks. (stress is a part of my life... see #4)
3. He stayed with me all day last Saturday while I went to the hospital (see #4) which meant he missed the football game that BYU actually won for the first time since the first game of the season.
4. He makes me laugh, and smile, and I feel so so comfortable being around him.
5. He was a really good sport when I dragged him country dancing last night... even though that's really not his scene. :)
6. I feel like I come first, like he just will do anything to make me happy, just by how he looks at me <3>
ok. enough with the sappy stuff. Point is, I like this boy :)

4. ER visit!!!
(ok, not excited about this, but it had to follow the pattern)
So about a week ago I was up all night with horrible abdominal pains. Mostly, I wanted to cut my stomach out... it really didn't seem like an important enough organ to go through that kind of pain. I went to the doctor the next day and got put on the worst diet ever. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast and Yogurt. BRATY diet. Believe me, after a week of eating these things, that's how you want to act to anyone who can eat anything else. It was kinda working, then a few days later, the pains came back and I landed in the ER. I got hooked up to an IV and got some morphine- weirdest feeling ever... and felt fine enough to leave. It's been slightly uncomfortable, but Clint keeps me sticking to my diet (except that one time when I convinced him that the only way to make me happy was for us to go to the creamery and get my favorite ice cream... it was absolutely necessary to cheat that day haha) and since it's apparently due to stress in my life- I don't know why I would be stressed...- he also keeps me from doing a thousand things at once. I hear very frequently "Alissa, you can't do everything. Can you give this to someone else to do?" He offers to be that someone else all the time and is always so sweet about helping me. anywho, I'm sick, but it's getting better :)

5. Fall Break!!!
One of the many perks about being a teacher is that I get all the holidays off plus some!! Love that! This weekend is a 4 day weekend due to something I never dealt with as a young child in California. Hunting and Harvesting. Go figure. Who knew people took time off work and life to spend days at a time hunting deer and moose and pick crops and who knows what else, but apparently it's important enough to take the kids out of school too. I'm ok with this because it gives me 2 stress free, lesson plan free days to recooperate.

I love my life <3>

Fall

Dear Fall,

I love you. I love your crunchy leaves. I love that it is no longer 100 degrees outside while I have recess duty. I love that one of my students brought me an entire BRANCH of your autumn leaves the other day (still not sure how to get rid of that without offending said student). I love the smell of the wind. I love that you brought back a certain cute boy from Brazil for me. He is pretty nice to have around again :) I also love that Halloween is coming very soon. I am excited to be in my school's parade. Lastly, I love that so many people moved back into my fun single's ward. They make my life so happy (and taught me the rubix cube. ya. I'm skilled like that). I love that General Conference is this weekend. I get to go. I'm excited. Mostly, Utah is beautiful in the Fall and I just love it all.

Love,
Alissa

The jump rope, the toilet and the jungle gym

You wouldn't usually put these three things together.
-jump rope
-toilet
-jungle gym
...except possibly if you teach 2nd grade.

This is how my Thursday went.

Morning-great. Every lesson went according to plan and the kids loved them.

Recess-I had recess duty. This is not the most awful job, in fact, I kind of enjoy it because I get to see my kids in their natural environment, playing. :)
Then a little boy RUNS from the building...
"Miss Pitt! Billy (not his real name) is flushing the jump rope down the toilet!!!"
*thoughts* this is a little funny. only I must be fierce. These boys are in trouble!
I proceed to run to the building and find 2 guilty little boys and about 6 ft of jump rope coming out of the toilet. I pull the jump rope out (gross I know) and it turns out to be not a regular 8 ft jump rope... but a jumbo size 25 ft jump rope!!! Alas, it is stuck. So we go to the janitor. Don't worry, little Billy has caused a real problem and the janitor tells us that he will need to remove the toilet from the wall... wonderful. I lecture the boys and deliver their consequence (missing the movie and recess, then writing apology letters and I have to call their parents- one started to cry. it broke my heart)

Lunchtime- I was a little bit glad to get kids out of my hair... it had been a stressful day with the toilet.

After lunch- I was reading to the kids and realized that one of my girls wasn't there...
"Boys and girls, where is Sally? (not her real name again)"
lots of looking around... then one boy raises his hand.
"She is outside."
"And why is she still outside?"
"She is stuck on top of the jungle gym"
o dear. I send the kids back to their desks to read a book while I rescue a small girl.
I get outside and there is Sally, sitting on top of the Jungle Gym in the rain, crying. So sad. But a little funny... because what kind of kids abandon their friend!? (and it reminded me of The Christmas Story when the boy is stuck to the pole and no one tells the teacher... ) I help her down and we get her inside and feeling better.

Note to Self. Talk to students about normal things we flush down toilets. Also, help a friend in need or tell someone who can...

O how I love second graders. And o how happy I was for the weekend :)