Out with the Old and In with the New

Yesterday was not only our first day back after Christmas break but it was our first day in our new elementary building. Oh, my goodness! It is a BEAUTIFUL building! This is my 29th year of teaching (Good grief, that sounds ancient!) and I've never taught in a building that was built for elementary students until .......yesterday.

The months prior to this event have been very stressful. We packed and moved WITH STUDENTS at school! I stayed after school many evenings to sort, toss,and pack things. I was determined NOT to take things I didn't need. That wasn't as easy as it sounds. It was hard to leave really good teaching materials that I bought myself and really like. But, the state of Ohio has determined that our children need to learn a certain set of indicators which they are tested on each spring. So, most things that were older than 3-4 years old, I left to be included in the upcoming auction.

We moved the week of Dec. 14-17. Having older students (5th graders), it could have been worse. Many of them were wonderful help for which I am grateful. My husband and son helped me a couple of evenings and I worked 2 days over my vacation to unpack and organize things.

Our rooms are so nice. Our hallway/rooms are accented with a deep, royal blue. All of the hassle and hard work was worth every minute of it to watch the 4-6 grades students enter the hallway yesterday morning. They all looked so happy! I am sure that some of them grew an inch or 2 over the break! Many of them had on new clothes.....gifts from Christmas, no doubt. It sure feels like a whole new year in many more ways than just a number on a calendar.

Hubby and I are on a new diet. Many prayers are needed :) Look out, 2010!!!

Can You Believe It's 2010???

Wow! Has it been 10 years since we were all concerned about Y2K and how everything was going to be all messed up when the clock struck midnight on 2000? Life just went right on, didn't it? I'll bet the computer geeks who sold all of those converter programs in 1999 are still laughing!

2009 is history. I turned 50 in '09. Time has certainly flown by.

My youngest child, my baby, will graduate from high school this year. It seems like only yesterday that I figured up the year that he would turn 18 and it seemed so far away.

I honestly cannot think of another event in my life that feels any more "bittersweet" than these 2 things. Somehow, I thought that I would feel much older than this. I'm kidding, of course. Some days I feel much older than 50.

I need the Lord's help daily with keeping a positive outlook on things. So with that in mind, I plan to look forward to:

my son's 18th birthday
his graduation and party
our 30th wedding anniversary

There will be plenty of other events to plan and participate in which is fine with me. I LOVE these kind of things! 2010 looks like another great year, already!

Happy New Year!