Things to be excited about...

1. Meeting new friends and rekindling old freindships.
2. Committing to a church body to invest our time and energy into.
3. Becoming the best elementary teacher I can be
4. Learning Spanish from Maria Lovin :)
5. Taking guitar lessons
6. Learning how to live a balanced life in the U.S.
7. Adoption :)  (maybe not soon, but some day!)
8. Learning how to eat healthy and local.
9. Coffee dates with girlfriends
10. Amy's wedding!
11. Matthew coming home (so far away, hurry up brother!)
12. Having less of a to-do list at school, and getting more of my to-do list at home done.
13. Scrapbooking our India year!
14. Learning how to serve people in the U.S.
15. Exploring Iowa like a tourist

*Anyone have any "secrets" in Iowa that we should visit/try out?!  This is a new passion - to uncover the beauty of this state!

Elementary Moments...

Elementary reactions to my bright yellow puffy vest
       "Mrs. Farley, why are you wearing a life jacket?"
       "You look like yellow sugar."
       "No, she looks like a cupcake."

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Best "Stop 'n' Drop" Reflection
     Note: "Stop 'n' Drop" is my disciplinary tool...every time a student needs to just step back from a    situation, they take a "stop 'n' drop".  The first one doesn't come with any consequences, it's just to re-direct their frame of mine - but they always have to verbally reflect on their actions before they can rejoin the group.

Mrs. Farley: "Student, how are you going to behave differently next time?"
Student: "Hmm....not be ridiculous."

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Definitely had two wet pant moments this week (let me clarify...not myself, my kids!).  And while they were pretty hilarious in the back of my mind, I did pull it together and directed them to the nearest pair of dry pants.  :)  I love my job!

people.

I'm surrounded by people lately.

The interesting thing, though, is that I wouldn't consider myself to be part of very many meaningful, impacting relationships.  At school I'm around people all the time.  There are about 25 minutes every day when I'm not around people, and I definitely use those minutes to sit in silence.  A lot of times I don't feel lonely - I would even say I feel a bit over-stimulated!  But when I really sit down and think about it, I realize that I'm not involved in very many close, comfortable relationships right now (other than my actually family members).

The thing I liked the most about India was that we had friends that were "family-friends".  They would come over and I could either interact with them or totally ignore them, and either was okay.  We could barge into each other's house to borrow food and not even feel like we had to ask how they were doing!  And I loved every minute of it!

It's a little different right now since we're living with my parents and are still in a fairly transitional time of life.  We haven't figured out where our church home will be, we're both trying to figure things out at work, and we're just starting to have enough energy at the end of a day that we might (maybe, possibly!) want to do something with other people instead of crash into bed and sleep for 12 hours.  So, while I'm giving myself grace and accepting this as a natural by-product of the transition, I'm pretty impatient to get relationships going again!

The problem, though, is that I have an idea of the types of relationships I want to have, but no idea how to make it happen.  In Webster City I was so involved with work that it was hard to really invest in people outside of school, and then we were in India (where it happened organically).  I'm expecting a lot of trial, error, and intentionality. :)

BRING IT ON!

alone?

Chris left this morning for Seattle to attend the wedding of a long-time family friend, and is going to be gone for 6 days.  While I'm missing him a lot (I've already cried twice today!), I think I'm really going to relish having some alone time. 

I feel like I haven't been alone for years, and in some ways it feels like I've lost my individuality.  I went to Panera tonight and just read a novel...alone...and it felt so good.  I seriously can't remember the last time that happened. 

As soon as we get married we enter into a completely new social experience.  We are ALWAYS with someone.  Even if you aren't talking, you are physically near someone during your most private moments...and therefore, these moments cease to be private!  While there is a beautiful comfort in that companionship, it's also a pretty huge transition.

Even more than that - I have lately been surrounded by an abundance of people.  I have 25 minute class periods with 25 kids each, and sometimes have 12 different classes a day.  That's 300 people to interact with every single day!  Then I leave school to come home to mom, dad, and my grandpa.  When I'm not physically with people I'm trying to maintain long-distance relationships (Webster City people, India people, far-away friends, family members...).  It just feels like there are people everywhere.

And so, while I will miss Chris a lot, I'm going to embrace these next few days.  I'm going to lay in bed alone, go out to eat alone, go on a walk alone, maybe even go to a movie alone...

My only fear: what if I can't remember how?!

Koran Burnings and Reactions

There has been a lot of talk lately, both in the news and in my personal conversations, about the Islamic world, the proposed mosque site near ground zero, and the threatened Koran burnings in Florida.  I'm desperately trying to figure out what our response as American Christians should be.  I came across this article on BBC (it takes place in Kashmir, which is the state we visited this summer...not near the violence, but the same region) and it honestly scares me a lot.  There have already been 18 deaths in riots about the Koran burnings, and in the video accompanying this article they are burning Barack Obama in effigy.

So, no opinions really...just working to understand and process everything.  It all feels so crazy, and I think it's much more personal and impacting since coming back from India. 

Thoughts?

A Wonderful Weekend

            

Last weekend wasWONDERFUL.  We decided that we definitely needed a Stellmaker family vacation, so we took the three-day weekend and headed up to Minnesota!

My dad is (and always has been) a CRAZY big Minnesota Twins fan.  They don't get cable at their house, so he gets on the twins website and keeps refreshing their page so he can know what happens every play....he's pretty hard core!  So...when we found out we could go to a Twin's game, there wasn't even a second thought.  To make the night even better - it was the 50th anniversary of the Twins, at which they honored the top 50 players....and 37 of them could come!  These were dad's heroes as a child, and he definitely had some "little boy giddiness" moments!

We spent Friday night in a hotel (thanks mom and dad!), and then Chris and I left early to visit the Endo's at their home!  It worked out perfectly...we were only about 15 minutes away, and it was GREAT to see them!  The Endo's are a family that we worked with at Woodstock.  We love the whole family to death...just really great people. :)  THANK YOU for blessing us, Endo's!

                           

Lily, Ella and Mo didn't want us to go, so they grabbed their car seats and decided they were going with us!  This is definitely our car, and if Angie hadn't put her foot down we would have added a few kids to the Farley family!

And then, wedding dress shopping we went!  It was SO much fun to spend time watching Amy be BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL.  She's seriously going to be the most stunning bride I've ever seen.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise though, so I thought I'd just post the picture of her looking overwhelmed in her ridiculously small dressing room. :)

                                

And finally, we headed up north to my aunt and uncle's cabin.  It's right on Lake Minnewawa, and is really secluded.  And - we had a PARTY!  Uncle Mark, Aunt Connie, Tara (cousin), Nick (her husband), Tyler and Siena (her two kids!), Papa, Uncle Doug, Aunt Sue, and the 6 Stellmaker/Farley's.  WHOA FUN!  It was seriously tons of fun...except that it was really cold (frost on the ground!) and we went camping. 

Before and After Pictures

I am feeling SO good about my room at school!  And those of you who talked with me during those weeks before school started will know that this is a miracle.  We got home on July 25th, and I was in my room from July 27th until school started...EVERY DAY!  At the time I was really stressed out, but now I am SO thankful that the work is done and I can enjoy it.  Yay!

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"Before" pictures...

 

 

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And "after" pictures!

 

Book #20: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

A few weekends ago I was hanging out with Rachel and she gave me this book.  It's a really quick read, and while it's geared toward children (4th-5th grade), it was SO great to read.  Sombering, quick, impactful.  Apparently there's a movie out based on the novel too.  (Check out the movie trailer here.)

It's based on the story of Bruno, the 8-year-old son of a Nazi commandant.  At Hitler's orders, the family moves from their home in Berlin to a home right outside of Auschwitz.  The story follows Bruno's thoughts as he meets a boy on the "other side of the fence", becomes best friends with him, and slowly begins to uncover the secret about the "other people."  Will be reading this book to my future kids...

A picture from the movie...

*This weekend I felt so thankful for the gift of literacy.  We take it for granted here in America, but it's not a "right" or a "norm" in most countries, especially for women.  I forget that sometimes....

Book #19: The Other Queen

It took me an uncharacteristically long time to get through this novel, but I finally made it!  I love historical novels - the mix of fact and fiction is intriguing, and it feels like history is coming to life as I read the words.  This book tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots, and outlines her long journey from being successor of three countries (France, Scotland, and England) to being declared a traitor and executed at the hands of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth.  I thought it was clean, interesting, and an informative read. :)