1 year older and... Wiser?

I'm back! Don't be too excited. Well, ok, you can be. I know my posts are so well written that people have been wondering for almost a year what I chose to do with my life! Let's sum it up in a quick sentence... I decided Texas wasn't for me, got a call that same day for an interview at Central Davis Jr High the next day, got the job, accepted it (they said I could stay on at Davis High... So nice!), hung around for a month trying to have fun, planned a trip to Puerto Rico, met the man of my dreams, started teaching, started coaching, and now the man of my dreams has left for 24 months. That last one is pretty bitter-sweet. The man of my dreams has left me for a short season to serve God. Don't worry, he did it with my (strong) encouragement. But who thought it would be as hard as it's been? Not me. But I think of the end result, and I know it's what we were supposed to do.

I'm so proud of Elder Wahlen and what he is doing! He is truly of the elect of the Lord, and I have been privileged to become apart of his life. Anyone who knows Mark knows what kind of missionary he is, and the kinds of influences he'll have on those he serves because they have experienced it themselves. Georgia is lucky to have him!

Texas vs. Utah

I got a call on Friday from the HR guy from the Ector County District in Texas (the Odessa/Midland area) telling me that he was going to send me a Letter of Intent for me to come teach and coach in his district. It was the answer to a lot of prayers that I've been saying lately ... But then I got to thinking, is that really where I'm supposed to be? I thought that going to Texas would be a great experience for me, especially since I'm still young and have nothing really holding me back here in Utah. Texas pays teachers about $12,000 more per year, and they pay coaches over twice as much as Utah. I really don't know why I have this sudden interest in Texas, I only know that when I talked to the 2 HR people from this district, I felt completely comfortable, and got really excited at the thought of going somewhere new to experience life outside of my comfort zone. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd now it's 2 months later, and I'm finding that this opportunity has a lot of negatives to it. Odessa is REALLY far from my family and friends. All the effort that I've been putting into the basketball team at Davis High will almost feel all for nothing if I'm not there to celebrate with my girls. Connections that I've made in the Davis School District, South Davis Rec Center, and other places/people in Utah won't do me much good clear down in Texas. Who knows how many single LDS people will be in Odessa ... Since I WOULD like to get married eventually. But on the flip side, I can meet new people and make new connections down in Odessa, I can make more money doing what I love, I can have a great new experience in a place that not many people have been, and I have the possibility of finding a Texas cowboy :P haha. I really have no idea what I'm going to do yet ... I'll be fasting and praying a lot this month, and I know Heavenly Father will help me know what road will be the best one for me, but of course I'm still stressing and freaking out about making sure that what I do really is what Heavenly Father wants me to do. So, now I'm asking for your opinion ... Give me any of your yays or nays for why I should go to Texas or why I should stay home so that I can add them to my growing lists :)

It's that easy?

So... Graduation. Yup. I'm graduated :) It's official... I'm supposed to be an adult now.

I decided not to walk this final time, mostly because I'm too lazy to sit through all the other people graduating. All I need is the diploma and teaching certificate, and I'm happy. It ended up working out for the better. My family is going on a trip to Carter's mission the same day, so that's where I'll be during commencement :)

Looking for jobs has been a lot more stressful and widespread than I'd ever imagined it'd be. I've known for a few months now that maybe I wouldn't stay at Davis High, but my thoughts were pretty constant on Alaska or Indonesia. However, last month I talked to some HR people from a district down in Texas, and now I can't keep that out of my head.

I don't know why Utah isn't appealing to me like I wish it would... There are so many reasons to stay. My friends, family, current jobs... But something is lacking here. Or maybe I need to get away from something? I don't really know. I just know that I had similar feelings after I got my mission call, and that was by far the best decision I ever made for myself.

Who knows... I'm so confused on life right now that sometimes it hurts me inside. Some days I wish something would come along to keep me in Utah, but other days all I want is to head straight down to Texas. Any thoughts?

Life is BUSY!!!

School. Student teaching. Coaching. Other jobs. Trying to keep a social life (my mom keeps hoping I'll find that special someone... haha.). Busy, busy, busy. Life really has been so crazy the last few months, but it's also been incredibly fulfilling for me.

School is almost done... Like, until forever. As we say in Indonesia, ALHAMDULILAH! Or, as we say in Christianity, HALLELUJAH! It is going to be a blessed day :)

Student teaching has been a lot of fun for me, and like every other teaching position I've ever held in my life, it has just shown me again and again how right teaching is for me. I feel so blessed to have known since a young age what I wanted to do with my life, and then to have the help of Heavenly Father to help me pass all my classes (I still know I had TONS of help from the Big Guy upstairs in some of those math classes...), there is really nothing more that I could ask for in my life. The kids in my classes are great, and I've even found that I enjoy junior high A LOT more than I would've ever thought I would. The kids can get annoying, and yes sometimes they even have issues that I can't stand, but holy cow, they are SOOOOO funny! They are just so fun, and at least some of them think that I'm cool enough just because I'm young and like to play games :P

My coaching life is constantly going... Although right now I'm in a nice little "off-time" while I wait for the moratorium season to end so I can continue coaching the high school girls. I really just LOVE LOVE LOVE coaching. There is nothing better than having that type of interaction with kids who have the same passion as me. I LOVE being able to help them become smarter and more fundamentally set players. I cannot even begin to describe how much I love coaching. There is nothing in this world that has ever brought me more joy than playing the sport I love while interacting with others who love it just as much as I do :) I can't wait to get back into the gym here in a few weeks!

My other jobs are nothing special ... I just keep on scorekeeping and translating. Nothing that brings in a ton of money, but it brings in enough for me to eat and pay for gas.

And then the social life... Holy cow. What a lovely thing, right? I remember a day when I had something going on every night of the weekend (including Sundays), and was constantly playing with the friends. But now that I'm in Bountiful, it's been hard for me to find any groups or people that I can count on to hang out with. It's gotten a lot better the last few months, but some weekends I hardly even leave my house. Sometimes I wish I had a group of friends like I used to, but then again... I might be better off this way, because whenever I do hang out, it's always with new people, so I constantly get to know different people. Just keep trying til you find the right match, right? Well... At least that's what I hear.

All in all, life is good. I'm completely happy with where my career is going, and although I know I have a lot of things to work on in my life, I feel like I'm doing the best that I can with what I've got. Life is full of chocolates right now :)

My Utah Jazz

So I missed 2 basketball seasons while I was in Indonesia, and that was kind of hard for me. Luckily, my dad gave me lot's of updates on my team back here in Utah so that most of the names were not completely foreign to me (although the faces have been...) right before coming home.

However, there were a few changes that occurred to the team that I loved so much in the 2 seasons I missed. First and foremost, my Matty (Matt Harpring), whose jersey I would always wear on game days (whose jersey should I get next? Ya, I dunno either... Still waiting to see if Millsap stays around) retired from the NBA. After that, the news from my dad was just the normal ups and downs of the season. And the next season was a lot the same. And then, literally THE MONTH before I came home (I was SOOO excited to come home and watch my team play again!), all hell broke loose at the ESA, and each week, the news i got was worse and worse. First, Boozer was traded (but I wasn't that sad... I always thought he was a waste of money cuz of his inconsistency). Other items of business I heard about were Kirilenko and Kyle Korver. The biggest slap in the face, however, was Sloan retiring. I remember talking to one of my basketball friends in Indonesia (I practiced with teams in my last 2 areas, and the guys always loved talking NBA with me), and he was telling me about Sloan. I literally burst out crying, "What is going on in Utah? The only people left of my old team are Millsap and Williams!" Weeeeeeeeelllllllllllllll..... I shouldn't have spoken too soon. The next week, I came to practice and the same kid told me about Willams being traded. My heart literally sank, and I had no idea what I would be coming home to! Ugh, I was NOT happy.

Now I'm sitting at home watching my second game of the season... the Jazz are at the Nuggets, and THANK HEAVENS they're playing better, but last nights game was utter humiliation. It's still the first quarter though... We'll see what happens tonight. I just miss my old Jazz team... The team that I watched from the nosebleed section and my friends' couches. But......... Those days are as over as the Stockton to Malone days, so I should probably stop complaining and just keep on cheering my team on. So....

GO JAZZ!

My Eavesdropping Dilemma

So today on the bus I eavesdropped on ANOTHER retarded conversation. Although I'm an avid bus rider, I'm not a huge fan of talking to random people on the bus; I much prefer listening to what others have to say if I am not busy doing an assignment or tuning everyone out with music. HOWEVER, the last 2 days I have been caught listening to other peoples' conversations that have made me not just uncomfortable, but also want to yell at them, "GROW UP!" Let me go into a little bit more detail...

The other day, there was no other seat left on the bus except the very middle seat of the very back of the bus... In that position, I am kitty-corner to both of the side seats that face each other. On this particular day, I had pulled out an assignment that I needed to read, but was distracted by the girl sitting next to me and the guy sitting kitty-corner to me, because they were talking and this guy was fidgeting like no other college-aged person I'd ever seen before. I felt like I was watching a junior high boy talk to a hot college girl. But this guy is in college, and unfortunately the girl was not the most attractive beauty on the bus that day. So I just thought it was awkwardly funny. Then, as I continued trying to read, I kept getting distracted by their stupid conversation... His awkward laugh, her awkward conversation continuers... Seriously. Sometimes, people should just NOT try to flirt in public. As this guy was awkwardly trying to find a position that was comfortable for himself (which there must not have been one, because he COULD NOT stop moving), he put his foot up on his opposite leg, and guess what was right there next to his foot... MY FACE. I hate feet, and this tripped me out even more. After that, I couldn't tune out the conversation, and it went from school to nintendo to POKEMON. Yes, you read that right. POKEMON. I freaked. The next available seat I JUMPED out of my spot, and thanked Heavenly Father that I didn't have to sit between those two any longer. Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. Yes, He does.

The next day, I got my favorite seat on the bus, at the very back on either the right or left side. I like it because you can sit with your feet up on the metal thing behind the other seats. So I got that seat, and about 10 seconds later 3 girls come and sit on the seat kitty-corner to me. They were freaking out about something, and for the next 20 minutes I got to listen to them talk about (in a high, squealy, girlish freak out voice), "Omigosh, you were totally flirting with that boy!" "Omigosh, I was SOOOO not flirting with him. If I was flirting with him, it would have been SOOOO much more hard core than thaaaat, duuuuh." "Omigosh, are you serious? You have got to teach me how to flirt like that. I swear I can't even get a single boy to look at me the way that you can." ....And it just went on from there. While it was entertaining, after about 5 minutes I just wanted them to SHUT UP because it was getting really annoying listening to them. But, since they wouldn't stop and I wasn't about to move from my favorite place, I pulled out my Ipod and pretended to sleep until they got off the bus.

So this has caused me to think back on my own conversations with people, and I wonder... am I this annoying to listen to? GOSH I HOPE NOT.

"I know that God knows and loves me!" experience

Here it is the end of the month, and HOLY CRAP August has been a busy month! I moved out, Carter came home from his mission (nice to have ya back, kid!), Ben moved to Happy Valley (not the happiest part, of course... He is a Utah boy!), and tonight we're going to be getting together to watch Ben open his mission call. Yup... It's been QUITE the month!

So today I was in the math building at school to drop something off, and since nature was calling, I walked into the old bathroom. Now, a little background - my previous 3 semesters at WSU, I spent almost ALL my time in that math building, because I was studying with friends and just trying to make it through all my math classes. So this bathroom was used quite frequently by me during those 3 semesters. However, as I walked into the bathroom, the first (and probably only...) memory that came to mind was one of my "I know that God knows and loves me!" moments. Please allow me to elaborate.

It was my first semester taking math classes at the college level since my senior year of high school, and one of my classes was Calc 2. I was SUPER nervous about taking all these math classes, but had felt like it was what I was supposed to be doing. However, after I took the first test in my calc class, I realized pretty dang quick that it was going to be a heck of a lot harder than I could've ever imagined! I took my first test, and although I had felt good about it, the next class period my score was in the range of a nice F. Never before in my life had I ever gotten an F before! So then I started freaking out, wondering if math really was what God intended for me to do, or if I should just take the easy way out and do PE. After talking to a few people, I decided to take the class until our 2nd test had been given. If I failed that 2nd test, then I would have to drop the class and find some other subject that I would want to teach.

The days leading up to that test, I worked harder than I'd had to do for the previous 3 semesters I'd already been in college. It was like getting ready for the AP tests all over again! haha. But I worked hard, and came in feeling confident about that test - until I opened it and realized that I had no idea what most of it was talking about. And that was that - pure and utter defeat in the face of adversity. Obviously this wasn't what I should be doing, I'm not smart enough for this kind of stuff, and gosh dangit I'd be a FAR better PE coach than math teacher anyways. Then, suddenly, I got a little burst of energy, and decided to just do the best I could on the test. So I did. But don't worry, the bathroom part IS coming in soon...

The next class period, I came early. I sat at the back of the room (my usual seat), and fretted about having to switch all my plans around. I was nervous, I was anxious, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking or sweating. Finally, I decided that I needed to say another prayer to Heavenly Father, asking Him to direct me in what He wanted me to do, and to do so through my score of this test. I walked into that old, stinky bathroom, and I went into my own personal stall and said a very intense, faith-filled prayer. Then I went out to see what the rest of my life was going to consist of.

Long story short, a few minutes later I returned to that bathroom with tears in my eyes so that I could say another prayer to my Heavenly Father, but this time full of gratitude. Now Heavenly Father had truly affirmed what He wanted from me. That test was my highest scoring test that I EVER got on a math test at Weber. The Holy Ghost testified to me, through that experience, that this was EXACTLY what my loving Father in Heaven had in mind for me, and to keep working hard... He would be helping me through the entire group of courses that I'd be taking in the math core. And after 3 semesters of hell that I had to endure in the math core, I can testify today that He kept His promise. He was there with me every step of the way, and I'm so grateful for it!

This is just one of many hundreds of stories I could tell about knowing and feeling God's love for me. Maybe you could tell about one of yours on your blog? Or at least write it down in your journal. These experiences happen to strengthen and help our testimonies continue to grow and flourish, and they need to be written down so we don't forget them!