Student Convention

     Well, we returned on Saturday evening safe and sound from our A.C.E. Student Convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  We had a great time while we were there!  If you have not figured it out yet, Tyler and I are not the best picture people, so I do not have any pictures to post for you to see.  I did take two pictures while I was there, which I will tell you about later...they will probably not be posted though.
     For most of the trip over there I rode in the boys' van, since Tyler was driving.  It was quite an adventure!  They did not stop eating from the time we pulled out of the church parking lot until we pulled into the hotel parking lot.  At one point I heard one of the boys say, "I don't think I have eaten anything for a couple of minutes, so I better eat something!"  There were also a couple of the boys that did not stop talking the whole time we drove!  For the last couple of hours I transferred myself to the girls' van for a little bit of sanity!
     Wednesday morning we were up and running early in the morning.  I had an early bird in my room who's alarm went off at 4:00 a.m., which was only 3:00 at home because of the hour difference.  We were all ready to leave the hotel by about 7:30, and thus started 3 days of extreme busyness!  On the first day I volunteered myself to time the track events as well as be in charge of the long jump.  About 15 minutes into it I was wishing I could be back inside.  It was cold and very windy and gloomy.  I was thankful after a couple of hours to finally be able to go back inside.
     That evening we heard our first message from Pastor Robert Watkins, who is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Yucca Valley, California.  He was the perfect preacher for a large group of teenagers.  He kept them in tune with him and listening the whole time.  As a young boy he was sick often because of respiratory problems, and he spent that extra time in his room practicing magic tricks and ventriloquism.  I have never seen anyone do ventriloquism as well as he did!  I sat in amazement as I watched a lamb, a duck, and a spider take on personality and come to life right in front of my eyes!  I remembered how I struggled and struggled in college when we had a section on ventriloquism in one of my storytelling classes.  He "threw his voice" so well, and not once did any part of his face indicate that it was him speaking and not the lamb, duck, or spider.  He preached some very convicting messages for me, and I am sure for the teenagers as well.  You could tell that he loved teenagers.  He spent a lot of time during the day talking to them and playing games with them, etc.
     Something fun that I was able to do was judge the instrumental competitions.  As I sat in the room, looking at the nervous kids who stood in front of me, it brought back memories of me having the same nervous look and sick feeling in my stomach that they probably had.  It was very interesting to be on the opposite side of it all, looking for mistakes and giving notes on how they could improve.  I tried to be as positive as I could, remembering how discouraging it can be to get the judges' forms back, showing what all you did wrong.  Each person did a good job, and I comend them all for the work they did.  I think that playing an instrument in a competition is one of the most difficult things to do.  I would rather sing or give a speech any day!
     One minor difficulty that I developed during the trip was with my feet.  By Wednesday night they were HUGE!  I have never seen my feet this large...they were at least twice their normal size.  It was not only my feet but also my ankles and legs.  I could feel the skin on my legs stretching.  It was a very odd feeling!  When I looked down at my feet with my shoes on, it looked like bread dough rising out of two black pans.  When I took my shoes off in the hotel room I had to laugh because my feet looked like two ballons with little toes wiggling at the end.  I did take two pictures of my feet, but I really do not think that anyone wants to look at my nasty feet!  By Thursday morning, the pastor's wife, who is also a nurse, told me to go take my shoes off and put on flip-flops.  It was a blessing to be allowed to do that, even though it was not according to their dress code.  My feet are still balloon size, and I am afraid that they will remain that way until this little boy of ours is born!
     Our students did a great job in all that they competed in, and we were proud of them.  They also all had great attitudes the whole time, even though they were very worn-out and tired.  On Friday evening, after all was said and done, we celebrated by going out to Olive Garden.  It was also a nice way to sort of celebrate Tyler's birthday a day early.  We pray that the Lord was able to use the week to deal with the hearts of our students.
     For the return trip, Tyler drove the girls' van, which was so nice for me! The wonderful South Dakota wind was horrible on the way home, and it took all of Tyler's strength to keep the van, with the trailer, on the road.  I am sure that he was the most thankful to be home out of all of us!
     All-in-all, it was a good trip, and we are praising the Lord for that!  I am looking forward to next year!

**Note:  I really am sorry that no pictures have been posted for months!  I will try to post pictures about something sooner or later!
    

Life is Marching Forward

     Our life has not been too exciting lately, but I thought that since I actually had some time, I would update you all on what is going on in our humble little lives!  These little chunks of time that I get are not very often, so I take advantage of them when I get them!
     This last week at school has been spent in preparation for A.C.E.  Regional Student Convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for which we will be leaving on Tuesday.  By we I mean:  Pastor and Mrs. Williams, Dad and Mom Brock, and Tyler and myself.  It is for the kids in our school that are ages 13 and older, so it does not directly affect me, but it does indirectly affect me since Tyler is very involved with it all.  The kids have spent a very busy week practicing and perfecting anything that they are going to compete in.  There are a wide range of competitions, such as:  art, speaking, music, athletics, and others I cannot think of.  We have discovered some talents in our teens that we did not know they had before!  It should be a fun 5 days that we spend there, although I am sure we will be tired when we get home.
     Tyler's birthday is coming up on the 21st of April, which will be the day that we are travelling home.  I have been saving my pennies from my allowance to get him a gift that I have been wanting to get him.  After I bought it, I discovered that I had some extra money left in my little savings, so we went to eat lunch at Sonic today, which was very yummy.  It is one of those places where you drive up and they bring the food to you in the car.  Tyler had a Chicago style hot dog--I thought it was amusing to have one of those in the wild west of South Dakota, but it looked pretty good.  We also got a Strawberry Limeade, and finished it off with Strawberry malts.  Tyler thoroughly enjoyed himself, since he has been keeping a strict diet, and this was his day off to eat whatever he wanted. 
     Speaking of his diet, it has been an experience for me, since I have had to completely change my menu plan.  He has been on the Eating for Life plan, and so far has lost 8 pounds!!  I am very excited for him.  It is good for me, too, since it is a much healthier way of eating.  What we have both enjoyed about it is that the food is very yummy, yet good for you.  Well, all the meals have been good, except for the tuna casserole which I WILL NOT make again.  First of all, Tyler did not really like it that much, and second, the tuna made my kitchen stink!!  Our favorite so far has been the chicken enchiladas--they are amazing!  He also has been very faithful with working out, which has benefited me because it keeps me working out, although definitely not 6 days a week as he does!
     As far as I am concerned, I am almost 32 weeks along with little Boy Brock.  We still have not decided on a name for him, but he will have one when he is born, don't worry!  For anyone that is interested, he is about the size of a pineapple right now, according to statistics.  He is nearing 4 pounds!  I cannot believe that, because it seems like he was just the size of a peanut.  I am beginning to get less sleep at night as it gets increasingly difficult to be completely comfortable.  Today was my day off, and I was looking forward to sleeping in, but there was no such luck!  At 5:30 a.m. I was wide awake, and there was no way I was going to be able to fall back asleep.  Of course after I had been up for 2 hours doing things, I suddenly was extremely tired again...I guess nothing is predictable when you are expecting!  My school kids and I were talking about the fact that our baby was going to be a boy.  My little kindergartner, who is one of 5 boys in his family said, "That's good, because we need more boys in Rapid City!"  I thought that was pretty funny.  He's not very outspoken, but when he does say something, it is always interesting to hear what he says.
     I cannot believe that after we return from our trip there will only be 5 weeks of school left.  That is exciting and a little stressful at the same time.  My class always puts on a program for the parents, church members, etc. at the end of school and I still have A LOT to do to get them ready for that.  I definitely will have a very busy 5 weeks!  I always have the great reward of summer break to look forward to! 
     Our van ministry is also going well!  We had 27 come out on Easter Sunday, including some parents, which was a big blessing.  This Sunday we are going to have a candy scramble for the kids, so Tyler and I went out to get everything for that today.  When we got back to the church to put everything away, we realized that we got more than we thought!  Oh well, the kids will enjoy it!
     The Lord continues to bless us, and we are very thankful for that!  Since there is nothing else that I can think of, I will close for now!

Busy, Busy, Busy

     Hello everyone out there who reads our blog!!  I am very sorry that it has been such a long time since we posted anything.  As normal our life has been happily moving along at an increased pace.  We are now in the 4th quarter of school, and as my piano teacher used to say..."PTL" (Praise the Lord!).  I cannot believe that in just about 9 weeks I will say goodbye to my little people for 3 whole months!  Of course, there will be another little person entering my life shortly thereafter.
     I had my 28 week appointment yesterday, and baby was alive and kicking!  His little heartbeat was 150!  I also had to drink a bottle full of glucose and have my blood taken.  After all of that sugar intake I got a little light-headed and my ears were buzzing.  Since I did not get a call within a day, I guess I passed my test!  For any of you who are interested, our baby right now is about the size of a rutabaga, as one of my sources tells me.  Seeing that he started out the size of a dot, I say he is doing pretty well!  We still have not decided on a name for the little guy. We have had a lot of fun laughing at some of the names we have seen in baby name books. There is one name that we are strongly leaning towards, but I will not reveal it at this time!!!
     Another news item of importance is that we will be moving to a two bedroom apartment on Saturday!  The youth group is going to be coming to help us, which will be a blessing.  I really do not enjoy living in an apartment full of boxes, but I know that in just a few days it will all be over.  I am thanking the Lord that an apartment came open for us to move into before the baby is born, because I think it would be much more difficult to do later.
      I will have to close this short update for now, but will do my best to post more in the near future.  God has truly been blessing us, and we have nothing to complain of.  Goodbye till later!
    

Classroom Conversation

     Earlier this week I had a short conversation with my little 1st grade girl that made me smile and then laugh.  I thought I would share it, since I have not posted too much about my class lately.  This little girl is a little sweetie, and makes me smile often.  I was sharpening her pencil and she was just standing there looking at me, when suddenly she piped up...

Student:  Mrs. Bwock, you look pwegnant.

Me:  Yes, remember we have been talking about it for the last few months?  I have a baby in my tummy and right after school gets out he is going to be born.

Student:  Oh, so does that me you will be mawwied soon?

Me:  No, that means I AM married.  Remember, Mr. Brock, the teacher downstairs is my husband.

Student:  Oh, yes...does that mean you have a job?

Me:  What do you think I do here every day?

    She stood there for a second and then said a long "Oooooooh!"  I could tell that suddenly the light bulb had come on!  I am not exactly sure what she thought has been going on the last few months, but I am glad that we finally established in her mind that I am going to have a baby, I am married, and I DO have a job!

A Note from Mary

     Hello, everyone!  It seems that the last few posts have been written by Tyler for some reason or another.  Normally because by the end of the school day I don't really feel like doing anything other than going home and sitting in complete relaxation.  Of course that never happens, but a blog post is still the last thing on my list (especially since we don't have internet at home).  Today has been a quiet day for me, since 4 out of my 8 students were not in school, so I feel as if I have a little more energy.  I may even go home and do a good workout!!  Well, a good workout for a lady who is expecting, that is.  I tried to continue my aerobic walking, and Tyler had to put a stop to it since I was hurting pretty badly the next day!  Now I do my cute little exercises and walk to help me stay in shape.
     I really am just writing to put my two cents in about our life the last few weeks.  I know Tyler has already posted the exciting details about us finding out that were are having a boy.  While I was waiting for the ultrasound technician to measure the head, heart, kidneys, feet, hands, and on and on, I almost started crying!  I said to myself, "Mary, now why in the world are you getting ready to cry?  Why do you have tears in your eyes?"  I guess it is just because I got sentimental thinking about the fact that I really, truly am going to be a mother!  I think I was also a little frustrated that it was taking her so long to tell us if the baby was a boy or a girl!  Oh well!  I have had many sentimental moments since I found out I was going to have a baby!  At times I have no idea why in the world I am crying.  Tyler has gotten used to that!
     A week from Saturday we will be celebrating our 1st anniversary.   I cannot believe that!!!  There are some days that I still feel like I should be in 7th grade!  I think there are some days when the people around me also think I should be in 7th grade!  I have realized that if I am going to be a mother I have got to start acting a little more "put together".  Just when I think I am getting over being a ditz, I have another "Mary Moment" as I like to call them.
     Another matter of importance to mention is that we are now almost half-way through the 3rd quarter of school!  I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by.  I am certainly looking forward to May!  My kids are sad that we will not still be in school when the baby is born, but I assured them that they would be able to see him on the first day of school!  All but two of them voted for a girl, but I think they survived when I told them that it was going to be a boy!  My 3rd grade boy still pipes up once in a while and says, "Mrs. Brock,  I think your belly is getting bigger". I just have to smile every time he says that!  I certainly am at the point where no one can mistake that I am expecting.
    Now that I have rambled on about nothing, I will close out this little "note".  I think the reason Tyler does not allow me to post is because I cannot follow one train of thought. At least when I do post, everyone knows that it was me, and not Tyler, the man with the organized brain.  So long for now!

'Tis the Season to Be Busy!

     Hello everyone!  Well, truly, 'Tis the Season to Be Busy and also Jolly'! In the Brock's household, it has been very busy! However, in all the hustle and bustle, God has remained good to us, just as He said He would! Since it has been a while since we updated you on the our lives, I would like to just let you know what has been happening these last few months!
     As many of you already know, at the beginning of October, Mary and I found out that we are going to have a baby! A BABY! Needless to say, my first reaction was shock and I pinched myself a few times to see if it was a dream or reality! (You know dreams can seem pretty real, at least until you wake up!) Then my mind began to flood with many questions, thoughts (both scary and good) and many prayers to God!
     Because we were in shock and disbelief, Mary went to have her blood tested to see if it was truly a reality! And the test came back positive, Mr. & Mrs. Tyler Brock are going to be parents! (I think the thing that scared us the most is the fact that a little Tyler or little Mary (more scary than Tyler) was going to be running around like a Comanche!) HAHA LOL!
     At 8 weeks, Mary had her first ultra sound to see our little one! It was so neat to see our little baby, even though the extremities were barely visible! We could at least see that it was a baby! Here is a picture from the ultra sound!

 It is a bit blurry! (L to R) It is the head, trace of left and right arms and then lower extremities! Cute!

After all the shock of a baby, in November, our church had the 32nd Anniversary! Pastor Whitecar was our main speaker at the Mission Conference! The conference was very good, especially being able to see Pastor Whitecar and his wife! The Lord also worked on Mary & I's heart about some things through the messages! 

       As of this week, Mary is 12 weeks along! In the last few weeks, Mary has been feeling very, very sick! To the point that we thought that there could be something wrong with the baby! So the doctor had another ultrasound done today! God is SO GOOD! There is nothing wrong with the baby! Today, Mary went to have the ultrasound and as you can see the baby (we say "he") is doing good and has not skipped a beat! 

 A side profile of the baby! (R to L) Head, hand by his face and rest of body!

 Another side profile! (R to L) Head, a little more detail on the hand and faintly, the lower extremities!

A little blurry! But same thing without the hand by the head! Very cute! (It is because of Mary! Oh yeah, brownie points for me!)

While the nurse was measuring the baby, he was so cute--he kept raising his hand and moving around! Praise God for a healthy baby!

      We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents and some of my mom's family! Of course, I ate a lot, but I was very good about eating before Thanksgiving and I went back to my good eating habits! 

       Surprising enough, Mary & I went "Black Friday" shopping! (Neither of us like to shop!) At Midnight on Thursday, we went to a couple of stores! They were not too crowded, but we did "Man shopping", which is go in, get WHAT YOU NEED (nothing else) and leave! We heard that Walmart and Best Buy were a zoo! Then Friday morning, we woke up about 8:00 and went to finish our shopping! FYI: If you are going to shop on Black Friday, after the rush is the BEST time! We still got everything that we needed! And almost all of our Christmas shopping is done! PTL! 

       The school is doing well! Right now we are working on our Christmas program! This weekend, Mary & I are going to get our Christmas Tree for our FIRST Christmas together! AWW! 

       Well, that wraps up our life these last few months! It is pretty normal with a few interesting, exciting days! During this Christmas season, DO NOT get all "wrapped" up with the hustle and bustle of the selfish world...Remember Christ is the Reason for the Season! Share a smile, show Christ love to others and God will bless your Christmas Season!

End of the First Quater

      Wow!  I cannot believe that the end of the first quarter is here.  Nine weeks of school are done...soon Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here.  I have enjoyed so much teaching, and time has just seemed to fly by...well, for the most part.  There are some days that I wonder if the day will ever end.  I have to say that I have already learned so much this school year.  I do not think a teacher ever stops learning.  I have learned that it takes a lot of reliance on the Lord to be an effective teacher.  I only have eight students, but in my classroom there is such a vast range of personalities, and each one needs a completely different approach.  I have the pouty ones, the stubborn ones, the soft-hearted, the fun-loving, the " I am almost a teenager" ones, etc.  I have learned to love each child for a different quality that I see in him/her.  Someone recently told me that the mark of a good teacher is one who can find the potential in every child and develop it in that child.  I know that I have not yet made that "good mark".  Just when I think I got one of them figured out, something happens to make me realize that there is much more in that little brain of theirs that I have not yet figured out.
       One student that I have really enjoyed this year is the one kindergartner in my class...his name is Zachary.  We of course all call him Zach.  I was a little worried for him at first.  He would be the only "new kid" in our class, and all the other kids knew each other.  I was worried that he would be a little afraid and apprehensive to come into a classroom where he really did not know the kids.  I was also worried because he has a bit of a speech problem...he substitutes the letters d and t for other letters.  My worries were gone almost as soon as school started.  As soon as he walked into the classroom, he seemed to get along perfectly with all the kids and he was not at all shy about talking to them.  As a bit of and "ice-breaker", before going into all of the school rules, I had each child tell me what his/her favorite thing was about the summer.  I was not sure what he would do when I got to him, but when his turn came he loudly said, "Twimmin'!"  He explained to me in his own way that him and his brother had a great time swimming during the summer.  The next day, we were all down in the lunch room for snack time when I heard him say, "Hey guys! Do you got a poon?  My momma 'got to gimme a poon!"  His mom had forgotten to pack him a spoon for his pudding!  There are many times now, that if I need a little cheering up, I just walk over to his desk and talk to him for a couple of minutes.  He is always working his hardest, whether he understands or not, and is really trying his best to work on his speech.  I was trying to teach him to say six, so I said, "Ok, Zach, say ssssssssssix". Wanting to do his best for "teacher" (that is what he calls me) he said, "Sssssssssssdix".  Still not quite there, but working on it.  He excitedly called out one day, "Teacher, I can say ffffour and ffffive, not dour and dive!!!!"  I have so many more stories to tell about him, but I will stop there for now. 
      This school year has definitely had its challenges, but I am thankful that this is the work that the Lord has put me in for now.  I know that there is still so much more that I need to learn, and I pray that my eyes, ears, and heart will be open so that I will learn it.

School Time!

         I cannot believe that in just four days from today school will be starting.  It seems like just yesterday that it was the end of May and we were excited to have the whole summer before us.  Every day it seems that I am telling Tyler, "We were going to do_______ before school started, and now we don't have time".  I think every summer must be like that for students and teachers alike.  There is just not enough time for it.
          I was thinking back to being in school myself and the mixed emotions that I had when school started.  I was a little sad that the enjoyment of summer was over, yet I was excited to be starting a new school year in a new grade that made me feel older.  I remember how big I felt when I started seventh grade.  Now I look back and think about how little I actually knew and how much I still needed to learn.  Ninth grade was another exciting year, because I was finally entering high school.  Although I remember being excited about that year, I do not remember much else, so there must not have been too much going on.  My senior year was definitely a very memorable one.  I remember starting the year thinking about the fact that we were the oldest students in the school.  I remembered being in 7th grade, looking up at the seniors so much, and thinking that they must be nearly perfect.  Now I was in that position, and I knew that I was far from nearly perfect, yet there were 7th graders, 8th graders, etc. looking up to me.  It made me want to be a good example for them.  The time finally came for college, and I was very nervous.  I knew things would be very different from high school.  With each new year of college I enjoyed more and more what I was learning, realizing that in a very short time I might be a teacher, since that was what I was preparing for.  When I finally graduated from college, I could not believe how quickly time had gone.  It seemed as if I was just entering 7th grade not too long before, but there I was at 22 years old, married, and a college graduate.
        I am so excited to be putting into use what I learned.  I have already gotten somewhat of a chance helping my mother-in-law in her classroom from February through May.  Now that same classroom will be my own.  I realize what a GREAT responsibility it is to have those young lives in my care.  I am looking forward to the first day of school.  Our classroom has been painted and decorated and has a fresh, new look that I hope the kids will be excited about.  PACEs are ready to go, along with star charts, goal cards, etc.  I wonder what this new year will bring.

Supervisors' Training Week

         Last week we spent four days being trained in how to be a good ACE supervisor.  Not growing up in an ACE school, I was very nervous to go to this training, since I do not know that much about the "system".  Tyler, who grew up with ACE from K-5 through 12th grade, was not a bit nervous, of course.  We were both looking forward to it, in a way, because we were going to be able to get away from home for a week, and stay in a hotel, eat out, etc.  I think we both enjoyed it more than we thought we would, and it turned out to be a great week for us.
         Part of what made the week was the pastor whom was in charge of our training.  His name is Pastor David Gerhardt, and the training was held at his church & school, Calvary Baptist.  He has an interesting story.  His parents were missionaries on the Reservations in South Dakota.  When it came time for him to go to college, he chose to study medicine.  He had gone to med school for 7 years, and was close to being done with his schooling to begin his medical practice as a surgeon.  Because of what his major was, he needed one more course in language, and decided to go to a Theological Seminary to take a class in New Testament Greek.  While he was there, he was called to preach, and he left all of those years of study behind and became a preacher instead of a doctor.  Tyler and I got to spend some time with him, and enjoyed so much being able to talk to him and hear the MANY stories that he had.  After the Lord called him to preach, he returned to South Dakota and worked in the ministry there with the Native Americans as well as in other areas.  During our week of training, as he would have break-off sessions with us about different areas, it was easy to see his heart for the Lord and for what he was doing.  We could tell that he was not just spouting off a wealth of information that he knew he was supposed to give us, but he was trying to show us what he had learned through the experiences that the Lord has put him through.  He also had some very practical information for us, such as "Spend a lot of money to get a GOOD pair of shoes, because shoes can make or break you in the classroom."  He then went on to show us the pair of shoes that he was wearing that he had owned for 3 years and still looked almost new.  We both learned so much from him that week, as I am sure the other students did.
           One interesting thing about our week, was that most of the training was done by us being in a school setting and doing PACEs ourselves, just like our students would.  We had to sit in our desk, and put up our flags when we had a question or needed something signed by our supervisor.  We could also get demerits if we did something wrong, or gain merits for doing the things we were supposed to.  We also had homework and reports to write.  Tyler and I had a good time working on our homework together, and we worked so far ahead that we were able to be done a day early with our work.  That was fun, because I got to help grade tests, keep records, pass out merits, etc.
          We learned about many different things in our PACEs:  Organization, Wisdom, dealing with Parents, The Five Laws of Learning, and how to use the ACE program to teach reading.  I think the one that I learned the most from was the Organization PACE.  The one thing that really stood out to me from that lesson was that someone who takes on too much responsibility just to please others is as bad as someone who is constantly passing on responsibility to others and not taking any on themselves.  There has to be a balance between being a hard worker and knowing how to delegate so that you are not left with a desk piled high with projects that soon have your stress level at a maximum.
            Another thing we really enjoyed about the week was the other people who were in the class training with us.  There were only 9 students total, which made it easy for us to all get to know each other.  Everyone had such a great attitude, and it seemed that every person had at least one idea that they had brought from their school that was helpful to the rest of us.
            I think that what we learned from the most was from having to be in our "students' shoes" for one week.  We were once again elementary or high school students, having to sit at our desks.  Tyler kept a notebook with him and was constantly writing down things that came to his mind during the week about ways to make our school better and more effective in many different areas.  I think most of his ideas came from having to be a student himself.
          We were able to do some enjoyable things while we where at training.  It took place in Cambridge, Minnesota, which is about 45 minutes to an hour from Minneapolis.  On Thursday evening, we went with Pastor Gerhardt, his wife, son-in-law, son-in-law's brother, and grandkids to the Mall of America.  Tyler and I sat in the back seat beside his two year old grandson named Jackson.  Jackson had already fallen asleep and finally woke up about 30 or 40 minutes into our trip.  He did not know me, so when I was the first thing that he saw when he woke up, he started to SCREAM.  No matter what I did, he would not calm down.  His grandma finally got him to be quite, but for the rest of the trip he WOULD NOT LOOK AT ME.  No matter what anyone said or did, he would not turn his head anywhere near the direction where I was.  We did eventually get to be friends, and they said that when Tyler and I got out of the car that night he said "Bye Mawy" for the next ten minutes. 
           At the mall, we went to eat at Famous Dave's where our huge meal was served on a trash can lid.  We all ate as many ribs, fried chicken, french fries, coleslaw, and baked beans as we could and there was still quite a bit left-over.  We walked around a little and Tyler made sure to buy me some chocolate from Godiva's.  It was very good.  On Friday afternoon, just Tyler and I went back to the mall to ride some of the rides they have in the center of the mall.  Right before we bought our tickets, I ate 8 VERY HOT boneless buffalo wings.  After the first roller coaster ride I was feeling very sick, and I thought that I would never eat something that spicy before going on a roller coaster.  After leaving the mall, we went over to Pastor Gerhardt's house where we were able to spend an enjoyable evening with his family and hear more stories that kept us laughing at one moment and in amazement at the other.
           Well...I think I have rambled quite enough already.  Tyler and I did have a wonderful week, and are thankful for all that we learned from everyone involved.
         

Graduation, Program, Etc.

          Well, it has been a crazy, busy four weeks.  I know I always say that everything has been busy for us, but it is the truth!!  Part of our craziness was the trip that we took from Rapid City, SD to Chesterton, IN for  my (Mary's) college graduation.  The trip is about a 1,000 mile trip.  When I was younger, I loved trips that long, because it meant a fun time in the car with brother and sisters.  With just two people, it got to be a little long.  We left on Monday, May 16.  We had to work in the morning, so we split up the trip into two 8 hour days, which was not very bad at all.  About 62 miles from Chesterton (as the GPS told us) we got into some terrible traffic.  We moved 3 miles in 45 minutes!!  Tyler could not take it, so we got off as soon as we could and got re-routed and arrived about 2 1/2 hours later than we thought we would.  

           Our time in Chesterton and back at Fairhaven was great!  We enjoyed so much being with my family and seeing all of our friends.  I got through graduation with no mishaps.  One minor thing was that I forgot to allow Preacher to turn my tassel.  He made sure to call me back so that he could!  Here are a few pictures from dress rehearsal and graduation.   

I am not sure if I will ever grow up, but I do keep Tyler entertained!!

                                       

                                                  

    

  Giving my testimony was a very nerve-wracking thing.

Tyler laughs at me every time he sees this picture because of the fact that I am looking into the diploma cover to see if anything is there.

                       

The 2011 Fairhaven Baptist College Graduating Class

                                                            Josh-Jared-Michael-Mary-Christy
                                          We all graduatedd from high school together in 2007.

            Christy is one of my dearest high school friends.  I cannot believe that we are both graduated from college, married, and living 1,000 miles apart!!

                                                               My wonderful husband and I.

My sister-in-law, Lorelynn. I really miss her, because we spent a lot of time together up until I left after my wedding!

The Best Mother in the World!!

My sweet sister, Lorena.

   

         While I was gone, actually the same night that I graduated, my elementary class performed the program we had been working on so hard for 3 months.  When I returned, several people told me what a great job they had done and I was so proud of them with all the reports I heard.  About a week after we returned, I was able to watch the program, and I have to agree with everyone else that they did a fantastic job.  Even my little shy girl that is in kindergarten did a great job.  She did not get "embawassed" like she kept doing during rehearsal.  It was a program about America, and some different time periods in its history.  One girl recited about a poem about the flag and how American soldiers are so proud of it, which was one of my favorites.  There were several military men in attendance, and at the end of the program, they not only clapped, but they stood up!!  I was so excited for my students!  Jonah also did a wonderful job.  He read his part, and read it very clearly so that almost every word he said was understood. 

         Tyler and I are rejoicing now in our summer break!!  We are still working very much, but we have a break from school!  There is so much that needs to be done over our summer break, and it seems like we will not have enough time to get it done before school starts.  Next week we will be leaving for a week of camp with our young people.  There is a possibility that we will be needing to take two vans, which means that I will have to drive one of them.  Yikes!!  I am not sure if I am ready to drive a van full of giggling teenage girls!  I remember being one of them not too long ago, though, and I am sure that we will have a good time. The week after July 4th is our week of VBS, which will also be busy.  We have the younger kids in the morning,and then the teens are in the evening.n In August we will have to go to a week of ACE supervisor training.  We will have to sit in a classroom and work on PACEs just like a student would and will accumulate demerits, etc.!  We had better behave!!  We have several friends coming out to see us over the summer as well.  The Braters were just out here a few days ago, Joe & Holly are coming next week, my family and the Damrons will be here for July 4th, the Olsons will be here at the end of July, and the Whitecars will be here in August.  We cannot wait to see everyone and spend some time with them. I promise that we will try our best to keep our blog updated during the rest of the summer.  

Our Life in the Past Two weeks

            Well, you have not heard from us in more than two weeks, and believe me they have been two very busy weeks!  Life seems to just be going faster and faster for us here in Rapid City.  We wake up at 5:30 in the morning, and before we know it it is time for bed.  Although we are running like crazy, I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still alive.  You see, part of the problem is that we do not have Internet at home, so any updating we do to our blog has to be at the church where we do have internet.  Most days, by the time we are done with work, we do not really feel like staying until 6:00 p.m. just so we can update the world on our lives!!  If we did that, supper would not be ready until 7:00 or 7:30!


            We are thoroughly enjoying all of our busyness. Since the last time we posted, we had our first "real" company over!  I say real, because we have had the teenage girls over a couple of times and Tyler's parents over for desserts and games, but this time it was the full thing.  We had a sweet, older couple in the church over named the Mondts.  Mr. Mondt coached college football for about 30 years in Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and I think a few more places.  He looks exactly how you would think a college football coach would!  I am sorry we did not get a picture of them to show you all. We rushed home from work, and I started to put the last details on the food together ( I had prepared some of it the night before), and Tyler very graciously finished up some of the cleaning for me. I was sort of a nervous wreck for a little bit, because I wanted everything to be perfect, but once they came in the house, I was calmed very quickly because they enjoyed everything and we had so much fun talking!  I made lasagna (just like my mom's), spinach salad, garlic bread, sweet tea, and Peanut Butter pie.
     

This was the lasagna.  Tyler said it looked weird, but that is how it always looked at home!  Once he ate it, he thought it was the best lasagna he had ever eaten:)!

This was of course the Peanut Butter pie.  It was very yummy.  The bad thing was that we then had it sitting around for several days because there was so much of it.  It did not help our diet any!!!

         


            Another thing we have done since our last blog was take the youth group to a teen rally at Pastor Matt Furse's church in Custer, South Dakota.  That was great fun!  We went with Mr. and Mrs. Betz, the couple in our church that takes care of the teen activities, etc.  I rode with Mrs. Betz in the girls' van, and Tyler rode with Mr. Betz in the boys' van.  It was nice enough outside to have games.  It was hilarious to see them try some of the games out-they were pretty creative.  We had pizza and pop (of course), inside games, skits, songs, and preaching.  Two of the Betz boys did "Who's on First" and did a great job.  Even though I have heard that so many times I could hardly stop laughing.  The guest speaker was Evangelist Bill Smith.  He had a great message that spoke to my heart, and I think many of the hearts of the teenagers.
         

            To change the subject a little:  Tyler has learned how to master grilling out!  His brother gave us an old grill of his, and his parents got him a propane tank for his birthday.  He was so excited and could hardly wait for the first nice day to grill out.  The first thing he tried was steaks, which have been in our freezer since someone in the church gave them to us right after we got married.  They turned out really great, especially since I put them in a marinade the night before and let them sit in the refrigerator all night and all day.  The thing that did NOT turn out was the corn on the cob we tried to grill.  We did not turn it and one side got burnt beyond recognition as a piece of corn!  Since then we have tried, hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken.  They have all been wonderful.  We did try corn again, and the second time it was perfect!  If you have never tried it, you have to!


            Along with the fun things we have been doing, we have also been doing our normal work at the church and school.  School will be finished one week from tomorrow.  We are going to take the Elementary kids to one last field trip at a petting farm near here.  We have also been working very hard on the program for the closing night.  I did not realize how hard it was to make up a program!  There were some parts that I had to keep on going back to and editing because words were too big, or it was too long, etc.  The kids are doing really well for the most part, and I am proud of them.  The little k-5 girl will get "embawassed" sometimes and just won't read, so hopefully we can get her where she needs to be.  I am a little sad that I will not get to be at the program, because the same night I will be in Indiana at my graduation.  We are going to try to get it recorded so that I can watch it later.  I am not sure if I am more nervous about their program or about my own graduation!!  I feel as I have accomplished one more thing in my life, because I taught Jonah how to borrow when he is doing subtraction.  It took a lot of explaining in a very animated form as well as examples with a classmate of me borrowing rulers and pens, but he finally mastered it and was able to do about 12 whole problems all by himself!!

     
           There has been much more going on in our past two weeks, but I am sure by now most people are tired of reading my ramblings.  All of our other adventures will have to wait for another day and another post!







         
                                                                                         

Pictures of Jonah

Today I was working with Jonah on his part for the school closing program, and I thought I would take the opportunity to take a couple of pictures so that you all could see him.

This was the first picture we tried.  I had to tell him that the point was not to be goofy but just to have a nice picture for other people to see.

He basically got the point of a nice picture here (I think).

He wanted to do a shooting picture, so I let him.  After the picture was taken I asked him who he was shooting, and he said that he was shooting me! (Thank you very much, Jonah)

 *Notice my school uniform:)!

This is him with the picture that he drew for me a few days ago.  You cannot really see the big "Mawwy" and little "Jonah", because they were drawn in yellow. 

Jonah

      Hi!  This is Mary!  So far, Tyler has done anything and everything with the blog, but I had a little bit of time this evening, so I thought I would put my two cents in:)!  I pondered for a little bit what or whom my first post would be about, and finally decided on writing about a little guy that I have come to love very much.  Let me tell you a little about him.  His name is Jonah, and he is in Mrs. Brock's class, in which I spend a lot of time helping.  Jonah is 11 years old and is in third grade.  He is not like any other little boy, though, because he has Down Syndrome.  It is that fact that endears him to me.  He is the sweetest, funniest little guy, and he keeps me laughing.  He is VERY smart, and that is part of what makes him so funny.  He amazes me with all that he can do, even with Down Syndrome.  When I say he is in third grade, I mean that he can do basically what any other third grader can do.  He can do "take aways" (subtraction), addition of two numbers that each have two digits, he has gotten through all of his cursive letters in English, he studies and does well on his Science and Social Studies tests, and got a 100% on his last Word Building test, which involved 40 spelling words.  When I say spelling words, I mean words of up to 7 letters!!  Yesterday I was practicing spelling words with him and called out the word "help".  He wrote it on the board and then looked at me and added "ful" at the end.  He proceeded to tell me that I could expand the word "help" into an even larger word (helpful) if I wanted to (thank you, Jonah:)!
      I look forward to his greetings every morning.  Most of what he does is with a burst of energy, unless he is upset or sick.  He will come running in the door with a bang that makes me turn around from whatever I am doing in my office.  As soon as he sees me he will shout out, "HI MAWWY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  He then proceeds to run over and gives me a hug that sometimes squeezes my neck so hard that I think he is going to choke me.           The first time I realized how smart he was was pretty soon after I had started working at the school.  I was at his desk studying his spelling with him. I was holding his PACE and told him to spell the word "basket".  He got a little, sly smile on his face and started giggling and pointing at the back of the PACE I was holding.  I turned it over and saw that in the middle of the page full of sentences one sentence had the word "basket", and he could see it.  He thought it was the funniest things and just could not stop laughing at "Mawwy".
      Last week during music class, which Tyler and I teach, I told the kids to turn to a certain song in the book.  One of the girls in the class went to help Jonah and he snatched his book away from her and said, "No! Mawwy hop(help) me!!"  He came running up to me, only wanting me to help him.  It seems to be that he always wants me to "hop" him.  As soon as I walk into the classroom he will put his question flag up and without permission to talk will look at me and say "Hop!! Mawwy!!"  Mrs. Brock and I have figured out that he acts like he needs help most of the time because he just wants me to be with him:)!  I found out recently that he has a sister named Mary whom he loved dearly because she helped him a lot, but she had to go off to college.  I think that is why he likes me.  He often will point at a picture of her that is in his classroom, point at me, say "Mawwy", and then point at her and say "Mawwy".
        One day I was at lunch and I started to tease Jonah a little to make him laugh.  Then I started singing the "Patch the Pirate" song about Jonah.  He was laughing and laughing.  At the end, I started to walk away and as I turned around to say goodbye, he shouted out "I lub you, Mawwy!!!" and then blew me three kisses.  A few days after, though, he was very upset with me because I got on to him about coloring instead of working.  He looked at me with a very sullen face, crossed his arms, and firmly shook his head when I told him to work on math.  I ignored him for a little bit, and then went back and started to "hop" him and showed him that he was really very smart and could do the work all alone.  After he had finished I let him go back to coloring for doing a good job.  So what did he color?  A picture for me--there was blue sky above, green grass below, a BIG yellow person and a little yellow person.  The big person had the name "Mary" written above it, and the little person, of course, had the name "Jonah" written on it.  He was so proud when he presented it to me:)!
      I have many more "Jonah" stories I could tell, but I will save them for another day.  I am so glad to be able to work with him.  I think I have learned more while helping him than he has learned from me.  He is a reminder to me that every person is precious in the Lord's eyes.