Finals Week!

Finals week was different this year because I had 6 tests in 3 days, but I had a lot free time..which is funny but good... I have a group of education majors that I sit with in almost all of my classes, we call our selves..Table..orginal I know, well we took Christmas pictures after one of our finals and just had a lot of fun! I can't wait to student teach and compare stories! I got my placements for students teaching..finally..I had been waiting since thanksgiving week..bu I got a good placement in Kensett, Ar..which is about 10 min. from Searcy. It is a fairly new school, but it is also a very low income area. I know that God has put me there for a reason and I know I have a lot to learn form them as well as them learning from me! After this week...I am definately ready for Christmas break!

Thanksgiving break...a month late...

Well Okay, my thanksgiving break started on a Thursday morning at 5:30am so I could go to the Reading Conference in Little Rock, and I was leaving from there. The reading conference was great..mainly because of the people and the free stuff... It was a long day, but it didn't help that I knew the sooner I was done there the sooner I would be going home. Well my dad called me on my way home and asked if I wanted to go a Razorback basketball game, cause he had tickets..I said sure, so I when I got home we left straight for the game. That ended around 10:00ish that night, which also happened to be the same night Twilight was coming out....my sister-in-law, Renee, had tickets for her and my brother...but my brother didn' want to go, so I volunteered! So the movie sarted at 12:00..(mind you I'm going on about 5hrs of sleep, and been going for about 20hrs straight...so I was tired), but the movie was great, and we got home at about 2:30am..and I slept like a baby!
The rest of the week was good, I did a lot of planning for the Children's house Christmas party that we do every year, and getting ready for our family coming home later in the week. Our thanksgiving dinner was going to be on Friday because Andrew had to work on Thanksgiving, but they got to our house late that evening! We had a great dinner with Andrew, Whitney, Eden, Mark, Renee, Mom, Dad, Ms. Ethel, Nick and Tyler( andrew's friends). There were a lot of us, but it still wasn't everybody! After that I headed back for school and got back to start my last three weeks of normal school!

p.s. Eden found the sunday sale papers, and had a lot of fun playing with them!

Mr. Motor

Okay I must start with the fact that Harding has rules against pets...and I am a normally a rule follower... One night I insisted that Jennifer and I got on a walk and get out of the dorm for a little while. So we started our walk and we got about 100yds and we heard this Meow sound coming from the parking lot. Then we see Harding Public safety around this car and they are looking under the car for this animal, that happens to be a cat...well kitten. So I couldn't walk on until they got the kitten out. I asked what they were going to do once they got it out, and they said we will probably just put it in the old sed car lot where there are a bunch of other cats... Okay, those that don't know..I have a special place in my heart for animals, especially little ones. So when I heard what they are going to do with the kitten...that was unacceptable...I must take that cat. I looked at Jenn and said we are taking this cat, we can find a home for it somewhere. So eventually they got the kitten out..and that kitten was no bigger than my hand and was very skinny....but very cute!! Well, we debated on what to name him (l looked). We came up with motor...cause that is where we found him...or kia cause that was the kind of car...but we decided on Mr. motor...it works.Well our next objective was to find food, litter box, and a way to get it back in our room. The last thing was the easiest thing ever..and we bought a little thing of kitten food and soaked it in milk/water so it coud eat it. Well, Paige( our suitmate) is very "allergic" to cats, so we didn't tell her we had a cat in my closet...but we did tell Lindsey(my roommate) who couldn't have been more excited. Well the first night I think Mr. motor was so tired from his adventure he slept right next to me and didn't move until the next morning. But by the second night he was ready to play...which made me feel like I had a newborn...lol.. anyways, we had to find a home, and soon!

I called my parents and got an "absolutely not" so then I skyped them and let them see his cute little face...but no luck. Jenn asked her mom and the initial response was no...but then she called the next morning and said..I'll take him. So we made arrangements to meet her mom half way between Searcy and St. Louis..(2 and 1/2 hrs.) on a thursday evening. We were very excited he had a home. So we geared up for the trip by getting his litter box ready (cause he was not about to poop in my car) and got food and water bowls and we started the drive. About 15min in Mr. Motor was out cold..all snuggled up on Jenn and didn't really wake up until I woke him up to make sure he was still alive. We handed him over, said goodbye, and drove back. Jenn's mom loves Mr. Motor and he is getting soooo big.

So why I am not a rule breaker..my heart couldn't let go of doing the right thing. I saved a life(a kitten's but it is still a life)!

Fall Semester 2008

So first and foremost, I completely suprised at how busy my semester was going to be, and was sad that I haven't blogged more. The good thing is that I really want to blog next semester as I student teach...we will get to that later! So here goes a worldwind tour of my last normal semester of my undergraduate career! A lot of cool things happened this semester so I'm just going to highlight a few!

First: I turned 21!!!!! Which really doesn't effect me that much because I don't drink, but I am not considered a full real life adult! My best friend Jennifer through me a "suprise" party..which I wasn't too suprised about but was amazed at how many people were there! We had cake and "pinacolettas" (Non-alcholoic) and just had a lot of fun telling stories and being together! That same weekend my parents made the treck to Harding and we had a good little party of our own! They took me to Doc's for my birthday dinner...which is the only time I've gone there, and I opened presents from my parents and my brother and sister in law! My parents got me a watch, which to most people wouldn't be cool...but I really needed one and it is what I asked for! (my old one was all scratched and then it fell in the toilet as a hotel) Mark and Renee got me children's books, which I love. And Andrew and Whitney sent me a gift basket full of all sorts of goodies! All in all my birthday weekend was great, even though I still don't feel like I'm another year older!

Second: I got to go spend the weekend with My brother, Andrew and my sister in law, Whitney, and my neice, Eden! They live in Hooks, TX which is about 10min from Texarkana, so it only takes me about 3hrs to get there! I went in middle of October and just had a grand ole time visiting with Whitney and Eden during the day and Andrew at night! I played with Eden a lot while Whitney got some homework done and I just loved being there! It was really neat to see them in their new home and being a family! Whitney cooked for us and I just can't wait to go back down and see them again!

Third: I got to vote for the first time in the Presdiental election. Four years ago I missed the election by a little less than a year, so I was really excited to vote this year. It was really neat to vote with my mom, since the very first time I voted it was with my dad! That is all I will say about that. ..moving on...

fourth: I went home for a weekend away...and I had this awful pain in my right side (never a good sign) well it didn't go away so my parents made me go to the hospital..where after hours of being tested and waiting and Cat scans and pushing on my side...they decided that I had kidney stones...great...well they passed and on Sunday afternoon they released me and I drove back to Searcy a couple hours later...I had my unit(see below) to present that Monday morning!

Fifith: I presented my unit! To most you have no clue what this is or why I would write about it but it is a big deal. I have to plan a unit (lessons and activities for two weeks) all by myself. I am responsible for picking out which standards I use, the objectives, what we are going to do, how I will assess the kids, and so much more. Well then after you do all of that, I get to present it to the class. So I chose to do the Amazon rainforest as my topic and I made my area of the room a real life rainforest! I had vines, animals, tree, plants, books, crafts, posters...and a lot more! It looked great and I was truely proud of it! It made me feel like I am ready to be a teacher, and gave me confidence to take a leap of faith and do my own thing and use my creativity to the best of my ability! It was awesome!

Last: Just an update...I havent gotten to go see Robert and Amanda and the twins, but I have skyped with them a lot and being keeping up with them through facebook...but I think I will post some pictures just so everyone else can see them!

More has happened this semseter but I think they will come with later posts! Love ya bunches! I'll try to keep up with this better in the next coming weeks! God Bless!

-Meg

The rest of my Crazy summer!!!!

Well, it has been way too long since I have gotten to blog...mainly because the rest of my summer was soooo busy with youth group things and baby things. I will take a few minutes to fill everybody in.

First, a week after I returned from Scotland Kyle and I headed up the Jr. High Work Camp for northwest arkansas. We had 4 churches and 120 jr. high kids; 8 houses; and 3 days to paint them all. It was a really successful event and I think that all of the teens really felt like they made a difference. We had a week to recover from that and then we headed to Pascagoula, MS with our Sr. High group for our mission trip. While it wasn't the most organized event(not b/c we weren't prepared) we did have fun and we got to meet a lot of new and interesting people. We did a lot of work and to top off the week on Tuesday of that week Robert called me and told me they ( him and Amanda) were having the twins that night.

The twins were safely delivered Tuesday night weighing 4lbs 5oz. and 4lbs 4oz.! Carden and Jeneveve are very cute..but we will get to that soon.

So back to my summer...the week after Sr. High Mission trip, Green Valley started where I was a counselor for the very first time. It was sort of sureal because my dad was in Phoenix with the twins and it was me and my brother Mark. I will say that it was neat to have my brother there and get to see him interact with the boys. It was a great week and but I was definatley ready to get some sleep. But my summer did not end there.

Andrew and Whitney's daughter Eden had come up to visit while they moved into their new house. So I got to babysit and then I took her back to Texas the day before I left for Phoenix and came back a few hours before my flight left....talk about a short trip but I was glad I got to see here because I'm not sure when I will see her again. She is five months old now..hard to believe...and she is a cutie!!!

The next Friday I left for Phoenix to see my brother and sister-in-law and the twins. I was there for a week and I felt like they grew so much in just the little while I was there. I will post some pictures a little farther down. So I returned from Phoenix and had 6 days to pack everything for school and get my mind around the fact I was about to start my senior year of college at the age of 20! Scary! So that was my summer in a nut shell....a very small nut shell! Now on to the pictures:

My last day in London!

We had an early start again this morning. My goal today was to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard is at 11:30..but I wanted to see it and see all of it, so I knew I needed to get there early. So Aubrey and I got there are 9:30 and got a front row seat right by the big gate and facing Buckingham Palace. The couple that was sitting next to us were from Colorado and so we started talking. They had been married for 52 years and before they got married he had promised her that he would take her to every place he had been during his time in the Navy. So sweet and such a nice couple. Well, two hours later the changing of the guard started and I got some great pictures and video! It ended about 12:30 and we headed for Hard Rock about 1/2 mile away.

We met our group there and had a good time just visiting with one another. Aubrey and I decided to tkae the tour of the vault. It had a bunch of guitars, clothing, papers that a lot of famous people had worn, used, or written. There were guitars from Nirvana, Elvis, the Temptations, Gene Simmons, Oasis, and the Beatles. So then we decided to get our picture made holding a guitar. Well, I chose Gene Simmons from Kiss...and the lady said well I can only take your picture if you stick your tongue out...so I did! It was really funny!
Our next stop was Greenwich where time is kept. We took our picture standing on the Prime Meridian so I was in tow places at once. We then took a ferry from Greenwich to Westminster. It was a 45 min. ride and it was so relaxing and pretty. The bad part was both of our cameras died after Greenwich..great. Well we got some hot chocolate at starbucks and headed back to the hostel. I had to pack because tomorrow is the big day...we are leaving for home in less than 24hours.

Sunday and church with the queen!

Well, Sunday we got up and got on the tube (subway) to go to westminster for church at Westminster Abbey. This is where the Queen goes to church but she wasn't there that morning. I guess she didn't get the memo that I was coming. Anyways, there were about 150 people there besides the choir but it was really like we were at a preformance not church. They gave everybody a program that told you when to sit or stand. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Cathedral but I took some outside. Even if we could take pictures it wouldn't have done justice to how detailed it was and how much time and energy it had taken those people to build it. After that the whole group (except Kurt and his dad) went to lunch at the Rainforest cafe. It was our last meal with everybody before we all dispersed to our different destinations. After lunch a bunch of us walked through Green Park and saw Buckingham Palace in all it's glory. I knew the Queen was there because the flag was up, but again she didn't come out to greet me. From there we went to Harrods and got lost in there for a couple of hours. It's sad when a store is so big they have tour guides and maps to help you find the department you want. In those 2 and 1/2 hours we were there I saw maybe a floor total and couldnt grasp how much stuff there was and how expensive it was all at the same time. Outside of Harrods there were all these chauffers and expensive cars waiting for thier filthy rich owners to come out. I felt important..I would have felt more important if one of those Rolls Royce cars belonged to me.
After my little escapade at Harrods, Kelly, Aubrey, and I went to Jacqueline's flat and had tea time before dinner. For dinner Camille, her mom, Aubrey, Mike and I went to a pizza place called Porcechetta. Mike was leading the way becasue he knew where it was...well a half and hour later and after asking a lady we made it there. So after we ate I took the map and it only took us 10 min to get us back...much better.

Tomorrow is our last day in London and overseas. I can't believe it is coming to an end. What will toomorrow bring...well...you'll see!