What we've been up to

Sorry for the lack of blogging! I was trying to get much better at it this summer....and then July hit! July was the month of travel! We went to Arlington twice. Once for July 4th and once for TWO weddings. We each went to our own friends' weddings. I went to Brent and Abby's wedding in Arlington and D went to Jordan and Ashley's wedding in McKinney. Even though he had farther to go, at least his buddies were all there. I have NEVER been to a wedding alone before. Let me tell ya...it was really weird! I had a great time though! Everyone looked beautiful/handsome that weekend and we got to hang out with the Gators+fam on Sunday, which was nice! The following Thursday we went to CA for D's cousin Keith's wedding. We had so much fun with the fam! They had the coolest wedding! It was in a renovated movie theater. It fit their personalities perfectly!! We of course go to see the cutest little nephew in the world AND we got to meet Dylan, who is the coolest almost 3 year old ever! He's very smart and such an all around great kid!! We found out that he's going to be a big brother in April too:) Lots of exciting things happening on the Cain side of the fam!

My little, baby sister got engaged (I still can't believe it!!) She's planning her dream wedding for sometime next fall. I got to help her pick out her dress and try on lots of bridesmaid dresses! Planning a wedding is MUCH less stressful on this side of it:) We're so excited for them and we can't wait for fall '09!

I started back to work in August with a week of GT training, then new to the district training, and then staff development. School started on August 25th. I teach 6 classes of Pre-AP Science. I was very nervous about teaching middle school, but I actually really love it! My kids are so sweet and well behaved! All of the kids are very respectful. They say "Yes Ma'am" and "No Ma'am" without being reminded. They're considerate of others. If they're corrected, they say "I'm sorry Ma'am. It won't happen again!" I was very concerned that it would be the complete opposite, since I've been teaching 10 year olds. The transition has been very smooth and I look forward to a great year!

I've been listening to "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath a lot recently. I heard it a few times this summer and really liked it. I heard it on my way to school a lot the first week of school. I always pray for all of my kids throughout the year and especially before the year starts, before I even know them. The Lord is so amazing and always provides exactly what I need to reach them! The chorus of this song is:

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Middle school is a time that kids are joining clubs, sports, and the arts for the first time. They're figuring out who they are and what they want to be. I know they come to me with so much baggage and so many needs. By the first week of the school year I knew about several kids whose parents are going through a divorce right now. Several kids had lost one of their parents within the last year...some even a few months previous. And those were the once I knew about it. Some kids switched from a school where most kids came from low SES families (and many of them come from low SES families) to our school. Our school had been a pretty small middle school until this year. Many teachers were complaining when 5 to 8 more desks were put in their rooms to accommodate the new students. If the teachers haven't heard of a kid they said "They must be a Westbrook kid." They say "Westbrook" as if it's the plague. All of these kids, along with the rest of my kids, are just 11 and 12 year olds trying to figure out how to deal with the changes going on in their lives. This song really spoke to my heart and I've been praying that God allows me to see my students as the kids they are first before I see them as my students. I sent home a parent sheet where they told me about their kid's study habits and personality. It was really great to hear those things from the parents' perspective before I really knew the kids. Many parents opened up and told me a lot more about their kid than I had gotten the past 2 years I've sent this home. God is so good! So this year is really starting out well and I know that things will continue to be really great!