Merry Christmas

I am going to try and write on my blog more than once a month. :) So we'll start with two and move from there.
I have had a very busy month. School finals, Relief Society (did I mention that they made me president a while back?), family, friends, and Jonathan (also a friend, but a little different). My phone got stolen two weeks ago, so I have had trouble communicating with people. Although a small blessing because I wasn't overloaded with communication. I think that sometimes we just need breaks. But only short ones.
The downside of not having a phone was having close encounters with other cars and ditches during the lovely winter weather. I told my students about the downsides (because it was one of them who stole my phone) and one of them said "That's just messed up!" I whole heartedly agreed and asked them if they knew who might have my phone. I didn't get a whole lot of help there, but it was encouraging to hear my students ask me about it every day after. They do care. :)
Christmas break has started and I have a ton of grading to do, but I keep putting it off of course. I've been spending time with Jonathan. We went to the temple with his parents, Scott, Cory and his wife Becky. This was all fine until we were asked to do some sealings. I'd never done sealings or have even seen them. It definitely makes you think to do them with someone you're dating...His parents smiled the whole time.
I know this has been kind of a random post. But I guess that's just my personality coming out. :) I'm going to see a lot of good friends this break, some I have already seen. I am really grateful for all the people in my life. Thank you.

For My Friend

So I've decided that I really only write this blog for Laura. :) Because she's the only one who reads it. :)
Yesterday, I called Laura, but she didn't answer. And then I called my friend Julianne who answered and we were talking and then Laura called, but I didn't answer because I was talking to Julianne. And then Staci called and we arranged a meeting. Well, actually I called Staci before Laura to arrange the meeting and Staci was calling me back to let me know that they were on their way to my house. And then Faith called to say they were at my front door. (I was still on the phone with Julianne through Staci and Faith's calls. And I was sitting in the car.) This all happenned in the course of 20 minutes. I was amazed at how fast Staci and Faith got to my house after just barely calling the meeting. They are who we call dedicated servants of the Lord. I'm so lucky. And when I wanted to call Laura today, well, the phone was dead from talking to Jonathan. :S So my dear friend, I will call you once my phone is charged and my meetings are over tonight. It's funny how I only missed you by a few minutes and can't call you back for more than 24 hours. Maybe there is some validity to the "next friend" you were talking about. ;) I'm doing horribly.

My Weekend

I have a three day weekend. I spent my first day pretty well by just being lazy. But then I got sick of being lazy, so I headed for my parents house. On the way, I stopped by Jonathan's place. We talked and I ended making him late for his class. Whoops. And then I went to my parent's house where my mom and sister were doing various things. We talked for a little bit and then everybody went to bed. It was a pretty relaxing day.
This morning I got up, made phone calls to make sure everything was going as planned in the branch. And it wasn't, probably my fault. But people will survive. I then graded papers for a few hours and now I'm writing this blog. I'm thinking about my holiday has been pretty good so far, but it's going to be crazy tomorrow.
The rest of my day is pretty well planned. I'm going out with my mom today to celebrate her birthday early. There's a baptism today as well where three of my nursery kids are getting baptized! I'm super excited. And then I'm going to Columbia to spend some time with Jonathan and some other friends at a bonfire.
Tomorrow morning is when the craziness begins. I get up at the crack of dawn to spend some time with Mom (it's her actual birthday and pop has to leave for work). And then I have to leave for my 11:00 meeting back home. And then my 1:30 meeting. And then I have to give a talk (which I need to finish preparing today sometime). And then I need to practice singing for the fireside. And then there's the fireside. I probably sound a little redundant. I remember when Sunday was a relaxing day of meditation and service. But I guess it's time to "lengthen my stride."

Pep Band Blues

I got to play with the high school pep band yesterday. It was a blast! However, we were pretty pitiful, because half the band were teachers and most of the students didn't even show up. :( But on the bright side, I got to play my groovy "new" saxaphone that my papa bought for my birthday. I had a lot of solos due to the lack of instrumentation, and I had only two days of practice. It was definitely interesting. And my E flat was a little out of tune. Enough so that the band instructor pointed it out. (I'm getting to the bright side.) I felt like I was back in high school again. I didn't realize how much I missed being a band nerd.

Watching the Tree Fall

So I spent the weekend with one of my good friends. It was a very entertaining weekend. The first evening we watched some rather interesting films, one of which we should have turned off because it was so...yeah, but we didn't and wasted our time for it. Earlier in the evening was the beginning of my friend Laura's "next friend" bit. It started with us not being able to make decisions about where to eat. So she procedes to say to me and another friend "My next friend will make decisions" since none of us really cares what we do as long as we do something.
My next friend will not refer to her next friend. ;)

Decisions

So I have always been indecisive. Well, not indecisive; I'm a second guesser or a deferer. If it comes picking a restaurant, I would rather defer the decision to someone who is a more picky eater than I am. When I make a decision about a job or course of action I must take, I usually have to think about it again and get the opinion of at least 5 more people before becoming more comfortable with the idea. However this hesitation probably comes from those moments that I rashly make a decision and embarass myself. I didn't do too much of that on my mission because I always had to run my decisions by my companion or we had to make them together. Now that I am again on my own (in the human perspective), I find myself blundering again. It is sometimes comical, and I can laugh at myself...eventually.

I got a job

After much stress and prayer, I have finally gotten a job. I'm still stressed, because I didn't accept an easy job. I accepted one that will challenge me. I admire all of you who go to places far from home where you know few or no people and start a life. I'm about two hours from home and I already know a few people and I'm a little stressed. I will also be working at a high school where almost the entire faculty is new. However, I'm excited by the aspect that everyone will be in a similar boat. I'm excited that I will get to work hard and prove myself. I'm excited that I will be a working adult again. I look forward to the good conversations I will have with my Heavenly Father, because I know I will need to in order to stay sane.