Max's 1st Christmas

Oh yes, I'm posting about my cat. We decorated (or at least started) on Sunday afternoon. Surprisingly, Max found a wreath to lay in and stayed pretty quiet for about a day. Yesterday (Monday) he discovered the tree, but was still pretty good. Today he has decided to climb the tree. It's kind of like Where's Waldo... can you find the cat in there?

Of course, this is all while Eric is at class. He would never allow such madness to take place!

Here's a few pictures. And yes, we do have all of our childhood ornaments on our tree! Oh how I love Christmas :)

My First Experience of Southern Stupidity

Okay, probably not my first experience, but this one is blog worthy.

Yesterday's weather was beautiful and sunny with a high of 48. During the day I had to turn the air on in my car because the sun was so warm. It felt like a nice, somewhat breezy fall day.

The Southerners were going crazy. I was wearing a turtle neck and khaki jacket (the one in the picture, but the picture is from a different day). People were going NUTS because I wasn't wearing a winter jacket, hat, gloves, or a scarf. I was so confused... I didn't even understand at first.

Then last night I went to a conference and when we left there were guys holding the doors open, dressed like it was a blizzard, telling everyone to brace themselves for the winter weather. WHAT? Winter? Where? I didn't see any winter!

For the record, if precipitation falls from the sky and lands as water... it is NOT snow!

Ready for a Break

Eric and I are both blessed to have the full week of Thanksgiving off! Well, I have to work 1/2 of Monday, but then I have the rest off :) We are headed to VA to spend time with family. We are excited to spend a few days away, but we will only be gone for 4 days. So what are we doing the rest of the time?

Eric:
Reading & Writing, he has some pretty big papers coming up.

Joy:
Lounging around in sweats
Watching movies
Possibly reading a book
Baking desserts
Eating desserts
Decorating for Christmas
Lounging some more

I cannot believe Christmas is right around the corner. It seems it has come so fast! I find myself thinking in terms of "How many Sunday's are there before Christmas" as I plan kids' lessons for church. This year we are starting our Christmas unit on November 30 to give us 4 Sundays before Christmas. I am really looking forward to those 4 lessons... I've picked some pretty cool activities that I really hope will help the kids connect to the meaning of Christmas. It is oftentimes difficult to break through the commotion that surrounds the holidays and get to the root of why we do what we do.

The chorus of one of the kids' favorite songs says this:

And then I go all out
Beyond any doubt
I want my life to shout
God is Alive in me

My prayer this Christmas is that our lives will shout "God is Alive in me!"

Birthday Wishes

Today is my beloved husband's birthday. I find it very fitting to dedicate a post to him.

I love being married to Eric. He is very thoughtful, caring, loving, occasionally sensitive, fairly compassionate and a deep thinking person. Here I would like to highlight two of my favorite qualities.

• Humor! Eric loves to laugh and to make me laugh. He enjoys humor in entertainment and when we don't have entertainment, he creates his own! He can get a laugh out of almost any situation. I frequently find myself thinking, "I can't wait to tell Eric, he'll think it's funny," over meaningless daily activities.
• Passion. Eric is passionate about the things he loves. He is a deep thinker, and that carries over into his actions. His mind is consumed by the things he loves: Football, skiing, and ministry. He would probably want me to clarify "ministry" as areas of social justice and nonviolence. Eric inspires me by being so passionate about these things that they take over his life. I'm occasionally left wondering, do I care about anything that much?

So to Eric... Happy Birthday! Thank you for being an amazing and wonderful husband. I look forward to continuous laughter and deep conversations (where I'm typically lost). :) I love you!

Mean Mrs. Joy

I interrupt my lunch period to bring you a story too funny to pass up.

The kids I work with have really been pushing me lately. This week I decided to put my foot down. Monday was the stern "I have a waiting list of kids who would rather be here" speech with the threat of suspension. Tuesday the kids didn't have school (election day) so I didn't have them. I spent the day at the Center and saw about half of my kids on the playground. Throughout the day different kids kept knocking on my door asking "Will I be suspended tomorrow, Mrs. Joy?" So Wednesday I sent every kid home with a discipline contract. I thought it best to clearly outline our code of conduct (which they have all seen before) and the disciplinary consequences for them and their parents. On each kid's contract I highlighted specific things pertaining to that child. For example, "your child throws chairs," or "your child shouts profanities," or "your child screams in the middle of class for no reason what-so-ever." Needless to say, the kids were NOT happy with me yesterday.

Also yesterday, I had my 3rd graders write "If I could be an animal, I would be a..." for their journal. They turn them in and move on to the next thing, so I typically don't read them right away. Just now I was going through yesterday's journals and came across this...

If I could be an animal, I would be a lion. I would be a lion because I want to eat Mrs. Joy. I can be at the circus.

YES! I can't wait to see those signed discipline contracts come back today!

A Close Call

I think it's something only I would do, but perhaps you've had a similar close call?

We were wanting to have my car checked out before the warranty is up (60,000 miles). We've been talking about it for a few months, and I've definitely been watching the odometer... I just didn't do anything about it. So last Monday I finally got around to calling the dealership to schedule an appointment. The first opening they had was this Monday (yesterday). Eric and I were super selective about who drove where last week and we even car-pooled for 2 days.

I'm happy to announce that I pulled my car into the dealership yesterday at a proud 59,989 miles! Whoo-hoo!

Life As We Know It

Life as we know it is BUSY! I've had 2 full weeks on the job... going on 3... and I'm still breathing! The job is going well, definitely more difficult than I ever imagined, but well worth it. Eric and I got to take 5 kids with us to the Vanderbilt football game this weekend, and I will get to take 2 more students to the Nashville Predator's (hockey) game on Thursday. It's nice that the kids have an incentive to work towards :) I've also started giving out candy like crazy, and it's amazing what kids will do for sugar!

Eric is staying very busy with school and work. He just signed up for next semester's classes and it looks like he'll be just as busy. We both get home between 7-7:30, so our biggest adjustment has been making quick dinners to that we can eat by 8:00. We are thankful for the times we have together and are trying to be intentional about making more. This weekend we had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory... a true favorite for Eric!

In other news, we have a cat! His name is Max and he is a rolling, bouncing, running, prancing, playful, energetic ball of fun! His claws are sharp, his teeth are strong, and our hands are taking the brunt of it. Eric and I have resorted to wearing winter gloves around the house to protect ourselves! We're not sure the weather will ever be cold enough to actually need our gloves, so we don't mind wearing them inside.