An Update From Shawna's Desk...(this will be long)

Busy as a Bee...

 Me at work

It is hard to believe we are already into the month of March! Work has been super busy getting my students prepared for Benchmark Testing and now getting ready to review for the ever-so-loved TCAP Assessment. Some days it feels like I will never catch up with the never ending amount of papers I have to grade. While other days I feel so proud of myself for getting it all done. Either way, I know there will always be something more for me to do tomorrow. It can get really overwhelming at times. However, I am often reminded just how rewarding my job is when I get a hug, a note, or a pretty picture from one of my students. As cliché as this may sound, I really want to make a difference as a teacher.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you about my new writing job. I have started writing website articles in my spare time (lol) to save up some extra cash (lol again..cash is not extra...it's needed). So far, I've written 5 articles in one week and made $75 bucks! I've been staying up late to do it, but we want to pay off our cars and take a fun vacation, so I'm gonna stick to it. Actually, I really enjoy writing. I hope to start writing articles on education soon!

On Marriage...

Tim started college in January so we have been adjusting over the last few months. He is going to be a teacher! Woo-hoo! He is great with kids and loves math, so I know he will do a great job once he graduates. I am not bragging (okay maybe a little) but I am so blessed to have the best husband ever! He helps me with so many things around the house. We are a team. After being together for 8 years, we still talk to each other on the phone everyday during our lunch breaks. Tim's co-workers tease him about this but he just tells them that he enjoys talking to his wife (that's me!). Tim makes me feel special, and I do my best to make him feel special too. Our marriage is not perfect by any means. It bothers me a little when he plays his video games until 2 am Saturday, and then sleeps in late. But I have to remember that 'playing video games' is his recreation, and at least he does it when Makayla and I are sleeping. And I know I drive Tim absolutely nuts with my obsessive compulsive behavior. And he wishes I would cook dinner more often and opt out of the frozen pizza 3 nights a week. I know..I know. LOL! But of course these are all little bothers, and in a marriage you can't let the little bothers bother you a lot. We try not to dwell on the negatives but think of the positive attributes that each of us brings to our marriage. We forgive each other (Think about it...God forgives us and we don't deserve it). I am reminded of these beautiful verses...

Ephesians 5:23-32


^"23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."

My prayer tonight is for marriages all around our nation be strengthened. Also, that couples will put God first and not sweat the small stuff.

God Bless,
Shawna