Classroom Pictures

Well, I took pictures of my classroom on Friday but I forgot my camera at school. I'm super excited that after 3 years of teaching, I finally get to have my room set the way I want it when classes start. We go back tomorrow, and I pray it's a good year. I always get excited when kids return, this year I'm a bit anxious since I don't know the kids at Wendell like I did at Apex. My prayer is that God uses me to be a positive influence on their lives.

Below are pictures of my classroom, and all it's new technology. I have a mounted projector, 2 computer jacks (one of them I can use to plug my ipod into the surround sound in my room), and a dvd/vcr player. The little box on the wall controls what is projected on the screen.

Wendell Middle School

Well, I've survived 2 days of work this week. I am so tired already though, summer flew by! I'm really enjoying my new school, it seems like a great place to work. Very organized, but laid back. We do have a lot of chaos right now though, trying to unpack and open a new school. We've done a lot of team building already, but I feel like I still haven't met many people, I'm sure it will get better. It took me 2 years to really get acquainted at Apex, so I'm sure it will take time at WMS as well.

Today I was able to get some stuff done in my classroom. My new room is beautiful and the technology is amazing. I hooked up the DVD player to my projector today and the room has surround-sound!!! My kids are going to love it! I really want to post pictures so stay tuned, I'll try to get some tomorrow....for now, I'm getting off the computer and spending some time with Matt. I'll probably go to bed early...I'm exhausted!

A Great Reunion

It's been a few days since I've blogged. I've had a lot going on to prepare for a bachlorette party I hosted this weekend.

One of my greatest friends from the BDT (Praise & Worship Team) days is getting married on October 23rd. We've started a tradition of having bachlorette weekends whenever someone gets married. Jenni was the first, she threw one for me, and I threw one for Emily. We decided to have it in Raleigh because Emily lives in Wilmington, so it was a nice get away for her. I hosted the party at my house and there were 6 of us here...Sara, Shannon, & Abby we missed you!

Friday night, we just relaxed, caught up and went to bed early. Saturday, we went shopping at the Smithfield Outlets, had a nice dinner, and did "bachlorette stuff." We surprised Emily on Saturday afternoon with something special. Our friend Laura lives in Nashville and plays the violin for a living. She tours with bands and plays at local places when she's home. Laura flew in and surprised Emily Saturday afternoon, Emily was so excited that she cried.

We had a great time catching up and just being girls. It's really great how we can all live so far apart and have different lives but come back together and it's like we're living at Caswell again. These girls are definitely lifelong friends and I so very thankful for them. God is so good!

Pretty girls all dressed up for dinner!

Stay posted this week, I'm going back to work tomorrow and I'll post pictures of my brand new school. I am super excited about the new opportunities at Wendell Middle School...Apex friends, I'll miss you!

The Sickness Within...

Pastor Jimmy started a new series yesterday at church called "The Sickness Within," and it was amazing. Not amazing as in, so encouraging that I left church throwing a party...but amazing as in it really triggered a self-check up for me. He talked about how as Christians we aren't slaves to sin, however we submit to it all too often. We let bitterness & hatred take over our lives instead of producing the fruit that we should. We are all guilty of this, I know I am. He continued his sermon with discussing the fact that when people hurt us, we hurt back instead of dealing with it the way we should. (You can listen to Jimmy's message here and other series as well.)

This morning in my time with the Lord, I read Galatians 5:16-26. In this passage Paul talks about how we should let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. We should produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. How intestering! This goes along with exactly what Jimmy was talking about yesterday. It made me think of how easy it is to go day today, living without even thinking of God's purpose for me on earth.

I know I'm not perfect, I get upset at the littlest things sometimes and I have along way to go. However, becoming aware of my "sickness within" helps me to be aware of the areas in my life I need to ask God to help me change on a daily basis. I pray that God continues to mold me into the woman he wants me to be and that I continue to become aware of the change I must allow him to make!

Just Thinking This Morning...

We have a lot going on today...Matt is at a men's breakfast at church, I'm cleaning the house, got to go to the grocery store, and then head to Sanford this afternoon for Matt's cousin, Brandi's, wedding. While I was cleaning this morning I was thinking about my students from last year. It was a challenging year because I taught Language Arts and Social Studies, but I had the best group of kids. Yesterday I found out that the students (at the school that I was at last year) scored the 4th highest EOG scores of 30 middle schools in the county, with 90%! We were an honor school of excellence and we met our growth. Now to a lot of you, this means nothing, but to me it means a lot. I am so proud of the achievement of the students I worked with last year. I will miss them tremendously and they will always be a special group.

Below is a video of a Social Studies project they did the last week of school about the 1950s-2000s.

My "Kids" and Their Music Videos from Magan Seagroves Keith on Vimeo.

Change...Not Always a Bad Thing

The past 2 years has been full of changes for me...get engaged, move to Raleigh after living in Kannapolis my whole life, begin a teaching career, get married, teach 2 new subjects, join a new church after 18 years, make new friends, buy a house, move, and guess what...we're still changing.

God has been teaching Matt and I a lot lately about really learning to depend on him. We moved to Knightdale because we wanted to be closer to our church, but really had to trust in him for a job out this way for me. With budget cuts and school system cuts I though I would just be blessed to still have a job in Wake County. God had bigger plans for me though, I've been blessed to be given the opportunity to help start a new 8th grade this school year at Wendell Middle School. WMS is 5 minutes from our house and I'm going to be teaching just 8th grade Social Studies. (My dream job since I was in the 8th grade) I'm also blessed with what really seems to be like a tight knit faculty and a great administration. Not to mention, my new classroom is beautiful with state-of-the-art technology. I have a mounted projector, wall mount with a switch board to change from dvd player, computer, etc. No more cords stretching across my classroom. I feel so blessed to be given this opportunity. I liked my job at Apex, but I really didn't feel like I was being used to the potential I should be. I'm also going to be coaching the cheerleading squad. (Also something I've always wanted to do)

I am just in awe at what the Lord has blessed me with. I never in a million years thought I would be where I am. Not to mention Matt and I have been blessed with an amazing church, where we are both beginning to plug in. More changes for us...we've always been so involved with the BeDoTell team that we haven't plugged into Journey the way we should. Matt is working with the tech team now & I am going to step out to something new...the children's ministry. We have loved working BeDoTell and have made so many life long friends, but we feel like God is calling us to plug into a new ministry. It's really bittersweet for us, but we know God has bigger plans that we will ever imagine.

Of course all these changes come with hard challenges...stepping out of my comfort zone, trying new things, and making new friends (which has been the hardest thing for me, especially coming from Kannapolis where I knew EVERYONE).

So many changes, so many blessings...we serve a GOOD God and I am just amazed at what he is doing! I love being a part of God's work, even when he gives us new challenges and new adventures that require change!

A New Favorite

I've tried to get off caffine for quite sometime, I can't. Quitting soft drinks was pretty simple for me once I moved to Raleigh because they don't sell Cherry Lemon Sundrop around here. I've learned to deal without Sundrop, although I do drink it occasionally. But I just can't get off coffee. I love it, I drink a cup every morning. If I don't have coffee in the morning, it's not a good thing. I get cranky and I just can't get going. I've even tried to start drinking decaf, but it's just not the same. I figure if I only drink 1 cup a day then I've come a long way in my caffine drinking because I've always been so addicted to Sundrop (My sister can attest to this and if you know her, she has it BAD, but she lives in Ktown where EVERYONE drinks Sundrop.)

Anyways I've recently grown to love drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee and I hate to say this, but I love it more than Starbucks coffee. It's also cheaper!

When I go to Starbucks I like to get a Carmel Macchiato, but it's not a good habit to get into it because it is so expensive. The other day, I was at the grocery store and I found this...


(If you can't tell, it's Caramel Macchiato creamer from International Delight) Now I don't usually like creamer because it's so sweet, but my sister taught me a trick. You put the creamer in with a little milk and you don't add sugar. Works like a charm and it's tastes great!

So, if you like coffee and you like Carmel go to the grocery store and get Carmel Macchiato Creamer from International Delight and try Dunkin Donuts coffee, it's so good!

ps- Now that I'm done with my advertisement, go read our family blog. We have a video from our Washington trip up!