Walmart is Rediculous!

I'm not usually the person to get all upset when I have to wait forever when my car is getting worked on. I've come along way in learning patience and today as I sat in the Walmart Tire and Lube waiting area for my car to be fixed, God tested me.

Matt has been doing a lot of extra freelance lately and hasn't had time to take either of our cars to get the tires rotated and balanced. We have been traveling quite a bit lately and both cars have needed this done for a while. We are leaving Saturday to go to Boone for a wedding and to D.C. in a few weeks, so I decided today to help him out and take my car to Walmart to get the tires done. We both have a warranty on tires from Walmart, so we take our cars there to get tires done. The Walmart in Knightdale is super ghetto and doesn't have a tire center anymore, so the closest Walmart that has a tire center is the one on 64 in Raleigh near the beltline. I don't particularly love this Walmart, but I thought I would be brave (of course after Matt promised me several times that I would be ok, no one was going to get me) and I went.

When I pulled into the tire center, there were no other cars there...so I thought, "sweet, this will take no time." The guy came out and asked me why I needed him, I told him and after explaining what I needed several times, he finally said ok, gave me a little ticket, and told me he would page me when he was done. I walked around Walmart for a few minutes, felt unconfortable for many reasons and decided to go have a seat in the tire center waiting area. After about 30 minutes of waiting the same guy came back, mumbled something to me about how I needed to replace a tire on the right passenger side, and told me that I probably wanted to get it fixed. I called Matt out of frusteration...now, I know I'm a girl and I don't know a lot about cars but I've learned pretty well from my dad when my tires need to be changed. Matt told me that since I haven't had new tires in a few years maybe the guy was right, and so I told the guy to go ahead with it. (Matt couldn't really tell me one way or the other, he was at work and already feeling sorry for me for having to go to THIS Walmart, he just wanted me out of there) The guy got a bit of an attitude about having to re-enter my transaction and walked away. By now, 45 minutes had passed and my car still hadn't been touched. I was starting to get a little frusterated by now because other cars that came in after mine were getting worked on...I didn't say anything and patiently waited. The guy came 5 minutes later and said he was going to lunch, I asked when my car was going to be ready and he said "I don't know, I'm going to eat...somone else will take you car." I figured someone else was taking over my car right then...

Well, after an hour and a half my car was still sitting and several other cars had been worked on, including some cars that needed tires. Finally, I got up told the guy at the counter I had to leave and asked for my keys. Now, I was hoping they would ask why, start working on my cars...someithing! No one volunteered to go ahead and work on my car or anything...no one even apoligized, they just told me what I already knew...the guy working on my car went to lunch and they didn't know when he would be back.

I got my keys and I left Walmart without having my tires done, I patiently got in my car and left. Although I was pretty proud of myself for not getting all upset over my tires not getting fixed, I wasted about two hours driving all the way to Walmart and sitting there. I do know one thing, we will NEVER go to that Walmart to get our cars worked on again!

Summertime

I am a horrible blogger, I know that, but I am enjoying my summer so I thought I would post about the wonderful things I've been able to do while I've been enjoying my summer break. I finished at Apex Middle on June 11th. I haven't wasted anytime since. Last summer I was bored out of my mind and I was determined that this summer would be different. Bare with me, this post may be a little long...

The first week of my break, I went to Myrtle Beach with my mom, surprised Anna at Caswell, and took them to Provisions. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and my mom loved eating at Provisions.The last part of that week, I spent in Asheville with Matt celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary. We stayed in a Bed & Breakfast in Asheville, ate dinner at a great Italian resturant, visited the Biltmore, and took a spontaneous trip to Boone. We really had a great time relaxing. I was excited for Matt to stop work for a few days, he needed a vacation. I can't believe we've been married for a year, what a blessing it has been! Here's a few pictures from our anniversary trip weekend.



The second week of my break, I ended going to a workshop in Chapel Hill for my new school. It was on classroom management, actually pretty worth my while, and it lasted all week. Hopefully I'll be able to use some of the stuff I learned with my new students in the fall. I'm pretty pumped about it.

The end of my 2nd week through the end of my 3rd week of summer break has to be by far my favorite so far. The weekend began with a surprise 50th birthday party for Merrie Johnson (our camp director from Caswell/good friend) and a wedding for a great college friend. Matt and I had a great time celebrating these events and I was able to stay at Caswell through Wednesday. During this time God reveled a lot to me. Matt and I both are learning a lot about what it means to worship God with our marriage, but also to worship God with our individual lives. We've learned that there is no way we can worship God with our marriage if we don't spend time alone with God daily. We've both known this, but last week while we were away from each other it became so evident that we need to work on this. God is so good, Afshin reminded me that as a child of God I must love him with all of my soul...which means giving him EVERYTHING daily. It was awesome to come home from Caswell and learn that Matt was learning the same thing. Anyways, may have to do another blog post on this later...I could go on and on. My sister, Anna, is having a wonderful summer and I was able to spend some sister time with her and hear about what God is teaching her this summer at Caswell. At the end of the week we celebrated my mom's birthday and the 4th of July at my Aunt Kim's beach house in Myrtle Beach. We had a great time and Matt even got to do a little surfing. I love my family!





There is so much more of my summer left and more adventures to blog about. This weekend we are headed to Boone for another wedding. My roommate/friend from college, Allison, is getting married. Can't wait to see great friends from ASU and enjoy some mountain weather!

My "Kids"

I updated our mattandmagan.com website today, but thanks to the Nelson Family I realized that I haven't updated my own blog since November. Since I'm in the updating mood. I'll give this one a go as well...

I talked a lot in my post on our website about my 60 kids at school. Well, over the past few days I've been thinking about how they really are my kids. You know, I see the more than their parents do during the day and my heart has really been burdened for them lately. Some of them have great home lives, some of them don't. Last week they wrote problem/solution papers and I let them write about any problem they have. One of my kids, who I will call "O," since I can't tell you his real name wrote about his parents being divorced and how he really wants to go live with his dad in NY, but his mom has raised him. His dad lives in Brooklyn & it would not be a good thing for "O" to go live with them. I've been praying for him since I helped him write his paper. Yes, I had to help him. He reads on about a 5th grade level & I know I'm doing good when I get him to sit down with me to actually put something on paper. My heart just breaks for him, because his family life is not great and he can easily get into trouble at school. But, there is just something about "O" and when he's in my class, he doesn't misbehave. I love this kid!

I have so many other great kids at my school. I'm going to be sad to see them go in June because I've taught some of them since last December when I started at Apex Middle.

Speaking of the spring, keep us in your prayers. We are thinking about buying a house when our lease runs out. We want to live closer to our friends & church in North Raleigh. But this also means I would need to think about looking for a new school, Apex would be about a 45-50 minute drive for me everyday. Who knows, so much to think about. The cool thing is, God is in control and we don't have to worry about all of this craziness!

So, What's Up With Magan Keith?

Ok, so I had a blog a while back. Matt created it for me right after we started dating and I never did a great job of keeping it up. And then we created our own "website" for our friends and family to keep up with us...that hasn't worked too well for us either. This past weekend we saw Sara Caulder and she mentioned that she would love for us to keep up with our website so that she could keep up with us...I then realized that I'd created my own new blog back over the summer and I was determined to keep it up. Did I? Nope, I didn't even make a first post...so why I am trying now?

I've been really busy with school this semester. It's basically been a first year teachers nightmare (Even though this isn't really my first year of teaching), because I've been teaching 2 subjects & I was asked to do it the 3rd week of school. I spend a lot of my time working on school work, keeping up our house, and trying to spend time with Matt. I don't really ever make time to just "chill." So I'm giving this blog thing another try. Matt & I are going to try to give our website another try as well...just for you Sara!

Like I said, school has been a little hectic this year. I've really been praying that God would just show me his plan for me. All my life I've never wanted to do anything but teach. Recently I've been thinking about whether or not God has something else for me. Maybe not right now, maybe not even in the next few years, but one day. Who knows what God's plan is, but I would really love to be a part of something huge. Something dealing with youth and ministry. (Maybe something like what I did my last summer of camp for Merrie) Who knows what His plan is, but I have learned the hard way that right now God's plan for me is to teach and to be my best at it. I have students that need their lives changed and the least I can do is be an example for them.

Other than being busy with school, we've enjoyed married life this fall by going to ASU football games, hanging out at the state fair, visiting family, and joining our first church together! We recently joined Journey Church in Raleigh and have enjoyed every minute of it so far.

So, there ya go. That's what's happening with me.

Life as a New Teacher

I know it's been a while since I've posted and last time I promised to keep my blog updated....I'm sorry. Last semester was a blur and student teacher was very busy, however, not as busy as life is now in the real world, or maybe not as hard as it is, I'm not sure which I would say. I began teaching the day after I graduated from college, literally, and have only stopped since then because I've been sick twice.

I've been learning a lot about God's soverignty lately. He has completely rocked my world over the past 4 months. So much that I can't explain everything, but I can give you a glimpse of just a few things; Matt got a really great job, I got a really great job, Matt's parents were a blessing enough to let me live with them for free so that we could have money for "us" when we are married, and wedding stuff is falling right into place. I also believe that God is on the brink of doing something huge in my dad's life, something I've been praying for since I was sixteen. I don't know what yet, but our God is huge and he can do anything.

So while I'm on the subject of talking about God doing huge things, I've been out of school sick for 5 days out of the month that I've been teaching. I've had strep throat and the flu and out of all of this, I've been praying "God what are you trying to teach me from this." Not that he is trying to show me something extraordinary by allowing me to pick up everything the snotty nosed kids bring in,but I've been in bed for 3 days this time and I think this was God's way of getting my attention to give him some of my time. I've never admitted it, but spending an hour or even thirty minutes a day in the real world, is so much harder than being in the Caswell bubble. Not that I don't want to take time to spend time with the Lord and learn, I just don't find time. I don't make time, I know I don't and I want to change. I have just began reading a book that my good friend Sarah Caulder recommended a few months ago, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. I really hope this book helps me to learn to set aside time as I grow to desire God's word and time with him daily!

Another thing I'd like to do is take time to update you all on my life, to blog or journal a few times a week, geez or more than once every 6 months. We'll see how I do, stay posted and keep praying that God will continue to reveal himself to me daily as I begin this journey to be transformed into the Mary in this Martha world that he wants me to be!


ps- Matt is in the process of making a mattandmagan.com site for us to keep all of our friends and family updated on our lives as we plan for the wedding and then to use for people to keep up with us as we begin our lives together as "The Keiths," hopefully it will be up soon as well!

Guess It's About Time

Well. It's been a LONG LONG time since I've updated my blog. A lot has happened since then. God's done a lot in my life, it would take me a long time to explain, but it's so wonderful to know that I am His child. I've also gotten engaged, which most of you know because I was so excited when it happened that I think I called everyone I know....and I think everyone Matt knows.

I'm at camp right now. We are actually in the mountains of NC right now at the Nantahala Village. We have been here a week and we have 1 more week here, then we'll be back at Caswell for another 4 weeks. Now that I've changed my blog around a bit, I'm gonna try to keep it updated, so stay posted for what I'm learning and what God's doing at camp!

Blessings-Nashville

We'll to be honest, I'm sick and I don't feel like updating my blog. My wonderful boyfriend decided to mention my trip to Nashville in his blog and put a link...so I had to update. I guess it was about time, it's been a while.

I've been in my internship for 2 weeks now, and it's been lots of fun. I'm at Abby Hinton's middle school in Lenoir working with a 6th grade Social Studies class. I will be there until Dec. 5th so that means I'm not in classes all day learning, but I still have have lots of homework to finish before the end of the semester. I've been meaning to write about what God has been doing in my life recently, but I've been so busy I haven't. This is a perfect opportunity to share, because it has to do with my trip to the National Middle School Conference in Nashville, TN.

About 2 months ago, I was given the opportunity to go to the NMSA National Conference in Nashville, the only problem was that I knew I couldn't afford it. Most of you know my financial situation and know there is no way my mom could help me. I began praying that if it was God's will that he would provide a way for me to go. I'd heard so many wonderful things from my professors about this conference and I really wanted to go. I asked my dad to help me, but he ended up not being able to pay for me to go. Matt wanted to pay for me to go, but of course I wouldn't let him. I just figured it wasn't God's will for me to go. So, I just stopped praying and tried to move on. (pretty much everyone in my block classes were going and it was really hard for me) The week after the registration fee was due, my mom received a phone call from her best friend Patti Hartness. Momma told her about the conference and how I really wanted to go. She told mom for me to give her a call because her and her husband Randy wanted to pay for me to go. I told mom that it was too late and I left Patti messages to call me. I signed up for a fall retreat at Caswell and knew I would be able to make some money for Christmas and spend time with friends.

The next week, I was asked by a girl in my internship class if I would go to the conference if it was paid for. I told her I didn't know because I had signed up to go to camp. She had already paid the registration fee and raised $100 to pay for her hotel ($82) and food. She knew my situation and wanted to me to take her place because she couldn't go. I told her I would think about it and preceded to the bookstore. When I came back, after calling mom and Matt and asking them to pray, Kourtney was looking for me and wanted me to know that the department was paying the registration and the hotel fee...meaning I had $100 for food and other travel expenses. I knew this was an answer to my prayer and told her I would go. 20 minutes later, Patti called me and asked me to go to dinner with her. SHE WAS IN TOWN! I went to dinner with her and she told me she had something for me. Patti gave me a gift of $200 and told me she wanted to help with my trip. (She didn't know it was too late or anything!) Later that night, I got another call from AE , where I worked in high school and during the holidays at home. They wanted me to work floorset over my fall break. So..not only did my trip get paid for, I received extra money for food and travel, and I earned extra money at American Eagle for Christmas presents! God is amazing!!!!!!!!! It is amazing what he does for his children when we are obedient.

Nashville was so much fun. It was in the Grand Ole Opry Hotel and Convention Center.
(The picture is from the inside) GORGEOUS! I want to go back one day and take Matt.
I received all kinds of teaching materials and new ideas. I even got a job offer at South Charlotte Middle School. The principal told me to call her when I graduated. I got to see Laura when I was in Nashville and spend some quality catching up time with her. I also met her good friend Mark, who is amazing..but that is another story. All I have to say is that the Lord is faithful and when you put him first in your life and really let him take over, he can do some amazing things!

For this weekend, I am going to Fuquay to spend some time with Matt and his family. I haven't seen him in a few weeks, and I know it's going to be so much fun! As for now...as Matt would say...later