summer...

The last day of school for this year anyway is upon us.... One of my teacher friends sent this to me. It pretty much describes the joy I feel every year on the last day of school.

Don't get me wrong, I do love my job, but if it wasn't for these next two months I honestly wonder if I would like it so much.... You can bet that I will be the one bolting out the door as soon as we are given permission to leave. 

Here's to summer. Thank you Lord for calling me to be a teacher. Thank you for these next two months. I need this break. I need time to reflect. Time to rest. Time to just be.

has it really been 4 years already?

Ever chapter of my life has been in 4 to 5 year increments. 4 years of high school, then graduation. 4-5 years of college, then graduation. At the end of those 4 -5 years, a major change was in store. A HUGE opportunity to trust the Lord. The thing that blows me away is to look back and see the Lord's hand guiding my path each and every step of the way.

I had no idea what my time at K-State would bring. I had no idea what this whole teaching thing had in store.... And now I am days away from finishing my 4th year of teaching at good ole Southeast High School. It dawned on me earlier this spring that this is MY class. These are MY students. These are MY people. This class joined me as the "new" kids on the block in the fall of 2005. We walked in together having no idea what these next four years would bring. They were starting high school as the class of 2009, just little freshman and I was starting my first job. A job that I really wasn't sure I was cut out for, but a job that I had a peace about. A job that I knew would change me, challenge me, break me, stretch me and grow me in ways I never knew were possible. 

Who knew that it would be the most rewarding 4 years of my life? Who knew that it would be the hardest 4 years of my life? Who knew that students could capture the heart of their teacher? Who knew that I would be who I am right now today, when I walked into that dreadfully empty building that day in August just so I could see my classroom before the week of in-services started? Who knew that I would be flooded with names of students that I have had the privilege to call my students? Those names, those faces who have endured my classroom, my teaching, my randomness, my soap boxes, my mess ups... 

I am grateful for these past four years. Graduations are always bittersweet and I will probably cry (not too surprising) but it's in those moments that I am reminded that I get to stay. Yes I am a little bit sad to see them go, but I am more excited to see what's next for them. I am grateful for the opportunity to start fresh in August, with a brand new list of students. The thing about students is that they will always be just that, "my students." Each of them hold a special place in my heart. The ones that come back just to say "hi" make my heart soar. 

I told one of my favorites the other day, "Go and do something great and make a positive impact on the people around you." She looked me straight in the eye and said, "Miss Call, I will and I will make sure you know about it." Those are the moments I love my job the most. Those are the moments that remind me that I can do this job for a couple more years, maybe even more than a couple but let's not get carried away. 

When the class of 2009 walks across the stage, I will hold my head a little higher knowing that we started this journey together and I am grateful for the privilege to walk these 4 years with them.

kitchen done and curtains hung

My friend Whitney is a rock star. She unpacked my entire kitchen while my superstar moving crew unloaded the rest of my stuff. Obviously the cabinet doors need to be painted and put back but I LOVE my newly painted and very organized kitchen! (more pictures soon, I promise!)


I LOVE my office. We call it the milkshake room, because the color reminds me of milkshake chocolate! My mom is amazing and made these beautiful curtains for my office! She is actually making curtains for my ENTIRE house and my house has a lot of windows! We are slowly but surely getting the material picked out and the curtains put up. I need to get the living room and dining room painted so that those SUPER cute curtains can be put up! Anyway the next picture is of the entire window in my office. The following two are close ups of the fabric! I LOVE color and I LOVE fun fabric. I love my mom for being so good on her sewing machine and being willing to make all these beautiful curtains for my new house!

A close up of the top valance!
LOVE this fabric SO much!
(notice the milkshake chocolate on the wall!)

The bottom part of the curtain! SO fun!

extreme makeover MANDY edition cont.

The kitchen....

remember the shutters, the curtains, the sunflowers... oh dear.

My aunt and mom took the wallpaper off in the kitchen!

They are rock stars!

My sister loved painting with red... okay not so much! :)


Whit wanting to leave her mark! :)

LOVE IT!

The kitchen is not quite finished...
the "finished" pictures will come later!

extreme makeover MANDY edition cont.

Remember the wallpaper?

This is what the entry way looked like when I bought the house...

The entry way minus the wallpaper.

The first coat of guacamole! LOVE IT!

(Whitney painted the entry way!)

What the entry way looks like now! (J.K. is "inspecting" the closet)

extreme makeover MANDY edition

This is what the bathroom looked like when I bought the house...

This is what we found underneath the heart covered wallpaper... seriously swans?!?

Because the swan wallpaper wouldn't come off, we decided that new sheetrock was necessary.

YAY, its fresh and clean!

The almost finished product!

what a weekend...

Even though it was a blizzard outside we got lots of work done inside. With the help of my parents, aunt & uncle, and my sister & brother-in-law we got a lot of work done. I have taking a million pictures (shocking, I know) but here are some that I am most proud of! (many more will follow, I will make another slideshow sometime soon!)

My bedroom day 1

My bedroom end of day 1

My bedroom end of day 2

My bedroom end of day 3

Fresh coat of paint on the ceilings....

Look at those hardwood floors... BEAUTIFUL!