Snow in October? Really snow in October?

Well, it snowed last week on Friday and the snow is just going away and it is Monday. It is only the first week in October and already there is snow on the ground. What have I gotten myself into? Lucky it was a small amount and the wind blew it off the roads but it was and still is cold. With a capital C, C O L D. I hear it gets even colder in January. Oh man am I in trouble. I have been adopted by a nice Native American woman who is showing me around. We went to visit her relatives. I had just eaten dinner when she called me and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her. Well, we get there and sit at the kitchen table and they put food in front of you and ask what you would like to drink. You cannot turn them down because that is very insulting. So I ate another meal. They say the reason they feed whoever comes to visit is because food is the sustenance of life and they are blessing you with a long life.

I learned how to make Indian fried bread. They use it for a lot of food but they mostly use it to make Indian Tacos which is fantastic. My family at home is in for a treat at Christmas time. They do not know this but I am making them Indian Tacos. UMMM I can hardly wait.

At school we are gearing up for the Halloween Carnival,. My students have decided to do musical chairs. I know that sounds lame but we are giving out great prizes and I think we will be on our way to earning some money for our end of year field trips. Ugh field trips are not something I look forward to the work the planning the outside the classroom management too tiring but I have a few months to get ready.

I was reading in my devotional "A Woman After God's Own Heart" the other day and it said that I should surrender everything to God daily. Don't you just hate it when God speaks to you about things you don't want to deal with? I know what God was talking about. I had to surrender my hope of moving back home in the spring and I did not want to trust God with that. Silly me, I know I can trust God with everything. I am on this adventure because I trusted God completely. But I feared that God's will was for me to stay and I don't want to stay. I want to go home and be close to my family. But as my wise sister told me, if I don't surrender to God I will not have the peace, or joy that comes with obedience. God will not force anyone to surrender but He also cannot work with a stubborn heart. If I do not surrender, than what ever it is the God wishes to accomplish with me here cannot be done. So I surrendered. The homesickness does not occur as often, I am more at peace and able to handle my class better (I think), and I am starting laugh and become more joyful. I am standing on the promise that God said "I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you and not harm you." I know God wants the best for me and I refuse to settle for second best and since He can see the big picture and I cannot, I will surrender and trust Him to know what is best.

"May God bless and keep you, may He shed His countenance upon you and give you peace."

October Plans

While it is tough teaching my students because of behavior, it breaks my heart to hear about their home lives. A lot of my students live in war zones due to drugs and alcohol. These kids have such potential but they are hurting deeply. I can tell they want to trust me but they always question me about whether I will be sticking around. I tell them that I don't know what the future brings. My ultimate goal is to live and teach on the Oregon coast. I tell them that I do not know if I will be offered a job for the next year or if I will get an offer on a dream job and move back to Oregon. But what I do know is that I am here this year and I am not giving up on them and if I move during the summer, it will not be because of them.

On Fridays I am so tired of the battle field that I do not want to return on Mondays. But God always come through for me. Case in point, I spent today (Saturday) slowly cleaning my house, talking to my sons and my sister which made me miss home. I watched one movie after another and talked with God about how badly I want to return home in the summer. I emailed a principal I know to let her know that I would be available should an opening for the next school year manifest itself. I was getting down about the fact that Saturday always seems to fly and I was not ready for Sunday or Monday to come. It was about 9:00 pm when I got a knock on my door. This is unusual as most people here to not visit in the evening because people are usually in night clothes and do not want to be seen. So I open the door and there my neighbor who is a wonderful native woman and has adopted me, was standing there. She asked me if I was doing anything tonight and I said no. She then invited me to drive her to New Town to the casino and for a couple of hours. I reluctantly said yes because that is a 35 mile drive and it was 9:00 pm.

I am so glad I did. It was fun. She knows everyone and I met two of her sisters. I played the penny machines and won enough to continue playing on my original 20 dollars for three hours. Then we drove home and she encouraged me and we discussed teaching and lesson planning. I learned about a tradition the natives believe in. They carry tobacco pouches with them and they throw them out the window as an offering after they pray that any four legged animal will stay away from the road. She forgot to do this and we almost hit a fawn as it followed its mom across the road. She immediately pulled out a pouch of tobacco and prayed and threw it out the window. Now she prays the same God I pray to, the one true God. I am not sure if this is a pagan thing or not but let me tell you we saw a deer close to the road on our way home but no four legged animals crossed into the road and that is unusual at 1:30 am around here. She says that the Natives believe that animals have a spirit and that makes them brothers and sisters and the prayer is their way of respecting life.

She also has invited me to go to a class with her that is teaching the history of Teddy Roosevelt and what he did for North Dakota. We even will be touring his ranch in Medora ND. I am also going with her in the end of October to South Dakota. We are going to visit her family and friends and do a "Sweat". I get to go into an authentic sweat lodge with other women. We pray and sweat and this purifies our bodies, minds and souls. I can hardly wait. Also I will be sight seeing and touring Mt Rushmore among other places with traditional Native Americans who will teach me all about the history and importance of several spots. I hope to got to wounded knee but I am not sure it we will be near there. I can hardly wait. I am praying the weather is nice since it usually starts snowing and getting nasty around the end of October.

My sons are doing real well in Houston. My oldest is excelling at his school becoming a mechanic and loving it. He does not usually like to talk on the phone but we have been having great conversations that last up to an hour. My youngest plans on starting auto body repair courses in January. God has been so good to us. It is amazing. I am not use to living under His abundance. I am trying to be a good steward. I am learning about a foreign concept called savings. I have never had money to save before and now I do. The four years of great struggle have taught me to trust God with everything and appreciate everything He has given me. I also have honed the gift of perseverance and now I am learning to live in God's abundance. My cup does runeth over. And soon I will have a savings account. I always thought those were myths. Oh and I finally can work one job instead of three and have extra money another myth proven. LOL.

Well it is late and I may get to go to a sweat tomorrow and not wait for the end of October so I had best get to bed. I hope this finds all of you well and content. I may miss my home but God is giving me chances to choose to be content. I am taking everyone of them. I tell my students that hate and anger are a choice, well so is joy and contentment and I choose to be content and surrendered to God until He takes me home be that my temporary home of Oregon or my permanent home in Heaven. Praise God for small outings that change my perspective. Night all. pleasant dreams.

My Sixth Week Teaching

It has been almost six weeks that I have taught. I work long hours trying to keep up with everything I have to do. I am very tired but most of the time it is worth it. I have fourteen students that have great personalities and I am having a good time getting to know them all. They are also very challenging. Everyday is a new challenge in class room management. I am learning by fire. I have pretty much decided that God willing I am moving back to Oregon in May when this adventure is over. I will have a year of teaching under my belt and a whole lot of new perspective. I want to live in Oregon. I know that now better than ever. I think that is one reason why God moved me here. I wanted to have an adventure by teaching overseas. God knew I would have a lot of trouble living away from home. He knew it but I did not. So He sent me here to clear my vision on what I want and where I want to live. I love Oregon and living near my family. It is amazing how this adventure has brought me closer to my family then we were when I lived down the street. I will get to spend two weeks with them in Christmas and hopefully a week with my sons in Houston on spring break. I can hardly wait. I miss my small group, my friends, my family, the pine trees and the ease in which I could get to stores and food.
I miss going out to eat more often and going to the movies at least once a week. The people in North Dakota are so friendly and helpful and welcoming but I long for home. I am saving money and hopefully God's plan will include me moving back home. I am sorry I have not written more often in my blog but I will do better. Thanks for reading it and your comments.

Life is sweet

I finally have my satelite connected and my dsl on. I am settling in. Its funny I can live without a cell phone. I have even lived without any kind of phone before. I can little for awhile without a tv. But I cannot live without my laptop and internet. I did not realize how addicted I have become to keeping in touch through the internet. I have been dealing with a very dim signal on wify but it was difficult to do anything. It took so long for me to blog or check my email and respond. I would startup my computer, click my e icon and go get myself some dinner. Then I would check my email and eat my dinner while I waited for it to down load. Then I would wait some more and wait and wait and wait then maybe I could get on facebook and maybe not and it took forever to send an email and don't get me started on trying to pay any bills or change service online. It was a nightmare.

But life is sweet now becuase God has provided me with a some of lifes little pleasures. So here I sit. In one of my two chairs in my cute little living room. I was up till midnight working on planning next weeks lessons with my teacher mentor. God bless her heart for staying up so late to help me. But I am staying up late tonight to celebrate my simple pleasures by watching movies and playing on the internet. Oh God is soo good. And I have taught for three weeks already. Amazing.

Oh and to top it off it is raining today. I am a native Oregonian and the rain is soo sweet to this dried out transplant. It feels soo good. The air is crisp and cool and the rain is light. I am hoping for a thunderstorm. There was one in the middle of the week and it was bright and loud. The thunder rolled and it shook the house when it cracked. The lightning lit up the sky and my room and danced across my room walls. The storm seemed to hover over my house. It was so awesome to see, hear and feel God's power and might and to feel safe in his arms as the storm raged around me.

Today when I came home from school my birdfeeder had been knocked down and my bird bath was tipped over. I think it was a porcupine. The dog next door tangled with one last night and had a couple of quills in her side. I saw a porcupine along the side of the road and it was very large. I could not believe how large they were. Wow.

Powwow

I went to my first big powwow in North Dakota. It was fantastic. The dancers were wonderful and their outfits were spectacular. This gentelman let me take his picture because I had on my t-shirt that says "The few the proud the Marine Moms." He and his wife were selling beautiful handmade jewelry. I bought myself a beautiful tourquise and silver neclace. The tourquoise are carved into bears. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love bears. I toured the little town of New Town and we ate at the casino. I took pictures all over. I saw some of my students there. They did not seem happy to see me. I must be doing something right. I have to be tough for at least the first part of the year and hopefully I can loosen up soon. It did kind of hurt my feelings though. My teacher friend that moved from Vancouver WA the same time I moved from Oregon teaches art for all the grades. All the students said hi to her and were happy to see her. But I understand I can't be a pal right now I have to teach them life skills and they don't like the unfamiliar structures. I can only hope that they reflect on the year in the future and see how much I cared and that they in turn will say hi to me in the halls when they are no longer in my class. It is nice to have a three day weekend and to have had company for a night. My teacher friend and I did not know each other till we met the day before orientation began. We have been fast friends ever since.

In the pictures I have attached here and at flickr, the native outfits are hand made. The bead work is all sewn by hand and they cannot dance until they have completed their outfits. At one point of the dance competition everything came to a halt because an eagle feather fell off a dancer's headdress or fan and was found laying on the ground. No one but an elder who has permission through a ceremony can pick up an eagle feather. So we waited until an elder was found and a short ceremony of the elder picking up the feather very reverently and giving it back to the owner was performed. It was a very serious matter. I found it very interesting.

I am still on the hunt for a pair of moccasins for my grandson. All that was for sale during the Powwow were beautifully beaded but also priced right for the work and above my price range for my grandson to wear. So on I look. I have heard of a couple of other places to go look.

Today (Sunday) as I write this it is sunny, warm with a nice breeze and except for my windchimes it is very quiet. I am told we are in fall. There are a few leaves that have turned, not as colorful as Oregon. We have Elm here and they change to yellow but I have only seen a couple of leaves turned. To me it is a beautiful Indian Summer. Friday night I went to dinner with my neighbor. We ate at a place called Tabacco Gardens. We asked how the place got its name and were told that Lewis and Clark camped there and thought they found tabacco growing so they picked it and smoked it and discovered that it was only a weed they found.

The cafe is in a resort where there is rv and camping spaces, little bunglos and a boat launch. The water is from an inlet from the little Missouri and this is the first year it has been reopened. For several years this inlet and this part of the Little Missouri has been dried up. Along the banks in the water you can see tops of elm trees that had grown up while the inlet was dry and now stand in the water. It looks like the Columbia when it is high and the trees along the islands are standing in water. It is not as big as the Columbia but has the same look where the trees are. My neighbor did not know why this place had been dried out for so many years. It could have been because the Corps of Engineers decided to divert the water to South Dakota or the snow melt in Montana was not enough to feed the tributary.

My brother and his wife will be here soon. Oh another highlight now is I finally will have TV tomorrow. The satelite people will be coming out to hook me up. It will be nice to have a little company via TV to occupy my evenings when I finally get home. I have made it through two weeks with students and this is my first weekend off. I am starting to settle in and love it where I live. I like walking to work but I do find I need to leave town occasionally to get away from the shadow of my work.

One more thing before I sign off. On Thursday, I found a wasp in my spare room. No biggee he probably got in when I walked in. Then when my friend and her daughter came to spend the night after the powwow I had three wasps inside and a milipede. They slept in the living room last night and today I began smashing wasps, I killed six or seven and another millipede. I thought they were getting in through the hole in the wall were the cable for the satelite came through the wall. Then we looked and two of my double hung windows the top of the windows had slid down and of course they were the windows without screens or storm windows. Luckily my friend is tall because I am not. She was able to shut the top and we locked the windows and now no more bugs. I am glad because I lost at least a half hour of sleep last night trying to figure out how I was going to drive 35 miles to Watford City get a bug bomb, bomb the house and air it out before I drove back to Watford City to meet my brother and his wife. Then I remembered that Watford City is closed on Sundays except the gas stations and a couple of restaraunts. Such is life in the boonies.

Wednesday

I am spent. It was a very hard day today. I feel like I have lost all control and with the behavior issues I feel like I am above my head. God is the only reason I am still standing because I have nothing left and two more days to go before the blessed weekend. I cannot wait for a three day sabath. I have so much to do before I can have three days off. I need rest so I am plowing through.

A relative/friend sent me a scripture today it fits. " I have to reshape and remold her ...to renew her to what I had planned for her to be. It has not been easy for her or for me." Jeremiah 29:11

I gave Cricket the dog back to his original generous owner. I discovered I don't like pets. I don't like the mess, walking and picking up the piles, or the interuptions when I am trying to work. Plus the final straw, I got a call in the middle of class stating that my dog was running loose in the street all over the neighborhood. I am lucky that I have a teacher and a para that could cover for me so I could get Cricket back into the garage. I do not have the patience nor the energy to love this dog after my days teaching, Giving Cricket back was the highlight of my day. He has a new home with kids already. I know he will be happy.

God is still good all the time even when I am homesick. Boy this journey with God is going to be a fun rollercoaster ride. I better buckle my seatbelt. I have a feeling that I have not reached the highest part of the ride yet.

My first week teaching

I have prayed everyday that God will give me the grace, mercy, patience and knowledge to reach my students. Everyday He has been faithful. I have fifteen seventh graders who are all taller than me. My class has a lot to learn about self control and behavior. We are working on that together. I survived my first week of school and I am now into the second week. I love my students and the challenges they bring with them. They are a great bunch of rowdy kids. They want to learn they just don't know it yet.

I have a wonderful teacher who has become my mentor and is my neighbor. She seems to know the perfect times to come over and wisk me out of my house and the little town I live in. I literally have to drive out of town to get away from my job. I can see the school from my house. I never thought I would miss driving an hour one way to work but it did allow me to unwind.

I feel that I am in a season of God's blessings. I was finally able to get my license from North Dakota so I can now teach solo and I think I am ready to fly on my own wings. I actually got home before 7 p.m. tonight. That is a first in a week. But I love my job and my carreer.

I have been looking for a new church to call home. As of yet, the Lord has not revealed where. I went to an Assembly of God but it is a half hour drive then two hours for Sunday school and service then half hour back. SO very long for my only true day off. I will do as the Lord leads. I am totally surrendered to Him.

After the big panick last week a peace and contentment has settled in my soul. I feel very well looked after and a sense of freedom and peace as I surrender myself to God completely. He is truely leading me into a season of abundance.

I have decided to give my cute little dog back to his original owner. Cricket at first had a little trouble adjusting to life indoors. He has figured out that outside is his potty place so that is better. However, I come home soo tired and late that I don't have energy or patience for poor Cricket. I take him for a walk grudingly and put him a little. Then I need to do something for school the next day so he gets to lay around the house but has very little of my time or attention. Plus I don't like to have to deal with the mess and care for a pet. I cannot give Cricket what he deserves because he is such a great dog. I pray that God will find him a great owner that will spoil him rotten.

My brother and his wife are coming to visit me this weekend and I am very excited to show then around. I hope to be able to show them some of the beauty I am surrounded by both day and night. I am also going to my first big powwow this weekend. I plan on eating buffalo and enjoying the native dances while sitting next to my native friends who can tell me the stories that go behind the dances.

Tonight at least, I am home. God is good all the time.

Blessings