Spring Break

This break has been the most amazing ever, not to mention sort of spontaneous! I got out of finals on March 16th, then packed a few things and Kristen, Sondra, and I took off on a road trip early on March 17th. Our destination: Grand Rapids, Michigan :) We drove through WA, northern Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana in two and a half days. Yes, we know, we're nuts. It was the second time in 6 months that I've driven across the country, so at the rate I'm going, I'll be at it again come September. I hadn't originally planned to drive out east. Actually, Roomie and I were going to hang out with Karin down in CA and then head to San Francisco for a few days. Plans changed, I ended up being invited on this road trip sorta last minute, and the rest is history. I was only in MI for four days - just enough time for me to suprise my dearest best friend! And surprise her, I did! "What the heck?! How....what...who....what?!" were the words that were coming out of her mouth as she smothered me with a hug. This past quarter had been pretty rough, as she knew well. I told her that I missed her and need her. And at that, we were both in tears, hugging and laughing at the same time. The two whole days we had together was a dream. It was hard to believe I was really there, and Kim even said so, too. We worked side by side, talked, went out to dinner, knitted, and just spent some real quality time together. It was awesome and perfect. We even began planning our time together when I visit again in the fall. It's really good to have that time to look forward to and count down to now. I think it will help us both get through the next six months - esp. the summer, as this will be our first summer apart.

I went to school with my dear friend Kristen (different Kristen than the girl I drove out with. Actually, I didn't meet that Kristen until I got into her car on the morning we left Seattle). She's been teaching in a special ed resource room in Grandville, as the main teacher is on maternity leave. This week is her last week of the full-time sub job. It was so good for me to catch a glimpse of what she's been up to for the past few months, not to mention meet the little heathens - I mean students - she'd been asking me to keep in my prayers :) I even got to take some groups and teach for awhile, which was incredible! I fell into it with such ease and picked up on what the students were like, what special needs they had, where they were struggling, etc. It was awesome to see more of what I've been learning in classes and such really come into play. At one point during the day, I remember going up to Kristen and saying, "Nate did well with comprehension and applying newly decoded words to others, but he had quite a bit of trouble with decoding high-frequency words. I know he's LD, but what else?" And for her to just jump in and reply with terms such as IE, ADD, etc was just awesome. We know what we're talking about. Imagine that, I'm actually learning something in college - and applying it!

I'm currently listening to the SPU - Merrimack women's basketball game online. We beat Grand Valley (yes, as in MI) yesterday in Arkansas, and are now in the top four for Division II. Woot! I have classes with some of them, which is so cool! And it rocks that we beat Grand Valley :)

Spring quarter starts Tuesday. I'm taking a break from education classes, and finishing up other stuff. So I'm taking Human Sexuality (women's studies), UCOR 2000 (required for grad), American Ethnic Lit (language arts), some easy writing course (language arts), and wind ensemble, unless I decide to forfeit my scholarship in exchange for my sanity, and drop that class. It would be my first quarter under 20 credits if I did that, so it's pretty tempting...

Time for food. Sondra and I are hanging out later tonight. I hope we dye Easter eggs! I'm so looking forward to the sunrise service at Bethany Pres. and singing the Hallelujah Chorus!