im trying!

19 days to go

holy crap!!! i leave in 19 days. this week has been the first time in this entire experience that i have been somewhat nervous and anxious about my trip. the teacher that i will be working with sent me my unit outlines for all 6 of the classes that i will be teaching. i think it was the first time i realized that this was for real. these people really expect me to come over and the really expect me to teach young people. aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. breathe, cathleen. in through the nose, out through the mouth.

anyway the unit outlines were a great help; they were very detailed and had every activity and lesson planned - just a skeleton of my days. i am excited to see what it will be like to put meat to those bones and actually teach for myself.

with 19 days to go, i have been busy working, hanging out with friends, discovering and learning abotu skype (i now have a skype account, you should get one too and then we could chat together while im away), and figuring out web cams. welcome to the 21st century, cathleen!!! this is incredible - i never imagined any of this possible.

God continually amazes, romances, and surprises me. He has provided everything and abundantly more than i could ever ask or dream of with this trip. He has provided monitarily, spiritually, and in every other way. HE IS FAITHFUL and I am thankful that He shines His face on me.

for the 2 of you who read this - hope you are well. let me know if i am leaving things out you want to know; i am at your serive! love you : )

t-o-d-a-y!

today is my birthday : ) WOOOOOHOOOOO i love birthdays. i think they are pretty sweet. today was one of the best birthdays ever. i worked all day at the Y; we went tubing in Helen. And by tubing, I actually mean walking in ankle deep water while carrying a tube. fun!

family dinner came next. it's my favorite part. baby charlie kept telling me "hapday" which really means "happy day!" you get the point. made me smile.

so the whole fam was here (even the 4th child...robin). food, cake, and then presents. my mom and dad gave me THE coolest present ever...

in may mom sent Coach Mark Richt a letter explaining to him that I was about to graduate, never missed a home game, and a huge fan of his. She also told him of the now imfamous Baseball Encounter in Athens. Well, Coach signed the picture (of him and I) for me and my mom had it framed and matted. What an AMAZING present.

I'll have to thank him next time I see him in public...if I can speak real words...or his body guards dont get me first.... : )

Almost There...

So - I have done an awful job of keeping up with this blog, but there is grace and I will try harder.

Let's see, since I last blogged a lot has happened.

1. I found out I will be teaching in Auckland, New Zealand. I will teach the underclassmen at Botany Downs Secondary School. It's in a suburb of Auckland. The school is really high tech, fairly new, and very close to the beach. I am really excited about being a part of this team. Here is the website if you would like to check it out yourself: http://www.bdsc.school.nz/

2. I am living in a smaller town outside of Botany Downs. The town is called Maraetai. Here is a link to googlemaps where you can see where my apt is. This is pretty sweet! http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=70+craig+road,+Maraetai+new+zealand+&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.282455,76.640625&ie=UTF8&ll=-36.832371,174.894104&spn=0.254459,0.598755&z=11&iwloc=addr

3. I will be living in an apt with one of the faculty members of the school I am working in. Her name is Christine. She is single (but has nieces who visit often she says) but seems to be very fun loving and excited to have a "flatmate". The pic at the top of this post is from the patio of our apt. Life is GOOD!

4. I have my green card (heck yes!), VISA, passport, and tickets. No stopping now!

5. I have passed my teacher certification test. This means that when I come home and graduate I will be able to apply for jobs. Thanksfully, I passed both parts so I dont have to take another test for a little while although there are more tests that I should take in order to be a good aplicant for a job around Gwinnett.

That is about it as far as major events lately. Life is good. The Lord has been really faithful this summer (as always). He has really shown me how this summer is a real time of preparation for the next season of my life. He has also been preparring me for life with much less community than I am used to and how to conduct behavior management. He is so faithful, worthy, and good.

I am uber excited about this journey. I am so close! I have 25 days until take off. If you made it through this entire post - congrats. You deserve a hug! Love you. Grace and peace of Christ.