Beatification

As the Christmas season approaches, my family seems to be under attack. My dad has been having a lot of really random health issues, beginning in early summer. Now, he is starting to take anti-depressant medication tonight. He is now having anxiety attacks, and he’s feeling the empty nest syndrome. My mom also informed me that he really wishes he could get in touch with Chris, his son from his previous marriage. There has been a lot of conflict between my dad and Chris, and Chris just doesn’t want the relationship to get better.

My grandpa, who just had surgery on his legs the day after Thanksgiving, had to go to the ER, early Sunday morning. I’m not exactly sure why, but he had to go to Terre Haute on Tuesday to see a doctor. My grandma is stressed and worried and would like my mom to come down, but my mom is super busy and doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it down there. Today is my grandparents' anniversary. I hope they are able to have a great day.

Please keep my family in your prayers.

Last night was the first night of Church League Softball, and The Vineyard: Team C won the first game of our season! You should have seen us! Caleb and I had some great plays when I actually stopped the ball and threw it to first base. My pitching seemed to get better as the six innings moved along.

I felt like the umpire's strike range was fluctuating throughout the evening. However, I cheered for the other team's pitchers because I know how hard it can be to lob a ball over a plate. Believe me...it's harder than it seems.

To sum up the game, we won 17-7, partially thanks to an in-the-park homerun by yours truly. ;)

Apparently, the world has come undone. Yes, that is correct. I am officially attempting to sell a Nintendo DS LITE that I bought off of eBay about six months ago. I'm thinking $120 for my DS Lite with Rumble Pack (including the game: Animal Crossing).

To sum up: I'm trying to sell my DS Lite. Who wants to buy it?

Tonight was my first time playing basketball, seriously, in about 5 years. It was so awesome. Andrew Kamm, Gabe Thaman, Geoff Olmstead and I are preparing to take on the pastors. We're thinking about getting Gatanya on our team as the (Almost All Interns Team). We'd pretty much die on the court.

Andrew and I beat Gabe and Geoff the first time, and then they beat us the second game. I'm tired. I feel sick. We ran "suicides" to start off with. I think that was pretty much the worst idea ever. I couldn't breathe after that.

To summarize, I was surprised that I could keep up with them, until I started getting blisters on my feet. I'm thinking about seriously getting some basketball shoes to take down to Mexico, to put Fred in his place. ;)

I'm subbing in St Joe, again. This time, I'm with third graders. The boring part of this is that I have a student teacher who is doing everything. All I do is read and occasionally tell some boy in the back row to pay attention and stop throwing bits of eraser at other boy.

It's so cute! Some of the little girls will blush at me and smile, wanting my attention. And some of the boys will try to do something, such as throw eraser bits, to get my attention and then smile really big when I notice him. They are a really well-behaved bunch of kids. I appreciate the small town feel...minus the completely white population.

Father figures are lacking in our culture. Whether men don't think it is manly to be a nurturing father or whatever, it saddens me. I recognize some of these signs easily because I grew up with a father who did not know how to relate to me.

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Side note, I am hungry. I didn't eat breakfast today. If I am going some place out of the ordinary and I eat in the morning, my stomach will go all sorts of crazy on me. The benefit of subbing in St Joe is free lunch for subs!

People of all ages often feel that the angrier they get or sound in conversation/debate makes them seem more correct. I remember during a persuasive speech I gave at Parkland, I was very emotional about the topic and the way I attempted to persuade my classmates. At the end, my professor still gave me a horrible grade because it was an emotional speech, but it didn't do any persuading.

There's that.

I was surprised this morning when St Joseph Middle School called and wanted me to sub. I'm a little excited about this. I've been praying for extra money, and God is definitely providing me opportunities.

God, help me be like you in the classroom today.

Tomorrow marks the first day that I will sub in a classroom. It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside. It's not one of those you can easily hide. I'm kind of excited to sub...other than the fact that I'm subbing Industrial Arts (Shop), which I never cared much for. My dad asked the regular teacher what'd we be doing, and I'm going to be watching the same film for 7 hours! ;)



This is a picture of my last day of Physics class, my senior year at PBL High School. My dad is the teacher. This was after much inner healing, allowing me to be more relaxed and open to the idea that people liked me.

I wish I would have changed before the second half of my senior year. I would have liked to be friendlier and not have been such a loner. There are times when I wonder what life would have been like if I would have been secure in my identity when I was in high school. I see some kids now, like my bud Caleb, who is miles ahead of where I was. I actually admire him and look up to him in these areas.

So there you go, Caleb. If you're reading this, I think very highly of you, and I love you. ;)