Jet lag is my enemy....

Jet lag is my enemy.  We were wise the first day in Auckland, staying active and not going to bed until 7:30 p.m. even though we arrived at 6:30 a.m. Jim had not slept since Phoenix.  I had about 5 hours of sleep.  Now we're two days into travel and I feel like there are a million words to be written and a thousand places to go.  So here are the highlights:

Auckland is beautiful! It looks a lot like southern California--rolling hills, palm trees and the ocean close by.  Before I really got the hang of the GPS on my phone (thank you, children, for showing me how to use it!), we drove around in an area that looked a lot like many of the neighborhoods in LA...or Kansas City...or Phoenix.  Driving on the left side of the road was a challenge.  Not so much for Jim's driving skills, but for my nerves.  Stop laughing, Hailey, Chase and Kaitlyn! We found our hotel after seeing a great deal of downtown Auckland (it looks a lot like Montreal:  many nationalities represented in faces and stores).  The buildings are high rises, the roads are hilly and mixed in between are old brick buildings.  And there's water...ocean, bay, more ocean.

On the recommendation of the butler who served our tea (Yes, tea!! with little sandwhiches, cream puffs and cupcakes with lavender icing), we went for a walk to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  First we explored the little cemetery below our hotel...what a beautiful setting!

(There was a beautiful picture of the cemetary we walked through, but it disappeared...oh, well.)

We crossed over a our walk took us to the Auckland Domain-- a beautiful park with rugby fields, a duck pond, walking trails and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Jim reminded me that it was one of the places he thought he'd like to go when we were reading guide books.  He makes good choices.  The building itself was gorgeous! The view from the front was the bay, and the contents was great! The first floor was Pacific Islander Culture with a big emphasis on Maori Culture.  The second floor was natural history with dinosaurs, local flora and fauna, ocean life, penguins, and volcanoes.  By the time we finished the second floor we were running out of steam.  So without see the War History floor, we took our leave.

Back to the hotel with a stop at a coffee shop for dinner. I had mentioned to the hotel staff that we were here on our anniversary.  Waiting in our room was a plate of chocolates with "Congratulations" written in chocolate and a basket of fruit.

Monday morning found us checking out of the hotel and picking up our motor home.  The story really begins there, the adventure of driving into the north country...but that's more for next time.

The Journey of a Thousand Miles

The journey of 1,000 miles begins with...a suitcase! It's been packed since Monday.  Of course there's a few odds and ends that have to be added before we zip it shut on US soil only to open it up in...drum roll...

New Zealand!!!

Two years ago, Jim and I decided that we'd like to take a big trip for our 25th wedding anniversary.  New Zealand quickly emerged as a top choice--who wouldn't love to go there?  The scenery is beautiful, the people are kind and welcoming, and best of all who wouldn't want to ride in a GIGANTIC airplane for 13 hours? Ok, so the last one is just a side benefit (?) of traveling across the international date line and over the Pacific Ocean, but we're planning to make the best of it.  Between us we have two computers, two digital readers (Nook and Kindle), a Netflix subscription, Sudoku and airplane movies if we're really desperate.  

To be honest, I'm so excited that I can't even think about what to write.  Two thoughts are running through my head though:  I am so thankful!  I'm thankful that my husband is a GREAT saver, I'm thankful that he loves to travel, I'm thankful that we have the time/ability to travel, I'm thankful that even though my kids are adults (another thing for which I'm thankful), there are many loving people who will "look out for them."   The second thing I'm thinking about is that I'm really going to miss my kids.  Travel's been a big part of our family history.  As soon as four weeks after they were born, my kids all went on trips.  But this is a new page in our history:  my kids stand on their own feet, and Jim and I open a new chapter of our lives.

Jim summed it up with this text sent at 8:00 p.m. "This time tomorrow - LA!"

Here's to Jim

As I've thought about blogging more lately, I wondered if I should change the name or change the focus of my blog. Looking back over old posts it became less and less about teaching and more and more about a spiritual journey. I found a lot of posts about my husband, just brushing the surface of how much he means to me. And I decided that teaching would be much, much harder if not for him.

I went back to college twenty years into our marriage. It would have been easy for him to complain about all the things I didn't do any more. Instead he went back to school with me. At first it was because I wanted to student teach overseas and he wanted a way to go with me. (There's a long story there.) It didn't work out that way, but together we made it through bachelor's programs and emerged stronger because of it (another long story).

My first year of teaching was horrible. I prayed for a heart attack, I questioned my sanity, I wondered repeatedly if I had done the wrong thing. I survived that year (and subsequent year) because my husband was there every step of the way with me. He was in my classroom fixing and making, he worked at home cutting miles of lamination and building stuff, he kept our home running, our family fed, and our spirits high.

This year has been a little different, a little easier. But he's still there. He brings matching shoes, clean clothes, birthday cakes, and flowers to school. He makes sure I'm fed. Because of him, teaching in a tough school is even more possible. Because of him, I have the time and support to become a great teacher. So I've decided that dedicating time about him in my blog about become a teacher is a very natural thing to do.

Here's to Jim, my partner in everything.

He Loves Me This Much...

My husband sends me Arizona Statehood Day flowers. It just so happens that Arizona Statehood Day and Valentine's Day are the same day. When I look at them I think, "Wow! Look how much he loves me." Silly thought! That's the least of how much he loves me. Let me count the ways...

1. He loves me so much, that on the day I wore two different shoes to work, he brought the mates of both shoes and a soda in the middle of his day off. That's how much he loves me.
2. He loves me so much that he bought not one but two birthday cakes at Costco for the WHOLE first grade...and he delivered them on his day off. That's how much he loves me.
3. He loves me so much that he calls me on my way home to ask how my day was...while he's at work saving lives. That's how much he loves me.
4. He loves me so much that when I report that I need to have a minor breakdown about one of the endeavors in my life that often exclude him, he just holds me and lets me cry. That's how much he loves me.
   
5. He loves me so much that when I "jokingly" say, "It's all about me," he says "Yes it is." And he means it. That's how much he loves me.
6. He loves me so much that he gets angry if I try to clean house on my day off because it's my only day off. That's how much he loves me.
   

My husband is GREAT gift giver. Life for him is simple: take care of his wife and children. I hear how much he loves me every day, but more importantly I SEE how much he loves me in more ways that just a bouquet of flowers. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the roses, the perfect Christmas gifts, the tea pot and cups for my classroom, the books for my students.

In this season of love and gifts, I'm just thankful that that every day is Valentine's day at my house and that Arizona Statehood Day is an occasion for roses.

Field Day 2011. This little guy was very afraid of me at the beginning of the year. He asked to have his picture taken with me during lunch. Triumphs are not measured in huge steps, but by the smiles along the way.

Coveting

There is no doubt that coveting is bad. It ranks right up there with some of the big sins and I think that is because it makes one dissatisfied with their life and the blessings God has given them. However, I hear in my head the scripture that says, "But covet earnestly the best gifts; and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:31) I covet wisdom.

I am not a wise person. Daily interactions reinforces that to me. I wish I had the ability to reach into some mental file marked "Wisdom" and pull out the answers that I so desperately need. I found myself today in such a situation where I groped for the wisdom file and there was nothing inside. Frustration! Disappointment! Fear! Was I creating a potential disaster because I was acting without the temperance of wisdom?

What I do know is that my lack of wisdom forces me to seek out God and beg for His wisdom to be poured out on me. I would love that blessing to be mine in the form of the words that spring out of my mouth, but in recent situations, wisdom comes from those around me and I am wise enough to listen.

I covet wisdom.

Jumping to Conclusions

Is it a female thing or just a me thing that I jump to conclusions, to the worse case scenario? A friend asked me today, "What's the best case and worse case?" I answered worse case first, with all the gory details and must have talked for five minutes, and then best case which only took one or two minutes to report. Why, why do I choose to live in the frustration and pain of the worse case scenario? Several years ago as my grandmother was dieing and my girl cousins and I kept a night vigil while our moms went home and didn't sleep, I somehow determined that I did not want to live like the Israelites. They must have had the WORST memories in all of history. I would embrace the blessings, remember them, proclain them; I would not dwell in the desert. In fact over the years I have made it a little of a mantra, "I will not be like the Israelites, I will not be like the Israelites." But my mantra fails in those moments when the worse case scenario looms large.

But I'm trying. This time, I chose a new a mantra, "I will trust, and I will not be afraid. I will trust and I will not be afraid." When doubt crept in, I whispered, "I will trust and I will not be afraid." When fear snickered I repeated, "I will trust and I will not be afraid." When scenes rolled behind my closed eyes I spoke, "I will trust and I will not be afraid."

I will trust and I will not be not be afraid.