I'm engaged!!

My dream came true yesterday!  Josh Andrews asked me to marry him!!!

He is a co-leader for our young adult group at church.   The group's name is Engage.  Because we had met through this group, he wanted them to be involved in the engagement.  Soooo, he planned an event based on the show Amazing Race, except called it The Engaging Race (yes, I completely missed the pun!) 

All week he had been working on the event stuff and frankly I was frustrated because we weren't getting a whole lot of time together.  Thinking back on it, I was kind of a pain, hah!  It turns out all the planning and time was for me!  Boy did I feel bad!

So, all five cars started off the road rally, matching group t-shirts and all.  We found clues that led us to our next destinations, all of which happened to be dates Josh has taken me on.  Once again I was clueless, even though all of the other cars had figured out what was going on!

The last clue led us back to the church, to find these puzzle pieces and fit them onto this huge board.  After the points had all been tallied up, they flipped the board over and on the other side were pictures of him and I and a poem he had written for me!  The last line asked me to marry him!

Unfortunately, I am a slow reader and was only half way through the poem when everyone else started gasping!  I didn't even finish reading it (the part that asked me to marry him!) and in shock looked over and there he was on his knee!  He'd faked it a couple times before as a joke, but this time there was a ring!!

The ring is beautiful, simple and elegant, exactly what I wanted.  He did such an awesome job planning all this and I truly had no clue!  I am so lucky to be engaged to someone who is so thoughtful.  Ahhhhhh, so exciting!  He is perfect for me and I've never been more excited! :D

Anger

I've been dealing with a lot of angry kids lately.  I'm not sure why this has become an issue in the last couple of months.  I have a few students who have been getting so angry lately that they go into a rage.  It's frustrating because it seems like nothing I can do is helping.  Once these students make one bad choice in the morning, they dwell on it the rest of the day and it just snowballs into more bad choices.  I've been trying to teach these kids more appropriate ways to handle their anger.  We have classroom discussions about it all the time and I even read children's books about the topic.  Nothing seems to be getting through to these few.  It's not fair to the other students because I am spending more time on managing behavior than teaching... :(  Hopefully this week will be better.  Please pray for peace and patience in my classroom.  Eight more weeks!

Odds and Ends

Today, I went with Josh to a Special Olympics swim meet!  It was really interesting to watch the athletes compete and enjoy the races.  Josh was timing some of the races.

Tonight I am doing some of my favorite things.  Long bath, reading and journaling.  These are things that usually have to wait until the weekend.  Ahh, so relaxing.

I have been watching the news about North Korea.  I was concerned because I still have a lot of friends over there.  I've talked to a few of them, and it sounds like once again America seems to be making a bigger deal out of it than the South Koreans are.  It's pretty amazing to me that they don't seem to get worried when threats of war are in the air...

One of my students came to school the other day really angry.  When we were all sitting on the floor, I asked him why he was so upset.  He said, "I'm just so angry because my microwave broke!!"  Haha, what a funny thing for a six year old to be mad about! :)

Uncertainty

Well, spring break is over and only 10 weeks to go!  Not much longer now.  I can't believe it is almost the end of my first year teaching here.

Unfortunately on my first day back, the HR guy sent an email to tell me that my position is being eliminated!  There aren't enough kids to keep all the teachers at my school and since I am the last hired, I will be bumped to another school/grade.  Ugh, how frustrating!  BUT, who knows what God has in store for me?  My flexibility and trust have certainly been tested this year.  He's never failed me yet!

Asia Bibi

On Saturday, I went to my church's women's brunch and they reminded me of the persecution of Christians going on around the world.  I encourage you to pray for this woman:

"Asia Bibi, a 37-year-old Pakistani woman from the village of Ittanwali, was arrested by police on Friday, June 19, 2009. Asia (also called Asia Noreen) is the wife of 50-year-old Ashiq Masih, and their family is one of only three Christian families in a village of 1,500 families.


On Friday, June 19, there was an intense discussion among the women about their faith. The Muslim women told Asia about Islam. Asia responded by telling them about her faith in Christ. Asia told the Muslim women Christ had died on the cross for sins, then asked them what Mohammad had done for them, according to VOM sources. She told them Jesus is alive, but Mohammad is dead. “Our Christ is the true prophet of God,” she reportedly told them, “and yours is not true.”
Upon hearing this, the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia. Then some men took her and locked her in a room. They announced from the mosque loudspeakers that she would be punished by having her face blackened and being paraded through the village on a donkey.   Asia’s conviction and death sentence have brought international attention to the country’s blasphemy laws. Christians have called for Asia’s release and for a repeal of the laws, while extremists in Pakistan continue to demand that she be executed.
The Voice of the Martyrs urges Christians around the world to pray for Asia Bibi and her family." 
-persecution.com

Compassion

After my students get unpacked and do their "morning work," they sit down on the carpet and I have a few people share something.  Of course, they all raise their hands, thinking what they have to say is so much more important that what everyone else has to say.  I'm pretty sure that they're not even listening to their friends because they are so focused on waving their arm so that I can see THEIR hand.  This is sometimes accompanied by a scrunching of the face and an occassional "ooo oooo." Haha!

Yesterday, I could tell that a few of the students looked like they were in a bad mood, so I asked them how they were feeling.  After a few answered, one asked me.  "Miss Hornback, how are you feeling today?"  I said, "Well, actually I'm a little sad.  My friend Josh's grandpa is in the hospital and he has a big surgery today.  He has a "broken" heart and they are trying to fix it so he will be healthy again."  After a little more explanation, I looked over and saw Bailey, hunched over, shoulders shaking, with her hand over her mouth.  I thought I must have missed something.  Maybe someone said something mean to her...

"Bailey, what's wrong?"  She said in between sobs, "It's just so sad!!"  Then the tears started falling...

My first reaction was to laugh (don't worry I didn't!).  How funny that she was so sad because she knew I was sad.  I brought her over and hugged her, thanking her for being sad with me.  She was so sweet.  In the mean time, the rest of the class was looking very confused, giggling.  :) 

It's just so foreign to us that someone would actually share in our burdens.  Who would have thought a 6 year old would teach me a lesson on compassion!

New Car!!

This week I finally bought a car!  I had saved up and have been waiting for the right car and the right price since I came back last March.  I love the car and the color :)  God is faithful!