What happens after zero?

What happens after zero? Interesting question you say? Allow me a moment to explain. Last year Rachel and I got engaged on July 16th and then I left for my first "tour of duty" in Guatemala four days later. Almost immediately upon my arrival here I was counting until the first time Rachel would visit. Counting until I would come home for Christmas. Counting until I would come home for the summer and the big countdown, counting until the Big Day. Now, I suppose the question naturally would be, what happens after zero? Well, if I may, I believe I have the answer: Life! This semester has flown by. Between Sophomore retreats, Sunday nights at the Gathering, Parent-Teacher conferences, visitors, and the latest fiasco from CAG, Harvest Fair (we'll get to that later), weeks can be seemingly clocked by an egg timer all of a sudden. I think Kenny Chesney said it best in his nostalogic country song when he said "Don't blink, time goes faster than you think." I agree.


So Harvest Fair. Each year the secondary puts on a carnival as a fund raiser for each classes' Senior trip. This year's theme was "Alice in Wonderland" but don't let that limit you to the amazing creativity of each of the grade's and their booths. All the classes showed astounding creativity, but putting biases aside, I would say the Sophmores had the best booths. The first booth was a pool-noodle Fighting Booth, fully-equipped with a balance beam and gym mats to cushion the fall. Our second booth was the less lethal Fishing Booth. This booth included all the perks including a toddler size pool, magnets, and more candy than you can shake a stick at. Even with those two great booths, the show stopper was the Pie Toss. Basically pie tins, whipped-cream, and some of the most "popular" teachers at school and you've got an award-winning humiliation booth that couldn't get a moments rest! Students came out of the woodwork to satisfy revenge on their teachers, including the recently married Mr. and Mrs. Underwood (we must have made an impression!)





Rachel and I are doing great. We have our arguments but that's where the real growth happens I think. Harvest Fair was a blast working with the kids but I can honestly we're both looking forward to a little rest and relaxation over Thanksgiving Break. Only four weekends away...






PS. Stay tuned for the URL for the CAG musical "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown" coming soon!

A Tourist

That's how I felt. Just a plain ole tourist, stopping by for a visit. It's like I was a bumble bee, flitting from flower to flower or rather town to town. Never slowing down, never stopping, never meeting people longer than a flash in time. I felt a constant ebbing, "Come on, we need to see it all, we need to do it all!"

Yet as every tourist's vacation continues on, they begin to long for home. "Well," they think, "this has been fun, I've seen lots, but I am ready to go back." Vacation cannot last forever. They told me, at about 3-4 weeks in, it would hit you. Homesickness. I whispered to myself, "Nah, I'm LOVING this tourist life! Why would I miss home? Miss home? That's for weaklings, simpletons, not newly married wives on the bring of a brand new adventure!" Ask Jordan how I was doing at Week 3...

By then, I found a reason to complain or cry about anything, to avoid thinking of my blessings, to avoid the hurt. It's cold. It's rainy. My heart is still at 'field Zone and walking the halls of Birney. This is definitely NOT the land of eternal spring... helllooo, I signed up for tro-pi-cal! Kelli is going to Detroit, it's the first time ever that I haven't been there, I need to be there, too. How come the year I come down here, it is the rainiest season in all of Guatemala's history, topping at 7 feet so far and not expected to stop anytime soon? I hate doing laundry, because I hate hanging clothes! I loved Christmas before, it really is the best, but now that it means I get to go home, is it December, yet? November?

And then, I heard it. Myself.

The ugly black crawled in - albeit, I let it - and took over my poppy red. (Seems like a good enough color for me.) I let that door slip open a tiny millimeter, I complained it was cold, and Satan slipped right in (he didn't even warm me up, geez, how rude). I need to apologize to my husband, and more importantly, to my Lord.

And now, I can hear it. Him.

Stop. Wait. Look. I've put you here. I have put you here. You see that little girl, the one who's mother passed away? She needs you. You see those students, they are teenagers literally caught between two worlds? They need you. See your husband, waiting patiently for you to come around? He needs you. You see my creation? You serve in it. I can tell, you're a bit mixed up. You have prayer warriors all over and you have Me, that is all you need. Wait and I will renew your strength.

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As I sat down to write this post, I remembered an Oldie that I heard on the radio when I was little, about a "traveling man." So, I opened YouTube and searched and Ricky Nelson popped right up. I thought to myself, "Oh yes! That's it! I'll use the words from this song to describe how I feel." I'm not sure how many of you know and remember the words to Ricky's sweet crooning tune. If you do, you are probably laughing at me right now, because you know that leaving the heart of a different pretty girl from town to town does not quite describe my situation.

Last weekend, we went on a retreat with our tenth graders. The wonderful hosts shared this with us and I make it my prayer for you and I ask that you make it your prayer for me... That Christ may reveal in us the ability to see through His eyes.

Before I sign off, stop by and visit Ricky Nelson on YouTube.

Much love, Rachel

P.S. We are so excited as home is coming to us. Brie is coming down the October 13th for a long weekend and Mom and Dad (Underwood) come down the 22nd! We're waiting on the rest of you, let's go, time to get on that!

P.P.S. For those of you who read our blog to find out about the dog, Risa is fine :)

Risa's Guate

It's Risa, the dog (best in the world). I know, I know, a little anticlimactic, you wanted to hear from my “parents” - not me. But, listen, they're a tad busy and so I thought I would do this for them. Ya know, try to help out a little. Basically, you either take what I'm offering or leave it. That's right, you can click the little X on your screen anytime, but truly, I think you'd be interested in what I have to say.

It's been quite the crazy few weeks – my parents are always coming and going. To get them back for it, I try to wake them up every morning at about 6, it keeps them fresh, plus, they feed me to get me to leave them alone. Works every time. Then, at night, I'm brave now, so I go up on the roof and bark at all the dogs. I always hear my parents calling my name, I think they miss me when I go up there. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

When we first got here, after my encounters with scary airport people and loud engines, they had Teacher Orientation and they would leave me in my kennel. Those days were the best, because they would come home at lunch to play. I overheard them talking that they learned a lot of new teaching techniques, I'm glad it was useful. Now, their lunch break is shorter and I've proven my maturity, so they leave me in the family room instead of the crate. I pretty much tricked them into letting me out of the kennel by chewing up one of my crate pillows and, boy, were they unhappy. But, boy, did it work...humans. And when they are home, I don't get on the furniture, but, when they leave or go to bed, I definitely only sleep on the couches. They made me a bed of hard pillows and scratchy quilts! Couch versus pillows and quilts, couch versus pillows and quilts; like I said...humans. Now, they come home right after school to let me out or take me back with them. I prefer to stay at home, school is a little scary, especially during basketball practice.

I know my “mom” is teaching K-2, Middle School, and High School Physical Education and English 10. They keep her pulling her hair out, but I know she is enjoying them. As for my “dad,” he's even busier than mom... he's teaching the same classes as last year (Bible 9, US History 8, Economics - 2nd Semester, High School Physical Education, and Weights Elective), but he even picked up a sixth! He's also doing Bible 10, my parents enjoy the 10th graders.

I met a few of them this weekend. 11 of them (half of the whole class) came over to help paint our bedrooms. I didn't have much fun that day, they were all loud. I kept trying to get under the bed, instead, I accidentally ran into the wall and covered myself in paint. Mom spent the better part of the next few days picking the paint out of my fur... oops.

Dad is still doing piano lessons after school, volunteering at the youth group and leading worship on Sunday nights at church. Mom signed up to be the assistant basketball coach and she loves it, but she will be excited for the end of the season. I'm the mascot, they even named a play after me!

Pray for my parents, they need it. Mom's been a little sick and really hurt her back after painting. And dad, he's just so busy... he does play with me every night though, don't worry. They are going to cut back because it's too much. There is always work to be done in ministry, but they can't tackle it all.

Shoot, gotta run, they'll be home soon and the roofs are calling me. We love all of you!

PS: Tell Bella I'm learning some Spanish, I'll share it with her when I come home. Te amo, chica!

Adios 3rd Quarter!

The 3rd Quarter is officially over here at CAG and there are plenty of emotions that it carries along with it. The biggest one, of course, being that there is only one quarter left before my return home and wedding! All that to say, so much has happened in this third quarter that it would be impossible to share it all with you. That being said, I thinks Elementary Sports Day deserves some recognition. I don't know about you, but I definitely looked forward to this day as an elementary student. A day filled with competition and games against fellow classmates was the pinnacle of fun. I had never thought, however, of the strain and craziness the P.E. teachers feel! Sports day at CAG can be best described as controlled chaos. Of all the hilarious stories I could tell, I think the Dodgeball Showdown must be told. All other players were out except two on each team. I forth grade boy with an arm and determination to win, and a third grade Korean girl, who maybe weighed 50 pounds soaking wet in a snow-suit. There showdown lasted an exciting 8 minutes! Back and forth they went and the electricity flowed through the gym. The boy not wanting to lose to a girl (and understandably so at that age!) and the girl wanting to prove that girls were just as good as boys.
Both were tiring fast and the throws were becoming lazier and lazier until the boy made a fateful mistake. Moving to close to the girl without a ball for protection, the girl summoned all her strength for one last lob, nailing him right in the arm. Girls win! I've never seen so much excitement run through a group of kids like that and it was probably the most entertaining sight in a long time.

Servant Days!

Does over thirteen hours in a 12 passenger diesel van (without power steering) with half of my Freshman class sound like fun? Oh yeah! Servant Days was last weekend and we, the Freshman class, went into the mountains of Nebaj to build a sidewalk, paint, and work on a construction site. The family there has an awesome ministry. They train Guatemalans who want to minister to the Muslim world! How amazing is that? In the mountains of Guatemala, where there is so little already, they are concerned with reaching OTHERS for Christ. The weekend was frustrating, exhausting and completely rewarding. For some of these kids, it was the first time outside the city and the first time handling a shovel as well. Our work started slow but after a little bit of encouragement from myself and our other sponsor we really focused and accomplished a lot. Praise God for our safety as well! There were incidents just that week of our trip of robberies and things like that, so thank you all for your prayers!! (View the slideshow here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlJuUPzEETA)
FOR THOSE WHO ARE CONCERNED: This Friday and Saturday at 7 P.M.(central time) CAG is putting on our musical "The Life We Knew" and it will be available for viewing online:

Please direct your web browser to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cag-thelifeweknew

They will be asked to enter a password, perhaps twice (just for fun). The super secret password for both nights will be broadway.
Enjoy!!!!!

5k Fun Run

January 30th marked the 5th annual "Fun Run" here at CAG. I'm not sure where they got the title from but I assure you, racing for a little over 3 miles in the hills of San Cristobal is anything but "fun".I definitely should have thought a little bit more about everything I had to loose by choosing to run in this little race. First, I'm the P.E. coach. Secondly I'm the weight training coach, and third I'm the soccer coach. Basically I'm the one person on campus who SHOULD win this race! (not to mention the one everyone wants to beat!)So there I was, the day of the race and definitely a little nervous. The countdown began and I was loading up a pump-up jam on my iPod while some of the other soccer players are talking trash about leaving me in the dust. The gun goes off and 20 minutes later I crossed the finish line, maintaining my reputation as a credible coach...for at least this year.(definitely thinking of retiring!)
This weekend CAG is doing something pretty cool. Every year we take a weekend and serve the community in some way, shape or form. The Freshman class this year is going to Nebaj, which is more than a hop, skip and a job away. It is a 5 hour car ride on dangerous roads but the family that lives there has assured us that they've never had problems. Please pray for us as we make this journey to this community. Pray that God would use this time for us to bond as a class and for the kids to grow in the their walk with Him. I will be sure to let you know how it goes!
Photo: Heather and I after the race. Heather is the 2nd grade teacher from Caledonia. Small world!

Semester 2: Back with A Vengeance

History, Bible, Economics, Physical Education, Weight Training, Student Council, Worship leader, and accompaniment for the winter musical. I think it's fair to say that this semester is kicking off with a vengeance. Economics (the class I picked up) has been a blast. Finally teaching in my majored in college definitely helps too! But I need to tell you all this story. Have you ever heard of the game "Bigger or Better"? It's a fairly simple ice-breaker game where teams are given a paperclip and sent out around a public area to trade for something bigger or better using no money and playing for keeps. Well we were covering exchange in economics and I thought "What a great game to play?" Now, I didn't exactly ask the powers-that-be in the school if this would be alright, I just simply chose to live by the saying it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. So out they go, 4 groups of 4 students each out to scavenge the school for things bigger and better. Now students did come back with some interesting things (phones, boxes of tea, aloe vera) but bar-none, the winner goes to the group that brought back a computer monitor! A real-life, working monitor. It was unbelievable and, I thought, a great start to a crazy semester!