Fabulous First Day

Drum roll please....I survived my first day!! It actually went by very fast--my feet and my throat hurt but don't you worry, I'll be ready for 'em again tomorrow! I have been blessed with very manageable class sizes (21, 11, 10, 20, 24) and aside from one class, I think everyone will be pretty darn cooperative.

I am definitely still in the honeymoon stage of this whole affair. Actually, let me describe that differently. I am naturally optimistic and the glass is always 90% full, so I have a feeling that things will continue to be great. I have a great custodian who cleans my room, the other Ag teacher is funny and warm, and I have been blessed with a wonderful CTE director both at the school and district levels. I am so thankful that I am here and am confident that God opened this specific door for me.

I opened escrow on the second house that I made an offer on on August 10th; the sellers want to complete everything pretty quickly and we are planning to close on August 22. I just may spend my first night on an air mattress in the living room:-) My parents and I (and anyone else who doesn't mind moving boxes) will be helping me move on that Saturday. I am so excited about this--again, God has blessed this venture. My brother found the house and everything else has fell into place.

Countdown to school-2 weeks

I have just about made it through a sweltering Arizona summer, enjoying each moment back in this unique landscape. It has been wonderful being so close to my family and I have tried to take advantage of spending time with them each chance I get. My brother and sister-in-law are actually in the process of moving up to my hometown, which is still where my parents live. I have spent the entire summer living like a gypsy--staying with family and friends all over the place as I travel and work odd jobs for various people. I am currently house sitting for a college friend of mine while he and his wife are in Wyoming.

I started looking for houses upon returning to Arizona in May and finally made an offer on one last week. The owner was not very cooperative and the counter offer was out of my price range. While I was a bit disappointed at the time I am at peace about being back on the house hunt again. I have been praying about whether or not I should continue looking right now or take a break for 4-8 weeks while I get my feet under me at school. Will you please pray for both this decision and the process?

School starts in two and a half weeks and I am soo looking forward to it! I have been organizing, cleaning, filing, and hole punching to my little hearts content and am ready to meet my students. I have six more whole days to work on lesson plans and then I start my new teacher orientation on July 31. I will start off with an FFA review and recordbook update in all five of my classes and then I will branch off into other areas after that. I have been spending lots of time trying to prepare for my two Ag Mechanic classes and the first unit we will cover will be woodworking/framing. Following that we will cover electricity....after that.....I can't actually remember right now. Good thing I have it written down!

My first classroom

Last week I had the chance to tour the Ag building at my high school and.....(drum roll).....my classroom!! I still find it hard to believe that I have a classroom but I am so excited about it! While the classroom is bare right now, the walls will soon be covered with Arizona Ag posters and a bulletin board where pictures from the entire year will be posted. I'm pretty excited about decorating it:-)

The Ag building/facility is beautiful--so many resources that it is mind boggling. One of our assignments during a teacher prep course at UF involved designing our ideal Ag facility. Well, in all honesty this facility comes pretty darn close. The following is a list of resources that we have been blessed with:

• The two classrooms have an air wall between that can be removed for larger, social functions.
• Biotechnology lab
• A computer lab for use only by our students
• An office separate from the classrooms
• A storage room...this may sound boring but storage space is definitely a commodity for any teacher, but especially Ag teachers!
• A wonderfully large Ag shop where I will soon be teaching for half of each day
• Greenhouse
• A covered animal working facility where the annual Buckeye Ag Day is held
• Several large tractors

As you can tell from the list, we have an enormous space and plenty of resources to keep us busy! I am beginning to think about the scope and sequence of my classes for this coming year, also know as what I will teach. I will post pictures of my classroom once I get it decorated in July.

The Long Trip Back

After four days of driving we have safely arrived in Arizona! My two friends, Bonnie and Sara, flew out to Florida on Saturday, May 19th and we left Gainesville on Monday, May 21. The four day trip was a whirlwind trip of 2,150 miles and 36 hours. The following is a brief recap:

Monday: Drive through south Georgia, and eastern Alabama. Entered the Central time zone. Toured Auburn University and stayed that night in Birmingham.
Tuesday: Left Birmingham and drove to Memphis to tour Graceland. I never knew so much about Elvis! Left Memphis around 3PM, entered Arkansas and drove to Alma, AR to stay the night.
Wednesday: Entered Oklahoma--stopped by Shawnee, Oklahoma where my sister-in-law, Gretchen, grew up! Met some of her family and toured the small grocery store she worked at in high school. Drove to Norman and toured the University of Oklahoma. Drove to Amarillo, TX where we ate at The Big Texan, home of the 72 ounce steak eating challenge and stayed the night.
Thursday: Left Amarillo, entered New Mexico and the Mountain time zone. Ate lunch with my great Aunt and Uncle, Flora and Frank in Albuquerque. Entered Arizona and the Mountain Standard time zone. Arrived at my parent's house at 6PM and my parent's treated us to a fantastic mexican dinner at Su Casa-one of my favorites!

As you can see we enjoyed the trip--thank you for your prayers along the way! We didn't encounter any bad weather and we truly enjoyed catching up with each other. My game plan now is to begin looking for a house to buy in Buckeye before I start new teacher orientation in early August.

Love to you all and thank you again for your prayers! For my FL family--I look forward to staying in touch across the miles. For my AZ family and friends-I am glad to be home!

Love in Christ,
Katy