Tired but thankful

Ok i can't just post my last blog with out saying how thankful i am for a my students and also the staff i work with. Every day their are moments that just make me laugh and i am thankful i don't sit behind a desk. (I tried that and i really wasn't to good at it) We went on a field trip yesterday to the water resource center, a fish hatchery of sorts. The kids really enjoyed being outside and i know they learned lots of stuff. A couple of kids had never seen a fish before and so they really enjoyed feeding the 3 year old rainbow trout, in one of the ponds. Their were a few moments that made me understood why we only go out as a group once a month but the guide was a retired high school science teacher He did a great job keeping them on track and excited about what they were looking at.
I love my job and i know that God put us in this classroom for a reason. I just want the kids know that their are people on there side, who want to see them succeed and who care about them with no expectation of love back. Working with kids, really makes you go back to the basics and it makes you realize how much we have to be thankful for. I've learned so much from them and look foward to those moments of excitement and joy.

a long week

I can not even express how glad i am that it is the weekend. It has been a challenging week, to say the least. I love my job but there's moments when it feels like we are running hard against a wall that likes to yell, cuss, hit and scratch a lot. When you give so much emotionally and physically for the kids but they have so much against them that it's very easy to get discouraged when progress isn't always evident.
At the beginning of the school year, I was talking to a friend who is in her first year of teaching. She was talking about how well her class is going and how she feels like the discipline plans that are in place will never be used. I remember laughing at this point because for our class, behavioral plans are a way of survival. I truly love my job and i know that i'll be excited to go back and be a part of the last week of school before Christmas break but right now i think I'm going to go to bed.

(copied from myspace on request from my adoring fans :) haha)

Post from 8/16

Where the crap has the summer gone? Seriously....oh my goodness gracious. It's the 16th (happy birthday Micah) and we only have 20 days-ish till school starts again. That's exciting because it's a whole new year, new place of employment and lot's of other new stuff but still i feel like it should be July.

This summer has been a lot of fun though. Camping with Dusty's Portland relatives and the Sticklers, Women's retreat, Moving, Heatwole family camp, road trip to Spokane, our third anniversary, Summer school, Ikea opening and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure that i have forgotten, has made for a very busy summer.

It was hard to say good bye to the Clack ESD kids. I truly loved that job. It opened my eyes to a whole community of people that i have learned to adore. It was some of the most challenging moments but I learned so much i wouldn't take that time back for anything. The day after Labor day, I'll be starting at Ellsworth Elementary, in Vancouver. I'll be working 1 on 1 with a student. I'm excited about this new challenge but I'd really appreciate prayer for patience and endurance.

I'm also very excited about the fact that we are now living in Vancouver and will be able to get involved in our Church more(which is here). If we end up working at AWANA again, I hope to have the opportunity to invite some of the kids from school, to club.

Well i need to get some things done...please let me know how i can be praying for you. I'd also love to hear about some things that you are learning.

the MOVE is complete

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all who helped us move this weekend. A few of us agreed that this was by far one of the smoothest and quickest moves we've been apart of. The U-Haul was loaded and emptied, and the Steele St. address cleaned out and had a walk through in about 4 hours.

Thank you also to Molly, Micah, Yvonne and Lillian for helping us paint. It took 2 days and was a huge project but we are so thankful we got it done before our stuff was in the house. I'll hopefully get pictures up at some point but we'll see.

MOVING!

So the plan is we will be closing on the new house, this Wednesday June 27th (happy birthday Molly!) On the 28th we are getting keys and priming like mad. :) Then we are filling the U-haul on Saturday morning and moving on up to Washington land!!

Please continue to pray that closing will go smooth! need more info or if you want to help from either the Oregon side or Washington side, email me bethany_ahrendt@hotmail.com.

New House.... please pray with us that this will work out!

New house preview

This has been quite a process! We knew that it would be but i guess i thought that once we found one then things would get rolling. We've put four different actual written offers on places that we thought would be right and one verbal but each time the door has been closed..some softly others more like slams. The one above, we are both very excited about. If things go smoothly we'll be signing papers on the 27th of June and getting keys on the 29th. So, if anyone would like to help us move or paint..please let us know :)

We've done the inspection and that went great...now it's all about financing :)...Please pray that we'll be patient and really be seeking the Lord in this time. What ever happens, we'll be out of this place by the 30th because our lease will be up. So if things take a few more days with the financing then that, then we'll be staying with Dusty's sister. Let me know if you have any questions!

the Old days

So I'm down in Hauser right now to hang out withy my mom for Mother's day. We got a call at 5 this morning, from a lady in the park, saying the lower field was on fire. So i got dressed and ran down there and Bill (my dad's bestfriend who lives across from my mom now with his family) and Betty where already down there. Somebody decided to start a fire in the burn pile without telling anyone about it so a concerned neighbor called the fire department. Caleb(Bill's son) is a Volunteer at the all Volunteer fire department in town. So with their sirens blazing they came down to save us all. The guy got a talking to about what channels he needs to go thru to do something like that. Being the Oregon Coast, everything was damp from the morning dew but it still needs to be checked out by the Forest people.

Oh to be home again.... :)

Moving to Vancouver

We put an offer on a house and it was accepted! We still have the inspection and all that but i thought i'd at least share that for now. :)

God Bless

This last week or two

It has been a long time since I've written in here. It seems I've had a chance to do a lot of things recently and see a lot of people but it hasn't really been our new things. A couple of weeks ago i went down to hang out with my mom for a few days, over my spring break. While we were admiring the view up near Fircroft, in Bandon, i got a call from Joy saying her water broke. I was planning on heading up to hang out with her for a few days before she had her baby, so when i got to the North coast i got to meet Nora Evangeline Duff. During those two days i stayed with the Cherry's in Cannon Beach (Dusty's relatives). That was a lot of fun and was close to Ecola so i got to hang out with Heidi Ogg and Tina. It was a great long weekend..but it was good to get home and see Dusty. We were hoping to get the Sticklers moved that weekend (i got back from the beach on Wednesday) but that didn't end up happening until the next week. In the middle of this we went up to Dusty's cousin Stevens wedding in Seattle(pictures on the Cherry blog) So that was weekend of getting there house and yard cleaned up and then getting them finally moved on Wednesay of this week the 4th. But i'm sure one of the Stick's will eventually blog all about it and you can read more details about that adventure then.

Last night we got back from hanging out in Yakima with Dusty's parents. We got to Yakima on Saturday night and stayed with the Ahrendts. Aunt Elaine, Nicole, Tristan, Little Caileen, Shellie, and Matt all came over to play games. (i hope i didn't forget anybody) Then on Sunday after Easter Service, we went up to Leavonworth for a night. That was fun and very beautiful. The snow is still all over the hills and it's a beautiful place anyway. I'll try to get some pictures up sometime. The next day we headed back to Yakima for the night. Before we headed back to Portland we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and then went out to Dusty's dad's school to see his classroom. He's a second grade teacher and it was cool to see his classroom even if we were to late to see his kid's.

Ok this has turned into a journal...i'll write more later.

Chuck E. Cheese

Today i went to my cousin Tanya's daughter Kaysha's 3rd birthday party. It was a lot of fun and the Chuck E. Cheese in Beaverton was pretty nice compared to the one that's near our house, which hasn't changed since the 1980's. It was sensory overload but the kid's had a blast. Here are a few pictures.

Beachy

Here are a few pictures that I got from my mom, of Cannon Beach last weekend. One of the Pastor's at Hauser Church, were at the Conference Center and took them. I thought they were pretty awesome and wanted to pass them on. This will always be a place that will feel like home to me. So many good memories and what a challenging two years it was, that i spent there. I have never seen Cannon Beach with this much snow but there's something sweet about place that is so beautiful seeing a and
treasured in it's dress up clothes. It would not have been so special if it happened every day or every year.













Right before Christmas, my friend Heidi was flying thru Portland and we decided that it'd be a good idea to get a few of the old cronies together for the weekend. Heidi flew in on friday and hung out with Amelia till i got off work. We headed down to a little town that i can't even remember the name of, outside of

Newberg and picked up Julie. She works at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, outside Bend and was able to hitch a ride up that far. The next day, Heidi, Amelia, Julie and I headed to Seaside to see Joy. There was no electricity over there so we hung out at Joy's house and had a small baby shower for Joy and Amelia who will both be mommy's in the next few months and then headed to the beach. We were in Gearhart so enjoyed the beach there. It was clear and beautiful, we couldn't have asked for better weather after such a big storm that same week. After goodbyes, we headed back to the city and had dinner at Red Robin. It was Heidi's birthday so she got sung to and then we headed to Melissa's house for some more hanging out time.

World of Warcraft wives

Below the spider image it says: Gamers other half
http://www.cafepress.com/gamerwidow/690242