firsts

So i'm graduating in about four weeks and although I've been looking forward to it for the last year, I'm surprisingly nervous. This is the first time in my life that I haven't known at all what the future holds and where I will end up next. I've applied for teaching jobs all over Arizona and in a few districts in Washington and Oregon. Ty had a hard time moving out of Chandler just to come to Flag and I thought he'd be more nervous than me about a big move like that but he is mellow as ever (typical for Ty, right?). I feel like we are about to enter legit adulthood which means careers and children. Eeek.

Last night I got my first blessing from Ty. I woke up around 3am and felt like I had been poisoned or somehow stabbed from the inside. I am usually the one in our relationship that suggests spiritual solutions like reading scriptures or praying for help, but amidst my wailing, Ty suggested the blessing. After snuggling with me on the bathroom floor for a few minutes, he also went to the Circle K next to our apartment to buy some Gatorade in the middle of the night. Within half an hour I was able to go back to sleep and even made it to work this morning like nothing had even happened. This was really the first time I've been able to see the miracles and blessings of the priesthood in our marriage and it is truly incredible. I know I picked the right guy and can't wait for more of these miracles over the years.

My student teaching is going a lot better these days (which I never thought I'd say). I taught my own unit during the last three weeks. It was an entire unit about Africa and I did a LOT of research in preparation. I taught the kids about one animal every day and they really picked up on some interesting facts about each one, like how a giraffe can kick 360 degrees with every foot and elephants can snorkel with their trunks above the water. We also learned a lot about how people live in different regions. My main goal was to educate the kids that not all people in Africa are black and poor and live in grass huts. We learned about the big cities and the different things that people typically do for work there. Next week we are going to learn about diamonds and food crops. Surprisingly, my coop. teacher has only had positive things to say about all the lessons I've prepared. She asked for copies of all the activities I did with the kids and wrote me a nice letter of recommendation. I'm glad things are going better now toward the end.

For those of you interested, my graduation is on May 9. The weather is going to be fantastic and its a great excuse for a vacation =) I'm going to be mailing announcement thingies this week.