#rwanderful: Day 1

I'm exhausted, so this will be short.

We all got in last night safe and sound with all of our luggage. #winning

Passionfruit juice after you get off the plane, wait forever in customs, get your baggage, and drive to the guest house is the best treat.

Today, we had a meeting and orientation with the Africa New Life teaching leadership. We also met with the Kigali schools' head teachers (principals). During our conversations, we learned more about what has happened in the Kigali schools since we were here last year with their transition from knowledge based learning to competency based learning. (Fancy word for student centered)

Zach and John Africa

There is a school that is 1-to-1 with laptops in Kigali. We will get to see what that looks like next week, and we can offer some classroom management feedback since many of us have been on the struggle bus with technology at some point.

Lunch was at Meze Fresh (Rwandan Chipotle). I was pretty excited to have a burrito.

Anna, Alice, and me

Amanda, Me, and Bunmi

Because why wouldn't you need a selfie with the fun wall at Meze Fresh?

We had some home visits which never get old. Janet got to visit Blaze and Sandrine, and Amy, who is in Rwanda for the first time, got to meet Emmanuel, his sisters, and his mom. All the kids are able to speak English really well, which is very encouraging this as we continue to work with teachers and their classrooms.

Sandrine and Janet

Amy and Emmanuel

We exchanged money, and I'm ready to shop. I don't think anyone is surprised.

We got a good start on planning the conference on Friday and Saturday, which is good. We will have a couple of long days ahead of us this week and not a ton of time to plan. It will come together because God is in control and knows what we need to discuss with the teachers to help improve their classrooms. I'm excited. The conference is going to be really impactful and helpful.

That ended up being longer than I thought since I got a second wind. But now...sleep.

Love y'all!

#rwanderful: Packing

This year has been crazy. Apparently I haven't blogged since August. Oh well. I'm just leaving room for grace.

The packing for three weeks is looming, and I am procrastinating by blogging. :) Even though I dislike packing, this year is fantastic because I can have 2 bags weighing up to 70 pounds. SEVENTY. That's 40 more pounds than I've ever been able to pack before. That's a lot of shoes.

I'm kidding. One suitcase is entirely things that I am leaving in Rwanda. I am able to take so much stuff to the schools and classrooms and the children sponsored by friends of mine. 70 pounds worth. YIPPEE!

Ok for real...I am going to pack now, but here are some things you can be praying for as we get on planes tomorrow.

• Safety as we all travel from different parts of the country and safety while we’re there

• Unity for our team since most of us do not know each other and will meet for the first time in Rwanda

• Rest on the airplane and that first night in Rwanda, so we aren’t completely exhausted

• Humility and willingness to let the Lord lead in whatever ways He deems important

• Continued clarity from the Lord on what my future looks like in Rwanda 

• This year, I have been more anxious going into the trip. I am missing friends who normally go with me. I am staying longer than I ever have before. Please pray for peace and no anxiety or worry.

Thank you friends! I'm looking forward to sharing my time in Rwanda with all of you.

The Music Is Back

Music has always been a huge part of my life.

When I was very young, I remember my daddy's guitar and the piano in our house. I didn't know how to play either, but they were there. I remember one Mother's Day when I was in early elementary school, when my mom and I sang a duet together in church. I also participated in the church musicals with my brother. Pretty sure a wore a poodle skirt one time. We were the cutest. 

[Note to self: go find these pictures.]

In the 5th grade, I learned to play the flute. I continued all the way through college in marching and concert band. My junior year of high school I started to learn the piccolo for concert season and played that in the marching band at Texas Tech in the Goin Band. I still play both instruments, but not as often as I'd like.

After 7th grade, I started singing at church in the youth group band. Props to Goob (aka my good friend Jeremy) for trying to teach me to sing, have confidence, not be afraid of failing or looking dumb, and for putting up with me for so many years. I still have to work on those things daily and surrender those things to Jesus. I sang at church as a backup singer through high school and when I returned from college on breaks. I learned so much about myself, God, and music through these years.

During college, I was diagnosed with Type 1-Diabetes. After that, worship at church, at home, or in the car was usually filled with tears and trying to lead others in song would have been a hot mess. I stopped singing in public for awhile. Goob told me when I moved home after college that he wanted me to sing again on Sunday mornings. In tears, I told him that he didn't want me blubbering in front of everyone, and I wanted no part of that. But he kept pushing me and told me it might help me by singing in front of people again. He challenged me in a way that no one else could, and I finally said yes. Music began to enter my life publicly again. It was hard, and I felt so vulnerable sharing such personal feelings and pain with others around me. 

Fast forward a couple months. I left the church I grew up in to help start a church as their girl's minister. Through that, I had many opportunities to lead worship again. It challenged me in ways I hadn't been previously because I was leading more and not just singing backup. Tim, the pastor of the church, gave me opportunities to lead and grow in my musical abilities even though I didn't feel qualified. I learned from so many wonderful women who sing far better than me during my time there.

When I changed churches about a year later, I started going to a much larger church. Since it's larger, they have many great singers and didn't need my mediocre talents. It's been four years of going to this church, and I have always wanted to get back on stage to lead others in worship. I never felt qualified. I never felt like I had enough talent. I never felt like I had enough time to give on a Sunday where lesson planning and grading take all my energy along with my very few days of rest.

The problem is [NEWSFLASH] It's not about me. 

What? Crazy.

It's about taking my talents and the gifts GOD has given me to serve Him more fully. 

After my trip to Rwanda this year with a sweet friend who sings on Sundays at my church and other friends who are all about challenging me and my lack of confidence, I said yes to leading on a regular basis.

This is a leap of faith because I don't have a perfect singing voice, and I don't have a ton of time to give places other than school. BUT I know that I need to use this gift in the ways God calls me, even when it's scary, uncertain, and I don't feel worthy. 

It's also a testament to how God wired us and designed how we more fully glorify Him. It takes others building relationships with us to help us grow, learn, and improve by challenging us. It's what is expected of me at work as a teacher, that I build relationships with kids and other teachers. Why wouldn't it be the same in my walk with Jesus? My parents, Chris, Claire, my band directors, Goob, Tim, Laney, Val, Reagan, Jami, Ranelle, Kayla, Lauren, Lizzie, Janet, Alison, Josh, Luke, Stephanie, Lincee, and so many others who either helped me grow as a musician or challenged me when I didn't necessarily want to be challenged. 

Tonight, I'm leading worship for the first time in 4 years. So here I go. Jumping in all the way and saying yes to God's plan for the gifts He's blessed me with. Pray for me. I'm going to need it. 

#TMC16 Recap

I got home from Twitter Math Camp 2016 (TMC) almost a week ago, and I just haven't been highly motivated to sit down and write a recap. Every other year, I can't wait to come home and share all the great things with the people who read my blog. This year was different, though. I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it's a combination of things. Right before TMC a student at Jonathan's and my school passed away suddenly (he wrote a beautiful tribute here, but pack your tissues), I found out my grandmother had a stroke on the last day of TMC, and I am still processing a lot of heavy things as I learn more about moving to Rwanda. It has been a heavy summer. Great, but heavy. More so than I was anticipating.

I also wanted to get right to work on the things I learned and how I want to make changes in my room. I didn't want to waste the little time I have left of summer on blogging. As I started writing my recap though, I realized how much I needed to write in order to process some of the things we discussed last week. So here's what's been bouncing around in my head.

Wednesday

I got to see my #soulsister Casey after almost an entire year of being apart. #blessed

pink sparkly cupcake and being reunited!

He hates pictures so much.

Thursday

Casey and I dragged Jonathan to the Mall of America. I'm kidding. It brought him great joy to hang out with the two of us and keep us out of trouble. We found this amazing nerd store (Marbles: The Brain Store) and J and I bought almost the entire stock of Mobi games (Bananagrams but building math equations instead) for our classrooms. Casey found a game for her classroom too. Overall, it was a good day at the mall. The giant NFL football helmets were great too.

Future Mrs. JJ Watt 

obviously

Later that night, we met up with lots of TMC friends who were getting into town. It was crazy, but Casey and I went back to the hotel with smiles on our faces so excited about the next few days.

Friday

Descon! The Pre-TMC Desmos day completely overwhelmed my brain, and I did not know where or how to focus my time. Card Sort is a really cool new feature and a visually impaired student has the ability to use Desmos too. The Desmos crew never ceases to amaze all of its teacher fans. They are the smartest people who after you've asked a seemingly complicated question say oh of course let me show you how to do that.

That night we went to the Minnesota Twins game. So fun with friends, but Casey broke up with me for taking a selfie and sending it on the snapchat. Oops.

Saturday

TMC BEGINS! Deb and I matched unintentionally, and it was awesome.

I went to the greatest Morning Session I have ever been to. Michelle Naidu did an excellent job sharing her experiences with differentiating in class to reach all her students and help them close the gaps in their learning. I am taking activities and pieces of how she differentiated her classroom to make it fit my pre-cal classes. I loved the activities like snowball and our group thinking/concerns sheets where over the three days we filled in how much we felt like we addressed the topics on our sheet.

After that, I went to Getting Triggy With It with Fouss. She used lots of ideas I have used and seen before but forget about during the school year. It was good to be reminded of things I have seen, ways to make things better that I have used in the past, and also to see some new ideas.

Sunday

After lunch, I talked in front of the entire group and didn't throw up. I gave a My Favorite about Rwanda and got lots of great feedback. A couple people are interested in coming next year on the teacher trip and others are excited to learn more about serving other communities in new ways. It has been a journey for me and I loved being able to share that with my math community.

Then, we heard from Tracy Zager who challenged us to share with multiple grade levels. This struck a chord with me because it is exactly what the American team shared with the Rwandan teachers, but I hadn't considered taking that idea home to my school district. I am not sure anyone is open to hearing about it at home, but I want to continue to think of ways we could use this. Even if it is just with my elementary school teacher friends, I should be listening, helping, and sharing with them every chance I get. Collaborating across grade levels is going to help us all get better.

Debating in math class with Chris Luzniak was next mostly because my brain was mush after presenting and I just followed Jonathan where he went. I am so glad I went! I loved this idea of always having a second answer in math class where you have to back up your answer somehow. It scares me to try something so outside of what I am comfortable with, but it will be so worth it.

I went to warm-up routines with Jessica Bogie and Lisa Bejarano for the last session of the day. This really encouraged me to create a plan for the week so that my kids aren't bored doing the exact same thing every day. I love Estimation180, Which one doesn't belong?, Open Middle Problems, Find the Flub, Counting Circles, and Clothesline Math, but now I just need to come up with the structure to utilize them all.

We ended the night with trivia and ice cream. #TeamDibs was great and I am so glad I got to know Glenn and Dave better. Such intelligent and funny guys! 3rd place just gives us room to improve for next year. :)

We all changed our pictures to this during trivia. #shenanigans

Team Dibs! *Dividing Is Before Subtracting* or *Dibs Is Bringing Sparkle* whichever you prefer

Monday

Highlight of today was Max's rational function session. Alex and I loved it so much that we skipped the flex session to continue working on our card sort that we hadn't finished yet. Then I worked with Sam and we chatted about Pre-Cal. I would love to teach at the same school as this guy (actually all of these great teachers at TMC, but that might get a little cray).

As stupid as this sounds, I really loved "watching" The Bachelorette with my math friends. Casey, Heather and I all live in different time zones and can't even tweet at each other without spoilers and 2 hour delays in conversation. For the first time ever, we were all in the same place to watch this ridiculous show. No one actually heard anything that was said because of all the drunken yelling, but whatevs. I loved it.

I love these girls. So. Much.

At home, I hide behind the couch cushions. I could not do that here. Do not judge me. 

Monday night I was in the Zeta house where they were practicing the dance for the TMC party anthem, and I joined in on the fun. Thanks for letting me be a part of such greatness!

Tuesday

Great My Favorites. Song. Go watch it! Lisa's speech. Announcement for next year's TMC in Atlanta. Tears. Saying goodbye to my ex #soulsister. Post TMC lunch and party in the airport.

Song Team!

Last lunch! Sad face!

I will miss these people if I can't go next year. I can't think about it or I will be too sad.

This year, I went outside my comfort zone of only talking to my people, and it played in my favor. I enjoyed myself much more. I made so many new friends. I really feel like I belong in this community and have things to contribute. It is a little crazy that it has taken 4 summers for me to get to this point, but I am really glad I've gotten there now.

To the newbies: Don't make it take 4 trips to TMC for you to make friends. I know it's scary, but it's so worth it and everyone is VERY accepting. Also present something, even if you think no one wants to hear about it. They probably do, and bonus you'll make more friends that way.

#Rwandering: Day 12

4 am: Wake up, get dressed, go eat breakfast.

4:15 am: 2 jeeps arrive to take us to the Akagera National Park

5 am: get in jeeps to head out on our safari

5:20 am: 1 jeep gets a flat tire

5:40 am: both jeeps get back on the road and head west towards the park

8:15 am: Both jeeps make it safely to the park and we're ready for our adventure with animals.

It was an early morning today, but we had many adventures and got to see lots of animals. 

Some highlights for me were:

1. Hearing everyone's reactions to their favorite animals. Carol's reactions were especially fun and exciting to listen to as I sat next to her in the back seat.

2. Carol had some amazing animal sounds.

3. We filmed footage for our "Africa" music video. Thank you Toto for such a perfect song.

4. We got SUPER close to some giraffes and zebras.

5. Best part of the day was the first few minutes when we saw the biggest elephant ever with a little white bird sitting on top of him. Amazing!

6 pm: We arrived safely back to the guest house.

9 pm: We all fell into bed fast asleep.

Tomorrow we must say goodbye and head home. This part is always challenging. Pray for safe travels and not too tearful goodbyes. 

PS. I'll post pictures later. Too tired. :)