First Day!

The first day of school is complete!! I took some pictures before and after school so that you can see some of what I saw today. :) Praise God for His enabling me to get through a full day of subjects for all three grades! It was an exciting day for all and it's so good to be back teaching again!






This is my classroom!












This is Guimel, our new 11th grade librarian.








The high school hallway is decorated with flags representing the nationalities of all our students.













...and some educational quotes...













These are our two high school teachers, Nick and Craig.

Our Elementary students! Except Joao...

Sophomore, Thais.

Senior, Alison.










My class: Noah, Larissa, Sunny, Tori













This is Larissa, my 5th grader, with her parents after school.











These are the new Hamal cousins. Don't ask me to spell their names, I'd butcher them! They're from Nepal.










This is Maddie and Emma, future students! We figured it out today... they are the class of 2022. Yikes!



Well that wraps it up for the first day. Can't wait to go back tomorrow!! :)

Zero Hour and the Schwa

Well, I guess it's not quite zero hour yet, but close enough for me. I'm in bed, trying to get my last minute stuff done on my computer, thinking that I should post something to my blog in order to stall getting my other work done. However I don't know that you can call it stalling when the thing you're doing in procrastination is actually something else that's productive. So anyways, the Parent-Teacher Tea went very well, excepting that we had no tea, but that was planned. :) At one point in the evening I heard lots of noise coming from upstairs, where the elementary portion of the school is located, to find the elementary students sitting in Miss Flietstra's classroom "playing school." I thought that was somewhat funny.
I've been frying my brain out for the past 4 days trying to figure out how to teach 3 grades at once. I planned on it taking about 2.5 hours to do my lesson plans and it took me about 6 hours. I am learning new things that I didn't know before like there is such a vowel sound as "the schwa" and what in the world does biogeochemical mean?? 5th grade stuff is harder than 2nd grade stuff!! Please pray for me. I am hoping and praying that God will give me a more clear knowledge of how to do this in less time. That was just the lesson plans, on top of that each week, there is the gathering of materials, photocopying, and other such things that come with being a teacher. The reward for this past week's work, however, will come tomorrow when I get to teach them. I can't wait. :)
Here is a way that you can pray for me in my personal life this school year. I have set one solid personal goal for myself, and that is to be more disciplined. I had one thing in particular in mind when I set that goal, but then started to realize just how much else in my life needs to be more disciplined. I have listed 13 things that I think should be a regular daily or weekly part of my life that I am really quite bad at doing consistently. I am so much a happier and healthier person when I stick to habits and routines. I will still be random though- don't worry. :)
Well, I have the privilege of conducting our 8 a.m. Staff Devotions this week and I need to gather my thoughts for tomorrow morning before I can drift off to dreamland tonight.
I'm getting up at 6 a.m... that's right... discipline.

Boxes and Jet Lag

Praise God with me that BOTH of my boxes arrived and I picked them up today at the post office with NO customs hassle or charges! Also praise God with me that He kept them in tact-- the one was just about to fall apart! It was an interesting ordeal finding out just WHICH post office was holding them, but with the help of a faithful friend, I found them and they are unpacked and re-packed and ready to take over to the school tomorrow.
I am still in the process of setting up my classroom and helping to get the Elementary school in order for our Parent-Teacher Tea on Thursday. We have our first teacher staff meeting tomorrow morning to touch base with each other. Please pray that we work together well as a team!
Also, thank the Lord that I had a VERY easy adjustment to the time change. I was never as groggy feeling as I have been in the past and I was completely over jet lag in about 2 days.

What's so very amazing to me about these two things is that I know people were praying for them specifically. God is so good to hear our prayers and answer, even things that seem small. :)

Gearing Up

School is almost here and I CAN'T WAIT! My new roomie's name is Laurie Flietstra and she is the other elementary teacher this year, handling 1st and 2nd grades, among many other things! The two of us have already put in some time at the school, she is there right now and I am on my way over soon. My classroom is beginning to look like a classroom, just without the children. :)
Pray for me this week as I will be preparing lesson plans, finishing classroom setup, and re-meeting the parents and students at our Parent-Teacher Tea this Thursday evening.
Please also continue to pray that my first box arrives soon and does not get stopped in customs. I mailed it in enough time to receive it last week, as it has mostly school supplies in it, and have yet to receive it. I believe that God is in the details and He can make something as small as a box get to me on time. :)
I spent this morning worshiping at my church here, Igreja Baptista de Loures, and had a great time reconnecting with friends. PRAISE GOD that I understood even more of the sermon than I did when I left in June. God is great!

I Have Arrived

...no, not spiritually speaking, but I have arrived in Portugal. I got up about 45 minutes ago at 8:30am, which was 3:30am Eastern Standard Time... tammy time... and I am trying with all my might to drink the coffee sitting beside me and fight the urge to go back to bed!
I arrived yesterday morning after a good flight. God blessed me in that I was able to sleep about 4-5 hours, which I've never done before. I sat next to a wonderful girl named Kiki (I'm not sure that's how you spell it??) who just graduated from UCLA with a degree in European Studies and is moving to Portugal to find some sort of a job, maybe teach English, and see where things go from there. Kiki if you're reading this, HI!! and tell me how to spell your name haha.
Yesterday I had the HUGE blessing of being picked up at the airport by the Thomases. Noah Thomas was one of my students last year and will be one of my students in 3rd grade this year. He was also there with his younger sisters, Ellie (2nd grade this year) and Maddie (not yet in school!)... and of course, their parents, Jeff and Jenny, faithful missionaries here in Portugal. They took me to my apartment after we picked up the car I'll be driving this year and left me so that I could sleep!! I woke up around 2:00 after a 2.5 hr nap and did some grocery shopping and eventually ended up going to the theater last night to see the newest Mummy (critic Tammy says don't waste your money on that one...). I went to bed but didn't end up falling asleep until about 2 am. However, God helped me to wake up and actually get out of bed (SHOCKING) at 8:30 when my alarm went off and now here I am posting to my blog. Two things you thought I was not capable of doing haha.
WELL, some things you can pray for-
1. Please continue to pray for the Schleners. Pray for Elena as her body battles the cancer. Pray for Phil and Elena as they make decisions together. And please pray for the "kids" (not all of them are still kids!), I'll name them again for you here so you can bring them before our God by name. Matthew (5th grade), Louisa (9th grade), Austin (11th grade), Erik (12th grade), Jessica (college Sophomore), Chris (Air Force). God is mighty!
2. Pray that I adjust to the time change quickly.
3. Pray for school!! There are 4 of us teachers this year and we have a big job ahead of us. Pray for the children to grow closer to the Lord this year and also to LEARN STUFF! :)
4. This may sound small, but I have 2 boxes coming to me that I mailed to myself last week. Please pray they don't get stopped in customs. That could end up being costly for me.
And finally, things to praise God for-
1. Safe flight
2. The blessings of my missionary family here
3. My luggage made it! (Please still pray for my boxes!)
4. I've already had some language successes which by human means is shocking! Therefore, we know that it is from the Lord. "Every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of Lights." :)

Okay. On my agenda for today is to meet up with my good friends, the Herricks for lunch and then tonight attend the birthday party of 5 yr old Emma Lowe. :) And also unpack. And maybe hit the school for a little bit. :)

Ciao for now!

Prayer Cards

Hey my new prayer cards are done, courtesy of Joel Rogers Design :)

Feel free to pick up 1, 2, or 10 at my table on Sunday, as I have like 1,000 to give away. Even if you got some in the mail, feel free to take more!!

Top Tens

Top Ten Things I Miss About Portugal:

10. People who blankly stare at me when I speak "Portuguese"
9. People who let me unknowingly struggle through speaking Portuguese then start speaking to me in English
8. Curves in Odivelas... the American Curves got nothin on my Curves in Portugal
7. The wind
6. The view
5. The band
4. My new friends
3. The other missionaries
2. The students
1. THE COFFEE :)

Top Ten Things I Will Miss About the States:

10. Carpet
9. Gas prices (yes, hard to believe, but gas costs more than double in Portugal than it does in the States)
8. Not worrying about the apt gas tank running out while I'm in the shower
7. Roads that make sense to me
6. Coffee to-go
5. REAL pizza
4. The Phillies and Eagles
3. Church in English
2. My friends
1. My family

I thank God that Jesus is the same- yesterday, today, forever, and across the Atlantic. :) Pray for me that I re-adjust quickly and I continue to feel the stability of God.