Just so you know

I have started a new blog to document my journey to India. There are many reasons for this, but one of the greatest being that I want to have a different feel to that blog than this one has. I have not decided yet what is going to happen to this blog after I leave for India. I have thought about keeping it for updates when I'm in the states (my sister's wedding etc) but I'm not sure. Part of me wants to just go ahead and end it when I graduate. I love this blog, it has been the perfect way to document my college experience and I would not delete it, but I also feel like it may be time to start something new for this next chapter in my life.

Until May, I will be posting on both blogs, so follow both :) and I will keep you updated about the future for An Everyday Tar Heel.

Go over to my new blog- Trading Ashes in For Beauty- and check it out!

I am so excited for what God has in store for me in the future and I look forward to sharing it with you! 

One of those weeks....

It has just been one of those weeks.

Cold and rainy. Indoor recess.

Sick again. I haven't felt completely well in months. I have just become used to having a runny nose. But this time my voice/throat were soar.

Teaching all day with a sore throat sucks.

I was tired and grumpy all week, so of course the kids seemed worse (at least worse than normal). I had very little patience for their nonsense, for the talking and the goofing off.

Math on Tuesday put me in such a funk that even reading Percy Jackson for 20 minutes afterwards couldn't lift me out of it. (Let me tell you, that is a serious funk)

Tuesday night at small group, we spent the evening talking about prayer and then praying for an extended time. As we were spending time confessing our sin, I thought back on the day- every word I said that was too harsh, every time I didn't have enough patience for a child, and so on. Cause that's what it is, sin.

Oh how I need God's grace for this every day, every hour. His grace to have patience when they just won't stop talking. His grace to have love even with those kids who sit on my last nerve. His grace to take the time to listen to them and not just rush off to the next thing. His grace to stay focused when I want to think forward to India plans.

Grace.

I want these children to see God's love through me everyday. I know that I am not always reflective of His love, but that is my desire and my prayer. That they would see Him when they look at me.


This week hasn't been all bad, of course.

My students have been rocking it out with the writing unit we have been doing. They had to do research on an environmental issue and then write a persuasive essay/paragraph trying to get their reader to do something to effect the issue. This is super hard, but they have been doing awesome! They also have made presentations about their issues and they did a really great job with this. We show the presentations for parents/friends tomorrow. I'm super proud of the work that they have done and I'm excited for their parents to get to see it.

We have also started a new reading unit where we are studying Greek mythology (hence reading Percy Jackson). I personally love mythology (although all my knowledge comes from reading Percy Jackson) but its so fun to learn about. I finally feel like I am contributing a lot to the other teachers on the team- this is my jam. I may not know a lot about teaching geometry, but I know mythology. And the kids are loving it. They are so into reading the Lightning Thief. When I stopped reading yesterday, they groaned, loudly. They are always asking me questions and begging to read ahead. They are also loving reading other books and learning more about the Greek gods and goddesses. All around, super fun.

All around, I don't think this week has been too much worse than other weeks. I have just allowed myself to feel overwhelmed and stressed when I didn't need to be. I am very ready for spring break and it is hard to know that my friends will be on break next week when I still have a few more weeks to go. But I will survive.

My time with these kids is drawing to an end. They were asking me if we could have a party on the last day of school and I laughed and told them that I would be India then. That's crazy. They will be finishing school and I will already have been in India for several weeks.

They are so cute when I talk about India. They ask so many questions and are so interested. I love it. They ask me to send them postcards and I tell them that I will, of course, send them something. (I will have to somehow remember to do that hmm...)

so this post is all over the place so I'm going to stop now. The good and the bad. That's what teaching is I'm realizing. Taking them both and learning to push through the bad for the sake of the good. I do love my kids and seeing them really get it is so exciting. And as much as they drive me crazy, I know that I am going to miss them so much.

(They have also been all up in my personal life lately...)

Here I go....

I've talked about it more than 4 years now...

Prayed about it, dreamed about it...

Each time I left, I looked forward to the day that I would get to stay...


Well, that day is coming. Very soon.

I have already told most of you this, but for those who haven't heard my exciting news...

I'm going to India!!!

(To stay this time!!)

I sent R an e-mail last fall saying, "I've been talking about moving to India for 4 years so I guess its time to do it now...."

I'm graduating in less than 3 months. That alone is ridiculously scary to me. 

I'll be leaving for 3 months in India a week and a half later. 

I used to joke about getting on a plane for India the day after graduation, I guess God took that joke seriously.

Here's what the next year is going to look like for me:

Graduate on May 12

Leave for India on May 23 (with an awesome team from Summit including my mom and brother!!!)

Team will leave India on June 2 (or something like that)

I will stay in India until the end of August.

K gets married on Sept 14(!!!!!!)

I will be around NC doing various things for a few months (more details on that as I have them)

Return to India sometime after Thanksgiving and stay for 6 months (so until about May)

This is more than I could have hoped or dreamed. God has been so faithful in providing a way for me to be in India. I am so excited to get to return and see all of my dear friends. I can't wait to introduce my mom to all my girls at the orphanage and show her and my brother around the place that I love so much. I can't wait to see my brother playing with the boys, they are going to love him! 

I have a lot to do in the next 3 months. I am already really busy with student teaching, but I know that God will provide all the time that I need to get ready. I will be keeping you updated on here about my journey as I prepare to go and raise support, etc. 

I am already getting together my support team (both financial support, but more importantly prayer support). If you would like to be on my support team and receive e-mail updates from me, please message me on Facebook or send me an e-mail as lsdroege@gmail.com. I am looking for people to choose one day of the month to commit to pray for me every month (stole this idea from a friend). If you would like to commit to pray for me, please let me know. I know that it will be encouraging to me this summer to be able to look at my calendar and know exactly who is praying for me that day.

Guys, I am so excited! I hope that you will join me on this crazy journey that God has set before me. It will be May 23 before I know it!! I can't wait!!