Yesterday, Nate and I celebrated our 10th year anniversary - WOW! Time has flown by!

It has been a good third of my life and I'm looking forward to see what comes next - all I know is that it feels like an adventure =)

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday - which is interesting especially since I never celebrated it growing up!!!
The food, the football games, the weather (most of the time), and the time with family and friends (without the added pressure of having found the perfect gift) are really precious to me! This year, I've thought more about it than in previous occasions because I won't be celebrating it - I'll be, God willing, in Colombia, enjoying my family before I have to move even farther away from them!!!

However, I know many children who will be here and won't have much of a Thanksgiving celebration. So, this year, the 4th grade team at my school has decided to work together to provide a Thanksgiving dinner/celebration to our grade level students = 105. Most of you reading this blog probably know the population I serve (urban, extremely low socio-economic status), so you understand why I'm writing this.

If you are able to either donate some money toward this event or if you are in the Tampa area and would like to make one of the side dishes and bring it over, it will be greatly appreciated =) We will be holding the celebration on Friday, November 20th at around 12:30 at my school. Just let me know!!!! and thanks in advance =)

... the color of my new passport! This means, I am now the owner of an American passport... and I must confess, it is a strange feeling.

Some people try for years to obtain this little book because it literally opens up the doors to the world for the owner, but when I opened it in the mail, I had mixed feelings... Actually holding this book means that I don't have anything stopping me from starting the process to request a visa to travel to Saudi Arabia - Don't take me wrong, I'm very grateful for how easy this whole citizenship process has been for me, and I can't wait to be reunited with Nate (who by the way, is coming in 13 days!!!! - God willing), but even the thought of saying goodbye to people here, and especially to my family and my students, has me in tears.
I know God has great things planned for us - as long as we continue doing His will and serving Him above everything else - but saying goodbye is still hard... very hard!!!

I also know that this time is going to be a little different because I'm moving to a new place, new culture, with my best friend instead of moving alone, but the pain of starting from zero is still quite vivid... arghhh - that's life, though! Can't wait till the moment when we are all together without having to say goodbye EVER AGAIN!!!!

As part of my job description, I have to attend Writing meetings and trainings throughout the year. At these trainings, we learn how to model lessons for the teachers at our schools, and part of the lesson is to act like the student and actually write!
Well, since Nathan left for Arabia, MANY things have gone wrong over here.... I was warned.... I knew that everything that could break/malfunction/go wrong, would happen now that Nate is gone. However, I wasn't ready for everything to happen at once! Anyway, on Monday I had my first meeting of the year, and the Writing time was the exact therapy I needed after the kind of night I had on Sunday- Pouring the latest drama onto paper and leaving there, really helped! So, I thought I'd shared my "master writing piece" with you.... Can't wait to share it with my 4th graders =)

"Even though I was exhausted, the infernal noise brought me out of my slumber, as my disoriented self was attempting to figure out why I was awake at 3:00 in the morning... THE HORN! I shouted, while I frantically grabbed my robe and rushed out to the humid, wet, and still FL night. My block was dark and quiet with exception of my driveway, where my Honda Accord sat disrupting the muggy night by blaring its horn out of its own accord. "Oh no!" I thought, as I propped the hood open and got ready to silence it by unplugging the two bells - Please work, please work, I whispered to myself while trying to ignore the ringing all around me and now...also inside my head.
My slender hands slid between the bells and got hold of the shaking and burning fuses I needed to pull. "One out and one to go" I mumbled as I struggled to ignore the ringing around me. My watch now said 3:15... and one bell was still causing havoc through the night. At this point, my sleep-deprived nerves were ready to snap, so instead, my kitchen shears snapped the stubborn wire, preventing ME from losing it just as my car had!"

And then, time was up! I hope your month is going better than mine!

So, today, after
an overheated car
having to pull over in the parking lot of an Adult Supercenter in the worst part of town
having to drive back to work one block at a time (literally)
borrowing a car
arriving within seconds of the immigration lady calling my name
answering all kinds of questions about my past and the communist parties I may or may not have joined, and the terrorist cells I may or may not support,
answering 6 questions about the government and history of this country
writing down a simple sentence (Lincoln was the President during the Civil War)
and showing that I can read, write, speak, and understand English well enough to function in this country...

... I was recommended to obtain my citizenship and attend the naturalization ceremony where I will receive my citizenship certificate =)

I know this is a big deal - to me it's just hard to get terribly excited about becoming a citizen of anywhere when I know the only place where I want to make sure to get a Citizenship certificate for is HEAVEN!!!!

Well, plus the fact that I have to get a new radiator, fan, oil something or other, and a couple of other things for my car, kind of puts a cork on my bottle of enthusiasm for the day =P

Thank you to all of you who were praying for me today =)