Lessons and Decisions

I know it has been quite some time since I have written anything on here but to be perfectly honest I have had nothing to say. The past two months have truly been the most trying months of my life. Not only is being a high school teacher starting to really wear me down but being the face of the Pohnpei SDA School/Church is taking its tole. However, I have learned several lessons and made some life altering decisions.
The first life lesson I have learned is that some times you just need "me" time. At first being here with 20 other SM's was an amazing, thrilling experience now however being with the same people 24/7 for 7 months straight is starting to get to us. We are starting to get on each others nerves more easily and those little things that use to just be "whatever" matters are now matters of annoyance. Don't get me wrong we all still love each other but being with anyone that much, is to much. So, sometimes just staying back from group activities all by your lonesome and baking, cleaning, reading, or sleeping is the way to go!
The second life lesson I have learned is that patience isn't always the answer. Now I know this may sound a little weird since patience is a virtue and all but being a high school teacher I have learned that there is a fine line between patience and letting kids get away with stuff and sometimes that line is a little blurry. More than any other life lessons these kids need to learn responsibility and respect, they are severally lacking in both areas. I have decided that although I am patient in the area of learning I will not be in most other areas, so I made a trip to the office and now I have a nice large stack of demerits and I'm going to be giving them out faster than sweet corn in the beginning of July (OK maybe not that fast but you get the idea).
There are more life lessons but we will leave it to those two for now and move on to my life altering decision! I am changing my major. I know some of you are probably thinking "oh goodness, not again" but I've decided I'm young I can take my time to figure out the major I want for the rest of my life. When I came to Pohnpei I was planning on getting an AS in Allied Health: Physical Therapy and then going on to Loma Linda for my doctorate in Physical Therapy. Now, however, I am planning on getting my BS in Health Science with a minor in Business Administration and most likely going on to get my MBA. I have a deep love for medicine and science but it was always hard for me to pick an area, every area that I looked into or shadowed I loved! So, this year I have discovered that perhaps the reason I could never decide is because thats not exactly what I'm suppose to do, perhaps medicine is a hobby and God has a different purpose for me. At this point in my life I feel called to combine my love for medicine and my strong/organized/take charge personality and eventually become a hospital administrator, if all goes according to plan. God will lead!

Life

Life is messed up. Life isn’t fair. Things don’t always happen the way we think they should but we have to get up every morning and see just what God has in store for that day. No matter how much evil, no matter how much pain, no matter what happens God has a plan and will use every piece of our sinful life to make something beautiful! Each and every one of us is a masterpiece crafted by the ultimate artist, healer, protector, and friend. There is no possible way we can fail with someone so incredible by our side. So take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad and let God lead you to the perfect place, at the perfect time, in the perfect way.

Mr. and Mrs. Calculus

Mr. and Mrs. Calculus

We were the staff models for the Freshman Welcome Party. We chose nerdy as our theme! :)

Sabbath Afternoon

Roomies :)

Living together in a foreign country for 10 months makes us familia.

My island family

Scuba

I am getting certified to scuba dive! I am very excited. We went on our first dive on Sunday and it was amazing! At first I forgot that I could breath underwater sense I had the tank so I would just hold my breath but then I would remember and boom I was a fish in no time! I had a few problems equalizing, popping, my ears but other than that it was splendid. You wear a weight belt to make you sink and mine was definitely heavy enough cause I sank like a rock to the bottom of the ocean. We practiced sharing oxygen with our buddy and other safety things. My buddy, Josh, and I are obviously the best but we tried not to out shine the others to much. Just kidding!! Anyways, so after one dive we are half way certified. Sunday after next we will go on another dive, take the final written exam the following tuesday, and I will be certified for up to 65 ft. Our instructor can certify every type of diving though so I'm thinking I might continue and get certified for 130 ft and maybe night diving! Our instructor is one of our parents here at school, he is awesome and so much fun! Who's getting scuba diving certified on the island of Pohnpei? This girl!

What to do when you don't know what to do.

There is a poster up in my classroom that says "What to do when you don't know what to do" it has a list of things student's can do if they finish their work, reading, or whatever before the other students. Today I was sitting in my classroom grading papers and I was feeling defeated. It's only the first week of school and my kids are barely passing. What am I doing wrong?? I help them as much as I possibly can and I am moving as slow as possible. I love my kids and I think they are brilliant, don't get me wrong I just don't know how to bring that brilliance out. In America education is the focus of our kids, here it is not.
So what do I do when I don't know what to do??? I give the kids a nice list but there is no list for the  teacher. I put my head down on my desk and pleaded with God to give me wisdom and creativity to teach my kids. I know most of you might be thinking come on Macy you are teaching Health, Physical Science, and PE those aren't hard classes but they are. These kids have no idea what goes on in their body or what happens to their body when they use drugs or drink or anything else, they have no idea what it means to take care of your body because they don't know that the things they do mess their body up permanently. Physical Science is the basis for Chemistry and Physics. If they learn the basics now maybe Chemistry and Physics will be more fun and easier for them later! PE, these kids have no idea what it means to workout or exercise and I am here representing a healthy person to be there example and they actually see me as their example. I asked my students to give me one person they thought was healthy and was their health and fitness role model and over half of them put me.
I have a big job to do, but I'm ready for the challenge. I always wondered why God gave me a love for medicine but no desire to be a nurse or doctor or why he gave a brain that is so health/ medical oriented, I have found the reason. I'm ready to give these kids the random abundance of health and medical knowledge God decided to give me.
Bring on the new week!