* tiny but powerful *

Even though I am not "in" school anymore and therefore don't have a real Spring Break, the last two weeks have been a nice break from some of my weekly evening activities (namely, RUF and small group). DL also completed our recent string of performances every weekend, so we finally have a weekend free. It's pretty amazing - my Outlook calendar actually showed FOUR straight nights of nothing scheduled! Crazy, I know.

As it turned out, a quiet week is exactly what I needed. I felt like I was coming down with something by the end of work on Monday, and two other teachers were also feeling headachy at the end of the day. I was worried that we might have caught something from the kids. Luckily, a dose of Airborne and lots of tea seemed to help me gain a foothold -- go immune system! I was actually feeling better by the end of DL rehearsal instead of worse. Still, it feels like my body has been fighting it off all week, as evidenced by my higher-than-usual level of fatigue. On Tuesday after dinner I zonked out for a two-hour nap, on Thursday a one-hour nap, and today during lunch a 20-minute power-nap. It's been a rough week at work all around; as Maida said, "This is why normal teachers get a break right around now...everyone needs it!"

I actually will be taking time off next week, but not for anything pleasant. :-P I'm having my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning, and I am reeeeally not looking forward to it. I'm scared! :( I've never been in any medical situation that required more than an X-ray. My roommate, a recent veteran, reassures me that it'll be fine, especially since I'm having general anesthesia and therefore won't feel anything during the actual surgery, but I'm still scared of the aftermath. I know I'll be okay...I'm just nervous. :-P I'm grateful to have good friends and nearby family to take care of me! Time to stock up on soft foods, frozen peas (to use as ice packs, not to eat!), and pain medication...

Speaking of non-Spring Breaks, I'm ready for the rain to stop! :-P

It's been a long and unsteady process, but my hands are doing much better than they were a few weeks ago. For awhile, I went through this phase where most of my skin was doing well *except* for the palms of my hands, which were extremely itchy and driving me crazy. THAT was annoying, let me tell you. My hands are still pretty sensitive to heat and friction, but the various changes I've made to my routine (e.g., taking lukewarm showers, using rubber gloves to wash dishes both at home and at school, etc.) seem to have helped significantly. And my arms and face seem to be pretty much normal now. Thanks for all the concern, tips, and prayers!

There's also been progress on figuring out what next year may look like for me, which is a relief. Some decisions I'd been debating became clear over time, and while the others aren't completely settled, I've at least gotten more information about them. It wouldn't be appropriate to blog about more specific details until things are finalized, but feel free to ask me about it in conversation. :)

Over the past week or so, "leprechauns" have been raiding our classroom at night and wreaking havoc with green and/or gold things. For example, we found sparkly green confetti on desks, gold sequins spilling in from a windowsill, and, one morning, our milk turned...GREEN! :-O The kids had an assignment to design/build a leprechaun trap, which they brought in the day before St. Patrick's Day in hopes of catching any leprechauns that might dare return to our classroom. Unfortunately, we didn't get catch any this year -- but we think we were close! Each of their traps had a tiny mesh sac full of gold glitter and a little message. Whew...better luck next time! ;)

I prepared a clover hunt game for our St. Patrick's Day celebration, which ended up working really well. I hid a ton of paper shamrocks all over the classroom, including a large handful that were actually four-leaf clovers. Those four-leaf ones each had a letter on it (and an extra word written in the corner) that they had to compile and unscramble to decode a secret message. Once they had those clovers in the right order, the extra words would spell out a clue as to where the prize was hidden. I was worried that the game might be too easy, but it was actually moderately challenging and even the older kids got into it (I'd forgotten that there were repeat letters in the phrase they had to unscramble). They were so excited when they finally found the "treasure" -- clover-shaped coupons good for "one free job" (i.e., not having to do one of their weekly assignments, to be redeemed whenever they choose). I was glad they had so much fun with it!

Also during the party, Linda helped Lower El make potato soup from fresh ingredients. It was yummmmmy...now I want to get that recipe so I can make some myself! Mmmmmm.

... but I sure wish it could! =P My hands, which I previously reported as chapped and bleeding, are mostly healed from the bleeding but are instead now rashy all over. Recently, it started to spread to my arms and some of my face, so I finally went in to see a nurse at Kaiser today. (I was supposed to have a morning appointment with my doctor, but it got cancelled at the last minute because she called in sick. I opted to see a nurse later in the afternoon instead of waiting any longer for a rescheduled appointment.) Anyway, apparently I have eczema. I am now armed with an assortment of different strength creams and antihistamines, for use depending on the body part and the time of day (stronger cream on hands than arms than face, and stronger antihistamine at night when drowsiness is a positive side effect). Whoopee. Just make the itchiness go away...it's been driving me NUTS!!! It's especially poopy that temperature is no-win situation -- I'm almost always cold, but heat and friction (e.g., warm showers, wearing long sleeves) make the itching worse. So I have to be either cold or itchy, and it usually ends up being both. BAH!

AHHHHHH! SO EXCITING!!! Congratulations to two very special people on their engagement -- may the Lord bless your journey ahead!!

I still remember when Adam first told me he and Jenn were dating (this was their freshman year, my junior year, and we were all in Testimony together). I was abroad in Madrid at the time, and I had signed on for my daily 30 minutes of internet. He and I were IMing, but I switched windows to write an email. When I got back I saw a message that said, "Hey guess what? Jenn and I are dating" (or something to that effect). Keep in mind that I had NO IDEA there was anything brewing before I left for my quarter off (they claim that it really only came up around dead week/finals week), so this was a COMPLETE surprise. They were just my little freshmen!! So when I saw Adam's IM, I was like, "What??? Jenn, our Jenn??" -- to which he responded, "Oh, sorry, I gotta go! Bye!" I was like, HEY! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD! :-P It took a few days for me to get the full story and to get over the shock. Hahahaha. Wow, that was a long time ago. What a long way God has brought you two! I am so glad that I have been around for all of it and I'm so excited to see where He leads you now!!

(Apparently Mindi and Kylie were supposed to make an appearance at RUF tonight, but they ended up not being able to make it. :( But I guess it worked out because we could focus all our excitement on Adam and Jenn! Wheeee!!)

In large part thanks to Brian, his camera, and his willingness to let me steal it occasionally, here's a photo update of various February events. In reverse chronological order...

For the third year in a row, I was blessed with a very blue birthday cake -- this time courtesy of the best cake-buying liar ever and the worst cake-buying liar ever. At least they make a good team. ;) Among the number of cool gifts I received (which were, of course, from cool friends), the one that can only be described by sharing a picture is the amazing shadow-box frame that Melisa put together for me -- complete with a miniature clay replica of my Victorian gown (she used the clay craft kit I got her for Christmas!). It's soooo cool! I love it! [The other pictures from my birthday are posted here.]

Speaking of my Victorian gown, even though probably no one noticed while I was wearing it, I'm soooo much happier with my dress now. Can anyone tell what's different?

In keeping with Tina-tradition, I made my own boutonniere for Viennese Ball instead of ordering one from the florist. I like to write something personalized on the ribbon, like our names and "Viennese Ball 2006", but you can't see that in the picture. This year I taught Carrie how to do it too, even though it ended up taking a majority of the one hour we had to get ready for the Ball. (So Felix, you better shush about girls always making guys wait while we finish getting dressed! We had a good reason, and we didn't even take that long. Hmph. Good thing she showed you what's up!)

Luckily Felix didn't suffer too much damage, because he recovered enough to take a picture with Brian's camera that has become my all-time favorite of me and Brian. As most of you know, Brian is pretty hard to catch on "film" since he's almost always behind a camera himself. So it's a pretty big feat for me to be in a picture with him AND have him smiling! [The rest of Brian's Viennese Ball pictures are online here.]

And who could forget two other very special birthdays this month? Baby Kylie and Baby Yeray were born 3 days apart, and at the same hospital no less! In fact, I think Mindi and Aurora just barely missed being in the same maternity ward at the same time. You can see in these pictures that they're wearing the same kind of hospital gown and their babies are in the same tiny yellow beanies! Awwww...so cute!!! I can't wait until their immune systems are strong enough to be around more people!

It's hard to believe that Aurora had only been on maternity for one week before Yeray was born. Her baby shower was just 8 days before the baby came! So crazy. But I hear that mom and baby are doing well and resting at home (as are Mindi and Kylie). Linda and I had fun sprucing up Aurora's baby shower because we knew she wasn't getting a "real" one outside of our school celebration. Since I'd only been to one baby shower before, I basically recycled all the games we did at Mindi's baby shower. See here my rendition of "Pin the Umbilical Cord on the Baby." I drew it by looking at a cartoon image and revising it a little to scale it up...luckily it turned out pretty well! I wasn't really sure how to draw umbilical cords, but half of the class was busy trying to find the funniest place to stick theirs on the poster, so I don't think any of them noticed.

I had the kids do an art project that we contributed to Aurora's baby scrapbook. We took some buttons and arranged them to look like a dragonfly by little tissue paper wings and other details with a pen. I'm not going to post all of the pictures here, but they wrote some really cute (and hilarious) messages on their pages. To give a few examples...

"Dear Aurora, I am so excited for your baby to come. It's going to be a great baby."
"I bet your baby will be cute because you are too!"
"Dear Aurora, I hope your baby turns out well."
"Dear Baby, I love you. From, Marcus"

Linda brought Stephanie in towards the end of the party, and it's always fun to see how fast that little one is growing. She's such a smiley baby, too! She's very peaceful and she loves it when the kids in our class make faces at her (okay, only the girls do). This picture is funny because Linda was just saying to Aurora, "See, this is what you're going to get soon!" Hahaha...we sure didn't know just how soon that would be!

I hope you got my phone message! I miss you and hope we can talk soon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :)