Our journey

Saturday, August 26, 2006

I've received gifts of encouragment...

The past two weeks have been very encouraging.

Ryan and I visited my parents and my sister in Amarillo. We had a great time just hanging out with family and shopping for fabric for baby bedding. My mom has volunteered to sew all the bedding, so I have been searching for fabric around here. Surprisingly, there is a better selection in Amarillo's fabric stores than the local ones I visited. My mom ran into a couple of friends while we were shopping; I enjoyed hearing hearing her preface the revealing of the fabric choices with the comment, "Now, Laura is not very traditional." The longer I live in Texas, the more I realize that I am a little different from the norm...and can't help but believe that Northern California rubbed off on me more than I thought. Without realizing it, I am now prefacing the revealing of my fabric choices the exact same way my mother did. I guess she convinced me that I'm not traditional and that others might need to be prepared for that fact so they can filter their reaction.

I have also realized again and again what a precious gift Ryan is to me as he continues to extend grace and love to me while I deal with a lot of physical and some emotional change. Over the past week, I've noticed a marked increase in moodiness and achiness. Unfortunately for Ryan and fortunately for my students, I don't get cranky until 7 PM or so. My hips, knees and ankles are starting to make their strain known. I have started weighing the importance of each trip upstairs at night because those trips take more out of me than they did just a few weeks ago. I'm hoping that continuing consistent exercise is reducing the inevitable discomfort.

The final piece of encouragement in my last two weeks has been the improved morale and increased support given to teachers by the administration at my school. I am really enjoying myself more than I did last year at this time. Praise the Lord!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Back to School

Classes were in session today in Splendora, TX and I was there to teach six of them. One after another, I introduced myself and my teaching philosophy to each class of freshmen. My goal during the first weeks of school is convince the students that they should not and cannot mess with Mrs. Wolf.

To that end, I carefully plan my wardrobe to look as authoritative, professional and intimidating as possible. On a side note, I thought about my attire a good bit because I feel that being pregnant automatically makes me look more vulnerable and most maternity clothes make a woman look so sweet and gentle--things I am working very hard to avoid being associated with as a high school teacher. I try to smile as little as possible (this task proves to be one of my most difficult). I plan way more than is humanly possible to accomplish in one class period so that the students NEVER have any down-time, because most students immediatley use down-time to test the limits of the teacher.

Assuming they buy into this whole persona, the year will be a pretty good one as far as classroom management is concerned. Only time will tell the amount of success I achieve in this pursuit. I'm glad the first day of school has come and gone. Now I can get into the routine I love to be in.

I pray that God will give me insight into the students' lives so that I may encourage and inspire them. I pray that He will give me wisdom to know the best way to teach so that my students have the very best Algebra 1 experience possible. Finally, I pray that they all know Jesus as their Savior and that I may glorify Him in this honorable and humbling position of teacher.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Improvement?

OK, I know wakeboarding is not near as significant as our baby news, but I have to post this video to redeem myself from the earlier videos of my shameful "Almost Tricks." You understand.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Setting up the crib


Setting up the crib
Originally uploaded by ryanandlaurawolf.
Here's Laura and the Nance (my mom) setting up the crib in our room. This is a beautiful stained wood crib that me and both of my siblings slept in. It's at least 30 years old. Pretty cool. Last night Laura and I rearranged our room to make room for the baby stuff. Our room is pretty big, so all of our stuff (bed, dresser, etc.) is on one half and all of the baby stuff will be in the other half.

The reality of the coming baby sinks in more and more everyday. We went and looked at baby stuff for several hours this past Saturday. You could easily spend $7,000 at these stores with all of the specialty stuff--leather swivel gliders, souped up baby monitors, and my favorite - "travel systems" (strollers) that could probably tackle more terrain that your average truck.

One piece of excitement for me (related to the baby) is that I will have less time to dwell on my needs and think about how I can satisfy myself. My life will not be my own even more so now. i'd say that's a plus.