Fall Review : Fun with Family and Friends

Here are a couple of other things that kept this last semester busy, but fun.

One morning, I was in charge of bringing breakfast to my department meeting at work and made chocolate-chip banana muffins. 

I love muffins. 

I love baking muffins.

 I love eating muffins. 

Before heading off to work, I invited my neighbor Brit to come and enjoy some mini-muffins with coffee in my mini-coffee cups. 

One beautiful warm fall day, after Church, several of us who all lived in the same apartment complex decided to bring our lunch outside and eat together! 

I was able to do spend a bunch of time with these kiddos and their mom.

 While the boys and their crazy hair went to Awana with their mom, I stayed home with this little bundle of joy!

 When the boys returned, I had the privilege of reading their Bible bedtime stories to them.

Erika came up for a little visit a couple of times. One of these times we took a lovely walk outside.

Another time I went to spend a Saturday with her. We made a ton of Christmas goodies, and although we didn't always follow the recipe, they turned out quite tasty!

This picture was taken just after I had cut off 7 inches of my hair!!!

I was fortunate to have a visit from these fine ladies one Saturday morning. They bring me so much joy and are very near and dear to my heart.

We drank tea, discussed the qualities of a true princess, told stories and had a marvelous time.

Baby #4 was born to my favorite Dogotch family!

I have never held such a young newborn baby before. He was only 24 hours old!!!

Then I took the older 3 back to their home and was "mom" for the evening and night. Of course, we had the special treat of eating at McDonalds and orderings kids meals. I don't know who was more excited--me or them!

We hurried back to the house, changed into costumes, and then back out the door we went to Awana.

Once they were in bed, and before they fell asleep, I told them stories of huge old grandfather elephants in Africa breaking down trees and about a boy named Tommy who loved his dog Buddy!

A couple of times I've been able to have friends over for dinner in my apartment, but we were so busy eating I didn't have time to snap a picture. :)

I'll be sure to take more next semester. 

Fall Review : Running

You must know something about me. 

I do not enjoy running 85% of the time. 

It is difficult. 

I look funny. 

I feel funny. 

Now swimming, swimming is a sport that feels natural to me and it's fun. It can be hard work and yet I still enjoy it. I do not believe I was naturally built to run an extended period of time and enjoy it. 

That being said, I do love playing soccer and ultimate frisbee.

This summer, I started to increase my running distance. It is much easier to pull on a pair of shoes and go for a run then it is to grab my swimsuit, find a pool long enough for lap swim, and then drive there to work out. 

Here are a few things that help motivate me to keep running other than the standard, "It's good for me physically and emotionally."

I love snapping pictures on my run. 

God's beauty, majesty, and power, is incredibly displayed through nature. 

Running after beautiful sunsets, along leaf-littered sidewalks, and into perfect idyllic scenes of sharp piercing colors of bright fall day or subtle mute shades of a dim quiet one, I am given time to rejoice in my Creator. There are moments on my runs when my heart overflows with praise and worship for Him. I thank Him for my body that moves and am amazed at how He coordinated each bone and muscle to work together. I thank Him for allowing me one more step and praise Him when I return to my apartment alive! :) 

Running in a group is not really my thing, but I love running with a friend. 

(Thanks for letting me run with you, Brit!)

Sherlynn and I have been on oh-so-many runs together. This fall on one of her visits to Emporia, we were able to go on a walk/run just like old times.  

Sometimes we get distracted...

This fall I ran my first (and maybe last) half-marathon. 

Despite quite a bit of pain in my foot a couple of weeks prior to the race, God helped me face my fear of running such a long distance and through His power and for His glory I finished under my goal time! 

(At this point, I had 4.1 miles left. Thanks, Steph and Angela for cheering me on and taking some pics!)

I was terrified, didn't want to sign up, came up with every excuse, but like my Uncle Bob once told me, "It's good to do something you're afraid of every once in a while." When you are forced out of your comfort zone you are forced to rely on Someone beyond yourself. I know it might sound silly, but signing up and then finishing that race was a great spiritual victory for me! 

Should I do it again?

Fall Review : School

It would seem that once school starts, so many other things get put on hold. Blogging is one of those things. 

In order not to overwhelm you with a mega-long post, I'll divide this past fall into cateogires. 

Let's start with school. (I rarely post anything about work, but since it seems to be such a large part of my life these days, I thought I would share a little bit.)

Jumpstart day, when all the freshmen come, was August 14. Among my duties that day was helping out at the French Club table. Props are always helpful!

With my colorful syllabi all printed and ready to go, year 3 as an american-african mk teacher in an american public school was about to start. 

I went to nearly every home football game. Go Spartans! As the former assistant coach, those boys will always have a special place in my heart.

I also attended an American football game. 

(Thanks, George, for going with me.)

I volunteered to help chaperon the back-to-school dance and was put on hall duty...and purse duty...

This year I implemented some new activities/projects for my students. My French 4's were learning about clothes, fashion, textiles, French designers, etc., so they were required to create and produce a fashion show. We had a blast! I rearranged the classroom to include a runway and brought in some little snacks for the designers and models to munch on as they discussed the latest fashion. 

At the end of the semester, after studying about all of the different French speaking countries in Africa, all the students brought in food from one of those countries. I surprised them by dressing up in my best Nigerien outfit. Everything from my sandals to my earrings to my bracelets were made in Africa. The kids were impressed. I also treated them to an African pop! I had to make the experience as authentic as possible. Now that I look back, I should have warmed them up a bit! While we ate the delicious food we practiced the conditional tense in French by asking and answering discussion questions such as, "If you were an animal, which animal would you be?" or "If you were a US President, which president would you be?" or "If you were a tree, which tree would you be?" Great conversation! And all in French!

My French 2's were introduced to the game of Spoons to help them learn sentence structure and French grammar.

They also learned French directions by blind-folding their partner and directing them to wherever I was standing by only speaking in French.

My French 3's played telephone pictionary to practice expressions with unusual verbs.

My French 1's created menus and then set up mini cafés and took turns visiting each other's restaurants, ordering food, and paying with fake euros. My role? I walked around and pick-pocketed some of their money and told them if they ever visited Paris they would have to do a better job of keeping their money safe! (Education is all about teaching life-skills, right?!) I also went to the café owners and required them to pay me some of their hard-earned euros. I reminded them that French taxes are high! The students were less than thrilled, but I had a great time!

And those activities are just a glimpse of some of the things we do in class. Now you know one of the reasons teaching takes so much time and preparation.

I hung up a stocking for each of my homeroom/study hall students. As each day got closer to Christmas break, I would put a little piece of candy in each stocking. On the last day of school, they could look in their stocking and they were so excited!

Students continue to crack me up...especially when they use me in their examples.

My students bring me much joy! 

Well, so much for not writing a mega-long post! 

When the Dorsch's invade Empo-town!

This summer, all of the Tom Dorsch's returned to Kansas for the wedding of my younger sister. They didn't all come back at once...but slowly and surely, the six of us eventually were living on the same continent! woohoo!!! It's a big deal! As they returned, they each made their pilgrimage to Empo-town, and boy, did we have fun! Here are some highlights. 

Melissa was the first to return, and she and Erika came up to help me pick out some grown-up furniture for my new apartment.

It was time to upgrade to a double bed! The three of us had fun trying out all the different mattress varieties--even if they weren't in my price range. :) 

Melissa thought buying a new mattress was a very important affair, so she had to capture the moment of me signing the paperwork. Of course, then we got the giggles. Two different people asked if the three of us were college students. Ummmhhhh.....noooooo...... When one of them found out we were sisters she said she was so happy to see us enjoying each other's company and having so much fun together. 

It was a rainy day, but we had some great help moving the mattress (and later the futon) from the store to my apartment. Thanks, Cornejo!

Next, as I mentioned above, I needed a futon...or as I like to call it, a tufon. 

 I've never seen a box so big!

 Melissa was a pro at assembling it. Erika suddenly didn't feel well and I "helped" in between taking pictures!

So far, the tufon has held up quite nicely.

My sisters also helped me decorate. I am not a decorator. At all. Most of what I decorated was re-decorated when my sisters came! Here's just a glimpse:

Of course, where there are Dorsch's, there is coffee.

Melissa spilled hers three different times in my car. Poor Napoleon. 

Mom arrived second to the US, but I've already shared about her fiery adventures in Empo-town.

Then, monsieur Joel arrived. When he and Melissa came to visit, I had to show him, the Frenchman, where all the wonderful and exciting French learning would take place. Melissa thought it was hilarious that my new classroom is right across the commons from a giant bronze spartan. Naturally, a picture was in order.

We need to work on our posing. Joel didn't want to feel left out, so we had him do a different a pose!

The Frenchman would like to personally welcome you to EHS!

I had a great time with Melissa and Joel. We played tennis and then headed to George's pool (thanks, George!) where we easily entertained ourselves with games jumping off the diving board. 

Andrew arrived to Kansas a week before the wedding. One day, all of them, and I mean all, agreed to come up and spend the day with me. I couldn't wait for them to get here!!! (Notice the shirt my brother loyally sported for his day in Spartan-land.)

When you grow up just south of the Sahara desert, the number one place to hang out is the pool. So, when the Dorsch siblings (and significant others) were all reunited, what do you think we wanted to do more than anything else? Swim!!! Again, thanks George for letting us use your pool. We had a great incredibly fantastic time together. Before they all headed out, we had to stop for some ice-cream.

We were all anxiously awaiting the return of the king...Roi Tom! (He finally made his appearance the Tuesday before the wedding) At last, peace could reign once more in Dorschland. 

Melissa made another trip up to visit me and helped me get my entire classroom ready.

I don't know what I would have done without her.

My parents also came up to spend the day with me. Le Grand Chef (aka: Dad) was so impressed that I had a double bed.

I am so blessed by my family and have cherished the few but precious moments together this summer. We crammed in as much laughing, singing, visiting, and playing games, as possible.