Celegrieving: A Luchty Update

Oh my goodness! It's been a while; I've been MIA on this blog ever since I started working again. The last blog before this one was a reflection after my first day of class.  Today was the last day of our session (four weeks have FLOWN by); brownies were given, and hugs and goodbyes were exchanged. It was after today's class that I came up with a new word: celegrieving. I'm celebrating a good first run at the ELC, but I'm also grieving the leaving of my first batch of students (I've also been celebrating the fact that I've gotten to teach again and grieving my lack of sleep throughout the last four weeks.)

Here's a brief pictorial synoptic highlight of what we've been up to in the last few weeks:


What Dave did when I was on Amber's bachelorette weekend--he went on a solo wilderness trip in Ojai:

 

Dave's been itching to take me on a backpacking trip of sorts, so I'm sure there will be pictures of the both of us doing something like this in the near future.

Some shots from an AMAZING trip to San Luis Opisbo with some of Amber's fave gals for her bachelorette trip:

 A seriously good looking bunch, right? Amber's well loved :)

 The bride-to-be and I:

Some of the dishes we've been eating:

green smoothies:

tofu tacos:

 

stuffed shells:

 

charbroiled oysters to celebrate our 4th month being married:) :

 

banh mi: 

 

so-not-healthy-but-so-good banana chocolate chip walnut bread:

 

spaghetti squash with homemade sauce:

My students:

 
The classroom after I got my goodbye hugs:

Some funny/unfortunate classroom blunders:

-I baked brownies for my students. I miscounted, so I didn't realize that when Dave and I ate one, I'd be one short the next day for my students. Luckily, two were willing to share. Whoops.

- Because they were my first bunch, I wanted to write them each a little note of encouragement as a little goodbye memento. I somehow dropped one of my notes at home, so one of my students was left cardless--looks like snail mail is my best bet.

- I left class one day to realize only afterward that the side zipper on my shirt was only half-zipped.

The not-so-fun, but definitely character-growing aspects of my job:

- I had to teach 4 different levels of students in one class, so sometimes I felt like I was losing my marbles. I'm not even sure how I kept my grammar straight while managing all of my students'.

-I look young (and am younger than some teachers and sometimes even younger than some of my students), so my students sometimes see me as a buddy and not an authoritative figure. That can be taxing, but I've learned that communicating honestly with my students helps with that a bit. Building rapport with my students, especially with the demographic I work with, is HUGE.

-I'm learning what it means to be stern...graciously. 

The blessing:

-I have a husband that is so supportive and proud of me, who will sometimes make breakfast for me before work or get up just so I can get a hug before I leave.

-I have to commute quite a ways every day, but at least it's a pretty drive from Camarillo to Santa Barbara.

- A few new students have enrolled for the next session, so I still have a job :)

-The job I've been given is a constant reminder of how our Papa--our Father always wants us to be in a posture of learning. I want to model life-long learning to my students by living that out.

Wow. So thankful.