S.O.S.

That stands for Stupid, Obstinate, & Sick…

A few months ago, I had some guest speakers come to my classroom. Those days required a little less prep on my part in the morning, so I figured that I could get to school ~15 min later than usual… but apparently, I need to brush up on my math skills. For some reason, I rationalized that it was okay to go to sleep about 1.5-2 hours later than normal. That became a habit, so I’ve been running on pretty terrible sleep debt since then.

To top that off, I went out of town for 3 weekends in a row. The first trip was the fabulous snowboarding trip mentioned in the previous post. The next weekend, I traveled up to SF for a reunion in SF w/ some of my summer teammates. Although it was supposed to rain the entire time (there was even icy snow on the 280!), Saturday ended up being a gloriously beautiful day!

(we tried this shot so many times w/ a timer... and sadly, this is our best one. haha)

We touristed a bit, ate a WHOLE bunch of great Chinese food, and attended a prayer meeting for our M organization. But the most exciting & encouraging part was hearing how God used our experience this past summer as a launching point for each of our relationships w/ Him. God touched us in a way that has made us want more of Him…and while that desire is expressed in different ways, He has stretched our faith and we are all still growing. =)

here are 5/6 girls from our team. i chose this pic b/c like 75% of all our team pics, my eyes are closed... arg!

Then this past weekend, I thought I was on my way to another amazing snowboarding weekend, but my sleep-deprived body had other plans. I started feeling sick on the way up to Mammoth on Friday, but I just couldn’t resist the lure of the mountains. This is where the “stupid” part comes in…I decided to go boarding despite my sore throat, runny nose, and headache. The frugal side of me also didn’t want to back down after paying the full price of the ski-lift ticket… But by 1:30pm, I was freezing and no amount of soup or hot cocoa could warm me, despite my fever. So finally, I had to concede my defeat. Although I spent all of Sunday resting, I slept most of Monday and Tuesday away. Irresponsible teacher!

(at least i got to enjoy the view... Mammoth is so pretty)

Sickness sure does bring up all sorts of weaknesses, physical, spiritual, and emotional. And while I’m still at the mercy and whim of my “feelings”, I’ve been learning just how God always uses vessels of weakness for His glory. I still feel inadequate, but I’m learning to go to Him for help and depend on His strength for whatever He places in front of me or asks of me.