Inner-City News

Well, you probably noticed that "At Random" got a new look. :) I got kind of sick of the other template a while ago and decided today, for no apparent reason, was the day to try out another template. Alas!

To be honest, I'm pretty depressed lately. :( I've been working at a charter school since September/October sometime? and over "winter" break, one person quit and another quit within a few days after we started back. We were already short staffed at the time, but that was a HUGE hit. Long story short, I'm going on week four as a high school teacher working with inner-city "at-risk" students.

I have had next to no training and/or direction from my team leader or my supervisor, my school has this really odd way of "redirecting" behavior that is not working for me and there are about 30 9t-11th graders assigned to my room. I wish they would come to school, but on the other hand it's nice that I only have about 20 kids who show regularly. IT IS INSANE!

One might ask, "Kelli, why don't you quit?" The answer is, I don't really know. :-/ I really like the people I work with and I LOVE these kids, which keeps me going there day after day, but I'm clearly not cut out for this. I'm thankful that I've realized the students are too smart to hurt me, but they are truly out of control. One day my buddy "R" was in the back of the class yelling "Ms. Wood, yo class is out of control! How you not control yo class?! This class is out of control!" and I nodded in agreement as I had three students running around the room having a "book fight" (yes, throwing textbooks at each other) and others rapping at me. Sometimes I think, "this is probably what a non-medicated psych ward looks like." The only thing I can really do is write up a 3-day suspension for the kids who are out of control, then try to deal with them the rest of the day. I can't even kick them out of class because there's no place for them to go.

Today one of my favorite and most-helpful students flipped on me. She's 15 and pregnant, so I can't imagine what made her so moody ;), but she got mad at me for giving her letters (our "redirection" strategy) that she didn't agree with and she went off on me. Ouch. You lose one who's your "pet" and you've lost 'em all!

I want so badly to help these kids and to teach them something that will help them in life, but I'm obviously not cut out for this. I get defeated and discouraged every day and every day I go home with the reality that I taught them nothing. :-/ I'm at a loss for what to do with them, but if I quit they're going to feel I'm quitting on them when in reality I'd be quitting on the school, who I don't feel has equipped me or supported me as I've stepped in for a few weeks. Part of my problem in the classroom is addressing their hurt and anger about their previous advisor bailing out on them. Often times the most stable environment an inner-city youth has is the school. It's really sad. :( But they still need to learn to behave!

When I first agreed to step into this role, I was working about 28 hours a week, which was perfect. I still had time to do other things that are really on my heart to do. Ever since agreeing to this job, I work 8 hours a day at school (sometimes more) and then I take 2-3 hours of work home with me every night. I also have no prep period. I get 15 minutes to eat lunch and catch the toilet in the middle of the day. Otherwise I'm with the students ALL DAY. So I have these ridiculous expectations on me to complete work that's never really been explained to me and they won't pay me for more than 8 hours of work in a day. I found out last week, by visiting the WI Dept. of Labor website, that this is illegal (as I suspected) and that I'm actually due time and a half for everything over 8 hours I worked over the past 3.5 weeks. So I have this thing weighing heavy on my heart because there is some pretty serious economic injustice going on AND it's illegal and I am totally convicted that I can't allow it - for myself or anyone else. So how do you handle that one?!

There's so much... just so much. I'm really overwhelmed. I don't mean to jump on here and complain complain complain, but that's really what's going on with me lately and I could really use some prayer...

My mom and I always say to each other "what a tangled web we weave." Indeed.

1st Anniversary Getaway!

I was waiting for Lee to send me a couple pictures, but I haven't received them yet, so I decided to go ahead and post about our getaway anyway...

That's right! We took a little trip, following a wedding on July 12th, "up North" for our 1st anniversary. On Sunday we went back to Bayfield, where we took our honeymoon!

Here we are taking the Ferry over to Madeline Island.

Beautiful Bayfield from the Ferry.

We rented mopeds to cruise around the island! It was SO fun!

Ben always likes to take these contemplative pictures. :)

Ben records us - very dangerous!

Even though it was dangerous, I like that you can see some of the things were were looking at as we were cruising around. To the left is Lake Superior and off in the distance you can see Upper Michigan.

A picture I took on the ride.

We rode the town park where there was this beautiful lagoon! I don't know if the pictures do it justice because it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. We spent some time hiking around, cuddling at the beach and watching two dogs play. =)

After a long and breezy day, we took turns relaxing in the jacuzzi (while watching Sports Center :p)!

We were having a great time, but alas! we had to continue on...

... taking Hwy 2 down to "Grandma's" - Ben's grandma, really - in Eagle River! When we got there, we shared homemade pie and smoked fish we brought with us from Bayfield. :) We decided to stop there for a day so I could finally meet Ben's aunt, Mary, from Virginia.

Two fawns in "Grandma's" front yard. Mary and I had a good time quietly chasing them for these pics. I was a little concerned at how tame they were. I hope they get grown up and scared before November!

Lee and couple of his friends were there fishing for a couple days. We went out on Matt's boat water skiing and knee boarding on Tuesday! It was AWESOME! I had never water skied before, but I was proud of myself because I "got up" on the 3rd try! I had a hard time staying up, however. :p We didn't have a lot of time, so I didn't go a second time, but I'm confident I would have been skiing gracefully if I had. ;) Instead, I knee boarded for my last pass and had a good time flying off in an exhilarating water crash for my grand finish! I have yet to find a water activity I don't like. Ben has experience water skiing so he had not problem, of course. He did have one of those crashes where I wish I had it on video... my belly hurt with laughter! :) I have to say that being in Grandma's lake made me a little nervous, however, because it's known as a muskie lake... yikes!

In true Wood fashion, we forgot to take the camera on the boat, so hopefully Lee will send us the pictures soon!

When we got home at 10pm on Tuesday, the 15th, it was not too late (for me) to pick the first fruits of all my labor!! They were delicious and we keep getting more! =)

A lovely trip to celebrate our anniversary. Lovely. =)

Anniversary Date

On our anniversary, we got to spend the day together as Ben worked the 4th and took his holiday on Monday, the 7th. :) Since we had a wedding on Saturday the 5th, we weren't able to go away till the following weekend, but here are pictures of the "supa-fun" day we had on our anniversary!

Leaving the house for lunch.

Sad our favorite Thai place was closed, forcing us to eat at the crappy Chinese place next to it.

This was the BEST part of the day! After going to the museum and watching this really cool movie about the great lakes in the IMAX, we went to Grand Slam USA to hit some balls in the batting cages. After hitting for a while, we decided to play spaceball! The floor of the net cage was one big trampoline! The object was to throw the ball at each other through these 2 holes in the wall that separated us and try to get the other one to drop it. You switch servers each play, but you can only score a point if you serve. It was a great cardio workout, as you can see by all the sweat. I won 3 games to 2 in sudden death. =)

My husband makes me do the craziest things. Here we are holding Ben's sign on Wednesday, the 9th last week, trying to get it on FSN. We went to the game with Jason & Rachel, which was a real treat.

Speaking of a real treat. We came home and ate some of our anniversary cake after the game! Our cake shop provides a brand new anniversary cake for your 1st anniversary free. That enabled us to eat the first one on our honeymoon last year. ;)

We just returned home last night from our anniversary getaway. We spent four days "up North" and even got to spend one day back in Bayfield, WI where we took our honeymoon a year ago. A post to follow will include pics and more details. Happy anniversary to us!

One Year Ago Today!

Tear.

Most people have to wait 365 days for their first anniversary. We had to wait 366.

(It was a leap year this year, if you're still trying to figure that out. ;) )

The Garden Post, Inspired by Abby

Well, I've been wanting to post pictures and details about my garden, but I didn't quite get to it last week. Over the weekend we had 6.85" of rain in our neighborhood and my garden is very muddy. Many of my plants are pounded to the ground and a lot of my flowers lost all their pedals! They all look like they'll bounce back, but I'm not going to post pictures till they look a little better and the soil dries a bit.

I, like Abby, have planted my very first, very own vegetable garden! I am growing peas on the vine, red and white onions, carrots, salad greens, cucumbers, green bell peppers, red chili peppers, yellow bell peppers, 1 cherry tomato plant, 2 large tomato plants, 1 medium tomato plant, green beans, 1 butternut squash plant, and 3 zucchini plants! I planted everything closer together than recommended because we just didn't have the room. We'll see how that works out. :) I also planted chives, cilantro, basil, rosemary, and parsley? I think that's right... I planted all my herbs, including the chives, in little pots with the hope of bringing them in for the fall/winter and having fresh herbs all year. I planted about 3 or 4 weeks ago and everything is up and growing well!

I also planted a host of last week flowers and they're doing okay. If I could do it over again, I would have had a bit more variety and I would have grouped things together. They're all planted sporadically with other flowers and other colors. It doesn't really flow, but I guess the way to learn is by trial and error, right?

The best addition to my garden is my rain barrel!!! For my birthday, Ben built me a rain barrel! (One of the benefits of marrying a civil engineer who works with water supply and water distribution, I guess.) It catches rain water off the roof of the garage into a 60 gallon barrel. It only takes a half inch of rain to fill the barrel and in a dry week, I'm estimating I could water my whole garden, vegetables & flowers, at least twice. Rain water is best for my plants, plus we're being good stewards of our resources, while saving money at the same time. Although I was a little disappointed to open a box of PVC pipes on my birthday, I've grown to love my rain barrel so much that I'm having Ben build me a second one for the other side of the garage. Here's a picture of it, including the watering can he bought to go with it:

Oh, I guess you can see my tomatoes growing in the back. :) It's funny, I call it a rain barrel and Ben calls it a "rain water catchment tank."

Kelli's Big Adventure

Well, I started this post, then ran out of time to finish it, but I wanted to post the pics anyway to see where they would show up on the page. I got busy for a couple days, then our internet got disconnected, so here we are...

OOOOOkay, a couple of weeks ago Ben had to go to Chicago for a seminar for work. He wanted me to go with him, but I would need to find stuff to do during the day while he was gone. We took the Amtrak down there, which was awesome because it only took us 1.5 hrs (even during rush hour) and ended up being cheaper than taking the car, if you included the cost of parking. It was a nice way to travel - highly recommend it. :)

We got to the hotel around sunset and the picture below is looking Northeast out of our hotel room. You can see the John Hancock building. It was beautiful!

I forgot to include my knock-off picture of Missy's famous, yet kinda gross, picture of a a half-eaten piece of Chicago-style pizza, but we made sure to get that for dinner that night.

On Thursday, I decided to take the L up to Wrigley Field because I had never been there and hey, they were playing the Brewers! I was just going to get my ticket when I got there to avoid the fees, but some guy in front of me overheard me telling someone what I planned to do and he handed me a ticket - for FREE! That was VERY nice! It only cost me about $4.00 round trip to ride the L. NICE.

Well, when I got there, I started taking touristy pictures like the one below. (I got my finger in it -whoops! I don't know how to touch up photos, so it has to stay.)

While I was doing this, a guy with a Wisconsin ball cap on came and asked me first if I was a Brewers fan. When I replied that I was, he asked me if I wanted a ticket - for FREE! I showed him the one I already had so we could decide which one was better, and he assured me that his was better. I gave the first ticket to a scalper who looked like he could use the money.

Check out these seats! The guy was NOT kidding! I haven't had this sweet of seats at any game since my last game at County Stadium!

Turns out I sat with the guy who gave me the sweet ticket (the one in the middle below) and his two friends. I had the very BEST time!! They were so fun and very respectful. People keep asking me if they hit on me or anything like that and they didn't. They were very cool. We were just four baseball fans enjoying the game and a healthy rivalry (2 Cubs fans, 2 Brewers fans). I learned about their kids, where the live, how some friend of theirs couldn't make it, allowing for them to give me his ticket, etc. My cool new friends are from closest to farthest, Joe, Pat, and Dean. I sat next to Joe, who was really fun. He took my teasing him about being old and losing his hair very well. :) They bought me a coke and would have bought me anything I wanted. I really wish I had sat down before paying $7.25 for a dog and water! They were very sweet. My only regret is that I didn't get their email addresses so we could maybe catch another game together someday. =D Oh, and Joe used to play like a minor league professional baseball or something, and he was VERY impressed with how much I knew about baseball. I have to give credit to my dad <3 for that! :)

I wish I could say the rest of my stay was that exciting, but it wasn't. I didn't really know what else I could do for cheap. Looking back, I suppose I could have gone to the museums or something, but those are kind of expensive, too. All I did on Friday was work out in the fitness center, pack us up, and surfed the net till Ben was done at 3:00. My first trip to Wrigley was definitely worth the trip, though!

Ben's 25th Birthday

It was Ben's 25th birthday yesterday. (He's so young!) I started the day by getting up early and baking him cinnamon rolls to take to work. After dropping him off, I came home and took a nap.

Later we went out for lunch down at the Grand Avenue Mall and he got to pick out a new Brewer's hat. I bought him two because they had them buy one get them half off! We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch AND the extra time we got to spend together. I also got Ben a new basketball, which he wouldn't stop playing with the rest of the night, a pound of tasty coffee, and the collector's edition of his favorite movie, Braveheart.

Since the NCAA championship game was on his birthday, Ben requested buffalo wings and a beer for his birthday dinner. :)

They turned out really well and were just as good as any sports bar in town, I'm sure. He thought they were awesome!

(He had to wear the hot pads cause I had heated the pan to keep the wings warm. It's kinda funny because I think he looks like Mr. Mom with them on!)

For his cake, I made a snicker cake, which was also enjoyed by all. (All two of us.)

We were so glad that Ben was able to eat so much good food yesterday (good food is Ben's love language) since Friday and Saturday he was so sick he was puking, a disease he contracted from his wife who was sick and puking one week before.

Ben said it was the best birthday he's had since he was a little kid! I was excited because who has birthdays now that rival the ones of youth? I mean really. My favorite parts of the day were watching Ben enjoy all the good meals after being so sick, seeing his delight in his new basketball and all his presents, and the best of all: he cried when he read my card. What a good birthday!! I really love my husband. :)

Our New House!

Wow, it's been SOOO long...

So, marriage is good. I love being a Wood and we love being married. :) Ben has been hunting a lot lately, but he's not having a good year. :( No deer yet. His report from opening weekend "I scared a lot of deer." That's why he's out today for the 4-day doe season... his last chance (unless he wants to bow hunt some more). Apparently "taking doe is good deer management." Whatever? :)

So, WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!! We moved in the weekend of Thanksgiving and we love it! We're doing a lot of painting lately, so I don't really want to show you any pictures yet because the previous owner's style was very dated and it's kind of embarrassing. :) We'll be done with our living room on Monday or Tuesday, so at least I'll pictures of that. Unfortunately, colors always look different on the wall than in the samples, so I'm a little bit disappointed with how our living room turned out. I might be doing a little RE-painting next spring or summer??

Here's a picture I took just yesterday of our new house! Ben shoveled the sidewalk again yesterday for the 3rd time in like 5 days. He even did a little bit on Wednesday, even though we both gave blood! He takes good care of us. :)

The Post Hanging Over My Head

So, you probably want to see some more wedding pictures, huh?


http://www.mkirk.fotki.com/weddings

password: YMCA


I think I'll write something this weekend. =D That's if there's anyone still visiting this page out there?

WE'RE MARRIED!!

Ben and Kelli Wood

July 7, 2007

Ben and I couldn't have been more happy with our wedding! Although it was a hot 92 degrees, it was a beautiful day. The details all fell into place so nicely and we received many nice compliments on everything. Our ceremony was touching and the Lord's presence was very strong. We couldn't have asked for anything better. :)

Some things that were cool for me were the way the little things worked out, as I was saying. For instance, I ended up not having time to run down to the florist to see our bouquets and other arrangements before the wedding and they turned out perfect! Wow! I also wasn't prepared for the way the bright colors would "pop" against the periwinkle bridesmaid dresses. It was so pretty! Definitely exceeded my expectations. :)

One of the biggest blessings for us, besides being joined together by God, was that everyone seemed to have a wonderful time! I think every bride thinks at one time or another "will people dance? Will they have a good time? Will they stay or leave? etc." I couldn't have been happier. People loved the food, they said everything was beautiful, and they DANCED!! Boy, did they DANCE! =D It was awesome! People seemed to be having so much fun and it didn't start to clear out really till after 10:30. We were so pleased.

We've been home in Milwaukee now for two weeks after our lovely honeymoon in Bayfield, WI (put your left hand on the table or desk in front of you. Put the pointer finger of your right hand at the top right of the middle finger on your left hand. You've basically found Bayfield. ;-) ). We still have a sea of boxes from moving and wedding gifts to sort through, but it's coming along.

Please be praying for us as we transition and as we begin our lives together!

**Correction** Please be praying for us as we begin our life together! (thanks Jenny!) :)

Ben and Kelli sitting in a tree...

We had so much fun taking our engagement portraits last week!

rANdoM nEWs

Herein are the minute newsly details and my random thoughts of the week thus far.

Some people post nothing and get 15 comments, other people post nice things often and no one cares to comment. I never post, so I'm sure that's why I fall in neither category, really.

Being a bride can be NUTS. I'm having fun most of the time, though.

I don't like mean people. There's this mean girl at work who is almost always just so mean! Mean people usually don't look you in the eyes. Neither does she. If she did, she'd feel bad and then maybe she couldn't be so stinking MEAN all the time.





Blake got baptized on Sunday and Ben and I got to be there. That was boss. :)

I've got more to do at work than I can do.




Ben is pretty much amazing. <3 (Here's a picture of him doing a somersault at the St. Louis Arch on New Year's Day! Do you think he was getting excited about something?!) ;^)... )

Ben taught Sammy (my cat) to climb the dresser. Ahh!

So, it's been a year since my friend Katie Hartke died. :( There was an auction and a dance in her memory to raise money for music scholarships. It was pretty fun. That was just on Saturday. I should post some pics. It was great to see so many of my SAI friends.

I'm going dress shopping Saturday. Woot! (I mean, honestly... what does that mean anyway?) Pray that I find the dress of my dreams at a price I can afford. I think the dress shopping is the thing I'm most overwhelmed about. There are just SO MANY dresses to chose from. What do you do? I mean, how do you know? Oy!

Peace out!


* * *
I added some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Yes, It's true.

Hello all,

I'm so sorry it has been so long since I have updated all of you lovely people. I wanted to write when Ben and I had our amazing 6th month anniversary date, etc. but life was so busy trying to complete my basic statistics class!! I was in class two nights a week and studying like mad every other night. Weekends are always busy, too but I think if I really wanted to, I guess I could have, eh? At any rate, occasions like this come along once in a lifetime, so I suppose I better post it. In case you haven't heard...

BEN AND I ARE ENGAGED!!

Yes, it's true. He proposed late at night on a walk out at my parents house while the moon was almost full and very high in the sky. It was very romantic and I didn't see it coming that night AT ALL!! It was just Monday, January 1st, a very special and sentimental day for us. I'm beaming all the time and I have the most beautiful ring ever (of course, I'm probably biased)! Check out these pics and ask me sometime why the ring is so special:





We're looking to get married in July and I'll let you know when we set the date!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. - Ephesians 1:3

My Best Friend's Wedding

I don't know why I waited this long to post this, but I wanted to share some pictures from Rachel's wedding (8/12/06). I was honored to be a bridesmaid and I was so proud and moved during the weekend (especially the ceremony). :-) I thought I was fine, but then when she started walking down the isle my eyes totally filled up with tears. It's hard to explain watching one of the most important people in your life do one of the most important things in their life. I had a similar feeling at Abby's wedding last year, too. Rachel and I have been like sisters, though, so it was a little different. It's bittersweet because you know you have to let go a little bit, but you're so happy for them at the same time. Anyway, I'll stop babbling and just say CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL AND JASON!! Doesn't she (don't they) look beautiful? =) Ahh! Praise God!









So yeah, I'll add captions tomorrow... or whenever. :-) YAY!