Who am I to speak?

I haven't added to my blog since September. Since then I keep looking at some old friends' blogs and wonder why aren't they blogging. I have e-mailed, facebooked (a verb now), and pestered them about updating their blogs. They since have and I have enjoyed every moment of hearing about their lives. However, here I am not blogging myself. So, I am going to give this another whirl. I will not throw out any promises, but I will give it my best effort. I learned on Shannon Albert's blog (www.shannonalbert.me) the best bloggers have their own domain name, pictures, and regular updates. I will look into these Shannon, I promise.

So, 2009...it is coming to an end. Today is Christmas (well, 12:20 a.m. December 25th) and I can't seem to sleep. Maybe I am waiting up with the hopes I see Santa. HA!! We'll see. Anyway, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the year. Here are a few of the lessons of 2009 for Emily Devor:

Having a teenager is a sure route to cardiac arrest: Juan is 15 years old and a freshman in high school. Without going into a great deal of detail (to protect his privacy), Juan has created some challenges for me this year. I am trying to remember what it is like to be a teenager and be respectful of what he is going through right now, but SERIOUSLY!! Is this age completely necessary...can we just go from 12 to 27. I am sure my insurance company would approve, by not having to pay for any more blood pressure meds.

I will never lose my passion for teaching:
I have been so lucky this year to go from pink slip to Principal. There is a long story. But in the end, I was assigned my first Principal position this school year. I love the position and continue to learn everyday. People often ask if I miss teaching. The answer is always YES. I was born to be a teacher, wanted to be nothing else but a teacher. So, to say I don't miss teaching wouldn't make any sense. This is NOT to say, however, I don't enjoy being a Principal. It is just now I have to be more creative in finding ways to "teach." One of my commitments is to take a grade level a week to teach intervention to a small group of students. This has helped class sizes during intervention, but selfishly has given me opportunities to directly work with students each day.

I love my husband:
I remind myself of this lesson everyday. Brad and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary earlier this month. I love him more each and everyday. Do we drive each other completely crazy somedays, weeks, or monhts. OH YES!!!!!! But when all is said and done, Brad has taught me so much about myself while letting me grow into who I am. Brad has given me nothing but support for anything I want to do. Brad has taught me to calm down during stressful situations. Brad has taught me I can't control EVERYTHING. I love you Brad!!

I love reality TV:
My guilty pleasure revealed. I love all types of reality TV. I am so entertained by the lives of others...real of not. They make me giggle and reflect on us as a society. It's hard to believe there are actually people out there who would put their lives on TV, and I love watching every second of it.

Those are some of my lessons for this year. It is know 12:40 a.m. and I really should get some sleep. I will make every attempt to update my blog for 2010. Fingers crossed! MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!