SATEP Complete!

     Any of my Hawaii Pacific University friends will be familiar with the phrase SATEP.  SATEP is our state-approved teacher education program.  This is a 33 credit program through HPU that includes coursework, student teaching experiences, as well as state required testing.  Following the completion of our SATEP, we can apply for state licensure.  The final 9 credits of my MEd program (not all candidates in my cohort are degree-seeking) consist of writing a master's thesis.
     I am so happy to announce that I have completed my SATEP and after paying the licensing fee I will be a licensed, highly qualified teacher in the state of Hawaii!  Yay for hard work paying off! This feels pretty surreal and I can hardly believe I am finally at this point in my program.
     You might be wondering what I will be doing with all of my free time now... There won't actually be much of that in my near future because starting on May 15th I will be writing my master's thesis which I anticipate completing at the end of August.  I am looking forward to this undertaking and this next step in my educational journey.   It will be nice to not commute an hour every day for school and it will be especially nice to write from the comfort of my home; whether that be my comfy bed, the cozy couch, or the sunny lanai.

A Day of Anniversary Celebrations

     I don't think there has ever been any question that my husband is amazing, loving, and spoils me to no end.  Even deployed, an ocean away, Doug managed to make our anniversary special and to remind me of how loved I am.   I also have very sweet friends who stepped right up to help where Doug couldn't be there.
     My morning began with a card from Doug and a voice recording he had left me to wish me a happy anniversary.  So sweet! 

     So I was off to school for the day, typical day.  I opened an email from Joy to find this:

Thank you Joy for the laugh!

After school I got home to a package:

I opened my nicely wrapped gift to find a present from Doug.

    The traditional third anniversary gift is "leather" and Doug ordered me a leather bound book embossed with our name on the front.  There are journal prompts for us to write about our life together.  It is very sweet and a really nice book.  I can't wait to start writing!

Also delivered to our house:

Gorgeous bouquet of pink roses and lilies

     This gorgeous bouquet of flowers arrived accompanied by an anniversary balloon and a little stuff hedgehog (Beatrice didn't want to feel left out).

     Up until now I was feeling very loved and downright spoiled.  However, the night was not over yet! 

     I ended the night with dinner out with a group of lovely ladies.  Joy, Emma, Caitlin, Ashley, and Katie joined me at the Old Spaghetti Factory for a celebratory dinner.  We had a great time and I really enjoyed visiting with friends.

     I think that I mentioned I have an amazing group of supportive friends!  These ladies helped me to celebrate even when Doug couldn't be away.  Emma, Caitlin, and our friend Alyson also gave Doug and I a very thoughtful anniversary gift.  They had a photographer friend in Charleston go and take several photos of the Angel Oak Tree (where Doug proposed to me 4 years ago) and they gave me a print of one of the pictures as well as a CD of the rest so that I can have one blown up on the wall.  This was such a thoughtful gift that really touched me.  I have been looking for nice pictures of the Angel Oak for the past few years and finally have several! Thank you ladies.

Angel Oak Tree- Charleston, SC - Doug proposed to me here on July 19, 2008

     I also want to thank our parents and grandparents for the anniversary cards and mail!  I am very blessed to have such an amazing husband, friends, and relatives.

Third Anniversary

     Happy third anniversary to my best friend and man of my dreams!  I never would have imagined that I could love him even more than I did when we said "I do."  Every day my love seems to grow even more and more.  Although we are apart today, I still want to reflect back on our wedding day.

     It was a beautiful spring day in Vancouver, Washington. 

 The trees were in full bloom....

Doug and I met on the grounds of the George Marshall House on Officer's Row.


George C. Marshall House - Fort Vancouver Officer's Row



Doug and I had an amazing day celebrating our marriage with family and friends alike.

Following our reception Doug and I said goodbye to the guests...

 

And we headed off in a horse-drawn carriage. 

It really was my fairy-tale wedding and everything I had every dreamed of for my wedding day.  Similarly, Doug is the most amazing husband I could have asked for and I feel blessed for the husband that God blessed me with. 

With my last breath, I am yours.

Visit to Japan

     This past month I was lucky enough to travel to Japan to meet Doug at one of their port calls on deployment.  It was an amazing week!  We had a wonderful time together and loved exploring Japan.  Since my first trip to Japan as a teenager I have always wanted to go back.  I love the country and the culture and have always said it was one of my favorite places I have gone.  I would say that my second trip to Japan was even better than the first because I was able to spend it with my husband and I was able to see a new part of the country.

     Here are some of the highlights of my adventure:

     I hopped on a flight, full of excitement, with a group of five wives and two babies.  We flew for 11 hours to Fukuoka, Japan where we caught a bus to Sasebo.  We all had arranged to stay in hotels on the Naval Base and I am not sure I have ever been so excited to sleep in a soft, clean bed!  Following a great night of sleep I woke up excited and ready to go down to the pier to meet the boat.  It was so wonderful to get my first glimpse of Doug and it really was like something out of a movie!  Everything else seemed to go away and I am sure I had the biggest smile on my face!  (Keep in mind, we hadn't seen each other in 3.5 months or even talked in over 2 months!)  Luckily Doug was able to leave the boat pretty quickly and we got to spend the day together talking and sharing everything that had been happening since we had talked last. 
     The rest of the week was just as amazing.  We spent so much time together talking and just being near each other.  We were able to explore Sasebo and we ate several delicious meals!  We even made a day trip to Nagasaki to see the memorials, museum, and peace park in remembrance of the bombing. 

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Paper Cranes at the Nagasaki Memorials



Nagasaki Peace Park Memorial

Chinese Temple in Nagasaki

Together with my love!

Exploring Sasebo

Student Teaching

     The past few months my blog has been pushed to the side and ignored quite a bit.  I have been busy with my semester of student teaching.  Since January I have been teaching full-time in a fourth grade classroom at Ka'ala Elementary School in Wahiawa.  The experience has been great!  I am working with my mentor teacher, Shauna Abiva, to get experience in a classroom.  I spend my time observing Shauna, teaching, and taking on "classroom business" such as attendance and morning business.  Over the past several weeks I have gotten to know my students very well and established relationships with them.  I am learning a lot from the experience and have gained a lot of confidence in my teaching abilities.  It has been nice to practice different strategies and to develop lessons to teach my students.  I am loving my time at Ka'ala and am surprised to see the semester quickly coming to an end.  I have eight days left in the classroom before finishing up my student teaching experience. 
     So, you might be wondering, what's next?  I will be finished with all of my requirements for my teaching license in the state of Hawaii.  The only thing that I have left is my thesis and then I will graduate with a Master's Degree in Elementary Education.  My plan is to write my thesis over the summer and hopefully graduate come August.  It will be a busy summer, following a busy spring, but I am excited for the challenge and looking forward to this next step in my educational journey.