Lesson Learned...

So I thought I would have a little more time before I wanted to share something but that's okay.  Life always throws you something and you just have to be prepared in a way to handle that.  This last week I had the privilege of meeting a 6th grader named Antonio Serrano. He was signed up for my beginning band period and I kinda wanted to get an idea of the students that had signed up before hand since they were there to talk to.  This past Wednesday I was informed that this young man passed away, thanks to the violence in Juarez.  I have been able to express myself in many ways to overcome this confusing situation... One was grieving with the students, expressing to them not only how short life is but how much I care for them as a whole and as individuals, writing little notes on posters for the boys father and now this one.  I can't understand how this can be okay.  The problems in Juarez are only getting worse.  This is the 30th kid to die in Juarez under the age of 18. Thats not something to be happy about.  These students are our light for our future and here these men or children should I say KILLING them.  I was outraged.  This little boy was taken from his father entirely too early.  Antonio and his father had just lost their mom to cancer last year.  The father brought his son over to El Paso or America so that they could have a better life. He was over there for one weekend and this is what happened in the matter of minutes.
          When discussing some of what I was feeling to my students I found out that so many of them go to Juarez on a weekly basis.  So many of them have family.  Its not their fault that this is happening.  That people can't get their head on straight and not target their anger in such a violent way.  These kids never have deserved this.  I know this is a hard situation and I am grateful that I was able to go through it.  It made me take a step back and continue to value the life that we have here on Earth.  I know that he is with his mom and that if he really wanted to be in band or play an instrument... He is up there right now playing an instrument with God's Angels.  I hope that we can all pray for the comfort and peace to go for Antonios family and the students at Rio Bravo that are dealing with this.  I know with being an educator this will not be the last time this happens but I know I will always remember the first student.  It will be okay and we will all be with one another soon.  Antonio I know you are looking down at all of us and just know how much you have impacted the lives of everyone around you. 

R.I.P - Antonio Serrano

YAY a second one!

I know that it has been awhile since my last update on our small family! But I promise I haven't forgotten! Let's see what has been going on. Clay and my father both had their birthday celebrations in February so now my hubby is 24... Which I actually forgot the other morning when I was talking to a group of coworkers. I am already making us younger. We have come in contact with some of Clay's high school friends and they are wonderful people. We are still trying to set a time that we can meet up and do something. I have been progressing in work. This past month my band has gone to two competitions that were a big deal. The school that I work at, band is not considered anything to brag about or something "cool" to be a part of. But I am really trying to change that culture and boy is that hard! But my wonderful band students went for the first time, as well as my first time, to these band contest. They did a wonderful job and should be so very proud of themselves. And I really hope that they are. The only thing that we can do is go up and keep trying to learn and grow. This next year I have 150 students signed up for band!!! It was such great news to hear that! I just hope and pray that they stay that high with all the STAAR testing and remedial classes that will be offered. So keep your fingers crossed...
Another exciting thing that my hubby and I decided to do was take a sporadic trip to Ruidoso. It was so nice and such a relaxing trip for the both of us that I know we needed. We took our little pooch too and he loved being in the outdoors pretending he was a big ferocious dog.
We don't have any huge news to share but summer is coming up and I know we couldn't be more excited! I'll hopefully post more exciting news soon and next time with some pictutres.

Welcome and to start off....

My name is Andrea Mojica Jessup (Godinez) and I am married to a wonderful man named Clayton Reed Jessup. We have been married for 1 year and it has been full of ups and downs but WE MADE IT! I absolutely love being married and I wouldn't have it any other way. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) and had our wedding in the Albuquerque Temple where I am sealed to my love for time and all eternity. We are going through trials just like any other couple but we are trying to keep Lord and Savior at the head of our household and that has gotten us through a lot of thick trials (which I know we have plenty more to face). We, however, did not start out in our happily ever after. We both were dating other people when we started talking and realized that there was a reason Heavenly Father put each other in our lives. We dated for 4 months, after which Clay proposed to me on August 22,2010. We had wanted to start out 2011 with each other and decided on January 8,2011. Now i come from a family where i was the only child. My parents were a little skeptical and scared when this had happened. My mom thought i wasn't going to finish my last semester of school and my dad was surprisingly cool about the whole thing. But everything fell into place. I had finished my last semester of college with a bachelors in Music education. Shortly after, I was getting ready for the wedding and next thing I know we were married and sealed. Throughout this first year of marriage Clay was able to go into his second year at his job as a Hoy Fox Lexus technician. He has been able to go to school up in the Dallas area and has learned many ups and downs about his job. But he pulls through and does an amazing job with all the challenges that come his way. I on the other hand became a substitute for a band director position that opened up in the Ysleta ISD and was luckily able to apply for the position and become a full time teacher in the fall of 2011. I have learned many things about my job and continue to learn on a daily basis. I am so very lucky to work with some wonderful people that have been there to help me in any situation and that I can rely on. This has come with many challenges that I am still trying to learn how to face. But with the love and patience of my husband and my Heavenly Father I have been very blessed and learned a ton.

Now here we are, 1 year later and happily married and making some changes in how we treat each other and have our home organized. We spent many firsts and it has been wonderful! We want share this blog not only for ourselves but just to keep our family in contact with us in some way. I know we don't live far but there may be weeks at a time where we don't speak or are able to catch up on important events. We want our family and friends to know how much we love and appreciate them and all you do for us. I will do my best with this and if I fall behind I apologize but it's a work in progress and we gotta start somewhere!