Aaah! The lovely aroma of 8th graders. Or...A roomful of B.O.

I've been doing a lot of substituting lately. With kids getting sick it's inevitable that teachers get sick too. Most of the time I substitute at my boys' elementary school which is handy because it's right across the street from our house. But recently, I was called to sub at the junior high down the road. Back in another life I was an art teacher in a middle school, which is by far my favorite age to teach. Middle schoolers are old enough to do a lot of things on their own, they don't whine (much), and are still young enough to be a bit silly with. they haven't yet succumbed to the idea they are "too cool" to be a little goofy. Middle schoolers come with their own unique sets of strengths, weakness and challenges; one of them being body odor. 

I was an English teacher last week with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders parading through my room throughout the day. Things went smoothly and fairly uneventfully the entire day except for the class right before lunch. In this class, which were 8th graders, there were about a dozen students about half of which were boys. I had handed out their assignment, explained it, answered questions and was walking between desks when I was sporadically being assaulted by a rather unpleasant aroma. Inevitable I found this "fragrance" to be drifting from a boy, well many of them actually. Body Odor. 

B.O. Fairly strong from some of them too! I felt kind of bad for those guys. Most of them were taller than me and probably didn't have a clue that they reeked. I couldn't have told them either!! How on Earth could I have brought to the attention of an 8th grader, subtly and without embarrassment, that they needed to check their deodorant? I probably would have absolutely mortified them! 

"Excuse me, here's some free deodorant. 

Head to the restroom and become acquainted, how about it?" 

Yeah, I don't think so. 

You wouldn't think B.O. would bring back memories to me but it did. Obviously not pleasant ones either. Back when I taught middle school the 8th graders at our school would take a bus trip form Indiana to Washington D.C. every spring. This trip consisted of about 4 charter buses, 100 students, 50 parents and half a dozen or so teachers. We would leave Indiana in the evening and drive all night long...without sleeping much. You know how the rocking motion of a car can put a baby to sleep? Not 8th graders, the rocking motion of a bus brings on extra giggles, goofiness and alertness to 13 year olds. Sometime in the early morning hours we would stop at a truck stop, and give everyone the chance to change and eat (no showers mind) before we got back on the bus. Then it would take us a few more hours to get to D.C. where we'd spend the rest of the day checking out the sites (off, on, off, on, off, on the bus) before we'd finally make it to our hotel about 9pm. So 100 kids, packed on a bus, over 24 hours without showering, constantly moving in the warm May air. Add onto that a broken air conditioner on the bus and you have a gourmet recipe for FUNK!! Yep..one year my bus's air conditioner broke down and we were driving in downtown D.C. with temps in the 70's and 80's and boy was it ever miserable. It smelled so bad even the boys were complaining of the stench. These were boys who played football, basketball and wrestled and practically lived in a locker room so that should give you some idea of how badly our bus reeked. Yep, the horrible memory of those 8th graders' B.O is with me to this day, over ten years later. 

Though I don't usually get called to substitute at the junior high, I already have four days scheduled in February to be back among these wonderful kids. They may be smelly but I really do enjoy working with middle school students. Just the thought of four more days walking among them sends a flurry of questions through my mind.

"Where can I buy a pair of "discreet" nose plugs?"

"How early would I have to arrive at school in order to slip deodorant into each of their lockers?"

"When do boys start getting smelly?"

(I need to know because I'll be getting the FUNK double in my house and I need to be prepared!!) 

Sunday Devotions - Body Splendor!!!!

Let me just start off by saying that this post is probably one of the hardest I've ever written. The thought of sharing this subject with you has caused me a lot of anxiety. I'm literally biting my nails off as I write this. Why?? Well, I'm about to share a few photos of myself...in a sports bra. Showing my pregnancy stretch marks...from twins...and a c-section. (I wouldn't blame you at all if you ran screaming from this site right now.) 

Okay though, let's back up. Why exactly am I sharing a post of my half naked body with you on a SUNDAY DEVOTION? It's kind of a long story so let's start at the beginning. 

I've always been athletic. All through high school and college I played sports. After college I continued running and lifting weights and started doing some yoga. I never worked out or exercised because I was trying to attain the "perfect body" or anything. I just really enjoy how my body feels after I exercise. But any girl who spends a decade playing on sports teams spends their fair share in a locker room with other girls. It's no surprise I have a few hang ups about how my body looks. It sure hasn't helped either that my stomach has gone through some trauma. My first pregnancy I carried twins full term (and gained 60 pounds) and my second ended with an emergency c-section. Fun scars abound!! 

Earlier in the year I found a website that I have absolutely fell in love with, Bodyrock. A few times a week the Bodyrock site posts 12 minute workouts (alternating rounds of 50 seconds work, 10 seconds rest) along with a video on how to do each move. Twelve minutes may not sound like a lot but these workouts are HARD!! I'm always sweating like a pig when I'm done and there's lots of times I can't make it through an exercise without a break. It's awesome that the workouts are only 12 minutes too, no excuses! Bodyrock encourages those working out with them to take a photo of themselves once a month or so to really see the difference Bodyrocking can make. Some Bodyrockers even end up sharing those photos on Facebook as inspiration for others. 

I'd thought about sharing my photos but couldn't bear the thought of showing my stretched out stomach to 50,000+ Facebook followers! AAACCCKKK!! 

But I have taken photos along the way. This is me on May 1st, 2012. I am so insecure I couldn't even bear to get my head in the image! 

So back to Bodyrock. One of the hosts, who does AWESOME workouts by the way, has shared a couple of plastic surgeries that she's had on the site; a breast enhancement and a nose job. And she's caught a lot of criticism for doing so. Lots of people say she was beautiful to begin with and she didn't need to get the plastic surgeries and that now that she's had two she won't be able to stop. I had to agree, she didn't need that work done. She had an awesome body...BUT I also thought it shared a LOT of courage a bravery to share her insecurities with others . After that I got to thinking a bit more of sharing my photos but STILL couldn't bear to do so. 

Until I was reading my Bible this week and came across this passage; 

^{1 Corinthians 15:38-44}  But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.  Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.  There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

God created my body in splendor!! He created it to do wonderful things. I had 3 babies and dang, those stretch marks are a sign of the strength my body had while bringing life into this world! Okay, can you just say "WOW". God doesn't create mistakes. He gave me this body for a specific purpose, he created stretch marks for a reason too, and who am I to question that he's made a mistake. According to God my body is grand! Why shouldn't I be proud of it?

So here's me after about 5 months of Bodyrocking on October 4, 2012

There's not a huge change but I can certainly tell a difference in my love handles and I DEFINITELY feel stronger with more energy. It's amazing the workouts I can do now, with no problems, that I couldn't do 5 months ago. It's also amazing how much more energy I have to spend on my family! 

Look, I have a head in this one!! Ha, ha! 

The previous photos were really hard for me to share on my blog. (All my fingernails are gone now!) But the next image is by far the hardest to share. 

My Twin Skin.

Yep that's my belly. Gross isn't it? 

No, no it's NOT GROSS. (I have to keep reminding myself of that!)

My stretched out tummy did wonderful things, it brought three glorious children into this world. God is more than happy with how I look and I should be too. 

In this world we get so wrapped up in how we look that we forget that this earthly body is fleeting. This will not be the body we inhabit in heaven, that body will be glorious! But this earthly body and earthly life and world holds its own splendor. God doesn't make mistakes, we don't need to "fix" anything he's created. 

Embrace it. Be proud. Our bodies, our lives are gifts. If we feel the need to strive for a "perfect" body though the earthly one shouldn't be our focus. Rather we should strive for perfection in spirit. 

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the strength of my body. Thank You for stretching out my tummy because it reminds me of just how glorious this earthly body You created is!! It can do fabulous things! Help me find perfection in spirit and not worry about this short lived earthly body. There are definitely more important things to worry about than that. Amen!