Secrets...

Things I don't tell a lot of people:

1. I really love cheesy 1980's love songs....like "Inspiration" by Chicago and pretty much any Journey song.
2. Crackers and barb-e-que sauce taste really good.
3. I love the smell of Fresh cut grass.
4. I think Dunkin Donuts is better than Krispy Kreme.
5. I talk in my sleep a lot.
6. I get really freaked out by any moving bug.
7. I hate mashed potatoes.
8. I love the name "Bear" if we ever have a little boy.
9. My middle name is Hester.
10.I love reruns of "Boy Meets World, "The Cosby Show," and "Saved by the Bell."

6th grade word

Tonight was 6th grade welcome night at Remix. First of all, 6th graders are some of the sweetest individuals in the world. My favorite part of the night was when they received their new Bibles. Every 6th grader got a brand new Bible. I watched this one little girl run back to her seat and start flipping through all of the pages just to look and see what was inside. Another student ran back to his seat as fast as he could and said "Mom...look!"

I got a little emotional watching these students get so excited over the Word of God. It made ME want to go home and start reading it as fast as i could. I asked myself, "Do I still get this excited about Your Word?" Do you?

Going to visit the in-laws in Tn this weekend. I really love them. I am thankful I have great ones. They are amazing, Godly people and I love when I get to spend time with them.

Rules

I am reading yet another young adult fiction. I 'say" I read these for my 5th graders to see if I would want to use it for a read aloud, but I REALLY love them too! I especially love this one. "Rules" by Cynthia Lord. I already have a great plan for how I will use this with my students:) I haven't finished it yet, but I love this paragraph in the book:

The little girl, Catharine, has a younger brother who is autistic. All throughout the book she has rules for him because she gets embarressed by the way he acts in public. Every Tues. and Thurs. they go for his Occupational Therapy appointment. As Catharine waits with her mom she meets Jason. He is a severely handicapped young man who can only communicate with word cards. He points to the word to answer the question. The problem is that his mom won't make him anymore word cards b/c she doesn't think he needs them. Catharine offers one day to take some of the blank word cards home and make him some new words that he can use. Here is her battle as she tries to pick the words!

"There's a gazillion words and phrases I could choose, and none of them seem worth one of my two last cards. So I push the blank cards aside and draw pictures for the others. Drawing a guinea pig is easy. I sketch an oval, fat and compact add black eyes, tiny rounded ears, tucked-under feet, and a mess of every-which-way hair. A furry baked potato.

The other words are harder. What does "awesome" look like? A smiley face? A sunrise? A double hot-fudge sundae?"

I love this! Catharine only has 7 blank cards so she has to choose 7 words. Her battle to pick these words or phrases is so fun to read! I don't know about having 7 but here are just a few words/phrases I think I would choose: 1. I love you. 2. Hey y'all! 3. How fun! 4. Beautiful.

What words/phrases would you choose?

Windows of the Soul...

So I'm sitting here on my couch planning away for the upcoming school year and listening to some of my favorite tunes. I stopped for a minute to write this out.

My heart is so overwhelmed with joy. Joy for my life in Christ and the things I get to experience through Him. Doesn't everything seem spiritual? I mean I'm not talking about being holier than all and everything is super duper spiritual and weird. No...I mean even as I sit here and listen to John Mayer I'm thinking ," Gosh, You really give Your children incredible talents." Then I think about all of the people at church with incredible talents to sing, play piano, preach, etc... and I'm amazed at how talented God has created His people.

I was laughing with Brett yesterday about anything and everything. Then I think about how beautiful it is He created laughter and that I get to experience that emotion.

I was watching my niece smile at her mom with so much love and I couldn't believe I got to see her sweet expression of love and that He created it for us to experience and worship Him through it.

I think it all comes back to this book I read a few years ago, "Windows of the Soul."-Ken Gire

I think this book was a catalyst in opening my spiritual eyes. It's a good one.

John Mayer - Free Falling HQ (Where the Light Is DVD)

I really love listening to John Mayer...probably b/c I love listening to almost anything acoustic. I think this might be one of my favorite remakes.

Green tea lemonade

Green tea bended lemonade is my new favorite summer drink from Sbucks. Brett makes fun of it b/c he says it looks like something you could get from the 711, but I love it. It's just enough lemonade with a cool Green Tea kick to it. Try it.

School begins...

Everytime I sit down to bog the thoughts of school beginning in 3 weeks floods my mind. I have so many ideas for this coming year with my sweet 5th graders. I want to be so great for them. They deserve a well prepared (unstressful) teacher so I'm blocking out time over the next week to plan well. It will be a good year, but only if I am prepared.

So I'm out for a while. Hope it won't be too long.

Marc Broussard - Where You Are: Final Mixed

Marc Broussard has been one of my favorite artists for a while now. My top three are:
Dave Barnes, Marc Broussard, and Matt Kearney. Here is one of his songs that I love. There is a Dave Barnes below.

Until You

A Dave Barnes.

Crazy Love

You need to read this. B. and I have listened to Francis Chan for a while and now he came out with this book "Crazy Love." It's wonderful. I'm not through yet, but read the frist 5 chapters this morning. I feel like I need to write this down so I don't forget it...

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives.
Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it's okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won't be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed."

He goes on to say,
"To be brutally honest, it doesn't really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory--whether eating a sandwich, drinking a coffee at 12:04am so you can stay awake to study, or watching your 4-month-old take a nap. The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift."

Camp

Brett has taken the middle school ministry to camp "InterVision" this week in PCB. Pray for all them. It's such an intense week for everyone! I know that God is going to do great things, but please pray for them throughout the week when you think about it!

no mistake...

I've been trying to think of what I wanted to write out about the past week of my life. I went to the Reading Institute in NYC for a week at the Reading/Writing Project at CU...I have a feeling that in 20 years I will look back at this past week as pivotal moments in my career as a teacher. It was the most enriching thing I have ever been a part of and I felt so blessed I got to sit under some of the "greats" in our nation and listen to their hearts on how to be the best Reading teacher. I got to partake in an ongoing conversation with Lucy Calkins and 5 other Reading teachers from around the country on how to be a leader in my school and creating an environment for change....not only was that an amazing experience but she made me realize how much bigger the issue is...truly it is so much bigger than me.

Here's something else I learned from Kevin Queen today Sunday, July 6, 2008 at 12Stone 11am service:
Do I want to do "great things for God?" or "do things for a great God?"

I choose the latter. I don't believe there was any mistake that this sermon was today following my intense week at the Reading Project where I learned that teaching students to Read could comsume all of who I am...the gifts He has given me to teach the minds of this nation is only due to the fact HE INDEED has given them...I choose to do things for a great, pure, wonderful God. That is it....that is all. What a beautiful life He gives us.

Edward's Eyes

Edward's Eyes by Patricia McLachlin is an excellent summer read and one of my favorites! It's a young adult book and is so rich in language and it's an easy read so it won't take long. I met the author this week in New York and her reason for writing this book made it even that more beautiful!