one thousand gifts.

39. a board of 1,000 + thanksgivings
40. unrelenting love.
41. my dad sneaking chocolate syrup onto Julia's spoon.

the heart of my husband.

Been meaning to post this for my family......this is the hubs filling in for the pastor, Ben, at Arrowhead Church. Not that i am biased or anything....but I always love to hear my husband's heart. This might be one of my favorites.

You can listen to the message here.

one thousand gifts

Oh this poor little blog has been so abandoned...but I have lots of new things to share.....for today: I have some more gifts:

33. Fall trying to creep its way into the air.
34. julia's sweet chatterings that fill the house.
35. new friends
36. the face of surprise from an 80 year old matriarch
37. the morning kiss
38. the contagious excitement from a 2 year old unveiling her gifts on a birthday. (how I long for that kind of exciting laughter)



my life is so rich.

What we've been up to....

quick run through:
1.dressed up as cows to get us some free chick-fil-a...even brett participated in our cow event
2.went to the beach...loved it...jules loved it too!
3.got addicted to pinterest...they should really call it "crackerest"
4.been working out like a mad woman trying to get ready for my body attack training this weekend...pretty sure i'm going to die.
5.got an iPad....saved up my tutoring money this summer and finally bought it....oh and loving it!
6.quickly shaving things off of my summer list as well! been to Samaritan's house, storytime, and did a puppet show for our sweet girl.
oh and sweet baby girl has to get tubes in a few weeks...we've looked into alternative methods and really prayed through this....we really feel like this is going to help our sweet girl feel better

one thousand gifts

29. Joy.
30. perseverance when giving up seems easier.
31. the Iris flower grown for teacher giving
32. second chances.

You can learn more about my 1,000 gifts here.

Summer Wish List 2011

So my friend Delecta over at The Rollins Family created a summer wish list....and well...I think it's a terrific idea! I know we are knee-deep into summer but I figure we've still got a good two months left......so here's to the rest of summer!

watch a shooting star
do a puppet show with brett for Julia
take books to children's hospital
take donations to Samaritans house
go to storytime at the library
write letters to /visit a friend
do Julia's thumbprint for Necklace
bake homemade bread on a rainy afternoon
go to Panther creek and have a picnic
dance with brett in the rain
take cookies to a firestation
get Mama June to teach me how to can strawberry jam
nature hike
continue memorizing the book of Colossians
complete BodyAttack Training without dying
finish reading Grace Based parenting and Babywise 2

Decor tips from fellow bloggers

So I can definitely have my creative moments.....it's finding the time to have them that's the problem...the move to TN has been all consuming.....but in the mean time I love getting inspirational ideas! Dreamy Whites, Jones Design Company, and humble Pie are some of my favorite decorating sites to check out. But you must check out what Laniebeth did over at her blog ...I absolutely loved these curtains! Who would have thought to paint them?! I love, love, love easy and cheap decorating tips......love them!

BodyAttack

we all know that I can't sit still very long.....so here's my latest shananigan:

the gym I've started working out at has all of my favorite Les Mills Classes: Body Combat, Body Pump, RPM....but they didn't have Body Attack (which is my favorite and to me the best cardio workout of all of them!) So I asked the aerobic coordinator if they had ever considered adding it...and to my surprise she said they wanted to try and launch it this Fall and if it went well they would add it to their weekly schedule......so after a small conversation...I am now signed up to get my Body Attack instructor certification...July 23-24. I've heard it's the most intense training of all of them.....and each day of the training is from 8-5! That's 9 hours of constantly moving my muscles! I think this would be a perfect little side job and would keep me in shape....just hoping I will have the endurance needed to lead a class! We shall see! Here's to sore muscles!

dreaming of the farm life.....and some other goods.....

Still reading through "one thousand gifts" by Ann Voskamp. (and side note: I am becoming so intrigued with her and her simple way of life....every time I read her book or check her blog each morning...more and more I want that simple life....a farm, the country, 6 kids (not sure how simple that would be), the small church with wooden pews, homeschooling my children....I told brett the other day that reading about her life makes me want the farm life.....he laughed....then I laughed...the thought of the two of us trying to live the farm life...ha!...I think maybe I'll just continue to live vicariously through Ann:) Anways, I am really taking my time on this book.....I keep rereading chapters simply bc I don't want to pass over all the goods too quickly! Here are just a few things I read this morning that I loved!

"And now this--that faith is not a once-in-the-past action, but faith is always a way of seeing, a seeking for God in everything. And if the eyes gaze long enough to see God lifted in a thing, how can the lips not offer eucharisteo? The truly saved have eyes of faith and lips of thanks. Faith is in the gaze of a soul."

"Always ingratitude makes the poison course. The cure against thanklessness's bite? The remedy is in the retina. How we behold determines if we hold joy. Behold glory and be held by God. How we look determines how we live.....if we live."

here are a few pics from her blog that I loved!

One Thousand Gifts

25. Tennessee sunsets....truly like no other
26. homemade buttermilk biscuits and blackberry scones
27. birthday surprises for Brett
28. moving help

You can learn more about my 1,000 gifts here.

Julia: pools, squash, and snuggles.

I knew this girl would love the water....she went crazy! Loved every second of it in her itsy bitsy tini wini yellow polka dot bikini! Oh and sweet baby loves to eat squash! She just started eating veggies last Thurs. Her first attempt was hilarious....if I can get the video to upload, I will def. post....baby girl had us all rolling!

She is such a fun and happy baby....some of my favorite things about her right now:
-she sleeps from 9-7:30!! from 7:30-8 we have snuggle time....I absolutely love it. It's almost like our sweet way of saying, "Ok, I love you so much....so let's get this day started together...the right way!)
-love the way she kicks when she gets in the water
-when I take her to the church nursery...I love how she loves on the nursery workers...it's so sweet to watch your child love other people:)
-I love how she gets squash all over her face!
-love it when brett comes home from work and they "wrestle" until it's bed time.


it's going to be a great summer my friends:)

Birthday celebration!

We celebrated B.'s 28th last Thursday night. Simple but fun celebration......J. and I (well...mainly me) made "happy birthday daddy" tshirts and decorated with balloons and all things pink (just to remind him that he is indeed in a family where the majority is girls!) and he woke up to birthday pancakes! Got him a new audio book "Soul Print" by Mark Batterson...thought he would like it since he is traveling so much right now.

it was a fun celebration! J. loves her daddy!

ode to Lyman Hall and ....new things

this is probably the longest post i've ever written....i'm not all about the long stuff bc normally i don't read past paragraph two on someone else's blog...unless it really grabs my attention....but this one is more for me:)

Emotions this week are running high......i am closing a sweet, sweet chapter in my life. I am thrilled to stay at home with my sweet Julia, but there are going to be some things I miss. I have taught at Lyman Hall Elementary since 2007, and the students and teachers there have so shaped my life.....most definitely for the good. Every student I taught at that school either immigrated from a central American country or they were children of immigrants. Some people questioned why any of us would want to teach there... to those people I would say....it was one of the greatest blessings of my life. I feel as though I am one of the "lucky ones."

Last week was the last day of school but we are back for post planning....here are just some of my thoughts that have been rambling around in my heart the past few days.

I turned off the light today as I left my classroom. I took a moment to myself and just stood in complete silence. I looked at my empty classroom, closed my eyes, and dared myself to picture the beauty that had taken place the past 4 years. Though my teaching career is never over....my time is finished at this sweet place of learning. My first glance went straight to my favorite spot..my classroom library ...the place that is now all packed up....empty. I remembered getting up early on crisp, cool Saturday mornings hunting.... searching ......filtering through yard sales for books, books, and more books so that my students would have a sea of literature to choose from. I pictured students one by one thumbing through each box of books trying to find the one they would get lost in....looking for that one book that would take them somewhere beyond the present....looking for heros, looking for people to believe in, looking for love.

Then I looked at my rug....the rug where we gathered everyday to talk, learn from each other, read about slaves, read about far away countries, wars in Africa, wars in Afghanistan, read about people that God created a bit differently than us......we gathered on that carpet to talk to one another....we gathered and they allowed me to teach them....they allowed me to show them how to write and read and do math. They told me stories of their own lives....they raised their hands.....they probably chatted a little too much.....they listened to me.....to me.

I looked at my small group meeting table....I thought about all the endless conversations I had with students at that table. They shared their lives with me. They told me about journeys across deserts, about quincieras they hoped for, about why they came here..... they told me about poverty....they taught me about poverty.

Then I think beyond my classroom: the passionate teachers that taught me how to teach...they taught me how to teach with passion....they taught me to never waste a minute of a child's life. I will so miss going into the cinder block office ....oh and that rocking chair. The rocking chair that has heard more about education than it's little wooden body had ever hoped for...the rocking chair that rocked me as I shared my frustrations about any and everything education...the Rocking Chair of Therapy I shall name it:)


There are so many things I do not know....but here is what I do know: I know I will go back into the classroom again one day.....I know that for a while...Julia Moore will be my classroom. I know in my heart that I will always be a teacher ....it is truly what I was born to do....from the minute I started doing it I knew I was doing exactly what God had created me to do...but I also know that from the minute I laid eyes on that precious child God gave me I knew I was doing what I was born to do...that I was doing what He created me to do...so I am saying good bye to Lyman Hall....and saying hello to a new place....it just looks a bit differently....

one thousand gifts...

21. that she has just discovered her tongue and that she can stick it out.
22. strawberry festivals on May Saturdays.
23. late night conversations.
24. a classroom where I have loved and taught with my heart.

you can learn more about my 1,000 gifts here.

Changes await....

Changes in the Moore Family await:

1. We are moving to Knoxville, TN
2. I will be staying home with our sweet little girl. (another post on that later)
3. B. has a new job that he has already begun.


only 3 changes....but they are big ones! We are excited and ready for them! Moving date is TBA...but probably sometime early June:)

let the madness begin!

Mother's Day.

Read this today at Ann VosKamp's website. Such great parenting advice.
Notes to self as I parent today, 3 lines that have radically changed my parenting– what I call Poetic Parenting:

1. Heart Connect… only then Direct.

Instruction can only thrive in the soil of authentic relationship. Before offering instruction, consider how to touch the child gently. Think on how to frame all instructions in the context of a loving, affirming relationship.

If instruction bears tensions then check out the soil: perhaps the relationship needs fertilizing. If the relationship has been well cultivated and nourished, and instruction still yields resistance, perhaps offering more opportunities to practice receiving and implementing instruction may nourish the young shoot towards a joyful attitude.

Questions to self: Am I making eye contact? Am I touching? Have I nourished this relationship? Am I connecting before directing?

2. Love, what did I say?……
And will you obey?

Asking the child what was said allows the child to offer feedback to ensure they did indeed hear the instructions.

Then, does the child intend to do what was asked?


3. By what is inspected,
They’ll know what is expected

Our children need to hear it as much as the faithful servant needed to hear it: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Questions to Self: Am I bringing closure to an instruction by joining with a child to inspect the task? Am I being faithful to finishing that which I began: I gave the instruction, did I inspect?

And thus a few lines for self to recite, that radically change everything about parenting:

1. Heart Connect … only then Direct

2. Love, what did I say?
And will you obey?

3. By what is inspected
They’ll know what is expected.

I also printed off the 10+ Real Helps for Really Busy Mom and 10 Grace Prayers for Joyful parenting....I was so proud to print these off as I get ready to enjoy my first ever Mother's Day. I feel so special to be a part of this holiday and at the same time so humbled that God would allow and entrust me with the gift of motherhood.

Best thing I read today...

"I don't write because I know the answers, I write to discover them. '


stumbled upon this little nugget of wisdom here

Lately :)

one thousand gifts

16. apple crisp filling the house
17. mindless tasks
18. shy smiles
19. putting our feet in cold water creeks
20. piano music that reminds me I do indeed have bits and pieces of my grandmother woven into my soul

you can learn more about my own personal journey with a 1,000 gifts here.

the Royal Wedding!

I watched all of the Royal Wedding Coverage this past week and loved every second of the actual wedding. My husband asked me why I was so "into it"....I think maybe bc what little girl doesn't dream of becoming a princess? I know I sure did! I know I must have watched Snow White, Cinderella, and the Little Mermaid at least 100x each! (maybe not that much...but it was a lot!). Now I know that this isn't an actual fairy tale, but still...to have an opportunity to watch someone become a princess...of course I'm going to watch! loved it!