Happy Father's Day

I will admit it...have been a terrible blogger lately!
I do have a couple of excuses though.
I have been taking a summer class and my time on the internet lately has been devoted to either research or nothing productive at all.

Anyway, a few important things have happened.
1) My sister finished her LPN work and is now moving on to get her RN. Way to go sis! It's been a lot of sacrifice for her the past year (and a little sleep for me going to her house at 630 am twice a week) but hey, its worth every bit of it in the end. I dont have a picture or I would post it.

2) My husband had a job interview. Thats all I can say about that at this point. It has been very promising thus far but we are waiting for that "final" confirmation and a start date. It would be a HUGE blessing for us.

Well here is the real point of this post.....HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
To my Dad....I love you!

This is one of my favorite pictures with my daddy. Yes, thats a real tiger! I think I was in 2nd grade in this picture.


And I also like this one alot.

My dad loves my sister and I alot and we love him so much back:) I miss our Saturday lunch dates and the gas fairy coming to my car on a weekly basis. And Dad, you can still run faster than me!   Thankfully, I am not too far away and a phone call is wonderful! Love you dad!

Teaching Taz

Pretty much, our dog is like our child. We took him to Jeremey's hometown this past weekend and he provided a great source of entertainment for all. Who needs a kid when you've got a dog!? Jeremey and his brother got the bright idea to teach Taz how to swim. My dog is not a swimmin' dog! The dog book tells us that. He is terrified of water! Anyway, it was funny to watch.

It begins with a lesson from "Daddy"

And Taz is successful! (Im not sure he really knows how to swim or if he was so scared all he could do was move his feet and get out!)

Poor thing, he would jump out and run straight to my father in law to ring his tail out.

Poor Taz, looks like a rat when he is wet.

Education

Husby let me pick out a movie tonight. He usually picks because I honestly don't really care about movies most of the time. In fact, I usually almost always fall asleep. When I do pick out a movie, its either going to be a happy movie or a "teacher" movie. Tonight what do I pick? A documentary. I love to watch documentaries. Boring, I know, but I find them interesting, meaningful, and not a waste of 2 hours of my life like other movies. Anyway tonight it was Waiting for Superman.

This is a documentary basically talking about the plight of the public school system and the option of charter schools. Yes, its a "teacher" documentary. So naturally, I would find this interesting.

My view: Yes, we have so many schools across this nation in danger and failing to meet the standards. There are so many arguments about the standards and testing that I could write all day. However, bottom line, we still have schools that aren't matching up. There are teachers passing the buck and not dealing with issues. I am not a teacher yet so I cant say that I will be perfect, and I know I wont be. However, I hope will do my best. There are hoops to jump through and annoying things that teachers have to do.There are things that teachers wish they didn't have to do. I have seen it in my observations and heard teachers talk about things. The legislation, mandates, tests, etc don't make it a breeze but as a teacher, I feel like there is still a responsibility to make the schools the best they can be and give the students the best learning experience they can have no matter what, working with what you have been given.

None of this changes the fact that I want to be a teacher. I want to feel like I am making a difference. I want to be a teacher that cares. None of this changes the fact that I don't want to be one of "those" teachers. I want to be more than "that".

This is what I am called to do. This is what I will do.

On a different note, watching this only reminded me that I was so incredibly blessed with a solid education. My parents had a choice of where to send me and they made excellent choices. I was able to attend good schools my entire life and went to one of the top high schools in my state. I went into school never doubting that I would graduate. I went into high school never doubting that I would college was in my future and I left high school never doubting I would be prepared for college. I am so thankful.

Its not fair to me that some of these families on this documentary were hoping for a little luck through a lottery to attend a good school. This is America, the country of freedom. I don't understand why every child doesnt have the same access to good education. I don't get it, but that's the way it is.

I just hope that whatever school or place I end up in, that I could make the learning meaningful for the one year that student is in my classroom.

I am meant to be a teacher. I know it.

Cooking Shows

Ok so I have the morning off work and I found myself watching cooking shows on tv. Why? I really don't know but that's what I did. I enjoy watching the chefs make things that in the end look so wonderful but it always leads me to a few questions.

1) Do people really watch these shows and try to make the stuff on their own at home?
* I ask this because I mean its great to watch but they usually make things I would never make at my house. Maybe I am too simple.

2) Do you have some of these ingredients just laying around your kitchen?
*Once again, maybe I am too simple and I do not have some of these crazy ingredients just in my kitchen cabinet.

3) This is off of question 2, but if I don't have these ingredients I obviously would have to buy them but I'm not convinced it would be an affordable meal and I am a cheap shopper!

I love finding new recipes and things to cook but they must be simple and affordable. So if anyone reads this, let me know what your favorite simple and affordable meals are!

Beautiful.

I am reposting this because I simply think it is amazing. Jeremey and I attended the memorial of a 3 month old child this weekend.This family was so good to us during a time that we had no idea what we were doing or where we were heading and although we don't live close anymore or see them often these days, we have great respect for them. Anyway, here is the story written from Sawyer's mother.

These were the words God gave me for me sweet Sawyer Gray the day of his memorial. I need to share them because it was not in vain that his life was short! Please I beg you if there is a question of Gods love for you or His absolute Grace in the moment of need take heart!!! If this broken mother can stand before a crowd and speak these words know that ALL THINGS are possible through Christ!

I want to tell you the story of my Sawyer Gray. When I found out that we were expecting our fourth child I want to be honest and say the news was not greeted with much enthusiasm. Besides the fact that four children is an overwhelming responsibility my last two were born very prematurely. But surprise. God was again blessing us with round 4. I rolled up my sleeves and decided to go to battle for this one. He was not going to suffer for weeks in a hospital like his brothers and my family was not going to endure that pain again. It was a struggle and many of you here today prayed for him and I thank you for that. One week shy of 33 I went into labor. I started praying and praying then listening. I made God a promise that night that if he gave me this baby healthy and ready for this world then I would give him back to Him. Now at the time you understand I thought I would raise a Godly man someone who would do great things for the kingdom of Christ. Or some missionary who never got to come home to me for Christmas. I was willing to bargain for those things. I was willing to sacrifice for those.Sawyer was born on January 8th his brothers second birthday. He was perfect healthy fearfully and wonderfully made. Gods promise fulfilled..... I did not know then that he would want him back so soon. But I do not regret the the promise I made that night! Because he might have only lived on this earth 117 days but God is using him to do great things today and will continue to do so in our family. I will never see Sawyer run and play with his brothers. I will never celebrate the day he accepted Christ like my daughter but Philippians chapter 1:6 says " be confident of this , that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus .".I wanted to end by saying Sawyer Gray Maxwell lived 117 days but His mercy is still new every morning. And His grace will always be sufficient for me. Thank you

BEAUTIFULLY SAID!
Please keep this family in your prayers, I know they greatly appreciate it!
If you would like to read more you can go to this site:

http://www.jmaxministries.com/ 

 

 

UPDATE!

It has been a little bit since I wrote last! Time gets away so fast. So here are some "big things" that have happened, or the most exciting I guess.

Garage Sales.
I love to garage sale. My mom used to drag me out every Thursday in the summers when I was young and we would go garage selling. I hated it. It was hot. I didn't understand why we couldn't just go to an air-conditioned store for goodness sake! Well...here I am, grown up and garage selling. I bring some water and save some money and hunt for deals. It's fun now. Thanks mom!


Finals.
Here it is, another semester ending. I still have a few to go. They all go faster than the last. Finals haven't really been consuming my life, I'm not too stressed about them. I only have 3 and 2 of those will be easy. I'm starting to see the light at the end of this school tunnel. Long time coming, but I'm getting there and I will finish!

Job.
I have a job, I love my job (most days). However, if we are going to survive a semester of me not working and student teaching, my husband needs to change jobs. So if you would, please pray for that! God knows what we need and He is going to take care of us. I'm not worrying about it but praying about it certainly doesn't hurt:)

I have more to say but it deserves a post of it's own. Read the next post when it comes!

Passing Time.

So at work yesterday I started out feeling not so hot. I figured well the wind is blowing 100 mph so I'm sure it's just my allergies. The day progressed and I started feeling crummier. I was able to leave early and when I got home I found that I had a temp of 102. Oh joy. My husband looked at my throat and said "yep, there's white patches all over." Oh joy. Strep. I've had it more times than I can count in my life. So after a visit to Urgent Care and starting the antibiotic, here I am, sitting at home on my couch.I've had this a million times and I will be better by tomorrow. I'm not complaning though, at least it's a weekend and I have nothing to miss. There is no time better than a weekend to be sick these days. My weeks are cram-packed full and spending the entire weekend at home is amazing sometimes!

While I am sitting on the couch (because walking around makes my head feel like its spinning off), I started a good book. Luckily, I went to the library the other day and found it. IT IS SO GOOD! I love to read and I love to read happy stories. I feel like I have wasted my time if it ends not happy. (That's my view on movies too, by the way.)

If you like to read good stories, read this one! Oh, and it probably helps that its a true story and she is from Oklahoma. It makes it all more real I guess.