Whew!

I think things are finally starting to balance out. I always seem to forget how busy the spring semester is & how it flies by. On top of the normal work 'to do' list & TAKS insanity (In case you were wondering, TAKS is evil) I had a presentation for the school board last week. I was very excited about it & equally nervous. It went really, really well, so YAY! And, thank you to all of you who prayed for me through the whole thing - I am blessed by you! Another cool thing that came out of the whole process was the feeling of assurance I felt/feel - that I am where I am supposed to be & doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I got in my car & praised God for His provision & guidance in my life. Things at church are going well too. I feel like we're on the edge of a breakthrough, & we are experiencing so much spiritual growth in multiple areas - especially children, youth, & young adults. It's one of those times where I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat just waiting for what God's gonna do next. What can I say?? God is really, really good!

Serious Question

This is your chance to be 100% completely honest. I bought this long top/dress a couple months ago & have put it on several times. However, I've never left the house in it & I need your opinion - I mean am I just too old for this style? Is it that I haven't worn leggings since I was 8? Should I try the thing with jeans? Do I give it up all together? You be the judge.

Pose #1

Side view...

So...what's the verdict???

25 Random Facts

In honor of the 'snow' day, I'm finally gonna do this one! 1. I have the best husband in the whole world. 2. Lucy, our golden retriever, is pretty much our first born at this point & ridiculously spoiled. 3. Speaking of spoiled, I'm the most spoiled wife on the planet (well, next to Jana;) 4. I used to hate reading until I taught it 2 years ago, now I'm an addict. 5. I love kids books & young adult books & will read the same book 2-3 times in a row if I really love it. 6. I get to lead the children's worship service on Sundays & it's one of my favorite parts of the week. 7. I met John in the TCU drumline. 8. I love musicals. 9. If I go to a musical performance (symphony, musicals, etc.) I almost always tear up when the music starts. 10. Sarah once made me question the reliability of my deodorant (which wasn't as bad as the time she made me smell her vomit hair). 11. Wednesdays are my marathon days & I don't usually get home until around 10:45pm, but they are always awesome 'cause my church family rocks! 12. We just got a new comforter & I've spent pretty much the last week in my bed 'cause it's so darn comfy (well, and the being sick thing...) 13. I love teaching 5th graders because of their 'sassy attitudes' - that's the nice way to put it. 14. Ever since Kindergarten I've wanted red-headed children (ask my mom) & John likes to joke that it's the real reason I married him. 15. I have approached strangers to tell them I love their kid's red hair (I'm pretty sure that one couple never visited our church again...) 16. Scrapbooking stresses me out...even though I like it. I probably finish about 1 page a year. 17. I've prayed for twins at 30 since my sophomore year in college...yes I am crazy. 18. Seinfeld is distracting me from coming up with more random facts... 19. I don't eat at Wendy's b/c last time I was there, John smashed a roach on our table. Sick. 20. I'm left handed. 21. Heights freak me out to the point where I get nervous standing next to the railing on the second floor of the mall, yet I don't mind things like rock climbing & rollercoasters. 22. I love post-its (and pretty much all office supplies). 23. I LOVE the beach & the best vacation ever was the cruise John & I took around Hawaii. 24. My sister called me the other day to tell me she was leaving John C. Reilly's house - cause she's cool like that!! 25. I can spread my toes out really far.

Let me sum up...

This week has been kinda like a roller coaster - not a big one, but maybe like a mini mine train or something - the kind that just keeps dragging you along, shaking you up occasionally as you go. First of all I took full advantage of last weekend being a long weekend. It was fabulous & I even got somewhat caught up on work stuff. Tuesday - I watched the inauguration with my 5th graders. My favorite comments: "Hey! George Bush's daughters are hot! You think they'd go out with me?" "Who is that lady in the crazy hat???" (I can't really argue with that one though, that was one big bow, Aretha!) Also, when they were introducing the former presidents, I asked the kids why they skipped the 40th & if they knew who he was. They agreed it was Martin Luther King... After school I had a meeting to plan a presentation for the school board in February. I am really excited about presenting, despite the nightmares I had that night about not being prepared or just making a fool of myself. Wednesday & Thursday - I had more meetings, but got a lot of tedious paperwork out of the way. My kiddos are definitely rebelling to the lack of structure over the last few weeks due to testing, my being out at meetings, and other random changes in the schedule. A lot of discipline issues are starting to pop up again, so hopefully next week we can get back in the groove. Friday - I survived. My kids hurt my feelings (although they don't know that) 'cause they were being so rude all morning. We all pulled it back together and had a productive afternoon, & I left after school to go to the doctor. The Dr. gave me a prescription for antibiotics, but then told me it might be a virus, so I should wait a couple days to see if it gets better on its own. Seriously?? I don't like making decisions when I'm sick - I just want someone to tell me what to do...time to call my Mommy. Today I'm hanging out in bed with my mountain of Kleenex, Lucy (she's great company when you're sick!) & the laptop. John's working all day w/ church meetings all morning & rehearsals all afternoon/evening. I'm praying for a miraculous healing & the ability to sing at church tomorrow, even though I can't talk today. So, we shall see!

Shoes

So I wrote most of this post weeks ago, & am just now getting around to finishing it! Someday I'm gonna get back to regular postings!

I feel the need to preface this post with the fact that I don't often buy new shoes. Maybe once or twice a year I'll find a pair I really love & take them home with me. In fact I still wear 1 pair of shoes I've had since 10th grade (I'm waiting for Stacy & Clinton to come rip them off my feet).

It all started with a little after Christmas sale at Kohl's. I found these great skechers & snatched them up. Although they were available in brown, grey, & black, they only had brown in my size, so that's what I got. I love them & I've worn them almost every day since then (even when they didn't exactly match my outfit - gasp!!)

Well, for the last 4 days I've been in Los Angeles with my sister, Amy, seeing the sites & just having fun. Today we happened to run across a Skecher's store which led to a shoe-buying saga of epic proportions. It began with the whole 'buy one, get one half off' sale. John is seriously against this type of marketing & typically talks me out of falling into the trap of buying 2 pairs instead of just one. But today his logic was foiled due to the presence of my sister (that's what sisters are for, right?) We decided we would work together to take advantage of the sale by each buying a pair of shoes, thus sharing the discount.

The only problem with our plan was I couldn't decide which pair I wanted. After much contemplation, I went with a more practical pair of black sketchers over some flashier silver & navy ones. We finally checked out, but that was only the beginning.

In the end, after visiting 3 Skecher stores, with 4 of us looking at & trying out countless paris of shoes...here is the result:

Yeah, I mentioned 4 people checking out shoes, but they're all mine & Amy's. Sorry Mindy & John. You lose.

Holiday Wrap Up

This morning I woke up to a lingering stress dream about school. I don't know if normal people get these about work, but I know other teachers get them. I usually only get them in August & they usually consist of showing up for the first day of school completely unprepared. This one was similar - I kept losing my kids, I picked my class up from the library 37 minutes late, and basically messed up everything I did the whole day. Ugh. Not a fun way to wake up...so I slept for another hour & then got up - all better! Well, to be honest, I haven't completely shaken the stress feeling, & I think I'm just gonna have to pick a day next week to go get some work done before I feel relief. Oh well, on to the fun stuff... Week 1 of the 'semester break' AKA Christmas Holiday was quite a whirlwind. We spent a couple of days with my family. Highlights include: Amy & Matt coming over to help put up our Christmas tree & just hang out; making cookies with Amy (my crappy ones & mom's good ones); visiting Aunt Betty & watching birds in her wildlife sanctuary of a backyard (if you look up 'peace' in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure you'll see a picture of her beautiful backyard); & all the good hangout time with my family. Christmas Eve is always reserved for church. John is involved in all 3 services (5, 7:30, & 10) so we're pretty much up there for the whole evening. It's actually become a nice tradition for the two of us (Side note: we are grateful for sweet Etta who takes care of us & makes sure we get a yummy dinner between services. She is a huge blessing & I am so thankful for her!) Other than the Christmas Eve worship services, our tradition is to come home (usually around midnight) and wrap each other's presents. Then, as soon as we're finished, we open them. I love it. John was very creative this year and got/made me some hilarious gifts. I'll have to post about a couple of them later on... Christmas day was spent with John's fam. Our sweet nephews were made to wait for us to get there until 8:15 (actually we got there at 8:17 - we're cruel that way) to open their presents. They were patiently waiting - each with a present in his lap - when we walked in the door. Chaos ensued & we enjoyed watching them play the rest of the day with all the fun new toys they received. Billy & Mary got us a cool hot beverage maker, so if you're feeling like a little Hot Chocolate, you now know where to go - we can't wait to try it out!! The day ended with the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, etc., the watching of 'It's a Wonderful Life', and the introduction of John's parents to Guitar Hero. Ha ha! The next day we went to the zoo & it was awesome! The weather was in the mid 60's & breezy, & all the animals were out and about. We got to see the giraffes let out of their little (meaning really tall) house (I've never seen them run before!), the hippos walking around before their pond was filled up (they so look like cartoons), the male lion do his morning roaring - which is quite impressive, & the lion cubs frolicking around with their mama. It was really really cool! We came home around 3 to meet Aaron & Esther who stayed with us last night. It was great to get a chance to hang out & reconnect. We hadn't seen them since their wedding last June, so we had plenty to catch up on - plus they got to introduce us to the Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks & we got to introduce them to Rob Bell & his cool books & Nooma Videos. All around it's been a great week! Yay for holidays!

Wrestling

This week's passage of study for BSF was a hard one. Exodus 32 is about the Israelites creating & worshiping the golden calf (resulting in severe consequences). One of the things I've learned in the last few years is that it's ok to struggle over scripture & ask God questions. In the past I would have breezed through this passage, & said, "Ok, so God & sin don't mix, silly Israelites," or I would have pushed any questions out of my brain before they could become completely conscious thoughts. So instead of running the other way this time (esp. when I hit verse 27 or so), I let my brain ask questions. I wrestled - well, I'm still wrestling. And you know what I figured out so far? I don't have the answers. I don't get it. I don't understand God's ways. Though I'm not done processing yet, here are some things God has opened my eyes to so far: -I take Christ's sacrifice for granted. God really hates sin. Sin = death. I recently read this about sin: "Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be. And anything else you do is sin" (see Velvet Elvis link). Praise God for the indescribable gift we have through Jesus & thank you for reminding me of that gift as we prepare to celebrate His birth! -As Rob Bell mentions in his book Velvet Elvis, scripture is meant to be talked about & discussed - after all it is living and active. I could talk more about that, but I won't right now (feel free to read the book, it's awesome! :-) I felt hugely blessed tonight to have a group of women of different ages, denominations, and backgrounds, with whom I could pour out my struggles with this scripture & all my questions. I found that where I saw judgement, others saw mercy. Where I saw hopelessness others saw the hope we have in Christ. Where I saw death, others saw life. It was/is pretty amazing. -I need to take sin seriously. I'm not talking about running up to everyone I see with my bullhorn & yelling in their faces about judgement. I'm talking about recognizing sin in my life & letting go of my excuses for letting sin cycles creep in. I'm talking about getting rid of my idols: laziness, entertainment, food, sleep, possessions... and remembering God is more than enough - He is completely sufficient, & every blessing in my life is a gift from Him. Speaking of sufficient...2 Corinthians 12:9-10 is some of my favorite scripture & that's what I want to end with: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.