Wisdom for Wednesday - Service

Good morning! I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful--and well deserved--break. I know I am!

I have attacked my "to-do" list with a vengeance this week, but it seems that I still have so much to do and so little time! It hasn't helped that basketball practice started up again this week, we've had doctor's appointments and errands, and the little bit of ice and snow we finally got makes me want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and be cozy!

Stay focused, I must (Yes, I watch Star Wars now and then).

This week's quote is for me…and maybe some of you. It seems that our sermons and Sunday school lessons at church have been themed around serving others. I am, oh, so guilty in this area. Take a look at what Oswald Chambers says was Paul's attitude in regards to serving others in an effort to draw them to Christ.

If you've followed my Wisdom posts, you probably remember me talking about this at some point. It is an area of my life which I am constantly needing AND wanting to improve upon. 

I'm just plain selfish! I hate to admit it, but it is true. And I think if we are being honest, most of us have to agree with that statement--at least a little bit.

I'm so busy with MY schedule, MY activities, caring for MY family, planning for MY work, taking care of MY house, doing MY stuff, and trying to pay MY bills…

...that I fail to look around me. 

I mean really look around me.

When you add my independent spirit to that selfishness…it makes it doubly difficult to recognize people's needs. I'm not sure that makes sense…but I know what I mean and you probably don't want or need to know all of my character flaws!

This year, I want to notice people. 

I mean really notice them. 

I want to take note of when someone needs some encouragement. 

I want to remember their favorite things so that I can surprise them with a treat now and then.

I want to be there for them when they need a listening ear.

I want to serve others with a kind heart.

I want to show Christ's love through me.

Who's with me?

BRRRR and Christmas Break thoughts!

We had our second winter storm hit here in Kansas this year.  Our last one was over our Thanksgiving break and now here it is again.  We actually didn't get any snow but a lot of ice.  I tried to walk out to my mailbox to get the mail and I believe it took me a long time because I had to walk very slow because I felt like I was ice skating on the sidewalk.  I'm just glad that I can be inside and curl up with a warm blanket today and not have to be out in the cold and ice. 

 

We are still on Christmas Break this week and I saw this and thought how true it was:

 

 

 

I have to say that I do catch myself eating very fast when I sit down to eat even when I'm at home.  I think I forget that I can slow down and actually eat my meal at a normal speed when I'm at home.

 

I hope you are having a great day!

 

 

Wisdom for Wednesday-Christmas

Welcome to this week's:

This time of year can get very busy and emotional.  Trying to wrap things up at work, shopping for presents, and getting things prepared for family and visitors.  Finances can get stretched which can cause more stress.  Unfortunately, due to all the hustle and bustle this time of year, sometimes we can forget what Christmas is really about and the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.   I hope that we all can slow down and remember the true meaning of Christmas and take time to celebrate it!  

Isaiah 9:6- 

For unto us a child is born , unto us a son is given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor , The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

John 3:16-For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 

believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life.

Have a wonderful Christmas!!

Christmas Break

I am officially on my Christmas Break!  I am ready for some down time and rest time.  :-)  I was able to enjoy a wonderful night with a dear friend of mine last night.  We went to Botanical Gardens and they have a beautiful display of Christmas lights.  On my way to pick my friend up there was a beautiful sun set!  Check it out!

Here were some pictures of just a few of the lights we saw (there were hundreds of lights....it had to be a lot of work).

I hope if you are on your Christmas break, you are relaxing some and enjoying your time.

Merry Christmas Break!

Merry Christmas break!!!

I'm so excited to be relaxing on my couch as I type this...no work, no housework, no nothing! I saw this on FB and thought...yep, that sums it up for today. ;-)

 

I thought I'd share a few pictures from yesterday, our "Grinch Day" (and we thankfully had early dismissal)!

 

Presents wrapped and ready to go late Thursday night (so much for being ahead...).

We started the day caroling at our local gas station/restaurant (remember we are in a VERY small town--it's the only business in town). 

 

Then we gathered all 50 K-2 kids in the gym (I mean Whoville) for a showing of The Grinch. 

 

 

This is me feeling pretty excited about the short day and upcoming vacation.

 

 

Halfway through the movie, we stopped for some Grinch inspired snacks. Our Title I teacher, paraeducator, and PTO all chipped in to make these cute goodies!

After the movie, we had yummy pizza brought in from previously mentioned store/restaurant. Love pizza parties!

Then our class Christmas party (before dismissing at 12:30--yikes--talk about packing in the FUN).

 We reviewed our CHAMPS expectations and the kids did an awesome job!

 
 

 The generosity of my students (and their families) always overwhelms me this time of year. Our PTO had us fill out a "wish list" this year. It was fantastic! I'm completely stocked up on dark chocolate--I have 1 piece after lunch most every day--along with plenty of my other favorite things. So sweet!

And finally... 

This was me at 4:00 yesterday afternoon. EXHAUSTED!

Enjoy your break!

 

Wisdom for Wednesday - Let Go

Good morning!

I have to admit that as I'm struggling through another busy week before Christmas break (this time fighting a cold or sinus infection), I'm having a little trouble finding some wisdom to share with you. Fortunately, it is not my wisdom we're relying on! ;-)

This is one of those times of year when everything gets crazy busy and I start to feel overwhelmed. 

I'm sure I'm not alone.

That's why when I saw this in my devotional, I thought it was perfect for today.

Spurgeon goes on to say, "If you set the Lord before you, there is fullness of joy in God's every attribute. There is heaven in every glimpse of Jesus' face, overwhelming bliss in every drop of Jehovah's everlasting love. You will not fail. You will not be discouraged."

Let everything go.

All those distractions, pressures, and deadlines.

Or the added pressures of the Christmas season.

Shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking...

Obviously, we can't ignore those things completely. 

We must take care of our responsibilities. 

I think the lesson here is that we not allow those things to burden us, to become our focus.

Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

Have a blessed day!

Decorating Gingerbread Man Cookies

We had our extra fun thing and decorated gingerbread man cookies for it.  To get to go to the extra fun thing, the kids have to have all of their work done for the week and have good behavior throughout the week.  The kids were so excited to decorate the cookies (unlike me!)  LOL!  You have to understand that first of all, I am not a baker and second I'm not good with art or decorating things.  Luckily, my co-teacher was nice to bake the cookies for us (I did offer to go to the grocery store and try to find some already baked).  

During our lunch time, my co-teacher explained how to use the frosting and everything to have them decorate the cookie so it would be easy for them and me.  Can you tell that she was concerned about how I was going to handle this extra fun thing???  LOL!  

I was nervous for the moment and then the time came.  The kids had a great time decorating and they were very creative in the way they decorated their gingerbread cookies.  As for me, I survived it, but ended up with frosting in my hair and on my slacks (how does that happen?).  The good thing about it was the kids had fun with it and they got to enjoy their cookie at the end of it all.

We have a busy week ahead with 4 more days until our Christmas break starts.  How many more days for you?  

Have a great week!

Notes on Desks and My Busy Week

Good morning!

I'm going to start with the only school pictures I have, so you can click away if you don't want to hear about my crazy life. Ha!

We've been using Showbie to do some of our assignments the last couple of weeks. It has been a challenge for some of my kiddos to remember what they have left to complete, so yesterday afternoon I had the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of writing them a note on their desks.

 

When the students were all done, I changed the message to something positive like this:

 

Each positive message was different and the kids were thrilled. I'm going to have to do it more often!

Back in November I ordered my student gifts for Christmas. I brought them home to wrap over Thanksgiving break. I was so proud of how "on top of it" I was going to be.

As you can see...they are still sitting here. 

Please tell me I'm not alone!

This has been a crazy week for us. Between school, coaching, and my own children's activities, we have been on the run.

Monday we had our first basketball game in a preseason tournament. We got home at 11:00 p.m. You need to know that is way past my bedtime. ;-)

Tuesday was the vocal concert, and my daughter sings. She is not technically in a vocal class this year. We're a small school and scheduling doesn't always work out, so I appreciate the vocal teacher allowing her to come in and practice with him during tutoring so she can still be a part of vocal.

Speaking of concerts, the band concert was last week. Both my kids play in the band. 

 

 

My son played the upright bass, piano, and the baritone.

My daughter played two different saxophones.

No, they don't get this musical talent from me! 

Wednesday, I went from school to physical therapy (for my shoulder). Then to practice and finally church.

Thursday, we worked the concession stand to raise funds for our upcoming Washington D.C. trip.

And last night, we had another game in that tournament that is forever away. We got home at 11:00 p.m....again.

Today we go back...girls are playing for third.

Boys are in the championship.

Tomorrow is our Christmas cantata at church, so another busy day for us. We're performing The Story of Christmas which is my absolute favorite cantata.

I keep telling myself just one more week until Christmas break!

Game day excitement around here today...gotta scoot!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Wisdom for Wednesday-Be Kind

Welcome to:

The other day after work I stopped at the store to get a couple of things.  I had a long day and was very tired and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the store.  To be honest, I wanted to go straight home and go to bed!  As I was walking through the store, an elderly lady passed me and I smiled at her.  I kept going and there she was again in the next aisle and I smiled at her again.  She walked up to me and said "I wanted to say thank you to you."  I didn't know why she would be thanking me....I didn't do anything.  I asked her why and she then told me that it had been one of her worst days for her in her entire life.  She had gotten some bad news about her health.  She had been to several places that day and walked by several people and she said that not one of them smiled at her or even took the time to glance over at her.  She told me that when I smiled at her, things seemed a lot better.  I was amazed that something so simple could impact someone.  I too was having a hard day, but really smiling at someone doesn't take much.  I was so glad that I had smiled at her and helped her feel a little better.  The next day, I saw this quote and thought it was very fitting!

A simple smile that doesn't take a lot of work can mean the world to someone.  So, take time to smile at others and be kind because you don't know what they may be dealing with in their lives.

Have a great day!

Extra Fun Thing Choices

Every Friday in the afternoon we have what we call an "Extra Fun Thing." The students that get all of their work done for the week and have followed all our rules during the week get to participate in it. They got to choose this time what they wanted to do and they were thrilled.  Here are the choices:

1.  Math Games

2.  Reading Games

3.  Play-Doh

4.  Puzzles

5.  Pattern Blocks

6.  Computer/Ipads

7.  Paint

8.  Drawing

9.  Coloring

10.  Whiteboard

All they had to do was find their clothespin with their name on it and pick a choice and off they went.  Here they are:

It is so easy to get ready for this and the kids love it!  It is a great motivator for a lot of them.  

Have a great week!

Five for...Well, I'm Late!

Hi there! I hope you're enjoying this beautiful (here anyway) Sunday afternoon. I just woke up from my nap so I'm good. ;-)

I'm linking up for Five for Friday to share some VERY random photos with you from my week.

First, I snapped a photo of some of my kiddos working on a science inquiry from our curriculum. 

They were given two plastic cups each containing one ice cube. One was the "control" and was to be left alone. They had to figure out how to try to keep the other ice cube from melting. I provided them with foil, wax paper, cotton balls, and tape.

 

It was fun to listen in on their plans and watch them work. They did great!

Second, in this picture my kids are hard at work on their Showbie assignments.  

 

Showbie is an app to go paperless...while we won't be a completely paperless classroom, it has made some of our work more fun! It works really nice on our story selection tests...not wasting paper for filling in those bubbles!

Remember how my kids break/ruin everything? Well, we've already had to talk about not pressing the stylus too hard because they are scratching up the iPad covers. Yikes! 

Third, we celebrated my son's birthday with dinner, cake and ice cream with the grandparents. 

 

I can't believe he is 16!!!

Fourth and Fifth, our girls basketball team had a photo shoot on Saturday. Here's a couple pictures of my daughter (#33) and my niece (#22). 

 

My niece is a year older, so they were not on the same team last year. We're excited for them to be playing together again! First game is on Monday. Whoop! Whoop!

***Some of you may remember my son's ACL injury...he is playing basketball too and so far doing GREAT!

Have a great week!