Notes of Love/Favorite Friday

I have a little book of fun sayings that I can slip in the kids lunch boxes, backpacks or wherever. I sometimes leave one of the notes on their pillow, especially if I'm headed out of town. Just a little note to remind them how much I love them. I hadn't used it for awhile. Many of the sayings or quotes are geared toward younger kids and I felt the older kids had grown out of them. I loved walking into my room awhile back and finding this on my dresser, it was from my youngest. She had climbed up on the counter and found where I keep the book.

I not only love you,

I like being with you,

Thanks for being great!

So cute and thoughtful~!

Randoms

It's been a week of complete craziness that happens every year at this time and still I seemed surprised by it....the overwhelming feeling of life, trying to fit it all in, figuring out our new fall schedule, dinner menu, grocery shopping, finding time for all the priorities...quiet time with the Lord and working out.....actually, that's the first time I've thought of trying to fit working out into this schedule, but I REALLY SHOULD fit that in somewhere....or I won't be fitting into my clothes pretty soon, since I am an emotional eater...hold on, I need to get a snack.

My classroom is looking oh so cute and I'm even trying to make cute apple curtains to replace my old white ones, that are now actually tan, their so old. I thought I would whip up some curtains this weekend since I had nothing else to do...ha! We'll see how it goes and I'll be sure to post pictures. Did I mention that I don't really sew!

This is not a post of "whiny-ness" I do have something positive to share. I was so excited on Monday when the Lord gave me that verse from Psalm 138. I printed it, laminated it and hung on my wall by my desk that morning. Later in the day, our principal had us join in a Bible Study on campus (the Song of Solomon Bible Study I was in during the summer) The speaker name was Stephanie Fast. She has an amazing testimony. It is the most sold testimony on Focus on the Family. She was an orphan, discarded and left to die in a garbage dump, eventually adopted by an American missionary family. She spoke on God's sovereignty and the power of the cross in our lives. Guess what her verse was that spoke from? Psalm 138:7-8!!! I LOVE confirmations that seem like coincidences to so many. It was a perfect way for our staff to start the year. Great worship, prayer and message!

Since I woke up this morning, I have been thinking that today is Friday! ahhh, I just might cry now, I need it to be a Friday kind of day and not a Thursday! Oh well, I need an extra day to get ready for school. Off to listen to this song, read and plan my day!

THE MORE I SEEK YOU

Kari Jobe

The more i seek you,the more i find you

The more i find you, the more I love you

I wanna sit at your feet

drink from the cup in your hand.

Lay back against you and breath,

here your heart beat

This love is so deep,

it's more than I can stand.

I melt in your peace, it's overwhelming

A New Beginning

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.

Psalm 138:8

I've been praying for a verse for this year. A promise to frame, hang behind my desk and claim daily. This morning when I was reading, I knew without a doubt, this is would be the passage.

The Message

When I walk into the thick of trouble, keep me alive in the angry turmoil. With one hand strike my foes, With your other hand save me. Finish what you started in me, God. Your love is eternal—don't quit on me now.

Goodbye Olympics 2008

We have loved staying up late and watching the olympics together. We are all bummed they are over and I must say I am a little out-voted when I say that the diving was the all time best to watch. Molly and I met Laura Wilkinson last year at the Revolve Tour and had fun watching in her perform in her last Olympics. So, in honor of the ending of the best Olympics (and most watched in history) I have added this video for your enjoyment. Please, watch as many times as you would like and let me know what ya think.......

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And they will come....in 10 days!

Tomorrow is the first day back to school for teachers. I always have anxiety leading up to this day. I hate seeing the end of summer but am excited for the new year ahead. I went to the teacher store the other day and nothing can get a teacher excited like THE TEACHER store. Just when I thought my brain was still shut down for the summer and I didn't have one fresh idea for 20 fourth graders the dam let down.....apples and posters and shiny rulers and fall border and games and fall leaves for window clings....ahhh! Don't you all want to be in fourth grade? So, tomorrow I will wake up, begin working in my room, see all my wonderful teacher friends and begin praying over each desk, for the child that will spend nine months, five days a week in my care! What pressure but what an honor. I love my job! Oh and I can't forget to mention the best things about the 08-09 school year.... I get to have my baby in my class! Yippee! I wish the kids were coming tomorrow.....um, no I don't...I have TOO MUCH TO DO.....Anxiety! ahhhhh! I only have ten days.....and they will come!!!

Wordless Wednesday

This is Grandma Esther. She will be 84 next week. She's a spitfire and a prayer warrior, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren serve the Lord because of her daily prayers. She is pure joy, love, happiness, spirit filled, loves life, wakes up smiling and goes to bed smiling! She loves Jesus, playing the organ, making quilts and her family. This is a picture of me teaching her all about text messaging. This picture says a thousand words. What a difference in generations......can't you just hear what this woman, born in 1924, could be saying about the speed of text messaging........"Georgia Peaches, Oh my, (insert a squeal) Well, I never!"

I can't believe I am putting this picture of me out there on the world wide web. My intense look and passion for texting is hilarious! (look at my pursed lips)

HEAL US

Since I just shared these videos a few days ago about Michael Gugleilmucci's illness and song, HEALER........I wanted to follow it up with this article that was sent to me this morning. It saddens and disappoints me, but like many have already posted, God can still annoint inspite of the messenger. Here is a family to be praying for.....

Healer/ Worship

I saw this amazing video here and had to pass it on.
Michael, who is sick, with every ounce of energy, walks up on that stage and sings with thousands of other people and leads them in the most amazing worship. I love Hillsong! My ipod is filled with Hillsong, but I had not come across the story behind this song. The first video is of Michael telling his story and the second one is him singing the song he wrote, HEALER.




I Believe You're My Healer, I Believe You are all I Need! You are more than enough for me!

I have been focusing more on worship and trying to make that a bigger part of my morning devotions.....worship, prayer, reading scripture, everymorning! I was sharing with someone the other day about my anxiety of starting a new school year and all the stress that comes along with that and I was challenged by my mentor/friend to not miss a day of devotions for the next two weeks! Not one day! I was telling her that I want to be LOVESICK for HIM! She responded with a wave of the arm, saying, "that's easy, don't miss one day with HIM, get up early, in the quietness of the day, go before HIM and worship, pray, read!" Everyday!! So this is the song I listened to this morning, over and over! Powerful, true words!

Worship is premium importance; corporately, it is so powerful, we are part of something stronger. The Word says, do not forsake meeting together. We need to become a part of a greater body than just yourself. But worship by yourself, the time between you and the Lord that no one will know about, is just as important. There's a need for expression from the created to the creator. (Darlene Zshech)

Things I say to Myself

* It's not about you
* Don't be self-focused
* Is this glorifying to the Lord?
* Smile (more)
* Be positive/look at the bright side
* Talk Less
* Listen More
* What have I done for HIM lately?
* Live like I am forgiven
* Don't be lazy!
* Last but not least, Am I really hungry?

Do you talk to yourself? ; )

Back to Reality

We are back from our awesome trip to Ohio. I love being with family that we rarely see. We got to visit with my grandpa and his wife, my dearest best friend from fourth grade, Kelli. (We stayed up til 2:00am and got up early to visit more) then onto my fun cousins house, for a big family party, celebrating Andi's birthday with cake and homemade ice cream, more food and a dunk tank to top it off. Kelli, my childhood friend!

Never enough time to visit!

My mom and Grandpa on a walk

My grandpa and I on

a little hike near his house.

My cousin Kelli that hosted the great party and let us crash at her house.
On Saturday night, we headed to Cincinnati to visit Grandma Esther.

Cute mama Nicole and her Mama, Aunt Cindy.

While we were there, we had a baby shower for Nicole, who's due in December. What a blessing to be there and share this special day with the family!

This is my sweet, precious grandma. We played hours of dominoes, watched games shows, shopped and ate out every meal. She is a wonderful cook, but these days would rather take us out than spend hours in the kitchen. Sounds good to me ;) I drank a ton of sweet tea. I woke up thismorning craving some delicious sweet tea!

I ended the trip with Nicole, more shopping and some good Indian food!

What a great way to end summer. I cherish time with my favorite Ohio

people and now it's back to reality and on to a new school year.

Reality has hit HARD!
This is how much fun I had. Large, big, great!

FUN! (I have no idea what I am doing here)

Marvelous Love

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that's also why the world doesn't recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to. But friends, that's exactly who we are: children of God. And that's only the beginning. Who knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus' life as a model for our own.
1John 3:1-3

We are heading off for one last, quick summer trip to see family in Ohio. Darren and Tim will be staying home to clean house...actually to work and go to football practice. Daily doubles start soon, a sign summer is coming to an end.

When we were in California last week, we had a chance to make a spontaneous trip to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Haley thoroughly enjoyed it and we ended up spending almost three hours there. I was excited for Haley to check out AirForce One that is being housed there but not surprisingly, her favorite part was looking at all of Nancy Reagan's dresses. Not sure how many there were, but well over four rooms full. At the end of the tour, she bought a souvenir book filled with Mrs. Reagan's wardrobe. She bypassed all the fun educational videos for fashion!! Even though I was dreaming about the beach down the road, it was well worth the trip.

Posers

I am re-reading one of Brennan Manning's books, called "Posers, Fakers & Wannabes" My all time favorite book by Brennan, is Ragamuffin Gospels, that I read in college. But when I picked this one up the other day and read the back of it, I was drawn to the large bold letters...BE WHO GOD MADE YOU TO BE. All of us deal with this to some extent and certain times in our walk with the Lord. ...The Poser (impostor) wants me to believe my only hope is to forsake my true self and become everybody else" I need to bring the "impostor" into the presence of God, instead of trying to whip him into shape myself.

Here are the definitions for Poser, Faker and Wannabe (taken from the back of the book)

*A person who habitually pretends to be something he is not.
*one who fakes something
*one who imitates the behavior, customs, or dress of an admired person or group

I love this blessing.....

by Brennan Manning
"May all your expectations be frustrated, may all you plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son and Spirit . And today on planet Earth, may you experience the wonder and beauty of yourself as Abba's child and temple of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ"

Lord, Do Your work!


EVEN THE GRACE TO GRASP GRACE IS GRACE

Thankful List #46

Ok, so my list I committed to doing last month...for 100 Things I'm Thankful For...has slowed down a bit and not because I'm THANKLESS! Today I would like to feature #46....my dear, dear friends K, R, and L! We celebrated Laurie's birthday lastnight. I love it because she is the "eldest" of the four of us (by six whole months) and she is our mentor and teacher, since she has been alive longest! In all seriousness, these girls are precious to me and I value their friendship..immensely!! We have been celebrating our birthdays together for about 7-8 years now. What a blessing to have precious girlfriends in your life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURIE! LOVE YOU GIRLS TONS!

Favorite Friday..THIRD DAY & JAY LENO

Look what I got!!! The new Third Day CD that just came out this past Tuesday. I have been a Third Day fan since I was 16! Ok, maybe 26, but from the beginning of time I have loved this group. I have lost count of how many times I have seen them in concert. I had a huge, "ginormous" blessing surprise this week while we were in LA....my brother took me to the Jay Leno show the very night they were the musical guests! I can't believe that they happen to be on the very night I was in town. I was so excited, I could barely contain myself. We happen to have floor seats and we were able to talk to them a bit afterwards. Unfortunately, I didn't have this CD yet for them to sign. So they scribbled their signature on a wadded up piece of paper. Hey, whatever works, right! Of course, no cameras in the studio, which was such a bummer. We were so close to them, I could have taken tons and made a whole album just of them ; ) This CD is one of their best and you must get it!!

Greg Laurie Family

I have always loved listening to Greg Laurie's sermons on oneplace.com and I have several of his books and just read parts of his new book, "Lost Boys" I used to go to the Harvest Festival when I lived in Orange County years ago and always looked forward to them every summer.

Sadly, the Laurie family lost their oldest son, Chris, last week in a terrible accident. He leaves behind his wife, daughter and a baby due in November. It is crushing to read about this talented, Godly young man taken far too early. BUT it's a beautiful encouragement and blessing to hear the incredible words of Pastor Laurie last Sunday morning, just three days after losing his son. We can't imagine every going through something like this but I would hope and pray that I would be able to say what he shared that morning......I STILL BELIEVE! If you have ever listened to Pastor Laurie and been blessed by his words, why not leave the family a note of encouragement here.