Thoughts from Sunday's sermon

 "There is no shame in the struggle." 

To say there is no struggle is to set yourself up for a fall.
Just because you want to sin doesn't mean you have to.
Calvary is at your disposal every time sin tempts.

When we're tempted to say or do something sinful and pause, struggle, and then by the power of Christ *don't*, that's what it means to live in freedom from sin's dominion.

(Romans 6)

*waves*

Oh, hello blog & readers :)

Life craziness has made it so really don't even think about posting here.
I'm an Elementary Education major and taking 19 credits this semester. This = BUSY.
All of my classes are really great, but the homework and projects are a constant. I used to think my goal was to get ahead. Instead, I've revised to "stay afloat."

As part of my Teaching Language Arts class, I am reading kids' books - LOTS of them!
Here is what I've read lately:

• Ralph S. Mouse (Beverly Cleary) - love!
• The Tiger Rising (Kate DiCamillo) - sad, but hopeful & well-written
• Seen Art? (Jon Scieszka) - ha! fun concept!
• Perre (Maurice Sendak) - LOL! In the style of old-time moralistic stories.. and in rhyme!!
• Pickles to Pittsburg (Judi Barrett) - um... meh?
• Louise: Adventures of a Chicken (Kate DiCamillo) - LOVE! This is the same author who wrote Despereaux :)
• The Rumplestiltskin Problem (Vivian Vande Velde) - Super fun - 6 short stories that approach the story more logically. Love the different styles & approaches to motivation.
• The Best School Year Ever (Barbara Robinson) - If you loved "Best Christmas Pageant Ever," you will most likely love this book too.
• Ella the Elegant Elephant (Carmela & Steven D'amico) - Adorable! Fab pics.
• If You're So Smart How Come You Can't Spell Mississippi? (Barbara Esham) - A great approach to dealing with dyslexia & other students' view of those who struggle with it.
• In Grandma's Attic (Arleta Richardson) - These books are the best evar! Love the nostalgia & fun stories and lessons learned.
• Trading Places (Claudia Mills) - A really good book that deals with parental unemployment, stupid girl relationships (ie: exclusion for no reason) and has good resolution.
• The Sign on Rosie's Door (Maurice Sendak) - HILARIOUS! You just have to read it. I love her imagination.
• Zoom (Istvan Banyai) - Ok so you don't exactly read it - it's a book about visual perception by a Hungarian graphic designer
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (William Steig) - Lol I remember reading this when I was little. It's fun and imaginative.
• The Story of Babar (Jean de Brunhoff) - Uh.. I really thought the storyline was stupid?
• The Story About Ping (Marjorie Flack & Kurt Wiese) - I like this book for nostalgic reasons, plus it teaches little kids about the importance of staying with your parents 'cause getting lost is scary and dangerous!
• Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Bernard Waber) - Such a cute, fun, happy book :) Read it.
• The Kitten Who Thought He Was a Mouse (Miriam Norton) - Sweet, but not remarkable.
• The King Without a Shadow (R. C. Sproul) - Interesting theologically, but it didn't seem super kid-friendly.
• I'll Love You Anyway & Always (Bryan Chapell) - LOVE this book! Really great lesson to it - A little girl disobeys and is afraid that her dad won't love her anymore. He responds by telling her he'll love her "anyway & always" and then goes on to talk about how that's how God loves us + gives a ton of examples of different incidents in the Bible. The next day, her little brother wrongs her and she makes the choice between being rightfully offended OR loving him and forgiving the offense.
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (Virginia Lee Burton) -I love Mike and this book and the nostalgia of it :) Super cute.
• Two Minute Mysteries (Donald J. Sobol) - eh, doesn't seem super kid-appropriate. Instead of kid-friendly mysteries like his Encyclopedia Brown books, this book is full of 2-page mysteries about all sorts of murders, suicides, drownings, etc. There's some theft and ransom stories, but most of them are a lot more graphic than I'd want to hand over to a kid who could handle the reading level.
• Mr. Toad (based on Wind in the Willows) - (adapted by Jane Carruth) - Hated it. I think it's maybe because it's an adaption of just a portion of the book??? Basically he is naughty through the entire bok and only somewhat punished and wholly unrepentant. Ugh!!
• Amelia Bedelia's Family Album (Peggy Parish) - Ha! I sometimes like these and often think they're dumb. This one was more fun.
• The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes)- I think this might be one of my favorite books ever. Clearly shows the potential consequences of unkind actions and underscores how even if you're sorry that doesn't always make everything better. Just... read it. <3
• Flat Stanley (Jeff Brown) - LOL! I'd never read this book before, just seen the little paper guys that got mailed around with class projects. The story-telling is SO '60s and it makes me smile :) A fun book; definitely piques the imagination.

 And even better? I have a whole bookshelf of, like, 40+ more books I'm still going to read :)
I LIKE this kind of class assignment!

Craftalicious!

I am so beyond distracted... I have been browsing the interwebs and imagining the sort of knitty goodness I could create!

I love the lines (and color! and buttons!) of this cardigan.

Little girl sweaters = love
A sweet stripey cardi and then this more demure (but still fun!) looking sweater And then this lovely ribbed-cuffed number - here and here

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... some super cute bebe clothes (that, after looking at those adorable pics, make me want to talk my hubby into Kids. Now!)

Plus, knitted TOYS?!
A dog in a blanket <3 <3 <3
A wee lamby? (pattern here)



I want to make this amazing-looking hexagons blanket. I love the shape and colors!

Progress toward a relaxing summer

I finished a major paper for one of my summer classes today. The formatting was vexing, but it is FINISHED and turned in and I'm now done with that class! Hooray!!

Next, I need to start studying for CLEP tests, researching test locations & dates/times, and working on homework for a class I'm taking in August.

I want this summer to be a relaxing break. However, since I'm only working part-time, I know I need to be focusing and working on projects too, not just taking it easy. I have a list of things I want to finish before the school year resumes and the everydayness and rigor of classes to attend and a more scheduled.. schedule resumes.

We've been working on the spare room/guest room, getting things more organized, getting it ready to actually host company, and getting a specific decor style established.
I'm loving it! So bright and happy and cheery :D
It doubles as my craft room :) Also, a lady from church was super sweet and gave me a sewing machine she wasn't using. I need to get sewing machine needles before I can use it but I am so VERY glad to have it available! I've missed sewing.
My first project is either some garment repair OR hemming the curtains I'm making to go around a storage shelf in the corner of the storage shelf in the spare room.

Also on the Projects To Accomplish list is my desk. It is generally an area of paper-chaos sprinkled with pens and pencils. There needs to be some sense of order and homes for things and organization overall. I'm still figuring out what that should look like in this new-to-me desk.

It is hard to keep my motivation up. Once I finish a big project, it seems so right to just enjoy a break for homework. I can't let myself do that, though - otherwise I'm going to have nonstop homework looming over me until winter break! I want to get ahead and enjoy a little time to just BE and hang out with people and do fun reading :)

Refreshed motivation

I am in school, studying to be a teacher "when I grow up."
There are days that it seems like I will never be done working toward that degree. There are days when I feel like I will never quit reading textbooks, completing assignments, working on projects, or writing papers. Between school and homework and a part-time job, sometimes I lose sight of what it is that I am working toward. When I only occasionally work with kids - actually applying anything I'm learning in class!- I forget how much I truly love teaching.

This week, I'm helping out with Vacation Bible School at church. I was going to be helping with crafts, which sounded fun to me. But then, last week, my cousin asked me if I could teach the group she and her husband would be leading since they would be moving into their new house on the first day of VBS! I was quick to assure her I'd be happy to. I looked over the lessons a little, glanced at the visuals, but it didn't really hit until Sunday night that I had an opportunity to put all of my teaching experience- PLUS the new things I learned this past school year about differentiated instruction- into practice!
At that moment? SO PSYCHED! :D
I've been looking for more fun, tactile ways to teach the lessons, thinking up activities to reinforce the lessons, looking for fun ways to learn the memory verses, and attention-grabbing reviews of previous lessons.
So. Much. Fun.
<3

These brainstorms have led to late-night trips to Wal*Mart, much to my hubby's chagrin.Tonight's trip, I was searching for beach balls (for a memory verse activity), something to use as a treasure chest (for a review of the past days' lessons), and a sheep (same review). This afternoon, I was searching for whale sounds & got them loaded onto my iPod. Tonight, I created a spiffy treasure chest out of a Rubbermaid container, aluminum foil, a black crayon, black/brown/gray markers, and a little tape.

All of those "oh my gosh, is it even worth it to be working toward this degree because I can't even remember WHY it seemed like such a good thing" moments are being brushed aside now that I'm actually using my teaching skills. I love my group of 1st and 2nd graders! I love the challenge of keeping their interest, presenting the material in a compelling & understandable way, and encouraging the sort of behavior I want to see.

Plus, I'm working with great people - my cousin Julie, her husband, and MY husband! The 4 of us make a great team :)

transitions

I like my blog's new look :)

As spring turns to summer, we're figuring out new routines. Work continues, I'm whittling away at homework, and we're gradually getting more settled into our apartment. My garden is flourishing. Here and there, I'm snatching time to read again. I've missed it.. I'm amazed at how easily busyness with school and work snatches my reading time. I'm determined to keep making an effort to read.

Browsing the new books shelf at the library, I picked up a baby names book. I always have enjoyed looking through those sort of books to see what names the editor decided to include. This time, I asked my husband what he thought of different names as I browsed through. It was interesting to hear which names have positive or negative connotations simply because of people we've known! Also fun- seeing which names we both like a lot, which ones I love that he's not thrilled about, and which ones he loves that I'm not a fan of. Taste in names is such a subjective thing!

The spare room in our apartment (or guest room, I guess?) is getting so much more "guest-room"-ish! It had been "random stuff storage room" for a while, just because of how busy we were, but we've tackled the Stuff and have been creating homes for the things that had been piling up. I love how bright and cheery it's looking now, and how much more organized it is as well.

My to-do list is calling - homework and otherness are awaiting me..

Flower babies :)

This year, for the first time in a while, I am gardening. Sort of. Since we live in an apartment, it's not like I'm landscaping a yard or planting a garden plot! I'm using planters.It all began with a few Gerber daisies & Lobelia. 

One thing led to another, one planter somehow became two, and that was the first idea. 

Next, I contemplated how nice it would be to have some basil. And if basil, then there must also be tomatoes, and then I would have almost everything to make that yummy Tomato/basil/mozzarella salad (which is amazing and MUST be made every summer myriad times), and that was the second idea.

On another trip to the store, I was pondering the fact that I had leftover rock (to put in the bottom of the planters to help provide adequate drainage) and leftover potting soil. I browsed over to the clearanced plants and spotted a couple beautiful yellow-y/lilac violas. I bought them and another planter; and that was the third idea.

Last night after work. I had noticed these super cute clay pots with a colored glaze around the middle. I'd had a vague thought about how nice it would be to have some indoor plants, and somehow.. I came home with.. some.

 "Some" in this case means "three":

I love my daisies :) 

And my indoor jungle :)

Stay tuned: There may be a fifth idea that = more plants.