Toes

I've been slacking off on my Tuesday Treasures lately! Yikes!
Here is something that made me giggle a little. :)

God gave you toes as a device for finding furniture in the dark.

Thanksgiving

Well, today was probably the most random Thanksgiving I've ever had. But it was a great day!
I really have so much that I'm thankful for, but most of all I'm thankful for my salvation. I really don't deserve to spend eternity in heaven, but God chose to make me a part of His family. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without Christ. I'm so thankful to be His child!

Tuesday Treasure - A Shield

I feel so blessed to work at a Christian school. I love that I can start the day with a devotional and prayer time! And the funny thing is that I read through a kids devotional book and I feel challenged by it every day. I love that God knows exactly what I need to hear and when I need to hear it. Over the last week and a half I've struggled with some things at school. Words have been said to me that have stung and I'm such a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy and I don't want anyone to be upset with me. The story from this morning's devotions was such a good reminder to me. "Satan would like nothing better than to sink his teeth into us. But God is like the thick glass that keeps the sharks away (in an aquarium). He acts as a shield and protects us. We stay behind the shield by learning and following God's Word. If we ignore what God says, it's as though we step out from His shield and become easy prey for the 'shark.'"

Psalm 3:3 "But you, O Lord, are a shield around me." 

When my focus is on God and I remember He is my shield the 'bites' that come my way won't hurt as much. I have to focus on God's truth!
I'm not sure if this all makes sense...I'm probably rambling, but it is something I treasured today.

Tuesday Treasure

Thankful that no matter who becomes president, 

my God is still on the throne and sovereign over all!

Tuesday Treasure

In my Sunday fellowship group we've been going through a dvd series by James McDonald called Gripped by the Greatness of God. It is such a great study. I've been challenged every week by the focus on God's greatness. One of them that hit me the most was the week when we talked about how awesome God is. Awesome is a word that is commonly misused. I misuse it all the time. Only God can be awesome! I've become very aware of how I use that word.

Today I'm treasuring how awesome God is.
In science I'm teaching my students about the solar system. We had a great discussion the other day about how awesome God is. With just a word He created so many things that we can't even understand. I can teach my students little bits of information about the solar system, but our awesome God knows so much more about it! How cool is that!

I love that I serve such an awesome God!

Tuesday Treasure

Just pulled this up while I was looking through some pictures. I very much treasure this picture. It represents a very fun day and a great friendship. So thankful for this wonderful friend!! 

Lovin' the Haircut

It has been a while since I got my haircut, but I still haven't posted a picture of it. Not the best picture of me, but here it is. I love my new hairdresser. She is great! I will definitely be going back to her.

Today was a fun day. Started out with some nice fellowship with ladies from church. Had some coffee and a muffin and listened to A close family friend share her testimony to the group. I love time of fellowship with my church family.

Next I went to my parent's house. As I arrived my dad was just leaving to go to an estate sale that had some tools. (my mom and sister had called him to tell him he should go to it) So instead of driving himself he hopped in my car and we went together. It was nice spending some time with just the two of us.

Elvis is in the building!

The afternoon was topped off with a family trip to the Sonoma County Harvest Fair. We were all excited to see how my dad's pumpkin did at the fair. We weren't disappointed. He got second place! Dad and Danika went on some rides while my mom, sister, and I found "treasures" in the vendors hall. We were pleasantly surprised with how much we found. One of the things I'll have to wait until Christmas to get, but oh well it will be fun when I get it. :)

It was a fun day. Finishing off the day with an Alfred Hitchcock movie (North by Northwest). His movies always remind me of college. My friend Kelley and I would have marathon movie nights where we'd watch a bunch of Hitchcock movies. It was the best! Nothing like a good suspense movie! Good times.

And there you have the random ramblings of Jamie. Lol!

Happy Fall!!

I love my fall wreath! It makes me happy when I get home. 

Next I need to make a Christmas one. But I have a little time to get that one done. 

What do you think, Steph? Project when you are in SR next?

Tuesday Treasure

I love my mom!! 

It is such a blessing when people tell me a sound, look, sing, and act like her. 

What great compliments!

Saturday = Sewing Day

I love it when I have a free Saturday. I tend to work on a sewing or craft project when I have this kind of free time. This picture is from a project I finished this summer. Today I've been working on two different quilts. One is just a scrap quilt. It is totally random and very colorful. Not sure how I'll feel about the finished project. It is a little crazy. The other is a gift for someone. I love giving quilts to people. :) 

A Quiet Friday Night

After a long week I love being able to come home and relax. Drinking tea from my Stephanie mug (and praying for her while I drink from it), watching a movie, and working on a scrap quilt I started a few weeks ago. Nice quiet evening.

Tuesday Treasure

I really want to get back into blogging! I've been slacking in that area. So I'm going at least try for every Tuesday posting something. Part of my problem is that I feel like posting when it has been a rough day and I need to vent. So in order to avoid that I've decided to create "Tuesday Treasure." Every Tuesday I'm going to post something...a quote, a picture, a blessing. This will be good!!
Here we go!

God loves us to infinity and beyond! :) 

Anxious

Do you ever have random moments of feeling anxious?
I'm feeling that way right now. Not sure what brought it on.
Trying to think on what is true and real now. Lord, help me to keep my focus on You!

Kolaches with Grandma

One of the things I love about my grandma is that she loves to cook. After staying with her for a week and a half I really came to appreciate her love of being in the kitchen. I've been really into learning about my family history so I spent my time in Wisconsin asking about my grandparents' childhood. One thing I asked my grandma was if her mom loved cooking too. I figured she did because my grandma liked it so much. I was wrong. My grandma was number 7 out of 9 kids. When she was old enough she took over the cooking for her mom. They lived on a farm so there was a lot to do and my great-grandma had other things to get done throughout the day. My great-grandma also didn't speak or read much English. That made it difficult to follow recipes. One of the main reasons though for my grandma's early use of the kitchen was because she had to have glasses. What? Glasses? What does that have to do with her cooking at a young age? Because glasses were so expensive back then her family didn't let her go into the barn to do chores. My great-grandparents didn't want her glasses to break. 

As time moved forward cooking and baking became her thing. She doesn't feel like she is great at cooking (something I disagree with), but she finds it relaxing. If her blood-pressure is high she bakes something and it helps bring it down. Every day I was there I offered to wash dishes, but she refused because she likes doing them. 

On this visit I had the joy of helping her bake a few things. It was so fun. We spent a lot of time laughing. Especially when I unknowingly gave her a hard boiled egg when we were making cookies. It took us a few seconds to figure out why it wasn't cracking right. A few days before I left we made kolaches. They are similar to a danish. This is a treat I always remember her making when we came to visit. I loved waking up to the smell of them in the morning. They were so good. 

I'm so thankful for the sweet time with my grandma last week. What a wonderful blessing. 

Uncle Don

My grandparents, mom, and uncle Don

Two weeks ago my family had quite a shock. Very suddenly my uncle went to be with the Lord. It was a bitter-sweet week as we did a lot of traveling, remembering, laughing, and crying together. I'm so thankful that I was able to fly out right away to stay with my grandparents. My family and I were very concerned with them being alone during such an emotional time. After 2 days of being there with them we drove from Wisconsin to Illinois in order to join the rest of the family for a visitation and memorial service. It was a very nice time.
I was so blessed to hear all of the wonderful things said about my uncle at the services. What a wonderful man of God. He had a servants heart. He loved the Lord more than anything and loved his family. I'm so thankful for the time I had with him. He was always so fun to be around. I will miss him. But I know that he is in heaven right now worshiping our Savior and loving it.

Joyful, Patient, and Faithful

I'm trying to remind myself of these words this morning. 

My frustration from last night has carried into this morning and it has great potential to completely ruin my day. I really don't want that to happen. So right now I'm making a choice to change my attitude on the entire situation. It's ironic because choosing to change your attitude is what we talked about at day camp yesterday. I have two choices - a) I can grumble about my issues all day and have a terrible day or b) I can be patient and see how God is going to work it all out. 

I'm choosing option b. 

And really already God is working it out. 

So my job today is to be joyful, patient, and faithful. 

Sorry for the vent session.

Needing to vent.
I'm so frustrated right now. I've been excited for the last few weeks because I bought a tv on 1saleaday.com. It wasn't a huge screen or anything, but it would mean that I wouldn't have to watch movies on my computer anymore. Yay! Well it came today and as I was setting it up I realized that the dvd player I bought didn't have hdmi, which for this tv it had to have that cord. So I packaged the dvd player back up, drove all the way to walmart and exchanged it for a higher end dvd player. Only $10 more, but then had to buy a hdmi cord. That was a little frustrating because they are not very cheap. So I get home set it up and the dvd I put in is playing, but there is no sound. I'm sitting in my living room looking through all sorts of manuals and websites trying to figure out the problem. Finally I go onto samsung's site and chat with a support guy. It turns out (!) that I bought a monitor and NOT a tv. (I want to cry) So yes, it can hook up to my dvd player, but it won't work on a remote and there are no internal speakers. Ugh! The guy said that I could probably get something to hook speakers up to the dvd player. Oh look more money to spend. And the glorious thing about 1saleaday is that there are no returns. So I have a monitor that isn't a tv and I can't even hook it up to my computer because it is a mac and I don't own a pc.
So what I had hoped to be an exciting evening of having my own tv has turned into a frustrating evening of being back on my computer.
Ok I'm done complaining now. Sorry that you had to hear me spew all of that out.

Current Favorite Hobby

I love quilting! I have to say that this is my favorite way to relax right now. I sit down with my rotary cutter, fabric and sewing machine put on a movie and have a ball! There are moments of frustration, which comes with any hobby, but for the most part it is so relaxing to me. Many people look at a sewing machine and get stressed out. To me it is a way to unwind. 

I've made 7 quilts so far. At least I think it is 7. I haven't been so great at taking pictures of all of them. 6 of them are baby quilts and 1 is a twin size. They've all been gifts. I have several quilts in mind for myself, but haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully someday soon. 

My sister is the one who got me started on making quilts. When I knew that my niece was on the way I decided that it would be special to make her a baby quilt. It is something made by me that she can keep for a long time. Once I did that one I knew that this would be a great gift for my close friends who were having babies. Just this year I've branched out to making bigger quilts. I'm hoping to make one to use as my bedding in my room. 

The most resent quilt I made is the one pictured on this post. It is the biggest quilt I've made. I was so excited to give it to my wonderful friend, Stephanie. I didn't tell her I was making it and I just picked out fabric I thought she would like. The best part is that she loves it and it totally matches her bedroom! Awesome! I was so glad that I could make this special gift for her. 

I'm no where near being an expert at quilting, but I feel that I'm getting better with each quilt I make. I'm really thankful for activities like quilting to help me relax. And it is fun to give the end result to a friend. 

God is good like that. :) 

4th of July Fun

My parents hosted a great 4th of July BBQ. A lot of her great ideas were from pinterest. We all had a great time. I picked up this frame from an estate sale a few weeks ago. This is exactly what I bought it for. Great for photos of who came to the BBQ. 

 We all drank out of these mason jars topped with patriotic cupcake holders. Genius!

 Sidewalk chalk added an extra touch of decorations on the patio. 

This had to be the best pinterest idea my mom used. She froze water with food coloring in layers. Inside were 8 little plastic frogs. We were all given little squirt guns to work at melting the ice. (Somehow my dad ended up with a big one... convenient) This very quickly turned into a water fight. Thankfully they were small water guns. It was fun and refreshing. Dani eventually got out her play-dough hammer and began pounding on the ice. :) It was very fun. 

Frozen water balloons to keep the drinks cool. 

A fun day with family and friends! 

Wichitawesome

Having a great visit with the Writebols!

A Relaxing Saturday Night

I couldn't get it to rotate...grr

 What a perfect Saturday night (over the weekend - obviously)! It consisted of popcorn and a movie. Gotta love Netflix! I ended up watching an Audrey Hepburn movie. It was funny and cute. It wasn't the most exciting movie, but it was so nice to watch a good clean movie. 

I'm gradually learning how to make popcorn on the stove as good as my dad does. He makes the best popcorn! I feel so lucky when I'm over at their how and he makes a batch. Yum! I haven't perfected the art, but I'm working on it. I think I used a little too much oil this time around. 

Popcorn - Jim Humphreys' Style 

My popcorn bowl and I had a lovely evening. :) 

Remembering

Memorial Day 2012

Growing up I always remember Memorial Day weekend. One of the things we did as a family was help put flags up in the Santa Rosa Memorial Cemetery. We actually did it as a fundraiser for the Marching Band up until a few years ago. As a kid I remember it being a fun thing to do almost like a scavenger hunt. We'd have to find all of the grave stones that said the person had been a part of the military and then put a flag in the ground by it. It sounds a little terrible to say it was like a scavenger hunt, but as a little kid that is what it was. On Saturday morning we would put all the flags up and then Monday afternoon we'd walk through and take them down. 

It wasn't until this year that I actually attended the ceremony held on Memorial Day. It was such a neat experience. There were a couple hundred people there and there were flags everywhere. It was such a great time of honoring those who have served our country and fought for our freedom. 

While I was there I was reminded that my own grandfather served in the army. I don't know what rank he was or where he went, but I know that he worked to make a difference for our country. I'm so thankful for the people who are willing to risk their lives for my freedom and safety. 

This is the last week of school!! 

I'm so looking forward to summer. I'll still be working, but the summer day camp is a lot different than my teaching job. It is a little more relaxed. 

I've got to find a fun way to celebrate at the end of the week.
Any good ideas? I'm leaning toward going to see a movie, but I'm open for other ideas.

Here is a list of the things I'm looking forward to this summer. 

I'm really into making lists lately. 

• Visiting the Writebol Family in Wichita. 
• Reading at least one book for fun. 
• Getting a flip-flop tan. 
• Having afternoons off. 
• Planning ahead for the next school year - I probably won't think about that for a few weeks though. :) 
• Working on my cookbook and finishing I hope. 
• Lots of walking. 
• Zumba class at the JC. 
• Spending more time with my family. 
• Fresh tomatoes from my own tomato plant. - I wish there were some now.

I do love summer! 

Women's Retreat

Reasons why I love going to my church Women's Retreat!

• I don't have to think about work. 
• I get to go to Mt. Gilead. 
• Lots of time with friends. 
• There is a lot of laughing. 
• There is always great Bible teaching. 
• It is slow paced and so relaxing. 
• Fun games in the evening. Bunco and Tick this year. 
• Laughing. 
• Yummy food. 
• Wonderful time with friends! 
• Time in God's beautiful creation. 
• The whole weekend is spend with Christ as the focus. 
• Dessert at every meal...well, not at breakfast. 
• I leave feeling refreshed and challenge in my walk with the Lord. 

I'm so thankful that God provides these kinds of things for me to go to. And it is amazing how well He times it. I was really needing some time away this weekend as well as some great teaching. I feel so blessed to have gotten to go this year. I pray that the things I've learned will stick with me for a long time. 

30x30 - #23 - Check!

#23 - Visit a winery

I'm excited to say that I've checked another thing off of my 30x30 list! Yay! This one is thanks to my wonderful friend Stephanie. As an early birthday present she took me to a winery in Calistoga. We toured the Castillo di Amorosa. It is a beautiful castle! I loved the tour and the wine tasting was fun too. Gasp! Yes I had wine! I am a wimpy wine drinker though. Steph and I told the man serving us that we really wanted the sweet wine. The bottle I bought hardly had any alcohol in it. Ha! But I liked it. :) 

Here are some pictures of the fun day we had in Calistoga!

An Interesting Lunch

Whenever I have days off in the middle of the week I try to have lunch with Julie downtown during her lunch break. Today was one of those times. We went to a little place downtown, but I'm not sure if I should name the restaurant that we went to.

Here is the story of our lunch...

We went to a small restaurant. We picked it because Julie had been there one other time. (Not that I blame Julie at all). It looked pretty nice, higher end decor, wine glasses on the tables, etc.
We walked in the door and the room was completely empty. We waited for several, I'm not exaggerating, minutes before the server came into the room. He was young and pretty full of himself.
"What's up. How are you ladies doing?"
"Um, we're good."
He asked us if we were staying dry. No, not really. It was an awkward conversation.
Throughout the entire meal he kept trying to make small talk with us. It was really weird.
As we were ordering I told him the sandwich I wanted and the side.
"We don't have that." (referring to the side I asked for) (and yes, he said it very bluntly)
"Um, its on the list."
"Oh, uh, we don't have that anymore. We just haven't taken it off the list."
Ok...he could have said it a little better than that.
A couple of other people walked into the restaurant while we were eating, but half of the time the server was in the kitchen. These poor people stood there waiting and ended up leaving because he wasn't there to help them. Yikes!
Julie and I had a nice time talking. While we were eating and talking the server kept on trying to make small talk with us. A couple of times he commented on the fact he had been gone for a week and the place was a mess. I'm sorry, but that is something you shouldn't talk to customers about.
Not only was there the odd server, but our food didn't come out the way the menu said it would. Kinda a disappointment.
Well, the meal continued on that way. And we both said that we would not tip him that well. As he was getting our check he was still chatting with us. He was asking us what we did for Easter.
When I told him that we went to church he said, "Oh, one time for the year?"
"No, we go every week."
"Oh, your just like my fiance."
Julie looked at me and mouthed "Poor fiance."
Needless to say we didn't give him a very big tip. We got out of there pretty quick. I don't think I'll be going back there again.
Our lunch date did end with a big finish...we stopped at Sift for a cupcake and cruffles. Yum!

Easter Vacation - Mon

Today was a very successful day off for me. I absolutely loved it. Here is why:

• Didn't wake up to an alarm clock - It is such a wonderful thing to just wake up naturally. Even if it is early I still love waking up without an alarm clock. 
• Went on a 2ish mile walk with Betsy - That was one of my plans for the week. Walk walk walk. 
• Worked at cleaning my bedroom - If you know me you know that I hate cleaning. My bedroom has been a disaster zone for a while now. Usually when I get home from work I'm so tired that I'm not motivated to clean. Today, I was motivated! YAY! It isn't finished, but I got a huge chunk of it finished. 
• Read a few chapters of "The Hunger Games" @ Starbucks - I love going to Starbucks to just read. And I'm really liking reading "The Hunger Games." I'm not that far into it yet, but I'm hooked. I can't wait to see the movie. 

Big Sigh of Relief

I'm not gonna lie, the last two weeks at work have been really hard. I was feeling nervous that today would continue those bad days. But praise the Lord (!) today was a great day. There was even something I was dreading at the end of the day, but it turned out alright. I was able to keep my focus on my teaching and not worry about what would happen after school. I'm so thankful that the Lord goes before me and will never leave me. 

Deuteronomy 31:8The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Today = Ugh

I had a rough afternoon. 

My sister texted this to me...

Romans 12:12 Let your hope make you glad, be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.

I've very thankful for the godly people around me who remind me that it isn't as bad as I think it is and point me to Christ.  God is good all the time. 

I'm trying to look at the positive and learn from the negative.

Valentine's Day

I had a great Valentine's Day yesterday! My day started with this song on KLOVE. 

I need to listen to this song every morning. 

Throughout the day I was reminded of how much God loves me. 

There is no greater love than His love!

A new word

Favorite conversation of the day.... I looked at one of my students at carline today and noticed that his jacket looked a little different. We've recently had some problems with his jacket so I was a little nervous about it. Me: Jonah, what happened to your coat? Jonah: oh don't worry it is comeoffable! Apparently you can take the outer layer off. But i had to turn around and try really hard when he used the word "comeoffable." Hilarious!!!!

Do Not Be Anxious

I've had this song stuck in my head all day long. 

This song/verse brought about some good conversations with my students today. It is great to have God's Word in my thoughts all day long!

New Plan

I've been feeling convicted over how much time I spend on my computer and ipad. I don't spend near enough time reading God's Word and praying. So I have a new plan. From now my electrontics (except my cell phone) will be turned off from 9:30pm-6:30am. That still gives me the time I need to get things done as well as do more reading.

I can do this! It isn't the end of the world. Can you tell I'm trying to convince myself? Lol! I rely way too much on these two things for my entertainment.

Starting now!
Ahh! I'm already 4 minutes late!
Shutting down now. :)

Out for a walk

My mom and Julie had a baby shower to go to this afternoon, so Dani came over to play at my house. We had a great time. Went for a walk, ran around in the field near my house, and met a nice kitty who really wanted to play. It was such a beautiful day! 

When we got back to my house Dani looked at me and said, "Auntie, do you have any food?"

"Yes, I do. Would you like some grapes?"

"Mommy, was wrong!" Was her response. 

Busted, Julie!! 

Hahaha! I will admit that I usually don't have a lot of food at my house. But it was funny to me that they had already had that conversation. 

2012 Goals (finally)

I started writing this post as my goals for this year (last month). The list was too long. There are so many things that I would like to improve on during 2012. Then I was listening to Klove and they were talking about choosing a word to strive to be during the year. They talked about the same thing last year too and I didn't think much of it, but this year I think I'm going to focus on it. 

At first I thought the word I would choose would be organized. I am not a very organized person. The most organized part of my life right now is my Pinterest boards. (bad bad bad) Over the last few months I've been so frustrated with how un-organized I am. Let me tell you, I've been really annoyed with this problem I have. 

As I thought about it longer I decided that my word for the year was going to be faithful. I want the Lord to find me faithful in everything I do: my time in the Word and prayer, with my family, friends, my job, the commitments I make, my finances, and how I take care of myself. I firmly believe that if I take care of the first two items on that list then the rest will fall into place. 

Item #2 check!

I've been waiting to check off #2 from my 30x30 list for a long time. For the most part I enjoyed growing my hair out. I figured out some fun ways to fix it, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my haircut! The girl who cut my hair (at a "Cool Cuts") was able to cut off 10 1/2 inches. Just enough to donate it. Phew! 

I love having short hair. Several weeks after I got it cut my sister dyed it for me. It is a little darker and I really like it. It is fun. :) 

I still have to mail in my ponytail that was cut off. It is weird to think that it was once connected to my head. Lol! I wonder if they will send me a picture of what it looks like as a wig for someone. Hmm. I'm excited to send it in a hear that they use it for someone who needs it. 

Really?!

Oh my, has it really been over 2 months since my last post?! Good grief! I haven't even posted my goals for the year. I started to write them and then got too busy to finish.
What has happened since the last time I blogged...


Thanksgiving - Enjoyed a wonderful day with family and friends.


Danika's Birthday - Hard to believe that my adorable niece is 4! We had a get together with some friends. She still hasn't had her party with her friends because both times it has been planned she and/or Julie was sick. Poor thing.


Julie's Birthday - I am so thankful for my wonderful Carmelita. :)


Haircut! - Yes! I finally did it! Chopped off my hair. I love my short hair cut. Julie colored it for me too. That was a first. I might be hooked. I love the color. :)



Christmas - We celebrated Christmas in Wisconsin this year. It was wonderful spending time with my grandparents. We even got a little bit of snow. Just enough to build a snowman. I think I was just as excited as Danika was. :)



New Years - Not a very eventful night. But that is ok. 2011 was a good year.


3rd Quarter of School - I still feel so blessed to be teaching my own class this year. I love my students so much. God is teaching me so much as I teach these kids.

Ok, I think I am somewhat caught up. I know more has happened, but that is all for now.