The goodbyes have begun

I hate saying goodbye to people. And the decision I made to move back to Santa Rosa is causing a lot of sad goodbyes for me. Don't misunderstand, I really am excited to move back to Santa Rosa. It will be nice to be home, but at the same time I am going to miss the people I have gotten to know in Santa Clarita.

Tonight I babysat for the Barczaks for the last time. I have been babysitting Weston and Ryan for almost 2 years now and I love watching them. We have such a great time and they are such well behaved little boys (4 and 2). Seriously, I would stop a movie and say it was time for bed and they would run to the bathroom to brush their teeth.

Anyway, when I was putting them to bed tonight Weston (4) looks at me and says, "Jamie, you know what is sad? When I go to college I will have to leave Ryan." So we talked about how that is sad, but he will have a fun time and he still has a long time until he goes to college. Then he says, "But you know what is happy? I will get to see you at college!" So sweet! I nearly broke down. (I have been extremely emotional when saying goodbye to people)

Jen (Weston and Ryan's mom) told me that she remembered the first time I babysat. They were going out with some friends to see a play. They got my number from someone who recommended me so I met them for the first time that night. When they got in the car with their friends they were asked who was watching the boys. "Jamie" was the response. "Jamie who?" Jen and Andy didn't even know my last name. :o) But it all turned out alright. Obviously, since it has been 2 years.

I will definitely miss this family.

The Tongue

Last year while I was still living in the dorms I was in a small group. In this group we were going through an Elizabeth George devotional on the book of James. We didn't get to finish it before school got out and I just picked it up this semester to continue going through it.

The last two lessons I've read were on the tongue. This always a hard thing for me. But Elizabeth George quoted something from the Life Application Bible that I thought was very encouraging.
So here you go!


"If no human being can control the tongue, why bother trying? Because even if we do not achieve perfect control of it in this life, we can still learn enough to control to reduce the damage it can do. It is better to fight a fire than to go around setting new ones! Remember that we are not fighting the tongue's fire in our own strength. The Holy Spirit will give us increasing power to monitor and control what we say. As Christians we are not perfect, but we should never stop growing.... God works to change us from the inside out. As the Holy Spirit purifies our hearts, He also gives us self-control so that we will speak words that please God."

Faith

Doubt sees the obstacles. Faith sees the way.

Doubt sees the darkest night. Faith sees the day.

Doubt dreads to take a step. Faith soars on high.

Doubt questions, "Who believes?" Faith answers, "I."

Very delayed

So my spring break was about a month ago
and I am just now posting about it.
Student teaching has been very busy.
It all started out with a bang as Michelle and I got pedicures! So fun!
The only dilemma was the tip.
We weren't sure what to do and so we just left.
Awkward! But we still had a good time. :o)

After a delicious meal with the Anthony family,
they drove me to the airport. We had a great time listening to
"Boyz in the Sink."Jack entertained by playing
the air bass and singing along.

Home was wonderful. I was definitely in need of some time off and time to spend with my family. Danika was the biggest perk, to be honest. She was adorable. Even when she cried. But I'm her aunt so I'm a tad biased. We did a lot of window shopping and just had a nice time. All of the girls in the fam went to Railroad Square in Santa Rosa just to look at Antique shops and we had such a nice time.

I loved making her smile. And I totally got her giggling really hard. (There is a video of it on my facebook)

I took Dani to the park for the first time (sorry for stealing that first Julie). She didn't really care about it, but it was still fun. Amazing how she didn't mind this swing, but when she is in the swing at home she can't stand it.

Julie and I took Danika over to see Lance and Jill Wallace. Gabe and Emma just wanted to hold her the whole time. We had such a nice time with them.

Julie and I have this silly tradition of taking pictures in the back seat of the car no matter where we are going. Good memories. :o)

It was hard to leave, but I had such a nice time.

So there is my spring break in a nut shell.

Almost a week away from Spring Break!

So I'm in my second week of my new teaching assignment. It is definitely different than my previous one. But the Lord is really challenging me and showing me how I need to trust Him more. I am especially excited because my spring break is coming up really soon! Yay!! I am really excited to be going home for a week. I miss my family, but they all know that I am especially excited to see Danika. She has changed SO much since I last saw her in person. Here is a recent picture of her.

All dressed up for Easter with her mommy. My family just laughs at me because they know a little more of what she is like when she is not smiling like in this picture. But right now I don't care. I just want to be able to hold her and spend time with her and the rest of my family. I am definitely ready for a break. My next post will probably have lots of pictures. :o)

Have a great rest of the week!!

The Nails

This song has been a favorite of mine since the moment I heard it. I haven't sung it in a while until last night at the Good Friday service I went to. It is such a good reminder of what Christ did for you and me. I don't dwell on this as much as I should. I am so thankful for Christ's willingness to take my sins. He could have looked at the cost of what He was going to do and turn His back, but He died a terrible death so that we can have eternal life. Wow! What an amazing gift. "Forever my love, forever my heart, forever my life it's Yours." Lord, it's Yours.

what will they say next?

Well, yesterday was my first day in the 4th grade classroom. It went better than I thought it would. The main thing I have to remember is that I have to treat this students a lot different than the 1st graders. I can't clap a rhythm to get the kids attention anymore. Thankfully my new master teacher has a big bell she rings. So that will help when I start teaching. I don't have much else to say about 4th grade because it has only been one day, but I do have a funny story already. :o)

The teacher was introducing a new science topic to the students about animals. The questions she asked was: "Who knows what it is when a larger animal eats a smaller animal etc.?" (she was looking for the food chain) One student raised his hand and said "Cannibals." He was all excited thinking he had the right answer and he was totally wrong. The teacher was a little shocked by his answer becuase she was not expecting that and gave a funny look and said he was wrong. She didn't dwell on it and moved on to another student who said the right answer. My goodness, you have to be so poised when you are a teacher. You just never know what the students are going to say next.

1st Grade

I miss my 1st grade class!!!

Last Friday was my last day :o(

And I miss them a lot!

They sure were sweet kids.

This is what I came upon when I went to pick them up on Friday morning.

All of the kids brought me flowers! It was so sweet. Later in the afternoon we had a little going away party too. Yesterday I had to go back into the classroom to pick something up and I got a huge group hug. I miss seeing those kids.

Monday I start in a 4th grade classroom. I'm praying that the Lord will teach me a lot and that I will learn to love these kids just as much as the 1st graders.

a good reminder for me

The other day I wanted to grab a book to read while I was at Starbucks. I looked at the few books I have down here in SoCal and grabbed The Remarkable Women of the Bible by Elizabeth George. I have had this book for several years now and only made it through chapter 4. I have the tendency to do that with books I get. I am really excited to read them and then they get pushed to the side. Well, the Lord has amazing timing. I love to see how He works in my life and the chapter where I had left off totally applied to my life right now. God is so good.

As you may have figured out from the title, the book talks about different women in the Bible. :o) The chapter I where I had stopped was about Rebekah. I don't think I have thought a whole lot about Rebekah, but this chapter made me think of her in a different way. Elizabeth George talked about her as a single woman. Usually I think of her as being married and a mother. Elizabeth George wrote about her purity, busyness, hospitality, and energy. These were the things you learn about her when Abraham's servant saw her at the well. She is such a great example. She did not spend her time looking for a husband or just sitting around. She did the work she needed to do and helped others while she did it.

This paragraph is what hit me the most:
"A single Christian woman is to live her life in a way that reflects her complete dedication to God. As one who is unmarried, she has the privilege of undistracted service to God and caring for "the things of the Lord" (1Cor. 7:34). Every day a woman is single is another glorious day to serve God wholeheartedly and without distraction. Her singleness is her "green light" from God to go all out in service to others."

Wow! Often it is hard for me to think of my singleness as being a gift from the Lord. But in being single the Lord has given me an amazing opportunity to serve Him and others without distraction. My prayer is that I will remember this and take advantage of what God has given to me.

Portraits for Missions

There is an amazing photographer from my church. I am always checking his blog to see new pictures he has taken. I found out through his blog that he was going to be taking portraits for missions. He did this last year also. He had a few days set aside where all the money he made on pictures would go toward his summer mission trips. I decided that since I liked his photography so much that I should support his trips. :o) It was very fun. Here are the pictures I got.

Thanks Lukas!

My Valentine

Oh what a fun Valentine's Day! It started with a bang and an exhausting 1st grade valentine party. I never knew how tiring those parties are for the teacher. :o/ After school I went to my Valentine date's house. He was sleeping when I got there so I woke him up after a while and he gave me a valentine.

This one to be exact. :o)

Ok, you got me. I babysat on Valentine's Day. But we had a fun time. I made him a tuna sandwich and we watched Bear and the Big Blue House and later Cars. I have no complaints.

It was nice to hang out with Jack and give Ryan and Michelle a chance to go out for dinner.

The Lord has been teaching me a lot about being content in my circumstances. Right now the Lord seems to want me to be single and I am working at remembering that His plan is a whole lot better than anything I can think of.

New Pics of Danika

Yay! Julie sent me some new pictures of Danika!

So I thought I'd share them. :o)

Who wouldn't want to see this adorable baby?!

1st grade science

Today I taught a science lesson to my first grade class. It went really well, except for a minor problem. It was actually kind of funny. :o) It is good that I can laugh about my mistakes. It was a lesson about temperature so I wanted the kids to be able to see the mercury in a thermometer go up and down. So I had a cup of tap water, some ice, and a thermos full of hot water. It was all going great until I got to the hot water. The kids were all in a circle and were struggling to stay in the circle. I put the thermometer in the thermos and watched the red mercury (I don't think it was actually mercury though) go up and then I heard a Pop (!). Yes the thermometer broke in front of the whole class, my master teacher AND my advisor who was observing the lesson. It was actually rather funny. I had a good laugh over it and the kids thought it was really cool. Note to self: don't use super hot water for an experiment in class.

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Another funny thing happened in the lesson. We were talking about thermometers and I was reviewing what we know about thermometers. I was trying to see if they could remember what was in the thermometer (mercury) but they were all having a hard time remembering. I was about to just tell them, when I noticed this one little boy who was ernestly raising his hand. So I asked him if he thought he knew and he said yes. And the answer he gave was "Venus." I wanted to laugh SO badly! It was so cute. I just told him that he was very close then I told the class the word was mercury.

What a fun day. :o)

some days

It has been a long day and I am definitely feeling tired. These kinds of days are when I tend to get down in the dumps and everything turns negative. Ok, things don't turn negative, I make them negative. Sometimes I'll just watch a sad movie so I can just cry. Do you ever just feel like you just need to cry?

Sorry, this is depressing. But, tonight I've decided that I'm not going to dwell on the negative. So I'm going to make a list of things I am thankful for.

• The Lord of all creation loves me!
• Parents who have raised me to love God and love others
• encouraging friends
• the Bible
• my sister
• best friends both far away and close by
• a car that runs well
• a college that teaches me how to follow the Lord
• a faithful God when I am faithless
• the rain and the sunshine
• Danika
• my pastors (past and present)
• getting coffee with Michelle
• people who listen
• the Hall family
• not knowing what is to come (although sometimes I wish I knew)
• old movies
• music
• my salvation
• forgiveness
• singing to Jesus
• the funny things 1st graders say and do
• smiling babies
• laughter

Thank you, Jesus, for helping me look at all that you have given to me. I pray that I will keep my focus toward you and not myself. Thank you for loving me and making me your child. - In Jesus' precious name, Amen.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Well, now that I am student teaching I am realizing that I have funny stories to share. I am working with 1st grade and sometimes they say and do really cute/funny things.

This week we have been talking a little about Martin Luther King Jr. On Tuesday I read the class a story about him. Most of the students didn't know much about him so I was interacting with the students while I was reading by answering questions. Well, we got to one part of the book that talked about "White Only" signs that were up everywhere (parks, restaurants, restrooms, etc. ) One little girl raised her hand and said...

"It is bad to have white only bathrooms because some people would pee in their pants."

I had to work really hard at keeping a straight face! It was definitely a smile and nod moment.

I'm sure there will be more cute quotes to come!

Shoes

Why is it the shoes I always want to buy are way too expensive?

I guess that is what Payless Shoe Source is for.

My niece

Ok here are more pictures just for fun!!

What a beautiful little girl!


She rolled onto her side by herself! Julie and I were shocked. She is only 3 weeks old!

Danika's first time in her swing which I put together without instructions. :o) She looks happy in the picture, but she didn't last very long. We spoil her rotten.

Yay for reading stories!

It was really hard to leave for SoCal. I miss her already!! And I miss the rest of my family too. :o)

Danika Joy

Well, I thought I was a little overdue to put up pictures of my adorable niece. There are more pictures on my facebook just in case you want to see more of her. :o)

Here are a few favorites. Oh yeah! Happy New Year!!

They look a little blurry on my screen. I might have to fix them when I get back to the faster internet connection. (I hate dial-up)

Finally!!!

I am an AUNT!!!

Danika Joy
8 lbs 15 oz
21 in
9:20 am
December 13, 2007

no pictures yet. I'm heading home tomorrow morning. Hopefully I won't get a speeding ticket. :o/

Lean

This weekend was my sister's baby shower. Yes, for those of you who do not know my little sister is having a baby girl in less than a month. I am very much looking forward to becoming an aunt! Anyway...Gay Kimmel gave a wonderful devotional at the shower, and I thought I would share it. I was very blessed by her words and I hope you are as well.


One of my gifts is a daily devotional that I have read year after year, Streams In the Desert by L.B. Cowman. Life happens to all of us and this is a precious reminder to me everyday that God is walking with me.

Song of Songs 8:5 Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her/beloved? There are many ways to read The Song of Solomon and as I was preparing for this time of sharing, my focus was reading God’s Word to understand ourselves in the context of
Our relationship with Jesus Christ as a child of His. As parents, let us remember that we are also children—a child of our Savior and Lord.

In a southern church I learned a great lesson at a prayer meeting: As one man prayed, he asked the Lord for various blessings, just as you or I would, and he thanked the Lord for many blessings received, just as you or I would. But he closed his prayer with this unusual petition: And O Lord, support us! Yes, support us on every leaning side!”

Do you have any “leaning sides”? This humble man’s prayer pictured them in a new way and illustrated the Great Supporter in a new light, as well. He saw God as always walking along side the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm to steady the weak on “every leaning side”.

Guess what? Parenting is no easy task. If there is only one thing that you remember from my message today, let it be the word LEAN! How many of us have heard from a teacher, a parent or a grandparent, “Stand up straight! Sit up straight! My message this morning is “Lean—Lean—Lean”. Lean on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. He is the lover of your soul—He is the only one who will never leave you or forsake you. Your humans, your human friends and human family and human family friends, we will disappoint you and fail you. Christ won’t. Lean on the Lord and be a parent who leans on the Lord.

Hopefully, every one of us here today will have a new reminder now whenever you say or see or hear the word, “LEAN”! From a parenting perspective:

L = Love (Loving Leadership (parenting means leading, setting boundaries)
E = Encourage (Be a positive influence in your child’s life; inspire her with courage or confidence.)
A = Admonish (Correct, teach, to scold especially in a mild and good-willed manner; to caution and advise)
N = Nurture (feed, protect, support, train, snuggle, play with her)

Parenting requires leaning. Lean on Christ. Life requires leaning for each one of us whether we are parents, preparing for parenting, or just living life. May each one of us be reminded that God designed our lives to be entwined with His. He wants us to LEAN on him.

As we continue to live our days, may each of us be reminded to LEAN on HIM. So…may you never read the word LEAN again without being reminded of this message!! Let’s LEAN on Christ, each one of us.

The shower was especially a blessing because of all the people who came and showed support to Julie and our family. I was very encouraged by the love that was in the room of 50 or so women. God is so good. I am so thankful for my church family at home and for a loving God who takes care of all of our needs.

Matthew 6:25-34

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life,

as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body,

as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace,

will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'

For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Tickle Me!

I just thought this was cute. :o) So there you are!

Jan Brett

I had such a great night tonight!! I drove down to Pasadena to see Jan Brett. She is an amazing children's author and illustrator. It was really cool. She gave a demonstration of how to draw one of the polar bears from her new book and talked about how she started writing the book. I was totally inspired. I really want to write a children's book and get it published. Someday.

Jan Brett was so nice. She talked to everyone who came to see her. She had great conversations with the kids and I was able to talk to her for a little bit.

Here are some pictures from the event. :o)

(Yes I've been having fun with the photo grids :o)

"California is Burning"

"California is Burning" ... gee that sounds so wonderful. This was the title of the news tonight. Thankfully the part that is burning is not in my neighborhood anymore. I only had to evacuate for one night. It is really nice to be back in my own bed. Everytime I watch the news I am just amazed at how many fires are going on at one time. This is insane!! It just gives me another reason as to why I like Northern California. There aren't nearly as many fires up there. :o)





















Here are some pictures I've taken in the last couple of days. The smoke pictures are from Sunday as my dad and I were driving back to the house after church in the afternoon. It was so crazy. It really made me think of cartoons when the evil comes over the land and the hero needs to come in and save the day. It was this HUGE black cloud. Well you can see in the pictures. :o) The others were from today. As I was leaving school there is this big field and the helicopters were landing there to fill up with water to drop on the fires. Also, as I was driving home tonight I saw 6 fire engines in a row heading out to where the fire had been near my house. 6 engines in a row is a common sight down here right now.



So crazy!!

Fires

Due to the multiple fires in the So Cal area last night I had to evacuate from the house I have been living in. I'm still not sure how close the fire got, or if the fire is still moving. But this was a very new and frightening experience for me. Thankfully my dad has been here for the weekend. That was a huge blessing. So last night we stayed at a hotel.

Please pray for:

• the firefighters - there are several fires around So Cal right now (or as of last night)
• the family I live with - they don't know what is going on with thier house
• all the people affected by these fires - as of last night 25 homes and structures had been burned down and 500-800 people had been evacuated.

Pumpkin Patch

Tonight I went to the pumpkin patch here in Santa Clarita. It was so much fun! I haven't been to a pumpkin patch in years. Michelle and I decided that we wanted to decorate pumpkins so we had to go get pumpkins. We headed out to the pumpkin patch with her family. My roommate Lindsay came as well.

I think the pumpkin patch is 10 times better with a little kid along. :o) He was so cute! He ran around the pumpkins and got to see all the different animals they had there. We went and looked at the sheep and goats and he just waved at them. It was too cute.

I promise that we were getting pumpkins. But I think someone was a little confused when they were labeling the crate.

We made Jack and Ryan take a lot of pictures.

Lindsay and I decided that Fiyero in Wicked looks a little better looking than this one.

Ryan, Michelle and Jack have pretty much become family to me. It is so nice to have a family to be around. On Fridays, Michelle and I get together and then I just hang out with the family. It is such a great change from doing homework all week. Ryan leads the Bible study and Michelle disciples me. They are an amazing couple. I am so thankful for them!

You know you live near L.A. when...

You go out to check the mail and find a paper warning you that tomorrow you may hear explosions due to the filming of "The Unit" on a near by street.

True story :o)

An angry 6th grader

I just wanted to ask for prayer for a certain 6th grade boy.

I have been working in a 6th grade class for the past several weeks. Last week there was one boy who just started showing a lot of anger. He would write things about hating school and how terrible his life is. I was just so sad for him. This week I came to find out that his parents are going through a divorce. This explains why he is so angry. It is terrible for kids to have to go through this kind of thing.

Today I was wondering around the classroom checking on student's work. I came to him and he only had a few words written for his poem. I had asked the class to write a Cinquain about a family member. For most students this is a simple task. But for this boy it was very difficult. I read what he had on his paper and wanted to cry for him. His poem was about his mom and it consisted of words about her being evil and terrible and other things I cannot remember at the moment. I didn't really know what to say to him, and in a public school I cannot say what I would normally say to someone who is hurting so badly. This is why I am asking for you all to pray for him. He really needs the love of Jesus in his life as well as the love of his family. According to him everyone in his family is terrible.

Please pray for him.

The strangest things happen to me :o/

So I have some friends that think there should be a sitcom made up of some of the oh so interesting things that happen to me. This one is a doozy.

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First of all, once again my car has been causing me troubles. This time it was in the shop for almost 3 (yes I meant to type 3) weeks. It was kind of a nightmare, but I was learning more about trusting the Lord. So I FINALLY get my car back and it technically isn't fixed, but I got it back anyway. (That could be a whole other blog) I was totally excited to have my car back. I got inside and looked around a little bit just happy to sit there for a second. As I was looking around I saw a ziplock bag on the floor. If my memory serves me right, and I'm pretty sure it does, this particular bag once contained goldfish. I had been forgetting to through it away for weeks. (Yes I can be a slob at times) But when I saw the bag this time in my car it was empty. I thought that was kind of funny and I picked it up to get a better look at it. There was definately a hole chewed in it. And it was flithy. I was completely grosed out!! Upon further scrutiny I found several presents of a different sort (note the pictures below). Whatever had been living in my car the weeks I was away from it was kind enough to make his/her presence known.

My dad...oh my dad...was kind enough to say to me when I told him, "I hope it doesn't climb up your pant-leg while you are driving. Oh dad! That was while I was driving too! I was doing just fine until he said that! I have come to the conclusion that the rodent is no longer living in my car. I got it cleaned out so I will surely know if it is still there upon seeing more of the lovely presents on the floor.

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And that is why my friends think parts of my life would make a great sitcom. I'm not sure how I feel about that still.

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Please turn your eyes if you cannot handle such graphic pictures.

CSET

A month ago I took the dreaded CSET (California subject examination for teachers). I have been waiting for the results and I finally got them today. And I passed ALL three tests!! I am so excited!! What a relief. For those of you who don't know about the CSET it is an insane test. Well actually it is three tests. 1 - English and History; 2 - Math and Science; 3 - Music, Art, Child Development and PE. It took my 5 hours to take the test. And I have to pass all three tests in order to student teach in the Spring. Honestly I was expecting to have to retake at least one of the test. Praise the Lord I don't have to!! God is so good.

God is good

I wrote this a while ago, but I wanted to share it.


It is so great to see the Lord's work. Sometimes the hard times make it difficult to see the Lord's hand, but I am always reminded in some way. For instance, the other day a coworker of mine had to take her car in to be fixed. She does not have the money to pay a big bill on her car so she was praying that the bill wouldn't be too huge. In the end it cost $18 to fix her car. She was shocked and found out that amount included the payment for the labor. She went on to ask how much it would cost to get a tune-up for her car and the mechanic said they checked for that also and the car didn't need one. Wow! What a huge blessing from the Lord.
My co-workers and I were talking about this situation and one of them said that it is great to be around believers who encourage others by telling these kinds of situations. We serve such an awesome God. This great God has a plan for everything. This is something we have been talking about in the class I teach at work. (A class of 5 & 6 year-olds) We have been reading through a book called The Lamb. It has been such a great reminder of how God has a plan and we need to trust Him and not simply ourselves.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11