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.