Movies

I have a movie fetish. I love buying movies. I buy them long after they come out on DVD so they are usually under $10. I love going to Walmart to look for cheap movies! Since my collection has grown I'm able to watch movies in a thread. By thread I mean I see how I can connect movies by actors/actresses. I'm trying to see how long of a thread I can come up with.

Here is my current thread:

1. Sherlock Holmes
2. Miss Pedigrew Lives for a Day
3. The Wedding Date
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. The Tourist
6. The Holiday
7. Sense and Sensibility
8. Two Weeks Notice
9. The Lake House
10. Must Love Dogs
11. Serenity (had a little help from IMDB to figure this one out) 

Each movies connects to the one before by one actor or actress. And I try not to use the same actor or actress twice in a row. I know I'm a little weird. But I think it is a fun way to figure out what movie to watch.

Romans 12:12

I LOVE THIS ONE! 

I've been having so much fun trying out different writing styles. 

Be Still

Its a little wild, but I like it. 

I might add a little more color to it. 

Faith Hope and Love

Just doodling

Colossians 3:17

Having fun in my sketchbook. Trying to keep my eyes on Jesus. 

(oops, its a little fuzzy)

Label: Encouraging

As I've posted before, the last month or so has been full of some discouragement at work. I've had times when I've felt trampled over on a number of occasions. But in the last few weeks God has brought a lot of encouragement into my life. I'm so thankful that He hears our prayers and comes to our rescue. As a result of this hard time I've started a new label in my email account. (I'm kinda a crazy email labeler. If I save it it gets a label and leaves my inbox) My new label is "encouraging." For those times when I need to read something encouraging I can just pop into that file and remember the people God has put into my life and see how they have pointed me to Christ. God has truly blessed me with the people He has put in my life. So many godly people who point me to Christ.

Feeling Blessed

I had such a wonderful birthday yesterday. God is so good. He knew that I needed a day full of blessings. I've been so focused on the negative lately that I'd lost sight of how much God is blessing me on a daily basis. During my quiet time yesterday morning I prayed that I would be able to see God's many blessings and He did just that. I was blessed by texts, calls, facebook notes, a coffee delivery, hugs, and former students singing. I'm so thankful that God gave me that day of reminders of how much He loves me and all of the people in my life who love me too. Now instead of focusing on the negative around me...or the possibility of negative things happening (because that is what I was starting to do a lot)... I'm looking for the many blessings from above.

Take refuge in Him!

It is hard to not let people steal your joy! 

Only hours after deciding to not let my joy be stolen I heard from that same mom again at school. I was completely deflated. I'm so thankful for those who are praying for me and encouraging me through this. I need to leave it in God's hands. It is so easy to try to take care of it on my own, but that has obviously failed so now I need to give it to the Lord. 

Psalm 5:11-12But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;    let them ever sing for joy,and spread your protection over them,    that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord;    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

Keeping scripture close at hand today!  

Don't steal my joy!

Was struggling this morning with a parent of one of my students. It seems like I get an upset email from her at least once a week, and lately more than once a week. There doesn't seem to be a way to please her when it comes to her child. The sad thing is that this situation is causing me to want school to finish sooner. I don't want my last few weeks at RVC to be like that! I want to enjoy my students and coworkers while I can! So my prayer right now is that I won't lose site of the joy I have in being here at RVC.

Lord,
     Protect my heart. Satan is trying to bring me down. Help me to focus on the truth and your love. I pray that I will be able to stay focused on finishing well at RVC and that you will be glorified. Please soften the heart of this mom and give me and the school's administrators wisdom as we work with her. I pray that I will find joy in everything I do here at school for the next few weeks. Thank you for the blessing of teaching here and the wonderful students you have given to me.
                       In Jesus Name, Amen.

Evening at home

Was a little anti-social this weekend.

Some of my favorite times at home involve these things! 

A Big Change

My grandma and I making pie last summer. 

       It is hard to believe that there are only 2 full weeks left of school! (I'm totally not counting the last week of school -- it consists of a big party on one day and a half day) Usually at this time I'm super excited about summer coming. This year I am excited about summer, but at the same time I'm feeling sad. This last day of school this year will be my last day teaching at RVCS. I've been teaching at RVCS for 6 years and it has been so much fun! Leaving is hard for me to do, but at the same time I'm excited about what the future holds.
       Where am I going? Wisconsin! I've accepted a job at a small Christian school around the corner from my grandparent's house. For the last few years I've thought about moving there to help them out. They are in their early 90s and probably shouldn't be living on their own anymore. I thought about going out there last year, but a teaching job wasn't open anywhere around and I need to work. I prayed about it and the door just seemed to be closed.
       Apparently that closed door was only temporary. This January the door flew open. I wasn't expecting it. It is neat when you can look back and see how God is working in your life. His plan is so much better than mine. I was asked by my grandparent's pastor to consider the 1st/2nd grade teaching position at their school. I prayed a lot about it and applied. I figured I'd apply and see what would happen. I continued to pray for the Lord's leading and peace. In February, or March...can't remember which month it was, I heard from the school about a phone interview. After the phone interview I flew out there during my spring break, touring the school, and had another interview. 2 days later they offered me the teaching position. Whoa!! More praying!
       So many thoughts were going through my head. As I went into that tour and interview I prayed for lightning from the Lord. Lightning didn't come though. There was no absolute clear sign of what I should do. My friends and family asked me how it went and what I was thinking about doing. I didn't know how to respond. So I kept praying. About a week after my trip to Wi I felt an incredible peace about teaching in Wi. It was such an amazing feeling.
       Needless to say, my grandparents are thrilled. I told them I'd be moving out there in July and they wondered why I was waiting so long! Ha! I'm so excited to be able to spend time with them and hopefully be a blessing to them. But at the same time I'm sad to leave my parents, sister, Danika, friends, and school.
       Ca is definitely home for me. This move to Wisconsin is going to be shocking I'm sure. I wonder how this California girl is going to do at shoveling snow for several months out of the year?!

Sad

It's sad when you hold your breath every time you check your school email because there might be an email from the parent you can't seem to please. 

But praise the Lord, God is in control. I know I can rely on Him! 

Oh my...

To the good looking guys riding bikes through the park today.
No I do not usually push a stroller with an American Girl doll in it and only an American Girl doll in it. I hope you had a good laugh over how ridiculous I looked! It is a shame that the owner of the doll was nowhere in site so I looked like a wanna-be mom walking next to my friend with a real baby in a stroller. No wonder I'm single! Lol!

That was followed by an older couple looking at my strangely, laughing with me, and then asking if I was practicing being a mommy. Lol! What an interesting walk it was! Good times!

Oceans

For as long as I can remember song lyrics have had a huge effect on me. I'm so thankful that God has blessed people with the ability to create amazing song lyrics that draw my attention to Christ. I'm also thankful for the beautiful way people create the music so these lyrics just flow out of my mouth. I'm definitely one who loves to harmonize and appreciates the music we sing in church. 
In the last several months there have been some great new worship songs in the Christian Music industry. We've been singing Hillsong United's "Oceans" for the last couple of months at my church. I love this song. As I was driving home tonight I was singing along to this song on the radio and the words to the bridge hit me even harder than before.  

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior"

I've sung this bridge countless times and never really let the words sink in. So often I put a border on how much I'm going to trust the Lord. "I'll only trust you with this, and not with this." Why do I put that border on my trust in Him when I know that what He will do is so much greater than anything that I could possibly do. There is no limit to what Christ can do! Over the last couple of weeks I've been struggling with trusting God with everything. I feel like I've been on an emotional roller coaster. One minute my faith is totally focused on Christ and the next I'm doubting and full of anxiety. I know that God is working at growing me closer to Him. The second half of that bridge is my prayer right now. "Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior." I know that as I trust God with EVERYTHING He will cause my faith the grow. 

The mess is coming to an end!

Well, for once I have an excuse for my crazy messy house/apartment...whatever you want to call it. I'm in the process of moving. By next weekend I should be all moved in to my new place. I'm really excited about it. It is a little bigger than where I am now and the location is so nice! But I think most of all I'm excited about a fresh start. As I've been packing and gradually moving things to my new place I've been purging. I have so much stuff. And a lot of it I don't need. My prayer is that I'm getting rid of enough stuff that I can enjoy the new space and not feel like it is totally packed like my current home is. A fresh start is going to be wonderful!

Here are some pics of the new place. Danika made sure to pose for every picture I took. :)

The living room is a little smaller than my current home. I may be surprised when I move my furniture in though. We'll see. All of the other space is bigger though.

Not sure why

I'm not sure why God allows certain things to happen in our lives. When hard things come up our initial reaction can often be "why Lord!" That has been my reaction today. Why did today have to go like it did? It wasn't a crazy life changing thing, but it was hard. In the midst of that I was reminded by a friend that God knows and for whatever reason He has me going through this trial. It makes me think back to a recent message I heard in church. "God is sovereign over every situation in your life. And since God sovereignly places us where we are, where we are is a place of worship." So my response needs to be to worship Him, surrender, and seek Him. It definitely is a hard thing to remember, but I really want that peace that I know God will give me when I seek Him.
So if nothing else because of this trial I am learning that through the trial I can and need to worship Him. I'm reminded of the worship chorus: "Lord, I need You. Oh, I need You. Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness, Oh God, how I need you!" I think that song will be on my lips all day tomorrow.

Twelve

Not much to say for today. I spent the entire day on my couch with a box of kleenex and paper bag handy. Not feeling terrible, but the cough and majorly stuffed up nose put a damper on my weekend. I left the house once to get more kleenex. Ha! 

To make the evening a little more enjoyable I lit my Christmas candles. I love having candles lit. It makes my house feel cozy. 

Eleven

I love this girl so much! Friday was her sixth birthday. I can't believe that she is six already! Time is flying. Six years ago today I held her for the first time in the hospital. Such a wonderful memory. 

I love her excited for everything. For her birthday dinner she wanted rice cakes with cream cheese and bacon sandwiches. She let the rest of us put tomatoes and lettuce on our sandwiches along with the bacon. Then we went and saw Frozen together. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling good at all. I'm pretty sure that was the worst day of my cold. 

Ten

One of my students randomly handed me a bouquet of flowers after school on Thursday. I still don't know why since she wasn't at school on Friday. It was so sweet. Definitely brought a smile to my face. 

Nine

My friends tonight. 

Hoping this cold doesn't last long. 

My head is pounding...waiting for 8 to take some more.