Of Locked Doors and No Key

Because my Mom and Alayna were at a volleyball game this evening, my Dad, Andy, and I decided to go out to eat. After a scrumptious, healthy dinner of curly fries (yum!), a beef n' cheddar sandwich, and a Mountain Dew (yes, I was in need of caffeine after a stressful day!), we headed home. I was looking forward to just having a relaxing evening at home doing nothing. When we were about 2 minutes away from home, my Dad suddenly said, "Ummmm...does anyone have the key to the house?" Both Andy and I were like..uhhhhh..nooooo. See, I had debated about taking my purse along (which had the house key inside) but in the end I decided that it wasn't necessary to drag it along seeing we were only going out to eat and then back home. Well, my Dad only had the keys to the car, and Andy didn't have his keys either. So we pulled into our driveway, and just sat there and thought....now what??!! We had left the front porch light off because of trick or treaters coming around, so it was all dark and "spooky" around our house. Andy tried some windows, but obviously because of the cold weather we have been having, they were all locked. My grandparents have our house key, and their church is only 5 minutes down the road, so we decided to go there just to see if perhaps they were having choir practice or something tonight! Alas, they were not there, sooooo we went back home. If any of you have watched the movie "Enchanted" you are familiar with the song "So Close and Yet so Far". I started singing that as we again pulled into our driveway. My Dad suggested going to church so I could work on lesson plans or something, and I was like...NOOOO!! So our next option was walking around the South Mall, so that is what we did. It was a fun experience walking around and browsing through stores with my Dad and brother for an hour or so! :D As we were heading back to the car, I said...Wow, tonight's adventure would make a good blog entry! I just needed to think of a "spiritual application" to go along with it :-). We pulled in our driveway yet again, and just sat there for awhile. FINALLY, Mom and Alayna pulled in. We just sat in the car and watched them get out of the van, and eventually go into the house. I felt like a stalker just sitting there in the dark car watching them! Once they were in the house, we got out of the car and rang the doorbell. When they answered, we pretended to be trick or treaters much to their amusement. They had been a bit curious as to where we had been seeing how all the cars were there and no one was in the house! We soon discovered that Alayna's volleyball team had won the game, so in the end, I guess it was all worth it :D Hey, it was a fun night with just my Dad and bro. I don't get to have nights like this quite often! Soooo, anyway, I was just sitting here wondering what the "spiritual application" of tonight's adventure could be, and these were some of the verses that I thought of....

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

These are different promises from God's Word about the "doors" in our life. In Matthew 7:7-8, we are the ones doing the knocking on the door. Many times, in life we have choices to make, and we need to seek God's face in order to discover what His will is for our life. How wonderful to know that the Lord promises that He will always open the door when we seek and knock. He wants us to know His will for our life, and He will never leave us high and dry with nowhere to go or no one to turn to! In Revelation 3:20, the Lord is the One doing the knocking. Sometimes we lock the Lord out of our life. We think we can handle life's situations on our own without the Lord's help or guidance. However, the Lord just patiently stands at the door and knocks, waiting for us to open up our heart's door so He can come in and have fellowship with us! So there you have it. There is a spiritual application from tonight's lil' adventure!! We have been given the key to God's promises, and there is no reason that we, as Christians, should ever be "locked out" from His presence and power in our lives.

Teacher Thought for the Day

The subtitle of my blog is "A Glimpse of a Teacher's Heart." Well, I am getting ready to give you a glimpse...so get ready! One of the biggest struggles I have as a teacher is disciplining children. It is probably because I am just too sweet and kind by nature :P (hahahaha...is that laughter I hear from my family in the background?!) I guess because I enjoy being around children and having fun with them, I hate to be seen as that "mean ole' teacher" who is always yelling at the kids and getting them in trouble. So I think I tend to go too far in the opposite direction and want to be buddy-buddy with them, hoping that I win their affection and they will love me sooooo much that they will never disobey me or break a rule (hahahaha!) Well, I have discovered that this reasoning is completely WRONG! Especially this year as I am working with older elementary students as well as kindergartners, I am realizing the importance of being CONSISTENT. I have heard that word over and over again in all the education classes I have had. You must be consistent with the rules and the consequences. However, it is a struggle for me, I must admit. Yesterday, I had to deal with some issue, and I seriously had a battle inside my head. Should I let this one slide? It is no big deal! I mean, c'mon, this kid is probably going to hate me for the rest of their life if I give them a demerit for this! Is it really worth all this aggravation? However, after awhile I realized that if I let this child get away with something that had been CLEARLY announced as a rule, I was not being consistent or fair as a teacher. As much as it hurt me, I knew I had to carry out the consequences. I went home yesterday feeling rather discouraged. I mean, sometimes it feels like all we do as teachers is make rules and regulations and then punish the children when they don't carry them out. Shouldn't we give these children a break every once in awhile? However, this morning I was reading in Proverbs 29- the chapter for the day - and in verse 15, I read:

The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

This verse helped me realize that, although I hate when I have to punish a child for breaking a rule, in the end, I am helping that child gain wisdom. Children need to learn to obey rules and be responsible for their own actions. If they don't learn this at a young age, when they are older, they are really going to be a mess. Our job at this Christian school is not just to teach these children how to read, write, and figure out fractions. Our ultimate goal is for these children to become more like Christ. In order to do that, we sometimes have to punish them for what, at the time, may seem like a minor thing, so that, in the end, they realize that even the "littliest sins" are still big in God's eyes.

Unique Creations

Today each of my kiddos were playing with these interlinking blocks. I just thought that it was amazing that even though they all had the same blocks, and they all used each block for their individual creations, the results were quite different! It reminded me of how God has created each of us. Even though He has basically given us all the same body parts, we are each put together in such a unique way that not one of us is exactly the same!

My Family's Collection (Part 2)

I couldn't post about our "video library" without mentioning my family's "book library"...(imagine, books in a library??!!) Anyway, yes, I had to come to the realization that we do, indeed, collect books as well as movies. I discovered that today especially when I took pictures of all our book collections! :D It probably isn't quite as many as some people have, but it seems like a lot to me!

My personal book collection...

These are deep shelves, so there are 2 rows of books on some of the shelves. Many of the books I collect are by my favorite authors - Janette Oke, Beverly Lewis, Wanda Brunstetter, and Lori Wick.

This would be my "overflow" bookshelf. Many of my devotional collection and biographies are on this shelf. And, in case anyone is wondering, I do not organize my books alphabetically or by size...although I do try to organize them by author at least :D

The overflowing bookshelf in our dining room (plus a few photo albums!)

Alayna's bookshelf in her room...

A lot of these books used to be mine when I was younger...like the Berenstain Bear books and Mandie books on the top shelf!

Last year when I was getting ready for Kindergarten, I filled these totes with some of my childhood books...and yes, these things were full!

Now they all reside on the bookshelf in my classroom.

I would say that at least half these books were mine when I was a child...some were passed down to me from my next door neighbor, and some were even part of my Dad's collection when he was a child! (I won't say how old that makes them!)

This would be the bookshelf my kiddos get to choose from when it is story time. If you would take notice to the book on the bottom shelf on the left, you might recall from this post that it is the SAME book I got for my 4th birthday...19 years ago!

So, if you are wondering if we have enough room for all of our various book collections, take a good look at this picture of a shelf in a corner of our storage room in the basement...(wow..that was a lot of prepositional phrases in one sentence!)

The answer would be NO!! :D

So, again, the whole point of this post is...well, if you ever want to read a book, there might be a SLIGHT chance we have a book you might want to read! If you are in our area...feel free to come on in to browse, borrow, and benefit!

No donations necessary...this time :D

My Family's Collection (Part 1)

I used to think my family didn't collect anything. After all, there are no shelves in our house of teapots, teacups, mugs, bells, Precious Moments figurines, apples, candles, knives, guns, pillows, spoons, ummm...I am drawing a blank...what else do people collect?! Anyway, because we don't collect any of those things, I figured that we were "innocent" in this area. However, I got to thinking when one of my friends asked to borrow a movie the other day. We have often called ourselves the "video library" because we have so many videos & DVDs, but I have never thought of it as a "collection" before. Yet, I guess it would be considered that! Over the years, we have collected a lot of videos. When we were younger, we got some Disney movies. As we got older, my Mom got a lot of movies from Feature Films for Families. (There are a lot of good family movies from that company in case you have never heard of it before!) Now, as I look at our collection, I realize that we have A LOT of movies. However, we don't mind at all when someone wants to borrow 1 or 2 or 10! In fact, the one DVD series I have - Road to Avonlea - is currently in Thailand with my one friend, Anne! These RTA DVDs have also been all around the USA with a missionary family on deputation, and they have travelled all the way to South Africa to be with this same family for a couple of months! These DVDs have been in more places than I have been...*feels jealous of DVDs* (how sad!). I am glad we have turned our "collection" into a video library. Movies can be expensive at times, and the more people who enjoy them, the more they get their money's worth!

So here are some pictures of our "video library"...

Our main "video library"

This would be some of our "home video" collection.

(FYI: Home videos are OFF LIMITS to anyone who even thinks that they may want to borrow them!...unless it is a school play/program or something like that!)

This would be our overflow collection inside our coat closet. There are some home videos in here, videos we have recorded off the TV, Disney movies we don't watch anymore etc...

Andy's personal collection in his room...

And last but certainly not least...My personal collection in my room (minus the 7 seasons of Road to Avonlea and some other movies some of my friends are borrowing!)

So, anyway, I wrote this whole post basically to say this...if you ever want to borrow a movie from my family's collection..and you live in this area of course! :D...feel free to come on over to browse, borrow, and benefit...

-We accept LARGE donations at the time of lending-

Just kidding! :D

A Rainy Day Adventure

Today I went to Jim Thorpe with a couple of friends.

It was a rather cloudy and rainy day so the view of the fall trees in the mountains wasn't as spectacular had the sun been shining. However, it was still beautiful!

We drove up the mountain to see the view from the top. Let's just say when we got to the top, all we could see was fog and a bit of the town below. The rest was all gray with fog...a little disappointing. :(

Although it was pouring down rain outside at times, we had lots of fun going in cute little shops throughout the quaint little town. I decided to try out some new styles...fortunately, they didn't last long!

However, what really made my day was finding this book in one of the book shops! This book was definitely part of my childhood. My friends and I used to fight over it all the time when we were little. It was always a competition to see who could check out this book first in the school library. As I leafed through the pages and looked at the pictures, it brought back so many wonderful memories :D

My Enthusiastic Poets

I had a hard time holding the camera still as I videotaped them reciting this poem today. The laughter was just building up inside me, and I was trying to refrain myself for fear of ruining the very REAL moment with my 3 kiddos. :D This video just brings out their unique personalities! And, yes, they are an energetic bunch...in case that isn't evident in this short video clip! You should have heard their giggles (and mine!) when we watched this video together afterwards. ;-)

Do you know your vowels??

Yay! My first video from my new camera! My students love when I videotape them. There is always a rush to my side after the video is over, so they can hear/see themselves on the camera :D Such little hams! In this video they are singing the vowel song they have learned in phonics class. They know their vowels...how about you??!!

Our Blustery Day Field Trip

Today I took my kiddos to Kalmbach Park for a nature walk.

Pictured from left to right - Joshua, Stephen, Abbi, Leah (Abbi's sister)

As I looked out the window this morning and I saw how windy the day was, I was like...ooooh, dear! What a blustery day for an outside field trip! However, it didn't seem to affect the kids any. :D My brother, Andy, works there, and he was waiting for us when we arrived. He was ready to give us the grand tour.

Where is Mr. Andy taking us???

To the BIG tractor!!!

There were some beautiful fall trees around this area, so the kids spent some time throwing leaves, rolling in the leaves, jumping in the leaves - basically, having a blast with the leaves! :D

Mr. Andy then took us to see the inside of the barn where his "office" is located.

He was such a good tour guide! :D

Posing by the barn with the fall decorations

Posing on the bridge

Watching Mr. Andy feed the birds in a special place in the woods.

Unfortunately, my battery died on my new camera after this picture *sniff*. I guess I had been playing with it too much last night and this morning! Honestly, tonight as I was trying to upload my pictures, I was not "feeling the love" of my camera. I tried uploading all my pictures onto my MSN space and facebook, and I couldn't understand why it was just not working. The estimated time for my MSN space download was over an hour, and that is just not normal! So I called my computer/technology expert brother to come to the rescue, and he informed me that the size of my pictures was HUGE, so that is why it was having trouble uploading. He told me that there was probably a setting on my camera that could resize the pictures. Alas, there is, but unfortunately I found out too late :-( I had already deleted the pictures off my camera because I figured that because I had them on the computer, I didn't need them on the camera anymore. Well, thankfully, my mom found this photoshop CD that I was able to install, and after much frustration, I resized all my pictures. Of course, the computer program kept freezing and not resizing the pictures correctly. Blah! Well, at least I learned a valuable lesson today! Never delete the pictures off your camera until you are absolutely 100% positive you don't need them anymore! So the love for my camera has dwindled somewhat today, but I am sure I will fall in love with it again soon! :D

I'm in love...

With my NEW CAMERA!!!

Andy and I went to Best Buy tonight and I bought a new camera with some of the money I got from my birthday! Ever since my Philadelphia fiasco where I lost my other camera, I have been trying to survive with our old camera. I LOVE taking pictures, and this old camera was just driving me crazy because after I would take about 2 pictures, the battery would be dying already. Plus, the card only held 30 photos or so and well, I take pictures of EVERYTHING so that was a little rough for me to only have 30 photos! :-) With the 2 GB memory card I got tonight with my camera, I can now take up to 934 pictures and a 16 minute video! I am sooooo in love with this camera, and I must admit, I am a little overprotective of it (as in NO ONE touches it except me!!), because I don't want anything to happen to it! Hopefully, I loosen my grip on it eventually and let my family enjoy it as well. :D

Of course I had to get a camera bag to match! :-)

So now I am all set! Can't wait to take lots of pictures and videos!! I am sure I will be posting pictures and/or videos in the near future with my new camera. So be sure to check back soon! :-)

A Home for a Microwave

As I opened my new microwave on my birthday, my mind began to swirl...Where in the world is this going to fit in my room??!! However, last night I was able to clear some things off my one dresser, and my nice strong brother put the microwave on top for me. I was a little hesitant to use the outlet behind of this dresser because of a certain incident that happened a couple of months ago. However, the problem was fixed (I hope!) a few days after the incident, so I am hoping I don't see any more sparks! Here is my new microwave settled nicely in my room. I enjoyed a bacon, egg n' cheese hot pocket for breakfast this morning. What normally took 30 minutes in our toaster oven took 2 minutes in my new microwave! :-)

This dresser has quite a history. It used to be my Dad's dresser when he was little, then it was passed to some other relatives before it was eventually passed to me as my first baby dresser. Once I got a new dresser, it became Andy's baby dresser. Then when Andy outgrew it, it became Alayna's baby dresser! When Alayna outgrew it, it was moved downstairs to my room where it sat rather empty and lonely for a few years until I started college classes. I then began filling it up with all sorts of materials from my ECE (early childhood education) classes. It is now the home of lots of construction paper, felt, crayons, markers, glue, paint, and a variety of other arts & crafts supplies. If dressers could talk, I wonder what this one would say after so many years??!!

Another Birthday Gift...

A couple of weeks ago, I received a new computer chair from my parents as an early birthday present. It is much better for my back than the other old, big, sagging "gloppy" chair I had before!! Thanks Mom & Dad!! It will definitely be used a lot as I sit at the computer thinking up new blog entries to post ;-)

Happy 23rd Birthday to Me!!

I had a wonderful birthday celebration yesterday! I tend to get a little overwhelmed on my birthday because I am not necessarily a girl who likes to be the center of attention! However, as the day went along, I had lots of fun and was so thankful for all the family and friends who cared enough about me to celebrate my birthday!! :-) Here are some pictures of the day...

Jackie made me this cute birthday banner.

Mrs. L made me a cute cupcake "tree" for my birthday! It had exactly 23 holders for cupcakes, so it must have been meant for me :D.

Blowing out the candles as the elementary students look on.

Beautiful flowers!

The staff celebrated by giving me a yummy birthday lunch.

My birthday collection

My grandparents came over for supper. We had chicken n' biscuits, mashed potatoes, and corn. Yum!!

Blowing out the candles...

Having a rather "emotional moment" as I read the card from my brother and sister. It was so SERIOUS it was HYSTERICAL! We were all laughing so hard. It was just so unlike them to give me such a thoughtful, serious card! ;-)

I LOVE Beverly Lewis books!! Thanks Alayna! :D

Andy got me a cell phone! Yay!

Now this was a shocking present to receive. My mom isn't a big fan of microwaves, so we have never had one in our house. I have commented in the past about how convenient having a microwave would be! So what do I receive from my grandparents for my birthday?? My very own microwave!!!

If you would like to see more pictures of my day, you can go here.

23 Birthday Cakes

Today I turned 23...well, I guess technically it was yesterday that I turned 23 seeing how it is past 12 am! It is amazing how much time has flown by! The main thing that has been special of all the birthdays I have celebrated so far is the fact that my mom has made each of my birthday cakes. I would wake up on my birthday wondering what my birthday cake would look like this year. Sometimes, I would be aware of the "theme", but I never knew how my creative mom would decorate my cake until the day of my birthday. That has been her special thing to do for all of my family's birthdays. Our birthdays just wouldn't be the same without her special decorated cakes! Last week, as I was paging through our photo albums, I decided to collect all the pictures of the birthday cakes my Mom has made me over the years and scan them into the computer. So now, on my new blog I decided to post all the pictures of my birthday cakes...and a picture of me that year as well (how embarrassing!)...as a rememberance of all the hard work my Mom has put into my birthday cakes, and also to treasure the memories of each of my birthdays so far.

This is the birthday cake my Mom made me this year. When I got home from school today, this cake was waiting for me on the dining room table. I had asked my mom if she could make me a "teacher cake" this year, and she searched on the Internet until she found a cake that could be her decoration guide. Isn't this the cutest cake you have ever seen??! Well, maybe if you are a Kindergarten teacher, it is. :-)

I will be posting more pictures of my birthday today (errr...yesterday) later....right now I need to head to bed. :-) Hope you enjoy the pictures of all my birthday cakes! Thanks, Mom, for all your hard work over the years! It is greatly appreciated!!

1 Year Ago...

Happy 22nd Birthday to me!

2 Years Ago...

Happy 21st Birthday to me!