Mum's the Word

Since my phonemic awareness workshop, I have tried to find ways to implement what I learned into my classoom.

One of the steps in the whole phonological awareness process is syllable awareness. My instructor had introduced a game to help introduce syllable deletion. She held up a little puppet she called "Mum" and showed us how she would have the children say a word, and then say it again without saying part of the word. "Mum" the puppet would eat the other part of the word. Such as....Say popcorn. Say it again but don't say corn! The children would say "pop" and then "Mum" would eat "corn".

I thought this was a cute idea, and my instructor gave us a whole list of words to try out starting with easy, compound words and then gradually working up to harder syllables.

The only puppet I had to introduce this concept was a leftover paper bag cat puppet that I had made with my kiddos last year. It was actually supposed to be a cat puppet that went along with the story "The Three Little Kittens". You know, the ones who lost their mittens?! But I thought I would give it a try...

The game was a BIG HIT!!! I named my cat puppet "Mum" just like my instructor had named hers Mum, and my kiddos literally fell in love with the thing. :) They did really well with their word and syllable deletion too because they loved how Mum would "eat" the words and syllables they weren't supposed to say.

On Monday, my kiddos got to make their own "Mum" puppets, as they called them. They were simply esctatic. They were thrilled that my Mum wouldn't be "lonely" anymore. :)

So when they arrived at school today, they went right to their Mum cat puppets to see if the glue was dry and the puppet ready to use. Honestly, I don't know what they were more excited about. Seeing their Mum puppets or seeing that a butterfly had finally emerged! Its a toss-up :)

Of course we had to play the word & syllable deletion game today with ALL our Mum puppets!

Butterflies Beware!

Our first butterfly has emerged out from its safe haven of a cocoon!

However, I think it is beginning to regret that decision...

I think we have officially traumatized the poor thing, and if the others are smart, they will stay in their safe cocoons for awhile longer! :)

Spring Day

After two not-so-spring days, I was so happy to be able to go outside with my kiddos today without having an "insta-sweat" the second I walked out the door. Summer is coming...but I am not ready for THAT kind of weather yet!

Before we went to the playground, I decided to capture a spring moment in front of the blossoming tree and garden....

When my kiddos came inside after recess this morning, they were super-excited to tell me their latest accomplishments on the monkey bars. Of course, when we went outside later on, I HAD to capture their "show-off" moments on my camera. :D

One of the "benefits" of being a teacher during spring time is that you get manymanymany bouquets of dandelions from thoughtful children. Today was no exception! However, this time I learned a valuable lesson...

Dandlelions have pollen.

When dandlelions are placed on khaki skirt, remove quickly or you will have pollen stains!

Lesson learned...hopefully :)

Oh, and yes, my sunglasses didn't survive afternoon recess.

Broken sunglasses & dandlelion stains.

The wonders of being a teacher!

Serving by Loving

Paul intreats us: "Stand fast...in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1)

Our freedom from bondage to sin can be illustrated this way. It is as if a woman had a male employer; she is paid for her work in weekly wages, and under the rules of her employer, whom she has tried to please, but toward whom her service had been one of obligation only. Finally, however, the employer falls in love with her, and she becomes his bride and shares all his fortunes. At once the whole spirit of her service has changed. She may perhaps continue to do the same things that she did before, but she does them now from a different motive. The old sense of duty is lost in the new sense of love. The cold word "employer" is transformed into the loving word "husband."

"And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi (my husband); and shalt call me no more Baali (my Lord)" (Hos. 2:16)

But imagine this bride beginning after a while to look back on her low estate and to be so overwhelmed by the retrospect as to feel unworthy of union with her husband, and consequently to lose the inward sense of this union. Who can doubt that very soon the old sense of working for wages would drive out the new sense of working for love, and in spirit the old name, "my employer," would take the place of the new name, "my husband"?

We exclaim at the folly of such a course. But isn't this just what happens to many Christians?

-Hannah Whitall Smith

Growing & Changing

Our plants are growing!!!

This is a picture of the ladybug larvae I took on Friday...

Today they are starting to curl up and form a hard layer...officially entering the pupa stage!

A Nutritional Field Trip

Today the Kindergarten and Elementary students went to Giant for a nutritional tour. Our guide took us all around the store, stopping at different sections to talk about the nutritional value of certain kinds of foods. We discussed each of the food groups and why each is important. The children all got to sample a little cup filled with an apple slice, baby carrot, and cheerios (actually they were the Giant-brand organic kind to be exact! :D) Later on, at the Deli they each got a slice of cheese...and so did the teachers and parent chaperones :) They basically got to sample each of the food groups except for the meat. To make up for not tasting that particular food group, they were given the opportunity to pet a lobster!

We even got a "behind-the-scenes" tour of their storage room. During that time we talked about the importance of recycling. Did you know that it takes a little over 12,000 recycled Giant plastic bags to make a plastic bench? That was a little piece of information I walked away with today....nothing to do with nutrition, but still interesting! Makes me think twice before I throw away a plastic bag! *looking over at the humongous stack of plastic bags in the corner of my room and wondering if I have enough to make a plastic bench*

Moving Day!

This cocoon had fallen off the ceiling of the container a couple of days ago. It kinda grossed me out as I tried to safely transfer it from the bottom of the container to this tissue. It was actually shaking and wriggling about....I wasn't exactly prepared for that! I told my kiddos that I was getting the "heebie-jeebies." :)

Safe in their new home...

Amazing Talent

This morning at school, the elementary & high school students watched some clips from Britain's Got Talent. We watched the most recent video featuring Susan Boyle first. (sorry, you'll have to click on the link to view it because I can't post the clip here...all the clips that I tried have been disabled!) There were some lessons for all the students to learn after watching that video clip. God has given everyone a special talent. We have so many talented students in our school and we want to see them use their talents for the Lord and not to be intimidated by what others think of them. Of course another lesson was - no matter what you may look like on the outside, its what is on the inside that matters. The Bible verse that comes to mind is..."man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

Another video clip we watched was of a cute 6 year-old girl named Connie. She was on Britain's Got Talent in 2007. It just amazed me to hear this sweet little girl's voice! I think "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was running through my head the rest of the day. :)

Just Hangin'

The last caterpillar is finally hanging upside-down in preparation for the cocoon/chrysalis stage. By tonight or tomorrow morning, it should be safely in its cocoon. When we return to school on Friday, we will be moving the cocoons into their new home - The Butterfly Pavilion!

Science in the Classroom

In Science class, we are learning about seeds. So today my kiddos and I planted some flower seeds. They each got to dump potting soil into the pot, and then pour their own packet of seeds on top before I added another thin layer of potting soil. I am *crossing my fingers* and hoping some type of plant will grow! It could be a weed for all I care, just as long as SOMETHING grows. I am not exactly a "green thumb" type of girl!

The kiddos were excited about planting flowers, but they were a little concerned that there was no sun today. After all, we had just learned that seeds need the sun, water, and soil to grow into healthy plants. One of them suggested that we could shine a light on them instead, but I assured them all that the sun will come out eventually! :)

Hurry up, sun! Help those plants grow!

Our caterpillars had a busy weekend.....

This is a picture I took of them on Friday. They were still crawling about, but I could tell that they would be entering the next stage soon as they were starting to climb to the top.

On Sunday I took a peek and discovered that 4 of them were hanging from the ceiling of the container and 1 of the 4 had already formed a cocoon.

This morning, another one had formed a cocoon, and by this afternoon, all 4 of the ones that had been hanging were in cocoons. I just have one caterpillar left now....such a slowpoke he is! One of the cocoons actually fell later today from its hanging position and is now laying in the pile of food on the floor of the container. I was told that this might happen, so I am not too worried.

Our ladybugs continue to grow and shed their layers all around the Ladybug Land. I was able to look through the magnifying glass on the top with my camera and snap an up-close shot of two of the ladybug larvae. It still amazes me that these creepy crawlies are going to turn into such pretty ladybugs!

Da Vinci Discovery Center

Today the Kindergarten - 8th grade went to the Da Vinci Discovery Center. I had a fun & crazy time with the active K-3rd grade group! :)

Our one tour guide took out a snake for the children to touch. Joshua LOVED it. :D

One of the highlights was getting to see an electricity demonstration. The girl was really great with the kids and kept their interest. I think this was my favorite part because I could just sit there, relax and enjoy myself, without worrying about kids wandering off!

Did you notice that at the end of this video, she was looking RIGHT at me when she said that she wanted to test the idea that you are safe inside your car during a lightning storm? Ahhh, yes, the joys of being teacher. I quickly turned off my video, and somewhat reluctantly volunteered. I didn't know what she was going to have me do! Well, you saw that nice white cage in the video? The one where the electricity was coming from? Well, while the kiddos cheered me on I was told to step INSIDE the cage. She wanted to demonstrate that while lightning may be all around your car, you are still safe inside of it. I was a bit timid, but I had many wide, excited eyes looking at me so I couldn't chicken out! :D So while they all rubbed their feet on the floor and counted 1,2,3 I sucked in my breath as I heard the loud crackle of electricity around me. I think we ALL were relieved when I stepped safely out of the cage again. But I think the kiddos were pretty thrilled about that whole thing! Afterwards, when one of the kids asked if they could do that experiment, the girl said no, that only adults could do it because it is the most dangerous experiment that they do and they don't want serious injuries to happen to the children! I was like, Oh, wow, THANKS A LOT! But then she went on to say that the reason that they allow the adults to do it is that they know they will follow the instructions. She then said, "So you see, your teacher is your hero!" Ah, yes, I heroically almost got electrocuted....such a comforting thought!

One more video...this experiment at the end was really neat! They would touch the globe with the electric current going through it, and with their other hand hold a long light bulb which was not attached to any power outlet. The electric current going through them would actually light the bulb! Then, when the girl would touch their nose, giving them a little shock, the light would go out. She called it their "off-switch" :) Science is so amazing, isn't it? How could someone who studies Science not believe in God??!

Happy Half!

Today is special for two reasons.

First, it is my half birthday. I am officially 23 1/2 years old today! The only reason I know this is because at our school we celebrate half birthdays as well as the real birthday. We do this because some children have birthdays in the summer and so this gives them a chance to celebrate something in the school year. Even though my REAL birthday is in the school year, I still like to remember my half birthday!

Secondly, today is special because it has been 6 months since I started this blog. I was so hesitant in the beginning because I just didn't think I would find enough interesting things to blog about. Now here I am 6 months later, and this is my 151 post. I guess I found things to blog about, huh?!

Sitemeter informs me that there have been 2,518 visitors on my blog so far. Of course, that is not totally accurate because I had my blog a couple of months before I got Sitemeter. Also, that includes me when I click into the page (which is probably about 2/3 of that number!) However, as I look at the locations of where the visitors came from, I have seen numerous countries, states, and towns/cities visit my blog. So that is pretty cool! I just don't know WHO you all are...it is indeed a mystery! (unless you leave a comment which many of you have!)

This indeed has been an adventurous 6 months for many reasons! I've enjoyed blogging about my life as a teacher and many other things. I hope this blog continues to interest all my faithful followers as well!

A Second Arrival

Last night when I got to church, I found out that my ladybugs had arrived! When I was told it was on Mr. Anger's desk, I quickly went his office because when these types of insects arrive you are supposed to open the package immediately. Not seeing a box on his desk in the office, I went to the Learning Center to his other desk. Nope, nada. So then I backtracked and went downstairs to MY desk thinking that maybe he had put the box in the classroom. Nope, nada...again! By this time I was a little out of breathe as I had traipsed back and forth across the church in search of these little buggers! Eventually, I found Mr. Anger and he led me to where the ladybugs were 'hiding'....in his office on his desk. But hadn't I looked there? Here they were not in an ordinary-looking package. Instead, it looked more like an empty paper towel roll! The ladybug larvae were in a smaller clear tube inside of it.

After church was over, I moved the ladybug larvae safely into their new home at Ladybug Land (well, actually I dropped them in...they didn't have much of a choice of where they would take up residence!)

Here is a rather blurry, zoomed-in picture of one of the ladybug larvae. They are quite small! I have never seen the "ladybug transformation" before so I am looking forward to watching this process. My kiddos will be jumping for joy tomorrow when they discover that the ladybugs have arrived! I have a feeling they will be a bit confused when they first see them though. They are expecting red bugs with black spots! :)

Our Very Hungry Caterpillars

It's been two days....

Yay! They are still alive and moving around...that's a good sign :) My kiddos definitely enjoy watching them. Today I bravely set the container on our story-time table, so they could have a better view of them.

I had to have my kiddos move back rather far for this picture so I could actually see what they were doing! As soon as I was done taking the picture though, they instantly closed in, banging heads together as they each tried to get a better look. Their noses were practically sticking to the container! Those poor, innocent caterpillars! I hope they have strong little hearts :)

Yesterday I went to the library and got some books on caterpillars/butterflies and ladybugs (hopefully, Ladybug Land will be arriving soon!). I got some fun & silly books and also some educational books. (a nice balance for a K-teacher!)

You simply can't have caterpillars in your classroom without reading this classic book by Eric Carle entitled The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

For a college project, I actually made a felt board activity out of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story. I just printed out the colored templates, laminated them, and stuck Velcro on the back so they would stick to a felt board. If you click here, you can find the templates I used. There are TONS of printable activities on the DLTK's Growing Together website!

So in case you have never heard the story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", let me use my felt board pieces to tell the story. My kiddos really enjoyed using the felt board pieces and I have a feeling this story will be requested over and over again these next few weeks!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by Eric Carle

In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf. One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

He started to look for some food.

On Monday he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry.


On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry.







On Wednesday he ate through three plums, but he was still hungry.






On Thursday he ate through four strawberries, but he was still hungry.







On Friday he ate through five oranges, but he was still hungry.






On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.


That night he had a stomachache!




The next day was Sunday again. The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better.







Now he wasn't hungry any more - and he wasn't a little caterpillar any more. He was a big, fat caterpillar.

He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and....




he was a beautiful butterfly!!

Am I Making a Difference?

A story was read tonight in Bible Institute that made me rather teary-eyed. When I got home, I started browsing around on the Internet and found that the story had been made into a short movie. I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it. It is not only for teachers, but for everybody! You never know whose life you may be impacting even now!

Click here to view the story of a teacher and a student who make a difference in each other's lives. (*Warning* This content may not be suitable for viewers who want to remain dry-eyed today!)

A New Arrival

Our caterpillars arrived today! I am looking forward to seeing the stages these creatures will go through before they are transformed into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. I did this last year with my kiddos, and we really enjoyed this amazing experience!

Right now they are in their tiny & cute stage, but believe me, they will grow rather quickly into hideous creatures! I will keep you all posted with updated pictures....or you can just visit the classroom to observe them yourself. :)

A Teacher's Priority

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."

I found this quote written in a book I was reading today. I have heard this quote before, but it was a good reminder!

Easter Verses

For the past couple of weeks, my kiddos and I have been working on I Corinthians 15:3-4, calling them our Easter verses. Today as they were coloring their Easter card, I put on the Mr. E CD which plays that Scripture song. They wanted to hear it over and over again, so I decided to just put it on "repeat". However, after at least 20 times of hearing the song repeat over and again, I just had to turn it off! :) My kiddos enjoyed singing along with it though!

I Corinthians 15:3-4

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

Bunny Class

This was something I received as a gift a LONG time ago. It has been hanging on the wall in my old bedroom (Alayna's current bedroom) for years. Well, now Alayna is getting a room makeover so it needed a new home. It didn't click until I saw it again how perfectly it represented my kiddos and me! It now hangs in my classroom. :)

F-I-R-E...

...now say each letter sound and then blend them together to form a word. What does the word say? Yes, that's right...fire!

Today I went to a workshop regarding phonemic awareness and alphabetic principle. Those are just fancy words for learning about sounds and letters! I was a little intimidated at first when we were each given a sheet of words which we were supposed to define: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, grapheme, phoneme, onset, rime, continuant consonants, and segmentation. These words looked vaguely familiar but its been awhile since I had a class on all this terminology! Thankfully, the words were then defined for me so I didn't feel completely clueless! Honestly, there are simple explanations for each word...they just have to make it look complicated in order for teachers to sound smart! :)

The workshop was very beneficial for me as a kindergarten teacher. I just wish that this workshop had happened at the BEGINNING of the school year my FIRST year teaching instead of at the end of my 2nd year, but oh well!! I was definitely one of the "newbies" there and was just awed by all the instructor was sharing about ways to help children learn. It made me feel like I was doing absolutely nothing to help my own kids learn to read. At first, I felt rather overwhelmed, but then I reminded myself that this was an opportunity to learn NEW things and not to critique and analyze everything I was doing WRONG! Of course, I was coming from a different kind of background than all the other teachers there - being that I teach in a private Christian school and only have 3 students, but a lot of it still applied to me! :)

Anyway, you may be wondering why I chose the word fire as the title word. Well, let me just tell you then and not keep you in suspense! Lunch was provided for those in this workshop, and I definitely enjoyed the yummy tacos, salad and dessert! We had finished up lunch and were listening intently to our instructor as she talked about the wonders of phoneme segmentation (basically breaking up the sounds in each word!). Suddenly, we hear one of the ladies say, "There's a fire in the hallway!" At first we were like, oooookay, because she really didn't sound panicky. I was busy writing something down so I was not really listening. Then one of the other ladies went out in the hallway to check and came running back in. There really was a fire out there! Apparently, the heating system underneath the taco meat (you know, the little candle things caterers use to keep their food hot) apparently got a bit too heated and set the taco tray on fire! It then spread to the basket of chips setting nearby. So we all scrambled up from our seats, grabbed our belongings and scooted out into the smoky hallway. By the time I got out there, one of the ladies from the workshop had grabbed a fire extinguisher nearby and put the fire out. The entire place was thick with smoke. We all found it quite disturbing that the fire alarms didn't go off until AFTER the lady had put the fire out. We were all just standing there, but then decided that we should probably go outside instead of just breathing in the smoke fumes! Yikes, were those fire alarms loud ...just a bit on the delayed side!

We all got safely outside, and found that it was rather chilly in the great outdoors. I had only brought a jean jacket today thinking that the spring breezes would surely be present. Of course, today of all days, they weren't. We soon heard the fire alarm sound at the nearby fire department. A guy then told us that we should probably just go wait in our cars to keep warm because it was probably going to be awhile till we could re-enter the building.

As I was heading to my car, I saw a small red truck with flashers on top pull up to the front of the building. A man dressed like a fireman came out and then went inside. I commented to another lady, "Awww, we only get this little truck?! I was at least hoping for a REAL firetruck to show up!" (I am still in Fireproof mode, sorry :))

Shortly, after I got in my car, I noticed that a real firetruck was coming in the driveway, sirens blasting, flashers flashing. I was happy, although I did feel bad that they really weren't needed seeing how the fire was already out! As I sat in the car texting and talking on my cellphone, ANOTHER firetruck arrived. I found this quite amusing! By this point we had 2 firetrucks and 2 mini trucks there. As if this weren't enough, about five minutes later, a THIRD firetruck pulled in. I was flabbergasted! 3 firetrucks, 2 mini trucks, and who knows how many firemen all there to fight.....smoke. Well, I guess they didn't know what they were going to find so they had to be prepared! :) All it took was a few large fans in the hallways to get the smoke fumes out, and then we were all good to go.

So about 30 minutes after the first official cry of "FIRE!" we were back in the classroom, shaking our heads in bewilderment at what had just taken place. Our instructor was like, "Every time I do a workshop, we always have a cold lunch of sandwiches or something like that. I was all excited about having a hot lunch this time. Well, NEVER again!!!" :)

The Lord was definitely protecting us though. There we all were sitting in the classroom, a fire burning a few feet away and none of us had smelled any smoke! If there hadn't been a lady walking by at that moment, who knows how out of hand the fire could have gotten. That hallway was the only real exit we had out of the building. We eventually found out that there was indeed another exit, but it was through the private offices that we had to press a buzzer to get access in! Who knows if that would have even worked had all those office people ran out of the building! So it was neat to see the Lord's hand of protection.

And yes, it was also neat to see 3 firetrucks all in the same day even though they were not really needed. :) Firemen are my heroes!

Ask, Seek, Find

Last night I was getting ready to watch a movie with my friend, Elizabeth, over MSN. :) Of course, when you do something like this you need to have the timing down just right when you hit the "play" button, so earlier we had decided that instead of doing the 1, 2, 3 over MSN chat, we would do it over the phone. So I got my purse and started rummaging through it in search of my cellphone. Now you have got to understand something. Back in August, I had lost my camera while in Philadelphia for the day. I had thought it was in my purse, and was quite shocked to discover that it wasn't there! So ever since then, I have had this paranoia about losing things. Every time I need my cellphone and can't feel it right away when I am rummaging around in my purse, I have a slight moment of panic before my fingers firmly grasp it. So anyway, last night, I was feeling around in my purse for my cellphone. I didn't feel it right away, so I decided to take everything out of my purse. Nada, nothing, no cellphone! My mind began swirling. Where in the world could it be? I generally always keep it in my purse, so my mind was drawing a blank as to where I could have put it. At first I panicked thinking that I probably left it somewhere at Sight & Sound or Shady Maple on Thursday, but then reason returned and I remembered that I had texted Andy on the way home Thursday night. My last memory of using it was in the van, so I decided that would be the most logical place to look. I didn't really want to go out to the garage at 10:00 at night in my pj's, but I was determined to find it. I searched the entire van from top to bottom (or so I thought) and found nothing.

By this point, I was extremely frustrated. Seeing how it was garbage night, I had the sinking feeling that somehow my cellphone had dropped in a garbage can by accident and was now sitting on the edge of our street ready to meet its doom early the next morning. I was grasping at straws. We tried calling my cell number to see if we could hear it, but of course, I had it on vibrate so I wasn't holding out much hope of hearing it unless it was close by. I was rather upset, feeling frustrated that I lost something...again. I just didn't know where to look anymore. Well, it was time to watch the movie, but my mind wouldn't rest at first. I almost felt like crying. But eventually, the "Happy Working Song", "That's How You know" and "So close" song lyrics from the movie Enchanted made me feel better :)

I actually had a dream during the night that I found my cellphone in the middle of the driveway. I woke up all happy, and then realized it was only a dream. Of course, if my cellphone was indeed in the middle of the driveway, it would be ruined because of all the rain!

So this morning during my devotions, I decided to pray about it. I've heard countless times that God cares even about the little things!! I had kinda half-heartedly asked Him last night to help me find it, but I still had the mindset that I could handle something like this on my own. However, I realized that God knew exactly where it was, and He could help me find it if I just trusted Him. I must admit, that my faith was still weak. I had decided that I needed to look in the van again because that was the last place I used it. However, I had already looked in there last night. What if it wasn't there? Then what would I do? I procrastinated a bit, and didn't go out to the van right away because I didn't want to be disappointed in case God didn't answer my prayer. (Oh, ye of little faith!)

Eventually, I decided that I HAD to know. So I went out the garage rather timidly clinging to the thought that the Lord could handle this and help me find it. I went to the back seat where I had been sitting on Thursday. I looked on the seat, beside the seat, under the seat and found nothing. However, I just had this feeling - this knowing - that it just had to be there. I then looked under the seat in front of me, and there in the dark corner, I found my cellphone! I literally grabbed it, hugged it and said, "Thank You, God, thank You!!" over and over.

I mean, look at this picture (obviously having the flash on makes it brighter) but still...WHY couldn't I see this last night? Yes, it was darker last night and I didn't have the aid of the light coming in through the window, but WHY couldn't I see this??

I honestly think that the Lord "blinded" my eyes last night so I couldn't see it. He wanted to wait to reveal it to me until I took time to pray and ask Him for help. He didn't want me to find it in my own strength. God cares even about the little things and He wants me to depend on Him for EVERYTHING!! Of course, there is always the analogy that last night, it was dark and there was no light coming in from the garage window. Until the light shone in, I couldn't find the cellphone....hmmmmm.

But anyway, although losing a cellphone may seem like a minor thing to some, it was just another reminder for me that the Lord cares about every little detail in my life! Why worry?

A Lovely Lancaster Day

Today my family and I went to Lancaster. It was such a gorgeous day to view the beautiful countryside!

We went to Shady Maple for lunch. Let's just say that if you have never been to that smorgasbord, you don't know what you are missing out on! That is one place you NEVER leave without moaning and groaning about an overly-stuffed stomach filled with delicious food!

After we finished lunch, we browsed around the gift shop downstairs for awhile. I bought a new book to add to my ever-growing library collection (actually it is a novel based on the movie Fireproof which I obviously love) and I also bought a door-hanger spring wreath for my Mom for Mother's Day. (Yes, I had her pick it out so she knows about it...oh well!)

After we were done browsing around and shopping, we headed off to Sight & Sound to see Behold the Lamb. I have seen practically every show Sight & Sound has done and I love them all! They do such a great job bringing the Bible stories to life! If you have never seen this show, consider this your *spoiler alert*. :) I don't want to ruin it for you!

Behold the Lamb was really good, and they did their best to cram as much as they could into the 2 1/2 hours they had to tell about Jesus' earthly ministry. However, it made my head swirl a couple of times how quickly they moved from miracle to miracle! I was a little disappointed that there wasn't as many songs as other shows I have been to, but it was understandable seeing how they had to fit so much in!

After the crucifixion, which was definitely a tear-jerking scene, they show a scene where the devil is laughing with evil glee at the thought that he has won. Death has overpowered Jesus and now he is in control! However, the Lord then triumphantly gains the victory over death and Hell! He now holds the keys!!! I found the lyrics to the one song they sang at this part. It has powerful words!

"He Holds the Keys"

Death rides blackened clouds across the sky

The Son of man lays down to die

With every pounding blow upon the nail

Thunder rumbles all through hell

And from death's barren womb the captives cry

Who is there to free us should He die

His grave becomes a door, He enters in

To face the author of all sin

Defying death and the grave He takes their keys

And with them every captive frees

And from death's barren womb the captives cry

Arise for our redemption draweth nigh

For He holds the keys

He holds the keys

And though we've been held captive

At long last we are free

For He holds the keys

Against the gates of hell I now resist

For the shackles that had torn my wrists

Lay before me now upon the ground

To sin I am no longer bound

For from death's barren womb

He heard my cry

And loosed the chains that bound me to a lie

And to all the things that have kept you away

That keep you defeated day after day after day

The heartache that nobody sees

That eats at your soul like a cruel disease

He who set the captives free

It is He, it is He who holds your keys