It's been awhile. I know. I mean, the last time you heard from me you were guessing the theme of my classroom, which happened to be music. Shocker, I know. The point of this post is not to go into just how great/crazy/stressful/interesting/dangerous (ha!) my year really was, so I'll just say that for now I'm not throwing in the towel on being in the classroom. So there ya have it.

La de da.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you in on what I've been doing lately, particularly with my "off" time this summer. I'm really just trying to not step foot outside in this brutal Texas summer heat. Although I must say, there have been a few rather enjoyable thunderstorms that have graced my presence this week. I'm slightly prone to opening the shades and just sitting on the couch watching the rain and listening to it hit the ground. It's one of my favorite ways to relax.

But really. Kesa and I have been working on some new material for our Ribbonistas' Bowtique business. It's always nice when summer rolls around because we can usually get together and work on new ideas and stock up for the county fair, which has pretty much become an annual event for us. It's neat to see how far we've come, and I enjoy the new ideas we stumble upon. It's fun to see our ideas come to fruition and exciting when our finished products turn out the way we want them to. Below, there's a link to a sneak peak of just one of the new things we'll be adding. If you're on Facebook, you'll probably see more updates from us both over there. Come out to the fair and see us this year! Hopefully you'll hear from me on here again before then about other, less interesting ramblings of my life. I'm not going to promise anything though.

Be kind to one another! :)

For some reason, the link to embed the video straight from Youtube isn't working (more likely: I'm not doing it right), so here's the link. Just copy and paste into a new browser.

http://youtu.be/sB5OTrcn2v4

No prizes, just all around fun. :) And if you already know it you can't play. Sorry! ;)

Ready? GO!!!

**Hint** The theme involves something that has been around for a very long time. I'll post another later if no one guesses.

**UPDATE** Okay, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were the closest guesses. The theme of my room is more general. It's music! There will be lots of fun things happening. I'll post pics when I'm done with it. :)

Thanks for playing everyone!

I got a job!! :) I'll be teaching 2nd grade in Houston ISD. I was very impressed with this school from the very beginning, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of their team. They're exemplary, and I attribute much of that success to the strong team that they have and the amazing opportunities and experiences that they bring in and provide for the students.

It actually came as a bit of a shock really. This particular school was looking for a "multigrade" position, which I had been told would be like if some advanced 4th grade students were placed in a lower 5th grade class. I would have been okay with that, but when I got to the interview I found out that that was not what they were interviewing for at all. They were interviewing for a librarian/literacy specialist! My first thought was, "Oh wow, I'm not even qualified for this position." Needless to say, I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as offers were concerned.

They called me today and said that they had a 2nd grade teacher retire due to health problems and that while they were sorry to see her go because of the situation, they immediately thought I would be perfect for the position! I enjoyed my time in the upper grades while student teaching, but I have always thought my personality went well with the younger kids too. Anyway, they offered me the position, and I gladly accepted. The school is very close to where we live - about 15 minutes. This is especially comforting considering Houston ISD is such a large district. One of my closest friends from my education program also got a job with Houston ISD, and we are so excited to be working in the same district. We'll get to go to conferences together! She got a Kinder position awhile back, and if it hadn't been for her I don't think I'd be where I am right now because she's the one who told me to apply with HISD because they were hiring. Besides this job truly being such a great blessing from God, I also owe my friend big time for helping me though the crazy HISD process. I think I'll take her out to lunch or something soon. I'm so grateful!

And I'm so grateful to all of you! Thank you for keeping up with what I've been doing and for praying for the best situation to occur for us. I cannot tell you how extremely relieved I am to have this taken care of. It was an extra fun experience too because I was with her when I found out. :)

I'll go to new teacher orientation beginning Wednesday, and I get to go in my classroom next Wednesday!

Now, to think of a theme for my room.....

Keep on keepin' on!

Derek and I are studying with 3 young Mormon missionaries today. Interesting thought: In the past, we studied with 2 other young men and after 5 or 6 studies, they put a stop to our meetings. One of them got emotional and said our studies were causing him to question his faith! The 3 young men who we are studying with today know that we have studied with other missionaries so I am surprised that they are "allowed" to come to our place. Derek and I have reflected on our previous studies and have tried our best to determine the correct approach to use today (where to begin, what to put off until further meetings). Please pray that their hearts are receptive to the truth of God's Word and that alone.

I'll follow up after our meeting.

***UPDATE****

The meeting went fairly well yesterday. We took a more basic approach for this first time, rather than allowing our conversations to be mostly about all the controversies present in the Book of Mormon. They stated that they understood that we probably knew a decent amount about what they believe. We confirmed such, but acknowledged that we were no experts on the Mormon religion. We suggested that we "go around the table" so to speak and have each person give a basic overview of what they believe and how they came to believe it. This worked pretty well, as we decided before-hand that it would be necessary to establish where we were all coming from and why.

Interestingly enough, after Derek and I described our basic beliefs (we chose to leave out details at this time, like the controversy over musical instruments in worship) they pretty much whole-heartily agreed with almost everything we said (including the necessity of baptism and the fact that it is for believers and clearly not for babies or young children who are not accountable due to their age and inability to recognize sin and/or truly confess Christ with understanding as to what that entails and would require of them). This proved later to be an avenue for discussion starters because, by doing so, they contradicted themselves a few times during the course of this intro study, and we were able to start asking questions about the inconsistencies between the Book of Mormon and the Bible (very basic). We ended on noting the fact that one big difference that we will end up discussing is how they believe in continuing revelation, and the Bible clearly teaches that we have the completely revealed Word of God that was once for all delivered (Jude 3).

So. That is basically where we are right now. Our meeting served as an introduction to potential topics to be discussed, and we left them with a chapter to read (We suggested Matt. 18 as there will be an immediate need to discuss authority). They also asked us to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon which we agreed to do. They have our updated phone numbers and said they would contact us after they have discussed the meeting in order to schedule another (or not, we're not exactly sure).

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf as we have entered this course of study. Please continue to pray that their hearts will be receptive to the Truth and that Derek and I will effectively use the Word to guide us in our future studies with these young men.

We had a wonderful time in California. I have about 23343578798775490 photos to go through so it's taking me quite a bit of time to do that, considering the fact that I'm still searching hard for a teaching position. Here are 3 of my favorite photos so far. I have been very blessed the past several years to be able to travel and see such amazing glimpses of God's beautiful creation. Our God is an awesome God!







More later.


Have a good one!