I can't believe today is New Year's Eve! I mean, literally. Some friends at church yesterday were in the process of inviting us to their house to celebrate tonight. We kept saying "New Year's Eve," and I said, "wait...is that tomorrow?!" Can't believe it!
2012 has obviously been a big year for us. Marriage and moving (a little closer to the mountains!) and an ordination and so many other exciting things! It seems like two days ago that Jared and I got married and about a day ago that I met my sweet class of fourth graders. In reality, Jared and I have been married for five months and a few days, and Christmas break marks the official halfway-over point of the 2012-2013 school year! Bizarre, right? This school year has flown by. Even my weeks go by quickly; I guess that's what happens when you love your job!
Thinking back on the year, the first part seems like a blur with all of the wedding planning excitement that was going on. Once the wedding was said and done and happily married life started, things eventually started becoming normal again, and I could pay attention to the real world once more. I tend to ignore the news, mainly because it makes me sad. Anyways, all you have to do is look at Facebook and you'll know all the news you need to hear! ;)
I was thinking about the big-ticket items of 2012 - the things that people got really fired up about. The presidential election, obviously, was one of them. Fun fact - my students asked me a question about Mitt Romney that I can't recall anymore, so I typed "Mitt Romney" into Google. One of the first suggested searches that popped up in my search bar was "Mitt Romney's height." Haha is that what people based their votes off of? And for the past month or two, all you have to do is say the word "gun" or "cliff" to the wrong person and you can count on an hour-long debate commencing. I started thinking about the platform that people have found in social media - it's a place where you can be outspoken and opinionated and people pretty much have to listen to you. It can obviously be abused, but I think it has its positives, too.
For example, I've learned how passionate people are. Think about it! People fighting, perhaps in vain, for their beliefs on Facebook. While it's true that President Obama probably doesn't care what's on your Facebook page and he won't change his mind because of an all-caps post containing your rage against him, I still love seeing the fact that people care. I wish that posting a picture of an unborn baby could change abortion laws, but we all know, unfortunately, it's not that easy.
As we leave 2012 and 2013, one thing that we can do is direct our passion in a healthy way. Think about the things that you can change. We all know how easy it is to brighten someone's day by doing something that seems minuscule, because we have all had that happen to us personally. Jared and I fought for our lives in the grocery section of Walmart this afternoon (note to self - don't go to Walmart on New Year's Eve!), and we had a near head-on collision with another woman's cart. She smiled and laughed as I told her to go ahead - seeing a smile and hearing a laugh in Walmart is always welcomed! Has a stranger ever held the door for you when your arms were full, or perhaps when you were wrestling with an umbrella on a rainy day? I heard someone earlier today talking about "paying it forward" - the person in front of them in a drive through paid for her food, so she paid for the man's food behind her, and so on. Small favors like this stick in my mind because they've served as a bright spot in my otherwise normal days.
I'm challenging myself this year to channel my efforts in a more positive way. Sure, we won't change the world in a day, but think about how easy it is to make one person's world a little brighter. I know I can use a break from watching my Facebook ticker, and I think a lot of other people could say the same thing. As our Christmas and New Years season has quickly come and gone and life settles back in to a normal routine, I encourage you to find a way to intentionally help someone. Use that passion for something worthwhile...you never know the difference you could be making! Happy New Year - make it a good one!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
The Past Few Weeks, and Thanksgiving!
A couple weeks ago, I had to go to West Jefferson. The Coney family has vacationed in and around West Jefferson since I started college at Appalachian...I love the small town feel there! They had there Christmas decorations up already when we were there (no judgement here!) and it was so pretty, I had to take a picture.
My students had to create science projects that use a simple machine. Their projects were incredible, but I sadly didn't get a chance to take a picture of each project. We had a mini science fair and the children all told how they built their simple machine and how it worked. This is the only one I was able to take a picture of...various pulleys that can lift powered bottles! ("Hey Mrs. Blair, can I drink that when he's done?" "No. No, you may not.") We had everything from a Lego man whose car went up a ramp to a series of sailboats that turned on a lever. So creative!
Last weekend, we had nothing going on with church or our families. Jared spent a large part of the day doing yard work, and I went to the store and then tried out some new recipes! It was a fun and relaxing day. I also closed the garage door when I went to the grocery store and almost locked Jared out of the house. Whoops again. :) Anyways, I wanted to share these recipes with you because we enjoyed them so much!
Dinner was pizza casserole. It obviously made a lot, so we ate off of it for almost the rest of the week!
I found the recipe on Pinterest. It's from this website:
Our pizza casserole was not 3 meat, because I enjoy sausage as much as I enjoy a baseball bat to the head. Thus, we had 2 meat pizza casserole.
For dessert, we had Krispy Kreme cupcakes! I also found that recipe on Pinterest. We really didn't think they tasted like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but they were still good! I would recommend this recipe, too!
At some point a couple weeks ago, I was inspired to try crocheting a hat. I've never done that, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out! I had to undo and redo some parts because I realized after the fact that parts of the pattern could be altered if needed. It's a beret-style hat, and I think it turned out pretty well!
I got the pattern here: http://creativeyarn.blogspot.com/2008/02/puff-stitch-crochet-beret-with-bow.html
If you like crocheting and are interested in trying to make it, I say go for it! It was pretty simple once I got the hang of it!
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| A picture of the finished product! |
My bff Teenia mailed me a Thanksgiving card...she's the best! Yay holidays!
*Note the penguin pj pants...on laundry day, anything is free game!
Yesterday, I ventured to Concord Mills with a couple of ladies from church. One of them is the music pastor's wife, and the other has children that hang out with us on Sunday nights and she teaches with me. We had a full day - met at and left the church around 8:45 and got back around 10:00 last night! It's been a while since I've had a long shopping day, and I got a good start on Christmas presents. I'm saving some of my shopping for when we're in Winston-Salem later this week...Hanes Mall, consider yourself warned.
We're so excited for Thanksgiving and for spending a few days at home!
We are going home Wednesday so that we can go to the mall. It was either go Wednesday or go on Black (go to the mall if you have a death wish) Friday. Wednesday was the obvious choice. We're also going to FBCW's Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night...I hope we get to see a lot of familiar faces while we're there!
Thursday, we'll be celebrating a Coney Thanksgiving, and Friday will be the Blair Thanksgiving! Nothing like stuffing our faces three days in a row with our favorite people :)
I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. Our pastor shared some thoughts about Thanksgiving this morning, one of which I would like to re-share: "Who you're thankful to is more important than what you're thankful for." So true! Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Lying is like...
We read a story today in reading class about a boy who tells a lie. Telling one lie meant he had to tell another lie, followed by another lie...you know how it goes. This started a discussion on lying, and the kids started in on statements that all started with, "lying is like..."
Here are their thoughts. :)
"Lying is like bubble gum. You're supposed to spit it out, and it's good if you do. But if you swallow it, your stomach gets all...bubbly...and stuff."
"Lying is like a banana. It's nice and pretty and yellow, but if you don't eat it, it turns rotten. And black. And gross."
"Lying is like going from light to dark. Say it's light and you told your mom, 'Yeah! I fed the puppy!' but you really didn't. Then you go and tell your dad the same lie, but you still haven't fed the puppy. It's going to get darker each time you tell that lie. Then one day, you're going to have a dead puppy!" (sad, but we understood her train of thought!)
This one is the one that got me:
"Lying is like an apple; it's bittersweet. It looks nice and it tastes really good, but eventually the apple is going to decompose. Those apple seeds will get in the ground and grow from a small apple to a huge tree of lies."
Pretty deep, right?
If kids understand this, surely adults do, too. Make sure the words you say are truthful and build up the person or people that you are talking to. The lessons we learn from children!
Here are their thoughts. :)
"Lying is like bubble gum. You're supposed to spit it out, and it's good if you do. But if you swallow it, your stomach gets all...bubbly...and stuff."
"Lying is like a banana. It's nice and pretty and yellow, but if you don't eat it, it turns rotten. And black. And gross."
"Lying is like going from light to dark. Say it's light and you told your mom, 'Yeah! I fed the puppy!' but you really didn't. Then you go and tell your dad the same lie, but you still haven't fed the puppy. It's going to get darker each time you tell that lie. Then one day, you're going to have a dead puppy!" (sad, but we understood her train of thought!)
This one is the one that got me:
"Lying is like an apple; it's bittersweet. It looks nice and it tastes really good, but eventually the apple is going to decompose. Those apple seeds will get in the ground and grow from a small apple to a huge tree of lies."
Pretty deep, right?
If kids understand this, surely adults do, too. Make sure the words you say are truthful and build up the person or people that you are talking to. The lessons we learn from children!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Babies and Fried Apples
We're having another good week up here in Wilkesboro! The apple festival was so much fun this past weekend. It got to 75 or 80 degrees while we were at the festival; add that to hundreds of people and at least 3 mullets, and it was a toasty day. But there were so many cute crafts and the food was delicious, and I also got to see my students dance. It was a super fun day!
In the spirit of fall, the art teacher had the kids paint fall-y scenes, and she gave them to me to hang up in the classroom. They're so pretty! It's kind of hard to see, but each child painted a tree and fallen leaves and some birds. I was super impressed!
I work with a third grade student after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We were in my room this afternoon and we heard an "Awww he's adorable!" out in the hallway, so we both turned to look. One of our middle school students is a new big brother, and he was holding his baby brother in his arms, walking through the hallway outside my door. The student that I was working with put down her pencil, because babies are more exciting than fractions, and was completely enthralled by the dark-haired baby in the hallway.
"Mrs. Blair, do you have, you know, like a daughter?"
I told her, "Pastor Jared and I have only been married a little more than two months, so we don't have any kids yet!"
"Are you going to have a baby?"
"Not anytime soon, but we will sometime down the road..."
"YOU'RE GETTING A BABY?!"
(Is that how people get kids, by stealing them?)
I laughed a lot and then I said, "No. We're not getting any babies anytime soon."
That's not one we need to get circulating through the third grade! It was so cute and she said she can't wait until the day I get a baby. How sweet of her.
I came home after I was done with tutoring and some grading and I saw this scene out in the backyard:
In the spirit of fall, the art teacher had the kids paint fall-y scenes, and she gave them to me to hang up in the classroom. They're so pretty! It's kind of hard to see, but each child painted a tree and fallen leaves and some birds. I was super impressed!
I work with a third grade student after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We were in my room this afternoon and we heard an "Awww he's adorable!" out in the hallway, so we both turned to look. One of our middle school students is a new big brother, and he was holding his baby brother in his arms, walking through the hallway outside my door. The student that I was working with put down her pencil, because babies are more exciting than fractions, and was completely enthralled by the dark-haired baby in the hallway.
"Mrs. Blair, do you have, you know, like a daughter?"
I told her, "Pastor Jared and I have only been married a little more than two months, so we don't have any kids yet!"
"Are you going to have a baby?"
"Not anytime soon, but we will sometime down the road..."
"YOU'RE GETTING A BABY?!"
(Is that how people get kids, by stealing them?)
I laughed a lot and then I said, "No. We're not getting any babies anytime soon."
That's not one we need to get circulating through the third grade! It was so cute and she said she can't wait until the day I get a baby. How sweet of her.
I came home after I was done with tutoring and some grading and I saw this scene out in the backyard:
Jared was being crafty! I always knew he had it in him...obviously, he married me! We were given a really nice bluebird house at our shower at Millers Creek, and the giver of the gift suggested that we might stain the birdhouse before hanging it. We picked out some stain last week and Jared had it basically done when I got home!
See how he's sitting in the midst of some trees? Apparently this fell on him while he was sitting there and he picked this (so calmly) off of his shirt when we got back in to the garage.
Cute little worm! I would have been flipping out, smacking myself to get it off my shirt, but Jared didn't react that way...go figure :)
And now, we are making some fried apples that smell basically amazing. We got on Google this afternoon to look for a recipe for Cracker Barrel Fried Apples (Jared's favorite!), and we found one that seemed pretty legit. We have plenty of apples from the festival on Saturday that we wanted to use, and got the spices we needed when we went grocery shopping this evening. They're almost finished, and it's making our house smell wonderful. We used our cast iron grill skillet last night to make some hamburgers, and they were delicious, but our house has smelled kind of smoky since then. If you ever need an air freshener, make some fried apples. Seriously the best smell ever!
I hope everyone else is enjoying fall as much as we are :) Does anybody have a favorite fall recipe we should try?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Muffins and Explosions
This morning, one of my sweet students brought in and set this bag on my desk.
"Mom made chocolate chip muffins!"
Good morning to me...bless her heart :)
It was delicious!
And see that bright light coming in? I almost forgot what it was...but the sun actually came out for a little while today! So exciting.
We came upon snack time, and it is not uncommon for a student to ask me to open something: a bag of gummies, a package of string cheese, or in today's case, one of those bottles of drinkable yogurt (foil lids are especially tricky for my students...and for their teacher). A girl came over and said, "Mrs. Blair, can you open this?" and handed me her bottle of yogurt. "Sure!" I said, and started peeling the long edge of it. The second my fingers made contact with the foil, my student unexpectedly dropped to the floor on the other side of my desk.
I stopped and said, "Are you okay?!"
She stood up and, very seriously, informed me, "they always explode when you open them."
We cracked up. It was the funniest thing that happened today!
I'm super excited about this weekend. Jared and I are going to become official Wilkes County residents as we attend the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. I'm excited to see the fall crafts, and to eat a lot of tasty food. I also have a couple students that will be dancing with their dance class that I will get to watch! Our families are coming up to join too, so it'll be a fun fall-y weekend :)
If you're reading this and you've ever been to the Apple Festival, let us know what we should be on the lookout for on Saturday!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Dear House, Welcome to Fall!
I finished my wreath that I began last night!
This is how it started. I was slightly concerned...
I bought 4 and a half yards of fabric, following the Pinterest directions (I have so much fabric left over!). I started by cutting a couple strips, tying a couple strips...cutting, tying...it took so long! I decided to go ahead and cut all of my fabric (hello, carpal tunnel) at once and then tie it. Last night, I made it as far as cutting everything, and then it was bedtime for me and my tired hand!
I sat down tonight and started tying my fabric strips on to the wreath. It started filling in really quickly and began to look much more like I had pictured it originally.
Once I was happy with the fullness of the wreath, I decided to make a bow to put on it!
Thanks, leftover wedding ribbon! :)
The finished product! Our door isn't crooked, maybe I am? Either way, yay for fall!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Hot Chocolate!
Today was one of those beautiful, crisp, sunny fall days.
Oh wait, no it wasn't.
It was cloudy all day and misted all day long...the nasty kind of rain! It was pretty in a weird way, and it made it feel like it really is fall (or winter, but who's counting?). I think it was about 60 degrees here today, too, which made it pretty chilly!
It was a nice calm Monday and we had a lot of fun. We stayed on schedule for the entire day, even going ahead of schedule for part of the day! That's almost unheard of, with the way that we enjoy having discussions. We were also kind of sleepy today...maybe too sleepy to discuss things. Either way, it was a great Monday! Our P.E. teacher had to leave early to drive the volleyball team to their game, so he let me take my class to the gym to play for the last half hour of the day. Always a fun time!
There is a large supply of basketballs in the gym, so each student had one, and I grabbed one, too. We weren't actually playing basketball, just shooting around. Nonetheless, every time I shot, before I could get the rebound, one of my students kept taking my ball and running with it.
I was joking around with him and I said, "You keep taking my ball!"
"...Mrs. Blair. That's kind of the point of basketball, isn't it?"
Fair enough!
We went back to the classroom and dismissed. Car line moved fast today, but it felt like we were out there for a long time, "because it's so cold!" one of the fifth graders said. He was right...it was chilly, almost to the runny nose kind of chilly.
A minivan pulled out of the line and parked, handing one of the teachers a tray of drinks through the window. It was our PTF (like the PTO) president, who had brought each of us car line ladies a cup of Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate! It was such a blessing and warmed me up right away. She tends to do that on the cold, snot-freezing-to-your-nose kind of days, I was told. She's so sweet...God has given me such a wonderful school to teach in!
Oh wait, no it wasn't.
It was cloudy all day and misted all day long...the nasty kind of rain! It was pretty in a weird way, and it made it feel like it really is fall (or winter, but who's counting?). I think it was about 60 degrees here today, too, which made it pretty chilly!
It was a nice calm Monday and we had a lot of fun. We stayed on schedule for the entire day, even going ahead of schedule for part of the day! That's almost unheard of, with the way that we enjoy having discussions. We were also kind of sleepy today...maybe too sleepy to discuss things. Either way, it was a great Monday! Our P.E. teacher had to leave early to drive the volleyball team to their game, so he let me take my class to the gym to play for the last half hour of the day. Always a fun time!
There is a large supply of basketballs in the gym, so each student had one, and I grabbed one, too. We weren't actually playing basketball, just shooting around. Nonetheless, every time I shot, before I could get the rebound, one of my students kept taking my ball and running with it.
I was joking around with him and I said, "You keep taking my ball!"
"...Mrs. Blair. That's kind of the point of basketball, isn't it?"
Fair enough!
We went back to the classroom and dismissed. Car line moved fast today, but it felt like we were out there for a long time, "because it's so cold!" one of the fifth graders said. He was right...it was chilly, almost to the runny nose kind of chilly.
A minivan pulled out of the line and parked, handing one of the teachers a tray of drinks through the window. It was our PTF (like the PTO) president, who had brought each of us car line ladies a cup of Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate! It was such a blessing and warmed me up right away. She tends to do that on the cold, snot-freezing-to-your-nose kind of days, I was told. She's so sweet...God has given me such a wonderful school to teach in!
heaven in a cup!
Jared and I ventured out in the mess to Walmart tonight. We've gone a week or two without going, and we just missed it so much, my heart was hurting...except not at all. I got an itch to be crafty, so Jared said, "let's go!" We found a plain straw wreath and some fabric that I liked...Pinterest and I are going to attempt our first wreath, one that will hopefully look fall-like if it all works out. We shall see!
Leaving Walmart, we were putting our bags in the trunk and Jared started to take the cart ("buggy," now that I'm a Wilkesboro-ian) back to the cart return and he said, "oh I'll just park it there," and he pointed to a cart that was pushed up against the median. He was just kidding. He took the cart to the cart return, literally just steps in the other direction, and I stood by myself in the parking lot and laughed like a fool.
And then I took a picture.
Odds are you don't find that as funny as I did, but seriously. Lazy! Cracks me up.
My wreath and I are about to get to work...let's hope I have a good report for you later about it!
The beginning:
Straw wreath and some autumnal (? ha!) fabrics!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Why Today was Awesome.
1. I wrote "Irish wristwatch" on the board and told my kids to try saying it. Funniest thing ever. They took turns going around the room attempting it, and it ended up in a chorus of "Irish wrishwrashres." If you've never tried saying it, please do so now and then laugh at how impossible it is to do!
2. As we said our blessing before lunch, the student praying asked that "we won't yell at each other playing basketball this afternoon." Amen!
3. I walked in the workroom after said blessing to retrieve my lunch from the refrigerator. Someone (obviously an angel, or Jesus himself) put a dozen-sized box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the counter with a sign that said "Free - help yourself!" I looked around the workroom and set my lunch down, bracing myself for what was sure to be an empty box. Instead, I found 11 perfectly glazed delicious doughnuts. I always get to the workroom when the "Free - take one" items have already been taken and all that's left are crumbs and chocolate chips. Today was my day, and my inner fat kid jumped for joy at the glorious sight before me.
4. We got to lunch, and some of our church member friends were in the kitchen preparing dinner for tonight. Our church fed West Wilkes' football team before their homecoming game tonight, so our friends were there preparing food. These particular friends, along with several other church members, belong to the Yosef Club at ASU. They offered Jared and me their tickets (all 4 of them!) and their parking pass (if you've ever been to an App game, you know why this is incredible). We had already bought tickets for tomorrow's game, but it will be easy enough to unload those on somebody once we get to the game. You just can't turn down Yosef Club seats and parking! And, since we have two extra tickets, Mom and Dad are going to join us for the day. We can't wait!
5. My kids earned free gym time this afternoon. We started out by all shooting hoops, and my kids were impressed by my athleticism (i.e. I could at least get my ball to hit the backboard, if not actually make a basket). The kids dispersed to do other things, I almost got hit in the head by one of their basketballs, and then they started World War IV. What happened to World War III, you ask? Legitimate question; I asked the same thing. "We had World War III last year in third grade, Mrs. Blair." Fair enough. World War IV consisted of almost the entire class trying to hit one particular student with a ball. Don't worry, he had a fun time, too.
6. My students presented their history projects today, for which they had to interview a family member and figure out some of their family genealogy and history. It was so interesting, and it was great to see the kiddos so excited about their projects (they were even excited about history, but I didn't dare tell them that!). I really enjoyed hearing their stories, how an ancestor was a horse thief, and another ancestor didn't have records left in England because he was outrunning the English government. Crazy, and so fascinating!
7. We were invited to partake in the food that was left once the football team had gone back to school for their game. Free dinner? And no dishes? We were all over that one! Good food and fellowship made a wonderful end to our day!
2. As we said our blessing before lunch, the student praying asked that "we won't yell at each other playing basketball this afternoon." Amen!
3. I walked in the workroom after said blessing to retrieve my lunch from the refrigerator. Someone (obviously an angel, or Jesus himself) put a dozen-sized box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the counter with a sign that said "Free - help yourself!" I looked around the workroom and set my lunch down, bracing myself for what was sure to be an empty box. Instead, I found 11 perfectly glazed delicious doughnuts. I always get to the workroom when the "Free - take one" items have already been taken and all that's left are crumbs and chocolate chips. Today was my day, and my inner fat kid jumped for joy at the glorious sight before me.
4. We got to lunch, and some of our church member friends were in the kitchen preparing dinner for tonight. Our church fed West Wilkes' football team before their homecoming game tonight, so our friends were there preparing food. These particular friends, along with several other church members, belong to the Yosef Club at ASU. They offered Jared and me their tickets (all 4 of them!) and their parking pass (if you've ever been to an App game, you know why this is incredible). We had already bought tickets for tomorrow's game, but it will be easy enough to unload those on somebody once we get to the game. You just can't turn down Yosef Club seats and parking! And, since we have two extra tickets, Mom and Dad are going to join us for the day. We can't wait!
5. My kids earned free gym time this afternoon. We started out by all shooting hoops, and my kids were impressed by my athleticism (i.e. I could at least get my ball to hit the backboard, if not actually make a basket). The kids dispersed to do other things, I almost got hit in the head by one of their basketballs, and then they started World War IV. What happened to World War III, you ask? Legitimate question; I asked the same thing. "We had World War III last year in third grade, Mrs. Blair." Fair enough. World War IV consisted of almost the entire class trying to hit one particular student with a ball. Don't worry, he had a fun time, too.
6. My students presented their history projects today, for which they had to interview a family member and figure out some of their family genealogy and history. It was so interesting, and it was great to see the kiddos so excited about their projects (they were even excited about history, but I didn't dare tell them that!). I really enjoyed hearing their stories, how an ancestor was a horse thief, and another ancestor didn't have records left in England because he was outrunning the English government. Crazy, and so fascinating!
7. We were invited to partake in the food that was left once the football team had gone back to school for their game. Free dinner? And no dishes? We were all over that one! Good food and fellowship made a wonderful end to our day!
Monday, September 24, 2012
...a weasel?
Today was a beautiful fall day! Cool breeze, warm sun, not a cloud in the sky as I looked towards the mountains...my ideal and perfect day.
For one particular student in my class, fall is not so beautiful and perfect. It's an allergy-ridden sneeze fest for him, and the sneezes and coughs were in full force today. Everyone said, "Oh it's beautiful! I love this weather!" except for him. He didn't complain; he's quite the trooper. He just sneezed his face off all day.
My students were packing up before P.E. and they were standing at their lockers. This boy had a coughing fit, and I asked him if he was okay.
One of the other boys piped up and said, "Yeah, he's...coughing up a weasel or something..."
The rest of the class and I collectively paused mid-whatever we were doing, squinted our eyes, and turned to look at this boy. He looked surprised, and maybe a little confused.
For one particular student in my class, fall is not so beautiful and perfect. It's an allergy-ridden sneeze fest for him, and the sneezes and coughs were in full force today. Everyone said, "Oh it's beautiful! I love this weather!" except for him. He didn't complain; he's quite the trooper. He just sneezed his face off all day.
My students were packing up before P.E. and they were standing at their lockers. This boy had a coughing fit, and I asked him if he was okay.
One of the other boys piped up and said, "Yeah, he's...coughing up a weasel or something..."
The rest of the class and I collectively paused mid-whatever we were doing, squinted our eyes, and turned to look at this boy. He looked surprised, and maybe a little confused.
a weasel.
In fact, the class and I looked a lot like this little guy.
Once allergy boy got a grip on his coughing spell and could speak, he pushed up his glasses and said, "I think what he meant to say was that I'm wheezing. Wheezing...not weasel, wheezing..."
There was another pause, and we all cracked up. It was the hardest I had laughed all day! Even the boy who made the weasel comment laughed his head off.
It was a great Monday, and so many funny things happened today, but I can't remember most of them. I tried to keep them in mind, but the weasel comment took the cake today. Hilarious!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Extreme Makeover: Kids in Worship Room, Part 2
I had full intentions of posting this blog last night, but my laptop had different ideas! It has been giving me problems recently, partially because the battery is completely dead and very swollen. If the power cord comes out (which is very easy to do on a MacBook), the laptop turns itself off. Then, my power button stopped working, so I could only restart it by popping out the battery. And then, I couldn't keep the battery in! Once I got it in, my track pad wouldn't left click, only right click...which isn't the most helpful button ever. Jared searched Apple troubleshooting forums and found a guy with the same exact problem I was having, and he said it was due to a swollen battery. We figured that was probably part of it. So we popped the battery out, and she works like a charm now! As long as I keep it plugged in.
I have thousands of pictures on my laptop, and we plan on moving them to Jared's external hard drive soon in case my laptop gives out completely. I decided to go through and delete old pictures that I don't care to keep anymore. I deleted about a thousand of them, probably! Jared and I laughed at old pictures and I found so many ridiculous ones that I had taken and forgotten about. We're talking blackmail quality pictures. So if I've ever had my camera out around you...be careful. ;) Just kidding, just kidding. But really.
Jared and I painted for a few hours yesterday afternoon! The room is almost done :) Jared made a lot of progress on his own the past couple weeks during the work day.
I have thousands of pictures on my laptop, and we plan on moving them to Jared's external hard drive soon in case my laptop gives out completely. I decided to go through and delete old pictures that I don't care to keep anymore. I deleted about a thousand of them, probably! Jared and I laughed at old pictures and I found so many ridiculous ones that I had taken and forgotten about. We're talking blackmail quality pictures. So if I've ever had my camera out around you...be careful. ;) Just kidding, just kidding. But really.
Jared and I painted for a few hours yesterday afternoon! The room is almost done :) Jared made a lot of progress on his own the past couple weeks during the work day.
Completed yellow wall!
Green wall with border left to paint
View from the green wall to the entry side of the room
Notice the entry room on the left side of the picture above? We're painting in there, too!
Getting fancy, adding stripes!
I worked in the entryway room while Jared finished up the green borders and touched up several other places in the room.
The walls inside the room are completely done now! All that's left to do is the tops of the walls in the entryway. My spaghetti arms were getting tired - painting on cement blocks is about the most difficult thing ever! We were also joined by a swarm of mosquitos. We probably have at least 20 bites between us! The spiders were there in their great multitudes yesterday, as well. I painted in the entryway on the ladder with a big one above my head, unknowingly, for quite a while. I was less excited about painting in the entryway once I spotted him. I'm positive he was staring at me the entered time I was on the ladder painting.
We had a couple science lessons on spiders this past week. Poor timing.
After the painting is done, we need to figure out what to do for furniture, curtains, maybe some decorations, and possibly some flooring options. And Jared is in the process of designing a sign/logo for the kids' ministry...so much fun! Be in prayer for the children's ministry at Millers Creek Baptist as we prepare and start using this location, hopefully by the end of the month!
Friday, September 21, 2012
Week in a Nutshell!
Another busy, great week! Jared and I had something to do every night this week, except last night. Weeks like this make me tired! It was a wonderful one, though, and it flew by. Jared's with the RA's (Royal Ambassadors, kind of like boy scouts, for you non-Baptists out there!) for a while this evening. They're having a campout tonight. Its a beautiful day in Wilkesboro, so I'm sure they'll enjoy it! I'm about to go shopping, which is always fun. Shopping in Wilkesboro isn't quite like shopping back in Winston, though...I miss Hanes Mall! :)
My kids were hilarious this week, as always. We learned about spiders on Wednesday during science and the kids (and I, I will admit) were pretty creeped out the whole time. A girl spoke up and said she was glad that they weren't spiders, or else I would be a giant and step on them. I told her she was probably right. Too funny!
In history, we've been talking about people coming to the New World. We discussed today how hard the trip would be from Europe to America on a tiny, dark boat, crammed up against other people. We also talked about how hard it would be to leave family members behind.
A boy went off on a 2 or 3 minute tangent during this particular discussion about how his parents say he's more like an adult than a child (true story) because he likes to watch the news and read the newspaper (I printed off a period table of elements for him earlier this week because he was asking me so many questions about the elements. Yay for curiosity!). He then went on to say when people get married, they expect it "to be perfect! But nothing can be perfect, because no one IS perfect. And you can't just ask for ANYTHING for Christmas because there is such a thing as a BUDGET, people! A BUDGET. You can't just spend money you don't have! And..." so on, so forth. It was hilarious. Kids were fist pumping and hallelujah-ing and amen-ing. These kids make me smile a lot!
Last night, I accomplished "counter-flossing," as Jared called it. He said he's adding it to his "list of things that only Beff can do." I saw a piece of pepper stuck between my teeth when I was making faces in the mirror (everyone does that, right?) so I flossed. Makes sense. I managed to floss the pepper under my gum above my front tooth, so when I smiled, you could see a big ole pepper flake under my gum.
Beautiful. How did I do it? Beats me!
I spent about 10 minutes trying to get it out, and then my wonderful husband performed a feat of dentistry and managed to poke it out. Haha thanks Jared! Who knows. I thought flossing was supposed to be helpful!
I'm so glad that tomorrow is the first official day of fall. I'm loving the weather up here, and the fact that I see mountains several times a day while driving around town! I can't wait until the leaves start changing. On that note, everyone on Facebook has been posting daily about pumpkin spice lattes. Because they encompass all that is fall. Apparently I'm missing out on something...I might be the only person on earth that hasn't been through a Starbucks drive through everyday for one!
And that's the end of my random brain spill. I hope you've all had a great week too! Happy weekend!!
My kids were hilarious this week, as always. We learned about spiders on Wednesday during science and the kids (and I, I will admit) were pretty creeped out the whole time. A girl spoke up and said she was glad that they weren't spiders, or else I would be a giant and step on them. I told her she was probably right. Too funny!
In history, we've been talking about people coming to the New World. We discussed today how hard the trip would be from Europe to America on a tiny, dark boat, crammed up against other people. We also talked about how hard it would be to leave family members behind.
A boy went off on a 2 or 3 minute tangent during this particular discussion about how his parents say he's more like an adult than a child (true story) because he likes to watch the news and read the newspaper (I printed off a period table of elements for him earlier this week because he was asking me so many questions about the elements. Yay for curiosity!). He then went on to say when people get married, they expect it "to be perfect! But nothing can be perfect, because no one IS perfect. And you can't just ask for ANYTHING for Christmas because there is such a thing as a BUDGET, people! A BUDGET. You can't just spend money you don't have! And..." so on, so forth. It was hilarious. Kids were fist pumping and hallelujah-ing and amen-ing. These kids make me smile a lot!
Last night, I accomplished "counter-flossing," as Jared called it. He said he's adding it to his "list of things that only Beff can do." I saw a piece of pepper stuck between my teeth when I was making faces in the mirror (everyone does that, right?) so I flossed. Makes sense. I managed to floss the pepper under my gum above my front tooth, so when I smiled, you could see a big ole pepper flake under my gum.
Beautiful. How did I do it? Beats me!
I spent about 10 minutes trying to get it out, and then my wonderful husband performed a feat of dentistry and managed to poke it out. Haha thanks Jared! Who knows. I thought flossing was supposed to be helpful!
I'm so glad that tomorrow is the first official day of fall. I'm loving the weather up here, and the fact that I see mountains several times a day while driving around town! I can't wait until the leaves start changing. On that note, everyone on Facebook has been posting daily about pumpkin spice lattes. Because they encompass all that is fall. Apparently I'm missing out on something...I might be the only person on earth that hasn't been through a Starbucks drive through everyday for one!
And that's the end of my random brain spill. I hope you've all had a great week too! Happy weekend!!
Friday, September 14, 2012
and BOOM goes the dynamite
Have you ever seen that youtube video? There's a rookie news anchor on some local TV station, and he's stuck doing the sports report. The poor guy is so nervous and, top of that, has no idea what he's doing. He gets so mixed up and stays about two or three plays behind the entire time, regardless of what sport is showing on the screen. It gets to a basketball game, and he's resorted to simply mumbling about the game. A player steals the ball and runs down court with it, scores, and the newscaster has his redeeming moment: "...and BOOM goes the dynamite." Its hilarious...look it up on youtube if you want a good laugh!
Today, my students, the little fourth graders, played the big old fifth graders in an intramural basketball game. A game that the majority of the school ended up coming to watch. My kids were so nervous! They are not an athletic group at all. That's how I relate to them so well...haha...but really.
The kids talked about the game all day, and we even stopped science class a few minutes early so that I could give them a pep talk. The fifth grade students outnumber them, and are really a good four to six inches taller than my kids. I guess there's a magical growth spurt between fourth and fifth grade? Either way, my kids went in with a great attitude. They were playing to have fun, mainly because they understood that it would be really hard for them to win.
The game started, and although they tried their absolute best, their prediction was correct. Fifth grade scored 5 or 6 points easily within the first five-minute half of the game. My students that had been on the court sat down, sweating, and got ready to cheer on the other half of our class that was about to go in.
"Get in their faces...no LITERALLY" was my personal favorite cheer.
The rest of my class ran on the court at the whistle, this portion having an even bigger height difference than the first half of the game did. They hustled and ran and tried their best to block the big kids. And then, it happened.
In a sheer moment of beauty, the shortest (and most athletic) girl in our class ran down the court with the ball. She barreled towards the tallest fifth grade boy, coming eye level with his rib cage, and tossed the ball up in the air with all of her might as he started swinging and waving his arms. Another girl in my class happened to have her hands up in the air at that exact moment, and by the grace of God, the ball landed in her hands. She swung around, hardly having time to take into account where the goal was, and shot the ball.
The crowd fell silent, seeing as how this was only the second or third shot actually made by my students. Time slowed, and...
BOOM goes the dynamite.
It was beautiful. Nothing but net. One goal for Mrs. Blair's class...and about 9 or 10 for fifth grade. My students spent the rest of the afternoon talking about that one shot, though. I was so proud of them!
Its the stuff movies are made of. Just wait for it, coming to a theater near you. :)
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Today, my students, the little fourth graders, played the big old fifth graders in an intramural basketball game. A game that the majority of the school ended up coming to watch. My kids were so nervous! They are not an athletic group at all. That's how I relate to them so well...haha...but really.
The kids talked about the game all day, and we even stopped science class a few minutes early so that I could give them a pep talk. The fifth grade students outnumber them, and are really a good four to six inches taller than my kids. I guess there's a magical growth spurt between fourth and fifth grade? Either way, my kids went in with a great attitude. They were playing to have fun, mainly because they understood that it would be really hard for them to win.
The game started, and although they tried their absolute best, their prediction was correct. Fifth grade scored 5 or 6 points easily within the first five-minute half of the game. My students that had been on the court sat down, sweating, and got ready to cheer on the other half of our class that was about to go in.
"Get in their faces...no LITERALLY" was my personal favorite cheer.
The rest of my class ran on the court at the whistle, this portion having an even bigger height difference than the first half of the game did. They hustled and ran and tried their best to block the big kids. And then, it happened.
In a sheer moment of beauty, the shortest (and most athletic) girl in our class ran down the court with the ball. She barreled towards the tallest fifth grade boy, coming eye level with his rib cage, and tossed the ball up in the air with all of her might as he started swinging and waving his arms. Another girl in my class happened to have her hands up in the air at that exact moment, and by the grace of God, the ball landed in her hands. She swung around, hardly having time to take into account where the goal was, and shot the ball.
The crowd fell silent, seeing as how this was only the second or third shot actually made by my students. Time slowed, and...
BOOM goes the dynamite.
It was beautiful. Nothing but net. One goal for Mrs. Blair's class...and about 9 or 10 for fifth grade. My students spent the rest of the afternoon talking about that one shot, though. I was so proud of them!
Its the stuff movies are made of. Just wait for it, coming to a theater near you. :)
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
And Cue..."Awww"
My students are so sweet. I stayed home yesterday because I wasn't feeling well, and they were excited to see me back this morning. We were getting ready to have our prayer time (they love praying, its such a blessing!) this morning, and a girl said, "my prayers were answered last night!" I told her that was great! And asked how so. She said, "I prayed that Mrs. Blair feels better and that she would be at school tomorrow, and you're here!"
It's amazing seeing fourth grade students that are prayer warriors. In my book, that term is normally reserved for adults, people that have had a long time to establish themselves in their faith. But my kids are different - we start every morning in prayer, and they all jump at the opportunity to pray out loud for their classmates and for our day together.
Dad emailed me today and informed me that his close friend and coworker of several years, Mark Watts, passed away unexpectedly and suddenly last night. He asked for our prayers for his office and the Watts family (you can keep the family in your prayers, too!). I've heard my students pray over and over for the same people everyday - people that they know that are sick or hurting in various ways. I knew that if I shared with them this particular situation, they would do the same for this hurting family.
We were about to say our blessing before lunch, and I told them that my dad's friend had died unexpectedly last night. They were all so sad for the Watts family and for Dad. They promised to pray for the family and all involved. A student asked if Mark was a Christian. I said, "Yes! He was, so we can be glad that he's with Jesus now," and a student proceeded to say our blessing and a special prayer for the Watts. I thanked them and we went on to lunch.
I asked my children to hang on for a second so that I could grab my lunch from the workroom. I walked around the corner to meet up with them, and there were my nine fourth graders, smiling at the ceiling and waving.
"What are you doing, guys?" I asked, laughing.
"Mrs. Blair, we're waving to Mark! He's up there with Jesus now. We're happy for him."
I almost cried right there. Sweet, sweet kids. Please keep the Watts family and the friends of Mark in your prayers!
It's amazing seeing fourth grade students that are prayer warriors. In my book, that term is normally reserved for adults, people that have had a long time to establish themselves in their faith. But my kids are different - we start every morning in prayer, and they all jump at the opportunity to pray out loud for their classmates and for our day together.
Dad emailed me today and informed me that his close friend and coworker of several years, Mark Watts, passed away unexpectedly and suddenly last night. He asked for our prayers for his office and the Watts family (you can keep the family in your prayers, too!). I've heard my students pray over and over for the same people everyday - people that they know that are sick or hurting in various ways. I knew that if I shared with them this particular situation, they would do the same for this hurting family.
We were about to say our blessing before lunch, and I told them that my dad's friend had died unexpectedly last night. They were all so sad for the Watts family and for Dad. They promised to pray for the family and all involved. A student asked if Mark was a Christian. I said, "Yes! He was, so we can be glad that he's with Jesus now," and a student proceeded to say our blessing and a special prayer for the Watts. I thanked them and we went on to lunch.
I asked my children to hang on for a second so that I could grab my lunch from the workroom. I walked around the corner to meet up with them, and there were my nine fourth graders, smiling at the ceiling and waving.
"What are you doing, guys?" I asked, laughing.
"Mrs. Blair, we're waving to Mark! He's up there with Jesus now. We're happy for him."
I almost cried right there. Sweet, sweet kids. Please keep the Watts family and the friends of Mark in your prayers!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A Riddle!
Wow, what a weekend! A busy and incredible weekend. Our children's retreat was absolutely wonderful. We were blessed to spend so much time with the kids; we haven't been able to meet with them very often in the time that we've lived here in Wilkesboro. We were amazed at their knowledge of the Bible. It was an incredible blessing to be with them and hear their thoughts on things...and watch them goof off and play silly games, too, of course!
Sunday night was Jared's ordination service and the blessings just kept coming! It was an amazing service. Jared's dad gave a wonderful charge to him, which was so special, coming from a pastor dad to a pastor son. Our pastor gave a charge to the church, and then the ordained folks in the church were called to pray for both of us and lay hands on us as we sat at the front of the church. Jared got a certificate and that was that! Talk about a powerful night...we couldn't be any happier to be serving here. :)
And now, for a riddle. Jared gave this to me when I came home today, and I was sleepy and perhaps a tad delusional. School days do that to me! Its a tricky one, but it made so much sense once I figured it out (I guess that's the point of a riddle, right?) thanks to the help of my lovely husband. That is, after he got done laughing at my ridiculous and completely wrong guesses. Read it and see if you can guess it more quickly than I did!
"This was written by a boy in California in response to an offer from a gentleman in Philadelphia that he would pay anyone $1,000 who could write a puzzle he could not solve.
He failed to do so, and paid the $1,000. The answer is one word, and it appears only four times in the Bible. It has five letters.
Sunday night was Jared's ordination service and the blessings just kept coming! It was an amazing service. Jared's dad gave a wonderful charge to him, which was so special, coming from a pastor dad to a pastor son. Our pastor gave a charge to the church, and then the ordained folks in the church were called to pray for both of us and lay hands on us as we sat at the front of the church. Jared got a certificate and that was that! Talk about a powerful night...we couldn't be any happier to be serving here. :)
And now, for a riddle. Jared gave this to me when I came home today, and I was sleepy and perhaps a tad delusional. School days do that to me! Its a tricky one, but it made so much sense once I figured it out (I guess that's the point of a riddle, right?) thanks to the help of my lovely husband. That is, after he got done laughing at my ridiculous and completely wrong guesses. Read it and see if you can guess it more quickly than I did!
"This was written by a boy in California in response to an offer from a gentleman in Philadelphia that he would pay anyone $1,000 who could write a puzzle he could not solve.
He failed to do so, and paid the $1,000. The answer is one word, and it appears only four times in the Bible. It has five letters.
Who Am I?
Adam...God made out of dust, but thought it was best to make me first.
So I was made before men to answer God's most Holy plan.
A living being I became and Adam gave to me my name.
I from his presence then withdrew, and more of Adam never knew.
I did my Maker's law obey, not ever went it from astray.
Thousand of miles I go in fear, but seldom on earth appear.
For purpose wise which God did see, He put a living soul in me.
A soul from me God did claim, and took from me the soul again.
So when from me the should had fled, I was the same as when first made.
And without hands, or feet, or soul, I travel from Pole to Pole.
I labor hard by day, by night, to fallen man I gave great light.
Thousand of people young and old, will by my death great light behold.
No right or wrong can I conceive. "The Scripture I Cannot Believe."
Although my name therein is found, they are to me an empty sound.
No fear of death doth trouble me, real happiness I'll never see.
To Heaven I shall never go or to Hell below.
Now when these lines you slowly read, go search your Bible with all speed.
For that my name is written there, I do honestly to you declare."
I want to know your guesses! I'm thinking you're probably going to get it more quickly than I did :) Hint: If you are going to consult a Bible, go more the King James route than a more current translation. Post your guesses and I'll let you know the right answer tomorrow! Good luck!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
A Forklift for Mrs. Blair
We went outside for recess today in between rain storms, and my students were worried for the sake of my khaki pants. The playground equipment was wet from the rain that had just ended, and I usually sit on part of the playground and watch them as they play. One of the girls said, "Mrs. Blair, you should have brought out a chair with you!" I said yeah, I probably should have.
Then one of the girls said, "No wait! You could just sit in that!" And she pointed to one of these on our playground:
Then one of the girls said, "No wait! You could just sit in that!" And she pointed to one of these on our playground:
What is that, exactly? Anyways!
I laughed and said, "Okay yeah! I'll just climb on up there."
And the few girls around me giggled and said, "We can just pick you up and toss you up there!"
And then another girl spoke up. "No, to get Mrs. Blair up there, we'd need one of those...forklift...things."
Nothing like fourth graders to raise your self-esteem! :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Extreme Makeover: Kids In Worship Room, Part 1
Today, Jared and I got started on our next big project! Our house is, for the most part anyways, unpacked and settled, so we are moving on to our big project at the church.
This is a room that is underneath the gym at MCBC. At the moment, it is all white. And cobweb-y and spider-y. However, it is going. to. be. awesome!
Jared and I were given permission to paint/decorate this room in any way that we wanted. It is our room that we'll use on Sunday nights for Kids in Worship, and it isn't used for anything other than our ministry. Jared did a bit of research and reading about kid's ministry rooms, and we picked out three colors (and chalkboard paint!!) to use in the room.
We took a trip to Lowe's Hardware this afternoon. They had a few choices. Yikes.
We settled on the three colors that are circled! Each wall will get one color. It'll be bright and colorful and awesome. We have a plan in the works to involve the kids in decorating the room, too, once we have the big-time painting done.
And about that chalkboard paint...
There's this random post in the middle of the longest wall. Instead of keeping it all one color, we went ahead and put chalkboard paint on it today! We thought it would be fun for the kids to have a small place to write on/decorate.
Then we realized we had plenty of chalkboard paint left, so we went ahead and painted around the door, too! I got close to nature today as I held hands with spiders and ran my head into cobwebs. Joyous occasion.
Pastor Jared examining our handiwork! :)
We were surprised at how easy it was to paint with the chalkboard paint. I guess I was expecting it to be more difficult, but it covered the wall really well and we got it knocked out pretty quickly!
We can't wait to get the room finished. Having a consistent place to meet with the kids will be wonderful, and we're hoping that it'll be a comfortable and fun place for them to hang out!
And this has nothing to do at all with the room, but I saw it when we were at Lowe's. "How the most watched couple in the world are getting it right."
Sound strange to anyone else? Come on, People magazine! :)
Monday, September 3, 2012
Football and Fruit
Yay for Labor Day Weekend! I hope everyone has enjoyed a long, relaxing weekend. And let's be excited...fall is coming quickly!
On Saturday, Jared and I made the long haul (except not at all long, luckily!) to Winston-Salem! We visited each parents' house, picked up some more of our belongings, and then all of us went to the Liberty vs. Wake Forest football game. Normally I would pull for Wake at a Wake game, but as a pastor's wife, I'm called to root for LU. :) We sat in our navy blue and red Liberty t-shirts in a midst of black and gold. Sadly, Liberty lost, but definitely held their own against Wake and only lost by 3 points! For the sake of Wake's fans, I hope that they play better the rest of the season than they did against LU. We can blame it on the rain, I suppose ;)
I love football games, mainly because I love football. I also love being around family while watching football, and people watching at games always promises to be entertaining. However, people watching only depressed me at the game on Saturday. A young married couple sat in front of us with their friends, most of which were probably a few years older than us. We deduced that they were Wake alum, with the exception of the wife in the couple in front of me. She was so excited to be at the game, and she was about one of the nicest people that I've ever briefly met. We talked for a short time at the beginning of the game (because I hit her with my rain poncho - oops) and she was very sweet.
As the game began, the wife cheered and yelled for Wake, and then cheered just as loudly for Liberty. She wasn't necessarily a fan of either, so I guess she figured she could pull for both teams equally. Her husband quickly turned to her, and with a very sharp tongue and colorful language, told her she couldn't cheer for Liberty. She was there to cheer for Wake.
Not long in to the first quarter, a Liberty player was knocked out cold on the field. I didn't see him get hit, but he didn't move a muscle as the pile of players slowly got off of him. The husband cheered and yelled and clapped as he watched the motionless player. She asked him to stop, and he said, "What? I don't care if he gets hurt!" The player eventually was helped off the field, and everyone in the stands clapped and cheered, WFU and LU fans alike...except for the guy in front of me.
As the game progressed and the guy shut down his wife, cussing, over and over and over again, her mood and body language quickly changed. She went from being peppy and clapping, to pulling her knees up, resting her chin on them, and hardly saying a word at all.
My impression of him was obviously not a very high one. I felt terrible for his wife, and wondered how anybody could ever be so rude to a young woman that seemed to be so nice. I was sad for both of them, and almost mad at a complete stranger.
Sunday morning in church, the pastor spoke out of John 15, the vine and the branches passage. I listened as he talked about producing fruit, and Jesus' call to the disciples to produce fruit. My mind immediately went to the Wake fan in front of me the night before. "What a lack of fruit," I thought. He was so openly and downright mean, there was no way he could produce fruit if he didn't change his attitude, I thought.
My thought process started changing, however. I consider myself a nice person. I started thinking about how many "nice" people there are in our world today. Nice people. The kind of people whose hearts get blessed on a regular basis. People that don't have a mean bone in their body and would never hurt a soul...but could it be possible that they are lacking fruit, too?
I was challenged by the sermon yesterday morning. I examined my own life, wondering what kind of fruit I was producing. Verse 13 of this passage says, "greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." Jesus ultimately laid his life down for us at the end, but he laid his life down daily for his disciples and for the multitudes that he served. That is what true fruit looks like. How willing am I to do that, and how many friends do I have/know that would do that for me?
While you and I may not cuss and cheer when we see people unconscious on a football field, simply being nice to others is not what Jesus meant when he told us to bear fruit. Being nice is too easy. Stepping aside and getting yourself out of the way so that God can shine through...less easy! I am challenging myself to find ways to bear fruit, and I encourage you to do the same.
To live like Christ, we have to love like Christ. Think about how different our world would be if people stopped trying to simply be nice, and started truly living more like Christ lived. Pretty amazing, don't you think?
On Saturday, Jared and I made the long haul (except not at all long, luckily!) to Winston-Salem! We visited each parents' house, picked up some more of our belongings, and then all of us went to the Liberty vs. Wake Forest football game. Normally I would pull for Wake at a Wake game, but as a pastor's wife, I'm called to root for LU. :) We sat in our navy blue and red Liberty t-shirts in a midst of black and gold. Sadly, Liberty lost, but definitely held their own against Wake and only lost by 3 points! For the sake of Wake's fans, I hope that they play better the rest of the season than they did against LU. We can blame it on the rain, I suppose ;)
I love football games, mainly because I love football. I also love being around family while watching football, and people watching at games always promises to be entertaining. However, people watching only depressed me at the game on Saturday. A young married couple sat in front of us with their friends, most of which were probably a few years older than us. We deduced that they were Wake alum, with the exception of the wife in the couple in front of me. She was so excited to be at the game, and she was about one of the nicest people that I've ever briefly met. We talked for a short time at the beginning of the game (because I hit her with my rain poncho - oops) and she was very sweet.
As the game began, the wife cheered and yelled for Wake, and then cheered just as loudly for Liberty. She wasn't necessarily a fan of either, so I guess she figured she could pull for both teams equally. Her husband quickly turned to her, and with a very sharp tongue and colorful language, told her she couldn't cheer for Liberty. She was there to cheer for Wake.
Not long in to the first quarter, a Liberty player was knocked out cold on the field. I didn't see him get hit, but he didn't move a muscle as the pile of players slowly got off of him. The husband cheered and yelled and clapped as he watched the motionless player. She asked him to stop, and he said, "What? I don't care if he gets hurt!" The player eventually was helped off the field, and everyone in the stands clapped and cheered, WFU and LU fans alike...except for the guy in front of me.
As the game progressed and the guy shut down his wife, cussing, over and over and over again, her mood and body language quickly changed. She went from being peppy and clapping, to pulling her knees up, resting her chin on them, and hardly saying a word at all.
My impression of him was obviously not a very high one. I felt terrible for his wife, and wondered how anybody could ever be so rude to a young woman that seemed to be so nice. I was sad for both of them, and almost mad at a complete stranger.
Sunday morning in church, the pastor spoke out of John 15, the vine and the branches passage. I listened as he talked about producing fruit, and Jesus' call to the disciples to produce fruit. My mind immediately went to the Wake fan in front of me the night before. "What a lack of fruit," I thought. He was so openly and downright mean, there was no way he could produce fruit if he didn't change his attitude, I thought.
My thought process started changing, however. I consider myself a nice person. I started thinking about how many "nice" people there are in our world today. Nice people. The kind of people whose hearts get blessed on a regular basis. People that don't have a mean bone in their body and would never hurt a soul...but could it be possible that they are lacking fruit, too?
I was challenged by the sermon yesterday morning. I examined my own life, wondering what kind of fruit I was producing. Verse 13 of this passage says, "greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." Jesus ultimately laid his life down for us at the end, but he laid his life down daily for his disciples and for the multitudes that he served. That is what true fruit looks like. How willing am I to do that, and how many friends do I have/know that would do that for me?
While you and I may not cuss and cheer when we see people unconscious on a football field, simply being nice to others is not what Jesus meant when he told us to bear fruit. Being nice is too easy. Stepping aside and getting yourself out of the way so that God can shine through...less easy! I am challenging myself to find ways to bear fruit, and I encourage you to do the same.
To live like Christ, we have to love like Christ. Think about how different our world would be if people stopped trying to simply be nice, and started truly living more like Christ lived. Pretty amazing, don't you think?
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Things That Make Me Laugh
Busy, busy week this week! Its what Jared and I have decided will be our typical busy-ness and I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. We've done church things, school things, parties (eating cupcakes with giggly children...just terrible), we've visited sweet old church members, and spent half of our life savings (slight exaggeration) going grocery shopping yesterday. Going shopping without the benefit of gift cards from wedding celebrations is a revolting development, but I'm also learning the art of coupon clipping!
As can be expected, a week this busy is a week full of funny things happening. If you are in need of a pick-me-up, you've come to the right place.
Spirit Week
This week was spirit week at MCCS to support our girl's volleyball team! They smashed their opponent last Friday night and were excited to celebrate this week. Monday was pajama day. Kids are always sleepy on pajama day. Tuesday was nerd day, and at least a third of the school's population had their pants under their armpits. Pigtails and taped glasses dotted the campus and everyone talked like Steve Urkel. Yesterday was crazy hat and sock day! It was also picture day, so the kids were bursting at the seams to put on their hats once we had our pictures taken. And today was crazy hair day.
Crazy Hair Day
When you're a teacher, you do things like plan to run errands after school. Like going to the license plate agency, for instance. And then you do things like sleep in curlers and wake up with a legit afro and wear poofy poodle-ear pigtails to school. Sometime around 10:00, you realize you in fact can't go to the license plate agency because you have growths coming out of your head and ribbons tied around said growths.
I'm not speaking from experience, or anything...
But really. I'm talking Bozo the Clown, hair sticking out inches from the side of my head kind of afro. At first I laughed, but then I was just really terrified to look at myself, so I settled for poofy pigtails instead.
The smart board man came to work on my smart board today and spent a solid two or three hours with us. Not looking like Bozo the Clown was a smart choice.
Picture Day
Picture day was Wednesday, and that was also the day that I woke up at 7:04 instead of 6:00 as I normally do. Falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow Tuesday night, I forgot to set my alarm clock. I bolted out of bed Wednesday morning and got ready as quickly as I could, praising God that we live 5 minutes away from school! I made it to school at 7:29. 7:30 is the start time for teachers. How could I not laugh about that?
On the other hand, I'm concerned about how my school picture might turn out...
Explorers
Yesterday and today, my students wrote creative papers on an exploration mission they were sent on. Most of them wrote that they were sent to an uncharted island by the President, that they took their friends as their team, and that they found jewels and unicorns (a seeming theme for our class this year) and huge elephants. All of the stories made me laugh quite a bit. I got to the final story, written by a boy that spent about twice as long writing as the other students did.
He chose to take Paula Deen along as part of his crew. I wrote, "good choice!" and continued reading. He went on to talk about how they went into an underground temple in Belize and found Buddha remains. He was the second one to go in to a hidden passageway.
"When we got the end we found the treasure. I quickly switched it with Paula Deen's cake. Then Indians started shooting poison darts at us. I rolled Paula Deen at them. STRIKE!"
I laughed out loud at my desk over that one. Hilarious.
As can be expected, a week this busy is a week full of funny things happening. If you are in need of a pick-me-up, you've come to the right place.
Spirit Week
This week was spirit week at MCCS to support our girl's volleyball team! They smashed their opponent last Friday night and were excited to celebrate this week. Monday was pajama day. Kids are always sleepy on pajama day. Tuesday was nerd day, and at least a third of the school's population had their pants under their armpits. Pigtails and taped glasses dotted the campus and everyone talked like Steve Urkel. Yesterday was crazy hat and sock day! It was also picture day, so the kids were bursting at the seams to put on their hats once we had our pictures taken. And today was crazy hair day.
Crazy Hair Day
When you're a teacher, you do things like plan to run errands after school. Like going to the license plate agency, for instance. And then you do things like sleep in curlers and wake up with a legit afro and wear poofy poodle-ear pigtails to school. Sometime around 10:00, you realize you in fact can't go to the license plate agency because you have growths coming out of your head and ribbons tied around said growths.
I'm not speaking from experience, or anything...
But really. I'm talking Bozo the Clown, hair sticking out inches from the side of my head kind of afro. At first I laughed, but then I was just really terrified to look at myself, so I settled for poofy pigtails instead.
The smart board man came to work on my smart board today and spent a solid two or three hours with us. Not looking like Bozo the Clown was a smart choice.
Picture Day
Picture day was Wednesday, and that was also the day that I woke up at 7:04 instead of 6:00 as I normally do. Falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow Tuesday night, I forgot to set my alarm clock. I bolted out of bed Wednesday morning and got ready as quickly as I could, praising God that we live 5 minutes away from school! I made it to school at 7:29. 7:30 is the start time for teachers. How could I not laugh about that?
On the other hand, I'm concerned about how my school picture might turn out...
Explorers
Yesterday and today, my students wrote creative papers on an exploration mission they were sent on. Most of them wrote that they were sent to an uncharted island by the President, that they took their friends as their team, and that they found jewels and unicorns (a seeming theme for our class this year) and huge elephants. All of the stories made me laugh quite a bit. I got to the final story, written by a boy that spent about twice as long writing as the other students did.
He chose to take Paula Deen along as part of his crew. I wrote, "good choice!" and continued reading. He went on to talk about how they went into an underground temple in Belize and found Buddha remains. He was the second one to go in to a hidden passageway.
"When we got the end we found the treasure. I quickly switched it with Paula Deen's cake. Then Indians started shooting poison darts at us. I rolled Paula Deen at them. STRIKE!"
I laughed out loud at my desk over that one. Hilarious.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Politics & My Classroom
My nine students and I were gathered around my small blue table yesterday, studying the lines of latitude and longitude that run through the state of North Carolina in our big atlas. We found Wilkesboro, talked about where Millers Creek is located, and then conversation naturally went to..."Oh Charlotte! My grandma lives in Charlotte!" and the likes of that. We had a few minutes to spare, so we spent some time exploring our state in the atlas.
In about 2.5 seconds, we went from talking about Raleigh and the beach to talking about politics. How? I'm not altogether sure, but I figured a discussion about the upcoming election had plenty to do with Social Studies, so I ran with it. If you need your mood lifted, talk to a nine-year old about politics...it was pretty hilarious!
These are some of the comments that were made:
"If I was old enough to vote, I wouldn't. All those two men do are pick on each other and say what the other is doing wrong!"
"That's politics for you!"
(I said, "amen.")
This started a chorus of children talking in their best deep, grown man voices: "I'm Mitt Romney, and I approve this message."
"I'm Barack Obama! And I approve this message."
"I know a lot of people that aren't voting because they don't like either man. I wouldn't either!"
*I took this opportunity to discuss how it is our responsibility as citizens of America to voice our opinions and beliefs through voting, so no worries!
"My grandmother said we don't have unicorns anymore because God let them play outside of the ark for a while. Then they missed the ark door closing, so they didn't get to go with Noah. Is that really what happened, Mrs. Blair?"
Unrelated, but we discussed that for a short while, too.
I can't make this stuff up!
"Presidents make promises that no one could ever keep!"
Followed by another, "that's politics for you!"
At this point, I was dying laughing on the inside!
"George Washington is THE BEST PRESIDENT this country has ever had!"
"Nuh-uh, Abraham Lincoln was!"
"What this country REALLY needs is another Ronald Reagan."
(I amen-ed again.)
It was the most hilarious 10 minutes that we've had this week. I loved that my students started this discussion on their own, without me hardly saying a word. And I love that they share the truths that so many adults think, but are afraid to say! I hope these comments made you laugh as much as they made me laugh. Love those kids!
On the same note, here are some pictures of my classroom! Enjoy :)
In about 2.5 seconds, we went from talking about Raleigh and the beach to talking about politics. How? I'm not altogether sure, but I figured a discussion about the upcoming election had plenty to do with Social Studies, so I ran with it. If you need your mood lifted, talk to a nine-year old about politics...it was pretty hilarious!
These are some of the comments that were made:
"If I was old enough to vote, I wouldn't. All those two men do are pick on each other and say what the other is doing wrong!"
"That's politics for you!"
(I said, "amen.")
This started a chorus of children talking in their best deep, grown man voices: "I'm Mitt Romney, and I approve this message."
"I'm Barack Obama! And I approve this message."
"I know a lot of people that aren't voting because they don't like either man. I wouldn't either!"
*I took this opportunity to discuss how it is our responsibility as citizens of America to voice our opinions and beliefs through voting, so no worries!
"My grandmother said we don't have unicorns anymore because God let them play outside of the ark for a while. Then they missed the ark door closing, so they didn't get to go with Noah. Is that really what happened, Mrs. Blair?"
Unrelated, but we discussed that for a short while, too.
I can't make this stuff up!
"Presidents make promises that no one could ever keep!"
Followed by another, "that's politics for you!"
At this point, I was dying laughing on the inside!
"George Washington is THE BEST PRESIDENT this country has ever had!"
"Nuh-uh, Abraham Lincoln was!"
"What this country REALLY needs is another Ronald Reagan."
(I amen-ed again.)
It was the most hilarious 10 minutes that we've had this week. I loved that my students started this discussion on their own, without me hardly saying a word. And I love that they share the truths that so many adults think, but are afraid to say! I hope these comments made you laugh as much as they made me laugh. Love those kids!
On the same note, here are some pictures of my classroom! Enjoy :)
My desk area during our teacher workdays! If only it could stay that neat when school is actually in session :)
our behavior chart!
and classroom rules
My kids have lockers in our classroom! That was the most exciting part of moving to fourth grade for most of them.
A list of our daily subjects and a preview of the week's topics!
(Also, I have so much storage! There are three sets cupboards to the left of this cabinet that the Sunday School teacher and I share. Its so wonderful!)
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Delectable.
Jared and I got an awesome Pampered Chef brownie pan from his parents for one of our wedding gifts! I broke it in yesterday and made us some Reese's Cup Cookie Brownies that were pretty awesome. This is a picture of the brownie pan from Pampered Chef's website.
I love it because of the individual wells in it! And, in typical PC style, there is a flipper/spatula that fits perfectly inside of the wells. Naturally. Very handy!
First, you squish chocolate chip cookie dough in to each individual well. I used the Nestle stuff, and two of the cookie dough squares filled the opening perfectly!
Then, you place an upside-down Reese's cup onto each cookie dough square.
Mix together some brownie mix...
And scoop some brownie mix on to each cookie dough Reese's cup square! Then bake at 350 until the brownies are finished. Super easy!
The finished product! Chocolatey, peanut buttery, gooey goodness. Yum. I ate one and felt like my teeth were going to fall out. Sweet, but tasty!
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