What a day!

I wanted to share the peonies opening up with this week with a little rain and sunshine. This were some of the last pictures before my camera lens got stuck so I'll be without a camera for a while (which is really hard for me).

Enough of me being remorseful over the loss of my camera for now. Today I was able to enjoy a wonderful day with friends in D.C. We went all over the place. We went to the Smithsonian museum of American History and Natural History. I've been going to D.C. at least two times a year for about 3 years now and I'd never been to either one of them before. The museum of Natural History was my favorite museum by far. Its exhibit on rocks and minerals was absolutely delightful. I found a new favorite type of rock that I'd never known by name before. It's called Labradorite and it reminds me of the beautiful butterfly the Morpho Butterfly.

The other thing that was really fun on our trip was that even though I didn't have a digital camera with me I had two disposable cameras and let my friends take pictures of whatever they wanted. It was a blast. I am looking forward to seeing how they turned out after they're developed.

I love film!

Everyday Miracles

One of my favorite flowers in my garden are the Peonies. These are so beautiful when they bloom and they smell wonderful but my favorite part is their growing process. They start out as these little purple shoots that grow so fast you can almost watch them growing. In about two weeks time they send up these balls awaiting blooms like in the picture above. They are beautiful as well but the most amazing thing is that these plants are unable to actually open up and bloom without help. They would die if they didn't have the help of one of God's smallest creatures. Ants are the heroes here. They climb up to the top of these flowers and eat a waxy film covering the buds. They feast on it for a couple days and once it's all gone the flower is finally capable of releasing all of it's beauty to the rest of the world.

There are a million lessons we can learn from the simplicity of this fact of nature, but the one I am taking to heart today is the fact that we are not independent planets that are completely self-sufficient. We are only able to release all of the beauty inside of us with the help of others (and no I'm not talking about beauticians and cosmetic beauty). If we didn't have people to teach us what it means to be good and help others we could be very ugly creatures indeed. Most importantly if we didn't have anyone to love or love us back there would be no beauty in the world at all (at least that's what I think).

Season of growing

Joy showing me how to dig up the dirt. She's a total pro by the way and an awesome helper.

This year is the year of the garden for me. I have been dreaming of having a big bountiful garden for years now without having the time or the space to be able to fulfill it. Not like the container garden at my first apartment or the tomato garden at my parents. No, something much bigger. While I don't know how bountiful my garden will be I do know that it will be bigger than any garden I've ever done before and have more varied plants. I also know that there will be potatoes (big and little), onions, blueberries, tomatoes (3 varieties), zucchini, yellow squash, acorn squash, blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries, brusslesprouts, swiss chard, carrots, peas, beans, pumpkins, corn, and cucumbers. That's the plan anyway.

I just finished clearing out the main garden plot this weekend and have already gotten started with planting and starting seeds. I thought I was going start out small and work my way up to a larger garden but my wonderful sister gave me a gift card to buy seeds and a friend of mine gave me some young shoots from their raspberry bushes. I've been truly blessed with what everyone has given me to get this started. I'm praying for a few more things but more on that once I get them.

Some seeds started and waiting to grow a little bigger before putting in the ground.

One of my beautiful potato plants.

Blueberry blooms.

My onion row.

A full view of the first bed (yes there is a second one in the works behind my house, and yes I know that I am crazy). The fence is to keep the groundhogs, skunks, and rabbits at bay.

Here is to not having to go to the grocery store to make a meal, and enjoying the fruits of your labor!

What are my goals?

As I said in my last post (along with a lot of other strange and random things), I have finally taken the time to think out and write down my goals for this year (I know only four months late but that doesn't matter). Here they are:

* Be more disciplined with- reading my Bible
- studying
- praying
- cleaning
- eating well
- exercising

* Build stronger relationships

* Get my garden up and running and eat or give away everything in it (Another post on that later)

* Pay off credit cards (I used them for school my last semester at Shippensburg to pay the difference and I'm still paying, ridiculous I know)

* No fast food (I've been getting into the habit of not packing a lunch and heading over to the local restaurants too frequently)

* Start a girl's Bible study that gets together at least once a month

* Have at least 3 big tea parties

* Paint more often

* Finish my degree (which should be done by the end of the Summer!)

I can't even begin to tell you how good it is to have them written down and concrete. They are things that I've known I wanted to do and have been working on but having them there for me to see makes me focus more on accomplishing them. Some of them I know I'll do and some will take a lifetime for me to accomplish but with God's help anything is possible.

I think I can handle this thing called life

Warning you might not 'get' this post if you don't have sisters:




Do you ever have quotable moments? I do with my sister on a weekly basis. I wish I could remember all of the laughs that we have. Well today one of those was the title of this post. I completely agree with her by the way.

I've been floundering with trying to figure out my goals for this year and I've finally taken the paper and pen and written them down. They are definitely going to stretch me this year but "I think I can handle this thing called life," at least I know I can with the help of the One who made me.

Some more fun sayings:
At least I have a sword.
And then they died.
Satan's here he said you're doing a good job.

New ones just in:
I'm getting a dvd that looks like this (with hands held up in the shape of a circle).
You should see the bruise on my butt! (reply: you should check out mine!).

And it all begins with one step

So if you're reading this that means you probably know me personally and know that I have been a Christian for a long time. For as long as I can remember actually (I can even remember making sure I was a Christian by asking God into my heart as a young child at least once a night just to be sure). Well I just have to share how amazing it is when God is teaching me something new and I suddenly realize it. Lately, I have been in a terrible funk. Stuck in fact! I couldn't get past certain thoughts and ideas about who I was and who I was expected to be by everyone but God himself. Do you ever get bogged down by other peoples expectations (or the worlds expectations)?

Well, I get together with friends to study the Bible once a week and we just finished the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy). We were trying to figure out what to read next and I didn't know really what I would be interested in reading but someone suggested 1 & 2 Peter and I am so glad that they did. I wasn't overly excited about it at first but I knew that I wanted to have a more fulfilling and interesting Bible study experience, so I 'decided' to be passionate about 1 & 2 Peter. I read through it and had some disjointed excitement over various things but as I began to take notes and look for the "big picture" of the book I began to be encouraged. I volunteered to help lead because one of the guys would be gone the next week and nobody else volunteered.

My Grandparents were gracious enough to let me borrow their commentary on 1 & 2 Peter (The Letter of James and Peter by William Barclay), and after reading it I feel like I am finally released from the weight that was holding me down. One verse in particular that I read jumped out at me, 1 Peter 1:13, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." When reading it first I thought that it meant we need to not only look to the future of our joy in Christ but prepare ourselves now and put our hope in the grace that Christ gave to us. In the commentary though there was a section that I couldn't get enough of and want to share:

"Here, then, Peter is telling his people that they must be ready for the most strenuous mental endeavor. They must never be content with an easy and superficial acceptance of the faith. They must think it out. It may be that they will have to discard some things. It may be that they will make mistakes. But that with which they are left will be theirs in such a way that nothing and nobody can ever take it away from them."

So many things in what I've been reading and hearing lately have prepared my heart for what I was reading there. I had just read prior to this "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.... no the very word is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." Deuteronomy 30:11-14. Not that I've ever been a very sinful person (sin is sin though), in fact most people think I'm almost a saint (if only they knew), but I do struggle with my thoughts and how they affect my relationships with others. This was another encouragement to be more right-related with others and closer to God. It's easy to be discouraged and feel like you can never understand but God is guiding us to understand Him better all of our lives, if we only open our eyes and ears to his word/guidance.

And further in the book of 1 Peter 2:1-3 it tells us to "rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." This may be a strange analogy to you or not (probably not considering how musical all of my family is, except for me), but I've been attempting to learn the guitar lately. I started a few months ago and got discouraged because I didn't understand it and my fingers didn't want to do what I wanted them to do. Well I tried again the other night and all I can say that it was like learning to walk again. Trying to get my fingers accustomed to the movement and not push down on certain strings but do on others was extremely difficult. But, I knew that if I continued to practice and aquaint myself with the movements then before long they would become second nature to me. This verse speaks to me in that way. We are to be like newborn babies, who don't know how to do much of anything and need to learn how to do everything. It's not easy to learn how to walk or talk or play guitar. In fact it can be painful to use muscles in a way you've never used them before, but the more that you do it the easier it becomes.

I've known areas of my Christian walk where I've been lacking and have been unsure of where start improving upon them. Now I'm excited and encouraged to do it one step at time. Cliche as that may sound it's been a huge encouragement to me lately and hopefully has encouraged you in some way as well.

Inspiration

I have been taking all sorts of trainings for work and learning how to be a better teacher and I have to say that it is exhilerating. You get so filled with new ideas and better understandings of how to help your children learn that it can be almost overhwleming. Today I spent eight hours with my lovely co-workers and a woman named Sue. She is so passionate about teaching and her passion just sort of spills over onto others. Just watching and listening to her made me wonder what I am passionate about. People like her inspire me so much and make me want to be a person who is contagious in the best possible way (I've had enough of the other kind of contagious going on at work lately).

What inspires you?

I am always looking for new ideas to work with my kids and I have to share this site that I absolutely loved, Imagine Childhood (found via The Crafty Crow and Soulemama). My favorite part of this blog are the amazing books to choose from. I am probably addicted to books. Yup, I'm definitely a life. If anyone tried to get me unhooked I'd probably kill myself but I don't think that will be a problem (can't believe I just went there on here, btw total joke in case you're sarcasm radar is broke).

So if you have any favorite books from when you were a kid I would love to hear what they are.

My kiddos singing

my kiddos singing
Originally uploaded by noel_harmony

Here's another video from Christmas of my Pre-k students singing a beloved Christmas song to the people at our local Nursing Home. Enjoy!

Better late than never

For the past few years my family has been asked to go to a small church in West Virginia and play Christmas music. I don't exaclty know the name of the church but we've always called it the church in the Woods. It is always a wonderful time of music and family and I just wanted to share a few videos of some of my families music. Make sure that you hit pause on the music at the bottom of this page if you want to listen to these videos.

Inspiration!

As a teacher of 3-4yr olds, I have to say that sometimes it's hard to find projects that are both good for the child's development as well as interesting. I am really thanksful to be able to just get on-line and find so many great ideas. A few of the websites that I frequent for children's activities (you have to take the good with the bad in all of them) are:

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
http://loobylu.com/
http://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/

Check them out if you have kids and need something fun to do with them!

Am I Still Here?

I just read an article that put my mind to thinking (a lot). I love it when an article can do that and I just wanted to share it with whoever may be reading this (you). It's called Am I Still Here? by, Anthony Doerr. Give yourself some time to read it as it's somewhat long.

Time with my favorite little one and a clean room!

Another one bites the dust!

Well another year has past and a new one awaits us with new sunrises and new days to bring us new opportunities for change in the best kind of way. This winter I've felt the change of a new year more than any other time. I've felt it in the change of seasons with the trees shedding the old dead leaves and taking the time to rest before creating new blooms, leaves, and fruit in the coming seasons. There is this time to be retrospective and look at the years joys, accomplishments, and struggles. Then the desire to see the coming year be a better one. May your new year be a fruitful and joy filled year.

New York

This is just a picture post because I haven't time to write much but the pictures are stories in and of themselves. Use your imagination and if you want to see more from my trip to New York then check out my Flickr.

Pops....

While this picture was not taken today it's one that I wanted to share earlier but didn't. On Christmas Day my dad asked me to help him out for a minute with something. I'm not always the most willing person to leave family time (my mom's family was over and we were getting ready to play games). I went though and helped him work on a broken pipe for one of our tenants. It had frozen and broke a couple of days before and the weather had been too cold to get to it properly so the first good opportunity had been after Christmas dinner.

Whenever Dad asks me to help him out with something I will more than likely be standing around watching him doing whatever needs to be done for most of the time and feeling as if I'm not being of much assistance. Growing up this was extremely frustrating and tried my patience a lot, but I've gotta say that it's taught me a lot too. Sometimes people just need you to be there to be an encouragement to them, and other times they need you to be able to help them figure something out with fresh eyes. Although I don't feel like a very patient person sometimes, I've had people tell me before that they're amazed at how patient I can be (mostly my students parents when they see me in the classroom with twenty 4yr. olds). I have my Dad to thank for that. Not to mention a God who helps me be patient even when I don't want to be. If I couldn't give Him my frustrations and troubles I'd be the most impatient, irritated person you could meet.

in the light!

So I got to have lunch today with two of the coolest girls I am blessed to know. We went to Panera Bread and hung out for like 2hrs. catching up. It is a really good time to be able to hang out with people that you really like and just talk about anything. I didn't do too much of the talking either, which is kind of nice. This picture is fun because Karla looks like she's thinking "whoa did you know you had a light coming out of your head?"

the fun...............

Two of my favorite people in the world just chillin' until dinner is ready!

My daddy fixing one of our renters water pipe.

The Wilson girls Christmas photo op.

The robo-boogie!

Grandpa's word game.

Going for a joy ride!

Merry Christmas!

You've gotta love the looks that she gives.

So yea, Christmas has been really low key this year but wonderful all the same. My favorite part so far is being able to spend so much time with my family and listening to them play such beautiful music. We've had two family concerts and today when they all come over we're going to be playing and singing together again (more pics of that later).

I have to share that I'm really excited about getting a new camera this year! I can't wait to take a million pictures with it. This coming year I want to try and take a picture a day and post it on here as a kind of journal of what I see, do and appreciate throughout the year.

So here's the first picture. It's showing the remnants of the last bonfire we had this fall (the wind knocked all of the chairs over that way).

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Grateful Day!

I am truly finding it hard to believe that Thanksgiving is so close at hand. I remember the things I told my self I was going to do last year and am saddened to know that I haven't fulfilled them all. This past year has been more thoughtful with regard to things that I am grateful for and people too. It is so easy to just live life taking everything and everyone for granted, but this past year I have tried to notice more what people do and say that I am grateful for. Here are a few things that I am thankful for:

- people willing to drive for me when I don't want to
- the willingness of others to listen
- the thoughtfulness of others to check up on me even when I don't want to be bothered
- people who believe in something enough to share it with me (regardless of whether or not I agree)
- knowing that you have people who will take care of you if you're in trouble
- being able to talk to people about your worries and fears and let them go
- a God who never tires of me
- friends and family always willing to reconnect
- understanding and acceptance of my strangeness
- crisp autumn air
- the worlds abundance of curiosities
- kids who are so excited and full of love everytime I walk in the door at work
- trials that bring me closer to the one who made me (not always on this one, but I'm trying)

These are just a few of the things I wish I had written down every day to remember what I'm grateful for over the past year. I wonder what I will be able to be thankful for next year.

What are you thankful for?

Fall

Fall is here and it is absolutely beautiful. I love being able to walk around my yard and see all of its markings. There is just too much to take in at this time of year I think I'm going to miss some of it. Now is the season for bonfires and snuggling up with blankets and a crochet or knitting project. It's also the time that I feel more inspired to create so hopefully you'll start to see pictures of things that I'm working on (now watch the desire to make leave me and you'll see nothing all winter long).

Do you ever wish for things in life? I'm trying to stop wishing things so much and living them instead. Lord help me to live for You!