Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day from my second grade class!

Each May we work on Mother's Day crafts- but we can't leave out all the Dads! So I found a poem called, "Walk a Little Slower Daddy" and each student picks a color paper and glues the poem. Then, they take turns sitting down while I paint the bottoms of their feet. Some students giggle others say how "cool" it feels - all of them enjoy soaking their feel in the tub when they are done. It is one of my favorite things to do at the end of the school year!

Finished!

 

 

Time for a soak! Some students asked for a massage :)

 

I hope Dad's are enjoying these today!

What a wonderous love our Father has lavished upon us! I pray you are sharing that love today! 

The Art of Jogging

About a month ago, my husband and I started walk/ jogging in the evenings. We like to cover between 4 and 5 miles and our time has improved from 17 minutes to 13.5 minutes a mile. I'm definitely NOT a runner and struggle through jogging, however I like the way I feel AND I love seeing the artwork of my favorite artist each time. Here is a sample of His work from last week...

God was so good to us that night. The light from the sunset seemed to hang on and encourage us to keep going. Here is one more...

 

I love the transition of colors and the silhouette of the trees. Speaking of silhouettes, here is one more from the past couple weeks...

 

The hills make the walk/jog a little more difficult, but without them we would not have these extraordinary views...

which I like to call "THE ART OF JOGGING." :-)

Offical Foster Parents!

Well, we got the news Saturday! We are official foster parents.

Pre-service classes, home-studies, recommendations, biographies, and paperwork- they are all behind us and there is an unknown amount of time before us- full of possibilities and opportunities.

I guess this would be a good time to share why we decided to embark on this adventure...

Nick and I got married June 30, 2007 and in July of 2007 people started asking us when we were going to "have kids". We wanted to enjoy our time together for awhile- at least till after I finished my masters degree. As my graduation date (May 2011) came closer, we started to feel the pressure to think about expanding our family. We knew we wanted to return to Africa, where we took a mission trip in July 2010. We also knew that God had blessed us and we needed to open ourselves to Him.

We live in a small two bedroom home. Our guest bedroom has held each of our nieces, a few extended family members and friends, and a couple boys from Uganda traveling with a children's choir. It was time for us to consider opening a door for God.

We opened that door by signing up for foster classes in August 2011. God has been with us every step of the way, and while we still don't know if this is "for us"- we are continuing to trust that if we put our faith in God, He will continue to show us what is right.

If you could keep us in your thoughts, we would appreciate that. It would be such a blessing to have your support while we seek to find if this is right for us as a family.

Thank you in advance.
May you be blessed.


 

I will follow you!

Yesterday I was reminded of one of my favorite classroom moments this year and I just had to share it again...

We often listen to Christian music during silent work times. During journal writing, the Chris Tomlin song "I Will Follow" came on. A couple of my sweethearts quietly started singing, "Where You go, I'll go". Then I heard a couple more quiet voices join in, "Where You stay, I'll stay". A few more picked up, "When You move, I'll move". Then of course (holding back soft tears) I had to finish with their precious voices, "I will follow You! I will follow You!"

I am so blessed to spend my days teaching and learning from dozens of the little ones God loves so dearly.

This week, we completed a project that I have done with each one of my classes. At the end of the school year, students make a hand print poster to take home with them to remember our second grade class. Each student picks a color for their hand print and then goes around the classroom making their "mark" on each poster. After they dry I add this poem in the middle:

"Now I lay me down to sleep
I count these hands instead of sheep
and remember all the friends I made

when I was in second grade."

I hope that my students will look at that poster and remember the love, laughs and learning we shared together. I know I will think back and remember all 19 blessings.

How is God blessing you today?

Summer Birthday Party

With a June 15th birthday, I remember what it was like not to be able to celebrate your birthday at school. Therefore, during the last week of school I like to host a Summer Birthday Party. Today was our party and once again my students' parents were so creative and generous to help make this another special party.

One mom made these awesome individual cakes in a jar. They looked like the colored sand jars kids like to make! 

Students really enjoyed using sidewalk chalk in the parking lot! 

To top it all off, another parent sent these awesome goodie bags!

I often have mixed emotions in the last week of school. We have a lot of fun, but I also feel sad that our time is almost over. Today I had a "proud teacher" moment when my students opened their goodie bags and loved the notebook and pen they got. Just another one of those moments when I felt blessed by being a blessing. Stay tuned! I'm sure I will have many more "last week" moments to share with you.

What is your favorite end of school year memory?