In Pictures

School has become busy. And by busy, I mean I am currently taking a break from writing about an English Language Learner (ELL) who I interviewed, analyzing a unit plan for 3rd grade Language Arts, writing a math lesson that incorporates technology, and researching for my Senior Integration Paper (SIP). I am thankful for the weekend. A chance to sleep more, catch up on everything I have to do, and relax a little in between. This – blogging – is my relaxation. 

I'm sniffling up a storm right now. Someone told me that student teachers and first year teachers always get sick more throughout the year because they are exposed to so many more germs. I should have been more aware of all the coughing and sniffling first graders I was around, but I wasn't. Whoops. I have been coughing and sniffling all week and today I just feel plugged up. Vitamin D and I have become friends again, as well as lemon tea and tissues. But a cold has not been all that has been going on in my life. I decided the easiest way to share a little update on life would simply be to post some pictures. And so, without further adieu, a little update on my life. 

Pancakes. Damarise and I have begun traditions for our house and Saturday morning pancakes is one of the traditions (actually, it may be our only tradition at the moment...). Some Saturdays we'll have groups of people over, and other Saturdays it'll be just the two of us, but pancakes are always a must and we've had fun spicing them up in different ways. This morning's pancakes were pumpkin spice with chocolate chips. Yum! 

Guitar playing. I am so thankful for the guitar that Dad left behind in storage. When I feel stressed or just unable to think, I play music. Piano was the only instrument I knew and finding a piano to play on campus was always a bit of a struggle. I knew that living off campus this year it would be even harder to find a piano to play, so I began to learn guitar. I love it. I'm not that great at it, but I love picking it up after a long day and listening to the strings sing while being plucked. 

Kilter! I wasn't sure if I'd go to Kilter this year, but I figured that since it was my senior year, I should probably go. And seeing as I never see Kent around campus because both of our schedules clash so badly, I decided to ask him so that we could at least catch up on each other's lives. It was great! We went as Shaggy and Velma from Scooby Doo, and had a great time hanging out together.

 I love this girl! Faith has been a blessing and I am so thankful to have met her over the summer!

Pomegranate. I had a pomegranate once. It was in the backyard of Ouma and Oupa's house in South Africa. It was the first time I'd ever eaten one and I couldn't believe it was just a big ball of seeds covered in juice. It looked funny, but as soon as it hit my tastebuds I was a pomegranate fan! Since that day I have looked everywhere for pomegranates because I wanted to eat another. I even resorted to looking on Amazon, thinking that maybe they sold them. They did, but for $40 a fruit I decided it was not worth it. Then we went to Aldi. And in a little corner by the rest of the produce was a box with three pomegranates left. I couldn't believe it! I was elated! (Not only were they amazing looking, they were so cheap!) I picked up those pomegranates and have been slowly enjoying them. Yum! If you have never eaten a pomegranate, I highly recommend them. 

Tissues. Buying tissues has never been something we've done. We've always used toilet paper to blow our noses. But the other day, Damarise and I decided it would be cheaper for us to buy a box of tissues rather than use our toilet paper. Ah. They have been a soft blessing to my tender nose. 

World map. We got our world map in the mail a few weeks ago. We hung it up and marked everywhere we've visited and lived. I love it. 

And there we have it. A little bit of a peek into all that's been happening in my life. Relaxation time is over, and I should get back to all my assignments... until next time. 

Tidbits

It's been over a month since I last took the time to sit down at my laptop and type up my thoughts. I wish I had a good excuse for why I haven't written on here, but alas I simply did not have the time to sit down and write.

Today is my day off and I figured it was as good of a day as ever. So here I am, writing out little stories and interesting happenings of the past month – or as I like to call them: tidbits.

1. I am learning guitar. This has been on my bucket list since before I knew what a bucket list was. Learning guitar has been something I have always wanted to do, but have never found a guitar to practice on. This summer I decided to go ahead and learn. I went onto Cragislist to find a cheap guitar and I found out one thing – guitars aren't cheap. With my dream looking less and less hopeful I began to wonder if I would ever get to learn guitar. And then I remembered: my family is in Zambia! You might be asking yourself, "Yes... but what does this have to do with learning guitar?" This! Dad plays guitar. Dad has had a 12 string guitar since I can remember and that is the guitar he has in Africa. However, while here in the US he got a guitar for his birthday and this guitar he left in storage when they moved across the ocean. But, I am on this side of the ocean and we were in Missouri last week where he left his guitar. That being said, I rescued his guitar from storage and began to learn.

I have been practicing now for four days and currently cannot feel the tips of the middle three fingers on my left hand. I'm doing finger stretches all the time to try and get my hand to be more flexible. I've learned the D, A, G, and Em chords and am slowly plugging away at my speed. It has been a blast and I love getting to finally learn something I've been wanting to for a while. We'll see if I ever get good at it ;)

2. Victoria. Victoria has been my longest known friend. We met in nursery when we were two and bonded immediately (or so we tell ourselves). I haven't seen her in two years and she is one of the friends who, no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, we can pick right back up from where we left off and talk for days on end.

While we were in Missouri, Victoria came up for a day to visit. To say our time together was good would be an understatement. It was wonderful! So wonderful! Victoria and I went out to dinner, while Damarise and Micah were on a date, and caught up on life. It was great to share what God is doing in our lives and realize the similarities in what He has been teaching us. I felt so encouraged after spending the evening talking with her and I was reminded of how blessed I am to have her as a friend.

3. I cut hair. Those of you who have read my blog for a while may remember the last time I cut hair. The time I cut Janessa's hair in perfect layers. And by perfect layers, I of course mean layers that looked like a staircase from miles away. After that experience I figured my days of haircutting, or of attempted haircutting, were over. And then Micah asked me if I wanted to cut his hair. Of course I wanted to! I think it'd be a blast to be good at hair cutting and having a willing participant, well I couldn't wait. I googled many articles on how to cut hair and watched several YouTube videos. Thursday afternoon, with Micah willingly letting me practice on his hair, I set to work. It took about 45 minutes and Micah seemed pleased with it when I was through. Sure there were a few accidentally choppy spots, but his curly hair covered those up. And he said he'd let me try it again when he needed another hair cut! I'm excited!

4. Driving. It's been several months since I got my driver's permit. Since that time I have had a few helpful people who have risked their lives to take me driving. Okay, okay. It hasn't been that bad. But there have been people who have given up their free time to take me on the road. Damarise, Micah, and Davey have all had a hand in taking me driving and I couldn't be more thankful for them!

Tuesday is the day I go in to take my driver's test. (It was supposed to be today, but I forgot one piece of paperwork...). It's taken me a while to get to this point, but the time is finally here to become a licensed driver (hopefully!). I'd appreciate your prayers next Tuesday as I go in to take my test! It's exciting, but nerve racking too.

5. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I read Alice in Wonderland over Christmas break and loved it! I reread it and am now reading Through the Looking Glass. Lewis Carroll is a hilarious and engaging author. If you haven't read his books, I highly recommend them. They have made me laugh out loud several times. It's a fun summer read.

Those are all the tidbits in life that I can think of right now. I'll try to keep this blog a little more updated and again, sorry for the long delay since the last post. Until next time...

It Would Be.

It would be that when I finally end a post with an apology for not going to write for a while, I would end up writing every day. But, I'm just in that mood where all I want to do is sit down and write. The only problem is, right now I don't have a whole lot to say. But I will scrounge something up from all of my many thoughts and put the pen to the paper, or in this case the fingers to the keyboard. (?)

Right now I am in Janessa and Megan's room. Janessa is napping and Megan is making a gift for a friend. The windows are open. The sun is shining. A slight breeze is blowing through the room. And the sound of a beautiful guitar is resonating through the room. Someone on the second floor is an amazing guitar player and it is nice to sit on Megan's bed and enjoy the beautiful noise.

Today is Saturday, and let me just tell you, I'm thankful it is! The weekends are great. It's a time to catch up on homework, study for future exams, and just slow down and breathe for a few minutes. Oh, and also to blog. Although, I have been finding time to blog recently... hmm... we'll see if that keeps up.

In other thoughts, I've been reading in Philippians for my quiet time. I love the book of Philippians. The other day I was reading Philippians 1:27, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Such a wonderful verse that shows Paul's desire was solely God. The center of everything was Christ! How amazing. As I was reading that verse it hit me that so often many of us just hold on to the last part, to die is gain. Yes, to die is gain because we will be with God, but how often to we do the first part of the verse. To live is Christ. Verse 27 goes on to say, live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. God has us on this earth for a reason. He saved us and called us His own for a purpose, and it isn't to please ourselves. It is to live in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ to glorify God and point to Him in all we do, so that we can truly say, like Paul, to live IS Christ!!

Anyways, there is my little blurb for the day. Janessa is up and we are about to head down to the gym for a little Saturday work out :) Should be good! Until the next time, which at this rate seems like it will be tomorrow :) So long!