Be a blessing

When Chad and I pray with our kids at night before bed, one of the things we usually always mention is that we want God to help guide us to be a blessing to others.  Whether that's to give a smile to an elderly person in the grocery store (I always hope people were kind to my grandparents when they saw them in public), to pack shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, send food for a new mother in our church, help our teachers with a task at school, or whatever we can think of to be kind and thoughtful to other people.  The Lord never ceases to amaze me when I am trying to be a blessing to someone, I turn out being blessed in return!  IT NEVER FAILS!!

 

 

In thinking of our prayer lists lately, I was inclined yesterday to be a blessing to someone whom I will probably never meet this side of Heaven.  We have had several hectic days with end of the school year events including field days, awards days, speech writing, etc but I have tried very hard to remember a few individuals in my prayers each day.  The first I posted about last week, little Diva Delilah!  She is so tiny and such a miracle and I am so excited to be making my very first preemie dress at the request of her mother and I cannot wait to send it to her in Nashville and see that little precious thing in it!  The second is my sister Tracey's friend Tori.  She was diagnosed two weeks ago with leukemia and is in the Mayo clinic in Florida, already undergoing chemo therapy and will soon have a bone marrow transplant.  And last, we have 4 precious students moving from our middle school to the high school next year.  These kiddos are part of our special needs class and are truly a delight to my day at West View.  At Honors Day on Tuesday our entire student body and staff gave each of these precious kids a standing ovation as they went to the front to receive their awards.  Our lives have been so blessed by knowing them and watching them grow.  These precious people have been so heavy on my heart lately and reminding me (via my sister sometimes to eat my $11.50 staff breakfast and smile about it) that life is so incredibly short, we have no guarantees, we need to serve the Lord and be a complete and total blessing to others and quit being upset over things we cannot control! 

 

 

All that being said, yesterday I needed to do something.  I wanted to be a blessing!  I wanted to give back and I decided to donate my hair to Locks of Love.  You know, donating hair is such a very teeny, tiny, minuscule thing that I can do to give to someone that I don't even know!!  I had 12 inches cut off my hair and I am not going to lie but today I keep pulling on my hair and wondering where it has all gone! 

 

 

 

 

My hair will be sent to Locks of Love, added to other donations and created into a wig for a young child in need for whatever reason.  I am so glad to have been a blessing and I know that I will be blessed greatly in return!

 

 

Please remember my prayer list when you are praying.  Especially lift up baby Delilah, that she will grow healthy and strong and for Tori, that a bone marrow match will be found and her treatments will work soundly on her body.  Also, remember to be a blessing.  Always. 

Prayer Request

Dear Friends, I come to you today with a special prayer request.  A sweet friend of ours, Heather Watts (we went to CNC together and Chad taught with her at WVMS) has delivered a precious baby 3 months early and they are in need of your prayers!  Delilah Watts was born on April 25 weighing only 1 pound and 3 ounces and 11.5 inches long!  This new little family was sent to Vanderbilt where the doctors and nurses are taking good care of her and her parents have gotten into the Ronald McDonald house for the next month so they will not have to pay for hotel rooms - PRAISE GOD!

You can keep up with Diva Delilah on her Caring Bridge page.  Heather will post updates and hopefully pictures very soon of her sweet, miracle baby!  Please put Delilah and her family on your prayer list and let's lift them up to the Lord!

(Caring Bridge is totally run through donation only and you can make a donation on the site!  Please help this wonderful site stay open for families in need of contact with the outside world during their time of medical need. Also, please give to the Ronald McDonald house - we have seen several families have to use this wonderful program and we need to give back!)

2 posts in one day

Ok, so I know what you are thinking, 

"TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY???"

Yea, this was just too good not to share...I was looking at Yahoo on my planning and found this article.  Please click on the Yahoo link and watch.  I think we all need this burst of patriotism right about now after the Boston marathon bombings, the letters filled with poison sent various places, and the Texas explosion.  

Watch and be filled with pride in our country and as celebrity, Patton Oswald tweeted, 

"The good outnumber you, and we always will."

KLove

Do you listen to KLove?  Do you stream it in your office via the computer?  Do you listen during breaks at school when you need some peace and quiet?  Do you subscribe to their daily encouraging word?  It comes in your email and I check it daily because it always, always, always can be applied to something going on in my crazy world on any given day.  God's cool like that.  

Here is today's word: 

 "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." ~John 15:5

In times of trouble

Sometimes it seems all I can ever come up with to post about are sickness and tragedy.  Again today that rings true.  I can't get things off my mind and yet some how writing about it helps.  

There are two things that I cling to in times of trouble....The first and foremost is the CROSS.  I will not be afraid, because of the Cross.  I will not be upset, because of the Cross.  I will not carry a spirit of fear, because of the Cross.  I will not worry, because of the Cross.  I will not dwell on the negative, because of the Cross!

I choose to look at the positive, ALWAYS AND FOREVER, BECAUSE OF THE CROSS!

 

The second thing that I choose to cling to is a sense of pride and hope and community.  The symbol of what I cling to is the flag.  I cling to patriotism during these times.  I am thrilled to see flags at half staff honoring the victims in Boston.  In times of trouble we all need a sense of continuity.  We need a sense of community.  We need to send out a message to the evil of this world that says, "What you have done cannot break our spirit.  What you have done is not going to bring us down.  What you have done will only make us stronger.  What you have done will not go unpunished and will not be overlooked or forgotten."  

I read an article this morning about a Boston business man that is doing just that.  He is sending out a message and we should all be doing the same (Please click on the link to the article).   

Remember: CROSS first, PATRIOTISM second.  May God Bless You and the USA.

Up cycling!

Do you reduce, reuse, and recycle? I have to admit, there is no blue box in my house and we don't keep our plastics, paper, and glass!! However, I am a HUGE fan of recycling clothes for another purpose!! This amazing feat is called upcycling and I am majorly into it! I have upcycled tee shirts into scarves and layered dresses, I have used button down shirts for cute dresses and matching tie shirts, and I have upcycled old sweaters to leg warmers and vase covers! However, by far the best thing I have upcycled is the combination of two favs: vintage pillowcases and overalls!!! Please take a peek at my creation for Molly (I am pretty sure I would love one for myself)!!

Taylor Mali

So lately I have been caught up in teaching, praying for snow days, praying for babies fighting for their lives, nursing sick children with strep and a stomach bug, shopping for groceries (is it just me or have prices gone WAY UP?), doing laundry, etc.  And in those crazy, busy days we call life, I forget sometimes why I am doing the things I do....More specifically, teaching....It's mundane, it's routine, it's Sunday Night Blues, and Friday afternoon pjs and popcorn after 3:00 because we are so exhausted.  It's testing

And testing

And testing.

It's grading papers, it's catching up students who have been absent for days with no medical excuse whatsoever.  It's lesson planning and bell ringing.  It's prompt writing, it's curriculum alligning.  It's ball games and cheerleading tryouts.  It's club sponsoring and bus duty.  It's planning for subs and cleaning up after them.   It's hall duty and can I go to the clinic to see the nurse?  It's safety, locking my doors, planning for emergencies.  It's just so much - and this is all in the course of one day!!

And then this weekend I found a great video (via Pinterest - Don't you just love it?) that I wish I could share with every aspiring teacher, current teacher, teachers on the verge of retiring, every parent, every student, etc.  Because this video really spoke to me and I could identify with EVERYTHING that this man was saying Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement and one of the few people in the world to have no job other than that of poet.  Please click on the link below the picture and watch his video, I hope you identify, I hope you are inspired, I hope you share.....

Taylor Mali: What Teachers Make