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

A Time To....

The past couple of weeks my Facebook news feed has been FILLED to overflowing with prayer requests, praise reports and everything in between.  I have been following a friend of a friend's page "Owen's Fight Club" about a newborn baby fighting for his life and succeeding and I have been following a relative of a friend's page "Team Grant" about a precious 8 month old who did not make it through a tragic bathtub accident and some dear friends of ours who have a nephew undergoing chemo and radiation at St. Jude's hospital and we have been following their page at "Rootin for Regen".  All three incidents have made me pray fervently for the sweet boys in these situations and stop and take a look at my own precious, healthy amazing children.  We are so blessed.  We have a roof over our heads, cars to get us from place to place (although Chad is trading his, I HOPE, as I type for something a little more reliable), food to eat, jobs to pay for our bills, warm blankies, beds and pillows every night that give us rest to face the next day.  WE ARE SO BLESSED!  And sadly enough we forget.  We worry about the never-ending laundry (currently, there are 4 loads at my house to fold and put away and 3 more to wash and dry, fold and put away), what to cook for supper, will my 6 year old pass his spelling test on Wednesday or have to take it again on Friday (Both twins passed this week with a 106 and 104!), will we have enough money to make another car payment, how can I possibly work 5 straight days in a row without pulling my hair out, will my kids have enough money for what they want at the Book Fair?  And so on and so on and so on.  Day in and day out we constantly worry over big things and little things but you know what?  I know a secret.....a couple actually.....

#1: My God shall supply all my needs!  I have never really and truly needed anything in my life or the lives of my children that I could not get in some form or fashion.  If the twins need new tennis shoes - it's taken care of, if Molly wants to take gymnastics once a week - it's taken care of, if we want to eat pizza on a Friday night instead of eating sandwiches - that's take care of too!  If I don't know how I am going to pay the bills, put food in our fridge and put gas in my car for the next month - it's taken care of in some form or fashion.  It always is!  I don't (or at least I shouldn't) worry because My God Shall Supply All My Needs!

#2: There is a time to laugh and a time to cry. A time to grieve and a time to dance!  We are constantly reminded (through Facebook news feeds sometimes) that LIFE GOES ON AROUND US EVERYDAY.  Babies make it through heart surgeries and IVs and tubes just days after they are born and babies make it safely into the arms of Jesus just a few shorts months of life here on Earth.  We are reminded that perfect healthy babies are born, people get married, jobs are lost, jobs are gained, scholarships to college are earned, basketball teams win by 1 and get beat the next game by 1....LIFE GOES ON.  I am reminded that I can laugh for a few minutes (over the Season Premiere of Duck Dynasty) and then cry for 3 hours.  I can grieve over the death of a baby boy that I didn't even know this side of Heaven and rejoice with my children with dancing over aced spelling tests.  

Please, if you are reading this do me a favor:  Hug your loved ones, don't sweat the small, trivial things like basketball games and washing underwear, rejoice in small accomplishments like all that laundry that I need to fold and put away and love each other as Christ loved the church.  Life is just plain and simply too short people.  God will SUPPLY and there is a time for EVERYTHING under the sun!!