Friday Fun...

It's been awhile since I've cooked anything...so Friday night seemed like the perfect time for...(semi)home made pizza! I won't be starting a cooking show on Food Network or a blog like Julie and Julia...but here are some pictures of the fun! :)

Gather the ingredients 

(Whoops I left out the crust, which is why this was only semi-home made...it was one where you add water! lol Oh well!)

Sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and pineapple! 

(Which happens to be my favorite kind of pizza, although I usually add green pepper slices too! 

Yes, I'm a little strange...)

In it goes! 400 degrees for 15 minutes!

And....finished! D-E-licious! 

Add a chick flick with friends and hot chocolate with whipped cream...

and you have the perfect Friday evening! 

Ordinary...

I'm sure a lot of people feel pretty "ordinary." I know I do. Sometimes I feel a little under-ordinary too. Yep, I think I just made up that word..."under-ordinary." Maybe that makes me extraordinary! Or not...

But I have something that does make me extraordinary. And no, it's not my super ability to balance spoons on my nose, my history with alligator hunting on the Amazon (it's true!), my super loud drum playing despite my quiet personality, my ability to BURN and ruin nacho cheese dip (yes the kind any child could easily melt in the microwave), or my super successful and delicious (non-burnt!) chocolate chip cookies.

Ok, just for the record, I did NOT catch this alligator...I did, however, pay $1.00 to hold him for this picture. And yes, his mouth is tied shut...lol...You didn't think I was THAT crazy, did you?! 

But -  I DID go alligator hunting at night, on the Amazon River, during the same trip! :)

I have a living God who created me and knew me even before I was born. And I have Jesus. The Son of God, whom He brought to Earth as a man, living and walking, and facing life just as I do...yet never sinning and always loving. Obedient to His Father...even to the point of death on a cross. It is hard for me to understand. I know I never fully will. But it is through HIM that I am made extraordinary.

"The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see they were ORDINARY men with NO special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized then as men who had been WITH JESUS." - Acts 4:13

In waiting for my interview conference, it is easy to have doubt. To question if I am "good" enough, or "smart" enough, or "knowledgeable" enough, or "bold" enough. I am certainly not extraordinarily gifted in using words to explain things, or understanding the history of the entire Bible, or the many other "requirements" I have set in my mind that I "should" have before I go. But the thing is, God has given me a passion. A desire to serve and to love people across the world in any way I can. And I know that He will send me if it is His will. And He will equip me perfectly. I will be adequate not through myself but ONLY through HIM! 

I guess the most powerful thing to me in these pictures, is the fact that I didn't have to use any words at first...I was there - serving through the Lord, showing what Jesus looks like, and THEN able to share.

"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, '...There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved...'" - Acts 4:8,12 (It wasn't Peter doing the talking! It was the Holy Spirit speaking through Him!)


So, though I am definitely "ordinary" on my own...how amazing to know I am never "ordinary" when I have Jesus. How awesome to know that no matter what He calls any of us to do - be a mother or father, work in an office, teach school, write books, public service jobs, and soooo much more, overseas AND from home, we can ALL be extraordinary, if we only choose to serve with our whole heart in Jesus' name. 


"'And now, O Lord...give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word...may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.' After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness." - Acts 4:29-31


And that, friends, is what makes ordinary me....AND ordinary you, if you only ask God, believe in the love and sacrifice of His Son Jesus for ALL of us and accept it freely, EXTRAORDINARY! 

Back to School...

Back to school tomorrow after four snow days! While that is a long time for most people, I have actually been gone even LONGER....because I had a meeting Monday, and a conference the Wed-Fri before Monday and the snow days....and I haven't even mentioned the first three weeks of January when I was gone two days each week for sick days and more snow days...so boy am I ever ready to see my kids again and get back to teaching/having a schedule! I'm even ready to teach a FULL week. Here's hoping the weather holds out this time, and I stay well! :) My hope for the rest of the semester is to be the best teacher I can be and to be confident again in my planning. To be enthusiastic, and to help my students be enthusiastic and enjoy music more too. I want them each to go away with something, even if they don't feel "gifted" or "excited" about music - my goal is for them to have made some kind of connection before they leave whether it be singing, playing a game, exploring an instrument, or just interacting with their classmates in a way that is "out of the ordinary" from their regular classroom setting. It feels so crazy with time flying by - I keep thinking of more and more things I want to do this semester, because....it could be my last one teaching for awhile! Still waiting for my conference in a few weeks. I feel so excited for that new opportunity, yet a little sad to leave teaching, even though it has been so challenging this year. I know God has plans in store though, and thankfully they are bigger and better than any I could make on my own! I have a feeling this isn't a forever goodbye to teaching!

I can't believe I didn't write a single post over all the snow days. I have a lot to write about, but...sometimes it's just a challenge to put into words that make sense. For now I better get some rest....5:00 is going to come EARLY after all these days off!

Here are a few pictures of the snowman I built today after shoveling for awhile...It is the first one I ever remember building, although I probably did build one as a child. I know he's a little short, but....don't judge! haha I also had to use some creative items for his face...and the mouth wouldn't quite stick on, hence the toothpick picture!

Working on the face...chocolate cookie eyes

A baby carrot nose...

And a mouth made of raisins...which wouldn't stick, so I tried a toothpick, but it wouldn't go all the way through - and now my snowman looks a little like an Ozark hillbilly, but...oh well! 

Finished! But...a little plain and dull...

So I had to add some color, of course! I think it is a snow girl now...haha

Still trying to get those raisins to stick...

Hey - not too bad, huh?!

I'm sorry, but I have to say it...That snowman's got a lotta "junk in his trunk!" or something like that! That bottom part is a little...broad and out of proportion! lol 

All the ingredients for a perfect snowman...minus a couple chocolate cookies whose extras might have been eaten after all that hard work, but I'll never tell! :) 

Happy new week, everyone! I hope it is joyful, blessed, and fun! I also hope you will give each day to our awesome Creator...and seek the plans HE desires for you each day! Oh, and remember to thank him for not giving us raisin mouths when he created us! :) 

Muppet Treasure Island: Cabin Fever!

Hmmmm...I'm working on a real post for later, but a friend just shared this on facebook, and I couldn't resist sharing it here...I'm pretty sure a lot of people around Missouri and the U.S. are feeling this way this week! I'm just glad, for your sake, that the Muppets made a music video about it first! With my lack of things to do and no way to go anywhere, I might just have gotten desperate enough to make my own music video! Wouldn't that have been a crazy sight! Haha! Enjoy! :)

A Hot Pink Band-Aid and...a Little Random Rambling...

Today I got a hot pink band-aid. It looks pretty impressive. Especially since I had to get poked by a needle and give away my blood to get it. Ouch! No fun. But...hopefully the doctor will be able to figure out a little more about what has been making me feel more tired and a little sick more often this year. It doesn't seem to be anything major, just checking to be sure, especially with the possibility of moving overseas soon. I'm praying the tests will come back ok. At least I got to sport a super hot pink band-aid all afternoon. Oh, and since my appointment was at Jeff City, of course I convinced my mom the perfect way to recover would be a stop at Central Dairy! Mmmmm...I was willing to ignore the snow on the ground outside and enjoy a little ice cream to go with the cold weather! :)

As for everything else, I guess there isn't a lot to share right now.

*I mentioned in my last post, I'm getting a little too used to these short work weeks, I'm afraid! I will go to school tomorrow, but Wednesday-Friday I will go to my state music teacher conference. I'm really excited to go - I always learn a lot, meet great teachers, and come back with new ideas.

*It is now only 30 days until I leave for my interview conference! I fly there four weeks from Wednesday!

*Seeing the flip flops on the racks at the mall today amidst the super-clearance priced knit scarves gave me that bittersweet hope that Spring might actually be around the corner, but there is still time to enjoy the snow.

*I am actually reading a book for fun right now. It is a Christian novel my sister leant me last year, but I am just now getting around to starting called "Pretense." It has 700 pages which is slightly intimidating to me, only because I know how little free time I have to read during the school year, and I am a naturally slow-reader, unless it is something I am super interested in. And...so far I have gotten to the 140s...which means only about 600 pages more to go. It's actually a really good book, and I'm hoping maybe with airplane time on the way to my conference, I might finish it before Spring time!

*Weight Watchers is.....not going as well as it was last year. When I joined I did so well. I lost 20+ lbs and maintained it in the first five months. I have actually managed to keep the 20 lbs off, which I have never done before, so that is a good thing...but I have not made the effort to keep going and lose the other portion to get to my goal. This makes me feel a little frustrated and discouraged, and I also understand how the women at my meeting with families feel...it is hard when you are trying to do this while living with other people. When it was just me, I was able to only think about me, and only have what I wanted to in my apartment. At home, there are other "goodies" around and other cooking (I'm not complaining about my mom's good cooking!), plus I've just been feeling tired in general over the past few months. I've tried to keep my workouts going at Curves, but I'm ready for Spring so I can start walking more again! Anyway, enough about that...I'm just going to give it another try when we start our new series in a couple of weeks and...hopefully get more motivated and determined!

*I'm really thinking and praying about my church situation right now. I just can't seem to figure out where I fit in/need to be and if I should keep commuting to the church I joined in the community where I teach at or spend some time at my church near home, where I grew up. I'm praying and seeking God's direction.

*School is getting a little better this semester, although it could just be that I haven't been there as much! I'm hoping February will feel as ok as January has. I have lots of programs coming up to prepare for, and keep thinking, "This might be my last semester, so I should do this..." I just want to enjoy it as much as I can and be the best teacher I can before I go.

*I was going to make those all short one-lined random things going on lately, but as you can see...I can never seem to keep things at one-line. So...oh well!

I hope your new week is off to a good start!

Let it snow, snow, snow...

SNOW DAY!!

This picture was really taken a few years ago, just before Christmas, but I thought, in honor of all the snow, I would put it here! :)

Snow days can be a teacher's dream...until they start interfering with Spring Break! But...we still have two more days we can use to make-up before they do, so...here's hoping we won't be enjoying our Spring Break in January and February instead of March! I must say, though, I'm getting kind of used to these three day work weeks! Two days sick the first week back, two snow days last week, two this week, and my music conference for three days next week...I have not worked a full week this whole month, and will only work two in February due to another meeting and my conference at the end of the month! Seems so crazy...I guess I just thought teaching was a M-F job! haha

My fun boots, which I found out in the last snow...are actually not very practical because they are kind of tight, which makes it hard to keep my toes WARM because they can't move...I guess they are actually more risky for frost bite than my shoes! Oh well! ha

Last week I spent my snow days at home being lazy all day and still kind of recovering from my sick days the week before. But this week I spent them with a very fun family! I've known this family since high school, they were actually teachers of mine, and now we work in the same district as...colleagues! That still seems crazy to me! But, they have been so kind to open their home to me anytime this year while I'm commuting, and I always love playing with their kids, which means that my two snow days this week were still lazy, but.......lots of FUN! :) We played outside, had hot chocolate, watched movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks and SweetPea Beauty, ate fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, and just...enjoyed the time off from school! I'm so thankful for the blessing and encouragement they are to me! :) 

This was really from our first snow of the year in December, but this seems to be the "look" we have lately!

I also spent time reading some of my old Xanga blog entries from college. I'm so glad it was "all the rage" to have a blog starting around my freshman year...it seemed like everyone was doing it! And there are some really funny and serious memories I wouldn't even remember if I hadn't done that. I hope I can somehow transfer it to my computer or paper one day, so I can always keep those memories! I would definitely like to keep a journal, but it takes so much time, and it is just easier to record and write through typing and technology these days. I'm a little lazy about writing sometimes because...I'm just not a quick writer. And if that helps me to keep track of things, I guess it's a good thing! So...I'm glad for this blog too because I've already been able to go back over my past year since I started it and see all that God has been doing in this time of my life! 

And, of course my heart and mind have been thinking a lot about my conference next month. It is SO exciting! Yet so overwhelming to think about ALL the many places in the world I might go. I do know that, before my trip to Africa in college, for some reason, God placed that continent on my heart. I really can't remember the exact time or the reason, but I just...knew. Then the trip came up, and I was SO excited. I knew I was supposed to go. And God provided perfectly for that to happen. It was a life-changing trip, and...when I left I cried so much. A piece of my heart was there, and always will be. And I knew I would be going back...someday...for some amount of time. So of course, for these years after the trip, Africa has still been on my heart, but I don't even know where in Africa. It is a big continent, after all! I visited Senegal on the trip and loved it, but I've never even had the opportunity to be in another part of Africa. Recently another country in Africa has come up in different random ways...and I am excited because my heart had not even thought about that area...until now! I honestly didn't even think about the possibility of people being in that country working. It's not that it's an unsafe or unworkable place...I just...hadn't thought about it. I can imagine it will be like that at the conference...all the possibilities my heart has not even thought about! I'm going to begin praying about this country and see if there is a reason it has recently come to mind. Only God knows that, but I am ready and willing to seek and find out. And I will also pray as God leads my heart to other places, if He does. But...I would be REALLY excited if this were the place, now that I am thinking about it! :) 

I found this picture online, and it seems perfect to me right now...It's a little funny looking, I know, but it reminds me, 

God really does have the WHOLE world in HIS hands, and I can only imagine what He has in store for me somewhere...even if it is here!

I don't necessarily know if God is calling me to Africa at all. I also don't want to go to the conference with a certain thing in mind and feel...disappointed. I know saying that might seem a little odd, because where ever I have the opportunity to go, I know God is already working and making the way, but as  humans, sometimes our hearts can get set on what "WE" want or plan, and fail to set our eyes on what God is planning. I do know I am going to pray wholeheartedly the next four and a half weeks that I will have clarity, and that He will place a burden on my heart for a specific part of the world I am to go to. I wish I could be more detailed here, but really there is a lot I just don't even know right now. A lot I won't know until I go, and a lot I probably won't be able to share if/when for security reasons. But...that is all down the road, and for now I simply ask you to be praying with me as well! I'm thankful for the prayers and support of anyone who is reading this, and look forward to sharing more of my journey with you! 

Brazil - Amazon Region Village - Summer 2007

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have a blessed weekend  and stay warm! Or cool...depending on where in the world you are! :)

Just a Quote...

My mom was reading a book tonight about a woman who wrote about Jane Austen...or something like that. So, here's a quote she read me from the book! :) 

"If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad." -Jane Austen (Northanger Abbey)

And, in honor of needing to have a little adventure in my own "village," here's a picture of me at school today.....holding a raccoon skin! I got it off the side of the road on my way to school one day! It's my new class mascot. 

Uh, no. Definitely not. I was just kidding FOR sure! lol One of our great staff members shared a presentation today for the kids and showed them his collection of Native American artifacts he has hunted, collected, and made. HE was the one who got the raccoon off the side of the road. And I have to say, though I have bravely held an alligator in my lap in a boat on the Amazon River in Brazil...I would probably NOT be brave enough to stop on the side of the road and pick up a dead raccoon! (See, adventures abroad, just like the quote said!) haha I was trying to make a, "Yikes!" face here, but the picture was taken too soon, and I actually look like I'm enjoying the experience! 

Never a dull moment in the music room! 

Randomness from a Monday Make-Up Day...

We had to go to school today and make up a snow-day, but oh well...it wasn't so bad. (Other than the getting up at 5 a.m. and leaving at 6 a.m. again part...only four more days 'til I get to sleep in again! ha)

"So bahy, bah, Miss 'Merkin pah, drove my Chev to the lev, but the lever was dry..." If you knew the little boy who came to Kindergarten music class today singing that song, you would know just how funny and random it really was! (And the interesting spelling was an attempt to help you hear the Southern drawl/mumbled/slurred sounds he made with each word! =) I just had to smile and say, "I know that song too." Then he told me it's called, "Bye, Bye Pie."

"Zumba, Zumba...switch!" I exercise at Curves each week, and I really enjoy it, but recently they started something SO fun. Zumba class! It's fun because it combines the regular work-out circuit with Zumba dancing....or.....uhhh, whatever you want to call the "movements" I make when I try to dance! lol Normally at Curves you go around a machine circuit two times, doing each machine for 30 seconds with a recovery board in between where you move to keep your heart rate up. With Zumba, you go around only one time, doing each machine for a whole minute and doing Zumba in between. The "switch" part tells us the minute is up and we need to go to a machine or start doing Zumba. The Zumba instructor comes twice a week, and I love it! Anyway, it's been really fun trying something different! (Just don't tell anyone! I AM Baptist after all...haha)

I got out! Oh man! I lost at my own game I was playing with the fifth graders today. They enjoyed that a little bit! :)

My kids made it through an Orff arrangement including singing, playing three different mallet instrument parts, and playing a temple block part. It was fun!

I got my flight confirmation for the interview conference! I leave in 37 days! (Yep, I'm counting!) I'm SO excited! :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

News...

I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to write recently...I'm working on that! But - I do want to share some exciting news. After ten months, I finally received my e-mail invitation this week.........to the interview conference for the Journeyman program! If you've been reading my blog over the past year, you might remember this post where I first shared that my heart had begun thinking again about starting the application process. And...a few days after that post, I did begin the application! Step by step, I worked (with God's help!) to finish each step and all the details involved with each - an extensive health questionnaire, a statement of my beliefs on many specific things, my testimony and calling to serve, and my auto-biography answering very specific questions about my entire life (8 pages long when I finished!). I finished all of these things at the end of July, and it has been a long and hard time waiting to hear the results. But, God has finally allowed me the opportunity to further pursue this desire He placed in my heart! I don't know many details yet, but I will attend a conference Feb. 23-26 where they will fly me to their campus to spend time with other applicants and a leader who already "knows" me from my application materials. I'll interview, spend time in a small group, further prepare my heart to go, and leave knowing for sure if I'll be going and more than likely where in the world it will be! I can't tell you how excited my heart is about this! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement whether it was while I was waiting to hear, while I was working on the application, or in the past few years as God has placed this desire in my heart and allowed it grow even bigger!

Please continue to pray for me as I wait the five weeks to the conference, and as I seek to have an open heart about where God is leading me. Also pray that I will not be discouraged or doubtful but that I will be completely ready when God sends me, physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. I can't believe it has been ten months since I started this process, that I actually finished (glory goes to God!), and He has allowed me to be one of the selected applicants for the interview!

I'll keep you updated as I know more! :)

Yesterday I went wedding dress shopping with one of my best friends I grew up with! We became friends in junior high, and it's been almost thirteen years now...so crazy! We even kept in touch through college in two different states, a semester on different continents, and then, when I started teaching after I graduated, God put us both back in the same place again! It was pretty fun just getting to sit back and watch! Usually I'm indecisive, so I was surprised I actually had an opinion about most of the dresses. Some were just more....up there than the others! The consultant was so helpful and kept it to a "top three" for her. And......since I can't post any pictures until after June, you'll just have to trust me when I say she picked THE one! :) It was so so so so beautiful! Next up...bridesmaid dress shopping. I get to be the maid of honor! Here's a fun picture of us together from her brother's college graduation this Spring...interestingly though, you can probably see it was FUH-REEEEZING that day, even though it was May! Happy wedding planning, Brandy! :)