16th birthday

happy 16th birthday to my brother!!

Luke 2:13-14

Christmas time

[stealing this from carly's blog who stole it from her friend]

obsessing over: everything Christmas!

this was a early gift from my parents and i love everything about it. you see, i collect precious moments ornaments each year and [obviously] this years ornament is extra special. 

working on: finishing my Christmas shopping for cody.

also, figuring out what project's i am going to work on while in NM. the 2 in mind are:

• [teaching myself how to crochet. everyone tells me it's easy. i've had some people offer to teach me but i decided that i want to teach myself. so, i have found a couple tutorials and videos to get me started.]
• [i've also considered finishing my quilt i started 3 years ago with a friend]

thinking about: where my heart is this Christmas - and keeping it in the right place.

anticipating: packing/leaving for new mexico

listening to: Christmas playlist

sufjan stevens- song's for Christmas volumes 1-5

[come thou fount of every blessing]

[once in david's royal city]

[o come o come Emmanual]

[joy to the world]

relient k - i celebrate the day 

Christmas albums from: michael buble, mariah carey, mannheim steamrollers [you raised me well, momma]

drinking: green tea, diet coke, [more water?]

wishing: i am wishing our culture would remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. and i am praying that hearts would not be focused on gifts, santa and materialism but celebrating the birth of our Savoir. my wish is that people's hearts and lives would be turned to Jesus.

"that's what Christmas is all about, charlie brown"

graduation!

the last day of student teaching

i realized that i did not share my last day of kindergarten. so lets back up to last thursday.
i arrived to school with a gift basket from my teacher. it had....

there were several other books it came with...including a special one of:

the book itself is not what is special, it's what's inside the book. remember the story i told you about the little girl telling me they made me a surprise but couldn't tell me? well the class signed their name in this book and my teacher put a sticker of their picture above their name. so sweet :)

and the day itself went well. it was the perfect last day. in the afternoon we celebrated with this cookie cake:

we had lots of colored mouths and excitement to eat the sugary treat. and no tears! there was a few i was wondering about, and one in particular. when she was walking out the door, she was so concerned for her craft project getting wet by the snow that she forgot to say good-bye. [i was not surprised]

it was a wonderful semester. there is not a single moment i would trade. i learned so much and am ready for my own classroom someday. the plan is to substitute for the remaining of the year. [hoping to get a long term position] 

but as for this week, i plan to get some things done around here [cleaning, laundry, Christmas-y stuff, etc.]

love, b

cody's graduation

after a long, somewhat busy weekend, cody is a college graduate!

[picture was taken from my dad who was watching the ceremony online]

the weekend was filled with:

lots of traveling [18 hours in 4 days]

time with family 

seeing friends

and relaxing [with no homework hanging over our shoulders]

eve of the last day

welp, tomorrow is my last day. this is something that i made for the kiddos. on the note i put something that i would miss about them.

one of the conversations with one of my "princess" students today

me: "why are you so giggly? are you really happy about something?"

girl: "i just..i just..i just really love you and and i love you and i am so excited that you are here"

tomorrows going to stink. but thankfully, i have a greater love than my kindergarteners, and even my husband.

so thankfully for the Lord's sovereignty in the situation and His love and care for me. He has brought great joy through these students and the staff at my school. 

i am grateful, so grateful

the first snow

here is what it looks like outside:

here's what my day has looked like:
worked on Christmas cards
listened to Christmas music
watched Friends/football
[somewhat] cleaned
relaxing before next week

what does next week look like?
last week of student teaching :(
last week of undergrad school for mr.
preparing for my presentation to graduate
cody's graduation next weekend

here's what we looked like last weekend at my cousin's vow renewal: