Lovely Ladies

The past two Friday nights have been excellent Friday nights. Most week nights and weekend nights inclue me planning and watching tv or listening to Pandora. However, last Friday night we had a ladies event and this Friday I ate dinner with some Friends from college. It felt nice to feel like my life isn't completely boring.

Ladies Event
Last Friday we had a ladies event at our church. Each lady was supposed to bring a yummy treat to enjoy and an acessory to exchange. We begin the evening with wonderful food prepared by some awesome ladies. After we ate, we began our evening. Donna Pierce who is the pastor's wife of a previous pastor and my first grade teacher was the speaker. She had a very meaningful and memorable talk on being an acessory of Christ. She began the eveing with a fun game of acessorizing someone from your group wearing a plain t-shirt using the acessorizes that she brought with her. She talked about all the different attributes we should carry as a Christian woman. Then, we went through a series of excerices with our tablemates. We talked about people who have made an impact on our lives and events that have impacted us. We shared in time of communion and in prayer. We ended the first part of the evening with an acessory swap.

After our swap we played a fun game of hot potato (or big red bouncy ball if you will) where we had to answer questions out of a bowl. I got "What is your most embarrassing moment?". This was pretty difficult, because well..I have daily embarrassing moments that I don't let bother me, they just make life more exciting. After our game, a few of us spent the night at the church. After lots of giggling with Erin (surprise, surprise) we went to bed and woek up to some left overs for breakfast. It was a wonderful evening with some ladies who are full of wisdom and fun!

Friend Time
This past Friday evening Carly, Jillian, and Ashley all happened to be here for different reasons. So we decided to meet for dinner. We had such a great time catching up. I think we spent the majority of our time laughing at each other stories, and probably drove our waitress crazy with staying so long to tell those stories. We ended our night with ice cream from Sweet Cece's (my favorite)! It was such a nice night to catch up with friends from college! I miss college so much

36. laughter and memories
37. free Sweet Cece's
38. a great college experience to look back on and remember
39. leftover Rice Krispie Treats to snack on
40. a bridesmaid dress that fits
41. giggling with Erin
42. sweet notes from my kiddos
43. blankets to keep my cold feet warm
44.a toothbrush and toothpaste to use everyday
45. honeycrip apples and peanut butter

In my shoes..

In my shoes...you would laugh at yourself a lot, because if you didn't you would be a very sad person.

For example, when you drop poster board not once but four times in the middle of Wal-mart and beacuse you are laughing at yourself you are unable to successfully pick up said poster board.

or...you have to pick up lots of little bitty counters off the floor because you picked up the tub of counters and the lid wasn't snapped all the way...

or you have to sweep up pencil shavings because you knocked off the pencil sharpner while sharpening pencils while teaching

or you spend half your morning looking for copies you had made and drive yourself completly crazy before realziing they were left in the copier

or my very best in a while almost break your finger during lunch break on staff development day..this particular moment deserves the full story.
About a month ago we had a staff development day for our teachers at my school. We got to leave school for lunch, which is an exciting thing for teachers because it never happens. I had planned on staying and working through lunch to get some things finished for the next week. However, after some playful prodding from the other teachers I decided to go eat with them. After pulling into the parking lot I hop out just like any ordinary human being would. Yet, I forgot one very important step in the process of shutting the door...removing your finger...Yeah, shoved that baby right in the door. It felt as if it happened in slow motion, and if I can recall correctly, my lovely co-teacher opened the door so I could remove my finger. It didn't really hurt all that bad, the other teachers were freaked out more than me. Then, I started feeling dizzy and light headed. If you know me, you know that I can throw up basically on command and I got that feeling...that feeling that I was about to lose my breakfast. I started shaking and getting really hot..and still had that loose breakfast feeling. After the other teachers fanned me, put wet rags on the back of my neck, and were concerned of my pail complection I was able to avoid passing out. Needless to say, it was a bit of an adventure (points for using our weekly vocab word)!  I never went to the doctor, that is until it became infected about two weeks later. I got a shot and drained and lots of more gross things. Now my nail is in the process of falling off. However, it is definitly a story to tell and one of those wounds that you can brag about because it looks so cool!

Here is the picture story of my thumb in the past month!

the night of the incident 

The night of the infection (it was super hot after an hour of ice being held to it). I taught the next day with a bag of ice on my thumb before heading to the doctor!

This was after the drained it ( I don't have a picture with my red bandage on it) 

You can't tell really well, but the bottom portion on the left side is hanging on by a nail (no pun intended) 

26. hot chocolate and a wood stove to keep me warm on this chilly day.

27. A wonderful lady that can come to the rescue with my bridesmaid dress

28. a great Friday night with two of my best friends

29. wonderful ladies in my church who hold lots of wisdom

30. a quick phone chat with both  of my brothers on Sunday

31. lunch with my best friend Ashley and plans with her again this weekend

32. the reminder that God is delighted by me and craves for time with me

33. my beautiful morning drive every weekday

34. a working thumb

35. a coat to keep me warm and toasty

Wordless Wednesday(well sorta)- Happy Birthday Chelsea

16. Really yummy Roast Beef with corn bread.

17. a great co-teacher who is laid back yet supportive (even though she plays mean jokes on me)

18. a  sweet boyfriend who listens to all my stories

19. honeycrisp apples...they're my favorite

20. my friend Chelsea who turned 23 today...so thankful for the frienship that we share

21. the fact that my first graders think I'm cool and a good artist (they said I was awesome at it..)

22. a beautiful fall day

23. the funny fact that my kids say "you know what" when they are getting in line order since I told them not to say line order anymore because it drove me nuts

24. sweet pictures of my awesome niece and nephews

25. maxi skirts...because I can sit like a boy and still be in a skirt

Planted

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalms 1:1-6 NLT)

Last night out pastor spoke on this passage at church, and it is one of my passages in the whole bible. I also decided on reading from Psalms this morning not even realizing I would be reading the same passage.

I love the picture this verse creates. I like examples when I'm learning about something. If you give me something that I can relate it to or apply it to its much easier for me to understand. My pastor talked about what it meant to be blessed and how we are supposed to fear God. How we should allow the fear of God to guide our choices and to keep us pure and holy . He told us that when the fear of god is absent..man will be controlled by desires, fears, and circumstances around him. When this happens there is a tendency to conform, lose focus, spend less time in prayer..etc.... Makes since really.. When our focus is off centered our lives become a bit skewed, yet we wonder why everything seems so off. Growing up my dad has always told me to focus. If you know me well, you know that I sometimes find it difficult to focus. Now I find my self telling my student to "Focus!!". Sometimes they decide to do their own thing and not listen...that's when I wanna grab their little faces and say "if you would just listen"...then one day I had this crazy revelation. I bet God wants to exactly that to me. "Hannah if you would just focus and listen!!"

One of the last thing Pastor K said was "a man who truly hungers will do something about it." Pretty spot on and kinda was a elbow to my stomach. Aimee always told me that you go through many seasons in your walk. I do believe that I'm going through a season of drought. I'm "longing" for more but I keep searching for that fulfillment in Christ. I wouldn't say I'm searching in "worldly" areas..but I'm searching and searching and wanting immediate gratification. When I don't get that immediate gratification I'm left frustrated and discouraged. I'm not really doing anything about that hunger that I have for The Lord. If I'm hungry I'm obviously going to do something about. So would I not apply that same principle to my walk with God, and when I do make those steps I need to be patient in The Lord, I won't always sense an immediate gratification or that "amazing feeling". 

Back to the verse, it's always been a favorite. I would love to be compared to a tree that is rooted so close to a spring...not literally obviously..but just think  how rooted that tree is. Because that tree is rooted in goodness and truth it can bear fruit. Because it bears fruit and is rooted in strength and righteousness it doesn't have leaves that wither. But before all of that I need to back up to what it says about the tree and how deeply it's planted. The Lord says we should delight in his instruction. That means we should do it joyfully, not with a bad attitude or a sense of have to but follow his ways in an attitude of delight.