12.24.09
hair cut
I did it! I cut my own hair! And it was successful!
Take a look:
Merry Christmas Eve!
12.22.09
a new song
Sunday morning I sang an old song.
“All that is within me cries for You alone to be glorified, Emmanuel, God with us. My heart sings a brand new song. The debt is paid, these chains are gone, Emmanuel, God with us!”
I have sung that song before, but this time my heart sang it like it was a brand new song. Every word was resonating within me, tears pouring down my face.
It’s funny how one significant event can become the filter through which you process everything else. That was the case on Sunday. It wasn’t the song that had changed, it was circumstances in my life that changed the song and what it meant to me.
All that is within me cries for You alone to be glorified
Last week we found out that my sister’s little unborn baby is sick. We don’t know what the future holds for her or the baby. We have no idea. The unknown brings simultaneous fear and hope. The fear and the hope dance around inside our hearts fighting for the upper hand, and it never fully settles because we just have no idea what is going to happen. The rest we find is in knowing that God does know the outcome. He does know what the future holds because He holds the future. We can’t know, and in all likelihood, He isn’t going to reveal it until it happens. The only thing certain is that He will be glorified. That is His chief end.
While we certainly have desires, and honestly communicate those desires to the Lord, the outcome is in His hand. And we cannot hold our desires above His glory.
Whenever I think about my desires, I get a picture in my mind of open palms raised to heaven, my desires resting there for God to see. “Here, God. This is my honest desire. Do with it what you will. Grant it, don’t grant it, remove it, change it, or just let it stay there as I wait.” That is not an easy prayer to pray. That last option is the hardest of all. But right now, that is what we must do. Keep holding up the desires with unclenched fists while we wait for Him to move. This isn’t going to be easy.
Emmanuel, God with us
God put on flesh and came to live with us. That is what Christmas is all about, and if you really think about it, it is mind-blowing. God put on flesh. He came to be with us. And He is still with us. Even in this, God is with us. He is faithful. Like that old hymn says, “In every change He faithful will remain.”
When we weep, He is with us. When we laugh, He is with us. When it seems like all we have are questions without answers, He is with us. When we admire the baby’s precious little profile or feel the baby kick (I did!!), He is with us. When there aren’t words for what we feel, He is with us.
This weekend I got to be with Lindsey. I was with her, and God was with us. We mostly just did life as usual, laundry, cooking, errands, television, laughing. But there were also waves of sadness, times of silence, times of tears when we just sat together. We were just with each other, and that was enough. God is with us. That is enough. He has the daily and hourly grace to meet our daily and hourly needs. He is enough, and He is with us.
My heart sings a brand new song
As I was singing this part, I realized that I previously had always thought that the new song God gave us was a sunshine-y happy one. But as I sang this Sunday, I realized that although the new song in our hearts was still a song of praise, it was heavy and desperate, a kind of praise that only comes through trials. We praise Him because as we cling to him every second of every day, He is still there for us to cling to.
It reminds me of The Chronicles of Narnia when the children find out about Alsan for the first time. Susan, after learning that Aslan is a lion asks, “Is he safe?” Mrs. Beaver says, “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” Lucy asks, “Then he isn’t safe?” And Mr. Beaver says this famous line about Aslan: “’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Christians are not promised safe, happy lives. In fact, we are promised trials. Safety and security is not the goal of life. But He is good, so we can trust that whatever path this takes, it is for our good and His glory. I cling to that promise.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone
Jesus beat sin and death. He already won that battle. We serve a miraculous God. Obviously our desire is for God to perform a miracle and bring the baby into Lindsey and Matt’s home in perfect health, and we absolutely believe that He can do that, and we are praying for that! If God can speak the universe into being, He can certainly do this.
I love the story in John 9: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’”
There are lots of whys, but what Jesus said there is the answer. I am confident in this: The work of God will be displayed in this baby’s life, however long that life is. And Matt and Lindsey (and the rest of the family) are loving that baby every day that we are given.
Our hearts are singing a new song as we enter this new season of life. Pray for peace, trust, comfort, and joy. Pray for the baby.
12.19.09
friday five
—– 1
Every time I eat almonds, my throat and ears get really scratchy. But I really like almonds, so I keep eating them anyways. On a scale of 1-10 how stupid do you think this is?
—– 2
When I put on my make up in the morning, I sit on the bathroom counter with my feet in the sink. This gets me closer to the mirror without having to bend over. A few times a roommate or family member has walked in to see me sitting on the counter putting on makeup, and they think it is weird. I think it is weird that they think it is weird.
—- 3
Today after the kids left the building, the music teacher projected the Hallelujah chorus into the hallway. Perfect ending for the semester! I walked out of the building singing, “And He shall reign forever and ever!” over and over and over…
—- 4
Again, this song is resonating with my heart:
Be still my soul
The Lord is on your side
Bear patiently
The cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God
To order and provide
In every change
He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul
Thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through stormy ways
Leads to a joyful end.
Be still my soul
The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them
While he dwelt below.
—– 5
Teacher Christmas gifts…there is nothing like them. This year the best gift is a tie between 5 pecans and a bunch of swag from a fireman pension conference. We have been swapping teacher gift stories during lunch. One of my Georgia relatives once received a duck. A live, quacking duck duck. But I must say, JAM wins. One year a kid gave her a lacy purple bra. Fortunately it was an accident; the student had accidentally grabbed the wrong bag before going to school!
12.16.09
UNO!
Hands down, Uno is my favorite card game.
When I was a senior in high school, my friends and I played Uno every single day at lunch. We had our own crazy “cheating” rules, which included partners, teams, and…well, lots of cheating.
Basically you were allowed to cheat, but only with your partner. So you could do things like switch cards and strategize as a team, and when both members of a team went out, they won. That only happened one time ever.
That is when Niraj coined the phrase and still ambiguous inside joke, “Red Boy!” Basically, you replace words in normal sentences with “red boy”. For example: “That inspector thinks he’s something, but it’s me who runs this town, and my red boy never closes and the curtain’s never down.” Doesn’t make sense? Yeah, not to us either. But for some reason it is still hilarious every time!
My friends were all seniors, and a freshman-brother-of-a-friend who ate lunch with us every day. The first few days he sat with us, he was pretty much silent. Then he started talking to me because we knew each other from church. Then Uno brought out the animal in him, and we successfully welcomed him out of freshman nerdiness…into senior nerdiness! Haha.
Earlier this semester I was at a party, and Ellen pulled out her games. We decided to play Uno, and a friend wisely said, “Uno, a great way to make enemies.”
Uno playing can get pretty vicious, especially when people insist that their “house rules” are the real rules.
I have tried to instill a love of Uno in my students. Last year I taught them how to play during our Christmas party and gave them miniature Uno cards for Christmas. This year I realized that I had reached my goal when several students asked if they would be getting some more this year. They told them that they still have their cards and play at home. I didn’t get them any more, but we did play at the Christmas party today, and this time I didn’t have to teach them anything. They were pros! I am so proud!
12.13.09
back story
My family has spent the weekend in Atlanta for two family reunions, and I had to catch a later flight than everyone else, so I was flying alone. I was trying to work on my paper during the flight, but I got a headache, so I put away my computer and tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep. I started thinking about my favorite book, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. There is a chapter during which Stargirl and Leo are at the mall people-watching. Stargirl shares with Leo that one of her hobbies is inventing back stories for strangers that she sees. They proceed to follow a lady around the mall, writing her fake life story.
I started thinking about the man sitting in the seat next to me, and I decided to write his back story. (That sounds a little creepy. It wasn’t creepy when Stargirl did it, so I am going to convince myself that it was also not creepy when I did it.)
Meet Keith: Keith is a grocery story conveyer belt repairman. He has a college-age son from his first marriage whom he was flying to Atlanta to visit. He is re-married has twin tweenage daughters who love the Jo Bros. He can’t stand the Jo Bros. He has a severe strawberry allergy and an irrational fear of squirrels and being put under anesthesia. He collects lanterns and reads John Grisham in his spare time. His favorite story to share at parties is the time that he was at the grocery story (fixing a conveyer belt), and he met Jeff Foxworthy (he had broken the conveyer belt). He makes it sound like a bigger deal than it actually was – they never actually met and talked; he just saw Jeff from a distance. He owns a Snuggie, but would never admit that in front of his friends. He is a non-smoker and non-facebook.
After that, I was able to fall asleep, and when I woke up my headache was gone. Thanks, Stargirl!
12.11.09
Friday Five
—– 1
Some abbreviations that I do NOT like:
“preggers” , “hubby”, “bestie”, and “fave”
Example:
“Right now I am preggers, so my hubby and I have some baby names picked out. Our fave is Buffy, because we’re naming her after my bestie! OMG!”
—– 2
This week I discovered that my cat snores. I didn’t know that was possible. It’s kind of weird but also kind of cute.
—– 3
On Tuesday we had UIL, so Wednesday I took a personal day. I have never done that before. I kept feeling irresponsible, and I had to remind myself that it is perfectly legal to take a personal day! We get several every year, so I had no reason to feel guilty for taking one. I slept late, did laundry, cleaned my room, baked a pie, worked on my final paper, and went to a formal. I’d say that it was a day well spent!
—–4
Of all of the little tasks it takes to maintain a house, I can confidently say that my very least favorite one is changing light bulbs. I know this because I took a shower in the dark for 3 days in a row until my brother came over and changed them for me. That is how much I didn’t want to change the light bulbs. I really don’t understand why that task is so offensive to me, but I just hate it. I do.
—– 5
Student at the computer supposed to be playing math games: “Ms. Moore, how do you spell stanky?”
12.07.09
do you hear what i hear?
This is what I have heard in the past week from my kids:
assistant: It’s time to go to the bus!
student: I don’t wanna go to the bus.
assistant: Well, I’ll just go give your back pack to the bus driver. If you want it back, you can go get on the bus. (She walks away.)
student: You come back here, you lumpy potty biscuits!
(This is the same kid who called a teacher “lumpy pizza pants.” Apparently “lumpy” is the new trend in insults.)
—–
Friday the kids convinced each of their teachers to let them play in the snow.
One girl burst in from playing in the snow, threw her arms out, and proclaimed (in the most dramatic way),
“It’s a Christmas miracle!”
—–
I turned on some Christmas music while my kids were working, and I hear someone singing along quietly,
student: Alicia Navidad! Alicia Navidad!
me: Are you saying Alicia Navidad?
student: Yes.
me: I think it’s “Feliz Navidad” which means “Merry Christmas” in Spanish.
student: No it isn’t. It’s Alicia.
—–
My students are funnier than your students.
12.05.09
Christmastime!
Things that I have done that mean it is Christmastime:
1. Decorate the Christmas tree
2. Go see Santa’s Wonderland
3. Daily Advent devotionals
4. Listen to Christmas music (a lot!)
5. Play in the snow
6. Ornament-making party
7. Wrap gifts at Houston’s FBC Christmas mission project
8. Central Baptist’s Bethlehem Days
9. Drink Glogg
Things I still need to do:
1. Drive around to see Christmas lights in Prestonwood
2. Read Christmas books
3. Caroling
4. Family Reunion in Georgia
5. Buy & wrap gifts
7. Watch White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life.
8. Go to Santa’s Wonderland again
12.02.09
hair
My mom has cut my brother’s hair for his whole life (with a few exceptions). So over Thanksgiving break, she taught ME how to cut his hair since he lives much closer to me than to her.
I still need to purchase all of the necessary equipment, but I am really excited about learning this new skill.
So that got me thinking…and I really want to learn how to cut my own hair.
Not because it will save me money, not because I don’t like going to the salon (I really really like getting my hair shampooed), but because I just want to know how to do it! And also because salons never ever know how to fix curly hair, so I always leave with it wet, come home, and fix it myself after the hair cut.
Since my hair is curly, it is very forgiving. I can go 9 months without a haircut, and it’s fine. Whenever I do an up-do, and I want a little ringlet in front, I just cut an existing ringlet to the right length. Then after I have washed and re-fixed my hair, I could never find that hair again. It just disappears into the other curls.
But I mentioned this idea on Facebook and got an overwhelmingly negative response. Lots of people think it is a bad idea (except my siblings!) which made me really sad. I know several people who cut their own hair, so why not me? I think I can learn, I really do!
So despite all of the naysayers, after I buy some good scissors, I am going to try it.
Have any of y’all ever cut your own hair? Any tips or suggestions?
12.01.09
more wintery weather…
Since my SMART board finally got completely installed over Thanksgiving break, I feel like a hip and brilliant weather girl. My kids are enthralled with it, and class has been so fun. It is also really easy to plan lessons because I can log onto the smart board website and just download activities that other people have created. So it takes me about 30 seconds to plan an entire lesson. That is awesome.
Yesterday we were writing on the smart board to find equivalent fractions. My boy J said, “I don’t want to go to free time today, can we just use the smart board instead?” Um…YES you can keep simplifying fractions instead of going to free time. I thought I was going to faint!
So in the spirit of feeling like a weather girl, I thought I would share some fun weather with you…
This is what my desktop has to say about tonight:
This is what weather.com has to say about Friday:
I’m praying for snow and no school on Friday!
