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.

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

6. 3-D Christmas cookies!

7. Watch White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life.

8. Go to Santa’s Wonderland again

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?

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!

Whoa, when did December get here?

Suddenly the weather is cooler, Christmas music is everywhere, and my dad has turned into an elf.

One of my favorite things:

My desktop always shows the temperature in College Station and Warsaw. When I turned on my computer, I had to do a screen capture because LOOK! This morning it is officially colder here in Texas than it is in Poland. This is a very rare occurance, and it always makes me really excited!

I think I will wear a sweater today. Christmastime is SO here!

Somehow Thanksgiving came and went and I didn’t sit down and think deeply about the things for which I am truly thankful.

So better late than never, here is the short list:

My little brother – I have really loved this fall with Merritt living so near! We are able to see one another all the time, and I just really enjoy spending time with him. Watching Star Wars with him is like watching a pop-up video. He knows the most random facts, and rattles them off as if it were nothing.

Seminary discussion boards – In all of seminary, the lessons that have stuck the most are the ones that result from our weekly discussion boards. They force me to clearly state what I profess to believe, look critically at the thoughts of others, face the criticism of others, discern when I need to stand my ground and when I need to admit that I am wrong, measure my words, disagree respectfully, and value the thoughts and opinions of others even when they are different from my own.

Our happy teachers’ lounge – I look forward every day to going into the teachers’ lounge and spending time with my co-workers. Because my conference and lunch are back-to-back, sometimes I take extra long lunches just so that I can enjoy even more of my co-workers. It is usually such a happy place, and for that I am thankful.

J and D – Two little guys that I call by their first initial. I love those two kids even though they are always stirring up some trouble. I thought of them while watching The Blindside and cried for them and for the overwhelming feeling I get when I think about their future. I am thankful for those rare moments when I look into their eyes and instead of sadness, I see hope.

Staying up late…and sleeping late – I almost never get to do either, but this week I did both of them a lot and it was so refreshing!

Poland – My gratitude for Poland runs deep. God has used Poland to change me. My view of the world, my dreams, my priorities, my relationship with Him, the way I discipline my students – all of these have been deeply affected by my time in Poland. I am thankful for the people that Poland has brought into my life – Delinda, Mariola, Wojtek (the person, not the cat), and Bozena. So thankful.

Friends who understand that I am awful at phone communication – I have so many friends who have moved away. That is what happens with you live in a college town. I hate that we live so far apart! I am thankful for technology that helps us stay in touch, even if I drop the ball a lot. Thank you for giving me grace with the phone thing, seriously. Long distance friends, if you ever want to move to CS, I would be okay with that.

FBC Bryan – I love the people who make up my church. I love Chris Hoover’s goofy announcements, Jiggy and his super musical talent, Toney and his leadership style, my sweet friends who have lunch together on Sundays, the Coffee House people who love international students, the ladies in my small group, Martha who lets me interpret The Vine for her, and my roommates and our Monday night potluck friends.

Finally, I am thankful for Survivor. Please don’t judge me.

Sometimes I wrestle with God and accuse Him of withholding good things from me. That is craziness! Look at all of the good that He has given me!  Next time that lie is whispered to my heart, I can choose thankfulness. He has been so, so good to me!

I was listening to Caedmon’s Call’s song “Shifting Sand”, and the second verse really spoke to me:

I’ve begged you for some proof
For my Thomas eyes to see
A slithering staff, a leprous hand
And lions resting lazily
A glimpse of your back-side glory
And this soaked altar going ablaze
But you know I’ve seen so much
I explained it away…

I have spent a lot of prayers asking God for a sure answer, a certain sign, a simple yes or no. The only problem with those prayers is that  He typically doesn’t work that way. Most of the time He answers my prayers with just wait, trust, and you will see. And months later, I realize that somewhere along the way the prayers were answered, but I was too busy to notice.

Then, when I realize that the question I had asked was answered, instead of giving Him the credit, I explain it away. Oh, well of course that is the answer. I actually knew that all along. Why did I even bother asking?

Silly me. My faith really is like shifting sand. I am so thankful that I can stand firm on grace.

Because my family is celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow (Friday), I am spending Thanksgiving at Starbucks working on seminary like a maniac. I have been super productive, so tomorrow on neo-Thanksgiving I can spend lots of time with the family and not worry about seminary! I have also spent some time exploring some new techy stuff, so I thought I would share:

I have long been a Mozilla Firefox snob. I don’t know why people still use Internet Explorer. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Mozilla is a thousand times better for a thousand different reasons.

But I have found something even better than Mozilla Firefox.

Google Chrome

If you are still using Internet Explorer, repent and turn to Google!

—–1

This week I learned that people from Liverpool are called Liverpudlians. Awesome.

—–2

Last Friday we had an African storyteller come to our school. I was sitting next to a kid who was talking and messing with other students and not paying attention. I was tired of telling him to stop and him continually disobeying, so I challenged him to a thumb war. That thumb war lasted 30 minutes, during which he was silent and never took his eyes off of the storyteller. Magically, just as the lady finished talking, he won the thumb war. Muahahaha.

—–3

If you were to translate “the bee’s knees” (as in “He just thinks he is the bee’s knees!”)  into Polish, it would be “pępek świata”.

If you were to translate “pępek świata” into English, it would be “the world’s bellybutton” (as in “He just thinks he is the world’s bellybutton!”)

Just in case you were wondering.

—–4

I’m teaching this to my sign language class to perform in the spring talent show:

I love this video and watch it at least once a day!

—–5

Thanksgiving Break starts TONIGHT!!! A whole week off…to rest, work on seminary, and be with my family. Sounds perfect.

Yesterday I had my 4th graders write a rap song about nouns and adjectives.

It went something like this:

Nouns are people, places or things.
The mall is a noun.
A ball is a noun.
A doll is a noun.
A house is a noun.
Mrs. H is a noun.
Ms. Moore is a noun.
An adjectives is something that describes a noun.
This pen is yellow and black.
My water is see-through, too.
Ms. Moore is very, very special.
She is awesome and nice.
She has pretty hair.

I’m such a sucker for the shameless flattery! It reminds me of this time. Needless to say, they got a 100.