TEMPORARY Parents!

Well, I woke up this morning at 5:30 to get ready to leave for COSI with my Methods of Teaching Science class at OVU! I left at 6:45 to make it school on time to leave by 7:30. Ryan and I are temporary parents this weekend. We are watching Hannah and Rachel from church while their parents take a weekend vacation. So, for the time being, we have a home, a Jeep, 2 daughters, a deck, swing, the works! Someone also reminded me that I am also a temporary soccer mom! haha That's funny! (Right, Kelli?) I woke the girls up at 6:45 this morning and then left and didn't get home until 7:00. I am pooped! I had a good day and I am looking forward to hanging out with the gals and Ryan for the rest of the weekend.

God's at Work!

This evening, SNEA (Student National Education Association) had a guest speaker come and talk about a new policy that is becoming mandatory in the state. She started off her talk with an interesting story and I just had to share it. She and her husband are both teachers in Wood Co. Her husband has something wrong with a disc and is unable to stand for long periods of time. She took him to the YMCA tonight to swim since it might help relax him. After he left to go to a class, which is out of the city by a while, she realized an hour later that her keys to her car were with him. This was 50 minutes before she was to come and speak to the students at OVU. She went inside and, not having a spare key to this particular vehicle, found a key to a car that she and her husband owned over 5 years ago. She said she stood by her door and prayed, "God, please let this work!" She inserted the key into the door and it worked. Not only did it open the door, but it started the car, too. Now, if that isn't God at work........

Alive, Alert, Awake, but Not Enthusiastic

7:00 AM. I am getting ready to observe, then school, then lunch, then observing, then......When will I ever get a break? I am running around Wood County like a chicken with its head cut off. I drop Ryan off here while I go there and then I pick him up from here and we go there.....GGRRRRR!!! I just want one day to do nothing! After a while of going crazy like this, I begin to get very burnt out on life. The other day I was sitting in the car waiting for class to start and I was listening to KLove on the radio. One of the guys was talking about how we lead such hectic lives and he mentioned Psalm 116:7. Now, my Bible reads differently than his must have (wink wink) but he stated that Psalm 116 tells us to "relax a little, God has been good to you!" I love that! In fact, I think that I have found a new favorite Bible verse. I, as well as a ton of others, need to just relax and enjoy what God has done for us. (Does it remind you of the Pizza Guy? haha) Have a great day

Pizza Guys and Lawn Chairs?

Once again, I drove by the local pizza place to see that kiddie pools are no longer cool to sit in, but that the new fad is to sit on a reclining lawn chair. I strongly believe that these guys are trying to get a tan before winter approaches . I can't help but to just laugh out loud out them. Not because I am making fun of them, but because they bring a sense of light-heartedness to my day. I always mention the guys to Ryan and he says that I am obsessed. Okay, so maybe I can't help myself from looking in their direction when I am driving down the road, but how could I resist looking at two guys sitting in a kiddie pool, or in this case, on a lawn chair, holding signs encouraging us to buy their pizza? I guess you could say that I am obsessed with something that makes smile and laugh and feel joy! Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone could feel this kind of joy all of the time? They can! All they have to do is know God. If the answer is that simple, then why don't people flock to him? If you know God, then you know what kind of joy I am talking about.And if you don't, remember how you feel the next time you drive by and see those pizza guys sitting out front. Take that feeling and multiply it by infinity. That's God!

Rain, rain, go away!

Finally, the rain has come to an end, but the people down south are facing much more serious problems. I could honestly never imagine myself going through a hurricane and trying to start over again. My prayers and thoughts are with them. This is one of those events where people question why God allowed something this horrible to happen and sometimes I don't know what to say. I don't think God did it to punish those people, but it happened and now they have to join together to overcome the trials that they are going to go through. I don't think that I will ever forget the images I have seen of the damage and the stranded people and the children clinging to adults, but I will also never forget the amazing power that God has. I think that events like this help us to refocus and regroup and remember what is really important in life.

"I can only imagine........."