I am just going to brag for a sec.

30 Pounds later...

And I go from this (February of this year)

To this (October of this year)

Which results in the giving away of these...


Go me!

God is Good. God is Great.

Lately, I have been struck by several key attributes of God.

1. That God loves me.
2. That God knows me.
3. That God is truly, truly good and He desires to bless me.

As a result of feeling these characteristics in abundance, I have had a heightened feeling of gratitude towards the Lord. Seriously, just thinking about it makes me cry.

Thinking about all of this reminds me of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. In Mosiah 4:11-12 he states:

11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have ^atasted of his love, and have received a ^bremission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own ^cnothingness, and his ^dgoodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of ^ehumility, ^fcalling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing ^gsteadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the ^alove of God, and always ^bretain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the ^cknowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

Thinking about God's goodness has caused me, literally, to call on the Lord. It has also caused me to realize that in the grand scheme of things, I am nothing and He makes everything happen. It has caused me to feel of His love with more of a surety. And, as a result, it has made me yearn to be more faithful to Him.

I know that the Lord truly is good. I haven't always felt this way. I have often questioned his wisdom as--in my natural eyes--he has seemed to withheld certain blessings from my life. Now, through a certain string of events, I have seen God's wisdom and His hand in my life. There are so many more unknowns to be faced. However, I know that my experiences as of late has caused me to remember his goodness.

I feel like Alma...

"I remember ^awhat the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

God is merciful. God is good, people of the blogging world. He loves us. He wants us to be happy. He has a plan for us. He answers prayers. I hope we can remember that. I hope I can remember that. This is my testimony to you on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Happy Sabbath!

And I don't even have time to post a pin to pinterest.

Let alone update my blog...

People.

It's October 8 (happy birthday to my dear sis, Chrissie), and I am already drowning in this teaching profession of mine. It feels like ALL I do is teach, plan, grade, email, work with students, and the list goes on...

Something about this year of teaching has made life harder. I teach 2 "preps" which means I teach 2 different subjects. That takes up more time. But I think the difference comes with knowing more about what good teaching is. My 1st year of teaching consisted of me just throwing assignments at kids; just wanting to have something planned so that they stay occupied for 85 minutes. Now, I realize that giving students certain types of work can sometimes be busy work. I am trying to be effective; teaching students skills as well as content that they can transfer to other subjects and to future classes.

So here I sit on a Saturday. Thinking I should lesson plan. Or grade. Or answer emails. I have no desire whatsoever...

Couple the teaching craziness to life craziness. Staying on top of my calling, still trying to be an involved family member and a good friend. Exercising and eating well takes time too. Also, keeping the social life progressing has been taking lots of time lately :)

All I want to do is read a good book, not sit in crazy lines to get my oil changed, explore DC in the fall, take a road trip, and freakin' post a pin to pinterest (check it out if you haven't, pinterest.com)

I know many of you feel the same way. And I know balance is key. But balance has been wobbly. And I fear falling flat on my face.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. I think I can face reality now.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Sound of Music application for the day:

If you know what this means, then you know what I mean. :)

faith wroughts crazy (and unexpected) miracles

This is my testimony of the last 2 weeks. That's really all I'm going to say for now. But seriously, God is a God of miracles...and they happen how you least expect it.

More to come!

27 Love Languages? Lets just stick with 7.

Yes, it was my birthday last week. And to celebrate, we celebrated love languages, one of my favorite topics of conversation. My roommates went to town and we had a love language themed party. How did we do this? We had stations for each sign set up all around the house. The question of the day: What is your love language? Have you communicated them to your friends/significant others?

Here are the signs:

Dedicate yourself to an act of service.

Have some touch time on the couch...

Write me a note of affirmation. I loved reading these later!

Spend some time in deep one-on-one conversation.

And leave a gift. Sign is kind of hard to see...to the right. ps. with my dear friend, Breana.


What are the other love languages you ask? The 2 that I added on...

#6 Chocolate. And yes, my roommates bought me a chocolate fountain for the occasion!

#7 Dancing the night away. You know I always go to town...

And if that's not love, here is the real deal. My friends. They are such a blessing to me.

Lindz and Kathy

My roommates Allison and Michele


The famous trio: Sarah and Kathryn. Miss you stokes!

Birthday buds: Ryan and I.

Pre-birthday crew in Alexandria.

Quinn and Adri
MJ serenaded me with a song from her uke. Love that girl.

It was a great birthday and I felt love in all 7 ways and more. I look forward to all that 27 has to offer. Thank you all for the birthday wishes. Hope you can feel love in the love language of your choice!

Putting Out Fires

Some days at work, all I do is put out fires. Meaning, I try to "nip problems in the bud" before they escalate into something chaotic. Lesson planning and grading often awaits me in the evening when I am not on the clock. During the day I spend my time putting out fires. Oh joy.

Like today, this is what I did:

• Spent 30 minutes at lunch teaching a kid how to walk into my classroom with respect and manners. Otherwise, he just goes CRAZY! Fire, out...hopefully
• Talked to the Dean of Students about a kid who hasn't fulfilled his detention yet for my class. He hasn't come yet, but hopefully fire will be put out.
• Talked to the football coach about 2 of my students who are struggling and need to fulfill their detention. Fire put out for one of them...
• Saw the JROTC teacher and told him about a student sleeping in my class...hopefully fire put out.
• Called parents and discussed student#1
• Ran into basketball coach and discussed another student who is falling asleep in class
• Talked to an administrator about a student who doesn't complete her assignments and is a little disrespectful.
• Held detention for 6 kids today...Fire put out, please?

Lets just hopes these fires stay dormant. I don't know how much of this I can take!