Coffee and a Chat

Today I'm joining Erin and some others for her bi-monthly Coffee Date link-up, where we pull up a pretend chair and act like we're having a chat with a friend, catching them up on life in your corner of the world. 

So what's on my mind?

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you all about my Christmas Break and tell you that I had the time of my life in Alabama with my family. I am a blessed girl! That is for sure!

My favorites :)

If we were on a coffee date, I'd probably be that lame friend that's sitting there drinking water. I'm trying to eliminate caffeine from my diet. I hate coffee. And it's a little too hot outside to enjoy hot tea (hello Senegal and your warmth). So I'll just stick with my water.

Operation Drink More Water is going well thanks to my new UM bottle. Go Falcons!

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you that jet lag kicked my tail this time around. Last night was the first night since I returned to Dakar that I was able to actually get a good night's sleep. I'd been sleeping maybe 2 or 3 hours tops the other nights, which wouldn't be such a big deal, but I had to go to work. And principals typically frown upon teachers falling asleep during Professional Development meetings. But it's not all bad... One of those times I was wide awake around 2:30 a.m. and made a pecan pie. And even though I had to make it square shaped due to my lack of a pie tin/plate, it tasted delicious!

Making lemonade out of lemons. Making pecan pie out of pecans :)

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you all about this poster I bought for my classroom. The majority of the boys in my class absolutely love Star Wars. So when I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Anywho - I decided to let it be a part of our New Year's Goals/Resolutions activity. Then as I was preparing for my Bible lessons for the week, I realized that the quote on the poster went so amazingly well with what we were talking about today. Our lesson focused on the beginning of Proverbs 2, talking about wisdom and knowledge, understanding/learning and how God uses those to prepare us for the future. So I took a teachable moment and combined Proverbs 2 and a little Star Wars poster and formed a lesson/activity that held the interest of ALL of my students the ENTIRE time. They were engaged/interested and learning something the ENTIRE time. Seriously, all of my teacher friends out there know just how rare of an instance that is...to get everyone at once :)

 

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you that 2017 is off to a good start for me. I started the year off with church and family and now I'm back in Senegal, doing what God's called me to do. I know it sounds a bit cliche, but I sometimes feel like I'm living a dream. I feel like I'm going to wake up one day and realize it's all been this amazing dream :)

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's back to work I go :)

If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you that speaking of the new year, I just updated my bulletin board in my classroom. Every couple weeks or so, I will choose a word or phrase and then I will translate it into all of the languages spoken/communicated by each of my students and their families. This bulletin board is most definitely one of my favorite parts of our classroom. Anywho - This one is How do you say Happy New Year? I love it! :) And since we're talking about the new year, I'd tell you to check out my blog tomorrow because I'll be linking up with Shay, Erika, and a few other bloggers, sharing about my goals for the new year. You don't want to miss it. I'm just saying. It'll be awesome.