What's Up January

Happy Wednesday Y'all

Today, I'm joining Shay, and Sheaffer for their What's Up Wednesday link-up. 

Every month we answer the same list of questions based on how things are currently going in our lives. 

The questions are...

 

What am I eating?

I had some over for breakfast last weekend. I made biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and breakfast potatoes, and then, some of the others brought things to go with it, as well. I love hosting people in my home. I haven't done so a lot this school year, as the first semester was a lot busier. But I'm hoping now that things have settled down a bit, I can start back having people over a lot more. And if I can combine some Southern style biscuits and gravy with that hosting... Well that's even better :)

 
What am I reminiscing about?

Earlier this month, I took a look back at my 2019 on the blog. Overall, 2019 was a good year, full of all sorts of memorable moments. If you missed my recap post, you can read it by clicking here.

Past that... I’m thinking back to a short, but super sweet Christmas Break, in Alabama, full of fun memories with my family.

 What am I loving?

I loved the reports I got of another successful Outreach with my Drama Team kiddos. I love having so many different staff members coming to me afterwards, telling me how hard my crew worked and how much they showed the love of Jesus throughout the weekend. And I loved seeing their smiling faces after, talking about how great the weekend went and how the Lord moved!

What have I been up to?

This week is Spiritual Emphasis Week at my school. And my crew has all enjoyed it so far. I love teaching at a school which views our students' spiritual life/growth as a high priority. It's such a blessing to teach in a Christian school!

What am I dreading?

Nothing :)

What am I working on?

Spring Break plans - A part of me would like to stay here, work on long-range lesson planning, and stuff like that. However, another part of me would like to take a mini vacation and travel somewhere and explore. One of the perks of living on this side of the world is that flights to most European cities are super, super cheap. So that makes taking a mini vacation/getaway a whole lot easier (and obviously, cheaper). Traveling by yourself isn't the most exciting thing, though...

Or if some relative/friend wants to visit me in Senegal, that'd be cool too :)

What am I excited about?

Honestly, there's nothing out of the norm that I'm just over the top excited about. I mean, life is good. Nothing is wrong. I just can't think of anything I'm over the top excited about at the moment :)

What am I watching?

My mom introduced me to Carol's Second Act while I was visiting last month. So I binge watched the first season on my last lazy day of Christmas Break. 

What am I reading?

I have read 4 books this month...

1. The Pioneer Woman - Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond. I've been a big fan of The Pioneer Woman for years. I watch her show on Food Network. I read her blog. I use her recipes at least once every other week. So, when I saw this book on sale at Wal-Mart this past summer, I grabbed it. However, I left it in the US so my mom could read it first, knowing I could do so later. Since I had a couple others to finish up during the Break, I packed this one in my backpack to read on the plane back to Senegal earlier this month. I read it through on my first day of flying. It was such a good story. I absolutely loved it! If you're a fan of The Pioneer Woman, or sweet (true) love stories, I'd definitely recommend you read this book.

2. Ella Minnow Pea - A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn. I bought this one a bookstore at the Atlanta airport. It was super discounted and looked interesting, so I picked it up. I read the whole thing because I'm not a fan of quitting books half-way through. But wow... This book was odd. I definitely didn't enjoy it and won't read it again. ...unlike most books which I'll read over and over again. Has anyone else read this book? I'd love to know other's thoughts on it.

3. Andy and Don - The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show by Daniel de Vise'. I've always loved The Andy Griffith Show. It's such a fun classic. My  family used to watch old reruns of any chance we could, and I still watch it today. It's just so rare to see a good wholesome show anymore. So I enjoy that aspect of it, especially. This story, written by Don Knotts' brother-in-law, gave such good background information about these two famous men, their childhoods and families, their working relationship, their friendship, and their famous TV show. I really enjoyed this book. I'm a big fan of learning about the lives of these famous people. So this book was right up my alley.

4. John Calvin Pilgrim and Pastor by W. Robert Godfrey. Before Christmas, I had read a different book, from our school library, about Calvin. However, it was extremely long and extremely boring. A co-worker told me to look for a better version, because that long one was known to be a bit of a difficult read. So I didn't feel so bad about abandoning it after reading less than half... Anywho - Fast forward to December. I was browsing the shelves of a local Christian bookstore and saw Godfrey's book about Calvin. It was smaller and, upon a quick glance, I saw that it looked far more interesting than the other one... And it was. I was (am) fascinated by his early life, his views on the Church, and more. This book was easy to read and was quite interesting and eye opening. I enjoyed it.

What am I listening to?

Have you heard Sanctus Real's song, Confidence? It's been on my heart a lot lately. I even wrote about it on here last week. You can read that by clicking HERE. It's amazing to me how quickly my confidence will fall when I take my eyes off of God and I stop trusting in Him. Ah, when will my stubborn self learn?

What am I wearing?

Definitely not a jacket...

 

Ah, Cool Season in Dakar... Where did you go?

What am I doing this weekend?

Softball, lesson planning, and whatever other fun things I can find to be a part of. Who knows? :)

What am I looking forward to next month?

February is full of all sorts of fun events at school. There’s a big softball tournament and a day off from school. We have our annual school Olympics. Plus there’s Valentines Day, which is always fun as a teacher. And it’s a Leap Year this year, so I’m going to figure out a way to incorporate that into some kind of fun (and educational, of course) classroom activity :)

What else is new?

My newest class started 3 weeks ago. This is a research based class on Behavior. And since I love both research and behavior disorders/management, it's making me totally love this class! But I do have to say one thing. Even though I am enjoying it, it's still quite hard. My professor is tough. But that's not all bad. Honestly, it actually is a good thing. I know I come out of her classes far better off than when I start them. So for that, I'm grateful.

And that's what I'm up to this month.

What about you?

What are YOU up to this month?