What's Up February

Happy Wednesday Y'all!

Can you believe February is almost over?!

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 made a big batch of red beans and rice with sausage and creole seasoning added into the mix. This is one of my most favorite dishes. It's so ridiculously simple to make. But it is just so incredibly delicious! Yum!

What am I reminiscing about?

Valentines Day Fun with my class and with Kids Club - I can't say Valentines Day is my favorite day. I'm not a fan of having a huge reminder of my singleness. However, I had lots of fun celebrating with my favorite kiddos. We had tasty treats, games, and Bible lessons to remind us of the One who loved us so much that He sacrificed His only Son so we could one day live in Heaven with Him forever!

 What am I loving?

After all these years of primarily with elementary students, I'm finding that I really am loving working with teenagers. ...whether that be students in class, students on my Drama Team, student volunteers in Kids Club, or students I'm mentoring. I still love working with the little guys. It's kind of funny. After all these years of saying that teaching teenagers scared me, I'm realizing that maybe that's just not so true. I really do love working with them. :)

What have I been up to? 

I got to get away for a couple days earlier this month, thanks to a 3-day weekend from school. It was nice to sleep in, spend some time out by the pool (or in the pool), catch up on reading (for fun), eat good food, and hang out with friends, too. 

What am I dreading?

I have to take (or rather, re-take) 3 Praxis tests to renew my Alabama Teacher's License. As much as I love my sweet home Alabama, they don't make it easy for teachers who live out of the country, when it comes to counting Professional Development/CEU hours. So, now my only option is to retake the Praxis tests for the 3 areas in which I was already certified, for them to renew my license. Y'all...I'm a firm believer in Test Anxiety being a real thing. I absolutely positively hate taking tests. ...especially high stakes ones like these. And to know that I have to take a total of three of them? Well, that just makes it worse. 



But whether I dread them or not, they're definitely going to be happening. So I ordered the study guides for each of them to be delivered to a friend who's making a quick trip to the US and has offered to bring them back for me. So it looks like I'll have quite a bit of studying in my near future :)

What am I working on?

I'm working on my summer plans. I'll be doing a bit of traveling, a bit of speaking at churches, continuing to raise support for this work He's called me to do. And I'll also be spending some down time with family and friends and taking a bit of self-care time, as well. I'll be in the U.S. for around 6 or 7 weeks. If you'd like me to come and share about this incredible work God's allowing me to do here in Senegal, let me know. I'd love to share with your church, small group, kids' program, or even to take you out for coffee or dinner some time and share over that. Send me an email today at enichols85@gmail.com and we'll set something up.

What am I excited about?

One of my groups finished up a chapter on all things Fractions. We've done all sorts of things with fractions. We've added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, converted, and simplified them. And then yesterday, we took a big test on them. So now, today, we are starting our Pizza Fractions project. I'm pretty excited about it. Hopefully they will be too. :)

What am I watching?

Nothing new - Anyone have a suggestion on something I could watch?

What am I reading?

I have read 4 books this month.  
And I've started a 5th and hope to finish it by the weekend.



Daphne by Will Boast
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton

The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar
The Behavior Code by Minahan and Rappaport

What am I listening to?

A friend shared this song with me a while back. It's been on repeat ever since. And almost every single time it plays, I tear up as I think of the work God has called me to do and I feel so incredibly grateful for the time He's allowed me to do this work. I honestly don't know how long God will allow me to keep at it. But I know this, I will continue to work my absolute hardest for the sweet babies He's placed in my care, and I will worship Him, who called me, praising His name all the while.

What am I wearing?

I’m wearing my hair down more often. Thankfully it’s cool again. Plus I’ve kind of accepted that the frizz is inevitable. I might as well accept it :)


 

What am I doing this weekend?

There is an annual softball tournament happening this weekend here in Dakar. So I imagine I'll be at the ball field most of the weekend. Well, I'll be rotating between that, and doing lesson planning/prep for the week ahead.

What am I looking forward to next month?

Spring Break - And with Spring Break, comes sleeping late and not having to set alarm clocks every single day. Then, past that, I'm planning to do a bit of long range lesson planning for work, purge my cabinets and shelves in my classroom to get better organized, and I'm also planning some reading (for fun), as well. 

And yes, I'm actually looking forward to all of that. 
Work and non-work, alike :)

What else is new?

My school is looking for new teachers for next year. Do you know of anyone who has a heart for missions and feels God calling them to help further His kingdom through education. Email me at enichols85@gmail.com or click HERE for more info today.

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

What about you?

What are YOU up to this month?

When God Gives a Girl a Brother

When God gives a girl a brother, she’ll have a lifelong friend.

She’ll have a forever confidant.

And she’ll always have someone standing in her corner, fighting for her and encouraging her to keep going when life gets tough.

When God gives a girl a brother, she’s sure to always have someone to laugh with, to have fun with, and to enjoy life alongside.

She’ll have a kid who will annoy her more than anyone else. Yet she’ll know that, not matter what, she’d choose to fight the world for him.

When God gives a girl a brother, she’ll pray for his future spouse, and she’ll rejoice when he ends up with the most perfect person for him there ever could be.

When God gives a girl a brother, there’s a chance that brother will have adorable kids for the girl to love as much as her brother.

When God gives a girl a brother and then God has the girl move a zillion miles away to work for Him, the girl will go with peace in her heart, knowing her brother will be there to look after/help her mom.



When God gives a girl a brother, she’ll pray for him to have success in life, for him to stay close to God, and to always set an example for others. 

And she will constantly be proud of the man he becomes. 

When God gives a girl a brother, she’ll have an example to judge all potential suitors by, knowing she’d be blessed to find someone even half as great as her brother one day.

When God gives a girl a brother, she’ll have enough memories to last her a lifetime.

She will always be thankful for the gift that her brother is in (to) her life.

And she’ll be so grateful to God that when He gave her a brother, she just knew she would always have a lifelong friend...

And thankfully, she would be right.

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Happy Tuesday, Y'all

Today, I'm joining Ashley and Erika for their monthly Tuesday Talk link-up, where we, bloggers, come together and talk about whatever is on our mind at the moment. And since my favorite brother celebrated his birthday the other day, I thought he'd be the perfect topic to "talk" about in this month's post.

 And in case you missed last month's Tuesday Talk post, and you're curious, you can click on the link below to check it out.


 

January - Confidence

Gratitude for My Mama

Happy Monday

Each month I share a bit of gratitude here on my blog. Sometimes, I share gratitude for a certain person or a certain thing. Sometimes I share a random list. And sometimes, I share a lesson God is teaching me.

Today, I’m sharing gratitude for this woman...

That’s my Mama.

She’s been through a lot in her life. But she’s always been a fighter. She’s so tough!

She is kind and generous, loving and compassionate. She’s loyal and dependable.

She is selfless and loves to care for others. She is helpful and patient and always finds ways to serve others with a joyful heart.

She’s always up for an adventure and makes my often required traveling so much more entertaining. 

She puts God first in her life and has faithfully served him for the majority of her life.

She has taught/shown me so much. She was an amazing pastor’s wife, servant’s heart, and all around good person. She was an amazing wife. And she still is an amazing Mama and Granny :)

She is my biggest confidant and my go-to advice giver. She is encouraging and supportive. And she is a guaranteed prayer warrior.

She’s the best. She really is.

So yes, today, I'm sharing gratitude for my best friend, my Mama :)

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I started my monthly Growing in Gratitude posts, as part of the link-up fun, hosted by Julie from Fall into Life, where bloggers would share a bit of gratitude each month. Julie stopped hosting the link-up last summer. But I decided to keep posting a monthly gratitude-themed post. After all, there's always something for which we can be grateful. Right? :)

And, in case you missed last month's post..

You can click below to read it.

January - A Year of Gratitude

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So what about YOU? 

What are you grateful for today?

Currently

 Happy Thursday, Y'all

 
Today I'm joining Anne from In Residence for her monthly link-up, where we share what's currently going on in our lives. And each month, Anne gives us a list of prompts to use to guide our posts. 

February's prompts are...

  * loving *  embracing * tasting * wearing * preparing * 

So what am I currently up to?
 

I'm currently loving this new Valentines-themed bulletin board display, set up by our librarian at school. Isn't it cute? Our librarian is super creative and has come up with such fun displays this year!

I'm currently embracing the fact that Cool Season in Dakar may have left earlier than normal. I'm sad by this. But still... I may as well embrace it and rock the ponytail earlier than I planned. It's so hot again, y'all... :(

Ignore the pile of papers and the pile of clown costumes in the background. Such is life here ;)

I'm currently tasting this peach nectarine version of my favorite flavored water. I often buy this in the US, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it at the American Food Store here in town. It was definitely a splurge. But that's okay with me. It was most definitely worth it!

I'm currently wearing bug spray every night before getting into bed. Mosquitos aren't usually something we have to deal with at this time of year. It's so dry and cool. But for some reason, the little bloodsuckers are back with a vengeance. And they seem to be far worse at night.

I'm currently preparing scripts and human video breakdowns for my Drama Team kiddos, in preparation for Easter and our big Spring Drama Program. We have a list of all sorts of fun songs to share. I can't wait! :)

And since it's my blog and I can, I thought I'd share a few more...

I'm currently smiling at how interesting life is. Before graduating college, I told everyone that my dream grade to teach would be Kindergarten. In fact, I even did the Elementary Ed. part of my internship in a Kindergarten class and I loved it. So now fast forward 11 years. I've taught many different grades, but I've never been a Kindergarten Teacher. And I've even realized that I do enjoy teaching my middle/high schoolers a bit more. ...which is so shocking for my brain to comprehend. Ha! ;)  

Anywho - This year, I get to work with a handful of cute Kindergarteners, working on Math or Bible, or whatever they're doing at the time of day I pull them to my room. And we are having the best time y'all. I still think I'd prefer teaching the older students. But these little ones are such a fun change of pace in my days :)

I'm currently thinking about something I read online the other day. This lady was discussing the concept of "Decision Fatigue." Apparently, Steve Jobs swore it was a real thing and that's why he chose to wear the exact same thing every day - blue jeans and a black t-shirt. That freed his mind, allowing him to make one less decision each day. So anywho - I did some research of my own on the topic.And it really does make so much sense in my job, too, considering how many decisions I have to make in a day. Has anyone heard of this?

I'm currently reading Will Boast's novel, Daphne. It's different from what I'd normally read. But so far, it's a good book. This week has been crazy, though, leaving me without much time to read for fun (without falling asleep while doing so). So I'm looking forward to having a bit more time to read this weekend.

I'm currently studying through the book of Romans with one of my groups for their Bible class. I'm loving discussing this book with them and hearing their thoughts and interpretations, as well. 

  So what about you?

What are your currently up to?