My Advice to Anyone Reading This

It's Day 30 - the final day - of the 2016 Blogtember Challenge! So, I'm linking up with Bailey at Braveloveblog, who gave us the following prompt to use in our writing today...

Pretend like you've been stopped on the street by the guy with "Humans of New York," who asks you to give some advice. Share a picture of yourself along with your advice.



Want some advice? 

Pray.

Feeling down? Upset about something? Sad?

Pray.

Feeling nervous and anxious? Have a big test coming up? A meeting with the boss? 

Pray.

Worried about health or safety or finances?

Pray.

Feeling stressed over all life's throwing your way? Feeling like you can't say "no" ?

Pray.

Feeling like your To Do List is getting longer instead of shorter and there's no end in sight?

Pray.

Feeling happy and excited and full of joy?

Pray.

Feeling calm and sure of yourself? 

Pray.

Feeling accomplished at completing a big project.

Pray.

Healthy? Safe? Financially blessed?

Pray.

Praying is simply put, a conversation between you and God.

In bad times...

Pray.

In good times...

Pray

Just pray.

5 (or more) Pictures

Today I'm linking up with Bailey at Braveloveblog, as part of her annual Blogtember Challenge, where bloggers write/post every single day in the month of September.

Each day Bailey gives a prompt for bloggers to use in writing. 

Today's prompt is...

Show us your top 5 pics of 2016 so far.

Confession time first though... 

I couldn't pick just 5. So I broke the rules :)

Anywho - On to the pictures...

1. I started the year working in Selma, Alabama with these 3 ladies. I had never in my life met such a hardworking group women. I am so thankful that they "took me in" and helped me in so many ways. I am so very grateful for the year and a half I had as their co-worker! Each one of them were indeed a true blessing in my life!



2. In February, I made the decision to come back to Senegal much earlier than originally planned. It was hard leaving my family and the comforts of "home," but I have not regretted it for one single second. What a gift the 10 kiddos (and the new ones this school year too) have been in my life! I am so grateful for my squirrely crew!



3. I love my mom. Not to sound totally cliche', but she really is my best friend. I had an amazing summer with her as my roadtrip buddy. It was such an encouragement to have her at every single church I spoke at this summer, encouraging and praying for me. Not to mention all the fun times we had together. I am truly blessed to be her daughter! That's something I definitely do not take for granted!



4. Being "Zizzie" to these two girls is one of my greatest blessings in life. I never imagined that being an aunt could feel so good. This picture became one of my favorites. I love how you can see the love shared between the two of them. And seeing little sister's admiration of big sister is so very sweet! What a joy these two are!



5. This ranks up there as one of my all-time most favorite pictures ever. This was taken the day I flew out in July. I'm so blessed to have these 5 as my family. 



6. I am blessed. God directed me to this photo at a particularly difficult time of my life over the summer. And it has stuck with me. Do I need to be reminded of this? Yes, often. In fact, I made it the picture I see each time I turn on my phone. But that's ok. God is patient and doesn't mind teaching me the same lesson over and over again ;)



7. And last, but certainly not least... I love this picture of my current class. I love it for so many reasons, but most of all, because it shows their personalities, their happiness/joy, their love of life and school and learning. And most of all... It shows 16 of the biggest blessings in my life right now. What a joy it is to teach this lovable crew!



Ok, so I was wrong. 7 wasn't the last one... :)

 We'll say that the honorable mention awards for my most favorite pictures of 2016 go to the following pictures (and their accompanying memories)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 



 

 

What's Up September

Today I'm skipping Braveloveblog's Blogtember prompt and instead, I'm linking up with Mel, Shay, and Sheaffer for September's What's Up Wednesday post.

 

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

The questions are...

 

What am I eating this week?

I just got back from our annual Staff Retreat at school. We had some amazing food. See?

 

What am I reminiscing about?

Yesterday's Blogtember post was about a recent laugh or cry. I originally planned on writing about my dad and I even found a bunch of pictures to use for it. But, I didn't want to be a total downer. So I decided to go a different route. But it still brought back so many memories. Oh, I so miss him...

What am I loving?

I've been loving this tasty treat this week. Unfortunately, because it cost a small fortune at the American Food Store (yes, that's really it's name) here in Dakar, I'm having to slowly ration its contents and not pig out on it, like I'd like to do. Seriously... If anyone in the land of plenty (that's you, people living in the USA), want to mail me some, send me an email or comment on this post and I'll give you my mailing address. :)

What have I been up to?

Work definitely keeps me busy. But, at the risk of sounding corny and cliche', teaching truly does make me happy. I love that God allows me to do this job. It makes my heart smile :)

 

What am I dreading?

I'm worried that I'm jinxing myself by saying this, but... 

Honestly, I can't think of anything I'm dreading at the moment. That's good. Right? :)

What am I working on?

I've been working on my Berean/Global University courses, preparing me for my Ordination with the Assemblies of God. I just registered for an extension on these classes, giving me until April to get them finished. ...just in time to go to the States this summer and take the Ordination test and sit in the Ordination interview. It's crazy at times to think that it wasn't too long ago that I started this process.

What am I excited about?

My students are super excited for tomorrow. They recently earned their next reward. And they chose for it to be a Pajama Day. ...a day where they could wear their pajamas to school and bring their stuffed animals with them to spend the day :)

And let's be honest. I'm stoked too. Although, maybe not for the same reason... I'm just excited about getting to wear comfy pajama pants all day tomorrow :)

What am I watching?

Lately while my students have been working in their small groups, I've been taking the time to watch their interactions with each other. I'm loving the amazing team work and "family" spirit I'm seeing in my 5th graders. It may have taken them a while to get to this point, but that's ok. They're actually getting it. And that makes this teacher happy :)

What am I reading?

I'm reading Running on Empty by Barbara Bancroft and I'm loving it! It's a book for women in ministry who are feel tired and worn down and feel like they're often "running on empty." And it points them (us) back on the right path of reclaiming our gift of belonging to Christ and being a part of furthering His Kingdom.

What am listening to?

I recently heard "Waiting on the Rain" by Misty Edwards and loved the lyrics!

What am I wearing?

It's BAMA football season. Roll Tide!

What am I doing this weekend?

I'm going with some co-workers to the monthly Farmer's Market here in Dakar. Then we're making a pit stop at the grocery store and maybe stop for lunch too. And also... My friend and I are going to pick up a skirt I ordered way back when from this lady. The long story made (not very) short is that my friend and I ordered skirts from her when we visited her shop the last weekend of May. She took our measurements and we told her we were about to leave for the summer, but we'd be back at the end of July and we'd call her. We then exchanged numbers and went on about our business. Well, about a week later, I'm riding by the area where her shop should be and it's gone. All the shops on that little road were totally gone. ...as in NOTHING there. I called my friend and told her and we both, sadly, assumed something had happened to her. Well, out of no where, my friend gets a call last week from the lady saying that she finally opened her new shop and she has our skirts. So my friend and I have decided to go this weekend and pick them up. And it's only 4 months after we ordered them. And can I be honest? This story is so totally typical to life here, but you know what? I love it!

What am I looking forward to next month?

I have a few fun project ideas planned for my 5th graders. I'm looking forward to implementing those. ...especially because I know how excited they'll be about them :)

What else is new?

It's hot season in Dakar. ...nothing new there. Just thought I'd share that it's hot.

Laughter's good for the soul...

Today I'm linking up with Bailey at Braveloveblog, as part of her annual Blogtember Challenge, where bloggers write/post every single day in the month of September.

Each day Bailey gives a prompt for bloggers to use in writing. 

Today's prompt is...

Tell us about something that made you laugh recently.

In honor of my current stress level being through the roof, I decided to be totally unoriginal and semi-lazy today. So instead of writing a long post, I decided to let Google Images and their awesomeness produce some lovely laugh worthy inspiriation :)

Will Ferrell is hilarious! :)

  

  

A friend sent me this one the other day. I literally LOL'd when I read it :)



These were quite pun-ny. Hahaha ;)

 

This makes me laugh because I do have friends that would probably love this. It also makes me laugh because oh my word, I'd die in this...



No, I definitely do not think gun laws are laughable. What I find laughable is the fact that people think stricter gun laws will prevent shootings. Do you realize that by the very definition of their name, criminals choose not to follow laws in the first place?



Anywho... Back to the funny (and not so serious). This funny one has been floating around for a while. And it always makes me laugh.



Some days I have to laugh because the following memes are so true...

   

  

So what's made you laugh recently?