What's Up October

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?

Look what goodness made its way from America, courtesy of a super sweet co-worker. Oh Reese's pumpkins/trees, you are so amazingly delicious. Seriously... You are the best. You're definitely my favorite!

 And on Sunday morning after church, some friends and I went out for lunch to a new (well, recently moved/renovated) Lebanese restaurant. It was so good!


 

What am I reminiscing about?

I've been thinking a lot about my dad lately. It's a bit crazy for me to think that he's been gone for 4 1/2 years, already. But even after all that time, I still miss being able to call/email him and ask a question. ...especially a question about the Bible, his area of expertise. So, while thinking about this a couple weeks ago, I wrote a blog post on me thinking about my dad. If you missed it, you can read it HERE.

What am I loving?

I rearranged my living room last week. And I like it. It feels so much more open. Plus, there's a nice breeze these days. So I enjoy opening up the windows and taking advantage of that, as well.

What have I been up to?

Work :)

What am I dreading?

Nothing to be honest...

What am I working on?

I'm now pulling a handful of Kindergarteners each morning. And I must say... I am thoroughly enjoying it. These little ones are so much fun. They are full of energy. But they are so smart and funny. And let's face it... Between them and the others I teach, I get lots of practice in making the face of the image below ;)

What am I excited about?

My class is almost whole again. One of my guys will be returning in the next day or so. And then our little "family" will be complete again. And oh my word, y'all... I am so, totally and completely, over the moon excited! Seriously... I get teary eyed every time I think of it. I'm just so excited! :)

What am I watching?


Very little...

What am I reading?

I finally gave up on "Calvin" by F. Bruce Gordon. I was definitely interested/intrigued by the life of Calvin, I did not enjoy the rest of the book. It was full of historical background on life in Europe at the time. Anywho -  This past weekend, I read  "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson. It was a tough read, due to the emotion-producing content it contained. But it was still a really good book. And now, I'm reading "Aristotle's Children" by Richard Rubenstein. I'm only a little ways in, but so far I'm really liking the book.

What am I listening to?

Nothing new... Any suggestions?

What am I wearing?

It's Spirit Week at school this week. So we're dressing up in different themes each day. Yesterday was Superhero Day. So I chose to go at SuperTeacher ;)

What am I doing this weekend?

I'm going to the Fall Play at my school on Friday night. And then, per my usual, I'll spend Saturday at home in "rest" mode (physical rest and spiritual rest). Then on Sunday, I'll do my usual Sunday Planning for the week ahead in my classroom. And I'll be baking a few dozen cookies at some point, as well, as my contribution to our Youth Group's snack for the week.

What am I looking forward to next month?

I'll be skipping Thanksgiving celebrations. And instead, I will be heading out to village about 8 or 9 hours from us, ministering to people through Bible lessons, songs, skits, puppets, and so much more. My Drama Team is super excited. And while the thought of sleeping on the ground and losing good quality lesson planning time doesn't necessarily thrill me, the thought of a weekend full of ministry like this definitely does thrill me. I'm so excited to see what God has in store for that weekend!

What else is new?

I got one new student 2 weeks ago. And I found out I'm getting yet another new student next semester. Combine that with the ones I already had, and my guy who's returning tomorrow, and we have a full room. It's so exciting to see how God's blessed this class over the years, with such incredible growth! I love it!

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

What about you?

What are YOU up to this month?

Coffee Date

Happy Wednesday Y'all 

This month's Coffee Date post is, ironically, all about coffee...

So grab a cup and let's settle in for a chat.

Recently, while chatting with a friend from back home, I told her...

I wish I liked coffee.

I'm an early riser. I always have been. 

Any day I can sleep later than 5:30, I call it sleeping late.

In fact, most days I'm wide awake (whether intentional or not) by 4:45 or 5:00. My alarm is set at 5:30 during the week. But for some reason, my brain just does not like waiting 'til 5:30. 

And honestly, I don't mind. I study my Bible. I do my morning devotions. I pray. I read. I eat breakfast. I do any cleaning/dish washing that needs to be done. I have plenty of time to get ready each day. And then I like to also get to work early each morning to do any last-minute prep for the day at hand. It's just nice to have enough time to do stuff like that AND time to relax before starting my work day every day. Plus, I love not having to run around, rushing to get everything done in the mornings.

So anywho - Back to the chat I had with my friend...

I told her that I wished I liked coffee, knowing it's nice to have a little bit of caffeine to give me that boost of energy I need when I start feeling like I need a nap around 9:30 or 10 each day...

I'm a big fan of tea and Dr. Pepper. But I'd prefer my tea to be sweet and well, Dr. Pepper tastes good, but we all know it's not the best for you (me). 

Thus - The desire to like coffee...

I've drank 2 cups of coffee in my life. One was during college when I had a night class that ended at 8. Then I got stuck in traffic (behind a train) on my way home. So I realized I had no choice but to down as much caffeine as possible or I wouldn't make it safely home. And the other was while driving the 4 hours home after speaking at a church one summer. Same reason... 

And both times?

My friend has made it her mission to change my mind towards coffee. 

She sent me a link to THIS article.

And she's been sending me all sorts of random coffee cuteness too :)

So here's my question, y'all...

Has anyone's taste buds changed, over the years, towards coffee?

Any suggestions on how I could learn to like coffee?

Or should I just give up and just stick with good ol' Dr. Pepper :) 

 

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The Coffee Date series was started by Erin from Erin Salmon Writes, as a fun blogging exercise each month. And while, Erin doesn't actually host the Coffee Date link-ups anymore, I still think it is fun to share my own Coffee Date post each month. The premise of these Coffee Date posts was, and it still is for me, to pretend that I am on a coffee date with you, my reader, as a friend, and we are chatting about whatever is on our minds at the moment.

So with that said...

What about you?

If we were on a coffee date, what would YOU share with me?

Thinking about My Dad

For those who are new to my blog, this is my dad.

He passed away 4 1/2 years ago.

And I've been thinking a lot about him lately. 

My dad was a pastor for the majority of my life. He knew the Bible like it was the back of his hand. So he was my "go-to" when I had questions about the Bible. 

And lately, as I study The Word, participate in a Bible Study with some friends, and even when I prepare my lessons to teach my students in Bible class... Well, I keep coming up with questions about all sorts of things.

And I know there are plenty of people I can ask (and have asked, already). 

But, still... 

It's still so hard to not have my dad around to ask these things.

I miss that.

I miss him.

And so that got me thinking.

I saw a quote on Facebook that said something to the effect of...

When I get sad because I miss you, I just think to myself, I'm so lucky to have someone so great to miss.

And that's true.

I am so lucky to have a dad so wonderful that I do miss him so much.

And yes, it's more than luck.

I'm blessed.

I'm blessed to have had 29 years with my dad.

I'm blessed to have been able to sit and listen to all of those sermons.

I'm blessed to have been able to receive all of that advice over the years.

I'm blessed to have been able to call/email him, even from an ocean away, to ask him all of those questions about the Bible.

I'm blessed to still have verses in my Bible, highlighted, as a reminder of the last sermon I ever got to hear him preach.



I'm blessed to have so many memories of (with) my dad.

So yes, every time I think of a question I wish I could ask him, I'll remember... I'll remember just how lucky (blessed) I am to have had this man as my dad.

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Today, I'm joining Erika, Andrea, and Narci and for their weekly Friday Favorites linkup and talking about one of my favorite people - my Dad.

Click one of their names to and join the favorites fun, too.

Do It Again by Elevation Worship

Today, on my mind, is a song...

 


At one of the churches I spoke at towards the beginning of the summer, the Worship Team sang the song, Do It Again, by Elevation Worship. And since this church has two services each Sunday, I got to hear it (live) twice. When I left the church, I turned on the radio and I heard it again. Then, later, I spoke in another church whose Worship Team sang that song. And then, again and again, I’d hear it on the radio.

So fast forward to a few weeks ago.

I’m in Dakar. School's over, but I'm working in my classroom, with my worship music playlist on shuffle and what song comes on, but this same song... And this time, I stopped and really listened to the lyrics...

Walking around these walls
I thought by now they'd fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle's won
For You have never failed me yet

 

I have this mental picture of Joshua and the people of Israel walking around the walls of Jericho. Think of how many times they ended up walking around those walls. Surely by the middle of it, people were thinking...

 

Walking around these walls
I thought by now they'd fall

 

  Yet, they kept going and didn't give up. 

 

 I also thought of my dad, who fought for 10 years, against a sickness that ultimately took his life. My dad struggled during those years. And I know there were times when it got tough to do so, but he never stopped fighting. 

 

But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle's won
For You have never failed me yet

 

In those two examples, alone, I'm reminded of God's faithfulness...

 

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I'm still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You've never failed me yet

 

I love the last line of the chorus.

 

This is my confidence, You've never failed me yet

I love knowing that I can always place my confidence in God. He's never failed me. And I know He never will. I know I can be confident in Him.

 

I know the night won't last
Your Word will come to pass
My heart will sing Your praise again
Jesus, You're still enough
Keep me within Your love
My heart will sing Your praise again

 

When I was a little girl, I hated the night time. I was constantly in fear of the dark and of having nightmares. It was such a scary time, almost every single night. My parents would pray with me, sing praise songs with me, hold my hand 'til I fell asleep, and let me always use a bright night light. But nothing helped. There was something about the dark, scary night.

At some point, though, I remember hearing God's sweet voice saying to me, "The night won't last forever. Morning will be here soon." And that stuck with me.

 

I know the night won't last
Your Word will come to pass

Think of all the promises of God in Scripture. 

Over and over again, our Heavenly Father has promised us good and wonderful things. He has promised to always love us and care for us, to guide us and teach us, to lead us and prepare us. 

The night might be scary/difficult.

The difficulties of life might scary/difficult.

But the morning is coming.

But the promises of God - the Truth in His Word - will come to pass. 

 

I've seen You move, come move the mountains
And I believe, I'll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no wayAnd I believe, I'll see You do it again

 

 God has done so much for me.

He's moved those (figurative) mountains. And because I have seen it happen time and time again, I can totally, 100% believe I'll see Him do it again.

It's like in Isaiah 63:7a...

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord...

 

I can recount the ways God's show His love to me over the years. I can remember all the many ways He has helped me and protected me, loved me and shielded me... I can count the ways He's stood with me. 

 

Because just as the song says in the end...

 

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I'm still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed

 

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I'm still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed me yet

 

And You never failed me yet
I never will forget 

You never failed me yet

And I never will forget

I'm not dealing with any "mountains" right now. And I've had this post in "draft" mode, ready to go for a few weeks. I just haven't felt ready to publish 'til today. So whether this is for someone else or if it's for myself to read in the future, I don't know.

 

All I do know is the reminders of God's faithfulness and love...

 

The reminders of God's promises being fulfilled...

 

They're all a good thing to remember over and over again.

 

 Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I'm still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You've never failed me yet

 

I can be confident in God because He's never failed me.

 

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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.

If you missed my previous Tuesday Talk posts this year, you can click on the links below to check each of them out.


January - Introduction to Me

February - The Little Things

 March - You Might Be A Special Ed Teacher If...

April - Spring Break in America

May - Home Assignments  

June - He's here.

* No post in July *

August - A Lesson on God's Provision and Love

September - Who Holds the Future

Jesus wept.

Jesus wept.

Two simple words.

Yet, no matter how simple they may be, they're also quite powerful.

Jesus wept.

In John 11, we start off reading about how sick Lazarus was. Lazarus' sisters were, understandably, worried. So they sent for Jesus. In verse 4, we read that Jesus,  responded, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

Jesus acknowledges that Lazarus is sick. 

But that's just it.


He's just sick. He's not going to die.
- per Jesus' own words

Eventually, Jesus made His way to Mary and Martha and Lazarus. 

In verses 14 and 15, we read Jesus' words to His disciples... "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe..."

At this point, Jesus knows Lazarus is dead.

But Jesus also knows that Lazarus will live again.

In fact, a few verses prior (verse 11), Jesus had told His disciples "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him."

Eventually, Jesus has made His way to where they were. And at this point, both Martha, and later Mary, told Jesus...

"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

And at verse 35, we see that powerful, 2-word, verse...

"Jesus wept."

This is a key verse.

Think about it this way...

This short, two-word sentence holds quite the emphatic point.

It could have easily been joined with the verse before/after it.

But, there it is, standing alone...

Jesus wept.

 There is something profound about the act of Jesus weeping.

There are multiple reasons to explain why Jesus wept.

Whatever the reason, though, it shows one thing...

Jesus cared.

And yes, Jesus did, in fact, go on to raise Lazarus from the dead - just as He had said would happen towards the beginning of this chapter.

So what's the point of this post?

There's a lot of pain and hurting in the world.

In the last few months, I've heard of so many family, friends, students, and co-workers whose loved ones have passed away.

I know people who are struggling with a number of issues.

I know people who have lost their jobs.

I know people who are battling major illnesses.

I know people who are spreading the gospel in dangerous locations.

 And a few nights ago, as I (figuratively) cried out to God, praying for so many of those people mentioned above, I asked why...

Why do we have to deal with this stuff?

Why can't life be easier?

Why can't we NOT have to deal with the sad/scary stuff?

Why is there a life with tears? 

And yes, I realize the silliness of that. 

But, it was at that moment that God so sweetly spoke to me, saying...

Jesus wept.

Jesus wept. 

Jesus acknowledged the emotions of the moment and He wept.

So why can't we weep over the things that make us sad?

 And yes, I know we can learn from these things. I know we can see God's hand at work in these things. I know we can see God's love, even in the middle of the painful times. I truly do know all of these things.

But I also know that sometimes, it's okay if before we learn the lesson we're to learn, we go ahead and weep as a result of those big emotions. After all...

Jesus wept.

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FYI ... I use the English Standard Version (ESV) for all scripture references in this post. Also, I feel like I should say that I am, by no means, a Biblical scholar. I'm just a person who loves reading the Bible and loves learning what I can from God through the pages in His Word.

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Today, I'm joining Erika, Andrea, and Narci and for their weekly Friday Favorites linkup, even if I am a day late. I just thought it'd be fun to share some a bit about a lesson I'm learning from my favorite book of all time - The Bible.

Click one of their names to and join the favorites fun, too.

Thoughts on a Thursday

Happy Thursday Y'all

I thought I'd share a few things that are on my mind at the moment.

~ one ~

This week is Senegalese Appreciation Week at my school. It's such a great reminder of a lot of the good that this country we all call "home" has to offer. It's a nice time to step back and be reminded of what we love most about Senegal. Plus, it makes for a week full of fun activities for our students and staff. I'm so thankful for the years I've lived in Senegal. I definitely appreciate this adopted "home" of mine :)

~ two ~

One of my students has a class period where it's just me and him. Due to a school-wide schedule change, we couldn't do what we'd originally planned. So he asked if we could go to the library and read. So that we did for the last half of our class time together. We sat on the comfy couch and he read through his entire book of Star Wars characters to me. And when we left the library, he hugged me and then said he had the "best time ever." I realize this is so small, in the scheme of things. But it clearly made an impact on him. So, I'm saying it's a win in my book.

~ three ~

And speaking of books... I'm reading a book about the life of Calvin. It was on the "new books" display in our school library for a while. So I grabbed it. I am finding myself more and more intrigued by Calvin's formative years. It's actually becoming quite fascinating. I'm sure I'll have more to share once I get further along in the book. But for now, I'd have say that I really am enjoying the book and learning more about this man's life.

~ four ~ 

Fall in the US is my most favorite time of year. It’s so beautiful outside. The leaves are changing colors. The weather is nice. Temps are dropping. I really enjoy it all. And I do totally miss it when I’m here in Senegal. So seeing this fun display in the office, hand-painted/decorated by one of our staff members, is a treat.

~ five ~

I have a new student coming on Monday. Then I have another student (who’s been with me the last few years) starting back at the end of the month. That’ll bring my total to...

* 8 students 

* 5 grades 

* 10 lessons a day to plan

(15 at the end of Oct.)

*1 truly AMAZING “assistant” teacher

* no prep period 

(Lunch will be my only “free” pd. starting Monday.)

It’s a lot. 

But I do so love what I do. 

I’m blessed to work with these incredible kids.

I don’t take this opportunity lightly.