Lilley of the field

Nutshells and praises: 1. WE GOT iPADS! NOT JUST ONE, BUT TWO! Moral of the story, ask, ask, ask, and you shall recieve. Back in April, I applied through our district for a grant for 2 iPads. We got turned down and I thought, "Really? A special needs class? We could use it more than anyone." But since we only asked for 2 and most classroom teachers asked for 8-10, they decided to buy us 2 to keep permanently in our classroom... way better! I am so pumped up! It is going to be amazing for my students. 2. I laughed alot this week. I love my assistants. 3. One of my students has had a lightbulb come on this week. He is non-verbal and struggles auditorally to listen and answer questions. All of a sudden this week he has been answering questions during our ELA time by touching the right answer on the smartboard. He has been "singing" with us during calendar as well- he does talk a little, but only says the first syllable of words... and that only started last year! A...

relax. I can spell it. relax. I know what it means. relax. Can I do it? eh... sometimes :) Well today I did. After our special ed meeting I thought about going back to school for about an hour. And then I thought, "nope." I am taking time to do something I enjoy. Not something for school, not something on my to-do list at home, not even something for Aaron, not something for dcf. Does this sound selfish? I'm not sure, but I do know from experience we just need to take time to enjoy life. I am not going to let my years teaching pass me by always crossing things off my to-do list and thinking about the next thing I need to do at school. So what did I spend about 2 hours doing today? Making pesto. TONS of it. Sound relaxing to you? It was to me. It felt so cool outside and a gentle rain was falling from the sky. I just sat next to our garden watching cars pass by and picking basil from our enormous bush enjoying the fresh smell of the herb. There's something about th...

I am going to try to write these "weekly nutshells" to remind myself of things that happened and most importantly the good things that happen.... you can't forget those good things as a special education teacher. My week in a nutshell: One of my assistants was out the first 3 days of school. We had no sub Tuesday, and a sub Wednesday and Thursday. One person out for the day= crazy days. First week of school+person out for the day= CRAZY DAYS!!! First cry of the year... BUT only one cry this week... that's a step up from everyday last year :) Made some positive schedule changes. Snack in the morning instead of evening.  Had my first student who is on a feeding tube (we are going to be best friends with the nurse by the end of the year because she's coming in multiple times a day!) House church was moved to 6:30 instead of 7:30... Hallelujah!  I got a new students. What?! That makes 11 in a TMD special ed classroom. That's almost unheard of. I had to ...

Aaron came home to meet me today and gave me a big kiss and said, "One day down." I said, "And 179 to go!" Yep, today the students came. It was a pretty good day. A little chaotic seeing as one of my assistants was out due to surgery and we didn't get a sub. But everyone got home safely and happily so I was happy. I am so pumped up about this year. Now I understand when teachers say the second year is way better than the first. It's so true. Things aren't catching me by surprise. I don't have to ask someone else where to find something or how to print something. I am so thankful. God has given me so much strength and confidence. I know this is where He wants me. These are His beautiful children that He has graciously given to me. I thought it would be fun to show some pictures of my classroom here. I am "owning" it this year. I organized it much more and was able to decorate in some ways I didn't get to last year. Here is a v...

T-4 days until the kiddos come. Crazy mode starting in 3, 2, 1. Ready. Go. Last year, I learned the hard way. Not only is it important to prepare for my classroom, at my classroom, but in my home. Here are some things I've done to prepare: 1. Freezer meals!! For the last 4 weeks, I have cooked 1 freezer meal a week including chili, soup, Hamburger pie, and something else I can't remember right now. We probably have about 12 meal worth. 2. Laundry. All of it. Sheets and comforter included. (Well maybe you change your sheets really often like you're supposed too... but if you're me... well... I won't tell how long I let them go...) 3. Say NO to everyone asking you anything. Ok, that's not exactly what I do, but it would be helpful if I did. But I did tell some people I couldn't do things for the next couple of weeks. 4. Paint toe nails. It just makes me feel better. 5. Buy enough groceries to last for 2 weeks!! It's possible (at least for 2 peo...

Not to toot my own horn... but this could have been served in a Thai restaurant in my opinion. Now, I wouldn't call myself a Thai food connoisseur, but this is some really good stuff. And easy too. Dinner was made in 30 minutes and it would serve 4 people. 2 chicken breast, cubed 1 can coconut milk 1 large clove garlic, minced 1/4 onion, chopped few shakes of cumin seed, turmeric, and curry powder (the more the better probably) little bit of soy sauce 1 1/2 T. peanut butter 4 leaves basil, chopped Saute garlic and onion in olive oil. Add chicken. Cook about 10 minutes. Add spices. Add coconut milk. Add soy sauce and peanut butter. Warm up and serve. Sprinkle some fresh chopped basil on top and wah lah! We put it over sauteed cabbage and jasmine rice. I wish I had a picture, but you'll have just to use your imagination.

"You will keep in perfect peace..." -Isaiah 26:3 It's been my second day back to work for pre-planning days. While I am actually quiet excited, I've been so emotionally up and down the past 2 days. I was so joyful yesterday morning after our district kick-off and welcome. I love to work in a place that really celebrates their employees and also mourns with them. One of our teacher passed away this summer. It can really be a family. But the whole day was filled with meetings and by the end I was drained and had a headache. I came home and was just mean and grouchy. I felt no peace. I was frustrated, because my day had started off so well. I read a note left on our counter by a friend whose boyfriend stayed the night with us. We had told them to have a quiet breakfast at our house by themselves since we would be at work. We know how hard it can be to get alone time when you long distance date :) They said that they felt such "tangible slowness and peace," ...

True friends= telling you to change the font on your blog because it's a little hard to read. Thanks Jordan and Julie. Is this better?   :)

Aaron and I have entered into a major phase of redoing our guest bathroom. I know why Jesus says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Not that we're even that rich, but we have a home so I realize we have much more money than most people in the world by that alone. I don't want to store up for myself treasures on earth so that poses the question: since we do have money, how do we use His money to bring glory to His name? For one, we love hosting people and so we searched around in January and found our current home which has plenty of space, but also needs plenty of work. We don't want our home to be a four walled structure to serve just our needs, but to serve the needs to our community. Living in a college town we are excited to have a place where people can come for a home cooked meal, where people can feel safe, find refuge, find an ear to listen, find a quiet place to rest, find lots of laughter, and to have people stay with us for a few nights o...

"As it [meditation] is the sister of reading, so it is the mother of prayer." -William Bridge I have a book called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney. It probably sounds very dry to many people. And actually I wouldn't really know either because until the other day I'd only read one chapter from it on fasting. That chapter has really changed the way I view fasting. I think it is something that our culture does not understand or appreciate because we can always have what we want immediately, but fasting gives complete control over the most basic necessities over to God. But I decided to read the chapter on prayer yesterday. What I was so struck to the core by was it's tie to mediation. Another thing that our culture rarely discusses. Meditation is allowing something to fill our minds so much that it transforms our hearts. We often say that we "worship" other things besides God- which I know is true for me, but I realize...

I got the craving to bake tonight. I was feeling restless and thought, "Well I'll bake on this gray evening and listen to some wonderful music." I should also tell you we bought groceries last Saturday together and are trying to make it 2 weeks without going to the grocery store. That can be a difficult feat since Bi-Lo is literally a walk from our house. So we are getting down to the last things in our fridge... hope we can make it to the weekend. So I felt like cookies would be a good option since we just ran out of ice cream. Terrible, I know. Well all the regular recipes call for 1 c. butter. That's absurb. Two sticks butter? Not only is that too much butter, but we don't have 2 sticks currently. But... we did have cottage cheese, which I put in our banana bread the other day and it was delicious. So here are my healthy chocolate chip cookies. I will compare the measurements to the regular cookie measurement on the back of a Laura Lynn chocolate chip bag. ...

An interesting article that I stumbled upon today about fatherhood (no, we are not expecting or trying!). But I found it extremely interesting nonetheless and thought I'd share. The title sounds strange, but I assure you it's good. (It's the strange title that caught my attention). Why Men Can't Have it all

Nope, this isn't a post about marriage despite the post title. BUT it is about Jesus who loves us in sickness and in death. Today, I was reading a story the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. A pretty well-known story from the bible (I almost wrote "common" story, but it is anything but common!). But today, I feel like God showed me something new about this passage. So I'll try to start with a brief summary. _________________________________________________________________      Lazarus is very sick and Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that he is sick.  Jesus says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory  so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”   Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus."  (vs. 5-6)     But then, Jesus surprises everyone and stays where he is. Finally, four days after Lazarus has died, Jesus comes to visit Mary and Martha.    “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “...