Lilley of the field

The days ebb and flow- particularly in seasons of business. Aaron has often compared my emotions to that graph/ function thing that goes up and down drastically (I, of course, cannot remember the technical name). The day was full. Full of kids running, my brain running, my legs running. Aaron had told me to leave some things for him to do before everyone came over. The minutes ticked and six o'clock rolled around and there was no sign of his return. So, I hoped off the couch to do those things in record timing that I'd left for him plus the things I was going to do anyways. Slice the bread. Sweep the floors. Vacuum the rugs. Run the dogs around. Cook the sauce. Boil the noodles. Make the bed. Write an email. Then they came. And time slowed and I breathed the fresh aroma of Jesus in the form of community. We sang, we prayed, we read the creation story and let old words sear new life on our hearts. The story we've heard a thousand times. And God said... And it was good....

The emails from the public library were coming into my inbox. Four books total on hold for me. As I checked them out of the library that day, feet sore from a long day, heart heavy, I felt a twinge of guilt thinking that I probably wouldn't read all four books in a month. School had just started. What if there were other people that wanted to turn these pages and here they may be collecting dust on my shelves for a month? I brought them all home anyways. My comfy green couch awaited my presence daily after school. I slid into the corner, curled my feet up on the couch with a pillow in my lap and looked at the stack of books trying to decide which one to start with. My mom recommended each one from her book club, but had raved about  The Language of Flowers  by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. That would be a good place to start. I was more than engrossed after the first page. By the time Aaron had come home from work, I had finished a quarter of the book. In the book, the main char...

I'm not really sure what heaven will be like, but it may look like people of all ages- babies, toddlers, moms, dads, college students, grandmas, and more- gathered around singing praise. It may look more like that worship night we just had that seemed more chaotic than normal simply because there were children. Children. The ones whom Jesus said the kingdom belongs to. Heaven may look like the delight on a grandmother's face as she hold her grandchild close to her heart or the student with their arms lifted high or the mom dancing in the corner or the little boy playing the tambourine off beat. It may look like eyes closed in reverent grace or eyes wide in wild embrace. Of a king who loves to hear his children clap there hands, lift their gaze, and worship unhindered. It's good to worship with children. It's good to laugh at being off beat. It's good to look around at your neighbors while you sing. It's good to not take yourself so seriously sometimes. I...

Welcome to my classroom! I am pretty excited about the way it looks! We themed the outside of our door like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It's so colorful! This is the main part of the classroom.... Thanks Aaron for making that new shelf above the sink! So much more counter space! These are fun chairs I got at Target for $20 each... great sensory chairs for my kids. Teacher area.... never clean really. This is the most organized it may be all year. The arrival/ departure station thingy... The new few pictures are of the sensory room... a small room attached to the main one so my kids can have a sensory break and we also double the space as a changing room. All our changing stuff and feeding stuff is sooooooo organized now... finally! Our daily picture schedules. New month/ date pieces.... love Teacherspayteachers.com My students who are non-verbal communicate with these buttons called Big Macs...

My posts have been less frequent towards the end of this summer, but today is the last official day of my summer so it felt necessary to end it with a blog post. While I was cutting a ton of peaches to freeze this morning, I thought I would include a little haiku I made up- counting syllables and all on my fingers covered in sweet, rich peach juice. Farewell sweet summer. I enjoyed playing with you. See you in a year! Alas, time has flown by. I had a mini freak out moment when I looked at the calendar and saw August first roll around. Why? Mainly because I realized it was time to go back to school and there are all these things I said I would update, redo, and plan during summer for this coming school year and well, not all of those got done. But, I've learned that I will never get all things done. There is grace for the teacher.  However, once my mild freak out subside I had multiple days (which are still continuing) in which I thought quite literally-  I have...

We were gathered together in the dim light of our living room. Huddled together laying hands on 3 friends leaving DCF- one of those leaving our house church after sticking around for 5 years. There were tears slipping from our eyes, faint sniffles, and peaceful smiles. We lifted up prayers and blessings over our friends as they leave this place they've called home for so many years. The large windows facing the street were wide open to outsiders. The blinds were up inviting all eyes to look in upon us. To look upon the most intimate of times for our house church. This is what a house church does. It is a an intimate spiritual family. We laugh together We mourn together. We eat meals. We tell funny stories. We sing songs. We break bread. We pray. We read the Word. We extend grace. We do it in the home- it is a house church after all. Those open blinds invite you into the most vulnerable space I have- my home. It is the place where I say selfish things to my husband, were dust c...