TTMMST

• students silently working twice today! (Thanks to code solving and Adventures in Odyssey)
• seeing Lael, Steve, and Baby Jake!
• eating the first corn on the cob of the season! YUMMO!!

TTMMST (things that made me smile today)

• our librarian saying they could come up with more "f" words for the teacher bulliten board (she did not intend it to come out THAT way!!)
• getting three pretty things in the mail from the new addiction in my life (etsy)
• CANUCKS!!!

It's easy being green!

Summer

23 teaching days left in the school year, and I am SO ready for this year to be over. It has been a hard year. The kids have tested me, challenged me, and gave me a new perspective on teaching. I have learned that:

teaching is not always about what I want for them, or where I want them to end up,
teaching is being present in the moment, and not worrying about the end result.
teaching is about sometimes letting go of expectations (for yourself and your students), and just taking one or two steps forward and being ok with that.
teaching is about giving your all, and not expecting anything back, and being surprised and grateful when you can see the impact you are having (especially on  those days when it seems nothing is pentrating the fog)
teaching is about relying on God to get you through
teaching is about learning when to ask for help, and learning who to ask as well.
teaching is a journey of beginnings and ends. Sometimes you can't wait for the beginning and sometimes you can't wait for the end, but it's also remembering that the journey itself is important.

Just a few of the things I have learned....

Now for Canucks hockey, sunshine, and a long weekend ( what makes me smile today!)

Things that made me smile today...

• spending a lot of time outside
• stone soup reactions
• freezies
• meeting Jacob Kazen Dyck!! What a cutie!!!
• a well toasted bagel

Things that made me smile today...

• SUNSHINE!!!!
• Getting things in the mail
• CANUCKS!! (whether they win or lose!)
• Cooking on my own stove in my own house (kinda obvious but it's been a while....)

things that made me smile today...

• sunshine!!!
• word of a baby coming into the world, finally!!
• former students still able to make me laugh and remember inside jokes!
• another playoff game to look forward to!

Things that made me smile this weekend...

• being told I read with potential... (the word he was looking for was expression)
• being able to help my mom out
• traces of sun
• a normal week (as normal as a week can be at LCS)

things that made me smile today

• getting a big hug from a student
• finishing another performance
• colleagues that listen to you when you complain
• an almost normal day

Things that made me smile today

• devotions being done
• breaks of sun through all the cloud
• a student looking a true or false question that said "a duck says moo" and saying under his breath "come on! what kind of question is that?"
• Smart Pop: Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn
• Finding a missing library book!

things that made me smile today...

• a hot shower
• hard working students
• a wunderbar; "a peanut butter caramel experience!"
• a Canucks victory!

30 things I know to be true, at the age of 30.....

So it's my birthday, and I thought that I would amaze myself with a brilliant list of 30 things that I know to be true about me and life in general. (in no real order, just whatever I thought of) I hope I don't get too cliche on ya.

1) God is our rock, redeemer, and breath. He is always there for us and always will be.

2) We are truly messed up people, but we have to be OK with that. Who wants to be perfect anyway?

3) We will never please everyone.

4) Sarcasm IS a second language and some don't speak it, or understand it, which can get awkward!

5) We may not be satisfied with our physical appearance, but we can't change all the things that we don't like, so we need to learn to love ourselves for who we are, not for who we want to be.

6) READ. Expand your mind and enhance your conversational skills.

7) Friends are important. Being alone is not fun.

8) Family is not who you are related to by blood or marriage, they are the people you love and allow to love you.

9) No matter what horrors are in your past, God is the great healer of heart, mind, and soul.

10) No one can tell you who you are or who you should be. Life is a one man show, you are the actor, God is the writer, director, and producer.

11) 30 is a scary number. 40 is scarier. 100 is old!!

12) Dishes and cleaning won't do themselves, but going for a walk or spending time outdoors is more important, and the cleaning can be done when it rains.

13) Kids are funny, annoying, and sweet. Some days they are more of one than the others.

14) Be careful with your words, they have a lot of power.

15) Food is AWESOME!! Celery and water is NOT a meal!!

16) Laughing loudly is a great cure for a lot of things.

17) Freshly laundered sheets and a comfy bed are as close to heaven as one can get.

18) Just because you have power, doesn't mean people will respect you.

19) Respect is earned, it cannot be demanded. You get respect by being authentic and humble.

20) Sometimes drawing attention to yourself is a good thing, sometimes it is not.

21) Pick your battles.

22) Hockey is a national sport for a reason.

23) Some people are crazy, if its a good kind of crazy, let go and join them.

24) Don't take life too seriously, it's SO not worth it, we won't be here for very long anyway.

25) Full length mirrors were invented for a reason.

26) Magnifying mirrors are not cool!

27) Everyone is beautiful, valuable, and worthy of love and respect.

28) Music can make you dance, smile, cry, or bring you to your knees in worship

29) I'm not as smart as I think I am.

30) Age is just a number, really, it is how you act and feel. Sometimes you need to act older, sometimes, you act your age, and sometimes you need to act like a kid.

So there you go! It may not seem all that noteworthy to you, but it was fun to write.