Our beautiful Creator...

Praise be to our Father, the creator of beauty!

Un poco de todo...

It's been entirely too long since I last updated my blog. I do often look at it... thinking that I should write something. I guess if I posted little updated more frequently it wouldn't seem like such an overwhelming task! :-)

I've noticed that it's also difficult to keep up with pictures as I use my laptop, my parents' computer, and the computer at school... rather than having everything in one place like I did in Honduras.



(This is a picture from my first Christmas in Honduras... not related to anything in this blog entry... but it brings a smile to my face! :-))

It's hard to believe that it's already mid March... where did the time go?! I feel like we JUST celebrated Christmas!

Recent happenings:
*I've continued to enjoy getting to know people in my life group (Bible study) and church. It's helped me to feel so much more connected.

*Youth group has been a tremendous blessing, as well. I feel as though I'm getting to know the other leaders and some of the girls that are in my small group. Unfortunately, I've yet to have the same group of girls. I'd love to see some consistency within our group!

*School has been a lot of fun. I really enjoy my teammates and students. I'm enjoying 5th grade much more than I ever thought I would. It's so encouraging to feel like I'm growing as a teacher as the year progresses!

*I'm training for a half marathon.... and have recently increased my miles. It's fun to feel like I'm enjoying running again and also that my endurance is increasing. I think that the May race will probably be a run/walk combo.... and I'm okay with that!

*I've recently met two new friends that have both been huge blessings in my life! Both girls are in my life group and it's been neat to get to know them. One of them is actually running the half marathon with me! :-)

Upcoming happenings:

I'm going to Guatemala over Spring break (in about 2 weeks) and I'm REALLY looking forward to this! I'm excited to get back in Central America, to use my Spanish, to have some quality time with precious friends, and to just get away and travel for a bit!

*I'm running the mini marathon (mentioned above) in early May.

*I'm looking forward to continuing to get plugged into my church and with the youth group. I feel like the Lord is teaching me a lot about what relational prayer looks like (as opposed to just bringing a list before Him) right now and I'm excited about this!

Recent happenings

*HOORAY! I finished my last graduate assignment a few hours ago which means that I unofficially have my master's degree in education! (I'll say it's official once I receive my transcript and degree!)

*I recently finished my first attempt at knitting a hat.... it turned out well... just very small - VeRy small! :-)

*I made bread for the first time, a few days ago; yum! I found a recipe on a really cute site that I was browsing and decided to give it a try. We all enjoyed it with butter and jam!

*We've had snow on the ground all this week. I was leaving for school a few mornings ago and was given the most beautiful present! It was still partially dark but the sun was getting ready to rise. This meant that the sky was orange and pink. The moon was a small sliver and was still visible! And - the trees and snow on the ground were sparkling - really and truly - from the night's frost! What a great giver of gifts our Father is!

*Lastly, I'm going to start helping out with the youth group at my church tomorrow evening. It's been incredible to see how this has come together. I had hoped to get involved with the youth group after finishing my master's degree.... but had not yet started to pursue anything. A couple of people in my life group (small group Bible study) talked to and to the youth director and church.... and the next thing I knew I was being asked to get plugged in.... hooray! The Lord's timing is PeRfEcT as I JUST finished my studies. I feel that I'll be able to fully invest in whichever teens the Lord brings before me! I'm SOOO looking forward to this great opportunity!

B-R-R-R-R-R-R!!!!

So... here's what this week has looked like:

Monday - normal day
Tuesday - 2 hour delay
Wednesday - 2 hour early release
Thursday - called a 2 hour delay the night before... cancelled school Thurs. morning
Friday - cancelled... and this was decided the night before....

Yup... it's cold here! The thermometer says -5 degrees F.... and that's without the wind chill. It's supposed to be -35 tomorrow with the wind chill. YES... that's 35 DEGREES BELOW ZERO... I don't know that I've ever seen such a temperature!

Good-bye to polka dots!

After many attempts at trying to get rid of the polka dots.... I was finally successful! Adios polka dots.... hello cute new blog background! :-)

Ice storm!

So this morning I woke up to find out that school had been cancelled. It was supposed to have been our last day of classes before Christmas break... Merry (early) Christmas to me! :-) Luckily I had given my gifts to my kiddos yesterday... and had wished them a very Merry Christmas just in case we got the ice the weather people were calling for. Turns out.... we did! Here are a few pictures that I just took. (Oh - and on a comical note - a friend and I signed up to run a 5k this evening... yup, it sounded much better two months ago! Not only is it snowy, icy, and cold out... but the lady in charge of the race told me, two days ago, that the race would be held "no matter what"..... So Amy and I will be leaving in about an hour and a half.... to drive 30 minutes away... to slip and slide our way through the "Dashing Through the Snow 5k"! Ha, ha! It should be a good adventure, if nothing else. I'm thinking that we'll at least go there... pick up our shirts... try to run if it's not too slippery.... and then see what happens!)

So... pictures of the ice storm... isn't the Lord's creation beautiful?!

More fun at school!

We were studying kinetic and potential energy... so we brought in toys ("science tools" :-)) to help us learn! (The students also had character presentations... which is why you might see some mustaches and costumes!)