Some of You Folks Take Incredible Photo's

Greetings Everybody,

Wanna send a big shout out to those of you who put up your photos and artwork of nature.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing home renovation projects.

I really dig seeing your crafts and your displays.

But what really catches my eye are the photographs and artwork of animals, sea, snowflakes, mountains, trees, lakes, flowers etc.

Maybe it's because I work around so many people.

Maybe it's because I am craving a bit of travel.

Maybe it's just the way I am wired...but right now, I am contending with energy depletion and energy augmentation.

As much as I love being around people...it takes alot of energy to deal with them.

And generally I get my batteries recharged by looking at nature.

So I want to really truly THANK those of you who put up your photos and artwork with scenery & critters.

Here's a silly little original poem that perhaps makes my point:)

It's Simply Titled: ...

YAY

An Original Poem by Grace

Yay for the Flora & Fauna.

Yay for the Seas & the Hills.

Yay for the Dusk and the Dawn,

For These Scenes are MY Energy Pills! 

lolol...Thanks for posting the artwork & photos

In Him,

Grace

Chocolate Silk Coffee..YUM

Greetings Everybody,
Looking forward to today.
Going to make cake and share it with some friends tonight.


I am excited about this.


Haven't seen them in a while.


And I am thinking how wonderful it will be to have cake and coffee with our pals.


But not just ANY Coffee...one called Chocolate Silk.


If you are a coffee "purist" and detest flavored coffees, then this is NOT for you.


                        But...if you enjoy flavored coffee, this one is outstanding!                 

I Really Dig It

                                             It is a true DESSERT COFFEE.                                           


Better than any Mocha I have ever tried.


Rich, Chocolaty, but not some sugary kids drink...it is DEFINITELY Coffee.


OK then...I see my work here is done lol!


Talk with you guys later :)


In Him,
Grace

I Serve a "Right On Time" God

Greetings Everyone,


Today I want to share the fullness that is in my heart with you.
Over and over and over I keep seeing that God is providing for me and my family.
I look around and there is not 1 single thing that I really need...that I don't have.


There may be WANTS that I don't have.
But WANTS are different than NEEDS.


I continually see the blessings.


But then again, I continually LOOK for the Blessings.


Yes it does have to do with Perspective...I grant you that.


But over and over I find that there is JUST ENOUGH of whatever I need,
or JUST ENOUGH money to GET what I need.
or JUST EXACTLY WHEN WE NEED IT a blessing appears.


-I look in my pantry and there are canned goods.
-I look in my freezer and there is meat.
-I look in my house and there is electricity to run the appliances (and all of them are working right now)...and fresh water...and all the things we tend to take for granted. 


I do not look at my house and see extravagance...and I am glad of that.


-We do not live in a mansion.
-We do not have servants.
-We do not have unlimited cash.
-We are not debt free.


But we have what we need.


-Today I ran out of ink for my printer...but the replacement cartridge was waiting.
-There is gas in both of our vehicles.
-I have all of my asthma medicines.
-We have good doctors.
-We have coats to help us through the winter chill and blankets to cuddle on the sofa 
 with.


I serve a "Right On Time" God.


Right On Time...my blessings are provided.


-The things we really need always arrive Right On Time.
-Not so soon that we never need to exercise our faith, yet not so late that we lose 
 faith either.
-Just when we wonder if things will happen work out exactly as they need to...they 
 do.


And I am so deeply aware that I am blessed.


-Blessed beyond measure...and not by the fact that I have food or wealth or 
 possessions...but rather I feel so blessed because of the fact that I GET IT!
-I SEE THAT GOD IS TAKING CARE OF US.
-And the SEEING is the richest blessing of all.


David felt this way in the old testament...


Psalms 8:3 "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"


-The ability to SEE that...to FEEL that...to KNOW that God is mindful of me, of us..is the real blessing.
-I thank God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ for the Perspective, the Insight, the Discernment, and the Recollection that I did NONE Of THIS on my own.


-HE not Me...
-HE not We...
-HE has provided for ALL of our needs.


I Thank God that we are aware of this.
And once more, I stand amazed in the presence of He Who Created Me
And it brings me to my knees to know that HE loves me and takes such tender care of me and of us.


I assure that my life has not been an easy one in all regards.
I do not speak to you today from the vantage point of one who has never known trials.
I do not speak to you today from the vantage point of one who has been sheltered.


There have been trials.
There have been hardships.
There has been struggle.


-I was NOT sheltered from Adversity.
-But rather, it is BECAUSE of the Adversity that I can now proclaim that God Is In Control.


I am blessed to serve The King.
And I am blessed to KNOW that he will never leave me.


Hebrews 13:5-6 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

   “Never will I leave you;
   never will I forsake you.”

 ⁶ So we say with confidence,

   “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
   What can mere mortals do to me?”

I Serve a "Right On Time" God...do YOU?
In HIm,
Grace

Trapped Inside the Salad Spinner of Life...

Greetings Everybody,


Have you ever in your whole life just announced that for the next 30 seconds you were NOT going to speak, or listen, or do anything?

I did that today.


Looked at my class, then looked at the clock on the wall, then looked back at my class, and then said " I need 30 Seconds of Peace!"


And that for the next 30 Seconds I was Totally Still and Totally Silent.


When I saw that they were looking at me kinda funny, I just closed my eyes.


(Don't panic...my Student Teacher was in the room watching them.  So it wasn't as bad as it sounds lol)


Anyway, I took my 30 Seconds of Peace.


And after it was over... I explained myself.


I told them that this week has been spinning out of control and I just needed to make things STOP.


And  I told them that the only way I knew how to do that was to just FREEZE for about 30 seconds.


BASICALLY...This week has felt like I was...


"Trapped Inside 
the Salad Spinner of LIFE 
while some vicious Genie 
had me on a Permanent Spin Cycle." 

Sometimes ya just gotta reach out and see if you can kick the Genie ...and somehow find a way to hit the STOP button on the thing.


So that's what I did today.


Furthermore, I believe that we need to teach our kids to do that sometimes too.


They need to know how to cope with pressure and deadlines and obligations...while still taking care of themselves physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.


It's a major life skill.


I am glad that they saw me take a wee bit of time to   "re-focus" myself by "un-busy-ing" myself.


Yeah Today I not only kicked the Genie and hit the STOP Button


...I got my sanity back too.


LOL, and if it's all the same to you guys, I think I'll SKIP the Salad option on my supper tonight.


I'm afraid it would seem somewhat "cannibalistic"  in light of my recent escape from the inside of that Salad Spinner. 


Afterall, I WASN'T Alone In There Ya KNOW!!! A few of the other "trapped ones" in there are friends of mine:)LOL


In Him,
Grace

The Right Hand of The Father

Greetings Everybody,
Been pretty busy for the last several days...its been crazy around here.
Lots of family drama going on.
Lots of school drama going on.
Getting that frenzied feeling.
Need to be Still...


So this morning I am returning to TWO of my significant life themes:
-Be Still 
-God's Hand


Psalms 46:10 "⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God..." 
and

Psalms 89:13 "Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted."   

I found this clipart and it just captures what I am feeling today.

I need to stay in HIS HAND today. 
I need to NOT crawl out.
I need to Recognize His Hand in my Life
And I Need to Be Still and Know That HE is God!


IN Him,
Grace

A Blessing Before War

Greetings All,
This Morning I sent an email to my former student who is about to ship off to Afghanistan.(You might recall that I have mentioned her in two other posts)


I sent her my blessing.


                                           I didn't cry when I wrote it.
                                     But perhaps this will explain how I feel.

I am aware of the weight of the words I left on that page.


Those were the words that I want her to remember when she is in the midst of explosions, screaming, all sorts of carnage, and looming death.


I pointed her toward God.


That's the ONLY and the STRONGEST thing I knew to do.


She is about to run headlong right into the face of the biggest ocean of evil & destruction she has ever experienced in her life...and I had to make sure she was carrying her SPIRITUAL LIFE RAFT with her.


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But I am being impacted by her life and can not imagine how the actual parents of our military troops must feel.


Some are vested in generations of military life and have become accustomed to the emotions of sending off loved ones to war.


But how do you REALLY ever get accustomed to sending your baby...the one you nursed, changed, rocked, and held for so many years....how do you EVER get accustomed to sending them into a war?


She is NOT my daughter.


I did NOT raise her.


But the weight of the words I left on the page this morning was significant.


I gave her the words I want her to remember forever
...and the words I wanted to say to her NOW...in case she dies.


It was a long email.


But it boiled down to this....


-I wrote down my pray over her life...and asked God for some specific things for her.


-I told her a few things I wanted her to remember about God and what to SEEK from Him.


-I told her that I was Proud of Her.


-I told her that I Love Her.


After that...what else is there!


We make life so very complicated...but it pretty much comes down to this:


Act Justly
Love Mercy
Walk Humbly With Your God

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy 
   and to walk humbly with your God."
IN HIM,
Grace

I am so ANGRY about this!

Greetings Everyone,
This is going to be a rather difficult post for me to write because I am angry.
I want to post something about what I consider to be a horrible thing that has happened.
And this is one of those reasons why I am writing anonymously, because what I am about to post, could jeopardize my job.


Ok...where to start?
Ahh.
Back on December 12, 2011, I wrote a post labeled "Family C Needs Help Now"


It told the story of a husband and wife, both teachers, who work at my school.
It told the story of how the husband was in the hospital fighting for his life.


He is alive now.
His is at home now.
He is still very very sick now.


He still needs a liver transplant, and if he doesn't get one within the year, he will be dead.


And He is unemployed now.


Yes thats right. 
He was terminated.


I am angry.
I am so very angry.
He had a long career as a teacher.
He was a loyal employee.
But he was terminated.


Terminated people no longer have work related benefits.


You see where this is going don't you???


And the part that makes the MOST angry is not just that he was terminated.
I can almost understand that the school could not go on just putting substitute teachers in his class to cover for him.
I actually DO understand that the students need someone who is proficient and well trained to be teaching them.


But what I am having a MOST difficult time coping with, is that in my opinion, it appears that he was fired because the district didn't want to have their insurance pay for a Liver Transplant.


In my opinion, it appears that he was terminated because he wasn't worth (literally...in dollars and cents) the cost of keeping him on as an employee.


This man was terminated and his wife and his kids had to go clean out his classroom.
They didn't tell him he had been fired until after Christmas.


They had to come into that school building and clear out a whole career and whole lifetime of teaching...and determine what was worthy to keep and what needed to be left to the new teacher...without being able to consult him on any of it.


WHY all the Secrecy?


BECAUSE he was fighting for his life and couldn't cope with ANY more stress than he was already under.


And adding insult to injury...


I am the Trainer for all the new teachers at our campus.
I help them develop their Classroom Management Procedures and Processes.
I coach them on Parent Conferencing and every other area of what they do.


Guess who is having to Train the new Teacher who is taking this mans place.


Thats right ME!


I try to be a moral and ethical person.
I crave God's influence in my life


But I am struggling with this.


I am struggling with this because it causes me to feel unloyal to Family C.
It makes me feel like a traitor.


I owe the new teacher a chance.
The new teacher has done nothing wrong.
It would be wrong of me to withhold support for this new teacher.


But I am angry and I am unhappy about this situation.


I need to remember that God is in control and that the evil one can not thwart the ultimate will of God.


I am tempted to claim  Romans 12:19 "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord."


BUT....
In reality I need to remember 


Matthew 18:21-22 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.' "


This is in God's Hands...and HE in control.
And I need to set my anger down...lest it give the evil one an opportunity in my own soul.


In Him,
Grace

"I Would Like You To Speak At My Funeral"

Greetings Everyone,
Got so many things on my mind and have come to the conclusion that it will take several posts to get what is on my heart expressed.


But for now...let's start with ONE of the things that happened today.


Before I do that, let me take you back to something I posted last month.
It was titled "Student E and Afghanistan"...perhaps you remember it? 


For those of you who did read, it, I suspect the rest of this story will make more sense.


Let me ease any concerns you might already have....she is alive and well.


She will ship out soon.


The Military has been putting those who are about to ship out, through their paces.


And today, during my lunch, she sent me the following email...5 minutes before my next class would walk in the door.


"I leave in 10 days give or take a day. little nervous now. but I know ill be ok. 


love you.  


also, I put you in a packet of information with your number and gave
it to my mom. 

if I were to die, I would like you to speak at my funeral. 

I know its a morbid subject but it had to be done. :] "

She prepared to die TODAY! 

She wrote her "If you are reading this I am dead." letter to her parents TODAY! 

This War is real.

But it got MORE Real for me Today.

Teaching is real.

But the knowledge that I impacted her life got MORE Real for me Today.

And it humbled me.

It was God Almighty who placed that babygirl in my class to begin with.

And it was God Almighty who opened the door for me to help her.

And I am humbled to know that I was used by The King!

God, Please Keep Her Safe and Bring Her Back Whole In Every Way.

BTW... I agreed to speak at her funeral.  Of COURSE I agreed to speak at her funeral.

But I had a hard time teaching my next class with this on my mind.

In Him,

Grace

The Safe and Happy Vibe

Greetings,
Doing a little Think Aloud  today while I sip my 2nd Cuppa.


OK...so the last time I posted anything about the junk room, we were still calling it The Junk Room.


However, it has now officially been transformed into The Grandkids Room.


At present, there is a changing table, a small 3 drawer chest of drawers, and 1 assembled baby bed.


We will be putting the other one together soon and getting two new mattresses & mattress covers.


Now to be honest, not ALL of the junk is completely out of the room yet. 
There is still some unsorted clutter on one wall...but there is probably only about 30-45 minutes worth of sorting still left to do on that.


Getting this room squared away was my big goal for the week after Christmas.
Here's what's been done so far:


-I dedicated 1 whole day to cleaning it by myself and also got the walk in closet all squared away. 
-Hubby took the next shift and gave it a whole day too.
-Between us, we sorted through, culled out, tossed away, & donated a ton of stuff.
-Hubby moved the baby furniture into the room.
-I put away all the little Thrift Store baby items after they were washed, cleaned, steamed and sanitized.


I felt so spiffy when I was able to put the little baby items in the chest of drawers.  


It was really cool.


Not sure when we will get the mattresses...probably this coming weekend.


And yes I will bring in one of my rockers and put a little table with a lamp in there.


Gotta have a place to rock a baby right?

And I still need to get different curtains in there.

White lace curtains are there now, but I need something that will darken the room a bit more when needed.

Something calming...probably something blue
I think sunlight being filtered by dark blue fabric would look peaceful...perhaps Nap Invoking?


One day soon we will need to baby-proof the house.
Plastic plugs in all electrical sockets, gizmo's to secure the low cabinets with chemicals, etc etc etc.


And we need to get our OWN baby monitor set so the kids don't have to wag theirs over when we babysit.


Lots to do in the future


But it doesn't all have to be done right now.  


Soon, but not right now.


For now, getting at least ONE baby bed completely ready is all that has to be done.


Ya know...It's alot more relaxing doing this as a grandmother than it was when I was The Mommy.


I am not compelled to have The Perfect Nursery.


Just want a safe, comfortable, user-friendly space for the kids to Sleep and eventually Play.


I am really diggin' the notion of being the "Prepared Grandmother".


Can't wait to see what the room will finally look like when we get the mattresses, put on the sheets, tie on the bumper pads.


It will not look like a Magazine Photo-Shoot Nursery.


And I really don't want it to.


We are the grandparents...and this is NOT a competition.
I'm just going for the Safe & Happy Vibe with this room.


And I am betting that the babies will LOVE coming to Grandmaw's House because of that.


Looking back, I never had MY own room at MY Grandparents Houses.


But it would have certainly been COOL if I had.


Pretty Sweet Huh!


In Him,
Grace