Playing Paper!

With the dream of leaving the States one day to do full-time mission work, I'm cracking down on my budget to completely pay off my student loans (I'm doing the hard-core cash envelope system). My generous and creative sister, Amber, inspired me to make a cute envelope system, which makes budgeting so much more enjoyable! Thanks to Columbus, I was able to play paper and complete this project today.

It all started with paper and ribbon.

 

(my car- the one with endearing hail damage)

And done!

                                  

My Mission

It was my seventh grade year when God planted a passion within me for mission work. While reading Catherine Marshall's book Christy, a yearning within me grew to become a missionary, to teach underprivileged (as well as missionary) children, and to share Jesus with them. My life, thus far, has been directed in such a way to make this dream a reality. Beginning college majoring in Missions, later turned into a major in Education, which then quickly changed into Speech-Language Pathology. My education and career choices have all been preparation for my dream of teaching on the "mission field".

Having been raised in a missions-minded family I've been taught to consider where I am... right now... as my "mission field"- and I have always taken that seriously. I believed that God had purposes for me in my school district when I accepted the position to serve this elementary school as a speech-language pathologist. As challenges arise, however, and as difficulties in life occur, and as stress surpasses manageable levels, it is easy to become discouraged and lose sight of the "bigger picture" of the work that I'm doing in the lives of my precious children. And it was a time like this, when I needed some confirmation that God had chosen me to work at my school with my children to further His kingdom.

So, God sent me to Ecuador. Since last December, I've been searching for an opportunity to GO and to go ANYWHERE for the summer of 2012! After several mission trip opportunities fell-through for the summer, and after June and July nearly passed, a trip to Ecuador was finally planned. While journeying across the country of Ecuador, and experiencing a few days worth of the food and culture, I "scouted-it-out" as a possible country to serve full-time in the near future doing mission work. The experience was great, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to see Geoff and Jamie in this country they love so dearly!  

But, immediately upon my arrival back to the States, it became so clear to me that Ecuador is not my "mission field". My heart is with my kids... MY kids... at MY school. This is my mission. This is where God has called me for now. I'm providing speech-language services to special education students who need a voice, and who need someone to love them, and who so desperately need to experience the mercy and love of our great God. And that's what I get to do! I get to love them as Christ loves me!

My Hair Is Found

For those of you who have been wondering... my hair was found and there was much rejoicing!!! Thank you, Aunt Laura! When my uncle picked me up from the salon, the bag of hair must have slipped out of my purse. Whew! Now I can enjoy Meredith's incredible cut/style without lamenting my long lost locks.

My Hair

One of my favorite scenes in Little Women follows the devastating telegram informing the March family that their father is ill. Marmie is desperately needing the funds for the trip to visit her husband in the hospital in Washington and has resorted to borrowing money from the crotchety Aunt March. However, Jo schemes a different plan... she sells her long, beautify hair. That evening in bed Jo gives a stifled sob, and Meg asks, "Jo, dear, what is it? Are you crying about father?" Jo replies, "No, not now." "What then?" "My --my hair!" burst our poor Jo, trying vainly to smother her emotion in the pillow. It makes me teary and chuckle simultaneously! And yesterday, I lived it.

So, my brush broke last week. Apparently it was time for a hair cut. I've been growing it out for seven years to donate, but I hadn't anticipated chopping it off so soon until my sister expressed her desire to cut hers. We scheduled an appointment (with our cousin Meredith... practically a pro!), and we both left the salon with ziplocks of our hair to donate for wigs for girls with cancer.

A kink in the hair donation plan occurred to me as I was heading home... where was my bag of hair? Somewhere between the salon and my aunt's house lies a ziplock of 8 inches of curly red hair. Needless to say, my drive home ended up being a sob story of a girl who cut off all of her hair. For, the decision to chop my hair off was solely for the purpose of donating and definitely not because I wanted short hair. Making a sacrifice for a woman battling cancer is one thing... but sacrificing for no reason- there is no pleasure in that.

There is still some hope that the baggy of my hair will be found, but until then, I'm...(sigh)... adjusting.

Before

After

Summer Highlights

I love summertime!!! Relaxing. Cooking. Family. Organizing. Pandemic. Crocheting. Gardening. Armadillo. Sleeping. Memory Foam. Piano. Friends. Carcassonne. Disney. Princesses. P90X. Aunthood. Fishing. Painting. Swimming. Netflix. Pacific. Ecuador. Whales. Tweega Jo.

The family with our favorite Disney Princess.

The kids and mom at Magic Kingdom. It's magical!!!

Painting with a Twist with my school buddies.

Being an aunt. LOVE IT!!!

Meet Tweega Jo- the new addition to my family. She and I have such a wonderful life together!

Armadillo in my garden- yes, there were lots of squeals, banging sticks, and running for our lives.

My friend Kayla and the purple carrot from my garden!

My fresh produce. It's amazing to see things grow! And it's amazing to eat them!

My youngest sibs with dough... calzones! Yum!

"Porque no?" Why not lie in a hammock on the porch of a mansion with a perfectly manicured yard that overlooks the Pacific Ocean?

Redneck Golf... surrounded by coconut trees while listening to the waves crashing onto the beach. 

Do you see all of those dinosaurs? Nastified.

Whale watching (aka "whale chasing") buddies

Humpback Whales

And some more.

Blue-Footed Boobies. Yes. You read that right.

Riding the waves.

Passion Fruit. Who knew they were so sour?!

A success story

This spring semester has been packed full of speech referrals, assessments, ARD meetings, and paperwork (mounds of paperwork... mountains of paperwork... my desk pretty much looks like the Alps). However, God has given me a few little successes that have filled my body and spirit with enough energy to wake up, prepare for each day, and sign-in to work each morning.

One little success story was with a young student, (of course I can't divulge specific details on the world-wide web, but here's a vague description) who qualified for speech therapy due to a severe/profound articulation/phonological disorder (>1 percentile). After only 5 months of intensive speech therapy, he was dismissed with about 95% PCC (percentage of consonants correct). This bright student came with a severely limited phonetic repertoire (he produce very few speech sounds) and was dismissed with the ability to produce every English phoneme with over 95% accuracy (including the sounds that the developmental norms deem as too complex for his age).  Yea! This was confirmation that speech therapy DOES work and that my hard work isn't in vain.

Gardening... It's Life Giving

Last Spring, with all of the stresses and demands of a first-year job, I decided to do an experimental garden. This new experience has brought such joy to my life, as I eagerly come home from work to check on the growth of my vegetables or spend hours on the weekends in the fresh air working the rich soil.

Although last summer's garden croaked with our scorching sun, I tried a fall garden and have had incredible success! The bountiful crop of spinach, red leaf, and green leaf lettuce has been sufficient for daily salads for myself and my neighbors. The carrots are deliciously sweet and flavorful and are now a favored snack.

Under the guidance of the Farmer's Almanac, new seeds have been planted and will be planted! Witnessing seeds growing to fruition is beautiful and fills my heart with joy!

(Above: my garden this fall; Below: garden this winter)

(Above and below: my garden this spring... so far.)