Kites will fly in the skies.

I'm home today with a new box of Kleenex with aloe, a bottle of vapo rub, a fresh mug of hot tea, and a new book. My best friend in the world, Rissa, gave me a book of hers about a year ago. She raved about "The Kite Runner" and said I needed to read it. I knew it must be good, because my dear friend is in school at UNMC and doesn't have a lot of time for leisurely reading. So, months later, I picked it up and have been captivated by the young characters. I'm about a third of the way through and decided to look at the trailer- I remember hearing that the book was made into a movie just this past fall. I will post the trailer here for you.



My friend, Melissa's, mother, teaches her students to always read the book first because your imagination has room to explore and create. If you see the movie first, that's how you'll imagine the characters and story as you read the book. So I'm reading the book first- and then may convince my sweet man to curl up to watch the movie with me in a couple of weeks.

In other news, things continue to go well in my life. I did stay home from teaching today and found someone to work my shift tonight at the coffee shop. I didn't feel like blowing my nose between beverages or straining myself to talk over a classroom full of unfamiliar students. Maybe tomorrow. Although, Nate is feeling really crummy today and he seems to be a day ahead of me as far as symptoms go- so we'll see what tomorrow has in store.

Hope most of you were able to enjoy the 40-something degree weather today. It was beautiful. :)

I am on your side

V-day was great. Nate and I spent the evening IN- with a heart-shaped Papa Murphy's Pizza and a movie- No Reservations. In the theme of cooking, he gave me this:
One of my favorite things in life- a great cookbook with FANTASTIC photos. As many of you know, and following closely in my mother's footsteps, I'm crazy about baking bread and other yummy snacks- so this was a fabulous idea. Good job, my man. :) Can't wait to try something this weekend!

Finished up week number 2 today of subbing and spent day number 2 in a row at a school very close to my house- and just down the block from Nate's. You can actually see his house or the school depending on which location you happen to be standing. I really liked the school- would love to get into it more often- perhaps on a much more regular basis. Will still remain hopeful.

Carrie B- I got your phone message. GREAT to hear from you. I'll be calling you this weekend sometime. :) Can't wait to talk with you!!

Also, here's a photo of mama and I. She emailed this to me with the caption "Good picture of you, dumb of me!" so I'm not sure how exicted she'll be that this is the one I'm posting- :) I'm not sure that it's a very flattering photo of either of us- but we can't look ravishing all the time!
I'm off to listen to a new mixed cd (also from my man) and to curl up with my new baking book. Stay warm, everyone. It's ridiculously cold this week....

You're still alright.

I've taken the day off from substitute teaching to organize. I've torn apart the boxes in the storage room and now have reorganized all of my teaching materials and resources. My desk is clean, I've tossed tons of old papers that I'll never need- and I'm online searching for ideas for my classroom (that I will someday have). I always run across great ideas when I'm subbing in rooms, but I haven't taken time to organize all of the little notes I make for myself until today. So, that's what I've been doing and it feels GREAT! I get so excited about teaching.....and I've already got another assignment for tomorrow in a 2nd grade room. Looking forward to it. For the longest time I thought I wanted to teach upper elementary FOR SURE.....but after working with different 1st and 2nd grade rooms, I'm learning to love those little guys. So, either way....I'll have a class of my very own and I will love everything out of my students.

Also, my mom has a noteworthy post today- you should check it out. You should check it out every day because she posts amazing recipes that I grew up with- and she's super-cute. :)

have you ever seen a Jackalope?

There's much to post about- many things have been happening in the past week and I haven't done a very good job at keeping you updated.

My birthday was wonderful- Nate did a fantastic job of making it special with breakfast in bed, lunch, and a Japanese dinner with a small group of close friends.

The day after my birthday, I was meeting Gina for coffee and I recieved a phone call from LPS lettimg me know that they had hired me as a substitute teacher. This was very good news- meaning that as soon as I got online, I would be able to sign up and start recieveing subbing jobs. Gina told me that they'd prayed for me at Bible study the night before- so this was no suprise to her. :)

I left for Norfolk Friday morning to visit my mom and dad for the weekend. I was able to go to Howie's farewell get-together- he was the pastor at my parents' church for about 8 years. Fantastic guy. He and his family will be missed BIG TIME. I was able to see and catch up with a lot of friends over the course of Friday and Saturday- which was great because I don't get home often. Time with my parents was wonderful- and I was able to see my grandparents quite a bit as well. It was SO GOOD to see them. Here's me and dad.

Monday I had my first subbing job in a 5th grade classroom that I'd taught in during my college teaching practicums. I spent the second half of the day there and had a very successful start to my career as a sub. Today, I'm at another school in a 2nd grade classroom- teaching for a friend of mine, Molly. It's funny how things just seem to fall into place.

I know many of you have been praying and waiting with me to see how this teaching thing will unfold. I appreciate your prayers and encouraging phone calls more than you can imagine. It's been an interesting journey- learning to trust that the Lord will allow things to fall the way He knows is best. It'll be challenging to walk into a different classroom every day, working for different teachers, with different rules, and learning new students' names. I look forward to the day when I am handed the key to my very own classroom where I decide the rules and know my students by name. However, I see this time now as a season of great growth and take each new opportunity with a bit of excitement.

Thank you again for prayers and support. I would be much more fragile without all of you.