Sometimes he will just hug me.

I was hanging something up in our pantry room the other day. He came up to me out of no where, and wrapped his arms around me. We stood there for a while, hugging each other. It was such a genuine expression of love, I wanted to hold him forever. He's growing older, and moments like this are few and far between now, but he is still mommy's boy; he always will be. And even though he won't let me hug him when I want to, he still hugs me when he wants to. I will take whatever I can get, because this beautiful, kind hearted 8 year old boy will be 18 before I know it. Sigh.

Ouch!

"Frankly, you need to get over yourself. The point of your life is to point to Him."

I read this today in a book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love. This statement really got to me. It stung; which made me question whether or not I live for God, or for myself. I think this book study this summer is going to work me over something fierce.

Teacher Gifts

I get the best gifts from my students. You see, I work in a very poor neighborhood, so the gifts I get are usually hand made, or hand picked from a garden. They are just so genuine, and from the heart. They want to give me gifts to show their appreciation, so they take their time to make them. Much more meaningful than getting an expensive gift, or a high value gift card. It just melts my heart. Here are some of my end of the year gifts from this school year:

A Version of Me, Made Out of Marshmallows:

Two Dozen Roses (this one surprised me):

A Hand Painted Wooden Angel:

Flowers from a Garden:

I also received several bags of candy, including lots of dark chocolate (my favorite) and a Starbucks card (my students see me drink TONS of coffee). I love that they know me so well.

He Did It!!

I am so incredibly proud of him. He worked so hard to get here. He graduated 4th in his department, Magna Cum Laude.

Wild Man

Every time I try to snap a picture of Asher, he makes faces like this....

Man, that boy is crazy!!

You know she has older brothers when...

she tosses aside a doll to play with cars, then puts on the ninja mask.