The water reminds me of God.

Whenever I am at the beach, I feel a deep peace and better ability to praise God for who He is.  I can't help but have a reverent attitude as I look out over His creation.  On a recent trip it struck me, I think that water (in it's natural, beautiful state) reminds me of God.  We all need water.  Water keeps up healthy.  Water brings life to the earth (think of lush rain forests).  Water is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking (the ocean and waterfalls).  Water is strong and powerful (it carved the grand canyon).  Water is loud (it's sound drowns out even the loudest noises).  Water is passionate (you know this if you've ever gotten caught under a wave).  Water can be both dangerous, yet amazing and wonderful at all the same time.

I think the quote from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe says it perfectly.

" 'Course he isn't safe.  But he's good. "

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #11

Do something your parents would never let you do as a child.

Captain Crunch....never in my childhood home....NEVER!  If we wanted sweet cereal (Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, etc.), we had to sleep over at a friend's house.  Oh, and trust me, when I had the opportunity to eat sweet cereal at a friend's house, I ate my fill.  I had no shame in eating 2 or 3 bowls.  My friends probably felt sorry for me, the way I gobbled that stuff up.

So, for this challenge, I bought one box of Captain Crunch and we ate it for...wait for it...DINNER!!  Oh my goodness, that was so against all of the healthy eating habits my parents instilled in me as a child.

Sidenote #1: My husband found this box of Captain Crunch (even though I had it hidden) and ate half of it for dinner one night when the kids and I weren't home.  Can you tell that his parents had the same crereal rules as mine?

Sidenote #2: I totally hold the same values now about healthy eating habits as my parents did when I was a kid.  I'm truly grateful for what they taught me, and I am teaching those same habits to my kids.  However, a little splurge now and then is fun, fun, fun.

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #10

Create a memory today with someone you care about that will mean a lot ten years from now.

My boys and I spent the day at the beach together.  Just me and them.  This is a HUGE deal because they so often have to share me with their sisters who, because they are younger, usually get more attention from me.  We had a wonderful time.  We rode bikes to the pier, played in the water together, and sat on the towels and talked. It's rare for them to get my undivided attention like this.  It was so fun.  During one of our conversations that day, we were reflecting on all of the things we had done this summer.  I asked them what their favorite things was.  Asher leaned into me and said, "Spending time with you."

I have to say...I agree with him. 

 

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #9

Do one thing today to support a cause or issue you really care about.

Positive, Nurturing Behavior Management

This is the issue I really care about.  I am passionate about behavior management.  To be honest, I am unlike many teachers I know.  I LIKE getting the students with behavior problems in my class.  Nothing is more exciting to me than to build a relationship with that challenging student, get to know him/her, and find a plan that works.  I love discovering the great qualities in that child and finding an incentive that causes the child to exhibit more of their great qualities over their difficult traits.  I have had the privilege of being part of this process for many students over the years.  Nothing is more amazing to me than to witness a child's behavior to change from negative attention seeking to positive, confident, and self-sufficient. 

Much of what I do in my classroom comes from the book Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser, MA and Jennifer Easley, MA.  After I read this book, I completely changed how I ran my classroom, and my home.  It is amazing, and the techniques definitely produce results.  What's really great is that I can use it with ALL of my students and it allows all of them (both challenging students and "well behaved" students) to feel encouraged, respected, noticed, and built up. 

So, for this challenge, I wrote a thank you note to the authors and sent a donation to The Children's Success Foundation which is devoted to introducing the nurtured heart approach into schools.

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #8

Draw a funny picture and hide it in an unexpected place for someone to find.

I drew this and left it in my hubby's car on his last day at work before our vacation.  You see, we are taking a 2 week road trip which will cover 2500 miles of driving, 4 hotels, 4 nights of camping, and a family reunion.  I've been working on the packing for over a week already.  I'm sure he got a kick out of it because it's a pretty good likeness of me (after I have been trying to pack for 6 people).

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

 

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #7

Spend 15 to 30 minutes doing something you love that you don't often have the chance to do.

I SOOOOO knocked this one out of the park.  Thanks to my wonderful dad and step-mom, I had an afternoon (way more than 15 to 30 minutes) to myself.  I went to Whole Foods to get a delicious lunch and my favorite tea.  Then, I went to the beach alone.....yes, you read that correctly....ALONE.  I rode my bike for a while, then sat in the sand, read, and napped.  It was FABULOUS!

P.S. And I only had to apply sunblock to myself.  Anyone else with kids knows that this is a HUGE deal!
Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #6

Write down one big dream of yours.  Draw or find a picture to go with it and put it somewhere you will see it often. 

So....I have two.  One is a crazy dream for me personally, and the other is a dream I have for me and my family.

My dream for me:  I would LOVE to dance again someday.  I often catch myself daydreaming that I am dancing when I hear certain songs.  My true desire is to be able to dance in worship to the Lord.  Something about being able to incorporate dance with worship would make the experience deeper and more meaningful to me.  It would feel as though all of me, my body, heart, mind, spirit, and soul would be involved in that act.  Beautiful!

 My dream for me and my family: I want us to become involved, as a family unit, in a volunteer, service, or missionary capacity.  I want us to find something we are excited and passionate about that does great and wonderful things for other people.  I want our lives to be about more than finding and maintaining that middle-class American comfort level.  I want us to serve others in a way that forces us to work hard, get dirty, and go outside of our comfort zone. 

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #5

Become a scientist.  Conduct a silly experiment.

I decided to see if the saying, "It's so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk," is true.  I picked the PERFECT day to try.  It got up to 105 this past Wednesday, basically as hot as it gets here in Redlands, CA.  This is what the egg looked like after an hour.

Apparently, an egg can not be fried on the sidewalk on a hot day.  My husband said I may have had better luck on the asphalt.  Oh well.

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #4

Add something childlike (not necessarily childish) to your workspace or home.

I chose to add something to my home for 3 reasons:
1. I am on summer break, so it will be awhile before I could add something to my workspace.
2. I am a teacher, so I already have some childlike items in my classroom.
3. Because we have 6 people living in our home, which is not huge, I have adopted a sort of minimalist attitude to avoid clutter.  Therefore, if it's not in use, it's not in our house.  This would bring some decorative fun back to our home!

I figured out pretty quickly what I wanted to put up and, fortunately, I had something on hand I could use.  I LOVE dragonflies.  I think they are so delicate and beautiful.  Whenever I see one, it captures my attention.  To me they are just captivating and lovely.  I am not really a "girly-girl", but whenever I see one, I immediately think of whimsical fairies and enchanted forests.  I chose to hang this in the hallway between my dining room and kitchen.  It's a pretty high-traffic area for us.  Whenever I look at it I am reminded to take some time out of life's craziness to allow myself to be a little fun and fanciful.

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #3

Do something that is typically seen as inappropriate for someone your age.

I ran and jumped over a big hole on the beach, then followed that up by skipping back to my towel.

Um.  This one made me nervous.  I struggle with being WAY TOO WORRIED about how people perceive me.  So, doing something that was inappropriate for my age (in public) gave me heart palpitations and sweaty palms, for reals!!

I didn't plan this one ahead of time.  The moment presented itself on the beach while I was there with my two boys.  They were running and jumping over a very large hole that some other kids dug.  I realized that this was the perfect opportunity for challenge #3.  Of course, a zillion other things were going through my mind like:

People are going to see your "four-kid-havin'-body" run...on the beach...in a bathing suit.
You are going to fall...in front of all these people.
You are 34...not 10.
You are going to twist your ankle...then your summer will be ruined.

But those thoughts were crowded out by:

No one is really watching you, except your kids...and they will think you are super cool for doing this.
If you fall, that will be funny...really funny.
You are 34...not 84.
Your ankle, and your summer, will be fine.

So, I did it.  I laughed.  My boys laughed.  It was great, and both my confidence and body survived.

P.S. Thank goodness I have no photo of this one...no one wants to see that! :-)

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #2

Find a reason to celebrate and do something to celebrate it.

We celebrated the "2nd Day of Summer".

This challenge was difficult for me at first because, as I typically do, I started to over-think it at first.  Once I relaxed a bit, I realized that we had a perfect thing to celebrate.  Although we didn't celebrate the first (calendar) day of summer, we could absolutely celebrate the 2nd day right?  After I made that decision, the rest was easy. 

The kids and I were all home together that day, and we had already decided that it would be a low-key day at home with no major plans.  So, I declared that we were celebrating the 2nd day of summer.  We all wore hats and sunglasses.  Then, we took a walk down to Olive Market where we purchased refreshing summertime beverages (lemonade and iced tea).  Then, after we got home we went to the pool.  We ended the day with a movie and frozen hot chocolate.  Yummy!

Yay for summer!

 

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Escape Adulthood: Challenge #1

Spend at least 15 minutes immersing yourself in a field you know nothing about.

I drove a Duffy boat.

Honestly, I was quite nervous about it.  When I was planning the day out with friends, I hadn't really thought about the fact that I was going to have to drive.  The night before, I really started to stress.  I asked Korey to give me some pointers (he's the one that has driven before when we've gone on these day trips).  So with his advice, and a ton of prayer, I got behind the wheel of a boat for the first time. 

What was I scared of?
crashing, getting lost, crashing, hitting someone on a paddle board, trying to pull back into the dock, and (did I already mention) crashing

Of course, none of that happened.  As usual, my fears were totally unwarranted.  It was a weekday morning.  The water was calm.  There were very few boats out.  It turned out to be a great day.

At the end of it I felt very proud of myself that I tried something totally new and different.  It forced me out of my comfort zone.  It was fun, relaxing, and exhilarating all at the same time.  I would totally do it again.

Here's a shot of my awesome passengers. 

God love them for trusting me with their lives!

Challenge ideas take from "The Escape Plan" written by Kim and Jason Kotecki

Adultitis

So, I've been following this pretty fabulous blog for about 10 months now.  It is a husband and wife team.  They are on a mission to rid the world of adultitis.  They really are pretty awesome, and thanks to their blog posts and books (and a TON of pushing and shoving nudging from God) I am starting to overcome some of my own symptoms of adultitis.  Translation: I am learning how to slow down, lighten up, have fun, and enjoy life.  The first book I read of theirs is Escape Adulthood.  It was an excellent read and had plenty of great nuggets of wisdom like:

"How much better would life be if we didn't have to worry so much about where we were going and had more freedom to enjoy the scenery?" -Jason W. Kotecki, Escape Adulthood

Now, I am reading another book of theirs called The Escape Plan.  It is a book filled with 40 different challenges to help eradicate the adultitis in your life.  I'm excited about doing this.  It's totally out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing.  I decided to blog about what I do for each challenge instead of writing it in the journal.  That way, I can post pictures too.  It should be pretty fun and silly.  I may totally humiliate myself.  That's ok.  It's time for me to stop worrying about what people might think of me and realize that they like me better when I'm a little messy and frayed around the edges.

I finally understand that scripture.

Luke 19:40- But he (Jesus) said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise."

I never completely understood what Jesus meant until I saw these beautiful places with the most amazing rock formations I have ever seen. It was breathtaking, and I spent my time there in awe of God and his amazing creation.

We live in an amazing place.

Seriously...we do. During my March break, Eden and I had a day to ourselves. So, we drove 25 minutes and spent the day in Forest Falls. I'm not kidding, this beautiful place is only 25 minutes away from the crazy, crowded, smog-filled LA basin we call home. It was quiet and serene. I got to just sit back and admire these views. It was wonderful. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the day.

Why I Love Spring

Pink Toenails, Flip Flops, and Green Grass

Picnics in the Park

And, Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

I am grateful for today.

Last night, all I wanted was for today to be over. You see, today was my last day of school before my 3 week break. I just kept thinking last night, that it would be so nice if I could fast forward to tonight and skip today all together. Boy am I glad I wasn't able to do that. Today several things happened that made me feel truly humble and grateful, and I would have missed out on them, if I had skipped today.
First, one of my students walked up to me at the end of the day, hugged me, and told me to have a good vacation. This is a pretty typical thing in my classroom. However, this one stands out because, 2 weeks ago, this student would hardly speak to me. Her home life is so awful that she trusts no adults, but....today....she reached out to me. I was moved to tears.
Second, I met with a parent of one of my new students. I told her about how her daughter has excellent behavior and effort in my class. Her teacher from the first trimester gave her very low marks for effort and behavior, yet since joining my class, she has had no such issues. I was actually surprised when I saw the last teacher's opinions about this child's work habits. Her mom was so kind, and credited me with the change in her daughter. I was so touched.
Third, I had several other parent meetings. Each went well (at the end of one, the mom and I were laughing together), and at the end of the day, I felt so appreciative of the fact that I work in a community where I have been able to form such close bonds with the parents and students.
Fourth, my principal announced today that the staff voted me "Teacher of the Year". It wasn't that announcement that got to me today (although it is definitely an honor). It was how my colleagues acted that really made me feel so fortunate. Everyone went out of their way to congratulate me, and tell me how much they felt I deserve this title. Everyone was so genuinely happy for me and openly encouraging me. It was amazing.
So, tonight, I sit in utter humility and gratefulness. Last night, I didn't want to even deal with today. Yet, tonight, all I can do is thank God for giving me today. If I had been given my way, I would have missed out on so much.

Beautiful

We may have had 5 days of constant rain, but look at the gift that rain brought.

We took a walk today and were able to enjoy this view the whole time. It was breathtaking!