End of summer

Well, it's that time of year. Time for buying pencils and paper, for opening textbooks and starting homework...

Except that it is my first time as the teacher!

To recap, I student taught last fall, was hired in January, and this will be my first full school year as a teacher.

Eeek!

:-)

As much as I am terrified (for some unknown reason) to be entering into the next year, I am excited to be getting back into the swing of things. We finished Band Camp yesterday, and it was a fantastic week! The heat index stayed (relatively) low, so we were able to get more done than we anticipated! The kids were great- energetic, encouraging to others, excited about the year, and overall good sports about the heat- which makes our job as staff and teachers easier, and much more enjoyable!

(how many more "E" words could I have thrown into that last sentence?!?!)

However afraid I might be about starting the new school year, I know this is where I am supposed to be and that this is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." (Coll. 3:23-24, ESV)

This verse reminds me to, whatever I do- at school, at home, at Kroger or Walmart- show the world His love. THIS statement makes me thing of for KING & COUNTRY's latest single, Proof of Your Love. The chorus begins:

So let my life be the proof
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You
And what You're made of

And as a bonus, the song also has a monologue of one of the band members speaking from The Message's 1 Cor. 13:1-7. This is the beginning of the "Love Chapter" and is one of my favorite verses of all time. I love the wording in that opening sentence- human eloquence and angelic ecstacy. Knowing that I can speak with the best intentions or stand in front of a classroom ready to teach, and unless I am doing what I do out of love, then I might as well be doing nothing. No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Right now in my husband's and my world, we are struggling a bit. His position was cut at the school he taught at last year and nothing has opened up. We are trusting that a job will open, and we KNOW that something will come available, in the teaching field or not. Faith is running our lives now, it seems, and as frightning that may be to some, we know we are being watched and taken care of. While our bank account may be pushing it next month, we are rich in love- for each other, for our friends and family, and in God's LOVE for us.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

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How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How vast beyond all measure, 
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure... 


Evenin'!


So, I know it's April. And I realize that my last post was in January. But I've been busy, see! 


After the rush of the New year, being offered a job at the school where I did my second student teaching placement last semester, and then my job being extended to a full-time position, one month exactly from the day I graduated, made for a rush of excitement! 


How's that for a run-on sentence?! 


Anywho... 


Since then, I have been getting used to being on "the other side" at school, getting used to my students, learning that making sub plans means I would rather not miss school if I can help it, and just about any thing else that you can think of! I love my colleagues and the support staff at school, and I love that I finally have the chance to do what I have spent so much time (and money) learning to do! 


In the band world, we are already preparing for next year's season, and in the choir world I am trying to make it to the end of May... 


However, I can't make it to next year's marching season, or this May, or next week without first getting to experience Easter. The reality that God sent Christ, His SON, to save us is amazing. We, who deserve NOTHING, were given EVERYTHING when Jesus came down, died, and rose again. What the song says it true- why should I gain from His reward? I did nothing to deserve that agape love, to deserve His grace and forgiveness and mercy, yet I have it. 

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
~~ How Deep the Father's Love For Us, Stewart Townsend


And in a song that many people know, but play/sing it at Christmas, this is the time of year for which the song was intended!

The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever


Happy Easter, y'all! He is risen!


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God's blessings!

What a whirlwind of a week! I have to go, but I just HAD to let you know first...


As of this morning, I am a full-time employee of my school system! I got a call asking if I wanted an education assistant position for the first three blocks of the day in addition to my choir/band position I accepted on Monday. 


Folks... This means I have insurance, I have a paycheck coming (I get paid Friday- who woulda thunk it?!?!?!?!) 


We can breathe. 


God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are Holy, Holy
The universe declares Your Majesty
And You are holy, holy! 

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My BIG news from last week?

An additional endorsement on my teaching license! For those of you that don't know much about the educations system, I am limited in what I can teach. For example, my license is in K-12 Instrumental Music Education, not in secondary biology, so I cannot teach biology. Now, if I really wanted to teach biology, I might have to take a few more classes and take a few more Praxis exams, but more importantly, I would have to add a biology endorsement to my license. Well, I found out Friday that the state has approved a Vocal endorsement to my license!

So, what does THAT get me?

A big girl, doing-what-I-spent-years-in-college-for JOB!! 

I am now the choir director (thanks to my new endorsement) and the band assistant (my original licensure area) at the high school that I did part of my student teaching! I start tomorrow... Freaking out, but very excited to move on to the next chapter of my, and my husband's, life!

I love it when God answers prayers.

As I pour out my heart, these things I remember
You are faithful, God, forever! ~I Lift My Hands, Chris Tomlin

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Nothing too exciting...

... just the start to another year in my wonderful life!

This year brings my first post-collegiate year, and the search for my first teaching job... Lemme just say that there aren't too many music positions open in January. However, going to the state's DoE website shows an abundance of Special Ed, Math, and even some counseling positions open. Not a lick of music in all the state. But more on that later...

We started off the new year with the only way to do so- corn bread, carrots, sweet English peas, and black-eyed peas with ham, with roast beef as well. For those of you that don't know how to properly bring in January 1- SHAME ON YOU; this is the only way! Corn bread is for gold, greens (peas in our case) for money, and black-eyed peas for health and luck (I've also heard prosperity; similar to but different from luck). Carrots look like coins, pork is for forward progress, and my mother-in-law's roast beef is amazing! :-) Even my husband took part. He hates- detests even- black eyed peas, and ate three beans for the luck! So proud of you baby! Haha!!

Monday was my husband's last day off before starting school again (halfway through his first year teaching!), so we didn't do too much. Neither of us was feeling too well (apparently we didn't eat enough black eyed peas for health... heh). Tuesday was my first day alone- just me and the pups! I missed them last semester, so it has been nice to lay with them, watch them play and run, and see the smiles on their faces! I'm trying to soak as much in as possible, but again- more on that later!

Shameless plug for my fur-babies!

Lillie And Alex, taking a nap... on each other... 

Lillie, sleeping in her favorite position ever! 

Wednesday and Thursday were uneventful. Friday I drove down to my husband's school and got to work with some of his students. He is a band director and choir teacher and I just finished my degree in music education, so fret not- it's not like I am teaching them calculus or chemistry! I led a clarinet sectional with his 6th graders- absolutely precious! In choir, I sang along with his students and got to watch my husband teach- it was fun! After school, we drove into Memphis to get my rings checked and sent off, and then we had dinner with my mom and stepdad. It was a late night, but I am glad we went!

Let me interject here- for those of you that are the praying type, can you say one (or as many as you can spare) for my family- God knows why!

Anyway, my mom and I spent the evening working on my youngest cousin's blanket. She has had it since she was born (she's 8) and it was falling apart! I used scissors, a seam ripper, and a sewing machine- in heaven! She was SO happy to get it back this morning!

And the BIGGEST news of the week?? Something I can't mention until it's confirmed, but it's good! It is NOT that I'm preggo, so get that out of your head right now! Trust me, it's good... Oh yeah! 


This has been on my mind this week- "You are God, of all else I'm letting go." Sometimes it's easier to think that than it is to release my seeming control over things. If it is His will, it will happen...

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling...

You are here, You are here
In Your presence I'm made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I'm letting go.

Oh I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign!  
~~ Forever Reign, One Sonic Society

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But we have these treasures in jars of clay...

Tonight I was sitting here going through my dashboard, looking through the blogs that I have found via Pinterest. The majority of the blogs I follow were the source of pins, or in the case of one, was linked from Pinterest to one blogger to the second blogger. 


Did that make sense? 


~~Well, it did in my mind.~~ 


Anyways, through two blogs in particular, I feel as though I have been blessed. The first has a playlist, rotating through music. I went so far as to leave the page up to listen to it! The first song was an acoustic version of Jesus Loves Me by Andy Leftwich. I've listened to it cycle through a couple of times tonight! 


Not growing up in the church, I missed out on the traditional hymns. In my car, my radio plays K-LOVE constantly and I know the contemporary songs; at our church before we moved I was able to sing along with everything At church now, I play my clarinet and do not sing the hymns and am still not very familiar with most of what I play. Later on down the list is are arrangements of I Have Decided to Follow Jesus and of  Jesus Loves Me. It made me think- no matter how "old, slow, boring, etc." that the old hymns seem sometimes, the message has always been the same. Without the traditional hymns, the contemporary music couldn't follow. 


Take the Gungor Band for example. One of their songs I have had in my head is titled Beautiful Things. They sing that God makes "beautiful things out of dust" and also makes "beautiful things out of us."

All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

They remind me that God can take the driest ground, the most barren land and turn it into a beautiful garden. He makes all things new and turns them into beautiful things. No matter how dry we are when we first turn to Him, He makes us into fertile and beautiful gardens. His power and love is shown through His "garden" so to speak.

Below is one of my favorite passages, 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. I love what it says- that we are afflicted but not crushed because we have Jesus! We should not waste our time on momentary and "transient" problems, because waiting for us are heavenly, permanent, ETERNAL beauties! 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. ~2 Corinthians 4:7-18 ESV
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Another six months...

Almost to the date.

Sorry folks, I've been busy!

(And I say folks like there are people that read this... HA! If in fact you do, please say hello!)

See, wha' ha' happen was, we moved. Across time zones, from Lexington, KY to Jackson, TN. With two dogs. A job for my husband (his first post-collegiate, teaching job!). My last semester of college (!!!!).

As hard as it was to goodbye to all our friends in KY, I was glad to get out of Cat Country. I terribly miss IBC,  the Young Married Class, Pulse, the weekly Bible studies, and the general fellowship I got to experience for a year. However, it was very nice to move back towards home, to people I have known for years, and to the church where my husband and I were married a year and a half ago. I was glad to finish school, finally, and to get everything behind me.

I feel so blessed for our time spent in Lexington. We spent our first year as husband and wife there, I had some fantastic times when I was subbing, and I know that God put us right where we needed to be.

I can say the same for being back home. We are near family (literally 5 minutes from my in-laws), I student taught (4-12 music), and learned so much. I even won an award- the Carl Seale Student Teacher Award- nominated by my teachers and selected by a committee in the College of Education! I was daggum proud of the work I did this semester and it feels very nice to be recognized. Now, the plan is to not disappoint later! And that whole find-a-job thing... I know that when the right position opens, God will put me there. One of my best friends from Lex was going through a job hunt; I looked up to her faith in those four months, and I just hope I can be as patient and as faithful as she was.

'K.

In my abundant time off (read: when I could not sleep at night), I re(-re-re)read Jane Eyre. Every time I have read the book, I find something to take away from it. This read through, I had to wait until the last chapter, and almost to the last page of the book, to find this gem:


"I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest-- blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine." 


This read was the first time since I married my man, and it might be more accurately put that it was the first time since before we started dating, many moons ago. When I read the book in high school and early college (both times, just because...) I did not have someone in that aspect of my life and, while her words were pretty and poetic, I could not relate. I now know what it is to live for someone, to know that they live for me, and that I will do anything in my power to let him know it, too.

Love you, Tony.

~

Ok, I'm out. Tony has been in bed for a few hours now, and the pups have been asleep for almost as long. I think I shall join them!

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