What do these two items have in common?

What do these two items have in common?

If you guessed that they were both gifts that I received today, you guessed correctly.

The first was a gift from one of my students this morning.  The second was given to me by a student this afternoon.  She was in my class at the beginning of the year, but switched back to Kindergarten.  I saw her when she came along to pick up her older sister.

I love simple, thoughtful, and unexpected gifts.  They have a way of brightening my day because of the thoughtfulness and love they present.  These were definitely both a blessing today.

Snowflakes - Pictures

Here are the requested pictures of two of my snowflakes from earlier this week.

The first snowflake of the Season

The Christmas Snowflake

I have since been told by one friend that I don't need to make them a Christmas card, she would rather have a snowflake like the second one.  Another just said 'ooh, I want one', while someone else offered to pay me to make some for her to bring to her family for Christmas.

This evening after Bible study I made a few more snowflakes - miniature ones.  At this point they are decorating Sonbuchner's coffee table, underneath the sheet of glass covering the wooden tabletop.  It makes for a festive table.

In case it wasn't clear, I love making paper snowflakes.

Christmas Wishlist Conundrum

Today my Room Mom from school emailed me and asked me if I had a wishlist for Christmas.  I spent about an hour off and on trying to frame a reply.  She asked if there were things that I wanted that maybe some of the parents would want to contribute to as a group.  After reading that my response was, "um..."

There are many things that I can think of that I want, but nothing that I can think of that I need.  So do I start emailing her ideas of all sorts of things that I want or that I would enjoy having?  Do I honestly tell her that I don't need anything?  Do I tell her what I think she wants to hear?  Do I actually tell her that I don't want gifts but would rather have the money spent on something life the Gospel for Asia gift catalog?  Am I truly willing to give up my Christmas gifts?

This situation, and the consumerism that surrounds Christmas raises a battle within me.  There is the side of me that simply wants more things and is never satisfied.  There is always something more that I could have.  This side of me also knows that I will be getting gifts from parents at school and selfishly likes that idea.  The other side recognizes that this world is temporary, nothing that the world offers can satisfy.  This is the side of me that recognizes that I already have more than I could ever need and that maybe I should give it away.  The two sides battle within me and this is the verse that comes to mind:

Matthew 6:19-21 "¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I do not know why I was born into the privileged life that God has given me, and I may never fully understand.  I do know that with blessing comes responsibility, and I have been greatly blessed.  I also know that I would rather have my treasure be in heaven than on earth.  Does this mean that I have completely solved this conundrum?  No, it doesn't, but it has certainly made me think about what I value, and where I place my treasures.

Snowflakes

Today the high temperature was 79 F (26 C).  It felt a little strange doing a little Christmas decorating for my classroom while the temperatures were so warm.

This evening I made paper snowflakes with Peter.  Making snowflakes is a winter tradition that I resurrected around the time I was finishing high school.  Snowflakes were a cheap way to decorate in college, and they made great shadows when the sun shone through them on the window.  Today I made my first snowflakes of the year.  My first one turned out really well.  The second one was for Abby because she wanted one with a stable and manger, similar to one I already have in my apartment.  After doing one like that for Abby, Susan wanted one as well.  So I made Susan an angel, a stable with a manger, and a star above the stable.  I don't consider myself an overly artistic or creative person, but I like to say that my creativity comes out when making snowflakes.

To finish the evening, I read Susan and Peter a 'bedtime story.'  I read the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.  It is the story of Wilson Bentley who spent his life trying to capture snowflakes for the world to see.  He photographed hundreds of snowflakes over the course of his lifetime.  It has the main story with sidebars of historical fact.  On the last page are three of the snowflakes he photographed, which fascinated and amazed us.

It was an enjoyable evening.  It was fun to once again share my snowflake tradition with others - making snowflakes is more fun when done with friends.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks to God.  Here are a few of the things for which I am thankful:

• Salvation, freedom of religion, and access to God's Word
• Wonderful family and friends
• Christian fellowship
• Safe travel to Maryland & Virginia
• The opportunity for my entire immediate family to be together
• Beautiful fall weather - sunshine, colorful leaves, warm temperatures
• Delicious food
• Hospitality from Timothy and Catherine, as well as Lynnea
• My new nephew, Anthony
• A good job
• My great community, especially my church, in Louisiana

There are many more things, but that is a good list for now.  Thank you God for blessing me beyond measure, though I deserve none of it.

Thanksgiving Feast & Grandparent's Day

In the week leading up to Thanksgiving Break, we had a couple of special activities at school.

On Thursday the entire elementary enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast.  We had a slightly extended lunch in order to enjoy the catered turkey, corn, rice dressing, and bread.  In addition there were brownies for dessert.  This event is only possible with the help of numerous parents who set up and decorate tables, serve food, supervise children, provide brownies for dessert, and generally ensure that everything runs smoothly.  It was a pleasure to be able to sit down with some of the other teachers and enjoy our own meal while parents attended to the children.  Due to the large number of elementary students, the feast was divided into multiple locations for the different grades.  Our location was for the first through third graders.  The food was enjoyable.  The feast also provided opportunity to emphasize giving thanks to God.

Friday was Grandparent's Day.  Our school does Grandparent's Day in a unique way - I least I had never heard of it before teaching there.  Each class, in first through fourth grade, prepares a short program for the grandparents.  Basically this means that in 30 minutes we try to do a little bit of every subject as a demonstration for the grandparents.  I get to pick and choose the fun activities, and I work to make sure that each student has the opportunity to do some independent activity and write on the SmartBoard.  After the short program the students give gifts to their grandparents.  The students had a wonderful time.  Our program was schedule for 8:00 and went until about 8:30.  After the program was over, the grandparents were welcome to take their grandchildren with them.  Some grandparents took them right away while other got some refreshments before taking the children.  Each grade level had their program at a different time so that the grandparents could attend multiple programs for different grandchildren.

The few children who remained afterwards helped clean up the extra chairs in the classroom and then did other jobs for me.  A few of the children stayed for a couple hours after we were finished, but that was a small number.  After our program was over, I was able to get lots of small jobs done in the classroom and get ready to leave for break.  An added bonus was that we only had a half day on Friday because our football team had an away playoff game and students were encouraged to attend.

These two special days involved extra work, but definitely blessed those who were involved.  It was a great way to end the week before Thanksgiving Break.

Human Error - My Own

So I am sitting in the airport in Baton Rouge.  I had images of writing fun blog posts about the past couple of days while I was here, instead I have been trying to rebook a flight.  I miscalculated my travel time and my hour advance needed at the airport, so I missed my flight.  It is rather ironic that someone who enjoys math as much as I do would make such a simple error.  Maybe God is trying to humble me.

In times like this it is easy to freeze and now know what to do.  I am thankful for family and friends.  I was able to rebook a flight for tomorrow.  I am thankful for my mom who was simply praying that something would work out for me.  I am thankful for friends who were planning on staying in Baton Rouge for a while and can still bring me back home this evening.  I am thankful for other friends who can text people on my behalf because I do not have texting on my phone.  I am thankful that I have enough money to  pay for the change in flight so that I can still travel tomorrow to meet up with family.

In the middle of it, I told my mom "I am not sure what God is trying to teach me, but right now I don't see it."  I know that God has a perfect plan in this.  I may never know exactly what it was all about, but I trust him for it.