Hardships

I came across this the other day and it really struck a cord with me.  As our story is getting out, people have emailed, sent texts and Facebook messages, and stopped me randomly to tell me how much our story has touched them.  I am saying this with humility because it is still extremely bizarre to me that this miracle is actually happening to me.  The is really MY life.  I am a very ordinary girl from a small town in Iowa.  I grew up with the "All-American" family - two parents who love each other and a younger sister.  I graduated from high school, went to college, and found my dream job.  I fell in love with an incredible man and we got married.  My story is no different than yours.  I am one person.  Yet, God is using my story in big ways in other people's lives.  And for that, I am eternally thankful.

When I saw this quote, it really spoke to me because I feel like I am finally in a place where I can see the hardship we faced for the blessing it truly was and still is.  Had we not gone through the past 3 years of infertility trials and heartbreak, the beautiful story of generosity and compassion that I'm living because of Julie & Dan wouldn't be - and in turn, the people our story has touched and inspired to perform intentional acts of kindness for others might never have occurred.  When I stop and think about the ripple effect of people who have been touched by the hardships Kevin & I have gone through, I get tears in my eyes.  Although I would've never chosen this journey for myself, I am living proof that God's plans for our lives are often far more than we could've ever dreamed for ourselves.

I'm challenging each of you to view the hardships you're facing today as an opportunity to bless and inspire others.  You never know where the ripple effect of you sharing your story will end.

Lots of Love,

Praying for Japan

The devastation in Japan is completely unimaginable to me.  Each time it comes on the news, I sit and watch with complete horror - I simply cannot begin to imagine the grief.  I said to my husband the other day, "where would you even begin?".  So, with an aching heart, I have been silently praying for the people of Japan to feel God's love being poured out on them and to feel his hand guiding their relief efforts.

Tomorrow I will be participating in a day of silence {which will not be uncommon lately for this blog because I'm horrible at updating...!} - but it's the thought that counts!  :)

Please click the link above to learn more about what we can do to help.

much love <3

My daily calendar

I have a calendar at work filled with inspirational quotes to live by.  It is one of my favorite parts of the morning when I get to flip it and see what today's message will be. 

Today's is absolutely perfect for this season of my life.  It says:

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

-Theodore Roosevelt

Work worth doing is something I've thought a lot about lately.  What does that really mean?  How do you define your worth or the worth of your work?  I think that largely depends on the line of work you're in.  I don't know many people who say "my job is worthless", nor can I think of many jobs which I would consider worthless. 

But because I'm a teacher, I'm going to talk about the worth of my job today.  I really believe with my entire soul that my job is far and away the greatest job on Earth.  It doesn't come without struggle or frustration, but at the end of the day - teachers are the epitome of working for the greater good in my opinion.  Can you name one teacher who has entered the profession for any other reason than because they enjoy kids and want to make a difference?  I've thought a lot about it, and I can't think of one. 

Are there "bad" teachers?  Sure, just the same as there are "bad" actors, "bad" musicians, "bad" cooks, "bad" doctors, "bad" police officers, and "bad" news reporters.  Every profession has their less than great members, so why is it that we as a country are so overly critical of bad teachers?  I find it hilarious when people argue about the importance of people's jobs. {because it really doesn't matter}  "Police are the most important jobs in our community", "No, it's the firemen and women", "no it's the teachers" - Well, ladies and gentleman (all 3 of you reading...) - I guess I would argue that the importance of a profession could be measured by how critical people are when it's not being done well.  I rarely see a person complaining about a police officer who is not doing their job, or a garbage collector who leaves the can tipped over in the street or with some garbage left in it, or the journalist who doesn't cover the entire story, or a doctor who misses a diagnosis or is less than friendly to his/her patient - but when there is a bad teacher, look out - everyone has something to say.  I personally, take that as a compliment because I go to work everyday and do the very best job I can do.  When people are critical of teachers though, it's difficult not to be defensive of my fellow colleagues.

Does this job have benefits?  Sure, but it (like any job) also has it's bumps.  Summers off are nice - except that usually I'm working another job to pay the bills or in my classroom getting ready for the next school year.  Our salary is nice - except by the standards of our country it pales in comparison to other professions.  Working 8-4 as a contract day is great - but to be honest, I can't tell you the last day those were really the hours I actually worked, usually coming early, staying late, and taking home work. Working with kids all day is awesome - except that I spend more than 1/2 my day doing things that 50 years ago were done at home {teaching middle names, phone numbers, manners, appropriate responses, anger management, etc} Our benefit and pension package are great - and what are people attacking right now - the only free and clear, no questions asked tangible benefit of teaching.

But here is the bottom line, every single day teachers in this country put all the political crap aside and go back to work in hopes of making a difference.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson says:

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

And so today, I will go to work and work hard at my work that is unquestionably worth doing. 

Have a happy day, Friends :)

Teachers...

...are obviously bankrupting our country.  What a hot topic debate!  Honestly, I think it's really difficult to not be biased in this situation because I'm a teacher.  I would be willing to argue that teaching is among the most difficult professions out there, but I do it because I love it.  Here comes the part I don't get: since when in our country is a teacher's salary or benefit package considered too high?  Seriously, we pay people 6 figures to PLAY.A.GAME.  I wouldn't even make that salary in 2 years. 

A colleague of mine posted on this topic today too - quite entertaining if I do say so myself.  Hop on over and check it out. 

Now, Obviously I understand the difference between the public and the private sector - but really, America?! Let's get our priorities in order and our acts together, sooner than later please.

Weekend in Review

Well this weekend was for the majority, spent at a dance competition.  I really loved spending time with my most favorite people. 

My life has always been hectic.  In high school I was at the studio 3-4 nights per week, was a varsity cheerleader, worked a job at a local ice cream shop, had a steady boyfriend, spent lots of quality time with my immediate and extended family, and got good grades through it all.  In college I kept the same pace and after graduation, I just kept going even though I got a full-time job and enrolled in graduate work - I just kept teaching at the studio and coaching a dance team.  It really wasn't a big deal to me, I was single and spending time with the people I cared about at the studio and my dance team was fun.

In the past few years as I met Hubs and began getting serious, I began viewing my extra jobs as a burden.  I wanted to spend time with him, I wanted to relax when I got home from work, I wanted to make dinner like a normal human being.  Now don't get me wrong, I had fun every single time once I got there - but very often I didn't want to go to start with.  I would come home from work and just cry because I was so mentally and emotionally exhausted and just didn't want to go work for another 2-5 hours (depending on the night). 

This weekend, my love was reignited.  I was reminded why I love my job at the studio.  My job at the studio is very often with beginning or intermediate dancers.  I feel like just when they're getting good, they get taken away from me because they get moved up to advanced or elite.  It just seems like a vicious wheel that never ends for me.  But this weekend, I sat watching many of my current and former students shine on stage and was reminded, that it is the purpose of my work ~ to make them excellent and then move them on to become better.  While I may not have a direct hand in their dance instruction today, they wouldn't be where they are without the foundation I {along with many other amazing faculty at the studio} laid for their current teachers. 

In addition to being in awe of my students, I genuinely laughed alot at the other staff.  Seriously, I am so blessed to work with my best friends and get to spend the entire weekend with them doing what we love.  I laughed harder than I have in a long, long time this weekend and it felt good.

So, as I prepare to begin another week, I simply take a deep breath in and count my many blessings.  Seriously, I get paid to do some of the best work ever.  :)

2011 Goals

A new year is always so daunting to me, and as a teacher I experience it twice - once in August and again in January.  A new school year is such a fresh start.  It always begins with wonderful plans and high aspirations to move mountains with my 27 darling children.  And then January rolls around (just around the same time as my school goals are falling off my radar left and right) and I have to do it all over again.  To be honest, I am a self-proclaimed list maker - but I am also really in need of work in follow through sometimes.

So, to add to the accountablitiy here are my goals for the year:

Health -

• drink 60-80 ozs of water/day regularly
• reduce my pop intake to one pop per day {I'm not quite ready to give it up...}
• work out 3-5 times per week
• run a half marathon {scheduled for September!}
• lose 40 lbs

Wealth -

• develop and stick to a household budget
• create and maintain a 6 month emergency fund
• reduce our household debt by 25%
• do a living will and get other such paperwork organized and filed appropriately

Personal -

• blog regularly
• take 30 minutes per day for myself
• read one "adult" book per month {I usually only read children's books during the school year}
• develop and maintain a household cleaning schedule
• get a library card for the city I live in {completed 1/21/11}

Home -

• paint our bedroom
• file all bills/statements/documents
• paint our living room
• organize coat closet
• re-organize laundry system
• paint porch
• re-do bathroom
• build out new bedroom in basement

This is not even 1/2 of the items I need to do in our home, but I figured I'd spare you the rest of the details.  And to be honest, I really need to get back to my new favorite blog and I'm dying to watch my Oprah from today.  {in addition, I need to shower and do a little work for my little side Scentsy business...it will most likely be a late night, but such is the life when my priorities are blogging and then work} 

And can I get a "YEAH KATIE" for blogging two days in a row?!

Time sure does fly...

I have never in my life experienced how quickly time flies as much as I have this year. This was the year that my childhood dream came true. Since the moment I stepped foot in school, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I would play school in my house as a child, as a teen I collected things I might use someday in my classroom, I took mental notes of the kind of teacher I wanted to become, I studied long and hard in college to gain the skills necessary to do the best job I could, I endured struggles - both financial and emotional - to get to where I am. But, I'm here. Exactly where I've always dreamed of being. And to be quite honest, more days than not out of these past 177, I could be found wondering why on Earth I wanted this so badly.

This first year of teaching has been anything but blissful. It has been exhausting, frustrating, trying, and just down-right hard. I have spent many afternoons after school in tears and many mornings silently praying for strength and grace to make it through my day. It is a daunting job to be responsible for 27 people and their academic, social, and emotional growth for an entire school year. It is an enormous responsibility to spend all day taking care of everyone, besides myself. Many nights, I come home exhausted and in need of someone to take care of me for a little while. It has been difficult.

But it has also been exhilirating. As I sit here, we have merely 3 days left of the 2008-2009 school year. The dreadful "first year" is almost over. As I am gathering information for the district data we are required to turn in, I am realizing my students made enormous strides this year...in reading, in math, and most importantly in the kind of people they are and will become. It is indeed an awesome responsibility I have to help to mold and shape the kind of people they will grow up to be. I have spent countless hours teaching, then practicing, the re-teaching, and then practicing some more the life skills they will need to be successful teenagers and more importantly adults. How they handle anger, frustration, sadness, guilt, and dissappointment. How will they react when things don't go their way? And how will they react when things do go their way? It is an amazing thing, what teachers do everyday, and I say this with utmost humility, I am amazed at myself.

While they are far from perfect, they are indeed far from where they started. We have worked hard together. We have laughed alot together. We have seen our world change - a new president, a closer look at war, a study of our Nation's history, a clear view of ourselves and a very honest look at the things we need to work on. We have spent 180 days together, approximately 1,170 hours together, about 70,200 minutes together, 4,212,000 seconds together. It seems like a lifetime and a blink of an eye all at the same time. They are different people, and so am I - in more ways than I could possibly count. They have taught me to be patient, kind, honest, tough, compassionate, and humble.

If you were to ask any teacher, they would be able to say without doubt that they remember clearly their first class. And so, I too, join the ranks of teachers who will say, without hesitation that I will never forget these 27 children. I am both hopeful and confident that they will find success on their journey, but I hope that someday, some of them will look back on fifth grade and smile for a little while, knowing that they learned and laughed alot.

I pray that they will be quick with a smile, a helping hand, a thoughtful word, or a compassionate heart. Because for them to learn those qualities in human kind, is my biggest responsibility to them, and this world.

Perhaps I do have the greatest job on Earth. :)

Pennies make dollars

Yesterday at school we kicked off a fundraising campaign for a charity called Pennies for Peace. (You can click the link to find out more)

This amazing charity was started by a very humble man by the name of Greg Mortenson. Greg was visiting another country when he became very ill. The men and women of this country took care of him until he was well and as he left, he promised them he would re-pay them. As he spent time in this country, he saw many children writing in the dirt with sticks and no teacher. When he inquired about this, the children told him they had to share their teacher with a neighboring village because they could not afford the teacher's $1/day salary - so they had to split the time and salary. Greg saw a need, and stepped up to the plate. He returned to the United States and sent out over 500 letters of request for donations - he did not get one single donation. His mother, an elementary principal, granted him permission to kick-off a fundraiser in her building. This fundraiser raised almost $1,000 in just 6 weeks! And so Pennies for Peace was born.

We had an all-school assembly to kick-off this charity campaign in our building yesterday afternoon. Our librarian, who is heading up this wonderful cause, stood up and told the kids all about it - which got them very excited, but what she said at the end of her speech is what really impacted all of us. She said to them, "Boys and girls, it doesn't matter to me if you bring in a gazillion pennies or zero pennies. The most important thing you can do for this cause is to appreciate the education you are granted here at Mark Twain and in this country." You could've heard a pin drop in that room.

In the introductory video we showed the kids, one student being interviewed from the United States summed things up pretty perfectly. He said, "Here in the United States, well we have to go to school. It's a requirement. In Pakistan, and lots of other countries around our world, well, it's a privledge". How true those words are.

How often I forget the privledges I have been granted - not because of the kind of person I am, not because of how hard I work, just simply because I was blessed to be born in the United States.

If you are interested in making a donation, please don't hesitate to contact me. Our school goal is to raise $5,000 over the course of the next year. That $5,000 will supply one school for an entire year. Amazing.