The power of a compliment February 16, 2011

(I feel half of a need to apologize for yet another post about my youngest music students, but this one is just too good to keep to myself.)

One great upside of working in an elementary school is that they love to pay compliments. They love to receive them, and they love to find ways to reflect that back to their teachers. Usually, it’s a comment that they like my shoes, hair, shirt, or singing. Occasionally, it’s a comment like, “You’re so nice.”

This morning, I had the 4-year-old preschool class. They only meet on Wed. through Fri., so they were having their Valentine’s Day party today.  They were WOUND. UP! One of the activities we do with this group is tossing a beanbag up and across a circle while the students follow the shape of the beanbag with their voices.  We like to give every student a turn. Normally, everybody stands until everyone has had a turn, but I often have trouble keeping track of which students in this group have had turns.  So, this week (I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this sooner) I told the students that we were going to do things a little differently.  I said, “As soon as you have caught and tossed the beanbag, I want you to sit down.”  This is when I heard the compliment that made my day.  One little boy said, “Oooo, so creative!”

Yes, apparently this move ranked me as a creative genius.

An Elementary Valentine February 14, 2011

I’m sure this breaks some kind of single girl code, but I love Valentine’s Day. I like the color palatte. I like the candy. I like the kind gestures. I love how excited my students get about it all. I wonder if I would like it this much if I didn’t work at an elementary school. I do, though, so I get little cards and miniature-sized candy treats. This year, there were lots of cute little cards, and even a tiny pot with strawberry seeds. Seriously, how cute is that? This particular Valentine just melted my heart, though.

It came from a kindergarten girl. My favorite part, though, was her explanation.  With a very excited smile, she handed it to me and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day! I made this for you. ”  I thanked her, and she excitedly said, “It’s a red heart.”  Then she paused, hung her head and said, “…but I didn’t make it very good.”    Two second later she was chipper again. “I hope you have a very good Valentine’s Day.”  Then, she smiled and went on her way.

On families February 11, 2011

Yesterday in my preschool music class, I was introducing instrument families.  I explained that just like human families, sometimes we can recognize instrument families because some instruments look alike. Just to clarify, when there are adopted students, I word that part a little differently. In this this particular class, though, there are only 4 students and I know all of their parents.  So, I said, “Do some of you look a little bit like your mom or dad?”  Three of the four immediately said yes and wanted to tell me who they look like.  One boy had a very confused look on his face and was shaking his head.  I said to him, “Maybe you look a little like your brother or sister?” He continued to shake his head. I said, “Well, maybe you look like your cousin, or an aunt or uncle?  Or maybe you look like Grandma or Grandpa?”  At this, he gave me a quizzical look and said, “No, I don’t look like them at all. They’re bigger, and they’re kinda…crackly.”

Sweet forgiveness February 9, 2011

Yesterday was a very rough day at school.  To start with, I didn’t feel well.  On top of that, there was the emotion of the 10th anniversary of my best friend’s death.  I was sick, tired, and emotional–not exactly prime form for teaching.  Anyway, I blew it in my first class. My sixth grade students were also at less than their best, and at the end of a particularly rough class, I gave them a pretty rude lecture.  I knew right away that I’d screwed up, and this was only emphasized by the sixth grade teacher noticing how silent they were when she got them from class and popping her head back in with a shocked look and “What happened?!?”  She saw me later in the day and told me that the class was still out of sorts.

So, when I saw the class this morning, I knew I needed to make a priority of making things right with them.  That’s what I did first.  I had been harsh, unkind, and insensitive.  I told the class that, and I told them what made the day so hard for me.  I told them I wanted them to know what was going on, but I also knew that was no excuse for my harshness.  I asked them for forgiveness.  They were so sweet in speaking up quickly to tell me they forgave me. I was incredibly touched and encouraged by their sweet, sincere forgiveness.  They were such a powerful example to me.  They were a small representation of the sweet forgiveness Christ offers, and they gently reminded me that I need to just as quickly forgive others.

10 years later February 8, 2011

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of my best friend.  The thoughts of this post still ring true.  I’m once again amazed at how much I can still miss a friend who has now been gone far longer than I knew her.  I still bring to mind some of the encouragement she gave.  (She was awesome with the encouragement.)  For example, I remember one particular Sunday morning during the summer I spent living with her and my cousin.  I got dressed for church that morning, and she commented that I looked “like a million bucks.”  I still remember that because I hadn’t really felt pretty in a long time at that point, and her simple sentence changed that.  I also remember her faith.  That summer, we spent lots of time talking, making cards with stamps, and hanging out by the pool.  One time, she mentioned how fervently she was praying for God to give her a child.  She said she was praying for a clear answer from God within the year.  She told me that about six months before she died.  It’s strange how these different random thoughts are brought to mind, but with this memory, I was struck with God’s goodness.  This prayer of Marcy’s was answered very clearly.  It wasn’t the way I would have chosen, but God knew what was best and answered.  I pray that I can have that same kind of faith–to fervently pray for clear answers and be ready for God’s response when it comes.

So, I’ve shed a few more tears today.  I miss my friend.  Still, I look forward to the day when I will meet her once again in the presence of Jesus!  The following poem was written by my other cousin’s wife (so she was Marcy’s sister-in-law.)  I want to share it because it captures Marcy so beautifully.

Taken From Us Way Too Soon by Cathy Halo Parker

Taken from us way too soon
She glowed just like a night time moon
Her eyes would dance and pierce your soul
Encouraging others was her heart’s goal 

And coupled with her sweet, sweet spirit
Was a fiesty side, oh to be near it
A fiery glance she’d shoot your way
And you’d never expect what next she’d say

But that’s what made her full of life
A daughter, sister, friend and wife
She loved on people, her special feature
And children called her their favorite teacher

When she struggled with illness on a hospital bed
She invited my kids up, a story to be read
She let them color pictures there too
She was a joy infuser in all that she’d do

And always when David would leave for the store
“Bring me back a present” as he’d walk out the door
She was the one who could keep him in line
And she loved him so dearly all of the time

On that day God took her and called her away
None of us knew just quite what to say
But God had a plan for this beautiful bloom
Wanted to display her in His heavenly room

So we remember her with fondness and love
With the assurance she’s with the Father above
And one day we’ll see her, this angel to greet
As we gather together before Jesus feet.

2-8-10

Time passes sweet Marcy, but you are forever on my heart. I can’t wait to share in the joy of Jesus with you!

Marcy Sue (Ursiny) Parker – full of life and love and dearly missed 

Marcy was 27 when a blood clot in her leg traveled to her lungs and God took her home.

In keeping with the 10-day weeks….. February 5, 2011

I don’t normally post about my days, but I feel like I need to process today in writing.  I knew before it started that it was going to be a long day, but I had no idea until it started….

It started with a church business meeting.  These annual meetings usually go all morning.  Everyone gives reports on the ministries of the church.  That was very encouraging.  We look at the close of last year’s budget and the anticipated budget for this year.  That (with the obvious challenges of the current economy) took a little extra discussion, but went very well.  Again, we were encouraged by how the Lord has blessed and provided for the needs of the church. Then, we closed with a time of confession.  It was a heart-breaking public confession of someone who holds a leadership position of sorts in the church.  It was heart-breaking, painful, and beautiful all at the same time.  God is working in His people, showing mercy, calling for forgiveness, and even using the ugliness of this sin to glorify Himself.  It was exciting, overwhelming, and exhausting.

From the meeting, I needed to leave a few minutes early to make it to accompany a regional music audition for a high school student.  The audition was an hour away, and I needed to get home to eat lunch and change before hitting the road. I walked out of the church building to find about 4 inches of snow on the car (and parking lot and roads).  Apparently, there was some sort of “flash blizzard.”  Seriously, the weather man had only anticipated a dusting of snow that would stop around noon. I knew the trip would be slow, so I hurried through changing and grabbed a banana for lunch. It snowed the whole way to the audition, and I hardly saw any evidence of any plowing.  I did, however, see several cars that had slid off the road. I did make it safely to the audition, though. It kept snowing through that whole time.

Since I was in that town anyway, I decided to stop at my bra store.  Yes, I have a special bra store.  I wear a very difficult size to find, and this place is awesome with specialized fitters and a huge selection.  Not cheap–but awesome.  Apparently, these places are very rarely found in the states, but that should not be true. I only discovered this place about 6 months ago, but I can’t believe what a difference it makes to wear a bra that really, truly fits. I was the only customer in there.  The three workers were very glad to see me.  They said the weather had kept everyone away.  I spent way too much on bras, but I’m set for a while, and I got one that was very pretty.

Then, I travelled slowly through more snow and more unplowed roads to get home. The weather man was oh-so-wrong.  The snow didn’t stop falling until about 4:45, and it was at least 6 inches.  Even by Indiana standards, that is far more than a dusting. Anyway, I had hoped to stop for my niece’s birthday gift on the way home. Her birthday is tomorrow and I had gotten ideas from my sister at the church business meeting, but I realized that I had left my list of ideas at home in my haste to change and hit the road.  I quickly (well, as quickly as I could in 6 inches of snow) ran in to get the list and head to the store.  She loves Adventures in Odyssey, so I headed to my local Christian book store.  I got to the door at exactly 5 p.m. just to find out that’s what time they close on Saturdays.  I tried the locked door and headed back to my car.  Then, a very nice store employee came to door and let me in.  He said it was OK because there were still other customers inside.  Wasn’t that kind of him?  I had to hunt a little, but I found a CD set that she didn’t already have.  I think she’ll love it.

I then headed home, down my unplowed alley, into my unplowed driveway and was home for the evening.  I proceeded to spend a little more than the next hour shoveling.  Timing couldn’t have been much better, though.  I had just enough daylight to finish the job, and I enjoyed a beautiful sunset as I shoveled the last couple feet of my driveway.   Now, I’m inside for the night–warm, tired, overwhelmed, and processing.  I’m trying to finish my laundry and will probably watch something on netflix tonight while wrapping the birthday gift, sipping hot chocolate and all the while pondering God’s goodness to me and my church and considering what I’ll wear tomorrow with my pretty new bra.

Already falling behind…. January 16, 2011

I’m doing my best to keep up with the post a week thing, but January took off running before I was ready for it.

Really, I don’t know how my life got so crazy. The other day, I got a haircut. As I sat in the hairdresser’s chair, she asked me what was going on with me. It took me a little while to answer because I feel like I’m going constantly, but it was hard to put into words just what keeps me so busy. And I decided, that’s probably not a good thing. So, I’m analyzing the busy-ness to see what is necessary and what is just busy because I feel unnecessarily obligated.

That brings me to the post I mentioned last time. I’d like to put into writing some of my goals for 2011. Some are a little more frivolous than other, but here they are:

1. Continue weekly weigh-ins. I did well with the weight loss and fitness in 2010, and I don’t want to fall back. I used Weight Watchers online, and I loved it. The weekly weigh-ins kept me accountable, and I feel like they will be a very good habit as I switch to maintenance mode.

2. Stick to regular Bible reading plan. I started with an online program for getting through the Bible in one year. I’ve attempted these plans other years, but I haven’t made it completely yet. Since I do much better at keeping up with reading emails and my favorite blogs, I decided to make that work for me. This program allows me to subscribe via RSS, so I’m having it sent to my reader.  So far, it has been a great solution to keeping me up-to-date.

3. Consolidate my piano lessons.  Right now, my lessons are a little scattered.  I scheduled people per their requests when they spoke to me. That left me with some weird gaps.  Also, the new method encourages learning in groups, because it fosters creativity, helps avoid performance anxiety, and allows more fun, etc. So, I’m working on ways to make this happen.

4. Save up enough to replace the rest of my windows on my house.  I was able to get new windows on the front of the house, and their is a huge difference in the draft factor between the front half and the back half of the house.  So, I’m working hard to get the ones on the back replaced, too.

5.  Finish completely unpacking!  I’ve moved many, many, many times.  I counted 25 different homes/apts. where I’ve lived in my life. Those are just the ones I remember.  This means I hesitate to really settle in any place. I need to get over that.  I need to completely unpack and stop holding onto things that I might sometime use if I move to another  place.

6.  Finish a few more 5Ks.  I haven’t set an official number on this, but I’m beginning to really enjoy running, and I’m clearly feeling the health benefits.  So, I’d like to participate in a few more races.

7.  Cook the majority of my meals at home. Sadly, as I get busy, I fall back on nasty fast-food.  My goal is to make plans to eat better at home even in my busiest times of life.

This list pretty well covers my goals.  I may modify this a little, but I think this pretty well covers it.  Now to do it.

for Auld Lang Syne January 2, 2011

Yes, I had to use that phrase that so few people understand….. I learned this a few years ago from one of the music textbooks in my classroom.  “Auld Lang Syne” means “old time’s sake.”  The song is all about reflecting on the past, and that’s exactly what I like to do at this time every year.  2010 was a very interesting and challenging year for me. If I try to sum it up, it will either be completely incoherent or novel-length, so I’m going to list my highlights–highs, lows, significant, and mundane.

• Started the year living at my parent’s house while house hunting
• Bought a house in January
• Moved into the house in the first week in April
• Got serious about weight loss and fitness
• Lost 35 lbs. and 22 inches
• Woke up on Labor Day and decided to start running
• Officially became a runner
• Ran my first 5k on Nov. 20th
• Paid off the last of my credit card debt that had been hanging over my head since a period of underemployment 7 years ago
• Started a new piano teaching method, Simply Music–By the way, I LOVE it!
• Started a 1-year Bible reading program
• Made it to about May.  (This was the first time I attempted this type of program. I loved it while I did it, but sadly, let other life get in the way. I’ll be trying again this year.)
• Survived and started another school year
• Shocked myself by realizing how much I enjoy my job
• Travelled absolutely nowhere!–This is very unusual for me.  This is probably the first year that has happened since I was in elementary school.  I could say for sure I took trips every year since late elementary school, because I remember most of them. It’s possible that 2010 was the first year ever in my life that I didn’t travel, but I’m not exactly sure.
• Saw miraculous answers to prayers several times this year
• Welcomed a new nephew on Christmas day! –This makes me an aunt 12 times over (or 14, depending on how you count–it’s a little confusing.)

That’s all of the major stuff I can remember right now.  Overall, it was a pretty good year—a year of personal growth, personal challenges, small victories, growth, miracles, and answered prayer.  [In a later post, I’ll list some of my goals for 2011.  I’m not really a resolution maker, because I feel like that tends to set me up for failure. However, I do like to balance my evaluation of the year that just ended with a little glimpse at what I’d like to see in the year ahead.]  I’m looking forward to seeing where the Lord will take me in 2011!

I’m in! January 1, 2011

I’m signing up for the WordPress weekly post challenge. This will not be the post for this week, because that would be a lame cop-out, but I think the weekly goal is a good, manageable challenge for me. So, here goes!

My new favorite thing August 16, 2010

Please forgive this little commercial, but I have found something I love. I get no compensation for this promotion. I simply love it too much to keep it to myself.  It’s goat milk soap, and you can find out all about it at goatmilkstuff.com.  Back when I lived in NJ, I went to church with lots of great people.  One family in particular was very memorable.  I knew them, but mostly because one of my dearest friends is a mutual friend of theirs.  Since that time, we’ve all moved away from NJ, but I’ve been able to follow their story through our mutual friend.  She’d tell me about each of their new children. (They have eight.) She told me they’d moved to Southern Indiana. When she told me they had gotten some animals on a farm, I was not at all surprised.  When she told me that PJ, the mom, had started making her own soap, it seemed like par for the course. I had known PJ to be very driven and resourceful, even making all her own yogurt. Then, PJ’s homemade soap turned into a business.  Then, I started hearing from all of my mutual friends who had tried the soap.  They were raving about it. Finally, I tried it myself.

It came in the mail and I couldn’t stop sniffing the box. It looked very cool, and it smelled amazing! (I borrowed the picture from my sister. I hadn’t thought enough to get a photo, and after my raves she ordered, so I borrowed hers.)  Then, I tried it.  It felt great on my skin in the shower. I don’t know exactly why, but I felt cleaner after the first shower.  I knew my skin felt great, but three days later while I was watching a movie at my sister’s house, I caught myself rubbing my arms, because the soap had made them feel so amazingly soft.  The most amazing thing is that even my elbows were soft.  That might not seem like much to you, but that has never been true for me before. Since then, I’ve gone on to try the laundry stain treatment stick and the laundry soap.  Both things cleaned better than anything I’ve ever tried on laundry.  I tried a bath bomb. It left me smelling heavenly, and it left my skin feeling like silk. I’ve tried the lotion stick and have nothing but good to say about it.  I tried the bug off lotion while picking blueberries with my mom and sister.  They used traditional bug spray and got eaten alive while the lotion kept me from getting any bites at all.  I also haven’t smelled a single one of their scents that I didn’t like.  They give three free sample bars of soap with every order. They are great for travel, but they also help me try lots of scents.  (I intend to eventually try every one.)  They are constantly trying new formulas to be able to expand their product line–they’re currently testing shampoo and body wash. I, for one, will continue to be a loyal customer and will be quickly willing to try new products. I have loved everything I’ve tried, and  I know that everything they make will be great quality.