Chocolate

Chocolate does the trick everytime. This is especially true at 1:15 when the kids are at P.E. and Music and I am free for the next 45 minutes. I usually have to work, but the other day I couldn't help but leaving school with Lisa and coming back with handfuls of goodies. It was the best day in Kindergarten yet! :)

Mistakes

There is nothing like the feeling of knowing you have peace with God. To know His heart and how He feels about us shatters every fear that hides in the shadows of our hearts. I don't know about you, but fear seems to be something that I struggle with often. I was listening to someone speak on fear the other day. He was saying that for a long time His motive in loving Jesus was one of fear. He thought if He could show God how devoted He was and that his devotion was one that was unique among anyone else, that He would somehow accept Him. It was basically a fear that He would not be pleasing to God. Therefore, He was trying to measure up by being extra devoted to the things that are important to God. I've been there before and it is the most tiring thing anyone can ever try to do. Other people take it the complete opposite direction. Because of their fear of not measuring up, they give up and quit trying all together. I mean, they are never going to be perfect enough, so why keep trying.

The good thing is that we don't have to try and measure up. The good news is that we can stop striving and start accepting His love for us right now where we are at in our weakness, quirkiness, and screw-ups. The biggest lessons I have learned in life are from my mistakes. He likes to take our mistakes, and instead of getting in our faces and condemning us, He will take them and make them into something beautiful that we can look back on and see His love even in the midst of it. Is that not all of our stories anyways? Let's face it, we are all disfunctional to some extent. God LOVES disfunctional people like you and I. He not only loves us, He wants us. He is patient with us, gentle with us, and looks past our weakness more than we realize. His words flow from a tender heart that sees the best in us, not the worst, which is what we tend to focus on.

I love this scripture: "Give thanks to the Father who has qualified you..." Colossians 1:12. If you are someone who has made a lot of mistakes in your life, you are qualified. That is the very thing that qualifies you to be loved by God. Mistakes are the very thing that gives us the opportunity to experience Jesus' compassion and love. Mistakes are mistakes, but they can be the best thing that ever happen to us if we let God in to those places of shame, fear, and guilt. It feels good to have peace with God, to know that because of Him we are qualified. Be encouraged. You are very important to Him.

Clown Picture

Here it is!

Only one boy wouldn't walk into the room when he saw me. His excuse was, "My teacher is not here today!" Other than that, it was well worth the effort to see my kids loving the clown outfit!

I Survived

I survived Halloween at school. Pictures coming soon! And stories!

Encounter with a Banana Peel

This is very random, but I was telling a friend this the other day and I think it's blog worthy. You'll get a good laugh out of it anyways.

I was having my normal ice cream craving, so I decided to drive to Rusty's Frozen Custard to get a chocolate custard with chunks of Reese's cup and peanut butter swirled in it (oh my, it's good). I got out of my car and began to walk on the sidewalk. Before I knew it, I had fallen right on my behind! I looked to figure out how I had fallen. My eyes beheld a banana peel. Now is that classic, or what? It doesn't only happen in the cartoons!

Refreshed

I just went for the most wonderful walk around this lake across the street from my housing development:



Besides dodging duck poop and blocking out the loud hammering from the workers on a roof (of whom were spanish speaking and I was trying to understand them and was failing), I am feeling much more refreshed after a very long week! But isn't that what life is all about - dodging things that could make a mess, blocking out things that would be distracting, stop trying to understand everything, and all along trying to remain quiet and restful in the Lord on the inside! Easier said than done sometimes. Just goes to show you that we can learn a lesson from anything!

Anyways, I feel much better now. A Dr. couldn't have perscribed anything better! It was definately medicine for my soul!

Fuji Apples

Snack time in Kindergarten is very very important. We might skip Math one day and the kids won't mind. We might skip writing and they wouldn't really complain. We better not EVER EVER skip snack. I would be in big trouble!
Several things happen every day during snack. We have a good routine going for us. The kids sit on the carpet. One child gives Germ-X out while I get the snacks ready. One thing I hear on a daily basis is, "What? You brought ANOTHER fuji apple for snack, Ms. Isaacs?" This statement has been being said by my kids since the beginning of September. You would think that maybe they would realize that yes...I have brought an apple (not just any apple, it must be fuji) and yes...I will always bring an apple and yes...that's old news. But no! It's MAJOR news every single day!! It's quite funny as I ask them, "Hey - can you guess what I brought for snack today?" I open up my mini fridge as they all yell out, "A FUJI APPLE!" And I say, "How did you know that?" It's followed by a big uproar of "you always do" and "because we just know."
What can I say? Fuji apples are the best!