One week down!

Well, I made it folks!! ;0) My first week down, only.... a whole lot more to go. BUT! I am hopeful, as the first week has gone extremely well. For the first time, in a long time, I think if someone asked me if I liked my job, as of right now I would be able to say.. Yes!! Amazing I know, I can't really think of the last time I felt that way. My second year was very good, but since I was still new to the realm of teaching, I didn't realize how good of a group they were until the end. I'm hoping that this isn't just a "honeymoon" phase though and that these kids will continue to be as good as they were this first week. There are so many that I already really like a lot, and very few that I think will be "sassy", if you know what I mean. ;0) I have two pre-ap classes this year too, and they have been so fun. Most of those kids are a blast and care about school, which is so refreshing! Thank you to anyone who said a prayer for me for this year, I truly thank God for this good start because I know that it is from Him. 

I posted a few more pictures of my classroom, the finished product. 

I have lab journal table of contents posted here, as well as my "while you were out" folders. Kids who are absent can pick up their makeup work from the folder day that they were out. It works out pretty well. :0)

I marked off this board for our daily objectives, class agendas and homework. We have to post TEK objectives and ESL objectives every day. It's super fun. ;0) This helps me stay organized too though, and is a good thing for the kids to look at as well.

This is my content bulletin board. I change this out every nine weeks with the different areas of study we will be covering. We start the year off with nature of science (measurement, scientific method, variables), then chemistry (atomic structure, periodic table of elements, chemical and physical properties and reactions) and then ecology (food chains/webs, relationships, abiotic and biotic factors). I know you were all totally interested in that. haha :0)

Well thanks for reading, I wish I could be more specific about things, but I like my job and want to keep it as of now, so I'll leave it at that. :0)

Back to School!!

Say a prayer for me, I'm going back to school!! 

I know...

I talk about my dog probably too much, but I just think she's so cute!! I just love her!!! We went to PetSmart today when I got home from work. She LOVES riding in the car and going places, it's almost too bad that there aren't more places I could take her. Anyway, she knows we're going somewhere when I put her harness and leash on her and then grab my keys. She gets so excited and runs to the door.

I think it's so funny when she rides in the car too, she sits in the seat like a person. 

When we pull into the PetSmart parking lot she always gets excited and stands us, like she knows where we are at! While we were at PetSmart we looked at Halloween costumes and I found the silliest thing ever, it's a unicorn fairy costume. It was of course way too small for Jacey and I don't think I would submit my dog to that humiliation, but apparently some people like it if they sell it haha. Just thought y'all would enjoy!

Any takers????!!! hahahahaha....

Bond or Free?

I have been reading in Galatians this week and I thought these few verses were cool!

“Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar… And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does te Scripture say? 'Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.' So then brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.” – Gal. 4:21-31

It's weird, because I've read Galatians many many times but never before had I really noticed these verses before. I just thought it was neat how Paul uses the example of Sarah and Hagar to model the Old law and the New law. So many people were wanting to be justified by the old law when the new law came into effect after Jesus was crucified, and this seems like it would have been a great way to convey to the people the roles and characteristics of the two laws. I love thinking about how we are free under the new law, that we don't have to be slaves to our pasts sins. Under the old testament, we know that the people's sins just rolled over to the next year and that animal sacrifices never truly washed people clean. But under the new testament it is different. Jesus was our perfect sacrifice. Have you ever just thought for a minute what that really means? To be perfect? To be so perfect that your death can free people from their sins and mistakes? I can't imagine what that must have felt like. And have you thought about how we are clean when we ask for forgiveness? It's an interesting feeling and thought, to think about Jesus taking that sin away and making us new. We should thank God daily that He sent Jesus for us, to free us from the bondage of sin and to be children of the promise. We are children of the free woman. :0) What a nice thought. 

Piggy Tails and Doggy Tails!!

Ok, I just have to say, I'm always very proud of myself when I french braid my hair. I don't know why. I think it makes me look like I'm 10 and gives me flashbacks to high school when my mom fixed my hair like this for football games. (It could fit in my hat that way hehe...) I love sleeping on my hair like this though and then it's cute and wavy the next day when I take it down!!

Jacey of course, liked it too! She asked me to braid her hair too but it's a little too short for that. I'm totally kidding!!! aaahhahahahaha......

Oh Comcast...

So here's my Comcast story... We decided that we wanted to disconnect our cable because we did the math and realized we were paying $1500 a year for tv and internet and that's just crazy... I mean, that's a nice vacation, right?!?! So I call Comcast, (who raves about their customer service and who according to their commercials has customer service as their number one priority), and I schedule a date for them to come out and turn it off. So here's how that goes...


I schedule the appointment for last Saturday from 12-2 p.m. I wait around with Jacob on Saturday for the cable guy to come, and by 3 no one has shown up. So I call Comcast back, and after waiting a while I get to talk to someone! She informs me that apparently the cable guy's truck had broken down and they rescheduled our appointment for 2-5 p.m. on that same day. I told her it would have been nice if they would have called us to tell us that. She says that we will have a $20 credit on our next bill. So then Jacob and I are watching TV later and it goes out. So we're assuming the cable guy is here and will come in to get the cable box and remotes. We look outside and no one is there, and no one comes to the door. So I call Comcast again (another 30 min. of my life gone...) and talk to a lady about why they didn't come to the door. She says she'll get someone to come back out that evening and get it. No one comes. So Jacob and I are thinking, this is ridiculous. Well it gets better. They proceed to call us Sunday during church, so of course we can't answer. Then they call Jacob at work on Monday at 10:30 a.m. and want to know why he's not home because we had a scheduled appointment at that time for them to come pick up the box. Of course Jacob tells the guy no one told us about this appointment. So the guy asks us to leave the box on the back porch for them to pick up Tuesday! I'm laughing now, but at the time I wasn't. We're thinking, "Great, we'll leave it our there, something will happen, and then we'll get charged for it." Luckily that didn't happen though and they were able to finally pick it up. 


I'm exhausted just typing all of that out. Well, I'm the type of person that gets aggravated and mad when people don't handle situations like that well, when people say one thing and don't hold up to their word. Well, as always, our ladies' Bible study gave me some good things to think about when dealing with anger, so I thought I'd share them with you!! :0)


Anger is defined as an emotion with a wide range of intensity, or a strong feeling of displeasure. Here's a few verses on what the Bible has to say about it.

“Be ye angry and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on our anger, and do not give the devil opportunity.” – Eph. 4:26-27

“But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth.” – Col. 3:8

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, You fool, ‘ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” – Matt. 5:22

I don't know about y'all, but that last verse scares me because there have been times when I am angry with others. I think the thing to remember with anger, is that it is an emotion that God created us with. So in essence, it is not a sin to be angry, but sin can come from being angry if we act upon our intense emotions. 


I like the first verse, because it puts a picture in my mind that I have a choice to give Satan an opportunity or not. I like to think of the fact that I can choose to not let him win in any aspect of my life. (I cant be a little competitive at times!) Also from this verse, it is important to resolve issues with others soon, but I think also it is wise to give yourself time to make sure you say things in appropriate ways that will help the situation and not make it worse. :0)

So, if you're like me, you want a solution. What can I do to not give place to the devil, or to control my actions when I am angry?

The best place to find solutions to life's problems is to look in God's word. Here's a verse that someone brought up in class...

“Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his ay, because of the ma who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret, it only leads to evildoing.” – Psalm 37:3-8

So when you are feeling angry remember these things... (as I will also try to do!!)

• Commit to Him (Remember that you are committed to God!)
• Trust in God (That He will resolve your problems and help you handle the situation appropriately!)
• Focus in delighting Him (Anger can be a selfish emotion - generally we get angry because we feel wronged. If we focus in making God happy, we will be focusing on a life of service, which is selfless!)
• Rest and wait patiently (Pause and take a few deep breaths, wait before you act.)

I hope this helps you as it has helped me. I have many frustrations in my day to day life, which can result in anger, so I was glad to take a moment and look at what God has to say to me about this emotion. I'll leave you with one last thought from another one of our special gals...

"Seek first to understand... Then seek to be understood!"

The Texans and Inserivce

Sooo we got to do something FUN last night!!! Ernst and Young has a suite at Reliant Stadium that employees can host clients at or employees can reserve to use and last night Jacob's team got to use it! 

I've never gotten to go to a suite like this at any sporting event so I was pretty excited. We got nice little badges to wear and there was Ernst and Young written on the suite sign.

It was a nice room with a lady attendant and LOTS of food! Taquitos, mini hotdogs, hamburger sliders, chicken tenders... and later the ICE CREAM cart came around!! I love ice cream in a helmet, I have no idea why... So fun!! The view wasn't bad either. ;0)

So, I sat there thinking last night... my school definitely doesn't have a suite at Reliant Stadium, we don't even have a working copier half the time. Yeah, 1100 students, 80ish teachers and one copier... it's really cool. I get excited when we get muffins for breakfast in the morning. ;0) We had super fun last night though, it was fun to meet Jacob's team members and it was cool to have such a neat opportunity!

Here's a perk of my job... INSERVICE!!!!!!!! hahaha I'm totally kidding.... Here's my teacher neighbor working on an experiment we did today. It was an experiment on humidity, we taped two thermometers to a ruler and then put a moist (that's a great word, isn't it???) cotton ball on one of the thermometers and then fanned it for five minutes. Or rather, Brandon fanned it and Kacey and I sat and laughed at him. The moisture was supposed to evaporate which affects the temperature of the cotton ball. Then we compared the two temperatures (Cotton ball and room temperature) and used a fancy table to see what the humidity of the room was. Apparently it wasn't very accurate, but are we really surprised about that once you read through the explanation? 

Well, two days of inservice down and 2 more to go plus a fancy work day on Friday!! Then comes a nice weekend and then the children come!! Whoo hoo!! Y'all get ready for story time, you know it will be coming. ;0)

A couple of favorite things...

So today was my last "free day" of summer, at least it felt that way. I know I have the weekend still before I go back to work, but it has already filled up with "things to do." :0) I'm trying to stay positive and just focus on today, which is all we can do. There's no good in worrying about the next couple of weeks. I have been praying so much that my year is better than last year though, and that I don't have a Jesus (and let me tell you, that is not Jesus as in Christ)... I just don't think I could handle it. Say a prayer for me too if you don't mind. :0)


Jacey loves it when I have multi-grain cheerios and strawberries. It is one of the cutest things. She loves it because I usually give her a few of the cheerios soaked in milk. Jacob of course scolds me for it, but it's just so cute to watch her take it from my hand and eat it. :0) I know, I'm teaching her a bad habit, but what does a dog really have to enjoy in life besides a few cheerios every now and then?

So, cheerios are one of Jacey's favorite things. One of my favorite things is getting my hair cut and getting pedicures. I know, trivial... but it's how I wanted to spend my last day of summer. 


Getting into perspective of the more important things in life, I read Gal. 2 this morning and thought that this was a good verse to focus on for today...

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” - vs. 20

Sometimes I think about what it must have been like for Paul. He was so intelligent, so strong and brave, always saying what needed to be said. There was no "tip-toing" around with this guy. I would like to think that I could say this verse just like he did, but there are things that I wonder sometimes if I put before God. I don't know that I do it intentionally, but it just seems to happen with my interests and desires throughout the day. (like today's schedule, right?? hehe...) Am I really living my life for God? This is one I need to say every morning before I start my day. I think I'm going to go add it to my spiral book by the sink. ;0)