'Tis the Season

It's Christmas time already! If you know me, you know that Christmas is one of my most favorite holidays. I look forward to it because I get to spend time with my family all while celebrating the birth of Jesus. This Christmas has been a humbling experience for so many reasons. One reason in particular shed quite a bit of light on what Christmas is really all about. It's so easy to get carried away with buying and giving gifts, and sometimes we forget what this holiday is really about. It's easy to focus on the materialistic things of Christmas. My prayer for myself for these past few days has been to help me to not lose sight of the "reason for the season" (for lack of a better phrase....I know it's a corny phrase, but it's true).

I'm out of school until January 9th. Though I am in need of a break, I will miss my sweet little 4th graders. I'll be working hard to get things in order for this next semester. It's hard to imagine my first year of teaching is halfway over. It's had its ups and downs, but nonetheless it's been a wonderful experience. I'll be doing literature circles when we start back, and I'm so excited about them. I've been doing a good bit of research about them. If you read my blog (do people even read this?) and have some knowledge of literature circles or even ideas, let me know! Like I said, I'm very excited about starting these in my classroom.

I'm using this break to catch up on my crafts board on Pinterest. I feel as if it has been neglected lately.

If I don't write until after Christmas, Merry Christmas to you and your families. I pray that you have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Recycling Glass Jars

In my family we have a few odd traditions. Where we spend our Thanksgiving depends on where the Egg Bowl is played that year. We watch the Christmas Story 24 hour event every Christmas. And we drink milk out of frozen mason jars. People that come to my apartment say it's quite strange. If you were to open my freezer you would see about ten of these said jars. I decided to downsize the number of jars, but needed something creative to do with a few of them. Of course I would turn to Pinterest for this project. I found this article in my research of crafty things to do with my jars, now all I needed was some spare time. Between teaching, lesson planning, daily chores, and a social life, my spare time is just that.

Two weekends ago I had a free weekend. Stefan was at UAB working the MSU v. UAB game. I had some friends come into town from the coast. While I was waiting on my friends to arrive I decided to dive into making my jars into tea light candle holders.

The materials needed.

Put the twine on the jars in different designs. It helps to tape the the ends to the inside or on the bottom.

It's also nice to have some helping hands! (Thanks, Mom!)

Jars after coats of white spray paint. I put 1-2 coats.

Let it dry for 10 minutes.

Take the twine off and you have beautiful tea light candle holders!

Pretty easy, don't you think?

A Good Luck Charm

I've had the wreath finished for about a week now. I've just been busy with my little 4th graders and barely have time in the evenings to post anything crafty. I'll get better.

My MSU wreath is finished just in time to cheer on my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs at their first home game against LSU on Thursday. I have I said that school gets out early on Thursday? My students are as excited as I am! (Them probably being more excited that we have a half day on Thursday.)

I want to make more of these to sell to friends, family or whoever. So if you or anyone you know might want a ribbon wreath of any kind, let me know!

If you know anything about me, then you know that I absolutely love to cook, and that I am on the crafty side. I have this lamp in my room that I have been meaning to do something with, and a stack of old magazines that I have yet to recycle. I'm sure my next post will have something to do with the lamp. Until then, love and peace.

Just In Time For Football Season

After being obsessed with Pinterest, and stumbling upon this blog post by She's {Kinda} Crafty blogger Stacey, I just HAD to make a wreath in my Dear Ole State's colors of maroon and white. While I have not yet finished it, I am giving you readers two photos of what it looks like now. It is almost finished, I just have to get the letters on it. It's my first attempt at doing a wreath, so don't leave too many negative comments on how it looks. The pictures are also not as good as I wanted them to be since they were taken from my phone. Oh well. The finished one will be taken with a real camera.

The materials to make the ribbon wreath.

The ribbon wreath minus the MSU letters and football cut out. It's a terrible quality picture. I'm ashamed to say I am a photographer.

I am waiting on my letters and football to dry, then I will put them on the wreath. Just in time for football season!

Dress Shopping and BFFFL Time

I should be getting ready for school, but I really had the urge to blog. This morning I am more excited than usual. No, not just because it's Friday, but at 3:20 this afternoon I'm hitting the road to go here

to visit this pretty friend of mine in the pretty green and white dress.

I am so excited to see her and I'm counting down the hours. She is my wonderful Best Friend Forever For Life or BFFFL as we say it. She is also getting MARRIED in May to another one of my friends, and I'm so very happy for her. Aside from not seeing her in about a month and a half (the main reason for the weekend trip), we're also going to pick out bridesmaid dresses (another important event of the weekend).  I am also delivering her engagement pictures that we took in June. She's probably more excited about that than seeing me......kidding. She's excited about seeing her BFFFL, but I'm pretty sure the excitement for seeing her pictures are next to that.

It's about 6:00, and I should be getting ready for a fun filled Friday with my precious 4th graders!

LK

Pinterest and Mississippi State

I have recently been acquainted with Pinterest. This is my new obsession. It has everything from craft ideas to teaching ideas. Along with some other "must make" DIY ideas I just HAVE to make this (In my dear Mississippi State's colors, obviously!):

It seriously broke my heart made me cringe to put something with Florida's colors on my blog. I hope my fellow State fans can forgive me. I want to make it before football season begins (9 days away).  A trip to Hobby Lobby is in order.

Adventures in Teaching

I'm a teacher. It looks weird even when I type it. I can't believe it, but I'm already into my 3rd week as a first year teacher. It's going by faster than I could imagine. I have 22 little 4th graders, who have already captured my heart. I am quickly learning how different my students are from one another. I'm seeing first hand their success and their struggles. Student teaching prepared me material and ethics wise, but in all honesty, nothing prepares a first year teacher to be in charge of her very own classroom. I am so grateful that God has placed me with such a wonderful group of students. The first week was great, as was the second week. There were a few rocky places, but we worked together as a class to smooth them out. Just like it's their first time to be in 4th grade, it's my first year to teach, so we learn together. I am now emerged in the lesson planning, paper grading, pencil sharpening first part of the school year, with so much more to come. I look forward to each and every day with my students, even on the hectic days. They are precious to me and I can't wait to see how each of them shines throughout the year.

Thanks to Pinterest, I have stumbled upon quite a few teacher blogs. I love blogging, even though I haven't been as avid of a blogger as I have wanted to be. Hopefully that will change now that I am in week 3 of the school year. Each of these teacher blogs offer something unique, whether it's classroom management 101 or decorating your classroom on a tight budget. There are fun activity sheets and penny pinching ways to do fun things in the classroom. Seriously, if you're a teacher (Or know one!) check these blogs out. I've put a button to each of them on the sidebar of my blog! Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!
Laura Kate

Getting It Together

I'm an official teacher now. Accepting the job and signing the contract was the easiest thing about teaching. I am now a first year teacher faced with pouring my knowledge into the minds of 4th graders so they can become better learners and become the leaders of tomorrow. I know that last line is cheesy, but it's true. 

Before I go into detail about all of the teacher-like things I've been doing, I feel the need to brief you readers on a few things. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll know that I recently had ear surgery (a week ago today to be exact). I was missing my eardrum due to chronic ear infections during my childhood. The absence of an eardrum left my hearing bones vulnerable to all sorts of things, including calcification of skin cells, which was my case. This prevented my hearing bones from being able to move as they should. To make a long story short, they removed the calcified skin cells and performed a tympanoplasty (which basically means they grafted an eardrum for me). I think that's pretty cool, even if I do have some of my hair shaved. (That was the first thing I asked when I woke up from the surgery). Well now because of this surgery I can't lift anything over 15 pounds for 2 months. 

That bit of knowledge is crucial because I am a first year teacher with my very own classroom. This classroom has lots of things that need to be moved. The majority of those things are over 15 pounds. But thanks to an amazing mother and father, and my wonderful boyfriend, my desks are arranged and the heavy things have been moved to their resting places for the school year. Now I don't mind being waited on every now and then, but after being cooped up in my house for a week, I was about ready to fly the coop. My sweet father took me to my room last Thursday (My first day out since my surgery). We worked in the room for a few hours until I was too tired to continue. Friday my sweet mother, Stefan, and I worked in my room all day! I was so excited to be doing something for my classroom, even if it was only sitting in a chair and directing where things should go.

Today I worked on color coding AR books and putting up some things for my bulletin board. I'll post some pictures once I get my room in some kind of order. I feel like I have accomplished NOTHING, but I know that it will get finished. I'm sure after a few years of teaching, I'll be able to do this with no stress.  We'll see.

A Prayer for Georgia Grace

There is this sweet little girl I know. This sweet little girl is someone who always brightens, not only my days, but the days of each person she meets. She has the smile of ten thousand sunshines. One smile from her and the world doesn't seem so bad. She has a heart of gold, and I rarely see her without a smile on her face. Her name is Georgia Grace, and I believe she is God's gift to this world. My family and I met Georgia Grace and her family when we first moved here, and since then, it has been nothing but a blessing to watch her grow up. She is such a wonderful little girl who is so kind to those around her, but the one thing I admire most about her is her bravery. On Thursday morning at 5:30, Georgia Grace will undergo heart surgery to replace a pulmonary valve that isn't working as it should. If you are reading this, I ask that you pray for this sweet girl and her family. Pray for her doctors and medical team. Pray for a smooth-sailing surgery. Pray for God's blessings over this family. Pray for peace of mind and bravery. She is a light to this world and I know God will use her in such amazing ways.

New Job and A Thought to Consider

Okay, Okay. I know I said I wanted to become a better blogger. I tried doing a 30 day blog challenge. That challenge lasted about 8 days, then I was just finished with it. I think I've come to accept that I will more than likely blog only when I have something to say. I have 2 things to say right now.
1---- I HAVE A JOB!!!!! I am one of the newest 4th grade teachers at Ward-Stewart Elementary. I interviewed at this school the Friday before I graduated. The principal called me 2 weeks ago to offer me the job, and of course, I took it! Now, I'm not going to lie, a part of me was feeling a little anxious (I refuse to say worried), but I knew that if I continued to pray, that God would bless me with the job that HE wanted for me. I am so very thankful to my God, and it never ceases to amaze me how my God comes through.

2---- I was going through some old messages a friend and I sent back and forth to each other. This particular friend is someone who is very dear to me, and we often talk about God's will in our lives and other deep things about faith, and what it means to be a Christian. In this particular message, I told him about a passage in this book that I read called God's Blog. This was the passage:

"Here's a thought for you to consider:

People are put in your path almost every day. Some are quite unobtrusive and you might not even notice them. Many are somewhat undesirable, and you don't want to notice them. Some are right in your path, and you are forced to at least acknowledge their presence. But you make the connections and those connections never die. The thread just keeps unrolling through time- touching everyone, tying everyone together. It won't stop until you walk into eternity. That's why EVERY DAY MATTERS and EVERY PERSON MATTERS."

Think about this passage, and what it is saying. We are all connected to each other in some way. Even if you don't know me personally, you and I are connected by you reading this post. I think that's pretty amazing. God is constantly placing people in our lives when He feels we might need them. We may not get the reason He has put them there, but eventually it will reveal itself. This passage always makes me smile when I read it. I think about all the people God has placed in my life, and how if they weren't in it, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Each person we meet, even if it's for the briefest second, shapes us in someway. We become a better person when we smile at someone we don't know. We have the ability to make someone's day a little brighter. We should all be striving to make some type of connection to someone.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 8: A Place You've Traveled To

Okay, so obviously I have failed at the 30 Day Blog Challenge. I started the challenge before my teaching internship was over, and got pretty busy towards the end, resulting in the Blog Challenge Fail. But, I figured I should go ahead and finish the challenge, because it's better late than never. So here goes!

If you know anything about me, you know that I love to travel. One of the most beautiful places (and my favorite so far) I traveled to was here:

San Juan, Puerto Rico to be exact.

The reason for this fantastic destination was the wedding of two of my most wonderful friends Rebecca and Gregg.
We stayed at the San Juan Beach and Water Club Hotel. The rooms looked like this:

The rooms had the blue lighting that could be turned on and off. We had to turn it off because it was a little intense, but it was pretty neat. They also played Techno music in the lobby.

If you haven't had the chance to travel to Puerto Rico, I think you should consider it. :) It is beautiful! It has plenty of these:

And for the die hard architecture/history/shopping fan, there is Old San Juan. Old San Juan is the location of many, many, many beautiful buildings, shopping places, and restaurants. It is steeped with tons of history for the history buffs out there.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 7: Favorite Movies

Yes, yes....I know that I didn't blog yesterday, but I was at my parent's house and they have....DIAL UP!!!! I'm sure we're the only household in America that still has the dreaded dial up internet. They live so far out in the country that we can't get wireless. Sad, but true story.....maybe one day it will happen.

So Day 7 of the blog challenge is Favorite Movies. I love movies, so it's hard for me to chose a favorite, but I have one. My all time favorite movie is

I can watch this movie over and over and over again. Yes, it's 3 hours long, but it's worth watching. There's not much to say about this movie, but I think there are two types of people when it comes to it being a favorite: You either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it. There is no in between. It's a classic. Here's a fun fact about this movie for those of you who do not know this: This movie is the first movie to ever have a curse word in it. We all know the line....."Frankly my dear, I don't give a ........" because this is a G-rated blog, I will refrain from putting the word. But seriously, if you haven't seen it go out right now and rent it or Netflix it. You have to see it.

Another movie that I love is

This one is my go to movie when I'm in a sappy love story kind of mood. The movie always leaves me saying "I think that if Katie and Hubble really tried they could have made it." It's as simple as that. I'm not going to lie, if you watch this movie, have a box of tissues handy. It will make you cry.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 6: Your Siblings

I have one sister. Her name is Camille, and she is one of my best friends. She has always been there for me even when I didn't want her to be. She was one of the people I missed the most when I went away to college for the first time. She loves to make awkward situations, and loves it when it's a situation I am in. Nonetheless, she brightens up my day when I'm around her. We share silly traits and do things a certain way, like only sisters could. Sure we fight, but who doesn't fight with their siblings? We've been through a lot together, and if I could choose a different sister, I wouldn't. I would choose her to be my sister again and again. In case you can't tell, she is also one of my favorite people to photograph. Her fun personality always shines through the photos.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 5: A song to match your mood

I am exhausted at the moment, and only have a few minutes before I crash for the night. That's what being a teacher intern does to you. Today, despite the rainy and eventless weather, was actually pretty good. I was in a happy mood. Here are a few songs that were on my mind today.

This video is for the song Falling in Love in A Coffee Shop. I absolutely love this song.

This video was made by my creative and incredibly talented boyfriend, Stefan Tribble, and his group for one of his classes. It turned out pretty great....not that I had any doubt that it would. He always does a great job.

Who doesn't love Abba's song Dancing Queen?

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 4: Your parents

My parents are Leslie and Susan Watts. They were married on July 9, 1983. This year they will celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary. I am so very blessed to have wonderful, loving parents like these two. They have always been there for me and my sister. They have always supported both of us, even if they didn't agree with what we were doing, and most of all, they shared the love of Christ with us. They pray for us daily and ask God to keep us safe. They say you can't choose the family you were born into, but if I could, I would still choose them.

I will post more pictures of my parents on this post tomorrow. I recently scanned some old ones of them during their first few years of marriage and thought I would share them.

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 3: Your first love.

My first love? Well, that's a hard question to answer....actually not really. The first time I was introduced to love was on the playground in 3rd grade. My childhood sweetheart kissed me on the cheek and I was on cloud nine. At 9 years old, you like to think you know what love is. Now fast forward about 14 years. After much persistence on his part....asking me out on a date 3 times, with me telling him no, only to agree the fourth time he asked me.... I can honestly say this is the man God put in my life, and this is the man who I am so much in love with.

Stefan makes me laugh, smile, and giggle. He constantly pushes me to be a better person and a better Christian. Together we continue to grow in our relationship with Christ. Sure we have our moments, but every couple does. We work it out when it gets rough, and at the end of a long day he is there to greet me with a smile, hug, an "I love you", and a kiss. Yes I know this is sappy, but in all honesty this man is my first real love. It also helps that he is as big of a Mississippi State fan as I am:

He makes my heart smile and I'm so thankful he puts up with me. 

30 Day Blog Challenge Day 2: Meaning Behind Blog Name

Obviously the name of my blog is Sunny Days & Saturdays. I was looking for a cute and fun name that represented who I am. I chose this specific name because sunny days bring me so much joy and happiness. Saturdays are also my favorite days of the week. This post isn't as long as the previous, but hopefully I'll be in a better writing mood tomorrow for Day 3.


On a side note: My best friend got engaged last night and I am soooooo happy for her and her now fiance!!!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 1

I have decided, after realizing that I should blog more, that I should do what I've seen on a good many blogs: A 30 day blog challenge. Yes, yes, I know it's like those chain letters people send in emails, and many people can't stand those, but fortunately, this is only on here and is not going out to 15 recipients. And I thought it would be fun. So here goes....

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture, and 15 interesting facts

My name is Laura Kate. Kate is not my middle name. It is part of my first name which is a double name. There is a space between both names. Not a hyphen like so many people want to put. I am 23 years old. I will graduate May 7 (20 days! Yikes!) from Mississippi University for Women.

Interesting Facts:

1. I am named after my great-great grandmother Kate who was a full blood Cherokee Indian.

2. I have a sister who is 21. She is one of my best friends.

3. I am the spitting image of my mother, except for the redhair.

4. I am not very good at math, and did not inherit the "math gene" from my father, instead I inherited a big and loving heart like his.

5. I played softball for 11 years.

6. I have a scar on the inside of my left ankle from scraping it on the corner of a shower door freshman year of college.

7. I color code my M&M's before eating them.

8. I love the profession I have chosen: Teaching.

9. After years of waiting and watching my friends get married, God put the most amazing man in my life at just the right time, and I love him with all my heart and thank God for him everyday.

10. My little cousins Evvy, Clara, and Caroline mean the world to me and constantly remind me how simple childhood is and how every now and then, adults should try and go back to the simplicity of it all.

11. I hate jelly beans, raisins (except for oatmeal raisin cookies), and grape flavored things. I'm also scared of clowns.

12. I love Mississippi State Football!!!! Really just Mississippi State in general.

13. I am addicted to those Mini Cadbury Eggs. Thank goodness they are only available at Easter.

14. It brings me joy to help others, and to see other people helping others. It shows me how God can work in such wonderful ways, when complete strangers come together to help out one another.

15. I love to clean. It gives me a sense of order and relieves my stress.

Savannah

Today was our first official day in Savannah. Let me tell you, we are falling in L.O.V.E with this beautiful city! We went to Tybee Island Lighthouse today instead of tomorrow because it closes on Tuesdays. There were 178 steps to the top of the lighthouse. For those of you who know me, you probably know that I am terrified of heights. I have come to learn that it's important to face my fears, so the Tybee Lighthouse is the 2nd lighthouse where I have climbed all the way to the top. The first was the St. Augustine Lighthouse in St. Augustine, FL. 178 steps may not seem like a lot of steps, but to me it was. As petrifying as the climb up was, it was quite worth it because at the top of this:

 was this gorgeous view: 

Totally worth it, right? 

We had lunch at The North Beach Grill where I had the most delicious crab cake sandwich. We headed into Historic Savannah after lunch. This part of Savannah, like most parts, is just beautiful! We walked down River Street and shopped. We came across the Savannah Candy Kitchen where they make pretty delicious pralines. I think I'll buy some tomorrow to bring back...

A Much Needed Vacation

At this time tomorrow, I will be on my way, along with Stefan, to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia. I am so very excited about this trip! We were originally going to stop at this place on the way there: 

Yes, my dear readers, and Fried Green Tomato movie lovers, this is the Whistle Stop Cafe located in Juliette, Georgia. Unfortunately, we might have to stop there on the way back because it closes at 4pm. Sad day, but maybe on the way back home.

I have been looking forward to this vacation for a while. I have always heard how beautiful Savannah is, and decided it was time to experience it for myself. A few months ago a friend of mine told me about this book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It is the story of true events that happened in Savannah. I have been reading this book during the free time that I have between student teaching and other schoolwork. I had planned on finishing it before the long-awaited vacation, but that didn't happen, so it looks like I'll be doing a little reading on the way there.

Now, anyone who knows me know that I absolutely LOVE to cook. If I could get paid for it, I would watch the The Food Network all day, every day. So of course it is expected that I go to the famous Lady and Sons restaurant. I have heard wonderful things about it, and why wouldn't I, Paula Deen is a fabulous cook. 

Stefan and I also plan to work a little while we are there. He will be filming a few scenes for various projects and I will have my camera in hand to document anything and everything.

Oh, before I forget, we will also be going here: Tybee Island, Georgia. Tybee Island is a beautiful island where many movies with beach scenes are filmed. The most recent movie filmed there, that I know of, was The Last Song, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel.

We're also going to see the lighthouse there. Stefan and I both love lighthouses. I'm not sure why I like them so much, but they fascinate me to no end.

I am so excited about this mini vacation. I'll keep you updated as the trip progresses.

Peace and Love,

Laura Kate

Pray for Lucy

Children are my passion, and it breaks my heart when I see one of God's children hurting. Following the example my wonderful mentor teacher and friend, Laura Tomlinson, I have felt the need to tell you about a little girl. Lucy is 5 years old. She has a sister, a brother, a mom, and a dad. She loves Buzz Lightyear, but on February 23, 2011 she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Here is her story taken from the blog that her mother writes:

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, our sweet Lucy Hannah was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. Medulloblastoma. It all came on so quickly that she only presented symptoms for a few days before things started spiraling out of control. Upon an MRI, we learned that Lucy had a total of 3 tumors in her brain, one in her spinal column and a sugar-dusting of tiny tumors up and down her spine. In a whirlwind of events, she was in a 9 hour surgery 2 days later. While the surgery was largely a success, the doctor was unfortunately not able to remove all the tumors and found another one in the front of her brain. Lucy will begin a 6 month treatment plan of high risk chemotherapy and radiation mid-March. She suffered a setback several days after surgery when she contracted bacterial Meningitis. Lucy is a fighter and we have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that she will beat this evil disease cancer and that He will heal her body. Thank you for following our story and we covet your daily prayers for our sweet Lucy.

The second grade class I am doing my Teacher Internship in, made cards for this sweet little girl. The cards are so beautiful! I pray that they will bring Lucy happiness and encouragement to continue fighting her fight. I pray that the cards will remind her that she is not alone in her fight, but that there are hundreds of people praying for her at this very moment.

I have added the Pray for Lucy button to my blog. I ask that you put this button on your blog. Simply click the button to get the code. Continue to pray for Lucy and her family.

Education

Education is something that is is very close to my heart. The majority of my family is or has been in education at some point in their lives. Making the decision to become an educator was something that I did not go into lightly. I fought it for so many years because I saw first hand how challenging it could be having a child's future in my hands. The thought of that alone sometimes scares me, but makes me strive to be the best teacher I can be. I fought it and fought it, but God had other plans for me. He has blessed me with the patience to work with children of the much younger ages, and I am so happy that I get to spend the rest of my life doing His will.

I've heard about the documentary Waiting for Superman since this past fall. In my block class we watched a trailer for the documentary and I was hooked. I made a pledge to see it. Unfortunately, documentaries such as this one never make their way into theatres in towns such as Starkville, MS. After much research, I found out that the documentary would only be showing in a select few states. Fortunately, it is now in Redbox. You can check out the offical synopsis of the documentary here, but I will give you a brief summary of Waiting for Superman. It follows 5 students and their families struggle to give them a great education, something that is hard to come by in places such as the Bronx, L.A., the Silicon Valley, Washington D.C. and Harlem. (These are the cities that are in the documentary, but there are numerous more places that lack the means to give our students an adequete education.) These students are all wonderful, hardworking students, who look for education as a way out of their current life situation. They want to work hard to become a doctor, teacher, or scientist. These students face many obstacles in their life, but the lack of "a great American edcuation" because of where they live is one of the biggest obstacles they face. Waiting for Superman shows us that not all children in America are getting the best education they can get, but it does show us ways we as teachers, parents, and communities can provide each student with "a great American education".

Michelle Rhee, Washington, D.C. public schools superintendent brings the harsh truth about the American Public School System with her statement "Public schools fail when the children's education becomes about the adults." It's true, all of it, and it makes me sad. It's not fair to any student who works hard in school to make a better life for themself in the future. It's not fair that because a student lives in a specific part of town, they are denied a great education by a school that is not in that same part of town. This is where charter schools come into play. Now, I'm not about to get the explanation of charter schools wrong, so thanks to good ole Wikipedia here is an explanation of what a charter school is, for those of you who may not know much about them: Charter schools in the United States are primary or secondary schools that receive public money (and like other schools, may also receive private donations) but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter.[1] Charter schools are opened and attended by choice.[2] While charter schools provide an alternative to other public schools, they are part of the public education system and are not allowed to charge tuition. Where enrollment in a charter school is oversubscribed, admission is frequently allocated by lottery-based admissions. In a 2008 survey of charter schools, 59% of the schools reported that they had a waiting list, averaging 198 students.[3] Some charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field — e.g., arts and mathematics. Others attempt to provide a better and more efficient general education than nearby public schools.

This brings me to my next point: Testing, testing, and more testing of our students takes the fun out of education and what it used to be. The problem is not our students' ability to be able to perform a certain task, it is the lack of motivation by the parents, teachers, and community. It's like we've put education on the backburner, when it should be the most important thing for our children who are the future. Here's something that I've learned: Good teachers make education fun for their students. Their students learn by having fun. That's what makes students succeed in school. Waiting for Superman brought a pretty scary statistic to me: Out of 29 developed countries, the United States ranks 25th in science and math. 25th out of 29 countries. The United States was at the top of the education game 20-30 years ago, so what happened that made us 25th out of 29? I'm not going to lie about it. I believe it's our lack of great teachers. I know that we have millions of GREAT teachers who go into work every day and know that they WANT to educate children. They know it is not something they HAVE to do. But sometimes I feel as if there are some people who just picked a career out of a hat and said "Okay....I'll be a teacher". I'm not just talking about the teachers of today, I remember being in school and having teachers who used the same monotone voice day after day after day. Who learns from that? What child would want to come to school to hear a monotone voice tell them to do their worksheet and recite their multiplication tables?


I'll leave you with these quotes that I got from the documentary, but before I do, I ask that if you care about education, if you care about your child's future, your future children's future, and the future of America, that you watch this documentary. It's in Redbox Rentals, stores, video rental stores. This documentary only reaffirmed what I already knew what I wanted to do with my life, and that is educate the future doctors, teachers, scientists,writers, artists, athletes, and political leaders of America. These children are OUR future, don't you want them to be all they can be? Take action now!


"We've tried money, passing laws, and the lastest reforms, but those of us who work in the trenches know you can't have a great school without great teachers."


"Sometimes I think it's easier to think of millions of children who are in our schools and look at the numbers and all the problems, scratch our heads, throw up our hands, and give up, rather than look at just one and ask ourselves "Did we do the right thing? Did we do enough?"


"If we give up, what are the results?"


"Our [Public School] system is broken, and feels impossible to fix, but we can't wait."


"What happens when a school fails a child? What happens over time?"


"It's possible, we CAN fix education"

Snow Day (Again!)

Obviously this post is almost a week late, but nonetheless, here it is!
It's Thursday night, and that means that Stefan and I are cooking some new dish. Tonight it's Chicken teriyaki, fried rice, and egg rolls. The chicken and fried rice are made from a recipe, but the egg rolls are the store bought kind, only because it's been a long day and we felt lazy.

It snowed! (If you're in Mississippi, you know that by now). This was real snow, none of that icy snow that we saw last week and the week before that. No, this time, it was all powder. I was in love as I watched, from my apartment, the snow flutter down. Stefan and I went home to my parents house to see them and my sweet little cousins who I have not seen in 3 or 4 weeks. Fortunately I got a few pictures of E in the snow before my camera battery decided to die.

Finally!

I am finally in my Phase I Placement for student teaching! I am currently in my 2nd week of 6 weeks total in the placement. I am teaching second grade and I love every minute of it! I'm not going to lie, it isn't very easy to get up at 6:00 am to get ready for a day that doesn't end until about 3:30 or 4:00, but once I'm there, I'm in my element. I truly believe that God designed me to be a teacher, and I have no doubts about it. It takes someone of patience to teach 2nd graders. In a conversation with one of my friends the statement "God bless you for a heart to teach the little ones". It made me giggle and smile because I love that I get to wake up every morning and go to a job that I am being trained for that I know I will love! I have been truly blessed during my placement to have a mentor teacher who is truly amazing at what she does.


I have officially completed my first month as worship leader for Starkville FUMC's Pathways service. It has truly been a blessing in my life. I was so nervous starting out, especially since the person I replaced was both a vocalist and guitar player for the praise band. I prayed that God would show someone who could play the guitar to help with the instrumental part of the worship team. Here's one thing that never ceases to amaze me about our wonderful God: He always provides! Not only has He provided us with a guitar player, He has provided the Pathways service with multiple singers and musicians. Praise God, Praise God! 


A few weeks ago we had an abundance of snow. Stefan and I went on campus where I took pictures and he filmed some of the beautiful scenery.  First of all, I would like to inform you of how much I LOVE snow! I think it's because I don't really see much of it, living here in the South. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

I love purple flowers! I used my macro lens with this photo.

Stefan at work taking a few shots of the snow!