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.