God's Beauty

It's springtime in Oklahoma which means rain and lots of it. I don't like complaining about the rain because I feel like it is a double-edged sword--complain and it goes away then you need it. I try to take it in stride. The rain brings so much beauty to our land. Everything is green. The wheat loves it. The farmers love it, until they don't anymore! 

Reasons I wish it would take a break is so that we could play a softball game or two, oh heck, why not our whole season! It makes me sleepy and unmotivated. I need sunshine to get me moving. It makes me happy, just like softball. Softball makes me happy, too!  

Things that make my heart swell with the rain. It causes us to slow down. Games cancelled. Ground is too wet for anything else. We get to spend time just relaxing and enjoying the beauty in God's creation--from the land to our children.  We get to take walks or rides together. We get to hear our kids laugh and get mad at the mud slinging. We get to just enjoy the beautiful land and weather. 

Springtime in Oklahoma also means wheat harvest is coming. The wheat is turning. It's beautiful! The golden plains. It is one of my favorite times of the year. Farming is tumultuous. Late freezes threatened the crop again this year. Then on to storm season with the potential for your wheat to be damaged due to hail. I am sure there are many other things throughout the grow season that pose issues that I am not aware of, but I am certainly glad that I get to live in this state and enjoy the beautiful scenery daily on my drives. 

New Adventures

 Recently, I accepted a position with a summer tutoring program through a university in a nearby town to teach upper level Mathematics or 5-weeks this summer. I am excited to spread my wings and give something new a try. I have always enjoyed Math. As a student, Math was definitely my strong suit although I went to the Interscholastics meet in English one year, which was a total shock for me, but I do also enjoy reading and writing. 

I will be teaching three different classes, Algebra I/Geometry, Algebra II, and advanced Math (my choice on subject). I am a bit nervous just because I am unfamiliar with the content, but I am very confident in my ability to plan and (re)learn what I am about to teach. I am excited for this opportunity. 

Two of the three classes are very small with one class only having three students and the other just twelve. The advanced Math is the biggest class with twenty-one. This excites me because it is very similar to our class sizes in my current full-time teaching position. I think the smaller classes will keep my nerves down and allow me to teach more to my current style with these kiddos. 

I am currently working on a developing a syllabus, which makes me feel like I am a college professor! It's interesting but fun because I enjoy creating new documents and making things my own.

Who knows what doors this opportunity may open for me, but I am eager to take it on and get started. Check back later for updates to see if I'm doing okay! 

#secondarymath #hereicome #spreadthosewings            👀😁

End-of-the-Year Art

 About 5 years ago, I started an art project at the end-of-the-year with my class. It ties into our cultural studies of Mexico and South America. I have done it each year since, with the exception of last year (#thankscovid).

I have students who do phenomenal jobs while others do not even get one row of yarn put on (#itiswhatitis). My first year doing this I had a class of about 12. Two finished! But they are always the two I show off to my classes when I explain what we are doing. These two have always been my favorites! My class two years ago, however, runs a close raise to them. I had a group of girls who enjoyed this project so much that they completed more than one. Some of them doing 3! They did so good. 

First off, I only give a half sheet of poster board. Why? Because I am supplying it and the yarn. The bigger the picture the more yarn! (#broketeacherprobs)

Second, I have the students choose a picture they want to do. I let them do anything they want, school appropriate of course. The only guidance I give is if I feel the picture they choose will be way too difficult. I google coloring sheets for whatever they want to do.  

Once they have chosen their picture, I project it onto a board so they can trace it onto their poster board. I want the picture to be perfect! 

After they trace, they are ready to start working with yard. The key with the yarn is that it needs to be really tightly placed together row after row. For as long as possible, the yarn should be used in one long strand, not cut strand by strand and placed on the picture. There should not be any white showing when they are finished. They are not professionals, so there will be a little white, but there should not be big gaps in the yarn rows. Mr. Charlie Brown is one of my faves, but you can see some flaws. The student who did this one had way to much glue in some spaces, so it was hard to get the yarn in place, resulting in the bubbly areas. 

It is complicated trying to work with the yarn and Elmer's glue, but it takes patience. 

Charlie Brown and this warrior head are two pieces from the first class who did this project! They are still two of my favorites! 

Two years ago, I had a class that finished several. I had a few girls that fell in love and did two or three of these! They did a great job! 

This year, I had a group that really enjoyed it. Some of them managed to successfully finish FIVE pieces of art, and they did an amazing job on each one!!! 

Catching Up!

 Welcome..back? That hiatus is one for the books. I cannot believe I even found this old blog or remembered the login credentials, but I certainly enjoyed reading back through my posts! Blogging, err, writing, has been on my mind a lot lately. I've been trying to decide what to write about or what platform to use as a basis for my writing. After a lot of thought, I decided, I have a lot of platforms I can use--my faith, my job, my kids, my hobbies. So be ready for a little of all of it to hit the keyboard and post! 

First, let's catch up. Life is busy ALL. THE. TIME., but, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I get to watch my kids in their activities, softball/basketball/gymnastics, and they love each one! With both girls being old enough to participate in summer sports, we are now doubling up on time spent at the ball field--totally okay by me! We spend at least 4 nights a week doing something, whether it is practice, games or lessons, there is always something. Again, okay by me! When the kids decide they don't want to anymore, then okay, but for now, I will drive them wherever they want to go for whatever they want to do.

The oldest is in junior high this year. Right? I'm shocked myself. She keeps us the busiest with sports year round in school plus summer, not to mention, her swine projects in the winter. I'm biased, but she is a pretty good, well-rounded kiddo. I hope she always is. This school year has been different for her, and all of us, because of, you guessed it, COVID. She's spent her fair share of time in quarantine due to exposure and/or due to the fact that we didn't want her exposed so she could finish her last few major livestock shows. She handled it well. She is like me, in a sense, of being okay staying at home. She is also a good student, so doing school virtually for around six straight weeks was no issue for her. She has had a great year in junior high as part of the softball and basketball teams. It was great to see her on the field and the court this year. I think she will be a better player than I ever was. I don't know if that is saying a little or a lot. I hope it is saying a lot! (HA!) She has pitching lessons each week and has come so far from where she started three years ago. I love seeing the progress and how hard she is working. I hope that she keeps this passion and loves this sport as dearly as I always did have. 

The youngest is a spitfire. I'm certain God gave her to me to show me patience and teach me how to live life. She started school this year, and being the social butterfly she is (that is her dad for ya), she has loved every minute of it. Her teacher is nothing short of amazing as my almost 5-year old can write her name, write her sister's name, say her days of the week, say her month's of the year, identify all her colors, recognize most of her letters, knows her letter sounds, and can count with the best of them. You might think this is nothing, but considering I thought this child was colorblind because I tried and tried to do colors with her, THIS is something!! She is definitely not her sister. I do not think I will be able to just know she is doing her work and being a good student, I think I will have to check for and force her to sit and do homework. Her sister, thank goodness, just does what she is suppose to do without being asked or told (the kid would be failing if she didn't). This little spit fire lives life to the fullest every day. She plays hard and crashes (sometimes, she literally crashes) harder. She is always happy and smiling (unless is morning), and she is so independent. We laugh (or just shake our heads) A LOT because of her! We ask "Why?" and answer our own question with, "Because it's Lo." and this is the truest statement out there. Poor kid, the patience is thin, though, but I am trying. We all are trying. She makes me smile. 

We sold our house. We live in a camper, right now. We bought land. We are planning to build a house. I guess these will all be topics to write on as we navigate this process. Camper living isn't awful. There are a couple things that get frustrating, but, life is frustrating sometimes. It only teaches us to work through and be better in the end. Stay tuned for more on this front. I am sure it will be a fun journey. Our kids love it in the country already. They stay outside until dark as often as they can. It's great, especially for the youngest! She needed room to run and play and be free. 

We have a great group of solid friendships. Our tribe is big. We love our tribe. Our friendships have grown over the past year. We've watched our kids' friendships grow, as well. Having a good set of friends is important in life. We enjoy being with our friends and always want and wish the best for them. It's nice to have the same support coming our way. 

We are finally back to some normalcy in our church life. We enjoyed spending the year watching a live stream church our of West Monroe, Louisiana. While we enjoyed it, there is nothing like sitting in church singing praises to our Lord. We learned a lot from West Monroe and have decided we want to visit Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ in the future. The kids just started back to Sunday School classes. I think they missed it more than they realized. I am glad they love going to church, reminds me of myself when I was a kid. 

There you have it. Now you are all caught up on the happenings in our life. Stay tuned for more posts and what is going on.