teach.run.pray.

Alcoholism. Domestic abuse. Jail. Racism. Murder. Single parenting. Poverty. Infidelity. Being a child left alone to speak with cops because the adults fled to the woods. Deadly car accident. Felon. Drug addiction. Borderline personality disorder/bipolar. Divorce. Threats. Bank robbery. Death of a father, brother, sister, step-father, friends, ex-boyfriend, grandparents. All of those words describe life problems. Life problems I've witnessed. I've lived. Those words are only a portion of what my mom has conquered and lived through. Those words are only a handful of problems my immediate family has faced. The list gets WAY longer when I add in problems extended family, like my cousins, have faced. My own life experiences are enough for an Emmy winning drama, but when you add my extended family, boy oh boy, you've got years and years of dramatic material. People always say every family has that "one." Well, our families have had those "few." I'm su...

It's week four of the new school year. Long, long hours have been spent in the school building planning lessons, preparing materials, organizing, mentoring, and everything in between. However, I'm not complaining.  Last year, I was complaining a tremendous amount...all year long. My main complaint was about the number of students on my caseload and the nearly impossible schedule. But, I'm not complaining about that this year, because I was allowed a much-needed change. I'll leave those complaints to the new resource teachers. I didn't realize just how much my job, as a resource teacher, was impacting my health and well being until these last few weeks. I have more energy going into work each day than I've ever had. I enjoy every second of my job. It's a breath of fresh air. So, I'm not complaining. The first Friday of September fifth graders had their first house meeting. All of our fifth graders were randomly selected and added to one of six houses....

Growing up, my mom took my brother and me to church pretty much every Sunday, and we prayed at church. My brother and I prayed before dinner when staying at my Mammie's house and at our great Granny's house. Our mom and extended family talked to us about prayer and how important it was. But, for some reason, there wasn't tons of prayer going on as a family in my house. I think it mostly had to do with my dad. He didn't like church or anything that went with it. Plus, he was an alcoholic, so he didn't think about praying as much as he thought about drinking. I remember my mom praying with us when we'd hear his drunken steps coming through the door in the middle of the night, but we didn't pray before dinner. Praying together as a family just wasn't something we did much. As I got older, I thought of prayer as something I was supposed to do as a Christian, but other than the praying I did as a child in church, or in my bedroom with my mom when we were sc...

Last Sunday, my dear friend, Allie, ran her longest distance ever, 10 miles, in preparation for her first half marathon on Labor Day weekend. We decided to run a half together, along with my friend (who also happens to be my cousin), in memory of Allie's father who passed away last October. To say it's an honor to go on this journey with Allie is an understatement.  She spent the night at my house on Saturday, and my husband and I treated her to a home cooked, healthy meal. We popped out of bed bright and early Sunday morning, and I helped Allie prepare for the 10 miler. She was a trooper too. She agreed to take the hilly 10 mile route rather than the flat 10 mile route, because we agreed it would be better training for Shenandoah.  We ate protein bars. We had our hydration water. We hit up the bathroom. We gathered our run nutrition. We stretched and warmed up our bodies. And, we hit the pavement. Thirty seconds jogging. Thirty seconds walking. We stuck to these thirty...

Last night, my cousin sent me a link to a song that helped her push through an eight mile run. My husband and I were listening to it, and he made the comment, "She just likes that song because of the lyrics. I can't listen to the lyrics when I'm exercising." He's more of a music kind of person. I replied, "Really? When I'm exercising, the lyrics are more clear to me. I really hear them. When I listen to music in the car or other places, I'm really good at blocking everything out." I'm more of a lyrics kind of person. Lyrics move my soul. They speak to me spiritually in a way. This morning, I went for a run. It was a hilly run but relatively short. Around mile two, I started to feel a little uneasy. Heartburn started creeping in and a little nausea. So, of course, I decided to throw in three uphill sprints. Each sprint was about 150 meters. Yea, that made it way worse, and I thought I was going to vomit. The nausea didn't go away, but I ...

Yesterday, as I was driving to Hobby Lobby (that place is dangerous) to purchase things for my new classroom, I was listening to a podcast (I LOVE podcasts) and Oprah was interviewing Dr. Brenee Brown for Supersoul Sunday. I'm addicted to Brenee Brown, Liz Gilbert, Rob Bell, Cheryl Strayed, Glennon Doyle Melton...I just connect with these people when I hear them speak and read their writings. It's like I'm meant to be in their circle. They make me feel not so alone in this great big scary world. Anyway, this interview resonated with me. Dr. Brenee Brown has spent over a decade studying vulnerability and shame. Her research is fascinating and incredibly insightful. Since I was in the teacher frame of mind, I found a lot of this podcast resonating with me as a teacher, however, it will also be applied to my non-teacher life. “Perfectionism is a self destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, and do everything perfectly, I ...

August 2, 2017 marks our third anniversary. We arrived home from Canada this morning close to 1 a.m. It was one of the best trips we've taken. I'm not sure either of us expected the adventures we experienced, but often times, the unexpected adventures are the most memorable. When I met Matt the first time, I never expected to fall in love with him, but lord and behold, a year or so later we'd meet again, and he swept me off my feet. Ultimately, the unexpected is what life is all about. The unexpected is what fills life with life. It moves us out of habit into existence. The unexpected shapes us.  Day one in Canada can only be described as unexpected. We hit the road from Cochrane to Banff pretty early in the morning, after all, we were fresh and full of energy and ready to explore. We didn't have a specific plan other than to hike. I had a few print outs of scenic hikes, but we weren't really sure how to get to any of them. After entering the park, we passed the e...