Congratulations!!

Once again, I get to follow my friend Ashley in doing something, this time in congratulating a beloved sister on her engagement to a God-seeking man-- :)

Congratulations, Ashley and Craig!!

This is a quote the very same girl gave me years and years ago:

"Grace is glory begun, the earnest and assurance of glory." --Matthew Henry

I- and so many others with me- rejoice with you at this new grace poured out on you both. Such a sweet romance is indeed an echo of Heaven, when we will be with our Pursuer and Bridegroom forever, and the marriage feast will begin! I love you, Ashley, and can't wait to give you hug and tell you so.

Craig, you're a living example of the truth in God's word, that "good things come to those who patiently wait"!! I'm so thrilled for you! Jesus must really love you! I love that I love both of you; so it's like I'm twice as happy, because TWO of my friends are getting wonderful gifts; a godly spouse who will be grace upon grace to them. It's what I've prayed for for you both. :)
--Christina

We Want to see YOU

...on August 18th, 2007

(you'll never guess why!)

A Picture that Just About Says it All...

More of our "Official" Engagement Pics...

Since I'm in Love with One...

(a nerd, that is)...a couple days ago, my kids gave me a moment that just made me laugh. We watched some short videos connecting music to science (Mythbusters is amazing!), including one where we saw a singer explode a crystal glass by singing (unamplified!). We were trying to get the kids to tell us what it would take to re-create that experiment. One of the "ingredients" we were trying to get them to say was "sound technician." Robin prompted, "the other man, who was running the sound board...connecting the computers..." Several boys shouted out "a NERD!" Well...I guess so... I think I could teach all day 5 days a week if I had a moment like that every day. You know, come to think of it, I think I'll make sure I create my own such moments if the kids don't! :)
ps- if you don't believe in the unqualified nerdiness of my beloved, check out his newly-released "baby:" www.ubercart.org

The Fruit of My Labor Today...

(click on the title)

I love laminating...

"Maps" for our instruments (1st-2nd grade)

Seriously, when Robin gives me a project, I always get excited if it involves laminating. I like using the paper-guillotine, too. But not as much as the laminator!!! It just makes everything better...

My big project today was our class website. It was in sore need of updation... I've been taking pictures for it all week. Tomorrow when it's finished I'll post a link and you can go admire my children, not to mention my handiwork. It's not the best template we have to work with, and we're not allowed to use anything else, b/c all the district websites have to be "standard." (enforcing mediocrity, don't you love it) Robin was so proud of me for figuring out some simple markup commands, like bold and italic and text alignment. I was pretty happy myself. (and it was all thanks to the 'edit html' function on blogspot!)I know it's nowhere NEAR as cool as drupal-ese... but hey, some of us have be the ones to clap when the studs parade by!

(And we all know who my #1 stud is... ;D)

Example of overthinking?

"Why is our Monday morning fifth grade class so much less enthused about our swing unit than our other fifth graders? Is it because of their group mentality (they seem to be a conglomeration of cliques)? Or because of its particular dynamics in personality (they do have so problems with bullying)? Is it because they're first thing on a Monday, and they're tired, or because they're first thing on a Monday and we're tired? Because they're behind a day from the other classes, and so missed the preparatory "Background" activity? If so, then is the difference because that activity got the other kids excited (using laptops), or because it prepared them and gave them a historical context for swing dancing?"

So many possible factors--how could we ever discern a 'cause'?! I think one lesson I'm learning as I try to become a teacher is that there is so much I DON'T know, and so many things we as humans plain can't figure out. And the world will keep working just fine."

Another thought

Statement by Robin (my cooperating teacher) that had me musing: "trying to organize curriculum by standard puts the kids "in a box; you want to have them broad, so you can adopt to what they (the kids) want to learn."

...do I actually agree? I know that children learn more effectively when it's something they WANT to learn. But do we need to begin differentiating as early as elementary school? They're so excited about learning in general... I think I think that there are some things every child needs to learn, whether they really want to or not. Can't we make the learning process interesting, no matter what the "facts" that need to be learned are? It seems that the teacher's job isn't to make the content itself interesting (because they already are, if you look at it the right way), but rather the way those concepts are taught interesting.

Thoughts from Student Teaching

"Our singing unit (3rd&4th grades) is progressing well. I made yet another Excel spreadsheet workbook today (Robin says they’re a teacher’s best friend—the high-tech partner of Post-it Notes ®, perhaps?), compiling all our students’ singing scores. Robin & I noticed the difficulty many children have in reading songs written in hymnal-style notation, with the melody above the words, and the verses written line by line underneath. It's cause kids don't have to use hymnals anymore! Projector screens are NOT the same!"

"For the first time, I had to leave the room because the kids were cracking me up so much. For some reason cute little Franky's "holy guacamole" in response to Miss Irvin's xylophone ostinato just hit me as hilarious!! "

On our thirst for stories: "One thing I've noticed about all the grades is that they "snap to" when it's a story they're being told. They may roll all around the floor or be talking up a storm to themselves, their neighbor, or no one in particular, but the minute they realize a story's being told, they move in close, and sit remarkably still! I love interacting with the younger kids, I think because of this propensity towards stories and imagination. They naturally gravitate towards me... I have to win over the older kids a little more gradually. Not that I won't enjoy teaching the older grades as I get used to them... it just isn't as completely ...natural to me."

So...those are some of the thoughts that tangle like serious pasta in my brain...

Engagement Story...

Well, I promised details on the proposal itself, and my fiancé has made it quite easy on me to update y'all, by posting his own wonderful version, complete with the fairy tale he wrote just for me. [I hope this partnership in telling our story will be the pattern of our marriage: helping each other out. hehehe...] =D Our friend & pastor at Immanuel, Ryan Fullerton, calls my Ryan "hopelessly romantic," but as Ryan said this morning: "I'm not seeing much 'hopeless' about it-- so far, it's working out quite nicely for me!" I QUITE agree!

Here's the best pic of the ring I can get: You can make out one of the Trinity (or Eternity) celtic knots, to the right of the middle sapphire set. The left knot is a little washed out by the flash. There are three sapphires, each surrounded by diamond chips. And it's white gold, my favorite :) Does he know me well, or what?

And here's another one, where you may be able to get another angle of it:

PS- I don't know if anyone still checks, but I do still upload photographs to my photography website, just FYI...