Goodbye, April...

It's hard to believe May is already here. This year has flown by so quickly! May is one of the busiest months for teachers (the other being August), and although the month is filled with fun events, there is still much to be done before the kids leave for the summer. I need to daily remind myself to depend on the Lord for strength, endurance, and patience. I want to do my job well without becoming consumed by it or anxious about it. I want to use the remaining time to love my kids well and teach and live out the gospel, instead of being caught up in the busyness of all the details - which is easy to do. If you think about it, will you pray for me?

Enjoy this week's pictures!

April 24: Every few Saturdays I get to spend time with kids from a church in Dallas. We play outside, enjoy conversation, learn about Jesus, and eat tasty food. These are two of the kids playing basketball (one of the many outdoor activities). Notice I'm over by the short hoop where I belong. :)

April 25: My lamp. Obviously I was in need of a picture for this day.

April 26: We started "Charlotte's Web" today! Each spring we do a 3-week literature unit on this classic story that I love. Each student gets their own new copy of the book, and the first thing we do is flip through the pages and simultaneously smell the "new book smell".

April 27: A sad illustration of a food chain. I began by ambitiously illustrating the sun and the grass...not realizing I'd eventually have to draw a hawk. That's when I just gave up! My kids were so encouraging through it all..."Wow, that's really good, Miss Cunningham!"...they're so sweet.

April 28: 31-cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins!

April 29: My roommate Summer bought me this coffee maker for my birthday one year, and it is one of my favorite appliances....

April 30: Friday faculty meeting...

Yeah, Right.

Spring Cleaning and More Salsa

Psalm 138:8 really encouraged me today, and I thought I'd share it:

"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands."

This is a comforting reminder to me that God is sovereign and good, and that He lovingly directs the paths of His children. Despite my sin that I struggle with, despite the mistakes I make, He will fulfill His purpose for me. So often I forget that my life is about His glory, not mine...Lord, teach me to surrender to and trust in You alone.

Enjoy this week's pictures!

April 17: Spring cleaning day. Saturday I cleaned - and I mean CLEANED - the apartment. It desperately needed it...I thought I'd get a shot of my bed actually made. This doesn't happen very often.

April 18: So. After checking my bank statement online, I noticed something fishy. Can you guess which charge is not mine? $2,679.08 at Office Depot. Seriously? It was no big deal to close my credit card and get this taken care of, but it still irks me to think that someone acquired my card number and is now out there with stolen merchandise.

April 19: A beautiful corner of my mom's garden. I love these flowers!

April 19: I couldn't help it...this picture turned out to be so cute.

April 20: Dinner with a college friend, Rebecca. We student taught together in Australia, and I loved getting to know her while we were there! She teaches in the Dallas area, too, and I get to see her occasionally. Hopefully we'll both have more opportunity to hang out over the summer. Oh, and the sandwich was ham and brie - with thin slices of granny smith apples on it - delish.

April 21: Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

April 22: Sadly, another jar of salsa went bad (aka: grew mold). I really am trying to use the remaining salsa in my refrigerator before it all spoils! On this night I had breakfast tacos...for dinner. With salsa, of course.

April 23: I stole this idea from another blog I like - GirlTalk. One of the writers for that blog is doing a project called 52 Home, which is full of really fun pictures to look through. Her photos are much better than mine...and she has cute kids to take pictures of! Anyway, it was a rainy morning on the way to school today, but it turned out to be sunny and beautiful later. I took this picture in a school zone. There's got to be some law against using a camera in a school zone, I'm sure of it. If there's not, there should be - I was not driving safely!

A Pretty Piece of Eggplant

This week a coworker called me a "pretty piece of eggplant". I was wearing a purple dress that day, so I see where she was coming from, but still...eggplant?

Enjoy this week's pictures!

April 11: There's really no point to this one. I woke up with a random wound on my thumb one morning, and I thought the band-aid was fun! The box of band-aids advertised them as "vibrant binders"...And so they are.

April 12: Right now in class we're observing green anole lizards. This is a unit that lasts several weeks each spring, and usually I shriek at least once while handling the little critters. Not only lizards are involved - earthworms, crickets - a plethora of jumpy, slimy, living things. Anyhow, we are hosting 7 lizards in our class right now. Each group of 4 students has one to call their own. A few days ago I looked closely at the terrariums, and this is what I saw on two of them...what you SHOULD see is one piece of masking tape (with the table group's name) and ONE sticky note (with the lizard's name). Apparently these two groups got a little sticky-note happy and went a bit overboard. If you click on the picture you can read what they wrote. It's pretty cute!

April 13: A joke played on my assistant principal. She came in to observe me this week, and we had this spot all set up for her. My favorite is the fake flame taped to the candle and the Snuggie draped over the back of the chair (which you can't see). It made her laugh, which was the point!

April 14: Starbucks and fellowship with Dani, a friend from home group...had a great time!

April 15: Five jars of salsa. This is what I found in my refrigerator earlier this week. Sadly, one jar was ruined and one almost empty, but I was able to salvage three of them. So as not to be a poor steward of the food I've been given, I will be eating salsa on many things over the next several days! Next time a recipe calls for salsa, I need to check my fridge first.

April 16: On a small detour tonight, Cousin Becca and I ventured down a back road into a secret neighborhood - seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Look closely at the picture. Yes, that is a helicopter you see in the garage. A helicopter! In a garage. I have no other words.

And another from tonight...after passing by the helicopter house, we went to a Jimmy Needham concert. I really like this guy's music. Below are part of the lyrics of one of his songs:

Forgiven and Loved

O I tried and tried to rectify my hopeless situation

But I bought the lie I still have work to do

Now I'm working nine to five like I can earn my own salvation

But there is no condemnation in You

O He died, He died to rectify my hopeless situation

And His blood commands my guilt to leave

Now on Calvary I stand

Empty pockets, open hands

O there is no condemnation for me

Child, you're forgiven and loved...

A great reminder that nothing I do makes me right with the God of the universe. It is Christ alone - His atoning sacrifice for my sin, His righteousness - that reconciles me to Him. Because of God's great mercy, I am forgiven and loved.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

Encouraged

Right now I'm watching "Up" and remembering how much I loved it the first time! Favorite line so far: "South America. It's like America....but SOUTH."

Enjoy this week's pictures!

April 6: My mom and Jim fed me Tuesday night before my Bible study. Jim made some delicious hamburgers!

April 7: Wednesday I went to a prayer meeting at my church. It was such an encouraging time of prayer and worship! I definitely want to go back next month.

April 8: I've decided to turn over a new leaf. I have a very bad habit of starting books and abandoning them halfway through. I don't know why - it's not that I don't like them, I just get distracted by other things/books. So. I've started "Knowing God" (a book that I started years ago), and I am committed to completing it! I'll let you know how it goes.

April 9: Friday I went to a Chris Tomlin concert with my friend Megan. My school actually put on the concert as a fundraiser for student tuition aid. It was a great time of worship! It was Megan's first time out since having her sweet baby, and she did great!

April 10: These are my small group leaders. Before we went to a home group party, we had two baptisms to celebrate! Dani was one baptized, and I was encouraged by her story of what God has done in her life.

Easter Weekend

I spent Easter in Austin with my brother, Eric, and his wife, Abi. It was wonderful to rejoice with them and celebrate the hope we have because of Christ's death and resurrection. He is risen!

Below are a few pictures from the weekend - enjoy!

April 2: We started the weekend in Llano at my dad's ranch. This is my brother Brad - he had just "taken care of" a black widow spider, and he grossed himself out.

April 3: I had a hard time choosing one picture for each day, so there are several from the weekend. Abi's friend Jessica came to the ranch, too - here she is spending time in God's Word. It was a gorgeous day!

April 3: Wildflowers (LEGALLY picked) in a Dublin Dr. Pepper bottle. Pure Texas.

April 3: My cousin Allison. :) She's precious.

April 4: Eric and Abi took me to Mozart's, a fun coffee shop in Austin. Of course there is a boat outside the place, so of course we took a picture!

April 4: Sunset over Lake Travis. We enjoyed this view while catching up over coffee.

April 5: On the way back to Dallas I stopped at my alma mater in Waco. This is the building in which I spent the majority of my time in college - the education building. Good times!

April 5: This little guy was roaming the Baylor campus, and he did NOT trust me. He's pretty cute, though.