I Need Thee

I need Thee every hour
Most gracious Lord
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford

I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee

I need Thee every hour
Stay Thou nearby
Temptations lose their power
When Thou art nigh

I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee

I need Thee every hour
In joy or pain
Come quickly and abide
Or life's in vain

I need Thee, O I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O bless me now, my Savior
I come to Thee

~Annie Hawks, 1872

6 Days, 4 Pictures

I'm lacking motivation. In a major way.

At some points this week I couldn't have even told you where my camera was. So when it came to taking a picture for the day? For some reason I just wasn't interested!

Enjoy the (few) pictures that I do have! :)

August 22: This is my favorite picture of the week! :) I serve in the preschool ministry at my church with a guy named Josh. He's great with the kids, and at one point I looked over to see the above scene. I love having my camera with me at times like this! These kids were so entertained by putting a basket on his face, and Josh was very patient. My favorite part of this picture is the little boy in the striped shirt...completely oblivious to what was going on.

August 23: When I was in San Antonio last month, my grandmother treated me to these shoes. They're kinda flashy for me, so wearing them to school on Monday was a step out of my comfort zone. :) It went well.

August 24: I could have gone to bed at this time on Tuesday.

August 25: No picture.

August 26: No picture.

August 27: I babysat for little Bennett on Friday, and we had a blast. The evening took a nasty turn (literally!) when I found a surprise in (and out) of his diaper, but he was very patient with me as I tried to help him. It made for an entertaining story when mom and dad came home. :)

So True

On Monday I texted a "How was your first day of school?" to four of my teacher friends. These are exerpts from the responses I received - they made me laugh out loud!

1. I am super tired...
2. My feet are killing me...
3. A bit stressful at times...
4. I am super exhausted...I forgot what a workout this teaching thing is...

These comments came along with positive ones, but the theme throughout the texts made me smile. Oh, to teach. It's a wonderful and exhausting job.

It's...

...the weekend!!! How often I took it for granted during the summer! Being a spoiled teacher, every day felt like a weekend over summer break. And after three days of school? Boy, was I ready for a day to sleep in! :) Thank you, Lord, for Saturdays!

I love my kids. Love them! They are going to be an energetic bunch this year (in a good way), and I am already looking forward to getting to know them better in the next 9 months.

Enjoy the pictures!

August 15: Take-out and movie night with Rachel and Jamie. Pei Wei kids' meals all around!

August 16: My mom treated me to a back-to-school pedicure Monday afternoon. I have to admit...the flower on my toe just makes me happy.

August 17: About to begin my 7th (how did that happen??) year of teaching!

August 18: No good picture today. :)

August 19: Little Bennett eating rice cereal...Kc and Megan's precious son. I just love him!

August 20: My new friend. I recently went to the doctor for a physical, and I failed my breathing test six times! My doctor prescribed me an inhaler, which I've been too afraid to use until this week. I used it Monday morning, and I discovered it is possible in one's life to breathe deeply and comfortably! How interesting...

August 21: I made dinner for my mom, Jim, Grandma, and Lee tonight. They came by on their way to a concert, and it was wonderful dining with them! My mom brought over some wine, too, so I enjoyed a glass - UNTIL - I felt something strange entering my mouth and discovered a fly...

Check it out at 2:00. Disgusting. Thankfully I didn't swallow it! :)

Not to Us

My morning devotional really hit home yesterday, so I thought I'd share an exerpt. I needed the reminder that it's not about me.

God's glory is the result of His nature and acts. He is glorious in His character, for there is such a store of everything that is holy and good and lovely in God that He must be glorious. The actions that flow from His character are also glorious; but while He intends that they should display to His creatures His goodness and mercy and justice, He is equally concerned that the glory associated with them should be given only to Himself. Not that there is anything in ourselves in which we may glory; for who makes us different from another? And what do we have that we did not receive from the God of all grace? Then how careful we out to be to walk humbly before the Lord! The moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High...Shall the clay pot exalt itself above the man who fashioned it upon the wheel?...Or the drops of the ocean struggle with the storm? Give to the Lord, all you righteous, give to the Lord glory and strength; give to Him the honor that is due His name. It is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this sentence - "Not to us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory." Psalm 115:1

~Charles Spurgeon, Morning by Morning

Recommended Reading

Two people I don't know as well as I'd like have just started a blog. Meet the Billingsleas. David and Meredith were a part of my small group for a few months, and they have recently moved to Boulder to be a part of a ministry at a university up there. I so enjoyed the time we had to get to know them, and even though I'm sad they've moved, I'm excited to see what God has in store for them in Colorado.

Read their blog, if you'd like. I know you'll be encouraged.

Special Talent

Enjoy the pictures! :)

August 9: No picture today. I didn't forget, I just didn't want to.

August 10: These girls make me smile. This was our last official Bible study for the summer, so of course we decided to bring tasty treats to enjoy. We finished our 12-week study called "Battling Unbelief", and it was great! We learned about the importance of living by faith in Christ and His grace alone when faced with things like anxiety, bitterness, and impatience. I enjoyed discussing and studying with these girls who love the Lord. Thankful for them.

August 11: I picked Mom and Jim up from the airport on Wednesday. They are home from Colorado for a couple weeks! We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, which hopefully explains Jim's outfit. ;)

August 13: Our third roommate moved in this week! This is Jamie. She's been moving her things in little by little throughout the week, but I didn't officially meet her until Friday.

August 14: I have the special talent of killing plants. A student gave me this little guy at the end of school last May. Her mom told me it was an easy plant to take care of - it doesn't need much water, and it doesn't need too much light. I've really been trying to take care of it this summer, but it has pretty much looked wilted all summer long. It used to have flowers, too. They are no longer.

So Long, Summer Vacation

Tomorrow marks the first official day of the 2010-2011 school year. I'm amazed at how quickly the summer flew by! I think I feel that way every year, but this year it seemed to go by even faster!

Please pray. Pray that I will be able to teach my students well this year. That God will be glorified in the work He's called me to. Pray that I would take opportunities to talk about the gospel with my kids. That even in a math lesson, grammar lesson, or science lesson, God's love would be evident in the classroom. And pray that I would depend daily on His grace.

That's a lot of prayer requests. :)

I have quite a few pictures this week, so bear with me. Enjoy!

July 31: My roommate invited me to a missions fundraiser last Saturday. It was the most creative way I've seen to raise funds for a mission trip! A group from my church is going to Sudan, so they decided to show a movie in the backyard of someone's house. They charged a ticket price of $10 and a school supply to get in.

August 1: Is it bad that I'm ready for fall? It's only August.

August 2: A full day of work. My classroom assistant and I organized supplies Monday - we got a lot done!

August 3: Back-to-school shopping whilst using gift cards? My favorite kind of shopping! :)

August 4: If you can figure out what's wrong with this picture, you've earned yourself a high five (it might have to be an imaginary one, depending on where you live).

August 5: I traveled to San Antonio to visit family this weekend, and this was the bag I took with me. It's so small! I was rather proud of myself - I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and pack lightly. I won't tell you how many bags I ended up bringing home from San Antonio. That information is irrelevant.

August 6: My first morning with Grandma and Lee. They made a delicious breakfast!

August 7: My grandma has trained her dog Lance to be a therapy dog, which means he'll soon be visiting patients in nursing homes. He got his certificate in the mail while I was there, which was very exciting! It became the weekend joke since "Certificate of Certification" is a tad bit redundant.

August 8: Lance, official therapy dog! He's pretty adorable.

Lance loves my grandmother, and he's got good reason to! I love this picture. :)