The Sun and Moon

I've been reflecting a lot the last few days on the dichotomy of light seen in the sun and the moon. Many would likely argue that the sun is the "greater" of these two lights, but I disagree.

The sun is well known for its bright light. It is often brought up during the cold, wet winter, when people miss it and long for its bright rays to spread warmth.  I've heard several idioms or phrases that use the sun to represent positivity and all things good.

The moon, on the other hand, can be spoken of in a negative light, almost like the overshadowed younger brother. I think the moon has a bad reputation, because so many overlook its beauty and functionality.

The moon has a quiet strength about it, especially when compared to the sun. I like to think of the sun as a bumbling fool, loudly announcing its presence to anyone who will listen. The moon, though, steps onto the scene while the sun is still shouting and seeking attention. It doesn't try to steal the sun's spotlight, but rather humbly waits its turn. Its almost as if it knows its time will come. Despite all the sun's hollering, it's the moon's quiet whisper through the night that brings hope to those who hear.

No one can deny the sun's brilliance. It's obvious to all who step outside on a sunny day. If you've ever been lost on a dark night, though, you likely realize that the moon can be brilliant as well. In the dead of night, when the world has gone to sleep, the moon calmly rests in the sky sharing its gentle beams with all who need light. No matter how dark the night gets, the moon is able to light the way.

The moon also goes through phases. Sometimes its brightness is full strength, and the moon is at its largest. Other times, its light wanes. During a "New Moon", its light even seems to disappear. The beauty of the phases, though, is that its light is never gone for long.

For me, the moon represents Jesus. He is described in the book of John, chapter 1, verses 4-5 as the light of all mankind. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." No matter how dark the night, the moon's bright, yet gentle, light is not overcome by the darkness.

May you remember that Jesus is the light shining in the darkness. When you're enveloped in darkness, as we all can be from time to time, know that Jesus is there to light the way. Look to him. Seek his gentle light as your guide. It's there, even when you can't see it. When His light is hidden from view, maybe it's a sign to wait. Don't wander on your own. The light (Jesus) is never overcome by the darkness. Pause. Listen. Seek Him. His light will quietly announce itself in a whisper when the time is right.

(I love the moon. Don't even get me started on how the moon and the ocean interact, because that could be an entire blog of its own!)

P.S. I love the sun, too. I've just been considering the moon's beauty lately. ;)

I fell in love this week

Please don't hate me for the title of this post. It's not what you think. While I'm using the phrase "I fell in love", I'm not in love in a romantic sense. Read on for more.

(I acknowledge that there's a "cheese" factor to this, but I feel it's important for ME that I write this out...so bear with me)

I just spent the week co-directing Grad Camp, which is a camp for recent high school graduates (ages 17-19). We spent a lot of time discussing transitions and orientation/disorientation/reorientation. I feel like the Grad Camp staff got just as much out of these discussions as the campers. I know I did.

Something I noticed as I was processing through my week on my drive home is that I feel most authentic and genuine when I'm at camp.

Maybe it's something I subconsciously do that causes me to live into camp community differently than I do at home. Maybe it's a calling from God I haven't fully been aware of before now. Maybe it's something else.

What I do know, though, is that every time I have served in a camp role my heart feels so full afterward. This week was no exception.

The difference?

This week I fell in love with myself. 
I also fell deeper in love with God.

I don't want to brush that second statement off, but I really want to focus on the first. In fact, I think the second increases because of the first.

I noticed things about myself this week that I've never noticed before. I lived into the community differently than I have before, and I feel like that allowed me to see myself through a different lens.

Now it's not to say that I didn't love myself before. I did. I feel, though, there's a difference between loving something and being in love with something.

I am excited about what I discovered about myself this week. I want to dig deeper and learn more about myself. I want to practice disciplines I haven't put effort into before. I want to be a healthier me - physically, emotionally, spiritually. I want to love myself well through self care and building strong community around myself. I want to gain habits that push me toward that "self" I found this week, the one I feel hides inside and pokes her head out when I'm serving at camp.

It's not really that I'm a completely different person at camp. My core is the same. I'm still me. I don't think I've felt free to be that "self" outside of the camp setting. It's time I live into that authenticity I found. It's time to love myself and fall more in love with myself.

This is a very different post than I've posted before. It's not a done-deal process. I'm going to keep discovering myself and living into who I feel God has created me to be. Apparently I'm not done listening to him (surprise, surprise) and gaining new insight into God's image within myself.

Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful week in a beautiful location with beautiful people. Thank you for allowing me to see more of the beauty you created within me. Help me not to lose sight of that or to forget what I've learned about myself this week. Keep my eyes and heart fixed on you through the challenges of life.

Woah

Hi friends. I'm still alive. I don't know what to post, but I have felt lately like I should pick back up on the blogging.

Soooo

Expect a (possible) resurgence in my blog posting. I'm considering blogging on certain days and either posting about certain topics or whatever sparks my imagination.

For now, be content with this:

1. My house is still great. I hate the HOA, though, so I'm considering a move.

2. I now live alone. Mom and Tracy moved out (did Mom live with us last time I blogged? I don't know. If not, she moved in...AND moved out). I now have my whole house for me, Maggie (dog), Austen (cat), and Topanga (cat).

3. Topanga is new since my last post, I'm sure. She's only 2 years old...but I don't remember when my last post was. I looked, but I forgot the date! If she's not new, she's bigger. HA!

4. I changed jobs. I now teach 5th grade at St. Luke Catholic School in Woodburn. I start my 2nd year there in just a few weeks.

5. In case it's new since I last posted...Tracy and I co-lead youth at church.

6. Last year I went on a YCEW trip to Bolivia. YCEW stands for Youth Challenged to Expand their Worldview. My YCEW trip was the first inter-generational trip. We had 6 youth and 5 adults. We spent much of our time in La Paz and did home stays with families from the local church.

There's SO much more to update you on, but I don't know what else to tell you right now. If you're curious about something in particular, comment and ask! Otherwise, I'll post again soon!

A House on Oak St. (part 2)

Greetings! This summer has been a whirlwind! I counseled 4 summer camps and attended a conference, and tried to get some rest in between...

Of course, I promised some pictures of the house. I have some! I can show you the kitchen (current), the living room/entry area (from Christmas time), the dining room (current), and the laundry room (current). The bedrooms and bathrooms are not quite ready for a photo op (cleanliness, you see).



Here's the kitchen! We painted it yesterday (finally!), so these are "fresh off the press"!

This is the view of the "happy yellow" kitchen from the dining room. The whole time Mom and I were painting yesterday, we kept saying, "Happy yellow!" randomly. We are SO in love with this. Eventually, there will be brightly colored accents...the start of which you can see below:

If you look very closely, to the left of the pantry door there are colorful pictures from IKEA. There are also a couple colorful pictures to the right (you can only see the black of the frame in this picture). I also have brightly colored: measuring cups/spoons, juicer ("old fashioned"), towels, a few trinkets in the kitchen window, etc. 

 Now for some living room pictures. These are all from Christmas, so it looks a little different right now. I'll try to get a new set of pictures when I post pictures of the bedroom(s) and bathroom(s).

Facing from the entry way toward the Master bedroom (the door on the right!).

Facing from the dining room to the window in the living room.

At an angle from the dining room to see the window AND the door to the Master bedroom.

From the Master bedroom toward the entryway/"front door". We actually have two side doors...the front of our house (the part that faces the street) doesn't have a door. This door (above) is technically the "front door", as the other enters through the laundry room. It's not really a guest entrance. :)

Now for the dining room! It's also our music room...but it's multipurpose. We have a table we use as what I like to call a "command center". We put mail there, write memos on the whiteboard above the table about who owes who money, where we'll be when, etc. It's an info center, if you will.

View of the dining room from the kitchen.

This view is still from the kitchen, but it's at an angle, so you can see the "command center" table, and into the living room.

Here's the little bit of art we've got up right now. This is sentimental for me, because this poster was given to everyone in the band/colorguard when our band marched the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena (2005). It was my senior year...so, everything carried a little more nostalgic/sentimental weight than it might have otherwise. :) The theme that year was "Celebrate Family", which I happen to like. I also like the colors on the poster, so I put it up.

Laundry room! :)

I LOVE this color. I once saw a picture of a laundry room in a similar color on Pinterest, and I fell in love. I knew I had to paint my laundry room some version of turquoise/aqua when I bought a house. There are still a few spots where we need to finish the cut-in on the painting, but they're not obvious in the picture. :) Also, excuse the mess. It's MUCH better than it used to be, which is why I went ahead and shared it, but ideally there wouldn't be a pile of stuff on top of the washer and dryer. :)

So, there's an update on the house! I promise I will get better at the blogging thing. I've been overwhelmed with stuff, but I started eating Whole30 14 days ago, and I all of a sudden have more energy. I plan to keep eating as much of the Whole30 plan as I can, with a little wiggle room for treats and things occasionally. It's hard being a teacher and not being able to have a little pumpkin dessert now and again. 

Anyway, I have a few more blogs planned...I need to introduce you to my new kitten, Topanga! I also want to do a Whole30 follow-up blog. I've been keeping a food diary, and tracking myself with the timeline they have on their website to see how accurate my experience is. I also will post a new photo tour of my classroom. School starts on Tuesday, and it is ALMOST done. Whew! I have a couple hours of work to put in tomorrow before I'll feel 100% ready.

I hope to schedule my blogs a little more efficiently this year. I'm thinking maybe I'll pick 3 different days a week and post different types of blogs each day-cooking, teacher/classroom, home/miscellaneous. What do you think? I think it might help me be more accountable to post if I knew I was "supposed" to post on certain days, and also if there was a general topic at hand.

Let me know what you think, and keep your eyes open for a few upcoming blogs! I'll do my best to update sooner than I did this time! Almost 3 months is altogether TOO long! <3 p="">

Nail Polish

I don't often do my nails. More often than not, my nails only have polish on them if I've gotten a manicure for a friend's wedding or some other special event. One reason us that I am terrible at painting my right hand nails with my left hand.

Tonight, however, I decided to paint my nails. I had recently seen on pinterest a "hack" that uses elmer's glue. They suggest that you put glue on your finger around the nail. After that dries, you paint your nails as normal (or in my case, abnormal...ha!). After your nails dry, you peel the glue off your fingers, and any misplaced nail polish peels off with the glue.

It seemed easy enough, so I figured I'd try it. Here is my LEFT hand after glueing, painting, and peeling the glue:

In my opinion, not bad! I could actually use this strategy if my efforts always turned out this well...

After I finished my left hand, I was a bit concerned that I'd mess up my right hand. I was determined, however, to "prove myself wrong" after the results on my left hand.

Here is my RIGHT hand after glueing, painting, and peeling the glue:

Ok...not too bad. It's not as good as the left hand, but it's WAY better than any attempts without the glue!

Have you tried any makeup, hair, nail techniques or tips out that you've found on pinterest? I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!

A House on Oak St. (Part 1)

I posted these pictures on Facebook, but I totally forgot to post them here. (Sorry, Julie!)

We took possession on Sunday, November 30. That whole week, we cleaned and painted in the new house. My sister and I left the morning of Friday, December 5 for a Bible Quiz trip to Idaho. While we were gone, our mom had movers move our things from our apartment into the house. She also put up curtains in our bedrooms, which was pretty kind of her, especially considering the blinds were pretty mangled and didn't keep things very private. When we got home from a trip, we were able to go home to the new house.

I haven't had time to take any after pictures yet, but here are some before pictures:

Laundry room view 1

Laundry room view 2

Main bathroom view 1

Main bathroom view 2

Main bathroom view 3

Hallway leading to 2nd and 3rd bedroom

Office/Mom's room view 1

Office/Mom's room view 2

Tracy's room view 1

Tracy's room view 2

Tracy's room view 3

Tracy's room-this was underneath the comic wallpaper!

Living room view 1

Living room view 2

Entry way off living room

Dining room (from living room)

 Kitchen view 1 (from living room)

Kitchen view 2 (from dining room)

Kitchen view 3 (from dining room)

Pantry

Master bedroom view 1

Master bedroom view 2

Master bathroom view 1

Master bathroom view 2

Master bathroom/closet

Master closet

I plan to take more pictures once I get the house cleaned. With the craziness of the end of the school year, I let everything become a disaster. My poor mom and sister were a little overwhelmed, I think, and they did clean some, but I wasn't doing my part. That's not fair. So, now I'm going to clean the house since I have the time. Once I get it cleaned, I'll take "after" pictures of all the rooms. The living room and dining room still aren't painted the new colors, but they look much better with the furniture in them. :)

Happiness vs. Joy

So, I've been promising a blog update for months now. Here it is...finally.

I have been very busy the last few months. We had our school auction, which is a lot of work to put on (and I don't even have a big responsibility!). It was a wonderful event, and we raised about $33,000 for our school, which is an all time record for the auction.

Last year, I copied a friend's auction item from when I worked at SJA. She auctioned off a day with her for students, so I did the same. At the auction last year, it went for $375. I auctioned it again this year, and I was SO blown away when the bidding kept going up...and up...and up...and up! It stopped at $1700, which was astounding! I had told the auctioneer ahead of time that if the bidding got high enough, I would do 2 days to double the money. So, he asked if they'd both pay $1700, and they said yes. So I brought in $3400 for the school! Wow.

The end of the school year is always exhausting. Lots of things going on, preparing to say goodbye to students, and grades to complete. It's also the time of year my brain just starts to give out. So, I had a blur of a couple months.

Here we are. It's summer! I've turned in all the grades, I've cleaned my classroom (a little bit, anyway), and I've had a week of relaxing. I told myself today that my "Blah" week is over, and now I need to start getting into a routine of some sort, because I can't stay up until all hours and sleep late every day. I can't eat tons of junk and lounge on the couch or my bed watching netflix all day. I have to clean, and organize, and think ahead to next year. I have to do yard work and hopefully finish painting the last 2 rooms of my house. I have to fundraise for Bible Quiz. I have 4 camps to counsel and 1 conference to attend! In August, I have a friend's wedding to attend. Woah! Summer is going to fly by, and while I'd like to rest and relax, I also have a to do list a mile long, and reading to do, too.

Anyways, to the point of this blog. My coworker said to me last week, "You seem different lately." "Good different, or bad different," I asked.
"Good different. Happier or something."

I have been processing it since our conversation, and I can't find one real big reason for that change. A few things have changed over the last few months: my mom sent my dog to live with me, my mom moved in with us, I added some "pep" to my wardrobe, I was caught up on grading which took a ton of stress off at the end of the year, etc. I can't say why I have seemed happier lately. I guess it might just be joy showing, because I truly don't know what's different.

Whatever it is, I'd like to keep riding that train! It's been a good few months, and I expect the next couple of months to be pretty good, too. :)