30 Days of Thankful: Day 30

Well this is it. Today I am thankful for rest.

I am home now, after being at the cabin with the WHOLE family, and I am glad to be at rest.
I'm paying bills, have a load in the laundry, and am intermittently watching Friends. Relaxing.

I am thankful for the breaks we get, and the chance to stop for a bit.

Oh, and I'm also thankful that I have all my Christmas shopping done! :)
Bring on the Christmas music!
K

30 Days of Thankful: Day 29

Today I am thankful for the cabin.

Several years ago, Mom and Dad built a cabin up in the mountains. This Thanksgiving we all went up to the cabin. Mostly, it has been great. It is different, having the whole family in one place for several days.

This is what I saw going out to the store today:

The collegiate peaks were beautiful with all the snow.

I am grateful that Mom and Dad value time with family enough that they took that into account when building their home. I am thankful that they want us up here. I am thankful for a retreat from daily life.
K

30 Days of Thankful: Day 27

I am thankful for all the blessings God has given me.

Today I went with a group of people from church to serve at the Rescue Mission's Great Thanksgiving Banquet. It is a free Thanksgiving meal for anyone who wants to come. It is largely homeless people who are there, but there are also some people who are not homeless but just down on their luck.

There were 165 of us volunteers there, and we served about 1000 people.

There were clothing giveaways, flu shots, free bibles, and lots of love and welcoming spirit. As the coordinator told us before starting, the people coming today are out guests.

And that's what it felt like.

I am grateful for every blessing in my life- both those given to me, and the opportunities to work for others. I am so blessed, that I couldn't even count them all.

Thank you God for your blessings, and for the opportunity to serve others.
K

the end

Today was the end of school.

I always feel kind of weird about this. I'm ready for school to be over, but I love my job and don't want to be away from kids for 10 weeks. I'm ready for a break, but I really like the people I work with and consider them friends - I don't want to be gone for 10 weeks.

And of course it is sad that a whole grade level of kids is moving up to Jr. Hi, and I won't have them again. Ever. I've been their music teacher for the past 6 years of their schooling, and now not. That's really what makes me sad this time of year.

And then there is the thought of being off work for 10 weeks, and there is rejoicing in my heart!

I feel very mixed emotions. I'm excited about being off, but sad about being off at the same time.

And I'm so grateful to love my job, to love my boss, and to work with such great people that I consider friends.

I guess I just don't know *what* to feel at this point.
K

today's blessings

Today is full of blessings.

I just finished opening up a bunch of Christmas presents. But those are not the blessings.

One of today's blessings is that even though she is 1500 miles away, we could video chat with our adopted sister, and open presents with her. It would have been better if she could have been here, but this was great. To get to see her, to get to say thank you in person, to watch her open gifts...it was great and I'm so glad it worked for us to be "together".

Another of today's blessings was spending it with family. We went to church together, we ate together, we opened presents together. Not to mention some laughing and hugging in there.

The blessing of the natural world is that the snow held off long enough for me to easily get home. I am somewhat of an old-lady-driver in the snow, so it was nice that there was just a little bit on the roads.

The most important blessing is remembering that Christ came to earth as a baby on this very night. We remember that He came so that we could be in fellowship with God. He came to take our sin on Him.
No, today's presents are very definitely NOT the blessings.

Thank you God for all of the blessings you bestow on me.
K

'tis the season...

...for singing.

Last Friday I sang my little heart out at our Deck The Hall concert. It was lots of fun Christmas and holiday music, and a very festive evening with a hand bell group ringing along with us.

...for doing good.

Last Saturday we went up in the mountains and sung our concert again as a benefit for a local mental health agency. We had a fun time singing, enjoyed people's company, and had a fun dinner with some friends after.

...for *cough* *cough*

Evidently, I am destined to get some sort of bronchial ailment every December. Now I think I have bronchitis, but it could be whooping cough. Never fear - I went to the doctor today. I'm on all kinds of medicine, and hope to feel much better very soon.

...for partying.

This weekend is our school Christmas party. This is seriously one of the funnest things. There is good food, great company, music, games, dancing, winning of prizes...I can't say enough how much I am looking forward to spending time with friends that I work with.

...for buying.

I love getting Christmas presents for people, and I stretch it out from August through December. But I'm almost done with buying, so now it's time to get wrapping.

So many great things come at this time of year, it's almost hard to list them all. But I am not short on blessings. I have a wonderful job, the best boss in the world, an amazing family, and a great church. Not to mention the gift that came a long time ago, this time of year. He is the best blessing of all.
K

thoughts on what is important

Last week I went on a trip with about 90 people from my church. We had done a VBS here 2 weeks prior, and in order to be a blessing to a new church plant in Kansas City, we took our VBS there and did it for their church kids and the kids in the neighborhood.

What a great week. Our team was fantastic, and flexible, and wonderful to live with for a week. Even in the heat.

Closing Craziness

Our awesome team

Amazing students working with kids that came to VBS

Me, leading one of the sessions

I a grateful for the students that gave a week of their summer and went. They did a fantastic job of doing ANYTHING that needed to be done. Of loving on those kids that came to VBS. Of not complaining about the heat. And did I mention it was HOT? The hottest day was Wednesday, where we topped out at 105 degrees and about 60% humidity. You know how when you are baking, and you open the oven door, and the heat hits you in the face like a frying pan? That's how it felt every time you walked out into the heat.

But the heat aside, it was a great trip. We had a great time with the kids that came, many of them not knowing anything about church or God at all. Our students loved on these kids, and had fun with these kids, and most importantly showed Jesus to these kids. It was awesome.

But in the midst of this amazing journey, we had a reality check from back home. The day we left was the day that a fire started up in the canyon to the west of our city. We heard about the fire, but it was mostly background to the great things happening at our VBS trip. Until Tuesday. Tuesday, June 26, 2012 was the day that the winds shifted to the west, and the fire rolled over the mountains down into the city. At the worst, 35,000 people were evacuated out of their homes, 349 homes were destroyed by fire, and 2 people were killed. Even now, 2 weeks later, the fire is only at 80% containment, and there are still firefighters up in the hills working to keep any hot spots down, and contain the northern fire lines.

While this was happening back here at home, our phones were "blowing up" with texts and pictures from friends, and facebook posts and pictures about the fire. We had messages from out of state friends asking if we were OK. We had facebook pictures of the fire and destruction. We were streaming news to find out what was actually happening. But the worst was that we had several students and adults on the trip that were in the evacuation zone. Their house and family was threatened while they were away and couldn't be near. Eventually, we had to shut off the news, because it was really freaking several of them out, looking at pictures of the fire that was coming dangerously close to their homes.

We had several very personal discussions about how we have to trust God, because there is nothing we can do about this from Kansas City. Ironically, Trust God was the theme of our VBS, and we quite literally lived that out during the week. We went over what the important things are: Your family is safe. Your pets are at a shelter. You are here and safe. Your parents have gotten the few important possessions out of the house. You MUST trust God at this point. But when you are 12 years old, and on one of your first missions trips away from home, that is a difficult thing to do while looking at pictures like those above and knowing your house is in the path of that fire.

This past week, I have come to the conclusion that my friend Diane said it best: It comes down to Faith, Family and Friends. Everything else is just "stuff". In the heart of the fire raging, I asked my parents go to my house and pick up a couple papers for me. My mom asked if I wanted her to take anything else, and my answer was like Diane's: no. It's all just stuff.

If I was here, I probably would have taken a couple things that have sentimental meaning for me, but in the end, all that is still just stuff.

The important things in life are the things that cannot be quantified on an insurance form. Family. Faith. Eternal work for God's kingdom. And relationships with friends.

Am I glad it took this literal trial by fire to cement these things in my heart? No.
Am I thankful that I am a changed person, and have a clear vision of what IS important in life? Absolutely.

And as a final note, I am SUPREMELY grateful to those firefighters that have fought this fire for the past 2 weeks, and continue to do so. There are not enough words to express our gratitude to you.

Thank you.
K

plague

I believe we are going through a plague.

The moths are among us. How can something that only lives for 20 days be such a nuisance? And why do they always fly RIGHT at your face? My vacuum cleaner is full of moth carcasses. But I will admit that attacking them with a flyswatter is GLORIOUS!!! I bought 4 brand-spankin-new flyswatters last week - 2 for my classroom, and 2 for home. Boy oh boy, I have used those things like crazy. And I am taking out every ounce of hate I have ever had in my whole life, whapping at those moths.

And now that it seems like the moths are dying out, we are being attacked by the cottonwood tree blooms. As I was driving home the other day I was dreaming up a way to "catch" these little natural cotton balls that always seem to get stuck in my mouth. It involved a tennis racket, and some duct tape. But I can't tell you the rest, because I'm pretty sure the patent will make me tons of money.

Yeah, I know, the moths are not really a plague. But they are REALLY annoying.

For reals, the last couple weeks of school is a plague. We have about 2 and a half weeks of school left, and I don't know if I can make it. OK, OK, I can make it. But it doesn't feel like it.

I don't really need a whole summer off - I just need a break. And I know lots of people that feel the same way.

Why does it not matter when the "end" is...we still look for it and count down the days?

Is that a natural human inclination - to always look forward to the end? To look forward to the next thing coming down the pike? What happens if we don't have anything to look forward to? Would that affect our human-ness, if we didn't ever look forward? To the next break? To the next vacation? To the next...

I can say for sure that I am looking forward to being off school for some time. If that makes me more human, than so be it. Human I am.

But I will be human with 10 weeks off work.
K :)

more sky

Well, I'm home.

Christmas was terribly fun. We all decamped up to the cabin, and patiently waited for Christmas to get here. And get here it did. We played games, opened presents, played games, played with toys, ate snacks, played games, and then ate more snacks.

Tree, presents, stockings, and the train.

It was truly great to have everyone all together. But we had to stay inside because we got a LOT of snow. Beautiful, but snowy. And I had to shovel. But it was fun to be all together.

Snow everywhere.

As I was driving home, I had to drive back through the canyon. For most of that part of the drive, the canyon walls are pretty steep. You can't see a lot except the river, and the canyon walls going mostly straight up. But as you get toward the end of the canyon, like for the last 5 minutes, you start to be able to see a lot more sky. You see much less mountain, and much more sky. The sky grows bigger and bigger, and after only seeing a little strip of it for the past hour, it is so breathtaking to see the huge expanse of deep blue.

As I got to see more and more sky, as it opened up before me, I was thinking that life is like that sometimes. Sometimes you can only see the steep mountains, and it seems like they block out everything else. But you just have to get through the canyon, and you eventually will be able to see the sky. Eventually the mountains back off into the past, and the sky opens up before you.

I just wanted to throw that out at'cha, because the hard times will come. But just remember to hold on 'til you can get through the canyon. Eventually the mountains will recede, and the sky will get bigger and bigger and more beautiful each moment.

Here's to making it through life gracefully, even when it feels like the mountains are closing in.
K

whew!

Well, even though the month of thankfulness is past, I am going to be thankful again. What a great habit to have!

Today I'm thankful for several things:

Concert went great. 

4th, 5th and 6th graders sang their concert 2 days ago, and they did a great job. I picked some hard music, and they really rose to the occasion. I'm pleased with the result, and proud of how hard they worked to do such a great job.

Christmas Shopping is done.

I know, I'm weird. But I like to start shopping early. Not to get it over, but because I love to give gifts, so when someone mentions something they'd like, I go ahead and pick it up. I started shopping for Christmas in August, and just finished a day or 2 ago. But I'm done. :) And most of it is wrapped. I know, it's OK to be jealous.

Christmas is coming, and the family will all be together.

This Christmas, we all are going up to the cabin for a couple days. I'm excited that we all get to go away, and that we all get to be together. Even my adopted sister is coming from Texas, so I'm looking forward to having everyone together.

I've got my lights up outside, and Christmas shopping is done, so I'm looking forward to Christmas. Christmas Advent services at church. Christmas holiday from school. Christmas giving. Christmas away with the family.

And lastly, the Christmas Concert season is upon us.

This coming weekend I will be singing with the Colorado Springs Chorale in our Deck the Hall concert. And the week after that, I will be singing with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in their Christmas Spectacular. So I get to celebrate Christmas in a big way.

Let the holidays begin!

day 25 rest

Since this is the month to be thankful, I'm linking up with my friend Dawn at theGoodlife all this month to be thankful together!

Today, I am thankful for rest.

Specifically, I'm thankful for last night's rest, and that there was no need to set an alarm this morning. I rolled out of bed at 9:30! But that extra rest sure felt good.

Generally, I'm thankful for the rest that Thanksgiving break provides. There's 3 weeks of school after we go back to school on Monday, and I really do think those 3 weeks are the busiest weeks of the year.

For example, I am helping put on the Christmas party at our school. I have Christmas concerts with the Chorale 2 weekends in a row, and both of those involve 2 days of concerts. One weekend is a Friday/Saturday deal, and the weekend after that is a Saturday night/Sunday afternoon situation. Which also means several dress rehearsals before those concerts. I have a concert at school with my 4th, 5th and 6th graders. The Christmas Formal is happening with Youth Group. And...I'm sure there is something else going on...but I can't remember what at this moment.

So today I'm thankful for rest. After sleeping in, I watched the movie "elf" with Will Farrell - one of my favorite Christmas movies. And then proceeded to watch all the DVD extras and specials. I did do a little "Black Friday" shopping, but I didn't leave the house until 3pm. :)

So here's to rest. And the rejuvenation it brings.
K

day 24 thanksgiving

Well, today is Thanksgiving. All this month I'm linking up with my friend Dawn and being thankful.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Today was a great day. Not because it was special, but because it was not.

I slept in this morning. Nothing earth shattering about that.

I sat around for a little bit, watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and read some. Again, usual stuff.

Then I made pumpkin pie. That was my assignment for Thanksgiving dinner. And the most special thing about that was that it made my whole house smell like pumpkin pie. Fantastic! But pumpkin pie has been my assignment for several years now, so that's not really anything new or exciting.

Took a shower. Got ready. And did not even get particularly dressed up. Went over to Mom and Dad's house. Helped get things ready. Ate Thanksgiving dinner with the family and some friends that don't have any family here in town.

No, as Thanksgivings go, it was pretty low key and usual. But that's what I'm thankful for. That a day with family is usual. That even though the dishes are not always exactly the same, the day usually is. That spending a day with my family is not a special occasion. That hanging out for a whole day at Mom and Dad's is not a chore, or something that I dread. That a family get-together is pretty stress-free. That the family enjoys each other.

No, today I'm thankful for the uneventful-ness of today. And I'm thankful for my family that makes it that way.
K

day 23 serving

Not only is this the month to be thankful, but TOMORROW is Thanksgiving! What a great time to give thanks for the blessings in our lives. My friend Dawn at theGoodlife is hosting 30 Thankful Days, and I'm thanking right along with her.

Today I am more than thankful for the 9 High School kids that went with me to serve at the Rescue Mission's Great Thanksgiving Dinner. These kids are awesome. They got up early, gave up most of a day off school, went downtown, and basically did whatever was asked of them.

2 of them were greeters - they stood at the door and smiled at everyone that came in. They greeted the guests warmly, and made sure they had a place to sit. They shook hands with the guests as they left, looked them in the eye and said "I'm glad you came. Have a great day".

2 of them were up on stage, helping the local TV news lady who was giving things away.They took pictures, helped in giving away the raffle items like sleeping bags, coats and blankets. They did whatever she asked them to do.

4 of them were in the children's area, and just played with the kids. They painted faces, gave piggy back rides, built towers of blocks, and all those kinds of things. Then as a couple kids were leaving, they grabbed up the kids and loved on them a little bit more before they left.

The other sponsor that went was designated as security, and he just walked around and made sure things didn't get out of hand anywhere. But I'm extra thankful for him, because he took a day off his real job to help make this happen. 

One of our Seniors and I cut and plated slices of pie. 2400 slices of pie, as best we can count. At one point, we couldn't plate pie fast enough to keep up with the demand. The Rescue Mission guy working next to me said "Are those people eating any food, or are they just eating pie? I think they just eating pie!" It was crazy.

But what I'm most thankful for is these kids' attitude. They hopped right in, and had a willing attitude to do whatever it took to make it work.

I'm so proud of them. And I'm proud to be a part of them. I'm proud to serve alongside them. I'm thankful that these kids are willing to serve.
K

day 21 bounty

Well.

Isn't it lovely to not wake up to an alarm??? That's not my thankfulness today - I'm just sayin'...

This is the month to be thankful, so I'm linking up with my friend Dawn all month to be thankful together.

Have you ever heard a prayer? Like on a TV show, or at someone's house? You know, the one that goes something like "Lord bless these gifts that we receive out of your bounty..."

Today I'm thankful for the bounty that He has given.

I know that sounds generic, but as I look all around, I see blessings that God has bestowed on me. A couple days ago I was thankful for my shower. That's one of them. Right now I am eating a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, and I have a meal in the crock pot for tonight. That's another. Yesterday afternoon I was in my garage spray-painting some sticks that I'm going to use for a crafty project. That's 2 right there - the garage itself, and that I have money to even DO crafty projects. I even have a freezer in my garage to hold all of my bounty. And after I'm done eating, I'm going to go downstairs and load the dishwasher so I can lazily have clean dishes. How can I NOT see all the bounty around me?

I have SO MANY things to be thankful for, so today I am thankful for all those things. God had blessed me with a job I love, a warm house, a car that runs well, a garage to keep that car in so I don't have to scrape snow, a family that loves me and gets together on a regular basis, good friends, and so much more.

In two days, I'm taking a group of awesome High Schoolers down to the Rescue Mission's Great Thanksgiving Feast. The Mission is providing a free Thanksgiving meal to anyone who wants to come. There will also be clothing given away, an area for kids to play, hygiene kits for anyone who would like one, and other things given away like sleeping bags and blankets. One year they even gave away haircuts.

As I look around me at the bounty that I enjoy, I can't help but think about those who do not enjoy those same blessings. And I know that there are people who aren't technically homeless who don't enjoy a lot of my same bounty even though they have a roof over their head.

So today I'm thankful to God for all that He has given me, and I acknowledge that all good gifts come from Him.
K

day 18 break

All this month I'm linking up with Dawn at theGoodlife to be intentionally thankful. Now I have not always been in the best of mood for the thankfulness (see here), but I am thankful for the thankfulness. I love that it really gets me thinking about how awesome I have it, and all the blessings God has given me.

Today I have many reasons to be thankful: I have wonderful bosses that let me leave school for a personal reason, as long as I make up the time. I got to go to chapel at Focus on the Family today, and hear Aaron Shust sing. He's a friend from when I was teaching college in GA, and it was nice to reconnect. In going to chapel, I got to take a break out of my day to focus on God. During the days of forced Chapel in college, I didn't really appreciate it, but now I do. I got to talk with my sister today, since her son goes to my school. I'm grateful that we get to talk, and spend time with each other often, now. That has not always been the case, so I'm thankful for our relationship.

But at the end of the day, I'm thankful for the break. You see, I'm off work all next week for Thanksgiving Break. And I am SO grateful. I was really feeling the need for a break, so this comes at a very opportune time. No Drama next week; no chorale rehearsal next week. This is a true break.

I'm grateful that God has built in these breaks, that I may prosper and love long in my bed each morning.

It makes the thankfulness for the bed all that much more timely!  :)
K

day 11 with a ceremony

Today, as with most days this month (hopefully!), I am linking up with Dawn at theGoodlife to be intentionally thankful. Head over there to see what thankfulness is going around!

Today I am thankful for my school, and that they intentionally make a big deal out of Veteran's Day.

Today I went up to our North campus for the Veteran's Day assembly.  As part of my job, I went because my 6th graders sang God Bless America, and I had to be there to direct them. Which, actually I love. All of the 6th graders from all of the campuses sang together, and it was great. Great experience for them, and it sounded great as well.

But, I'm not thankful for our little 6th grade performance. Nor am I thankful for the 5th grade's recitation of the Gettysburg Address. Nor the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, though it was a lovely 4-part version sung by the women's choir.

I am thankful that this assembly is such a big deal altogether, and there is so much put into it. I'm thankful that the MC explained to the crowd what to do at the presentation of the colors, and why. I'm thankful that he asked the kids to be silent during the playing of Taps, and then explained why that is important. I'm thankful that they got such an interesting and engaging speaker, and that during his talk all the students were quiet and listening intently.

Yes, I wish I had brought a tissue. Yes, it was moving and a very respectful tribute to our Veterans. But I'm thankful for the effect in our students, and that it educates them on the importance of the sacrifices our Veterans made so we can enjoy our freedom. I'm thankful that this assembly is intentional in bringing our students in on the gravitas of a Veteran's decision to serve our country, and how we should show our respect for that.

I'm grateful that the next generation is learning how important Veterans are. And how important it is for us "regular" people to be thankful for their service.
K

fall color

This weekend I went up into the mountains. It was about a 2 hour drive from home, and even though the trees are starting to drop their beautiful leaves, some of the scenes were amazing.

Here are a couple pictures:

The Arkansas River

Old railroad tunnels, north of Buena Vista, CO

North of Buena Vista, CO

North of Buena Vista, CO

Cottonwood Lake

 

 

Family rockskipping championships at Cottonwood Lake!

Howard, CO; taken on the drive home

It was a great family weekend.Very relaxing, and lots of fun playing with the nephews. A fine way to end Fall Break, if I do say so myself! Thanks for stopping by.
K

christmas!

This year the family went up to the mountains for Christmas. I'd like to share a couple pictures:

 Nana and the little nephew made ornaments for the tree.

 I took both nephews to the park to play.

 Brother-in-law made an origami manger scene.

 We had fun opening presents.

 Some toys had to be put together.

 Some toys had to be played with right away!

 I read with nephew from his new Kid's Adventure Bible.

 We opened stockings on Christmas morning, and then played in the ball pit.

 Little nephew and I decorated the gingerbread house and managed to not eat very much!

 He DID eat the chocolate fondue, as you can see!

And we took a family picture.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you also had a great time with family.

K