life with Cadey

A little over a month ago I decided I wanted a dog. I'd always said that having a dog in my house was an absolute no - only because I have a small house and there's a leash law in Durham, so a dog can't run free. I grew up in the country, where our dog(s) could just go out and play and run as long as they wanted to. I didn't think it was fair to keep a dog in the house all the time.

Well... after the bullet incident, I started to rethink my "dog-in-the-house" philosophy. A couple of days later, Cadey entered my home, and not to sound ultra cliche and cheesy, but this crazy dog entered my heart as well. She's a goof ball - FULL of energy! Sometimes she's a bit much for me, and I think, "what have I done!?" But all in all, she's my baby, and as crazy as she is, I am now responsible for giving her the best doggy life I can. I've taken all kinds of advice from some very experienced dog people.

Here's what I've learned:

Talk in my "man" voice.
No attention unless all 4 paws are on the ground.
Be a tree!
I am the pack leader - oh yeah.
A tired dog is not an aggressive dog.
And my favorite...
A plastic bottle with 50 cents of pennies is worth a million bucks.

I kid you not. Cadey is a jumper. I swear, she will jump on anyone that walks through the door. It's not cool, and it's somewhat embarrassing. I want people to see her, and to like her, but I don't want her to hurt them! (I kind of have a tiny bit of awareness now how parents feel when they have kids who won't behave... they love them, and want other people to love them, but they're scared to leave their kid alone with someone for fear of what they'll do!)

Well... my sister in law, Jamie, was here on Saturday, and said that she has a German Shepherd who used to jump on everyone too. She told me this magical secret... a plastic bottle with pennies in it. Every time Cadey jumps, I shake the bottle, and she HATES the sound!! Everyone was at the house that day (we celebrated our Christmas early). I was too nervous to bring her out, but Jamie convinced me to try. I kid you not, with that bottle in hand, Cadey sat down, and let everyone come pet her. Even my little nieces!! This bottle is my new best friend. I fully plan to place many of them around the house when I get home!

Whosoever loveth me loveth my hound.

-Sir Thomas More

i still ♥ durham

Yes, my friends... I still love Durham. Even after discovering a broken window Saturday morning, and a bullet in the corner on Saturday evening, I still love Durham. When I first discovered the broken window, I thought that a rock or a ball had been thrown through the window. The hole appears to be too big for a bullet hole. But Leanne and I couldn't find the projectile... meanwhile, some youth from out of town were staying at our house Saturday evening, so we had to deal with this discovery very secretively! It wasn't until Saturday evening, when Leanne and I snuck away from the youth at Frankie's to leave bit early to clean up the rest of the glass, that we found the bullet. It was laying off in the corner of the living room. From the looks of everything, the bullet looks to have been shot from a pretty far off distance, and more than likely, it was NOT intended for our window. In a way, that's better than someone intentionally throwing a rock through the window! It's not like I didn't know people around here shot guns sometimes. I am well aware of my location. I'm a little sad that the policeman today took the bullet. I really wanted to keep it as a memento! Life in Durham is never dull... I promise you that!

This morning, while the girls were getting ready, I had time to listen to a Marc Driscoll sermon from his series “Philippians: Rebel’s Guide to Joy” In the sermon he talked about how joy is not an emotion, rather joy is a lifestyle that celebrates the forward progress of the Gospel. He goes on to say that everything is an opportunity for the progress of the Gospel, therefore NOTHING (not even the worst situation) is without merit or purpose, and in THAT there is joy because it is ALL for the Gospel. God is definitely teaching me more and more about the difference between happiness and joy. He’s also making it clearer everyday that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

so much to say!

This past weekend was quite action packed, and if I truly wrote all that I wanted to, no one would take the time to read it! But for those of you in another country who actually want to know what's going on and I'm not able to tell you about this face to face... here goes my attempt at a SHORT update on the awesome cool stuff God did this past weekend.

Friday night Leanne and I hosted a Halloween block party for our neighborhood. Friends, family and church pitched in to make this night a success. Some friends came early to set up. Some make or brought goodies. Some simply played games with the kids or served food/drink to those who came. Leanne and I had been able to go out earlier in the week to knock on doors and invite the neighbors to come. We had a good turn out - not everyone of course, but enough! For our first community event, I can definitely say I was pleased. :) Connections were made, and neighbors talked to each other - what a concept!

Saturday morning was another endeavor. Our friends from the Summit came over to help us gid a big ole ditch behind my house to help water drain away from my yard. Previously, whenever it rained, water would pool behind my house and would stay there for days. Yesterday it rained all day... and the ditch worked perfectly!!!

Saturday night I went over to my friend Jennifer's house and watched a big Florida Gator's game with her and Eric. They are huge fans of the Gators, so I did my best to at least look the part of a fan. :) Good friends... good times...Sunday was my Dad's 60th birthday! I got to go home after church and celebrate with him for a bit before heading over to Flat Springs (the church I grew up in) to sing at a celebration for the music minister. It was his 30th anniversary of working at the church. I saw lots of people I haven't seen or talked to in quite a while.

Phew! I needed a weekend to recover from my weekend. But no such luck. Thankfully, it's already Wednesday! Have a great rest of the week, and thanks for checking up on me!

my job rocks

I have been dreading Thursday night for over a week. It's PTA curriculum night, and for the first time in my RN Harris life I have Pre-K parents signed up to come! I've been freaking out since Friday afternoon of last week... that is, I WAS freaking out... until I started thinking about what to do. As I thought (some outloud with my amazing roommate) about how to talk about literacy and math with a handful of parents, I just thought, "what would I want to know if I were a parent" and "what can I do to NOT make this meeting boring." Plus, I don't like talking in front of adults for very long. Little people I'm cool with... adults are a different story! Leanne and I went to the dollar store and bought $10 worth of random things. We came home and proceeded to make a LONG list of how to use these things to teach concepts that are in the NC standard course of study for Pre-Kindergarten. We even got Chris involved in the brainstorming. As I typed out the list and then created my hands-on agenda for the meeting, I actually found myself getting excited about it! I love what I teach. I love the way these kids learn, and the crazy, fun, imaginative ways I get to teach them. I actually get excited about helping parents know better how to teach their children. I really and truly love my job. What a blessing!

And one more thing... anyone who talked to me about my kids AT ALL last year knows without a doubt about Ke'Shaun. Ah... my little Ke'Shaun. Teachers don't have favorites... but if they did... hehe :) Anyway, Ke'Shaun was a baby when he came to me. He was still only 3 years old and was the youngest in the class. Though at the end of the year his social and physical skills were right on track, I honestly wondered how he'd do in kindergarten this year. Today I received the best job evaluation a teacher could ever ask for. Ke'Shaun's teacher came to me in the cafeteria today and said that I'd be so proud of him. She said that he read all of the class sight words to the class today and that I just HAD to come hear him read them. I went by during my kids' naptime and sure enough, he read every one of them. I asked the teacher if that was normal and she said that only about 6 kids in the class can read them all. She said Ke'Shaun is one of the hardest workers in the class. She said he may not know everything right away, but he works so hard that he gets it and he learns quickly. My Ke'Shaun is no baby anymore. He is a bright, SMART Kindergartner. And I could not be more proud.

Let me just say it one more time... I love my job.

my neighbors are gonna love me!

A while ago I witnessed a Durham Public Schools school bus knock down a basketball goal at the end of my street. A couple weeks ago I realize that nothing had been done about it, so I decided to get involved. I've been in correspondence with the transportation department. Today they asked me who the goal belonged to, and I had no idea. This afternoon I was going to my car to get something, and I saw the guys walking down to the end of the street to hang out. I asked them who the goal belonged to, and explained to them what was being done about it. They were really excited at the prospect of getting their goal back! They didn't even know it was a bus that knocked it down... they thought some kids had knocked it down. Hopefully soon the goal will be fixed, and I'll be the good guy! I'm so glad that I finally had a reason to talk to these guys. Typically it's impossible to even get a hello out of them. But now maybe they'll like us! hehe :) Hooray for an "in" with the neighborhood kids! :)

i ♥ fall

What a lovely afternoon... I slept in, which is always nice. Then I met a new friend... Leanne's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend (did you follow that?) who is spending the weekend here with us. She's great - she loves everything about the house... the colors, the decorations, the couch, and even my dishes! (I think maybe Leanne paid her to be nice, but I can't prove that yet...) Then we had a fantastic breakfast made by my amazing roommate... Chris and his brother joined us. After that, it was time to get everything ready for Oxford Manor kids' club. We had some new missionaries with us today, and they were wonderful!! The weather was a bit cool, and I definitely wished I'd had a jacket, but if I had, the weather would have been absolutely perfect for me. I love the brisk cool breeze and just the feeling of Fall. Fall makes me happy. I love wearing sweaters, hoodies, and sometimes even a scarf. I love pumpkin scented candles, Fall leaves, and apple cider. Fall makes me want to slow down and take a break from the madness. Soon enough the "most stressful" season of the year will be upon us (sad that Christmas is deemed stressful, but that's for another blog!). Now is the calm before the storm... the quiet lull of Fall. Ahh... I shall enjoy it while it lasts. :)

blessing from across the waters

Yesterday morning I got on facebook to check something quickly. Right before I was about to sign off, I got a message. It was from an old friend named Vusi. He was a young man that I knew in South Africa. I met him through Kurt (my team leader in SA) and then got to know him better when I started working with Nurse (a young lady I met in the townships). Besides being friends, I was teaching Nurse how to teach Bible stories to little kids. I brought Vusi into the mix because I wanted Nurse to have someone to work alongside when I left. Plus, Nurse didn't have any Christian friends, and I thought they would be a good influence on each other. So... back to yesterday... I hadn't talked to Vusi in almost 3 years. We were catching up, and I read that he had attended Bible college, was an associate pastor of a church in the townships, and was a part-time missionary with another ministry! How cool! THEN... he wrote this... "since you introduced me to kids ministries, I've been on fire for the lord and it opened many doors for me.thanks to you and thank God for allowing us to meet!!! you will always be part of my life and the ministry that I do" Oh my goodness... I had no idea. NO idea. Needless to say, I bawled like a baby. It's so easy to wonder what good I did in my years in South Africa. I often wonder why God sent me there... I didn't see a lot of fruit. I had a great time, and loved life, but as ministry goes, I felt like God taught me more than He used me. Little did I know what was going on. This has reminded me that we have no idea what God is doing, and we will never know everything that is going on. If I hadn't gotten on facebook, I would not have chatted with Vusi. I consider myself extremely blessed to have been allowed to be a part of this young man's life. It is just proof that God can use even the most unworthy vessels! Oh... and Vusi said that next year he is starting a ministry near Swaziland. So he is not only reaching people with the Gospel in Johannesburg, but he's taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. What a privilege and honor to have a small part in the HUGE plans of our almighty God!!

Nurse and Vusi teaching a Bible lesson in Rand Leases

wet socks

This morning I woke up, got dressed, and headed downstairs to do my Bible study. I was unpleasantly surprised when I got to the bottom of the steps and my feet hit water. *splash* Without even turning the lights on, I knew what the problem was. Apparently the rain last night was enough to flood my laundry room and then that flooded into the living room again. This time it wasn't half as bad as before, but still... sucking up water for an hour and a half was not how I intended to spend my morning!

I can't help but think of how much God has taught me here in this house over the past 2 1/2 years. I am hardly phased when something like this happens. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't make me do the happy dance, but I remember all the times in the past that God has brought me through, and I know He'll bring me through this one too. I don't know how to fix this. I really don't. I have no idea what to do. However, I've no doubt that somehow, God will teach me even more through this! :)

Lately I've been enjoying some sweet time with the Lord. Leanne and I have been getting up every morning for the past 2 weeks to do our Bible studies. I have been like a new person! I'm awake, I'm loving my job, I'm more patient and friendly... and I am NOT one to be a morning person. It's crazy, really. hehe Anyway, I refuse to let something like this house problem get in the way of my growing relationship with the Lord.

This house.... I sure do love it. :-D

hide and seek

Yesterday morning during my quiet time, I was to look at the following verses...

Jer 29:13-14 You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

I made a comment noting that it says "I will be found by you." It's as if God is letting himself be found as opposed to me doing something great to find Him. I wrote that it made me think of playing hide and seek with my pre-k students. When you play hide and seek with a child, you don't hide very hard, and when the child comes looking, he is able to find you pretty quickly! I wouldn't go hide somewhere, knowing that the child doesn't have the capacity to find me. It was a short note...

Let it be known that to date, I have NEVER played hide and seek with my students at this school. Not ONE time. Yesterday afternoon, a kindergartner that sometimes spends time with my class on the playground said, "Ms. Boisvert, I'll count - you hide!" I could not believe my ears. As I "hid" under the slide, crouched down so he "couldn't see me," I thought more about this analogy. I wasn't really hidden. Anyone with their eyes open could see me. But I hid there because I knew that Michael didn't have the ability or the patience to really seek me out if I were truly hidden. He is a child, and he can only search so much before becoming frustrated or forget about it all together. How much is God like this with us!? He's not hidden... anyone with their eyes open can see Him. He's right there, waiting for me to come seek Him, and the moment I do, I will find Him! He lets me find Him... how great and loving is He!

Just as Michael and my students rushed to find me and were overcome with laughter and joy when they did, I pray that I will rush to find God, and that when I do (because I always will!), I pray that I will be overjoyed and excited to have found Him!

I love my job! :)

I've forgotten how to blog

Here we go again... I seem to have had a blog/writer's block for the last month. I log on to write something, but nothing seems to come out! It's been just under a month since I last blogged, and though a lot has happened, I can't seem to find the words to write about them. I'll try my best though!

I guess the biggest thing is that school started! Yes, I still only have 6 kids. Yes, I am experiencing God's grace! hehe It's insane to only have 6 children in my class. Sometimes I feel a bit silly... I have a degree from UNC, my assistant has a degree from NC Central, and here we are together in a class with 6 kids. And they're GREAT kids! We had one little guy who cried a lot the first couple days, but this afternoon when his Mom came to pick him up, he said, "no, I'm not ready to go yet." Cute kid. :) My classroom is super cute this year too. I spent a little extra cash this year getting my room set up, and we decorated with zoo animals all over the place. I'll try to get some good pictures up here soon. It's such an amazing feeling to know what I'm doing for once. I've always changed teaching jobs, so this is the 1st year I've come back to a school for a second year. It's nice to not be the new kid for once!

I also had the amazing opportunity to go to Youngstown, OH with some of the young professionals from the Summit. We only went for 4 days, but we got a lot of work done! Youngstown Metro Church (which the Summit helps support as a church plant) has been going strong for about 4 years. Josh and Aimee Shank left the Summit to go to Ohio the same week I left to go to South Africa. So I'd been keeping up with them since then. It was great to FINALLY get to see firsthand what I've been praying for and reading about for 4 years! As another cool fact, Josh was the first person to ever talk to me at the Summit 6 years ago. Small world. :)

And for one more tidbit in the life of Bonnie... this past weekend my house flooded like never before. My kitchen has flooded before, but this time I woke up at 5:30 am to a 1-2 inch flood on the first level of my house. To make matters worse, all the tv/stereo electrical wires were on the floor! We had to turn off the power to the outlets, unplug everything, get everything up off the floor and to dry ground, put the waterlogged couch on two crates to dry it out, and suck up all the water with my shop-vac. We sucked up about 120 gallons of water. Talk about a crazy day. I'll add pictures soon!

Well, that's all for now. I must be getting my beauty sleep! Thanks for checking in!

6 kids

I went to the Pre-K office today to pick up my class list and the folders for each child. I only have SIX kids in my class so far!! This may very well change, but six kids?? That's insane. I think I still have low numbers because they still want to make my class a combined regular/hearing impaired class, but they can't do that until they hire someone to teach with me who has the hearing impaired teaching experience. So far they haven't hired one, and I don't think they have any leads. WOOHOO! Is it possible that I can get lucky enough to have small classes two years in a row? This is crazy, but I am NOT complaining, that's for sure!! :) I'm so ready to get back to school and meet these kids! *sigh* I love my job. :)

life is expensive!

My word... it is expensive to live a decent life. In the course of 24 hrs I will have spent a grand total of $1000. Part of that is to take care of my precious kitties. I've been a terrible Mom and they've gone without veterinarian care for over 3 years now. I know... I spent $800 to fly them home, and then haven't given them the proper care... I KNOW! So they're going to the vet tomorrow. Today I took my car in to the shop because it has been vibrating. Well, they found more problems as they went, and the price kept going up and up! I know it's important to take care of you car... I mean, I don't want to be driving on I-85 when my brakes finally decide to give out on me, or my tire with barely any tread on it decides to bust. So I handed over the visa and held my breath. I'm still holding my breath! AHHH!!!! OK... freak out - over. God always provides. In few months I'll get an extra check from my school because our kids scored above certain mark on their end of grade tests. I'm so praying that really does come in, or else I'm in deep debt! All that to say, taking care of yourself and your life really does cost a pretty penny! Anybody need a babysitter!? hehe

i ♥ my job

What a concept! I realized a couple days ago that I am really ready to go back to school. This is also the first year that I am not required to work in early childhood. The past few years I've had to work to pay back a scholarship, but now I've done my duty! I could go do anything else I wanted to do, and yet, I'm going back to R.N. Harris to be a Pre-K teacher. I love it! I love the fact that I don't have to be a teacher anymore, but I actually want to be a teacher! I'm actually looking forward to a new class. Yes, I realize that the first few weeks will be tough... we'll have the criers, the whiners, and the "challenging children," but there will also be those that capture my heart. The kid who cried to most last year (for almost the first 2 months!) became my little shadow and I miss him and his hugs to this day. So yes, I AM ready for summer break to be over. (Well, after my little vacation with Mom next week!) I am actually ready to get back to work. Hooray! This was my little crier from last year!! I thought he'd NEVER come in with a smile on his face! But he eventually did. :)

it took me this long to figure that out??

Last night I was sitting with a lovely group of ladies at a church planting seminar at the Summit. No, I don't plan to run off and start a new church any time soon, but I am very interested in the church planting movement, and have been since I started reading up on the subject 4 years ago in South Africa. The seminars are for both those interested in overseas church planting and North American church planting (be it California or right here in good ole Durham). I was chatting with another girl at the table about where I felt called to. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I would go back overseas in a heartbeat. But I also feel very much called to Durham for this season of my life. So I was telling her that I'd go overseas at any given moment, BUT that I'd made the crazy (silly?) decision 2 years ago to buy this tiny old house in the ghetto, and that selling it (in order to go overseas) would be quite a feat. I said something to the extent of, "I would go overseas in a heartbeat, but for some reason, God put this house in my path so clearly that I couldn't resist." The more we talked, the more I came to the realization that perhaps one of the reasons God lead me to this house was to KEEP me here. It would be easy for me to leave this all behind and go to another land, but God is (for now) using this house to keep me firmly planted in Durham - a mission field all on its own!! The longer I'm here, the more I fall in love with Durham. She has her share of issues, but what place doesn't? Until the day (if, in fact it ever comes) when someone is crazy enough to buy this house, this is home.

a lesson in trusting Him

Sunday evening when I started to plan out this coming Saturday's kids club, I realized that everyone but me (and possibly Amanda) was going to be out of town. I had a bit of a freak out moment. What was I going to do? I took a deep breath, reminded myself that God was in control, and went to bed.

Then I got a message from a friend saying that she and maybe some girls from her small group wanted to come out to Oxford Manor on Saturdays. I sent out an email to 3 friends who had expressed interested in coming to OM before, and one wrote back a couple hours later and said she wanted to come. Monday evening I got an email from one of the regular missionaries saying her plans had changed and she would be at club and would teach the younger kids. I also got an email from Amanda saying she'd be in town. Tonight at small group one of the guys said he would come out on Saturday (and in the future his fiance will come out too, but she'll be out of town this weekend) and another guy said he was definitely interested in helping out with the OM ministry, he just wasn't sure how yet. On my drive home from small group I called my roommate to chat for a bit, and she said she got a text today from a friend asking for my email address because she wanted to email me to ask about Oxford Manor.

Are you kidding me!? God really makes me laugh sometimes. How can I ever doubt him?? So on Sunday night I thought I had (maybe) 2 people who could go to the kids club (myself included) and now there will be at least 6 people there (3 of whom are brand new!). Funny how things always seem to work out when I trust God to work it out instead of myself!!

There IS hope for Durham

This past week we had a week-long kids' club in Oxford Manor. Rick got a team in from a church in Monroe, NC and they did the whole thing! The team of us who go out every Saturday didn't have to plan or execute one thing all week - it was great! All we had to do was hang out with the kids, try to help with crowd control, and help guide the team as much as possible in how to best minister to these kids. It was awesome! It was such a breath of fresh air to be able to spend time with the kids without being the one to worry about who's teaching and who didn't show up and what are we going to do!?

This morning a small group from the Summit came to fix the picnic tables and pick up trash/glass on the playground. We decided that since the kids had club all week, and we didn't have many missionaries who could come today, we wouldn't have a typical club. What we ended up doing was even better!

When the team left yesterday, they left us with over 100 copies of the JESUS movie. Today the 9 kids that came to the playground hoping to have club got to be missionaries in their own home! We gave the kids handfuls of movies and said we were going to knock on all the doors and see who wanted a movie. They went crazy - it was awesome! The leaders stood back and watched as the kids that we minister to week after week became the missionaries. It definitely made my heart smile to see that there is, indeed, HOPE for Durham! :)

There is no "safe"

This morning I joined a group of summit people to go help clean up a low-income apartment complex in Durham (as part of the Summit's week of hope). Since we were cleaning up the parking lot, we were to park our cars a couple blocks away at a local market. One of the ladies asked, "is it safe to park our cars there?" I wanted to say, "you could park your car in the church parking lot, and there's no guarantee it'll be here when you get back." It hit me though, that not too many years ago I would've asked the same question. As I got into my car I thought about all that God has been teaching me about trusting in Him and Him alone. I thought to myself, "safe?" There is no "safe" as the world perceives it. Even in a nice neighborhood, stuff happens... it's the way of this crazy world. I had been listening to a somewhat cheesy, but very beneficial CD that puts some scripture verses to song in order to help you learn them. The song playing when I got in my car was Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Wow - perfect timing! I put the song on repeat in order to get it solidly in my head. God continues to teach me this lesson day after day - night after night! I still have moments at home when I jump at every sound. It's been over 7 months now since the break in, but for some reason, when I am here alone at night, I still have to be very intentional about trusting God! Leanne is gone this weekend, so last night as I laid down to go to sleep, I planned to keep repeating Galatians 2:20 until I fell asleep. Let's just say I think I said it twice... maybe. :) God is good!

When do Moms shower?

That's what I asked my Mom today as Lauryn and I joined her for the last few minutes of her lunch break. I have been watching my 3 year old niece since yesterday evening. I volunteered to watch her last night while my brother packed up their house. (Oh yeah, by the way, they closed on their house the SAME day Emily was born - big day!) Last night my Dad called to ask if I'd be ok watching Lauryn until tonight. Of course I said yes! Lauryn time is special to me! :) So yesterday I made dinner, gave her a bath and got her to bed. I relaxed for a bit, enjoyed some internet time, and hit the sack myself. We slept in the same room, so when she got up at 7, so did I. I made french toast for breakfast. As Mom and Dad were both leaving, it dawned on me that I had not taken a shower yet... hmm... Well, the day had to go on, shower or not! She played well for a little while, but eventually got bored. So we went for a walk. We walked to the elementary school at the end of our road to play on the playground, but once we were there, I realized that the playground was not very preschooler friendly. Luckily, through a small trail is the church I grew up in, and they have a great playground. So we walked a bit further and played there for a while. I think I'm going to be a tough Mom. A few times Lauryn got herself into places and then didn't know how to get down. Instead of giving in to her whines for help, I made her try her best to get down with me "helping" (I actually didn't have to help her at all). I figured, she got up there, she can get down. And I was right. hehe She was pretty excited when she learned she could do it herself, and preceded to climb back up and down for about 20 minutes. Fun times. :) Then we trekked back home and headed into town. We visited with my Mom for a while on her lunch break and then went across the street to McDonald's. After lunch, she played on the playground for a while (can you tell I was trying to tucker her out?). Then we came home and went straight to bed! I'm hoping she sleeps for a good long time. To all you Moms out there - I have GREAT admiration for you all!! I hope I'm cut out for this some day... :)

Emily Reagan!

Emily Reagan Boisvert born 6/30/08

What an great way to spend my birthday! I got to meet the newest member of the family, Emily. Lauryn is a very proud Big Sis. She cracked me up when she came into the room today and saw me. She was oh-so excited to see Aunt Bonnie (oh how I love it!) but that didn't last too long. Once she noticed baby sister she was done with Aunt Bonnie! They're both precious!!!

Friends and Family...

What more could I ask for? Today both friends and family came out to dinner after church to help me celebrate my 27th birthday. It was perfect!! My family (from Sanford) finally got to meet my "Durham family" as well as a few of my Summit friends. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for my birthday this year. We finally decided to go to Red Robin. Even then, I expected a small turnout. How exciting it is for me that there were 20 people that came! What an awesome display of God's goodness to me. I thank God for each and every one of you!!

everyday ministry

So far I am LOVING my summer break. I'm not yet (too) bored, which is a great thing. I've purchased some summer reading books, so I now have no excuse to claim boredom! I'm quite enjoying having time to myself, and time to spend with friends whenever I want to. :) Yesterday I went to a free movie with the Amanda, her kids, and another Mom and her 2 girls. Then, after the movie, we all went swimming in the 2nd family's community pool. While we were there, another Mom from the Summit came with her 2 girls. So before too long, I was hanging out with 3 Moms and 7 kids! I loved it. I'm so thankful that after a couple years of asking (dare I say begging!) God for a "family" in Durham, He has richly blessed me! Now I not only get to hang out and learn from the Subletts, but also from other families I meet when I am with them. Most single "20-somethings" tend to stick with hanging out with just other 20-somethings. I'm glad I am different. I had a thought yesterday that both shocked me and made me smile. While I was sitting at the pool, being the only single person there (besides the girl working), and watching Moms and kids, I thought, "I am in a great place in life - I'm content." I mean, I DO want to be a Mom someday, watching my kids play, but I was thinking yesterday about the opportunities that I have NOW because I'm not yet married with kids. Even if it's just the ability to be an influence in these kids' lives, that's awesome! In the group yesterday, there were 5 girls, all in elementary school (I think). What a great chance I have to get to know them now (while they're still naive enough to think I'm somewhat cool), and then when they're older and their Moms "totally don't get it," maybe I'll be able to come alongside them and be there to encourage, advise, and just love these girls. How blessed I am to have this chance! I pray that I don't take advantage of this period of my life. It's SO easy to be selfish with my time... I tend to be very fond of "me-time." But I don't want to waste a minute of potential ministry in the everyday situations of life.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Man... I never thought I'd be so happy about some chicken noodle soup. I guess when it's the first thing resembling food that I've been able to have in the past 36 hours, it changes the enjoyment factor a bit! For some reason, unknown to me, I woke up Monday morning with a stomach bug. I never get sick... I mean, I have never once gotten sick overseas (and I lived in South Africa for 2 years!) The last time I got sick was almost 3 years ago. I think because I so rarely get sick, I'm a big baby when I actually do. Thankfully I didn't have to work last night, but I did have to miss praise team practice. :( I still felt pretty cruddy when I went to bed last night, and didn't feel great when I woke up this morning. I took some more medicine, went back to sleep and when I finally woke back up today at almost noon, I felt pretty good! I decided to attempt some chicken noodle soup this afternoon, and it actually tasted good! Thank goodness... maybe I can start to get back to normal now. :)

lyrics

Have you ever listened to a song a thousand times and then all of a sudden, for the first time, you really hear the song? That happened to me today. I recently bought the Passion: God of this City CD and have been playing it nonstop ever since. One of the songs is called "God of our Yesterdays." It has a very singable chorus, so I listen to it a lot and love to sing along with the chorus. Today as I was listening though, I heard the verses... and they hit close to home. I know that reading a song is NOTHING like hearing it, but here are the words anyway...

When we were in the darkest night
And wondered if our eyes would ever see the light
You were there, Lord
When we were in the stormy gale
And wondered if we'd ever live in peace again
You were there, Lord
You were there in the struggle
You were there in the fight
You were there all the time

We praise You - the God of our yesterdays
We praise You - the God who is here today
We praise You - our God as tomorrow comes

So whatever lies ahead
Whatever roads our grateful hearts will come to tread
You'll be there, Lord
We will fix our eyes on You
And know that there is grace enough to see us through
You'll be there, Lord
You'll be there in the struggle
You'll be there in the fight
You'll be there all the time

We praise You - the God of our yesterdays
We praise You - the God who is here today
We praise You - our God as tomorrow comes
We thank you - for grace in our yesterdays
We thank you - for peace in our hearts today
We thank you - for joy, as tomorrow comes
We will trust you, God

You're always closer than we know
Always more involved and in control
We will trust our lives to You -
The One who was and is and is to come

You see, I've been learning that I am more of a control freak than I'd like to admit. I like to think that I'm cool with whatever comes. I absolutely love being able to say, "I trust whatever God has for me!" And I know I CAN say that with full confidence. But sometimes I don't seem to believe what I know to be true. (What a paradox I am!) I say in one breath that I trust God fully, and then hear a noise outside my window and totally freak out. I say that God has a plan much bigger than me and then get an email saying I'm not scheduled to work AT ALL for the next 2 weeks and start to panic about how I'll pay for things. I so easily freak out - WHY!?! Why is it so easy to lose sight of how awesome, powerful and IN CONTROL our God is? I'm so glad that God's grace doesn't waver like my faith does. I'm thankful for songs like this one... songs that remind me of who God is, and how I can trust my life to Him.

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
(Psalm 9:10)

The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.
(Nahum 1:7)

I'm bored!

Spending the past few days with kids made me think back to what I was like as a kid. I was such a whiner. I realize just how annoyed my Mom and Dad must have gotten with me when I would proclaim, "I'm bored!" As if they had the magical cure for my boredom. Sorry Mom and Dad! Well... I guess some things never change. I think I'm weird. I like to have down time and relax, and I'm the kind of person that freaks out if I don't get that for a while. But at the same time, once I've been alone for a little bit, I get really bored! Last summer was the first real summer break I'd had since before college. After the summer was over, I vowed that this summer I would make more plans and do more so that I wouldn't get so bored. When I get bored, I think too much... it's not a good thing. I was set on taking classes at seminary until I became 90% sure I was going to South Africa for a while this summer. Well, that fell through at the last minute, so here I am... a whole summer ahead of me and no plans. Sylvan doesn't even need me much yet, so I'm hardly even working. AHHHH!!! I love sleeping in - I really do. But once I wake up, I need something to do. I have a few house projects I want to work on, but the real projects need more skill than I have. This week's goal is to organize my room. I'm about half way there. Next week - the office. Then I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm also determined to get some books read this summer. I am notorious for starting a book and never finishing it. So I am going to read like crazy! :) I could use some suggestions, so please pass them along!

Bonnie = Beach person???

Are you kidding me?? Never in a million years would I have thought that I could enjoy the beach. I've just never been a huge fan of it. I've never liked being hot, getting burnt, or feeling like I just didn't fit in with all the bathing suit models laying out on the beach. Well gosh darn it... in the words of Amanda Sublett, "who flippin' cares?" I've been here at the beach since Friday afternoon, and I'm loving it! I did get sunburned the first day... oops... so that kinda put a damper on things, but I've still had a great time! I've learned my lesson - use sunscreen, and lots of it! I've also learned other lessons... vacationing with kids is quite enlightening! hehehe Oh yeah, I haven't mentioned that I'm here with Amanda Sublett and her 3 kids. Scott was here Friday through Sunday, but he had to go back for work Sunday evening. So now it's the 5 of us. We're having a great time. It makes me remember family vacations when I was younger. Fun times. :) Well... for some reason, I have major writer's block at the moment, so I'm not sure what to write.... I'll write more when I get home. For now - it's back to the beach!!! :)

No more kids!

Our final class picture!

Thursday night I said goodbye to my lovely Pre-Ks. I have absolutely LOVED this past year teaching. I think I only had about 5 mornings where I genuinely woke up saying "I don't want to go to work today!" I think 5 out of a whole year with 4 and 5 year olds is pretty great! Especially considering that last year by the last couple months I was saying it every morning as I dragged myself to work. I'm VERY much looking forward to actually returning to the same school for a second year. That has never happened to me in my teaching career. I'm thrilled to have finally found a school that I want to stay at. As per usual though, there is another change in my future. Though it is not 100% yet, more than likely I will be teaching a blended classroom next year. I will have 6 or 7 "typical" kids (is there such a thing? hehe) and 6 or 7 hearing impaired kids. I will also be co-teaching with a hearing impaired teacher (she's not hearing impaired, she's just taught H.I. kids before). I'm part excited, part scared to death. This will be a change. Co-teaching!? STRESSFUL!!! I'm not looking forward to that part. We'll plan lessons together, which on the surface sounds great... but the thing is, I'm not a great lesson planner... Well... I actually write great lesson plans - when I write them!! And half the time I do write them, I rarely follow exactly what is written on them. Co-teaching changes that up a bit... I will have more accountability to adhere to the lessons and the schedule. So yeah, that scares me. BUT, I am also excited at the chance to learn some sign language, and try something new! There will be 3 adults in the classroom now, which will help out A LOT since it is a HUGE classroom. Hopefully by adding another body, the kids will be monitored better. Plus, they only want to have 12 kids in the class total, and with 3 teachers, that gives a 1/4 teacher/child ratio, which is the same as I had this year and LOVED! So... I am praying that whoever they hire for the H.I. job will be a perfect match for Ms. Hayes and I. Three women in one room has potential for disaster, but I know God has a plan and I trust Him! :)

Working in the rain

So on Sunday afternoon when I called Scott to see if he could help me pick up a shed from Lowe's, I had no idea he was going to put it together too! Honestly, I just wanted it home so that whenever I could get to it, I could work on it, or my Dad could come help me. Well, Scott did plan to put it together - rain or shine! And unfortunate for us, it was definitely rain. Just as we were getting back to my house, the rains came tumbling down!! We put it together under my very small porch while the rains poured down around us. Now that's dedication!

Alex was a big help too!

Can you see the rain coming down in the background?? It really was pouring!

Meanwhile, Chris and Leanne were busy putting up a fan in Leanne's room. Usually a fan is not a complicated task, but anyone who's ever looked at the wiring in my house knows much better than to think such a silly thought. Whoever wired this house before knew NOTHING about wiring, so they're ll jacked up. Chris worked long t hard at the silly fan! Good job Chris! (And Leanne too. hehe:))

Flash Flood!

Crazy, isn't it!? I have NEVER seen the water this bad in the 2 years at my house. Work must be done SOON!

If you've never seen my house, then you don't know just how close the water is from my back door. I have to fix this soon because if it gets any worse, I'll have even bigger problems!

Here's the creepy old shed that needs to come down soon!

The water carried many things through the back yard - one being this nasty old soccer ball. Alex wanted it badly enough to trudge through the water, so it was all his!

the return to home repairs...

I've now owned this home for 2 years. Incredible, isn't it? For those of you who have been reading for at least that long... you've read a lot about this little house. My first year was all about home repairs... it seemed like every day something new was happening! The second year kind of slowed down. Some major jobs were finished, and I was out of money. Well, this summer is going to be a summer of home repairs! And I got started today. Leanne (my roommate), Chris (her boyfriend) and I went to Lowes. I bought a fan for her room and a garbage disposal (mine hasn't worked since I moved in!). Later Scott Sublett (from my adopted Summit family) came over to help me go back to Lowes and pick up a small storage shed. I have a old, creepy shed in my back yard and I've always said I was going to knock it down so I could somehow create a decent back yard. Well, the process has begun. Once the small shed is finished (Scott put almost ALL of it together today!), I'll move stuff from the creepy shed. Then, hopefully not too long after, we'll tear down the old one. Then the MAJOR project of digging a trench behind my house will begin. You see, there is an old drainage ditch behind my house and it is WAY backed up. There has always been some flooding, but today we saw an all new happening. The flooding turned into a RIVER! I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow, but I have never, in 2 years here, seen that much water flowing behind my house. It's definitely time for a MAJOR work day!!! Oh, and I also have to replace some windows. One of my little stain glass windows in the front of my house somehow got a hole in it. So yeah... lots of projects: a fan for Leanne's room, new garbage disposal, put up shed, tear down shed, whack down lots and lots of weeds, dig a BIG trench, and get new windows. Who thinks I can get all of this done before school starts in August!?!?!?! :)

The LION KING!!!

Last night was FINALLY the night for the Lion King. The school has been working on the production for quite some time. A couple months ago I found out that the Pre-Ks were going to be in it, and I think I've been more excited about it than they have been! Here are some pictures from last night. They all did such great job!

When I heard that they needed people to help with the set, I rounded up a few Summit folks and we helped! We made 4 awesome trees (that didn't get used!! :( ) And then Leanne and Chris made this - the elephant grave yard. Is this amazing or what!? I knew Leanne could paint, by my goodness, I didn't know she was this good!

Circle of Life ("and it moves us all...")

Just Can't Wait to Be King ("... if this is where the monarchy is headed, count me out!" - Zazu)

Just Can't Wait to Be King

Curtain Call! :)

Memorial Day Weekend!

This has been an incredible weekend, and I do NOT want it to end! I am now 100% officially ready for summer to begin. Well, not so much summer (I HATE the weather) but Summer BREAK! 8 more days with my kids, and a few more teacher workdays and I'm done! Two whole months off - I can't wait! This weekend I got to spend some time outdoors, and I'm more ready than ever to have some time off to enjoy the great outdoors. So... this weekend...

Friday night I got to use my brand new dishes when I cooked dinner for a few friends. I recently found a dish pattern that I absolutely love. It took me 2 years to find one, but I finally did. Hooray! So on Friday night I had a few friends over. I SO wish I'd taken a picture. Imagine these plates with bright orange placemats, dark blue napkins (yes, the cloth kind) and light green cups. I was kinda proud of myself. We even used salad forks AND dinner forks. I was pretty excited. I also cooked a meal I'd never made before - Tequilla Chicken - and it was very well received. Yippee!!

Saturday was another fun day. Oxford Manor, then a wedding, and then friends came over after the wedding Good times...

Sunday it keeps on getting better. We had one combined service at Cole Mill and then had a cookout afterwards. That was really fun... getting to see my church all out there having a good time together. At one point during the sermon, I found myself thinking, "man, I love this church." I mean really, I LOVE it! I have found such a wonderful home here, and I am so thankful for it. After the cookout, a few of us went to Frankie's for some Putt-Putt. I got a bit of a sunburn, but it was worth it. :) To make it even better, a guy from church that I've tried for MONTHS to talk to and had no luck (he's SUPER shy) actually came with us! After THAT, my friend Jason called and invited us to got play some Disc Golf with him. So off we went to play some disc golf. Wow. THAT was fun. I'm so bad at it (I've even played before with my brothers and Dad, but I'm just not good). But it was still a great time. I'm looking forward to the summer so that I can do more fun things outside like this.

Today was a bit more calm than yesterday, but still fun. :) This morning I went to the gym for an hour and half and then came home to hang out with Leanne while Chris went mountain biking with Jason and Clayton. (FYI: I work with Jason at Sylvan, and Clayton is a rock climbing friend of Jason's.) After they finished, Leanne and I joined them for a cookout at Claytons. Jason made shish-ka-bobs! I made homemade ice cream for the first time this year. Fun was had by all.

Now I'm sitting at home NOT wanting to go back to school tomorrow. At least I have the Lion King to look forward to! Yep, this is the big week! I guess I'd better be getting to bed if I'm going to start this week right. :) Thanks for checking in on me!

ZUMBA!

So I KNOW I have been slack about this blog for the past few weeks - sorry! But the last few weeks of school for a teacher are about the craziest. And add to that that my assistant has been out sick (for real this time) since Tuesday afternoon. School is crazy. My kids are SO done with Pre-K it's crazy. They're done with each other. They're done with the centers in the classroom. They're just done, and their behavior shows it! School is exhausting! I have to go early to get the kids off the bus (which usually my assistant does) and then I have to stay late to do paperwork that I didn't get to do during the day. Phew! I'm tired.

One positive note - I kind of had a challenge last weekend to start getting up and going to the gym BEFORE school. So... Monday morning I was up at the crack of dawn and I did it! And it felt GREAT! Also, while I was there, I noticed a big sign for a new class called ZUMBA! It's a Latin dance-based aerobics class. I went last night with a friend from church and GOOD GOLLY! It kicked my butt. I loved it! :)

Sorry that's all I have time for now... I'll try to write more as soon as I get more than 5 minutes to myself!

400th post

Wow, according to blogger, this is my 400th post! Crazy, isn't it? I started this blog somewhere around October of 2003... almost FIVE years ago!! Insanity, I tell ya! I should have something amazing to say in my 400th post, but really, I can't think of anything. I know I should have posted before this (it's been a long 2 weeks - sorry Amanda!). But now that I actually have a moment to write... nothing is coming to mind. So I'll just write a few snippets as they come to mind...

-As of now I am sitting in my warm living room waiting on the a/c guy to come and see what's wrong (this time) with my air conditioner. It's no surprise that the thing is broken again. I think it breaks once a year at least. I have a home warranty, so I really want it to be dead so I can get them to replace it with a brand new one! Wouldn't that just be lovely?


-My kids are going to be in the Lion King! I found this out about a month ago now, but I've never written about it. For those who don't know, I teach Pre-K at an elementary arts integrated magnet school. My Pre-Ks haven't gotten to be involved in any of the "specials" this year (art, music, dance, gym). It's quite sad really, because I kinda think I have the best kids in the whole school. (I'm not biased, am I? hehe) Honestly though, I have a small class and they really are strangely well behaved. Teachers often see us in the hallway and ask their kids why they can't act like the Pre-Ks. Hooray! Well, a few weeks ago, during our nap time, the music teacher came and told us that the drama teacher wanted us to come practice with the kindergarteners! I got those kids up in a flash, and before they knew what was going on, we were dancing and singing with the best of them. Lucky for my kids, I learned the dances with them, so we practice (not once a week like the rest of the kids) but every day! The rest of the school has been working on this all year, but my kids have had a month, and this past Monday, the dance teacher kept commenting on how great the Pre-Ks were doing. I'm so proud of them! And it's really exciting to finally get to do something with the rest of the school. I'll make sure to post some pictures when I get a chance. :)

Singing & dancing is nothing new for these Pre-Ks!! :)
This was back in December.

-This week I had a revelation. For the first time in my adult-job history, I am in a job that I 100% want to come back to next year. Wow. THAT is a great feeling. I have been slowly getting to know the teachers at RN Harris though this year, and I love the atmosphere there. I am the only Pre-K teacher, so it is a challenge to feel connected, but I've really made an effort to at least get to know the Kindergarten teachers this year (I'll work on 1st grade next year - hehe). For the first time, I look forward to seeing some of my Pre-Ks in Kindergarten next year. Since RN Harris is a magnet school, none of my kids were districted to attend, but many of them applied, and I may have up to 5 out of 9 returning next year! I'll finally get to see how well I did at preparing them for Kindergarten.

Gosh, I really can't think of anything else right now... Life has been pretty amazing. A great friend gave me a piece of wonderful advice a few weeks ago. He basically said I needed to stop trying so hard to figure out the future that I don't enjoy the present. He was right, and I've been taking that advice to heart and doing my best to enjoy the day God has given me. After all, I'm not guaranteed even tomorrow, right!? Thank God for good, Godly friends who aren't afraid to give the right advice, even when it isn't fun at the time.

Hopefully the a/c guy will be here soon... Here's hoping for a completely busted a/c unit! hehe