investments

"Anyone who has ever been able to sustain good work has had at least one person - and often many 0f whom have believed in him or her. We don't get to be competent human beings without a lot of different investments from others." - Fred Rogers

Each day we are CONSTANTLY investing in something... whether it be our jobs, our families, our friends, our faith, our addictions, our neighbors, or a bajillion other things. I feel like I spend a pretty good chunk of time investing in those around me - especially kiddos!

However, I also know a good number of people that have invested in me over the years. :-) The people that have made my life better. The people that have opened my eyes to new ideas and ways of thinking. The people that have lived out their faith vividly as a spectacular role model. The people that have spent their valuable time to push me as far as I could reach. The people that love me for who I am now.

As I get ready to leave being a full-time student behind and enter the real world, I know I would not be who I am today without the investments other people have made in me. I can't help but be extremely thankful for each of these blessings I have been given. :-)

Mr. Rogers knew his stuff.

"If we're really honest with ourselves, there are probably times when we think, "What possible use can I be in this world? What need is there for somebody like me to fill?" That's one of the deeper mysteries. Then God's grace comes to us in the form of another person who tells us we have been of help, and what a blessing that is." ~Fred Rogers

What can I say? Mr. Rogers knew his stuff!

control freak

I am a control freak. It's true. Sometimes it can be a real blessing... but other times I wish I didn't care so much.

One of the worst feelings in the world is knowing I can't control something. Despite the fact that I can see what's going on and what should happen, I am merely a passive viewer.

suckerpunch.

little teachers

In teaching you cannot always see the fruit of a day's work. Sometimes, it is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~Jacques Barzun

I love my students. Absolutely love them. Even on days when they are silly and crazy and could care less about learning what I want them to learn, they are fantastic people. However, they are not just students. Each kiddo is so much more than that. I am realizing more and more how much each child teaches me and the other children! It is so amazing to watch these kiddos as they learn and grow! And even though these children may not always pay attention to the content I am teaching, they are paying attention to how I treat them and love on them and interact with them. I pray that even when this is not visible in their actions, each child carries this love into their own lives and how they interact with others outside the classroom now and as they grow up.

cuddly and warm!

Despite the very busy life I am leading right now, I had the chance to go home this weekend and hang out with some great buddies from high school. The definite bonus to this was getting to hold a super cuddly, warm, nice-smelling, handsome 2-week-old Parker for a super long time! What a lovely stress reliever from college life!

friends.

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad. ~Arnold H. Glasgow

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~Albert Schweitzer

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer. ~Author Unknown

It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. ~Epicurus

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
~Dinah Craik

Friends are terrific. Not the "Hi, how are ya?" kind of friends... but the "Of course you can come over whenever you want!" kind of friends. The kind of friends that don't keep score. The kind of friends that insist on making time to visit. The kind of friends that will give you a big hug and not insist on filling the air with meaningless chatter. These are the kind of friends we all need to have more of. What a blessing it is to have friends like this. What a HUGE blessing. Thank you. :-)

busy week.

Busy week. I'm exhausted.

day by day

Today has been a day where my mind keeps spinning. It is a day where it is a challenge to focus on the tasks that must be done. Sometimes this sort of thing just happens to me when I have a whole lot to do. Kind of like a shutdown of sorts.

Anyway... about that spinning of the mind. A bunch of my thoughts are about people and how we perceive those around us. I feel like we often become so preoccupied with what is going on in our immediate lives, that we forget that other people are living their lives too. It is really selfish when I stop and think about it.

Would it really throw my schedule completely off to actually stop and talk with someone for five minutes instead of rushing past with merely a brief wave in their general direction? - Probably not.

Could there be a reason someone is putting on a show or pulling out some attitude? - Probably.

Do I have the slightest idea of what a person's day has been like outside of my interactions with them? - Probably not.

Maybe instead of becoming annoyed with why people cannot telepathically read my mind and know exactly what I need... I should take some time to show them that I care instead. It could be exactly what THEY need...

march?

When did March get here?!