Holy Ghost It

Okay here is one I would like to rearrange the words on.

God is the steering wheel on your spare tire.

Wouldn't it make more sense if it read:
God is the steering wheel not your spare tire.

I think of a steering wheel as something that guides you and a spare tire as something that bails you out of trouble. Which is true in both accounts when it comes to God. He does guide us but also bails us out. Isn't it more important to call on Him to guide us in everything then we won't need to be bailed out.

Boy with even saying that there are so many times that I fall short of His mark. I need to hold tight to the steering wheel.

Happy Driving!!!:)

Friends and Prayers

After a very emotional week, my brother, Todd is hanging in there. For those who don't know, Todd, my older brother, had open heart surgery in May of this year. During his open heart they bypassed 5 veins. We thought that he would have a very long life due to the fact that he pretty much had a new heart. He was recovering well, or so we thought.

On Monday of this week he went to rehab. He had been feeling a little different, while at rehab he started having chest pains. At around noon on Monday my phone rang and I just happened to be sitting at my desk. My students were in an enrichment and I was trying to get caught up on my emails. When I looked at the caller id it was my mom. That is always my first sign that something is not quite right. Mom knows I will not pick up my phone during the day. The first thought is that something is wrong with my dad, his heart is not that great either. When I answered the phone my mom told me that Todd was back in the hospital and was undergoing a heart cath.

The doctors saw that two of the bypassed veins were 99% blocked. Which means he was in for either open heart or stents. Tuesday morning at 7:30 there place 4 stents into my brothers heart. He left the hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

Saturday morning at around 9:30 Todd was at the ball park watching his two boys playing football. He felt as though he was going to pass out and was experiencing chest pains once again. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance. When I got that call, I was not encouraged even a little. Yesterday he underwent yet another heart cath. where the doctors found a blood clot. So with the blood clot removed and another 4 stents later he is recovering in the hospital in Lexington,Ky.

So this is where the title comes in. Friends and Prayers. I can only say that the first person I called after my mom called me was not Joel or my best friend but it was to my schools secretary. For I knew one call to her and there would be a number of people interceding for Todd. The prayer chain would be started and people would be praying.

I then called Joel and my two closest friends to pray too. When one of them answered she said she had just gotten the call from the prayer chain. That quick news was out that Todd needed prayer. I emailed an update to my principal around 8:00 last night. When I checked my emails there were entries that just read prayer request. I opened one after another to find notes of prayer and encouragement for me and for Todd. I sat at my computer with tears pooling in my eyes thinking of all the people that will intercede for me. I knew that school would pray but I didn't expect the notes back.

The verse that kept coming to my mind over and over again yesterday was "Be still and know that I am God." Do you know how hard it is to sit and be still knowing that if something did happen I was 500 or so miles away (8 hours) from being there. It is hard to talk to a brother that is so worried that he is not going to come out alive on the phone. All the things I wanted to say of course did not get said. He was scared and worried about his own family. What does anybody say in that situation. I can remember when the doctors took my dad away for his open heart and my older brother saying to him,"We will see you on the other side." Those words being tears to my eyes even now. But how true they are. I will see Todd on the other side be it here or in heaven. I am just thanking God that this time around it will be here. I know God is God.

Here's another Post-it

Maybe I should call these Holy Ghost its. Because the Holy Ghost sure does speak.. I guess he knows I am a visual person.

Attitude is the crayon that colors our world

God's Post-it Notes

I travel 72 miles round trip to and from school each day . A lot of that time, especially in the mornings, I spend talking to God. During the drive I pass a lot of churches. God communicates to me by using their signs. The number of times He has spoken to me are way too numerous to count. Elise has gotten used to the quiet of the morning drives except for the occasional "isn't that the truth". She used to ask what? Now, she knows that we just passed a church. I always told myself I was going to carry a notebook in the car and jot down all the different signs that have spoken to me. I never have until now. I have been making the trip to and from Rock Hill for 12 years and I can only remember a few ... I think I better start writing them down.

Here's the few that I remember.

1. Instead of pointing a finger hold out a hand
2. worry looks around
sorry looks back
hope looks up
3. Gospel starts with GO

I always like to share these with others. Just the other day I was telling Joel about one that I had passed and I told him it was like God sending post-it notes down from heaven. The next time you pass a sign and the thought "isn't that the truth" crosses your mind, thank God for the many ways and means in which he speaks to us. Happy driving.

Its all in the Family

Our family with Joel's family. We traveled to Kentucky to celebrate their 60th wedding aniversary.
No you are not seeing double. If Elise was a few years older and just a few inches shorter I think she and Beth could double for one another.

My mom and her new babies.


After a trip to Kentucky, a very quick trip, I understand now why we look the way we do and why we love the things we do.

I think I am getting old!

Wow, I think this has been the longest week I can remember.

Monday started out pretty early. I had to go to school and prepare my room and what not for the year. I got to work around 8:30. That night I had Open House, so I was literately at school for 12 hours with no break unless you count the time I took to change from my work clothes to Open House clothes. Once arriving home I had to prepare lunch for Elise and I for Tuesday, do laundry, unload the dishwasher and oh yeah eat myself. Of course by the time that I got home I really wasn't even hungry.

Tuesday morning started out at our regular time 5:00am. It was only a half day of school. The students came in at 8:00 and left at 11:40. School was only a half day but Elise had a volleyball game. We needed to leave school at 2:00 but before that we had to arrange Elise's locker. Now that is a whole other subject. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you the game was an hour away from school, that means two hours away from home. That night we did not get home until 9:00. Elise had homework too. Again when I got home I had to prepare for Wednesday: pack lunch, make sure clothes are clean and ironed for wear. So I think that night we were in bed around 11:00. Another 18 hour day.

Wednesday was the first full day of school. The students arrived at the normal time 7:55. It was on from that point. We did math, reading, played games, ate lunch, went to Bible and PE. Then we had a back to school bash at church which I had volunteered to work concessions. So we left church at 9:30. The band was awesome. They were the Glorious Unseen. Check them out on myspace. They sounded really great.


Thursday was another full day of school. Elise had another away game. I also had a faculty meeting. I made the decision that I would not attend this game because Joel was able to be there. But with not going to the game, I still didn't leave school until after 5. So I had put in another 12 hour day.

TGIF-- Another regular day of school but today after school a friend of mine and I held a Thirty-One party. Thirty One is a christian based company based on Proverbs
31. It was suppose to be a drop in from 3-4. We didn't leave school until after
6:30. So it was another very long day.


My legs hurt, my hips hurt, my lung hurts. I think my whole body is one big ache. However, as tired as I am physically... God has sustained me spiritually. I love God with all my heart and soul. I know he is with me during every part of my life whether it is being tired, being in bad moods, or fixing my eyes on him.

I wish you could meet my class this year. I have 17 children that are made in the image of the great Creator. Some of them like to talk, some are quiet, some push my boundaries, and some struggle to make it through the day. I probably already know who is going to be my booger and who is going to hold my heart in their hands. The funny thing is, is that I think I love all of them. I am sure after lots of days together there will be days that they push my buttons and I push theirs. But I know that when I look out over my class I get a warm feeling in the very being of my soul. I know that God is the only one that can put that there. So I am looking forward to the weekend when I can spend time with my family and myself...but on Monday morning I will be ready to face the sweet sweet spirits in my class. I know through God all things are possible and I pray that I am the servant He wants me to be.:)

Is it the beginning or the end?

Summer is over, the school year begins.... is it a happy time or a sad time?

In just a few more days I will have the opportunity to meet my new second graders. Is it an opportunity or a privilege?


At this time of year when summer is drawing to an end I am sad because my time is not my own anymore. I now have to operate on someone else's schedule. I have meetings to attend, practices that I have to have Elise to, games I get to watch, and committees to serve on. My time is not my own anymore. However, really in the scheme of things my time is never my own it is the Lord's time.


All summer long I have prayed for God to place in my class the students that need me. I often sit and wonder why is it that I always carry the most students, why is it me that gets the one or two students that are the boogers. Once again this year I have the class of 17. One class has 15 the other has 14. I am asking myself once more why do I get the most students. I could puff myself up and think that they were assigned to me because I can handle them. My reputation is one of being the challenger or the one who pushes. Or I can simply look at it for what it is and that is the privilege that the Lord has given me to show these students my Jesus, to let them know that the creator of the universe, the same person that created everything created them. If we think about God and all the glorious things that he has done from the largest stars to the smallest cell, He indeed is glorious. So if he did all those glorious things where does that put me or the students that I will be serving. They too are glorious.

I know that there are some students that I will not be able to reach. And those are the ones that truly break my heart. How can I reach the unreachable? As the beginning of a new year approaches I don't have a clue what this year will hold. The only thing I do know is that the Glorious God has place those 17 tender hearts in my care for 180 days and I hope and pray that I will not fail Him!!! That one day when I am no longer in this world that He will look upon me with loving eyes and say "Well done good and faithful servant."

If you actually take the time to read this blog, you don't have to tell me, just pray for me. I enter the battleground for hearts of children as a marked woman myself. Satan would love to see me mess up. So pray that he will be kept from God's work. Pray that through God I can be His mouth piece, that the students can see Jesus in me, and that Kingdom hearted children will leave me after 180 days stronger believers. But most of all my prayer is that God will transform lives even if it is my very own.

To God be the Glory, great things he has done.