All the things I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten

First of all I know that my title is the title of a copyrighted book so let me first give credit to whoever wrote the book props for this title before I get sued or whatever they can do for stealing things like that...so I raise my glass to you Mr. Author.

But just to update, I have been student teaching in kindergarten for the past two weeks and it has been a lot of fun! The four teachers in the pod that I have been lucky enough to be placed in all get along great and are hilarious when they all get together so I just sit there and listen. They talk about everything from their students to their personal lives and all are filled with laughs. As for actual stories from my class I have several.

Story #1

The story begins on the afternoon of the first Tuesday I was there. All day one of my boy ankle biters was complaining about his throat being sore. Well when I woke him up from nap, he was REALLY cranky and just started crying. Well the next day he was absent because he was sick. Thursday he came back and was feeling fine. He went to the restroom while the rest of us were at the carpet being taught something, probably a letter of the alphabet or how to count by tens. This is some pretty heavy stuff we're learning! But just a side-note, the bathrooms are all in the classroom with us in the back corner. Well anyways, we are at the carpet, and this precious little boy sticks his head out of the bathroom door and yells, "Ms. Page (my teacher), I had diarrhea!!!" What do you say to that?!?! My teacher just replied with an "Okay, thank you."

Story #2

This past Friday I was giving my kids their spelling test that had difficult words like if, pin, pan, fit, and stuff like that, mostly focusing on the letters F and P (the teachers had a running joke about that). Well one of my boys, not the same as the diarrhea kid, goes to first grade for math because he is pretty advanced. Well, I gave the test while he was gone and so I had to give him his by himself. He and I were at the table in the back and I was giving him his next word, if. He sounded out the two letters and then looked at me and said "Oh, please". Usually we don't laugh at our children or things they do in front of them, but I couldn't help it that time. I lost it right there in front of him.

Throughout these two weeks I have decided that being the host of the t.v. show Kids Say the Darnest Things would be the best job in the world. Everything they say or do, they do it with such pride, for example the diarrhea kid. He was so proud of telling everybody about his business in the bathroom. I don't know how or why, but it kind of made me think about how we as Christians tell people about Jesus, or how we don't share Him for that matter. If we could just be as proud of our Lord and Savior as kindergarteners are about everything they do, such as their paintings or other things previously mentioned, the Word would spread so much more and be much more attractive to others. This is something I really need to work on. Instead of keeping Him bottled up inside, we should proudly profess Him and what He has done in our lives.

A Little Past Due

So maybe it has been two years since I last wrote on this thing...I dont think anyone noticed, myself included. I forgot I had a blog till a friend told me I should start one. But just to update anyone who is reading this, I am back from Australia and New Zealand and have been for 2 years and 16 days...not that I miss it or anything. Besides that, nothing too exciting has happened. I have no more undergrad classes to take so that is exciting. I am going to start student teaching January 3rd which is rather exciting. But that means I will be graduating in May which is kind of scary. But right now I am on Christmas break so I am not going to think about any of that for the two weeks I have off!

But so far on Christmas break, I have had a typical, but ALWAYS unpredictable, date to Taco Bell and Chuck E. Cheese with my good friends Scotty and Summer and also put up the Christmas tree with my mom. Usually putting up a Christmas tree is a simple process that, although it happens only once a year, has grown on me to become a boring experience. Today, however, was so not typical and boring.

When the tree is not being used, it is stored in the attic. So I got it down out of the attic and brought it into the living room and everything was going to plan. We adjusted the furniture and made a location in the room that the tree could call home for a few weeks. But that is where the boring part ended. Mom and I put the stand up then started fluffing the branches and putting them in their holders on the stand. We got about halfway done and we heard a popping noise and Mom and I just looked at each other with confused looks on our faces and just kept fluffing branches to make the tree. We both thought nothing of it because when we got it out of the attic it was freezing so we thought it was just warming up and thawing out. Then we got all the branches on the tree and put the top section on and were going to town on the thing when we were and even louder pop and all of a sudden the tree started to lean. That's when we realized it wasn't just warming up anymore. So I held the tree and mom crawled on the ground looking at the stand and it's base and couldn't see anything wrong. Then I made her hold the tree and I looked at it and noticed that all the legs that were bracing the stand and holding it up were splitting away from the stand...so that is what the popping noise was. Our base was breaking! Perfect! So I ran to the garage and got some plywood and put it under the tree in hopes that the weight of all the branches would stop pushing the stand down and spreading the base legs away from the stand. That didn't work. It popped even worse. So I ran outside to our backyard where you can find pretty much anything you want and grabbed some cinderblocks and left mom inside holding the tree up. She said she was dancing with it. You know she is church of Christ if she will dance with a tree but not another person. By the time I got back to the house mom said that there was a REALLY loud pop. I laid down to inspect it and now two of the legs were broken all the way off. So I broke the other two off. Then I picked up the tree and mom guide the stand down into a hole in the cinderblock and we placed another block on each side of the new "base" and, what do you know, our tree is standing!

So there is the first exciting experience for this new era of the blog. It was nothing big, just a little thing that I enjoyed and appreciated. Hopefully throughout this blog, I will just talk about all the little things in life that I enjoy or that happened to me that day that made me smile. I hope you all (whoever that is) enjoy the little things in life! I would love to hear about them. Until next time (insert catchy phrase here).

The Great Barrier Reef

Sorry for the long wait between posts. Classes have been a little overwhelming recently and we just went on about a week trip, which part of it included the Great Barrier Reef. As you can probably guess, thats what this is going to be about...so lets get started!

We got to the dock in Airlie Beach and then boarded a catamarran called Wings. At the beginning of the trip I was nervous because I have a history of getting very seasick. Thankfully, and luckily, I didnt get sick or even feel sick on this trip. I'm just going to put in a little promotion for Seabands, they work REALLY good...highly recommended. But anyways, we got on the boat and immediately headed out to sea. We went to numerous bays and got a chance to scuba and snorkle. They were definately unforgettable. It was very different being able to breath underwater. The first time I tried, I kind of freaked out, but after I got used to it, the whole experience was awesome! While in the water, we saw some nemos (clown fish), some sea anemone, lots of coral, some coral fish (the prettiest fish I have ever seen, the colors were amazing), a squid, and a couple sea turltes. The sea turtles were my favorite. I had no idea how graceful they were in the water. I knew they were good swimmers, but not THAT good. They made it look like they were just floating in the water. The whole time we were on the boat, we all wanted to see a whale and dolphin. We had no luck with that...until...on the way back we saw BOTH! Someone screamed whale and we all went running. The whale was a baby whale. He was just up on the surface splashing around his big tale showing off. Then someone screamed dolphins and we all went running again! They were just bobbing in and out of the water. It was so cool!

Another of my favorite parts of the trip was the sunsets and sunrises (unfortunately I did wake up early enough for them). The shades of the sunsets and sunrises were so vibrant. It looked like God had graffitied the sky with yellow, orange, pink, and purple. The night sky was also beautiful! I dont think I have ever seen anymore stars than that, maybe on the mountain climbing trips. But you could look up and see a million stars. Incredible!!

But that is about all for now, I have to go take a test, oh boy! Hope all is well with everyone back home. Love you guys!

Australia Thus Far

We have been in Australia for a little over a week now and it has been amazing. The condos where we are staying are literally a 30 second walk from the beach. Most days when we are done with classes, a lot of us have gone straight to the beach. Its a hard life. And our "classroom" has a view of a harbour. It reminds me of Finding Nemo when Marlin and Dorey are getting chased by seagulls. Classes are going... We have a lot more reading than I would like to do, but I guess I cant do anything about that. But I just wanted to make a list on things I have done so far so here it goes...

1) Got to hold and take a picture with a koala.
2) Got pooped on by the koala that I got to hold and take a picture with.
3) Got to pet some kangaroos.
4) Saw an alligator (maybe it was a croc.) that messured 5.1 meters (about 16 ft.) Thank goodness it was at the zoo and not in the wild.
5) Had a devo on the beach at night and watched the moon rise.

Its been great so far and it is just the beginning of the trip. We also went to a church here that is normally about 20 people...we more than doubled their amount. Even though they were so ovverwhelmed, they were so welcoming. It made me wonder why we at our own home churches can't be like that. When we are in our normal environment, why can't we, myself included, go up to a guest at church and tell them we are glad that they are there? Just something I have been thinking about. Love you all!

The Best of Both Worlds

Today we arrived in Australia after a 2 hour delay in the New Zealand airport! We all were sad to leave the beauty of New Zealand, but at the same time we were anxious to get to the beaches...going from the mountains to the beach is quite a contrast (tell me of someone else who has seen both mountains and beaches in the same day!)! It really lets you see all of God's beauty!

So here is a list of all the things that are highlights of my trip to NZ...
1) Got off the plane when we first arrived in NZ and were surrounded by mountains
2) Jumped in a 50 degree lake
3) Rode the Gondola
4) Rode the luge and watched Neil almost die (not really...but seriously!)
5) Rode horses through where they filmed some of the Lord of the Rings Movies
6) Ate octopus and some other food that I dont know what it was
7) Went hiking and found THE makeout spot of Queenstown, NZ. You could tell that it was definitely well used...but NOT BY ME. To describe it, if you can picture in movies the typical spots where you drive up to and park and it overlooks the whole city...that's EXACTLY how it was!

But in Australia, I have already walked on the beach while it was lightening in the distance. The waves were definitely rolling! The biggest waves I have ever seen! Whenever I stand at the base of mountains or the edge of the rolling ocean, it always brings me back to the reality of how powerful God is and how little I really am...always good to have once in a while! But that is all for now! I love you all!

NEW ZEALAND!!!

Hello from New Zealand! We got her just fine with out any trouble at all. We flew out of Little Rock to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Los Angeles to Auckland to Christchurch and now we are in Queenstown (all by flight)...needless to say, I am sick of flying.

New Zealand is absolutely beautiful! Words can't describe and pictures don't do justice in trying to describe what New Zealand looks like...breath-taking!! We didn't get to spend much time in Christchurch, NZ, but we did get to explore the biggest botanical garden that I have ever seen. It is HUGE! It also has the biggest tree that I have ever seen, probably big enough that you could put a car inside the trunk of it! Queenstown is absolutely gorgeous! It is a small town on the edge of a lake that is surrounded by snow-capped mountains! The town is very unique and the scenery is like none other!

As for the flying part, it wasn't bad. The take-offs and landings threw my stomach for a loop but I eventually got used to it. The 747 that we flew on from LA to Auckland blew my mind! Basically the whole "plane" concept floored me. All I could think about while flying in the plane was how much engineering it takes to build a plane and how those things get in the air with all that weight that they carry! And as I was thinking about those things that were made by human hands, I remembered everything that our God made and how great those things are: a human mind that is able to design the plane, a human body that is able to heal itself, a heart that pumps non-stop for 75 years, and not to mention all the beauty that we see in the landscape when we look around! What an awesome God!

Tomorrow we are leaving Queenstown to go to Arrowtown and then on to somewhere else that I can't think the name of. I will update the next chance I get but I dont know how soon that will be. But until then, I love you all and hope all is well!!

The Time is Now

I can't believe it!! In precisely 7 hours and 53 minutes I will be on my way to the Little Rock airport to begin my quest to the other side of the world. Numerous emotions are rushing through me right now: excitement, fear, apprehensive, uncertainty (I could keep going but for your sake I won't). I am excited because well, for the obvious reasons, I am going to Australia and New Zealand! Fear and apprehensive go together and they are only because I have never flown before and I am going to be on a 16 hour flight across the ocean (talk about jumping in with both feet!!). And finally uncertainty because I have NO IDEA what to expect.

While overseas we are going to visit New Zealand and Australia and travel as much as we can within the countries (not to mention I am taking 17 hours). I am excited to travel and experience a whole other culture that differs from my own.

I will be taking a couple of humanities classes, a class about the life of Paul, elementary statistics, and earth science. I am sure I will learn a lot in those classes, but honestly, that's not what is most important to me during this trip. I hope I learn a lot about myself, I hope I learn a lot about my God, and I hope that I can become closer to him about the trip. It's easy to get comfortable and content with where you are in life when you have a routine that you follow everyday like I do. But when you break out of it, it can get a little scary and that is what I am feeling right now. I hope to lean on Him and learn more about him in the next 3 months. I hope that you can do the same, by breaking out of your routine to take a little time to spend with our loving, caring, and forgiving Father.

I hope you have a good, safe semester/3 months while I am gone. Please pray for the group as we travel as I will be doing the same for you back home. I love you and God bless you and keep you safe in His arms!