tubin' and bruisin'

We've had so much fun with our boat this summer! It's our quick get-away this summer! These first pictures are from June 30th. We went over to Bull Shoals and rented a small tube just for an hour to have some fun. Reluctantly, Pierce and Kenzi both got on it with me. Our super duper driver, Dad, took it really easy, and they both had a good time! Needless to say, they didn't last very long. About 30 seconds and they were ready to get back in the boat.

A couple weeks later, June 13th, we went out again ~ This time at Table Rock. We rented a bigger tube that seats lots of people. It was this big triangular shaped tube with two indentions that easily held two adults or probably 4 kids. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera while we were on the boat, so we didn't get any pictures of us on it...but you wouldn't have believed them even if you HAD seen pictures! Pierce was so comfortable already, he was standing up on the tube pretending to be surfing! Michael was with him of course, hanging on to his life jacket, but he was definitely a little ham! I rode three times, once with Michael's best friend's girlfriend, Stacy, once with Alex, and once with Pierce. I think it's common knowledge that Bull Shoals is a much calmer lake than Table Rock, but these pictures out to be pretty good proof. Michael took me for the ride of my life when I was tubing on both lakes, but only yesterday did I end up looking like I'd been in a car accident! These 3 pictures show what my legs look like this morning! OUCH! These bruises are actually welts! They're hard and 20 different colors of purple and yellow and black! Needless to say, I'm just a little sore today!

I think next time I might just stay in the boat!

4th of July

On the 4th of July our family followed tradition and went to the I Love America Celebration put on by James River Assembly at the Springfield Underground. It was a really great time, and the BEST fireworks show I've ever seen! The fireworks were bigger than ever, brighter than ever, and more in sync with the music than ever! Great choreography! Here are some pictures of our day!

This is Pierce (4) and Kenzi (2 1/2).

This is Kenzi and her cousin,
Nickolys (9 months).

This is Kenzi and her cousin, Austyn (12).

The weather was great that day! Brandon Beck and Tom Trtan both said it was going to rain, but the rain went south, and then went north.... and we had beautiful skies all day long! God is good!

teacher's pet

Okay, teacher moment here: I hate feeling like the teacher's pet. But sometimes you just have this idea that you really want to get out of your head. It really bothers me when people are so closed-minded about new ideas. You know who I'm talking about, the people who are negative about doing something new for some reason or another. Sometimes I just think they're lazy and stuck in their ways. Sometimes I think they're jealous that they aren't in charge, or they aren't the one who thought of the idea. I'm not really sure what the "Christian perspective" I should have on the issue is. Like PLC for example. There are so many people who didn't like the book Getting Started. I, on the other hand, really DID like it. I really agreed with the theory behind it, and I really think that some of those types of changes need to be made in our school. I know the book was a little redundant, but there really is no need to be quite so critical! Don't we all teach "2 stars and a wish"? Shouldn't we comment on the good more than the bad? Okay, this is going far away from the topic I wanted to talk about.... let's try again...

I thought that our school should "collaborate" through a blog like the elementary is. It's a great idea. We don't have time in our meetings on Fridays to collaborate about the stuff we want to talk about because of our "norms"... and the topics of conversation have already been chosen for us. So can't we do some real, honest, open collaboration through a blog? That was my thinking. So I asked our principals about it, got the go ahead, and made the blog. And I made the first post on the blog, and now I feel like a big dork. Like everyone who goes to the intermediate blog is going to be like "Who does she think she is?" or "Why does she think she's in charge of this?" or "Who made her boss?" When really I just wanted us to be able to talk about PLC, and no one else was going to do it. You know? I hate feeling like the teacher's pet! And then to make matters worse, I had this other idea that I didn't think was too shabby either. And I was literally afraid to share it with anyone because I didn't want to start up TWO new things during the summer when I'm supposed to be NOT thinking about school. But, I guess if my goal as a teacher is evolving into really really really helping my students learn, and I think I have a way to help them do that, then I would not be being true to myself if I didn't act on that. So I emailed Sue at FirstPLACE today to tell her my idea about getting more community members involved in our classes as tutors, and she loved it! So I emailed my principal, and we'll just have to wait to see how she responds. Sometimes I'm more afraid of how she'll respond than anything. That's really why I went to Sue first. What is this fear of mine? I know it has to be deeper than just face value. Afraid of being thought of as the teacher's pet. Afraid of telling your principal that you've got a great idea. Afraid of people knowing that you are working on school stuff during the summer. Man, who is this scaredy cat? And why is she so scared of everything? Someone give me a verse to memorize. I just need to worry less about what the world thinks of me, less about how I am perceived or talked about, less about lots of things. Less. And just try to be true to my heart and to what God lays on my heart to undertake. True.