Finding Joy in Small Things

This week has been a challenge.  We had two evenings of Parent-Teacher Conferences, Nathaniel sprained his ankle at school, a loved one passed away back at home, and someone attempted to break into our house one morning while we were at school.  That being said, I HAD TO find some JOY in the middle of these events I couldn't control.

I forced myself to look for JOY in even the smallest things...

1. Quality time with my husband.  

After lazy Saturday mornings, we usually walk to the post office or the store together.  

 2. Warmer weather.  

Although we haven't used our snow machine as much, we have been walking outside a lot more.  

This week we ditched the winter coats and threw on our rain gear.

3. I get to work with my husband.

We have the same schedule since we work in the junior high/high school, so we are the only teaching couple in our school who get to go home and eat lunch together.

Also, when it's been a crazy day at school, I know he understands exactly how I feel.  

4. Beautiful surroundings.

There is something peaceful about a fresh blanket of snow and frosty ice.

5. Watching the kids have fun.

It's refreshing after a challenging week of teaching, to sit back and watch the kids do things they love.  This weekend we hosted elementary and high school basketball games.

6. Coaching.

This is my first year coaching cheerleading.  

I have a spunky squad of 14 girls. It was fun to watch them 'do their thing' at the basketball games.

They performed two different dances during half-time at the games.  

I didn't get a good picture of them because I was down in front helping them with the moves.

7. Bubble baths.

I haven't taken baths since I was a kid, but this year I got this awesome gift from my mother-in-law.  I use this time to sit, soak, be quiet, and let go of things that happened that day.

8. Yoga with friends.

I don't have a large quantity of friends up here, but the ones I do have are quality.  Three of us get together twice a week and have a little yoga workout.  I enjoy it because it's a time where we can be quiet, reflect, and also laugh at ourselves.

9. Candles.

There is something about a good smelling house that can calm me down.

10. Good music.

When I say 'good' music, I don't just mean music that has a good beat.  I have tried to make an effort to fill my ears with music that has positive messages.  I'm also thankful that Nathaniel and I have the same taste in music, so we often plug in the iPod and blast our favorite songs.

My favorite songs that have lifted my spirits lately are:

-Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong UNITED

-Hey Brother by Avicii

-You Have Won My Heart by Bryan McCleery

-Resting Place by Bryan McCleery

-River from Heaven by Bryan McCleery

-Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture

-Where I Belong by Cory Asbury & Matt Gilman

11. Contact from family~friends.

I may not do the best job keeping up with all of our family~friends back at home, but I LOVE IT any time we get a letter, package, text, picture, or email from them.  These seemingly insignificant things are sometimes the high-point of my day and mean so much.

12. Hot coffee, with creamer of course.

I find so much joy waking up to the smell of coffee brewing thanks to the 'set delay' timer on our coffee maker.

13.  When my husband helps out with the dishes.

I am REALLY weird and enjoy cleaning, but sometimes it can wear me out, so when I walked into the kitchen this weekend and saw all the dishes cleaned and put away I got so excited that I had to take a picture.

14. The Word.

After some of the things that happened this week, I was asking God, why am I here?

I found my answer in Isaiah 61:

Reading on in Chapter 61, verse 4 also told me why I was here, and verse 5 explains my responsibility as a teacher, to shepherd the flocks (or in other words, to guide my students).  Most days when I am discouraged because I don't see the rewards of my teaching, God has promised me great blessings in verses 7-9, and that is enough to keep me going.  So when things don't seem to all be going 'right' I know that I am filled with EvErLaStInG JOY!

It's a New Year

We went home to see our family and friends over Christmas break, and it flew by way too fast.

Family & Food

Christmas evening, we drove around with my parents and looked at lights.

The midwest was having what the news called a "polar vortex,"  so ironically we saw plenty of snow.










Cobblestone streets in downtown St. Louis, meeting up with some friends to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

It's already time to go back?

Flying over Seattle.

The snowy streets of Anchorage.

Our favorite place to eat in Anchorage, Snow City Cafe.

Ice sculptures

Glacier Brewhouse for our last meal in town... or so we thought.

This is why I am the photographer.

We each took 2 checked bags back to the village... one suitcase each and one cooler/tote full of food each.

My aunt and mom gave me these cooler bags a while ago and I brought them along to keep the food cold in the tote.

 We packed this cooler full of frozen foods (from Walmart).

We bought an 18 gallon Rubbermaid tote.  I put two cooler bags in it and some shelf food also.

We brought a drill and zip ties to secure the lid on the tote.

Waiting at the airport in Anchorage.  Unfortunately our flight was cancelled, so we spent an extra night in Anchorage.  This was a problem because we started school, students and all, the next day.

The next afternoon we made it out of Anchorage and landed in St. Mary's (a village).  However, we got stuck in St. Mary's for the night because they said they would not fly to Alakanuk until the next morning.  We missed a second day of school.  We stayed with some St. Mary's teachers that we met on our flight.

Back in Alakanuk.

Finally back to our house.

The weather has been unusually warm, in the 30's, so we've got to play outside a lot more.

I started the cheerleading program back up this year.  The team has girls 5-7th grade.
They cheered for the junior high basketball games last week and performed their new dance at half-time.

Grades were also due this week as we end 2nd Quarter.  Half-way through the school year, wow!

Here is all the work I have graded this quarter.  Fun times.

Just to make it look dramatic, I stacked all of the work in one pile.  

Thankfully, I had already submitted my grades.

It's been non-stop busyness since we've been back, but we're finally to a weekend where we can just relax.  Here's our little friend checking the mail with her dad.