Time goes by...

I was asked last night by a friend, to read her most recent blog posting. A posting in which, although I am not named, was also a part of so if you want to read it go ahead (jeneveradullmoment.blogspot.com). But that is not the topic of this post, even though it was the reminder that I needed to update my own.
I write today, for the first time in a long time, because I feel like I went back in time this weekend. Obviously you can't go back in time and realistically even if I could truly go back in time I'm not sure that I would want to. I am sure there are many actions, reactions, decisions, activities and words we would change if we could go back in time, but we can not. The Lord somehow uses our foolishness to complete His will, and many times uses the trials and mistakes we have made to help others we may meet.
I feel like I went back in time this weekend because I went back to the place I grew up. As many of you know, leaving there was the hardest trial I have ever been through, (read post "Chapter 23... from May 2006) and while I still hurt at the memories I was reminded of the goodness of God. I walked the halls I had walked hundreds of times, I drove on the streets I learned to drive on (and got my first tickets on!) and I talked to the people who shaped me to be the person I am today. While my heart hurts from the memories of goodbye, I had a new determination to make every day a day to remember. So often I live selfishly and seeking my own desires when all around me are friends, family and students that may not be around me tomorrow.
So while time marches on, relationships come and go, people touch our lives, and we grow older may I make today a day to remember.

Somethings never change...

Ok, so I was sitting at Panera, using their free wireless, when these two brother came and sat down with their food. One was about 17 and the other was about 10. They were quietly eating for several minutes, when the younger one started using his bread as a gun and his soup as the thing he was shooting at. Before long the two had a whole war set up - sound effects, walls, forts, people and tanks. I couldn't help but laugh. Boys will be boys.

Friendship...

Have you ever wondered what make a true friend? We all have different criteria for friendship and it varies by age, circumstances, and life choices.
For example a two-year-old's friend is anyone that will take the time to talk to them (or give them a lolly-pop;-)
A nine-year-old is friends with other nine-year-olds because they play together, but they are getting a little picker because a nine-year-old would NEVER be friends with a nine-year-old girl because girls have “cooties” and you can still catch “cooties” from any girl that isn’t your mother, grandmother or aunt.
A fifteen-year-old is more ok with being friends with someone of the opposite gender, but they still prefer friends of their own gender because they think their friends will tell them how to act, dress, feel and even think!
At 19 you’re friends with all those crazy people that are in classes with you because you know exactly who you are going to sit with. If you have a brain (I just mean that if you want to do well, not that you are necessarily super smart) then you choose to sit with people that will listen, help you study and keep you on tract. If you’re stupid, like meJ, you’ll sit with your friends that help you get kicked out of Old Testament Survey. And somehow, these people that keep you from listening, help you get demerits, and do all they can slide under the radar or the deans office, become your friends.
By the time you’re 25 you are much wiser and your lifetime of experience helps you choose friends that are much better for you – friends you work with.
In your 40’s you don’t have time to have friends, you are just focused on your marriage, kids and home, but someone those things are your friends. They are your life and all you need.
Around 60ish your best friends become your adorable grandchildren who fill your life with cute sayings, pictures and finger print smudges all over your house (this time you don’t care because your grandchildren can do no wrong).
And 75+ your friends are the people that take care of you.


Of course, all of these instances are up for change due to what’s happening in your life. If a two-year-old is given a sour lolly-pop they aren’t interested in friendship with people that have lolly-pops. If a nine-year-old boy meets a tom girl, he could careless that she’s a girl, as long as she is willing to go catch worms and frogs with him. A fifteen-year-old may not take the advice of her friends if she doesn’t like what’s happening in her friends life. The college student may not sit with his friends in class, because his friends are in different classes, so they just meet up afterwards. At 25 – your co-workers may not be your friends because you don’t really interact, so it’s just a “hi” in the hallway and you’ve been burned by a relationship or two so you’re not willing to trust anyone. Parents may not have a friendship with their child because their child never talks to them. Some 60 year-olds may not live near grandchildren, so they choose to be friends with their neighbors. And at 75 if you’re still aware of what’s going you just enjoy anyone that talks with you because you don’t get around very much.
The point of all this? Good question!! No, not really. The point is friendship is what we make it. Do we have to be friends with everyone that gives us a lolly-pop? No, but we could be. Do we have to be friends with the people at work even when our heart hurt so much it’s about ready to break? No, but they might be hurting too. Do we have be kind to the pesky neighbor that always walks on your grass? No, but maybe if we were we could ask them not to walk on our grass so much.


A personal note – I’m a friend that LOVES to talk (I know you can tell that by the length of this blog) but the truth…that’s what friendship is to me. Yes, I’ve been given the sour candy, forced to play with a stinky gross boy, tried to live up to what my friends told me to do, sat with great friends in college and gotten kicked out of class, and made a best friend at work. As for the rest of them, they are yet to come, but I can’t wait!!
Speech – it can be our biggest help or our biggest hindrance. What will our speech do to our friendships – will it make them or break them? So do it – talk to someone today, make a friend!

Summer...

Wow, it's the last full week in July! Is that even possible? I guess so, time just marches on. August will be here before I even have time to blink.
I think I'm ready for a new school year. I'm looking forward to meeting those 21-27 students that will fill my classroom every morning for 180 days (give or a take a few here and there;-). I'm excited to learn all about them, find out what makes them tick, learn how to help them, laugh with them when they laugh, scold them when they're wrong, and love them - no matter what.
I miss my students from last year more than they will ever know, they will always have a special place in my heart because they were my "first". But my second is going to be great too!! My summer has been great! I've relaxed, worked, cleaned, moved, read, spent time with family and friends, swam, just had fun. But I'm ready to get back, ready to get up at 5:30 every morning, spend 12 hours in one room, wipe nose, pull teeth, correct papers, give out stickers, put up bulletin boards, bandage knees, encourage, reprimand, give handshakes, high fives, and hugs.
We teachers get a lot of slack for having the summer off, and we need it because of the things we have to do when we are working. But this teacher is more than ready for her summer to be done!

Pictures...

Here are a few pictures from Tiffany's wedding.

Tiffany...

This is really more of a personal note for my friend T (Tiffany), but I'll let the rest of you read it if you want;-)

You know those times when we need something, but we don't even know we need it. Well that's how it was for mine and T's relationship. We "met" on Aug 18, 2007. We met at new staff orientation. (For those of you reading in - the parenthasis are there because we were childhood friends just neither of us remember playing together countless times;-) We were both first year teachers and not sure what was going on. I remember sitting across the table from her in room 601 thinking "Is she a first year teacher? What grade is she going to be teaching? What's she like?" You know, all the "usual" questions we ask when meeting someone for the first time.

Well, over the next nine months we became great friends. In seprable actually. There were many times when someone would see me by myself and would say "Where's your pal Tiffany?" Our classes did things together. We went shopping together - in fact one time when we were shopping I picked out a dress to try on and she picked out a dress and went to the fitting room. After trying them on and showing them to each other neither of us were impressed by our selections, so I said, "Let's trade dresses." We did, and both loved the one the other had picked out more than the one we had picked out. We finished each other's sentences. Corrected each other when we were wrong. Listened to each other when one of us just needed to talk. Cried together when we went through struggles. Laughed at the hilarious things our students said. Made jewelry together. Went out to dinner together every Wednesday night between school and church. Worked in the nursery together. Encouraged each other and challenged each other.

We had the same taste in cloths, food, music, movies and coffee!!

Tiff, I miss you more than you know, BUT I couldn't be happier for you!! I couldn't even begin to thank you enough for the great year we had together. Ben is the luckiest guy on earth to have caught you! I wish you two the best as you start your lives together.

I had a great year! I love you and will miss you!

Katie

Free at last...

Ok, so I really do miss my baby brother already and he's only been married for a week!! It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen. And no, not just because it was my brothers. When I heard they were having an outdoor wedding I was a little sceptical, but we couldn't have asked for a better day. The vows were beautiful and from the heart. Dad pulled out a letter "from the dark ages" as Davis said, that brought everyone to tears. But most importantly God was gloried in the uniting of two families. I couldn't pick a better sister-in-law. MiKayla, welcome to the J's.