Show, Don't Tell

"‎Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don't tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all His children. Don't preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell, as I am in how you choose to live and give.'
~~~ Mayor Cory Booker, Newark"


I teach writing, and when we start with descriptive writing, one of the catch phrases I use is "Show me, don't tell me." The idea is to get the students to go beyond the ordinary, the everyday, and have the readers really experience what they have experienced. To put the reader into their experience with them. The quote above is one that I found on a friends wall on FaceBook. A friend who does not share my faith. Yet, through that one simple quote in a status update, I find myself being convicted. Am I showing, not just telling people about my God? Does my life show to whom I belong? Sadly, probably not. I have the tendency to be short tempered, to be so caught up in my day to day living, that I forget that people around me are watching me more than they are listening to me. I need to start "Showing, not telling". There are people who are "reading" my life...I need to go beyond the everyday, the ordinary, and allow people who have never experienced a relationship with Christ to experience what I experienced. I have a brand new bunch of students who are watching me every single day. I need to let them see more Jesus and less Lee. Because Lee isn't always pretty, Lee isn't always nice, and Lee isn't always pleasant. Lee gets cranky, stubborn, and sometimes downright mean. But the great thing is, Jesus lives inside Lee, and He is the one that I need to show. Because He IS pretty, He IS nice, He IS pleasant....He isn't cranky, stubborn, or mean. He is all that is good and lovely and wonderful, and when I get out of the way and let Him show through, then Lee becomes like Him, and that is a wonderful thing.

Hmmm, Look what I found....

It's my old blog! I'd almost forgotten about this! It's been so long, where to begin?? Well, the boys are older now. Daniel is going into 3rd grade, Mikey is going into 2nd, and much to the dismay of the girls at daycare, Zach is going into his last year at Noah's Ark. I'm looking around and wondering where on earth my babies went! I'm still teaching the 6th graders, still in Holtville. As you can imagine, the Hurricanes have been quite busy. Last time I posted, they had just started getting into baseball. That has become a big deal around here. All 3 boys are playing now, and starting in the spring, all 3 will be playing on separate teams. Daniel will be moving up to kid pitch, Mikey will stay at coach pitch, and Zach will be playing t-ball. Mikey made the 7-8 year old All-Star team this past year. He has become quite the ball player. And after a disasterous experience with football when he was 5, he's reluctantly decided to give football another try. He's agreed to go to a couple of practices to see how he likes it. He and Daniel are both wanting to play fall baseball too, so we'll see where that leads. We really lucked out with baseball though. We've had the same group of coaches since the boys started playing. They are a great group of guys. Robert has even helped coach, all 3 boys. Also, I'm going to be an aunt in a few months. Robert's sister is having a baby boy in late Nov./early Dec. SO excited about that!! Well, now that the catching up is done, I'll be posting more often!

My baby is 6!

I can hardly believe that I've been a mom for 6 years! Daniel turned 6 on Sept. 25. He's in kindergarten now. UNBELIEVEABLE!! Where did the time go?? I know it's been a while since I've done anything with my blog, but it's late and I'm about to head to bed. I plan on posting a lot more though. I've got an idea brewing in my head for something to blog about!!

Free at last, Free at last.....

Thank God Almighty I am free at last!!!!!!!! Today was the last day of school!! WOOOHOOO! Now, granted, I still have to go to school tomorrow and I have some meetings I have to go to next week, but I am DONE with this year's kids!!!! This has been the most challenging year I've ever had!! But it wasn't all bad....There were a few bright spots this year. I have a couple of kids I hope that I've helped this year. I am really looking forward to spending the summer hanging out with my boys! We're gonna have a ball this summer. We're talking about going to the beach and to Six Flags. We'll also go to the park, the zoo, the movies and some other things. It's gonna be a great summer.....I can't wait!! WOOHOO!!!!

An Amazing Experience

It's been a while since I posted and in that time, a wonderful thing has happened to our family. Daniel, my oldest son, accepted Christ recently. Daniel has always had a knack for understanding spiritual things. He has been curious about Jesus and God for a long time now and has been asking some very in depth questions. He has a better grasp on the plan for salvation than a lot of kids twice his age. In fact, the Thursday before Easter, he actually witnessed to another child on the playground. He has truly amazed me with his faith. I now understand what Jesus meant when He spoke of having "child-like faith." Daniel doesn't question the how's or why's of what God does...He just accepts. I am learning alot from my child about faith. On the way home from my in-laws' on a Saturday night, Daniel and I were alone in the Tahoe and we were talking (for the millionth time =) ) about Jesus and how He died on the cross for our sins. We were talking about how if Jesus lives in your heart then you can go to Heaven to live with Him one day. Daniel then asked me the question that I knew had been coming...."Mommy, how can I get Jesus in my heart?" So I explained to him that you had to tell Jesus that you are a sinner and tell Him that you are sorry for your sins. I explained that you had to tell Jesus that you want to follow Him and you want to live with Him in Heaven. Then my 5 year old little boy prayed the sweetest, most sincere prayer I've ever heard. It was an indescribable experience as I watched my son become my brother in Christ. The next morning we talked with our pastor and he asked Daniel some questions to see if he really understood what he was saying and doing. Daniel was amazing. He answered those questions with surprisingly adult answers. Our pastor told me later that he had seen 9 and 10 year olds who did not have the understanding that Daniel did. He told me he'd never seen a child as young as Daniel have such a grasp on what it meant to accept Christ. So we are going to get with our pastor and set up Daniel's baptism. I'm so proud of my little boy and I'm so thankful to the wonderful ladies at the boys' daycare. Their teachings have played a HUGE part in Daniel being where he is today. I can never thank them enough. But most of all, I thank my Savior for working in my son's life and touching his heart at such an early age. I just pray that I can continue to guide all of my boys and raise them in a way that is pleasing to God.

April Showers, May Flowers, and All that Jazz!

Ok...I'm finally getting around to Tuesday's blog assignment from SMW. Springtime.....flowers blooming, weather warming, and me sneezing!! Seriously though, I love springtime, for a variety of reasons....One being that I HATE HATE HATE cold weather!!! The only GOOD thing about cold weather is the slight chance of snow that comes with it. Other than that, you Yankees can have the cold weather!! I want my smoldering 100 degree summers!! I LOVE living in the South. I'm sure most of you Southerners have heard the joke that we have 4 seasons here in the south....Hot, Dang-It Hot, Warm, and Christmas!!! Yep....give me a good ole' Southern summer anyday. BUT we aren't talking about summer, we are talking about SPRING. I really do love springtime, in spite of the havoc that it wreaks on my allergies. Aside from the obvious warm weather (late March, early April is really the only time we don't need heat or air conditioning around here), I have always loved spring b/c my bday is April 10!! WOOHOO, yay for birthdays!! A day that is all about ME!!! Of course, if you ask Robert, EVERY day is all about me, hehehehe!! I also have developed quite a fondness for springtime lately because SCHOOL IS OUT at the end of May!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!! Of course, there are a few things about springtime that rather suck...One being the aforementioned allergies. Also, the arrival of pesky little insects like ants and mosquitoes that have decided to wake up! Then there is the ever dreaded.....SAT testing!! YUK! BUT, the good thing about that is that testing = nearly end of school, so that's not TOO bad. All in all, spring's virtues FAR outweigh any negatives. So, bring on the April showers and May flowers.......Bring on SPRING!!

Through the Eyes of a Hurricane (Zach Edition)

The other boys have had their turn, now it's Zach's! My baby, my little bundle of joy, my four year old trapped in a one year old's body!! I suppose it is an occupational hazard of being the baby. The brothers are doing it, so Zach thinks he can do it too. Doesn't really matter what "it" is, if Daniel and Mikey can do it, so can Zach! Or so he thinks. Poor little man gets absolutely IRATE b/c he can't play T-Ball with his brothers!! He is now refusing to sit in his high chair at home. He really doesn't want the sippy cups, but he's not quite ready for big boy cups yet!! Well, rather my carpet isn't ready for him to have big boy cups just yet. He has figured out how to climb up the ladder of the boys' bunk beds....yeah, there's a trip to the ER in the making!!
Zach has definitely developed his own little personality lately. He's a very loving child, but lately his mischievous streak has starting showing itself. For instance, the other day, Mikey was sleeping on the couch and Zach walks up to him, with this HUGE grin on his face, and just starts banging on Mikey's head!!! It was pretty funny, but of course, I couldn't let Zach just beat on his brother. He also knows when he's doing something he isn't supposed to do. He look at his dad and me to see if we're going to tell him "no".
All of my boys seem to like music....Daniel LOVES to sing, Mikey likes to attempt to play instruments, and now Zach thinks he is "Lord of the Dance". Recently anytime he hears music on tv, he starts doing this weird, head bobbing dance. It's pretty funny. Combine the weird head bob with his "chicken walk" where he walks with his head stuck WAY out and his arms held behind him and he is definitely a sight to behold!!!
Well, that is by no means all of Zach's quirkiness, but I'm at school and the bell's about to ring, so I'll wrap up for today!!! More to come on my final Hurricane!!