shouts of joy

Here we are at #teachersummercamp. Two of my teacher friends, Sonya and Chelsea, also took summer classes this summer. Sonya is a teaching principal at a small school in Oakhurst, CA and Chelsea is a teacher/chaplain at a school in Sacramento, CA. They are some of the best teachers I know with huge hearts and a passion for teaching about Jesus. I have enjoyed our #teachersummercamp adventures even though Sonya was at another campus several hours away, we've kept in touch. And every Monday we share/exchange articles, YouTube videos, or stories that we found entertaining or intriguing. These two women have been lifesavers over the past year. We started #teachersummercamp 6 weeks ago and have finally finished. They will start school again in just a couple of weeks. I'm glad that they are allowing me to stay a member in the teaching club even though I will be taking classes this year and substituting instead of teaching full-time. They bring sunshine to a cloudy day. Bes...

Since my move to the south I have been very blessed with my living situation. As I've mentioned before I'm living with a couple of girl friends from high school. We stuck together through college and even into our post college lives we've made efforts to catch up and visit each other. Now we share the same roof and it has been a blessing. My roommate, Sasha, is an ER nurse and comes home with the craziest stories, often times too sad, but sometimes funny and sometimes scary. She's a good story teller, leaving out no detail. She loves listening to stories too and makes sure to get each detail. The other day on a drive to the beach for a roommate date with Sasha my story of knee surgery came up and she sucked the details dry. As I rehashed the nitty gritty of my trampoline injury I noticed that life had turned out better than I had imagined even with a broken femur and a couple of torn ligaments. Sometimes we sense our lives are heading down a slippery slope to doomdo...

When it gets really hot here, the sun beats down through the layer of smog and just like that we have a green house, when that happens I lose my appetite. I lose the motivation to walk outside to take the trash across the drive way. I lose the will to drive from one part of town to the other. And when I think about it, all I want is a seat in front of a fan and a big gulp of iced tea. Up until now I'm not sure I've really questioned that. Sometimes I get so stuck in my right way of thinking that I keep the windows and doors closed so to not let the heat enter through the cracks. When in actuality the morning air is cooler and crisper than the multi-circulated air blowing through the vents. Until I walk out the door, I believe I'm sitting in the best place for me. Because experience has taught me otherwise. Experience has taught me to stay here because this is good. This is great, actually. So I've locked myself inside thinking I'm playing the game against mother nat...

Since moving to the south, I've been happy. Every day is beautiful. I feel safe, loved, appreciated, known - like a cool rainstorm to the wilderness in drought. There are many moments in a single day when I assess the past, present and future. My current assessment is that the present couldn't get much better. I've been taking my classes. Learning a lot. Rocked my final in EDAD 579 School Finance last Thursday. Now onto a new class: Organizational Leadership. My friend Em has been in town and we've been having unplanned adventures that have taken us all over this ridiculous state. I'm going home to north Idaho in a few weeks to see family and watch Em marry her fiancé. After the wedding I'll be flying out to Cambodia for a couple of weeks to find out how I can help RAWimpact with their schools. When I get back I start fall quarter classes. There's a lot going on. I'm excited. With each new day I'm excited. But as I start thinking, thinking too mu...

It's late, some might say it's early, but my bedtime was hours ago and I'm so okay with that. This Sabbath was full. One of my favorite friends, Emily, is back in town and this morning we had coffee while sharing ideas about marriage, family, and weddings as she prepares to become a Mrs. My heart is so full for her. We laughed, cried and sipped our coffee then headed off to ReLive, the young adult church service. I hope married people are still allowed to attend the young peoples ReLive church. I know it's silly, but I ruminated on that thought today. I think they will. After church and a fun conversation at lunch about traveling we went to the beach and played in the saltwater until we were out of breath from fighting against the strong currents. We played some volleyball, a new game I'm learning called spikeball and talked about friends and family and the possible events of our ten year high school reunion that will take place in a couple short years. Tonight I...