Mrs. A

it is the most wonderful time of year for so many reasons: family, friends, snow, vacation, parties, fun, gifts, scarves, mittens, hot chocolate, cards, books, naps, and opportunities to laugh. but, the most important aspect of this time of year is the most tender of all.... i have not touched him or sat on his knee, yet Jesus is real to me. i know He lives, and i will follow Him faithfully. my heart to Him i give; i know that my Savior loves me. so with this, i just want to say....

I've just been released from the Relief Society presidency and got pegged to be a Sunday School teacher. Easy enough, right? Oh no. Teaching in my classroom is different from teaching adults in a church setting. Unfortunately, some of the adults are more rowdy and less attentive than the 7th and 8th graders. So, needless to say, I was nervous to teach this past Sunday. When I get nervous my cheeks turn candy apple red and I can hardly speak. I also perspire, because of the hot flashes that come my way when I get nervous. It's lovely to have that all happen when I'm standing in front of a crowd of 60+ people. The lesson's objective made it worth it though to stand and sweat in front of people. We talked about God's love for us and how we can show our love for him. Read the first sentence in the paragraph again, please. The line of 'God is Love' comes from 1 John in the New Testament and emphasizes how all love originates from our Heavenly Father. Our most inn

i needed a place to post this picture, because i like the barn in it...

my library has a great selection of magazines. my male students love to check them out and look at pictures of horses, pickups, motorcycles, and snow machines. unfortunately, some of these magazines have other pictures that are not so virtuous. so when one of these.... finds one of these... they generally find some of these too .... (Note, the example below is actually more modest than many adds I've seen lately in the magazines.) so i take one of these... and suddenly all the models in the magazines are modest, because they're wearing long black outfits. just saving one junior high male at a time. modest is hottest. yes, in several ways. over and out, a

"God has not only given us life, but He has filled the world with everything to make life desirable.." Frederick A. Aiken

i woke up bright and early this morning so i would be on time to meet the carpool group. i can't turn on all the lights in my room when i'm getting ready, because i share a room with hanna banana. she's still sound asleep at that time, so i try to be quiet and get everything done without waking her up. this morning i found my long kahki school pants, and i decided to wear a green shirt that is slightly billowy but tapers in at the waist and elbows. i also grabbed the nearest jacket, because my classroom is freezing. i can sometimes see my breath in the morning. yes, it's that bad. i ran out the door of my house, sat in my car, and got where i needed to go and taught a full day's worth of classes. during my prep hour, which is the last hour of the day, i was chatting to the principal in her office. i was playing with the top of my shirt with my fingers when I felt something that usually is not in the front. that's right folks - this morning i slipped on my shirt

Sometimes I have time to look at other blogs and facebook when I'm not engulfed in reading and grading 'not so interesting' essays written by junior high students. (We're working on the interesting part today in class.) It seems like everyone is an amateur/expert photographer, an impressive baker, a savvy fashionista, a home designer, a consistent exerciser, a seamstress extraordinaire, a political powerhouse, a cool crafter, a friendly friend, and a technology tycoon. Oh, and they usually have adorably painted toenails to boot. It just makes my mind whirl. I am probably none of the above. Actually, I can guarantee that I am none of the above. Sure, I've dabbled in a couple of the areas, but elite has never been my adjective. Don't worry folks, I'm not depressed or anything. I'm just wondering how I fit into the whole scheme of things. It's not really an identity crisis - it's figuring out how to take advantage of the blessings and opportunitie

It was good for me to open up my own blog today and read the previous post. I seemed to be incandescently in love. Then reality hit like a firework - bang! This summer turned out to be a challenge for cowboy and me. He broke his foot and couldn't do the things he loved (yep, no horses or rodeo for cowboy) or even go to work, and I didn't handle his frustration with being incapacitated as well as I should have. bang! Needless to say there were moments when I wanted to throw my boot at him, and I guarantee there were moments when he wanted to chuck his tennis shoe at me. (He couldn't wear a boot at all this summer.) So, what is a girl do? Pretend like I'm not hurting inside? Run away? Zip my mouth? Practice patience? Throw my boot at him? Cry and let it all spill out? What? Well, needless to say, there's been a lot of thinking to be done on my part about my happiness and future. Cowboy and I have learned a lot about each other through this process. We're two

My friend Rebecca gave me the charge to post pictures of someone important in my life. I am not good at blogging, but because I like Rebecca and because she lives all the way in Texas, I will oblige. It all started back when I was born. I was born into a family with many interesting and wonderful dynamics. One aspect of my life that many don't recognize is that I love riding horses. I am not an expert equestrian, but those amazing animals were part of my childhood. My mom's dad is a horseman, and my mom is a cowgirl. I grew up riding and I think I have some of my grandpa and mom's horse blood in me. High school came along and with it so did the Dixie Chicks' song, "Cowboy take me away." I loved the song so much I even learned the words to it, which doesn't occur very often for me. That's another story though. Its words portray a picture of what seemed like a nice future at the time - a cowboy, boots, hard work, kissing and howling into the moonlight, a