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Mid-Week Blessings

Each week I think I am finally going to get a break enough to take a breath, but it seems to never happen. Each week seems to be so busy, with little time to slow down and sleep, or socialize. It has been a bit wearing, and discouraging in some ways too. I feel I am already worn out, and the semester is just beginning, but yesterday I found myself rejuvenated by two dear children. I went to church, excited to teach Noah, but also feeling a lack of energy to be enthusiastic. I was trying hard, with little success when two of my girls walked over to me with a beautiful little bouquet of wild flowers, and a picture. They were shy, yet excited as they said "here Miss Rebekah, we picked these flowers for you, and here is a picture of a princess and a castle on the back" I immediately had energy and enthusiasm as I saw these young girls' hearts. I gave them each a great big hug, and enthusiastically thanked them. What an encouragement that was to me.

This morning I had to get up early for a Mission's Conference meeting. I used to come back and go back to bed, but today I have a test, so decided I better stay awake and be productive instead. I studied for a little bit while my roommate was still in, and did some cleaning. After she left I knew it was necessary that I spend some time with the Lord. What a lovely time that was with Him in His Word and praying with Him. I was reminded of how thankful I am that He hears my prayers.

Praise the Lord for the encouragement He has been giving me. Now to get back to studying for a test at 11am! But I did want to share with you in hopes that the Lord will use His encouragement to me as an encouragement to you as well.

long week and weekend

Man has this been a weekend, and really a week. It has been a week I have felt my double major, and have felt the elementary education aspect of it. Here at ABC, the el ed program is known to be the hardest, and we put in about 30 extra credit hours then any other major. I am tired, and worn out. I am very thankful though for how the Lord has carried me through this time, and how He continues to do so.

I don't necessarily have the time to fill you in on all of the details, for which I am sure you are thankful, but things continue to go well. I had a Testing and Curriculum test on Friday which everyone knows Dr. Burch's exams are a killer, so that had me studying a bit. But the Lord helped me, and I feel I did quite well on the exam. Anxiously awaiting the results. Teaching on Wednesday night was a lot of fun, but a bit chaotic, as I wasn't there as early to prepare everything, and I have forgotten how long it takes young children to do a simple craft. I also taught this morning for the 2s-5s class, which was a lot of fun, but very trying at the same time. Yesterday I was doing homework from 8:30am until about 9pm with a lunch and work (I worked the soccer game) break, therefore not leaving me with too much time to study today's lesson. I had twelve children (not all the best behaved) with no helper. I ended up paging one of the mom's I know a little better, and she was kind enough to come down and help me- boy am I thankful!

I worked this afternoon studying away, and cleaning a little bit. One of the highlights of my week is our College Small Group on Sunday nights. The transitioning-in Pastor and his wife lead it, and what a blessing that is. We have great fellowship (and if I might add, great food) and time together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Tomorrow holds a lot for me: two exams, and two large projects due! I am confident about one exam, not as confident on the other, and the two projects are complete! If there is any way I can lift you up in prayer this week, please drop me an email and I would be delighted to do so. God has really been working on me with my prayer life, and how rewarding that has been.

Have a great week!

Week #3

Another week is coming to an end and I am finishing up my third week of being here at school. In one sense it doesn't seem possible because I still can't believe I am a sophomore. But on the other hand, it seems impossible that it is only my third week because it feels like it has been way longer then three lonely weeks.

Classes are still going well and for the most part, I am staying caught up with everything. I am kind-of-slightly behind on some reading (because on the schedule the reading was due Thursday or Friday, in the classes we didn't have class, but they weren't planning on not having class, if that makes any sense). I still find myself enjoying most classes, and am so exciting about my semester project in Testing and Curriculum. The semester project involves creating your own school that you have to write the Philosophy and Goals of Education for the school, and plan out a class. We will only be preparing one lesson, but we have to show all of our work of the technical things you are supposed to include in a lesson. Also in with this project we have to do a learning station on it, and at the end of the semester we will be teaching our lesson to our class. Our professor warned us on Monday that we may want to get to class early on Wednesday to pick out our textbook we would be using. I showed up about ten minutes early, and much to my excitement, I got Arithmetic 4! I absolutely love math, AND fourth grade is my dream age, and has always been my dream grade. The lesson I get to teach is on units of measurement (12in=1ft, 3ft=1yd etc.) I find myself wanting to do the entire project this weekend, I am so excited. The problem is, I don't know all of the nitty gritty details involved. I guess I should stick with creating my school and its Philosophy and Goals of Education this weekend!

Wednesday night was such fun with the children. The children at my church down here sure have made an impression on me and I missed them so much over the summer, so it is so good to be back with them. I was nervous about teaching Genesis 3 because of having to explain some of the topics to the 2s through 5s. But God was SO good (as usual) and helped me with it and I feel the children really enjoyed it. One little boy (~3 years old) is just so precious. He knew his memory verse from last week and was so excited to recite it to me, even though many of the older children could not remember it, and had not practiced. Later on while I was teaching this week's memory verse, I began reciting the verse, when I noticed the small voice next to me reciting it too--he knew this week's verse too. When I asked his dad about it, he explained that his son was so excited about it, they decided to go ahead and work on this week's verse too. How thrilling for a teacher to see her student so excited by the memory of God's Word. Before leaving, he looked over his shoulder with his big blue eyes and said "thank you, Miss Rebekah", while almost running in to the wall on his way out.

Once again, I am at work and it is so dead up here tonight. All of the freshman/incoming students are on a field trip (due back late this evening) and that is like half of our student population, so at the moment only two other people are up here. So far I have been enjoying my job! I get paid to do homework, talk to my friends who come by, and once in a while I sell some snacks or books, haha. I praise the Lord for providing this perfect job for me. I hope you all have a blessed, restful weekend! Always feel free to drop me an email on what is going on in your life, or how I may pray for you.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

1 Peter 1:13-16

a girl from Vermont

Being born and raised in Vermont, I am girl who loves her Vermont Maple Syrup! A dear friend from home who sugars sent me to college with a pint of Vermont Maple Syrup. It has been sitting in my handy dandy frig when last night I decided I just had to open it. You know how the saying goes "A spoon full of Vermont Maple Syrup...." I miss home a lot, but the Vermont Maple Syrup literally gives me a small taste of Vermont and will carry me over until I get to go home for Thanksgiving and have some of my Dad's pancakes!

a Friday night at work

Life has been insanely crazy this week. I am feeling the weight of taking on so many extra responsibilities, but I have enjoyed each tremendously. There were a few points throughout the week that I wondered if I would make it through, but the Lord is so good and carried me through on His strength! The week is not yet over, but I have full confidence that the Lord will continue to carry me through, for He is good!

Classes are still going well, but we definitely "hit the ground running" (as one of my teachers often expresses). I have already read through an entire textbook from cover to cover. I seem to be enjoying each of my classes, though some I don't look forward to as much. But I really have nothing to complain about.

I started the new curriculum at church on Wednesday night with six children between the ages of two and five. I love those children and love teaching them from God's Word. The new curriculum is like none other I have ever done before. This curriculum does not provide the teacher with what to say, or even any "hints", they just give the Bible passage. I love that because I feel so often children's curriculum are watered down and stray from the Bible adding extra "fluff". I appreciate how this curriculum is completely biblical with no extra "fluff". One other thing they try to draw our attention to is to make sure that the main character of every story is God, as opposed to Abraham, Esther, Ruth, etc. I am also trying extra hard to get the parents involved so that they are reinforcing the lesson and scripture memory to the children throughout the week. I am excited to see what the Lord will do this year through this time with the dear children.

I have started my new job and am actually really enjoying it. Most of the time I just get to work on homework, and when people do come around, I get to chat with them a little bit. I don't feel as guilty taking the time to just talk because it isn't really homework time anyways, but work time. Tonight has been the best of them all as there has been a lot of activity which keeps things fun and moving.

Tomorrow I plan on doing some work with CEF at a children's festival painting faces. I have never done this exact type of ministry before, but am excited. I know I am painting faces and have been told that the face paintings are done with the colors of the wordless book and as you paint it on their face, you tell the story of the wordless book. My big prayer is that I have the strength to do a good job for the Lord's glory.

I find myself very tired and ready for Sunday as my day off, and of rest. Though this week has been busy it has been good. I trust you all will have a blessed weekend!

asking for prayer

I must confess that I did not know it was possible to be this stressed and overwhelmed one week into class, but alas it is possible. I took on several new responsibilities this semester, and am feeling the weight of them all now. Please pray that I be able to give each aspect of my life my best, and that none of the responsibilities are neglected.

The main stress on my mind at the current moment is my involvement with the 2s-5s children program at my church this year. Last year I was given a curriculum that told me exactly why to say, and so I could do that, adding some extra creativity to it. This year I am given just a little bit more then "here is the passage, you read the passage and bring it to the children's level". I love the idea of it coming directly from God's word, and not adding all of the extra "flaky" stuff, but it adds extra work for me as a teacher. I am also no longer just doing the story, but am in charge of occupying the children for the entire 75 minutes with a helper for crowd control. This responsibility scares me because I know the Lord will hold me accountable for what I teach these young children (James 3:1). Please pray for me as the new curriculum kicks into session tonight. I want the Lord to be glorified through this time, and for the children to accurately understand the scriptures.

introducing my roomie!

I know I already blogged today, but wanted to introduce you to my roommate. This is Cassie. She is a freshman in the Family Counseling program. So glad to have her here!

one week down

My first week is behind me and things seem to be going fairly well. I can already see the Lord using circumstanced in my life to draw me closer to Him, and I love that. A bit have changes have happened since last year, not all good, not all bad, which have taken a bit to adjust to, but God is good, and has never once left His throne. Nothing has caught Him by surprise, and He has a plan in everything.

I can't think of any class I really just dread or don't like (I can say that now, because the one I question whether I will like it, I don't have it yet, it is a Tuesday class). This semester I am taking: College Algebra, Western Civilization through the Reformation, Old Testament Survey, Testing and Curriculum, General Psychology, Apologetics 1- Origins, and Tech Resources for the 21st Century Elementary Educator (that's a mouth full). Both Testing and Curriculum and Old Testament Survey will each require a bit of long, hard work, but have no doubt that I will walk out of those classes having learned a ton.

For those of you who don't already know, I am on the mission's steering committee, which means myself along with four other students plan the Mission's Conference. It is a two year long commitment, and I am so honored to be a part of this group, and am so excited to have such a hand in this project. I already can barely wait until conference because I know some of the things we will be doing, and some of the missionaries that will be here on campus. When you think of it, pray that this conference be a life changing time for the Lord's glory.

I plan to be quite busy this year at my local church working with the children. At the time, my church down here is going through several changes, and I am praying that the Lord would use me mightily in this time. I will be doing the 2s through 5s on Wednesday nights, which includes teaching, snack, crafts and/or games, and will be given one helper for that time. I love the kiddos here at the church and look forward to working with them again. I will also be working with 4s and 5s on the fourth Sunday of every month where my responsibilities will be to have the children for an hour and a half to teach, and reiterate the lesson in several different ways. Excited to see how the Lord uses we ABC students at church this year.

Please, feel free to email at any time, and share with me what is going on in your life and how I may specifically pray for you. I pray you all have a lovely week to the glory of God this coming week, and that the remainder of your Sunday, truly is a time of rest.

welcome to room #218

Welcome! Here are just a few pictures I took of my room. I think tonight I finally got to the point that I would consider myself settled. Though there are still a few more things I would like to do when time permits. Enjoy the "tour".

This is what you see when you first walk into our room. This is my roommate, Cassie's, bed and desk area. Notice the beautiful curtains that my mom did for me. They were better yesterday. Today they fell, and I had to try to do some patchwork, but they were much better fresh after mom had done them.

Here is my area--bed, desk, shelves, etc. My sister made/quilted the pillow on my bed using scrap material that had been used on my quilt, her quilt, and Beth's quilt. It is great for school!

Here you see the closet door and a little bit of our sink. Not sure if I will keep those totes there are not. They are upstairs because nothing is allowed in storage due to cleaning, but I kind of like having a little "stand". Check back with me in a few weeks to hear what my final verdict was.

The dresser area: Cassie and I each get one half (duh).

A closer look of my desk area. Notice the lovely note my mom left me, but not just the obvious one on the whiteboard. There are two pink stickies on the tack-board. My mom has left me several stickies throughout my things with fun little notes on them.

The amazing calendar my parents gave me for Christmas. It makes the change of month even more exciting then before. She even helped me out by putting special dates on it (such as birthdays and anniversaries), but don't be offended if I still forget your special day.

The cute little fridge Daniel is letting me borrow, with some of my textbooks.

My dresser area with my Shaklee vitamins, amazing jewelry box (that Dad made me), family photo frame, and lets not forget my lint roller (the soap is my roommate's)!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures just showing you a little bit of what my life here looks like and where I enjoy spending the majority of my time.

classes start today

I am super excited to be back in the classroom learning- call me a school nerd (I am allowed to be due to my path of study). Classes start this morning at 8am, and don't end until 2:30pm this afternoon. I kind of feel like I am back in high school with that schedule, but oh well. My Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are all busy, but on Tuesdays, I only have one class. Excited to see what God does in my life this semester. I also have an goal to get through today--church! I can't wait to be back at DBC and to see all those dear people and precious children. Oh how I have missed them. I trust you all have a wonderful day, because this is indeed the day that the Lord has made!