What's in a home?

Day 2
 Home is a special word that conveys more than walls and a roof. A home is where your heart gets filled. Home is where you find love and laughter. You can be yourself at home, and the people there love you regardless. At home you can lift and strengthen others, or be lifted and strengthened yourself. Home smells like baked goodness. Home can be more than one place, and with multiple people. What matters is the feeling there. Today I am thankful for home, and more specifically, the place where I come from. It's always so nice to get to spend some time at home!

Cheerleaders

November has descended upon us, and with it comes one of my favorite traditions:30 Days of THANKSgiving. I really enjoy the opportunity to really think about what I am grateful for, and to share it with you!

Day 1
I am thankful today for my cheerleaders. I participated in a 5k race this morning and I had the three cutest little boys there to cheer me on.  They came complete with hugs and signs that said "Go! Nanny! Go!" It was so cute and sweet to see them there cheering me on at the finish. The best part was watching Cole chase down his dropped sign. It was evident that he took his sign holding job quite seriously. I am grateful to have a family who are always there to support me and cheer me on.

A Letter to My Students

Dear Chickadees,

 I have had the most amazing honor given to me this past year: the chance to be your teacher. As I accepted the position my mind began to fill with the things that I would teach you, and I began to plan and prepare. I came to the school and saw the programs that were in place to aid in your education, and I worked those into my plans as well. I had dreams of the places we would go, the mountains we would climb, the dragons we would slay, the unconquerable feats we would conquer, and I would be there as your fearless  teacher. During the course of our adventures I quickly came to realize that more than me being your teacher, you were mine.

From the moment we first met you have inspired me. Life has dealt you some heavy blows, but every day you work through them and you don’t let life put limits on you. You have willingly followed where my dreams have taken us, and on more than one occasion your dreams have led the way. Together we have accomplished so many great things!

As my students you have given so much to me, the greatest of which is the heart of a teacher. I thought I knew what it meant to be a teacher when I walked through the school doors, but now after a year with you I am beginning to see and understand what I didn’t know before. Being a teacher is more than using the skills they taught me in my college classes. It’s more than having a lesson plan, and more than class management. Being a teacher is knowing your students and what they need. It is loving your students in a way that only a teacher can. It is celebrating the successes with you, big and small. It is working through the frustrations of learning together. It is learning and growing together. Being a teacher is being able to make mistakes and laugh at myself. The university may have given me a piece of paper stating that I am a teacher, but you made me a teacher. 

As the first class of my career you will forever hold a special place in my heart. I will not forget the lessons you have taught me, and I consider myself lucky that I get to continue to learn with you and from you next year.

Until August,

Your Teacher

Of Elephants, Tigers, and Bulldogs

Day 29
There are experiences in life that make or break us, define and refine us. These experiences make up so much of who we are, and why. One of those experiences in my life was the opportunity that I had to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Alabama Birmingham Mission. This was one of the best times of my life. While in Alabama I fell in love with a land, people, mad way of life that still feels like home to me.  While in Alabama and Mississippi I was refined and defined.
I learned so much about spirituality while in the South. The people on the South are a God-fearing and God loving people who willingly and actively devote their lives to The Lord. Everyday. It doesn't matter if they are on a fire truck, teaching a class, running a company or staying home with their children, they let the influence of God be part if everything that they do. From these Southerners I learned what it truly means to be a Christian. Being a true Christian is more about how you live your life than anything else. I learned that loving God and doing His will takes practice. We are not perfect here in this life, and God knows it. He sent us here to practice and to walk his way. Occasionally we make mistakes and lose our way, but a s part of the practice, our Leader is always there to guide and coach us back to His loving arms.
I learned what it means to be happy in ways that I could never have imagined before. I learned that happiness comes through friends, random strangers, acts of kindness, and  many other ways. I learned that happiness can be sweat marks on your back at the end of a long day. It can be dancing in the rain because you are so excited about life decisions that someone is making. It can be finding a wreath on your door at Christmas. Happiness is what you make it, and you can find it in so many ways.
While in the South I learned that love has many languages, and with a little time and lots of prayer, our hearts can learn to speak those languages. Some of the best and most spiritual experiences that I had in the South were with a man who was unable to speak. Though he was unable to verbally share his thought, his spirit spoke. Plumes to my heart. This was one source of happiness that I found.
I learned that there two important questions to ask someone the first time you meet them: what church do they go to, and who is their team. The answers to both of these questions can make or break a friendship. I will never forget the time that my new companion tried to show if her knowledge of the correct answer to the team question by reciting teams and their mascots: the Alabama Tigers and Auburn Elephants. (I also learned about true love when this family didn't kick us out of their home!) after checking to ensure that their neighbors hadn't heard this blasphemy, the family kindly corrected my companion: Alabama Elephants (Roll Tide!) and Auburn Tigers (War Eagle!)
I learned who I am at heart- a girl who loves the country, true barbecue, the South, her momma and daddy, God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I am a girl who loves those around her. My heart is forever torn between two places, Utah and the South, but that's ok. I like it that way.
I have been forever changed, for the better, by my mission and the people I was blessed to be able to meet! I love you all!

A few lines that may get me in trouble:

If you wanna get to heaven where the streets are gold
you've gotta know the password which is Roll Tide Roll!
But you can't get to heaven in a red canoe because God's favorite colors are Orange and Blue!
War Eagle! Roll Tide! War Eagle! Roll Tide!

The Ties that Bind

Day 28
Today, like many, I am thankful for my family. They have each been featured on their own day, but today I need to express my thankfulness to them collectively. I am who I am today because of my family. They have always been my safe harbor, my refuge, my strength when I am weak, my rock to stand on, and on occasion, the cannon to shoot me to where I needed to be. I have learned so many life lessons from my family, and they have each shaped and molded me in some way.
I am thankful for my extended family as well. I am blessed to have such a large extended family, and though we don't always see one another, we're always there for each other. I love that one of the highlights of my year is when Uncle Jerry visits from Alaska. I love that my favorite traditions and memories are centered on my extended family. To each member of my extended family, thank you for your love and support.
The thing that I am most thankful for in regards to my family is the knowledge that they are mine forever. I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that we will all be together in the next life. This is God's plan for all families, and I know that you can also be with your family forever. This is the greatest blessing in my life-this knowledge of eternal families.
"We may not have it all together, but together we have it all," is a fitting quote. Each member of my family adds a piece to the puzzle to make a beautiful whole. Here's a shout out to the best family, my family. I love you guys so much!!!

Bookworms

Day 27
Today I am thankful for books and reading. I have had a couple of conversations about reading with different people this week and it has made me even more thankful for this favorite past-time of mine. I love getting lost in a story, all wrapped up with the characters and their emotions. Many times I have stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading a book because I was going to "read just one more chapter..." This has been a lifelong love of mine: I remember waking up early on Saturday mornings to read my latest Babysitter's Little Sister book. Even now, when presented with an opportunity to read or do just about anything else, I will choose to read. I have been to so many places through books. I have fallen in love with so many different men, had my heart broken by many of those same men, and been swept off my feet. I have been so mad at characters and plot twists, almost feeling as though they were real and really taking place in my life.Reading is a great adventure. There's nothing better than the butterflies I get in my stomach as I turn to the first chapter of a new book. On the other hand, there is nothing quite like the feeling of being lost after finishing an exceptionally good book. Series are even harder on the soul to finish!
I am thankful for friends who love to read and will talk literature with me. I am thankful for friends who like to read and will talk literature with me. I am thankful for friends who don't like to read-we don't usually talk literature, but that's ok too! I love getting to be a teacher and talk books with my students. I love sharing my favorite books with people, in hopes that they will love the book as much as I did.
I'm going to borrow an idea from my mom and give a shout-out to those who taught me how to read. Though I would like to argue that I was born knowing how to read, I know that a lot of time and patience went into this task. Thank you to each person who brought books and reading into my life and helped to instill the bookworm in my heart.

Spraying for Rodents

Day 26
Today I am thankful for a two-day work week. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but I also love breaks! I'm also thankful that my principal lied to us all today and announced that we had to leave the building by 3:15 because they were spraying chemicals for rodents. Being new I believed it, so I hurriedly packed everything up. Then I realized that his message was code for "Go home, it's Thanksgiving break!" Once I realized that I found myself with some time to do the things that don't usually get done on a regular day: I sanitized all of the desks and tables in my room, found my desk (it's been buried for a while, and today my aide asked if a paper was in "this pile") changed my calendars over, straightened the desks, combined hand sanitizer bottles, and a few other odds and ends. I may have brought home a boat-load of homework, but at least my room is organized and clean! And it's all because of a tall tale about spraying for rodents! So far this break has been off to a great start, for which I am thankful!