Jeremiah 17:7- Trusting AND Hoping in the LORD

Blessed is in the man who trusts in the LORD, And who hope is the LORD.

-Jeremiah 17:7

This morning I was reflecting on Jeremiah 17:7. In particular, I was wondering why God took the time to say that the person who "trusted" AND "hoped" in the LORD would be blessed? God is a perfect speaker after all, but to write that the person who hopes and trusts in the LORD will be blessed seemed redundant to me. 

So what's the deal? Was God being redundant? Just giving a two-edged whammy for the same idea?

No.

There is, in fact, a subtle distinction between trusting and hoping in the LORD, and thankfully GOD whispered that distinction to my not-so-astute heart.  

So what'd He say?

Here's what I got:

"To “trust” is to depend on something. To “hope” in something is to have the steadfast, quiet assurance and confidence that it will deliver on your behalf. You can trust in a bridge, but never have the hope of crossing it. Likewise, you can trust in a mighty man’s sword, but never have the hope of him yielding it in your behalf. But to be able to trust and hope in Someone is to be able to say, “My confidence is both in the LORD’s capability, AND in His willingness to USE that capability to defend me when it is necessary.” That is the difference between hope and trust, and the two sides of the sword of deliverance of Your MIGHTY King."

Thank You, Jesus for being One in whom I can BOTH trust and hope.

Love,

Alexandra

"I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

Habakkuk 3:18

A Down Day & Habbakuk

Today I am having a down day.

For me, days like these are once in a blue moon, but what they lack in frequency I suspect they make up for in intensity, because despite the abundance of blessings in this girl’s poured-out, good-to-the-last-drop life, I can’t see anything but lack on these days.

Lack of love.

Lack of laughter.

Lack of meaning.

Lack of purpose.

Lack of applesauce in the applesauce container, because it somehow ended up in the cottage cheese container…..

Lack.

And the thing is, no amount of cat posters or inspirational mumbo-jumbo can change my heart on these days. Sure, tried truisms can shift my mental status, but they can’t squelch my sorrow.  My mind may buy into the “It’s not so bad” mentality, but my heart will have none of it. So, instead of wooing my woes away with a cute cat meme, I will acknowledge my bottomed-out-blues and add my name to Habbakuk’s, because in all my lack, He is still my Lord, and if I can be glad in nothing else, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

“Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

   and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

   and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

   I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

   he enables me to tread on the heights.”

- Habbakuk 3:17-19

Change

I hate change.

I have always rejoiced in routine. Even as a kid.

My favorite sweatshirt growing up was always the one I had on: a grungy 25-cent garage-sale find. Come Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I wore it. In fact, the only time I didn't wear it was laundry day, and even then the only way my well-hygiened mother got it was to rip it out of my hands.

And food? I loved nothing more than Fruity Pebbles. Did you know Fruity Pebbles can constitute a whole dietary plan? I did! Breakfast, lunch, dinner? Guess what? They're always delicious!!

So yes, I love routine. Comfort, joy, certainty- all things I find in routine.

So what is my arch enemy?

Well, that would be change.

So you see, there's this prayer I love, that's kind of all about things never changing.

         Proverbs 30:7-9.
"One thing I ask of You, LORD,
Do not refuse me before I die...
Give me neither poverty nor riches,
But give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise I may have too much and disown You
And say, 'Who is the LORD?'
Or I may become poor and steal
And so dishonor the name of my God."

Basically, the heart of this prayer is: "Don't ever change my circumstances, God. Give me hum-drum, same-old, day-to-day living that never changes, because that's all I want to handle. Not the temptations of poverty or riches, just give me the satisfaction of temptation-free living without change, whether it's a Rolls Royce or Romen Noodles. Either way, as long as it never changes, we'll be good."

But reviewing this favorite prayer of mine this morning I realized, I have been literally praying myself out of a blessing. And that blessing is quite surprising to a person like me, because that blessing is change.

Oh, how GOD grows us.....

So here's the deal for those of you who feel off Train-Obvious like myself. The man who prays to have unchanged circumstances (cough, cough, i.e. me) never grows spiritually. Why? Because he never figures out how to honor God as both a rich person and a poor person.

And that's really important for a follower of Jesus. To learn how to praise God- not just from the cushy insides of a Mercedes or from the broken, glass-filled bottom of an abandoned warehouse but from both places.

So......here's the million dollar question: How will this change my life????

Well, as of this morning I have resigned myself to no longer pray, "LORD, give me neither poverty nor riches."  Instead, I plan to pray, "LORD, give me both poverty and riches, so that in whatever state I am in, constant or changing, I will learn to honor Your Name.. Then, having had all, and having had nothing, I will always know how to count You, Jesus, as my only portion and prize no matter what my circumstances."

And though this prayer I plan to pray scares me, I will pray it without fear, fully confident in the One who enables me. This is the One through whom "I can do all things" and bear all changes: "Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13).

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the courage to embrace change. Help me not to shirk away from it, but to lean into it with the full assurance of Your guiding hand. Use change, I pray, in your lavishly merciful hand to make me grow in unexpected ways. I trust that as You do this gently, I will learn to experience greater dependence on You, and in this I will find joy because You are joy itself. 
I love You. 
~Alex

Tonight the dog ate my dinner.

Yes, the dog ate the dinner that I sat down to eat at 11:37 p.m. after a long, hard day. That same dinner that took over an hour to prepare, and yet only minutes to destroy.

You see, in the moment that grace-upon-a-couch was extended to my fine furry friend, grace fell in the form of a tantalizing pile of mozzarella cheese atop a pizza with an all-too absent master.

The crime? Frustrating.
The offense? Forgivable.

For you see in the moment that I caught my red-handed pup with marinara sauce in his beard, grace washed over me anew as I realized (still while in the midst of screaming), that I too have had my face heads-down in many pizzas that also were not my own. How humbling it is to have the moral fortitude of one's dog...

So, thank you Jesus, I say, for grace which sweetly pardons us both.

And yet while Chester and I are both forgiven, one difference shall remain....: only one of us will ever be eating on the couch again.

This one's for you, Chester. For you, for me, and for anyone else who needs some grace.

Psalm 32
Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them

The culprit. So sweet. Soooooo naughty.

 

Chester, and the least expected of ways...

Everybody has heard of "that" dog.

Yes, you know the one I'm talking about: the dog who chews on everything, breaks well-known (and well-taught rules), and generally drives its owner bezerk.

Well, that dog???

That's my dog.

Chester

Don't get me wrong: Chester is not a bad dog. Sure, he chews with the tenacity of a Rottweiler and runs like Lassie on steroids in the sweet moments he escapes his leash, but he also has moments of greatness. Just last week my heart beamed proud as Chester stayed in a long-down with the most tempting of treats literally at the tip of his little black nose, and never once did he even lick it.

Brilliant? Yes. But Chester and I have worked long and hard to come to this point of most-of-the-time obedience. Yes, it's been a long road, but in the words of our vet "Chester has grown up into a nice young man," despite his wild-child beginnings.

But even "nice young men" have their days, don't they?????

Enter flashback: Yesterday, Chester and I were cuddling on the couch circa our normal routine. Wrapped in a blanket, eating lunch, Chester nuzzled into my side.

Picture? Dog owner bliss.

So, there I was, immensely enjoying this cozy companion of mine, until I look over at him, and what should my cozy companion be doing???

Peeing.  All over the couch.

Now this is the point when some people, some better-than-me-saints, would've reacted with holy harmony and patience, but not me. Nope. At the top of my lungs I screamed, "JESUS, HE'S PEEING ALL OVER THE COUCH!" And don't you know in my unholiest of moments, all of Heaven had to be dying of laugher?  Because, you see, only 48 hours before, God had encouraged me to take all of my Chester-woes to Him, and I prayed with all tenacity that He would help me do just that.

So, it may have been at the top of my lungs, and it may have even involved the word "pee" more than once, but God did answer my prayer for help, even if it was in the least expected of ways...

Father, thank you for loving me on even my craziest days with the craziest of dogs. I thank you for Chester, my good gift from You, and ask that You would help me love him in a way that honors You.

I love you, Jesus.
~Alex

End of the Year Testing Printables

Yowsers.

So y'all... Can I just take a moment to tell you how BUSY my life has been for the past two weeks??? AYE-YI-YI!!!! Seriously, there has been nary a moment to fix my mascara much less log into Blogger as of late.  But, I am very pleased to announce the end of the madness because... let's face it- life without internet-laden free time is

HOR.EN.DOUS.

And that is why I am back.

Backety-back-back-back and oh-so-excited!

Well, wanna know what I've been up to while I've been gone?

I have been testing the willies out of nineteen of my favorite First Grade friends.  DIBELs, sight words, math, you name it, they've done it. And if they haven't done it, they probably should have. 

Of course having all of this testing to do, I was naturally faced with the age-old teaching dilemma of what to do with the nineteen students I wasn't testing while still managing to maintain a silent classroom for the one student I was testing.

Answer?

I used Cut and Paste friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  These little buddies occupy AND assess. 

TOTAL. BONUS.

 I use them to assess my Firsties knowledge of various components of language (syllables, parts of speech, etc.) while I get my testing done. Keeps the kids occupied, gives evidence of learning, and gives me a product to send home for parents to enjoy and admire (refridgerator work, anyone?) 

These buddies aren't much, but having TOTALLY saved my life in the past two weeks, I just knew I had to share them. (And don't mind my tacky Easter-themed syllable sort. What can I say? Giant chocolate-dispensing rabbits just gets me in the mood to decorate syllable sorts.)

Want your own cut and paste friends?

Click any picture preview to download.

Compound Word Sleuth 

Contraction mania!

Easter Syllable Sort

Homophone

Match-Up

Synonym

Match-Up

Verb and

Noun Town

Wishing you a marvelous Monday!

Easter Workshop!

Alright, y'all. Want to hear something that is sooooooooooooooooo not funny?!?!?!?!!

Here it is. And, you can't laugh:

There is a mouse LIVING in my classroom. 

TOTAL EEK, right?!?!?!

And, you'll never guess when charming said-mouse chose to make his first grand appearance. SMACK-DAB in  the middle of a parent-teacher conference.

I. could've. died. 

Life lesson learned? It's hard to appear professional when standing on a table in the middle of a parent teacher conference yelling, "Mouse, mouse" to everyone you see. Let's face it: these are just not the kinds of situations that professionalism conferences cover, people.

With that being said, there have been two mouse sightings since the aforementioned incident on Friday. Do you think it would be wrong to call a Code Red the next time I see my fuzzy little friend? Because I'm pretty sure he is an unwelcome intruder and I for one want to see him removed from the building.  IN HANDCUFFS.

But, seriously, that would be extremely unprofessional, which is why I am just going to call an exterminator. That, or a cardiologist. Because let me tell you, I will never stop having a heart attack at the sight of my newest little class pet until he is safely and soundly relocated... in Saudi Arabia.

Whew... Did I mention that it's Monday???

Well, with all of the nature moving into my classroom last week I just had to take a trip to the Dollar Tree to cheer myself up.  Normally shop therapy isn't my thing but rodents must bring it out in me....

Here's what I found:

Exhibit A: Darling Easter containers. These little buddies were PERFECT for sentence scrambles. I filled each little container I had with the words for a sentence. Then, my kiddos unscrambled the words to form a sentence which they wrote on their recording sheet (see download below). Super simple, cost $2, the kids love it, and the containers are precious. SOLD! 

April Sentence Scramble

Recording Sheet

(Click any picture preview below to download the entire file!)

Exhibit B: Read Around the Room Easter Egg Pointers! AHHHHHH!

LOVE them!!!!!


Any mouse extermination advice? Y'all gave me the *greatest* ideas for an end-of-the-year bash so I know you must be mad mouse exterminating geniuses, too.

Wishing you a mouse-free classroom full of learning and fun!!!!!


Word Work Fun

Alright, y'all, so want to see one of my fav, fav, favorite children's books of all time?!?!?!?!!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, by Karen Beaumont. 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE IT!!!!!!

Seriously,  it's hard to say who gets more excited about reading this book: the Firsties or me... HA!

With that being said, it's a classroom favorite so I just had to incorporate it into our workshop. Here's how:

First, I had my kiddos read the book in pairs. Then they come picked up this little rhyming activity to complete with their partner. The low down?  This activity is just a variation of concentration that uses rhyming words from the book. To play, kiddos flip over two cards at a time, read the words on the cards, and decide if they rhyme. If they do, the kiddo keeps the pair of cards. If the words on the cards don't rhyme,the cards get turned back over and it's the next kiddo's turn. After all of the cards have been picked up, the friend with the most cards wins.  They ADORE this activity.  Want a copy of your own? Click on any picture preview to download the file.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More

A Rhyming Activity

(Click on any picture preview to download the entire file!)

And what workshop activity wouldn't be complete without a Show What You Know?  Hence this little buddy.   I use him to make sure all of my Firsties REALLY know how to read the concentration words and identify the rhymes.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More

A Show What You Know Activity

(Click on the picture preview to download the file!)

Have a spectacular weekend, Y'all, and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL spring weather!!!!

Vowel Sort

Hey there y'all, and happy weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, can I share some happy news?

I JUST woke up and it's 10:30 A.M.  And if that isn't wowie wow wow, I don't know what is. AMAZING.  Why is it amazing, you ask? Because working for the  man has completely destroyed my ability to sleep in on the weekends. SO SAD.  Seriously, my crazy brain gets me up at the ripe old time of 5:30 AM every single Saturday. It is devastating.  It is as though my brain just cannot understand the concept of weekends.  But, not today!!!!!!  Good job, brain!!!!!!  I'll be sending some positive, reinforcing thoughts your way :)

In other news, our district just announced our last day of school  for this year: May 24th.  Um.... excuse me?  May 24th??? Seriously?!?!?!?!?!   I practically cried. That is waaaaaaaay to early, and I am definitely not ready to bid my babies goodbye.  <<<complete sadness>>>

Moral of the story? I need to start working on our First Grade farewell tado. So, I'm wondering: how do y'all celebrate the end of the school year with your kiddos?  I want this party to be SPECTACULAR because not only does it celebrate the kiddos' last year of First Grade (or so I hope... ha!),  it's also celebrating their last year at our school (since our building is closing). So, any ideas?  I'm drawing a blank and I would LOVE your help.

Alright, well with over two weeks out of the classroom my teacher wheels are finally turning again. Took forever but ya'know what finally inspired me?  The free digs at Lettering Delights.  I'm sure I was the last person in the world to hear about the free cuteness, but can I gush anyway?  ADORABLE!!!!!!!! You MUST go!!!!!!  And if my gushing isn't enough to convince you to go, check out this phonemic awareness/sound discrimination Long Vowel Sort that I made especially for YOU.  The precious clip art is all FREE from Lettering Delights.  So, moral of the story?  Go get you some free clip art cuteness.

Enjoy the downloads!!!!!

By Gum!

A Long Vowel Sort

(Click any picture preview to download the entire file)

 By Gum!

A Show What You Know Cut & Paste Activity

(Click any picture preview to download the entire file)

  

Giveaway Results & NSF Giveaway Info!

Alright, y'all. It's the moment we've been waiting for all week (ha! or me at the least)!
<drum roll, please>

And if you didn't win, don't feel too sad because this little giveaway has gotten me ADDICTED to all things giveaway. Seriously,  I have a feeling that I will be doing TONS of these guys in the future ;)

Speaking of giveaways, have y'all heard about the NSF's Scrub Club giveaway? It is FABULOUS.  Snap a photo of your kiddos with shiny clean hands and you can enter the Scrub Club Clean Hands Giveaway to win one of five $100.00 gift cards.  One picture for a chance to win $100 bucks?!?!?!? I am all over that!!!!! And, did I mention that the Scrub Club website is ADORABLE.  So perfect for teaching all about germs.  Want to enter??????? Click here.

Alrighty, so I'm always a little bit on the fence about sharing personal info for the whole world to read (unless of course it's my love for Star Trek. Classy, right????), but for once I'm going to make a special exception and share something close to my own little heart. Enter MAYO CLINIC, ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA.  Y'all, I have been up here in the Northland for the past week on "vacation" to be treated for a bleeding disorder and, let me tell you, the doctors here are INCREDIBLE.  While I originally planned on keeping this little "vacation hot spot" a secret (because sharing medical info on the WWW seems a little creepy), I just knew that I was called to share what an awesome place Mayo is with you fabulous people after experiencing the amazing medical care they provide.  So, if you or anyone you love ever needs medical attention (which I pray never happens), head up on north. You may get snowed on, but I promise you that the medical treatment  and tax free clothes at the Mall of America will make the trip well worth your while. Moral of the story? Minnesota  rocks.

So, wanna know what I'm doing tomorrow? Driving back to reality, that's what. After two weeks of Spring Break and my little "vacation,"  I am soooooooo excited to return to my classroom, sleep in my own bed, stop smelling like a suitcase, and post some new freebies for y'all to use in the classroom!!!!!!!  Vacation= Over. We'll just see if I ever get back to cookin'.  A week and a half of eating out can really spoil a girl. But don't worry, Mr. Handsome. I will feed you even if I don't resume cooking. It just might require the help of my new best friend, Carry Out.

Hope you are having a FANTASTIC Wednesday, Y'all!

Giveaway!!!!

Alright, Y'all. So  I think it's high time I had my first giveaway.  Sooooo overdue!!!!  And let me tell you....

I. Am. Excited!!!!!!

Seriously, if my husband has to hear about this giveaway one more time, I think he will go CRAZY.

So, what am I giving away? A $20 gift certificate to the most DARLING clipart website in the world: www.scrappindoodles.com.  Y'all, I get all of my clipart there and I LOVE IT!

Want to win???  Here's how:

1. Become a follower of my blog and leave a post telling me you did so. If you're already a follower, leave me a post letting me know you already follow.

2. Want a bonus entry? Link to this post or stick my button somewhere on your blog.  Leave me a link to your post or my button and you'll have 2 entries.

3. Finally, check back in a week.  I'll announce the winner of the giveaway on Wednesday, March 23rd.

Wishing you a FABULOUS day!!!!!!!!

Reading Riddle Game

Alright Y'all, so I gotta tell you, my stomach is in some SERIOUS knots.  ELL endorsement test in T minus 3 hours.

YIKES!!!!!!!!

I sooooooo  cannot wait to have it over with. A chocolate milkshake will definitely be in order to celebrate. And then.... it's Spring Break time!!!!!!!!!!!! Heading with Mr. Handsome to the family farm, and then we're off to good ol' Minnesota.  (Going someplace even colder than Kansas for Spring Break??????  AHHHH!!!!! So unjust......)

But, we are going to have a FABULOUS time.  After all, who doesn't love Minnesota? Problem is,  we have to figure out what all there is to do up there. Suggestions?!?  I'd love to hear them!!!! We're going to be in Rochester, but a weekend trip to Minneapolis will probably be in order. I would LOVE to hear about your favorite places to shop at the Mall of America. The tax free clothes are calling me.... <smile>

But, I digress. Want a  Reading Riddle Game.  Here it is. And, y'all  I had SOOOO much fun making this!!!!!!!  Just grab some game pieces (My kiddos use little toy cars), a dice, print the gameboard,   print the playing cards, and you're in business!! Kids just roll the dice, move their little car, and have a friend draw a playing card to read them a riddle. The riddle is a question and the answer has a short or long vowel sound in it.  If they get the answer to the riddle correct, they can keep their car where it is. If not their car has to go back to where it came from.  <so sad>

Super simple, the kids love it, and it gets all my kiddos involved in some higher order thinking.  

LOVE IT.  

Hope it helps you and your Firsties!!!!!

honk, honk: a riddle game

 (Click on any picture preview to download the file)

honk, honk: the game board  

 (Click on any picture preview to download the file)

Have a SUPER weekend, Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You deserve it!!!!!!!!!

Nutrition

Mercy! It has been a CRAZY week!!!!!! (A good week, but crazy!!!!...)  Can I hear a serious ‘Hallelujah!” for Spring Break?!?!?  I don’t know about y’all, but I cannot wait to get in some jammie time…. maybe watch a little Star Trek, read my Bible…. It’s going to be FAB-U-LOUS!

So, I know I posted a nutrition book earlier this year, but I wanted to post a few nutrition “extras” because I have nutrition on the brain.  (We're a Title school and healthy habits are not always discussed in the kiddo’s homes so I teach nutrition ALL YEAR. Can you say OBESSESED?!?!) 

With that said, here are a couple of things I use in my classroom. 

I ALWAYS have the kids practice sorting foods into the food groups. Before giving my students a Food Group Food Sort to complete independently, we sort food on the Food Pyramid taped to my floor.

The Taped Food Pyramid. This is the first year I've used the new pyramid. At first I was a skeptic, but now I secretly love it.



Food pyramid labels.

 The kids LOVE this. As for what we sort... I just bring in some old empty (but cleaned!) boxes and cans from home. I secretly call it my "Sort the Trash" activity. HA!

The foods I use. (I.E. My trash)

Each child gets to pick one item to put on the food pyramid. Before placing it in its food group, they have to explain why that food belongs to that food group.



After we sort the foods as a group, the kids complete this Food Group Food Sort independently.

Food group food sort

 

Then, once we finish our “Nutrition Unit”, we revisit nutrition every time we do Calendar by discussing the students’ lunch options for the day. We discuss each food available for purchase and what food group that food would be a part of.  The kids think it’s GREAT. We use magnetic pictures of the food options to create a “Healthy Tray” with many different food groups and healthy items that the kids can use as a model when they load up their tray at lunch.

Wishing You a Happy and Healthy Spring Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Thiessen

Quick Spring Projects!

Hey there, Y'all!

So, let me tell you, it has been MAJOR crunch time in my classroom this week  to get my room decorated for Spring!!!  Aside from wanting to get rid of all of the snowmen and penguins for my own personal sanity, I HAD to get some Spring up on the walls because I have to be gone the week after Spring Break.

MAJOR YUCK.

But, get this. That's not even the worst part!!!! The worst part is, as soon as I come back, we have conferences.  And, let's face it, having conferences surrounded by snowmen IN APRIL is just a little bit ridiculous.

Enter all projects fast, thrifty, and Springy. Here's what we've been up to this week:

Flower Fact Families

          

So, for this little project the kids cut-out pre-made templates that I had photocopied on construction paper. Then, they slapped together a flower. DARLING. Educational touch???? The kiddos wrote fact families on their flowers. 20 minutes, the kids LOVED it, and they got in some fact family review. So worth the time!  

Bumblebee, Bumblebee

A Poem By Me



Click the pic to download the bumblebee pattern.



So, I have to tell you that this is has been my favorite Spring project BY FAR! 

Lately we have been talking a lot about "juicy" words.

Enter Bumblebee List Poem. 

To begin, I had the kiddos close their eyes and visualize a bee flying around outside. Then, they opened their eyes and we brainstormed juicy words that described what the bee was up to: buzzing, swooping, soaring, stinging, pollinating, etc. All things bees.  After brain-storming, the kiddos went back to their desks, put this precious bumble bee together, and wrote their very own list poems. Simple, cute, and they LOVED IT!

Rain, Rain, Go Away:

A Long 'A' Sort

So, this little buddy was morning work.  Super easy to put together and it didn't take the kiddos more than 20 minutes to do themselves.  The low-down?  Each kiddo gets a page of raindrops. I gave my low kiddos raindrops that already had words printed on them.  Then, they had to read the word on each raindrop and decide if it had the long A sound or if it didn't. If it did, they cut out the raindrop and glued it to their umbrella page.  As for my higher kiddos?  They got a page of blank raindrops and had to write their own long 'A' words. And did I mention that theirs turned out waaaaaay cuter than mine? A yellow umbrella with orange polka dots?  What was I thinking?!?!?!

So....I have to know. What are you doing to cover your walls with Spring this year??????

Have a FABULOUS Tuesday!!!!!