Week 3....not pinterest but for your interest

Ok so last week I took Mr. MC on a surprise trip to Greenville to see the Pitts family! We had a blast exploring Simpsonville and Greenville. I dropped Lily off at the parentals, also known as Grandma and Grandpa.

We started the trip going to a place called Funnelicous. I was a little disappointed, ok a lot disappointed, because I really wanted to try their fried mac n cheese and fried mashed potato balls and they were all out! Kuddos to them though for not selling a poor product. They said they just weren't sticking together right and something about ingredients and shipping so they should be back on Monday.

Alas, we left on Sunday so we'll just have to go again! I got a funnel cake but Reed said the classic without all the candy on top is better! My favorite was the potato chip fries. You can pick your seasoning too! It's pretty much pick what you want and they'll make it. If anyone has ever had the fried mac 'n cheese and/or potato, let me know!

The Pitts family is awesome and we just love them! Meg has a blog and store so please check it out!

After church and nap time on Sunday, yes we all tried to nap, we walked to the ice cream store! Reed got a huge Sundae and I got a kids chocolate cone dipped in chocolate! I had a really hard time eating it and got it everywhere but it sure tasted good! Reed finished his ginormous bowl before me! The little ones would also highly recommend the purple and orange smoothie!!

So instead of a pinterest meal, here's some ideas for summer fun travels!

Fourth of July (Week 2 attempt, Trial 2, Holiday)

For the week of July 4th, I attempted a sweet treat! Find it here and see how mine compare! Was that a rhyme? Note, this link has some other cute ideas and of course pinterest is full of them if you just search. I feel like the pictures online looked better and may have tasted better than mine but it turned out ok. At first I wasn't too proud but they were eatable! I was afraid there wouldn't be enough so I attempted decorating some quick 'just add butter and oil' sugar cookies and let's just say the parentals said I shouldn't bring them to the party. They kind of looked like those pinterest fail pictures you see online. I didn't want to take pictures of them but they did bring about a good laugh!

Speaking of laughter I laughed until I cried while we played Uno with our long time family friends! God knows just what we need, praise the Lord! Oh and we also watched the hot dog eating competition AFTER dinner. Um le'ts just say I will probably never compete in one of those. Check out the link!

Beware, I had a lot of red velvet cake left overs. Mom suggested you make parfaits with them!! Great idea! I also couldn't find blue velvet cake mix so I just made it out of one regular red velvet cake mix. I probably should have purchased two boxes and it would have yielded more! It was a fun activity though! Thanks to the roommate who had star cookie cutters of varying sizes (K4 teacher for the win!!). I have to add that the icing was super easy and quite delicious! I was trying to transfer it and definitely dropped the big scoop on the counter-whoops! I salvaged what I could though, which is why I needed to make the sugar cookies because I had so much icing left over!

Hahahahaha I am not schooled in cookie decorating or maybe so many others would school me in it! Can I just say for a minute too that I am so sad that the icing and food coloring most readily available seems to be the gel kind? Gels are not easy to work with. Maybe I just got distracted by the fact that the gel icing had sparkles in it. I do know though that the old liquid food coloring is really tricky to find these days! Ok venting over but really if you know a local convenient store that sells the old liquid food coloring let me know! My mom and I figured it out once where to find it but it's tricky!

Trial 1-Parentals taste CrockPot Lasagna and Cookies

Yesterday the parentals came over for dinner! I jazzed the place up with some flowers and made a crock pot lasagna (from pinterest of course!) The recipe was SO easy! Check it out here!

I made a few adjustments: I had left over spaghetti sauce in the freezer so I pulled that out to save the making of the sauce step. I tried to cut the portions in half but kinda guessed on the cheeses. I gave it a good 4-5 layers? Gluten Free noodles for the win too just for my momma! Had trouble finding those at Walmart and Publix so I ended up at a local health food store in the area. Maybe I would have more success not on a Saturday (the seemingly most shopped grocery day of the week).

I even made a dessert: white chocolate chip macadmia nut cookies. Yes, it's macadamIA not macadmion like I thought. My parents had gotten me some Hawaiian macadamia nuts when they went to celebrate my mom's big birthday. My daddy fulfilled a childhood and life long dream of hers to visit the islands! This recipe I found was delicious! It was very easy and I love that both recipes didn't require a ton of ingredients. I had most of them already so didn't have to buy too much! I did leave out the nuts for the first batch just for the boyfriend (he doesn't like nuts so I eat them instead because I certainly LOVE them!!)

The boyfriend couldn't believe I made them, they were that delightful! Let's just say that I had trouble making brownies when he was around and we were first dating so now he doubts my skill!

The parentals said both recipes were pinterest successes and even wanted to come try my recipes every week!

Note: the bananas in the pic are to encourage me to keep making my smoothies! No pics of the lasagna...it looked a little crispy and like what you'd imagine. Not the most attractive dish in the world but certainly tasty, quick and easy!!!

Still gotta look for some doggie articles like maybe about how to train dogs to be quiet when they shouldn't be barking. I've tried the 'leave it' command and some other things but it's getting tricky!

Well what do you think, pinterest success or fail???

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back! My oh my as usual it has indeed been ages since I have posted!

If you are new here or haven't been in a while (my apologies for not updating) my name is Emily and I'm a 20something (yes, I've finally reached that point where it may not be cool to share my age anymore and besides it's the internet! I don't want scary people knowing my age!) teacher going into my 3rd year! They say the first is worst, second is best, and well 3rd? I don't remember the saying but I do know that most people say if you can make it to your 3rd year, you'll decide if teaching is really for you or not!

Well, there are no words to describe these last two year except that there were many times I considered throwing in the towel but by God's grace He sustained me! I made mistakes but He always helped me pick myself up (after the bucket loads of tears because let's face it, I'm a people pleaser and perfectionist!!)

So now I turn to a new age group....after teaching fourth grade for two years, I'm going to tackle those little bitties...dun dun dun.....K5 and I am SO excited! Also praying for God's help and continual guidance.

Now that you know a little bit about me, (oh ya I'm also a sister to my all time favorite Portlanders Josh and Alli, a daughter to the best parents ever, a mom to a bunch of kiddos and an adopted pup, and a girlfriend who loves to have fun with her man!)

Who's Lily? Lily is my almost-one-year old baby! She's a mutt, but the most friendly, silly, and crazy girl out there! She loves to run, walk, be outside, chase the birds and play with her toys (which mostly means pulling out all the stuffing, eating as much as possible, and destroying it until mommy throws it away). Lily likes bones too! She's my side kick and my blessing from the Lord!

*photo credit: daddy

Side note about the Portanders-Alli is an amazing florist and Josh is an amazing photographer! God gifted them in the arts and if you ever need either of those things you should check them out!

Ok now you know what we are up to but do you really?????

Why all the 'welcome back' shenanigans? Since I am a teacher on summer break, I've decided one of the things I'll add to my list of 'things-to-do-that-I-really-hope-get-done-this-summer' is work on improving and actually posting to my blog! After spending an hour on pinterest I figured out what I should do! This will be all about school, Lily (dogs), and food....which is pretty much my life right now. Well I also help out with the youth group and they may make an appearance on here, but for now we'll leave them in our hearts and minds. Back to the whole teacher on summer break thing. It's funny we so long for a break and after about a week, if we aren't working our second job, soaking up some sun at the beach, or sleeping....we kinda don't know what to do with ourselves. Relax? What's that? How do you do that? I need to be prepping for next year!!! Might I add one little thing, it's ok to rest. In fact it's encouraged by the greatest teacher of all (Matthew 11:28 and more!)!

Why am I changing you ask? Well I'm ready for fresh starts. I love fresh starts (praise the Lord I serve the King of all Kings who's all about fresh starts, 2 Corinthians 5:17!) Plus I just feel like Facebook is getting old. For that matter, blogs may be too but I still like it and hey, maybe you do too! Well I hope you do if you are still reading this! I kind of think I might attempt Twitter and Instagram and do away with facebook all together. I've been saying that for years now and yet I still keep it. I do love the connections to people far and wide but I spend WAY too much time on there. I mean it! So perhaps this will give me a goal and a new outlet! I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) on the other media worlds I enter.

So back to the real goal-post about K5 and teaching, food, and dogs. I might even attempt a pinterest food thing, meal, dessert, smoothie or something a week and I'll let you know how it goes! You can decide: success or fail? I'd love to hear your feedback! I'll try to post articles related to teaching and doggies too! I can use all the help I can get about training my sweet Lily! We need to go back to puppy training class, or rather, I need to go back ;)

Oh and did I add, I'm already off to a great start! I got an awesome blender for my 2- th birthday! (And you thought I'd give my age away!) I just love it and made a blueberry, strawberry, banana smoothie! It was a great summer treat! Check out the recipe here! It was from pinterest to boot!

I also must say I'm SO excited about World Cup-USA World Cup Fever Baby! Can't believe I missed the first game but I saw the first goal and listened to the first bit on the radio!

Now off to dinner and youth group I go!

Real Life

Great day! I cannot believe I have not posted since the beginning of the school year and now it is 2014! I have begun reading articles online and blogs again and find them quite intriguing. Then it makes me want to write but I have so many thoughts I'm not sure where to begin and what to share with the big world wide web!

I keep coming back to thought that this is 'real life'. I can no longer claim the I'm-in-school stresses or I'm a teenager-with-raging-hormone stresses. Though as a girl, I guess I always have the hormone excuse ;). It is just that though, an excuse. I've come to realize that this is just life. In all its goodness and hardships. However, I praise the Lord that God is always there! He knows exactly what we need, when we need it. He humbles me so that I can bring Him glory!

2013 was a difficult year. I heard that from many. As a second year teacher, I thought I knew what I was doing and was quickly reminded that I have just begun. As my mom often tells me, 'put your big girl pants on'. Well, I've had to do that a lot lately and that's not a bad thing; just have to remind myself of that.

2013 was a lovely year as well. I met my now boyfriend of 10 months (I do believe that may be a record!) and adopted a puppy! I prayed a lot and cried a lot (I'm a girl, I know!). My mom celebrated her 50th birthday and we tried Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving (we decided not to do that again :p ). I got to meet 17 new fourth graders! Participated in two weddings and joined a ladies small group. Survived my first official year of teaching. Spent two weeks in Oregon. How could I forget the beginning of 2014? I moved into my first apartment and was blessed by an incredible friend, roommate, and coworker.

Because I'm sinful and tend to dwell on the difficulties rather than joys, I heard the song, "Cry On My Shoulder" and felt like that summed up the year and that's ok. It's ok to be sad but I always have to remind myself, rather God reminds me, to find the joy in the morning. In the real life, look for the joy. It might look a little different than the fairy tales, don't get me wrong, there's room and time for those too, but it's there!

It's in holding a puppy that you might adopt.

It's in the chapel service when a fourth grader sings his heart out in complete worship and you wonder if his peer will become a pastor some day.

It's in the little girl who reminds her friend that "God is NOT dead and is surely alive" like the song they learned in music class.

It's in the sunshine and the rain.

It's being held and reminded of truth after a bad day.

It's in the one email of twenty that says thank you for what you are doing, God is using you.

It's in the phone call from your brother who lives on the West Coast or the text from your Sister-in-Law.

It's in the silly string fight you have with your boyfriend.

It's in the prayer of a small group of ladies seeking the Lord's counsel.

It's when a coworker asks if you're ok knowing you are on the verge of breaking.

It's when you squeal over the phone over an engagement.

It's watching a groom anticipate holding his bride's hand after her walk down the aisle.

It's watching a bride worship the Lord. 

It's when a community reminds a 14 year old that she's in the Lord's hands as she fights cancer.

It's raising exactly the right amount to buy dinner for a suffering family.

It's when a church family tells the cashier to add my lunch to their bill.

It's in eating a bowl of ice cream.

It's "getting coffee" with a friend.

It's over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house you go.

It's completing a corn maze with the youth group. 

It's reading a verse of the Bible.

It's real life.


So in place of a recap of 2013, maybe you'd like to look for the joy as well....

Everyone has started resolutions and I do indeed love the new year. I like thinking about a fresh start; it's a symbol of how God always gives fresh starts! Some people don't like the new year because those fresh starts don't seem to last. Let's prove them wrong people! Make something last, make it count! I've got my mental list of things I'd like to work on but in light of all of this, perhaps I should look for joy in the midst of real life! So to start, here's some 'joyful' 2013 memories....

Growing

Oh dear me! It has been far too long since I've written! I can't believe I didn't even write about the newest member of my family! Lily girl! She is an adopted black lab, retriever, shepherd mix! She sure has grown over the past few months! I rescued her the second day I came back from Portland. My boyfriend new it was over when I said, "Will you help me put Lily back." Yes, I had named the pup before I even left the store. I held out one day and went back the next to get her! Little did I know she was a very sick baby! The reason why she slept so much was because she had no good bacteria in her! Once we got her healthy, she was a bundle of energy! Workin' on puppy training classes now at Petsmart! Didn't know training was so much work but Lily is a smart little, or not so little anymore pup!

A new school year has begun and I am still getting to know my 17 precious Fourth Graders! We do have a lot of fun together and laugh a lot! Most recently we enjoyed our study of Egypt by making each other toilet paper mummies. We also got to "part the Red Sea" for our Tirzah novel study! The kids decorated characters from the book and used the Popsicle stick to part the sea. The jello idea was not a Schreck original, found it online!

Thought I'd share my bulletin board and door theme...Time and the waterfall to represent the school verse: "Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Chapels have been a blessing too! Our kids were so excited to put together boxes for Operation Christmas Child and did such a great job!

One of my friends from High School had a long awaited wedding a week ago. We enjoyed sharing in her special day and pray for a wonderful and blessed marriage!

Lovin' the past six months with this special guy! He's workin' hard at USC finishing up his degree!

Momma turned the big 5-0! Be proud! We revisited Hawaii and enjoyed some delicious chocolate pie! So good to be home and share the love! Can't thank God enough for hand picking my momma-an amazing woman of God who fulfills Proverbs 31:30!

Can't praise the Lord enough for being able to share the Gospel with a student and rejoicing with others! Seeing a middle-schooler write "I gave my life to Jesus today!" is just incredible! God really is at work at NCA in a special way!

I feel like I am beginning to realize that teaching is a hard job, now more than ever. That being said, I had the song, "He is With Us" by Love and the Outcome in my head this afternoon. "We can trust our God...though it might hurt now, we won't be ruined." Trust. It brings freedom. All the thoughts, questions, and concerns laid at the foot of the cross, no better place to be.



As God continues to challenge me, I am blown away at how He always knows just what we need! I was reminded of the necessity of prayer in James 5:13-20. Always so many thoughts that could be shared but I'll leave it at that for now. What is God teaching you this week?

Sweet Things

I finally got to see my favorite Portlanders! It was a Schreck Family Reunion! We helped Josh and Alli build a garden and fence! Enjoyed my favorite Portland restaurants and sites together! We went berry and lavender picking and even got to see a Portland Timber's game! They won in the last minute! We all had trouble going to sleep that night as the excitement and energy was so lasting! "When I root, I root for the Timbers!" The chant will get stuck in your head, just you wait!

The weather was gorgeous and I think it even swapped from SC, instead of rain, there was sunshine and oh such lovely Spring-like weather! (I remember stepping off the plane in Columbia and boy did I get smacked in the face with some sticky humidity. Welcome home it said!) It was even a little chilly on 4th of July! Played Merchants and Marauders and learned that I can't play competitive games when I'm tired. I think I need a break from that one but if you like exciting strategic games-check it out! We got to go to a peaceful Japanese Garden along with the, as always, beautiful Rose Gardens. I also saw many friends I haven't seen in a while; sweet dinners and chats in the wonderful Rose City.

I got a puppy! Sweet Lily is about 9 weeks old now and ever so smart! Poor little baby has some health issues we are trying to clear up! She is so precious and a blessing! We sure enjoy our walks together! I'm learning a lot and am open to puppy training suggestions....

Youth group is back up and running we have our last Summer Refuel on Wednesday called "Prepare to Die"....it's a combo of all the crazy games we've been playing, hope we all survive!

You've got to check out this sermon, one of the best and most favorite I've heard in a while...."There is nothing I can ever do to make God love me more or less!" Go to the link and download "Say What Week 4," listen, be blessed!

It has been such a privilege to see so many people sharing the Gospel, living the Gospel, and accepting the Gospel! Just this past week I have heard numerous stories of God at work! How have you seen God at work, I'd love to hear! Many people were baptized at our church last Sunday, one of which planted a seed in a fellow who  later accepted Christ after the service! It truly was a powerful service and caused many challenging thoughts! Baptism is a weighty, public expression of following Christ! We were encouraged to "have some pride" in our faith and the work of Christ in us!

I heard of another house church ministry in which a believer decided to propose to his girlfriend and stop living in sin!

Still another story I heard of a friend who I've been praying for (for quite a while now) to return to the Lord, has had a new desire to do so! Hallelujah! What an encouragement!

Alas, I need to clean, run errands, and make food. The new school year is just around the corner! Need to finish up some summer reading and start some school projects. Hard to believe-round 2 is just about here!

Summer Time!

The long awaited summer is here! Kids get so excited about summer but I think teachers are right up there with them!

I can't believe it is already almost July!!! I have a mountainous list of things I wanted to do for school that I've just barely touched! Pinterest has offered some great teacher ideas and sometimes it's even a bit overwhelming but hey, one day at a time!!

So what have I been doing this summer, besides failing at posting? Sleeping. Somehow I just sleep a lot. That's not all though!

Been enjoyin' helping with "No Guts, No Glory" with the Radius Youth Group- a study on courage, 2 Timothy 2:8-13. Spending time with the girls getting frozen yogurt or talking is always a treat!

Mr. M.C. has been quite busy as well and we've enjoyed some sweet times together! Even if it involves making dreams come true through mock Nickelodeon slime!

The roommate and I visited Salisbury, Maryland for one of her dear friend's wedding. Let me just say it's always an adventure when we road trip! Ended the trip with some time at Holden Beach, NC in which I discovered once again why I never tan and spray suntan lotion should NOT be my lotion of choice. Hello lobster sun burn! Aloe was my new best friend.

Headed to see my favorite Portlanders next week!! I'm so excited! The whole family will be together on the West Coast!!

Take a look....

I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. -Psalm 118:17

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. -1 Peter 1:8-9

New Seasons

Whew! Has it really been that long since I've posted???? So long that I thought I needed to change the layout of the blog, pull up the page and think oh that's nice, I just changed it!

The school year is wrapping up and boy has it been a whirlwind! Many of my afternoons/evenings have been spent grading, grading, grading. Sometimes I feel like Dori on finding Nemo..."Just keep grading, just keep grading, what do I do but grade, grade, grade!" It's worth it though and next year I think I'll have a better system! I've consumed quite a bit of Mt. Dew and realize I need to cut back on that one :)

We had our Spring Musical, Silent Auction, and so much more! Choreographed a 4th Grade Hoedown and helpin' with the Faculty and Staff surprise talent show entry! Made chocolate with the silent auction winner-3 of my fourth grade girls! Little Rascals and chocolate makes for a great afternoon!

Yep, I got up there on that stage too for the Hoedown!

I turned another year older and enjoyed so many goodies! Mr. Headley played the birthday song for me, my parents got me lovely flowers, my dad's class came and sang Happy Birthday and there was lots of cake and flowers! My roommate decorated my room and got me beautiful flowers too!  How could I forget the Red Lobster dinner! So delicious! I had some challenging packages to unwrap from my uncle and some incredibly sweet surprises from Mr. M.C. (his were quite interestingly wrapped as well!)

Field Day was quite the afternoon! My kiddos were dying to get wet in the kiddy pool during tug-of-war! There wish was granted!

We had teacher appreciation week and I was so blessed to get so many treats! From my favorite candy bar and soda to flowers to movie baskets I felt the love!

Spent a great weekend with the Radius Youth for Disciple Now! Reminded to be courageous! Had some fun game challenges too! Spent the afternoon at Wal-Mart as an "Amazing Race" stop.

Summer is fast approaching and I can't wait for those warm summer nights. Nothin' like 'em!

I'm also thankful for seasons. Changing seasons. Seasons where one is challenged, learns, and grows. I'm thankful that God loves me too much to leave me where I am. I'm thankful he brings new people into my life each and every day! Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 sums it up so well!

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens...
 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance...

Spring Break!

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."-2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Blessed to begin moving today! Feel like it's college packing round I don't know what but this time it's different!! God's plans are amazing and truly beyond what I could ever dream or imagine!

Now if I could just get out of bed this morning.....

Mid Easter Weekend

Had a lot of thoughts about Easter yesterday and today. I've enjoyed sharing them with my mom and talking about all of it. First, I sort of feel like Easter should be celebrated every day! After all, the cross and resurrection are the foundation for my life!

I watched a few scenes from the Passion last night. I have never seen it and I still only saw some of it. The violence is tough to watch and it certainly makes you wonder, why? Why would someone go through that. The Scriptures have the answer! He did it for me. (Hebrews 9:16-29)

Sin is awful. Sin is black. Sin is that violence. It had to be that way to defeat sin.

I sat there and during the scene when they bring Jesus before the Sanhedrin all I could think was it seems so impossible. It's SO impossible and unusual that the fulfillment of Scripture, well there's no other explanation than that it was the Lord! It was possible. It did happen.

It seems so wrong. The people lied. The people believed lies.

5 days ago they were worshiping and celebrating Jesus. What changed?

The Sanhedrin couldn't even legally crucify him so they had to take him to someone who could.

Pilate himself wrestled vehemently with what is 'truth'.

Peter denied Jesus three times. How do you come back from that? Jesus restored him three times.

Judas tried to give the money back.

Everyone knew He was innocent. He was who He said He was.

There were so many people Jesus encountered in the last days of life. Think of all the lives that were forever and historically changed!

"...But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."-Hebrews 9:26

This last verse in John makes me smile....Jesus is truly incredible! Our words can not even begin to give Him the glory due!

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." -John 21:25

Sportsmen's Classic

Last weekend I did something I've never done before. I went to the Sportsmen's Classic! It was much better than I expected! They had a lot of great vendors and food! I was even blessed to receive some South Carolina activity pages and posters for my kiddos! Tried some alligator and no, it's not quite like chicken. It was more fishy and is a darker meat. Got some PepperSpray and saw a giant bear and learned that Bear Mace is rather expensive and quite different from normal mace. Saw some precious pups. If you want to learn more, check it out here!