Strength will rise.

So it's way past my bedtime, and I still haven't finished my playlist for tomorrow's 'Discovery Space Conference' (oh it's going to be hilarious) & my kitchen is an absolute mess from the 60 something star shaped cookies i made for my kidlies... BUT...
I just stumbled upon this song (again) as I was going through my itunes & thought I should share it



So true. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
Such a timely reminder...

One Sunday in May

Today when I went shopping I didn't expect to be met with the news that a kid I used to babysit died this morning. This kid is now 18. He graduated from the school I work at last year. He was a sweet kid. He hit a power pole on his way home from work at 4.30 this morning.
I am devastated for his mum. He was her whole world.
I am sad for the dreams he never got to realise.
I am nervous for tomorrow. This is going to hit our school community pretty bad.
I am amazed at the impact this kid had.
I am overwhelmed by the speed of communication these days. Someone set up a "RIP" site for him 4 hours ago and already there are over 600 'likes'.
I am shocked at how a life can be summarised in a police report. It is also a horrible reminder of the weight and pain behind each report that I see.
I am trusting in a God who is good. I don't have the answers, but He does.

Pray for his mum & for our school this week. It's going to be a hard week.

Emotion

Today was an emotional sort of day...
I hung out with one of my most favourite friends for a bit. This week she lost a baby. That sentence carries so much weight and heaviness of heart. 'she lost a baby' does not do justice to the emotion of the week. Although it is not my story and I cannot fathom the depths of pain her and her husband have been through, it saddens me so much to see my friends go through this.
When did I get old enough to have friends who have ectopic pregnancies?

After eating doughnuts and pizza (hehehe) I went to a baby shower for a friend from work. It was sort of awkward celebrating life after mourning a death. Boy the emotions in my head today!
It was a beautiful baby shower. Soooo much pink! (and way too many jaffas...mmm) I can't wait to meet the blonde, blue eyed baby (she hasn't got much hope of being anything else :)). There were even those 4D ultrasound pictures of her on display. Oh she is going to be gorgeous & has such cute pouty lips!
Of course I got super clucky looking at all the tiny onesies and cute socks. Mawww I seriously don't think anything beats the feeling of holding a baby in your arms. Which in turn made my heart break all the more for the afore mentioned friend.

Sometimes this world doesn't make sense.

The Kittens & The Passionate Heart

At the moment there are kittens under my classroom.
The kids have spotted one dead one, and a whole bunch of live ones over the past 2 weeks.
Most of the kids saw this as a novelty, but this soon wore off and have pretty much forgotten about the little felines.
However, one of my girls has taken the lives of these little stray orphans as her own personal mission. She has approached our Junior School Head Teacher, Groundsman & Assistant Principal to ask for help to rescue these kittens. When she wasn't given a satisfactory answer from any of these grown ups, instead of giving up, she went home and rang the RSPCA. They told her they couldn't help. So she called another animal shelter. This shelter told her that they could lend her a cat catcher for $30 for 1 day or $56 for the week.

So on Friday she came to school and told me of the plan she has to hire this catcher to save the kittens. She asked if we could get the class to bring in $3 each... I'm not sure how willing parents would be so send in money to save some strays, but I referred her to the Head Teacher again, who said she would speak to our Business Manager... This is where the story ended on Friday, but I have an idea that it will be continued by my passionate 10 year old world changer in the morning.

I LOVE her passion. I love that she hasn't been deterred by grown ups who palm her off. I love that she is driven to see this resolved in the best interest of the animals. I am so inspired by this little person! I think maybe I am learning more from my kids than they are from me.

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Yesterday I read a statistic that 200,000,000 minutes are spent every day playing Angry Birds... I know this is an addictive game... but seriously that is alot of time! 380 years of time actually. eeek! Not having an iphone, I am not an Angry Birds addict... but I know there are plenty of other time wasting things that I am guilty of partaking in (facebook, tv, eating cheese, reading blogs...). What if these 380 years per day were used to help people in poverty, bless a neighbour, save some kittens, write a note to encourage a friend, pray, read the Bible (clean my house...hahahahaha)?

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This morning at church our pastor preached a cool sermon on 1 Samuel 8. This is the chapter about Israel wanting a king. Pretty much the sentiment of the chapter is that the Israelites wanted a king because 'everyone else has a king'. It's a but funny. Reminds me of my class... I am amazed at the "but everyone else has one" pester-power kids seem to posses. (Seriously! On our excursion last Monday we thought our train carraige would be perfect for one of those old fashioned train robbing gangs to attack because every one of our 49 kids had some kind of fancy electronic device with them - ipod touch, dsi, psp etc... though the parents said their school uniforms cost more than these things haha)


I think it's so easy to think that we need what everyone else has, to crave the lifestyle of people around us. But God hasn't designed us to have the 'kings' that the world has... He wants to be our King. hmm there is a link here back to another whole set of thoughts I have been pondering over the past few days... but I don't have time for that right now.

Well that's 3 random thoughts from me for the day. They all sort of link together in my head... hmm

A boring post with a cute video at the end

Woah have I seriously not blogged since Sunday?... hmm

This weeks highlight (then a low/high light, then a super highlight...)

On Monday we took 49 kids and 8 parents to Sydney for the day. It was fun. Hubble in 3D was amazing! I loved it! I don't know how you could watch it and not be in awe of Creator God (unless you are like E, who was completely overwhelmed by the opening credits that she watched the whole thing without the glasses...sometimes with her hands over her eyes...um it's not actually a scary movie). We only lost 1 jumper, 1 DSi, 2 children and a folder... the 2 kids and the DSi were found again, don't panic.
Hmm you may have to check out my class' blog for cute pictures and such... but they're not up yet (arrrgh!) mostly because I'm super slack, but also because it's assessment week (that's this week's excuse...).

Tuesday afternoon we had a staff meeting. As you may have picked up work has been real hard lately, not the kid bit... they are so much fun (mostly), but the paperwork bit and the super crazy expectations bit and the not being appreciated bit and the never-ending workload bit and the jokes that aren't funny bit...hmm I've been dreading work and have cried so much lately over dumb things.
Tuesday's meeting was actually pretty good. We (I'm not the only one who has been  in this boat lately) were able to air some of our issues and actually received some praise for things (which was huge).

I have realised this week how much of a people pleaser and some-what of a perfectionist (you may not think so if you see how messy my house/car/classroom/desk etc are) I am. It's a bit ridiculous.

Last night I got to hang with my Mel and Leah friends and cute Morgan. He is getting funner and funner! I love that I have such amazing friends in my world! I'm so blessed! Also I love building drawers.

Hmm this is a boring post. In way of apology please accept this cute video of my 2006 kids.

Off to Space tomorrow

Parent helper bags and clipboards are ready and labelled!
Because we're going on a 'Space' excursion I've included star stickers, milkyway chocolates and of course Space-food sticks! I wanted to include a special treat for the parents too, but after the $18 photocopying I couldn't really afford it (I didn't have time to drive into school, so I just got the worksheets copied at the newsagency - $18 for 30 sheets! Biggest rip-off ever!!! I hope my kids appreciate their 60 cent piece of paper!)

I'm looking forward to a day outside the classroom with my amazing kids! It should be a lot of fun!

Also, yesterday I made some cute curtains.

That's all.

Things that are fun

At the moment I am finding work super frustrating. I absolutely love and absolutely hate it simutaneously (I know you can't absolutely be two things... but I so am). But instead of focusing on that I want to tell you about the fun and inspiring things of this week.

On Monday we celebrated my sister's 27th birthday 2 days early. I love this two months that we are only a year apart (it sort of makes me feel younger). We ate burritos and m&ms and brownies. mmmm. It was a great family night. We have actually had a lot of family things lately since the start of April - dad's birthday, Steamfest, Easter, Mum's birthday, Mum's birthday dinner, Mothers' Day & now Lauren's birthday (as well as Monday night dinners). It's been fun.

Monday and Tuesday nights a friend from work slept over. We watched heaps of Big Bang Theory and got Maccas on the way to work... :-)

My Year 3 kids had their National testing this week. They did sooooo well! I'm so proud of them! It's so annoying that results don't come back for another 4 months.

On Thurday night I hung out with two of my boys. Oh I love them! Morgan has become super cuddly lately, so we had heaps of snugggles. AND HE EVEN WALKED TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it was the first time I had ever seen him walk.... so amazing!). Hayden is Mr Independent at 11 months, he's so fun to watch as he trys to conquer any obstacle (while not letting go of the remote or iphone he's holding). Cute!

Yesterday morning I got up really early. Like 5am. To see the 4 planets. At the moment you can see Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter at the same time. I think I am particularly excited about this because we're studying Space at the moment... and Mercury and Venus are on opposite sides of our planet than Mars and Jupiter (think Solar System model). Apparently the last time this happened was 1910.
(maybe click to make this one big)

 And then a swan swam by

 And a bird

 Tilt your head to the side for this one. So pretty!

 I waited all the way till the sun came up! (and was then late for work...oops)

Oh and if you're like me and are wondering "how can planets on opposite sides of the Earth be in the same view at the same time & right before sunrise?" I have the map for you! (this took me ages to find... if you have a better version let me know)

all the planets

The inner solar system

After school Ann-Marie, Lou and I had a much needed coffee catch-up. Boy there's a lot going on at the moment. I love good friends!

Lou and I watched Water for Elephants last night and ate mexican. Good times!

Also capes make me happy. I think people should wear more capes.

Tricked you

I've worked out how to trick myself!
You see in 3.5 weeks my kids' half yearly reports are due to my boss to get checked. We haven't officially been told 'start your reports' yet. So there is no pressure to start them yet. So I have. And it's working beautifully. Usually it can take 20-30 minutes to write a comment when I have to write them...(times 25 is alot of time) but because I don't have to write them yet and I'm just doing it for the fun of it with no pressure it's actually fun and fast. I'm loving being able to write about the things my kids have done and achieved this semester (granted I have started with the easiest kids). I'm just hoping I finish them all before I get told to start them and lose all mostivation.
um...

Tomorrow I get to play with two of my boys and their lovely mums! Oh I can't wait! It's been at least 10 days since we last hung out. They are growing too fast.

a day

This week is NAPLAN. Every Australian kid in Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 has to sit 4 tests. Today we had the first two. my little Year Threesies did so well! The first test was on Spelling and Grammar. Then after recess they had to write an exposition. All twelve of them used the right structure (doing the same text type for 13 weeks pays off) and most of them wrote about the topic they were meant to! I'm so proud of them! They even used their planning paper. My favourite plan listed:

Title
Statement of posion
Linking sentence
Arguments
Examples
I in conclusion
CHECK IT!!!! (in massive thick letters)
Put up your hand and get the teacher to check it

I love it. Another kid in her plan wrote "Maybe I will use only seven high modality words." (Um... ok)

Meanwhile my Year Fours were split for the day. Mostly they helped out other classes, or worked on their Space Technology projects. You may have to check out my class' blog early next week for photos... one pair of girls have written a play about space technology... it includes a home-made Hubble telescope costume. You don't want to miss that.

Oh and also I am happy to report that my laundry frog is just as happy in the new laundry toilet as he was in the old one. I'm sure you wanted to know that.

Yep that was my day. It is so cold now. Like 7. I think it may be a cold winter... but not cold enough for snow :( maybe next year.... ;)

The Astronaut

Favourite conversation of the day...

E (in Year 3), enthusiastically presenting her project on our Solar System to the class: "And only ONE astronaut has EVER been to Uranus".
Me: "Um E do you mean one telescope has explored there or something? Because I'm pretty sure there hasn't been any astronauts on Uranus."
E: "Well... I was trying to use my own words and astronaut was the only word I could think of that meant the same thing."

Too cute!
Obviously the plagarism discussions I've been having with them lately are working...sort of :-)

My Mummy

Happy Mothers' Day Mum! 

It's the day for celebrating mums so I've decided to tell you about mine. I've known my mum for almost 29 years (eek I'm getting old). Actually this photo is probably her at just a bit older that I am now. Oh that's scary.

I love my mum. She was one of 'those mums' who stayed at home the whole time we were growing up. She the baked the best cakes and slices (her stuff always sold first at the school cake-stalls). She made us playdough and gave us water and brushes to paint the verandah. She read us stories and prayed with us before we went to bed. She was strict and expected alot from us, but she always loved us.

My mum nutured my love of books and taught me to read before I started school. She encouraged me to do my best, but still loved me when I didn't.

My mum was my Sunday School teacher and my Girls' Brigade leader. She instilled in me a love of God from the time I was little.

From my mum I get my nervousness. My Grandma once told me she was surprised my mum ever got her licence because she was "such a nervous child." Like my mum I am a people-pleaser, I care too much about what people think of me and fear failure. Like my mum I love making things to bless people, I love being creative (though I'm not so good at fancy wedding cakes and such) & I love kids.

Thank you, mum, for being such a great example to me. I hope one day I can be as good a mother as you were to me and my sisters. I love you lots. xox

A week of learning - Part 2

Last Wednesday was our Yr 3-6 Athletics Carnival. I was on 'team high-jump' with my amazing friend Katriny. We even had musk sticks.

It was so fun watching my kids and my kids of the past and even some kids who weren't my kids but I like them anyway (side-tracked sorry) demonstrate this insane highly impractical skill of running towards a mat, curving around beside it and flinging your self sort of head first back over a pole to land on your back on a mat.


1. How is this even practical? I mean when are you going to use this skill in real life? running yes. Long jump perhaps if there was a big puddle, shot put sure if you have a bomb in your hand that is about to explode, but even if there was a 1.3m fence right there, as if you are going to dive head-first over it on your back... hmm
2. Who came up with this idea?
3. How come so mny kids can even do it? Well of course there were kids like me who couldn't (haha i even tried jumping the 88cm our 8 year olds were doing... and failed, so unco!), but so many of them could. weird.

Anyway I learnt something from my high-jump watching that day (not how to do it, that still eludes me), but as I watched the kids I realised that as soon as the bar got raised to a level they weren't confident with, they almost all lost their technique. Those with perfect frosby-flops became superman divers when that bar went up another 2cm.

I think I've done a bit of that this year. The metaphorical bar has been raised at work. The expectations have become higher. The pressure has become greater. But instead of rising to the challenge, I've lost my technique. I've stopped spending quality time with God because there's so much other 'stuff' to do. I've swapped my positive 'it's going to be ok' & 'I love this' to something that is not me. I am resenting things I should be resenting and I am resenting myself for not being able to cope with stuff better. But the only thing that is going to work is pushing in a little deeper to what I know is true, the technique that works (Bible & prayer) and trusting God through the now. I hate that I've become a superman diver. They always end up landing on their face.

Another cute little reminder was watching the kids as they ran the long distance races (anything over 30metres is long distance for me, but I'm talking 400m, 800m, 1500m races) past us.Often they looked completely exhausted and about to give up, but Katriny & I (and which ever kids were near us) would cheer and yell out encouragement as they ran/jogged/stumbled past. Every time the kid perked up, their spirits were lifted, they had  sudden burst of energy.

I love that in life I have a cheer squad (so grateful for them this week) and that I get to be on the cheer squad for others in my life too. It doesn't mean the race becomes shorter, or less demanding. But knowing there is someone backing you makes all the difference.

A week of learning - Part 1

Wow the last week was a big one!

My little friend Morgan turned one. Oh my boys are growing up so fast. I'm sorry Leah I had to steal this picture. It is just so fun! (this is me, the Morgster and Hayden)

These boys make my life so mch richer! I love them and their beautiful mummies tons!

My class started learning about Space this week. I am loving it! I realised in my quest to be ahead of my class at knowing things about Space that I know nothing. It has taken me 28 years to realise that there are soooooo many things I don't know. And there is no possible way that I will ever know everything there is to know. Sad, but also cool. It was a fantastic reminder of the bigness of God and how human knowledge is NOTHING compared to God's knowledge.

However, this week I did learn two things that I thought were very interesting (my poor friends, every time I learn something interesting it's all they hear about... so just skim this bit if you don't want a science & history lesson).
Science bit: Our earth is really really really really tiny. My class and I made a scale model on our classroom wall (well not really a model cos it was 2 dimensional) using this handy website:

Build a Solar System Model 

(this is my favourite website at the moment and this place in now on my list of places to visit before I die). You seriously need to make the model. Numbers do not do it justice. I have explained it to all the people I work with, but then they walk into the classroom and see the size comparison and go "are you serious?" I was a bit the same even as we were blu-tacking it together. Incase you're lazy... we made a 3 metre sun. That's like higher than normal ceilings & wider than my little lounge room. Compared to that Sun... our Earth was not even 3cm, it was just over an inch in diameter. And if you remember from the Sun Song we sang last year, our Sun is just a middle sized star. Hmm anyway my kids are humouring my enthusiasm for this topic and we are having a fabulous time being amazed at our Creator together.

The History bit. So for the second half of term 2 we're looking at Sea Explorers and British Colonisation of Australia. So I've been doing a bunch of research about that as well lately. I really wanted to find out about Australia's Christian Heritage so I've been googling like mad (I love that googling is a word these days) (I also love that googling is a thing. How did we ever do research without it!). And I came across somethign really cool... Australia was actually claimed as "the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit". Seriously. There was a guy names Quiros in the early 1600s who may or may not have found Australia (depending on what you read), but whatever he found he thought it was the "great south land" (which we now know is Australia) that everyone was searching for and named it Australia del Espiritu Santo. I love that my country was dedicated to God (even though he may have been in Vanuatu... I'm still claiming it.).

Oh I forgot... there was a 3rd thing I learnt. The first sermon preached by an Englishman in Sydney was based on Psalm 116:12 & was preached under a tree on February 3rd, 1788. Interesting verse to start a convict settlement with hey: 

What can I offer the Lord
      for all he has done for me?

I don't know that the convicts, who were far from their families and everything they knew in a land where they were almost starting civilisation from scratch, would have shared Rev Johnson's sentiments that day. But I like that that was the verse our Sydney was started on.