Christmas Break is Calling My Name...

Well, the deed is done. On Monday I turned in my student teaching portfolio and it happened to feel great. I have been doing observations at different schools this week and tomorrow I will go back to my 16 beautiful first graders. Friday I will celebrate with them, give them their presents, and say goodbye. Bittersweet....but I am loving having nothing to do. Loving it. Also, I am hating that everyone else has finals. Their noses are stuffed in books and I am ready to celebrate.

Oh well....I will this weekend and I will for the next three weeks.

Sorry so short and sorry so dull. I will hopefully be back with more to say soon.

Happy Hump Day!

Weekend Ramblings

Hello Folks! I only have time for a quick post but can I just say I certainly was happy to see this weekend come! I cannot believe that next week I will complete my final week of student teaching. It has seriously flown by and it is bittersweet to see it go. Yesterday we went on a field trip and my students saw the tall buildings in downtown Mobile and said, "Ms. Blackman! Look! It's New York City!" Bless their hearts. I am going to miss those first graders!

Anyways, I feel like I haven't mentioned this yet but I am training to run a half-marathon in January. Don't worry...I didn't just start. haha. I think I haven't mentioned it because I felt like I would change my mind, chicken out! :) But, I have not brought it out into the blog world so there is no turning back! I don't really have a set goal in mind for a finishing time...I just want to finish and I plan on doing just that. I am training alone for the most part but doing long runs with Jeff and Amy. Seven miles on Sunday....boo. Pray for me! haha.

Today has been so relaxing and just what I needed. I woke up early and went to spend some much needed time with Jules. Love, love, love spending time with her! We walked and talked and walked and talked and then did it again. After that we baked these. Mmm... Julie and I love to bake. Mostly, we love sweets and we always get a recipe and then change it when we bake together. haha. Either way...they were delicious!! If you want the recipe just ask. 

Now, I am sitting here with my confused boyfriend and we are watching the SEC championship. All I can say is, Go South Carolina, MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN. Just kidding....I really don't care who wins. I am content to sit here and not worry about school! What a great feeling. :)

Happy Weekend All!

Take a Drive With Me....

Every morning I make the early drive to my school to embrace a group of fifteen adorable first graders. Every morning I have about 25 minutes to spend with my Father on that drive. He knew that I needed that drive every morning. He has given me the privilege to spend these few minutes with Him before I enter the fun, hectic, intimidating, frustrating, overwhelming, exhausting, and loving community I call my classroom.

I have found that in the years that I have walked with the Lord I have had mountain tops and valleys. Through it all, I have struggled through the tough times and learned so much through the ups and downs. There are times that I am consistently in His Word and learning so much and there are times when my prayer life is great. I feel like the two never exist at the same time. As of late, God has really been showing my the power of prayer. I love being able to talk to Him on my drive to school. I love being able to tell Him how good He is, confess my sin (which takes almost the entire drive...let's just be honest) and thank Him for all that He is showing me and teaching me. I love that I am able to pray for each of my students by name and pray for my school. I get to pray for my family and for Brett. I have the privilege to pray for the laborers and the laboring that is being done around the world and in our own city. Yes, the Lord knew that I needed that drive. He has answered prayer after prayer that I have prayed on that drive to school. I am thankful that I am able to go straight to Him every single day at anytime during the day.

I will say that lately I have been struggling. Last night a friend of mine blogged about how much she felt like she sucked lately and it was basically my thoughts exactly. We all know that Romans 3:23 says: "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" I fall short of His glory and His perfection everyday. Even in the midst of those feelings of missing the mark, doing everything wrong, or failure, He always reminds me that I am His and He has forgiven me of every sin I have committed and ever will commit.

"No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand"

This has been so encouraging. I am thankful to know that nothing can take me out of His hands! I am forever His.

My friend who wrote an encouraging blog last night also reminded me of a great quote by John Newton and I will leave you with that:

"My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things--that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour."

I pray I will never forget this. Have a great week!

Well...It's About Time!

I know! I know! It has been f.o.r.e.v.e.r! I feel like so much has happened since I last blogged! I am in the middle of student teaching and my 20 consecutive solo days! I am all by myself and honestly, it has not been terribly stressful but it has been a lot of work! Loads of lesson plans and preparation for my weeks=not much time for blogging! But, I am loving it and I am halfway done!! In two weeks a good bit of craziness will be over!

I was able to have a little fun last weekend! Brett bought me Carrie Underwood/Billy Currington tickets for my birthday and finally the day came when it was time to go to the concert! It was like a birthday present almost 3 months later and it was FABULOUS! We had such a fun time!

Oh Billy....He was wonderful!

She was beautiful and talented and so entertaining! She definitely busted out some....

"How Great Thou Art" in the middle of "Jesus Take the Wheel." Best part of the night probably.

I tried to upload a few videos but blogger is being weird.

Katherine, I took a video of Billy Currington singing, "I Got A Feelin'" just for you! Remember when we were obsessed with that song? Speaking of Katherine I have to give a huge Happy Birthday!! It was on Tuesday but I just have to say it on here!!

I know we have plenty of other pictures together from wayyyyyyy long ago but this was one from the beginning of college and I thought it was funny. Crazy to think we have been friends for like 12 years!

And....look how far we've come! P.S. This was the most recent picture I have of us. Over a year ago. This is sad and needs to change soon! :) Love you!

In other news....well, not much is going on. I have been struggling through plenty and learning so much. I think that God has really used this semester to teach me about the power of prayer which is so encouraging. He has also revealed a lot of sin in my life. We have also been going to a Bible study/Discussion group on Wednesday nights. We are doing the video series, The Truth Project. It is basically a series that discuss how we can have a biblical worldview. It has been great to be with the Estis' of course and we have also met some pretty great people! I have learned so much and been so encouraged!

Lastly, I will be celebrating 2 and a half years with this boy tomorrow....and by celebrating I mean saying...."Yay. 2 1/2 years!" :) haha. Either way....I am happy to be in this sweet relationship and I love this boy with all my heart!

I hope everyone has had a relaxing weekend!

Something to encourage you on your Monday....

"I see you there hanging on a tree. You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me. Now you are sitting on your heavenly throne...soon you will be coming home! You're beautiful! When we arrive at eternity's shore...where death is just a memory and tears are no more. We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring. Your bride will come together and we'll sing, You're beautiful!" -Phil Wickham

Loving this song right now. :)

Being Shaped...

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Can I just say that through my crazy, busy schedule, my tiredness, and the times I feel completely unfaithful to the Lord, He is so good. He always knows exactly what I need and He fulfills every single need. I am so undeserving. The past couple of weeks have been so busy and it is only about to get crazier. I begin my 20 solo days of student teaching this next week and I am so excited and slightly nervous. Not so nervous about the teaching part....just about how busy I will be. Anyways, God has really used student teaching to show me about my prayer life and how He answers prayer in His perfect timing. I am thankful that He hears me and answers me.

I have been studying through the book of Isaiah. It has been challenging and frustrating because Isaiah is a bit of a tough book to study all the way through....at least it has been for me. But, this week as I have worked through Isaiah 6 I have been so encouraged. One of the questions that was asked in my study was....."What are the words that you are speaking saying about your heart?" (something like that) They referenced the verse that says, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks..." This question was hard to answer. Honestly, over the past couple of weeks I have complained, whined, judgmental, torn myself down, and been discontent. It's amazing. My mouth gets me in trouble so often. Ultimately, what I say comes from the fact that I am not being fulfilled my Christ and not allowing Him to meet my needs. It has been convicting but sweet to see how God continues to mold me and teach me new things. Here is the first part of Isaiah that I have just found so encouraging.

"I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above hi were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts of the thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!' Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.' Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!' -Isaiah 6:1-8

Well, not much else going on. I will have a busy, busy weekend trying to prepare lesson plans and activities for the next couple of weeks. Pray for me over the next four weeks when you think about it! Hope all is well! Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Weekend Rambling...

Saturday night.....done with lesson plans....watching Alabama dominate. It's all good. Weekends are so nice...I mean really they are. This weekend is even better because guess who is here.....

Hello sweet girl! She is cheering on the Tide upstairs in her bed right now! It has been so nice to relax with family this weekend.

A few things I am loving right now......

1.) The weather.. It is so perfect!

2.) This book...I seriously cannot put it down!

It is so encouraging.

3.) All of the many fall decorations in our house. Thanks mom!

Seriously...I can't wait to get married one day and have my own house but my

mom makes our house so nice to come home to!

4.) Running.... Well, this is a love/hate thing but the weather makes it nice!

5.) The fact that it is OCTOBER! Mmm....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I've Got Sunshine....

Ahh....Wednesday....I love you.

This will be short and sweet but let me just tell you what can make a bad day better. When I am tired because I have been with 15 first graders.....When I am tired because I have not gotten near enough sleep....When things are tough because I have had to tell the same first grader the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over (not exaggerating) again....

The things that can make it all better are.......

When they finally get what I have been trying to teach them....When they run up to me in the morning dying to give me a hug....When they all try to grab my hand on the way to lunch or P.E. and at the end of the day when I look down as we are sitting at carpool and I hear the cutest, little boy who happens to be missing his two front teeth belting out....."I've got sunshine on a cloudy day! When it's cold outside, I got the month of May!"

Yeah.....it's the best.

two. days. till. the. weekend.

:)

Ah....Weekends

So even if you are an Auburn fan you will think this child is precious.....

Look how adorable....

I love this girl and can't wait to see her in 2 weeks! :)

A short update one me: This week was tough. I mean....tough. I think I cried at some point every single day. I can't really explain it but all I can say is, the Lord is good and encouraging. I am thankful for all that I am learning through student teaching and the good times and bad times..... Yesterday morning I received three baskets full of "teacher stuff" for my classroom. Back in the spring I received a scholarship from Alpha Delta Kappa. As if the scholarship wasn't enough of a blessing, they brought me baskets of fun things! I got crayons, markers, staplers, books, hand sanitizer, tape, sharpies, dry erase markers, enough paper to last me a while, and a million other little things. I could not be more grateful and while to most people this doesn't sound so special...for a teacher....it was like Christmas morning. It was just what I needed after a not-so-fun week.

I hope your weekend was more exciting than mine. I am thankful for rest though.

P.S. South Alabama beat their first D1 team.....Just saying. Bleed It Red!

Oh and Roll Tide!! (sorry Duke....)

Fall? Is that you?

Well, it certainly felt a bit like fall this weekend. I'm not sure if it was the football or the fact that there was little humidity in the air making it feel a little cooler but either way I liked it. It was actually a pretty relaxing weekend. I did have to do lesson plans and it took me a few minutes to get back in the mode of doing those loooooooong lesson plans that we are required to do. Other than that, it was a fun weekend. Brett's parents came into town. We rested and watched football. All. Weekend. I mean....I understand watching your team play but is it really necessary to watch most of every single game that is on? In Brett's mind it is. Oh well. We did head out to see the best team ever remain undefeated. Seriously....eat that Auburn and Alabama. Jk. I'm an Alabama fan but I go to South and must represent. It was a beautiful day for football!

Love him.

We got to hang out with this lovely engaged couple. Ballin. OH, and South dominated. It was a nail-biter at a final score of 56-0. Hey, we may not have met our competition yet but we are still undefeated. Studly.

I love this time of year. No, I'm not a huge fan of the fact that weekends mean non-stop football....but I still like it. Student teaching is going well. I will say, it has been a rough couple of weeks for me. I have felt like I am in such a weird place. I am basically working a full-time job but not getting paid so I'm not really in college. haha. I'm tired....a lot. However, I see the Lord continue to reveal how faithful He is. Oh, and how much I suck sometimes. He is so good. He has given me such a love for teaching and continues to bless me in ways I can't even explain. Life is weird but so good. I pray that I would be a woman who seeks His face first daily and one who truly radiates His love and grace. Sorry for the random blabs.

P.S. How awesome are 4 day work weeks? Yeah. Fab.

Have a good one!

Growing Up

This will be short and sweet. Hopefully I will have more exciting posts this weekend but I thought I'd check in. Student teaching is in full swing. I wake up at 5:15, spend 7-9 hours at my school, come home, maybe run, eat dinner, and am ready for bed by 8:30 at the latest. I seriously love it but boy oh boy....I miss my college class schedule. Oh, and I miss living on campus. I truly love South Alabama. Never thought I would say it but I do.

I have felt like I am in a very "in-between" place lately. It's not the most fun but I know the Lord has something great to teach me and show me. Unfortunately, I fail and do not trust Him as often as I should. Silly me.

Well, it is 7:50.....I'm thinking of bed. Old lady anyone? :)

P.S. Yes for a 3 day weekend! Maybe you'll even get a post with a picture. Wouldn't that be something? :)