a great sabbath

today was marvelous. i got to give the lesson in gospel doctrine and i just love that. it's always nerve wracking but everything turns out thanks to the Spirit. i prayed really hard that He would be with me and the people in class and He was! i always feel so strong and yet so weak at the same time, teaching like that. i cry and yadda yadda. but several people came up afterwards and said how good it went, so i am glad. especially glad that it's over, ha!

next week i start teaching the ctr's. this will be interesting because apparently my class will be combined with the kids below in age. so i will have 6,7 and 8 year olds. a wide disparity in ages will make for some interesting times. the primary president said that this will change with the new year, that another teacher will be called. hallelujah!

speaking of, things are moving really fast and i'm so looking forward to the next year! so much could be different just half way through this next year, so i'm thrilled as i contemplate it. i am going to start studying for the GRE in the next week or so. i'd like to take it when i go home for christmas. i am waiting on a friends' advice as to how much time i should devote in preparation. the deadline to apply for the program at byu provo is february 1st......

but i'm also really looking forward to the upcoming vacations and going home to be with my mom. she's doing good, but work life is making her crazy. we will both welcome the break and each other's company.

this week are parent teacher conferences and i feel a deep sense of calm from the Spirit. i would love to freak out about it, but i won't. there's no need. i'm doing my best and i know that and that's all anyone can expect. so i do really feel good about the conferences. AND i have taken the day off right after. so this will be a 4 day work week for me, sweet!!!

there's a singles conference this weekend down in denver that i might go to. i already have to go to denver on friday to pick dawn up from the airport. but then i'm dropping her off to pick up her car in the shop and so she will have a ride home.....so we shall see.

other than these things, life is good. my body is strong and healthy and the chiropractor is a serious blessing. my neck pain is almost all gone and i know now how stress induced it is. key: refuse to be stressed!

i'm in the paper for the first time ever!!!!

click here to see!

it's november!

my favorite pic from halloween this year!


another favorite pic of this breathtaking world



i get to go home for a week for thanksgiving break. i'm so looking forward to it!

the sunday before last we had a really great lesson during sunday school and i don't think i mentioned it. it was pointed out that we live in the only time in the history of the earth when the most saints are living at one time. the teacher pointed out the membership, about 14 million members worldwide. and then we agreed upon the general number of people on the planet currently, around 7 billion (6.795 to be exact), and divided that number and the following came: for every 500 people, one is a member of the church.....it's a little off, but you get the idea. it was mind blowing, to look at the numbers that way....and then for him to point out how vastly different that is from what it ever has been was illuminating to think about! i loved it. it's something one does not often consider. we tend to see the world as growing more and more unrighteous, but fail to notice that simultaneously, righteousness is also growing.

it has changed my paradigm: made me more grateful to live in these latter days. (and more willing to suffer ;) and it will only keep growing, as the prophets have foretold. President Monson just announced at conference that 130 temples are in operation around the world, and that 83% of the members live within 200 miles of one. how spectacular is that?

anyway.....these are some of the things i think about.

work has been stress filled, but again, by the grace of God, i am getting through it. we have parent teacher conferences next week and i'm so looking forward to them being over! i am going to set it up so that the kids do 'student led conferences' thereby putting the responsibility on them and hopefully sending a message to the parents. we shall see. it's difficult since these kids just came out of the elementary school environment. difficult to get them to see that THEY are responsible for their learning, and not me. it's further compounded as we try and train the parents as well. i am really very much looking forward to that day when i won't need to worry that i am the odd woman out. the odd one who gets all this. -sigh- teaching. i love it and i hate it.

how i live for the weekend.

p.s. my diploma finally came in the mail. wow, just wow.