Check it out!!

My sister is having a giveaway on her blog. She is giving away some of her homemade cards! For those of you who don't follow her blog, feel free to check it out here! :D

Art Class

So I just HAD to share with you all what I did in art class today. :)

To explain a bit, this class is all about elementary art projects that we could use in our future classroom. So she teaches us how to do them, and then we actually get to do them. It's fun. :)

So today, we used something called Scratch Art Paper. It's kind of hard to explain, but you know the "scratch & win" lottery tickets and things of that nature? Where you scratch off the covering to see what's underneath. That is the basic idea of this. Except instead of "winning" words underneath, there are colors. One of the ones I did was a multi-colored background with a black scratch-off covering. So what you did was take a small wooden stick and scratched off the black to reveal the colors underneath, and then you create a picture. It was so much fun! There are also papers that only have one color underneath, and I did one of those, too! :)

So, instead of trying to explain anymore, here are pictures of my pictures! They are way cooler in person, by the way. :) But this will give you an idea. :)

The multi-colored picture I did...

a not-very-good close up picture...trying to give you an idea of how it works ;)

the single colored one I did...

Last week was recruitment for all the sororities on campus. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Greek recruitment, let me explain it to you. This year was a little bit different from previous years. It started on Tuesday night with open houses. Girls that were interested in joining a house could stop by any of the houses and hang out with the girls in the house. Wednesday night we had an ice cream social where we all just hung out and ate ice cream. Thursday was another open house. These days were just to let the potential new girls get to know some of the girls in the houses and what the houses were like.

Friday night was Philanthropy Night, which means all the sororities come up with a craft of some kind to help one of their philanthropies. For example, one of Sigma Kappa's philanthropies is Gerontology/Alzheimer's Disease Research. So for our craft, we painted suncatchers for the residents of the local nursing home. The suncatchers are going to be part of our "Adopt a Grandparent" program that we will be setting up soon. Anyways, the new girls were split up into 3 different groups that rotated between the houses. Each group had 45 minutes at each house. Then Saturday night was Preference Night. This night is, for many of us, the most special. We get very dressed up and certain girls are selected to tell their stories of why they joined the house. There are also several small traditions that we do, such as a special poem written by one of our alumnae, and a song that is very near and dear to our hearts. Saturday night was the last night of recruitment, so it really was the last chance for the girls to see who we are. Sunday was Bid Day. This is the day when the girls decide which house they want to join, if they want to join. This is also the day when we find out which girls chose us. So...after a very long week of anticipation and excitement, we proudly welcomed 7 new girls into the Beta Mu Chapter of Sigma Kappa!! It was an exciting day, to be sure. :)

To celebrate and bond a bit, we went to Quincy to a place called "Going Bonkers". It is basically a big play area, kind of like the play places in McDonald's, except bigger. It was similar to the Playstation in Cedar Rapids...but the Playstation is better. :) But it was still fun!!

Well, as far as classes go, they are good. My first test is Friday and my next test is Monday. Yippee...NOT. :)

I just watched the movie Freedom Writers. If you have not seen it, you need to watch it. It has made me start thinking about the impact I will have on my future students. I wanted to share something with you. I received this in an email some time ago. I hope it touches you the way it touches me.

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?” She paused for a second, and then began...

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make?"

She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.

“I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math.

They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of America.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.”

Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.

"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?"

His jaw dropped; he went silent.

It's that time of the year again...

...to be going back to school! I am sorry for the lack of updates the past few months! Here's what's been going on...

• Vacation was GREAT! It was awesome to just get away from work and home for a while! I was actually away from work for 2 whole weeks and away from home for about 10 days. It was a quick and busy trip, but we had so much fun together! :)
• After the actual vacation part out east, we came back home and family time began! My cousin's wedding was that Saturday so we had family around from Thursday through like the next Tuesday I think? Don't remember exactly.
• Then it was back to work for all of us. I continued to work 40+ hours each week on my usual shift of 3-close. We have been closing at 10pm in the dining room and 10:30pm for drive-thru. I think the earliest I ever got out of there was 10:53pm and the latest was a little after 11:30pm. But generally, it was right about 11pm when we would all walk out the door.
• Yesterday, I moved back to school. Oh, except wait...back up a bit, story time. Around Tuesday or Thursday of last week I started packing. For those of you who know me at all, that is very rare for me. I usually end up packing the day before I leave to go somewhere. (To give you an idea of how rare this is, even my brother made a comment about how I never pack 4 days in advance.) Anyways, so I started packing. By Saturday, pretty much everything was packed except for like bedding and some other minor stuff. But, none of it was in the car yet. (p.s. remember the car I drive is the little Neon) In the past, EVERYTHING that I take to school fits in that little car. So, the time came for the car to be packed. To back up just a bit, earlier in the day I had gone shopping and got gas in the same car. My dad went out to move the Neon from the street to the driveway so it was easier to pack up. And....it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. Nothing. Ok, so understand this car sometimes has problems when anyone except me drives it, haha. But seriously, so my dad tried it, my mom tried it, AND I tried it. Absolutely nothing. Soo...thus begins the long process of trying to figure out what is wrong with the car. Keep in mind that at this point it is about 5:00pm on a Saturday evening. Long story short, my dad had the battery tested, it's not the battery and it's probably the starter. So, my car is out. So we proceeded to pack up the '97 camry which my brother usually drives. Oh, except first we had to go to his work and switch cars with him so we could pack it up. Sigh. Anyways, we got the car all packed up and it all fit just fine, with plenty of room left over. And I got to school just fine, car worked great. I am pretty much all unpacked and settled in. My roommate (Jessi) and I have our room set up as far as furniture and stuff but we aren't sure how long it will last. We like it for now, but we might change it in a few weeks. We'll see.
• I had my first two classes today: Geology and Macroeconomics. They went fine...let me just say that there probably won't be a lot of excitement on my part for either of those classes. They shouldn't be hard...but they also probably won't be exciting at all.
• Well, I suppose you want to see some pictures? Here are a few from our room...keep in mind nothing has been put up on the walls yet and I will do that eventually, just didn't get to it yesterday. :)

this is our door...it's a little blank right now cuz we haven't put up our white boards yet :)

this is the view from the doorway. my bed is on the right, jessi's is on the left. my desk is back in the corner by the window.

this is the "front" wall of our room (the one next to the hallway). my closet is on the left, jessi's the right. the door is on the left. jessi's bed is on the right, you can just see the corner of it.

this is a closer view of my desk area. it may seem a little cramped, but it's actually not bad. it's just my own little corner, kind of deal. again, my bed is on the right, jessi's the left.

this is the other wall. jessi's desk, plus our dressers with the tv on top. my dresser is on the left, closest to my bed, jessi's is on the right, closest to her desk.

Well, that is our room! At least as well as you can tell from pictures! Oh, for those of you who have been watching the weather craziness (or experiencing it) in Iowa this summer, here's an update on today's weather in Canton, MO.... SUNNY!!! :D Seriously, yesterday and today have both been perfectly blue skies with nice even tempertures, not too hot, not too cold. It's so awesome! I kind of forgot what nice weather was!! :) Tata for now!

Vacation!!

Well, I am sitting here in our hotel room in Boston, Massachusetts!! :) We left Sunday after church and drove for about 11 hours, but time-wise it was more like 12 because of the time change. We spent Sunday night in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and then continued on to Niagara Falls. We did the "Journey Behind the Falls" at Niagara Falls where you actually go right next to the Horseshoe Falls (Canadian Falls). It was so neat to be right next to all that water pouring over the edge!! According to the facts, 34 million gallons of water are poured over the falls every minute. Wow!!! That's a lot of water!!!

We also did "Maid of the Mist", the boat that takes you right up next to the Canadian Falls. We also did the new attraction there called "Niagara's Fury". None of us were very impressed with that though--it was just a simulation-type thing, not nearly as cool as the real thing. Let's see, that was Monday and then we drove on to Boston. We arrived late again, so we had two late nights in a row, but it's been good! Today we went whale watching; it was great!! We had several sightings of the same mom and calf humpback whales. It was really neat to be that close to wild whales! Then later we went to visit the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument. The USS Constitution was really neat--lots of history! Bunker Hill was okay, we were all already tired and we had to climb 294 steps!! It was a really good work-out!

Currently we are lounging in our hotel room, just enjoying some relaxation time. I was going to upload some pictures but they are taking too long and I'm impatient! :) I will try again some other time!

What is the purpose??

Earwigs. Just the name of the things creeps me out. Living in the basement of my house, I have had several run-ins with these creepy crawlers. I recently read a friend's blog that discussed how they had to "bomb" their house because of all the earwigs. I shudder just to think about that many earwigs in my house. Pondering these things, I started to tell myself that they were the worst of all of God's creation. But I stopped myself. To back up just a bit, I am scared of and hate plenty of different insects. Bees, for one. Spiders, for another. And earwigs. You will almost (almost I said) find me running from a room screaming if there is a spider or earwig present.

So, I detest the little creatures just as much as the next person. But does that give me a right to say they are the worst of all of God's creation? After all, he created everything for a purpose. For those of us who hate spiders, we remind ourselves constantly that when they are outside they do good because they catch and eat small insects. Bats keep the mosquito population down, and bees pollinate flowers. Does that make me like any of those things more? Heck no. But it does put my thinking into perspective. So, how come we never hear what good earwigs do? Personally, I think it is because there is not a single person on this earth (okay, except maybe scientists) who actually want to find some good in the things.

But, nevertheless, I worked up my courage (haha) to google the purpose of earwigs on this earth, half expecting to get no results. To my dismay, there was an answer. Sigh. Turns out we can't get rid of all the earwigs on the planet because they do serve a purpose. According to John A. Jackman, an extension survey entomologist at the Texas Agricultural Extension Service at Texas A&M University, earwigs feed "on both dead and living insects as well as mosses, lichens, algae, fungi and occasionally some growing plants." So, see, they do have a purpose in this world. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, this article also mentioned that earwigs do NOT reproduce indoors. Yay!

Anyways, I thought it was interesting that we so often fail to realize how every creature, plant, animal, and person has a purpose in this world set forth by God alone. If he even has a purpose for the earwigs that everyone hates, how much more of a purpose do you think he has for you and me?