my family
having a job
my particular job - I love my work and my students
creative outlets like scrapbooking and cross stitch
my home - it may be small, but it is ours and is full of memories
our church family
lunch/dinner out with friends
technology
What are YOU grateful for?
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
I Survived
My survival kit was pretty successful - I survived the busy-ness of March and have made it to April and to Spring Break. I have tried to plan only a few tasks for break that have been needing attention for some time, but to allow plenty of free time, too. I'm just happy to have completed another successful book fair. And I am already planning a trip for next year's Spring Break so we can actually get away next year for the first time in awhile. I am ready to start a new count down for that!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
WORK
Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
A few weeks ago, our pastor used this passage as his benediction. I love this sort of passage - the blessings of Scripture, the "May God" passages.
In this particular one, the word "work" caught my attention. "... May he work in us what is pleasing to him."
Work.
Change and improvement isn't granted like a genie granting a wish or a fairy waving a wand. The things God wants to see in me come from work. They take time. Just when I think I have grasped something He wants to teach me, I realize it has come around again - maybe in a slightly different form, but there it is again. Often, it takes months just for me to cultivate an awareness that I'm even doing whatever it is that God is showing me. I guess if I was conscious of it in the first place, I wouldn't do it. Instead, it is such a part of my behavior or my character, it takes repeated effort to even recognize it is there, much less try to do something about it.
It takes work.
Within the work, I take comfort in the fact that God cares enough about me and about my character to even bother with me and my flaws and defects. Apparently He thinks it's worth the time and effort to bring about His purposes, even in a sinner like me.
~ Hebrews 13:20-21 NIV [biblegateway.com]
A few weeks ago, our pastor used this passage as his benediction. I love this sort of passage - the blessings of Scripture, the "May God" passages.
In this particular one, the word "work" caught my attention. "... May he work in us what is pleasing to him."
Work.
Change and improvement isn't granted like a genie granting a wish or a fairy waving a wand. The things God wants to see in me come from work. They take time. Just when I think I have grasped something He wants to teach me, I realize it has come around again - maybe in a slightly different form, but there it is again. Often, it takes months just for me to cultivate an awareness that I'm even doing whatever it is that God is showing me. I guess if I was conscious of it in the first place, I wouldn't do it. Instead, it is such a part of my behavior or my character, it takes repeated effort to even recognize it is there, much less try to do something about it.
It takes work.
Within the work, I take comfort in the fact that God cares enough about me and about my character to even bother with me and my flaws and defects. Apparently He thinks it's worth the time and effort to bring about His purposes, even in a sinner like me.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Book Fair
It's book fair week for me! That means it's in my best interests to take a blogging break so I can conserve my time and energy for the work that needs to be done this week. I'll be back next week to let you know how things worked out with my Countdown to Spring Break Survival Kit, because by the time I post again, I will be ON Spring Break.
I'll leave you with this picture - my bulletin board for Book Fair - each teacher's section is a pocket for their book fair wish list. I'm really pleased with how it turned out!
I'll leave you with this picture - my bulletin board for Book Fair - each teacher's section is a pocket for their book fair wish list. I'm really pleased with how it turned out!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
52 Lists - List Your Current and Future Goals
It's time for the "Week Four" list for 52 Lists. This has been one of my favorites. In fact, I left extra pages in my journal where I am writing these so I can keep adding to my lists.
Here are a few of my goals that I recorded:
This is only a sampling - I always have goals and tasks I am working on or hoping for the future. I like seeing them in writing, even if there are some that I missed.
Going over my list again made me think of this blog post by Jon Acuff. There is some great stuff in here about dealing rationally with that voice inside you that says your goal/dream is ridiculous and will never happen. I walked through his process with my graduate school dream and I feel like it helped me think through the logistics that can help me eventually move this dream towards reality. I hope you will check it out.
Here are a few of my goals that I recorded:
- Work diligently now so I can take June and July off
- Develop systems for the library to help next year go smoothly
- Organize my book shelves (DONE)
- Be under ___ lbs by my dr appointment (did not meet this one)
- Write a book
- Get a graduate degree in Children's Literature
- Cultivate our home to have less clutter and more space to move around
This is only a sampling - I always have goals and tasks I am working on or hoping for the future. I like seeing them in writing, even if there are some that I missed.
Going over my list again made me think of this blog post by Jon Acuff. There is some great stuff in here about dealing rationally with that voice inside you that says your goal/dream is ridiculous and will never happen. I walked through his process with my graduate school dream and I feel like it helped me think through the logistics that can help me eventually move this dream towards reality. I hope you will check it out.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Countdown Continues
My Countdown to Spring Break Survival Kit continues to give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. This is crunch time. This is when life is ridiculously busy and when the days will barrel on with little break until Spring Break arrives.
The envelopes are losing a little of their umph on their own. Opening one has gotten to be a little "old hat." But the blessings inside have taken on increased importance. They feel like a message from the Lord and from myself every day. I take a picture of each day's message and post it on Facebook in case any one else is playing along. I find myself pulling that picture up on my phone several times a day to remind me of the message - a little encouragement for the moment or hours ahead.
I am very glad I did this. And I am glad I have kept each message and each envelope. I hope I won't need this level of encouragement for awhile, but I'm glad to know I have it available if I do!
The envelopes are losing a little of their umph on their own. Opening one has gotten to be a little "old hat." But the blessings inside have taken on increased importance. They feel like a message from the Lord and from myself every day. I take a picture of each day's message and post it on Facebook in case any one else is playing along. I find myself pulling that picture up on my phone several times a day to remind me of the message - a little encouragement for the moment or hours ahead.
I am very glad I did this. And I am glad I have kept each message and each envelope. I hope I won't need this level of encouragement for awhile, but I'm glad to know I have it available if I do!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Bookstore Advice: Hire Right
Kirk Kazanjian wrote an article/essay for the February 25, 2013 issue of Publisher's Weekly called, "Building Loyalty: Four Tips for Booksellers to create die-hard fans." You can read about his new book, releasing in April here.
Second on his list was "Hire right." I saw this in action a week ago while shopping in my favorite store, Barnes and Noble.
When my son was a toddler, there was one bookseller who seemed to always be working in the children's section. She was delightful. She related well to the children, and she was always ready with a recommendation or help in finding things. While I know several of the booksellers in this store on sight (we are there at least once a month), I don't see that sort of consistency in the children's section any more. I know I am biased by my job and my personal passion for children's literature, but lately books for children and teens are the ones selling, showing growth in sales over last year rather than slowing down, so it seems like "hiring right" for the children's section would be an important consideration.
As I was browsing shelves in the children's section, a mother and her daughter approached the bookseller in the department. They explained that they had seen a Babymouse book through Scholastic, maybe in a classroom flyer, and they were looking for the book. The bookseller (a) wasn't familiar with Babymouse, (b) couldn't find it on the computer, and (c) suggested the mother look for the book from Scholastic.
It took all my restraint not to jump into the conversation.
(a) I know there's no way for one person to know about every book that comes out for kids. My students tell me about books all the time that are unfamiliar to me. To me, Babymouse is fairly well known, but I can see where a bookseller might not be familiar with that line of books. So this issue can be excused.
(b) When the bookseller said they weren't in the computer, I assumed she meant they were out of stock in the store. But ten minutes later I come across a set of twelve or fifteen books from the series. They weren't where they were supposed to be, but they were obviously in stock. Even if they were mis-shelved, they would have still been in the computer. I don't know what happened on the computer searching side that failed so badly.
(c) Because the bookseller couldn't sort out the computer/searching issue for finding information on the books she hadn't heard of, she sent business AWAY from the store. She didn't offer to order the book from the online store (something other booksellers have done for me time and time again when they don't have something I want in stock). Because she had no idea what she was looking for and didn't know her department enough to know what or where the books were, she suggested her customers go somewhere else rather than offer a way to get them what they wanted while keeping the business at her company.
Once I saw the big display, I tracked down the mom and showed her where the books were. I didn't hang around to see what book they wanted or if it was there. But I couldn't get over the whole interaction.
Kazajian recommends asking potential booksellers to describe the last three books they read and gauge their passion and excitement for the business. I think this is a sound recommendation. I think it is also important to make sure you adequately train your staff (especially those working in specialty departments) and get them to buy into your business so they want to see it succeed and will think outside the box to take care of the customer and keep her business with your company.
Second on his list was "Hire right." I saw this in action a week ago while shopping in my favorite store, Barnes and Noble.
When my son was a toddler, there was one bookseller who seemed to always be working in the children's section. She was delightful. She related well to the children, and she was always ready with a recommendation or help in finding things. While I know several of the booksellers in this store on sight (we are there at least once a month), I don't see that sort of consistency in the children's section any more. I know I am biased by my job and my personal passion for children's literature, but lately books for children and teens are the ones selling, showing growth in sales over last year rather than slowing down, so it seems like "hiring right" for the children's section would be an important consideration.
As I was browsing shelves in the children's section, a mother and her daughter approached the bookseller in the department. They explained that they had seen a Babymouse book through Scholastic, maybe in a classroom flyer, and they were looking for the book. The bookseller (a) wasn't familiar with Babymouse, (b) couldn't find it on the computer, and (c) suggested the mother look for the book from Scholastic.
It took all my restraint not to jump into the conversation.
(a) I know there's no way for one person to know about every book that comes out for kids. My students tell me about books all the time that are unfamiliar to me. To me, Babymouse is fairly well known, but I can see where a bookseller might not be familiar with that line of books. So this issue can be excused.
(b) When the bookseller said they weren't in the computer, I assumed she meant they were out of stock in the store. But ten minutes later I come across a set of twelve or fifteen books from the series. They weren't where they were supposed to be, but they were obviously in stock. Even if they were mis-shelved, they would have still been in the computer. I don't know what happened on the computer searching side that failed so badly.
(c) Because the bookseller couldn't sort out the computer/searching issue for finding information on the books she hadn't heard of, she sent business AWAY from the store. She didn't offer to order the book from the online store (something other booksellers have done for me time and time again when they don't have something I want in stock). Because she had no idea what she was looking for and didn't know her department enough to know what or where the books were, she suggested her customers go somewhere else rather than offer a way to get them what they wanted while keeping the business at her company.
Once I saw the big display, I tracked down the mom and showed her where the books were. I didn't hang around to see what book they wanted or if it was there. But I couldn't get over the whole interaction.
Kazajian recommends asking potential booksellers to describe the last three books they read and gauge their passion and excitement for the business. I think this is a sound recommendation. I think it is also important to make sure you adequately train your staff (especially those working in specialty departments) and get them to buy into your business so they want to see it succeed and will think outside the box to take care of the customer and keep her business with your company.
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