Brooks & Terry's, Bills, Battles, and Babies

Brooks & Terry's

Tomorrow I am teaching my final worksample lesson for this term (yahoo!). We are doing an Author's Chair activity where the students will have the opportunity to share their weather reports with their classmates. To celebrate the end of this unit, we're going to have a little hot cocoa party, which will be so cute because it is Pajama Day. I went to the store today and bought a huge box of hot cocoa mix, but had a bit of a moral dilemma about the cups. You see, most people would get Styrofoam cups for this type of thing, and I could have purchased a packet of 51 of them for $1.56 at WinCo, but I hate Styrofoam. It is so horrible for the environment. I knew paper cups wouldn't hold up very well, and plastic cups aren't the best things for hot beverages. What to do, what to do?

I called a fellow environmentalist friend of mine and she suggested I visit some of the coffee places around town and ask if they would donate some of their cups to my cause (in case you didn't know, those cups are totally recyclable). The Monmouth/Independence area may not have much, but we have no shortage of coffee places. I left WinCo and drove up the street to Brooks & Terry's, my favorite coffee place, and explained my dilemma. They donated an entire SLEEVE of cups - almost 50 of them! Hooray! So now, I'm attempting to do something nice for them in return: next time you are thirsty for some delicious beverage, search out a Brooks & Terry's in your area and give them your business. They deserve it. :)

Bills

In other news, I received a bill the other day from the Dermatology Clinic. $121.00. Ouch. This is on TOP of the $110.00 I spent on prescriptions. In case you don't want to do the math, I'll do it for you: $231.00.

Battles

I could write about this forever, but this is already a rather long blog entry, so I'll try and keep it short. I was talking with a friend today about some of the things God has been showing me lately. Specifically, He's been revealing my wavering trust in Him to take care of me. I'm not sure if you knew this about me or not, but I'm a bit of a control freak. I've basically had my entire life planned out since I was 5 years old. And obviously things came up here and there that were not according to plan, but it wasn't until about five years ago that everything really started to go awry. I've been fighting it. I've been frantically trying to steer my life back "on course," and failing miserably. I have never doubted for a second that God is the Creator of the entire universe. That He has a wonderful and masterful plan for me, meticulously designed before I even entered this world. That He loves me dearly. But don't you sometimes feel like maybe He's forgotten? Maybe He fell asleep at the wheel for a second, and now you're left in the middle of nowhere without a map or even a paved road in sight. I know in my heart that this is not possible. He promises never to leave us. But I can't help but sometimes question His decisions. I have those days where I just look up at Him with a confused expression on my face, point to my desperate situation, and ask, "huh? what happened here, God?"

So I told my friend today that I realized God was nudging me to trust Him more, and he (my friend, not God) said that was a great realization. And then I realized it's not even an "aha" moment. Not with God. It's always a journey. Or in my case, a battle. Sometimes I see Him there so clearly, and I relax in the peace that comes from knowing He has a plan. Sometimes I see Him there and choose to ignore Him, pushing forward on my own course, determined to "make things happen for myself." And sometimes I'm so focused on myself that I completely forget He's even there. I'm in a constant battle over my own heart. But I'm realizing lately that even though things are rarely according to plan, my life is infinitely more beautiful than my innocent little 5 year old heart could ever have dreamed.

Babies

I met little Lucas today. He is precious. Though I've held plenty-a-baby in my life before, I rarely get the opportunity to hold newborns. Especially ones that are so fresh from God. Congratulations Thomas and Samantha!

If you made it to the end of this post, you get a high-five. :)