Missions

Last Sunday I did a children's sermon that taught children that in order for us to show our thanks to God we should get out and help others.  By helping the needy we are showing God how thankful we are for all that he does for us.  After teaching this I thought to myself that I really should be doing more than what I have been doing. I have been doing my own devotions, praying more, getting more involved in church but I have still felt like God wants me to do more. So I am trying to show my thanks to God by doing what I can for the needy.

Tonight I went to the homeless shelter and helped feed them.  After serving them I fixed my own plate and sat down to talk with them.  It was really interesting to hear about their lives.  They are just normal families who aren't as fortunate to have what we have.  One girl that I talked to is turning 16 in November. I hope that I can go back around that time and get her something. Another mission project I'm doing starts on November 6th.  Our church will be doing our own extreme home makeover for a family in our community.  We are completely remodeling a house that needs a lot of repair. Right now we have about 150 volunteers from our church.   It's going to be great seeing the community work together. 

I will also be doing Operation Christmas Child this year. I'm trying to find any opportunity I can to give back to the community and anyone else who I can help.  I think it's so important as a Christian to not just say your a Christian but to get out and show God's love.  I'm really passionate about missions and God will bring me more opportunities to help others.  If anyone has any suggestions for missions projects, let me know.



And for people who may not have time to get out and do mission's projects remember that there are plenty of other ways to show God's love.  At school I try and just be a good role model to my students because some may not go to church or have parents who are always there for them. Everyday I try in some way to show to everyone of those kids that I love them.  They all know I am a Christian and by showing them I care they are seeing God's light shine through me.  I have had student's tell me how much it means to them that I show them that I care. I have even had a student write me a letter to tell me how much she appreciated me caring about her. You just never know who is watching you and you could make a difference in someone's life just by showing them that you are there for them. 


I'm not posting all of this to brag about what I'm doing. I want to look back on this and see how excited I have been now that I'm actually doing something. I don't want to ever stop helping others no matter how busy I may get. I also want whoever reads this to realize that even if you don't have a lot of money to donate to the needy you can still help out by donating your time and talents.

Book Club

I haven't been able to teach much this week because I couldn't attend 5th grade planning since I was at the career fair on Monday.  Since I haven't been able to teach I have been trying to interact with the kids in other ways.  A couple days ago I was walking around to see what they were reading.  One girl had just started reading "Island of the Blue Dolphins."  I told her that I had just a hard time reading that book when I was in 5th grade and that I would have to read it with her.  Before long, I had 8 other students wanting to read it too.  So I decided that we would read it on our own time and then talk about it at lunch.  We call it our class book club.  Some of my student's will run up to me after they finish a chapter and say things like "Ms. Michael you are just not going to believe what happened in the last chapter!"  They are getting so excited about this book and being able to discuss it as a club.  For the past two days at lunch I would come sit with the kids and they would talk to me about the book and their favorite parts.  Today they decided that wanted to sit at the same table together to talk about it.  It's been really great to see these children get so excited about reading.  Not only are they learning vocabulary through reading this book but they are also learning to relate to each other better through our discussions.  I will definitely be using this idea in my own classroom.

Busy, Busy!

I told myself when I started this blog again that I wanted to keep it updated so I could look back on my student teaching experiences. Well, I've been so overloaded that I haven't been able to do that.  I've been coming up with and typing 20 lesson plans a week. I have assignments on top of lesson plans like my big impact project.  I started teaching my unit which is on measurement and continue it until next Wednesday.  I'll be glad when I'm done with it so I can focus more on making good lesson plans.  I absolutely love each and every one of  my 5th graders.  I never would have thought I would love 5th grade as much as I do.  I have even thought about teaching 6th grade. I love the older ones and having more flexibility with lessons since they know more.  They say some of the funniest things.  Did you know that August has 32 days in it? Anyway,

I went to the beach this weekend with Felicia.  We went to see the Goo Goo Dolls at the House of Blues.  It was pretty awesome.  We were so close to the stage!  They played every song I knew so it was a lot of fun. We also went shopping at the Tanger Outlets.  I spent more money than I planned on spending but I couldn't resist the deals!  Old Navy had clearance shirts for $1.74!  I bought a lot more clothes from other stores and got my students some taffy.  Good thing I'm working this week.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks.  This week I am subbing for my cooperating teacher on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday. I am finishing up my Impact Project.  I have to find something to wear the career fair which is at Appalachian on the 25th.  The BBQ festival is this coming weekend and Katie is coming to stay with me which  I'm looking forward too.  Then the next weekend I'm going to stay with her because it's her birthday and then we are going an Appalachian game that Saturday.  October is becoming a very busy month, and probably one of my favorite months as well!


Well I better get to unpacking!

A Great Devotional Book; Good Morning, Lord by Sheila Walsh.

I got the book "Good Morning, Lord" sent to me for free from booksneeze.com.   I had been looking for a good devotional book to read in the mornings so this has been perfect.  This book has a devotion and questions to think about every day.  It also includes a bible verse and a prayer for each day.  What I like about this book that it leaves you something to ponder throughout the day.  I try to always make time to read a devotion in the morning from this book.   If you don't have time in the morning to read a devotion it would still be a great book to read anytime during the day.

This weeks deals

CVS

I went to CVS yesterday to get some deals they had on Extra Care Bucks.  Here is what I did:

I bought Alive Vitamins for 9.99 and got back 9.99 on my first transcation.  With the 9.99 ECB's I went back and bought Candy Corn for .99, High Octane Energy Chews for 1.99, Nivea Body Wash for 4.99 and Skintimate Shaving Cream for 3.99.  I used a $1 coupon for Nivea and .75 off for Skintimate.  After using my ECB's I only had to pay $1.15 which was tax and I got back $7 ECB's.  I only paid $11.91 for everything out of pocket and still have $7 ECB's to spend later.  This is a great transaction idea for anyone who is just starting at CVS and wants to build up some ECB's.


Harris Teeter

Super Doubles is this week, starting Wednesday.  This means they will double any coupon that is $1.98 or less.  I'll list some of the coupons you can print out for those of you who don't save the coupons from the newspaper.

FREE after Coupons
-$1 off Chinet Products  - Napkins $1.40
-$1.50 off 2 Kotex Products - Pantiliners $1.49
-$1 off Tomato Paste - $1.55

There will probably be a lot more free but I won't know until I see the sales ad.

Food Lion till 9/14

Campbell's Select Harvest Soups are $1 on sale - Use this $1 printable to get it free.
Nestle Nesquick 16 $1 - Use this $1 printable to make it free.

_______________________________________________

Lyrics from an awesome song called Before the Morning by Josh Wilson

Do you wonder why you have to,

feel the things that hurt you,

if there's a God who loves you,

where is He now?
 

Maybe, there are things you can't see

and all those things are happening

to bring a better ending

some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see

Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming!

Freebies & Thoughts

I thought I'd post a couple things that you can get for free with coupons this week.  Today I got 2 free SOBE lifewater's at CVS. They are on sale, BOGO (Buy One Get One) and you can play a game at sobe.com to get a BOGO coupon to print out. This makes 2 waters free!

CVS also has Stride Shift Gum .99 and you can .99 ECB, making it free after Extra Care Bucks.  There was also a coupon from a May newspaper insert that was for Free Stride Shift Gum when you buy any Stride Gum which makes it an even better deal if you have this coupon saved.

Food lion has Nestle Nesquick for $1 this week.  You can print off a $1 coupon here,  making it free!


These are the only things I have found free this week.  You can go to ourcouponhome.com to find other coupon deals.


Thought for the day:

I have been reading the book "The Walk" by Richard Evans. One paragraph really stuck out to me, it says "The thing is, the only real sign of life is growth.  And growth requires pain.  So to choose life is to accept pain.  Some people go to such lengths to avoid pain that they give up on life.  They bury their hearts, or they drug or drink themselves numb until they don't feel anything anymore.  The irony is, in the end their escape becomes more painful than what they're avoiding."

This is so true! If everything were to always be perfect than we wouldn't grow or learn anything.  Although at times it's hard to feel like our troubles will ever get any better, at least we can look down the road and know that we will grow from the pain we are in now.

And finally, my current favorite Christian song:

Labor Day Weekend

    I had a wonderful 3 day weekend.  Friday night I went out to eat with my parents. Saturday, I went to Salisbury with Mom and then worked the rest of the day. Sunday, I taught Sunday school and then our church had one big service.   After church I went to my sisters and we had pizza and watched "When In Rome." The pizza was great, we ordered it from a little pizza place in Granite Quarry called A Slice of Heaven.  We ordered a pizza with beef, pepperoni, green peppers and banana peppers.  The banana peppers make for a great pizza. If you have never tried them on your pizza I would definitely recommend trying it.  I would rate the movie "When In Rome" 4 stars.  It was really cute and it's in Redbox which makes it only a dollar to rent! Click here to see the movie trailer. It is a great time to rent from Redbox because you can get a free movie rental and be entered to win other great prizes.  I got a free Rental and also a Redbox t-shirt with my entry.  All you do is go to thanksabilliongiveaway.com and enter the code that is on your redbox dvd.  For a free redbox rental, you can also use the promo code BREAKROOM.  I'm not sure when it expires but I used it, got my free rental then entered the code and received a promotion code for another free rental and won the free t-shirt.

    On Labor Day my mom and I went shopping all afternoon.  We went to the Christian book store, the mall and to Hamricks.  I finally found some awesome jeans at Delias.  They ended up costing $40 but they are well worth it.  It's hard to find jeans that fit me and don't have holes or bleached stains on them.  I also bought some things are Hamricks to redecorate my room with.  I got a flameless candle with my initial on it and pink artificial flowers in a nice vase. Now I just need to find a few nice pictures for my wall. I also want this to hang on my door:  After shopping we grilled out at home which was very nice.  It was the perfect day for it.  We had Fillet Mignon which was delicious!
    I have a busy couple of weeks coming up.  Lots of meetings and get togethers.  I'm looking forward to it though, I love to be busy.  I need to get busy now. I have to plan a lesson on all the different kinds of fiction and non-fiction books for tomorrow.