Are You There God? It's Me, Sam...

So I recently read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret? by Judy Blume. I liked this book a lot. It was so cute! My favorite part, however, was the way Margaret talked with God. She was raised in a house where neither of her parents believed in one particular religion, and to her Sundays were for going on vacation or working on the house with her family. Margaret, however, believes that God is there and that he talks to her. She always just tells him what is in her heart. It reminds me of the scripture that talks about being childlike in our faith: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19). Margaret talks to God about everything, from how grateful she is for her loving family to how much she wishes to grow up and hit puberty. I think it would be wonderful if everyone had such a personal and faithful belief in Heavenly Father. If we were all able to just sit down and say, "Hey Father, my day really sucked, let me tell you about it..." it wouldn't improve how much He knows us, but how much more would we know Him. Quite a bit, I'm willing to say. Maybe we should stop focusing on the things we need and start just having a conversation with our Father in Heaven. I'm not suggesting that we begin to be too familiar to the point of irreverence, but I think that making our prayers more like a conversation rather than a list of bullet points could boost not only our relationship with our Heavenly Father, but also our testimony of prayer and communication with the Eternal God of Heaven.

Addendum

I would like to add to my previous post that this is not during school time. We have a few periods throughout the day where my aids and I work one on one with students. At this time, we quite often have students who are waiting for peer tutors to go to mainstream classes, students who are waiting for a bus to go to vocational training, and students who aren't able to go to mainstream classes due to illnesses, absence of peer tutors, or tests in mainstream. I really do make lesson plans and have scheduled activities. I just don't perform for students who are just sitting around waiting for things, especially when I am working with other students on actual academic pursuits.

I'm Bored...

If I have to hear the words "I'm bored" one more time this week I think I'm going to scream. When did I become an entertainer? I have several students who will just sit and tell me they're bored. I then suggest several different activities, but they shoot all of them down. Less than a minute after I tell them to find something to do, they tell me they are bored again! I have puzzles, a basket of possible art projects/word searches/etc; computer games, books to read, games to play. Why do kids these days need to be entertained? My job is to teach, but if kids aren't willing to get off their butts to go get a puzzle (which they can do once they have returned to their butts) then why should I be the one who has to come up with something for them to do? AAAAAAARGH!

tags about us:

I found this on my friend Malarie's blog and thought I'd import it here:

How long have you been together? We began dating in February of 2006 so a little over 2 years
How long did you date? ten months
How old is he? 23
Who eats more? Jared definitely eats more; including what I don't finish in the form of leftovers. But then, he is a foot and a half taller than I am.
Who said "I love you" first? Jared, then I answered him back but he didn't believe me until about a month later.
Who is taller? Jared is 6'7" and I am 5'1"'
Who sings better? Jared can sing either tenor or bass, I can only sing falsetto...just joking, but Jared does sing a lot better than I do.
Who is smarter? Jared, he knows when not to stick his foot in it!
Who does the laundry? It's split between the two of us, but I fold because I am OCD about things lining up.
Who does the dishes? Mainly Jared, which I greatly appreciate.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jared sleeps on my right side, I sleep on his left.
Who pays the bills? Me
Who mows the lawn? TPM, but only if an apartment is for rent, otherwise no one.
Who cooks dinner? Once again, it's split between to two of us.
Who is more stubborn? Me.
Who kissed who first? Um, I suppose he kissed me first...I don't really know. We were watching a movie and we pretty much just made out for the second half of it.
Who asked who out first? Neither, Jared and I went to a movie. I thought it was a group thing and he was proud to have tricked me into a date.
Who proposed? Jared
Who is more sensitive? Definitely me!
Who has more friends? Jared does
Who has more siblings? Jared is 2 of 5, I am 2 of 3.
Who wears the pants in the relationship? Jared, and he looks damn sexy in them too!

We are alive, for which we are thankful!!!

Yesterday, March 13, Jared and I were travelling to Riverton. Jared had a day off school and was coming to share some "fun time" with me at school with my students. As we were getting on the freeway, somehow I drifted off to the right. When I hit the cobbles on the side of the road at onramp 269, my tires blew on the driver's side. I swung into traffic and was positioned sideways across the two right lanes of northbound I-15 during morning rush-hour traffic. Amazingly, there was a break in the traffic and we did not hit anyone nor were we hit by anyone. Instinctively I slammed my foot down on the brake pedal and began cranking my wheel to get going in the right direction and off to the side of the road. As we came to a stop at the small space between the freeway and the offramp, I realized that my foot was on the gas pedal, not the brake - meaning that we had the power to get off the road rather than applying the brakes and stopping to get hit. I had also kept the clutch in so I am hoping there is minimal transmission damage. Jared and I looked at each other and immediately began checking to see if we were okay. Next we got out to assess the damage to the car. Both tires on the driver's side were blown, and since the front passenger tire was very flat. Since I hit a small metal post on my way down the rocky hill my passenger side view mirror was gone, as was the handle to get into the front passenger seat. I called my dad and Jared called the insurance. We contacted the highway patrol, who contacted a tow truck for us. I called Jennie and had her come meet me. Sweet girl, got out of bed and rushed out to meet us without even going to the bathroom first. As we stood on the side of the freeway she informed me that she really had to pee. After driving to the body shop (where Jennie was able to use the restroom) we dropped Jennie off at her apartment and continued on to Riverton. I got to work and immediately got into motion making sure that all was in motion for the students' swimming field trip. Jared began to crash as I went into gear. Jared's blood pressure was 160 over 100! We went to the Macaroni Grill to celebrate the lack of injury and the abundance of life. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who was looking out for us. I will post pictures of the damage later, it is amazing that there wasn't a scratch on us - not even whiplash! Jared is very stiff today and has been taking ibuprofen, but other than that, we are fine. I am so thankful for my sister and both sets of parents. We have received so much support from them as well as our family and friends. We appreciate all of you and we count you as one of our many, many blessings.

Catching Up

I very much need to update this blog, so here goes...
Christmas was wonderful, we got to spend this year with my parents. I bought Jared a Wii, for which he claims to be mad at me but loves to play Strikers (and soon to be Brawl) with his brothers over the internet connection. Jared continues to make me smile all the time, from the little gifts to putting up with me when I can't sleep well and take it out (literally) on him. We were so excited to spend our New Year together in our home. We spent much of our time cleaning out our back bedroom. There was a super sale at Shopko and we were able to purchase a book shelf and several totes to store various items. It's amazing to find that we do have carpet back there after all!
For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we went up to Boise to spend some time with Jared's family. Mom, Chris and I went to see August Rush. I love this movie! It's a great story about music and family, and it's clean and it has a wonderful soundtrack. I'm tempted to schedule a ward activity around watching it, I love it so much. While in Idaho, I got a call from my parents letting me know that our family dog had died. I was sad, but Soukie was old and sick and it was time for her to go. My parents have since bought a new dog, Elroy, who is a puppy and a handful.
Jared and I were so excited to spend Valentine's day together. We had plans to go to dinner and maybe a movie or bowling or something. Instead, I pulled a muscle in my back and was out of commission for the whole week! I all but missed the Valentine's dance at my school, and I missed the pajama party we had been planning for months. Oh, well, at least now I can move. And the time at home gave me the opportunity to catch up on my scrapbooking.
Basically life is just moving along, and I'm enjoying it. I love spending time with my husband, and I love the great friends we've made. I woke up last Saturday, March 1, to Jared calling me from the front room letting me know that my guinea pig, Raven, had had her babies. I now have three little pigs squeaking about in my classroom and being thoroughly adored by all of my students. Raven is old and I was worried about her, so I'm very glad that she survived the delivery. Hopefully I'll be more on top of things in the future, I love you all.

My Birthday

I took my birthday off work and loved sleeping in and spending the day with Jared. I got many well wishes from family and friends, and after taking a long bath got to go to the mall with my husband. Jared gave me a beautiful green sweater, the Red Killer Bunnies expansion, and tickets to go see A Christmas Carol at the West Valley Hale Theatre. We also went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. I had a wonderful day. It was so fun to stay home and relax and not worry about work or students. I also loved lunch/dinner with my parents and grandparents at Tucanos. I love the Christmas season! Everyone seems to be kinder and more hopeful. I love that we all still celebrate the birth of Christ (even though some people don't think that's what this holiday is about). I love the snow and watching Christmas and family movies, I love delivering neighbor gifts and wrapping presents. I'm so excited to give Jared his gift, I can't believe I've kept it a secret all this time!