07/31/12

What a beautiful flower.... with raindroplets, of course!  I took this at the NC Arboretum, too.  

Let me just say that I am not sure what I did before my smartphone.  It is a sad addiction, unfortunately.  I found that I had a Kindle on it.  This is something I never thought I would use because I love holding the book when I read.  I actually still do... but this has broadened my horizons. lol 

Remember that "embracing the change" I talked about yesterday?

I downloaded a few free books last week and began reading on the phone.  I still miss my book and bookmark the old fashioned way but it is nice on the go when I am waiting for something or the kids to finish that I have my book right there... I don't always remember my "in-the-hands" book when going somewhere.

SO.... I recommend this book.  It is a free download.

The book is called Deadly Aim by Patricia H. Rushford.  It is addicting and I can't stop reading it.

Unfortunately, the next ones in this series you have to pay for, but I am not surprised... get you hooked and then pay for the rest.  haha  I guess I will just wait till they go free, too.  I am cheap.

Any other free suggestions out there from you pros?

07/30/12

I took these pics at the NC Arboretum....   love the rain droplets!

CHANGE.

I am not talking about what jingles in your pocket.  :)

I am talking about something that scared me for decades.... moving something or making it newer or different.

I am a creature of habit... most who know me know that I don't change up things very often.

However, in the last couple of years, with the Lord's help, I have come to understand that some change is good.... especially knowing that my God never changes.  (Malachi 3:6 - For I am the Lord, I change not;)

Last week I went to a workshop that dealt with how the classroom is changing... we are having to become more technical and have more ability to move fast because children have changed so much with the technology that is out there.   Children are able to work things at young ages that I would never have experienced at that age. haha!  I have to change the way I teach things, which I have already been doing, but now I have to think of things in different ways.  Children have information at their fingertips with computers and such.... there are some aspects of education that need to be re-thought.

SO.... after 17 years of teaching, I am going to change things up a bit this year.  Nothing drastic, because I still am a believer that most things still need personal guidance, but I am going to expect even more from my students in the day-to-day learning.  :)  I am excited about them being able to take charge of more aspects of finding information and not just regurgitating it for a test but truly grasping it and applying it more-so in their daily lives. 

I HAVE ALSO CHANGED MY DESKS AROUND.  This is HUGE, people.... huge.  The kiddos are now grouped together differently and I will require them to work together as teams for different things. 

I am excited about this change and I truly believe I needed it after feeling so burnt out in the last couple of years from the "same old same old" that I had been doing.

The Lord actually gave me a feel of freedom as I have followed His voice with this.  I look forward to a new year of new beginnings and new things. 

I am looking forward to this new class that will be under my care for another year.  I pray that the Lord will use me in a special way for each one of them.

Here is to change!  :)

07/29/12

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

07/28/12

This post may not be for the "squeamish".... lol. You'll understand as you keep reading. Just know it all has to do with agriculture and how I grew up. :)

Last week I took an Agriculture in the Classroom workshop for Continuing Ed. It was one of the best workshops I have ever attended. Not only did I get a lot of useful information for my classroom, we also toured the NC State Farms!!

Our first stop was the beef cattle, but they were too far away for us to see at the time so we got to see some chickens and rabbits they had in mobile coups/pens to experiment with how you could use them easily in your yard or at school. I loved seeing the bunnies but I couldn't get good pictures of them through the wiring without one moving often.

Here are the chickens. :)

Next, we went to the Dairy Farm across the road.... and I felt so at home there!! I loved seeing the cows and hearing them moo.

This cute heifer was too adorable. She is a Jersey milk cow.

Here are some Holsteins eating their grain.

We got to go in the milking parlor, too. It looked the same, but a lot different at the same time, than the one we had as I was on the farm.

The milkers still look the same for the most part, but now everything is computerized. The cows wear a collar on which is a computerized box that has all of their information. When they go to be milked, they rest their necks on a mat that then takes the information and puts it in front of the farmer to see how much milk she normally gives, when she comes in heat, etc... Pretty awesome stuff.

We also got to go see the Hog Farm. Here are some of my fellow teachers putting on their "throw away" boots..... We all looked good.

Here is a piglet that had been born a couple of hours before we arrived.

And here is where it might get a little uncomfortable for some of you.... the birthing of a pig. :)

This was a first time Momma Pig so the manager of the barn had to help her out. I saw my Daddy do this many a day at our farm with the cows.

She put on a reallllly long glove, and, well.... I'll let the pictures tell you the rest...

There is the new piglet! :)

Just born!

The sow actually had 13 babies in her, but only 6 survived. Seven of them were "mummies" which means they did not fully develop and were still in her, but were small and not fully formed. I didn't realize there was anything other than live birth and stillborn so I learned quite a bit!

We found it funny that our Ag in the Classroom instructors were a bit squeamish watching this and even asked if the sow had been able to have an epidural. hahaa!! It was wonderful watching another little miracle of God.

Later that day we went back to our workshop area and did more fun stuff. We all laughed and made stuff, and overall had a great time together. We don't usually get to do a lot of this during the school year because we are so busy. It was a wonderful two days of being with fellow friends/co-workers.

I thought I may need to show that I was actually AT the workshop so here is proof. (With my silly friends...)

07/26/12

When we finished our trip hiking at Dupont State Forest, we were quite hungry.  Our mountain trail mix had been used up for certain!

Our first night in the mountains we went to downtown Brevard and fell in love with the quaintness of the town.  We also ate at a restaurant called Mayberry's.  

It was in a building that still had many of the old originals in it like the floor and ceiling.  It was very casual and just our style.

I ordered the Portabello  Mushroom sandwich with spinach and blue cheese.....and, oh, goodness, was it good!

That was what kept me going on our hike back to truck because we had decided to eat there again on that evening.

Here is proof:

And, yes, I ate ALL of that.  It was scrumptious.

Here is the best shot I could get of the inside of the restaurant from our table.  I didn't want the other guests who were eating to think I was stalking them or something.  Very neat place.. am looking forward to going back the next time we are up "in those parts."

On the way back to the hotel we saw this rainbow.  What a perfect way to end our day knowing that God's promises will always come to pass.  :)

07/25/12

On to our next adventures in the mountains... the rainy mountains.  :)

We went to Dupont State Forest the next day after visiting the Arboretum.  It was something I was excited about because of the hiking and seeing the waterfalls.

The entire way to the park it was raining like crazy.  When we arrived, there were not many people there (of course) but those that did come out of the woods were drenched.  We wondered if it was even worth it.  

Eventually, the rain subsided enough for us to walk to our first falls - Hooker Falls.  It wasn't a long walk and it was exciting to hear the rushing of water as we meandered on the path.

Here was our first glimpse of Hooker Falls:

Then we went down to the foot of it and no one was there.  The rain had stopped and it was like this was just for Sweet Man and me.  :)  It reminded me of a very tiny Niagara.

Of course we had to pose in front of it.....

As we were walking out of the woods from seeing Hooker Falls, it began to pour down rain again.  We jumped into the truck and thought we'd wait it out.  

I was so disappointed.  I had prayed that the Lord would allow us to see His beauty.  I didn't mind the rain because I wasn't there for a beauty contest anyway... at least a HUMAN beauty contest!  However, I knew it would be miserable walking in the rain we were seeing.

Finally, Steve looked at me and told me he didn't mind what we did... walk in the rain or just leave and go to somewhere that was inside...  It didn't take me long to give my thoughts.  We didn't travel all that way to sit in some place inside.  We came to see God's beauty and we were prepared as much as possible with our clothing.  If we got wet, then so be it.

And, we did.... but, the Lord truly held off anymore pouring rain the rest of our day.  Eventually the sun came out and we got to see blue skies.  I took a lot of pictures with the skies all grey, but when we came back down the trails to get back to the truck (some eight miles later....), I got to photograph them with the blue skies.

This is the river flowing under the bridge we had to cross to get to the other hiking trails that led to the rest of the falls.

Triple Falls - beautiful!  Someone came by and offered to take our pics.  Between the rain and such, we are looking as good as we could get.  :)

We were able to go down steps that led to the "foot" of the Triple Falls (even though it still flowed over the last fall from that point).  WOW... it was so neat.  It felt like being close at Niagara again.

I am standing like I conquered Plymouth Rock or something... not sure what I was thinking here.

This is the water flowing over the last part of Triple Falls.

And here are Steve and me standing in front of that same area... hoping not to slip and fall backwards.

This was the beauty I was able to capture with the blue skies on our way back down the trail at the end of our day.

 

Here is High Falls... and, boy, was it gorgeous.  Yes, those are rain droplets and mist droplets on the lens.

A much more beautiful shot with the blue skies later on in the day.  There was a covered bridge at the top of the falls.

I took this shot from the covered bridge looking at the water as it is going down the falls.

This is the spillway for Lake Julia.  It was lovely as well.

Bridal Veil Falls - we hiked quite a ways to get here.  It was not as easy to see, unfortunately, so we didn't get to stay here long.  Still very lovely, though.

Last, but not least, we climbed and worked our way to Grassy Creek Falls..... and we decided this was as far as we were going because our legs could not take going down to the foot of the falls and back up again to go back up more hills to be able to go down hills to get to the truck.

Notice our shirts... and that wasn't really from rain.

The covered bridge was so neat.  I would love to do a portrait here!

We made it... together.  :)  I am so thankful we just went ahead and hiked even though it was raining.  The Lord blessed us with beautiful views of His Creation as well as great memories of our time together.  Life is for LIVING... not sitting by the side.

As we left the park I couldn't help but capture the beautiful blue skies that were around the mountain.  We didn't get to see much of this while we were there.