'ello!

so! i am now a fifth grade teacher at holly grove christian! crazy. never thought i'd be here. i love it so far! of course i haven't run into any issues, yet. but its great!

love is watching someone die

The death cab for cutie song" what sarah said' actually came true for me this past thursday morning. My mom came upstairs to say her brother rick was not doing well, doctors thought it was a.stroke, and my cousin, amanda, told her that she needed to come up.this was @ eleven on wednesday night. I made a call.for.my work and hopped in the car. We made it to pinnacle hospital in harrisburg in 3.5 hours.@ 2:15 am, When amanda came down to get us at the lobby of.the hospital with red eyes I knew it wasn't good. We got up to the 7th floor and mom saw her uncle rich( we have ALOT of Richards in my family seven : to be exact.) She hugged him and lost it. We walked into the waiting room with red eyes staring @ us like oh no they don't know yet .. grief hung in the air like a thick fog. My aunt k, my mom's brother's (rick) took us to his room. And there on the bed lay my uncle rick, looked like he was sleeping with exception of the tube in his mouth. It seemed that we had to do was shake him andhe would wake. He just looked tired.mom and i talked.to.him, held his hnds, kissed him, asked him to wake but ... I hated calling my sister @ three am that our uncle was not going to wake. H asked what did the doctors say? Are you sure he wont wake? There is not a chance? He had a bleed on the brain probably due to a stroke and was not going to wake... the nurse said the ct scan was impressive as in impressive how much damage was done. The respirator was breathing for him but his heart with all its troubles marched on. And this is when I was reminded of that death cab song... and I rationed my breathes/ as I said to myself/ that i'd already taken too much today/ ... every beat on the lcd took you a little further away from me. Thursday morning, my aunt and cousin, R, after consulting anoher time with the neurologist that there was no sign of recovery, took my uncle off the respirator. We gathered around, prayed, sang amazing grace and watched him slip away. It was amazing to see the color change.. what bothers me.is that both of his daughter in laws lost their fathers in tragedy and @ young ages. His granddaughters will not have grandfathers. I lost my grammam @ the youngest age and H and i lost our grandpa when h was three, the oldest granddaughter 's age. Its just plain aweful. I regret not getting up to his classroom to see him teach.you see we are both history teachers. Why didn't I go?

I aplogize this so out of order and grammatical incorrect...I'm typing on my phone.. I'll go on the computer to fix later.

I went back in the room by myself andprayed, and outloud pleaded the blood of Jesus to wake him. But as my cousin, his son, would later say, God called him home. He had been a faithful servant, he had fulfilled his purpose, and uncle rick had brought glory to God. He had called him home. My uncle had such health issues.. now he does not have pains, no more insulin, no more fear if stroke,and he can eat whatever he wants. Never before have I wanted to go to heaven so bad... I
told my uncle to say hello to my grandparents .. I just want to be with all my family where fear
and pain and tragedy can no longer get to us. It makes that song by switchfoot so much.more true to me... I don't belong here... I will carry the cross and song where I don't belong.

new chapter..

New chapter on life.. I am SO READY for a new chapter. I wish this chapter would take me off the shore but new experience is a new one. I will be a fifth grade teacher at an undisclosed school. Stories will ensue. I am nervous to have 23young faced staring at me, relying on me for their education (not to mention the parents of said children paying to send their children to undisclosed school). Kids are like clay- and are formed by those with whom they.come.in contact with. Good and bad. O am terrified that an un-Christ like things will come out of my mouth. I am worried that I will not challenge them enough. But as I type, I can hear the key words "I" and " worry". My biggest wekness. What I need to put into place is The Lord and has control. I just need to fall on face and ask for His wisedom. He will give as He has done.

good stuff

a huge fan of these guys. the black keys. yup, just two guys. a drummer and a guitarist. and they can rip. it. up.

they have a new album just released this... spring i think. maybe it was summer. but its AWESOME! its called brothers. you should check it out. its real rock and roll. the stuff that should be played on the radio much more. but since pop culture loves fake hip hop( note that i said fake, cause the stuff on the radio ain't the good stuff) i will just have to listen to the black keys on my ipod, grooveshark.com and pandora.com



they guys are pretty good too. i like real rock and roll. they put on a pretty good show too. no running away from birds either.

oh yeah, i graduated.

just a little thing.

just framed my diploma yesterday. weird!

isn't she lovely?

i found this on our computer... isn't she just gorgeous!!!

Josh & Britney

For Kelly

These are the yummmmm-but-not-chemically-filled-oreos for tummies.enjoy!
1 1/4 cups of flour
3/4 cup of dutch processed cocoa ( i use hersheys, is that dutch processed?)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter ( i use whatever is in the fridge)
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg

whisk together flour cocoa baking soda and salt; set aside. in another bowl, stir butter, sugar and egg. add dry ingredients. dough will form, and be pretty dry.

divide if needed, roll out between parchement paper ( wax paper works, just don't use flour as it will spot the dark cookie)to 1/4 inch thickness or thereabouts. refrigerate for 30 minutes. ( i found that sometimes the dough does not need to be refrigerated)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

cut cookies ( approx 2 in. in diameter) with scalloped or smooth round cookie cutter. bake 8-10 minutes, checking for firmness, and fragrance. cool on rack.

For cream filling....

4 tbsp of unsalted butter
1.5 cups of powdered sugar
.25 cups of sugar
2 tsps of vanilla
Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
*** store in frig for five days****
Could add peppermint extract to cream instead of vanilla!

well 'ello friends!

its been a loooong time since i've posted. student teaching has taken over my life... and i have only eight more days with the hooligans. Praise the Lord!!! I picked up my graduation camp and gown saturday. as i was walking on campus, i spotted, well, rahter ran into- three groups touring the school. as i carried my cap and gown- at the other end of the spectrum of the college experience then these incoming freshmen, it gave me moment to reflect on my experiece.
I am sitting here typing in the lab whihc is now open 24 hours for those of us who cram things in to the last minute... i am here because we no longer have copies at hte high school so now i have to print all things here. super.
I hated this university and all colleges for that manner for quite some time. now i'm kind of fond of this university. do you knwo what they have in one of the offices? coffee and creamre etc. for all those who are staying up late!! is't that nice?
i think it is.
though i'm really glad taht the only paper i had to stay up till five in hte morning was done at the shelton household when hannah and i were pet sitting. much more comfortable.
okay well i ahve to get up at o- dark hundred. good night!