jennifer. at least that's what my students say. a couple of girls decided yesterday that i looked like a jennifer. initially it was jamie (ironic, mom?), then jenny, then finally jennifer.
apparently i need to find more work for them to do.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
roddick's exhausting life
he's using my bag as a pillow, with one paw under his head...isn't that cute?!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
good enough
a few weeks ago a young boy in my class had to stay in from recess to finish an assignment. he'd been procrastinating on it until the teacher made him stay in to complete it. as you can guess, he wasn't very happy. he finished it in about 15 minutes and gave it to the teacher. she looked at it, handed it back to him, and said, "i know you can do better. try again." his shoulders slumped over, he dragged his feet back to his desk. this scene played out three times. back and forth he went from his desk to the teacher's desk, his shoulders slumping more and his feet dragging longer each time he made the trip back to his desk. finally, he stood up, walked quickly to the teacher's, and uttered four words that shocked me, the teacher, and the other teacher in the classroom.
"is this good enough?"
i'll spare you the details of the lecture he got from both teachers. one of the teachers made a really good point, though. she said, "you know, if one of my students brings me work and then ask if it's good enough, then that tells me they already know that it's not."
the rest of that day and since then, i've thought about that exchange. it reminded me, sadly, of times in my relationship with Christ. the sacrifice he made was great, and what he requires of me is very little compared to that, but still i half-heartedly fulfill my commitments. i try to get by with just reading the Bible instead of studying it. i pray on my way to school to save time in the morning. and through all of that, i ask God, "is this good enough? is this it? are you going to require any more of me?" and i can see God up in heaven shaking his head while saying, "if you have to ask me if it's good enough, what do you think the answer is?"
God used that cute little boy to convict and teach me a lesson that day. it hasn't been easy. it hasn't been pretty. but it has been a blessing.
thank you, Father, for loving me enough to not let me get away with "good enough." thank you for continuing to discipline me so that i can become an even better ambassador of you. please continue to help me as i go through this life, that i would exhibit your grace, peace and love to others, even in the worst of circumstances. i love you.
"is this good enough?"
i'll spare you the details of the lecture he got from both teachers. one of the teachers made a really good point, though. she said, "you know, if one of my students brings me work and then ask if it's good enough, then that tells me they already know that it's not."
the rest of that day and since then, i've thought about that exchange. it reminded me, sadly, of times in my relationship with Christ. the sacrifice he made was great, and what he requires of me is very little compared to that, but still i half-heartedly fulfill my commitments. i try to get by with just reading the Bible instead of studying it. i pray on my way to school to save time in the morning. and through all of that, i ask God, "is this good enough? is this it? are you going to require any more of me?" and i can see God up in heaven shaking his head while saying, "if you have to ask me if it's good enough, what do you think the answer is?"
God used that cute little boy to convict and teach me a lesson that day. it hasn't been easy. it hasn't been pretty. but it has been a blessing.
thank you, Father, for loving me enough to not let me get away with "good enough." thank you for continuing to discipline me so that i can become an even better ambassador of you. please continue to help me as i go through this life, that i would exhibit your grace, peace and love to others, even in the worst of circumstances. i love you.
a small suggestion
i highly recommend not reading james and the giant peach right before you go to bed. you will have crazy dreams.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
pastor appreciation day
earlier this month, on november 11, our church celebrated pastor appreciation day. it is now my new favorite day of the year! i've mentioned how much i love my church, and much of it has to do with what great people they all are. they let us know all the time how much we are appreciated (now who wouldn't love that?!). this particular sunday, they presented us with money to eat lunch (olive garden, yum yum!) and then we played a fun game of wheel of fortune. it was hilarious! we got so many good things off of it: a bag of m&ms, dr. pepper, starbucks card, chick-fil-a card...and those were only my gifts! i'm not too sure what everyone else got; i was too busy oohing and aahing over my gifts. i've got to hand it to bernice and cheli-they planned the day for us and cheli even preached so my dad could have the day off. thanks so much, solid rock church! we love you!
last year at this time
last year at this time, there were three things that i wanted: a digital camera, an ipod, and a laptop. it's last year at this time that our story begins...
last year at this time, i wanted a digital camera. thanks to christmas money from my uncle noe and my parents, i bought a digital camera. i love it, love it, love it. i take pictures all the time now. trust me, i just finished transferring about 100 pictures of roddick. i'm not even kidding.
so two out three isn't bad, right? right, until now...
I GOT A LAPTOP!!!! yes, faithful blog readers, i received an early graduation present from my parents this morning at the crack of dawn (11 am-same thing). this is my absolute favorite gift of all. i love it, love it, love it. like i said earlier, i spent lots of time transferring the tons of pictures from my memory card to my laptop. i don't think this grin is coming off my face any time soon! i'm just so excited to have this laptop, and think about it-i can now blog to my heart's content! i think i'm going to be on this thing all the time. i'm not even kidding.
so thank you, mom and day, for my amazing present! my blog readers thank you too =)
i love you!
last year at this time, i wanted a digital camera. thanks to christmas money from my uncle noe and my parents, i bought a digital camera. i love it, love it, love it. i take pictures all the time now. trust me, i just finished transferring about 100 pictures of roddick. i'm not even kidding.
do you like this random picture? kelli says they look alike!
last year at this time, i wanted an ipod. i still don't have an ipod, but i do have an mp3 player. i got it because of the hard bargaining skills of my dad and one of joey's classmates.i love it, love it, love it. again, i listen to it all the time. forget the radio, i plug in my mp3 player every single time i get in the car. yesterday on the way home from la grange, i listened to christmas music. i have to change out the battery every few days because yes, i listen to it that much. i'm not even kidding.so two out three isn't bad, right? right, until now...
I GOT A LAPTOP!!!! yes, faithful blog readers, i received an early graduation present from my parents this morning at the crack of dawn (11 am-same thing). this is my absolute favorite gift of all. i love it, love it, love it. like i said earlier, i spent lots of time transferring the tons of pictures from my memory card to my laptop. i don't think this grin is coming off my face any time soon! i'm just so excited to have this laptop, and think about it-i can now blog to my heart's content! i think i'm going to be on this thing all the time. i'm not even kidding.
so thank you, mom and day, for my amazing present! my blog readers thank you too =)
i love you!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
happy turkey day!
yay, it's thanksgiving! i love thanksgiving because 1) it gives me a great excuse to stuff myself and 2) i'm reminded of all things God has blessed me with.
my first blessing is my family. there's a movie where the girl is telling the guy, "you know that family where is everyone is out of their mind but at the end of the day they're still your family and you love them? that's not my family." i laughed hard when i first heard that, but it's so not true. well, half of it isn't anyway! i love my family. you put all of us together and it will take approximately five seconds for us to start getting on each other's nerves, but we still love each other. we pray for each other, defend each other, and help each other out. there's nothing i couldn't do without my family.
then, naturally, there are my friends. i know everyone says this, but i think i have the best friends anyone could ask for. these are the people who make me a better person just by being around them. they are godly, strong, and overall great friends. they are the ones who pray for me and call to check on me. today i got text messages from some of them just to say happy thanksgiving. i think that choosing to go to ch. 1 back in august of '04 was one of the best decisions i've ever made. i love them and thank God for them.
my home church is pretty awesome. we aren't perfect, but we're so darn close! they honored us last week for pastor appreciation day (more on that later), but they never had to do that. we are blessed to be their pastors. i look forward to every time we meet because everyone is so encouraging. thank you, God, for solid rock church and all of those wonderful people.
school had been so hard but so worth it for me. i feel as though God has really blessed me in this area. i got a great school to student teach at, two wonderful and positive cooperating teachers, and an encouraging supervisor. it hasn't been a piece of cake, but i can feel God literally giving me strength as i walk through the doors every morning (at 7 am! this is so not right...). student teaching has been such a huge blessing to me in so many ways, and there is no way i could explain it well on a blog right now. and speaking of student teaching...
I'M GRADUATING NEXT MONTH! i spent part of this evening putting my invitations together and starting to address them (i need your address-you know who you are). as i was folding them and putting them in envelopes, i was reminded of my freshman year as a music major. and as i think of my college career, there is a common threa in all of them: God's faithfulness.
and really, isn't that what this is all about? God has been so faithful to me that i still can't completely comprehend it. but i'm grateful. i'm grateful that He chose to send His son to die for my sins so that i could have a relationship with Him. wow...
thank you, Jesus, for everything you've done for me. thank you for my family, my friends, my church, and my education. your goodness and faithfulness overwhelm me. i love you.
my first blessing is my family. there's a movie where the girl is telling the guy, "you know that family where is everyone is out of their mind but at the end of the day they're still your family and you love them? that's not my family." i laughed hard when i first heard that, but it's so not true. well, half of it isn't anyway! i love my family. you put all of us together and it will take approximately five seconds for us to start getting on each other's nerves, but we still love each other. we pray for each other, defend each other, and help each other out. there's nothing i couldn't do without my family.
then, naturally, there are my friends. i know everyone says this, but i think i have the best friends anyone could ask for. these are the people who make me a better person just by being around them. they are godly, strong, and overall great friends. they are the ones who pray for me and call to check on me. today i got text messages from some of them just to say happy thanksgiving. i think that choosing to go to ch. 1 back in august of '04 was one of the best decisions i've ever made. i love them and thank God for them.
my home church is pretty awesome. we aren't perfect, but we're so darn close! they honored us last week for pastor appreciation day (more on that later), but they never had to do that. we are blessed to be their pastors. i look forward to every time we meet because everyone is so encouraging. thank you, God, for solid rock church and all of those wonderful people.
school had been so hard but so worth it for me. i feel as though God has really blessed me in this area. i got a great school to student teach at, two wonderful and positive cooperating teachers, and an encouraging supervisor. it hasn't been a piece of cake, but i can feel God literally giving me strength as i walk through the doors every morning (at 7 am! this is so not right...). student teaching has been such a huge blessing to me in so many ways, and there is no way i could explain it well on a blog right now. and speaking of student teaching...
I'M GRADUATING NEXT MONTH! i spent part of this evening putting my invitations together and starting to address them (i need your address-you know who you are). as i was folding them and putting them in envelopes, i was reminded of my freshman year as a music major. and as i think of my college career, there is a common threa in all of them: God's faithfulness.
and really, isn't that what this is all about? God has been so faithful to me that i still can't completely comprehend it. but i'm grateful. i'm grateful that He chose to send His son to die for my sins so that i could have a relationship with Him. wow...
thank you, Jesus, for everything you've done for me. thank you for my family, my friends, my church, and my education. your goodness and faithfulness overwhelm me. i love you.
Friday, November 16, 2007
today
today was the craziest day of school that i've had so far-and i've had some pretty crazy ones.
my teacher has been at a conference the past three days, so i've had the class to myself (love it, love it, love it). i mean, i really like my teacher. but i really, really like being the only one in charge. well, next to the sub. anyway, today we had a turkey lunch with all the fixins'. IT WAS WONDERFUL! of course, i'm happy to eat anything except sandwiches, but it was definitely great. since every student's family is invited, this thing is huge. super huge. like 1,000 people. and because the parents were there, they just took their kids home with them. i had 9 left by the end of the day. 9 out of 21. those 9 played on the computer or played other games for 1 1/2 hours before they went home.
nice.
and now, i get a whole week off. and when we go back,
ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS!
i think i'll go celebrate with a dr. pepper...
my teacher has been at a conference the past three days, so i've had the class to myself (love it, love it, love it). i mean, i really like my teacher. but i really, really like being the only one in charge. well, next to the sub. anyway, today we had a turkey lunch with all the fixins'. IT WAS WONDERFUL! of course, i'm happy to eat anything except sandwiches, but it was definitely great. since every student's family is invited, this thing is huge. super huge. like 1,000 people. and because the parents were there, they just took their kids home with them. i had 9 left by the end of the day. 9 out of 21. those 9 played on the computer or played other games for 1 1/2 hours before they went home.
nice.
and now, i get a whole week off. and when we go back,
ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS!
i think i'll go celebrate with a dr. pepper...
hair
i have an autistic boy in my room. i had seen him around the school before i started in 4th grade, but didn't know he would be in my 4th grade room. at first i was really nervous, but it's proved to be a great experience. he's extremeley bright, enough to know what is appropriate and inappropriate at school. so when he says or does something just to get a reaction, i just look the other way. but what i love is how the rest of the class takes care of him. they don't want him getting in trouble. they always make sure he has his books and other things he needs for school.
as he walked into the classroom yesterday morning, one of the girls went up to him and said, "hey, did you get a haircut?" his response was,
"no, i washed it."
her eyes wide, she looked at me and whispered, "has he really not been washing his hair this whole time?"
"don't worry-he has" i whispered back.
and then i went to my desk and laughed. hard.
i just love that boy.
as he walked into the classroom yesterday morning, one of the girls went up to him and said, "hey, did you get a haircut?" his response was,
"no, i washed it."
her eyes wide, she looked at me and whispered, "has he really not been washing his hair this whole time?"
"don't worry-he has" i whispered back.
and then i went to my desk and laughed. hard.
i just love that boy.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
one week!
one week until we're out for thanksgiving break...
get ready for some major blog updation (is that even a word?!) but so that i don't forget what i want to update ya'll on, here's a list:
and so much more...
and sorry, no pictures until my computer gets fixed :(
get ready for some major blog updation (is that even a word?!) but so that i don't forget what i want to update ya'll on, here's a list:
- good enough
- pastor appreciation day
- old friends (yes, again)
- back in the day
- God's call on my life
and so much more...
and sorry, no pictures until my computer gets fixed :(
Thursday, November 8, 2007
long overdue
today i got something that i needed loooong ago.
a haircut.
the last time i had my haircut was....may. yes, you read it right-may. i'm so ashamed. my hair grows fast, so in june i was needing a trim. but did i get one? no, apparently i like to go around looking like a ragamuffin.
anyway, i was so excited about getting my haircut. i love getting it done, mostly because cathy (the lady who does my hair) is the best. i made the appointment on monday, and it was quite literally the only thing i could think of this week.
monday i was teaching reading, and while the students were reading, i was thinking,"how am i going to get my hair done?"
tuesday i had to teach all day. i wondered if i should get bangs or not.
wednesday night i was looking at my schedule for when i could go back to get it trimmed (right before graduation, of course)
today we took a field trip to paint rock to look at the indian pictographs. it was very interesting, and while i was looking at them i thought, "what an amazing part of our history! how much should i cut off? an inch? more? do i really want a huge haircut or just a trim?"
um, yeah. just a little obsessed. so after all of that, i decided to go with long bangs, lots of layers, and a trim. well, if you call cutting an inch off the bottom a trim. but the ends of my hair were so bad, they definitely needed to be cut at least an inch.
so there ya go. a fabulous day in the life of ms. hernandez.
wow.
a haircut.
the last time i had my haircut was....may. yes, you read it right-may. i'm so ashamed. my hair grows fast, so in june i was needing a trim. but did i get one? no, apparently i like to go around looking like a ragamuffin.
anyway, i was so excited about getting my haircut. i love getting it done, mostly because cathy (the lady who does my hair) is the best. i made the appointment on monday, and it was quite literally the only thing i could think of this week.
monday i was teaching reading, and while the students were reading, i was thinking,"how am i going to get my hair done?"
tuesday i had to teach all day. i wondered if i should get bangs or not.
wednesday night i was looking at my schedule for when i could go back to get it trimmed (right before graduation, of course)
today we took a field trip to paint rock to look at the indian pictographs. it was very interesting, and while i was looking at them i thought, "what an amazing part of our history! how much should i cut off? an inch? more? do i really want a huge haircut or just a trim?"
um, yeah. just a little obsessed. so after all of that, i decided to go with long bangs, lots of layers, and a trim. well, if you call cutting an inch off the bottom a trim. but the ends of my hair were so bad, they definitely needed to be cut at least an inch.
so there ya go. a fabulous day in the life of ms. hernandez.
wow.
okay, okay
obviously it's been more than a couple of days. i'm sorry. really i am. but i just can't make the story work. so the story will come, just not any time soon.
is that okay with you?
is that okay with you?
Thursday, November 1, 2007
coming soon
i got an idea for a post while i was at school today. i don't have time to write it now, but it will come in the next couple of days. the story involves personification, so if you don't know what that means, you have time to look it up before i write it! go on...look it up!
i love this game
today, my life became about 100 times better.
cornerstone started their basketball season, and i got to watch my brother and cousin play. not that i'm biased or anything, but they are definitely the best ones out there! i didn't get any pictures because i was too busy cheering, but i'll get some soon. well, i did get one of all the dads standing against the wall, but it didn't turn out too well. i'm pretty sure i'll have a chance to get another one =)
i had been looking forward to this night all week, and it was so much fun. it started out with a lasagna dinner from the ccs seniors (it was a fundraiser). after we finished stuffing ourselves, we walked over to the gym to watch the first basketball game of the season. i love this. i love the game of basketball, but it is so much more special when i get to watch my family play.
i love this game.
cornerstone started their basketball season, and i got to watch my brother and cousin play. not that i'm biased or anything, but they are definitely the best ones out there! i didn't get any pictures because i was too busy cheering, but i'll get some soon. well, i did get one of all the dads standing against the wall, but it didn't turn out too well. i'm pretty sure i'll have a chance to get another one =)
i had been looking forward to this night all week, and it was so much fun. it started out with a lasagna dinner from the ccs seniors (it was a fundraiser). after we finished stuffing ourselves, we walked over to the gym to watch the first basketball game of the season. i love this. i love the game of basketball, but it is so much more special when i get to watch my family play.
i love this game.
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