A few moments from this weekend...

Campin' in the Sticks

I mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago that we were going to camp on the evening of October 7th. I have finally found myself a few spare moments to share some of the pictures from the evening.

We had some friends and family up to our property on a Friday evening. We enjoyed food, fellowship, and a chilly evening outdoors.

Here I am on my first "real" sleep in a tent, outside camping adventure. Oh so brave...You can see the light from our cabin in the background.

Here's a view of the campground from our front porch.
And an evening view from the night before (when Josh set up) showing the tiki torches & lantern glowing.
Some of our smoky sittin'.
On the left is Christen (wife of Justin, who was the youth pastor at our church before Josh was), me in the middle, and on the right is Denise (wife of Josh, our church pastor).Here is Christianna entertaining herself for a moment with some of the books and toys that Aunt Amanda brought up from the house.
Here's our tent "circle."
Here's the tent where I spent the night. Overall, sleeping outside is not a fantastic experience, but I got a few hours of sleep. I played catch-up that Saturday afternoon with a 4 hour nap. I faired better than some of the others who came who decided to sleep in our cabin instead.
Here are some of our tired campers enjoying breakfast by the fire. My hubby is sitting down on the other side of Jared (Josh's friend, who is in the red). Justin is in the background on the other side of Christen.
Here's view of the mountains from where I was sitting.

And here's Aunt Amanda, lending her hat to Christianna for a photo op. Overall, a fun experience. I definitely enjoyed the time in fellowship.

In case you missed it...

Cleveland Daily Banner ran a story yesterday which talked about the award I won back in July.

http://www.clevelandbanner.com/view/full_story/16062555/article-Gowin--Holder-receive-Riggins--Schimmels-awards-at-Lee-U-

I'm also linked to on the Lee University page as well.

http://www.leeuniversity.edu/newsEvents/newsDetails.aspx?Channel=/Channels/All+Content&WorkflowItemID=89e90f8c-7df2-4c19-9e10-92d978bee440

To God be the glory! ;)

You know you're an early childhood teacher when...

...You manage to buy something for you classroom almost every time you are at Dollar General or Wal-Mart.

...You always refer to going to the bathroom as "going to the potty"...even when you're talking about yourself.

...You don't wonder why the dinosaur has no hands, you simply wonder who chewed them off.
...You have pictures like this on your computer where you are working on labels for your shelves.You take pictures of random creatures and plant life so that you can use them in your science center.
You not only stop to look at seasonal t-shirts at Wal-Mart, but you then proceed to buy three because being a school teacher means sportin' seasonal wear. (Being careful, of course, to avoid anything that looks too "teacher-y."
...You wander outside at 10 PM on a late Wednesday night after church, and proceed to walk over to your Sassafras tree. You begin to shake it vigorously so as to knock down the "dinosaur footprint" leaves that you can use for a 3-D craft for a dinosaur unit the next day....You're sitting at the computer at almost 11:00 PM at night, wondering why you didn't finish that lesson plan (that's being evaluated tomorrow) a little earlier than now.

Back to work, my friends. Thought I would allow my brain a quick break. ;)

If you've ever donated to Susan G. Komen, you may want to read this.

WARNING: This article approaches the topic of sexual education, which may not be appropriate for young eyes. The first part of the blog is about the article.

That said, I am a youth pastor's wife, it's not like I'm going to be talking in expletives.

I found out something interesting about the Susan G. Komen foundation the other day. Our pastor's wife let us know about this information from Chuck Colson's Breakpoint website. As someone who would like to help "Save the Ta-Ta's" I believe will be finding a different breast cancer organization to give my funds towards.

I don't profess to know everything there is about Planned Parenthood (PP), and I realize this is a single conservative view (albeit from a reliable and legitimate Christian author) of the organization. There's a chance that PP does some worthwhile things, but I wouldn't want an organization that considers abortion as a viable option to be anywhere near the children I teach or my own children. I am 100% pro life, and that makes them a huge "NO" in my book. Finding out about the other things that their organization endorses and/or has allowed to happen only makes things all the more certain. And finding out that Susan G. Komen gives money toward their organization, although for a great reason...breast care services...made me disappointed indeed.

Here's the article.

And here's my soapbox...

This article got me thinking about sex education in general. I don't know how "grotesque" PP's sex ed teachings are and how young the girls they are giving contraception to are. I will say, that I know too many teens who know exactly what they aren't supposed to do before marriage, and they do it anyway. I think there is a healthy way to educate children about what sex is, what the dangers of doing it before marriage can be (both physical and emotional), and how to protect yourself from those dangers. The best, and Biblical way to do it, and the way both my husband and I followed, is abstinence. As I believe most any Christian will (or should) tell you, is this only true way to protect yourself and follow God's teachings.

Unfortunately, through our working with youth, I have come to the all too realization that our teens (and even younger children) are playing with fire way too early...and they won't listen to reason. With hormones raging, and the "It won't happen to me" philosophy, it leaves me with some hard questions. Yes, I am upfront and honest about sex, that pre-marital sex is not an option, and the damage that you're left with if you choose to go that path.

Here are my hard questions for the evening:
What should we be doing for these teens who are damaging their well-being? I know that God blesses us with healing after we make mistakes, and He can even bring blessings in disguise. But, there are always consequences to any action, good or bad. What do you do for a teen who is chipping away at his/her future? How do you make sure that child stays safe while not enabling him or her? If a 14 - 15 year old has already had multiple sex partners, and is trying to walk the right path, but still keeps stumbling, what do you do to prevent that teen from the inevitable fact (that I learned way before they taught it in health class that, "Sex makes babies."

TGIF!

Here's to truly thanking God for an end to a tiresome week.

And, here's to an evening of roasting hot dogs & marshmallows over the fire, enjoying an evening of fellowship with family and friends, and sleeping under the stars.

May I just say that I have never slept outside in a tent before....

Here's to new experiences!

What's going on with Mrs. Amanda?

Still saying busy, but I thought I would take a moment to let you all know what's going on with me.

The new job is still going well, and I'm slowly getting stuff done in my room. My co-teacher and I tackled room arrangement yesterday, and we added a Cozy Corner and gross motor area. I am blessed to have plenty of room, shelves, and storage in my classroom. I went after a VERY messy storage closet today, and I am happy to report that there is in fact a floor in that room. Go figure! As for the shelves, well I will finish finding them another day.

I'm looking forward to Nillie Bipper this upcoming weekend -- Saturday and Sunday -- from 10 AM - 5 PM (I think). Hope to see some of you there. It's always so much fun! ;)

Foothills was fun, and we enjoyed good food, entertainment, and some sales. I had great people beside me on each side. My least favorite time of the week (and I believe Josh's favorite) was the lawn mower races that took place right behind my booth. LOUD! :( My favorite time was holding Christianna while she took a nap (Josh & Jenny went to the Demolition Derby).

Gotta go do a little more work before bed. We're having some young couples up from church the weekend after Nillie Bipper. They're going to camp up here over night. The house is quite messy, and it's mostly my education stuff & the clothes I'm switching out for fall, so I have to get back to it.

Sometime I'll work on some more lesson plans. We're themed for oceans this week, the next two weeks will be dinosaurs, and then I'll focus my attention to some of my favorites -- fall, harvest, pumpkins, Thanksgiving....AND then it will be Christmas! When did that happen? This year sure has flown by quickly.

Favorites in my class this week: Sand dough (salt dough recipe mixed with sand), beach towels in home living, and these little critters which I have called sea urchins. They were so easy to make!

Oh, and did I mention I ran my car into a ditch last Tuesday? (Of course I didn't.) A little too preoccupied on my 6:30 AM commute to work. Luckily I only got a slight bruise from my seat belt, and the only real damage is cosmetic (a scratched bumped, torn off ground effect, and a trip to the mechanic for an alignment). I thank God it wasn't worse, I didn't hurt anyone but myself, and that I went in a ditch instead of down an embankment. And, of course, for my wonderfully sweet husband who didn't care about the car, but more about not having the right chain available to tow me out with the Explorer. (We borrowed one, and he bought the right kind for us that afternoon to have...just in case...so we don't have to borrow again...Hoping to never have to use it.) Glad we have good neighbors. ;)

That's enough for now, I guess. Housework: a necessary evil. ;)