My Favorite Hobby

Okay, I finally finished my second model's photos. I can now share them with you, with her permission of course. Her name is Cassidy, and she happens to be my best friend from college. (I can say that now, since I graduated and all.)

One last shot from the local park. She wanted a field, so we found one. Which isn't hard when you are in the south. There just happens to be fields everywhere.

Here, she is sitting on some old railroad tracks. This is at the Mill too.

I call this the superstar door. You know, because of the rock star feel, the black door and the red star.

This is at a local landmark know as "The Mill." I have to say that this one is my favorite.

This is at a local park. Absolutely beautiful.

Okay, I promise to quit showcasing my best of friends on here!! I just needed to give ya'll a break from my Sunday school fever. Don't worry, it will return as soon as a begin writing my lesson on miracles. I figured that hearing a few miracles by Jesus will be good for them. For now, adiós!

Hiking Pico Bonito

The above picture is of the waterfall in Pico Bonito National Park in Honduras. You can see it from the mountain road, but my team and I had the amazing chance to see it up close. The only way to get there was an intense hike. I think that it was definitely worth it, in the end. I was able to capture the image, even though it doesn't do the beauty of the falls justice.

GASP! Worship!

Okay, so after my nerves got the best of me, my lesson on worship turned out beautifully. The class was unbelievably participative and LOVED the pre-class worship session!!

I know! GASP!!

Who would have thought that a class that ranges in ages from 7 to 11 would even remotely enjoy a completely quiet moment to bask in the glory of God, for the duration of a song.

I was completely shocked. At the end of the lesson, I told them that we would be doing the pre-class worship session weekly, they all cheered, "YAAAAY!!!!" I am so glad that they are eager to praise God.

Okay, I know that this is totally off subject, but I am getting a wireless modem today, which means that I will finally be able to blog about Pico Bonito National Park in Atlantida, Honduras. The reason I can't so it now is because I am having to use the PC instead of my laptop, which happens to have all of my pictures on it.

Nerves and Fear

I can't help but to be nervous about my lesson tomorrow. It's something that is really going to be hard for the kids to sit still and not get bored; but, they need to hear it.

Most of them are at the age where it's time to understand the art of worship and why we do it. I feel that the newest session I am introducing in the morning will help them.

We are going to start class of by dimming the lights and turning on a worship song, so they can get a feel for the atmosphere. I hope that by doing this, God will light a flame in their hearts that will burn for worship.

I believe that we all are anointed for worship. Even the kids.

I pray that they will understand the lesson and take it to heart.

:.Hobby.:

I have always loved taking pictures, it is something that my mom instilled into me when I was little. You see, she works in a photo lab that has huge clients and I've watched her work all my life, thus falling in love with the art. i would love to turn this hobby into a paid hobby. I would never do it full-time because my passion is teaching the correlation between science and God to eager young minds, not only in the U.S., but in other countries as well, preferably Honduras. I thought that I could throw in a few pictures, just ones that are on my PC, the others are on my laptop, so maybe another post later? Here goes!

Meet Anna. My first model.

Vintage.

This is Anna. She was willing to be my model for the day!

Again, Anna. I feel like this one has a bit of an "Alice in Wonderland" feel.

I have another "shoot" Friday, so, hopefully she will give me permission to post her on here. Also, I have a few from my travels to post, but that will have to wait until wireless is set up in my house!

Also, there will be an update about my lesson coming soon. I just have to read over it and make sure that it is good.

Creation and Art

Y'all, we finally finished the Creation yesterday! And yes, I have pictures of the final product of my (our) Sunday school room!!!

You have to admit, Adam and Eve look stellar. A special thanks to a lovely young lady from the Youth Group.

This is our "Tree of Life," and our pond. Notice the pretty little flowers and butterflies that flood the walls.

This is the wall with our "Prayer Cloud." Yes, it reads Psalm 19:14, which happens to be my college benediction, I think it's a good little prayer to end with each Sunday.

This is our Sunshine corner. Notice the "special" birds flying around. They are described as, and I quote, "torpedoes flying at each other," thanks class.

Now, this was a blast to do, but, I am very thankful that it is over. Now, it's back to business. Next week, we are starting a lesson on worship, and ways to worship. I am going to try and teach them that they don't have to be embarrassed to raise their hands and so on.

I plan on this becoming a more discussion based lesson. We are even going to start a short worship session in class.

Updates on how the lesson is coming along sometime this week!

"Worship, really?"

This Sunday, we are finishing the Creation and our decorating.

I wanted to write about my next lesson that I believe is going to be a toughy.

Not only will it be tough to teach, it is a very serious subject matter in many ways.

Worship. Many of you are probably thinking, "Worship, really?" For adults, worship is something that we undertand and comprehend as something that we as faithful Christians should do. However, seeing that I do not teach adults, but a "Tweens" class, it is going to be very difficult for them to pay attention and grasp what I am going to tell them.

All I can do is ask God to give me the words to speak to my kids.

Blue Plastic Wrap and Misshaped Birds

Okay, I know that I promised pictures of the kids working on their project (of the Creation), but the thing is, trying to maintain a calm environment and keep paint off the floor is a rather daunting task. We only made it through one section of our project, and that was the stained glass part, so I am very glad that the messiest part is over. PTL!

While the kids painted, my assistant, Amber, and I worked on making birds. I will definitely post a picture of our special little creations when this whole thing is finished. We also made a tree. I can openly admit that I am not the most artistically inclined individual, and I am also allowed to say that my bird was a "hot mess."

I think that the painting was a success, but next week they will be saddened to know that all they get to do is make flowers. and little animals.

Listen to this idea of awesome-ness! So, we were trying to figure out what to do about water, since, you know, God did create it and all, and included it in the story, we just didn't know what to do.

I thought it out and my mom gave me the idea to use blue plastic wrap... Now, I know they make it, I just wasn't sure where to find it. So, Sunday, I arrived to class, went to grab some of the plastic stuff to cover the table and floor, and lo and behold, there was some blue plastic stuff!!! Needless to say, I cut me some of that stuff, and tomorrow, I will be putting it on the wall!! It will make a darling pond!!!

I will have pictures to post when it is finished and the room is cleaned!

Paint and New Carpet

I promised pictures of the supplies I planned (and did) purchase

for our big project in Sunday School, a.k.a. Creation Decoration.

Now, above is the only one I could get to load, so I will explain the products you see.

First, two HUGE packs of construction paper for making flowers and animals.

Next, two sets of stained glass sets, one being zoo animals and the other butterflies and flowers,

which after they are dry, will be hung from the ceiling, awesome, I know.

Two things that are covered are poster puddy and dry erase markers (and eraser) for our white

board. Now, I have to explain why we decided to purchase Silly Bandz. As you know,

getting a child to actually memorize anything and have them report it back to you

is insanely difficult. So, Amber and I thought that giving one Silly Band to each person

that said the Memory Verse would create class-wide participation,

because who doesn't want to win yet another Silly Band to add to their HUGE collection?

Brilliant, I know. I owe my mom a thank you for that one.

As soon as we are finished decorating, I will attempt to post a picture of my BEAUTIFUL

classroom.

I will move on to tell you that my sister is also a SS teacher at my church, only she is more brave and teaches the young ages of 2 to 5 years old. This Saturday is a church-wide cleaning day, instead, I will be helping her paint her classroom white, because she too is taking on a big decorating project. She will be letting her kids put their handprints on the wall, which should be fun to clean up when all of them have decorated the wall with their paint covered hands.

I am so excited to be starting this project finally, as is my class. Let's just hope that no paint is dropped on our wonderful new carpet.

No Gum Allowed, Especially in Egypt

I promised an update, and let's just say that it is a very good one.

As you know, last Sunday, I had behavior problems out of my SS kids. This week however, they turned their behavior around and behaved like angels, surprisingly.

Well, aside from one kid, but everyone would call it ADD, I call it unwilling to pay attention to the teacher. I stood on one leg through most of the lesson holding his chair down with the other one.

You know that I taught on the Plagues of Egypt and my assistant drew them. However, what you don't know is that after we finished the lesson, the kids each were able to tell me at least one of the plagues, if not more, without looking at anything. I was a proud teacher at that very moment in time.

Now, my assistant and I have decided that there will be a "NO GUM ALLOWED" rule enforced starting this Sunday, and continuing on for forever. Here is the back story: One of the kids, we will call him Tom, had like FIVE pieces of gum in his mouth when he came in. Not only was it in his mouth, but he had been playing with it in his hands, which equals for a very sticky mess. So, after the kids left for Children's Church, I decided to clean the table because of his sticky little hand prints. HAHA!! While I was cleaning, I realized that his chair was completely covered in more sticky little hand prints. So, I then proceeded to clean the chair, luckily it was just one of those metal fold out chairs. Hence, the NO GUM ALLOWED rule. Ever. We haven't decided on what to do if the kids give us attitude about it. I guess that I will personally escort them to their parents, and let them know the situation.

We had a good time, and next week's update will be even better, and it may include a few photos.

Plagues and Unleavened Bread

Okay, so, I did slack on getting the lesson finished this week. I finished only a few short hours ago, and yet, I feel like it is lacking in some area. I suppose we will find out tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the kid's big "test" to see if they are going to act like humans instead of last week's example of wild banshees. I'm sure the threat of having to sit through their parent's class helped clear up their insolent behavior, but we shall see.

My lesson is on the ten plagues and passover. However, I did a summary of the plaques because it is such a long story. I'm sure I would lose their attention in, oh, say 0.02 seconds, if I even tried to read the full story from the Bible.

I asked my lovely assistant Amber to draw out the plagues on our marker board as we go... She said that she would try and I told her the point was for it to look crazy. Maybe it will keep their attention a little bit focused and less on each other.

As for keeping them out of trouble, I will be placing a chair in between each person to better enforce the "Keep your hands to yourself" rule. Hopefully this will work, seeing as my classroom is rather small. Which reminds me, I need to post a picture of my room!!! It is so adorable. I think I shall wait until we get finished with the Creation story because by then it will be completely decorated.

Now, I must get some sleep so I will be fully alert and ready to conquer any problem that we will have!

I will give an update on Monday. Let's pray for good news!

Stalling

It's Friday and I have yet to write that Sunday School lesson...

Does this make me a bad teacher? I sure hope not.

Today is one of my really good friend's birthday.

I spent the entire day cleaning my house and still did not get finished, which, in turn, means that I have to get up with the chickens to finish because we are having friends over tomorrow.

Good thing the only thing left to do is vacuum and mop.

Tonight, my high school plays our biggest rival in football and I can't be there because of the splendid birthday party going on at the same time. It's okay though, I will be there in spirit. GO BEARS!

I should quit stalling now and go get ready...