That's So Handy

BEST TEACHER  2018-19 I really love my job, and I've always had a dream of being "the best teacher" but the more I grow to being a comfortable member of  #TeamEducators , the more I realize we all play an equally important role in doing the best for our students. The idea of trying to be better than someone else is faulty. The job is not about comparing myself to anyone other than who I was in previous years. As educators, we constantly give ourselves over to personal and professional development. Our growth shouldn't be a testament to how "better" we are than someone else. We all make our own impact very differently. Even if you are only able to do your job by fulfilling bare minimum duties because other demands won't allow you to do more, it does not make you any less than someone who was able to go "above and beyond". I mean,  how far is "above and beyond" anyway? The scale is biased. Did you do the very best you cou...

Avery turned 6 weeks old yesterday and let me tell you; I thought "teacher tired" was something...but no indeed. Mommy tired? Yeah that is no joke; I keep wondering what in the world "teacher-mommy tired" will be like in the fall when school starts back up.  How in the world am I going to teach with a newborn? What am I going to do if I'm up the whole night and then have to go to work TO TEACH! Can I handle this? I recently told my husband how it's really all about Avery right now; making sure he has what he needs when he needs it (even if that's at 1:00 a.m. and every hour to follow). He runs this. Nonetheless, this journey has been pretty amazing - like an amazing roller coaster. There are many ups and downs, twists and turns, fast-paced times and slow-paced times. But all in all, I'm enjoying the ride. Believe me, it's taken a long time to get to place where I can honestly say I'm enjoying motherhood. There's been numerous momen...

I can't believe I delivered a whole baby a week ago. Every time I look at Avery, it seems unreal that he's here now and that he's ours. Everyday I'm grateful to be a mommy. I'm grateful that God was in the entire process, even though things didn't quite go as planned... Bags packed, manicure and pedicure, eyebrows waxed, car seat installed. Everything was ready for induction day. My original due date was June 27, but due to my high blood pressure, I was set to be induced a week earlier.   My plan was to go as natural as possible (I didn't want an epidural and I wanted to have a vaginal birth). The night before we were due to go to the hospital, fear started setting in.           What if things go bad?          What if the pain is so bad that my blood pressure shoots up?          What if Avery doesn't make it?          What if I die?  All thes...

I look at this and I imagine my fingers being scared, so they hide in the pocket... Since I was a kid, I've had a lot of desires and dreams, but I wasn't really allowed to do a lot of things. When I got "grown", I was bold enough to make whatever reckless, adventurous decision I felt like making, with no fear. YOLO right? Here's the thing! Now that I'm very much an adult, I don't have that same boldness that I did just a few years ago. I still have many things that I want to do, things I believe I'm good at, but I get stifled (sometimes right at the conception of the thought) -I let fear set in and I want to either quit, or not give it all I have because I start feeling incapable. So I live in the pocket... I've often heard the phrase "stay in the pocket" as a joke on musicians who do the most on their instrument. It's like they are trying to shine so much and they forget that they're playing with a band. So in the audie...

It's that time of year, where everybody's tired and it sorta feels like school should be finished, but the end is not quite here yet. Hang in there! I feel your pain! Meanwhile, I decided to go ahead and do my reflections now because I've learned so much and I am so excited about finishing strong and starting off fresh next September. As most of you know, I resigned from my teaching position in 2016. I took a whole year off, while still working in a school setting as a substitute, a one-on-one aide, an after-school program teacher, and a summer school teacher. I returned to the classroom in a private school setting this past school year. Many things differ from public to private but one thing remains: kids will be kids. I've had a lot of challenges this year including the fact that for the majority of the school year, I was pregnant. Let me tell you - it took nothing less than the supernatural strength of God for me to have enough energy to still do the stre...

So first I want to thank everyone that commented and gave ideas on the title for the worship workshop that I hosted. The name I ended up submitting was #ThrowbackThursday, when worshiping together was cool. This came from me wanting to really get their viewpoint of worshiping together with others as a young person. I get to see a lot of them during times of worship and they don't seem interested.... Being able to host a workshop was amazing and a little nerve-wrecking at the same time - to have about 30 students and another faculty member sit in my room and listen to me present? I wanted to do a good job. I knew that I didn't want to talk the whole time; that would be uncomfortable for them and me. I also knew that I didn't want to shoot a bunch of scriptures at them either. So I tried to make it fun and interactive. Still, anxiety set in a little: would it be boring? will they think I was wack? I kept trying to figure out from what angle I would approach the workshop ...

FIRST COMES LOVE... THEN COMES MARRIAGE...   then comes negative test result after negative test result THE BEGINNING I'm very open about my testimony of becoming free from promiscuity. That being said, I have had numerous opportunities to have pregnancy scares, yet somehow I never had one. NOT ONE! I always wanted to have children - 5 to be exact. At a young age, I wanted to have a baby. Thank God I never did by any of the people who could have been the father. Which leads to my first red-flag. BEYOND GRACE I had gotten used to the thought that maybe I had never gotten pregnant because God's grace was covering me. People would say, "it will happen in God's time. Don't worry". "Shoot, be glad you didn't have a baby by him" . "When you stop focusing on it, it will happen". I hear you! I guess this was right! God was keeping me from disaster. However, I still wondered how logically I had never ever gotten p...