Author: rubyred110

rubyred110https://memoirsofaredhead.wordpress.com
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Ever Feel Like This?

Jeremiah 31:18-19 (New Living Translation)

18  …‘You disciplined me severely,

      like a calf that needs training for the yoke.
   Turn me again to you and restore me,
      for you alone are the Lord my God.
19 I turned away from God,
      but then I was sorry.
   I kicked myself for my stupidity!
      I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’

…or of all I did yesterday…that works too.

Really appreciating God’s grace, once again, today…

Not to mention, this verse keeps popping out to me.  I read it a couple weeks ago…

Zephaniah 1:12 (New Living Translation)

12 “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners
      to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.
  They think the Lord will do nothing to them,
      either good or bad.

In context, or out, the bolded portion describes my human nature sometimes…complacency sucks.  So I go back to the first verse and say, "Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the LORD my God."

It’s a Tear-jerker

I just watched the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.  Forget Hairspray (which was a great movie too).  Check this one out here, from National Community Church, in Washington DC.

I’d also like to add a couple more personal pictures from Cotk a few weeks ago.
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This is Sabrina and Nichole, withPastor Brad.  They both got baptized a couple weeks ago, and it was so fantastic!  One of my all-time favorite things about spending time in discipleship at our church is walking with people through baptism.  It is honoring…and tear-jerking.  God is so good.  He is so faithful.  He is so full of grace.

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Having to Write…some random thoughts

I’m finding that I have less time to write, now that I’m supposed to!  I really can’t say that it’s because I’ve been working so hard this past week, but it has more to do with, well, not having time because I’ve just been busy with other things that I’ve felt the need to enjoy and experience!  Writing can be very therapeutic, I agree, and I’ve been wanting to express some of the deepest and heartfelt emotions that I’ve experienced lately, but it just doesn’t always happen.  It shouldn’t always happen-not online anyway.  That’s what the composition book is for.  Nonetheless, my writing should improve.  You should hear my voice, when you read, and see less mistakes (as if I made mistakes, hah!:).  My word choice should make a difference…

But, oh, it is hard to think about improving when I read some other blogs with so much flair and personality.  I think I’m becoming a pessimist.  That’s scary.  I have these amazing friends who are spectacular writers and should be getting published as I speak write.  It’s not that I’m all that competitive, but I am awfully comparative.  When does that end?  How does it happen that I become more and more self-conscious, the older I get?  I hit a peak of confidence and it’s all been downhill from there…(oh dear). 

My friend, Phil Gocke, talked about the fear of God this morning.  It was timely.  He said that if we fear God, then other fears should be lessoned. Then he used this verse, which is some great advice from King David.  Isn’t self-consciousness a result of fearing man over fearing God?  Let’s just say that I feared God as He has wanted me to, would my heart feel a need to fear what man would think of me?  Would I have anything to compare to, but Jesus?  Would I care that Katie my friends writes more eloquently and deeply than I could ever dream to?

Back at North Central, there was this amazing man who came to head up our Residence Life Department the year I became an RA.  His name was Jake Smith, and he began to challenge our thinking as young adults, serving Jesus.  Probably the most influential thing that Jake brought to my life was his statement about being better.  He said, "I want to be better.  Better than what?  Yep."  It was never about competition with another individual or team, but it was about competition with himself and the last minute.  It’s not about being better than the person next to you, whether it’s your enemy or your friend, but it’s about being better than you were a minute ago…yesterday…last year…a decade ago. 

Isn’t that what Jesus wants us to do?  Pursue greatness.  Pursue excellence.  We’ll never be better than Jesus, but if our goal is to become more like Him, won’t we become better than ourselves yesterday?  And if I fear the Lord, more than I fear man, wouldn’t these concepts be a great couple?

Best. 

Bowling the Interns Goodbye:(

Can you believe that I’ve lived in the Detroit area for over 5 years now, and until today, had never been to Canada?  It’s 20 minutes away!  Well today I ventured over the border with a few friends, to spend one last moment in time with two spectacular interns.  D.J., also known as

David, leaves tomorrow, and Sarah leaves the next day.  Sad!  😦

Here we are with Anne Marie and Carrie, 5 pin bowling at Playdium in Canada…where David was friends with the owner before we even got there!  He won twice (although we think Carrie let him win that second time).  Sarah almost kicked butt during the first game, but her rocky start didn’t help her much.

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As for me, I came in last both times, but I didn’t seem to care much (as I danced up to the line to toss my ball:)  Here you can see that for one moment in the second game I was in second place, and had more points than DJ, aka Rocky.  Sarahdj014

Carrie is definitely a superstar sportin’ her sexxy, almost up-the-calf-high socks, with capris…

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5 Pin bowling is harder than 10 pin bowling is, and apparently you can only do it in Canada.  As you can tell by my stats of losing twice, my skill was definitely lacking.  Looks like I’ll have to check into visiting Windsor a little bit more often to perfect my form!

10:45pm

Okay, 10:45pm may not be that late to some people, but for two teachers who have been working at their school way too much lately…10:45pm was the magic time.

My friend, Dana, and I have worked together for several years now.  She’s become a great friend of mine.  We’ve spent the last two days working into the night at Hanley and each night we hit a really defining moment of silliness that could not be contained. 

Think hard about the last time you had a deep, belly laugh, where you’re making funny noises, your body is jolting, you can’t speak legible words, you cry and your jaw hurts.  That was us!  It was uncontrollable!  Everything made us laugh…everything! 

So I said to Dana, "I really want to pull a prank on somebody…what could we do?"  Browsing around the office, I saw a pair of boots on the shelf (why are there boots on the shelf?) and I had a flashback (a couple, actually) of times when I would grab a balloon and make a body with clothes and other things on a chair in an office or a dorm room.  We improvised and got:

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We called her "The Board" and I’m not even going to try to explain why…it will never make sense to anyone else.

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This is us with The Board:

They (someone) says that laughter is the best medicine…and for stressed folks like us, it’s fantastic!  I feel great today!

And here’s an excerpt from the email that Candice sent out this morning, in regards to our new friend, who was sitting in her chair when she arrived this morning:


Do you realize you are surrounded by Hanley Masterminds?!!

Everyday these minds are stirring and full of juice to fill our thirsty
hearts with laughter and joy!!! Not to mention nurturing the minds of
Children from all over the world, Bosnia, Iraq, Bangladesh, Russia and
MORE!!   Well take a look at these pictures attached to see why I am so
flabbergasted.

This looks like the work of "Kimpossible & Kricky Krick".Don’t miss more
"Brick and Curton" featured presentations at Crystal Mountain.   I
wonder what will they come up with NEXT?

  **NO FOLKS THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!!!

YEAH So it scared the crap out of me.ThanksJ

Have a fun-filled day at work!  And if you need help thinking of creative ways to make your own new staff person, just ask!  🙂

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The Brilliance of a 5-year-old

Friday night I babysat for two of my favorite kids. 

I’d seen them on Wednesday and realized how much I’d missed their giggliness and affection.  These two kids are hilarious and so much fun to hang out with.  So I asked them if I could come over their house for a little bit…as expected, they were excited:)  The little girl, who’s 5 1/2 years old, said to me, "You know, Ms. Kim…you know how sometimes I cry when Mommy and Daddy leave and you babysit us?  Well, I don’t do that anymore.  Um, I learned that when I cry I am not using control over my emotions, but now I know how to calm down and control my emotions better."  Yes, the 5-year-old…

This little girl spends lot of time with her parents.  She’s read to, and is spoken to, as an intelligent human being.  Her parents ask her questions and never yell at her.  They talk with her to help her sort out what’s going on.  I love it!  She still cried a little when her parents left on Friday night, but I was able to calm her down by simply talking with her and asking her to just talk to me:)

My short friend is a living example of what we’re learning about in our literacy project.  She has been influenced by rich vocabulary since she was in the womb and it has been one of the greatest thing her parents have offered to her!  It’s amazing how much parents can do for their children by talking to them and asking them questions, from the time they’re babies!

There’s a study that I’ve heard about from a few different conferences/workshops that was completed at a zoo.  During the study, parents were observed in their interactions with their kids.  What was found was that parents from poverty were observed speaking very little to their children, and when they did converse with each other, the conversations were very basic and didn’t include higher level thinking skills.  Typically, (perhaps stereotypically in many cases) we assume that these same people, struggling in poverty, also don’t read very often to their kids….and don’t ask higher level thinking questions.  Is it true all the time?  Absolutely not.  But does it seem to be more the norm?  Unfortunately, yes.  And there you have one of the key disadvantages of generational poverty.  (Katie, this isn’t my post on at-risk kids, but this will definitely play a key role in that:)  So, what’s the flip side to this?  The study found that, typically, parents that were not living in poverty spoke more to their kids at the zoo, and asked those higher level thinking questions like, "What’s the pattern on the zebra?", "Do you think the lions like they’re having fun with each other?  Why?"  "How are the monkeys and the polar bears alike?  Different?"  Patterns, inferencing, comparing…these are all things that parents need to be doing with their kids from the time they can understand you!  The families in poverty tend to struggle to see this…but I would venture to guess that they are mostly unaware, and some might even be unable.  If they weren’t brought up with a rich vocabulary, themselves, how can they (all of a sudden, in their late teens or early twenties) offer that to their own kids?…and thus starts the cycle all over again. 

This is why what I’m learning about right now as a teacher will revolutionize (I hope:) what happens to the kids in my classroom.  The 9-year-old kids that I have, living in generational poverty, who don’t even begin to have the words of my little 5-year-old friend from earlier, will have a chance by being in my classroom.  I’m going to make sure of it.  The amount of time I’ll put into planning is definitely going to get on my nerves, but my hope (and prayer) is that I will see growth in my kids like never before.  It makes me want to ask for all the lowest kids in 4th grade:)  Hmmm…we’ll see.

Here’s my point.  We tend to look at all kids, like my short friend, as if they’re these little geniuses!  We think they’re the smartest kids in the world and that they must have really high IQ’s.  Are all of these things possible?  Sure!  But are they probable?  Um…maybe not.  See, if all parents spent time reading and talking with their kids in the same way as my friends, all kids would sound like geniuses.  Doesn’t that make some sense?  They would all have some foundation in knowing how to express themselves and it would be simply fantastic.  Then, by the time they got to school, teachers could simply build on that foundation…instead of teaching it for the first time.  Oh, it would be beautiful!

Best.

Cognitive Desk Space

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I realized, just a little bit ago, that I spent about 10 hours in meetings today:)  It was a great day, but my cognitive desk space is so full and overflowing with piles…

Cognitive desk space has to do with memory, and I think it would everyone a little good to learn a bit about this for a minute.  I think every pastor, small group leader, teacher and friend should know a little bit about this, because it helps some things to make sense.  People zone out after awhile, not just because they’re tired, or you’re boring:) (or I’m boring), but also because there’s just too much "new stuff" to process at one time.  The desk space is used up!

You’ve got your short-term memory.
You’ve got your long-term memory.
Then you’ve got your working memory (your cognitive desk space).
-This is important for people to have, in order to develop concepts
-It’s limited!  Think about your office desk.  You can only put so many things on your desk to work efficiently.  (Outrageously stacked piles don’t count…except that’s how I feel right now.)
-It combines incoming information from short-term memory, and stored information from long-term memory (which is why helping someone build background knowledge is huge when speaking to a group of people).
-Problem solving isn’t likely to occur, straight off the desk space, so to speak.  It’s got to be connected to something from long-term memory for deep problem solving to occur.

Okay, for real, I’m becoming a literacy junkie.  I just googled "cognitive desk space" and got this.  Which lead me to looking through a few Power Point Presentations for trainings on the topic of literacy to underachieving students.  My brain hurts so much, thinking about brains!:)

I would like to add, on a side note, that I’m going to be kept accountable to keeping my classroom extremely neat and tidy.  Brian and Susan were telling us this today and then they saw the exploding expression on my face…wide eyes, slowly raising eyebrows, forehead crunching together.  This was when Susan said, "Okay, Kim, I’m trying to read your face, but I can’t…what are you thinking?"  Being comforted by the fact that we were closing in on a good 24 hours spent with these two folks, I was more than comfortable sharing the fact that I struggle with that (and every friend I have, laughs and replies, "Amen!"…even if they, too, struggle with that).  It bothers me that I have a hard time organizing my classroom (and bedroom, for that matter!) and keeping it neat and tidy.  Growing in this area would be will be huge for me!  I’m going to expect great things from God in this area.  I made a connection tonight, when my friend, Gwen, said that I must have piles on my desk space, after today.  I thought, "Yep!  And I’m not going to feel like going through those piles for a couple of days here.  To be honest, I may leave some of them for a few weeks, until our literacy team meets up again!"  What a connection between what goes on in my head to what goes on in the rooms I live in, day in and day out!

Let me take it a step further and apply this spiritually.  There may not be any application here, but please allow this to be my "journal", in which I would process through the thoughts…  What if we had a "spiritual desk space", very similar to "cognitive desk space"?  We’ve got the long-term, foundational things that God has done in us, and creatively helped us to "get".  Then we’ve got the things that He’s popping into our lives/hearts that were new recently, so they’re like short-term for a little bit (which is hopefully on an on-going basis).  And then there’s the whole other aspect of our "sds", on which He is just beginning to teach us/change in us…but He’s not going to try to do it all at once!  He’ll connect a concept or a change to a testimony of something else that He’s done in us, or that He’s been doing in us (long-term stuff) to something new!

Wow!  How’s that for processing?

Does this make sense to you at all?  It is definitely 12:35am (Hey, does this count for two days of journaling, since my first 10 minutes of this post was on Thursday, and the last 35 minutes of the post was on Friday?)…

Best.
(every time I write about the literacy project, i will sign off as Brian ends his emails. Best. to me, it’s kind of a stamp that signifies where the post stems from…i know, i’m strange…just let me be:)

 

10 Minutes Everyday

Monday morning at 7am, I hopped on a boat that is about to sail for the next year.  A few friends from work, and I are embarking on a project, through which a process will be learned…a deep process.  Back in May I got a miniscule glimpse of what it would look like, but even today, I have no clue how it will all come together.

Molly and Jen are the two other teachers that have the opportunity to become "master teachers", as Brian Kissman dramatically tells us we will be.  (This guy is a master storyteller and is coaching us to be as well:)  He and his business partner, Susan Sturock, are building depth in us, as educators, that I’ve never dreamed of having…I didn’t really know that it existed!  It’s extremely overwhelming at the moment, but completely okay, because I know that it will all come together and make sense once I get to process through and learn some more. 

I will definitely be blogging about this on a regular basis throughout the next year, which will be a switch from my normal life:)…even though other educators don’t even read my memoirs.  Well, perhaps my readership will be expanded.Comp_book

Let’s see if I can remember, off the top of my head, the Six Super Standards of Literacy that we’re
learning…I can’t.  Not yet.  (Oh wait, they’re right here.)  One of them has to do with students becoming proficient writers.  That’s where they’ve got me hooked, everyday.  Brian wants us to journal, in a journal, everyday for 10 minutes.  I don’t think blogging counts, although I really think it should, on the days that I do it.  But, seriously, everyday?…On some level I will thrive on the challenge of knowing that my integrity is at stake if I don’t do it, but pretend that I did by writing two entries in one day (did I just write that out loud?)  No, no!  I will become a proficient writer, in order to become a proficient writing teacher!  It must happen!  (You should see our MEAP writing scores-ouch!!!)

One thing that is nice about writing in a journal is that if I do that, I don’t have to worry about torturing people who read my randoms thoughts, cleverly typed at 10:45pm, when I’m super, super tired.  I’m not the best of writers to begin with, although I do have fun…and I even made my group laugh, both yesterday and today when I shared my entries!  We’ll have to see what I’m allowed to do:)

For real, if you read this on Thursday, remind God that I need His grace to get what I’m supposed to 🙂

Best.

40 Years Part 2

I had to add this as a "part 2"…

I just picked up this journal that I’m required to write in, for my project at school and read my first entry.  It was in response to my friend’ blog entry here. (Katie’s always inspiring me:)  And while this is something that I actually wrote, back on June 7, I really didn’t remember it as I was at the prayer meeting last night.  Here’s a snippet:

"Perhaps some healing will take place on this 40th anniversary.  Perhaps a family that is living in continual hatred of another race will choose to forgive…perhaps another family will ask forgiveness.  Perhaps a group of 20(and 30)-somethings will realize that even though we were never a part of the bigotry and hatred of the 60’s (or any other time period, for that matter), we’re almost no better by ignoring the oppressed of our city, in this new day."

That’s what I actually wrote, and maybe if I blogged it I would’ve changed the way I said a few things, but I’m glad I got those thoughts down when I did.

And what’s even cooler, is that we’re going to be sharing tomorrow, in our meetings, some of the things we wrote about!  And wouldn’t you know…tomorrow is the actual anniversary of the riots.  Perhaps God will stir something in our hearts, or at the very least, plant a seed;)  Please pray for transformation.