A child of God educating other children.

Tim and I went down to the cities to spend Easter afternoon with Dan, Maggie, Adrienne and the kids. We had a good time getting together. I can't wait for the next time!

Tim and Titus playing with Tigger.

Noah entertaining himself.

Ruby and I playing with the camera.

Subbing is going well. Tomorrow is a pretty slow day. I really don't even have a lesson to teach. We have a guest coming from the middle school to talk to the 6th graders about next year when we usually do math. Then they have 2 specials, then reading, just reading the first half of the story, then doing their state test practices. Hopefully I'll get a lot of things done to prep for next week and maybe longer. How nice that would be!

Oh, and it's still snowing up here. All day long, the ground was white and slippery when I left for work, and it still hasn't stopped coming down. When will it end?

Posted in: Easter, teaching on Monday, March 31, 2008 at at 5:49 PM 0 comments    

Thursday was terrible. Friday was much better. Thursday by lunch I was wondering how easily they could find a different sub, but thanks to the line of communication the teacher already had set up, when Friday morning came around student's attitudes were fixed thanks to their parents talking to them. Today Tim and I relaxed around the house and took things easy. Tim even cooked homemade chicken fingers for us tonight and let me choose a chick flick for us to watch! What a wonderful and caring husband. I really needed this day of relaxation. I have put off the school work that needs to be done until tomorrow though. Now I am praying that I will get a good night's sleep tonight and that I will be focused for everything needing to be done.

Thank you to everyone who has been lifting me up in prayers!

Posted in: cooking, relaxation, teaching on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at at 7:50 PM 1 comments    

It's before 9 and I'm having a chance to check emails and blog! This first week is going well. It's getting better each day as I learn what kids to watch out for and for what reasons. Monday and Tuesday I had the same problem with one student, which hopefully got fixed because we didn't have the problem today. Good progress! However, a new situation came up today with different students, which will have a stop to it tomorrow. God will help me, and the students will find out I am serious that when I tell them the consequences of something, I do follow through. I am pretty steamed about the situation I will be dealing with tomorrow. Please pray for wisdom and patience as I speak to the student that thought they could get away.

Also pray for the teacher I am subbing for. He originally took this 6 week leave as a paternity leave to take care of their new born and first born. He's been going to the doctor about his knee, and found that he tore his ACL, so will have surgery Friday, staying over night in the hospital. After his surgery he has to recover for 6 weeks, so now my 6 week assignment turned into a 7 week assignment. I'm excited about that, but I know I have to take this one day at a time with God's new strength every day. Pray that he will be able to care for his son with ease while recovering from surgery.

Posted in: God's help, teaching on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at at 6:55 PM 0 comments    

The other day we got 8-12 inches of snow. I was pretty upset at first, but then had some fun. Here's how it started:

We went to Target, the church, and the post office today, then checked our mail at the end of the road and got stuck! 2 neighbors came to help which was fun. Then Tim got unstuck and drove on home. Our neighbor gave me a ride to the house since he has a 4WD truck, and we found Tim stuck again in front of our garage!
I ran to get the camera and start taking pictures, and on my way back out I noticed our neighbor stuck who gave me a ride! LOL lots of fun! We got my car in the garage then, went to help the neighbor, by that time the city plow had come and pulled out neighbor out.

After that Tim was actually in the mood to go play in the snow, so of course I had to take advantage of that time! We built a snowman (my 3rd one ever) and then Tim built an igloo.
You can see more pictures at our web album.

Today was my first day of my 6 week subbing assignment. It went well, but I am still nervous. I would really appreciate all the prayers y'all can give me! My goal is to be in bed by 9:00, but it's 9:40 right now, so that didn't happen. But I should be in bed and asleep in time to get at least 8 hours of sleep. I'll be waking up at 6:30 every morning. So what to pray for: Wisdom for me to know how to handle different situations that come up. Peace with teaching a classroom of 29 students, both 5th and 6th grade. Joy that I will appreciate where God has put me where I am right now. And also pray for the students that they will be respectful of me, and that we can develop a relationship that will let things run smoothly.

Posted in: teaching, weather, work on Monday, March 24, 2008 at at 7:40 PM 0 comments    

I really really wanted and expected to have snow for Christmas Day this year with being in Minnesota, and especially with my family coming to visit. But right now with Easter on Sunday I was hoping to have all the snow melted and being able to see only grass even though it's brown right now. When I woke up this morning and went to eat breakfast I noticed quite a pile on our porch, so I checked out www.weather.com to see how long this is lasting. It shows that we'll continue to have snow 'til Saturday night! I was hoping that I'd get to see a couple blooming flowers for Easter, but instead we're getting a white one.

My Grandma changed my view on this though this morning when I got her e-card and the first line says, "Praise Him with white for his spotless perfection." Thank you Grandma for refocusing my mind as we get snow this Easter weekend!

Posted in: on Friday, March 21, 2008 at at 8:52 AM 0 comments    

I usually leave the cooking up to Tim when it comes to making pancakes. I tried making some when we were first married living in the apartment and they totally didn't come out right. I think I tried it another time after that, and then again last night. I don't know what it is with me and making pancakes, I just can't get them right. I think I'll continue to let Tim do the cooking when it comes to pancakes.

I'm baffled though 'cause I have no problem cooking anything else. Like today, I was in the baking mood, so I made some garlic cheese biscuits (like you can get at Red Lobster) for the first time. They came out perfectly! And then for dinner I made spaghetti and green beans. Wonderful dinner, but last night my pancakes were a flop!

I don't know what my deal is with trying to make pancakes. I seem to have no problem cooking anything else. Hmmm.

Posted in: cooking, pancakes on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at at 7:20 PM 0 comments    

I realized today that God's peace is all over mine and Tim's finances. We've been following Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover for around 8 months now and I have no worries about our finances. Yes there are times when I would like something that is not a necessity, but everything we need God has provided us.

In the devotion I am reading through and other Bible Studies I have done especially about marriage, it seems that money is the most popular thing that stresses people out. Even at our youth Bible Study last night talking about what kinds of things we put before God, and someone brought up paying bills.

I have so much to be thankful for because God is in control of our money. God is the one providing everything we need. All of our money belongs to God, so Tim and I give God back the portion specified in the Bible, and then we work out our needs (not our wants) for the month. And everything extra is going on my car right now to get us closer to being debt free. Which next month I should be blogging about my car being totally paid off!

Posted in: debt, debt free, finances, financial peace, money on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at at 11:59 AM 0 comments    

I am so excited for our youth group! There is a guy who use to lead the youth praise band at his church and has moved to town to attend the tech school and volunteered to help kick start a Jr. high and Sr. high youth band. We have so many talented youth in our church, so it is very exciting to see their talent put to use. Some of them help out with Sunday services, but we have a lot more students who are not involved on Sunday mornings.

Tonight was the first night for our Sr. High praise band to play for youth group. They did an incredible job. I am really proud of them. Last Tuesday was their first practice and tonight their first time to play. What a good job at jumping in there and getting it started! Wednesday will be the first night for our Jr. High praise band to play. I can't wait to hear them. I like having worship by music in youth programs.

Posted in: ministry, youth praise band on Sunday, March 09, 2008 at at 11:02 PM 0 comments    

I only worked three days this week, but I am still tired. Monday David and Adrienne came up and visited for a little bit so we got to see Noah and hear his adorable laugh. They are down in Texas for a wedding so Tim and I are dog sitting for them. Tuesday I was home all day with the dogs, and then subbed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Subbing was fun, I had the same 6th grade class all three days. I prefer being in a classroom for a series of days. Friday I also subbed for an after-school program, so I worked from 7:40-5:50. That made for a really long day. We're also not used to taking care of two other beings beside ourselves, so that has been tiring. It was a good run for us to figure out if we ever want a dog or not. We never talked about wanting a dog before, but I think we can say we agree that it is not for us.

Posted in: dog sitting, work on Saturday, March 08, 2008 at at 3:52 PM 0 comments    

I started my devotional by Elizabeth George over this week. I half heartedly started it a few months ago and barely got into it, but lately God has really been working on my heart, and especially my mind. God has really opened my eyes that my mind has really been something I have struggled to keep focused on God. It's always been easier to focus on negative things for me and has taken all my strength and God's to keep my thoughts on what is righteous and true.

I have also been trying to be more in tune with what God is trying to tell me or where he is leading me throughout the day. I'm getting a lot of practice with this at Wednesday night small group with our 8th grade girls. We were going to split up into 3 smaller groups and take prayer requests first, but almost everyone had the same type of prayer request so we stayed together and talked about what was going on and how they feel about it and how they can make a difference. It was really awesome to find more about what the girls go through at school and everything taking place around them. And eventually our conversation lead to some Bible verses that were actually in the lesson for the week.

I am really excited to go through the process God has started me on this week of how to love God with all my mind. The girls in my small group want to do a slumber party some time, and I mentioned to them about incorporating a Bible study with it and they were really excited. It's nice to know when God is working in me, and see him working in others as well. How great it is to know that He loves us so much!

Posted in: Bible Study, Elizabeth George, Loving God with All Your Mind, ministry on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 at at 7:44 PM 0 comments    

Today my Grandpa turns 21! It is so fun to say that he is younger than me. In fact, we were 20 years old in the same year. That was a very special year! I think I've told everyone I've come in contact about that my Grandpa's birthday is today. It's not very often that I can say that.

Grandpa,
Thank you for being a godly example to all of us. I love looking at the Wayman family pictures and knowing that you have raised us all to find faith in Jesus Christ and making that faith our own. I have so many memories of visiting G'pa and G'ma's house. I think some of my favorite would include every trip out to the farm, especially the fishing we would do. I also loved it when we would go digging for salt crystals and bring them back, wash them off and be in awe of what we found. Thank you for what you have made our family into. I love you lots!
Dana

Texarkana, TX

Tim and I staying with Grandpa and Grandma as we move to Minnesota.

Grandpa and his sons with a few of his grandkids at the farm.

Most of the Wayman clan.

Posted in: on Friday, February 29, 2008 at at 4:59 AM 0 comments    

Every week for the last 2 months my prayer request at confirmation was that I would get better. Last week my co-teacher suggested that I go see a chiropractor, that they usually have the best way to get over sinuses. One of our boy's small group leaders is a chiropractor so I found him before leaving last week and asked him about what to do for sinuses, so he suggested a natural herb that will boost my immune system. Tim has been going to the chiropractor the last couple of weeks for his back, so I had him buy what I needed when he went in for his appointment.

I have been taking this stuff for a week now and feel so much better. It feels like I've been better for 2 weeks now, I was trying to figure out how long I need to continue taking acidophilus. I was surprised the remember it's only been one week. I think the last time I felt this healthy was before Thanksgiving. I've also been working out regularly for 2 months now which is helping a lot.

My chiropractor's orders are to take acidophilus for 3 weeks, and to stop taking any other kind of medication. So that's what I'm doing. Last night before going to sleep I started getting a headache and would normally go for the Tylenol right away, but made my self just sleep, 'cause that is really what my body needed instead.

Posted in: health on Thursday, February 28, 2008 at at 4:53 AM 1 comments    

God has been laying on my heart to really study about His timing, and taking every day as it comes.

Last week I was subbing in a paraprofessional position that the district is hiring for, thinking that would be a good in, since I would like to be a para next school year. I was struggling all week wondering if my heart was really in it. I liked the thought that I would have the same kids to work with and see progress for the rest of the school year, but I was bummed that it was part time and I wouldn't be using my teaching license.

On Friday I got a call from a teacher in our church asking if I could substitute teach in his classroom today and tomorrow. I told him I was available for Monday but not Tuesday because of the position I was thinking about getting hired for, and he was going to look for someone who could take both days. Not even 10 minutes later he called back asking if I would take a 6 weeks long-term subbing position for his class after Spring Break. I told him I'd call back and let him know that day. I was really excited about the opportunity to take a class for that long and get to do all the teacher things for a period of time. Then I calculated out the finances of teaching for 6 weeks verses taking a part time para position for the rest of the year ('cause we're on a budget and paying off debt), and talked to Tim about it. Tim was so sweet to wake up and discuss the situation with me before I headed out the door.

So I turned down the para position and agreed to sub today and tomorrow and for 6 weeks after Spring Break. I was nervous about today, meeting the class, seeing how things go, if I could handle a 5th and 6th grade combined class... and now after the day is over I am really excited to go back tomorrow and for the opportunity starting next month!

Another great thing about God's timing, I was asked by another teacher today in our church at the same school if I can cover his class Wednesday-Friday this week when I'm done with this current assignment. God is really blessing me with lots of subbing positions and I am so thankful. I feel like my education has a purpose right now, which I was worried about last school year.

Posted in: God's timing, teaching on Monday, February 25, 2008 at at 2:32 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I have been in Minnesota for a year now! God has made it clear that this is where we are to be right now, and I am so thankful for that. Wednesday was the one year of the day we arrived here, and wow did God move at small groups that night! We were going along with our lesson when one of the girls was suppose to read a verse, but mistakenly looked up a different verse, then tried it again and came up with another verse that tied directly to the first "mistake." Then we read the verse with our lesson and I stopped us and said, "Let's go back and read those verses again and see if God is trying to tell us something." And sure enough, it convicted something one of the girls had just said, and convicted my heart about something Tim and I had talked about a couple nights prior. And the other girls were able to find something in their life that the verses applied to also. I love it when God shows up and gives us His agenda!

For Valentine's Day the girls in my small group had the great idea to make Valentine's cards for members of our church in senior homes and nursing homes. So Marcia (my co-leader) and I spent a couple hours on Thursday delivering the cards and visiting with people. It was such a rewarding day with lots of laughter and tears. Some of the women we met completely blessed us with our visit. I think that made this year my favorite Valentine's Day. I can't think of a better way than using the holiday to serve Christ.

Posted in: February, ministry, Valentine's Day on Friday, February 15, 2008 at at 9:08 PM 0 comments    

Mark and Grace were able to come spend a few days with Tim and I while his parents babysat their grandkids in the city. Dan and David went on vacation together, and we got the opportunity to go skiing with Grace and Mark for their first time!

Me, Grace, Tim and Mark

We brought Grace and Mark home with us Saturday night, so they got to experience our long Sunday morning schedule, then we ate roast with potatoes and carrots and onions (I've been wanting that meal for a really long time!) and spent the afternoon sledding down our hill and walking across our lake. And of course last Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday, so we went to the community youth group party for the game and pizza. We got there early and were able to play a few games of Spoons but with knives (don't worry, they were plastic and it didn't get too competitive.)

Monday Tim and I took off from work to go skiing while Grace and Mark were here. We had such a great time! Nicole, one of my girls in my small group also came with us and had a great time. We started off on the bunny slope getting use to being on the skis and going side to side. Then we moved up to a Green, then Blue, then Black! I was very impressed with Mark and Grace moving up so quickly, Mark even lead our pack on some of the runs! That was my first black to try too, which wasn't too bad after skiing in Montana. Tim and I figured people had to be getting tired of us comparing our ski hill to Montana, but it was hard not to compare.
Grace and I stuck together all day. Our skiing preferences are a lot alike. I was impressed with her though, she went down before me on the black. I looked and Grace and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?" And she said, "sure." So I told her, "You first!" :) And down she went. We had quite a comical scene going down our second time thanks to the people watching (staring), and talking to us from the chair lift.

Then Tuesday Tim worked in the morning, I took a subbing job in the afternoon, and Mark and Grace went with Tim to work in the afternoon and clean out the youth closet. I still haven't looked at it yet, I'll have to do that Sunday. Then Tim took Mark and Grace out on our friend's snowmobile for a little while. And we ended our night watching the varsity wrestling match then meeting Tim's Mom half way to get Grace and Mark.

Tim and I on the chair lift.

Mark and Grace about to go down Frickadilly.

Nicole and I.

Posted in: family, skiing on Thursday, February 07, 2008 at at 6:16 PM 0 comments    

Wow it's cold outside! I subbed today, and from my car to the building my eyes would not stop watering. I crossed the parking lot and got to the side of the school as fast as possible in hopes to block some of the wind. Little did I know, it would get much colder by the time I would leave at the end of the day.

My car was on E, so I stopped at the gas station and struggled to shut my door when I got out. The wind was so fierce I had to use all my strength. And thanks to Myth Busters I know it is smart to touch a metal part of the car with a bare hand before getting near the gas in order to discharge any electricity and prevent starting a fire. In less than 5 seconds of having my hand out of my glove it was numb. I couldn't believe how cold it was. I thought about standing outside so not to get more static electricity, but there was no chance I could have survived that cold.

So the first thing I do when I get home...check www.weather.com. My car was registering -13 outside, but I really wanted to know what the wind chill is at, and the wind is blowing much harder than usual. The wind is at 33mph and with the wind chill it feels like -44! Yikes! I'm not surprised to see it that low, 'cause it sure feels that way.

Yesterday I was lazy and didn't go work out, decided I'd wait 'til today. I am sure sorry I did that. So Tim and I will go work out after dinner, then go coach the K-1st wrestling team, then go to the varsity wrestling match. While we're out doing that it should be around -20 with the wind chill making it feel like -50. I'm not looking forward to that.

Posted in: Minnesota, weather on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at at 1:12 PM 0 comments    

I continue to be amazed by my group of 8th grade girls I work with at youth group/confirmation. Last week I wasn't feeling well and not up to leading the group, so I asked, "Who wants to lead tonight?" And Brittany volunteered without a question. She did an awesome job keeping us on track leading the discussion and the girls were very respectful of her leading. At the end of the class I asked if anyone wanted to lead for this week and I immediately had 2 volunteers. So Tara lead yesterday and did an amazing job. And next week Crosbee is going to lead. I am very impressed with the girls volunteering to lead the group, and it is working out really well. We were having to break up into smaller groups with so many girls to keep the chatting down, but it is working really well with the girls leading. They all really get into the discussion and ask great questions and help each other out. I am so blessed to get to work with this group of girls. I am also blessed to have 2 great co-teachers with me. God put us all together for a purpose.

Posted in: ministry on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at at 3:05 PM 0 comments    

Mom and Dad sledding.

Pastor John left his sermon notes on the podium, so when we gave my parents a tour of the church Dad decided to preach it to us. :)

Grilling steaks in the snow!

We played a lot of Mexican train. I got it for my birthday (in April) and hadn't played it until Christmas.

Dad and I in our matching pajama pants.

Posted in: Christmas, family on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at at 3:31 PM 0 comments    

I have such a good looking husband! I really like this picture of Tim, probably my favorite! He's so cute.

Mom and Dad. We walked all the way across the lake! I was proud of them.

Our house. We started sledding from the basement floor on to the lake which is further down from where we're standing. Great sledding!

Here comes Katelin!

I look like such a pro! :) I tried to slow myself down before the drop and when it gets bumpy.

Posted in: Christmas, family on at at 3:27 PM 0 comments    

It's been a little while, but I finally put the pictures from Christmas on my computer. Hope you enjoy, it'll take 3 posts to get all the ones I want to show.

Mine and Tim's 2nd Christmas married.

All the stockings hung in a row.

All of us together.

Such a cute picture! Katelin resting after walking all the way back up our hill. We got a great workout!

Playing out on the lake. Tim and Dad scooting Mom across on the sled.

Posted in: Christmas, family on at at 3:19 PM 0 comments