A New Year: excitement & joy

Hello friends!!

Happy New Year! (A little late, I know, I know)

     I hope you all had a wonderful end to the holiday season and are feeling renewed with this new year that has started.
     I was so blessed to bring the new year in with friends in Indiana. Here's a few photos from the night :)

Jan, Jackie, me and Hillary

The fellas. See that good lookin' man in the front? Yep, I get to marry him :)

Rachel, Jackie, me and Cassie

It was such a great night of friends, games and fun!

     As a new year approaches, my mind is always on new goals and resolutions. While I am normally really bad at coming up with a new years resolution, I feel like this year is different. I have made a new years resolution that I am excited about! My resolution for this year is simply this:

When I think about doing something, I am going to do it

     This seems simple enough, but I find myself thinking about doing something, whether it is reading my bible, journaling, exercising, cleaning or many other things, and then just not getting up to do it. So this year I want to be proactive. When I want to do something, I'm going to do it. I think this is going to help me in so many ways: productivity, feeling accomplished and stopping laziness. I also think it will help me to live life to the fullest.

What is your new year resolution this year? Do you have any goals for yourself?

2012 is gonna be a special year, that's for sure. Maybe it is because in a little more than 5 months, I will be marrying my best friend and spending the rest of my life with him. 

That alone gets this girl super pumped for 2012! 

We're pumped about 2012!!

     One more thought for the new year, coming straight from Paul's letter to the Romans. As you make plans for this year, remember His plans for you...

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."      Romans 8:28

I hope your first week in 2012 has been a blessed one. 
Praying for blessing on your whole year!

peace,
shmem

Christmas Blessings

Merry Christmas Everyone! 

Christmas this year has been so full of blessings. First off, I got to spend all of it with the man in the picture above :)

We got to celebrate 6 Christmases this year!! First, we had our own at Jared's apartment in East Lansing. The next day was Christmas with my mom's side of the family. The next, Christmas eve fun with my dad's side.
On Christmas day we split our time between our families. We started out at my house, filled with Santa presents, breakfast, church, family presents and packing up. From there we headed down to Jared's parent's house for the Grandlienard Christmas. I was so blessed to meet his extended family for the first time. It was so much fun! Finally, Christmas night we exchanged gifts with his parents and siblings. Such a blessing-filled Christmas!
 I think buying others gifts was the most fun I had this season. But I am so excited about two of my gifts :) 
First, is my PINK Chi straightner!!! (my straight hair in the picture above is a product of this gift) Thanks Santa!!
Second is a new CAMERA!! (the picture above is a product of this, as well as the one below!) Thanks Mom and Dad Grandlienard!!


I hope your Christmas has been filled with blessings as well...here's a picture that makes me love winter and reminds me of the Light that came into the world for us :)

  John 1:1-5, 9-14

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

     The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

     The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Blessings, 

shmem

Second chances: an update

Hello friends,

It has been awhile. While I thought I would be able to keep up with this blog, I have not been doing a great job with it. But luckily there is new chances every day.

The past month has gone so very fast and has been filled with so many wonderful moments, and humbling moments.

At the beginning of November I was teaching at the alternative school and subbing. I was getting known as a sub (even was told I was a great sub by a secretary of a school I hadn't subbed in yet, I don't know how that happened). I was enjoying my schedule and learning to love what I was doing at the alternative ed.
The end of the 1st quarter came at PACE (this is my acronym for the alt. ed), and my boss came to me with some bad news. There would only be 1 class for me to teach during 2nd quarter, meaning less hours. After a lunchtime of praying, talking to Jared, my mom, and crying a little, I decided to leave PACE for this quarter.
The decision wasn't easy and since being gone from that position, it has taught me that decisions aren't easy as an adult. It also humbled me. I learned that I LOVE teaching those kids at PACE and I was completely blessed by them (something that was hard to see while working there). 


However, God has been good in His promises to me. I have been subbing everyday of the week and have had the chance to teach math for a couple 2-day long sub jobs. I love being around students and learning new things every day. Whenever I do teach math, this passion inside of me is lit. I love that God has called me to do this; however there are moments when I ache for my own classroom, for my own students to teach. God reminds me daily that His timing is the best. Meanwhile, I am to learn what I can and know that He is my provider. I am such a blessed woman.

A few more new things in my life:
I am the assistant coach for the MS Pom with my old varsity coach. It has been so much fun to help these girls learn and watch them perform. I also love that my little sister Hanna is on the squad and it gives us more time together :)

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time. Jared and I spent the day with my family at my grandparent's and headed down to IN for the weekend. It was great to spend time with his family, see some friends and have long car rides together.


Before I knew it, December was upon us and I was able to spend last weekend with the best friends anyone could ask for. 10 of us girls (who all lived on the same floor freshman year and are still best friends) headed to Chicago for our annual get-away trip. It was a wonderful 3 days of catching up in life, laughing continuously and crazy memories being made. Here is a picture that sums up our friendship, love and the weekend we had together:

These girls bless me so much. I don't know what I would do without them :)


Now, it's time to get ready for Christmas. Christmas music is on in my car all the time, I love driving at night and seeing all the lights, and contrary to my dislike for winter, I am ready for some snow on the ground. Getting ready for the celebration of our Savior's birth is one of my favorite times of the year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Until next time,
Blessing, love & peace

Learning how to miss and move on

     So yesterday Jared and I headed to Oneida Gospel Church to continue our search for a church community to be a part of up here in Michigan. Since we just both moved back here, we've been on a hunt for somewhere we can be challenged and we can serve. If any of you have every gone church hunting, it's hard, especially when we had such an amazing community before in the 509 Community.
     Our time at Oneida Gospel was wonderful. It's a very small rural community that is lead by Larry Schruager, who is the dad of some of my best friends from high school. After the service, a couple people came up and introduced themselves to us and wanted to get to know us. It was really nice. It is surprising how much that doesn't happen in a lot of churches.
     While we were talking to the youth pastor's wife, Becky, she asked us what we were looking for in a church. It caught me off guard and I automatically wanted to say, "Somewhere like the 509". As I told her that we had an amazing community of believers back in Huntington, I started to tear up (yes, probably not a HUGE surprise to those of you who know me), but it caught me off guard.
     
     Jared and I have gone through a huge transition both moving to MI, me back to my parent's house and him to his own apartment. We've both been dealing with new surroundings and experiences. Up until yesterday though, I was the strong one who was okay with moving on from Huntington and embracing the new experiences while Jared struggled a little more. However, yesterday I had my moment.

     I went into college at Huntington University, not needing new friends (I had great ones from high school so why would I need new ones?) and knowing where my life was heading: to being a military wife. However, after my first semester God showed me that He had different plans for me life. He began to show me that these girls on Hardy 1st were placed there to be my sisters, to be my strength when I was weak and hold me up when I couldn't hold myself up. They challenged me, comforted me and taught me so much. And I am so blessed to say that they are still my best friends today.

Hardy 1st 2007-2008

 

And then we all grew up :) Graduation 2011

     After my first year, God called me to be "Entirely His". That's when I lost my 'plan' in life and was simply lost. I wandered and wondered and wandered and was so blessed to be on the journey with my amazing roommate Hillary. She would have said that I got her through that year but she's the one that got me through.
     Then God planted a seed of love in my heart, though I wouldn't have called it that back then. He continued to stretch and challenge me through a summer at Camp Cotubic and then lead me to the man He had for me.
     The last two years at Huntington were a whirl-wind. School got harder, I became more passionate about teaching, Jared and I fell in love and I became even closer to those sisters God gave me that very first year. Before I knew it, it was all over.


     So yesterday I had my 'moment'. I cried for the things I missed: a community that challenged me every day, sisters who I could go and see at any moment if need be, people who just were so amazing and wonderful to learn from every day. But I cried mostly because I missed that constant growth that happens in college. It is a time of so much learning and growing and I took that for granted.
     But I am so blessed...Jared reminded me of that as I cried for the things I miss. We aren't ever going to go back, he said, but God will fulfill our need for friends and community. We're in transition, yes. We're trying to figure out what God has for us, yes. And we're learning to move on. We're learning and growing, but it just doesn't look like it did before. Life is different because nothing stays the same...nothing except our wonderful, loving, all-powerful God.

blessings my friends. 
And to my Hardy 1st sisters...I love you all & miss you more than words can say


Shmem

A little thing called Alternative Ed

Hello friends,

A while ago I said that I would tell a little more about my teaching adventures at Portland Alternative Education and that is exactly what is on my mind tonight. I'm sitting here listening to the soundtrack from Swan Lake (thanks to my sister Hanna's suggestion), thinking about my students and what God's plan is for me there.

So as I said in my first post, I have been unbelievably blessed with a part-time teaching position at Portland Alternative Education. I teach math 2 days a week for 2 periods. Here, let me explain a little bit about the school so all of this makes sense.

This is an alternative school, but students receive a high school diploma just the same as at a regular high school. It's a second chance for kids who couldn't handle the high school for some reason. Our schedule consists of 2 hr M-W and T-Th classes and 3 hr Friday class. Each day students have 3 classes. We also work in quarters (8 weeks long) and students earn quarter credits towards graduation.

Every student that comes into the school is at a different place credit-wise, therefor my classroom is NOT a traditional classroom at all. Each student has a list of assignments that they must complete in order to get credit and works on their own. I am there as a "facilitator" (more like a baby-sitter at times) and to help/teach when they need it.

This is a very different situation from what I was prepared for in school. While I'm all about non-traditional ways of teaching students, this is at times beyond me and over my head. At times, we are simply trying to keep our head above water with these students. So, from an academic standpoint, I am being pushed and stretched beyond what I thought I could be when it comes to teaching.

And, as anyone in education knows, teaching is all about the students. And students are people. And people are never static.

My students are a rough crowd. Students don't come to alternative school for no reason. Some of my students I can tell why they are here, and others, I am not sure. Either way, they are my students. This is where God is teaching me a HUGE lesson. I'll sum it up like this.

Loving those who love you is the easy task. Loving those who don't is the hard one.

The students I have are hurting, broken souls. These are kids who have poor parental influence or adult mentor-ship. They don't know what it looks like to be a responsible person in society. But most importantly, these kids don't know what love is. All of this makes my students very hard to love.

This is where God is moving and speaking to me. One day, a couple weeks into school, I was sitting helping a young lady in my classroom, let's call her Sally. She is a student who is always frustrated, is always on her cell phone, is easily irritated, especially when working on math. On this day, I was trying to explain a concept to her and she got flustered and put her head down. I started to get frustrated with her and in my head got quite upset. As I was sitting there steaming with anger in my head, I heard God whisper to me. This is the message He had for me:

"Emily, Sally is my hurt and broken daughter, just as you are my daughter. I love her right now as she is and I am calling you to do the same. Love this child of mine, as I have loved you."

Even remembering it now gives me chills and puts tears in my eyes. It was such a humbling experience. God called me in that moment to do exactly as He has done. While I always felt as if I was a loving person, in that moment God challenged me in my thinking. Am I really loving, or do I just love those who are easy to love, those who love me in return? Do I really understand what Jesus says is the greatest commandment? Or what he tells his disciples?

Matthew 22:36-40

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 John 13: 34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

 These are the words that God continues to lie on my heart while I am at school. At times I feel completely useless and ineffective as a teacher and these are the moments God reminds me that I am NOT in control but He is. My all-loving, all-powerful God, who loves so unconditionally I scarce can take it in. 

I'll end tonight with the words of Rich Mullins:

"Our God is an awesome God. 

He reigns from heaven above. 

With wisdom, power and LOVE. 

Our God is an awesome God."

love, peace and blessings on this Tuesday evening,

Shmem

P.S. Did any of you see the Northern Lights last night? Here's a few photos that we took...enjoy!

Our Northern Lights watching party :)

The best picture we could get, see the Red in the sky? God paints a pretty sweet pictures in the night sky!

Sick days

     Well yesterday was my first official sick day that I took as an actually working adult. And let me tell you, I don't like taking sick days. I hate inconveniencing other people or making their lives harder. So when I had to call in yesterday to let work know I couldn't come in it wasn't fun. Luckily the other math teacher at Portland is so unbelievably wonderful and took my kids without complaining.

     However, this left me sitting at home and not liking being idle. This is something I have issues with: resting. Growing up as the 2nd of 7 kids, there was always something to be done. So I got in the habit of always doing something, whether it was running to a practice or putting away dishes or bathing a younger sibling. So when it comes to days when I'm suppose to be doing something and can't, I get restless.

     While I have gotten a whole lot better at learning to be still and rest (thanks to college and Jared Grandlienard), God has still been teaching me how to be still. The verse that always comes to mind for me is Psalm 46:10

"Be still and know I am God". 

     This verse never ceases to stop me in my tracks and make me think. What does it mean to "be still"? At times it completely confuses me and I'm not even sure where to begin? But I think that's the beauty of this verse also, God is saying, "stop what you are doing, wherever you are, and remember who I AM. I am the great I AM. The beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Everything that is, has come into existence because of me. Remember who I am". It is such a humbling experience and such an amazing experience to remember who our God is.

I hope today you have some time to "Be still" and discover more of who God is. 

Happy Wednesday everyone :)

Better late than never

Well dear friends, I failed again on posting every day but that's okay, today will just be 2 posts! How exciting :)

Yesterday was a great day. I subbed at St. Johns High School. My stud QB cousin who goes there came and said hello. I got to watch movies all day and get paid for it. Win.

Then I came home and got to get this wonderful little man off the bus.

And we had a photo session :) I'll let the pictures do the talking

Enjoy!! 

Peace, love and prayers to you all.

You are cherished

Emily