Mama's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

(Also applicable for awesome grandmothers.)



It struck me today how very long I've lived outside of my mother's home. In the meantime, I've been in the homes of plenty of women who willingly offer me the love of a mother, all biology aside.



But nonetheless, it's been longer than I realized since my mom and I called the same place "home."



And you know what?



It doesn't matter.



My mom will always be part of "home" for me, as will so many women who has taught me about love, grace, gentleness, and honor. And I'm thankful to have a mother who instilled a strong sense of "home," and how to appreciate that.



Home, away, or somewhere in between--Happy Mother's Day!



Also, this is a beautiful reminder about how to treat Mother's Day with gentleness. Part of my growing up has taught me that Mother's Day is not a day of rejoicing for everyone.

Garden Update!

We've had a cool spring here in the Philly 'burbs...I'm totally ready for the heat of summer.



For now. Give me a few weeks and I'm sure I'll be complaining about the humidity.



'Cause I'm dramatic like that.



Anyway, I'm resolutely plugging away with my garden, even though it's off to a slow start. I'm just thrilled to be playing in the dirt. In this post you can see some of the work I (and Dan and Dean) did on the fencing. It's so much prettier now.

Especially now that there's a bit of green poking through!

Two rows of Tom Thumb Lettuce, and one row of Bibb. And those little spikes in the background are spinach! They're all heirloom and organic, 'cause I'm fancy like that. 

(Not.) 

Peas creeping up the trellis...

There's also a baby zucchini on the other side, and I'm going to add some cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and beans over the next few weeks. Eventually I'm hoping to propagate some basil and green onions too. 

Love this!!!

30 Days Left

I'm psyched to be almost done my first year of teaching. I can honestly say at this point that it's been such a great year (I couldn't always say that, but now I see it). Here are a few snapshots from school lately...

Caterpillars...yikes. 

Nervous about this. Give me plants any day. 

In the chrysalis...

I had to tape them to the lid of their habitat. They fell off repeatedly.  0_0

But today...one hatched! I couldn't get a good picture because my phone doesn't focus through the netting, but the little guy was fluttering around. They're Painted Ladies, in case anyone cares. 

Patricia Polacco project. See the full details in this post.

Sweet little Teacher Appreciation gift from my class. It's called a Living Locket, it's like a shadowbox on a necklace! It has my initials, an apple, a little book (<3 to read) and an owl (because I'm obsessed with them). 

Now, we just gotta finish strong. Then the warm, easy days of summer will be here! 

No Excuses, Just the Truth

I've been a little absent lately...no real excuses. I'm just tired, feeling burned-out, and lacking any inspiration whatsoever. I'd rather postpone writing than write worthless words.



Anyway, I'm down to something like 32 days of school and 4 more weeks of Sunday School. I'm almost cleared to teach summer school, but those days will be really laidback and end at 12:30, so...hardly counts in my book. No papers to grade, no math lessons to mull over, no research (except some extra awesome crafts), it'll be a comparative breeze.



In the meantime, I do want to share a project that I completed at school recently! Our district utilizes RTII (Response to Instruction and Intervention) which is a great program that essentially looks like good, old-fashioned reading groups. The pedagogical idea is that when students are grouped for a portion of the day based on ability, we as teachers are able to target strengths and weaknesses, build necessary skills through carefully differentiated instruction, and maximize growth and learning.



Exciting stuff.



(Really, actually. This stuff lights my fire.)



Anyway, out of the whole second grade I teach the highest level readers for 30 minutes each morning (thanks to our great district, very few of our students are actually below grade benchmarks, but I work on some higher-level thinking skills). As such, I have a lot of flexibility and I've had a lot of fun designing my own curriculum for this group.



You know, because I don't have enough to do as a first-year teacher.



My most recent project has been an author study of one of my favorites--Patricia Polacco. She's an awesome and incredibly talented author and illustrator, and we've had a blast reading her books. We've discussed themes, genres, and made lots of connections between her texts. One of my favorite things about Ms. Polacco is that she injects so much of herself into her books, and so many of her stories have at least autobiographical elements, if not being totally based on her life.

Patricia Polacco's Official Website

As such, our culminating project was to skim through the books we'd read (complete list below) and glean information about her life completely from her books. We'd done other research on her life, but we put together this awesome timeline just based on her stories.

The kids really enjoyed this project. They loved digging through the books for factual information, and we got to practice our sequencing, comprehension, making connections, and main idea all in the bargain.



Now...just 32 days to go!

Meal Planning

As is probably abundantly evidently at this point, I'm something of an organizer. I like my home neat, I don't like not knowing, and it's only through spending so much time with my ridiculously wonderfully social husband that I've grown to be remotely accepting of spontaneity.



Don't get me wrong--I love a good adventure. But it takes me a few minutes to adjust to sudden changes in plans.



There's a reason kiddos with autistic tendencies hold my heart. I get 'em.



Anyway, one of the small ways I exert control over my surroundings and keep from my evenings being totally stressful is to meal plan.



I'm a pretty flexible meal-planner. I make a list every week of 4-5 meals, and that's what I shop for. I always have some extra chicken, pasta, red sauce, etc for quick and easy dinners, but my Menu contains all my "goal" meals. I don't plan specific meals for specific nights, but I account for any evening plans and go from there.



This also helps me with my grocery shopping, since I know what meals to buy for. It keeps me on track, and ensures that I have everything on hand. Cuts down on those midweek trips to the store, which I hate not because I spend extra money (I'm actually pretty boss at getting in and out of the store without lots of extras) but because I hate running errands when I really want to be sitting on my couch watching 30 Rock.



Yeah, Tina Fey (My other girl crush).



For instance, this week we attended a fundraiser dinner at Chik-fil-A, and we have a neighborhood dinner on Wednesday, so I only planned three meals for this week: roast chicken with wild rice and spinach, pesto salmon with sweet potato and green beans, and spaghetti with meat sauce.



FYI, I try to keep salad and other veggies on hand to bulk up any meal that needs a boost.



Some of our other favorite meals include:
chicken parmesan
pad thai
roast chicken (whole chickens, or just thighs)
quesadillas with the chicken leftover from the roast
tacos (any kind--shrimp, chicken, beef)
tortellini
grilled chicken with salad (oh so many variations on this one)
sweet potato soup (with sandwiches, of course)
confetti chicken
breakfast for dinner (brinner)
ritz chicken



What are your favorite (quick and easy or otherwise!) dinners to make? Do you plan ahead or wing it?

Linking You Up

I know, this may be the fourth or fifth time I've sent you to Jen Hatmaker's blog, but she just speaks to me so well.



In this post, she talks about being uninvited to speak at a conference because of her particular leanings on certain topics. Her honesty about doubt. Her transparency regarding her sins. Her position on drinking. (! Are we really still hung up on this?!)



Anyway, I love this post because it's about me. About my generation. About the oncoming slew of young adults who love Jesus, but aren't sure what to think about gay marriage. College&Careers who are pushing to find the balance between an intellectual, thoughtful faith and love that is lived out in service, day by day. Kids who refuse the dogma, the denomination, and long for acceptance.



These are my people. And I say, hallelujah for a woman like Jen who will "gather us" to herself and help us on the way. We need people, we need mamas and fathers and brothers and sisters and children of our own, if we really want to transform this world into a place where the Kingdom of God can be recognized.

How Media is a Powerful Tool

Today I read one of the most bone-chilling, mind-boggling, horrifying stories of my life.



I'm part of a minority trying to bring this story to the light.



This story is the story of Kermit Gosnell, a medical practitioner from my very own Philadelphia. Gosnell ran the Women's Medical Society, a fake clinic that treated women, mostly non-white women of low socioeconomic status. He offered illegal drug prescriptions, as well as abortions.



Full disclosure: I'm pro-life. Simply on a scientific basis, I think that once you can detect a pregnancy, it's a human life and deserves to be protected. I also understand that abortion is a many-faceted topic, and saying "just outlaw it!" glosses over so many issues, and an answer that simplistic will never suffice. We live in a broken system, and many things need to happen in regards to education, prevention, and healthcare before we can really deal effectively with abortion laws.



All that aside, nobody should be able to read Gosnell's story without shuddering. The language is graphic, with details about how this man (and his largely untrained staff) murdered babies aborted at 30 weeks, punctured the organs of the women he treated, and even killed some of his patients. It will (and should) turn your stomach.



And remarkably few people are aware.



This is just as gruesome and horrific as stories like Sandy Hook, Trayvon Martin, and so many other tales of gore and violence. Our media eats this stuff up. Why is no one talking about this? No matter where you stand on abortions, we should all be able to agree that cases like Gosnell should never ever happen. We can use this to dialogue about pro-choice/pro-life laws, we can use this as a jumping-off point to reform and improve women's healthcare, we can take this platform to make sure that medical procedures regulated for the health and safety of everyone.



Help me spread this story. We cannot allow horrors and injustices like this to go unnoticed.