Life

I have been busy this weekend but mostly with fun things! 

We just got back from band services in Indiana. It was the earliest 'get back' time I ever remember! We left this morning at 7:45. It was a nice day. It was a little sad because it was my last service to play with the GBS SWSE. (aside from the Christmas program)

Last night I went to hear the Planets by Holst in the Music Hall downtown. It was so amazing and beautiful! 

Before that I spent the day at COSI and North Market in Columbus. Super fun times! Making more memories with friends before I leave them all. 

I went skating with the school Friday night (student council activity) from midnight until 2am!! Insanity but tons of fun. (yeah that means i had about 4 hours of sleep before going to COSI) Oh yeah, and Sarah left me standing in the middle a lil scared while people raced past! I'm still not so great with my balance on those tiny blades!

Right before skating I went to Walmart with T. I am going to miss these spontaneous little 'non-shopping' trips with her!

Before going to Walmart, I spent the morning babysitting some of my favorite little kiddos. They just keep growing! They are so adorable! I will miss them very much when I leave  =/

The day before that, I conducted a piece for Intermediate band for a special Thanksgiving service for Elementary Chapel. It was a new experience that I survived and also enjoyed. (I worked with them on that song throughout my student teaching.)

The night previous to conducting I attended my last D-group at the Miles house! I so enjoyed being in their group this year and last year and I will really miss it! I enjoy the discussion and Bible studies we have and also the yummy snacks and crazy fellowship.

Before that... okay.... I should leave the rest lie. :) 

btw..... next semester I am headed back to IL. Finished with schooling for now. I'm sure there will be many new exciting things and experiences. Right now I am enjoying the few days I have left in Cincinnati and with my dear friends here. 

Well, now you have it. And I should take advantage of this early hour and go to bed soon! Although I slept quite a bit on the bus today.

Surprise!

I had a fantabulous weekend! Would you like to know the story? Let me start at the beginning.... 

It all began Thursday at Kimberly's mini Birthday party at Steak & Shake at... 

well really late at night :D 

she says... "Hey, Esther, you wanna go to Salem this weekend?"

I quickly agreed and we spent the next half hour calling all our friends (you know there are sooo many lol) trying to see if anyone else wants to go along and share the gas expense. But no. Some willing but no able souls. We decided it was worth it to still go anyway and trek out on our own with the help of Ms. Morris (Kim's Taurus)

Our first stop was to Rach and Jo's humble abode in Effingham. 

(disclaimer this pic is not their humble abode, but indeed the nice home of my friends where we ate Sunday dinner... 

I forgot to take pix at Jo and Rach apt.)

We had such a lovely time and chatted till late. Slept comfortably....

and in the morning I drove Morris to Salem to surprise my family.

They were all surprised and it was fun seeing everyone's response. The way it worked out I saw each of them at a different time instead of all at once. Here are some pictures of my dear family and our new very lovely home :) 

(I was so sad when I realized that I did not get a picture of my dad. He was getting ready for work when I took most of these and ... yeah I forgot. So sorry, Dad.)

I am the very shortest person in my whole family! 

And they all enjoy reminding me of that fact. 

I cannot believe how much taller the boys are!

WAIT!!

That's not fair.... they made me stand down in the step.

They are truly 'only' this much taller! Sigh still a lot!

The weekend ended by surprising Kim's parents as well and showing up at her church then her house on Sunday evening. [No pictures :( ] We spent the night then headed out early (with a Starbucks drive-through) and went back to school. 

~The End~

I had such a delightful time and it was a super nice way to end my week and end my student teaching. Now I have a list full of 'other random things' to do before Christmas break comes. 

ta-ta for now

Student teaching is...

...over and I can hardly believe it! Here are some pictures with more to come! I loved all the little notes from some of the classes. Well, I am overwhelmed with too much to say so I am going to leave it for later or never. I need to rush off, I have really cool plans to party and relax this weekend and celebrate! I will take pictures and try to post them next week :D

teaching 5th & 6th

Pictures of flashcard warm-ups.

I love all these kids! Gonna miss it!

One more week to go! 

Elections

... are here. I generally avoid all political discussion on my blog just because, but I have had this on my mind for many days and finally decided to post. You can take it or leave it or walk on it. But here are just a few of my thoughts. 

I have heard so many people emphasize and re-emphasize the need to pray about the elections and that God's Will would be done. I do believe it is important to pray for every person involved and that God would intercede as He sees fit. But when it all comes right down to it, is God going to mystically change the vote on the ballot cards? Is He going to take control and have the results go 'His way'?

I would say no! We as American citizens are not God's robots. We as Christian people are not God's robots. He has given every individual their own free-will to do as they want. We, in America, live in a Republic. We are privileged to have the 'people's rights'. God is not going to force feed us any new leader, whether that leader be the worst, better, or decently acceptable. 

I would say that as Christians we do have responsibility to help our country. It involves being well-informed, spreading the word to others, encouraging people to vote wisely, and even praying for voters in general that God would influence their heart and change their attitude.

I had already had this churning about in my head, when I went downtown to Vine St Kids Club today. Across the street from our mission is a little restaurant with signs in the windows. Several were the 'official' support banners for the democratic party, but there was one homemade sign that stood out to me. It was plain white paper and had black stenciling that said.. "Jesus Loves Obama". How true this is! God loves Obama, God loves McCain, and God loves everyone of us! Let's not hurt Him or turn away by making bad choices and rejecting Him. A life lived loving Jesus and serving Him is lived with more joy than we could ever imagine. There is no true joy while seeking to please self.

turnabout is fair play

Only because she expected me to post this and so cruelly made jokes of my dear Zippy. And no, this was not Halloween, well actually it was Halloween, but we did not dress up. Just the result of photoshop and two tired crazy people.