Change the Conversation

stop using the [r] word.

i'm a grad student.
one of the classes i'm in right now is students with exceptionalities.

it's a fantastic class. i'm learning a ton. and it's allowed me to fall even more in love with those students that have disabilities.i have spent quite a bit of time in special education classrooms, and there is just something about being in there that makes me want to do better for them. that makes me want to love them.

tonight, in class, we were listening to student presentations and a friend of mine showed these small clips as part of her presentation. they are commercials for the special olympics and they took my breath away.

this is a cause i'm willing to support.

let's commit to ban the [r] word.

We're All a Brat Pack--

Reasons why I'm a brat:

• i'm ruuuude.
• i make kids cry.
• i am selfish.
• i bite my fingernails.
• i'm a me-pleaser.
• i run my mouth.
  
• i don't always try my hardest.
• i am bitter about not winning state my junior year.
• i have a horrible attitude sometimes.
• i can be cocky.
  
• i do not speak any foreign languages [except for my awesome accents.]
• i want people to tell me i'm cool. funny. neato...all the time.
• i forget about world problems and focus on me.
  
• i am somewhat outside of my mind.
• i'm sarcastic.
  
• i don't always do things with a servant's heart.
• i flirt.
  
• i hold grudges.
• i have read the Harry Potter series three times.
  
• i sometimes use the word --hate-- loosely.
• i expect too much of people.
  
• i make jokes to break tension.
  
• i don't have a lot of patience.
  
• i am not always a good daughter, coach, friend, life-liver.
  
• i laugh at inappropriate jokes.
• i don't always listen.
  
• i look for flaws.
• i don't always wash my dishes.
• i procrastinate.
• i am stubborn.
  
• i am somewhat obsessed with my hair.
• i often have the urge to hit.
• i ignore people.
  
• i am a part of the crazy train.

this is me.
brat.

good news is [even though i'm a brat] God takes me as i am. he changes, molds, makes me into the person i need to be...brat pack and all.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

happy birthday to you...
Today the nation recognized what would have been the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. It is no secret that he has [and always will be] my favorite Commander-in-Chief. In honor of his birthday, some of good ol' Abe's wit and wisdom:

--"I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything."

--"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

--"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."

--"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."

--"...I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

--"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free."

--"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other."

--"God bless the women of America!"

--"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."

--"Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today."

--"In regard to Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book."

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865)

You are my Rescue

I've been thinking a lot lately about being stuck.
Well, maybe not being stuck...but feeling stuck.

What does that look like in my life?
How do I treat others because of the way I'm feeling?
And is that fair?

I've been selfish.

I've forgotten to remember that:

the earth moves and you find me, alive but unworthy
broken and empty, but you don't care
'cause you are my rapture, you are my Savior
when all my hope is gone, i reach for you
you are my rescue
you are my rescue

when all my hope is gone.
when i feel stuck.
when the days drag on.
because i can't do it by myself.
YOU are my rescue.

Super Bowl Sunday Funday

Today.
The largest single-day sporting event.
The Super Bowl.

Kurt Warnerand his Arizona Cardinals
take on Ben Roethlisberger
and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

My team (the Indianapolis Colts) didn't make a good playoff showing.
But that won't stop me from watching the big game.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday Funday, everyone!!