Christmas at Fernbrook

I enjoyed a terrific 5 weeks at Fernbrook Elementary School. I was so sad to leave and I was incredibly surprised that I had 1st graders crying over me.

Kids gift to their parents.

Mr. Sketch markers for my mentor teacher!

Gift to my students.

Thank Your Mentors!

Thank You, Mr. French!

Thankful for You!

I always share the devotions I write to my team. Although I do not serve this weekend I wanted to send out an e-mail to my team wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving! Here is the e-mail I sent out a few minutes ago:

Hi Team!

I was reading Jesus Calling this afternoon and wanted to share today’s devotion with you.

Let thankfulness rule in your heart. As you thank Me for blessings in your life, a marvelous thing happens. It is as if scales fall off your eyes, enabling you to see more and more of My glorious riches. With your eyes thus opened, you can help yourself to whatever you need from My treasure house. Each time you receive one of My golden gifts, let your thankfulness sing out praises to My Name. “Hallelujahs” are the language of heaven, and they can become the language of your heart.

A life of praise and thankfulness becomes a life filled with miracles. Instead of trying to be in control, you focus on Me and what I am doing. This is the power of praise: centering your entire being in Me. This is how I created you to live, for I made you in My own image. Enjoy abundant life by overflowing with praise and thankfulness.

Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all that you do for the kiddos and families in our church! I am so thankful to serve alongside each one of you. Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to you and your families!

Gratefully,

Elizabeth Mary

Halloween!

I am sad to say that we are not handing out candy tonight. I enjoy Halloween but after years and years of trick-or-treaters coming to our door who are not from our neighborhood and who are way beyond age we decided to pass on handing out candy. Last year, we went through 3 bags of candy in 45 minutes. 90% of the kids who came through I didn't even recognize. By the time we were out of candy the kids I recognized, the ones who were really from our neighborhood, were just starting to trick-or-treat. I think what we will do from now on is create candy bags for the kids in our neighborhood and personally drop them off at their house. This way, we still participate in Halloween. We will still get to see the neighbor kids in their costumes and hand out candy. It is really sad how a few people can ruin something fun for a whole lot of people. I looked down our block tonight and our whole block is almost dark. I think everyone is sick of the cars from the "ghetto" driving through our neighborhood and dropping off kids. I find it annoying when kids who are clearly in high school are trick-or-treating with not one but two pillowcases and expect you to drop candy in both. I think it is sad that kids just expect candy and do not say thank you. What happened to manners? Halloween is a great night to practice them! :) I also think it is really sad when the child doesn't say thank you and the parents are standing right there and do nothing about it. I get annoyed when I drop one piece of candy into a child's bucket that I don't know and they stand there waiting for more or say, "I don't want that. I wanted the---." And this one always gets under my skin, when a parent will go trick-or-treating with their infant baby and have this bucket they want to fill with candy. The child doesn't even have teeth so who is the one trick-or-treating?! It wouldn't bother me nearly as much if the kids were from our neighborhood, but they come from all over in vans and just run our streets. It is irritating and I don't want to be bitter towards Halloween because I have great memories of trick-or-treating as a child. Anyway, that is my rant. Below is a picture of Mister Biebs in his Halloween costume: 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Chevy Cruze Card

Three weeks ago I bought a 2014 Chevy Cruze! During the weeks leading up to that, I worked very closely with the sales manager, Josh as he was helping me through the GMC Buyback program. I felt like a thank you was in order. Some people told me that buying a new car was his thank you but I didn't agree with that. I really felt that he fought for me to get the full buy back amount. He was also great at keeping ongoing and open communication about the entire process. I decided to make him a card because if you think something good about someone, I believe you should tell them. Here's the card I came up with:

I woke up in the middle of the night with this idea in my head. Turned out pretty cute didn't it?!

Thank You's

Here are a few Thank You cards I have made for the families of the Preschool and Toddlers I work with. It took a long time, but it was fun and I know the parents will enjoy the cards.