Celebrate This Week

Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  

 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

I celebrate chocolate!

It's no secret at my school that I love chocolate.  A colleague came into the library yesterday to share from his bounteous box of chocolates.  No baking for me this Valentine's Day since my makeshift kitchen has no range or oven.  So this priority mail package of fudge hearts from Sara's Ithaca kitchen is much appreciated!  

I celebrate books!  

Anne hosted our book club for a lively discussion of The Family:  Three Journeys Into the Heart of the Twentieth Century.  We enjoyed her homemade wheat rolls, a favorite from Anne's kitchen.  We shared favorite books at our after school book club on Thursday.  Friday I met with two groups of seventh graders in the library.  Some of my former students were in each class.  It was fun to share book love right before our mid-winter break.   

Some of the books from Friday's 7th grade book talks!

I created the Lonely Books Display, books that have never been checked out (or just checked out once or twice) from our library.  It's time to dive into Code Name Verity, book club choice for our occasional book club with two dear friends who have moved away that meets via Google chat .  

I celebrate love!

I celebrate family:  my dear husband and almost 33 years of marriage, children (my two and their spouses are together this weekend), parents who are dearly missed, siblings, my one surviving aunt, nieces, nephews, cousins, the entire wild and wonderful bunch!  I'm at a stage in life where I watch the connections dwindle as older relatives die, but I celebrate the continued growth of our family tree with the arrival of Taven Scott Edwards this week.  He made me a great great aunt!  I celebrate friends:  church friends, school friends, neighborhood friends, old friends, blogging friends, and new friends, including this sweet bundle of joy who stopped by the library with her mom this week for a quick visit and game of peek-a-boo.  She turns one today. 

Happy Valentine's Day!  Take the time to share some love today.

Spiritual Journey Thursday - LOOK

The bloggers at Spiritual Journey Thursday

are writing about the spiritual focus of the community's 

One Little Words.  This week, we are writing about
 Justin's word, LOOK.

I love the words of this verse in Psalms 5:3.  (Maybe because I'm a morning person, and I can do anything in the morning with the Lord's help.  However, I turn into Chicken Little every evening by 9).

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. "

Trees, one of my favorites of God's creations, encourage me to look up.  Last summer I paused on a walk with a friend to look up.

As I look at the majesty of God's creations, I'm encouraged to praise and acknowledge his hand in all things.

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hill, from whence cometh my help.  My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth."  (Psalms 121:1-2)

Photo taken in Chile at Torres del Paine National Park

Last year my OLW was savor.  Anytime I pause to savor what's around me, it includes looking.  When I look around me, I'm awed by the majesty of God's creations.

Day Six

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Slice of Life (SOL) Tuesday community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday. 

It's day six of the kitchen remodel project.  I promise to write about something else next week.  If you saw my Celebrate This Week post, then you know that we already have pull-out drawers in the lower cabinets.  Yesterday, they slid the microwave oven drawer into its future home and then took it out.  The new sink is in place.  The pull-out drawers in the TV cabinet are in place.  The electrician is here.  They are busy rebuilding the cabinet for my ovens since the new ones are bigger.  (My old ovens required me to turn cookie sheets sideways in order to fit them into the ovens.)  Best of all I have the neatest, cleanest contractor ever.  If you've ever had workers in your home, then you know what a blessing this is.  Yesterday when he set up the table saw in the garage, he hung plastic over my wall of boxes and my husband's car!  Tomorrow the granite folks arrive to make the template for the countertops.  I'm excited by the daily progress!  

Celebrate This Week

 Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  

 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

  1.  Week 1 of Kitchen Remodel! 

My husband and I never dreamed that they would completely demolish our old kitchen in one day.  He compared it to yanking a bandaid off quickly.  We were shell shocked at the end of day one.  I consoled myself with a Goodbye Kitchen post.  Four days later and I have pull-out drawers in the lower cabinets and new appliances delivered and waiting in the garage for installation.  

2.  Mid-winter break in one week! 

Why does a retired teacher keep track of school breaks?  When she takes a six week part-time sub position just as the new year begins and the kitchen remodel project is on the horizon.  Crazy move, but I couldn't resist the chance to play librarian for a few weeks.  Next week I'm doing my first book talks as librarian on my last day, the day before mid-winter break.  We're almost ready for the school wide spelling bee:  class rounds completed and library qualifying rounds finished.  I'm encouraging everyone to wear yellow and black the day of the spelling bee!

3.  Lonely Books Corner! 

One of our assignments during my six weeks in the library was to weed the fiction books.  It's a tough job.  I started noticing books that either had never been checked out or checked out only once.  I wanted to pitch them to students as "books that need some love," perfect for February.  We still have a book awards display, robots from the art classes, and yesterday added a February display (red books, books with heart, kiss, love etc, in the title, any books pitched as heartwarming or focused on family, friendships, relationships), so there's not any space for my books that need some love.  So I'll make a poster and place them on a cart.  Hopefully some of my lonely books will get some love.

Spiritual Journey Thursday - Reach

The bloggers at Spiritual Journey Thursday

are writing about

the spiritual focus of the community's 
One Little Words.  This week, we are writing about
Margaret Simon's One Little Word:  

REACH.

When I reflected on Margaret's OLW this week, the first thing that came to mind

was this line of poetry from  Robert Browning:

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,

Or what's a heaven for?"  

("Andrea del Sarto," line 98)

Followers of Christ learn that reaching for heaven is something we can't do alone.  

I've always loved this poster printed some years ago in our church magazine for teens. 
 
When we reach up, the Savior can lift us.  The caption at the bottom of the poster reads:

"Let Him Lift You," and references James 4:10 -

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up."

The words "reach up" help us trust the Lord by reaching for him.  Love for the Lord is the first great commandment.  The second great commandment is to love our neighbors.  We do that by "reaching out."  Reaching up and reaching out, both are wonderful reminders to focus on the Savior by reaching up and allowing His grace to lift us, and then reaching out to extend His love to others.  Every day there are many ways to lift other's burdens through a kind word, a friendly smile, or an offer of help.  As we reach up and reach out, we can receive the rest promised by the Lord.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  
(Matthew 11:28)
When we yoke ourselves with Him,
we are lifted up by His grace which then enables us to serve others.  
Reach up, feel His love, and then reach out.
Thanks, Margaret, for this chance to focus our spiritual journey on your OLW for this year.

Goodbye Kitchen!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by

Two Writing Teachers.

The past few weeks flew by
They always do when you have much to do
Suddenly, it's day one of a long awaited project...
Goodbye dishwasher
Goodbye sink
Goodbye disposal
Goodbye stovetop
Goodbye refrigerator
Goodbye tile (I won't miss your grout)
Goodbye ovens (you've served me well)
Hello drawers and cabinet doors in the living room
Hello dining room filled with boxes and dishes
Hello makeshift kitchen in the laundry room
Hello microwave, toaster oven, and dish drainer
Hello refrigerator in the garage
Goodbye sanity, hello new kitchen to come!

Celebrate This Week!

 Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  

 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

  1.  Book Awards Time . . . 

I've been watching the countdown clock at the American Library Awards Youth Media Page!  Currently it's less than one day until the book awards will be announced - hurray!  To be precise 22 hours, 5 minutes, and 25 seconds (as of this writing)!  Here's the announcement I posted on our school website this past week:

Mock Newbery Club Results

Our after school book club voted on Tuesday for our choice (from the 7 titles selected by the King County Library System children's librarians) for this year's Newbery Award.  Our voting was very close with Rain Reign by Ann Martin in first place, followed closely by The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Sovern. 

Some book awards are beginning to be announced in advance of next Monday's announcement at the ALA meeting in Chicago. 

2015 NCTE Children's Book Awards Announced

The 2015 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children goes to The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming, Schwartz & Wade publishers, and the 2015 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children goes to Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin, Feiwel and Friends publishers. The links in blue will take you to a list of the honor and recommended books for each award.  

I will keep you posted as the awards are announced.  Why not drop by the library to check out an award winning 2015 title?  If it's not available, you can place a hold and be next in line. 

2.  The Magical Snow Garden by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Jane Chapman . . .

I picked up this picture book several weeks ago at the library, entranced by Wellington, the happy-go-lucky penguin on the cover.  I liked him even better when I discovered these words on the first page - "Wellington loved...sharing books with his very best friend."  And when I turned to the next page, I discovered that Percy, my poetry loving penguin friend, was one of Wellington's friends.  On the final page, Wellington's friend, Ivan, shares these wise words:  "You were right!  You never know what you can do until you try."  If you're looking for a fun winter book with a message about what you can accomplish with the help of your friends, pick up a copy of The Magical Snow Garden.

3.  Time to turn the calendar page . . . 

I love calendars and I love new months.  There's something that's so exciting when you turn the page and see a whole new month of daily possibilities for growth.  Goodbye January, Hello February!