Kyle

I've been searching for the words to this post but they don't come easy. This past week was a gut wrenching one. For those of you who are not from around here & haven't heard the news, we had a great loss at my school, Hesse Elementary. It happened on Tuesday morning, the day after Labor Day. I was going about my business in our first grade classroom...hustling around saying my good-mornings to the kids, getting them to unpack their book bags, get to their seat, write their names on their papers- the usual. We heard an announcement over the intercom for the assistant principal and the counselor to report to the 5th grade wing immediately. My co-teacher and I gave each other a puzzled look and chalked it up to what must've been a conflict with an angry parent. I continued to get the 1st graders settled into the seemingly Monday-morning (even though it was Tuesday) routine...prompting them to get started on their work, how to form their letters, sounding out words.

That's when Ms. Donovan leaned over and whispered to me that Kyle, one of

our 5th grade students, had been hit by a car and killed. What?? Utter shock. Word spread like wild fire across the school. Teachers passed the tragic news in hushed voices down the hallway, door to door. I was asked to stand in for Kyle's teacher from years ago when he was in first grade as she got the news. He was "her baby." The only thing I knew to do was try and remove myself emotionally from the situation and put on a happy face for the unknowing kids. Shortly after I returned to my classroom, teachers were notified to go ahead and tell their students the news and watch for their reactions. Grief counselors were available in the library and students were allowed to call their parents if they wanted to go home. The rest of the day was a blur. There was lots of speculation going around as to what exactly happened to Kyle but no one really seemed to know. I went home with questions.

After waiting through an hour of non-sense on the 5:00 news, I finally got to hear Kyle's story at 6:00. In a tragedy, all we want is answers. By human nature we need to know details. If we know exactly what happened, at least we won't fill in the blanks with something worse. Even if there seems to be nothing worse than the truth. I learned that Kyle had been waiting for his bus in a neighbor's driveway when the F-650 that was parked there backed over him and he was killed instantly. It was because he had on headphones that he did not hear the truck backing up. Because of the sheer size of the truck, the driver did not even realize what he had done. Kyle's poor siblings were the first ones to discover what had happened & the bus driver with a bus full of innocent eyes also drove up to the scene of the accident. Needless to say, there has been a somber tone around Hesse for the past few days.

Kyle was one of those kids whose presence was known wherever he was. A bundle of energy and charisma. A tough little boy with a huge heart. Proclaimed a "ladies man" by some of his fellow classmates. I saw him on a daily basis, sprinting down the back drive to his bus in the afternoons. It seemed like every other day I was shouting, "Slow down Kyle!" to which he would respond by speed walking the rest of the way with a mischievous grin on his face. I couldn't help but smile.

Funny how loss has a way of bringing people together. Hesse has been so unified this week. We all seem to appreciate each other more. To care more.

Friday we had a dress down day in honor of Kyle and raised over $7,000. Many of his classmates decorated shirts with messages to Kyle and wore them around school. We also decorated the fence with a WE LOVE KYLE message and green and white ribbons. A day hasn't passed where our thoughts are not consumed with his memory.

Today was Kyle's funeral. We miss you & Hesse won't be the same without you. Keep smiling down on us...you were an angel in disguise!

"Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere" Psalm 84:10

Caroline

Held- by Natalie Grant

Monday Night TV

Guilty. I watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad religiously. My only saving grace is that I do not turn on my TV any other time of the week.

I am hopelessly wrapped up in the drama that goes on for these 2 hours of my life. Yes, I know it is completey staged and scripted, but I can't seem to peel myself away. The only part that I really have a hard time watching is when Kermie (aka Kasey) sings to his significant other. He sang last week to Vienna and it made me squirm. It was very...Boyz II Men meets William Hung. It brought back visions of Ali's season. Remember when he sang to her? I can't take it. Major second-hand embarrassment. Please make it stop! If you are a guy, thinking about serenading a girl, please reconsider. Unless you are Keith Urban.

For my fellow trash TV watchers...who do you think will win Bachelor Pad? I hope the next Bachelor for this season is Ben. He seemed normal. I think I would like him in real life :) I wonder how long before we find out that Ashley and JP are calling it quits?

Let's see who goes home tonight!

Caroline

A Long Weekend

Ever since school started I think blogging has fallen to the wayside. Notice the pattern...11 posts in July, anddddd back to 4 in August. Tonight will be a mini blog session to bring you back up to date. So here are the highlights in no particular order:

1) Babysitting: This Friday and Saturday night, I babysat. My wallet is now full of cash. Hallelujah. My social life may be lacking a little right now, but I'm okay with that. When I babysit, most kids usually go to bed around 8:30 anyway and I have the rest of the night to do whatever I want: read, pinterest, and facebook. Thats when the ideas flow...which leads me to the next point:

2) Boho Lace Headband: Saw this on Pinterest. Made it today. Sewing is not my forte so I had a little help from a friend. My friend is a boy who is good at sewing. I won't name names.

3) Ruffle Necklace: Yet another pinterest project that I made this week (with help from said good sewing helper). I've decided that if I'm going to "pin it" then I need to try and actually get around to DOING some of it. Atleast one project a week is my goal. (For those of you who haven't been introduced to Pinterest yet and may be confused, refer to this link and your addiction will begin.)

4) Forsyth Farmer's Market: I have recently gotten into the whole "farmers market" scene. Between me and you, I like the crowds there just as much as the fresh and local food. I've pretty much got the routine down pat. I bring my re-usable shopping bags, wear grungy clothes, and don't wash my hair before I go. Its "in" to be earthy. The only thing I'm missing is a dog on a leash. And, its my incentive for babysitting on Friday nights because I can have cash to spend at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. If I'm feeling really really gung-ho I'll bring a cooler to put my veggies in & go for a run around the park afterwards. Last weekend I got palm honey from Wilmington Island, tomatoes, nectarines, and basil. This weekend I came home with potatoes, zucchini, peaches, eggs, and cherry tomatoes.

5) Dinner- And this is what I made from my farmers market finds, with my babysitting money, all recipes found on Pinterest. (How do ya like that for tying all 3 bullet points together?) Panko Chicken stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, Basil & Tomatoes and Zucchini fritters with tzatziki sauce.

5) Caedmon- My best friend Jenna and her husband Adam had their first baby this weekend. A little boy, Caedmon Charles, weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz. He is perfect!!! And I'm not saying that because I am biased. He really is a beautiful baby. I can't wait to meet him. As my grama said, "Jenna really took this whole Labor Day thing pretty seriously"

6) The Help- I accidentally ordered this book off Itunes, thinking I was buying the audio version so I could listen in the car. Well, it turned out to be the kindle-friendly reader version, so I proceeded to read. Despite all the talk, I wouldn't let myself see the movie until I had finished every word. Tonight was the night I finally saw it and yes, it definitely lived up to the expectations. Glad I accidentally ordered the book. Turned out to be a pleasant mistake.

7) from LateChurch- "Preach at all times. Use words if necessary" -St. Francis of Assisi.

Enjoy your long weekend! My plans: Sleeping in.

Caroline

First of the 1st

Today was the first day of 1st grade for me. It went well....I think? To be quite it honest it was really more of a blur. Is it Monday? I don't even know. I can tell you, however, that my feet hurt and my brain feels tired. My eyes aren't wanting to open all the way either. There are 3 grown adults in our classroom of 21 six year olds and it takes every bit of the 3 of us to reign them in. Its a very strange feeling to get into my car at the end of the school day and hear...nothing. The sound of silence. I don't do music on the way home because my senses are on overload by then. I need my 8 minutes of peace on the drive.

It sounds like I'm complaining, doesn't it? I'm really not. My job is so fulfilling & there is never a dull moment. I truly love little people & the surprises that come out of their mouths. I have a student who is highly intruiged with all types of flying machines, mainly air

planes. I know this because I taught him last year. My favorite conversation of the day went something like this:

ME: I have a surprise for you at the end of the day if stay on your best behavior.

HIM: "Does it have wings?"

ME: "Mayyyybe"

HIM: "Does it have retractable landing gear?"

The boy is obsessed with retractable landing gear, rear rotor blades, stabilizers, etc. He blows my mind with his knowledge of aviation.

First grade is just the best. Learning to read was one of the greatest times of my life & now I get to do it all over again with these little ones. I vividly remember coming home with my paper pamphlets and sounding out "Pat can run" to my mom and dad. Children's books are my absolute favorite. Even grown-ups need to read them. There is a moral to every story. Learning letters and the sounds they make and how they blend together to make words...ohhh... I'm getting carried away, sorry. I know other people don't get as into this stuff as I do, but what can I say, I'm passionate!

So, today after 3 sets of tears, 1 band-aid, 20 minutes of recess, 1 bad word, 2 calls to parents, 1 time-out, 21 popscicles, 1,000 legos, and a couple late busses later, we finally called it a day. Whew.

I came home to a summer storm, oatmeal raisin cookies, and trashy monday

night TV (Bachelor Pad). Ahh, yes. I haven't left the couch. This is how I am gearing up for another day. Wish us luck. We need it!

Caroline

Women of Faith 2011

What a perfect way to end my summer. I spent this past weekend in Atlanta with my friend Kendall at the Women of Faith 2011 conference. Over the years I have realized what a true friend she has become and I am so glad to have her in my life. Let me back up before we begin.

Earlier this summer I visited Kendall in Hilton Head, SC at her family's beach house. We spent a few hours on the beach catching up on each others lives. One of our bonding ties has always been Bebo Norman. We were both long time fans when we first met & later went to one of his concerts in Dalonegah, GA. Ever since, we have been chasing the thrill. Every year it seems we try to find another one that we can both somehow manange to attend together- it hasn't happened yet. So along with Bebo comes the topic of faith and I mentioned to her that I felt like I needed some kind of get-away...a spiritual retreat of some sort...everybody needs a refresher every now and then. Well, pretty sure God was in on that conversation because she just so happened to know of one. She talked about this "Women of Faith" thing that her mom goes to year after year. Kendall was talked into going last year and thought it would be a bunch of old ladies, but was pleasantly surprised when she arrived to be in fellowship with women of ALL ages. Sharing, learning, singing, laughing, and being refreshed in spirit, together. Come to find out, her mom had an extra ticket this year. Guess who became the lucky ticket holder? :) The perfect solution to my soul-restoration dilemma.

Fast forward to this past weekend. After my anxiety-ridden drive through the big city, we started off the weekend with a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta. Holy HUGE desserts, batman. Got to meet all the girls in the group and found out that 2 of them are special education teachers just like me! Lots of teachers around, but sometimes hard to find ones who do specifically what I do. Nice to find new friends.

The next morning we all gathered in Philips Arena and thats where it all began. Two full days of learning and feeling uplifted. If you know me well, you know that I took notes the entire time. It's what I do. I'm a note-taker.

All the ladies who spoke had their own unique story and they were there to proclaim that life is hard. God never told us that it wouldn't be, but He did tell us that he will stay with us all the way through it. He works everything together for our good.

Here are a few tidbits that were my favorites from different speakers:

Sheila Walsh: (I've hyperlinked each of these women's names so that you can go straight to their blog or find out more about them.)

- "When the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change, that is when we'll change."

- How do we know if something is "God's will?" We can ask ourselves 1) Is it contrary to the revealed word of God? 2) Have we taken counsel from Godly friends? 3) Ask for confirmation from the Holy Spirit.

- In our anger or excitement, if we feel compelled to make a quick decision, don't do it right away. Take time out and sit with God first. There is no wisdom in being rash.

- Satan is not omniscient. He has no idea what we are going to do with the lies he feeds us.

- Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ.

Natalie Grant. Gotta love this girl. Her song, "Held" has been on repeat ever since I heard her sing it this weekend. "Your Great Name" is my other fave.

Laura Story sang, "Mighty to Save," which is one I have been listening to for a couple years now. I always loved this song by Laura Story, but this weekend she became a real person to me and I got to hear HER story. She told of how she married her highschool (or was it college?) sweetheart and how its been 7 wonderful years, but 7 hard years. A year and 1/2 into thier marriage, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that has affected his memory to the point that he went through phases of not knowing exactly who she was. She has obviously been praying for his healing, and as far as he has come, he hasn't been healed. Makes me feel silly for worrying over minor relationship issues when her life has been turned upside down after getting married. Her faith in God despite the circumstances is very inspiring to me.

Nicole Johnson:

- People love coffee not because they are thirsty, but because of the way it brings us together. We don't usually go out to get coffee with a friend because we love coffee so much, but because we want to spend time with that particular friend. Jesus said he would give us life to the full...in her words... a "Fresh Brewed Life," also the title of her book. Not a life where the days go by uneventfully and routinely, but a life so that we are always being surprised, used up, days filled with joy and new blessings.

Mary Mary dropped a beat & performed "Shackles"and "The God In Me." I broke it down a little and danced in front of my seat. I hear a beat and I must dance. Rap is my guilty pleasure.

And my VERY FAVORITE of the all the girls: Angie Smith. I could relate to her from the minute she walked onto the stage. Probably because she mentioned her fear of public speaking. I hear ya, sister. But- if you've read nothing else from this blog....please read her storyabout her daugher, Audrey Caroline. I'm addicted to her blog now. Hearing Angie speak in person had me laughing one minute and crying the next. One of those people who you know is real and genuine. She also spoke such comforting words when she talked about Jesus, "The Son of God, the One to whom I belong."

I forgot to metion that Kendall is 8 months pregnant with a little girl! So she was a trooper to go to such a busy event for 2 days straight. Thankfully we found some seats away from the crowd to take a breather for a few minutes.

So, I will be going back next year. Who wants to go with me?

Caroline

"Eat Pray Love"

Eat Pray Love was my main summer read. I'm a little behind the times, I know. I haven't seen the movie yet either, but this has been the perfect book for me to read for this season of my life. In a nutshell, its about a woman going on a search across 3 countries to find herself & her spirituality. As for the "finding myself" part, there's always plenty to learn. This summer has been a "me" summer. I've learned that I need to find fulfillment from within myself and God alone. No one else can do that for me. So, I'm working on it.

Anyway- this post was inspired by a paragraph from Eat Pray Love that talked about the author's definition of happiness. Since this blog just so happens to be entitled, "Happiness Is..," I had to include it.

And so she says, "I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that Happiness Is... a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descent upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness Is... the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentement. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuting to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

Thoughts? Anyone?

Sidenote: Way off subject, but I keep forgetting to update you on the baby birds. Well, they have flown far, far, away now. They've been gone for atleast a month & I kept forgetting to update. The fern had seen its better days and was getting brown and crispy in the hot sun so I threw it away along with the empty nest. We'll start over next summer :) Maybe my birdies will return and lay their eggs in the spot where they were raised.

Caroline

Restored Faith in Mankind

Well today was an adventure by accident. My friend, Julie, and I decided to get together and go for a bike ride around The Landings. I know- it was scorching hot, but we're both sticking to our Rock N' Roll (half)-marathon training, so biking is better than running in this mad heat. Secondly, let me say that neither one of us live at The Landings & didn't know which way was up, so we were just planning to follow one straight trail & not deviate.

The plan went perfectly for the first half of our trek. After about 30 minutes we were getting hungry & tired so we turned it around. "Not so fast," says the old man on the golf cart, wagging his finger at us. He proceeded to tell us that we were not allowed on the cart path while biking because it is a "safety hazard." Such a rule follower he was. Julie and I heeded his warnings and kindly exited the path onto the traffic ridden street. Much less of a safety hazard, I'm sure. (Sarcasm). In retrospect, we should have let him ride on by and hopped back on the path.

Long story short, we got all turned around, tried to navigate our surroundings on bike for a good 30 more minutes, then ended up at a Marina within The Landings, clearly nowhere close to an exit. Fail.

There in the marina parking lot was just one lone man, grey-haired, standing outside of his car, smoking a cig, and looking off into the distance. Julie took matters into her own hands and approached him, asking if he could give us a tip on how to get ourselves back on track. Sadly, he informed us that we were a long way from our destination and it would be a pretty good haul on bike to get where we needed to be. He must've seen the defeat in our eyes because the next thing out of his mouth was: "Want me to just throw your bikes in the back of my car and drive you there?" What an angel. Not to mention that his "car" was a brand new Expedition and he was just in the parking lot trying to regulate the compass on it. It was that new. And he still offered to fold his seats down and squeeze our dirty bikes into the back.

The bikes barely fit and I'm sure they dinged up the inside of his car. We couldn't even shut the back window. Julie and I sat in the back of his Expedition on his folded down seats and hung on to the bikes while we did a slow ride all the way home. That's right, he drove us all the way back to where we started. We chit-chatted all the way...him saying that we were welcome back to The Landings anytime and he wished people weren't such sticklers about the cart path rules. So, one man ruined our bike ride only for another man to restore our faith in mankind and give us a lift all the way back.

There really are good people in this world :) Thanks Nash!

Caroline