Days 3 and Day 4

So!Day 3 was a when I chose people over hiking so I could help out the Joy and Pete Hayes! I got the privilege of watching their beautiful daughter Naomi for an hour. If you like her parents....then you will LOVE her! Time well spent, so I owe a day! :)

Day 4

Hike: Bowie Nature Park

Trail:Loblolly Loop 1.09 mile, Twin Lakes Loop .57 mile, and Lake Anna Trail .14 mile

Album: Safety Suit/ Life Left to Go

So I live in the city and currently teach outside the city in a small town called Fairview. All school year I have joked about how their is nothing cool in Fairview and that nobody should live there. Well now I eat my words.........

Bowie Nature Park is the BEST THING ABOUT FAIRVIEW!!!

It is so beautiful and this was only one of many trails!

The hidden lakes, the pine smell, the tall trees!

I went straight after work so poor Rowdy didn't get to go with me.

This picture is my favorite.

The sun shining through. I love having my face directly in the sunshine. It is so warm and comforting. It just fill me with energy. That is what I was thinking as I was hiking that day. When we put on gaze directly on Christ he just fills us with warmth and comfort, energy and sooo many other things. Yet I still lack gazing at him every day.

I will be back to Bowie Nature park. What a great way to start my spring break. #teacherperks

Day 2: Percy Warner Park: Warner Woods Trail

Sooooooooo.... DAY TWO!

Trail: Warner Woods Trail

Miles: 2.3

Album: Tree 63; The Life and Times...

Straight after work I picked up the old Rowdester and we headed to Nashville's Percy Warner Park.

I have been hiking here a few times before. It is a favorite. However sometimes after a good rain it is really muddy!

When I was research on hiking places someone commented that the trails at PWP keep getting wider cause of people trying to avoid mud. I will admit that i definitely wanted to avoid the mud myself. Rowdy even made sure to walk around it.

However, at one point the trail was so wide that I wasn't quite sure which way I was suppose to go and had to search for the marker. I have gotten lost on trails before... notably Turkey Mountain.

Anyway it just got me thinking. God is always reminding us that his path is pretty narrow just like most hiking trails. He never said that his path w

as easy. There are always muddy patches and things we have to go through to make us grow. Most the time though I try to avoid those stretching places and make the path wider. Sometimes I go SO wide that I am completely lost again. It leaves me to question who would I be now and where would I be if I would just go through the muddy trenches?

Here's to trekking the narrow path!

Fort Granger Ranger: Blogrimage Day One

Intro:

Ever since I toke Dr. Meleen's/ Dr. Herr's environmental geography class I have noticed nature in a new way and enjoying hiking, but have not been going as much as I would like to so....

For my blogrimage I am going to attempt to hike everyday for the next thirty days. Short hikes, urban hikes, long hikes..etc.

Day One:

Album for the Hike: Gungor, Beautiful Things

Verses for the Hike: "....I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness." Jeremiah 31:3

"And He shall the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge..." Isaiah 33:6

Today Rowdy (my dog) and I went hiking at Fort Granger. It is a small little hike around a fort that is part of the Battle of Franklin. (or so I think).

It was great. There are some really great views of Franklin, Tn and a great trail that leads you to the railroad track.

The coolest part was walking through the trenches with grassy hills on both sides.

Anyways..... this is the first time for a blogrimage..... I need to working on my blogging skills. Give me ideas for improvement and album ideas.

SLACKER>>>>>> 5 MONTHS IN 550 Seconds

#FAIL

My goal of blogging my transition from Tulsa to Nashville did not pan out since I have been here 5 months with no new posting........ can you say SLACKER???

So here is the last five months in 550 seconds (~9 minutes )

**note speed varies by reading rate of reader and 550 seconds was mainly for alitieration

1. Stayed with the Wonderful Joy and Peter for a bit and learned all about what it takes to become new parents. You two are the best!

2. Started my JOB at Fairview Middle School, it has been a wild ride, but love it! Helped Coach the volleyball team and realized I am too nice to be a coach. :)

2. Stayed with the Wonderful Becka and Brandon for a longer bit and learned about diners, drive ins and dive. Thanks guys!

3. Joy and Pete had their baby... Naomi Raine Hayes.. who is now o

ne of my new favorite people. :)

4. Moved into my apartment with my new roomie Michelle and her dog Baylee. Michelle bakes wonderful treats especially her cupcakes with the icing inside.

5. My furniture and Rowdy arrived to be here with me in Nashville thanks to my uncle!

6. Met lots of cool people and got involved in a church.

7. Went to Atlanta for a weekend trip to six flags.

8. GRE here I come......Dec. 4th!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH

There is tons more that has happened and lots of great stories, but alas time them would take forever.

The main thing is I know this is where I am suppose to be at this moment and God has it all in his hands. Deeper thoughts on the move will come soon....maybe depending on how my slackerness goes. :)

11 Days.....Soak It Up!

So I officially have 11 days left in Tulsa.... I can't believe it.This has been my home for six years.

For the past couple months I have had a little list of things I want to do in town before I leave. Here it is: (the ones with the word check next to them have

been completed)

1. Go to a Drillers Game check (but i want to go a

gain on fireworks night)

2. Run on Riverside 3 more times.

3. Go to the Admiral Twin Drive In

4. Go the the Great American Flea Market

5. Read book outside Coffee House on Cherry Street while drinking watermelon ice tea check

6. Go to the center of the universe....( I can't believe I still haven't been there.)

7. Go visit my friends at Dolce Vita Coffee shop check ****(While I tried but apparently they closed down. I was really sad. They are a wonderful couple.)

8. Eat at Lanna Thai one more time.

9. Go thirfting. Check

10. Walk around ORU just for old times sake. (Yea I know that is cheesy, but it won't be so close anymore!)

11. Go inside that cool vintage furniture store JOZ and dream I could afford to buy something.

12. Take pictures with as many Penguins as possible and take a picture of that big tooth outside that one dentist's office.

13. Spend as much time as possible with the people here that I love and have grown attached to.

You know who you are! More to come on that topic.......

14. These are the things I wish I could do but probably won't happen..... go to a Tulsa Hockey Game, go line dancing one last time, go to some kind of even at the BOK, see Garth Brooks randomly, go to a concert at Cain's, eat at that cute Italian restruant on Cherry street and visit bricktown in Oklahoma City.

Hopefully I can finish the list! We shall see!!! :)

Blank Bulletin Board

Friday June 3, 2010

was my last official day as a teacher at Jones Elementary School.

It was very bittersweet.

I felt like I spent the whole week saying goodbye. Packing up my classroom and cleaning things out. Some of my students did not show up the last day of school. I never even got to say goodbye.

I am sure they will be fine. It is probably just me that needed the closure.

That morning I stood in my empty classroom looked at the blank bulletin board and just cried.

I thought so many things in those twenty minutes.

Did I really do all that I could for those kids? Will they remember the things I taught them about being kind and loving people. Will the next teacher love them as much as I tried to love them. Will this room keep growing happy memories? Should I be staying? I am running away or just moving on? Will the kids I work with next need me as much as these did? Will I ever see them again? Will I ever find out if they made it? Did I make a difference at all?

And then I didn't know what else to do.... I just prayed. I prayed that the room would continue to be a safe place for students. That God would be known in that room. That the next teacher would find strength and be encouraged. I prayed so many things.

Then... I felt a peace. I knew that my time was over there. That God has those kids in his hands. I did what I was suppose to do in that season. The fear of the unknown could not stop me.

Jones Elementary will forever be a part of me. The people I worked with are such beautiful people. I learned so much there. I will miss my Jones family and students so much.