Builder or Breaker?

I went to a really awesome presentation today. There were so many great things that were said but one just really stuck out to me. I sometimes feel that I hear a lot of complaining throughout my day. And I very rarely take part in it but I have really been trying to stay positive and not complain about things that are in place to help me grow and become better (getting up early and going out in the cold, cold, cold doesn't count in my opinion:)).

John Hilton III was the presenter and he shared this poem that I think we should all hear. It is a great reminder to stay positive and to take joy in the things we do EVEN if they are hard and even if they seem meaningless. Life is not meant to be easy and no one becomes great because they have always done easy things. Challenges help to make us better and hard things help to refine us. We could all do better and we could all do well to really think about this poem. :)

I watched them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a busy town.

With a ho, heave, ho and a lusty yell,

They swung the beam and a side wall fell.

I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled?,

The kind you'd hire if you were to build?"

He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed, common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two,

What builders have taken years to do."

And so I asked as I went my way,

Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder with a well-made plan, lifting others the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the labor of tearing down?

Let's all strive to be builders and be a little bit better today than we were yesterday.

i LOVE learning

I just love it. Ever since I switched to elementary education I've felt like I can't learn enough. There is just so much to KNOW as a teacher! Almost too much. A lot of times I feel like I am drinking from a fire hydrant and I am just trying to catch as much as I can that will help me to be a good teacher. There are just so many great ideas out there but it is also SO hard to keep them all straight. I am trying to put together a place to organize my ideas but there are literally so many that I don't know where to start. I have lists on my iPhone that I add to anytime I hear an idea that I love but I want to organize those thoughts into groups and such. ANYWAYS, that is not what this post is about.

I have 1 week left until my practicum (this is like a mini student teaching--I am doing mine this semester in 6th grade! Ah!) which will be until the end of March and then I have 2 weeks of class left. 2 weeks!! TWO. And then I will be done going to classes at BYU. Except for my one class spring semester. This thought is really sad to me. I literally love all my classes and all the people I go to class with every day. I am grateful for the good ideas I get and for the practice I get and for the help that my knowledgeable professors give me. And since I am in Elementary Education I get to learn about all subjects. It's just that much more learning! 

Good thing being a teacher means CONSTANTLY learning. I know that teaching is going to be so difficult and so different than anything I've ever done before and it is going to require me to work hard but I think back on the past 18 years and think, I may not know how to teach but I am a dang good student. I've been a student for 18 years! And a lot of teaching, especially my first year, will be being the best student and learning everything I can from my team and all the people assigned to help me become better. I am blessed because I want to be the best I can be and I love conquering difficult things and I know this quality will help me next year. 

I am really going to miss BYU so much when I am done in a few weeks. I've been here the last 5 years and I feel that it is a huge part of my life and who I am. In a way it is my home. And now that my other home in WA is being sold I consider it home even more. I am extremely grateful that I came here. Only good things have come out of this experience. But for now I need to soak it all up because it really will go fast from here.

I felt like this post needed a picture of some kind...

Some of my besties from the ELED program.

I am a teacher

I decided today that I'm 100% thinking like a teacher now. I got an email and the subject said "Integration Bee" and I thought to myself "Well that's weird... do they just give you several different objectives from different subjects and see who can integrate them the fastest? The best?" I was confused so I opened the email and realized it was from the math department at BYU (because of my minor) and it was talking about who could integrate the fastest. As in calculus. Haha

The world is ending in Provo, UT

This is a little bit of what we have been experiencing in my city the last few weeks.

Negative and single digit temperatures.

Unhealthy air quality. Yesterday it was the worst in the nation

And today, extreme ice.

This is why they sent those emails this morning.

Morgan wanted to Help me Blog

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She did good, don't you think? :)

Science AND Religion

I am currently enrolled in a science methods course at BYU. My teacher asked what our feelings are about teaching science and I said I felt unprepared. I don't remember science being a very positive experience for me growing up. It wasn't until I got to college that I started to love science. I bet a lot of people my age and those that are older than me have the same feelings towards their elementary, middle, and high school science courses. There were occasional lessons that I loved but, overall, I would say that science was not my favorite subject. 

Obviously, I want the kids that I teach to leave my class with different feelings about science than I had in elementary school. We've discussed in class how our most memorable science "lessons" were when we had experiences that were hands-on and interactive and many of these took place out of school. But even after we've had these fun experiences, we ask our teachers, "So? Why does this matter to me?"

For our homework this week we had to watch a video that gave many reasons why science is important and it really got me thinking. There are so many reasons why science is important! Many people, myself included, take science for granted. Science is what helps to explain our world and why things happen. Science is needed to advance technology. Technology is how I am writing this blog right now. It is how I am going to post it and how my friends are (maybe) going to read it. It is how I have been able to talk virtually face-to-face with Mike while he has been thousands of miles away. It is how we communicate, how we turn in assignments, how we find out about what is going on around us. We all use technology in some way, but there are so many other benefits of science.

Science has been behind every medical discovery. It is how we discover diseases and then come up with cures. Anyone who has taken medicine should care about science. We wash our hands and brush our teeth because of what scientists have found about germs. 

Science helps to further our knowledge about how to make the future better. Scientists are researching clean and renewable energy so that our kids and our grand-kids might be able to have a cleaner planet. By caring about science, we can make our futures better.

Science also explains many things about ourselves and the world that we live in. Scientists have discovered many, many amazing things about the human body and how it works. The human body is so incredible. This is where I am going to make my connection between science and religion. Some people say that science disproves religion. My belief is that science and religion prove each other! I have done very little study about the human body compared to doctors and nurses and other people who chose that as their field of study. But of what I have learned about the human body I am amazed. 

To me, learning how the body works, is such a testimony to a Divine creator. The intricacy of just our heart or our brain or our muscles is proof that we were created with great care and planning. Our bodies could not have been born in a big bang, nor could they evolve from monkeys. I need to quote Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here. He worked as a doctor and he is a leader in my church and he sums up the amazingness of the body better than I ever could. 

"Each organ of your body is a wondrous gift from God. Each eye has an autofocusing lens. Nerves and muscles control two eyes to make a single three-dimensional image. The eyes are connected to the brain, which records the sights seen.

Your heart is an incredible pump. It has four delicate valves that control the direction of blood flow. These valves open and close more than 100,000 times a day--36 million times a year. Yet, unless altered by disease, they are able to withstand stress almost indefinitely.

Think of the body's defense system. To protect it from harm, it perceives pain. In response to infection, it generates antibodies. The skin provides protection. It warns against injury that excessive heat or cold might cause.

The body renews its own outdated cells and regulates the levels of its own vital ingredients. The body heals its cuts, bruises, and broken bones. Its capacity for reproduction is another sacred gift from God. 

...

Ask yourself, 'Could an explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary?' The likelihood is most remote. But if so, it could never heal its own torn pages or reproduce its own newer editions!"

Read more from this talk here.

As I study science I have felt that no discoveries in science could have come about without the help of God. There is just no other way that scientists could learn about the most intricate workings of the brain and body. But, on the reverse side, we  need to be careful when trying to "prove" religion. Faith is required in religion. Some people will look to science to prove religion and they will be disappointed and discouraged. Belief in God ultimately cannot be proven by science. I believe that by looking at the beautiful trees, mountains, flowers, animals, and other people around us we can strengthen and develop our belief that there is a God. But the basis for religion cannot be based on science alone. 

Scientists come about their discoveries by asking questions and trying out hypotheses. So do religious people  discover what they come to believe as truth. I challenge everyone who made it this far in my post (thank you) to not be afraid to ask questions. You don't always have to take for truth what your parents and your teachers have told you is true. Ask questions! Every scientific discovery comes from a question and God will reveal to you His purpose and plan for you if you ask.

Matthew 7:7-8 -- Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

God loves each of us unconditionally and He knows our needs. He is mindful of us and He is our all knowing creator. He wants us all to know Him for ourselves and the only way to do this is by asking in prayer. 

To find out more about my beliefs, visit mormon.org :)

Back to School

A lot of things have change in my life and I have had to rethink a lot of decisions which makes this semester my last semester of classes. As much as I complain about being in school and being married in school and how lame it is, I really do love my classes. I know I am finally in the right spot because I just feel like I can't learn enough about teaching children. I can't say I look forward to going to school every day but I wouldn't be able to miss it. I love going to learn and I love all the friends I've become close with through my classes. 

But school starting again does mean that I pretty much am going to be single until the semester ends again. I am grateful for the 3 week break we had and that Mike and I spent EVERY bit of it together :) It was blissful and amazing. I hope to hold onto that just a little bit longer when the semester starts getting crazy.

On Wednesday, Mike and his barbershop chorus are headed to Orlando, FL to compete in a national youth barbershop competition. They have worked hard all semester to prepare and they are currently practicing in my living room.

I hope you get to hear from me more during the semester but don't get too excited :)