Growing.

It's the end of another school year, and I can now say I have taught for 4 years in my own classroom. This is a calling to do both what I am passionate about and gifted to do, and I love, love, love it. It has always been challenging to be doing this in a state with zero family. And let's be real: feeling alone is hard.

There have been plenty of times I've been upset about being here, shed tears, and even wondered what it'd be like if things had gone differently. There are times I get frustrated that we don't know more people or have more friends here in the same city. Sometimes I just get sad. I'm blessed by the thought that I have some dear friends that still live in the state, but the reality of our lives is that our responsibilities and demands on time keep us apart more often than we'd like. It's pretty much the same as if they didn't live here. Someone shared an article called "16 things only people who live far away from their families will understand" on Facebook a while ago, and 1) the lack of proper capitalization in the title is driving me bananas and 2) so many of the things in it are spot on. You can read it right here.

I also know that this is exactly where God wanted me to be. When I look at how things played out for both of these teaching jobs, it's funny how God really made it fool proof that these were the jobs for me. And of course there was getting Squirt, meeting Tim and Danny, marrying that handsome man, and starting our life together here in this house. We have met some great people along the way, and none of this would have happened without moving here. Plus we have so much fun showing our family this little corner of the world when they come to visit. We're constantly finding new things to do here!

These blessings don't always feel as special when I am lonesome for our family, but we have their support and encouragement. I love where I work and have met some pretty amazing people in multiple schools here. It helps that this is my calling. It helps that my husband gets to do what he loves every day. It helps that we've made this a home. Oh, and it helps that Nebraska is so, so beautiful.

"Grow where you're planted," a friend of mine shared during chapel one day. It isn't always easy, but growing is exactly what we're doing each and every day.

Oldies But Goodies

I know it's Tuesday, but consider this a late Music Monday. ;) 

I've been so amped up in the car the past few days because I broke out the ol' stash of mix CDs that accumulated in my youth. It's so fun to jam out to some forgotten old favorites and relive some of the memories that come crashing back. There is just something about summer that makes me super-nostalgic. 

Here are some of the top jams yesterday and today: 

"Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi - good for belting at the top of your lungs in the car on 8+ hour car rides, singing for karaoke, parodying on the way to Lincoln and back, performing legendary air guitar solos to during friends' wedding receptions, or blaring on blah weather days. 

"Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice -- because c'mon, this song is so cheesy but the beat is great for car dancing. 

"Mama Mia" with Meryl Streep -- seeing it in theaters with good friends or blaring it on the back roads of Nebraska on an unplanned "detour" with your roommates...remembering the carefree happiness while you sing along is priceless.

"All My Friends Say" by Luke Bryan -- reminds me of singing along with friends and making all kinds of faces as we sang - the kind that wouldn't make sense to anyone else but that told us exactly what the other person was thinking and made it way funnier than it should be 

"The Freshman" by Verve Pipe -- always takes me back to high school...sophomore and junior year rather than freshman year, but still. It always makes me think about how we did feel invincible at the same time that all the drama always made it feel like life was tough. Funny how now we'd all take some of that drama over some of the real adult stuff we have to deal with!

"All I Wanna Do" by Sugarland -- yup, this is definitely late high school/early college soundtrack material. I remember jamming to it when a friend and I got into our cars in the b&n parking lot at the same time one night and lip syncing through our windows because we were obnoxiously cool like that. :) 

Yup, those are just a few of the gems on just one of the CDs I've put in so far. Time to pick a different one for tomorrow -- I'll be driving for at least 3 hours total tomorrow so I may need two! 

What are some of your favorite old songs that bring back good memories?!?

Necessary Creativity

I'm finding that I cope with life a lot better when I take time to be creative, but I don't rely on blogging like I used to. I take pictures both with my camera and my phone, I immerse myself in music, or I bake. Lately I've been getting back into drawing a bit after buying oil pastels for a kindergarten art project. [Confession: I'm pretty sure I had more fun than they did!]

I'm not always good about making time for being creative, though, and can definitely feel it when I don't.

I'm so excited that Emmy over at Love Woke Me Up This Morning shared about the #morethanaframe project. I love how Amber at Mr. Thomas & me explains it all here. I'm going to be doing this project, and I hope that it is a built-in way to make time to be more creative.

We are in the last two weeks of school, and I'm in panic-excited-sentimental-exhausted-nonstop-missing-my-kids-already mode. I think I need this project to keep my sanity.

I just made my first post for #morethanaframe today to go along with the joy prompt! Check it out here!

If you're interested in participating be sure to click the link above to Amber's post. :)

Happy weekend-ing!