cozy-luxury haven living peacefully beckoning, prompted by love and full of beauty in the everyday
It has been nearly a month since I wrote a blog post on here, but in reality it has been longer than that...it has been years since I have really opened up and shared my heart in deep ways here in this space... nearly a decade of fighting for my life due to health issues followed by several years of walking through a different and more difficult wilderness then I could have imagined, of trying to put one foot in front of the other after the traumatic and sudden loss of my dad, caring for my grandmother as she started the journey home with a long goodbye, helping my mother as she healed from heart surgery and then two weeks later losing her husband of nearly 50 years and adjusting to all different medications that were not the right fit which caused extreme issues, walking through PTSD, traveling after the loss of my dad to Alaska, traveling on a beautiful adventure with my mom, starting my first full time job in over nearly a decade, Kidney Stones, Nights and days in the hospital with my precious grandmother during the first Christmas after my father died, friendships walking away because we were in deep grief, navigating the world without a precious and amazing dad who was our leader, the hit of COVID which effectively ended my travel part of the blog that was thriving and growing and bringing in so many more experiences and travel jobs and an income that was BEYOND what I could have ever imagined when I first started this space in 2013, my creative shoppes closing due to the pandemic, saying goodbye to a Masters program because the subject matter of the Holocaust was too difficult in my grief, ending a book contract which had been a dream, the extreme pressure and stress of getting all of my international students back to their home countries during COVID, deciding to move back to my childhood home to help my mother settle in and clean out our house which was made harder than we ever dreamed possible it would be due to emotions, and then mold where I lost all of my worldly possessions from before illness life, struggles with my health behind the scenes, the return of a dream fulfilled with going back to teaching, the loss of my precious grandmother, the most incredible year with a group of students in F112 that changed my life, deciding to move with my mom and help her sell her home in TN and then move to NY, the entire process of moving as two single women, saying goodbye to a group of students who became friends and who were more dear to me then words could ever express, settling in for a few weeks at the cabin in the summer to discover a lot of issues behind the scenes, traveling back and forth from NY to TN in the midst of a pandemic to sell the house, moving to Albany, adjusting to a new school and a very different culture then what had been portrayed in the interview process, a very personal reason for resigning after only 11 weeks at the school, the lack of knowing how to proceed in this community and space without the worldwide travel component, the decision to move from Albany back upstate, the start of a new job, another upcoming move to get all of our things out of Albany to upstate, cleaning out my grandmothers home, and hundreds of little details behind the scenes...etc. etc. etc.
It has been a lot of stuff. A lot of life. A lot of heartbreak. A lot of grief in many different aspects. A lot of hard. A lot of brokenness...and more tears than there was laughter....
A lot of not seeing dreams fulfilled not just in the last 3 years but in the last decade.
Dreams of a husband.
Dreams of becoming a mama.
Dreams of a life that I had pictured with the family that I dearly love in tact...in full.. instead of missing two key players that were so important.
Dreams shattered in work spaces, in creative space, in author spaces, in plans...
Dreams of so many sacred and personal things... so many different dreams that are deeply hidden in my heart that as the world has continued there has been a constant "on hold" in the life of sickness that I walked and then in the season of deep painful grief.
Life after so much beauty from healing from Lyme, Cancer, and multiple illnesses was not what I had envisioned with the happy ending that I had written in my head as it would be, but was caught in a deep "sadness, a sense of unfairness, even jealousy toward those who have what I wanted. Life felt meaningless, and I battled feelings of failure, and if I am honest enough I harbored anger and disbelief toward the God who had denied my requests."*
What I was to slowly ...ever so slowly find was that Sheridan Voysey was right..."But there is a life after a dream has died. The God of the crucifixion is also the God of the resurrection. While a fairy tale cannot be promised (as there are precious few fairy tales outside Disney), the tragedy can make way for some joy. And while some scars will remain...healing and restoration can come."*
And in the midst of ALL of what I mentioned above... there has been a lot of love. A lot of beauty. A lot of provision that I would only call supernatural. A lot of laughter (a HUGE thank you to the senior class of 2021), a lot of watching healing in those I love, a lot of seeing miracles happen, a lot of receiving love and kindness and extravagant grace and mercy... a lot of growing... a lot of facing the hard and stepping into grief and fear... and the slow, slow, sssssllloooowww change of despite "spending ten years in the wilderness and not arriving at the promised land" the lesson that there is a greater tragedy in life... and that is that perhaps the greater tragedy than a broken dream is a life forever defined by it."*
Talking with loved ones, counselors, the community here in this space, my former college Pastor, and other beautiful leaders in my life was a helpful beginning to healing... and then re-reading (and weeping) through "Resurrection Year" was the gift that God used in the midst of the darkness... and the gentle and encouraging words of Scripture has brought me full circle to Gods tender peacefully beckoning, prompted by love and finding beauty in the everyday.**
Life is different.
Life is SO very different then what I could have ever imagined...and in that I am finding joy in the path before me. Not in the change of things or titles or duties...but in the gentle path before me.
I am often asked if I miss teaching high school right now in this unexpected season. I recently wept as I read these pages from the book, "The Making of Us"... it says it WAY more eloquently than my words could ever express:
Happy Thursday friends! I hope the start to your Christmas weekend is going great! It's been a little bit since I updated (a couple of months to be exact *smiles*) and I thought today would be the perfect day to update on our move up to New York as I receive so many questions each day about how things are going, how teaching is going, how we are settling in, etc. In many ways it is completely surreal that this week marks seven months since the process really began and a couple of months since we moved in and I started teaching in New York and then as some of you are aware we moved again. In some ways it seems like years because so many things have taken place... time is funny like that- isn't it?
Overall
Overall, I would say that there are many times that I feel like we are taking one day at a time and just taking things each moment as they come and other times where it feels like we are really settling in. I think big changes are like that- just lots of adjustments and giving yourself a LOT of grade.
Teaching
As I shared last month, there were some incredible changes that took place. You can read more HERE.
This book is written for those with a heart and desire to practically meet someone struggling through the confusing and difficult road of a chronic health condition this holiday season. Often those who long to walk the journey of a chronic health condition with their loved ones ask from a sincere place, "How can I really help this holiday?" but feel at a loss of where to start. This book is filled with unique and one-of-a-kind ideas for this holiday season that will be a wonderful "jumping off point" for you to be reaching out to those whom you love that struggle with chronic health issues and their loved ones.
This is the second book in the "Chronic Grace Series"; the first released in April 2018 entitled, "12 Things to Pray" which you can find HERE. You can purchase "12 Things to Do: For Yourself, A Loved One, The Spouse, The Parents, The Children and The Caretakers Dealing with Chronic Health Conditions During the Holiday Season" on Amazon by clicking HERE!
Thank you so much as always for your sweet and continued support of all of my writing friends. You are a gift!
Simple touches of christmas decor have come to the bungalow! This year we are focusing on enjoying the small and simple moments and grabbing onto them. We are adjusting to a lot of different changes and I look forward to sharing more in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, I hope that you and your loved ones are treasuring the small and precious moments too.
Happy Monday friends! I am so excited to share with y'all one of the newest additions to the caravan sonnet shoppe at teachers pay teachers! This is a resource for middle east and world history teachers and is based on the textbooks, a History of the Middle East and The Middle East in the World.
If you would like to go directly to this resource you can click HERE!
*Basic introduction and background
*Operation Desert Storm Codename
*Invasion into Kuwait
*January 15, 1991
*January 18, 1991
*Israel's Response
If you would like to purchase this powerpoint you can find it HERE!
Thank you so much for all of your support of the shoppe! If you would like to check out the shoppe you can find it HERE!
Happy Friday friends! I hope that you are finishing up a great week! Today I am excited to share the top 5 items that y'all have loved the most from the Caravan Sonnet Shoppe for the month of November!
I have been SO excited about all of the additions in this first month of the shoppe being opened and I am I am thrilled that y'all are loving these products! You may be wondering why I am sharing this information and I wanted to share a little background on why:
I am loving using this information to see what products that y'all are liking and buying. I am constantly making new items and creating new things for my classes, but if it is not helpful for another teacher I don't want to waste anyone's time in putting it in the shop. Instead I want to put in the shop things that are helpful, creative and colorful, and most of all educational.
I also want to take a moment to say thank you for every single purchase that has been made in the shop. My goal is to grow this into a full time business and because I am working incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this happen, I want to share the products that others are finding helpful in case you or a teacher/homeschool mama friend could find them useful also. There is a lot that goes into this work and I am LOVING it but I know it wouldn't be possible without YOU. So thank you again for your support of my newest shoppe!
Now... onto the top five sellers from November:
This bundle includes ALL of the powerpoint presentations and resources lessons with colorful and animated sections for Personal Finance for an ENTIRE semester!! With over 120 powerpoint presentation pages/slides/PDFs and Keys! (121 to be exact!!) you will be ready to have a foundation to teach your personal finance class for a semester!
When I first started teaching personal finance I wasn't even sure where to begin and lots of the materials that were available that could be found (which was extremely limited) seemed out of date and very boring. Creating these resources for my students helped bring this material alive in new ways and these powerpoints will help be a foundation for your semester also!
*Powerpoints can be easily converted into Google Slides for your convenience
**Powerpoints can be edited to fit the needs of your classroom!
This resources includes:
PowerPoint Presentations
Word Document Assignments
PDF Document Assignments
Answer Keys to Assignments
Powerpoint Contains 13 Powerpoint Slides with colorful and animated sections on Taxes.
*Powerpoint can be easily converted into Google Slides for your convenience
**Powerpoint can be edited to fit the needs of your classroom!
Powerpoint contains the following information:
* Basic Definition and Understanding of Credit, Credit Cards, Credit Scores
* Credit Terms
* How people under 25 years old can obtain credit
* Credit Scores
* The Schumer Box
* 6 Benefits of having good credit
* Credit Reports
* Companies that check your credit score
*Powerpoint Contains 19 Powerpoint Slides with colorful and animated sections to help a unit on South America come alive for your Middle School students!
*Contains Up to Date (2021) information and facts
*Contains link to YouTube Video to help bring different areas alive
*Contains Pictures - Including a variety of Sources
**Powerpoint can be easily converted into Google Slides for your convenience
This powerpoint contains South America Geography Including:
*Location
*Countries (including a slide on the 2 non-sovereign countries located in South America
*Population
*Rivers
*Rainforests
*Lakes
*Mountain Ranges
*Specific Mountains
*Waterfalls
*"Hand of the Desert"
*Language
*Most Popular Sport (Football)
*WordDocument Contains 2 worksheet pages to help students prepare for college and their budgets in college! This would be perfect for a junior/senior high school level finance class. This will work perfectly with the Semester Finance Bundle or any of the Personal Finance Resource section!
The college budget project includes the following things for students to accomplish (also hitting many state standard requirements):
* Bank account for college requirements
* Check writing requirement
* College application fees
* Scholarship Applications
* College experience and complete budget requirements listed
* Pick your top school choice and complete budget requirements listed
AND MANY MORE ITEMS....
Document can be edited to fit the needs of your classroom!
