"The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong." ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder Oh! How I love that quote! One of my teaching partners shared it with me a couple of weeks ago, and I think it's beautiful. And true. And sometimes very, very difficult to live out. I want to be honest and truthful. Every day . I want to make the most of what I have and be happy with those simple things in life. Every single one . I want to have courage when things go wrong. Every. Time . But none of that is easy. It's incredibly tough to be honest and speak the truth when that truth may hurt someone. Deeply. But really, I think it's even harder to have truth spoken to or about us and to accept it graciously. Phew! Now that's the truth. Not one of us wants to have our flaws and sins pointed out, be it gently or unkindly. Confession: I don'...

Four weeks in. I'm four weeks into the new school year. The kids? Sweet! The parents? Helpful! The long days? Exhausting. Hah, but that's normal, right? Really though, this year is starting out great, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my classroom! A few weeks ago, as I was watching an old (I mean old !) rerun of Doogie Howser, M.D. (Go ahead. Admit it. You know you've watched it. For those of us who are old enough, we may have actually watched it when it originally aired...*gasp*), one of the characters was struggling with who he was deep down inside. He began by listing his outward charms, quirks, irritants, but soon realized that those things were only a small piece of who he really was. And I thought to myself, "Who are you?" Really...who am I? I think we all ask this question at some point in our lives; though I don't know that I've ever verbalized it. I do know, however, that when I'm asked to describe myself, ...