Stuffed Roasted Red Pepper

I started this post a week ago and never got around to finishing it. Last weekend I went to the Farmer's Market and got some fresh vegetables. One of the things I picked up were red peppers. I found a recipe for stuffed roasted red peppers, and decided I wanted to try it. I don't cook much, not because I can't, but because it's a lot of work for one person. I love this recipe though because you can do most of the work beforehand and then just stick it in the oven when you are ready to eat. Also, the stuffing mixture refrigerates well so it can be saved for a meal at a later time. This was my first time to try quinoa - I really liked it! Oh, and this was definitely the first time I ever roasted a red pepper on my own. It was easy, and yummy!

Anyway, I found the recipe online and sort of just went with the general idea and added in as much of each ingredient as I wanted:

1 roasted red pepper

1 cup quinoa, cooked

black beans

frozen corn

diced fresh tomato (from the farmers market)

chopped cliantro (also from the farmers market)

cheddar cheese, shredded

dollop of sour cream

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roast the red pepper. Mix together all other ingredients in a small bowl. When pepper is done roasting, peel the skin off, cut off the top, and stuff with the quinoa mixture. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. See? easy! And, oh so yummy!

I'd say this goes along with my new years resolution to try new things each month. This was my first time to roast a red pepper, and my first time to try quinoa. :)

Fruit of the Spirit

24 has been a good year for me in a lot of ways so far. I credit this year of my life with being the one where I became my own person. This is the year that I stopped living my life through other people and started to figure out what it was I wanted from life, not caring what others thought or said I should do. Up until this year my life was not about me, it was about the people around me. It was about what other people thought, and what other people wanted at all times. I made decisions based on other people's decisions. I decided what I liked based on what others liked. I decided what to do based on what others were going to do. This year, I found myself hidden behind all those other people. Turns out, I like the person I am all by myself. It's unfortunate that it took me 24 years to figure that out.

That being said, who am I? Or more importantly, what kind of person am I now striving to be:

I want to be a person who:

- loves and shares Jesus

- loves others selflessly

- recognizes all the blessings in life

- shares their blessings with others

- helps others and gives back

- is approachable, forgiving, and friendly

- trusts in God's timing

I was driving around earlier, making this list in my head with the intention of writing it down later, when all of a sudden the idea of the Fruit of the Spirit popped into my head. It has been a LONG time since I have read, or heard about, the Fruits of the Spirit (seriously, since I was a kid I think) and yet, as if out of no where, I remembered this verse:

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control ... - Galatians 5:22-23

As I was thinking about this, I realized that a lot of the qualities on my list of things I want from my life line up perfectly with the things God wants from my life, as described in the above verse:

- loves and shares Jesus (faithfulness)

- loves others selflessly (love)

- recognizes all the blessings in life (joy)

- shares their blessings with others (kindness)

- helps others and gives back (goodness)

- is approachable, forgiving, and friendly (gentleness)

- trusts in God's timing (patience)

All that was missing from my initial list were peace and self control. I could write a whole other post only on self control, but I think for now I'll just go ahead and say that there are definitely aspects of my life I want to have more self control in. And peace? Well, haven't I been working on that all along? Ever since I got moved into second grade this year I have tried really hard to feel God's peace in every situation. Every time I get stressed I try and remind myself of this. In fact, just read my previous post and you will see an example of this.

Funny how without even realizing it I had come up with a list of qualities I wanted to be part of my life and part of who I am, that have a direct correlation to the nine qualities that God wants out of my life and filled me with the moment he entered my heart. I say funny, but what I mean is amazing. Isn't that just what God does? Isn't that exactly how He works? Isn't He amazing?!? I love moments like that, where I can clearly hear Him speaking clearly to me. No deciphering necessary; clear as day I can hear what He has to say.

I spent the first part of this 24th year of my life figuring out what I wanted from my life. I found myself behind all the people I had tried so hard to hide behind for so long. I figured out what I wanted my life to be. Now, in the second half of this year, I am going to really focus on making each of those qualities a central part of my life. I am going to work on making each of those things so deeply ingrained in who I am that when others see me, that is what they see.

Jesus Calling

For Christmas, from my ABF leader, I got the book Jesus Calling. It's a book of short devotions for each day of the year. I love it! It doesn't take much time to read, but has a pretty profound impact on the way my day gets started. Today's was just perfect, and just what I needed (to drag myself out of the back corner of my closet and actually face the day), so I'm going to share it with you:

Let me prepare for you the day that stretches out before you. I know exactly what this day will contain, whereas you only have vague ideas about it. You would like to see a map, showing all the twists and turns of your journey. You'd feel more prepared if you could somehow visualize what is on the road ahead. However, there is a better way to be prepared for whatever you will encounter today: Spend quality time with Me.

I will not show you what is on the road ahead, but I will thoroughly equip you for the journey. My living Presence is your Companion each step of the way. Stay in continual communication with Me, whispering My name whenever you need to redirect your thoughts. Thus, you can walk through this day with your focus on Me. My abiding presence is the best road available.

This is what I reminded myself all day today when I felt on the verge of having a total mental breakdown. I may not know where the day is going, or how it will turn out, but Jesus does. He knows, and He will take care of me no matter what happens. So, I chose to remind myself of this fact each time I started to freak out, and instead of having a mental breakdown, I chose to thank Jesus instead for knowing the path ahead, and walking by my side every step of the way.

Children make my heart smile!

8 year olds absolutely amaze me sometimes!

Yesterday, I got a new kid who speaks French and does not know a single word of English. I cannot even imagine how scared that child must be, but at the same time, I'm scared! I don't think I'm qualified to teach like this! Anyway, the kids in my class have been absolutely amazing! I know I've said it before, but I really cannot say enough how incredibly blessed I am to have the group that I do this year. They are perfect. They get along with each other, they listen, they follow directions, they are every teacher's dream. If I didn't love them enough before, I sure do now that this new child started.

Yesterday was our new friend's first day and one of my little boys immediately asked to be his buddy. I told him that it would be great if our new friend could just hang out with him all day even though our new friend would not be doing the work and would not be able to respond to him when he tried to talk to him. All day my student helped our new friend. During writing time he showed him how to write simple sight words while saying them aloud. During reading time he picked out easy readers and read each word aloud allowing our new friend to point and repeat after him. He played with him at recess, introduced him to other teachers, showed him what to do at lunch, helped him get his backpack, jacket, etc., and helped show him where everything was in the room. My student was phenomenal! It was SO incredibly helpful to me!

Today one of my little girls took it upon herself to be our new friend's teacher. While doing math he was pretty much just copying off the board and my little girl went and sat next to him to show him what to do. Step by step she said what to do out loud, then showed him. "you need 5 (holds up 5 fingers) let's count 5 (helps him count 5 manipulatives) that's 5 (holds up 5 fingers again)". Seriously, what a great little teacher! Then during science as she found each of the answers to the work in her text, she pointed out to him where the word was and where to copy it on his paper so he could complete the work as well. What a thoughtful child.

After she had helped him with a few problems he got a little more confident. We are working on two digit subtraction, which was a little above his head, but I was breaking it down into parts as we were doing them together as a class. When I asked what we needed to put in the ones place when we subtracted (and I'm pointing on the board to the subtraction problem) I watched him count it out on his fingers and then he raised his hand enthusiastically. Of course I called on him (if I can make him feel successful at ANYTHING this week I will have done my job) and he paused for a second like he was trying to think of the number in English. When he gave the correct answer my class cheered for him. They actually cheered! They were so proud of him! He had a HUGE smile on his face. That was pretty wonderful ...

I love children; I really do. If only everyone could be so accepting, thoughtful, and caring. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with these wonderful children every day. :)

project 365 - Week 2

Here are the shots I took this week as part of project 365:

Check them out on my Photoblog to see them up close. So far so good...

Snow Day!

Today, at church, we had a snow day for the kids. My church does it every year, and it's such a blast! They rope off large areas, bring in all this snow, and the kids get to go outside and play during Sunday school. This is no small amount of snow either; it's enough to make snow angels, build snowmen, and have snowball fights. I took a TON of pictures, but I haven't really gotten around to editing them yet. Here's a few though:

No mittens? No worries, we have SOCKS. The kids got a kick out of this!

Snowball fight!

Cuties :)

One of my favorite 5 year olds, right before she smacked me with that snowball haha :)

Try New Things - Farmers Market

One of my new years resolutions was to try at least one new thing every month this year. The idea behind this was to make a small effort to break out of my everyday habits, and add a little variety to my life.

Well, I did something new today! I woke up early this morning so that I could go to a local farmers market. This is something I had actually been wanting to do for awhile, but never really looked into. I eat a lot of different vegetables now, I like fresh grown vegetables more than the kind I generally buy at the store (I had a student last year who would bring me some from her garden at home), and I really like the idea of supporting local farmers. So, despite the fact that it was something like 27 degrees, I headed out this morning.

I'm glad I went, it was really neat! I talked to some super nice people, and I got some great fresh vegetables!

Stay tuned this week for more new things, as I try some new ways of cooking my vegetables. fun! :)