School is starting Wednesday! I have Orientation tonight where I will meet my students and their parents. This will be my seventh year to teach at Northridge Christian School. Each year I am reminded of my own school career. As a child, I was under the impression that my teachers lived at school, had no children, and loved to discipline! When I entered Junior High and High School, I assumed all the teachers were born old and had no lives outside of school. They practically lived to teach! As an adult, entering another year of teaching, I realize how flawed my understanding of teaching was:)

Katelyn will be a 5th grader! She is nervous and excited:) She is our little scholar. Lover of rules and polite manners.

Sarah will be a 4th grader! She is just plain happy:) She is our little artsy type. Lover of gray areas and music.

Lizzie will be in Preschool again! She liked school last year:) Our favorite stories of Lizzie's  school career are the times she became upset with the teachers and kicked toys off her tray. We also like the growling when others came in too close:)

Stacy has also started a blog, and I will be starting one up for my class. We are the Blog Family From the Panhandle:)

Lots of stuff still to do before Wednesday, but we are ready for it. I am choosing this year to "Number my days" and "Redeem the time." Each day can be lived only once, and I know that. However, I want to live as though it were my last. The song "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw has a good message, but it's not one with a Christian worldview. I do not wish to live by Bungee jumping, sky-diving, trekking through Europe, or opening my own restaurant, but to live for Christ each day. Who can I share the Gospel with? Who can I help? What does Christ have for me today? I do know one thing I will do - Live Joyfully! Lizzie is by far the greatest example of how circumstances do not pertain to joy. She sings continuously, laughs and giggles, and cuddles like nobody's business. Lizzie is three years old and has had six surgeries, months of accumulated hospital stays and severe GERD that caused her to stop breathing, yet she has way more joy than I do. This year, I will be joyful despite the circumstances, because my God is a good God.