Challenge Your Beliefs

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to work on my relationship with Christ. I want Him to be my first thought in every situation. I want Him to consume every detail of my life. I want to spend more …

Green Smoothie Day 3 – Healing Journey Day 50

Journal:
Today is the last day of green smoothies and I cannot wait! I want to have the separation of fruit and veggies again. I actually miss having fruit all day and having my veggies at night. I cannot wait to do that again (though slightly differently… stay tuned!).

I woke up late this morning. It put me in a rush to get ready for church, but also felt nice to get some good sleep for once. I did not have time to eat before I went to church. However, my stomach felt like it was still recovering from my cooked foods two days ago, so it probably was a good thing I waited a little longer to eat anyway.

Church was really good. It actually had a health focus, but in the way of relationships. Through studies, people who have good relationships with people live longer, and those that live solitary lives do not live as long. Excellent topic in a series of health talks that will be happening. I’m excited for these ones!

Once I got home, I made a smoothie using bananas and Barlean’s Naturally Very Berry Greens powder. This powder I did not like so much. The strawberry-kiwi one is AMAZING, but not so much this berry one. Oh well. I drank it anyway.

Later on, I made another smoothie using bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen rhubarb, and organic kelp powder. This smoothie was decent (was going for a reminder of strawberry rhubarb pie), but a little sugar would have gone a long way with this! However, since I’m not consuming any additives right now, the sugar can wait.

As I was making a grocery list to go shopping this evening, I noticed I was not going to use the one orange, bell pepper in my fridge. I hate when things go to waste. So I did eat that as well. I could have blended it up in a smoothie, but I ate it separately. It was absolutely delicious. But in the program I will be doing for the next 5 days, bell peppers are not used. So, I ate it tonight before it goes bad.

Aside from grocery shopping, I didn’t do much else this evening. Pretty much I worked on the computer and went to bed, excited to eat different foods tomorrow.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne doing decently better.
-Hair is doing so well.
-Stomach is feeling a little better today.
-Digestion is improving lots.
-Much more energy today.
-Feels good to wear your church dress that just fit you less than two months ago and it’s completely loose on you now.

Weight at the end of the day = 166.8 lbs (down 2.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1014 (87% carbs, 9% fat, 4% protein… did not eat near enough today…)

 

Looking at the World Blindly

This world is one of deceit. This world is unfortunately filled with fakeness. This world cannot be taken for face value.

When I think about growing up, I think of food. Food is a huge part of life that nobody can deny. Without food, life eventually stops. There are family foods that nobody can recreate. There are traditional foods associated with different ceremonies and celebrations. There are comfort foods that are there for you when life goes downhill. And there are “healthy” foods that we are all told we need.

I used to be a dairy-aholic. In my family, the more cheese the better. Take a block of cheese out of the fridge, tear a chunk off, put it back and be merrily on your way. That was my upbringing. A pound of bacon for breakfast? You bet! I was oblivious to the truth.

As I grew up and got to where I am now, I have realized how blind I really was.

When we listen to the things people have told us without investigating for ourselves, we are leaving our entire lives in their hands. When we watch dairy commercials that promote the goodness of dairy and yet never look into the fact that some of the biggest dairy drinkers have the worst arthritis, we may end up the same way. The way dairy is designed causes inflammation in our bodies. The extra calcium actually leaches calcium from our bones, not into it. Milk cows have drastically cut their lives down because of the constant pregnation, something we fight to stop in third world countries because of the deaths and complications it has caused human women. Baby bulls are sent to slaughter because they are worthless in the dairy industry and treated as such from the moment they are born. Calves are pulled from their mothers within 24 hours of birth so as not to drink all of the milk that can be sold to humans. The dairy industry is disgusting.

And yet it’s not just the dairy industry. So much of what we are told is a lie. The media skews what it wants us to see. The meat industry will not let you into their slaughterhouses to see the abuse. The scientific studies are often revokable and untrue. Industries pay off publishers to post results that they want people to see. Our world is treacherous and ruthless.

So my question to you is this: Are you going to keep believing everything that you see? Everything that people tell you to believe? Or are you going to find out for yourself?

Detective Teacher

Have you ever had to do anything crazy? Have you ever had a mystery as a teacher that you’ve had to figure out? Sometimes I wonder if I watch too many detective shows (CSI, Murdoch Mysteries, Bones, etc…). I’m always fascinated by the way detectives are able to figure things out. What is even more interesting is that Evidence and Investigation is also a unit in Grade 6 Science. So I’m able to share my fascination with my students.

While camping this week, I had a series of unfortunate events that caused me to practice some detective skills. And without sharing any specific names or details as to the people that were involved, here is the story:

Tuesday afternoon, we come back from afternoon field studies, and one of my students had lotion all over her sleeping bag. So I cleaned it off, and figured it was just a prank (doors to the cabins don’t lock the best).

Tuesday evening, when we returned from the evening activity, there was lotion on another student’s bed and blue handprints on our door. Then the 6 girls in my cabin started plotting ways to catch who it was. They were checking fingerprints, thinking of places to hide and catch them, etc… It was a JOB to get them to sleep that night.

Wednesday morning, I assumed nothing would happen during breakfast, but low and behold, there was toothpaste on a girl’s bed AND MY BED/PILLOW. I didn’t react though, because I had it dropped in my ear by that point that somebody thought one of my cabin girls was doing it, and I figured if it was, then reacting by anger would not get me the results I wanted. So I played it off like it was no big deal, and listened to the plans the girls told me I should do to figure it out (hiding on the top bunk, pretending to sleep during afternoon field studies, etc…).

We went to lunch, and of course came back to water on two of the girls’ beds. One soaking the sleeping bag, one just on the mattress. So I began thinking without telling the girls.

Once they left for afternoon field studies, I knew I had to hide somewhere that nobody had talked about, especially if it was one of my own girls. So I swept out the concrete floor the best I could (it’s so dirty), packed my large and small suitcase (it was packing day anyways so I figured it wouldn’t be suspicious), strategically placed them where I thought I would be most easily seen, and hid as close to the wall under the bed as I could. Throughout the hour and 15 minutes, my arm went numb, the floor was cold/dirty, but I knew I had to do what I could to catch whoever was doing this.

At one point, one of my girls ran in and was asking if I was in the room. So I whispered to her that I was under the bed (I knew it wasn’t this girl) and she told me she figured out that whoever did the blue handprints had to have gone to a certain field study that day because it’s the only place that had the blue chalk (the kids are divided up into study groups for the week and get through 2 stations a day). I told her thanks for figuring that out, and reminded her not to tell anyone where I was.

About 5 minutes after she left, the door opened again, and another one of the girls came in asking if anyone was there. She then jumped up on all of the bunk beds to check to see if I was hiding there (as they told me I should do). Thankfully, she didn’t think to check under the beds! I was basically holding my breath, I was so nervous she would see me. She then went over to her bag, took out one of her permanent markers, and wrote the word “STUPID” on her own mattress, and quickly ran out the door. I didn’t stop her in the act and instead waited to see what she did after she had left.

As I was getting out and saw what she had done, the girl that had originally come in to show me the chalk said that she had just seen the other girl leave, and wanted to know if anything happened. I quickly told her yes and showed it to her, and she came up with the brilliant idea of pretending that nobody had seen anything and going to tell her that something else had happened. And wouldn’t ya know, the girl who did it was like, “Something else happened? What happened?” And I just calmly smiled at her and told her she could go look if she wanted, and continued to walk over to where the other teacher from my school was to discuss how I should approach the whole situation.

I’m telling you, the things we, as teachers, have to do sometimes!

Do you have any interesting stories, any ways you’ve had to discover something going on in your classroom or on a trip? I would love to hear them! Leave your story in the comments below!

Celebration of Learning

I’m not sure how many other schools do this, but every year, our school hosts what we call a Celebration of Learning. It is essentially student-led conferences, but rather than staying in a stationary place, the students have stations with either activities, projects or discussion places set up in order to demonstrate to their parents or families what they have been learning.

The tables I included in my room this year were:
Table 1 – Welcome Table – Take the piece of paper that has the activities and tables outlined as you travel around the room.
Table 2 – French – Play a memory match game using the cards which contain the French and English days of the week.
Table 3 – L.A. – Show your parents the textbook “Volcano” and describe what you have learned about Mount St. Helens. Then look at the Slideshow to show your picture with your volcano project.
Table 4 – Art – Show your parents your Huichol Yarn Painting and describe the method you are using to complete it.
Table 5 – Math – Get your bag of Skittles from the teacher and complete the written ratios.
Table 6 – Science – Using the materials provided, demonstrate the experiment we performed in class to prove that air takes up space (big, clear tub filled with water, clear glass, blank paper).
Table 7 – Spelling – Give your parents a spelling test using any lesson we have studied.
Table 8 – Social Studies – Share your plan with your family to help a problem in your community.
Table 9 – Bible – Using the Bibles provided, share one thing you have learned since studying Revelation.

This night does take a large amount of time to plan and set up, but the effects of it are awesome. There is little for the teacher to do, other than the set up and preparations. Instead, you get to sit back, make sure everything is running smoothly, and watch how the students interact with their own parents. You get to see parents smiling and laughing with their children. It’s really amazing to watch the relationships that get strengthened in a night like this.

I also like it because it causes busy parents to set extra time aside to sit and be interested in what their children are doing. I think the extra time alone, with the spotlight being on them in their classroom makes the night that much more special.

I’m curious to hear if your school does anything like this. Leave a comment below! I’m always up for new ideas!

Week 6 Day 5

As per usual, today was not my worship day but simply an appreciation day which is always nice. As far as Spirit Week goes, each classroom was allowed to choose their own theme for the last day. So my students submitted their choices, I narrowed down a list of five, and they were allowed to vote (an enhancement of our social studies unit learning about democracy and voting by secret ballot). Overall, my students chose Twin Day which is where you and someone else dress the same. We had a lot of fun with this day. I partnered up with one of my students and we decided to dress in blue shirts and black pants. Nothing difficult, but easy and fun!

I was also approached for something I was hoping to avoid this year: Being the female sponsor for the Flag Football Tournament this weekend. I asked to be the last female teacher/staff to be approached, and wouldn’t you know, I had to go. The kids were excited because we had a lot of fun last year, but I also knew my husband was already complaining about all of the meetings and time my job is taking and this would be a complete weekend without seeing him. So I made an agreement. Because I was still getting my meals made for me, I would need access to at least a fridge and microwave. And they met my accommodations. And so I would go.

After school, I had two meetings scheduled for this day (not a good way to say good-bye to my husband…). A couple of my colleagues and I are working on starting up a tutoring group in our school. This of course meant a lot of looking at policies that other schools formed, and creating a set of forms and policies of our own. Throughout this meeting, that started late and went twice as long as it was supposed to, we finally had a plan with some final revisions to complete. But of course, this meant our next meeting started later too.

Our second meeting was a Core Group meeting where we meet and talk about issues that need to be talked about within our group and our plans for during the year. Our group is the downstairs group, the middle core, grades 5-8. And so these conversations took a very long time, and needless to say, I came home to a very unhappy husband.

We did make it to the gym, and I completed 3 circuits of focus on chest and triceps followed by 12 minutes of HIIT. It was a later night than I expected because I also tried to spend a bit of time with my husband before I left. But he still had to work the next morning and I had a ton of things I wanted to get done before I left. So to bed we went.

Week 6 Day 2

Today began my week of devotions for the teachers at school. This is something I actually enjoy doing. And not like usual, I did not have any inspirational thoughts until this morning. Usually I get inspirational thoughts days in advance, but God had some pretty hefty thoughts being prepared for me.

Today’s worship was on sleep, brought up by the Spirit Week theme of Pyjama Day at our school. I talked about the challenges that lack of sleep can cause, the extreme cases of sleep deprivation, and the fact that it is when we lay our head down that we are choosing to trust God to take care of us as we sleep. I had never thought of it that way before I had found someone’s blog online. The fact that we sleep – usually – every night, and are continuously putting our trust in Him that never sleeps is a new concept to me, but one that makes complete sense! This worship went very well!

As can be easily explained, since this was Pyjama Day, the students and the staff were dressed in their pyjamas. Now, I have not done psychology studies on this topic, but I felt so tired this day. I honestly think it makes a difference in what you wear! And yet, some of my students seemed like their energy doubled. Oh boy…

I still made it to the gym, not wearing my pyjamas, and had a great workout focussing on back, biceps and abs. I finished this workout with 12 minutes of HIIT.