western day, round-up and butterfly club

nothing beats going to an apartment complex after school on a friday to wave at cars and play with balloons. okay, i lie, i can think of about a million and one things...and again, i lie probably only 1,999,999. but then, it was a little okay, because i was among some great company. it was a good turn-out of teachers-from kinder, pre-k, first grade, second grade, not to mention the principal, asst principal, counselor and coaches. several families turned out, and a few of them were there for quite awhile; it's always great for the families to talk to prospective families. we are trying to be proactive in the hustling rounding up students for classes next year.

the best part was just being able to interact with people i usually don't get to interact with outside of their classrooms.

xochitl! i loved working with xoch in 4th grade, and love the bond we have forged since!

andrea and ciane-it's been a good year! i need these two to get through my days! they keep me sane!

we have begun something fun at school. we talked about it at the beginning of last school year, but no one jumped in and took charge, so it was brought up in casual conversation with one of our teachers a couple of months ago, and i ran it by our principal-he said: GREEN LIGHT, GO FOR IT. (ok, i said green light, he said go for it).  so we sent out an email and schedule. the first theme day was 80s, and we had several participate-i'm pretty sure a shout-out for PRE-K and the TA's is in order!! they all participated! i need to do better at going around and getting good pics! this week was western day, and a few more people jumped on board. so hopefully we will continue to get an increase in participation as we move forward!

wrangling students daily!  #westernday

showing off the cowgirl look-olivia's students were probably wondering what was going on.

i'd been looking forward to today for quite some time now. i had a hard time finding something to wear, because most of my array of clothing is not bright and butterfly-ish...so i went out to get a shirt today, which i will wear again. nafia has talked about butterfly club for quite some time now, and she has been quite invested in it. i know she has grown spiritually as a result of being a part of it. so today they had a meeting and she was allowed to invite guests, so i was honored when she invited nicolette and me. conversation, lunch, and the topic: prayer. this was a great topic. pastor giles spoke on prayer and was talking about some of the different issues/problems that can interfere with a strong prayer life. each of us had at least one of the 'short circuits' that rang true. 

erica shared something that really resonated with me, as she talked about how much effort and how much time she put into trying to get tickets for something, and then coming to the realization that truly, that is how we should approach God. if only we put as much effort into calling on God and craving that relationship, how much more would we be able to impact others? how much happier would we be? how much more satisfied? how much more able to care for others and desire good things for them? i need that. i've become complacent. i've become comfortable. i don't want to be comfortable or complacent in my prayer life and in my relationship with God. i am most alive and most able to be a friend to others when my relationship with God is strong. because the truth is that God created us for relationship, and the relationship that we have with others is a reflection of what we have learned from our relationship with him. #grateful   

beautiful ladies #butterflyclub

the honorees (birthdays in the month of feb), were supposed to give a little presentation/talk, but time was running short, so they didn't get the time that they needed, and they just gave a brief overview. i was so looking forward to hearing nafia's because i know that she had spent a lot of time and prayer over it. i did enjoy reading the handout that she created, and i am feeling inspired to read the joyce meyer book that inspired it. her handout is really a great catalyst for good conversation about prayer!

bask in the precious privilege of prayer! (nafia's words)
julie