glasses?

BECKY (worried) : Mrs. Park, did the nurse say I have to get glasses?

MRS. PARK: No, she just said that you need to go to the eye doctor to have a check-up.

BECKY (still very concerned) : But I might have to get glasses??

MRS. PARK: Maybe. But that's ok - glasses are cute!

BECKY (excited) : I know!!!

(scampers off happily)

(overheard)

"Every time I eat cheese, I fall in love." - Leilani

"This came out in 2007." - Becky (pointing to her big tooth)

"When I used to go to the school by the Pizza Hut, they taught us about feelings. I love my family for who they are." - Leilani

firstgradelove.

I'm taking a little break from grading tonight to post some things I took pictures of so I can remember them forever. :) It's almost like having a scanner, right?


A couple weeks ago, we ended our Author Study unit on Australian author Mem Fox. We had a "publishing party," where the kids munched on snacks and took turns reading their work from the unit into a microphone.

This is my cutie patootie Emely. She is quite possibly one of the sweetest girls you'll ever encounter. (and very serious about school!)

The hallway display in front of my classroom:


This is my absolute favorite worksheet to grade - the pictures are always hilarious! These are the results from two of our class' best artists:


As I was grading tonight, I was a bit worried about the intensity level of a Science test I had made...so I made Mr.A take it, just to be sure...
(Nevermind that he's a Science teacher...)
On the plus side, two students actually received 100% on this assessment!


Finally, my cuties from last year have made it a habit these days to troop down to my classroom together at dismissal. They're so funny and I miss teaching them! I alway ask them to write me letters so I can see how much their writing has improved :)

Nathan: Ms. Parck I miss you I wish you were are teacher agein tell Mister Parck Hi I hope you have a good weeckend fom Natha to Ms Parck

Salvador:
Ms. park I wish that you will be are teacher.
if you thont thats ok I will miss you for ever to colletch.
[thont= don't ; colletch = college]

happy new year.


Kathy: (she went all out)
Now, doesn't this make you want to teach first grade too?!

Back to SchoolMax!

.una mescla.

1. Three words: Control-top Pantyhose.

Never again.

2. Today we received our bridesmaids' dresses! They are absolutely stunning - a silky satin apple red. I was going to post pictures of it, but couldn't find a good image online. Better to wait about a month and we can post the real thing! (yay for joe & reb!) Even though my wedding was only six months ago, it is so much fun to be a part of another wedding celebration - from a different angle! I need to practice walking around in heels. Hmmm...

3. 10 days till my little niece's due date! w o w ! Hurry up, Isabella Grace! So many people are waiting to meet you... :)

4. I am going to take a little time to brag about my husband. I don't get to do this too often, and what better place than a blog, where I can speak my mind, right?

Mr. A is the most thoughtful man you'll ever meet. He's the timeless gentleman who brings courtesy and chivalry back into fashion. We have been together for a little over 2 years and he continues to open the car door for me. On nights before a snowfall, he will raise the windshield wipers on my car (so they won't freeze) as well as the cars of our neighbors. Every day he walks me to the door before I leave for school so he can bid me a good day. These little things set him apart.

He does whatever he does well and is one you can always count on. (I have heard this from many people and said in many ways. I only wish I were more eloquent...)

Mr. A. was a born listener - he listens thoughtfully and gives encouragement and wisdom from the Word. He speaks the truth in love.

This week I was really encouraged because he served me so well. He woke up early to pack me my breakfast and lunch and let me sleep in a while longer. Thursdays are my busy days, so he went grocery shopping and came home and cooked dinner for Beckylove and me. Afterwards he washed the dishes while we had Bible study. When I returned from praise practice, I found that he had vacuumed the house and was doing the laundry. Man oh man, was I humbled...

But it's not just the things that he does. It's who he is. A man after God's heart. One who cares deeply for our youth and loves to play hard with them. A worshiper. One who loves his family and takes care of them. One who is absolutely, 100% sure of who he is and what he is living for.

Augustine Soonshin Park, you are one of a kind. Happy (almost) 6 months! <3

.munchkins.

I don't know what it is, but this week God has given me an extraordinary yet delightful amount of patience and love for my kids. I just wanna hug them and squeeze them and tell them how precious they are! I pray this is more than just a passing phase - that I will remember to love even when teaching gets frustrating...

B. is one of the smartest kids I have ever encountered. She is quick and intuitive and loves to tease. Her random question of the day for me was, "Do you have fake skinny jeans?" She then proceeded to pull up her pant legs to reveal her own "fake skinny jeans" that she had layered underneath. Then she commented (almost to herself) that she had put her underpants on backwards today, and scampered off.

D. is a very pretty and affectionate little girl. She reminds me of America Ferrera. One day she came to school wearing sparkly red ballet flats that must have once been part of a Halloween costume. Ever since then, I started calling her Dorothy, even though none of my kids have ever seen (much less heard of!) The Wizard of Oz. According to her sister, shortly thereafter, D. began asking her mom if she could change her name to Dorothy. Hahha!

J. has one of the biggest, gentlest hearts in the class. He has a tough guy's name, though. In fact, before school started, I asked Mr. A. to look at my class roster and tell me if he could predict which students would be my class angels and which would be my RML students (Require More Love)...and J was chosen as one of the latter and, based solely on his name, I agreed. It was just a silly conversation, but it made me rethink trying to label kids (even if just for fun). Anyway, he has the most amazing dance moves I have ever seen (especially for a 6 year old.) I can tell who his influences are, though, because when B. made the comment about skinny jeans, he immediately piped up with, " Michael Jackson wore skinny jeans!"

My kids have a slight obsession with M. J.

At the end of the day, the children who walk home were arguing over who would get to hold my hand on the way out. Ah...I shall cherish these moments because these kiddos grow up far too quickly.

.obedience.

This seems to be coming up a lot these days: obedience. Simple concept, difficult follow-through.

This year, I am leaning towards 2 very similar verses to hang onto as my key verses for 2010.
1 Corinthians 10:31 - So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,

This is mostly because I've recently been thinking about my day-to-day schedule. A lot of the things that I do during the week are church-related and, at the surface-level, "honor God." However, I haven't been doing very well at offering all of my heart while doing it.

Attitude: it's at the core of what we do and almost serves as the dividing line between a mere activity and worship that is pleasing to God.

This year, I want to be intentional in viewing everything I do as worship...and as a result, striving for excellence. For His sake...He is worthy of no less than the absolute best I can give! That's why I love these verses - they break things down and make everything very simple: it's about doing it for Him, not me or anyone else.

So, obedience...

It really hit home when I was studying with syunie earlier this week. We were in John 17, Jesus' longest recorded prayer in the Gospels.
Verse 4 says: ⁴I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Jesus' obedience is what brought God glory! He Himself emphasizes obedience to His disciples earlier in John 14:23: Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
But why do we make obedience seem so much harder, so much more complicated that what it really is?

A few weeks ago, I got a very clear picture of what simple obedience looks like: while the youth leaders were planning for the retreat, we called a few people to help out. I was really encouraged by their very simple and eager responses to our requests: "I'll do whatever you want me to." It made me think how much it must please God to hear those very words from us. That's the attitude I long to have before my King!

.new.year.

Happy New Year! 2010 looks so round and complete - I like it already!

This year we did something different to ring in the New Year...but first let me recap New Years past.

The past two years (at the prayer house) we had begun a tradition [which I loved and had planned on continuing, even after marriage]: Watching the first sunrise of the new year.



I loved the great sense of hope and anticipation as we huddled in the absolutely freezing weather (we got smarter in year 2 and wore many layers and swaddled ourselves with blankets) and caught the first glimpse of an orange ray of light.

Every year, we paced on the beach at twilight and wondered whether it was too cloudy to watch the actual sunrise...but every year, God would part the clouds at just the right moment so we could behold something truly beautiful.

After the sunrise, we would soak up the rays and spend time reading the Word on the beach and worshiping to the sound of crashing waves. Then we would go out for breakfast together before driving 3 hours back home!
Coffee was absolutely essential. :)

*****

This year, however, was different. Mr. A. and I had discussed earlier the different options for spending New Year's Eve, and since it was our first as a married couple, we wanted to be intentional about what we did. We decided to have a family worship time at home...singing to our Jesus and praying-in the new year.

As much as I loved our previous tradition, I really loved being at home and the start of something very special. There's such beauty to be discovered in sitting back and remembering God's immense goodness in the past decade...and looking forward to even more in the next decade!

Great hope and great expectations for 2010! :)