The Sunrise Story

Thank you to Ruth for this amazing  community to share our celebrations! This week ended with a couple of sick days. It never fails, when I'm sick my mind becomes a central hub of worrying. Nevertheless, I come here today to celebrate the good this week... 1. Friends who SEE me and LISTEN and hear what I'm saying and what I'm not saying. It's such a blessing to have friends like these in my life. 2. 695...that's the nickname of the graduate class I'm teaching. We had our first week this week and it was great! The teachers in this class show up after teaching all day to learn and practice more. It's a writing class that's co-sponsored by George Mason University and the Northern Virginia Writing Project. It's an honor to lead these teachers through the next semester of learning and growing and writing. 3. My OLW (one little word) FLY. It's such an interesting word for me and it's working itself into my life in such interes...

Thank you to Holly for this amazing opportunity to explore my Spiritual Journey every week! I love the opportunity to try on each other's OLWs. This week I've been contemplating Leigh Anne's word TURN.  TURN. I looked up the definition. It means to move or to change. TURN is one of those words that means so many different things and I think that's why I love it so much. Ever since Leigh Ann picked it, I've noticed it popping up.  I heard the President start the State of the Union with it, "...tonight, we TURN the page." It's a word I never paid attention to and now I think about it a lot.  "TURN to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:22 TURNing toward is opening up and asking for help. My favorite meaning of the word TURN is TURNing it over to God. Here's a great verse that addresses that! "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplica...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers .  I am a writer. The more I say that sentence, the easier it gets...well, not easier to do, but easier to accept. This past week two of my favorite writers documented their own struggles with their craft. I like that. It's honest. It's authentic. I'm in good company. Feeling like a fake. Feeling not good enough is something that every writer faces. In reading the rest of Anne Lamott's post she writes about not knowing what her next book will be about. Initially I thought, "How could ANNE LAMOTT not know what to write?!?!" And then I smiled. I get it! I just didn't think she felt that struggle.  I want my students to feel this struggle and know it's worth it. We are writing and sharing our writing with writing...

Thank you Ruth for providing this safe space to celebrate each week!  This week filled me with love and gratitude. Even the knocks that came this week, came with the strength to handle them and for that I'm grateful. I'm going to share my week of celebration in pictures.  A favorite author took the time to wish me a happy birthday?!?! WOW!! Really?!?! Sharon Creech too?!?!  Oh...there are no words for this! I am overwhelmed! WOW! Thank you!! These facebook messages took my breath away!  Thoughtful surprises to make me feel loved!  Starbucks treat to start the day right!!  A painting from a thoughtful student! This one is getting framed!! Birthday dinner with friends! An unexpected picture of my grammy who has been gone for more than twenty years!  WOW! A thank you! AND she's following me on Twitter?!?!? WOW! This week gave me special birthday wishes and wonderfully thoughtful...

Thank you to Holly for this reason to write every Thursday! I'm honored to be part of this amazing group. Writing about my OLW today helped me stretch and grow and learn so much. Please join us at Holly's blog for this Spiritual Journey link up! My OLW has been around for almost a month and sometimes I feel like I am still searching for it's meaning in my life. I trust in it. I believe in it. I have faith that it's the right word for me, I just don't understand. Sounds like a metaphor, doesn't it?!?! FLY. It means to move through the air. I don't want to literally, "move through the air". So the question is what does FLY mean to me? It means faith. It means living my faith.  Faith and FLY. Hmmm...Whether it's a bird flying or a person skydiving, flying takes faith. You have to make the decision to fly and once you do, you have to take that step off the ledge or let go of that tree branch. You have to have faith that your wings will...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, & Anna for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers . I woke up at four AM with my mind whirring.  This week. Busy. So busy. Don't want to forget anything. Grades close on Friday. Two projects due. Formal observation on Friday. First grad class meets Wednesday. Syllabus is ready. I have to gather books to bring with me to school. Blog. My OLW blog post for Spiritual Journey Thursday. Birthday Dinner on Thursday. Dinner out Friday. Snow?!?! There could be SNOW?!?! Don't think about it. I turn forty-three this week. Snacks for Wednesday? Should I get more? Formal lesson plan written for Friday? I should wait and see if there's a snow day between now and then. I can't think of what to write for Thursday!!! Did I pick the wrong OLW? What should I say?!?! (I love the interrobang!) Nothing...

Have you ever read a book and felt like it was written just for you? I love reading memoirs. It's like getting a chance to climb into someone else's life for a moment. As I reflect on books that have touched me and stayed with me, many of them are memoirs.  Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea Martha Beck's Expecting Adam Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies and Grace Eventually and Bird by Bird... Flannery O'Connor's Prayer Journal Regina Brett's God Never Blinks Dani Shapiro's Still Writing The newest book that I'm adding to this list is Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed written by Glennon Doyle Melton.  The author writes the blog Momastery . My journey to this book is where this all begins. I'd seen many links to the blog Momastery on Facebook and Twitter for months and ignored all of them. Why would I read a blog called Momastery? I'm not a mom. Finally a post about teachers grabbed my attention and ...