Sirens all day

I was driving to work this morning and there was a bad accident on 54th that made me take a detour to get to school. I am not good with directions but luckily it was only a few blocks and I was able to make it to school. I didn't think much about this accident until I was on my drive home.

During the day while I was supposed to be teaching math an announcement came over the load speaker. My teacher has tried training me to block them out if they are in the middle of the school day because she doesn't want to interrupt learning time. Well the words lock down caught our attention and we listened. My school was placed on lock down for about an hour today because of a robbery. It happened down the street at a Walgreen's. The man took off running in the direction of our school. From what I heard he then went missing in the area of our school, hence the lock down for our classrooms. The police did catch the man  about a block down from our school. There were police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, lights, and sirens. While this was all going down outside my teacher was taking care of the necessary protocol while I read a story. I read A Diary of a Worm, because I do enjoy that book and I could make it exciting to get the children's minds off of what was going on, because at that time we all had no idea, just that it wasn't a drill. Eventually all went back to normal and we were able to continue on with our lessons.

Then on the was home I was sitting at a light and I heard more sirens turn on and head my way. Luckily they were going to other direction. But that is when I stopped to think about all the I saw today. Way to many sirens and police for one day. I heard that I was going to be in a tough area, and it is proving to be just that. Whether it is children puking in my class one day and on lock down the next. I never know what to expect when I show up each day.

Kearns on Lock down story

I'm a Harry Potter nerd

I heard from my parents today and they are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather down in Florida! I was super jealous that they were going down with Uncle Ed and Aunt Beth but they need a nice weekend break like this. I woke up in the morning from a text message from my dad, and I think it is the greatest thing I have ever read on a text..."good morning Megan, what wand would you like?!" They were at Universal Studios today and my parents aren't big Harry Potter fans but oh man I am obsessed a little! I went there last summer and seeing the castle was a magical experience for me. I went through Ollivander's show and was going to buy a wand but I didn't, I settled with something else instead. After I got home and told my family all about it they were like why didn't you get a wand. I wish I would have, but it was too late. BUT from that text message I have a feeling that my parents are coming home with a present for me! That would be so amazing if they did, if not I could live without a wand of my own. If you have never been these were pictures that I took of the harry Potter past of the park! We heard the line can be ridiculous so we literally ran through the park (because of course the castle is in the very back). Luckily it wasn't that bad at all, we waited 30 minutes. And throughout the day I think we went on the roller coaster in the castle 3 times! I really could have just stayed in the castle all day. The ride itself was amazing too!

 House points

 Wall of talking/moving pictures

 Floating candles

 O;livander and I

 Erica drinking some Butterbeer! It was so good especially on a hot day.



I practicing my wand skills in the store, I must say I was pretty good. I could knock over boxes :)






LOVE THE CASTLE! They did such a good job with everything.

Friends make you feel at home where ever you are

I wanted to add some pictures to liven it up a bit but I haven't taken any in Utah yet. I will get on that soon. Today my great friend Nicole, who I grew up with came to visit me!!! I was so excited and happy to see her. She is a married woman now so I have to share her with a man, but he is alright cause he is is willing to share her occasionally with me! Today was so much fun with her and Jeremy and Caitlin and Corinne. The Greensburg girls together again, and the MLPG3CCSS (that is a story for another day!)
These are pictures from her wedding in November at the Draper temple.

 When we are all together we are pretty crazy, so this is normal for us. The just smiling picture just seemed weird.

 I'm a huge fan of how this one turned out!

This is my favorite picture of us! I don't think Nicole even noticed, but when they came out of the temple and they took a few pictures she didn't know what to do next. For a few seconds no one was talking or taking pictures or anything so Nicole leaves her new husband and walked straight over to me to give me a hug! It seriously made me so happy and I am so glad the photographer caught a picture of it. That moment with a best friend was so amazing to me!

21 and BINGO

People never seem to understand why I enjoy playing bingo so much. I like the thrill of the game I guess, maybe that is why I am not supposed to gamble, but trust me when I say I am not addicted. Erica, Lizzy, and I used to play at the fire-hall occasionally and I play ever year at the Stahlstown fair, and lets be honest I have won once and it was $60! I just love bingo, yes I ever have my own set of dobbers for those of you that are wondering. Only orange, blue, purple, red, and green....... :) But since I have moved to Utah I have been in search of fun things to do and I have a friend Mallory who I student teach with (who is awesome by the way!) and she invited me to bingo on Wednesday! I was like wait what?! At Applebee's in Murray every Wednesday night from 9-11 they play bingo for free. They hand you out a card and markers while you are eating and play 3 games every hour. I was like I am there. So I meet Mallory and her friends from her singles ward, there was probably about 20 of us young adults and then maybe 8 other people in the restaurant. I was so confused why this placed wasn't packed with people, but they must not share the same love of bingo.

Overall it was so much fun, I meet alot of cool new people and the 2 girls sitting by me both won. And then when we were getting ready to leave, the waitress told us that someone had paid the tab for all of us. It was so nice of them to do that! So thank you to whoever did that. We will never know exactly who it was but what a generous person!

I have done that before to small families and it really is a fun feeling. I had a roommate and friend Meg and we were pretty tight you could say. And at school we went to eat at Winger's for lunch I think it was the end of the semester. There was a family of 4 sitting a few tables away from us and so Meg said lets chip in and pay for their meal, it doesnt look like they ate too much and there were 4 of us. So we all agreed that would be fun and random acts of service just make you happy. We told the waitress what we were going to do and she was so cinfused why we would ever do that, but she agreed to bring their check and to not tell them who it was. Since we were relatively close we could hear when the waitress told the family. The dad and mom started crying. They told the waitress that the dad had finally graduated from school and he has been out of a job, but they wanted to celebrate a little bit with their children. So they went out to eat a small meal. This was such a blessing to them and they said "please thank whoever did this greatly and more than you could ever know" So by this point the 4 of us are almost in tears and we just look at each other and thank Meg for bringing it up. It was not easy to do as college students we are also poor, but the blessings we received through the thankfulness of that family were worth the $10 extra.

Parables

The parable of the pearl of great price. Here is the parable in Matthew 13.

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

This merchant man sacrificed all that he had for one little pearl, the pearl of great price. Why would he have given up everything for that? I think because it was everything to him. This may seem very worldly to give up everything for something small, but that is what parables do compare the gospel concepts to worldly things for the people to be able to better understand. Like it says the peal is like the kingdom of heaven, and the ultimate question is…what are we willing to sacrifice to obtain the kingdom of heaven?

I don’t know if I would be as willing as the early saints to get up and leave everything to walk across the country. But then I don’t know personally what all the persecution was like. My personal sacrifices seem nothing comparatively, but everyone is required to make them. I have given up activities on Sundays, living on the other side of the country from my family which was the hardest for me, and someday when I get married in the temple, I am going to have to do it without most of the family that I love more than anything else. I am glad that getting married is not something that has come up for me yet because I am not sure I am ready to make that sacrifice just yet. It is going to be hard, but I know I want to be married in the temple, I know I want to be the first to set that example for my children, I know I want to make covenants there, and I know that my family may not like it.

I think it is great when the Lord speaks to the people in parables, because they are easier to understand and when you interpret them they have an overall meaning, but you can also think of them in different ways depending on how you read them and personal circumstances in life.

Everyone must make sacrifices in this life, have you stopped and thought about those lately and maybe how have they changes your life?

First Graders

Today was my first day lead teaching all day long. It was exhausting and interesting. I went to bed and woke up this morning sick with a cold. I have the whole runny nose and super sore throat and a cough. I obviously didn't feel like going to school or even getting out of bed, but I had to. I knew my students were going to wear me out today, and I was correct. The morning lessons went really well and the students weren't to bad, and for them that is saying a lot. (I have worked in many elementary schools, and these children are the worst behaved I have encountered so far!) Then after lunch they come back all wound up and the rest of the day goes down hill. One of my students has a hard time with going to the bathroom. He does okay at coming up to me, "Ms. M I need to go to the bathroom!" But by that time this little one has already gone in their pants. And not just once but twice today. I feel so bad for him. We have minimized that amount the other children shout out so they are not so embarrassed, but the other students still notice and they aren't as mean to him anymore. I also had a little boy start bleeding today, luckily it wasn't very much and was able to stop it after a few minutes with a kleenex. Then of course to top of the day during math, one little boy is pretty sick and his cough is so intense it scares me. Well one of those coughs was too much and he threw up all over the rug! The other kids started screaming and I sent them all to thier tables. The janitor and I....we are tight now! I think the little boys in my class are out to get me!

I did have one little girl say to me today..."Ms. M, I wish you were my mom." I said you don't want me for a mom. She replied that she did because I was nice, and kind, tie her shoes, and give her high fives. I hope that in she is wishing these things because her own mother doesnt do those things. Sometimes hearing the home lives of these children is so sad and breaks my heart. I try and show that I care for them while they are in my classroom.

Songs and lyrics my students sing to me.....
Im sexy and I know it
Tonight Im going hard, hard, hard

Stories:
Dinosaurs
Niinjas and karate
Shark attacks
Imaginary friends
Trips to Mexico

They sure do keep me on my toes!

TV shows, now and then

I cannot believe that I am saying this....but I am obsessed with the show The Bachelor! Corinne wanted to watch it because everyone at school always talks about it and wanted to be able to contribute to the conversation. It started that I was just in the living room as she watched it and I would laugh at the ridiculousness of the women on the show. Why would anyone want to be involved in that much drama?! It is awful. But then as the shows kept going I was getting sucked in slowly to the terrible drama and now I will have to faithfully watch every show until the very end. At least there are still girls on the show that provide comedic relief and not much drama. I already have my favorites (Casey B, Jennifer, Lindzi, and Nikki) and the ones that I hate (Courtney, Casey S, Blakley). Corinne's and my favorite part of the show is watching the girls drink every minute of every day. Tonight they were fishing on a river and thye pulled out the fancy shmancy wine glasses and wine! LIKE REALLY WHO ARE YOU?! DO YOU HAVE TO BE DRINKING AT ALL TIMES IS THAT PART OF THE SHOWS CONTRACT! I am thinking that I need to go on this show and show everyone that you don't have to drink or be scandalous.

That does not include all the Hockey, Football, Golf, NASCAR, and any and all other sporting events.
Nothing will ever beat watching my Penguins or Steelers :)

While this is not a favorite show of mine, just an addiction. Some of my favorite shows from the beginning have been...
Full House
Doug
Boy Meets World
CSI
Numbers
Criminal Minds
Castle
The Mentalist
BONES

New Area

While I have been here in Utah for 3 weeks, this was only my 2nd Sunday in my new singles ward. It has been hard for me to move to a new area where I don't know anyone (besides the Lingards). I remember the feeling when I moved out to Rexburg to start college and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I started with 2 suitcases and a box that I shipped from home, and now when I move my Jeep is full of stuff! While I was excited to start college in a new part of the country I was freaking out, how was I going to be away from my friends and family, was I going to make any friends, was this the best college for me?? Needless to say it was the best choice I made to attend BYUI, I did make many friends that I hope to have for the rest of forever, and while I miss my family and friends in PA I talk on the phone, skype, text, and go back and visit. So while I am still afraid of living in Utah I know that in a few years I will look back and see how far I have come.

Today in my new ward I met some mew people and everyone is so nice. Many people have come up to me and said "I have never seen you before?" Wow you are so observant! I love telling people that I am from Pennsylvania and the look they give me is priceless. Many of them expect me to say I am from somewhere here in Utah but nope I am from back east. Then they just want to know my whole life story and how I ended up here in South Jordan. (I am one of those people who promised myself I would never live in Utah....not for long anyway) If I am being honest with you and myself, I am here to student teach, find me a nice Mormon man, get married eventually and then move out of this state. But that is my plan as of now, I know the Lord will let me know His plan for me as I go on my journey.

Overall my experience was a good one today...so we will see how this semester goes.

Happy Sunday to everyone, and Good Luck Patriots and Giants! :)

To new beginnings

So 21 days into the new year of 2012 I have decided that I would like to make this blog not just for my religion classes. While I will still be posting every week for my New Testament class, I also want to make it about me. I am terrible at keeping a journal, so I am going to try another form. It won't be quite as personal as a journal of mine but I want to write about important occasions and exciting days in my life. I don't see why it would be fun for anyone else to read but you are welcome to if you want.

This will probably be one of my longer posts as I explain where I am at in life. Just 3 weeks ago I moved to South Jordan, Utah! Who would have thought a girl like me growing up in podunk town Ligonier PA would be living on the west side of the country. But hey I did just finish school up north in Rexburg, Idaho. You want to talk about cold....Rexburg is the definition of cold. So far Utah has been pretty nice for it being winter. Yesterday was sunny and 54, but today is 30's and snowing...oh well what is winter without snow.

Like I said I am here student teaching and I am at West Kearns Elementary School. It is mainly a Hispanic area and low income families. I have heard of the area and people told me it was going to be tough but I never imagined this tough! Student teaching in itself is alot of work but so are the students. I can't say much about them but I sure do pray for them each night. Luckily I know that everyone here on earth is a child of God and that He is always watching over His children. That gives me a little bit of comfort when I leave school each day. But I have to say that I LOVE the children I work with.

Since I am an Early Childhood/Special Education major I am certified to teach children from birth to age 8 and then Special Education up to age 8 as well. For my student teaching I must gain experience in both so right now I am in a first grade class and at the end of February I switch to start working in a special education classroom. That I am really excited about!!

 

So you are probably wondering why I have a picture of a salad?! Well I have a funny story about a salad and wanted to share it. Last night the Lingard's took everyone out to dinner at Olive Garden. There was 7 of us and it was a busy Friday night. The wait was 1.5 hours! So instead we order it to go and took our food home to eat. When you eat at the restaurant everyone knows that you get unlimited bread sticks and we did not want to be ripped off, so we made sure they knew that and we got 2 dozen :) We got out food in 20 minutes and went home to eat. We each had a huge salad to start off the meal with. I love onions so everyone that didn't want theirs, I took. It is a good thing I don''t have a man in my life cause no one wanted to smell my breath later! HAHA As I was eating my salad I had cut my onions in half to be easy to eat. I took a bite of one and got one end in my mouth and the other end......in my EYE! It was the perfect length to swing up into my eyeball as I took a bite. With that delicious salad dressing on the salad it tastes better than it feels in your eye! My eye instantly started burning so I ran to the bathroom to wash it out as the whole family was busting out laughing. I will admit it was so funny but I made sure that all my other pieces were cut up smaller.

After dinner we pilled on the new big couch downstairs and watched Abduction. It was shot in Pittsburgh so I was excited to watch it. But it did have Taylor Lautner in it, so of course vampire/werewolf jokes were made the whole time. While I enjoyed seeing that beautiful city in a motion picture I thought the movie could have been better. The plot was awesome, but the way they produced it was not my favorite. There were alot of corny jokes in the movie which provided a great laugh for all of us. It was a great relaxing Friday night after a long week at school

Beatitudes

For my assignment I am picking 3 of the beatitudes to ponder and learn more about from the scriptures and supporting material. I have heard them repeatedly over the years but have not spent much time thinking about individual meaning and applying them to my life. This is what I love about blogging for my religion classes that I have the opportunity to spend time thinking, writing, and sharing with others. My views and opinions of things might not be the same as someone else’s but it is what the spirit is sharing with me as I am studying the scriptures.

Let there be Peace

It is interesting to me to think about this beatitude because it is one that I would consider myself good at. Not that I am the perfect peacemaker, but I enjoy things better when there is no tension and everyone is happy. I am thought of in my home as the peacemaker and the one to always show love to others. It is easier to stop something rather than letting it go and allowing it gets out of hand where many people could then get hurt. Peace is better than anger, hatred, or anything else.

What is one thing you would change about our world? It would be to have WORLD PEACE! Miss Congeniality J

Poor in spirit

The description President Lee gave was eye opening to me about what being poor in spirit really means. Many realize that those who are poor and cannot provide for their needs can be met through Christ if they follow his commandments. Time and time again I have heard stories of faithful members paying their tithing even though they couldn’t afford other of their needs. But they knew it was what the Lord commanded and they had faith that they would be blessed because of their sacrifice. And indeed it is true, the Lord’s hand was then evident in their lives. But from what President Lee said, “Realizing that no day should pass without fervent prayer of thanksgiving, for guidance and forgiveness and strength sufficient for each day’s need.” That is a more in-depth explanation to me of what it means to be poor in spirit. We are all in need of this daily as we are continually searching for the Lord’s help and strength in our lives.

Those who mourn

4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Sometimes our greatest learning experiences come from when we are in a pit of despair and think there is no way out and then we remember our Savior, what he did for us and the love he has for each of us. Like the story shared by President Lee in the New Testament manual about a lady who was fully ready to give up on her husband and family so she could get away from troubles in her life. But it was at this time that she could no longer feel the spirit of the Lord and needed reminding of that and the wonderful ability that we have to be picked up and dusted off when we need it. Not that it is always easy but through a strong testimony and a love for the Savior and our Heavenly Father then they will help any of their children return to happiness and be there to comfort.

My parable of the flashlight

This week’s reading is about Christ being baptized by John and the variety of things we can learn from this experience in the scriptures,

John knew that it was the Savior coming to him and knew that the Savior had no need to be baptized because he was perfect, He was the Son of God. I think that is pretty much how I would feel if Christ walked up to me and asked that of me. But I know that the Lord prepares his people for the things he has in store for them. Heavenly Father prepared John for this part of his life.

The things that we learn from these scriptures and passages are about the Holy Ghost. Christ said that he looked up and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him. To me this is like when we are confirmed the Holy Ghost after we are baptized. Except this was Christ the Savior and the Holy Ghost descended upon him like a dove.

Why was Christ baptized? That is a good question…he was perfect already and being baptized is washing away our sins, so then why?

1. To fulfill all righteousness

2. To let the world know that he also is obedient in keeping Gods commandments

3. To be an example to the world that everyone should be baptized

I think the last part of my questions is the best! The question is….what evidence is given in the scriptures that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are 3 separate beings? Well if you read in Matthew 3:16-17, the answer is given straight forward. JESUS was the one being baptized. Then he looked up and saw the HOLY GHOST descending upon him. Lastly the FATHER spoke to Christ saying how pleased He was with his son following his commandments. To me there is no way this could all be one. But there are some people out there who believe that there are the same. They work together so much that sometimes it seems like they are the same but they are all working together to help us on this journey we like to call life.

As I think of Christ’s baptism there is no doubt that I think back to my very own baptism almost 13 years ago. I had mine together with another little girl in my ward because we had birthdays around the same time. I wanted my own special day at first but then I was okay in sharing it with her. I was so excited that my dad came, that was pretty much the only time I have ever seen him in a church building. It meant a lot to me for him to do that. I was able to be baptized by my cousin Justin Shook and then confirmed by my Uncle Gary Shook. The main thing that I remember from being confirmed is that he could not say my last name right, he said it with the /f/ sound, but I let it slide. I always wish that as time goes on I could remember talks given and inspirational words given to me, but the only thing that I remember is something that on that day I was 100% positive that I was going to forget by the next week…well guess what, 13 years later I haven’t forgotten. Brother Meyers was an older guy in the ward who watched me grow. I think at the time he was in the bishopric or a secretary or something. He spoke at everyone’s baptism and he always gave each child the same thing, a very small little flashlight. With that he told us that we had been given the gift of the Holy Ghost and it will be a light in our lives. He gave us the flashlight and said that every single time I turn it on I will think of the words that he said and remember it as the light of the Holy Ghost. I thought that was great as an 8 year old and cherished it. Every few years I would pull out my flashlight and recall the words spoken to me on my baptism day. I don’t think of it with every flashlight I use but that one has very special meaning to me in reminding me the guidance I have as a member of this church and while I am on this earth. I know this church is true and love how well everything fits together and is evident in Heavenly Fathers plan.

John the Baptist

In Luke 1:14 Zacharias was told that he was going to have a son, even in his old age. And that because of this son he shall have, "much joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth."

Now the question is this, why? That is an everyday question that people ask themselves all the time. And now I am asking myself that. Why is John going to be born to such old parents? Why is he going to bring such happiness to the people, he is just a normal man?

Well in my studying of the scriptures and other material I hopefully am going to answer those questions for myself and if anyone else was wondering as well.

First you have to understand that Zacharias and Elizabeth were awesome people, they were good parents and had a great lineage. That was important as he received the priesthood and became entrusted in a most important mission of baptizing the Savior. No big deal right?! Yes they were old in age but with Heavenly Father age doesnt mean much when He has a job for you to accomplish. And one might think as in our day, that John had to be just green with jealousy because he was not the Savior. But this was not the case at all. He learned all he could from Christ and became one of his apostles. He is a great example of a true follower of Christ. He was later imprisoned and killed in jail.

I love the men in the scriptures that are so faithful, and i know it might seem easier for them because they were actually living on the earth with Christ, but there are always those who want to persecute those followers because of their lack of faith. Even though I do not live in the same time of Christ, I know that he is always with me and trying to teach me everyday what he was preaching while on the earth.