I Can Die Happy

Sam is only 4, which makes him a baby. :) I was supposed to just trot over the ground poles, but he had other ideas. :)

He is the cutest horse! And totally worth the half mile hike to get him and bring him back. I actually have to park my car in front of his pasture just to save time. I am racing the dark. I never thought I would say this, but "boo daylight savings!"

Today I got my Principal's permission to skip out on the staff meeting and I was running out the door with the kids. You should have seen me be all like, "Peace out!"

Meet Sam's mom, Leslie.

(They should have won that costume contest. I mean Ga-linda and Elphaba from Wicked?
Sam dressed like a girl, a fairy even!)

OK, so here they are in their street clothes.

She found him 2 years ago. She says she made the purchase with her heart because he was a "skinny, ugly red mule." Sam's mom also spoils him, giving him many extra munchies. He tries to get me to do the same, but I am mean. I only gave him 3 today. While I was putting up his halter after dropping him off in the pasture, he walked right up behind me. He wasn't about to let me go. Here was this big lug of a horse begging- in the most refined way, of course.

Did I mention how dirty he was? Apparently after Sunday's lesson he got a bath. He wasn't quite dry and then rolled all around the dirt. They actually have a special tool to get off that thick of mud. I always wondered what it was for. :)



I couldn't ask for more. I love it.

Thanks for sharing my joy, friends!

I pray the same for you. :)

Meet Sam!

I signed the lease yesterday! More to come!
Thank you, Father, for touching my heart. :)

Halloween

I had a great time with my last minute costume, thanks to Mary Carol, one of the teachers I team with.

Professor Trelawney is right up my ally, I think. So much for trying to be cool! :)

Each your heart out, Emma Thompson! :)

Home room class. These are just the kids who dressed up like their favorite "book" character. The ones dressed in plain clothing were themselves from their own autobiographies. Smart, huh? I have more kids than this, so don't get any ideas of perfect class size!

Violet Beauregaurde! Rachel Smith is a fun teacher!!

Are words even necessary?

This kiddo's costume and accompanying attitude was awesome!

Happy Halloween!

Colorado

I went to Colorado Springs for a music conference. One huge motivating factor was that Kathy was going to drive 2 1/2 hours to come see me! Val flew in for the weekend to top it all off. We hung out at Chili's for hours and I loved every minute! It had been way too long since I had seen you, Kath!! So glad we blog and talk on the phone. :)

I hope that Val will put up her picture of us in Denver. There's a story there. :)

<

Home Again

Me and Grandma


Sara and Mom

Darren!

The almost 20 year old, coryn

Dad

Cole

Super technological kiddo

McDonald's Day. I picked them up from school and took them to get lunch and see some horses!

I love that this horse is sticking out his tongue. What personality!

They had a blast. I might have had a little more fun then they did.

What a horse looks like from Cole's perspective. He took this picture. :)

I wouldn't trade anything for the solid time I had at home. I got to go to church and hug friends dear to me. I hung out with my grandmother and family. I saw friends. Work went on without me. :) Love it.

Monday

Treva played the pre-show of Shakespeare in the Park at Centennial Park in Nashville.
AWESOME.

She even played the new one we wrote called, "Live a Little." Can't wait for you to hear it!

She is onstage with Rachel Pearl and Hitoshi. Both very talented musicians and artists!

Shakespeare in the Park

The Abridged version! These three talented actors did a hilarious comical take on the entire works of Shakespeare in 2 hours. I laughed LOUDLY and OFTEN. Belly laughs. The kind you get embarrassed about. :)

If you were here, you could have been on a blanket with me, eating a delicious picnic, and enjoying great comedy under the stars on a school night.

What can I say? I'm a rebel.

Sunday

This is Jag. He makes me happy. :)

Even though I am sore today, he is well worth the effort.

Notice the forward happy ear when I am kissing him. :)

Notice the unhappy ears before I kiss him.

Don't notice his unhappy ears in this picture. At least I'm smiling.
He has great 80' s hair bangs. . .

Southern Promise Farm

The Barn

Palomino- also known as The Golden Horse
and Carolyn's favorite

Another beautiful view at Southern Promise Farm.

This is Bandit. One of the many friendly dogs at the barn. He actually follows along for rides. How cute is that? I'm not even that much of a dog person.
I think I could be if he loved horses, too.

Tennessee is stunning beautiful. . .
You should come visit! :)
Me, in fact.

It's Another Saturday Night . . .

Is it weird that I actually had fun grading a big chunk of those notebooks while WALL-E played on the big screen of my classroom?


Don't feel too bad for me. I had a massage earlier today and wrote a fun song with a great friend. :)


I'm going home. It's 10:45 pm. I'll put it on my bill. :)

Ode to the Jacks'

I now enjoy the look and feel of my classroom.

Why?

About a week before school started Joel and Karen Jacks came to help me in my classroom. You know, moving desks and cleaning the dust that settles when children aren't present.

Did I mention that Karen was on vacation? Joel was doing the songwriter thing out here in Nashville. (He's great by the way.)

Upon walking into my classroom and seeing the prison gray walls, Karen looked lost in thought.

"I want to paint."

"WHAT?"

"I want to paint. This room."

The rest was a flurry of motion running through Target, Lowes, and Wallmart. Six hours and several repeat listenings of Jordan Sparks entire CD later (Battlefield! Battlefield! Battlefield!) they had given me a beautiful, warmly inviting classroom.

I love their servant hearts and ability to not just IMAGINE, but bring it to fruition.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank.

You.

:)