Carolina Girl (and then some...)

I'm a college girl through and through.

Allow me to explain.

I was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and spent the first six months of my life living in a Guilford Residence Hall apartment on UNC-Greensboro's campus where my dad was Dorm Director. I had a sweet little nursery that my mom created (as in, she made pretty much everything in it from scratch), and she says that I was doted on by all the college students who lived in Guilford.

(I can't begin to tell you how much I would love to have the vintage fabric in those curtains now.)

Just before I turned a year old, we moved to Blacksburg, Virginia where my dad would work in Student Affairs at Virginia Tech. While we were there, my favorite spots were the duck pond and a local sheep farm. Mom and Dad also drove a pretty sweet VW van. I would go on to wreck that van when I was three and a half. True story.

(Killer sunglasses, Mom. And yes, that's a bonnet. If I have a daughter, she'll wear one too.)

 (Yup, that's me rockin' the belly shirt.)

When I was three and a half, and just before my sister was born, we moved to La Plume, Pennsylvania where my dad would be Director of Residence Life at Keystone Jr. College. We lived in a large apartment in Sickler Hall, a gorgeous Victorian building. It now houses several administrative offices for the college.

 (This is the home where I would become a big sister and wreck the VW van. It was a big year for me.)

(Aunt Joann and cousin Caroline come to visit! My mom smocked that dress for me and I want to squeeze my three year old self, I'm just so dang cute.)

When Allie was about a year old, we moved back down to North Carolina, to my mom's hometown of Durham. Durham is home to The College That Shall Not Be Named (ahem), where we spent every major holiday at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house with mom's sisters and their families, and where I would end up living and teaching after college.

About a year or so after we moved to Durham, we moved to Winston-Salem. Wake Forest University gave me an incredible library for high school research papers, amazing college students who volunteered as my (oh so patient) youth group leaders and Young Life leaders.

As you may have heard, I chose the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my college years. I was a Resident Assistant for my last two years there and that is still one of the best jobs I have ever had. Chapel Hill is one of the top college towns in the nation and one of my most favorite places in the whole wide world. I love that we got married in Chapel Hill and spent our wedding night at The Carolina Inn. Hark the sound of Tarheel voices....

(My very first day at UNC, setting up my freshman dorm room in Hinton James.)

Even when I got married and moved off to Texas, I ended up in a college town. In Ailene there are three universities- Abilene Christian University, Hardin-Simmons University (my best friend Abby works there) and McMurry University (my mother-in-law is their head volleyball coach and my sister-in-law is the coolest sophomore on campus).

So it seems only fitting in a kind of full circle way that I am now working at a college. New students moved into the dorms at Covenant on Friday and started their orientation which will go through Wednesday. I got to work beside an amazing group of returning students (who serve on the Orientation Team) as they helped unload cars and moved the new students' belongings into their dorm rooms. They were loud and joyous and oh so welcoming to these hesitant hopeful freshmen. I had the best time hanging out with them and I even learned how to do the Dougie. Bonus.

(Keeping a close eye out for new students)

The buildings and grounds aren't just brick and grass after yesterday. It feels like a college now that the students are finally here. And I know that sounds obvious, but when you've worked in quiet buildings for over a month, to see them loud and bustling is an incredible thing.

Here's the thing, I've loved all the college towns I've lived in and I absolutely adored my own college years. But being on this side of a college is something I didn't even know to want. I am ridiculously grateful that I'm getting to experience it this way and at this point in my life. 

And it's kind of nice that Covenant's signature blue is much closer to my beloved Carolina blue than that other kind of blue. 

Let the 2011-2012 school year begin!

I miss him every day.

{Originally posted July 13, 2009. Two years have passed, but every word still rings true...}

On Saturday night, my best friend Stuart called me to tell me the worst news I could ever imagine. The man who dubbed himself my “stunt dad” had unexpectedly died.

I am heartbroken.

I met Paul and Lynn Barclay when I became involved with Young Life as a high school student in Winston-Salem, NC. Lynn was the Area Director and Paul filled a million different roles in Young Life as well. Paul was a big and rowdy man who loved wholeheartedly and unabashedly. Their home was open to us twenty-four/seven and we took full advantage of that. Especially in the summers, most nights you could find me over at the Barclay’s hanging out with my core group of friends. Even if Paul, Lynn and their sons, John and P.J., weren’t there, we were. It was enough just to be in their home, the love was that strong.

Paul stepped into my life and stepped up for me in ways that I never knew I needed and that certainly weren’t required of him. “Stunt dad” is the best term I could ever think of because that’s exactly what he did- he stepped into the places of my life, emotionally and spiritually, that were messy and dangerous and where my own dad just wasn’t equipped to go.

{Paul and I at Stewart and Elizabeth Welch’s wedding rehearsal, 2000}

In 2000, after my parents divorced, he really stepped it up. He left me a message on the answering machine at the E-Ranch and I left it on there for months, listening to it over and over and over again. I finally wrote it down, word for word…

I was just checkin’ in on you, honey. Hope you’re doing well.  

You know, I love you and I believe in you and I count it a privilege to be your stunt dad. And I would kill to have a daughter like you. And it’s even cooler that out of all the women in the world, that I chose you to be my stunt daughter.  

Hope you’re doing well, I love you dearly. I’m sorry you went through all that stuff yesterday. I wish I could be around…I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you, praying about you.  

Guard your heart. I pray that you would continue to seek the Lord’s face. I know it’s hard to feel loved sometimes but you are and you’re a special gal.  

Be strong, be courageous, you are worth it. Be good.  

I’m weepy too, be quiet. You’re special, see ya…

I have never forgotten those words. They were truth, they were balm to my hurting heart. You see, I know the love of God as my father because of who Paul Barclay was in my life. And I’m not the only one. As I’ve read what folks have written on his Facebook wall, I’m realizing that I have hundreds of brothers and sisters because he was a stunt dad to so many of us. He loved us all fiercely, like one of his own. He couldn’t help it. It was just the way his heart worked.

Paul wasn’t just loving, he was funny. Really, really funny. And irreverent in the most awful ways that somehow made you love him even more. He loved music and I just learned that back in the day, he stepped in for the band Hot Chocolate to drum for their recording of “{I believe in miracles, where’d you come from} You Sexy Thing”. Crazy, right?

He gave the best hugs. The last time I saw him, we were meeting for breakfast at Bruegger’s as I passed through W-S on my back to TN. He walked in, hollered, “Oooonga!” {my high school nickname, a play on my maiden name, Unger}, wrapped me in a giant hug and kissed the top of my head.

He adored Lynn. He always said that he married well beyond his means, that he didn’t know how he managed to get a woman like her. I learned what a healthy marriage looked like in part from being around Lynn and Paul for all those years.

He loved his boys, John and P.J. He was so proud of them. All they had to do was walk into the room and Paul’s face would light up. I loved watching him being a dad and it made me feel so lucky that he included me in that.

I will miss him more than anything.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

From Paul’s Facebook wall…

"After God made you he threw out the mold. That he unleashed a man of your stature onto the world shows, to me, how wild and wonderful a God we have! Satan trembled. He still trembles, for we are the men and the women who are still in your wake. I love you, PB. You are a true saint - rough edges to be sure - but a saint nonetheless.”


“Thanks for showing us how much fun it is to love the Lord. I wonder if you are sharing some kind of farting story with the apostles right now.. perhaps you are just getting a hug from Jesus who is telling you "well done my good and faithful servant." In my selfishness I am so sorry you are not here..somehow the world is a little less funny and loving this morning.”


“I have never met someone in my life who was a better pursuer of people in an effort to love them the way Jesus might love them. You believed in me when I did not believe in myself. You challenged me to be more of the woman that God made me to be and to love others and Jesus better.”


“Pauly B, so many memories. You changed my life and I would not be who or where I am without you. You showed me what it means to be a man of God--emphasis on man--in a world where guys so often need that. Your example taught me so much.”


“Thank you, Paul, for being an early influence on our marriage. My husband often tells of how you advised him during college, “Instead of looking for Mrs. Right, focus on becoming Mr. Right.” I’m convinced that seeing your devotion to Lynn and the boys has encouraged his dedication to me and our boys. Thank you for the example you gave in the way you loved the Lord, loved your family, and loved life!”


“I remember when a bad leader "kicked a kid out of cabin time" and I walked into Paul sharing the Gospel with him out in the lobby of the cabin. Thank the Lord for Paul Barclay.”

Spring Break…in which I pretty much take a break from everything but eating ridiculously good food.

My Spring Break kicked off the way any teacher’s much longed for week-long vacation should- with a substitute teacher and leaving four hours before everyone else gets to. Booyah! In fact, the night before, I updated my Facebook status to say, “Leslie’s spring break starts tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.!!” A colleague commented, “Tomorrow is a whole day.”

Yeah. Thanks. I got this. Thirty-two years old, I can read the school calendar. Sheesh.

So, my kids safely tucked away at lunch and substitute plans laid out, I hit the road and headed for North Carolina and the 10th E-Ranchiversary Weekend!

{Just a little background for those of you who may not know, the E-Ranch was created when Debbie, Carlye, Anna and I decided to live together the year after I graduated from UNC-CH. It was a magical, fantastic year living in the little house that looked like it had been painted in White-Out and it was dubbed The Estrogen Ranch. That year forged a friendship that has lasted through our dating lives, engagements, job changes, cross-country moves, our four marriages, heartbreak and eight children {so far…} over the last ten years.}

I can pretty much sum up the entire weekend in a just a few categories: food, lounging, laughter, wine, laughter through tears and more food. What can I say? It’s just what we’re good at.

On Saturday, we embarked on a Chapel Hill road trip and visited all our old haunts from that inaugural year. We decided to leave our “mark” at each spot as well…

First stop- Tim and Mimi Conder’s place. Tim was the one who actually named us as The E-Ranch but only because Mimi wouldn’t let him call us The Chicken Ranch anymore {I’ll let you google that one on your own.}

Sunstone Apartments- We all lived here at some point and it was where Anna, Debbie and I lived together the summer before we hatched the idea of getting a house and asking Carlye {a fellow youth group leader} to live with us. We weren’t sure of how it would would work out because we were kind of..well…wild and Carlye was…well…very {seemingly} serious and straightlaced. Let’s just saw we were all surprised in the end.

Next, lunch at our favorite Mexican spot, El Rodeo. Well, it was called El Rodeo back in the day but about three incarnations later it’s now Los Potrillos. Still good food {we tested it for lunch} and I’m pretty sure underage college kids can still scam margaritas there too.

A favorite breakfast spot…

The joint that claimed the majority of our budgets that year- Wendy’s! Seriously, we probably got dinner from there at least twice a week. It was an addiction that probably could have used some sort of intervention.

And after all the eating {and in light of the fact that Debbie and Naoshi became engaged that year and there were bridesmaids dresses to be squeezed into}, there came…Weight Watchers. WW had changed locations but we visited the original spot for authenticity’s sake.

We were all volunteer youth leaders at Chapel Hill Bible Church and Carlye and I both went on to officially work for the church. We all worshipped there for years so it seemed fitting that we would leave our mark there as well.

Word is, the mark was still there on Sunday morning. E-Ranch rules!

And last but certainly not least, the original site of The E-Ranch! The new owners have transformed some of the less desirable parts {ie. the backyard we referred to as Vietnam} and while we had hoped to take a peek inside, it was not to be. Oh well, the memories live on…

After a little window shopping and a mani or pedi for some of us, we spent the rest of the weekend just simply being with each other. It was fabulous and restful and life giving. Anna’s home was the gracious spot for this “staycation” and Daisy the Dog and Anna’s daughter, Pen, were special guests in the girls only weekend.

Daisy, aka, Knox’s girlfriend.

PW’s Cinnamon Rolls, a must for any girls weekend. Oh, let’s be honest. They’re a must for any kind of weekend!

Clean plates.

Daisy licking them even more clean!

Sweet Pen awakening to her mommy and aunties’ laughter…

Dinner and the colander game. More laughter, sharing memories, spoken hopes for the future and valuable reminders of who we are. I think that is the best gift we give each other, year after year.

After the E-Ranchiversary wrapped up and the other three returned to husbands and children {thanks Naoshi, Steve and Ben for all your help!}, I squeezed in twenty-four more hours in Durham before heading back to Tennessee. A gorgeous spring Sunday afternoon run with Jen, an evening spent at my second home with Rita and Dave {including a quick jaunt out for a Cook Out milkshake!}, early Monday morning workout with Rita {my calves, abs and triceps are still angry with her}, couch talk with a gorgeous redhead and an afternoon stroll with a dear friend who is about to embark on some pretty amazing adventures.

I also tucked in a quickie visit with my cousin Sarah Jo where it was decided that an afternoon treat from Yogurt Pump was absolutely necessary. Baby John was thrilled at our choice.

In a last minute stroke of providence, I managed to catch my other cousin Audrey and her boys at home as well and enjoyed a fine and relaxing evening with the Gastmeyers. I also got to meet this cutie, their newest son, Sam!

Delightfully exhausted I made the journey back home to Chatt where I had never been so happy to see my gorgeous husband, my freckle faced mutt and my own bed. And I’m not going to lie, I pretty much spent the next three days in my pajamas and on the couch.

It was glorious.

I also may or may not have singlehandedly eaten an entire tin of cinnamon rolls by myself over the course of two days. I can’t rightly say.

The weekend brought delightful company with some sweet friends and dinner out on the town. This Easter morning was simply gorgeous! Our church service was powerful and a soothing balm to some lifelong wounds I’ve been nursing. I’m wrestling with my faith in way that I haven’t before in my adult life and our pastor had some good and challenging things to say. I’ve almost been afraid of this Easter season, unable {or unwilling} to really open up and grasp all that it means. I was thankful this morning to find that my heart wasn’t completely hardened.

After church it was brunch with Jason at a really yummy local place, Foodworks. Between knowing just how good the food was going to be and the sun on my shoulders, I didn’t mind the forty-five minute wait.

Oh, and spotting these pants? TOTALLY worth the wait.

This last afternoon/evening of my break has been deliciously lazy. We’ve taken naps, watched golf, read and I went on a last minute run for Easter candy.

Please note, there’s supposed to be an even number of classic Cadbury eggs and caramel eggs. Knox got a hold of one when I wasn’t looking and devoured that sucker before I could get a hold of him. Greedy stinking dog.

{He’s fine, by the way. It was an ounce of chocolate and it would take about two pounds to really hurt him. Punk.}

And now to wrap up a near perfect day, I need to go join my husband in watching our new favorite show, “Madhouse”. Seriously, it’s AWESOME. Go check it out and get yourself some good ol’ boy goodness from my hometown of Winston-Salem. Or you can read Katie’s fantastic recaps over at Life in Forsyth. It’s a modern day Hatfield and McCoy feud!

Happy Easter, y’all!

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A little technical bloggy note:

Since I’ve gone private, I know that my blog no longer appears on Google Reader or any other blog reading service you might use. That means that you have to manually check to see if I’ve posted anything new. If mine is the only blog you read {ha!}, then that’s not too bad. But if you’re like me and read a ton, it’s a pain.

I think I’ve found a way to remedy that. I’ve created an identical blog that is public and that you can add to a blog reader service. Each time I post on this private blog, I will post a link on the public one that will bring you right back here. That blog address is:

http://www.leslieruthpetree28.blogspot.com

Hope this helps!

Take a stroll down memory lane, won’t you?

I remember right where I was when Operation Desert Storm began. Well, here. I’ll let fourteen year old Leslie tell you courtesy of my stellar journal and an entry dated January 16, 1991, 9:30 p.m., to be exact,

“Dear Diary,

Dad got a job in NC and we moved there. Sherry Jones* has changed and she’s a big jerk and a slut! She changes boyfriends every month {and yet, that is exactly what I will proceed to do in the next year}!  I’ve got a boyfriend (I met him at church) named Josh Carr who’s really sweet. Guess what? There’s a war going on! {how do you like that transition? Boyfriend, war, it’s all the same} See, this guy from Iraq named Saddam Hussein invaded this country named Kuwait. He claimed it as his when it wasn’t his. The U.S. gave him until Jan. 15th to move his troops out of Kuwait. If he didn’t Congress voted for having a war. Well Hussein wasn’t out so we declared war on Iraq {not a bad summary for a seventh grader, huh?}. Right after church ended (we go to Redeemer Pres) Susan* (also a jerk who likes Josh) {sheesh, possessive much?} told me that the U.S. had bombed Iraq. I’m kind of scared but not really {I was a sensitive child, no?}.Today in school I took a major test on Africa. I hope I made a good grade. Well, gotta go to bed!  

Love,

Leslie

P.S. I saw Bush make his speech about the war {at least that’s recorded for posterity}.”

*Names have been changed to protect their privacy and so they don’t look me up someday and rightfully kick my butt for being the snotty, judgmental teen that I was.

Just to give you an even more accurate picture of fourteen year old me, when I heard the news about the bombing I was flirting with Josh in the church lobby. Even though the bombing was nowhere near Winston-Salem, NC, I immediately used it as an excuse to act terrified and snuggle closer to him.

Shameless.

Anywhoo, Debbie {of recent TriOut celebrity and fame} uncovered this gem of a video today which sent me thinking back to my experience of the early 90’s. Do yourself a favor and carve out five minutes to watch this priceless slice of American pop culture…

 

A few thoughts:

1.) I can’t decide if Celine Dion has had plastic surgery somewhere along the way or if tweezing her eyebrows could really be that transforming.

2.)There was a great outcry on twitter today for more Peter Cetera. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he may have been a pioneer in the auto tune. Eat your heart out, T-Pain.

3.) It’s good to know that Bobby Brown has always been such a master of understatement.

4.) You’ve got to love that country music’s lone representatives are Randy Travis, Garth Brooks, Kathy Mattea, Kenny Rogers {pre-plastic surgery, natch} and his trophy wife- Linda something. I just know she’s one of Hee Haw’s cornfield sweethearts and Brody Jenner’s mom.

5.) Please, please, please don’t miss 2:08 and the Fresh Prince.

6.) This may or may not have made me kind of miss Michael Bolton. I can’t rightly say.

7.) Please notice that out of the celebrity actors in that choir, the two most legit singers are standing next to each other. Get it, Meryl and Michelle.

8.) 3:44. Kevin Arnold. ‘Nuf said.

9.) Apparently the crazy started early for Gary Busey.

10.) Debbie Gibson! Debbie Gibson! Debbie Gibson!

Of course it was songs like the classic “We Are The World” that paved the way for songs like the one above. And as long as we’re going back to my childhood, in fourth grade, I listened to that song every time my babysitter Rebecca came to our house because she owned the record. I’m pretty sure that staring at the album cover for hours at a time is what started my obsession with celebrity and pop culture. That, my friends, is what a therapist might call a breakthrough memory.

I can’t really bring myself to comment on the 2010 version of “We Are The World.” It breaks my whole “I’m not being super critical anymore” stance. But y’all feel free to go after it in the comments. If you go after Miley, you win bonus points with me. I’m just sayin’, is all.

I Have a Dream…

From kindergarten until third grade I attended Moore Alternative Elementary School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The school was an alternative one in many different ways: the way the classrooms were set up, educational philosophy, the attitude towards students and their abilities, curriculum presentation/structure... I loved this school from the very first day my mom walked me in to Mr. Harper's kindergarten classroom.

Actually this room was one of three that were side by side to create a "Suite". This is Suite 9, my educational home for kindergarten and first grade.

Every morning, the three groups of students would gather together in what was called "Big Group". Announcements were made and I'm sure there were other components to that morning meeting. But what I remember most were the songs we learned and sang each morning. Songs like "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful" and "This Land is Your Land". But we also learned songs like "We Shall Overcome" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing". These songs, traditional civil rights folk songs and The Negro National Anthem, were an everyday part of my education. So ingrained in my mind and heart, in fact, that I can still sing them word for word today.

You see, at Moore Elementary, Black History was not just relegated to a single month. It was a year round part of our curriculum. Perhaps not every single day, but scattered throughout the months were the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks; the tales of sit-ins and police brutality; the actions of schoolchildren just like us who braved intense hatred to pioneer the idea of integration. In fact, one of my most vivid memories of acting is of a third grade skit in Suite 12. A group of us reenacted that fateful day, December 1, 1955, when a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama took her quiet stand. And I, a nine year old white girl, was picked by my classmates to portray Rosa Parks.

At Moore Elementary, a portion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream came to pass. We, all of us within those walls, were judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. We were all given equal opportunity and equal discipline. Mrs. Geneva Brown, our principal, made sure of that.

Our teachers, black and white, modeled that dream each day. We, their students, lived it out as we learned together in those classrooms with the twelve foot ceilings and green linoleum floors. And hopefully, we have gone on to live it in the great big world...

{Mrs. Sharp and Mrs. Haggins, December 1984}

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

{Originally posted January 19, 2009}

Her Day of Days

Back in 2001, the headmaster of a growing classical Christian school bravely hired me to be a lower school teacher there as they added a second section to each grade. At first, I was to be a third grade teacher. Among other hiring, however, things were shuffled around and it was determined that I would be a fourth grade teacher alongside a master teacher who had been at Trinity School since its inception, Mrs. Rita Davis.

And my world has never been the same.

Rita took me under her wing that first year of teaching and I found a kindred spirit like no other. She mentored and nurtured and advised {when asked} and prayed and laughed and loved. Most importantly, she let me be the teacher God has created me to be. In fact, she encouraged that teacher in me. She let me make my own mistakes, she listened and agreed to my ideas, she challenged me to step up and lead in our grade level endeavors. I can still remember the immense joy and responsibility I felt when she turned over to me the coaching of our classes’ annual recitation of the “I Have a Dream” speech. She believed in me and trusted me. In the nine years that I have had the privilege of knowing Rita, I have always known that feeling around her.

{Nature Hike, 2006}

{Prepping for our class trip to Camp Don Lee, 2006. This is soooo us- me with a clipboard organizing everyone and Rita’s exuberant joy making it that much more fun. Throw in some kicky flip flops and you have the dynamic duo.}

Jane Austen said, “My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” And, oh! Is Rita ever good company. Anyone who is privileged enough to spend five minutes in her presence knows that. I have always marveled at her wit, her kindness, her ability to set people at ease with her thoughtful questions that convey an authentic desire to know more about you. She is the person you want to sit next to at a dinner party because the conversation will be funny and encouraging and interesting.

Both Rita and her husband, Dave, excel at being good company and I know this firsthand since they took me in the summer before Jason and I were married. Night after night of delicious dinners {have I mentioned that Rita can cook?}, lazy days filled with conversation ranging from the inane to the sacred, long walks, early morning workouts…and even still, I can go back and know that the back bedroom is waiting for me. My summer family- me, Rita, Dave and their nephew, Greg- became part of my actual family. Because with Rita, there is this ease as she and I flit between the many roles in our relationship: colleagues, mentor/mentee, mother/daughter, sisters {twins separated by twenty years, don’t you know?} and just plain friends.

{Reading Scripture at our wedding, 2006}

This picture captures one of my favorite things that Rita does so well. Glasses perched on nose, book in hand, reading aloud. These days, when I go back to visit Trinity and make the first stop in Rita’s classroom, I always hope that she will be reading aloud so that I can sit and listen. A fellow drama queen when it comes to books, her voice and tone create the world of whatever she is reading right in front of you. It is captivating, to say the least, and her students will vouch for that.

But it’s not just how she reads, it’s what she is reading. At Trinity, one of the first things the fourth graders memorize is Philippians 4:6-8,

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Rita taught me that we have them memorize this first because it sets the standard for what they will learn for the rest of the school year, both in the curriculum and out. She has put this into practice in her own life and the wisdom shines through beautifully.

Happy birthday, sweet friend. I love you!

Saints & Strangers

This past Friday was “Pilgrim and Native American Indian Day” at my school and the majority of the students and teachers dressed up to celebrate Thanksgiving with their classes before the start of our break.  Our third graders just finished studying the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies and we culminated the end of the unit with a reenactment of the first Thanksgiving feast. The kids came in their costumes {promised extra credit in Social Studies class was an added incentive} and we had such a fun day!

To see more pictures {with captions} head right over here!

I’m heading to North Carolina to celebrate my week long Thanksgiving break with my middle school/high school/college friends in Winston-Salem and then with my mom and sister down in Hickory. Allie and I are even running an 8k race on Thanksgiving morning in Charlotte to assuage any guilt that may follow from our decadent dinner.

I highly recommend that strategy.

I’ll try and post from the road but in the meantime, what is the moment in the last year for which you are most thankful?