April gratitude journal

April 1st
I am thankful for sweet students.

April 2nd
I am thankful for emails from Devin's grandma (we talk

April 3rd
 I am thankful for how well my lesson on self-esteem went with my little girls from church.

April 4th
I am thankful for the kids I work with and 8th grade boy humor.

April 5th
I am thankful for spring break- the kids have been wound up all week!

April 6th
I am thankful for my mother-in-law Barb and how I can talk to her about anything.

April 7th
I am thankful for all of the general conference tweets...turns out people are better at catching quotes than I am :) #ldsconf

April 8th
I am thankful for spring-time...hallelujah!

April 9th
I am thankful for Devin's calling so I get to feed the missionaries all of the time.

April 10th
I am thankful for Sonic drinks and days that feel like summer.

April 11th
I am thankful Devin's Mom is coming to visit us soon!

April 12th
I am thankful I was able to get in a last minute neurologist trip before I had to go back to teaching.

April 13th
I am thankful Devin is home for a couple of months.

April 14th
I am thankful for my job.

April 15th
I am thankful (and sometimes baffled) by the students I teach.

April 16th
I am thankful for Coke machines on interesting teaching days ;).

April 17th
I am thankful I took my last teaching license exam for Georgia...woohoo!

April 18th
I am thankful our house is getting semi-clean.

April 19th
I am thankful for new books to read.

April 20th
I am thankful I get along with Devin's Mom so well.

April 21st
I am thankful for the lessons Devin teaches in Sunday school.

April 22nd
I am thankful for the ethnic restaurants Devin's Mom wants to try out.

April 23rd
I am thankful that I decided to cash in some of my spending money- new hobbies are coming shortly :)

April 24th
I am thankful for all of the little projects I am seeing that Barb organized as a surprise in our house.

April 25th
I am thankful for young adult literature...probably my favorite kind.

April 26th
I'm thankful for friends that invite me over for dinner.

April 27th
I am thankful we could feed the missionaries dinner.

April 28th
I am thankful for my new iPhone.  I hadn't switched phones in two and a half years and well, it is pretty amazing.

April 29th
I am thankful for how easy it is to keep in contact with people I know because of emailing, blogging, facebook, and etc. etc.

April 30th
I'm thankful Devin has been getting home earlier than expected every night!

 

*My "happy place" in Utah taken in 2008.

my favorite quote

Everyday when I left the house, my Dad would tell me to "be sweet."  The older I become the more I realize how rewarding it is to actually be sweet, but also how difficult it can be as well.

things that make me uncomfortable

 

Negative southern stereotypes

"Is your family racist?"  Am I allowed to answer "is your question culturally bigoted?"

"Did your family own slaves?" No, sorry, Devin and I live here alone.

"Does your family watch Nascar?"  No.

"Aiiinnn't you suhpooosed ta taaaawk like thiiiiihs?"  Bless your heart, no really, bless your heart. 

When people use negative adoption terminology

Here is a website I love that has positive adoption language.

I am usually pretty open about talking about my adoption because I feel that people ask questions because they are genuinely interested and curious.  However, I became very uncomfortable when people ask me about my sibling's adoption experience because although it impacted me too- it was not my adoption.

When people ask when our family is going to grow

I have found that answering this question is often a lose-lose situation that ends in a lot of judgement for a very personal decision we make with God.  Some people have opinions that we want children too early or some people think we are "putting it off" for too long- it especially makes me uncomfortable when these comments or questions are in front of a lot of people.

how to help your child have a successful reading experience

I teach special education so I encounter a lot of students who are pretty uncomfortable reading.  As a result, I read a lot of children's and young adult books to try to engage my students.  I love reading and I want my students to love it too!  I hope this information is helpful for you. 

Also, here are some really cheesy photos of when my husband and I were dating :).

How to help your child love reading...

• Make a routine of telling them stories or letting them pick a story to read to them (this was a favorite memory of mine growing up).
• Take your child to a bookstore and see what types of books your child keeps picking up or asks questions about
• Reward or surprise your child with books
• Write down books your child is interested in for later

If your child has a low-reading level...

• Make sure to still find a book that looks like what their peers are reading.  3rd and 4th graders start reading chapter books so if your child is in these grades try to find a book that looks like that thick whether it has pictures or not.
• Children read comic book style books universally regardless of age.
• Books that have stories your child already knows, like fairy tales, or books with movies are helpful.
• I recommend the author Roald Dahl a lot.  I have students from kindergarten to eigth grade who love his books!  He has interesting stories that have illustrations and are in a chapter format.  Many of his books also have movies that you can talk about with your child (Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.)

 
The five-finger test (or how to help your child pick a book with the right reading-level) ...

• Let your child pick out a book they are interested in and then read a random page.  For every word your child does not know, have them put one finger on their hand up until they hit five.  If they hit five words, have them stop, and pick up a new book (you can put it on a list of books they can read later).
• What I love about this "test" is your child can learn to do it independently and it is something their peers won't notice.
• I always explain the test to my students before they begin so they don't feel like I am picking on them.  If the child is really sensitive, I count on my fingers in my pocket so they focus more on reading than my counting fingers.

Other tools I use:

• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  The lessons are scripted so parents who don't know the basics of teaching reading can easily do it with 10-20 minutes of practice daily!  I know parents who have taught their three-year-olds how to read using this program and have used it with children up the third grade as well.
• Common Sense Media. I use this website to check content or to recommend books to parents.  I love that this website lists out everything that is in a book (or movie, app, etc) and gives it an age for the content.  Here is an example of a book I read recently.

248 word life story

I was brought home by my parents for the first time at five months old and was able to be adopted at age five- I still remember having to learn how to write my new last name in school.  I grew up in Kentucky and my best childhood and teenage memories were in Arkansas at my grandpa’s house in the country.  Elementary school taught me the struggles of others when we brought two other little girls into our home and the challenges that come with having siblings who were also adopted.  Middle school brought me my first time reading the scriptures all of the way through, embarrassing family struggles, and my first experience with blogging.  High school showed me how lacking immature infatuation was, how much I loved reading, and a special group of girls who made me feel like I belonged for the first time ever.   I applied to college.  I transferred after my freshman year to BYU.  I learned what love is and what it is not.  I learned how God answers prayers and how He doesn’t.  I applied to the Special Education program the summer before my senior year.   I learned from the examples of others and was blessed constantly by the people who were around me.   Everything fell in place and made sense when I met my husband on a blind date and we were married a year later.  We work daily on our happily ever after which, for now, is located in Georgia.

I am going to be writing everyday in May with writing prompts from here.