Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is Sunday, so this week's post is in honor of my mother.
My mom probably remembers me reading her some poems I made up when I was about ten. Quite honestly, they were terrible poems. Ten years hasn't changed much. I'm not a poet, nor do not have much experience writing poems. This poem below is far from professional, but it comes from the heart. So here's a poem for my lovely mom.

From diapers to college, you've watched me grow.
A childhood full of laughter,
Where did the time go?

You've bandaged scrapped knees,
and sympathetically wiped tears.
Being mom isn't always a breeze.

You've driven us thousands of miles,
for dance class, basketball, or friends.
So your day deserves to be full of smiles.

You patiently taught and home schooled me.
For over twelve years we learned together;
home schooling turned out to be a great academy.

I wanted to be just like you.
You were my inspiration.
I wanted to be a school teacher, too.

Two years of college behind me,
With your encouragement,
soon I'll have my teaching degree.

There's so much more to thank you for,
but I've ran out of words.
I hope this hasn't been a bore.

Thank you, that's all I have to say.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy your
Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you for everything have done and still do for me! I love you!

Prayer in a Fast Paced World

We live in a fast paced world. We have fast transportation like cars, planes, subways, and even Uber. I can get a meal to go in less than five minuets. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get where they are going. Our world is constantly going, constantly staying busy.

In your busy world, how often do you stop and pray? If you are anything like me, you probably pray quite often. However, many of them are sent up hastily and frantically. So often I talk to my Father in heaven only when I need something like success, healing, forgiveness, love. Those are wonderful things, but how often to I pray to God just to praise his name and thank Him for all he has done for me? How often do I set a large chunk of time aside to talk with God? Not as often I as wish.

Don't misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with sending up quick prayers to heaven. If fact, I think it's wonderful. It's pretty extraordinary that we can talk to the Creator of our world anytime and anywhere! However, let me tell you a story. During two days of spring break, I went to Lincoln Village with RUF. It was a fun time!  On our last day helping at Lincoln Village, we were directed to go pray for their organization in a room that held pictures of some of the kids from the school for about 30 minuets. At first, it was inspiring, but soon I started to feel tired. I could feel myself starting to want to drift to sleep. I felt like the disciples who fell asleep when Jesus was praying. I had a hard time concentrating for only thirty minutes, and it was then I realized that I too often approach God hastily and when in want.

Habits are hard to form, and time seems to be limited. Priorities get mixed up, and our world is in an impatient hurry. If you've gotten mixed up in the rush, slow down and take time to pray. I find it brings peace and helps sort through thoughts. Maybe you can't identify with me. Maybe you reverently pray every morning or evening, and that's wonderful! I look up to people who have that discipline. God's still at work in my life; I'm still learning and growing, and I'm comforted by that.

DIY Inspirational Board

School and life can be stressful, especially with finals coming up! Here's a simple DIY to decrease your stress and increase your inspiration.

What you need:
A bulletin board
Wrapping paper
Bible verses and quotes
Scrapbook paper
Stapler
Glue

1. First, pick out your wrapping paper. It doesn't need to be wrapping paper, but that's what I used. You can use any kind of paper as long as it is big enough to cover your board in. If you use wrapping paper like I did, I suggest using one that is fairly thick so that it won't tear easily. Cut it to fit your board and staple each corner to the board.

2. Print out some of your favorite verses and quotes. I used Microsoft Word to type up some of my favorites and then printed them out. Once printed, I cut them out.

3. Next, pick out some cute scrapbook paper. Cut the scrapbook paper to the correct sizes, so that you can place a quote over the paper and still see the scrapbook paper sticking out from each side of the printed quote as pictured below.

4. Glue the printed quotes on top of the scrapbook paper.

5. Staple them to the board, and you have made a wonderful place to get inspiration, peace, and comfort.

Add whatever else you would like! I added a picture of a vintage bike because I thought it was adorable, as well as a checklist to stay on top of things. You can't really mess this DIY up. It's quick, easy, and fun!

A Sister & Best Friend

Sisters make the best friends. It always breaks my heart to see sisters who don't get along and fight all the time, because you really can't have a better friend than a sister. I'm persuaded that my sister is the best, and here's why.

She's sympathetic: Recently, I was stressed, and my sister was very sweet, caring, and sympathetic towards my feelings. She encouraged me and showed me how blessed I am to have a sister like her.

She's encouraging: Like I mentioned above, my sister is very encouraging. I've watched her grow up encouraging teammates in basketball and friends in ballet. I've seen her encourage younger ballet company dancers before auditions, and be a wonderful role-model. 

She's enthusiastic: My sister is very outgoing and people oriented. She's very enthusiastic and tries her best to include everyone. She usually does a wonderful job at it too, but I'll never forget the day when she saw a new girl at dance and decided to make her feel welcome. A little too enthusiastically, she introduced herself and it scared the girl a bit. It was quite humorous.

She's funny: It could be a humorous comment at the dinner table or singing a silly song, but she makes me laugh. I enjoy getting to spend time laughing with her.

She's a beautiful and dedicated dancer: My sister has been dancing for about fourteen years now, and she's very talented. She has had several huge partnering roles, as well as solos that have displayed her strength and flexibility. She's been the Bluebird from Sleeping Beauty, the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker, and many other roles. This Friday and Sunday, she will be Cinderella! She's worked very hard on this ballet. You won't want to miss it! Click on the link in my Facebook post to order tickets or get them at the door!

Dear sister, you are all of these five things and so much more, so here's to you my forever friend. I look forward to seeing you dance this weekend. I know you will dance beautifully; you always do. Take a deep breath, you're almost to graduation, and soon we'll be lying in the summer sun at the beach! I love you!

10 Lessons from Ballet

I teach ballet. It's something I enjoy doing, but also something I hope my student will reap from. These are 10 things I hope my students will learn from dance.

1. Confidence: I've seen students struggle with this. They look at the floor and try not to be seen. I love to see them grow in confidence as they begin to learn and understand. This semester, I have seen a sweet girl grow and become more confident in ballet. It makes me proud. Having confidence will help in life whether it's a book report, a speech, or a job interview.

2. Determination: "That's hard!" I've heard them say it so many times. Yes, it is difficult. Ballet is hard work, but with focus, practice, and determination it'll come. I have so many smart kids in my class, and they usually catch on quickly. Ballet is hard, but also enjoyable. It's good for them to learn to work hard and enjoy something at the same time.

3. Self discipline: Contrary to many little ballerina's ideas of ballet, ballet is structured and disciplined. It takes much self control. We've all dreamed of flying through the air and doing multiple twirls on end, but it takes much practice to get there. One of my students told me that it's hard for her to do ballet because she's so wild. I love her energy, but in ballet that energy needs to be channeled  in a different way. I hope my students will learn self discipline through ballet.

4. Be responsible: Keeping track of ballet shoes, tights, and leotards can be hard. The older kids are usually very responsible, but some of my younger ballerinas are still getting the hang of always making sure they have everything.

5. Memory: Ballet consists of many weird French words, and many dance movements. Remembering exercises, dances, French words, and movements. . . .  it takes a lot of memory for the young ballerina's brain. I love that my ballerinas are generally ready to learn and have excellent memories. They've stared learning their dance, and I love to see how quickly they remember and recall what they have learned.

6. Music: As I mentioned before I have many smart kids in my class. When they know the combination well, they rush. Instead of learning to stay with the music, they speed through the combination. Nevertheless, I'm proud they know the combination so well. I also hope they learn to appreciate classical ballet music because it really is beautiful.

7. Gracefulness: Parents everywhere are putting their clumsy kids in ballet in hopes they will become graceful. I've actually found that ballerinas are prone to trip more because they are taught to never look down. Anyway, I do hope my students will learn posture and poise. I hope they'll learn to hold their shoulders back, head up, and walk with grace (and hopefully pointed toes, too).

8. Encouragement: There's nothing wrong with a bit of friendly competition, but I hope that my students will learn to encourage each other. There are days they get on each other's nerves, so this is always a work in progress. However, I've watched them help each other learn. I've watched them build each other up. There's nothing more encouraging to a teacher than seeing that.

9. Working with others: I occasionally have the kids get a partner and have them work together on a movement we are learning. This helps them encourage their classmates, as well as learn to be patient with each other. Another thing I learned from my own ballet teacher is to divide the kids up into two groups to watch each other perform the dance they are learning. Afterwards, they are supposed to tell each other 2-3 things they did well and 2-3 things they can perfect.

10. They're beautiful: I want my ballerinas to feel beautiful. They are made in the image of God and every single one of them is gorgeous. When performance day comes, I hope they feel pretty in their tutu, confident with their dance, and thankful to God for giving them the ability to leap across the stage.

Life is like a Coloring Book

Many days I don't feel like I'm a very good example of what a Christian should be. I think of myself before others. I complain. I don't think before I speak. I try to take things into my own hands and forget to trust God. Is God really at work in my life? Does he have a plan for me?

I may be 20, but I still love coloring books! I love seeing a blank black and white page come to life. It's amazing to see the transformation. A once drab piece of paper is now full of color! It reminds me of the work God is doing in us. Philippians 1:6 says that "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion." It's a comforting verse. Just like it takes time and care to transform a coloring page into a masterpiece, God is slowly growing us to be more like him.

Though we often mess up, we are assured that God is still at work in us. He's still molding us. He's still completing the picture. He cares for his children. He has a plan for my life if only I trust him! Growing in godliness a slow process, and it won't happen overnight. It won't happen if I just try harder next time. We need our forgiving and gracious heavenly Father to nurture us and grow us more like him.

Maybe you've heard this a million times, but it's something I need to be of reminded over and over again. I hope it is encouraging to someone. Trust that God can nurture and grow you. Trust that he will complete the good work he has began in you.


Caroline Stegman

Back to School Organizational Ideas

Well it's time to go back to school. I don't know about you, but the idea of having homework and tests doesn't sound appealing. However, cute school supplies makes it a bit more fun. So today I'm going to tell you how I organize my school supplies.

First, I color code. I assign each class a color. For instance, I am taking four classes this semester. Sociology is orange, science is blue, English is pink, and psychology is green.


I then order planner stickers from Etsy (click here). I love these stickers because they are customizable. You can choose whatever color and text you want. I choose the colors based on the colors of my classes as I mentioned above. For example, a pink sticker that reads "test" means I have an English test that day. It makes it easier to scan over your planner and know what is coming up.

Next, I find spiral notebooks in the colors that I have chosen. My binders don't always match because they are patterned, but occasionally they will somewhat match.

The binders that I own have no pockets for papers. Handouts never seem to be hole punched, which means those loose papers full of important information are apt to be lost and crumpled in the bottom of your backpack. So to fix the problem I made my own. I picked out some scrapbook paper. The fun part is you can choose exactly what paper you want. With a bit of cutting, folding, packing tape, and hole punching, you'll soon have a sturdy pocket ready to hold important papers.

Don't be that person who shows up only on tests days and asks to borrow a pencil. You're smarter than that. What might help though is some cute school supplies. I just couldn't pass up this cute pencil case. I ordered mine from Nordstrom because it was 40% off  (plus free shipping), but they are now sold out. You can get one (full price) for $14 at Bando. Of course, I now need pencils to go in the pencil case. I bought these cute pencils at Home Goods. It was my first time to go to Home Goods, and I fell in love. They have so many cute items for low prices! I love the gold print on the ends of these pencils.

Well looks like you're now ready for classes to start back up. Just make sure you've got your textbooks, and you should be ready to ace this semester. Thanks for reading! I wish you the very best as you head back to school!