Georgia Bound

As I'm sitting in the tri-state airport with a plane delay, what better thing to do than blog, right?  I never usually mind flying alone but now is a time I wish I had a sidekick! I can hardly focus on anything knowing I'll be in the sweeeet state of Georgia to visit one of my very best friends! Georgia is just one of those states you visit and can't help but smile. Why I love GA:

1. First and foremost, to see my sweet Kate!

2. Southern fried food (yes, totally bad for you but its vacay, right?)

3. Sweet Tea- (It's ALWAYS better in the south!)

4. Being around 1039448 Braves fans.

Other than this trip, there is some news I'd LOVE to share! One of my very best friends and fellow teacher, Miss Nikki Frye will not be Ms. Frye for long!! As of last Friday, she is now ENGAGED! I couldn't be more happy for her or mister Corey Steffy. Their relationship is a model of true, HAPPY love. Corey, you definitely scored big! ;)

Thursday after I got home from a super long day, I opened the door and found a rose and a sweet card. Wondering what sweet person would do this for me, I open it up to find "Will You Be My..." on the front. I open it up... "BRIDESMAID". Then at the bottom was the sweetest note anyone has ever written to me. I couldn't feel more honored to stand by such a wonderful lady! June 15th is the set date. We are definitely counting down the days!

For those of you who know Nik or Corey- congratulate them next time you see them! They sure deserve it! 

My plane has arrived- I'll blog about my trip when I return home. 

Morg :)

Donate?!

Good Morning! The weekend is almost here and I must say, I am SUPER excited! My entire family is going to be in town at the same time (even my Georgia peaches will be here). My uncle has taken his precious time and searched through all of our family pictures through the years and converted them into a movie DVD! In celebration, we will be poolside on Saturday catching some rays, grubbin on some fantastic food, and of course- watching this fantastic DVD! Shout to to you Uncle Kev- you never cease to amaze us!

On to the donation...BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS! I recently came across a post by Kati Bailey (you rock, Kati!) about a current event being hosted by this organization. As everyone knows, there are so many children out there that don't have that support and guidance they need at home or through their family, but that's where BBBS steps in! The mission of BBBS is to provide guidance and companionship to youth through a one on one relationship with a caring volunteer to help them in reaching their highest potential.

Doing clinicals and working with teachers in the school system has truly opened my eyes to how many of these student's in the tri-state NEED our support. As you've probably learned in my previous post, school supplies aren't cheap when you have so much to buy BUT there's a kicker! BBBS is hosting a School Supplies Drive! They want to make sure that every child in their program has the basics to start back to school. How cool is this!? There's different ways you can help: Donate financially, sponser a child, or purchase a few items and take it to their drop off areas (listed below). Even if it's a pack of pencils I promise you it will be appreciated.

Below is the needs list that has been provided by Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Elementary School:
Crayons
Wide rule paper
Fat markers
Glue sticks
Pencils
Notebooks

Middle School:
Loose leaf paper
Colored pencils
Pencils
Binders and folders
Notebooks
 

The drive started July 16th and ends July 31st (We have 12 days to get things rollin!) I'm asking YOU to please consider helping in any way you think you can. I understand that you all live very busy lives but don't worry, I can help! If you'd like to donate, let me know, and I'll be more than happy to collect your goodies and take it to their Huntington collection site when I take mine.

Collection areas are: Hungtinton (501 5th Ave Suite 3 Huntington, WV 25701) and Ashland (1505 Carter Ave Ste 100 Ashland, K...Y 41101) offices.
 
Again, please let me know if you'd like to help! I will be taking donations to the Huntington site on July 30th and wouldn't mind one bit taking yours as well! I'll leave you with one of my favorite qoutes...

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give- Winston Churchill 

Deals & Steals

For those who don't know, us teacher's have a TIGHT budget when preparing for the school year. The $100 to $200 that is given to teacher's for their classrooms never covers for all of the supplies and materials needed. In result, we dig into our own pockets which let me just tell you does NOT end up pretty. Well actually everything ends up pretty except the balance in our checking account ;) The reality is: Teachers can NEVER have enough supplies and materials. Ever since I switched my major two years ago, I have been stocking up.

To the teacher's who don't know: There ARE ways to SAVE! My absolute favorites places to pick up deals are the Dollar Tree (EVERYTHING is $1.00- Yeehaw!), Dollar General, and Goodwill (great selection of children's books). Recently, I learned that WalMart has an .88 cent aisle full of supplies for your classroom. I literally squealed at the sight of these deals. I believe teachers TRULY know how to appreciate a great deal so I felt it was appropriate to spread the word to my pals! Pictures and texts were sent to my fellow pre-service teacher, Ms. Casey Shreve! I then proceeded to call one of my best friends who just finished her first year of teaching. (Congrats again Ms. Frye!)

Here are the deals and steals I found today. Keep in mind, each item is only .88 cents!

(Might be the cutest file folders I've ever seen)

The grand total for all of these WalMart items? Only $15.86!! I guarantee if I were to head into a Parent/Teacher store and purchase all of these items I would at least be spending $80-$90. There's nothing that makes me smile more than getting great bargains for my future classroom! Feel free to share with me some of your deals and steals!

 Adios! :)

Up For a Challenge?

My family and I are trying out a new church in our community. So far, we are so impressed by the pastor and his ability to deliver the Lord's word. Yesterday, he talked briefly about fasting. 

When I was about twelve years old, I remember doing the 30 Hour Famine with my youth group. For those of you who aren't familiar with the famine, it's where students all around the world come together and fight against starvation and hunger. One the same day and at the same time, students unite together for 30 hours to participate in the famine. During those 30 hour hours you fellowship, learn about hunger, and raise funds for the thousands of children around the world who are starving. I remember it being very difficult to go without food, but it was so worth it!

Other than participating in the 30 hour famine,  I haven't looked further into what fasting is truly all about. Yesterday, our pastor brought to my attention how fasting is about drawing yourself closer to God. It's about sacrifice, self- control, and building your relationship with him. It states in the bible how there was a time when Jesus fasted from all food and drink, except water. Luke 4:2 states "Where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during the days, and at the end of them he was hungry." Wow, what a sacrifice he made.

With fasting, all of the time that would normally be spent consuming food will be instead spent in the presence of God through prayer or worship. The goal is to replace the feeding of the needs of physical hunger with the feeding of one's spiritual hunger. The congregation has been challenged to take part in this one day out of each week.

My pastor's quick words about fasting resulted in me taking on this challenge for God. This is my first day of fasting and I won't lie- it's not easy! 

So, I want to challenge YOU to join me in this journey! Let's learn what sacrifice and self control is all about, all while building our relationship with the Lord. Remember: 24 hours ONE day a week! 

Are you with me? :)

Busy Bee!

Hi strangers! I can't remember the last time I've had a free moment to blog, but it feels good to be back! Summer is here and school is out (although I'm still taking an online course) but I'm not letting it stop me from all of the fun summer festivities! I've had such a wonderful summer thus far- and I'm ready to share it with you!

I finished my first two summer courses in three and half weeks. (Shewwww! It felt good to get that out of the way!). From there, I immediately started an online course that last throughout the summer. If all goes as planned, I will finish by July 9th-- about a month early. (Crossing my fingers). One step closer to graduation. Can I get an Amen!?

Those of you that know me well know I love to travel as much as a I possibly can. I've been keeping the roads hot so here's a recap of the past couple weeks:

No better way to start the summer off than a wedding! "Mrs. House" makes one beautiful bride!

My sweet little Georgia Peach came for a visit! My oldest friend right here, folks! Boy has time flown since the 2nd grade!

  

Sarah and I headed to Portsmouth,OH to see a good friend and listen to some Easton Corbin!

 I then had a much needed beach trip with my other Sarah (yes, it can get quite confusing with two sarahs) & her fam! A wonderful time with wonderful people!

  The day after I got back, I made my way to Point Pleasant with these pretty ladies for some great music by Kip Moore! If you're a country fan, listen to his new album "Up All Night"- It's absolutely fantastic! If you're not a country music fan, still listen- this album will convert you into one ;)

My best friend and I then took off to Bluefield, WV for the Eric Church, Lee Brice, and Jake Owen concert! It ended up getting cancelled due to weather- but we still managed to have a great night!

 The next day, Lee Brice played a free concert at the Riverfront so my good friend Scott & I took advantage of it! (Just a little FYI ladies and gentlemen- if you're wanting to learn how to Wobble- this is the man for the job). Anyways...great music on the river and great company? Don't have to ask me twice!

Overall, it's been a fun past couple weeks to say the least! After returning from Bluefield, all I could think about was my comfy bed. Unfortunately, we were one of the lucky ones WITHOUT power due to that nasty storm. So, my family packed up and headed to my mamaws house. By family I mean my parents and all my sweet cousins who live directly behind me. It's unbelievable the amount of things in life we take for granted such as air conditioning, power, etc. Definitely made me realize how blessed I really am! The precious time I got to spend with my family beats any concert/roadtrip in my book! It was two nights full of snacking on some great food at mamaws house all cuddled up with my cousins watching the Disney channel. Precious moments! I believe it took me right back to my childhood!

Welllllllllll, I am offically worn out after writing and I'm sure you are too if you've made it to the end of this blog! ;) Ya'll have a great Monday and stay cool out there- it's a hot one!

Race Into Success

Hello All :) Hope you've had a great week! It's been crazy busy so I'm very excited the weekend is finally here! I wanted to share with you all an assignment I had to do for my management class. We had to conduct a mock first day of school presentation. We had to have five classmates act as our "students". I chose to do first grade and I had so much fun with it! We had to have an overall theme, so I chose to do cars/racing (hence the title, "Race Into Success". Children are fascinated with just about anything at this age but cars/trucks are usually a hot topic, so I figured I'd go with that! So here it is...

We had to decorate outside of the classroom door to make the students feel welcome. I actually forgot to take a picture of the end result of my decorated door, but here's part of it.  This poster hung on the middle of the door.  There were cut out letters taped to the door that read, "Race Into Success".  I asked my five students (my classmates) to give me their first grade picture (if they could find it) so I could hang it on the poster.   Two of them found theirs, and boy were they cute!

Here is the students Hot/Cold Attendance Chart.  This allowed me to see if students were eating in the cafeteria (Hot) or if they brought their lunch (Cold).  At the same time, it also let me know if any students were absent.  At the bottom of the poster is a car, with each students name on it.  Each morning, they are to make a "Pit Stop" at this chart to move the car on the correct road which specifies which lunch they are having that day.  The cars (students) that didn't get moved up onto a road, are absent.  This is killing two birds with one stone! TIME is something teachers don't have enough of, so this is a great way to knock these two morning procedures out together!

"Peacemakers or Peacebreakers?" Here was something I introduced to the students that really targeted behavior and how I expected them to act in order to "Stay On Track." I didn't want to come straight in and tell them "Don't do this, don't do that." So, I figured this was a great way to get the main rules introduced to them in a positive way.  Some of the pieces to this were glued, but others were velcroed. I left the velcroed pieces off and stuck them in each child's grab bag (you'll see below).  I told them that Ms. Morgan had a little trouble putting them on the correct side, so I needed their help! Each student grabbed the pieces out of their bag and stuck them on the correct side! Peacemakers (good behavior) and Peacebreakers (Bad behavior).  Thanks to www.teacherspayteachers.com for this awesome idea!

Here is the grab bags (before they were filled.)  Each students name is across the front of the bag.  Inside is the peacemaker/peacebreaker pieces, pencils, erasers, bracelets in the shape of a car, and a personalized note from Ms.Morgan welcoming them into the first grade, I had so much fun making these!

AND here is.... a big jumbo mess! Haha! We had to do an "About me", so the students could learn about their brand new teacher!  I asked the students to tell me what makes a car go around.  They told me "tires". I then pulled out my tire and told them, "Now,  I'm going to tell you what makes Ms.Morgan's world go around!" So cheesy, but so fun! I push pinned each little item to the tire. The sunglassses represented warm weather and the beach, concert ticket stub representing my love for country music and concerts (my best friend, Casey and I are complete concert junkies), zumba key chain for my love for staying fit, MLB Club Card and baseball bracelet (Go Braves!), and my coffee card (my lifeline).  There were a few more things pinned on the tire as well, but I won't bore you!

  The tire is actually a dog toy! Not only did it represent what makes my world go around, but also my love for my two chiwuawas (Roxy and Chance) :)

And that was my project! Even though I had a ton of fun putting all of this together, I'm glad to have the assignment behind me! Four more days of classes and I'm counting down the hours! Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone!

Morgan Blair :)

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. Do you agree?

Hello bloggers, viewers, and friends! Hope you've had a great Sunday/Mother's Day. I sure have, and I believe I owe it all to this morning's sermon.  It was so wonderful, I have to share! Our message today was about "Finding Time". Not finding time to be with your mother, your friends, to go shopping, etc., but finding time for Jesus. In today's society, everything moves so fast.  We get up, rush to work, and then do whatever we can to get at least half of our To-Do list finished.  For me, I wake up and head to school for 8 hours, go to work, then come home just to do more school work. Stressed doesn't even begin to explain how I feel each day. Yes, I talk to the Father. But, enough? Absolutely not.

Our preacher wasn't in town today, so someone filled in. She has a heart for Jesus and is a great spiritual role model for anyone who knows her.  With having that said, she completely wowed me today with her words.  She stressed that speaking to God every morning can indeed set the mood to your day.  As soon as your feet hit the floor in the mornings, your knees should too. Make your bed the altar, and yourself the sacrifice.  Ask God to use you to the best of your ability, to be a light, and to be a blessing to someone you cross paths with that day.

It really is so important to take time to be holy. One cannot over estimate the importance of finding time in our "busy schedules"to be with the Lord alone- through prayer and the reading of his word. After all, we are his children and we should put ALL of our trust in him.  That leads into another suggestion Syd had for us...Making friends of God's children. Spend time with like-minding people to fellowship with one another. She spoke about her grandfather who worked on the farm. He barely made it in to town but once a week. When he passed another person he never needed to use his rein on his horses because they just knew to stop.  He would stop and talk to every single person who passed him.  Whether it was checking to see how their day was, talking about their family, how the sky was blue or how the grass was green, etc. Catch my drift?  No matter what, he made time.  He made time to fellowship with friends, and even strangers.  Today, we are making sure we make time to update our Facebook, twitter, blogs, iPhones, etc.  So many "tools" and so little Jesus.

We must not be so busy that we forget to talk to the man upstairs.  We must not be so busy that we forget to fellowship and help others when there is an opportunity. There are so many benefits of being holy. We will be blessed with inner happiness and peace. Most of all, we will have renewed strength with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

On top of the great sermon, we sang one of my favorite choruses today, "Breathe"

"This is the air I breathe.  This is the air I breathe.
 Your Holy presence, living in me.  This is my daily bread.
  This is my daily bread.  Your very word, spoken to me.  And I,
  I'm, I'm desprate for you.  And I, I'm lost without you.  And I, I'm
  I'm lost without you.  This is the air I breathe. This is the air I breathe."

Something about this song calms my heart.  One last thing about today's sermon melted my heart and it was the "Children's Time".  Before the children go to children's church, they go forward and have children time with the preacher.  Today's lesson was on giving and receiving.  She asked the kids how much they liked m&m's. Of course they all replied with, "Yeahhhhhhh!" "This much!" "I loveeeeeeee them!".  So, she gave them each a mini bag of m&ms, but told them not to open them.  Once each child had a bag, she said "Okay, now I want you to go find someone in this room that you love and give them your bag of candy."  Of course, they all shouted out "Awwwwwwwww man".  But, each child ran off giggling and smiling, giving their candy to their loved ones.  Then, right back up there they went.  She said to them, it is more of a blessing to give than to receive. This is hard for a child to understand. Being a child, and having to give your candy away? Shoot, that's tough! She said to them "you receive an inner blessing by giving, and since you all were so nice to give yours away, I'm giving you all each a BIG bag of m&ms!" How cool is that? I guarantee each child walked away with a new outlook on giving.

Be a blessing to someone this week & find time to talk to our Father, for he is the soul reason we are here. Have a great week!


P.s......A special shout out to my beautiful mother, Sidney! What in the world I would do without her- I have no clue! Happy Mother's Day, you gorgeous thang! ;)


Morgan Blair