Whew!

I've not intentionally taken a blogging break. I've just not had minute to spare since Saturday to sit down and even take a breath to reflect! This has been one of those meet yourself coming and going weeks.

It's that time in the quarter when it always gets a little squeezed. With reading, writing and math assessments needing to be scored, grades that have to be turned in to my team, and report cards due next week, the ordinary becomes a little overwhelming!

So last night, since I was a little on the "stressed" side, I thought a taste of some "stressed" spelled backwards would be just what the doctor ordered.

Desserts! My husband bought a layered coconut cake on Saturday for our dessert Saturday night and let's just say that I had more than my fair share to temporarily ease the stress.

Sometimes the everyday can seem so overwhelming and what's more, it seems to come all at once! So why not treat myself to cake!

At our school we have a raffle each year to raise money to purchase educational items. Our goal is to get Smartboards...awesome teaching tool, in every classroom. We're down to needing them only in the K-1 classes.

For the raffle, students purchase $1 tickets to participate in special activities with their teachers. For example, one year I had a breakfast at my house on a Saturday morning, and 4 students names were drawn to come! They got to come in their pj's and eat breakfast with our family. What a hoot that was!

This year our team took kids ice skating. I was the one on the sidelines cheering the
kids on! Not much of an ice skater, with a weak back. My good friend Jena, a 5th grade teacher thought it would be a fun idea to raffle a gospel concert! The idea was a hit and the concert is next Tuesday after school. For the last several weeks, we have been practicing just about every afternoon! We're all so excited to have this opportunity!

With all that said....Whew! It has been so busy! So often when I feel completely overwhelmed by work, my day to day tasks at home...the cleaning, cooking, errands; all those things I can't get done until I leave work in the afternoon. I find myself many times beginning to tighten up and lose sight of what's really important!

I completely forget that I don't need to fret, or worry. God has given me plenty of time. It's all in how I choose to use that time. I am easily tempted to fall into that trap of worry! "There's no way I can get this all done" attitude!

This past Sunday, our pastor taught from James 1:13-18, temptation. For me, worry, anxiety and stress is a temptation. Not what you'd normally think of as the typical temptation such as alcohol, drugs, sex....but my own personal addiction, none the less! Allowing my worry and stress to get the best of me, is tempting, and will bring me down everytime if I allow it. How quickly your temptation can pull you away from what's important in your life! For me, it attacks my attitide toward my family first, then I slowly start to rely on myself instead of God.

According to our pastor, you may not even realize you are in a fight, but always know that your enemy is studying you..your spiritual enemy that is. So you need to be studying the enemy. Know your weakness. You must own it and recognize it.

Ginger