Love that Dog

That last semester I became obsessed with a book by Sharon Creech called Love that Dog. She's a wonderful young reader's author and it's such a cute story about Jack's journey through his poetry unit. I was able to find the follow up book to it called, Hate that Cat and it's just as good! There was an awesome poem at the end of the book written by Jack himself...

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

I will listen
for you

I will hear
all the sounds
in the world

all the
delicious
ineffable
effable
sounds

all the
thrumming
and
humming

and
tintinnabulating
sounds

I will hear
all the sounds
in the
world

and I will write them down
so you
can
hear
them
too.

Who we're meant to be....

We received the greatest Christmas card from my parents today...

Do the things
that make your hearts happy
because it's Christmas
and because you're both
very special and loved.

I love that Deren and I drum to our own beat and don't try to be people that we're not. We're following the path that was laid for us and we don't stress to make a life that is not meant to be ours.

This Christmas and New Year we'll be doing the things that make our hearts happy because that is the kind of people we are. I love our life.

Meowy Christmas

Every time Christmas rolls around I still can't help but laugh at my friend's ugly Christmas sweater choice one year... Meowy Christmas with a bunch of ugly cats coming out of Christmas presents. It was even better when she woke up on her the morning after her 21st birthday with the shirt on. Classic!

I have a 10-12 page paper looming over my head but I thought catching up on the blog seemed like a better idea. My classes are all finished and this paper is the last thing I have left for the semester so I'm feeling pretty good. I only have a few pages left and a bit of editing. I found out a few days ago that I passed my PRAXIS test for Missouri teaching certification. I'm so excited. This makes me feel like I should probably stay to teaching MO for a few years after graduation. I'll probably take the MN PRAXIS in the spring so I'll have that one under my belt as well.

We're looking forward to Christmas in West Point, IA this year. A BIG change for me. I don't do change very well but I do like to try new things. Go figure how that works. Between Christmas and moving on January 1 we're not really decorating for the holidays. We put up a wreath on the door, but not tree or stockings. It's kind of sad. But I have an evergreen candle burning and bought a $1 tree from the target dollar section - it's cute enough :)

Deren's pretty pumped about his Hawkeyes. We're excited to be in our new place on January 5th with our big screen watching Iowa crush Georgia Tech (hopefully). Anyone who wants to come over and break in the new place with us is more than welcome!! We'll probablly have our annual superbowl party too, this year will be way better because we'll have more room, more seating, better viewing, etc, etc. I'm so excited to move...get me outta this APT!!!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!!!