Teacher, I need a pencil...and other teacher tips.

I just want to say, I've been excited about this post. Teaching is one of my LOVES.

As a teacher I am ALWAYS looking for ways to make my life easier, the students learning better, and my desk/teacher life more organized. When it comes to managing your classroom it's the little things that make a BIG difference. Like where will students turn work in? Their weekly folder? How do they tell you they need to go to the bathroom? What if they need a sharpened pencil? The list goes on and on....really it does. This year I've found a few management tips  that have really worked for me and I thought I'd share them with my fellow teachers. :)

HOW ARE WE LEARNING?: This is one of the things I taught my students the first week of school. This chart was actually blank at the beginning. The students were the ones who helped me fill it in. I think its great to have them contribute their ideas. Giving them the opportunity to think of their own expectations and rules helps them become responsible.

PENCILS: Finding a sharp pencil can be a nightmare. Last year I learned that quite well with my 1st graders. This year I found a system that works fairly well though!

I have two jars on my desk, one that says "SHARP" and one that says "NOT SHARP." Whenever students need a sharp pencil they must first put a dull one in the not sharp cup. At the end of the day, the "Pencil Sharpener" in our classroom will sharpen the pencils in the not sharp cup and put them back into the sharp cup.

Whenever the pencils are too short and need to be replaced, the "Pencil Sharpener" tells me and I put a few new pencils into the not sharp cup for circulation. This system WORKS for my kids! Before you pull all your hair out over the loss of pencils, try pencil cups. :)

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED: Here is a poster I whipped up at the beginning of the year to manage students who finish their work early, because there is always at least one. On the poster I wrote down things that are appropriate to do when they are finished. These are things that I personally don't mind them doing. If kids getting up and going to the library for a book will drive you nuts, don't put it; have them keep a book at their desk if that works better for you. The thing I love about this system is that 1) I know they are doing something good for their learning and 2) that they can be independent. The key to this system working is teaching them to be independent. If you don't teach them and model the behavior you expect during these activities, believe me, they will do everything they shoudn't do. So whenever I put new math games and activities out, I take the time to teach them, because it will save me a TON of time later.
(Oh! For the Read a Book they can read one of their own or read one of the special books I keep in a bucket that have to do with what we are studying in our subjects. They love to read those. :)

Hope these things can bring some happiness and order to your classroom! Happy teaching!

- Rachel

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Every Christmas my mother-in-law, Jeanne, makes these melt-in-your-mouth cookies called Mexican Wedding Cookies. This year since my husband and I are not home, she carefully packaged all of the ingredients and sent them in a box all the way to Palau so we could make our own! Now SHE'S the sweet one!

I love these cookies because they are easy to make, don't take much time, and of course, because they satisfy my sweet tooth. :) Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter

1/2 cup confectioner sugar (plus some extra to roll the baked cookies in) 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup flour

1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. 

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or butter.

Cream butter and sugar. 

Beat in vanilla. 

Gradually add the flour. 

Mix in the nuts with a spatula. 

Put the mixture in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Shape the dough into small 1 inch balls and place them on the cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the pan. When the cookies are cool enough to touch but still warm, roll them in the leftover confectioner's sugar. Cool them on racks or eat them while they are warm! (my favorite!) 

Let me know if you made them and how they turned out! 

My Perfect, Not-So-Perfect, Wedding

It's springtime! That means our newsfeed and instagram is filling up fast with proposals, engagements, and countdowns to summer weddings. I LOVE weddings. I LOVED my wedding. But to some it wasn't "perfect." 

It's every bride's nightmare for the cake to collapse, the photographer to not show up, or for her dress to be stained. These nightmares even haunted me when I was engaged.

When sharing some of of my pre-wedding jitters and worries to one of my best friends, she told me, "Rachel all you need to get married is your fiance and the pastor, think of everything else as a bonus." Obviously most brides want more than just the pastor and their fiance to show up, but this comment helped put things into perspective. The purpose of the day is not to have the most hashtags and "liked" pictures from your wedding. It's not to be published on the most envied wedding blog or pinterest. It's to be married to your partner and to celebrate that union. Everything else is a bonus.

But I did have a few nightmares come to real life on my actual wedding day. It was not "perfect."

We were supposed to be married in a lovely garden; my fiance and I really wanted an outdoor wedding. The morning of the wedding looked promising but as the time got closer the dark clouds rolled in and the rain started. Cats and dogs kind of rain. The staff was wonderful and set up chairs as fast as they could in our indoor back-up location. The bridal party was shuffled into golf carts through ice cold rain pellets (okay that part was actually a lot of fun). But it wasn't "perfect", certainly not what a bride dreams of.

My sweet friend Jana helping to keep me dry! Love her! 

She's an incredible videographer too! Check her out her website Milestones by Jana and find her on Facebook!

Fast forward to the reception, and I'm sitting at the sweetheart table with my sweetheart when I see his aunt walking in with a cake in her hands. I turned to my husband and asked "Why is your aunt carrying a cake? Oh! I haven't seen mine! Where is it?" Where is it was the question alright. It wasn't there! My husbands aunt came to the rescue and got us a small cake so we could take pictures with it and have something, but there was no 3-tier coconut wedding cake. It was not "perfect." Certainly not what a bride dreams of.

A real quick tid-bit about me, I stress about about everything. Before things need to be stressed about, I'm already stressing over them. (I wish this was an exaggeration, but I'm learning to stay connected and NOT stressed, right?) But on the day of the wedding not ONE, of these slip-ups tore me down. Not ONE! Can I get an amen?! God had truly washed his peace over me that day because nothing spoiled my day. Hallelujah. (cue praise hands emoji)

If you put my wedding on TV in "Four Weddings" it would not have been perfect. If you put it in the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, she'd have a heart attack. If tried to put it on "The Knot" they would certainly be in a knot. Because to them, weddings are glamourous, seamless, and pinterest- perfect. In real life, weddings are hilarious behind-the-scenes moments that nobody knows about, like holding up the bride's dress so she can go to the bathroom, your mom finally hemming her dress the night before the wedding, and your crazy cousin taking a video documentary so you can remember it all.

I cherish one memory so much from a cousin of mine. After the wedding she wrote me and said that she had stepped outside of the reception hall for a minute, and while she was outside she saw a beautiful rainbow. She said that rainbow was like God's blessing on my marriage. I wish I could've seen that rainbow, but I'm so glad God sent it.

So there were a couple of slip-ups, and my wedding didn't meet "perfect" standards to the wedding world, but it was the BEST, most beautiful, and most perfect day of MY life and I will never take it back.

To all you beautiful brides that are stressed, loaded with too much starbucks, and worrying about details, remember...no matter what happens that day, you will be left with the best, most hilarious, and precious memories you'll ever have, and a hubby who is all your own. :) 

PS- The cake lady was SO embarrassed that the delivery man never came, she gave us a refund, a gift certificate, and made our cake all over again so we could enjoy it! SWEET!

Picture Credit: Ricky Oliveras  (awesome photographer!) 

Let's start at the very beginning

And so The Vine was born.
I've been dreaming about writing a blog for a while now. I started one up about 4 years ago and thought about continuing it, but I felt called to a fresh start.

One thing I quickly remembered as I started brainstorming for the blog is that there is a lot of pressure involved! What is the name going to be, what design should it have, and most of all what image am I trying to portray? With a little help from Jesus I found a theme that not only will fit this blog, but a theme that will stick with me the rest of my life.

John 15:5 says "I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing."

I am a newlywed, teacher, missionary, sister, friend, daughter, you name it, and all of those things come with very high demands. (And I'm not even a mommy yet!) Staying connected to Christ (the vine) is in fact the only way I am going to stay sane (and alive...as branches!)

But this is not an easy calling. Because all of life's roles are very demanding, it's easy to forget and even ignore the calling to stay connected. My dream for this space is that it can be a reminder to me, and an inspiration to others to stay connected, because I don't know about you, but I have a lot of things I need to get done on the daily, I can't afford to do nothing! 

Aside from that though, I know that ultimately, a life connected to Jesus is a happier and fuller life, I know from experience. It's not about my to-do lists, or my goals that I want to accomplish, it's about living life, day by day, next to the One who knows what's best for me and who can not only get me through the day, but get me through with JOY and HAPPINESS! 

I am excited share my experiences as a wife, teacher, friend, DIY projects, recipes, and life's stories. I hope they can add richness to your life and that we can inspire each other.

Here's to staying connected to the Vine.
- Rachel