Lovin' this Season

Dear Fourth Graders,

Have you ever heard of the phrase, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder"? Well, I am only a few hours into fall break and I am discovering that there is a lot of truth to that statement.

So.......

See ya on Monday!!!

And trust me when I say that I will love each of you a whole lot more.

Love, Mrs. Gish

I Believe in Christ

A couple of weeks ago, my church held a conference. This conference takes place two times a year and it is where all the members of our church from all around the world take time out of their weekend to listen to messages from the leaders of our church. The actual meeting is held in Salt Lake City, UT, but most people watch it on t.v. in their homes, go to their local church buildings to watch a live broadcast, or listen/watch from a livestream on the internet.

As always, it was very uplifting. I know that all those who spoke were inspired by God. Many of my prayers and questions were answered. So many topics were covered and I learned a lot. However,there was one thing that really stuck out to me. One of the leaders spoke about how we can all be followers and disciples of Christ. And if we are, then we must be bold in testifying of Him. For some reason this really hit me. We have Facebook, blogs, twitter (although I am not involved), texting, e-mail, and so many ways to communicate with others. But how many times in my life have I ever used these wonderful devices to share my beliefs?

It seems that in the news lately, especially in regards to Mitt Romney running for president, there has been quite a bit of speculation about whether or not Mormons are Christians. Well, I am what you would call a "Mormon." I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that many people have different definitions of what makes a Christian and so I won't try to convince anyone of what I am.

But what I can tell you is what I know, what I feel, what I believe, and what makes me who I am. I love Jesus Christ. I believe in Him. I try to follow His teachings, and this is my testimony of Him.

I am a daughter of God. He created me, my spirit, my body. He knows me and He loves me. I lived with Him before and He sent me to this earth so that I could learn and grow. He wants me to learn so that I can become more like Him. Like any loving parent, He wants me to reach my full potential. I must learn to be faithful, patient, humble, meek, charitable, giving, loving... and much more! God also knew, that as a mortal, I would never be perfect. So He came up with a plan. He sent His firstborn son, Jesus Christ. Christ loved me so much that He was willing to leave His throne above and come down to this earth to fulfill His father's plan. He came and lived a perfect and sinless life so that I might have a perfect example to look to. He then suffered for all my sins, hung on the cross, and died for me. Because of this, I am able to repent, change, be forgiven, and become better. Not only did Christ suffer for my sins, but he felt all my pain, sadness, and suffering. He felt it all. When I experience hardships in my life, I can turn to Him because He understands. I do not understand His Atonement as much as I would like to or as much as I should, but I have felt its' power in my life. I have felt it lift the burden of sin from me and I have felt it strengthen me in times when I felt I could go no further.

I know that after Christ died, He rose from the grave. He still lives and He watches over me. Because of His great sacrifice, I may also have eternal life and I will have the opportunity to live with Him and my Heavenly Father in His kingdom. Nothing gives me greater comfort than to know that there is a purpose to this life and that there is something wonderful to look forward to when my time here on this earth is done.

I have felt the love of Christ in my life more times than I can count. Sometimes that love comes in the form of miracles, great or small. Or sometimes it simply comes in the form of a kind word or service from someone else that I really needed at that time. Sometimes that love comes when I am kneeling in prayer and a peace and warmth fills my heart and I know that I am heard. Sometimes when I am teaching my fourth graders and I start to get frustrated, I say a little prayer in my heart and suddenly I see these kids differently. I understand them a little bit better and I feel a love for them that I don't quite understand. I know that this is Christ filling me with the love that He has for each of these children. His perfect love for each of these children.

There is no doubt in my mind or heart that Jesus Christ is my Savior. It is through Him, and only Him, that I will be able to return to live with my Father in heaven. I love Him so much for that. I know that the only way I could ever repay Him (and nothing will ever be enough) is to try my best to follow His example and His teachings. To love as He loved. To serve as He did.

If there is ever anyone that wants to know if there really is a Christ, all they need to do is kneel down in prayer and ask. If they have pure intentions and a real desire to know, God will make it known unto them. They will feel love and peace like they have never felt before, telling them that it is true. I know I have felt it and I would never deny it.

If you have any questions about my beliefs, please ask! Also, you can visit mormon.org or lds.org and read more from other members and leaders of our church. It would be selfish of me to know of the perfect love my Savior has for me and then not share it with others. That is not what He would want and so I am now committing to be better.

One year ago this nice guy asked me to marry him.

I said, "Yes."

Duh.

Like mother like teacher

I have two chairs in my classroom that were purchased at the thrift store. Just these junky soft chairs that are very old and kind of... gross. But the kids love them! And they always want to read and work while sitting in them. So I assign two kids every morning that get to sit in the chair that day.

If either of the students that are assigned to the chair are busy working at their desks, other students can sit in the chair for the time being. I just tell them they need to ask the student whose day it is.

One day one of the boys came up to me. He was done with his assignment and was going to read. The girl whose day it was to sit in the chair was busy working on a project with her group on the other side of the room. He came up and asked me if he could sit in her chair since she wasn't. I told him he needed to go ask her if that was ok.

A few seconds later he came up to me, seeming a little annoyed. He said, "She told me that I needed to come ask you if it is ok." I laughed and said, "Yes, that is ok with me." Then he said, "You guys are just like my mom and dad. Go ask your mom.... Go ask your dad....Go ask your mom..." As he walked away from me, he was still muttering under his breath, "Go ask your mom... Go ask your dad..."

Poor kid. But I couldn't help but get a good laugh out of it.

Getting Crafty

A little something about me... I am semi-creative.

Semi because, while I do love making and creating, I can rarely come up with my own ideas.

However, I am a reeeally good copier.

I was on one of my new favorite websites, Craftgawker, and I came across these really cute fall wreaths. Of course, the person was selling them for like $40. So I said, hey, I could probably make something like that by myself for a much smaller cost. So I put my copying skills to the test and was pretty pleased with the results.

Styrofoam wreath from Michael's wrapped in yarn found on sale at Wal-mart+leaves bought in a little packet for $1 (at Michael's again)+beads that I already had lying around.

And no, it is not quite autumn yet..... But I already hung it up anyway. I've been ready for summer to be over for a while. No more 90 degree apartment- HUZZAH!

Why I Do What I Do

On Friday I had an experience that helped me remember why I teach. It truly can be one of the most rewarding careers on this planet! Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and I got thinking on Friday that I really wanted to discuss that with my students. I also got an e-mail from a woman that works in the district asking for teachers to have their students write letters to soldiers so that they could send them in Christmas care packages. They often help boost morale of those men and women fighting in awful places.

I work at a Title 1 school. Many of these kids have day to day struggles that no kid should ever have to deal with. Family and personal situations that break my heart. For that reason, I thought it was important to talk with these kids about some of the things that they DO have to enjoy.

I began by asking them what they knew about what happened on September 11th. As they began sharing with me, I realized something that made me feel weird and old. These kids weren't even BORN when that event took place!!! So really, all that most of them knew was that there were these two buildings and airplanes crashed into them. None of them really had anymore detail than that. So I told them about how I was in eighth grade when it happened and how we watched it on the t.v.'s in the classroom and how we were all so scared of what was happening. We talked about who it was and how it was an act of hate. We talked about how many people lost loved ones. We talked about how people fought on one of the planes so that it wouldn't reach the terrorists' intended destination. We talked about the heroes.

The students were quiet. I had all 25 pairs of eyes on me (something that has never happened since the first day of school). I had hands raised that had never been raised voluntarily before. Everyone wanted to share. Everyone wanted to learn more.

And after all that, we talked about freedom. We talked about what it really meant to live in a free country. We talked about some of the things other kids in other countries don't get to do because they don't live in a country like ours. We even talked about how some kids don't get to go to school-- which at first, many of them responded with a "SWEET! No school!" But then we talked about what life would be like if they didn't go to school. They wouldn't be able to read... write.... communicate.... or get a chance to be what they want to be when they grow up. There was silence and then one boy quietly said... "Whoa. That would suck." Yeah, I know.

After talking about all the things they get to do in this country, I had them begin their letters to the soldiers- to thank them for fighting for our country. Here are a few quotes straight from these letters:

"Thank you for fighting for our country, it means a lot."

"What I do for freedom I play with my family, go outside, go to school, and go to church."

"You mean a lot to me because you make sure that the USA is in good hands."

"Thanks for fighting for our freedom and taking your time to do that."

"Freedom to me means being able to choose what to do: Going to church, going to school, being a bad guy or a good guy."

"I'm glad you were willing to leave your family. I can't be more grateful."

"Your work means so much to America."

"Thanks for protecting our state."

"My freedom means a lot to me because if we didn't have freedom, we could be slaves and that would be horrible."

"I'm glad I can go to school and get educated and smart because in some countries girls can't go to school."

"Let me just say again thank you so much. I could just hug you."

They were so sincere! And kind! And for some of these kids who come from really tough homes, kindness and sincerity are a rarity.

Perhaps you are reading this and wondering what was really so great about this moment, but I think if you've ever been a teacher of any kind, you know what this meant. To help kids learn to be grateful and to see the good in themselves and others is just a special thing to be able to do. And for that, I AM GRATEFUL.

So forgive me for the long post that may have meant nothing to you. But I need to record moments like these. Because it is moments like these that help me get up at 6:00 in the morning and stay on the go until 6:00 at night (and sometimes later).

This is why I do what I do.