"Because I knew you..."

To MLZ,

            When I first thought about going through rush… recruitment… I didn’t know if it was really for me.  But as I prayed more about the decision I really felt led to go through recruitment. I knew at the very least I would make a few friends. However, I had no idea the impact that you all would have on my life.

            I can look back on all of the times we have had together and I can’t help but smile. I can’t think of another pledge class who cared for each other, who liked to have more fun, or who loved spending time together more than we did. There was never a moment I felt left out or not accepted. It wasn’t until I met all of you that I felt so comfortable in who I was. I laugh more since having met all of you.

            I know this letter isn’t very long or super mushy (thank goodness) but I do want you all to know that I have learned something from each one of you. I have learned humility from Lesley, confidence from Holly, sarcasm from BMO, and how to live a passionate life from Aszia. Bullard and Kadee make me laugh harder than almost anyone. I loved living with the Annex girls and shooting things with nerf guns. I loved living with Pate and Noordyke (in the same semester!!) because they taught me not to take things so seriously. Bailey can make stupid things funnier than anybody else I know. And seriously, the list goes on and on. I look at who I am today and I know that you all had a big part in it.

 It was a difficult for me to make the decision to student teach abroad this last semester in college. I remember asking myself “Why would I leave these girls?” But I knew that ultimately you would all be behind me and support me in all of this. And I will be honest, there have been many times when I have looked at your pictures from Vegas and Luau and I get sad that I missed making these memories with all of you. And as cheesy as it is, I have been listening to “Never Alone” over and over and the line that keeps making me cry (seriously) is “and wherever you fly, this isn’t goodbye”.

I love you girls so much. I cannot imagine being in any other sorority or any other pledge class. You are all so beautiful and I am honored to know each and every one of you. We Rock!

AOT,

            Callie

Scary Revelations

So I had a scary revelation this morning…. I GRADUATE A MONTH FROM TODAY!!

The thoughts that came to mind were as follows:

1.      “I am not old enough to graduate!” There is no way that I have learned everything that I need to graduate.  I still act like a kid most of the time. Do they not know this? Would they really hand this KID a diploma?

2.      “I am not ready!” I don’t know all of my plans yet. I need more time to process this. I feel like everyone else has everything figured out and I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I’M DOING!

3.      “I should look for graduation shoes online.” A no-brainer.

4.      “I don’t want to leave Stillwater yet!” Going to college in Stillwater was such a blessing. I am going to miss the town and the people. I am going to miss my pledge sisters, LifeChurch, the Beyers, my friends, and my lifegroup.

5.      “____________________” My mind went blank.

And after I had gotten the crazy, hyperventilating, worry-wart Callie out of the way, God was able to speak to me.  It honestly reminded me of 1 Kings 19, when God revealed himself to Elijah:

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

            Anyways, I just felt God telling me to have peace and patience. I, of course, thought God must not know who he is talking to because I am the worst at Peace and horrible with Patience. But, if I claim to be a follower of Jesus, I have already received these fruits in the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

            So today, I am choosing to have peace with the fact that I am graduating. I am trusting in God’s plan. I have chosen to be patient with whatever outcome he chooses no matter how long and no matter how far away his plan may lead.

“So do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

2 Corinthians 12:9

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”-  2 Corinthians 12:9

On Friday, I messed up. Without going into too many details, I lost my cool and composure and lashed out at a student. It was like word vomit. I wanted to take it back as I was saying it. I saw the look of surprise on my student’s face fade into hurt. I would have given anything to take back what I said. The student was in the wrong but my reaction was not appropriate. I immediately apologized and asked for his forgiveness. He said that it was not a big deal that I snapped at him but it was a big deal. I was not showing the love of Christ to this student. In my weakness, I rebuked him in anger and frustration, not in love.  

I went home that day from school bawling. How did I get here? This is not me. I don’t yell at students. What has changed? And then it occurred to me: My walk with Christ has been faltering. I haven’t been making my quiet time a priority. It’s simple really. When I don’t read my Bible first thing, I can see a difference in my behavior. I know this and I am embarrassed that I wasn’t making it a priority.

I now know what I have to do. I can now show this student, and all of them for that matter, that even though I mess up, I can change my behavior. These kids need to see it though. They can see through all the crap we say and know if we are being truthful or not. They need to see my changed behavior in my actions. And since I can’t come out and openly say “Even though we mess up, God still loves us”, I can show this through my actions.

A prayer...

            The young man couldn’t wait to take his inheritance and go. He was ready to make his own decisions and make his own way. Surely he knew better than his father.

            When he was finally free, he squandered all of his money on the pleasures of this world. He had everything he wanted, right? He didn’t even think that there might be a possibility of a famine coming. When it did, it was a huge blow to the young man. He had nothing left. He had made his own plans and his own rules and had ended up with nothing. He even had to share food with the pigs.

            There must be something better than this, the young man thought. I was treated much better at my father’s house. It will be embarrassing to go back and ask for mercy but at least it will be a place to live. I don’t care if I have to work my way back up, it will be a roof over my head. I doubt my father will take me back but at least I can try.

            When the father saw his son returning, he cried and jumped for joy. His son had seen the error of his ways. His son had wanted to make his own decisions but had realized that ultimately, life was better in his father’s house.

“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:24

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Father,
           
            God I have been drifting. I have started to get consumed with school and planning for the future. I have stopped pursuing you. I notice it in the way I treat my students. I am quick to get angry or be annoyed. I don't love on them unconditionally like I used to. I can see it in the way I consume my time with reading fictional books rather than your Word. God, I need your presence back in my life. I don't like who I am without you. When I start to rely on my own works and take credit for things that you do, I get dark and moody. I don't smile as much. I have seen so many beautiful works of your hand and I have started to write them off as ordinary. God, nothing you do is ordinary. When I consume my thoughts of the future, I miss what you are doing in my life right now. I trust that you will take care of everything when it needs to be taken care of. But when I worry, I am practically saying I am not sure if you are enough for me. God, please forgive this wandering heart. Thank you for always being there, ready and willing to take me back like the prodigal son that I am. Bring me back to you.

Your daughter,

Callie

Family

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”.- Proverbs 22:6

I have found this verse to be true. I believe I am who I am because of the discipline, training, and wisdom given to me by my parents and grandparents.  And I am realizing how much emphasis God puts on the importance of families in his Word.

It was incredible to see my family this weekend.  I knew I would be excited but I had no idea that I would be so excited and chatty that I would lose my voice! I literally lost my voice from talking so much to and about my family! They were able to see where I lived and what life is like on an Air Force base. On Saturday we went into London and I was able to take them around. I was the tour guide! It was really great.

I really enjoyed going to see Jersey Boys on Saturday night.  Long story short…. I booked the Jersey Boys show for the wrong weekend. Seriously. I didn’t realize this until we were all dressed up and on the tube station to get there. I was humiliated. But we went to the theater anyways and were so blessed by the man that worked the ticket counter. He gave us 5 tickets that were better than the tickets I originally purchased at no extra charge. The seats weren’t together but they were so close to the stage. God really took care of us through that whole thing.

Honestly, the weekend was kind of a blur. All I remember was a weekend with my family.  I know we rode the subway a lot. Haha I had a great weekend. But now I miss my family….

Merci, Paris!

We walked up from the underground Metro and heard cars whizzing by and were blinded by bright lights. After we got our bearings, we realized we had finally made it to Paris. The train ride wasn’t too long considering we went BELOW the English Channel but it I was so excited to finally get to Paris that it seemed like forever. When we were above ground, I had to take a moment and pinch myself. I was actually here. In Paris. France. It was incredible.

After standing in shock for about 5 seconds, we started walking to our hotel. We turned down our street and realized that the ARC DE TRIOMPHE was right down the street! How lucky am I?

The next morning we planned on seeing the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower. It was a full day of tourist attractions. I was most excited to see the Eiffel Tower when we left the hotel. When we got back to our hotel that evening, I was in love with the LOUVRE! Seriously, in love.

When I took my first steps into the Louvre, I just felt a wave of excitement towards the fact that I was about to see so many famous sculptures and paintings that are older than the United States. It was a weird and surreal experience. We walked in and saw Venus de Milo right off the bat. It was like she was just waiting there for me to finally get there. The light was streaming in on her and she just looked beautiful. It amazes me that God blesses some people with such amazing abilities to sculpt and paint. We continued on towards the Mona Lisa and ran into Winged Victory. She is beautiful despite the fact she has no head. Haha No big deal. We found the Mona Lisa but she was kind of anti-climactic. She is smaller than a poster board but bigger than a sheet of paper. And she has a WHOLE WALL dedicated to her. But across from here, there is a beautiful picture of “The Wedding Feast at Cana” which depicts Christ’s miracle of changing the water to wine. It was breath-taking. We then stumbled into a brand new statuary exhibit. These statues were beautiful. It amazes me that men could carve such a beautiful painting out of a block of marble. I think my favorite painting was “Liberty leading her people” by Delacroix. The painting is MASSIVE. Seriously. I loved it.

Venus De Milo

Winged Victory

Liberty Leading Her People- Delacroix

Could Paris get any better? Yes, yes it can. We were walking in the gardens outside of the Louvre and we noticed that the other people around us had all stopped and were starring at something. It was really strange. When Sarah and I got a better look we saw this beautiful woman, who was probably 6 feet tall in 4 inch heels strutting her stuff down the  walkway with a photographer following her. I thought “WHAT IS THIS? IS SHE A MODEL? WHAT????” In the matter of a few seconds, paparazzi showed up out of nowhere and started taking her picture. They swarmed towards her. And yes, she was doing a shoot of some sort. Only in Paris.

When we found our way to Notre Dame, we stood there, starring at the flying buttresses, mouths agape. When we made it inside, I had to sit down. This building was overwhelming. The stain glass windows were the best I have ever seen. I sat for about 7 minutes just taking it all in. I kept thinking to myself that many years ago, people wanted to have a beautiful dwelling place for their God. And while I know God doesn’t “live” in a church, it was a beautiful place to honor Him. I didn’t find the hunchback though, and trust me, I LOOKED!

When I finally made it to the Eiffel tower, I was pooped. So many beautiful things in one place in 6 hours were a lot to take in. But the Eiffel tower was great. Did I love it as much as the other two places? No. But I did enjoy taking pictures with it. I also bought a crepe there so all in all it was a good day!

The next day we woke up and traveled to Versailles. Okay, this was a great decision on our part. We saw the infamous Hall of Mirrors and the beautiful gardens behind the Palace of Versailles. It would have been prettier if it was in bloom but I loved it all the same. Sarah and I even bravely ventured into the city of Versailles and were able to order from a French menu. Considering I have never taken a French class in my life, I think I did pretty well.

Since Versailles was so great, we stayed a while. This made us kind of late catching the metro to our train station that housed the train that would take us back to London. We made it to the train station about 17 minutes before the train left. But when we were looking at the video screen, we couldn’t figure out what platform our train was on. It just kept saying 1^st floor. We were on the first floor but that could be any of 10 platforms. So we started asking around. Come to find out our train was on the first floor but we had to go through customs first. Crap! We do not have luck with customs (read previous posts). So we literally RAN  there and had to go through security, fill out these forms, and talk to the customs guy, WHO WAS REALLY CHATTY, in about a 7 minute time frame. We bolted towards where they said the train was but when we got to the platform, they closed the gate. WHAT! I AM SUPPOSED TO BE ON THAT TRAIN THAT IS LEAVING! Apparently, we would have made the train but they left 3 minutes early (we shouldn’t have cut it that close). So they didn’t charge us and put us on the next train because it was technically their fault we missed it because they left early. We really lucked out. This did make us miss all of our connecting trains back to the base, but at least we made it back.

I loved this trip but I really loved that it was sunny. I know that seems like a silly thing to be grateful for back in Oklahoma/Texas but I have not seen the sun in England except for maybe 3 days. It is always overcast. And I can tell that it puts me in a sourer mood. Isn’t it crazy how the sun can brighten our day? God really knew what he was doing, didn’t He?

Merci, Paris for such a great vacation!

The BEST yet...

Today is Dr. Seuss' Birthday. He would be 107 years old today. We obviously had to celebrate....

I told all of the students to come in their pajamas (but to obviously use discretion) and bring their favorite book to school today! We played games, ate cake, had popcorn, drank hot chocolate, drew pictures, and READ today! It was so fun. We also went around the room and shared our favorite Dr. Seuss book and why we liked it. I shared Horton Hatches the Egg (obviously the greatest book by him) because it reminds me of my Dad. I am not exactly sure why but I have one memory from forever ago of him reading it to me! A close second would have been "Oh! The places you will go" because it reminds me that education can take you anywhere you want to go (part of the reason I want to teach). I woke up happy today and I left school happy today!

17 beautiful second graders were able to enjoy the wonderful world of reading. I am so grateful to men like Dr. Seuss who have contributed so much to children's education! Look at these cuties:

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." - Dr. Seuss

Spontaneity...

So last night, we booked a trip to Portugal.

WHAT????

Okay first of all, this is going to be an awesome trip but this is sooooooooooo not like me. I highly doubt anybody who knew me would put my name and spontaneous in the same sentence. I think through big decisions. Whenever someone says "Hey, lets go do this...." I usually find some reason why that wouldn't work, would take too long, etc. and we never end up doing it. I would say that I am practical, not a kill-joy (but probably both).

It is so cool how God is changing me even in areas I thought were just fine. Not that it says anywhere in the Bible "Thou shall be more fun" but I do think He wants me to enjoy this world that He created. I believe He wants me to see and do things and take pleasure in His masterpiece! I believe He desires this for all of us.

So, we randomly booked a trip to Portugal. I know I can't always do this when jobs and families are in place but I do believe that I can enjoy everyday in this beautiful world He created--


 "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it."

Hello Brugge!!

Friday Night, 7:30 pm:

            In our attempts to spend up as much time off of Feltwell Base as possible, we went and got pizza at Lakenheath. Nine girls, 2 large pizzas, and 4 orders of cheesy bread! Awesome! However we did have to wait about an hour for our pizza, but… none of us really complained!

Friday Night, 11 pm:

            Waiting. Our coach (aka bus) for Belgium left at 2:15 in the morning so we had time to kill on base waiting for it. I slept in 2 chairs pushed together….

Friday Night, 11:45 pm:

            I am rudely awakened by a man who told me I can’t sleep in the chairs. I was not very polite (who really is after be awoken so abruptly) but came around to him when he found us couches we could sleep on J

Saturday Morning, 1:50 am:

            We woke up (a little sluggishly) so that we could meet up with our coach to leave for Belgium. It was raining so I was a little mopey moving around.

Saturday Morning, 2:25 am:

            After waiting for what seemed like forever in the rain, we finally found our seats on the coach and I fell asleep immediately! Luckily, I had my sleeping mask from Mrs. Pendleton to help me sleep despite the crying baby!

Saturday Morning, 5 am:

            I woke up to find our coach driving onto a ferry! This was a huge boat! This ferry left from Dover, England and was going to port in Calais, France. We had to get off the coach and go find places to sit on the boat since you are not allowed to sit in your cars while the ferry is going. I honestly didn’t even see much of the boat because I was so focused on finding a place to lay down. I found a nice little spot to go to sleep and slept the whole way (I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful ability so sleep anytime, anywhere)!

Saturday Morning, 7 am (France is one hour ahead of England):

            Again, I had to drag myself from where I had been peacefully sleeping back down to the coach. I was getting tired of it! But after we hopped back on the coach, I fell asleep again quickly enough.

Saturday Morning, 10 am:

            I woke up (this time on purpose) to find us pulling into a chocolate factory in Belgium (still raining)! We went inside and found all of these different types of chocolates! Unfortunately, no one was making chocolate while we were there but it was still fun to see the chocolate molds and see the finished product.

Saturday 11 am:

            We arrived in Brugge! We step out into the rain (shocking) and make our way into the beautiful city. What I loved about Brugge is that it still feels and looks like it would have back 600 years ago. The town is exactly what I would have expected a Belgian town to look like. It was so gorgeous!

Saturday 11:20 am- 4:30 pm:

            Belgium is known for its lace and so we went in many lace shops, ate some waffles, shopped in the local stores, and went into the Church of our Lady where Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child was housed. This was one of his few works not in Italy. It was absolutely beautiful! There were horse drawn carriages and really big mugs of hot chocolate! What I loved about the hot chocolate is that they will bring you out hot milk and give you chocolate chips to stir into the milk. It was yummy! There aren’t many cute pictures from here because it was rainy and windy the entire time.

Saturday Evening 5:30 pm:

            We meandered back towards to coach but unfortunately this time, while I was tired, I could not get to sleep. The baby behind me made sure of that!

Saturday Evening 7:30- 9:00 pm (England time):

            We got back onto the ferry this time and I made sure to actually see what the ferry was like. It actually reminded me of a cruise ship lounge area. The rocking of the boat didn’t help my stomach but we made it across the English Channel just fine. However, when we go to immigration/ customs there was a problem. 5 of the 9 student teachers got through just fine by saying we were volunteers at RAF Feltwell and that we are not getting paid (In England, if you say you are a student teacher, they assume that you are getting paid to do this. If that were the case, we would all need VISAS which we don’t have. So we were advised to tell them that we are “volunteering” in a classroom as a part of our studies and that we were not getting paid). This worked just fine for us when we landed in Heathrow. However, when it was MY turn, she asks me what I was doing in Engalnd and I gave her the answer we were told we should give by the Air Force. She looked at me, and then started asking really intense questions about why I was here for so long and what type of students I was teaching. I was really frustrated that I was getting stopped because they had let 5 other girls with the same story as me go through! She told me and 3 other student teachers to wait for her to talk to her Chief Immagration Officer…. Great.

Long story short, we told her that we are students at OSU and are doing our internship with a DODDs school. We told her we were not getting paid and that we are leaving on April 30. She told us that the stamp we got in Heathrow said we were visiting and so our “volunteering” story made her question us. She said that we now should always say we are “short term students” in England. Luckily we made it through, but I really think they should teach people what they are really supposed to say when going through immigration.

Saturday 11:50 pm:

            We finally made it back to our beds. While this trip was so fun, it was exhausting. We were in 3 countries in less that 24 hours. It was a whirlwind! But…very worth it!

I dare you...

I almost considered not writing this post. But after I continued to pray about it, I felt Christ say "Don't keep this to yourself". So I shared it with 2 close friends. But this blog post kept popping up in the back of my mind. So I am sharing this with all of you in the faith that Christ wants to use this in your life...

I have been listening to this sermon on podcast for the past couple days and I have truly been challenged like never before. I have definitely found myself living the “Christian Life” on my terms and not on Christ’s terms. It was really hard for me to listen to these sermons because it really challenged my view on my Christian Life. I dare you to allow the Spirit to use these sermons to transform your lives. 

Radical Series

We took a "wee" trip to Scotland....

When reading this post, go find some bagpipes on youtube and play it in the background! It makes this post much more authentic.

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Waking up early at 4:30 am was not necessarily my choice, but was necessary if we wanted to get a full trip in Edinburgh. I decided to suck it up and wake up. And I just kept hearing the song “This is the day the Lord has made” in my head. It made the 25 minute walk to the base’s gate in the freezing cold much more bearable. Even the fact that the train tracks stopped working half way through our train ride didn’t seem so bad. But when we had to get off the train and wait for a bus, I started to get cranky. We were waiting in an hour and a half line in the cold rain and I was just about to start complaining when God gave me the opportunity to turn around and realize he has taken care of everything. I didn’t need to worry and whine about my circumstances. In fact, I felt like he was telling me to serve, to stop thinking about only my discomfort. A man was standing next to me in line without an umbrella. I shared mine with him. A man didn’t have enough money for a cab and I was lucky enough to help him. My attitude really improved after giving to others. Our train rides all worked out after I changed my attitude.

We made it into Edinburgh (Edd-in-bra in Scottish) smoothly and found our way to our guesthouse. We had the apartment and it was absolutely fantastic! We got into Edinburgh around 4 and decided to go on the Whisky Experience. It was an “interactive” tour that informed us how their malt whisky was made. We got to taste 4 different kinds and they were tough to drink. After our toast, we all were very surprised by how strong the taste was. But the tour was very fun and interesting. We then went down to the street full of restaurants and ate at a cute Italian place. On our way, a young man was sitting on the side of the road. He had a blanket but looked very cold. And I walked straight past him. But all during dinner I couldn’t get him out of my mind. When we walked back onto the street I literally heard God tell me “Serve him”. The voice was as clear as day. I am not lying. I looked into my purse and had a ten pound note, and a couple pound coins. What was I supposed to give?  I went to grab the coins and I heard Nope Callie. I have given you so much. Give more.  My 10 pounds, God? The whole thing? Yes, give. I walked up to the young man and put the ten pounds in his hand. He looked at the money, then at me, and then back at the money. He said “Oh my goodness. Thank you!” I don’t know what he did with the money, but I believe that he really needed it. I know ten pounds doesn’t sound like much but if you could have heard the way he said it, you would have known that he was really grateful for it. I know as Christians this seems like no big deal. But I have heard myself along with other Christians say, “Yeah, I don’t give money to people on the side of the road because I don’t know what they are going to do with it. Probably just buy alcohol or cigarettes”. But I think all of those times I have been listening to the selfish side of me. And maybe everyone else does this but I heard God speak very clearly to me and what he decided to tell me was to give. I think it is really interesting that God chose to speak words about service to me. Hmmmm He’s doing something there!!

The next day we woke up early and walked to the Castle of Edinburgh. This is where many monarchs were born as well as the National War Museum, and the crown jewels of Scotland. The castle is very high up on a steep cliff and had a beautiful view of the city. We had dinner at the “most haunted café in Edinburgh”. I don’t know how haunted it was, but it had great food and tea! We toured the castle and then went shopping! We obviously had to get a couple of plaid scarves! We made our way down the royal mile and heard many bagpipes playing, took a picture with William Wallace (and got flashed by William Wallace), and toured the Palace! This palace is where the Queen of England stays when she is in Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots also lived there. I was able to see Mary’s room as well as many rooms inside the Palace. I unfortunately was not able to take pictures inside. But Sarah and I marveled at the fact that we opened the same front door that she would walk through! Weird!!

At lunch time, we were trying to find a place to eat and happened to stumble upon the Elephant Room. It looked like a cute little deli but it didn’t really reel us in until we saw “Birthplace of Harry Potter” written on the front window. This deli is where J. K. Rowling began writing Harry Potter! She is English and had just divorced her husband. She moved to Scotland and was living on welfare. She went to this deli often and one day felt inspired to start jotting down an idea for a new story! It was so cool to sit down and pretend we were writing Harry Potter. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

What I really loved about Edinburgh was the people. The town is beautiful but the people there are SO nice (Well and the men are all tall and good looking but that is beside the point)! They were very hospitable to tourists. Several people stopped by just to find out where we were from and find out about us. I really loved this trip and it is my favorite place to visit in Europe so far!

Something Heavenly...

The young man was ready to follow Jesus. He knew he had kept all of the commandments. And he wanted eternal life. Surely, since he had followed all the rules, he was a candidate for heaven. He prayed regularly. He even believed that Jesus could do miracles. He believed that Jesus had the answers he was looking for: How can I have eternal life?

When he saw Jesus coming, he walked straight up to him and said “Father, what must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus stopped, looked at him and said, “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”Jackpot, the young man thought. I’ve done that! Jesus continued saying “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother, and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Check. Check. Double check. “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

 Jesus answered, “Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At that, the young man turned, completely heartbroken, because he was not ready to give up his comfort…

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I knew God was calling me to England. I felt from the very first moment of hearing about someone student teaching abroad that Christ had that in store for me. I wasn’t sure of what the plan was, but I just knew I was supposed to go.

God let me in on a little bit of His plan 2 days ago. The second graders were all at specials and I was working on homework for OSU. I heard a “Miss Callie?” behind me. I turned around and there was one of my students about to burst into tears. Earlier, she had gotten “in trouble” for excluding some of the other girls (Think Mean Girls… “you can’t sit with us!”). When I confronted her about it, she just started crying. Really crying. I didn’t know if it was because she was confronted or if it was something else. Her mom is deployed right now so I thought that might have had something to do with it. So that was my first thought when I saw her about to cry again alone in our classroom. She came up to me and said “I’m not crying this time about friends or even about my mom being gone” and then she shared sad news with me. I won’t go into details but this little girl is hurting. She really started crying when she said “Daddys don’t even know how to braid hair!” Girl, I know! That made me chuckle thinking of my dad trying to dress me and do my hair all by himself. So I told her that if she wants to come in early before school I will brush and do her hair every day. So that has been our new routine. It’s pretty fun for me because it is like having a doll again that I can play with and do their hair. But I am realizing that, today, I am needed here. She chose me to share her pain with. She felt comfortable telling me.  I am needed today to be present and aware of my student’s joys and my student’s pains.

I am also starting to realize that God is using this experience- getting me out of my comfort zone, taking me into the unknown, leaving my family, trusting in Him- to prepare me for something else. God has really been using Matthew 19 to show me that to be a TRUE follower of Christ, we must sacrifice it all to him. We have to be uncomfortable. This can look very different. This could mean dropping everything, everyone, and moving to Uganda at the age of 18 to start an orphanage/school and adopt 14 Ugandan girls like she did. It could mean loving the women in your neighborhood, the ones that are not easy to love like she does. It could be choosing to love your spouse daily so that you can learn more of the love of Christ and the church like they do. It could mean a lot of things. All I know is that I think God is introducing me to this life of “being uncomfortable”, of being pushed to get out of my comfort zone, of relying solely on the only One who matters.

Yikes.

God used one of my all time favorite songs to encourage me in this:

There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
But I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life, something Heavenly

-       Whatever You’re Doing, Sanctus Real

Ultimate act of LOVE

Today is Valentine’s Day. While most people are thinking about their loved ones I was thinking about my second graders. How could I make them feel loved today? Many of them have a parent who is deployed overseas and are probably feeling lonely. I went into school today to make sure that each one of them felt loved. Isn’t that what God asks of us, to make others see God’s love for them through our actions?

We made Valentine’s for our loved ones, a Valentine candy gram, and read several Valentine stories. We had a party in which we all shared our valentine’s with each other and ate our candy. Then these adorable second graders put on a Valentine’s concert for their parents and sang their little hearts out to songs like “Your Heart is Home” and “Viva Valentine”. They then proceeded to gorge on the cookies that were provided.

The students all brought me valentines and drew me pictures and I ended up feeling loved and valued. It was such a great feeling to know that my students care about me being in their class, even the ones that I struggle with daily. Isn’t it cool that while I went to encourage my students, they in turn gave more encouragement to me. I am so blessed to be in this profession. Thank you God for this opportunity!

1 Thessalonians 3:12- May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you

John 15:12- My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

Leviticus 19:18- " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."

Isaiah 54:10- "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you."

John 10:17- "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again".

1 Corinthians 16:14- " Do everything in love."

And the ultimate act of LOVE: " For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life in Christ Jesus!"- John 3:16


And my favorite: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."- 1 John 4:7-12

My inner self can be harsh at times

Today was the first day I have felt homesick. I was sitting in a taxi on my way back to base when the cab driver decided to turn on country music. Haha of course Lady Antebellum would make anyone want to be home, especially when NEVER ALONE came on and all I thought about was Kappa Delta. It hit me that I am missing my last semester in college with all of my friends. I was thinking to myself “Self, why did you even want to do this in the first place? This isn’t your personality! It would have been way better for you to stay home where it is comfortable and familiar. Where everyone loves you and wants to spend time with you. Why would you leave that, dumb dumb?” (My inner self can be very hostile sometimes). And for a few minutes I let myself wallow in the dread and fear that I made a mistake.

Since I haven’t been able to make it to a regular church service (it’s on a different base) I have been listening to as many podcasts as I can. I listened to Lifechurch.tv’s podcast recently and the sermon was on living in fear. Craig said something that hit me. It wasn’t one of those sermons in which I nod and think “oh yeah, that makes sense I should do that” but then leave and not change anything. It was a sermon that rocked my world. I would say that I live in fear that things won’t go the way I plan. Exhibit A: I am fearful that I will never get married. Lame, I know. Hopefully I am not alone in this fear, however unsound it may be. Exhibit B: I am fearful that I may have made the wrong decision about coming to England. But Craig said something that gut-punched me. He said that whatever we fear, is the area that we trust God the least. Plain and simple. Duh. Obviously, whatever I worry about is what I trust God with the least. If I am worrying about something, it is the same as me saying “God I don’t trust you with this area of my life”. When I realized that Craig was talking directly to me, he said something that will help me overcome these fears. He suggested to just close your eyes, and say right then and there to God, “God, I know that you are still on the throne. You have never left. You haven’t changed. You are still in control of what happens in my life and you have been there in the good and the not so good. You remain the same and I can take comfort in that.”

So, in my taxi ride, I said that prayer. And I literally felt calmer and more at peace. Now, am I completely worry free? No. But I am learning how to solely find my assurance through Him and not through my own planning.

“I have never known more than fifteen minutes of anxiety or fear. Whenever I feel fearful emotions overtaking me I just close my eyes and thank God that He is still on the throne reigning over everything and I take comfort in His control over all the affairs of my life.” ~ John Wesley

"You know you don't go to Cambridge University when you have to ask how to spell 'Nobel Peace Prize' '

I was very lucky this past weekend to be able to visit TWO different cities in England. On Friday, we traveled to Bury St. Edmunds. This quaint little town has a beautiful church, St. Edmund’s Cathedral, with ruins from the original building which was around in the 13 century. It was absolutely breath-taking! It also had adorable little shops and cobble stone walkways. It was a great little getaway trip for us. It was very windy and overcast, but that is becoming the norm around here.

It was like our entrance into the "Secret Garden"

These ruins were absolutely beautiful

St. Edmund's Cathedral

Obviously, I needed a picture of this store

How cute and adorable is this?

On Sunday, we went to Cambridge. I love love love love Cambridge! It was exactly what I imagined a British town to look like. It had cobblestone roads and alleyways with high buildings. Many people were riding bikes. It just was exactly what I pictured. The shopping was great in Cambridge (I may have made a few purchases) and we ate at a pub called “The Eagle” where the founders of DNA, Watson and Crick, celebrated after making their discovery with their colleagues. But my favorite part of the trip was the punting trip. A punt is a type of flat boat and they take these boats down the river Cam to give a tour of the colleges in Cambridge. Kings college is absolutely beautiful but my favorite college was Clare’s College. It was paid for by Catherine DeBourgh (ring any bells from Pride and Prejudice??) and was stunning. Our tour guide even mentioned that there were several rivalries between the colleges. They fight over who put the first clock tower up and who has the most Nobel peace prize winners! I don't think that is why OSU's rival is OU.  I would definitely like to go back to Cambridge whenever we have a free weekend!

 Our cute little punts

 My friends Nikki and Sarah

 Beautiful Clare's College

The Sigh Brdge

The winding streets of Cambridge

Second graders...

List of things I said to my second graders today:

“Boys, stop playing in the bathroom!” This happens literally every day. They boys have a routine to go into the bathroom after lunch/recess and splash each other with water and get into “other mischief” before going to class. They are very loud and rowdy (as all boys are). Today I heard that they were acting up in the bathroom and so I decided to wait outside of the bathroom door for them all to come out and talk to them as a group. So needless to say they came out, one by one, and stood horrified that a teacher was right there waiting for them! When they were all together, I used all of my background knowledge that I gleaned from OSU and said “I have noticed that every day after recess the four of you go into the bathroom and mess around. I can hear you all yelling and screaming and this disrupts the other classes and delays our class. How can we fix this?” I think all my teachers would agree that this was a great argument because it starts with “I have noticed” which isn’t to condescending and it also causes students to assume responsibility in fixing the problem. The response I got was “I wasn’t making any noise!” “Joe Bob (names have been changed lol) followed us in here!” Or my favorite, “We didn’t know you were listening!” Those were not the responses we were taught to handle. Long story short, I ended up saying that from now on they will have to ask me before they can go to the bathroom until I can see them being more responsible with their time in there. They all walked away like I had taken away their lunch and forced them to watch me eat it!! We will see tomorrow if it works.

“If it is not your turn to stick your tongue out, keep your tongue in your mouth.” Okay, this was part of a game called “Frogger” in which you stick your tongue out at people. Still, an odd sentence to say in class.

“Can you please stop tapping your head with the pencil?” This one kid has a habit of hitting his head with a pencil and it looks painful. I just wanted him to stop.

Things my second graders said to me:

“Miss Callie, I ripped my pants. Can I go to the nurse?” hahah poor kid. He ripped his pants on the playground. How humiliating! Only as a kid would that not phase you.

“Can you please tell him to stop picking his nose?” Yes. Yes, I can do that for you. Gross.

“Why did the hamburger cross the road? Because it was in the Chicken’s pocket” or “Why did the hippopotamus cross the road? Because the chicken had the hippopotamus as a pet” …. What? I told a joke today (Why did the gum cross the road? Because it was stuck to the chicken’s foot! Hahaha) and they came up with every variation of this possible! The comedic gene has not fully developed in second graders yet.

“Miss Callie, Joe Bob cut in line!!” I literally here this 8 times a day. But with any student’s name inserted into the sentence. They tattle SO MUCH in second grade. They are constantly blaming someone else and rarely take responsibility for any part in the problem.

“Miss Callie, I made a friendship bracelet for you”. Isn’t that so sweet! I guess they can be cute sometimes….

We fancied a wander in London...

My hands were numb. My nose was red and runny. My ears felt like they were going to fall off. But sight-seeing in London this weekend was ALL WORTH IT! First we took a bus to the Tower of London. I kind of expected it to be like this tall, lone tower standing in the middle of London. Nope. I was wrong. It is a castle that is surrounded by a tall stone wall. It is absolutely gorgeous and it was so great to learn about where England’s monarchs have lived for over 500 years! We saw the Traitor’s Gate, where Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas Moore were taken through when going to their beheading just outside the tower. I was also able to see the armory and the crown jewels! OH. MY. GOSH. I saw the largest diamond in the world (The First Star of Africa) which is part of the Queen’s scepter. Also, the robe she wears during her coronation is 20 pounds and uses pure gold thread. It was absolutely amazing. The Tower was just absolutely fantastic and I loved seeing everything it had to offer!

When we tried to go to Buckingham Palace yesterday, there was a student protest going on. They were protesting the fact that the price for tuition had gone up, leaving those with loans more in debt. It was supposed to be a peaceful march but when we went by there were police cars everywhere. We noticed it started to get a little out of hand and we booked it out of there! Today, I was fortunate enough to see Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard. There were a lot of people there so it was really hard to see but it was worth it. Also, the flag was flying above the Palace which means that the Queen was home! I couldn’t see her in the house but I waved hello anyways.

When we arrived at Westminster Abbey, the church was in service and we were not allowed in since they had already started. However, it was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen and I stared at for a very long time. I was in awe of the fact that these men, who had no where near the technology that we have now, were able to create such a beautiful building. And not only that, but they spent so much time building a beautiful CHURCH. I wish we still did that today. Wouldn’t it be amazing if, in America, our best architectural achievements were churches?

We then made our way over to Kensington Gardens and saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and the infamous Peter Pan statue. The gardens were beautiful and it was so great to be able to walk around and enjoy the sun (which was a miracle since they never see sun in England).

There was so much that we didn’t have time to see. I would have loved to go to Notting Hill, Kings Cross (train station in Harry Potter), Picadilly Circus, and Trafalgar Square. I am dying to see the Winston Churchill War Rooms. But I’m sure we will go again!

"Lets take a wander towards the Chippie!"

Today was full of firsts.

For example… I was late!! If you know me at all you know that punctuality is one of the things I really adhere to and I was so embarrassed that I arrived late to the elementary school today. Luckily it was a teacher work day but my jetlag really got the best of me today. I was so embarrassed when I arrived at school totally disheveled but they were so nice and told me not to worry about it. I met with the principal and did some online training so I should be ready to start on Monday! Ahhhh! And I swear I will not be late (I bought an alarm clock!)

When I came back, Emily, Meredith, Kendall, and I wanted to take a walk to town. We went downstairs for some directions. The lady at the front (a native Brit) pretty much told us that we were crazy to WALK to the nearest town because it was a couple of miles away. Our first British person encounter. But we told her that we were pretty much dying to go somewhere off base. She goes “well, if you fancy a wander….” And then preceded to give us directions. Fancy a wander? FANCY A WANDER? What?? Isn’t that just a crazy way to say “take a walk.” So crazy. We told her that we wanted to go to a fish and chips store and she replied “The Chippie?? In might be closed”. She called to make sure and it turns out they were open. Since we did “fancy a wander” to the “chippie” we took her advice and walked the 2 miles to the nearest town, Feltwell. We walked out of the base gate and then had to figure out what side of the road to get on. The drivers here are crazy and we might have been in a couple of close calls with cars. But we survived and found our way around our first little English town. It truly looked exactly what I expected. It had wrought iron fences and hedges all the way around. There were like sod roof type things on the top of the houses and mossy green grass everywhere. Ivy was even growing along the side of buildings. It was so absolutely adorable.The picture below describes how beautiful it was:



 We finally found the “chippie” and ordered our first British food: cod and chips! It was really good food! We then walked the two miles back onto the base.

Such a great day of firsts!

So we have been on base less than a day, and I can tell we are just beginning this adventure. Yesterday was absolutely crazy! Literally. But I should start with our flight.

All eight of us were incredibly excited to get on our flight! We were all laughing and semi-yelling. I think I may have even fist-pumped when our plane took off. All of a sudden, the stewardess came next to us and said “I’m sorry, I think customs in England will have to send you back.” I was about to apologize for being so loud and swear that I would never laugh again when she said “I don’t know if they will let people from Oklahoma in!” Turns out, she is from Tulsa. All of the flight attendants were so nice to us and continually joked with us throughout the flight. I watched two movies on the plane (The Social Network and Life As We Know It) and then slept pretty much the rest of the way. There were like 5 empty rows in the back of the plane (where we were) and we all spread out! It was really great except… for the lady sitting next to me! She was from Africa and barely spoke any English. So whenever food service came around I had to try to help translate for her what she was eating. First, I tried to help her understand the concept of a pretzel. Very difficult.  But she really liked pretzels and even asked if she could have the rest of mine (mind you I was still eating them) but I gave them to her anyways. She also seemed to need me to do everything for her right when I was dozing off… like pull off her jacket, or show her how to open the plastic around her blanket. Haha but the plane ride went fine over.

After we got off the plane at London Heathrow Airport, we realized we were about a 15 minute walk from where our bags were. But our bags did all arrive and in good condition. However, we had to walk about 3 more miles (literally all uphill) to our bus terminal. After we were profusely sweating, we waited around for our bus to arrive. On the bus ride to the base, I slept. I think I may have even drooled I was in such a deep sleep. So I literally saw none of England on the 2 hour drive to Lakenheath.

When we finally arrived, we had a man with a gun check us onto base. We all literally felt that any sudden movement might be a bad idea. Luckily, we all made it past the barb-wire fence and went on to get our military IDs. Honestly, if we didn’t have teachers on base helping us, I don’t know how we would have gotten all the paperwork done.  They also took us to the BX (think of a combo of walmart, JC Pennys, and the food court of a mall…. Very odd, I know) and to the commissary (a grocery store). We also were taken to our rooms at RAF Feltwell. This base has absolutely nothing except a convenience store and an elementary school. Literally. And there are no shuttles from one base to another so we rely solely on others offering their cars. The girls and I think our base is similar to BIG BROTHER in that there isn’t much contact to the outside world. Emily and I even went running today around the base and went up to look at the barbwire fence that surrounds the base. We literally sat there starring at the field that was beyond the fence and felt like a scene from “1984” to where we could see the outside world but couldn’t reach it.

We are going this weekend to London and I cannot wait to see everything the city has to offer. Hopefully, we will meet Colin Firth or Hugh Grant!