Practice What You Teach

     Since 2017 is coming to a close, I've been reflecting a lot lately about this past year. If I had to describe the year 2017 in a sentence, I'll admit the first thought I had was, "this year has been really hard." The more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to add, "and rewarding" to the end of that sentence.   One of the things I love the most is writing in my journal every night. I was reading from one of my journals the other night, and I came across an entry where I was describing a Sunday School class. Someone in the class that day commented, "I think that we go through trials when the Lord feels we are ready to grow." That struck me, and as I thought back on my year, I realized that my growth during this tough year has come SO slowly and in such small steps that I had barely noticed it at all. When I really took the time to think about it, it was almost like it was staring me right in the face. I decided the best thing I c

       I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling a lot of anxiety. I was stressed, overwhelmed, tired, and just having a hard time being back to reality after Thanksgiving break. The feelings didn't let up when I got to school, and I started wondering how I was going to make it through the day.         I had morning duty, and my post was where the 5th and 6th graders wait for the bell, which is right by the cafeteria and the main door where the students come in. One of my students saw me as he was coming out of the cafeteria after breakfast. He came up to me and asked if he could stay with me and help me. I decided talking with this student was preferable to going through my lengthy to do list in my head, which wasn't exactly helping me much, so I told him he could. He turns to me and goes, " Miss Freeman, I have an idea! Every time I see someone from our class walk by I'm going to tell them that they should stay here and help you too! Can I?" I was like, "kno

             When I was in seventh grade and started middle school, I learned that if you got straight A's during a quarter of the school year, you would get a huge medal and be recognized in an awards ceremony at school.  If you got all A's and B's, you would get a certificate and still be recognized, but in my mind how could that compete with a medal? I made a goal that I was going to get straight A's and earn that medal. It took three quarters, but I accomplished that goal and was so excited. However, each quarter after that if I only got A's and B's, I felt like a failure and was so let down. I'd have these thoughts like, "maybe if I'd just studied harder for that one science test, I would've gotten straight A's." Or, "maybe I should've worked a just a little harder to understand my last math chapter and I would've gotten good enough scores to get an A instead of a B+."              This pattern of thought continu

     I have been completely overwhelmed by the response to my last post, I cannot even begin to thank all of you for you love, support, and kind words. It meant more to me than you could possibly know and has inspired me to start sharing my writing more!      Today's post is dedicated to my amazing mom, in honor of her birthday tomorrow. In our family, we have a tradition where on our birthdays, our parents and siblings decorate the house with posters about things we love about that member of the family. One year, when Amy wasn't home for her birthday, I decorated her apartment door with posters to keep up the tradition. On one of the posters, I made a list of things I loved about her that corresponded to how old she was turning. My mom loved my brilliant idea and ever since she has made each of us a similar list for our birthdays. So, I enlisted the help of my sisters to do the same for her! What We LOVE About our Mom: 1. She taught us to always think of others first.

      Earlier this week, a post came up on my Facebook memories where I had written and shared a post on this blog about my weight loss story several years ago. As I sat there re-reading the post and reading all of the comments, I thought to myself, "I really wish I could be that brave and vulnerable again." I've been feeling a nudge to write this post for weeks now, but I kept shoving the thought away, honestly because I was scared to share it. But a conversation I had with a friend the other day gave me the little push I needed and helped me realize that sharing my experience could help others who might be going through the same things.       I struggle with anxiety. I think to a degree I always have, but a few months ago, it started to get bad enough that I couldn't pretend it didn't exist anymore. I didn't tell a soul for awhile, because I was SO convinced that if I just ignored it and refused to verbally acknowledge it, it would magically disappear. Na