Nae's Thoughts

I started to write this blog post last week and it just didn't feel right. I was in a super weird place and just feeling so overwhelmed and pretty lonely. So I decided to reach out via social media to my "friends".  To see what brings you all hope. So I wanted to share what I learned from the messages, comments, texts, and kind words that everyone shared with me. Along with the original thoughts from my post.   These past two years have been no joke really for anyone in the world. We've all struggled, felt hopeless, or let down. We've given more than we thought we had inside of us.  I read a lot of books, watch a pretty good amount of TV, and love to take myself to the movies. The older I get the more I realize that there is one theme that I look for in a story more than any other Hope.  I am a self proclaimed hopeless romantic.  I love me a good love story. I used to think that was what I wanted most in a story. While that's true to a small degree I've fo...

 This is going to be a little bit of a different blog post than most of them that I write. This is going to be some of my all time favorite ABC, name, and literacy practice activities that I used while teaching Kindergarten for the past 4 years. I get people asking about these so I figured rather than type it all out a million times to send I could do it once here and then easily share them.  One of my favorite thing about education is when I get to collaborate with other professionals to share ideas of how to promote student learning and growth. I view this as a simple way to collaborate with some pretty amazing parents on simple fun ways to help kids learn their ABC’s.  **Disclaimer- theses are just my own thoughts and opinions. There are lots of different ways kids learn. These are just ways that I found to be effective in my classroom.  Tips 1. Start with teaching the letters in their name. They are the easiest for them to remember! Say the letters as you write t...

 Each year at Kindergarten Graduation I try to thank parents for letting me be a part of their child’s story. A small part of the amazing people I know they are going to grow up and be.   Recently with a new job and feeling like we are finally reconnecting post COVID I’ve stopped to think about my own story. In the past week I’ve had a handful of people I haven’t talked to in a while reach out and reconnect. People that have meant a lot to me over the years, but our stories just happened to move in different directions. I’ve also watched a dear friend receive some of the hardest news you can about the health of a loved one. Babies have been announced, marriage’s too.  Life continues.  All of these made my stop and ponder my story. The nature of life for me right now means that I spend a lot of my day alone. In the car, on my couch, at the store. The tiny moments are often spent by myself. This chapter of my story has me flying solo. But it doesn’t mean it’s lonely....

 I'm such a loud outgoing person, but sometimes I just don't feel seen.  Since the time I was little I have always been loud. I was that kid in class who was constantly being told to use her inside voice (which was clearly what I was already using). No joke one time I was standing in a big group of friends back in high school and this girl asks, "why is it so loud?" and in unison my friends on both sides of her go, "Denae's here."  I have lot's of friends. I'm super social. I can scroll through my phone or social media and find many great people who love and care about me. The logic part of my brain understands that. It has labeled us as an extrovert. It thrives in large groups of people. It speaks up in pretty much any situation we find ourselves in. (work, church, social, etc)  And yet, sometimes I feel like no matter how loud I am or how often I'm surrounded by others I don't feel like anyone really see's me.  I often wonder if oth...

I'm about to be so cliche and start out with a story from my mission. But before you roll your eyes into the back of your head or stop reading just know that this story is more about what I learned in the moment and not really about missions or missionary work. I was about 6 months into my mission and I had been serving in Grand Forks, ND the entire time. I was training a new missionary who was pretty much the opposite of me, very quiet and introverted, not one to speak up. Very sweet girl, but I remember thinking, Heavenly Father are you SURE this was the missionary you wanted ME to train? (if you were wondering the answer was yes and I learned so much from my time with her) We didn't have much work to do and having been in the area for as long as I had I was incredibly tired and sincerely didn't know what to do.  One Sunday we are sitting in Sacrament meeting singing hymn 169 As now we take the sacrament. During the 3rd verse someone sitting behind me asked me something s...

 I am exhausted. In pretty much every definition of the word.  Physically Mentally Emotionally Spiritually  Every day I feel like I accomplish 3 tasks to have 7 more added to my plate. I'm so proud of myself for getting my to do list done to only then realize that it was only the tip of the ice berg.  Let me give you an example.  I left school on Friday feeling great about surviving the first week. I told myself that I was ready for week two, that things were great. I cleaned my whole house on Saturday (I'm talking dishes, laundry, I even MOPPED my floors people.) I went to the grocery store. Sunday afternoon I was feeling really great about myself. Then I got my weekly school email and realized that I have like 10 million things I had forgot about and was not nearly as prepared as I had convinced myself.  To summarize I went from, Wow I am doing so great! to, Wow I forgot so many things!  In the past few weeks I have found myself having to say over an...

Being a teacher during a pandemic is hard. Being a teacher in the summer during a pandemic is boring. Being a single teacher in the summer during a pandemic is making me slowly lose my mind. Enter Sunday. I joked to someone the other day that Sunday has turned into the one day a week that I don't go to the store but that's pretty much the only thing that makes it any different than the rest of my week. "At home church" when you are single basically just looks like scripture study..... which I try to do every day.... Sometimes I go to my parents house for the sacrament but now they are going back to church too and it's just a weird thing that is happening. This morning I decided I wanted Sunday to be different. I don't want to feel like the only distinguishing feature is that I don't go to the store. So I decided that I'm going to start doing a blog post each Sunday of what I have been learning or thinking about each week. This is mostly just for me...