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I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1995. I'm Sooner born and Sooner bred. And in the 18 years since I finished college, I've had a very eclectic resume. I taught in public school for 3 years, followed by 2 years at a private Catholic school (I'm not Catholic, incidentally). Then I stayed home with my babies for 7 years and when the economy took a nose dive, so did my husband's job. We downsized our home, lived on savings for a year, and mama went back to what she knew best: teaching. It didn't pay the bills, but it helped offset the money hemorrhaging out of our savings account.

Our family goal was for me to never work again after our babies were born. But God had other plans to bless our family. And although I am admittedly the WORST full time working mom on the planet, I am an excellent part time working mom. So last year, after 4 years back in the classroom, I quit my teaching job to stay home and focus on my family. When yet again, God sent me back to the classroom this year.

For the first time in my teaching career, I'm in it for the fun! I work two days a week and it's not for the income, but for the joy of doing what I know and love best.

I've often looked back at my last 4 years and wondered why I was teaching at my sweet little Title 1 school. Was it for the friendships forged with other teachers? For the children I met and loved? Was my testimony on display? Or did I fail at sharing Jesus in a public school forum?

Today I was reminded of one reason I ended up living through that season of my life. It was a boy. Who is now growing into a young man. I can't explain why he was so special. But God pressed him firmly on my heart the minute he entered my classroom. I grew to love seeing this boy each day and trying to pull a smile onto his lips.

His life is not ideal. His parents have made some poor decisions. He was born into poverty. And his story is probably just like the stories of kids all over our nation. But He still resides in my heart. And when he disappeared for 2 months with no word on where he went, I prayed. I got on my knees and asked God to spare him from grief. I prayed safety and protection over this child that I had no idea if I would ever see again. I shed tears over this boy.

And then one day, there he was! He walked back into my classroom like he had never been gone. And I put my public school job on the line. I walked over to him and looked him in the eye. I told him that I was elated that he was back and that I had prayed for his protection while he was gone. I told him that I loved him. And he stared me straight in the eye and said thank you, with the sincerity of all his nine years.

A few weeks later we had some guests come into the building who were volunteering. They were young college kids and the minute they saw this boy, they lit up! As I looked at him smiling and waving back, it hit me. These were people who knew him while he was away. I approached the young man and asked him how he knew this boy. He had been his tutor in the shelter where he was staying for 2 months. And then I did it again. I took hold of this man's arm and I looked him in the eye. "I prayed for you! I prayed that wherever this child was that he was being interacted with by people who would love him and take care of him! That's YOU!" I said. He blushed and got flustered, muttering thank you, as he walked away.

I LOVED THIS CHILD.

So you can imagine my joy when I ran into him at the local city football league games today. I hugged him. He hugged me back. And I was the first to let go.

He looks good. Healthy. I'm not really sure HOW he is, because he has always been one of few words. I'm not sure who he lives with. But you can bet that my prayers have never ended for that child. And they never will. I just hope the next time I see him that I'm the last to let go.

clumsy smurf is my cousin

Have you ever read the sidebar description of me? It says I'm clumsy.

All day I've been trying to remember to blog about something that happened to me this morning but it wasn't until I almost tripped on my own feet just now that I remembered.

Let's start at the very beginning. I've been getting up very early to run lately. I wake up at 4:51 am (that is not a typo) and meet my trusty little sidekick, Brenda, to run 3 miles, three times a week. I was really tired this morning. But let's be honest, sometimes I yawn while I run that early. And almost every day I'm exhausted, but I get up and do it anyway.

Well we were about 2.5 miles into our run, literally coming down the home stretch. Have I mentioned how DARK it is during the 5:00 hour? It's DARK. And when cars pass us, we get blinded.

We were running on a sidewalk that normally trips us up, literally. It's got parts that jut up and trip you in the light. Which is no bueno in the dark. But I was confident. We were almost home, I had a good pace, I felt great. I even thought I should pick my feet up a little so in case I hit a snare, I'd be high above and un-trippable. (Is that a word? My computer is saying no.)

I could see our turn coming up, with a big street lamp illuminating the way. Yes, we were almost done. The path was clear and life was good.

And then this flowering tree branch jumped out and smacked me in the face. I swear to you, there was not one low lying tree ahead. There was nothing in the path of my 5'10" frame. EXCEPT that SINGLE flowering branch slithering out in the dark.

How do I know it was a flowering branch? Well, when my eye hit it at full running speed while it was WIDE OPEN, I caught a little flower in my eye. YES. I DID.

I was blinded! It stung! And worse yet, I was still wearing yesterday's makeup, so the watery day-old mascara was starting to do it's own magic on my offended eye. OUCH!! OUCH!! I can't see, Brenda!!

So what do you think I did? Like a true runner, I picked back up and started running. ONE EYED. Oh yes, I did. I ran in the dark, with one eye closed, for a half mile.

I was feeling pretty confident close to her house. So confident that I turned down her street, wondering why she wasn't following. OH, that would be because I HAD NO DEPTH PERCEPTION NOW AND I WAS ONE STREET TOO SOON FROM HER HOUSE.

Oh yes. I'm an amazing one eyed runner.

THIS was my highlight run of the week, folks.

my feathered flock

I haven't talked about the girls lately, have I?

Well let me tell you, those birds are still one of my joys! When I come outside, they come running! They gather around me and peck lightly at my toes. They coo. And they love.

They've been giving me about 26-28 eggs a week all summer, even in the heat! So you can imagine my surprise last week when I went out to check for eggs and I found..... none. Not one! Hmmm, I pondered. And my mind raced to all the reasons that could be.

Maybe there's a snake who has finally found their coop and is eating their eggs before I got there? Maybe they have all gone broody? Maybe it's just an off day.

I follow several blogs on urban and rural farming of chickens, and I've been reading lately about it being the season to "molt." I knew they lay less, if any during this time. But I hadn't seen any signs of molting besides a lack of eggs. And then two days ago I looked out on my backyard. Had it snowed last night? Surely not, since we live in Oklahoma and it's September.

Holy moly, the girls are molting.

Do ya SEE all the feathers in my yard?? Check out the one at the top of this story. Are you seeing the feathers now?? Yah. They are there. WE are there. Looks like I may have to buy some eggs from Dodson's soon. But hopefully it won't last long.

Kim's HROTW

It's time for my highlight run from last week. Except this time I have no good story, no great picture, and no glory to share. But I'll have it known that I ran 8 miles on Saturday. And then I went to the OU game and walked another mile + to and from the stadium. And I walked up those AWFUL stadium steps to get to our seats in the sky. And all of that is worth something, right?

My legs sure felt it. Good thing we had amazing weather.

tracking the miles

It's that time again, boys and girls! Time for Kim's Highlight Run of the Week. This week has no picture of the road.

If anything, it should have been a picture of my sweaty head. Seriously. My hair looked like I had just taken a shower. I was dripping with sweat.

But I am a sweater. I sweat when it's slightly warm. I sweat when I'm nervous. I even sweat when I PERCEIVE that I SHOULD BE nervous. It's kooky. Like me. Whatever.

I do have a picture though. It's my daily mile page. If you run and you don't use daily mile, you're cutting yourself short. I use it as a place to record all my miles. And it gives me great stats like how many donuts I ran off and how many tv's I powered with all my miles. And at the end of the year they send you a cool report with all your miles calculated and more silly facts. I love it. But I'm a numbers nerd.

I have a disclaimer here. Daily mile is also a social network of sorts. You can look up your friends and and link to them. But I am only on there for me. So if you get on, don't ask me to be your friend. I only do my own business on there. I have facebook for seeing friends. And in fact I used to go by Kim Irunforqueso. But not anymore, I go by my actual name. :)

So get on there and start tracking your exercise! And watch the miles grow. It's awesome.

where did sassy sawdust go?

I looked at the title of my blog and pondered. Sassy Sawdust? What have I done lately that involved sawdust? Nothing. Have I made anything sassy? Nope. Maybe it's time to change the blog name... again.

It's not that I've given up on my little side business of sawing, sanding, and painting adorable door decorations. It's just that with the heat in Oklahoma and my inability to stand sweating unless it involves some sort of exercise, I've been MIA. HOWEVER, I have a plan. One that involves footballs and OU and cooler temps.

So don't give up on me yet. I'll be doing less classes this fall because I'm currently in the business of loving on 13 little 2nd graders two days a week. But I have a plan. Don't give up on me yet. :)

my nemesis, my friend

Kim's Highlight Run of the Week:

The Hill.
This hill. This one? I hate it. It kills me. It hurts. I never conquer it the first run up. But give me 2 shots up this hill? OR 3 or 4? And I OWN this hill. It takes a warm up first-go-around for me to feel good, but after I make it up? I'm thankful for it.

Hills are a free gym, I've heard it said. And it's truth. You can feel the hills in your legs. And when it hurts bad, you know you're building muscle.

So come every Thursday from now until November 21st, you will see me on this hill. Because THIS HILL is nothing compared to the hills in Tulsa that I'll be running just before Thanksgiving. God help me.

love...

Have I told you how much I LOVE my new job?? I. AM. IN. LOVE. I love the kids (cutest kids EVER.), the staff, my teammate, my boss, the job itself. I love it!

I love how after I've worked a day, I get a day off afterwards. Or four!

I love how we pray at the beginning of the day. We pray before lunch. We pray in bible class. And I love that at the end of the day when I'm physically tired, I'm emotionally charged. I love that God gives me everything I need to get through each day.

And do you know what else I love? I love that my family still gets the best of me. I love that I'm working, but I'm not spent. I have emotional energy left every afternoon to give to my own children. And that is worth it's weight in gold.

I love that I have a reason to get dressed and wear makeup four days a week now (between school, BSF, and church). And I love that there are downtimes when I can wear my jammies and clean my house all day.

But mostly I LOVE that I have a God who has gone before me. He knew He wanted me in this school before I knew I wanted to teach part time. And I love that He loved me so much that He placed each and every child into my class for a purpose.

I'm imperfect. I make mistakes. And I'm a piece of work. But God loves me in spite of myself. And there is nothing like the feeling that you are EXACTLY where you were created to be in life. Right smack dab in the middle of God's will for ME.

Kim's Highlight Run of the Week part 3

I like to keep it real here on my blog. So are you ready to see my highlight run of the week? It was right here:

Oh wait. What? Did I run on my couch? NO, you silly goose! That's me NOT sitting on my couch!

Here's the actual view I had with the sun rising and a cool breeze in the shade:

You see, sometimes keeping it real is being honest that you were lucky to get off the couch that day. Today was that day. However, in equal honesty, there was a lotta walkin' today. I made a rookie mistake. I ate a salad for dinner last night and nothing before I went out this morning. So I was having a great run up until about 3.5 miles. And then there was a lotta walkin'. I also neglected to plant water on my route. AND I headed out on a stretch of road that I know, good and well, does not have a single place to get a drink. Rookie mistake. I had to wait til I was a half mile from home before I could sneak into CVS and drink from their refreshingly freezing water fountain.

So there it is... the good, the bad, and the ugly about my run today. My highlight? Doing it at all! 6 miles... check.

middle school problems

My daughter is in middle school. A "sevie" as she likes to call it. For the old people like me out there, that translates to "seventh grade." She's having a blast and is happy for summer to be over so she can see her friends again every day!

Today as we are rushing to get her out the door, she throws a stack of papers at me. "Sign these!" she says.

I'm a rule follower. So I grab a pen and start signing. Do I know what I'm signing? NO! Of course not. But I do remember reading these closely last year and learning that these are the syllabuses for each of her classes. They state the policies and procedures for each subject. I'm instructed to sign that I saw them and return.

After I've signed the last one and grabbed my purse to head out the door she laughs. "Mom! Did you know you have a homework assignment?"

Wha...?

"No. What is it?"

"That English paper you signed asked you to write an essay about me in 500 words or less!"

And then this happened....

OOPS. I guess reading something before you sign it IS a good idea.

Off to type an essay. Because I can't be THAT mom.