Titles

Throughout the last few years of my life, I have had quite a few different titles to certain people {children} in my life. 

From Kendra to Miss Kendra to Miss Haynie and Mrs. Haynie to 'hey teach' and, my latest favorite from my kindergartners, Mrs. Teach. I have loved all of these titles and love the memories that I associate with each of them.

Although I will miss those titles for the next little while, I am even more excited to take on the new title. 

That of, "Sister Haynie."

That's right all, I will be serving as a full time missionary (18 months) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

I have been working on my papers and by the end of this next week, they should be in! Should I have waited until they were in to make this announcement and actually post it on my blog? Well, probably. But I am just so stinkin' excited!!

When I think about it long and hard, I get really nervous that I am not capable enough to be an actual missionary. What if I don't know enough? Or what if I am not able to feel and interpret the spirit? What if I am just not good at talking to people? (This one should not really be an issue..) What if I am not able to study for two hours+ a day? What if people don't listen to what I say and no one wants to get baptized? What if I get really home sick? What if... What if... What if...

Then I realized, that I had a good answer/come back to all of my ridiculous questions. I have a testimony of this Gospel and because of that, everything else will fall into place, that will be enough. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and I know that he wants me to serve a mission. Because I know that, and because I know he qualifies those he calls, I know that I do not need to be afraid. Will a lot of learning have to take place? Most definitely. But with God's help, I know that I can succeed. I have been so blessed throughout my life to have the knowledge of the Gospel. To be raised in a family where it has been ingrained into every facet of my life. I get to be the one spreading that good news to the rest of the world...at least a small portion of it. I can not wait to get out there and spread the word about the greatest thing in my life. I am so extremely excited and grateful for this opportunity!

Elder Andersen said it best -- "Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime. We do not know everything in the beginning or even along the way. Our conversion comes step-by-step, line upon line. We first build a foundation of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We treasure the principles and ordinances of repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We include a continuing commitment to prayer, a willingness to be obedient, and an ongoing witness of the Book of Mormon. (The Book of Mormon is powerful spiritual nourishment.)

We then remain steady and patient as we progress through mortality. At times, the Lord’s answer will be, “You don’t know everything, but you know enough”—enough to keep the commandments and to do what is right."   -Elder Neil L. Andersen

From Kendra to Sister Haynie...and I could not be more excited!

P.S. Stay tuned for the actual call... it will be announced here first! :)

Yay for Kindergarten!

"The Christmas spirit's startin', down in the Kindergarten." 

So, I realized today that I never even told the blogging world that after I got done teaching sixth grade, planning myself to death and turned in my TEACHER WORK SAMPLE... I got put in a new placement. Teaching Kindergarten at Deerfield Elementary in Cedar Hills. It is now a 40-70 minute commute...instead of a 5 minute walk, which is a little sad. But I am loving it regardless. Teaching 5 and 6 year olds has been quite the switch for me and it took some adjusting. Mostly just taking sarcasm out of my daily life (hard!) and making my jokes consist of bunny ears and things that smell. It is truly a different world down there. But they are adorable and make you feel like you are the best thing ever, pretty much every day.

But, this post is not to tell you about kindergarten in general. I just wanted to let you know that today we had a gingerbread hunt. I made this gingerbread man talked him WAY up. I have been reading gingerbread books to them during read a loud all week. I told the kiddos I would share him with them after recess. Recess came and went and the gingerbread man disappeared!! We made PREDICTIONS about what happened to the gingerbread. Many of which consisted of, "he ran away!" "You and Mrs. E ate him when we were at recess!" "Someone stole him!" Etc. I was entertained. I asked the class if they saw anything that maybe my gingerbread man could have left to help us know where he was. Insert picture 3 below... Clue #1 on the white board. 

Cute right? OK, he could have been A LOT better, but we were low on supplies. 

 

We went on our hunt around the school and the kids were on their best behavior and SO cute. We visited the library, the office and the custodian's office. They were so excited. It is times like that where I really do love those younger grades. I know I could not have gotten my 6th graders to be that excited about a gingerbread man hunt... or all my talk and jokes about Santa. Kindergartners are really good for the enthusiasm factor. 

Mostly? I just wanted to show off my cute gingerbread men. I had two, but the morning class ate theirs before I thought to take a picture of it. And that is just one of my many adventures in kindergarten! 

To come? Thanksgiving...College Graduate... AND moving out of Wellington 4. This is huge, you will want to stay tuned.