We Aren't Professionals

We are terrible picture-takers.

But here are a few pictures from Sunday.

Up at Snoqualmie Falls right before he popped the question. Self portrait ... we didn't get the falls in the background. Oh well ...
Hanging out and contemplating hiking down to the base of the falls ...

Beautiful ...

This officially ends our photographic tutorial of our documented engagement. :)

Engagement

I got engaged to this stud yesterday ...


I am one lucky girl.

He popped the question yesterday up at Snoqualmie Falls on a BEAUTIFULLY sunny Seattle afternoon.

Perfect.

We're getting married on June 6th at my parent's house on Lake Washington with our parents and siblings there.

Small and special and perfect.

xoxo

NW Women's Show

Eastside Women Of Purpose was lucky enough to have a booth donated to us (from Balloon Splendor) at the Northwest Women's Show this weekend.

We all took turns on 4-hour shifts. We raised money & awareness for women and children who have been sold into the sex trade industry, specifically in Southeast Asia.

We talked about our Tee Of Against Trafficking golf tournament and sold Freedom Stones for Leah.

Here are some VERY journalist pictures from my day with Carlee and Amy.

This is a picture of Carlee & I talking to some clients. Please noticed that Carlee is in mid-word and I am doing NOTHING. I'm just standing there with bad posture and even worse hair. More on the hair to come.
Amy and I took a break and walked around the show for a while. I met this crazy woman who insisted on flat-ironing my hair with a flat iron that was $300. What a deal.

She told me her ENTIRE life story.

Let's me honest though ... I didn't really care.

I was willing to listen.

She was playing with my hair.

And it was very relaxing.

The wrinkles around my eyes drive me NUTS in this picture.

Amy kept taking my picture and telling me how much I NEEDED the $300 flat-iron ... in front of the girl who was trying to sell it to me.

Coincidentally ... she was the recipient of this nasty look ...

This is me.

This picture is painfully wrong on MANY levels.

Allow me to explain:

1. I have a gyro in one hand & ice cream in the other. Let me remind you I'm doing Weight Watchers. I've got a WHOLE LOT of "points" in my hands right now.
2. I'm only chewing food on one side of my mouth due to my bad tooth that still needs to be fixed. Again. I look like a chipmunk. I'm saving some gyro meat for later, I guess.
3. My legs are unnaturally far apart. Why? I wonder the same thing. Why?
4. My hair is either a. STICK STRAIGHT or b. SUPER CURLY and there is NO in between. All thanks to my flat-ironing saleslady. I had to walk around the show looking like this ALL DAY. I get many looks. MANY.
   

We had so much fun. I can't wait til next year girls!

BRING IT!

Reminder

Mike shared this at church last week.

It's nice to be reminded.

To have your eyes opened ... once again.

How easily we forget ... when we all have it so good.

Thanks Mike ... you affect many and make a HUGE difference for people.


Street Kids from Overlake Christian Church on Vimeo.

Obama-Rama

Joey walked into class yesterday with an Obama hat on.

I instantly emailed his mom asking if I could take a picture of him and post it on my blog.

Because seriously ... this kid's got GREAT fashion sense (and choice of political party).

Mom gave the approval and Joey showed up with this white-colored version of the hat today.
When I asked Joey where he got it, here was his response:

Me: Where did you get that cool hat?
Joey: Oh, I got it at a hat store.
Me: Where is the hat store? Like Woodinville or something?
Joey: Well, do you know where McDonald's is?
Me: Sure (you know, because surely I know of the McDonald's he's referring to).
Joey: Well, if you go to McDonald's and then out of McDonald's, it's across the road in the hat shop. You can walk in and there are a lot of hat's and you just pick one. You can get one too.
Me: That's awesome. Which McDonald's are you talking about?
Joey: The one with the big-play toy.
Me: Hmm ... I feel like ALL McDonald's have play toys.
Joey: No. This one has a BIG play toy with a slide and a tube you can crawl through.

Ah ... I see.

Girly Day

I keep thinking about blogging ... but I don't.

You could say I went on a short hiatus from blogging.

Mainly because I had nothing profound to say.

And whenever I DID have something to say, I couldn't think of a clever way of writing it.

I had Blogger's Block.

I'm pretty sure Blogger's Block is written up in the DSM ... right?!?

At any rate, I still have nothing profound to say ... but thought I'd share something with you.

I spent all day yesterday feeling VERY ungirly.

Long-sleeved t-shirt under a t-shirt and jeans.

Usually it's my 'uniform' ... but I just wasn't feelin' it yesterday.

So I thought I'd make up for it today.

I bought this cute striped dress at Target yesterday and threw it over a pair of jeans.

Choosing sleep over washing my hair, I threw it in a pony tail.

Feeling WAY to close to ungirly again, I put a cute bobby pin in my hair.

It's one of the super fancy pins I wore in my hair on my wedding day.
For The Record: If you ever see me wearing one of these clips, I'm trying to be girly, OK?!?

When feeling ungirly ... it's a sure bet to Girlyness-Land by wearing something from your wedding.

Right?!?

On a NON-related note ... I've lost 14 pounds with Weight Watchers so far!

This has nothing to do with my post ... I just thought I'd publicly congratulate myself on my own blog. :)

Happy Girly Day Lisa!

The Call to Serve

Please watch this video by the beautiful Marisa.

She is our fearless leader of Eastside Women of Purpose.


Marisa Butterworth Interview from Overlake Christian Church on Vimeo.

Today's service at church was about SERVICE.

Here are a few scripture verses that Mike shared with us today.

You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a blanket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the whole house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly father. Matthew 5:14-16

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Galatians 6:3

If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Ecclesiastes 11:4

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. 1 Corinthians 15:58

What is your heart calling YOU to do?

Happy Birthday Buddy

Happy 5th Birthday Cooper!

You love staring at me while making your eyebrows go up and down.
When you do that, I yell "Eyebrows!"
You have no idea what I'm saying but you love it.

You love your "babies" somethin' fierce.
You lick them clean, and carry them around the house gently in your mouth.
You always bring one into the car with you when we go places together.

You love being wherever I am.
When I garden, you lay in the sun and keep tabs on my where-abouts.
Also, you eat grass ... and usually get in trouble for it.

You have the laziest "sit" I've ever seen in a dog.
I call it your "tripod" sit.
I wouldn't change a THING about it.

You have seen me through some very dark times.
You make my life happier.
You bring me joy.
You remind me of the simple things.
I smile when I think about your unconditional love.

I love you angel face.
xoxo

Danny Boy Blue

You are my hero.

My fort-building partner.

Run-through-the-woods pal.

Play-in-the-sandbox-co-creator.

Leap off the swings competitor.

Giggle buddy and memory maker.

Your energy inspires me.

Your heart and integrity encourages me.

Your hugs warm my soul.

Your friendship enriches my life.

I am better because of knowing you.

I am the luckiest sister in the world.

Happy 30th birthday to the most wonderful man I know.

My brother.

Happy Birthday Danny-Boy-Blue.

No one loves you more.

Larry Gets Lost In Seattle

I read this book to my students today.

They LOVED it.

A cute rhyming story about a little dog named Larry who loses his owner in the city of Seattle (doesn't it always happen that way!?!).

Landmarks unique to Seattle such as Pioneer Square, The Hammering Man at the Seattle Art Museum, The Underground Tour, Safeco Field, EMP, and so many more are highlighted in this adorable book.

Perfect for a gift for children who live in the Seattle area or those who live far away.

My students LOVED seeing the places they've visited and sharing stories with each other.

Fun, fun, fun!

Larry Gets Lost In Seattle
Written & Illustrated by John Skewes

What IS That Thing?

Only in the Pacific Northwest:

People driving around with their sunroofs open and their tops down on their convertibles ...

... when it's 48˚.

I was one of them today.

The sunroof.

Not the convertible. :)

On a related topic, I actually heard this - this morning on the news:

"Traffic on I-90 is slowing down as the sun rises over the Seattle skyline."

Only in the Pacific Northwest:

Traffic gets congested due to the brightly-shining ball in the sky.

I think it's called the sun.

But I'm not quite sure.

Only in the Pacific Northwest:

Children come out of church (while burying their faces in their mom's neck) on a sunny Sunday and say, "MOM! I need my sunglasses!"

Today was beautiful.

Thank you Jesus.

----

Do you ever feel like there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that anything else can be added to your week?

And if something else IS added to your week then your head will spin off?

Yep ... I'm having one of those weeks.

This week's goals:

• Take each day one at a time
• Enjoy each and every moment
• Live in the present instead of stressing about what tomorrow will bring
• Breathe -- Deeply

Please pray for my Grandpa who is in the hospital with Pneumonia and very fragile.

God is good.

Funny Things You Hear At School

For a few weeks we had a running commentary on our staff room white board.

Someone posted the heading FUNNY THINGS YOU HEAR AT SCHOOL.

As teachers strolled through, or ate their lunch, everyone added little tidbits of knowledge we've received over the years.

Here are a few of my favorites:

FUNNY THINGS YOU HEAR AT SCHOOL

• "I'm not going to wear deodorant!" (5th grader)
• "How do you spell onceuponatime?" (1st grader)
• Q: "Do you want a piece of toast?" A: "No, there's only the butts left." (2nd grader)
• "The school rule is no throwing rocks, except in an emergency." (3rd grader)
• "You're really good in high heals." (2nd grader)
• "Read every day. No matter how much you hate it." (2nd grader)

Ah ... good stuff.

water4christmas.com

My heart beats for stories like this.

From Scott Harrison (founder of Charity: Water):

"In preparation for the fall launch of our Water for Schools program, I had the pleasure of traveling to Ethiopia a few weeks ago with four fathers and five of their daughters, ages 9-14. One of the dads, Shawn Budde, has been volunteering as a strategy consultant with charity: water for over 6 months and has been a huge blessing to us. On this trip, I had a surprise for him. I was going to take him and his daughters to a well he'd helped fun through the borninseptember.org campaign. Filming them at the Adiayfela school was one of the high points of 2009. I remember smiling through tears as we saw the handmade signs that read "We love Budde family" and listened to speeches.

I ask you to put yourself in his shoes and imagine the many celebrations around the world you've made possible like this one. I hope this video and Shawn's words will inspire you."

The Budde Family Well / charity: water / Ethiopia from charity: water on Vimeo.

You can make a difference starting with $20 a month. Please visit water4christmas.com and sign up to be a part of a LARGE movement.
A movement which enables humans around the world to have access to clean drinking water.

Sounds simple to me.

Detailed Information

"Ms. Diederichs ... in five weeks or five years or five days I'm going to probably move."
-- Mya, age 7

We Be Trippin'

And when I say "we" ... I really mean "me."

Actual conversation from this morning ...

Lisa: Ow, my ankle hurts today.
Jay: What's up with it?
Lisa: I tripped and rolled my ankle the other day and I noticed it's bruised.
Jay: What did you trip on?
Lisa: Oh sweetie ... thank you. But don't you know me at all?
Jay: Of course I know you.
Lisa: Honey, I didn't trip on anything. I was just walking.
Jay: Oh

And you wonder why I don't play adult sports.