Being intentional with the gift of time

"Take care of yourself. Eat well, rest, train hard and smart, make time to think and breathe. Be intentional with your time." -Kristin Armstrong

...In case the bolded part didn't stick out like a sore thumb (can you tell we're working on similes in class this week?) above, the "be intentional with your time part" seems particularly applicable to everything I'm doing/being involved with recently because, quite frankly, with so much to do, the time I do have left to myself needs to be thought through and deliberately planned/divided so I can recharge and refuel for everything coming up next.

And never can I lose sight of my time spent in prayer/spiritual reading with God. As I have learned sometimes the hard way, I can't live this life on my own. My daily reading of the Magnificat over breakfast and the times I spend in the car in prayer with the radio off have been some of the best-spent moments of my days. I need to keep it that way.

Even my time in the classroom and in school-related activities (e.g. volleyball) needs to be intentional. Why have I planned a lesson for 3 days on a certain topic? Why am I having the girls practice their serves for this amount of time? How do I help the students take a breather after a hard morning at P.E.? Thinking through all of these things must be intentional in order for me to serve in my best capacity.

On the volleyball front, we are 0 - 4, but we are improving. In fact, today Sydney got her serve over for the first time, and I was right there to jump up and down with her and give her a high five (which one of the parents thought was too cute) to celebrate that small (but meaningful) accomplishment. Honestly, if we go the whole season 0 and whatever, it won't matter as long as the girls had fun and improved along the way. And that's the honest to goodness truth. Their next game is on Monday, which I sadly won't be able to make (as I'll be at that conference downtown), so we'll keep moving and hanging on. Go Eagles!

And now, are you ready for some random moments of enlightenment for today? -->

Alex (with a big grin on his face): "Miss Foyle, we're circling the circle!" (in response to 'Which shape's fraction are you circling with a numerator of 2?')
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Rafa: "Maybe the wardrobe only works on rainy days."
Angel: "Or maybe it only works if you believe in it."
(in response to reading the first few chapters of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and wondering why the other children couldn't find Narnia)
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Yamilet: "Miss Foyle, I can't find 'venomous' in the dictionary."
Me: "Think about where you have heard that word before. Do you know what venom is?"
Yamilet: "Poison."
Me: "Yes, so something that is 'venomous' has..."
Yamilet: "Poison."
Me: "See, you didn't even need the dictionary for that one."
(during vocabulary exercise related to 'James and the Giant Peach' book club study)

Ok...that's enough for today. Grading is next on the agenda...Bring it!