Isaiah and Calli English: Life Blog

Last Summer, I installed an app called Merlin at the influence of my Paw-Paw whom I had seen using it on his back porch at High Rock Lake in N.C. The app listens for bird calls in your immediate surroundings and identifies the birds around you by their calls. The app highlights each bird's name right when the chirp happens whilst adding it the list of your backyard symphony. After a while, as certain birds are highlighted right when they sing their tune, you start to learn the birds in your area via their chirps and music. This experience is quite lovely and immensely enjoyable.  Falling in love with this app right after I finished up another crazy school year got me thinking. I once read a book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird in a college writing class, and I remember being captured by her idea that writing is a step by step process (meaning crappy first drafts are part of the fare). You line up the writing "bird by bird" (hence her title), much like my Merlin app c...

When I was told I would be teaching 10th Grade English in a new way my second year at North Hills Christian School, I had no idea how much this would impact me then or now. The new plan, as advised by the intelligent and wise Mr. Matthew Weaver, was to only teach World Literature up until the Medieval Period so that the 10th and 11th grade years would better align with the History curriculum at the school. This meant that about half of my plan for World Literature in 10th grade would not longer be applicable, since it would now be divided into two years rather than one. So, I had a lot more intensive planning and reading to delve into to make the year into a complete and interesting exploration of all things English (including literature, grammar, vocabulary, and writing). And, at the time, the area of early World Literature was indeed my weakest area of knowledge as far as literature and thought were concerned. I had never been a philosopher or mythology girl by nature, and hence my l...

Isaiah has arrived back at the Boardwalk Chapel after a brief trip to our home in North Carolina, and I am so happy to have him back. He went down on Tuesday and returned Sunday night (7/7). Though he had hoped to return for the weekend (since that's the time the evangelism interns are most needed), he used every spare second to finish the work he had to do in NC and could not drive home until Sunday. I believe that in the flesh, it was sheer willpower and a desire to see his beloved that allowed him to drive here on what little sleep he had. In the spirit of course, the Lord got him here, and I am so thankful and grateful.  It has been quite stressful trying to sell our first house whilst away in body. Emails and texts can only go so far; sometimes the man himself must come down to accomplish the task. I am amazed and not surprised at how often life proves truths from scripture. I am reminded of the parable Jesus told of "The Vineyard," which was a picture of Israel, Jes...