Mother's Day

Since my mom and Grandma Dolores both love Scrabble so much, we had a lot of fun creating their Mother's Day cards!

Yes, my mom's card does say "Wal-Mart," but we like to tease her that it's her favorite store, since she's there at least 2 times a week! Also, we weren't so sure that she would like that we put "Texas" on her card, but we figured it was a good way to use an "x," one of the highest scoring letters in Scrabble. ;)


And, since Susie doesn't like Scrabble too much, we made hers more related to one of her favorite things--cooking! :)

Roof Raising

We had a “roof raising party” for our gazebo on Saturday! Dad, Kym, Grandpa, Nate, Brian, and Alan all came to help! Thankfully, a different inspector has been assigned to our gazebo, and he has been much more flexible in working with Dave about the easement issue. We are so thankful that after our inspection last week he said we didn’t have to tear out any of the concrete! (We attribute this to my mom’s continual prayer!)

So, with an “all-clear” from the inspector, Dave and the guys spent all day on Saturday putting up the roof. When I came home from the retreat on Saturday, I couldn't believe how tall the roof was! We couldn't do this without all the help from our family & friends!, and we can’t wait to have everyone over for barbeques in it this summer!

Women's Retreat

This weekend our church held their first-ever women’s retreat, “Sharing the Journey.” It was truly an amazing two days of worship, Biblical teaching, and fun girl time. Here’s Sandy, Kelli, and me working at the registration table.

The dinner on Friday night was delicious, and I was impressed by all the extra touches the planning committee had done to make this event so special, such as the beautiful table decorations and the bags full of fun goodies (like coupons for free Starbucks coffee!) that were at every place setting. These are some of the sweet girls in our community group at dinner—Erin, Stephanie, & Annika.


A wonderful lady from our church, Jan Franke, spoke on Friday night about her life journey. She has been through so much—infertility, breast cancer, parenting challenges—but through it all, she spoke of how God has been faithful. "Whether the tide of your life is in & all is going well, or whether the tide is out & you are on the rocks, God is faithful." Her story was so encouraging!

Three ladies from our church spent hours getting different businesses to donate amazing door prizes; all together, they had over 60 prizes, such as $100 gift certificates to a spa in Southlake and Mary Kay & Arbonne gift baskets! They had a fun game where they would call out random items that might be in your purse, such as a calculator, floss (which, of course, I had!), etc., and then the first girl to jump up and show the item from her purse won one of the door prizes! It was hilarious! I won a $50 gift certificate for custom framing for being the first to show a pack of Trident gum!

There was also a fun fashion show, and I was a model for it! A lady who sells CAbi clothing brought tons of clothes, handbags, and jewelry, and on Friday night after the session, we all went to her hotel room and tried on different outfits to see which we would model. The next morning, after breakfast, we walked through the banquet hall modeling the clothes, & she spoke to all the ladies about the new fashion trends. It was so fun! (I wish you could see the dress that I was modeling better in this picture—it was beautiful!)

On Saturday morning, we also had small group Bible studies, and I led one on the topic of God’s grace. It was such a sweet time of sharing God’s word with a small group of women. This verse in particular from our study spoke to me: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. This is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9-10)

We ended the retreat with a beautiful time of worship. I am so thankful for a church that designs incredible opportunities where we can experience the Lord in such a sweet way.

Night out at the Ballgame

Last night was "Keller ISD Night" at the Texas Rangers game, and all the campus Teachers of the Year were recognized on the field! I got to see the "inner workings" of the Rangers Ballpark as they led all the teachers through the back hallways and out onto the field. I saw several of the hitters warming up in batting cages behind their dugout.

What made the game especially exciting was that the Rangers were playing my dear Minnesota team--the Twins! Throughout the course of the game, I regaled David with stories of my "close connections" to the Twins, such as a family friend who played for the Twins "farm" team and how well I knew Kirby Puckett, since he lived down the block from my family's house in Brooklyn Park (despite how much Dave teases me about this, it is really true that Kirby and his fam lived on the same street as my family in Brooklyn Park!). We enjoyed the full baseball experience, including delicious hot dogs (so much better than low-fat turkey dogs) and french fries, being outside in the beautiful weather, and, of course, singing "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

And, here's us in our free Ranger shirts (though mine was more of a dress!).

Dave's Thoughts... So it really was a great night. Bethany was able to stand on the field and be honored which was a great deal even though all I saw was her back. As for her buddy Kirby (aka the "Puckster") I'm going to need a little more verification. And since the Twins didn't win a world series since '91 ('87 before that), not to mention Bethany was calling the Umpire "ref" (later corrected); also, foul ball, pop fly, ball, strike (she DID know that "three strikes you're out at the 'ol ball game) and various other aspects of the game had to be explained... I think baseball might not be our "thing". ;) However, it was a beautiful night and we did get our hot dogs (I know Bethany said they weren't turkey dogs, but for us that really IS a big deal) so we still had a great time. Everyone should enjoy a night at the ballpark!

The Snake Who Visited...

I do not understand why reptiles feel they need to visit me, but there was indeed a snake who visited my classroom yesterday morning!

I arrived at school a little before 7 a.m. to get ready for choir rehearsal. As I walked into the building, I was talking on the phone with my dad, and 2 of my fourth grade boys who are in choir went in the building at the same time as I did, too. As I was chatting with my dad and unlocking my classroom door, I looked down and saw what I thought was a fake snake right beside my door. I started laughing and told my dad that some student was apparently trying to scare me by putting a rubber snake outside my classroom. My dad thought that was hilarious and reminded me that Anne (of Green Gables) also had a student put a snake in her classroom. As I continued to unlock my door (which always seems to take a long time), I kept glancing at the apparent rubber snake. I started to sense that the "rubber" snake wasn't really rubber, so I quickly say good-bye to my dad and jumped away from my door.

I called my 2 students over to look at the snake, and together we tried to figure out if it was real or not. One student pointed to my lunch box and suggested that we use something from it as bait to see if it would eat food, while the other student got down on his hands and knees and crawled directly up to the snake. Suddenly, he leapt back and screamed, "Mrs. Rinn, it's not fake!" At this point, I should have acted professionally by calming the boys down and finding the janitor myself. Instead, I screamed at one of the boys to go find the janitor while I crouched on the floor, hiding behind the other boy. Yes, I admit, I hid behind a nine year old.

The janitor swept the snake into her dustpan, and from there she put it in a cup with a lid to show the principal. Although I am glad the janitor took care of it for me, I am still concerned (as are all the other teachers in the school, since I made sure to scare the entire staff with my story) about how it got into the building. Since I have the closest classroom to the outside entrance, I'm hoping it just slithered in accidentally when one of the doors was opened; but, no matter what, I hope I never see a snake in my classroom--or anywhere else for that matter!--again.

P.S. I'm sure some of you are wondering what kind of snake it was. To me, any kind of snake is terrifying, so I don't want to take away from the drama and intensity of this story by saying that it was a garden snake that was a little more than a foot long. STILL--would you want to start your day off this way?

Teacher of the Year Board Recognition

Tonight all the campus Teachers of the Year were recognized at the school district board meeting.

This is my amazing principal. I couldn't imagine working for a better principal, and I'm beyond thankful to be at the same campus as he is!
I was so glad to be able to share this event with my precious family! After the board meeting, we celebrated with a great dinner at Macaroni Grill. :)

"When Crickets Cry"

The fact that both my parents devoured "When Crickets Cry" in less than a week is quite an accomplishment; they are avid readers, but tend to stick to the Wall Street Journal and non-fiction. So, knowing how much I love to read, they knew I would love it...and they were right!

"When Crickets Cry" is set in Georgia. Annie is a sweet 7 year old orphan who lives with her aunt in a small town. She has a very serious heart problem, and the doctors don't expect Annie to live much longer unless she gets a transplant. Due to Annie's heart defect, this book may have been particularly interesting to my family, because my dad has serious heart problems, too.

While the title makes this book sound like a sappy, easy read, it is a definitely not your typical feel-good novel. When I was reading it, the plot became so intense a few times that I called my dad and begged him to tell me how it ended (or at least give me a clue!). Of course, he wouldn't reveal the ending, and now I'm glad I read the whole story myself. It's a combination medical thriller/mystery/romance, and the way Mr. Martin weaves the plot & characters in this story from the past and into the present is incredible! Here you can read the prologue and the first chapter.

This was the first book by Charles Martin that I had read, but I just started another book of his, Chasing Fireflies, this weekend. (Yes, it's as good as, if not better than, "When Crickets Cry.") Mr. Martin's stories absolutely touch your heart, which is why he has quickly become one of my new favorite authors!