You reap what you sow...

Have you ever felt like you are completely wasting your time? Have you ever felt like giving up, after all nothing was coming of all your efforts? Do ever feel like the biblical principle of "you reap what you sow" applies to everyone but you? Well this summer I kinda felt that way. Every Saturday afternoon after I visited the people in the Nursing Home, I would go canvassing just for an hour or so, to find more kids for the bus route. Well I had been doing this all summer. Just last week I began thinking that this hour was a waste of time. You know I could be doing something much more profitable with my time. Something better than walking down the street trying to ask people to let their kids ride the Sunday school bus. After all, all summer I had seen zero results. However, I had gotten the door slammed in my face, I had gotten called a few names, but I had not one person even the slightest bit interested. But then yesterday happened...It was the last street on the block, the last house of the summer...I knocked on the door, no answer. I then looked up into the upstairs window where I saw two little faces pressed against the screen. I spoke to them briefly and asked them if their mother was home. They replied that she was, however, she didn't want to come to the door. I decided to leave a flier in the door and head on home. My partner and I began to walk away, when the door opened. She explained that she was int he middle of doing the dishes etc...she hadn't meant to make us wait. I very simply invited her and her children to come to church, explaining how we have a Sunday school bus that comes through the area and picks up children and brings them to church. What she said next completely shocked me.

"Ok, so you'll be here at 9:00, we'll all be waiting for you. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow"

I could not believe my ears. As I walked away, I thought to myself what better thing could I have possibly done with my time.
Have you ever felt so happy you didn't know what to do? Have you ever felt so full of joy that you feel you might burst if you don't give a little shout? Well that is how I felt today when I watched two little girls get on the bus...my bus...all because I gave one hour of my time...

Tornado!

The Brown apartments were completely destroyed.

One of the many homes which had its roof blown off

I think this is absolutley amazing!

Just one of the many smashed vehicles...

Well I can't believe it...the little town of Chesterton Indiana made national news. Yes, we had a tornado. But somehow, through the tornado sirens, roofs being blown away, and trees being uprooted, I missed it. You see I was at home, wondering why in the world the electricity went out. I mean it wasn't raining that hard when I had left work just 45min earlier. My parents then decided to take a drive around to see what was gong on. When they returned home I realized how bad this "little rain storm' had been. The middle schools roof had been blown away, trees had been uprooted, windows were blown out of buildings, vehicles were being destroyed from flying debree. I still can not believe that I actually had a tornado in the town where I lived, and Ididn't even realize it....

Now, more than a week later you can still see the effect of the massive storm. The entire tree line is different, limbs are still lying all over people's yards etc...

And just to think the one time Chesterton Indiana made national news...I was sitting at home wondering what was wrong with the Nipsco people...

Junior Year

Today I watched my little sister, Lauren, head off or her first day of school as a junior. I still can't believe that my "little" sister is a junior in high school. It truly seems like just yesterday that I was a junior in high school. Now, it is her turn for all the chemistry experiments. Chemistry was definitely one of my favorite classes I ever took in high school. I will never forget the time Mr.Kelso passed around a potion he had some how manage to get a hold of. Being the strange individual that I am, the moment I got a hold of it, I took a big sniff of it...whatever it was it smelled bad and I mean real Bad. I quietly being choking and gagging on the substance I had just inhaled." Brooke, are you ok, please tell me you didn't just sniff that." I confessed that I had. "Brooke please stand and read the warning label printed." I will never forget what the label said, DO NOT SMELL...INTENSE SNIFFING MAY LEAD TO HEART FAILURE AND CANCER. I didn't know what to say... So I have already warned my little sis...whatever Mr. Kelso may pass around never never smell it...it has side effects to say the least.

Now, it is also my sister turn for Geometry. Now that was definitely my least favorite class I ever took in my high school career. Although I ended up with a B in the class, I walked away wondering what in the world a postulate and theorem were....

I can't believe it is her turn to make explosions in the chem lab and it's her turn to guess on her geometry quizzes and tests. But one thing Iknow...she will be great, she is growing up so very fast, and I am very proud of the woman she is becoming.

A day of my life

Today I would like to take you on a little trip with me, destination: Wee Care. The job of a preschool teacher is a job unlike all else. At approximately 8:58 when I walk into a room full of anxious kids being told to clean up because it is almost time for morning snack. As I walk to the teacher closet, I will be stopped by Megan who will give a hug. Then no doubt Madeline will come running over to me, hit me, laugh, and run away. I will hear many shouts of young children to welcome me back to work. I will then feel many small arms wrap around my legs to greet me. I try to shoo them off, reminding them that are to be cleaning up for snack. But I can't help but smile to myself, as I hear Miss Kathy telling the kiddos to leave Miss Brooke alone and to please wash up for snack. Then three year old little Logan will cautiously approach me. He will gently stroke me, "Miss Brookey Brooke, you look beautiful!" To which I reply with a giant bear hug. Now tell me how many of you get greeted with hugs and kisses when you go to work?

You see my job truly is like none else.

Now I would like to give a few examples of things that will occur during the day:

First of all, I would like you to meet our little twins, Bella and Mena. At one point or another during the day, one of the twins will hit another child. However, the hard part is to identify which child it was- now did Bella hit Maddi or did Mena hit Maddi?

If you ask Mena if she hit Maddi she will tell you that she saw Bella hit her. However if you ask Bella if she hit Maddi, she will explain to you that she saw Mena hit Maddi. Then I am in a serious dilemma. You never realized that the job of a preschool teacher also included some detective work on the side, now did you?Then through out the day, I will be disinvited from several birthday parties, including Sarah's. You see I will no doubt put a stubborn child in a time away, in which they will reply with a smart remark that I am no longer invited to their 4th birthday party. In fact they aren't even going to buy me a Christmas present now.With Grace in the classroom you can't help but have a little drama throughout the day. She just might take the chalk and color her entire face blue. Or perhaps she will introduce you to her fairy friends. And you never know you might even be lucky enough to get one of her

"Italian kisses!" Then there is Logan. He has this little problem- you see he hits other kids. Logan, himself, doesn't even know exactly why he hits, he simply finds it entertaining. If you carefully observe you will find him hitting other children and then laughing uncontrollably. However, he is also the most loving child at the day care.

However, the most dangerous thing that can possible happen at preschool, is a simple game: Hide and Go Seek. Through my 15 months of "service" I have learned how terrible those words really are. I have learned to never, never, never, agree to play that awful game. Kids are all to good at that game....

Now at the end of the day, as every child's parents come, they all give me a hug good bye..now how many you have such great job like mine? The job of a preschool teacher can be very stressfull at times, but all in all it is a very rewarding job that I would not trade for anything!

A Day at the Fair

It all began Friday...when Christina and I decided to go to the fair after we got off work. When we arrived we looked around for a while, then we decided to do something crazy...we were going to get wrist bands. We both agreed that we absolutely LOVED fair rides. We both recalled our childhood days in which we would ride the fair rides over and over again. However, I really do not understand what happened between my childhood fun at the fair and now. For some reason..when I rode those rides my body felt a little bit different, to say the least, then it did when I was younger.


On the very first ride Christina and I both got sick to our stomachs. As we staggered off the insane ride, we shook our heads in unbelief wondering, "why in the world did we just spend $22 on this bracelet." Although we felt sick we decided we must proceed on...after all we had spent $22, and we weren't going to waste it. One of the next rides we went on was the Inverter. Not only did this ride hurt by back, leg, and stomach, but at the top of the ride Christina's cell phone slipped out of her purse and went crashing to the ground. So needless to say on that ride we lost an appetite and a cell phone. As we walked off the Inverter Christina and I once again shook our heads and wondered, "why in the world did we spend $22 ...what a waste...look what it had gotten us so far."


Finally we learned our lesson, we were done with those crazy rides, we would ride something much more calming, something we knew we would not get sick on...The Swings. However, for some reason even the slow circling motion of the swings made me a bit woozy.


Then I saw it....

I saw what all the wise people in this world were doing..watching the crazy, foolish people...like Christina and I, ride the rides. I watched as they smiled and ate their corn dogs, elephant ears, funnel cakes, carmel apples, etc... They smiled as if to say, "I would love to see you try to eat this now. You are so dumb, I can't believe you spent $22 on that little yellow bracelet."

However if I had to do all over again ...you know I think I would spend that $22 all over again. You see I had a great time with my best friend, and made precious memories to last a lifetime. Now that is worth $22!