In poetic allusion to the theophany of Moses and the burning bush, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes.”

Looking for and learning about the good and splendous in the world is my passion. I am an enthusiastic learner. Bedstand piled high with books, headphones in: listening to an audiobook or TEDtalks lecture, library card maxed out with books of all genres, dozens of bookmark tabs on my browser from my latest web discoveries. My husband loves to tease me about my nerdiness.

Along with the rest of the world, on January 1, 2014, I told myself that this would be the year I would do something great. Rather than shying away after week 2 as usual, I have managed to continue my 10 goals, yes 10, for the entire month of January and beyond. High Five! I am all about development and improvement. The biggest difference for me this year: accountability. Every night I review my goals and account to God on how I did. Occassionally I will say something like, "Yeah. I probably could have done better on that one today. This is what I will do tomorrow to avoid the road blocks of today." My goals aren't slipping away from me this year. Not if this stubborn red-head has anything to do with it.

On to the technical stuff: I teach Special Education, also kindly known as Resource, at an Elementary School in Utah. I teach K-6 graders. Seriously, I am the luckiest teacher alive. When people say that phrase, the one I hear all the time: "I don't know how you do it!" or "I would never want your job" I just smile and usually add the obligatory, "I coudn't do what you do." It probably is true. I love my job. I get to work with a few dozen students with learning disabilities. We sing songs, create stories and make up dance moves to help us to remember all the boring stuff everyone else has to learn in the regular class with 30+ students at once. What's not to love!