Monday, August 15, 2011

And also some pictures from the past few weeks!

They are in a funny order so don't be picky! just enjoy the fun we've had over the past few weeks! I know I did! 















Cake Boss

Today was my first day of student teaching for my Teaching Credential Program and I had...if I do say so myself... a brilliant analogy. I was talking to my mentor teacher during recess about the students in the class. My mentor teacher has informed me that more than any other year, this seems to be a very diverse year as far as learners and students needs go. She quickly and casually mentioned how there were a lot of layers in this class. In one of my random moments of clarity I called her the "Cake Boss" of the year. The Cake Boss (the guy on TLC that makes crazy cakes for crazy money) takes these random pieces of cake and layers them together with some glue (frosting) and with a little aesthetic care.... BAM you have a castle of a cake. Literally.

I just let it sit for a while, but as I've been thinking about all the change going on in my life and the life of my friends and family.... I realized to some extent, we are all our own Cake Bosses trying to layer the cake of life in a way that looks like a castle. Sometimes... we get gorgeous sculptures of sweet perfection....while other times we get pathetic mounds of cake crumbs mixed in with some sprinkles for some "added" flavor. If life were a bakery, we would all have such different flavors of cake in our shops.

While I'm sure we all could construct a cake of our own, this is my blog, so allow me to bake a cake for you! As much as I like to think change is good.... the actual change SUCKS!  As I've mentioned before, life went through a big change. I'm still at the phase of life (and probably will be for a good majority of my life) in which a new "year" is actually a new August/September marking change, similar to the school year. The short short version of it is that I'm (1) going back to school to get my multiple subject teaching credential and (2) a few friends near and dear to my heart took off for their own adventures. Other secret: I'm a people person, and a cryer... you do the math to figure out how I handle goodbyes!

Let's allow the layer of change to be my cake layer that got a little burnt because no matter how I feel like I prepare, it always feels like I'm just not quite prepared enough... I actually think I did a pretty good job with this particular change. Well, best as I could which has to count for something, right?!

Anyway...there are tons of layers in this cake that were there from before. (Don't over think the baking analogy... it will get tricky) I've got layers for family, being a daughter and sister. A layer for friends, my local family in which God has strengthened the bonds between, I've got the layer of being a student. I've got a layer for being a youth leader. I've got a layer for being me. I've got a layer for all the kids I've met in schools that mean the world to me! The layers of my cake could go on and on....

Basically what I'm trying to get at with this slightly funky Cake Boss analogy is that we are all in charge of trying to construct our own cake. We're learning how to be creative with our cake, trying to give every layer its chance to shine (or just taste really good!) among many, many layers. And the other truth is, most bakers have co-bakers to help them with their cake. We're all helping to make magnificent creations for each other. One cake at a time, we will fill our bakery!