Tim Tebow And His Faith Are A Beautiful Thing

"Do Everything"

By: Steven Curtis Chapman

Do everything you do 
to the glory of the One who made you

Every little thing that you do
to bring a smile to His face

And tell the story of grace

With every move that you make

And every little thing you do

Music is one of my favorite ways to be close to the Lord. Each morning I listen to my "worship" play list on my I pod as I run on the treadmill and tune into KLOVE on my way to teach. The lyrics that I posted above are some of my favorite because they really remind me that I am called to live each day that I am blessed with to glorify the Lord. That is often my prayer as well. "Lord, please fill me with joy, peace, and hope so that I may overflow with your love today and help me to glorify you in all that I do."

They also remind me of someone who models this way of life each and every day, someone who inspires me and many others to do the same, someone who is bold in his faith, someone who is blessed and humbly recognizes it, someone who is beautiful for all of these reasons, someone who's name you may recognize...Tim Tebow!

On New Years Day 2008, my beautiful family and I set out to The Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida. It was the University of Michigan, Wolverines versus the University of Florida, Gators. It was my brother's Junior year at Michigan and although I arrived as a Wolverine fan...

My beautiful family

This was what we spent our New Years Eve doing...love it!

Mamma, Sissy and I

Sissy Ella, Me, Lisa and big brother Eric

Capital One Bowl

I surely left as a Tebow fan! Not only was it the season that Tim Tebow won the Heisman trophy and his natural talent was clear during the game, but his commitment to his faith was also clear through the bible verses written on his eye black and I was a believer!

One of my favorite memory verses

My 2 year old cousin knows this verse by heart!

Some more of my favorites...

A few short years later, he was a first round draft pick to our very own Denver, Broncos and has been succeeding with grace ever since!

An item on my Christmas list...second, of course, to a conversation with #15 himself!

 As the former cheerleader who lived for competition season and often called defense cheers when we were on offense (oopsie!) and the college student who went to sporting events simply to watch the cheerleaders, my new-found knowledge and love for football has come as a surprise to some. However, it is a joy to watch someone inspire so many to believe in the Broncos and, more importantly, to believe in Jesus! I love it and anxiously await each game.

During the days in between the games, I have the joy of seeing the effects that Tim Tebow has on young children each and every day when I teach 3rd grade. As you already know, I love those children like they are my own and think that the influence that a role model like Tebow is having on young children, is incredible.

His littlest fan that I know, Keeley, in her early Christmas present from Emme and matching Bronco bow!

One student in particular, Noah, shares my love for Tim Tebow. He and his little brother, Nate, are the quarterbacks for their little league football teams. They wear their Tebow jerseys each week that there is a game and either watch from home or 4 rows behind the man himself! They ran back to school the day that Tebow was named the starting quarterback simply to celebrate the news with me, bought me his documentary the day that it came out and are getting the young readers edition of his book for Christmas. Noah shares something with me about Tebow each morning for his "good morning news" and I totally encourage it.  They are sweet, smart, kind-hearted boys and I want nothing more for them to stay sweet, smart and kind-hearted boys  as they grow older. They are incredibly loved and recognized by their family and their teacher for their sweetness, but having Tim Tebow as a role model for them to look up to it is even better!

Sweet Noah and I

The documentary that Noah and his family bought for my. My beautiful roommate Lacey and I often watch after the Broncos game for a little bit of extra Tebow!

Noah and I on the first day of Third Grade

The book that we got for my brother for his birthday. I have since taken it back to read myself!

Noah and I after he won the Personal Integrity Award and I won Teacher of the Month!

My favorite Noah-Tebow story is the simile that he wrote the week that we were working on figurative language. He compared the perfection of a root beer float to two important adults in his life. It went something like this "that hagandaz vanilla ice cream and A&W root beer in my root beer float looked as perfect as my teacher Miss Emeott and Tim Tebow hanging out" :) I feel blessed and take it as a high compliment that he thinks highly enough of me to be named "perfect" for his greatest role model and can only hope that I bring as much glory to the Lord each and every day in the classroom as Tebow does each and every day on the football field!

The bible verse that my brother wrote on my mirror in my parents home nine years ago and I have never removed it

Tebow and his faith are a beautiful thing!

Roomies and IKEA are Beautiful

Needless to say, life has gotten busy...in a wonderful way! We're almost two months into the school year and I am more in love and attached to my 24 sweet students than ever before! They are the best...good for my heart! It is so fun waking up each morning and get paid to go do something that brings me such absolute joy...what a blessing! Here are some pictures of our latest happenings. We have been reading Mr. Poppers Penguins during our Afternoon Meeting Read Aloud. One afternoon we received a special package from Antartica! Meet Penelope the Penguin! Each child takes her home for a night and journals about their adventures!

Also, if you haven't heard...lyssie took buggie to Florida with her (where she is now a member of Alpha Xi Delta!!!! yay.) and so, since we shared her, I needed to buy a new car. Talk about becoming a big girl all at once! Whew! If you haven't seen her yet, meet Zoe!

And finally, I have a new home and a beautiful new roommate! Lacey and I moved in here about a month or so ago...we love it! We have been spending lots of time (and money at IKEA :)) decorating the place! Stay tuned for pictures of the completely finished product, but for now, here is our view!

Although we went to high school together, Lacey and I met eachother about one year ago. It has been such a joy getting to know Miss Lacey and her beautiful heart. She is a very genuine and happy girl...all of the time! She is kind hearted and so easy to get along with. She is a talented volleyball player who played in college and encourages me when I try to "play" with the group at Wash Park or in the back yard! We've enjoyed poolside chats, girls night outs, summer country concerts, work outs at the gym, venting sessions, late night Marquis pizza, and best of all, Johnson/Emeott sibling gatherings!

Oh, I forgot to mention, Lacey is my brother Eric's girlfriend!!!! That is how we met :) I couldn't think of a better match for my equally as talented, sweet, kind, hilarious, fun and loving big brother! I love my brother so much and we have always been very close. I feel so blessed for the relationship that I have with him. However, because of this relationship, my sissy and I naturally hold the girls that E dates to very high standards. Lacey passed the sister test with flying colors! She fits right into the Emeott family and vise versa!

The Johnson and Emeott siblings can frequently be found frolicking around together! Lacey has a sister, Katy (who has an awesome boyfriend Steve), and a brother, Josh, that we often end up doing things with which makes it really fun!

These are only snapshots of the beautiful memories made over the last year...cannot wait for many more!

Dreams Come True Are Beautiful

If you haven't already been able to tell from my lack of posting...the school year has begun! One week ago from tomorrow one of my biggest dreams came true! I officially became "Miss Emeott" to the 24 sweetest babies I know! Check out some of our adventures below!

Our First Day Of School Card Photo!

While the day, and week for that matter was a whirlwind tour, I cherished each and every moment. From good morning hugs, to staff meetings, to get to know you games, to class pictures, to planning, to read alouds, to routines, to procedures, to guidelines, to goodmorning/goodbye songs, to bus numbers, to parent phone calls, to emails, to copies, to laminating, to seat rearrangements, to LONG conversations with Julia, to laughs, to tears, to testing, to community circles, to objectives, to homework, to agenda, to smartboard, to the oops book, to smiles, and the list goes on and on and on. The amount of work and learning that takes place in one classroom on one day is absolutely incredible and I feel blessed that I play such a role in each of these moments.

For those of you who are unaware, I posted below an email that I sent home after my first day with the kids just to let the parents know what we had done all day...and this is only the first day of school!

"HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

Congratulations to you all on making it through your first day of school as a parent of a third grader! And a big congratulations to your children for making it through their first day as a third grader! They did BEAUTIFULLY!!!! I was so proud to call them mine while they strolled so silently down the hall and when they were lined up so nice and straight when I picked them up from Lunch! I love them so much already and cannot thank you enough for raising such wonderful children and sharing them with me this year!

It is my goal, when your students return to you at the end of the day and you ask them what they did at school that day for them to not reply with "I don't know" or "Nothing". Because of this, we will bring closure to each of our days by discussing "how did I get smarter today?" Since today was the first day of school and quite busy, there was not time and so I will fill you in on what we did and how your children got smarter today!

1. Morning Business
     - Your child learned where to hang up their backpack
    - Your child learned where their table is, what color they are, and who their tablemates are...for now!
    - Your child learned to make their lunch choice
    - Your child learned where to put their lunch money
    - Your child learned where to put their yummy lunches that you packed them :)
    - Your child became familiar with the routine of coming QUICKLY AND QUIETLY to the rug once all of the above is finished
    - Your child learned our bilingual good morning song that we will sing every morning...ask them to sing it for you! DO NOT ask them how well Miss Emeott sings :)
   - Your child received a preview of the schedule for the day and the objectives that will be fulfilled that day...as they will every morning!
   - Your child was introduced to "Good Morning News"...the way in which I hear ALL of the wonderful things that they are bursting to tell me each morning! (This is probably my favorite part of the day!)

2. Writing
    - Your child answered questions about their summer and wrote questions about the third grade.

3. School Pride
    - Your child got their picture taken individually, as a class, and as an entire school...my class was the best looking of course! :)

4. Community Building
    - Your child got outside and interacted with the other children in the five other third grade classes through a fun community building activity...ask them about it!

5. SPECIALS
    - Your child went to see Mr. Hay in the art room today! They played an art game and worked on their portfolios...he said they were well behaved, of course!

6. Routines, Procedures, Expectations, and Rules
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for sitting on the rug
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for sitting at their desk
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for standing in line
    - Your child rehearsed procedures for using the restroom
    - Your child rehearsed expectations for giving me their attention
    - Your child rehearsed procedures for transition times
    - YOUR CHILD CREATED the five rules for our classroom this year
            1 Listen when others are talking
            2 Follow directions
            3 Respect others, respect yourself, respect our school
            4 Raise your hand to speak
            5 be responsible, be safe, be honest

7. Lunch
    - Your child demonstrated proper lunch procedures (taking what they ordered, cleaning their table, including others, etc.)

8. Reading
    - Your child listened and responded to one of my FAVORITE read alouds EVER...Chrysanthemum.

9. Community Building
    - Your child responded to Chrysanthemum and practiced procedures for our "community circle" by sharing their name and favorite color with the class

12. Supplies
    - Your child demonstrated patience and kindness during the organization of school supplies (thank you parents for ALL of the school supplies! they truly are tools for learning and your children will benefit from them! if your child forgot something, I sent home a list with the highlighted item. I told your children to PLEASE not fret about missing items. if there is financial difficulty or you had trouble finding something, do not worry. we will take care of your child. i understand that the graph paper composition book is difficult to find...any form of graph paper will work!)

11. Writing/Fun!
    - Your child created their first day of school card for you! (Please remind your child that it is part of their homework to share this card with a family memeber)

12. Agenda
    - Your child was give their Coyote Hills Agenda (as a type-a personality I LOVE this tool for learning)
    - Your child was introduced to and demonstrated proper procedures while filling out their homework in their agenda (homework for tonight: read 20 min from a book of their choice, share their first day card with a family member, complete green goals sheet and return to miss emeott in green communication folder tomorrow)

13. Goodbye Gathering
    - Your child learned the procedures for our goodbye gathering
    - Your child learned to check their mailbox
    - Your child learned more about their communication folder

14. Made Miss Emeott Fall In Love!
    - Most of all, your child totally stole my heart today! I love them all so dearly. They are sweet sweet students and I am so happy that you are loaning them to me this year! Please tell them how proud of them that I are and encourage them to keep up the good work!

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions and concerns...we are a team!

Happy Monday!

Kindest,
Miss Emeott
Third Grade Teacher
Coyote Hills Elementary School
(720) 886-3980

PS: Thank you for all of the pictures this morning...you all made me feel like a celebrity :) I've attached our class picture to the email. If you  all have pictures of me with your students and wouldn't mind, I would LOVE to have a copy as well!"

Yes ya'll, this is the kind of work that we do day in and day out! So, next time you hear someone refer to teaching as "doing arts and crafts all day long" or something that people do when they can't do anything else...I would encourage them to think twice!

As the days flew by and I left school at around 7 PM each night, only to go home and do MORE school stuff, I hardly realized that I was putting in 11 hour days! It is amazingly blessed to wake up each morning and get paid to do something that you absolutely adore! It also doesn't hurt that I have Miss Julia Phoenix right next door!

As Julia's husband would say...she is my "girlfriend"! We met each other almost two weeks ago while setting up our classrooms. There is no other word to describe Julia, but my little angel! Not only has she been a sweet sweet mentor to me through my first days of school, but she has been someone to laugh with, someone to cry with, someone to share with, someone to listen to, did I mention someone to laugh with?! We have been having SO MUCH FUN!!!! I couldn't ask for a better teacher to share a mobile with and friend to share fun times with! We have recently taken our fun out of the classroom for church, sushi, and all sorts of other fun adventures! 



My Dear Sweet Julia Facilitating The Chaos!

I could go on and on and on about my passion for children and teaching children. However, I am still in adjustment to this new school schedule! I have been waking up around 5:30 to get my workout in so that I am awake and moving for when the kids arrive at 9! Needless to say, I am very sleepy at nighttime and go to bed quite early! I will keep the blog update with the latest hilarious stories out of the mouths of third graders and priceless pictures!





This truly is a dream come true for me, I wish the same happiness, beauty, and contentment for each and every one of your lives as well! 

Busy-ness And Memory Verses Are Beautiful

This is one of my favorite sayings ever. As I mentioned before, I collect signs with some of my favorite sayings on them and this is one that I got for Christmas!

It's quite appropriate that this post comes immediately after the one about my new teaching job! I am not over exaggerating when I say that I have spent about 165 hours in my classroom over the last two weeks and school hasn't even started for the students yet! WOAH! It has been busy, but fun and I would not trade it for anything! Okay, maybe ONE last weekend of relaxation at the pool before the school year starts...that is what this weekend is for hopefully!

Anybody who know me, knows that I am the ultimate type-a personality. I love to organize, I make list after list after list, and I love to plan. As a teacher, these are wonderful qualities. However, along with this comes the tendency to get stressed out and worried VERY easily. My first grade teacher always called me a "worry-wart" and I kid you not when I say that I had stress induced shingles at the ripe old age of 18 when I started college!

I often run to relieve the feelings of stress, anxiety, and worry. However, as I told you, I broke my foot last September and I couldn't run for quite awhile. It was at that time and from that time on that my family, friends, and I adopted this phrase for myself! I often times will simply close my eyes, say a little prayer, and remember to Keep Calm and Carry On! I have a feeling this will come in handy while working with 24 little 8 year olds this year!

And if not...I'll heed the advice from this adorable journal that my mamma bought for me!

Miss Ellery thinks that it is a good idea as well!