Wow and a little about me

It has been so long since my last post because life as a teacher is never easy in April/May! I have had a rough year and am looking forward to the summer. About the summer: praise Jesus for getting all the money for my mission trips this summer! I will be spending 12 days in Cologne, Germany with my church, traveling a bit on my own around France, and then meeting my Campus Crusade summer project in Southern France 12 days after Germany. I will be spending 7 weeks in Nice, France with CCC and then returning home to start the new school year a few days later. Wow! I am so looking forward to it.

On my France team, they did a getting to know you thing and I liked it, so I am going to post what I wrote. Most people that check this know me, but it is fun. I am not even sure if anyone checks this at all actually, so I may be writing to myself :) Either way, I dig it. Here goes:

1. Name: Katie Brown
2. School: Graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX (Whoop!)
3. Year: Grad December 20004.
4. Major: Early Childhood Education (with a background in Environmental Engineering--long story); this is my 5th year teaching and I teach first grade right now
5. Birthday: July 2, 1978 (Yes, that does say seventy)5b. Where are you from: Born in Mississippi, moved to Dallas, Texas when I was 12; fully southern y'all5c. # of siblings: 1 older brother and 1 older sister (we are 29, 28, and 27 years old)

6. Interests:

6a. Things I like: people, people, people; traveling around the world; unreached people groups; Alias; U2 (going to the concert in Oct.); reading; photography; Starbucks Chai; decorating my house; scrapbooking and anything creative; watercoloring; snowboarding; wakeboarding; chick flicks; hanging out with college women and watching them grow closer to Jesus; writing poetry; organizing; office supplies; feet and foot massages (I love feet! Clean ones); laughing with my sister and late night calls we have; laughing in general; encouraging people; languages (although I only speak a little Turkish and a tiny bit of French, nothing else yet); missions; Pilates & Yoga; dancing (ballet, tap, Flamenco, hip hop...); communication; watching baseball & golf; fall weather in Texas; Boston--I would love to live there someday

6b. Things I don't like: traffic (especially mean Dallas drivers); waking up at 6:00--it never gets easier for me no matter what people say; passive aggressive people; being fake; failing; Texas summers

7. Previous Summer Projects: No summer projects, but spent a year on STINT in Turkey

8. Favorite Book/Verse in Bible: My life verse is Psalm 73:25-26 "Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. Though my flesh and my heart may fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion FOREVER."

8b. Favorite non-Bible book: Pride & Prejudice (I also adore the 6 hour movie of it too)

9. Screenname: I don't know--maybe browniek
10. Good Quote: "Expectations are your enemy, flexibility your friend."
--Some random CCC guy told me this on my first day of spending a year in Istanbul, Turkey with STINT

Favorite Drink: Starbucks Chai Latte

It's Astro-Turf!

I am learning so much about the importance of looking beyond the surface of something/someone before I judge too quickly. My dad had this saying that made me laugh: "The grass IS greener on the other side, but when you get over there, you realize it's astro-turf." I know this to be true, but something about my heart always pushes me to make snap judgements about others, or to shy away from something that doesn't seem like what I want on the surface. I am not sure if this all makes sense, but I had a perfect lesson in contentment today.

I have been driving by the cutest house for months. At first it was for sale, and I wanted to buy it so bad. (Mind you, I am currently renting a great house and I am not looking to buy ANYTHING in the near future.) The house was alluring enough to make me consider spending beyond my means. It wouldn't sell, so they put it up for rent. I was so sad that I was "stuck" in the position I was in. I started to not like my house anymore and wished that I was "free" so that I could snatch the cute house up. Well today, I drove by the "perfect" house and the blinds were open so that you could see inside. This was my chance! I could finally peek in to see what I was missing and to wish I had a different situation. I walked up to find the smallest, most inconvenient, old, and did I mention smallest house I have ever seen? The inside was horrible! All of that pining--for nothing! Well, that house was not for nothing, it has made me think...the grass on the other side is definitely astro-turf!

Shall We Dance?

My life has been a little like the movie "Shall We Dance?" If you have seen it, I would be the Richard Gere character, only in the dancing part (minus J Lo). I love to dance, so I decided to start taking tap classes with a friend of mine. I have never been so uncoordinated in my life! It is slowly happening for me, but I am seriously trying. I caught myself tap dancing in the bathroom and at work. Tapping around my house and in the grocery store. I feel like I think in tap sounds and steps. Very strange! Anyway, I thought that was something random but funny to share. More posts soon...I will explain why the long pause between this post and the last.