Grandma.

This week has been a busy and crazy week.  The main thing I've needed to write about is the passing of my Grandmother.  For those of you who are friends with my family on Facebook, this is probably not new information, but for some of you this will be. 

On Monday (9.14.15) I received a call in the morning from my mother saying that my Grandmother on my father's side passed away in the night.  This was not something that was unexpected, she was up there in age and her health was declining.  I was able to see her before I made the move to AZ in the summer, with the mindset that it would most likely be my last time seeing her here on earth.  

In this post, I just wanted to communicate some thoughts and feelings that I have with thinking and reflecting on her and her impact on my life.  

My Grandmother was a giver.  Giving gifts was something I remember her doing:  whether a mountain of presents containing a copious quantity dollar tree toys as a young boy...or money to help out with gas on my detour to visit her in her home town of Little Falls, on my trips to my family's cabin...She was always giving.  

I lived around 2 hours away from her back home, so visits happened semi often, but it wasn't as much as some people do if you have relatives within 20 or 30 minutes.  In this thought, however, my life has been drastically changed through her generosity, and my late Grandfather who died when I was 5. 

There's more to the story than what I am writing right now, but the long story shorten, is that I was able to pay my college debt and have a great start right out of college into the world of a full time job (in this case, teaching!).  This seemly impossible task (The no college debt part) was made possible by my Grandmother.  She paid for much of my college, and, through her generosity, made even this trip to Arizona possible.  I am so thankful for her support, and the path of life I am on has to do with her support.  

Me and Grandma At the D&E Klemme Wedding.

Words cannot express my gratitude to my Grandmother.  I wish there was a way to communicate it, but I am unable to type it.  One thing I do wish to say, to all who are reading this, is this: make a difference in the lives of those around you.  

My Grandmother is with the Lord now.  She was (and is!) a Godly individual, a selfless individual who's life was lived for those around her, her family.  I am challenged by this. She used her skill, something she was good at (which is giving gifts) and utilized it to impact others (like myself).  The challenge I wanted to communicate to you who call yourselves believers in Christ, is this: what does your love look like?  I think a lot of times we (including myself) get bent out of shape on what we cannot do (the sins) and we don't look at what we CAN do...for others.  

"I don't smoke, I don't say mean things, I don't use words that others find offensive"...

Great for me...But in the end, what will that do?  Maybe more years will be added to my life, maybe I will have more friends, but still those things don't last. How you love, how you impact others, that WILL last.  And from the overflow of their joy, more lives will be changed.

How you love, how you impact others, that WILL last.  And from the overflow of their joy, more lives will be changed.  

I saw the love of God lived though my Grandmother.  Not in a way where we communicated and had deep theological talks, but in the simplicity of her support.

Through my Grandmother I was able to be funded to go to Crown College,
Through my Grandmother I raised enough money to take a trip to Jerusalem,
Through my Grandmother I was able to make a move to Arizona for a job teaching,
Through my Grandmother I was able to start a payment on a new car.

If you are reading this and we met through Crown College, our Jerusalem Trip, or here in Arizona, much of this was from the love my Grandmother shared with me.

But.

I don't want to just say it was my Grandmother, a better phrase would be as follows:

It was through the overflow of God's love through my Grandmother,  my funding to Crown College was possible,

It was through the overflow of God's love through my Grandmother, my trip to Jerusalem was possible,

It was through the overflow of God's love through my Grandmother, my move to Arizona for a job teaching was possible,

It was through the overflow of God's love through my Grandmother, I was able to start a payment on a new car.  

Through the overflow of God's love that I feel from my Grandmother, I hope to continually impact the lives of students around the country and around the world.  

My question for you is this: What does your love look like, and are you living it out? 

1 Corinthians 13:8-10:

"8 Love will never end. But all those gifts will come to an end—even the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages, and the gift of knowledge.9 These will all end because this knowledge and these prophecies we have are not complete.10 But when perfection comes, the things that are not complete will end."

Photo Problem // Temporary Fix

Hello, so I just noticed that all the photos I put up thus far are like blanks besides the last two posts I made.  Sorry about this...I am currently working on getting them back but until then you can use this link to see the photos I have.

Matt K. To Yuma Pictures

Thunderstorm & Story

The Storm:

So we had a "once in four years" big thunder storm.  It was pretty cool.  It is similar to a Minnesota thunderstorm, except the land is not prepared for the amount of water to be dropped on the streets, so there is a lot of flooding.  I'd like to say I coined a phrase (I'm sure someone else already has though...)  But after the storm Yuma was the "Land of 10,000 puddles!"  It's funny because Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes and so I just changed the place and size of the body of water...Get it?

So that was a fun experience.  I got soaked coming back from work and had a though...Other people will be experiencing the same panic / getting soaked as I did...So I decided to stoop out on my porch and watch others running in the rain.  I happen to be on a corner and so there was this couple that essentially thought it was just them and so they were saying things that I don't want to repeat on the internet (in the @&#$%#^$ variety) and running through the rain.  They were surprised that I was out, listening to them.  They apologized and I told them I understood their frustrations, as I experienced it just 10 minutes before them.  Anyways.  It was great to have weather in the 80s.  That phrase is one I never thought would come out of my mouth (or fingers).

Elf on the Shelf:

So one of my students randomly brought up Christmas and another one chimed in about Elf on the Shelf (an elf that moves around based on parents changing it in the night to make it look like a sneaky nocturnal elf that is alive but only moves when the child is sleeping.)  But she told me how she had a sneaky and "silly" elf on the shelf.  His name was Elvis and she said "Mr. Klemme, one time my Elf on the Shelf moved into the sink with one of my Barbies.  The barbie didn't have any clothes on.  He's silly."  I needed to keep composed at school, but it took all of my effort to do so.  It was a hilariously random story to be told in September.  

Plane Crash Hike.

Hello.  On Saturday I went on another hike round the mountains.  Essentially the hike is known for a crash of a plane in the 90s and there are still a lot of remains of it.  It was a fun hike, but very up hill (or up-mountain if you will.)  So yes.  Pictures speak louder than words.  Enjoy them. 

Labor Day Weekend: San Diego Trip! ((And Forgotten Pictures From Last Weekend))

San Diego Zoo:

So we traveled to San Diego this Labor Day Weekend.  It was a blast.  Super happy to get an opportunity to go to San Diego and enjoy some of the sights to see there.  We stop at many coffee shops and stores, but the big event on Saturday was the San Diego Zoo.  I have some photos of it, but my phone was unfortunately very low based on the car trip to San Diego (where there's a stretch of no service / my phone was looking for it) and the fact that I personally got up at 3:30am (not a personal choice more of a bodily choice!)  

It was a zoo.  There were animals.  It was a lot bigger than Como and I'd say bigger than MN zoo, MN had a lot more inside parts though...Probably for the cold Winter weather...I could be wrong though!  

Here's a few pictures of animals (and us!)

Yeah...You can probably tell what type of animal I really like, huh? 

Pacific Beach (San Diego):

We also went to a beach to get a tan.  It was pretty great.  We basically did nothing at the beach.  That's the best thing that you can possibly do.  So we hung out, went into the ocean, and took naps all day (with the occasional trip to a store for coffee, ice cream, or other consumables).  

It was a very fun and relaxing day.  Monday is nice too, but Monday now feels like Sunday, which is "the day before Monday" so it feels like the week is about to start up.  In that, I am still enjoying the break, I will get some work done today, but in general, I am ready to do...Nothing today :)

Sidenotes:

So I use a Fitbit, and my last replacement Fitbit just broke...They actually replaced the replacement one, however, so I took a picture of my "Fitbit Family." 

Last weekend we actually (attempted) Telegraph Pass.  Our group went at a bad time (about 110 outside) and we were not quite ready for it either, so we just got close to the bottom of the path, and went back.  There were some cool photos, however, of the sun setting.  Enjoy these week old goodies!

...Speaking about sunsets from last week...On Sunday (last week) I went for a bike ride, and caught the sun looking awesome as well.  Enjoy.

Conference Week!

Risking Crazy:

The Church I've been going to has had a series called "Risking Crazy" and so I have a story from doing things that are considered..."crazy."  One thing that I've found that I have been thinking a lot more about here living on my own is money.  Money has never really been something I've needed to deal with on a daily basis.  Sure, I would buy stuff and think and consider how I should spend my money, but with trying to live on my own, everything has a price tag on it.  In that, I have not been able to give as much money to the Lord's work.  What I mean by that is tithing.  Now, I find that tithing isn't something that just goes to church, but to places of need.  In this thought, I've had this pressing on my heart to use $300 to help homeless individuals around the Yuma area.  I pass many homeless people around Walmart and stores close to me, so it was something that would be easy for me to do.  In that, I felt I should get gift cards to places with food (compared to straight up cash).  So the place I felt I should go was a Subway...Now, Subway I'm sure gets some interesting orders, but I would bet they don't get many customers asking for $300 of gift cards!  Let's be real, no one likes subway that much.  I purchased 6 $50 gift cards to give out.  This was something that was hard to do simply because it was a very odd request, and a decent sum of money for me.  The same day that I sheepishly purchased those cards I decided to go on a bike ride.  I started going out and I realized I didn't have one of those cards.  I felt that I should take one of those cards just in case I saw a homeless person.  Less than two blocks later, I ran into a homeless man.  He was very surprised at the amount, and very grateful for the food.  It was something that I am glad I was able to be used to do in order to bless someone else.  I am going to continue to look and give out those other 5 cards when there are others I see in need.  

Conference Week:

So this week I had what we called "Goal setting conferences."  They were meeting up with parents in order to set goals for their students that year.  So first conferences of my career DONE!  Not as bad as our mock conferences we had in one of our classes at Crown (but in college roleplaying, who wouldn't want to be that more over the top mom or dad?)  Anyways, I am very blessed to have so many kind and understanding families working within my classroom.  I look forward to seeing them and working with their students!

Future Plans (#LABORDAYWEEKEND): 

Labor Day Weekend is here!  It has been a very exciting thing to look forward to!  My friend group from Crown is planning on going to San Diego for Saturday and Sunday!  It should be a very fun time!  I know I am looking forward to it, and you should be too for the exciting blog posts!  :)