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Category: kindergarten

2017/Amazon/kids/kindergarten/Printables

Sweet Summer!

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Jolie / 1 Comment

I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t proud that the boy wanted to give gifts to his classmates to celebrate the end of their kindergarten year. I’...

2016/kindergarten/parenting/teaching/tips

Back to School | Back to Cool

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Jolie / 1 Comment

(Do you remember that commercial? No? Just me? Okay, then.) Well, the boy and I have officially survived our first week of school–and by survived, I mean ...

2016/Baby Gray/kindergarten

Tomorrow Will Be Different

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Jolie / 1 Comment

Today, he built Lego sets and ate chocolate chip pancakes bigger than his head, but tomorrow will be different. Today, we lounged around, not a worry in the wor...

2013/art/Baby Gray/create/creative/kindergarten/Mr. Gray/paint/Ukraine

Hip Hip Hooray!

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Call me a jaded kindergarten teacher, but random kid art doesn’t really strike my fancy. I enjoy creating it with Baby Gray, but I don’t feel the ne...

kindergarten/memories/school/teacher

It’s Been a Long Time

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Early Sunday afternoon, I got a text message that appeared to be from one of the college girls who sometimes watches Baby Gray. When I opened the message, thoug...

kindergarten/teaching

What a Week!

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Mrs Gray / 1 Comment

The first week of school is always interesting (to say the very least).  We started Monday with Meet the Teacher (I’d like to say a HUGE thanks to th...

Hi, I’m Jolie…

jolie-gray
Wife to Josh, mama to Hays (7), hopeful adoptive mama, and Jesus lover. I founded Purpose Box in July of 2014. I'm all about open sunroofs and coffee dates. Welcome to my space; have a click around. I hope you feel loved, encouraged, and empowered.

Texas forever.

Purpose Box

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Allow me to introduce {our}selves: I’m Jolie. Allow me to introduce {our}selves: 

I’m Jolie. Wife, mama, teacher, friend, daughter, Aggie, writer, encourager, reader, letter writer. 

That’s the boy. LEGO builder, author, advocate, fundraiser, creative, friend, Type One butt-kicker. 

That that’s Mr. Gray. Husband, father, friend, role model, coach, teacher, leaner, discerner. 

This is us! (Except now Mr. Gray cut his hair. 😭😭😭) Sometimes we match when we go out. Sometimes we laugh too loud. Sometimes we overreact. We love and forgive each other. We work together to help others and make the world around us better. 

Who are you? How are you? 👇🏻
So, I didn’t tell y’all, but when I posted yes So, I didn’t tell y’all, but when I posted yesterday, I also challenged myself. I challenged myself to show up. For seven days. Or ten. Or twenty-one. Or thirty. I’m not sure how long yet, but I’ll be here. For some consecutive days. 

I want to show up here in laughter or tears in such a way that you can take a little nugget, stick it in your pocket, and save it for a rainy day. 

Sometimes you just have to laugh. Laugh at yourself. Laugh with your spouse. Send your ridiculousness to your friends. Take a moss to dinner. Embarrass your husband. Don’t take it all so seriously. Step back a bit and step out of the deep. Smile. Breathe.
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, I wro Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, I wrote every single day. If I were going to be gone, I wrote ahead of time and scheduled it to post. In a more recent place in time, I jumped online each Friday and discussed the week via Facebook live. In an even more recent realm, I started a weekly newsletter in an effort to get back to some writing roots and offer up another form of sharing ideas and tips. 

Then I stopped. All of it. 

Everything around me began to just sound like noise, and I didn’t want to contribute to that. I wanted to be sure what I bring to the table has some value (even if sometimes that value is that it’ll show up in my @chatbooks later).

Mostly, though, I want what I share to be thoughtful and representative of a safe space in this big ol’ (sometimes mean) internet world. I want people to peek in—to any of my spaces—and see something that saves them time, a way to give back, a reminder that Jesus loves them, a family working on getting back to the basics and focusing on each other.

I want to be a brand and make an impact and be something bigger, but not in such a way that I blend in with the noise. I want to make you think and challenge you and offer up ways to make your life and systems simpler and work for you. I want to be a resource and an encourager.

So, I’m getting back in the game. And I’m starting with this little space. 

*laces up shoes and jogs onto the court*
State testing. ⭐️ When he was in second grade State testing. ⭐️

When he was in second grade, I heard my first account of a child with Type One whose test had been taken due to a monitor not knowing that the Dexcom receiver (not even a communication device of any kind) on the child’s desk was for medical care and taking the test without allowing the child to finish. 

I quickly emailed our counselor (whose campus we were not even on yet) and asked for a plan. She sprang into action and had gotten back with me in less than 24 hours. Plan in place, I felt much better—and we were still a year away. 

Enter the pandemic, and we still haven’t faced a testing day. Until now. While I did a little coaching on a good night’s sleep and how well I knew he would do, my focus was mostly on his medical plan. What to do—mostly proceed like normal. What not to do—anything a monitor questioned. And what to do if the plan broke down. I drilled him with contingency plans and ways to proceed should something go awry. 

Mornings like these, I am so grateful that he does not have any kind of test anxiety or anything to add into the mix.

His campus team does an incredible job day in and day out. I have no doubt today will be no different, but I know their tensions are high, too. It’s not a regular day for them, either. So we’ll face today like we always do and adjust after, if needed.
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