A Life Lived Over the Sun

Moving On...

2012-01-23T14:56:00.002-06:00

I've started a new blog for our new adventures! I'll leave this old one up for the time being, but I will not be posting here anymore. If you are a follower or usual reader, please come follow me

HERE.

Thank you to all of you who have read this blog over the years. I've made a lot of great memories and friends through this. I hope you'll join us on our new journey!

Please pray!!!!

2012-01-12T14:30:00.003-06:00

A friend of mine from college just found out that his three-year-old daughter has leukemia. He is a very godly, sweet guy who fought cancer as a child himself. They are facing a tough road. Please be praying for this family. His name is Sean, his wife is Sarah, and their daughter's name is Emma.

Nursery Inspiration

2012-01-10T07:16:00.003-06:00

Now that we know we're having a girl I am getting lots of questions about how we are doing the nursery. I thought I would share some of my inspiration. Most of these pictures are pinned from my Pinterest account. If you want to see any of the other stuff I want to do for Emerson, my account is lewilliams81. Look me up. :) You can also click at the bottom and see the source of each picture.

Let's start from the main focus...This is the very first baby-related thing I found. I searched Etsy for a vinyl tree pretty much as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and instantly fell in love with this one. While the tweety birds and owls are absolutely adorable, we are not "theme" people. We're really using this to coordinate colors and patterns through out the room. I will put the birds and owls on the tree, but it won't be a running theme in her room. We're hoping to get the wall color as close to this as possible. I LOVE the grown-up-yet-whimsical look of it all. After all, we'll be the ones spending the most time in her room. If I were surrounded by cartoon characters every time I went in there, I wouldn't like it.

Source: etsy.com via Leslie on Pinterest

Excuse the poor picture quality, but I didn't take this thinking of using it on the ole blog. It was taken as just a reference. This is our crib choice. There's a local sawmill company that makes furniture, and Justin's parents saw this crib there. We went back and forth between white and a dark wood stain, but once we found out she was a she we were sold on the white. I love that it's simple and classic. Since it's not from a cheap-o place it's really sturdy and will last though the transitions of baby to toddler.

We're also not doing your typical changing table. We're hoping for a dresser like this one from Ikea, or a very similar one from the sawmill place. Again, it has a classic look that will last. We'll have a changing pad on top that matches with the leaves on her tree.

Source: projectnursery.com via Leslie on Pinterest

L-O-V-E this bookshelf!!!! (Although we'll have to rethink the color) I think it is completely adorable. Justin found a great alternative yesterday that is simply a branch stretching across the wall. I couldn't find the same picture to post, but you get the idea. I think it is so unique and fun.

Source: images.piccsy.com via Leslie on Pinterest

How's this for cute storage?!?! Being a reading teacher, I will of course make sure she's loaded with books. I think this is such a cute way for her to be able to access them when she gets older.

Source: designdazzle.blogspot.com via Leslie on Pinterest

Well, you may notice that one piece is missing. I'll break my mother-in-law's heart a little more by saying it again: We're not doing baby bedding. Yep, I'm a rebel. Here's my thinking. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently come out very strongly against parents using crib bumpers for any age due to suffocation risks and kids using them as stepping stones to crawl (aka fall) out of their crib. Before you give me the "my kids used a bumper and were perfectly fine" speech I've heard 10,000 times, I am choosing to be cautious. I know that 98% of the time things might be fine. I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I were in that 2%. We are choosing to register for a breathable bumper (a mesh fabric), but I'm even a little unsure if I will use it. Surely most folks know by now that you're not supposed to put a baby in with loose blankets, so what's the point of having the little quilt? Basically, I'd be paying upwards of $100 for a dust ruffle and a bunch of stuff I can't use. Therefore, we're choosing to only use crib sheets, swaddling blankets, and sleep sacks at this point. Call me crazy. :)

I'll post more as we work on her room and get things done. I just wanted to share the inspiration for our little girl's room.

20 Weeks!

2012-01-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

20 Weeks!

It's so crazy to think we're at the halfway point! I think time will start to fly now, which is totally ok with me.

Size of Baby: a small cantaloupe She measured a week ahead on our ultrasound this week, so maybe a little bigger.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I lost 3 more pounds. I don't know how that is possible after the number of peanut butter balls and chocolate chip cookies I consumed over Christmas.

Maternity Clothes: I pretty much wear maternity pants all the time now because they don't apply so much pressure. However, since I'm dropping weight, they've become baggy! I'm just going to deal with it though. I really don't want to pay to order more. I can wear normal shirts, but I have to make sure they're long enough to cover the stretchy band part of my pants.

Gender: (So weird I can fill this part in now!) GIRL, Emerson Kate

Movement: Yes. She likes to move in the afternoons and late at night. It's still not consistent or anything, but it's pretty much daily at this point.

Sleep: So-so. It was fantastic over the Christmas break where I could sleep any time I wanted. Now that I'm back to work I toss and turn a lot because I'm not a big side-sleeper. tossing and turning + limited sleep time = yucky I'm sticking to it though!

What I miss: Nothing really.

Cravings: I have started to want stuff at weird times. Most of the time though I haven't indulged and it goes away pretty quickly. Things I have found myself wanting: chinese food (like NOW), pineapple, popcorn, cereal, horseradish. My sister-in-law made a horseradish sauce for our tenderloin at Christmas, and I'm pretty sure I could have licked the bowel if I hadn't seen on TV the night before where a girl overdosed on horseradish. I've found myself really wanting cocktail sauce (which has the same flavor sort of) and fried shrimp.

Symptoms: Eye twitches--I need more potassium, headaches, some ligament pain if I move too quickly

Best Moment This Week: Finding out the gender for sure!

It's a...(really this time)

2012-01-06T07:17:00.003-06:00

GIRL!

You can see her little face on the left with her hands beside her cheeks.

I don't think we could have been more surprised. I have been "feeling" it was a boy this entire time, and every old wives tale pointed to a boy. I knew we had a 50/50 chance, but I was just convinced it was a boy! I'm super excited about buying all of the cute girly stuff. At the same time, though, I am completely freaked out at the thought of raising a girl! There's just so much pressure that a girl feels in this world. I'm praying now that we can raise her to know that she is treasured and beautiful just the way she is.

The part most people want to know is her name. She will be Emerson Kate Williams. Emerson is from our 3 nieces (Laine Emory, Addison, and Gracyn). They are all three sweet and spunky. I hope that Emmie will turn out to be the same.

So now the fun begins!

It's a....

2012-01-05T12:05:00.002-06:00

complete mystery!

Yesterday was the day that I have been counting down to for so many months. It was our scheduled gender ultrasound and anatomy scan. One of the BIG days! My doctor is against telling the gender before 18 weeks, so we’ve had to wait a little longer than some. However, I would much rather be certain of what it is than know early and it turn out wrong. We’re at the half-way point now so we were of course pumped to find out. A lot of people knew this was the day and were anxiously awaiting. My classes even voted on what they thought it would be. (Boy won by 3 votes!) It didn’t turn out the way we expected though.

My appointment was in the middle of the day (thanks to Monday’s holiday), so Justin and I both took the day off of work. We were giddy on the way there! It felt like we were getting some big Christmas gift and we couldn’t wait! We have both been so excited to finally find out what we’re having so that we can start planning and buying things. It would also be really nice to stop calling our child “it” and begin using one of the names we have chosen. On the way down there, we stopped at McDonald’s and I got a Dr. Pepper since I’ve read several times that you need to have sugar and caffeine in you to be sure that the baby moves so you can see the gender.

Hmmm...

We got to the doctor’s office, and we were taken back pretty quickly to have the ultrasound done. I was to see the doctor after the scan to go over the results. When the ultrasound tech came to the door it was our friend Joyless Joy again. I immediately thought it was hilarious because we’ve had her for all of our big ultrasounds and she is the least personable person ever. We went in and she started the scan, only to tell us that our little bean was laying on its side facing in to me. She pointed out its head and little butt with its legs flailing behind. She measured the bones she could see, looked at the brain, let us hear the heartbeat, etc. Turkey Lurkey was wrapped up snug though with butt out and hands in front of its face. It did not want to move. She tried for over 20 minutes to get it to move one way or the other so we could catch a glimpse of the “parts” and see its face. She had me roll every which way to try to get something going. She poked and prodded it to move just a tiny bit. She angled the Doppler every possible way.

Nothing.

She finally told us that she would give me some candy and let me try again after I saw the doctor. I was so grateful for that! Based on our previous experience with her, I was thinking she would tell us “Sorry!” and that would be it. I sucked down that peppermint as fast as I could and sent Justin to buy me an orange juice to hopefully do something to encourage it to move the next time. I saw the doctor, who said everything they could see seems completely healthy so she has no concerns about developmental problems (WOOHOO!) and that she is betting on a boy since it’s being so lazy. (Her words, not mine. )

I went back out and waited for a few minutes until another ultrasound spot opened up praying that Turkey had moved somehow. Joy called us back, and…

nothing.

It was in the exact same position! We tried rolling and poking and prodding, and smashing again and again.

Nothing.

Finally, she apologized profusely and told us that there just wasn’t any way she was going to see the gender that day. I must say, I held it together really well. I thanked her over and over for giving us a second try. She promised to “try” to get me in at my next appointment--4 weeks later--so we can get a peek. I made it through scheduling my next appointment. I bit my cheek walking through the lobby determined not to be the crazy crying lady, but once we were in the car I lost it! Total Ugly Cry all over the place.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am beyond thankful that we have a healthy baby on our hands, and even more thankful that I even have the opportunity to be pregnant. I know that’s a lot more than many people have. I am NOT taking that for granted. However, when you have the picture of finding out what your (very long awaited and difficult to conceive in the first place) child is, and it doesn’t go that way it’s hard. I was hormonal and incredibly disappointed.

Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who convinced me to go look at a crib we’re considering, and while we were there he thought of going to a private ultrasound place to find out before my next appointment. We tossed the idea around. Is it really want we want to do? It’s not how we imagined finding out. I don’t want to wait 4 weeks and then not be able to get in for an ultrasound or have it be a no-show again that late in the game. Finally, we decided to go for it! I called and they’re getting me in today to hopefully (finally) be able to tell what this bambino is! The great thing is that this place is a 3D and 4D ultrasound place, so we’ll get to see it up close and personal and maybe get good pictures since we didn’t get any yesterday. (Plus it’s cheaper than an ultrasound at my doctor’s office!) It’s not at all how I pictured this whole thing going, but I’m learning that pregnancy and babies are never going to go how you picture them to!

So, here’s hoping that Baby Williams will be outgoing enough to show its "goods" to the public this one time (and then never again!). We’ll let you know how it goes!

Love List (in Iphone pics)

2011-12-12T15:34:00.008-06:00

I was looking through my pictures on my cell phone earlier, and I found it funny how many pictures I take of random things to share with other people. Most of them are things I'm loving right now, so I thought I'd share!

McDonald's Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Almost as good as a Peppermint Mocha.

Almost. :)

My $6 Pinterest-inspired wreath.

Pregnant-lady parking at Toys-R-Us when Christmas
shopping for the nieces and nephew.

I started reading The Hunger Games. Again. I may have stayed up
waaaayyyy past my bedtime last night reading, but it's so worth it.

Scarves! I was trying to show Kelly my cute ruffle one from Payless!
Can you believe Payless has such cute stuff?!?

My brother-in-law sent this song suggestion to be added to the baby's playlist.
I seriously bawl every time I listen to it. Every.Time.

My amazingly cute/practical phone case from Marley Lilly!
The slot on the back holds your ID and/or debit card.

Someone has been quite a snuggler lately.

I am also loving the fact that come Friday I will be a free woman for 2 whole weeks. I need it. Please let Friday come soon!

16 Weeks!

2011-12-09T16:36:00.001-06:00

16 Weeks!

Size of Baby: An avocado…That makes me want guacamole.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I had lost 2 more pounds at my last appointment.

Maternity Clothes: I’ve bought a couple of pair of maternity work pants and one pair of jeans. I l.o.v.e. the work pants (even though they’re a little baggy), but I’m not a fan of the jeans. The band hits right on the ole uterus and it hurts. I think they’ll be better once things move up a little more. Luckily, my other pants still fit. They just hit in the wrong place sometimes, making them uncomfortable.

Gender: We find out at my next appointment, January 4th! I’m literally counting the days.

Movement: Yes! I guess! I didn’t think I had because everyone describes it as “flutters” or “butterflies.” What I have felt are like actual pokes. When I talked to my doctor about it on Monday, she told me that was IT and to expect it to get stronger the next few weeks. I don’t feel it on a regular basis yet, but I did feel it 3 different times yesterday. 

Sleep: is alright. I still get tired pretty early, and I wake up pretty often. It’s better though.

What I miss: Nothing!

Cravings: I haven’t really had any. I’m getting sick of the same old snacks, but nothing really sounds good.

Symptoms: This past month of pregnancy started off rough. I was hurting and uncomfortable. I’ve just had lots of round ligament pain and back aches, but it’s mostly gone now. I’ve had random headaches and nausea here and there, but nothing to really complain about. I’ve started working a little bit of caffeine back in to try to curb some of the headaches. I really don’t want to have to take medicine, and my doctor told me that caffeine will do the trick.

Best Moment This Week: I guess finally getting a specific date that we find out what it is. I’m thankful we had a great check up, but that is probably the thing I am most excited about.

Misc. :
•The baby’s ears are developed enough to begin hearing external sounds, so I’ve been playing it music. It’s been a sweet little time. I’ll write more on that later.
•We got our first round of baby gear! Tons of diaper trash bags, a medicine kit, and some waterproof sheet protectors. Fun stuff, huh? I hit up the Babies R Us Black Friday sale a little too late, and most of the good stuff was gone. That was really all I could get that was really, really on sale and gender neutral.
•I’ve set the date that I will start my maternity leave. I’m taking off a little before the baby comes so that I can start the next school year. I had to really think and pray about it, but I think this is the best choice for me. It makes it seem like it’s coming so much sooner, but I am totally ok with that!

I'm Pretty Sure...

2011-12-01T17:09:00.003-06:00

I’m pretty sure I got into bed at 7:15 last night and was out by 8:05. Glorious.

I’m pretty sure maternity pants for work are the best things ever invented. (I haven’t tried the jeans yet.)

I’m pretty sure one of my kids brought me a brochure for the pregnancy help center in town today. I didn’t know how to tell her that I’m NOT an unwed mother with an unexpected pregnancy.

I’m pretty sure I had a seriously weird dream last night where it turned out that I was Harry Potter…changing a poopy diaper.

I’m pretty sure I am counting the minutes until Christmas break starts just so that I can stay on the couch in comfy clothes.

I’m pretty sure I’m counting the days until we find out what this little one is so that I can do some shopping and stop calling it “It”.

I’m pretty sure I haven’t even thought about taking down fall decorations and putting up Christmas ones.

I’m pretty sure I loved hearing from old college friends this week. It makes me happy.

I’m pretty sure the littlest Williams is going to win an Oscar one day for scaring the life out of his or her mother. We’ve had a scare or two over the past couple of weeks, but we’re thanking the Lord that everything is healthy and fine. We did get to see the bambino in a very quick ultrasound on Monday. In Justin’s words, “It actually looks like a human now!” (I’ll update on that more after my appointment next week.)

I’m certain we serve a VERY faithful God who has continued to remind me of His sovereignty and faithfulness even when I am quite a doubter.

12 Weeks!

2011-11-12T12:00:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I want to keep track of everything, and I have discovered that my blog is a great way to do that. Therefore, I'm stealing the pregnancy updater stuff everyone seems to use. I'm not going to do weekly updates, but I'm thinking I might do them every 4 weeks since those seem to carry important milestones for me. Let's be totally honest, not that much changes from week to week, at least not in this pregnancy. And I certainly will NOT be doing belly shots to post on here. You're welcome. :) Here we go!

12 Weeks!

Size of Baby: Plum (according to The Bump)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: According to my doctor's visit Monday, I've lost 13 pounds since I was there in July. Who knew you just had to get pregnant and start hating food?

Maternity Clothes: I'm really close to needing some preggo pants. Even though I've lost 13 lbs, it's like my body is shifting. I can still wear most of my pants, but they're getting a little tighter.

Gender: No idea. Most of the old wives' tales and my gut say it's a boy. The heartbeat has been in the 165 range, and that usually means girl. The Chinese predictor says girl, but let's be honest. I don't believe any of them! I think we should find out in January.

Movement: I'm still a ways away from feeling anything (I think), but he/she did kick the Doppler when we were listening to the heartbeat at the doctor's appointment on Monday. There was a strong, steady heartbeat and then a loud thump. My doctor's eyes got wide and she said, "He just kicked us!" Sure enough, he (or she) did it again a few seconds later. It's so strange to think it's moving around that much, but I can't feel it.

Sleep: is not so bueno. I've been trying to sleep on my side, but I hate it. The only way I feel comfortable is on my back, which I never normally do, and it's apparently no good for you the further you get. I'm really thinking about investing in a pregnancy pillow.

What I miss: Honestly, nothing. I just feel thankful to be here. I got over missing caffeine pretty early. If I had to say something, I'd probably say being able to dye my hair. The grays are out in full force. I'll probably be white headed by the end of this thing.

Cravings: Nothing! I've had aversions instead of cravings so far. Absolutely nothing sounds good, and if it does it's usually bland carbs like potatoes or rice. My appetite is slowly coming back the farther I go though.

Symptoms: Once the bleeding stopped, this shindig has been pretty easy. (Sidenote: I have now been bleeding free for a full month. Woohoo!) At first I was completely exhausted, and I would get queasy a lot. (I've only gotten sick twice.) I still get tired pretty early at night, but it's not like I'm aching to take a nap at 2:00 in the afternoon anymore. I've had some lower backache, heartburn, and some weird stretching/pulling feelings, which is supposedly normal. My weirdest symptom would be that my belly button is sore. ??? It's not a body part I normally think of, but it's been bugging me the past couple of days. I've definitely had mood swings. (sorry, jus) When I get mad it's like the Wrath of Leslie comes to town. I don't like it, and I know the hubs doesn't either. I've had a bad case of pregnancy brain too. I mix up words or can't think of them. My desk is covered in sticky notes trying to help me stay on top of things.

Best Moment This Week: Besides getting to hear the heartbeat again and having a great appointment, I'd have to say it was when my doctor told me that I now have less than a 5% chance of miscarriage. It's like that lifted a weight off of my shoulders. She encouraged me to start planning and getting things going, so it made it feel truly real.

Misc. :

I've been thinking a lot about nursery ideas. I think we've nailed down a color scheme for either a girl or a boy. I'm finding it hard to really find stuff I like since I do not want to do a theme. I'll share when I have a more definite plan.

Some of our best friends are also pregnant. They're a month and 2 days ahead of us. It makes going through the process 10 times more fun. God is so good. His timing is perfect.

Conversations with Justin about baby stuff have been hilarious. I've had to convince him of everything from having to wash a baby's clothes separate from our own to the fact that pregnancy brain is fo' realz. We also had to have a lesson on what a bassinet is. I love going through this with him though. If anyone can find humor in the smallest things it is him. I could not ask for a better partner or daddy-to-be.

Arty Party!

2011-10-22T12:00:00.014-05:00

In the midst of all of the pregnancy excitement, I have taken up a new hobby. I'm now an artist. (Pronounced "arrr-teest.") Who am I kidding? I have been to two painting classes, or Arty Parties as they are called, in the past 2 weeks. A true artist I am not. I have a third one planned for November though, and let me tell you I am HOOKED!

Several weeks ago I got a text from my sister saying a local artist (who also teaches the local swim lessons in the summer) was going to be having a fall pumpkin painting class and would I want to go. I immediately jumped at the chance. Who doesn't love fall, pumpkins, and craftiness? Well, it was schedule for the day after our never ending ER trip, so I was not quite sure I was going to go. I ended up going even though I felt like total garbage, and this was the result.
I painted that! Granted I had lots of instruction and she totally fixed my curly-qs, but the rest is all original. I love it! The teacher paints an example and goes through all of the steps with you. Then, she walks around and gives you feed back. She might even have to "photo shop" a spot or two, but the majority of the work is all yours. It was so funny to see how differently every one's pumpkins turned out even though we were given the same instructions. It was so much fun! The same group has already signed up to do a winter picture in a couple of weeks. It turned out that I knew almost everyone there because I either went to school with them, grew up with their kid, or had their kid in my class (Or they were my mom and sister!) so there was lots of chatting going on.

Our fall pumpkin group.

Before I had even done the pumpkin class, a couple of teachers from school (and Kelly) decided to book our own Arty Party and do a Christmas scene. We met up last night for some food, beverages (non-adult for me), and some painting fun!

The self-proclaimed "non-artistic" table. (Even though their work was great!)

The "we're a little more artistic, but not much" table.

This was my painting about 3/4 of the way through.

My finished picture next to Kelly's. We definitely have different styles!

Our Christmas tree group.

The ones on the front row followed our inspiration picture the closest. Holly, Kelly, and I were the rebels that used colors specific to our houses. It was funny again how differently every one's turned out. I couldn't get the cute little whimsy tree like Kelly had for anything. It turned out though that the mistakes I kept making ended up in a painting I really loved.

This is probably one of my most favorite things I have done in a long time. I know I'm a somewhat crafty person, but I think there's a big difference between that and being artistic. I love learning the techniques from Dana. I'm learning how to "see" the picture and create it from nothing, which is really fun for me. Who knows? Maybe I'll even end up painting something for the future-Bambino's room.

What I've Learned So Far

2011-10-21T17:21:00.004-05:00

First of all, thank you all for your sweet comments! We are definitely excited and so appreciative of your prayers. It means the world to us to be supported by such amazing people! I'm thanking the Lord that I have had 2 days this week with zero spotting or bleeding! That's a huge improvement so I feel really blessed.

I promise this is not going to turn into a pregnancy blog, but I wanted to write some of my early thoughts on this whole shin-dig for my personal record. I am really wanting to transition to a family blog in light of our new addition, but I'm having trouble finding a theme and design I like. I wish I knew how to do my own blog design, but I just don't get how to do it. While I work on that, here are some early lessons I have learned from pregnancy so far.

Brushing your teeth and being pregnant do not mix. Y-U-C-K. I dread it every day.
7:30 is now an acceptable bedtime.
Reading before bed is almost non-existent because I immediately fall asleep.
However, sometimes you are seriously tired and cannot fall asleep at all. (especially after your 3rd trip to the bathroom in one night)
Telling my class was by far the most fun. They have no concept of gestational time, but they are almost as excited as I am. They have already suggested Dustin and Jessica as name choices. When we discussed how I'm not supposed to walk around a lot or be on my feet too much right now (which was to explain why the aide next door is taking them everywhere), they immediately started telling me to sit down every time I stood up! We finally had to talk about the fact that I have to stand up some time!
"One day you're in and the next day you're out." Food aversions are happening fast and furiously. We went grocery shopping and I bought stuff I thought sounded ok. I went to pack my lunch bag the next day, and the thought of most of it made me want to gag.
I'm now evaluating germ levels everywhere I go.
Google is my best friend and worst enemy when it comes to symptoms.
When some of your most favorite people in the world announce they are pregnant too, you'll cry like a little baby over the joy of it all.
I don't know how people can believe there is not a God when you think about a pregnancy. Each and every part is a true miracle. It makes me realize just how special we each are to Him.

Overall, we feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and to be in the community of people we are a part of. C'mon end of May!

The One We've Been Waiting For...

2011-10-18T17:39:00.002-05:00

See that? That's a baby! That's our baby!

Can you believe it!?! Sometimes I can't, especially when I look at that picture. It's so crazy to believe that something we've wanted for so long and have prayed so hard for is right there in front of us. Eeek! (If you want to know the short and sweet details, scroll to the bottom.) Allow me to tell you the story...

I posted a while ago about how my doctor put me on Clomid. The second week or so of school I was scheduled to go have my levels checked to see if it raised my hormone levels and it did. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was pregnant, but Justin and I were hesitant to believe it because I have had that "feeling" before and was totally wrong. About two days after my doctor's office called saying things looked good, I was firmly convinced that I was preggers. We decided I would buy a digital test on the way home from school and take it the next morning just to see. Well, I couldn't wait that long. I had an old two-line test that I immediately took that afternoon when I got home, and we played the "Is there a second line?" game for a good 30 minutes before we succumb to the fact that there was indeed a second line. (Can I interject that if you are ever trying to get pregnant, pay for the digital tests. The two-lined ones will drive you up the wall!)

The very next day, we nervously and excitedly headed to the doctor's office to have it confirmed. It was, but I was also told that my progesterone levels were low. (I was at 17 and they wanted me at 20.) Enter the worry. My progesterone was low last time, and it is a common contributor to miscarriage. My doctor immediately put me on a supplement, which I am still taking, but that I also took last time. I was a complete and total wreck on the inside. I was honestly letting worry eat me alive that I would miscarry again. However, our God is such a faithful God! I sat back down at my computer after getting off of the phone with my nurse and read the verse that was on the background of my laptop.

"Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord whose confidence is in Him" Jerm. 17:7

I decided right then and there that we had to trust God completely and totally with this whole situation. If we do, His word says He will bless us. His blessing might not result in a baby, but I truly believe that He knows what is best for us. What we want may not be best for us. As hard as that is to swallow, it's the truth. There have been so many times over the past month or so that I have had to repeat that verse over and over in my head. It has not been easy.

Not long after it was confirmed, I started spotting. I immediately thought, "Here we go again." I ended up at the ER for being dehydrated, and had the worst experience with a doctor ever. We won't go into that though. My OB's office had me stay on bed rest for the rest of the weekend, and go to her office that Monday to be checked out. My HCG levels had risen, but it was way too early on the ultrasound to see much of anything. I was told to come back in 2 weeks. Enter the longest two weeks of our lives ever! I continued to spot, but my doctor's nurse was telling me the symptoms I was having were completely normal. (This would be when I walked around with that verse on repeat!) I was put on 24 hour bed rest off and on to try to get it to stop. It never went completely away.

Finally, it was two weeks later! Justin and I loaded up and made the trip to Beaumont, and I had prepared myself for the worst. Our ultrasound tech's name is Joy, but she is about the least joyful person I have ever met. She did all of my ultrasounds with my last pregnancy, and she is dry on the border of plain rude. I immediately felt sick to my stomach because I associate her with bad news. She started off and never said a word. I started thinking the worst. I literally almost fell off the table when she turned on the speakers and there was our baby's heartbeat pounding away! I. Lost. It. I am pretty sure I embarrassed Justin to death because I broke into uncontrollable sobs. I had never prepared myself for the good, only the bad. She then turned the monitor around and we were able to see this tiny flickering thing she said was the heartbeat. I walked around the rest of the day in complete and total awe of God. I mean, for something that tiny to have a heartbeat is amazing. To know that He is piecing together every part of this child while inside me is unbelievable.

Two days later (last Thursday), we were clinging to Him again. I had been fine all day, but about 11:30 I woke up to go to the bathroom and blood was everywhere. (Sorry if that's TMI. Just keepin' it real.) I called the on-call nurse and she said to immediately go to the ER, so we did. The whole time I was thinking, "This is it. It's over." Six and a half hours later, (I mean, there are no words for sitting in an ER all night long.) we had no idea what was making me bleed so much. We were able to have an ultrasound with the sweetest little tech-lady. The baby had a strong heartbeat and had grown right on track. We were confused and thrilled (not to mention, exhausted) all at the same time. I've been on bed rest ever since until I went back to my regular OB today. We've had a scare or two since the last ER trip, but the bleeding has stopped almost immediately after me discovering it. That is nothing but plain answered prayers, I tell you.

Today we had all kinds of tests performed with one result: everything is normal. The baby was actually measuring about 5 days ahead of what we had predicted and had a heart rate of 179. (Justin recorded it on his phone and I think we've listened to it 10 times.) We were even given our first little picture of the Bug. It took all I had not to do a little happy dance right there in the ultrasound room!

**So, here's the stuff you probably really want to know. I'm about 8 and 1/2 weeks along. Yes, we are telling before that precious 12 week mark, but seeing as we have both missed a TON of work it is getting hard to hide from people. I don't want to lie to anyone about it. Also, a lot of people knew we were doing fertility stuff so they have asked lots of questions. I have prayed all day since we first thought about telling early, and I feel a peace about it. We have every reason to hope and we trust God that things will continue to move us along in His will. If something tragic does happen, we will have even more prayers on our side.

My due date has changed with almost every ultrasound (we've had about 6 at this point). What we have figured out is that it will be sometime during the last week of school...end of May or beginning of June. That could not be more perfect! I haven't had any major morning sickness. I get queasy now and then, but mostly if I haven't eaten in a while or if I eat too quickly. I've definitely been exhausted! I haven't really had any cravings other than cold stuff. (Sonic ice is the best!) I've had lots of aversions though. Nothing sounds good to me...ever. I'm just kind of muddling through that trying to be sure I'm eating what I need to. I'm completely off caffeine and have been since before we found out. It was surprisingly easy to quit even though I have a hankering now and then. I'm still on progesterone supplements and will be through my first trimester. Please, please, please continue to pray for us though! We still have a long road ahead of us, and we could use every one's help praying for protection of this little miracle.

Justin has been a total dream. I can't even begin to tell you everything that he has done. He has had to completely take over all of the household chores, cooking, everything. He has not complained about it once. (Even though it's driving me CRAZY to not be able to help!!) He does everything above and beyond, and is so sweet to me when I am being quite whiny. I think he is over the moon already for this little thing. That makes me love him even more. I'm sorry, ladies. I got the best one there is.

Now, here's the hard part that is probably going to make me cry. I know several of you are trying to get pregnant for the first and second time. I don't care who you are or how Christian you claim to be, when it happens for someone else first--- it hurts. As happy as you are for them, it hurts. I have stood in your shoes. I know what it is to lose a baby and want nothing else after that while it seems that every Fertile Myrtle is on your Facebook friends list announcing their bundle of joy's arrival or complaining about their pregnancy. Please know that I am praying for you--specifically by name--daily. Several times a day in fact. It's hard, and I know it. You are loved and He is with you. Trust and have confidence in Him. Yep, it made me tear up.

So, that's our news in a really long nutshell. I will keep you updated as we move along. :) Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us along this journey. We are so blessed to know you!

2011-09-27T16:07:00.000-05:00

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Shhhh....don't scare it away...

2011-09-05T09:19:00.005-05:00

Could it be that fall has sneaked in on us??? (And yes, people 76 is considered "fall" when it's been 100+ every.single.day.) I know it's just wishful thinking on my part that this lovely breeze and low 50s at night will stick around. However, I'm choosing to celebrate it by breaking out my 3 most favorite things about fall.

1. Fall decor. I love me some autumn colors and fake leaves with pumpkins. Justin recently told me that my current wreath on the door was looking "pitiful" so I'm scouring Pinterest to see if I can find inspiration for a new fall one. September 1st is the official day I feel like I can pull out fall decorations and get away with it. They'll stay up until Christmas too. Can you tell I love this time of year?!?!

Source

2. It may be number two on my list, but it's number 1 in my heart. Let's say it all together now...

FOOTBALL!

Source

I love football season. Always have, always will. Specifically college football. Even more specifically, Texas Aggie football. I'm certain that God has a sense of humor because even though I prayed for years that I would not, I ended up marrying a guy that roots for Texas. In my family that's a no-no, but they love Justin so much they don't hold it against him. I will say that when we spend Thanksgiving Day with my family it can get a little bit tense, but both sides have a good sense of humor. And can we please mention how amazing the Ags looked against SMU last night??? No? None of you big football fans? Anyone have an opinion on them moving to the SEC? Just me? Hmmm...maybe I'll blog about more girly things like...

3. The "Leaves" candle from Bath & Body Works.

Source

Ohmuhword. This is the best smelling candle. Ever. We literally count the days until Bath & Body Works puts out the fall candles so that we can stock up on these babies. Justin loves it so much that last year he declared that no other candle shall ever be burned in our house. When they're $20 a piece and only out for a limited time, that isn't realistic in my candle-loving home. However, I did snatch up two of these babies a few weeks ago, and we've been burning on ever sense. It is the joy of fall trapped in a little glass jar. That smell can make me so happy.

With all 3 of these things and a temperature not in the triple digits, I am choosing to declare that fall is creeping in. Yahoo. Now I'm off to enjoy day 3 of my fall-ish 3-day weekend!

Happy Labor Day, folks!

Mood Swings

2011-08-30T19:02:00.003-05:00

Source: sororitystace.tumblr.com via Leslie on Pinterest

Don't you love that quote?!? It's really true, and really fitting after my day. Today has just not been my day! To get to that though, I should update you on the background story.

Justin and I got the results of our fertility testing, and (like we assumed) I am the problem. My PCOS keeps me from having the right amount of progesterone to ovulate, and without that there's no chance of getting preggers. While that sounds all down in the dumps, it's actually what we were praying for. We feel very blessed that this was our answer. I've had to wait about 3 weeks to being a new cycle to start taking my lovely Clomid prescription that we are confidently praying will end positively (pun intended) for us. Clomid is not a friendly drug though. I loved (and appreciated) that my doctor looked at Justin when she was telling me about taking Clomid and specifically told him, "She's gonna have mood swings. You're gonna think she's going crazy." Boy, was she right!

I was taking it at night to hopefully avoid having the side effects like nausea and headaches by sleeping through it. I learned the very first day that it wasn't going to happen like that. I immediately started having them. My worse side effect of them all has been the hot flashes. Oh.My.Word. I have never, ever in my life experienced anything like that. I would be perfectly fine, and the next minute I would feel like I was on FIRE from the inside out. When it's 9,000 degrees already in the hottest summer in Texas since 1925, hot flashes are so not a good thing. Whew! I've had bouts of nausea, some pretty gnarly headaches, and TMI WARNING: feeling my ovaries being swollen. Luckily, the mood swings come and go, and I think I've controlled them fairly well. I haven't let loose on anyone, but I have had to bite my tongue just about in half to keep it in. (I'm really thankful I haven't had any weepy swings. Those are so embarrassing!) Justin said that if I was going to act like a psycho, he'd at least find comfort in the fact that I knew I was being irrational. I've tried to make it clear that I know I'm being stupid, but I just can't help it. No matter what though, as crazy as it sounds, I am thrilled to be experiencing these crazy side effects. It means that the Clomid is doing something, and that is what we want. If there were no effects, I think I would be very disappointed. I don't want to be a complainer about any of this because I know that there are people who are in much harder places than I am. This road will lead us to where we want to be, and I'm choosing to be appreciative of it all.

Today. Today has been a mood swing day. Little stupid things (like someone stealing my idea) have just completely gotten under my skin. I had to laugh when I saw the quote above pinned on my Pinterest. I realized that Sirius was oh, so right about that one! However, I'm going to chose to let the good out. After all, I don't want to walk around acting like Bellatrix.

Classroom Update

2011-08-20T08:51:00.003-05:00

Sorry I've been a little MIA lately. I've been officially back at work for about a week and a half now, and it is CRAZY. There's just so much to do and get done to be organized for the school year. Add to that actually starting to teach curriculum this week, and you have a never-ending to do list. I think I am finally ready for the first week. That is, other than typing up some lessons for my new Mimeo pad! (It's a tablet that turns your board into something Smartboard like.) I'm so excited to have it this year!

Anyways, I know we all normally post updated pictures of our classrooms so I wanted to share mine. However, you'll have to skip on over to my newly created classroom blog for the whole shebang! I'm super-excited about having a class blog this year! Several of you have emailed and asked me questions about how I do things in the classroom, and this is a place I will post a lot of that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Beth Newingham nor do I want to be. I just wanted a fun, cute way to keep parents up to date. Here's the link...

Mrs. Williams' Class

I'll leave you with one picture I did not put up there though. Here is my attempt at having a more grown-up desk.
Notice the notebook cover I sewed??? It even has pockets for papers and pens inside. I even impressed myself with it. The pin board picture frame is one of my new favorites. It came from Hob Lob. It has these adorable crystal(ish) pins to hold notes and pictures on. Don't you also love my new Harry Potter mug?? My amazing friend, Mandy, got that for me when her family went to Universal Studios this summer. When you put hot liquid in it, footsteps appear around the Marauder's Map! (If you don't know HP, ignore that.) I also have an adorable school-themed Scentsy that a co-worker gave me last year just for being nice to her when she was going through a rough time. Not only does it smell good (and help with post-recess stinkyness) it's a good reminder that sometimes people just need you to listen to them.

So, that's my updated classroom. I hope you guys post yours too! Happy Last Weekend of Freedom!

Today

2011-08-02T12:41:00.003-05:00

This is what I am doing today...

Hanging out with a cute pup who seems to need lots of attention today.

Enjoying a cup ~~or two~~ of homemade iced coffee.

Working on school stuff while avoiding my classroom where my AC is broken and is blowing HEAT.

What are you up to today?

Randomness & A Recipe (or 2)

2011-07-30T16:58:00.009-05:00

Let's update via the list, shall we?

1.) I have read a total of 6 books this summer. I had planned on reading more, but just haven't. These by far have been my favorites...

If you have not yet read the Hunger Games trilogy, go NOW and read them. I was obsessed with them the entire month of June. They were intense, but SO good. In summary, what we know of North America no longer exists. The small country that is left is controlled by a dominating Capital who forces two teenagers from each of the 12 districts into a fight to the death to remind the citizens that they are merely pawns in the hands of the Capital. That's all I'm going to tell you. There is so much more, but you need to read them for yourselves. I seriously have thought about these books again and again long after I had finished them. Everyone I know who has read them say the same thing. They are worth the read. I also finished The Help--loved it too. Right now I'm reading a kid's book called The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. It was a Newberry Honor Book and on sale at Sams so I thought I would give it a try. It turns out it's written by an author outside of Austin, and the setting is the same little town that my dad was raised in and where my grandpa still lives. It is set is 1899, but it is so neat to read about her going to the library for books, and knowing it's the same library I went to story time at during the summers there. (They have one of the oldest libraries in the state.) Very cool indeed.

2.) Kelly and I had a self-proclaimed "Nerd Day" this past week. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Other than these extremely large dinosaurs (the T-Rex was discovered outside of Austin!), we weren't too impressed. Definitely not super-kid friendly, but they had a few neat exhibits here and there.

3.) We also went to Anthropologie. Love. Love. Love. Madly Love everything in that store. I bought two adorable canisters and this precious coffee mug, which is holding one of my newest favorite things. Greek yogurt + Bare Naked Granola (in vanilla) = sooooooooo good.

4.) When I got up yesterday morning about 6:00, there were two clouds like this flanking the pasture. No story about them, I just thought they were really abnormal and beautiful at the same time.

5.) Today I had a girls' day out with my sister and nieces. It included a trip to see Smurfs in 3D (eh, ok), and Addison did not want to take off her 3D glasses after the movie. She wore them every where after that, including lunch. She couldn't understand why they didn't work on the DVD player in the car, but she still wore them anyway. She's awesome.

6.) Want 2 good summer recipes? For one go here to the Pioneer Woman and try this watermelon granita stuff. SO good. I did, however, use a whole small personal-sized watermelon instead of 1/3 of a whole one like she suggested.

The other recipe was a fly by the seat of my pants recipe that I made up/sort of remembered trying before. It makes this...

All you need is two 8oz. packages of cream cheese (softened), 1 cup sugar, 1 can strawberry pie filling, 1 graham cracker pie crust, and 2 tsp. of vanilla. Blend the cheese, sugar, and vanilla together. Put it in the pie crust, and top with the strawberry pie filling. Let it set in the fridge for an hour or so before you serve it, and you're good as gold.

So that's my random update for now. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend!

California Part 2

2011-07-28T09:49:00.009-05:00

Well, sorry in advance for the not-as-great-as-I-wanted-it-to-be-ness. I was happily uploading pictures, but then Blogger decided to throw a fit. Since I'm ready to catch up on all of the things I've been meaning to blog you get what you get. :)

In other news, I have been diligently working in my classroom. I planned on being there most of this week too, but Kelly called me for a fun day in Houston Tuesday, had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and I couldn't turn down an opportunity to sleep in a little bit today. Looks like I'll be back there tomorrow and quite a bit next week. My room is coming together nicely though. Now if I could say the same thing about the mountain of laundry that has aquired at my house that would be a different story.

Sorry!

2011-07-21T15:04:00.002-05:00

I know I promised "California Part 2" over a week ago, and I haven't been able to post it. It seems that my new obsession with Pinterest caused me to go over our internet allowance for the month, so I couldn't log on without costing us a bundle. Not worth it. Sorry! Once it rolled over for the month and I could post, our modem quit working. Figures. So, therefore no posts from home. (I'm at school right now.) I do have some good posts in mind for when we can get it fixed though. You can look forward to:

1. Cali Part 2
2. My love for a guy named Harry. Harry Potter. Cause he's as cool as James Bond. :)
3. My latest book that has me still thinking about it even though I finished it 5 days ago.
4. My updated classroom, hopefully.
5. Anniversary lovey-ness

Like I said, I'm at school right now. I had to move classrooms again because I'm going back to Language Arts (yay!). I'm going back into the same classroom that I have been in twice before, so I pretty much know where I want stuff, but I'm trying to change it up a bit. We have fantastic janitors who have been a HUGE help, but it's still a ton of work. I'm disgusting from all of the sweat and dust that I have been bathed in today. The best thing about going into a room I've already been in: My Itunes and fonts were still on the computer! I have been {loudly} jamming out all day. I think the new teacher who was here working pretty much thinks I'm a weirdo for singing along to Glee while I unpack boxes, but oh well. She'll know me soon enough. I'm really excited about this school year starting back up. I know that sounds crazy, but I love fall and the beginning of school. It makes me think of "bouquets of sharpened pencils." Five points for you if you know what movie that came from.

Anyhoo, they just turned off my AC. As much as I love you guys, I don't love you enough to stay here with no air. :)

California Part 1

2011-07-12T10:27:00.004-05:00

Justin and I had a rare moment of spontaneity last week. About 5 days before we were scheduled to leave for our planned vacation to Arkansas, we threw out the idea of heading to California to see our friends, Blake and Elizabeth, instead. It was a total whim, and I loved it. We bought our tickets, hopped on the plane, and spent Wednesday night through Sunday with some of the best people I know. Here's a day to day rundown of our trip. :)

Wednesday

Counter-clockwise: 1. Justin's Ipad came in so handy on the plane. We spent the majority of the time watching Sherlock Holmes, which made the time pass quickly. 2. Jus had me cracking up on our lay over in Phoenix playing on the flat escalator thing. 3. After B & E picked us up at the airport, we went to dinner at a place called Rubio's. I've never had fish tacos before, but this place sold me. They were SO good!!! Now I want to try fish tacos everywhere.

Thursday

Our first full-day in Cali. Unfortunately Elizabeth had to work most of this day, so I tagged along with Jus and Blake. Our day included: 1. going up a mountain by their house to see the view (Mountains are everywhere there! It's so weird for me, who is used to nothing but trees!) 2. A trip to Coffee Bean &: Tea Leaf. Waaaayyy better that Starbucks. 3. A trip to an all-you-can-eat sushi place, which was great. 4. Hanging out with this cutie pie and her sister. B & E have 2 Basset Hounds that are the sweetest, cutest, most lovable dogs ever. This is Nellie curled up with me, and her sister, Abbie was snuggled up to Justin in the back. They made me want a Basset!

Friday

Friday we had a boys day/girls day. Elizabeth and I headed to get pedicures and to shop at Kirklands (a place we both love), while the boys went to Bass Pro Shop. We met up to go to Costco, which B & E thought it was hilarious that we wanted to go there. I know we have these in Texas, but not near us. We are big Sam's fans, so we wanted to see what Costco was all about. It did not disappoint. Of course, Justin and Blake have to be goofy. :) We rounded out the night by Elizabeth and I dominating the boys in 3 games of yard golf (and later 3 games of darts), and taking the pups on a walk around their neighborhood. Being the dork I am, I made everyone stop and take pictures in front of one of the mountains!

Saturday

Saturday we started the day by going to their favorite breakfast place, but I didn't take any pictures. Then we headed to the beach in Encinitas where it was 73 degrees. SEVENTY-THREE DEGREES!!! It's like 173 degrees in Texas right now! Elizabeth and I hung out on the beach talking while the boys played in water. Justin found those Kanye-inspired shades in the bathroom, and just had to try them on. So goofy. I love it. Later that night, we went to a restaurant called Wood Ranch and walked around this really cool path outside of it. It was so pretty all lit up and surrounded by water! We did a little window shopping, and finished up with frozen yogurt at Golden Spoon. I'm not sure how any of us ate yogurt after the mountain of garlic rolls from Wood Ranch, but it was so good.

I didn't take any pictures on Sunday. To be honest, with 13+ hours either in a car, on a plane, or in an airport did not make for a fun day. I was not in a picture-taking mood. :) However, turns out these two were totally flying out of LAX at the same time we were!
I would have busted out the camera for those two, but I highly doubt they would have been anywhere close to our terminal.

All in all, we had a wonderful, relaxing time with some great friends. We were both so sad to leave. Thanks again, Blake and Elizabeth, for opening your home to us. We love you guys!

Come back tomorrow for Part 2. It's just random photos from our trip. :)

What to do when you're in a funk

2011-06-24T16:56:00.005-05:00

I have been in a major funk today. I don't know what my problem is. I told Justin that maybe being home alone all these days in a row is finally causing me people-withdrawals. I mean, you can only clean your house and watch TV for so long before you want to have a grown-up conversation and see people other than the Real Housewives. (Holy cow, yesterday was the first time I've ever actually been through a whole episode of that show...it's a whole other topic, but those women are C-R-A-Z-Y.) Kelly has been out of town, and will be for awhile. Everyone else has jobs that they don't get off for the summer. Unfortunately for me, Fridays are Justin's long days so it's even longer until I see someone in the real world today. We are still a one-car family right now, so even going to Walmart just to see other people in real-life hasn't been an option.

I've tried busying myself with sewing. I went shopping with my parents this week to help my mom pick out makeup and to help my dad pick out dress pants (which apparently they've forgotten how to do on their own???), and came across this gem.

It has instructions and patterns for everything I've been wanting to know how to sew! I started a big project today only to run out of the interfacing and fabric I need. :( Which means, I'm at a standstill there until Justin brings me some home after work. That led me into what can be a very dangerous situation for ~~my wallet~~ me...

Etsy shopping. For those of you that don't know about Etsy, be warned that it is addictive. It is like an online thrift store/anything cool handmade that you can think of. I love having different or unique stuff that other people might not, and Etsy is the place to go for it. I reigned myself in and only bought 2 items I've had my eye on for months now, even though I could have bought TONS of stuff. Dang you, Etsy! Here's what I got.

This SUPER, DUPER CUTE necklace I have been coveting from Funky.Vintage.Lovely. (Ok, she's on Big Cartel, but same difference.) You should also read her blog. She is a great writer, and she has also been through a miscarriage this past year. She's very encouraging and real. I instantly liked her. It made me want to buy her stuff even more.

And...the piece I've been dying to get from ParadaCreations...

Don't you LOVE IT??? I can't wait to get it and hang it in my classroom. That is, after I move classrooms...again. But who cares!!! I've been stalking this thing for MONTHS, but never sucked it up and bought it. Now I did, and I am thrilled!

I have to admit, it sort of helped my grouchiness to get a couple of things I've been wanting. I'd better get out of my funk soon though. Retail therapy will not be good for my marriage much longer.

Happy birthday, Justin!

2011-06-21T08:48:00.011-05:00

Happy birthday to the greatest husband a girl could ever ask for. I love you more than words could express. You are my best friend, my constant entertainment, and a true joy to have in my life. I am so blessed to get to go through life with you knowing that God created you specifically for me (and vice versa). You are supportive, caring, fun, loving, helpful, talented, handsome, and an amazing friend, brother, uncle, son, and husband. My world is brighter because of you. I hope your birthday and the coming year is full of happiness and adventure for you. You deserve the best there is to offer. I love you deeply.

This has to be one of my favorite moments with him. He ordered a taco salad at one of our favorite Mexican food places, and out came this gigantic bowl of every ingredient possible. He was so embarrassed!

Sew Frustrating

2011-06-18T20:23:00.005-05:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who stopped over for Insta-Friday! I loved reading your comments (even on older posts), and I enjoyed checking out your blogs too. I hope you'll keep reading.

Most of you readers know me personally though, and you know I can be a pretty crafty person. I've been known to Mod-Podge with the best of them. I have a confession though. I stink at sewing. Both my mother and my mother-in-law are avid sewers. (Is that proper? Sewers as in seamstresses or sewers like where your poop goes? I'm confused.) My mom was thrilled when I said I wanted to learn how to sew, and she went out and bought me a sewing machine. It's very basic. In fact, I think the name of it is Sew Simple.

Well, Sew Simple sat in her box for a good year before I ever ventured to take her out. Something about sewing is so intimidating to me. I guess it's the fact that it's a machine with a very sharp needle that I can tear up/accidentally stitch myself to something. Anyways, it sat in a closet until this past Christmas when my aunt (the crafty guru in my family) forced me to open it and help sew curtains for my nieces' playhouse. I did really well with her by my side, but when I got home and tried to do a few things on my own it was a total disaster. I'm pretty sure it ended with me cussing the thing and swearing to never touch a spool of thread again.

Back into the closet Sew Simple went, and she just ventured out again yesterday. There are so many cute ideas out there that involve sewing, so I thought it was time I suck up my fear and frustration and take them on. Yeah. It ended with this...

My completely wonderful hubs having to try to undo whatever catastrophe I did. (Sidenote: I find it hilarious that I have to go to him for questions on how to sew things. While my grandmother was teaching me how to fish and fetch Natty Light, his grandmother was teaching him how to work a sewing machine. Two different worlds, I tell you. True meaning of "helpmate.") I got seriously frustrated with the stupid thing and went to bed huffing and puffing about the dadgum bobbin and why it kept looking like a bird's nest. I hate not being able to fix things sometimes, and I let this get the best of me.

This afternoon I decided to dig my heels in and figure it out. I started out by watching the DVD that came with my machine explaining how it works. Oops! Apparently that would have been the smart thing to do 24 hours ago, and Justin was not too happy when he realized I had virtual instructions how to not mess it up. Turns out I was doing all kinds of wrong to my machine. A few ~~hours~~ minutes later and I had my very own sunglasses case!

Tada!

I even {sort of} figured out how to make ruffles! Granted I have lots of improvements to make, but I actually made something functional, and did not want to throw my sewing machine out of the window! Progress!!!

Well, tomorrow is our family celebration for Justin's birthday, Father's Day, and my parents' 35th wedding anniversary. I asked Justin what he wanted me to cook for it and he said enchiladas-the most time consuming thing I make. it made my heart happy though that he didn't say, "Could you make my mom's ___?" My mother-in-law is known for her awesome cooking, so it's hard to make anything better than she does. I guess I should quit stalling and get back to them though. Have a great Father's Day!!

Insta-Friday Vol. 1

2011-06-17T09:41:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to link up to Insta-Friday at Life Rearranged for a couple of weeks now, and I'm finally getting around to it. The gist is basically to post pictures that you've taken on your cell phone that week, which is perfect for me the non-battery-charging-camera-owner. Most of mine are taken using the Instagram app, which I am currently obsessed with. (My username is lewilliams if you want to look me up.)

I'm not normally a huge coffee drinker, but while our Cali friends were here there were many late nights trying to enjoy every minute of our time with them. I miss my Peppermint Mocha creamer a la Christmastime, but my Irish Creme is almost as good. Don't you love my adorable coffee cup from my Kelly?? It's my favorite.

These two are always up to something. They decided about 2 hours before we had to leave for a wedding that it was time to get on the tractor and knock some stuff down. Elizabeth and I had a good time watching these two work together. Our life would be so much more fun if they would only move back to Texas! I think we did a pretty good job of convincing them that it needs to happen soon!

Cleaned up boys at the wedding. Justin is honestly one of the best people I know at being a good friend. He has a genuine relationship with each one of his friends, and unlike girls it's drama free. He keeps in touch with high school and college friends regularly, and they are all wonderful guys. I'm proud of my hubs for being such a good man with a good heart.

My view a couple of times this week as we drove back and forth to Houston to pick up and drop off our friends.

My tired girl. Blake is an ex-Marine, and he took her running a couple of times while they visited. She and I have also been walking a lot this week, and this Texas heat is enough to make you not want to move much further than the ~~couch~~ dog bed. We've clocked 10 miles since Monday, and I have 6 more to go to reach my goal this week. I plan on knocking out 4 today. Next week I'm upping it to 20. Bella might not like that.

Last night we cooked dinner for my in-laws. No, I didn't serve them the fake apples, but we did have some amazing fajitas courtesy of my amazing hubs. We love having people over and cooking for them. I don't think there's anything more personal than that. I'm also using this picture as proof that I need to hurry up and buy my Peacock Fiestaware I've been wanting. It would look so great with our brown and green.

So that's Volume 1 of Insta-Friday for me. Go to Life Rearranged to check out more.

This one's for Blake...

2011-06-13T15:08:00.000-05:00

You may remember this post about our friends Blake and Elizabeth. They came to visit this past weekend for a wedding, and it turns out that Justin had told Blake about my blog. Blake told me several times to be sure I updated my blog this week, so this is in honor of him. :) We have a Mac at home, and we've made several goofy videos on Photo Booth. This one in particular had Blake rolling on the floor.

Blake, it is a sure sign of how much I like you, buddy, that I'm posting a video like this of me on the internet. :)

I have several more that Blake and Justin made this weekend, but for some reason they're in a different format. I'll have to work on them. We'll show those another day. :)

Sweet Summer Time

2011-06-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

See this?
That makes me one happy girl! No more 5:15 wake-up call for a few months for this teacher. Ahh, the joys of sweet summer time. While I completely love my job and what I do, I think I am programmed to just be "done" by the end of May. Starting in mid-July I'll get the itch to start back. That's usually when I start really working on putting my classroom back together. As previously discussed, I've never been in the same classroom two consecutive years, so the moving and unpacking are always a given in summer.

I have several goals and plans for this summer. Since a lot of you have posted yours I thought I would too. Here we go...

1. Not stress out this week. I currently have a wall missing in my house. That's right, a wall. My tech-savvy hubs decided he wanted to mount his TV to our living room wall and run the cords through the wall so they can't be seen. Somehow this involves taking down our entire hallway wall, and cutting 3 large holes in the ceiling. I'm trying very hard not to be a nag. I know he knows what he is doing, and he'll put it all back together. Chaos bothers me though, especially at home. Especially when our friends are coming in Thursday from Cali to spend 4 days with us, and my house is not even in the neighborhood of clean. :) I'm trying to be patient and positive in the midst of mess.

2. Sew. I plan on really busting out my sewing machine and getting a few projects done. Namely curtains.

3. Scrapbook, which I haven't done in ages.

4. Finally finish putting pictures in our collage that is was on our hallway wall. It's been hanging there for a year with stranger's pictures in it!

5. Go the the beach with Kelly and swim a lot with my nieces.

6. Read, read, read! I've got 2 books downloaded on my Kindle waiting for me, and I'm also planning on reading The Help and The Hunger Games.

7. Reorganize my kitchen cabinets and closets.

8. Be a good wife who has dinner cooked and a house clean so that the hubs can enjoy a little bit of summer too. This is one time of the year I wish he was a teacher too. It would be so fun to have all of this time off with him and be able to go and do fun stuff together. I'm really looking forward to this week when he's off a little bit and of course our vacation!

9. Work on these...
Since I'll officially be going back to Language Arts next year, I decided to redo my version of Book Clubs (Literature Circles) in my classroom. I went to a workshop last year that had some great new ideas, but since I taught math it didn't do me much good. Therefore, I'm rereading and rewriting the plans I had for each of these novels. I've already knocked out 2 while trying to avoid the demolition, so only 15 or so more to go.

Hope you all enjoy your first (or second) week of summer! It will be over before we know it!

Soapbox

2011-06-02T18:12:00.001-05:00

Sorry, folks. I'm getting up on my soapbox for a minute. Chalk it up to end of the year crankiness or what have you. Today's topic of discussion: professionalism.

I once had a principal, my first principal in fact, who would always tell us, "You are a professional. I will always treat you as such. Be professional." I have strongly taken that to heart. I am a professional. Teaching sometimes is left out of that "professional" category. I guess it's because people think we "play" with kids all day. But I am college educated. I continue my education and develop my portfolio each year. I'm knowledgeable, willing to work, and dedicated. I'm a professional, and I deserve to be treated as such. On the flip side, I'm expected to be professional.

There have just been massive amounts of craziness around me lately. I sat in a meeting yesterday where I was told that I should not be allowed to see my children's benchmark tests before the day that I give them because I might use them to help my students cheat. Since when have any of us been known to cheat??? I was also told that my lesson plans (along with every other math teacher's) were not extensive enough. Apparently, after 7 years of successful teaching, I now have to prove on paper that I can complete a lesson cycle for each concept that I teach. For the record, this came from someone who as of today is no longer employed by my district, but it does not change that this was said. I probably wasn't as "professional" as I should have been in this meeting. I spoke up and said that I strongly disagreed with several things that were suggested. However, in the end I conceded that I would do whatever my bosses asked me to do. They are after all, my bosses. Whether I agree or disagree, they have been placed in that role of authority and I have not. It is ok to question (respectfully) and get a reason behind a decision you don't understand, but refusing to do something is unacceptable.

This is why it baffles me as to why other people can't do the same dadgum thing. DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD TO DO AND SHUT UP. I'm so tired of nagging teachers saying over and over again that they: "can't" do centers and small groups with the kids they have (YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF KIDS YOU'LL HAVE NEXT YEAR), that they already know how to manage their classrooms and don't need anyone's help (IS THAT WHY YOU SCREAM AND SEND KIDS TO THE OFFICE EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. OH, AND YOU COULD DO CENTERS IF YOU HAD CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT), that they and they alone are responsible for their "wonderful" scores (AFTER ANOTHER TEACHER WAS BROUGHT IN TO TEACH YOUR CLASS FOR YOU BECAUSE YOUR SCORES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WERE HORRIBLE), that they don't think they should have to change teaching assignments, grade levels, positions, etc. because of who they are and how long they've been there.

Now let me address that last one individually. I know the feeling well of being changed and totally taken out of your element. In my 4 years at my school, guess how many room and assignment changes I have had...4. Every single year has been some where different and something different for me. Guess what I was told on Monday...pack your stuff, you're moving again. Know what I said? "OK." BECAUSE I AM BLESSED TO HAVE A JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE. I know I didn't have a great attitude about being switched to math last year, and I've actually acknowledged that to my boss (even though she didn't know I was unhappy). Most of that was fear of the unknown and not being sure I could do what was being asked of me. However, I sucked it up, never complained to my superiors, and worked my butt off to do everything they asked me to and more. My district-my campus-has been through hell this year. Unfortunately, it's not over. We're all going to have to be flexible and open to change. We can't get stuck in this, "I don't want to" attitude and forget the fact that there were many teachers in our district who are still without any job next year.

I watched a teacher today complain on and on and on about the assignment she was given next year right in front of a teacher who has not been rehired. The non-rehired teacher sat there looking more and more defeated. Finally after Mrs. Complainer walked away I asked the other teacher if she was ok. She simply said, "I'd just be happy to know I was going to have a job. I'd teach whatever they tell me to." THAT IS A PROFESSIONAL.

Sadly, it's not just in teaching you see unprofessionalism. No matter what job you have the truths are the same: We are adults, people. We are not children. You are an employee of a corporation, like it or not. You are under authority no matter where you go. You are responsible for doing whatever job they tell you to do, and if you don't like it PLEASE LEAVE so that people who ARE willing to work will have a position.

So how can we be professional? Get to work on time. Get off your stupid cell phone. Quit complaining and nagging about the every day expectations of your PAYING job. Do what you are asked to do to the best of your ability.

It's called integrity. Have some. It's called work ethic. Look it up. It's called work. Do some, son.

Stepping down now,

Yes, please!

2011-05-26T17:58:00.000-05:00

I'm not a phone talker. Never really have been unless you count the bajillion hours Justin and I would talk on the phone when we first started dating. I'm not good at answering my phone, and I'd really prefer if everyone would go to texting only. However, my mom is very technologically challenged. She has no clue how to text. So, she has been calling and calling and calling, but I honestly either haven't been in the mood to talk or haven't been in a place I could. Last night, after several missed calls, I finally returned her call. If I had known what she was going to say I would have called her back much earlier!

Turns out, my aunt has a timeshare in Arkansas and nobody on their side of the family is available to use it their week in July. She wanted to know if Justin and I would like to go stay there and get away for a week this summer. I immediately thought, "Arkansas? Really? For vacation? For young people? Nah."

See, I associate Arkansas with our family vacation when I was little when we drove everywhere in my dad's big red pick up truck. Back then, the song "I Like My Women Just a Little on the Trashy Side" was extremely popular, and that's pretty much what I remember hearing on the radio for the umpteen hours we spent in Big Red on that trip. I've guess I've always associated Arkansas with trashy women. (no offense Arkansasionans?) I debated between just telling her no, and the fact that it would be really great to get away. Then I googled the place. Holy.Moley.

Yes, please!

Turns out their share is on Greers Ferry Lake at the Wyndham Resort! And we get to go...FOR FREE!!!! I have been so excited about it ever since. This place is awesome! Five swimming pools, 2 golf courses, horseback riding, hiking, spa, jet ski rentals, boats, party barges, you name it. And that's just on the resort grounds! And did I mention we get to go FOR FREE???? We immediately started calling up our friends to ask them to go too. Oh yeah, their share...it's TWO full-sized apartments! We'll have plenty of room for all of our friends to go with us! SUPER excited, people!

Allow me to show you where I will be spending most of my time, Kindle in hand of course...

And where Justin will probably spend the time he is not on a boat/jet ski on the lake...
Only a month or so until we are there! I can't wait! God bless wonderful aunts! :)

2011-05-25T09:43:00.000-05:00

I debated on how much of this I would blog. It seems a little too personal to share, but then again, I know I have appreciated reading other people’s infertility stories on their blogs. It helps to know sometimes that you’re not a weirdo. I feel a little strange knowing some really random people read my blog, but whatever. It’s not like we have to discuss this face-to-face. Get ready for long and rambling...

Yesterday, I had my official “Ok, this really isn’t working on its own” appointment with my doctor. I’ve been really apprehensive and prayerful about when to do this. Fertility treatments are no joke. There’s a lot to consider before you leap in. I just hadn’t felt a peace about it in the past, but the last few weeks I’ve been hearing that little voice (aka God) saying it’s time to do this thing. I’ve been trying to make sure it really was the right thing to do (aka Avoiding), plus life has just been insanely busy. Finally, on Monday, I was sitting at my desk and realized it was seriously time to call and figure this stuff out. At first, the nurse told me that I couldn’t get in until September, which immediately made me a little disappointed. I accepted it though. Not 10 seconds after I hung up, she called me back and said, “There are two cancellations tomorrow. Want to come then?” I stuttered for a minute and finally said yes. I wasn’t expecting it that fast, but if I’m reminded of anything in this ordeal it’s that God’s timing is not my own.

So, I showed up yesterday not at all nervous (aka A Lie). I could feel my blood pressure rising, but I don’t really know why. I guess because all I’ve ever really gotten from that office is bad news??? I guess I was expecting the worse. After waiting for an hour (because the receptionist marked me off the list as having checked in, but forgot to tell the nurse) we were called back. I met with the nurse for a minute, and then Justin came in to meet with the doctor and me. Long story short, we’re starting the process of testing to find the problem. I have to do a bunch of random blood work on different days of the month, and hopefully that will show an abnormality in hormones. I say “hopefully” because if that is not the problem, she thinks I may have blockage in my tubes or endometriosis. She saves that to test for last because apparently the tests are really uncomfortable and extensive. Please join me in praying that it is ONLY a hormonal thing that can be fixed easily. If it is a blockage or endometriosis, that would mean surgery, IUI, or worse case, IVF. None of which my insurance would cover. :(

I have mixed feelings about the appointment. I love my doctor and her nurse, and I trust them completely. I can’t deny that a selfish part of me wanted to walk in, be handed some Clomid, and go on my merry way. Testing, worrying, and trial and error just don’t sound fun. I know that this is the smart and responsible thing to do though. We can pinpoint the problem and treat it correctly instead of shooting in the dark and hoping something sticks. (pun intended) So, I left with a combination of peace and disappointment. However, I know that this is ALL in God's timing. I can do all the fertility treatments in the world, but until He chooses to make this thing happen nothing will. It's as simple as that.

While the nurse was taking my blood pressure she wrote the world “infertile” across the top of my folder. I grimaced at that. I know it’s dumb because I’ve been aware that I actually am or had the possibility of being infertile for 2 years now, but for some reason that made it real. The nurse saw my face and commented that I must have known already I was infertile. Then she asked me if I knew how to tell I was infertile. My answer was, “Once you’ve tried naturally for a year and do not get pregnant.” To which she responded, “Oh, no. You know you are when you google stuff like ‘how to get pregnant.' Or you start counting the number of pregnant women that you know, and want to slap them when they complain about being pregnant. Or when you delete or hide people on Facebook because all they talk about are their babies and pregnancies.” I told her I have been infertile for awhile now because I have done all of those things! However, the one lesson I have learned is perspective. I have had 3 families that I know personally, who have had to bury their infant babies in the past month. One of them was a very sweet friend of mine from college who tried for 4 years to get pregnant. She was told it was pretty much impossible, but she found out that she was expecting a little boy in September. However, her baby boy was born last week at 33 weeks and immediately passed away. That will give you perspective. I might being going through something difficult, but it is nothing compared to that. I wish that other people would learn that same lesson. I’m tired of the insensitivity already. I’m not going into it more than that, but I’d have to say the hardest part of it all is people not respecting or understanding your feelings. I know some people would say that I am being selfish and immature to remove myself from situations involving people like this. Shouldn't I be grown-up enough to deal with it? However, I would argue that it is like a millonaire complaining to a homeless person about his mortgage. That homeless man would give anything to have a tenth of what the millionaire had, and an "infertile" would give anything to have a tenth of a pregnant person's morning sickness, tiredness, or uncomfortablenss if it meant being able to have a baby in the end. Like I said, perspective.

So that's where we are at this point. It is what it is, and God is in control. Please continue to pray for us. We would definitely appreciate it.

Virtual Shopping

2011-05-09T16:15:00.001-05:00

The other day I received some "fun money" from my mom. Basically, it's money meant for me to buy something fun and not to pay bills or buy groceries with. I've had a hard time deciding what to spend it on because there's quite a bit of randomness on my wish list lately. Here are a few things I have been wanting.

1. New tennis shoes. I loooove these red/gray/white ones. The only thing is that our school colors are maroon and white, so I wear a maroon shirt most Fridays. I think the red would clash.

2. A new purse. Preferably this one. Too bad it's Michael Kors and cost $498. Notsomuch. I love slouchy purses though, and as you'll come to see I'm obsessed with this color right now.

Purse and shoes are from here.

3. Peacock fiestaware. We have the shamrock green and the brown dishes from our wedding, but I am reeeeaaallly wanting the salad plates in peacock. It looks so good together and goes great with my new place mats I showed you here.

Plates are from here.

4. A new Chi. I'm still borrowing my sister's from a few months ago. I need to bite the bullet and buy a new one. Here, again, I'm wanting the teal one. I really like the case that comes with this one too. Too bad it would be all of my fun money spent if I bought this version. This one is from Ulta.

5. Sunnies case and ~~Ipad~~ Kindle case from The Pleated Poppy.

Sigh. I love everything she does. I would blow all of my money on her covered notebooks, bloom bags, and petal pushers if I had no moral compass about money. Love her.

6. I also want this charm from James Avery. Only, I want it to say 2009, which is the year we got married.

So, that's my virtual shopping trip for now. Anyone else have anything they're loving lately?

Books, Books, Books

2011-05-03T07:20:00.000-05:00

Well, my world has been filled with preparing for our school carnival, finishing up TAKS, and reading. Lots and lots of reading. Some of my students reminded me last week that I had challenged them to earn as many AR (Accelerated Reader is a computer-based quiz program over books for you non-teachers) points as they could this year, and that I in return would earn 100. Well, I've been sitting at 60 points for months now because honestly, teaching math, I had totally forgotten. So, I've been reading every spare minute to try to reach my goal. Friday is my last day to do so, and I'm proud to say I'm now sitting at 98. Don't worry, Junie B. Jones is waiting for me at home so I can push myself over the top.

I thought it would be fun though to share some of the books I have read, and what I thought.

First up...

my favorite! I actually read this for an online book club workshop to get my GT update, and I loved it! I've recommended it to everyone I know. It will melt your heart and make you want to become an author. This is the same author who wrote Sarah, Plain and Tall, Caleb's Story, etc. This has got to be one of the best books I have read in a while...very quotable.

Next up is Joey Pigza...
My school librarian recommended Joey. This is the first in a series. I also read Joey Pigza Looses Control. If you teach or have a child with ADD or ADHD, I highly suggest reading this. Joey struggles with ADD, and the story is told from his perspective. Parts of it broke my heart, but it really will help you understand kids with ADD a little better. It's not a very uplifting book, but not all great reads are.

Another depressing but good one...
Sweet. Sad. Couldn't put it down. I read this one in about an hour. It is very well written, and if you had someone your age die when you were a kid, it will resonate with you. It was very emotional, and the characters suck you in.

I finished this one last night...

Very interesting. If you liked Benjamin Button, I think you would like this. The story is not in any way related, but the setting and the theme of the book seemed to match the movie. Ruby June, the main character, lives in a boarding house in the 1940's. The whole time I pictured Brad Pitt as the shriveled little Benjamin Button being her friend.

The one I didn't get...

Yeah. My librarian told me this was her "all-time favorite." Usually that means I would love it. I didn't. I struggled through this one, and it just wasn't my favorite. Maybe some of you have read it??? Anybody understand it???

Not an AR-testable book...
I also read Something Borrowed, even though it in no way helped me get AR points. Kelly and I went to see Water for Elephants (another great read), and saw the previews for this. I heart John Krasinski, so I can't wait to watch the movie. I seriously read this book in a day. It is total chick-lit, and not in any way educational. It was a fun read though. There were parts that I could really relate to. From what I can tell, they've cast the movie perfectly too. I can't wait to have a girls night and see it. Hear that, Kelly?

So, those are my literary choices lately. Not much to brag about, but I'm just happy to be reading. It has really encouraged my kids to get after it, so I can't complain. Anyone else read anything good lately?

Bullet Points

2011-04-18T07:28:00.001-05:00

I feel the need to update, but don't really have a cohesive post. Therefore, let the bullet points be listed.

*We spent the weekend at my friends' Trey and Jenn's lake house near Tyler. It was much needed. It was so good to get away and be around such great friends. It made me really miss those guys. It also made me really wish it was summer already! We watched some soccer, ate some good food, played some putt-putt, fished, took a spin around the lake in a boat, and just relaxed. It was greatness.

*I have a 4 day work week this week, and I could not be more excited. Being the only school in SETX to not get a snow day has finally paid off. :)

*Still no news on the job front. They keep telling us to "hang in there." What other option do we have? I went to the school board meeting last week, and was shocked by the apparent lack of concern from both our school board (all but one of them) and our teachers. The whole apathy thing has really bugged me this last week. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not responsible for other people's decisions. It's there job to be concerned about their own jobs. Not my job to save it.

*I'm planning my school's carnival for the end of the year. I'm more than a little excited about it. Maybe I should have been a party planner.

*I love my husband. He really is the best.

*I'm ready for after school tutorials to be over. I'm ready for TAKS to be over. I'm ready to go back to fun-teacher mode and not desperate to make everyone pass even though some people just aren't ready teacher mode.

That's all I've got for now. I'll put together a post that actually makes sense soon.

You're fired...You're rehired?

2011-04-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

"This is a new day. A time for new beginnings. What's done

is done, but God is God. Speak up for hope and life.

Jesus is able."

-Louie Giglio

That quote is one Louie Giglio tweeted a few months ago. I copied it, and keep it in the "notes" app on my phone. I pull it up and read it every now and then...especially today.

Well, I always thought one of the benefits of teaching would be job security. I mean, we always need teachers, right? Right? Anyone? Yeah, apparently I was wrong about that one.

Everyone knows our state is cutting the education budget by millions this year. Our district took the stance that they didn't know how badly it would affect us, and they would do their best to make decisions that would be for the best of our entire district. Unfortunately, one of those decisions they had to make was to "not renew" (that means "fire" in teacher terms) any teachers under probationary contracts. Yours truly falls in that category. To not be probationary I would have to have 5 years of experience before I was hired (I had 4), or to have completed 3 one-year probationary contracts by the district. (I could go off on a tangent on how I have completed 3 one-year probationary contracts with my district, and nothing in their handbook or policies say it must have been consecutive contracts, but I digress.) I taught here for a year, and then left to go to a town closer to Justin. I moved back when we decided to get married, and I've been here since. I'm one month from finishing my third year since returning, which makes me thisclose to not being in this situation.

Anyways, 79 of us got an email yesterday that we must show up to a meeting on Thursday about our future employment, which sent us all in a tailspin. We started asking questions and found out that we were not being given contracts for next year. Little more digging, and a personal meeting with our Superintendent of Personnel and now I find out that I'm being officially fired on Friday. However, we have a 2 week waiting period, and then they'll begin hiring back those of us who haven't given them the proverbial finger by then and those that have good performance. We'll be hired back based on our principal's evaluations and previous TAKS (or benchmark) scores on an as-needed basis. Praise the Lord for my 100% passing rate on TAKS and perfect evaluation from last year! (Not to mention the curriculum written, committees I've served on, working my butt of in general.) I've been told I'm on the top of the list based on those criteria and years of experience. So, I'm getting fired to get rehired? Makes sense, right? No? You mean you've never been fired and rehired for the same job 2 weeks later? Comical, huh?

In all seriousness, I know that our district is trying to do what they think is right and fair even though I don't understand it and it is stressful to us all. I truly do feel horribly bad for our superintendent for being in this position. He and his family have been nothing but great to me. I taught his son last year, and his wife came to tell me today that he was very upset to see my name on the list. She said he told her they would give me her paycheck if for some reason I didn't end up getting rehired! (Maybe I should! Hers is probably way more than mine!) That was very humbling to me because I've been feeling like the fact that I try to always go above and beyond and do everything I can to make my kids successful and to help our school was overlooked. It's hard to hear that you are fired when a lower performing teacher, who does nothing extra whatsoever to make our school better, is not. I've been a pretty bitter person for the past 24 hours about that.

I woke up this morning praying that God would just help me to see the purpose in this. Help me to see that I have made a difference and that I am worth something here. Boy, did He! I can't even tell you how the people who stopped me in the hallway to tell me what a good teacher they thought I was, or the former-students' parents who emailed saying they would stick up for me any day helped me to change my attitude. Huge blessings, very humbling, but what a blessing. That's any teacher's dream. We just want to know that we have made a difference and a child's life is better because of us.

My partner teacher is in the same boat. We have laughed today about the fact if we had known we were getting fired we would have gone out in style. I'm sure "Take This Job and Shove It" would have been included in there somewhere. :) I guess that would put an end to being rehired though! Please keep everyone who is going through this in your prayers. I may be lucky enough to be rehired a few weeks later (Lord willing), but some will not. Pray for them and their families. Jesus is able.

TGIF...

2011-04-01T07:23:00.000-05:00

cause I am T-I-R-E-D! Here's a little music to make you happy today.

You wanna make whaaaattt???

2011-03-18T13:53:00.001-05:00

About a year ago, I finally convinced the hubs to try sushi. He loved it, just like I knew he would. We go through phases of craving sushi, but unfortunately it's not always in the budget. So, over Christmas we came across a sushi making kit (a rolling mat and rice paddle) and decided to get adventurous. Enter Sunday night...Kelly was spending some time here so we asked her to pick up a package of Nori (at the fantastically huge HEB that makes me miss living in an actual city) on her way here. I printed off The Pioneer Woman's sticky rice recipe, and we got started.
Not really knowing how to recreate our favorite rolls from the local sushi place, we decided that we would get a variety of fixin's and experiment. We used crab meat, smoke salmon, avocado, jalapeno, cream cheese, some chicken I fried in tempura batter, of course sticky rice, and a couple of different sauces. We took turns mix-matching ingredients and actually created some pretty great rolls.

Justin was the "Master Roller" although I tried my hand at it too. Notice a sneaky little chocolate lab in the background trying to sneak a piece for herself.

And we had...
It really wasn't that difficult once we figured out the stupid rice cooker (and made Kelly feel really awkward with our snappiness Sorry, Kel). One thing we plan on mastering before the next go-round is a spicy mayo. I found a recipe for it, but it calls for chili paste, and apparently nobody in these parts has ever conceived of such a thing. All in all, it was a fun experience. Heck, we might even have to put in a hibachi grill if we keep this up. :)

PS. This was my first time playing around with Picnik. I love it! Do any of you use it to edit your pictures? Is it worth paying for the membership???

Seriously, Monday?

2011-03-07T16:51:00.001-06:00

I'm not really one of those people who hate Mondays just because they're Mondays. I actually really like my job, and most days I don't mind getting up and coming to work. What I do hate is when things go wrong and throw me off my game, Monday or any day. Today happened to be a Monday that seriously threw me off.

I got up at my usual time and started my usual routine only to ~~rip~~ shred my contact, which meant me putting in my last pair. I'm always so paranoid when I have my last pair in because if anything happens to one of them it means I have to wear my hideous 1998 glasses that are not quite up to my prescription. Not to mention that I just put in the pair I tore up not even 3 weeks ago. No biggie. I shower, dry my hair, plug in my Chi...unplug and replug in my Chi...Why is it not coming on? I'm standing there with my poofy, frizzy, yet-to-be-tamed hair and my dadgum straightener decided it had enough and quit. (I guess I should reveal that I did drop it on the floor for the 987,342nd time yesterday, but why was that any different from the 987,341 other times I had dropped it?!) I quickly tried every outlet in our house hoping that it was the problem, but it wasn't. My Chi is dead. I wouldn't have worried so much, but I am being "presented" ??? at our school board meeting tonight, and I don't think a ponytail when your hair is at short as mine is professional at all. Justin always calls me a samurai when I try to put my hair up because it's so short and most of it falls down...not good for your bosses. THANKFULLY, I have a curly-headed sister who only tries to straighten her hair once in a blue moon, so she drove to my school and met me with her Chi. I had to straighten my hair in my classroom and pray that my students didn't show up to work on the computer before school and catch me. Oh, did I mention that when I walked in my classroom I realized I left my Scentsy on since Friday!? Holy moley. I felt like the biggest idiot.

Luckily, my day has gotten much, much better. I mean really, when one thing after another goes wrong like that, you just have to have a sense of humor and laugh. I mean, seriously I had a drive-by-Chi-drop-off in the front of my school this morning. How can you not laugh about that? Happy Monday, folks!

Happy birthday to zoo you!

2011-03-06T17:00:00.000-06:00

I've introduced most of you to my bff, Kelly before. You know, my favorite girl in the world. Well, last week was Kelly's birthday, and get this-she has never been to the zoo. Never. Not just a certain zoo, any zoo. What's funny is that Kelly has not lived a sheltered life. Her family has taken plenty of fun trips and vacations, but apparently a zoo was never on the list. She decided what she wanted to do for her birthday this year was spend the day at the zoo, and I happily jumped at the chance.

I left early yesterday morning to meet her at her house about an hour away. After some pretty torrential downpour, we decided to go ahead and make the next hour or so drive to Houston to visit the zoo there. We got there, and the first thing we realized was it was FREEZING! Not only was it frigid outside, the wind was out of control. This didn't stop us though. It did make us laugh quite a bit at our unpreparedness with us in our t-shirts, but at least we weren't the girls wearing shorts! (I felt really bad for those girls.) So, we grabbed our maps and coffee did a lot of this...

Luckily it warmed up so most of the animals were out. We saw several chimps fighting over blankets, which was hilarious. Then there was this guy...
I called him Stoner Bear. When we first walked by he was laying in a cave with his back to us. All we could see was him scratching his butt every few minutes. We went back by later and he was sitting on the edge of his cage staring into space. It looked like he was meditating pretty hard on something. He barely moved the whole time we stood there.
One of our favorites to see was the lions. I thought it was appropriate that their male lion was named Jonathan the Great. He and his lioness (I called her Heather) went every where together. You can't see her very well, but she's laying right beside him. It was really sweet to watch them together. You could tell they were mates.
The Houston Zoo has an aquarium that goes with it, and we were able to see lots of crazy sea life. These man-o-wars being one thing I've never seen. It was crazy!

All in all, it was a wonderful day with a wonderful friend. I am so blessed to have Kelly in my life. I would not be who I am without her, and I am so lucky to have the memories and times with her that I do. Everyone needs a best friend, but sorry folks, I think I got the best one there is. :)

Please pray...

2011-03-04T14:45:00.001-06:00

I know I was supposed to post about books on Wednesday, but honestly my heart just isn't in it right now. There are several tragedies that hit close to my heart this week, and I'd like to ask you all to pray.

First of all, pray for the people of Northpoint Church in Arlington. The pastor was killed yesterday, and the secretary was critically injured by an apparent intruder to their church. The last remaining staff member, was a good friend of mine in college. He's the music minister there. Jake's only 28, and he has lost very dear friends while also trying to be a backbone to that ministry. Please pray for the church, and specifically for Jake to be comforted and guided during this time.

Secondly, I was told yesterday that one of my former students has been diagnosed with cancer. She's only 10, and it has been found in her lymph nodes. Please pray for her and her family.

There's been a few others that I can't exactly post on Blogger. Nothing is wrong with me, so don't think that. Just pray for these people. Be thankful for every tiny blessing you have, and lift these folks up. Our God is bigger than cancer or killers. Ask Him to intervene.

Old Rotten Potatoes

2011-02-24T16:20:00.000-06:00

Lately this feels like what my life at school has revolved around...

making sure that 37 third grade students know their multiplication facts from 0 x 0 to 12x12. We spend every single spare second studying and checking off facts that they know. Goodness knows that we have to keep on learning division, probability, time, and temperature so this is in addition to all of that. Let me just say, whatever non-third grade teacher had this idea that kids should memorize these facts in one year WHILE THEY ARE 8 was not the sharpest tool in the shed. This is why I have ~~gray~~highlighted hair.

One funny story to get me through til Friday. On Tuesday, the announcements said we'd be serving "au gratin potatoes" with our chicken tenders for the day. Soon after that, I had a very solemn, serious boy standing in front of me wanting to know if the potatoes were really "old and rotten" or if that was just a joke. Bless his heart.

A Day in the Life--Updated

2011-02-23T07:36:00.000-06:00

I had such good intentions for this post. I was going to have pictures and everything. Too bad real life struck and left no time for that. I did however manage to contain the hazardous levels of laundry throw up last night. So, here we go. An average day in my life.

5:10-Alarm clock goes off. I am not a person that can hit the snooze button so I get up right then. First thing I do is walk our dog.

5:20-6:30-Get ready. This includes a shower, hair drying/straightening every.day. I'm seriously jealous of people who can do the every other day hair washing. I can't. Do make-up, iron clothes, make breakfast, etc. I'm usually out the door and on the way to work by 6:40 at the latest. That puts me at work right around 7:00.

7:00-7:40-My time in my room before kids show up. This is when I change my warm ups and assignments on the board, make sure I have everything I need for the day, drink my coffee, ~~check blogs~~, grade papers, etc. At 7:40 my little lovelies come in, and I serve them breakfast. Yes, you read that right. We have to serve kids breakfast in our classrooms thanks to a grant that requires every kid get a free breakfast. I think it's a great program, but I hate on sausage pancake on a stick day how my room smells bad for the rest of the day.

7:40-11:00- Teach math/science/social studies.

11:00-11:45- Lunch/Recess We're lucky at my school to only have recess duty every 7 or 8 weeks. That gives us an extra 15 minutes for lunch when we don't. That 15 minutes is gold. It lets you get prepared before you do it all over again with your afternoon class.

11:45-2:15-Repeat the day's lessons with my afternoon class.

2:15-3:00- Enjoy a little peace and quiet while my kids are at rotation. Really my conference period is used for meeting with or calling parents, lesson plans, grading papers, and writing our new Social Studies curriculum. I've learned to use my conference times wisely so I don't have to take as much work home with me.

3:00-3:40- Get kids packed up to leave by 3:15, teachers have to stay until 3:40, but it's usually 4:00 by the time I get out of here. Unless it's a Friday. Justin works late on Fridays so I usually do too. It's pretty great getting off together at about the same time every other day though.

Around 4:00ish-Head home. Activities vary from day today. Yesterday involved lots of cleaning and laundry for me. For Justin it involved working on the entertainment cabinet he's building, and helping our neighbor lift his bull with a tractor out of a creek. He always gets the good stories. :)

Around 5:00 or 6:00-One or both of us makes dinner. I'm lucky that I got a guy who can cook.

Around 7:00-?? Depends on what's on TV or what we have to do.

About 9:00 I head to bed. This is when I usually read or do my Bible study. (I'm doing a great one on Genesis right now. Loving it!) It never fails that I usually stop reading about 9:38 or 9:39 on the dot. Guess that's how long my attention span is. Lights out by 10:00. Get up the next day and do it again.

I know Jenni has already posted hers so you should join the fun too! Next week we'll be talking books.

These ladies have also posted their routines! Go give them some love.

Jenny

Renesha

Kristin

Megan

Family Fun and A Few Deals

2011-02-22T14:50:00.000-06:00

We had a super-busy week last week, which amounted to me getting into bed no earlier than 11:00 on too many consecutive nights. When you get up at 5:00 every day, that's not a lot of sleep. Needless to say, my house has been abandoned. We both had family in this weekend, so the trend continued. However, Justin had the day off Monday and it was a half-day/staff development day for me, so I took the day off thinking I could finally get stuff done. It would be so nice to have my house looking like it did not just throw up laundry. My to-do list was ready and waiting... Aaannnnddd it's still ready and waiting. :) We decided we would have a much needed family fun day. We headed out to Beaumont to see if we could get a deal on some pillows for our nice, new bed Uncle Sam helped us purchase and ended up having all kinds o'fun. See, that's what you do for "fun" when you get older. You shop for pillows and go to Sams to buy toilet paper in bulk. Really, it's fun! Just wait. I came away with these lovely place mats. Lurve them, as Thrifty Decor Chick would say. What's really great is they were originally $8.00 and I got them for $2.00 each! Take that, Dillards. We also got a feathertop (king size) mattress topper, a knife sharpener, and citrus peeler (random) for FREE at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Well, really we had taken back a Christmas gift we didn't need, but the featherbed was on sale for $19.99 so it was a really good deal either way. We found pillows at JCPenney's for buy one get one for $1.00. We paid more than I would normally pay for pillows, but seeing as we basically got 2 really expensive pillows for a dollar, we splurged on the other two. My favorite purchase of all, was not exactly a purchase though.

We ran by James Avery while we were in town to drop off my charm bracelet so my new charm I got for Christmas could be added on. My best friend, Kelly, is the manager there so she hooked me up and soldered my charm on and brought it to me a little while later when she met us for dinner. Only, in addition to my Tree of Life charm was this one... Is she the greatest best friend a girl could ask for or what? If that wasn't enough to make me cry, her sweet, sweet card was. I'm telling you, she had no idea what this meant to me at the time, much more than what she meant for it to. I am so, so blessed.

I'm also blessed with this guy, who will do almost anything to get a laugh. I love him. He wanted to make sure the gym shorts he got at Sams would fit. Never a dull moment I tell ya.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow and link up! We'll be sharing our daily routines.

Puttin' on ma face

2011-02-16T02:00:00.000-06:00

I'm SO glad you ladies decided to join the fun! I can't wait to see what you have in your make up bags. I am definitely not your average girly girl, but who doesn't love new products? Most of mine are suggestions from my bff, Kelly who is a girly girl. She's my make up guru. Here we go!

These are my bags. Yes, there are 3. The big pink one holds all of the goods, while the (I can't believe I showed it this dirty) green and white one holds my brushes. I don't like the idea of my brushes rolling around in the same bag as my actual products. Weird, I know. The polka dot one is my bag that stays in my purse, but we'll get to it later.
These are my "prep" materials. On the left I have "That Gal" primer by Benefit. Kelly recommended this around the time of my wedding, and ended up buying me a tube I loved it so much. I don't really use it as primer, as much as I do to add a little sparkle here and there once I'm done. In the middle, you have Clinique's Even Better moisturizer. I have very oily skin, and this is light-weight and never greasy. My least favorite, but most necessary tool is on the right. I have red cheeks. I've always had red cheeks. It's not rosesa (sp?), just the way I am. I use this to try to help even out my skin tone. I must say, it's much better than the old Mary Kay green primer I used in junior high that made me look like I was related to the Hulk with how green it turned my skin. That, or it could have been me being a 14-year-old who thought you had to cake it on to look good. Ah, the lessons we learn as we get older.

This here's the neutral zone. I used to be a Bare Minerals loyalist, but as I'm getting older I need a little more coverage. (geez) Again, my Kelly talked me into trying MAC, and I'm hooked. I use the Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NW20, the Mineralize Skinfinish powder in medium, the blush is in Gingerly, and the concealer is NW20 also. I also included Warmth from Bare Minerals because I use it in the spring/summer when I have a little tan. Love that stuff. I didn't take a picture of it, but I highly recommend the foundation brush from MAC too. I felt a little weird putting foundation on with a brush at first, but holy moley it's greatness. It makes is so less messy and not as cakey as it might be when you use your fingers or a sponge.
And the eyes...Can you tell I love purply, natural colors? I'd love to do a smokey eye, but it just doesn't go with my personality. Here is the list from left to right. Ulta:Sandstone, Maybelline Falsies mascara (love!), Covergirl:can't find a color name on it, Revelon: 03 Neutral Khakis collection, L'oreal Hip: Electrified, Covergirl: can't find a color name on it, and Revelon: Not Just Nudes creme shadows. I wear the Covergirl colors most. I also use Clinique eyeliner in Truest Khaki, but forgot to add it.
A word of caution on the Hip eyeshadow. They mean it when they say "high intensity pigment." The first time I tried to wear it I was looking like a drag queen. (or like I worked at MAC) It stays put though.

This is what my bag in my purse holds. Fingernail file, contact drops, hand sanitizer, best hand lotion ever, cutest compact ever (gift from a student...score), and my 3 favorite lip products of all time. In the green tube you have Bigelow's Mentha Lip Shine from Bath & Body Works, which is minty and helps with bad breath. In the center is the one item I could never live with out. Burts Bees chapstick. Oh, the love I have for a little yellow tube. I keep these everywhere. Desk, night stand, bathroom drawer, purse, everywhere. I can't be without it. You'll also see my Lipglass from MAC in Viva Glam. Love it! Super sparkly without being teenagerish, not sticky, doesn't taste bad, good stuff.

I can't believe I'm about to put this on the internet. I'm just not a girl who takes pictures of herself, especially standing in the bathroom thinking I'm hot stuff, BUT in the interest of showing you "ma face" here ya go. This is a typical day look (like I have an evening look).

So, there ya go! I gotta be honest and say I tried to figure out how to do a linky thing, but my connection at home has been s.l.o.w. If you did a make up post, PLEASE comment so we can all come see yours. :) Thanks again for joining!

Getting Back the Blogging Mojo

2011-02-14T07:19:00.000-06:00

Alright ladies. It's time for a little intervention. It seems to me that some of us (meaning you and me) have lost our blogging mojo. Let's be honest. Very few of us have blogged on a consistent basis, and some of us who shall remain nameless (Jenni Breaux) have not blogged in forever. Just teasing, Jenni. :) I think there are two reasons, I for one, have stopped blogging.

1. I'm not pregnant, don't have kids, and have not been on a fabulous vacation in months. That seems to be what most people blog about, and while those are all great things to share with us it's not so much about you. One of the reasons I love Heather's blog so much is because she posts fun stuff that you know you want to know, but you never ask. I want to know what kind of lip gloss you use and what your favorite coffee cup looks like. It may sound immature and frivolous, but it's fun! You know you want to know too. Admit it.

2. I got worried about who was reading my blog and thought the stuff I wanted to post about was not what they would want to read. I don't advertise the fact that I have a blog. It makes me self-conscious. Of course, I love when you tell me something you read on my blog and give your ideas, but part of me gets really embarrassed that you might think what I post about it stupid or shallow. Most of you I don't worry about because you're my friends, but then I find out that some really random people read this stuff and I get all insecure. However, I'm over that. If you think what I write is dumb or shallow, there's a red "x" in the top right corner that can help you out. :) Also, it doesn't bother me, but if you get caught up that people aren't commenting on your blog-get over it. They're reading, I promise. Most people (like me) blog surf on their phones, and it's really hard to comment from there. Just keep blogging if there are no comments. I'm going to try to be better myself about commenting.

So, how do we get our mojo back? I'm giving myself this challenge. I've laid out one, fun, silly, nothing to it post for the next 4 weeks. I'd love for you to be a part of it if you would like. I'm going to post my every Wednesday, but even if you think you can't handle doing something like that in the middle of the week, you can type up your post and schedule it when to post itself. There's a way in blogger to do that, so technically you could write your stuff up on the day that's best for you and it will post when you want it. Cool, huh? These are meant to be posts about YOU. Fun stuff that we all want to know even though we don't ask. :)

Wednesday, Feb. 16th What's inside your make up bag? Share with us your favorite products and tools.

Wednesday, Feb. 23rd A Day in the Life Show us your daily routine.

Wednesday, March 2nd What's on your nightstand? What books are you currently reading or have on your list to read?

Wednesday, March 9th Favorite Things Show us your favorite items you can't live without.

I hope you join! I'm thinking of doing a linky party where you can link your post to mine so other people can hop over and see yours. Let me know if y'all would be interested in this or not. One way or another, get to blogging people!

2011-01-25T15:33:00.000-06:00

This is my verse I’m studying right now…

“Therefore, since we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

See that little part about “perseverance”? Yeah, it’s been kicking my butt lately. I recently read a memoir of a former contestant from The Biggest Loser TV show. Justin and I both love that show and have watched it for years. In the book, the author referenced this verse and went on to explain how God taught her so many different facets of perseverance through her time on the show. I thought I would share how He’s been doing the same for me, if for nothing else than my own record. (Just a warning, this will be long.)

Persevering through Physical Trials

Justin decided several weeks ago he was going to take up running. I thought it would be a great way for us to keep each other accountable to the working out thing, so I wanted to go with him. One thing that kept getting in my way was my thinking that I couldn’t do it. I wanted to so badly, but it just seemed too hard to run that long. (He’s been running 3 miles.) Justin kept trying to talk me through breaking through that wall of “I can’t,” but I wasn’t doing a very good job of taking his advice. As I was reading the book though, she kept talking about how it’s never going to get easier. You have to push yourself each and every day, and the more you do the more improvements you will see. The progress you see will help you push yourself even more the next time. For some reason, it stuck with me. I might throw up (which have done once), I might even pass out, but I’m not going to die from running. Since then, I’ve been consistently improving. I am able to run for longer, more consistent times that I ever have been able to before. I’m really proud of myself, but she’s right…it never gets easier it seems. That’s where perseverance comes in. Not giving up when even your body is saying quit. Mind over matter. Keep putting one foot in front of another.

Persevering through Stressful Work

This time of year is always stressful for teachers with the lovely TAKS test looming so near. So while I’m trying to cram every piece of math information needed into my students’ little heads , I’m also writing our third grade social studies curriculum on my own, coaching a UIL team, and trying to get our parent conference day organized. (For some very uncooperative parents, I might add.) It has made me want to stay under the warm covers the past few mornings, but then again there’s that nagging perseverance. I know that what I do now benefits my students in the long run. If I hung it up and did the bare minimum, I would spend my summer regretting what I did not do for them. That keeps me coming day after day, and doing what I need to do.

Persevering through Infertility---If you want to call it that

I don’t think it would be a big surprise to anyone who has been around this blog to learn that we haven’t exactly had luck in the baby department. We don’t really talk about it to other people. I’m not sure why we don’t other than it feels awkward when people pity you, and there’s not really anything that people can say that won’t make you roll your eyes at them. We’d love to be pregnant right now. We’ve been trying a lot longer than people know about. However with my PCOS and the miscarriage I had, things have not been coming up positive. (I love puns.) I guess you’d call it “infertility” since it’s been very close to a year in the making. My ever-gracious husband is very quick to tell you that it hasn’t been long enough to label it that quite yet though. To be totally honest, I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not I should go back to my doctor and start fertility treatments, which she has said will be our next step if things don’t happen naturally. I know a lot of people would think I’m being a little silly to not pursue that and to keep coming up not pregnant each month, but in truth, I really feel like God is telling me that now is not the time to do that. I have nothing against fertility treatments. We could very well end up there soon, but for now I really feel like the Lord is telling me that I need to wait.

Several months ago, I was having a should-I-call-the-doctor-pity-party, when another teacher walked in my room. She and I are not super close, but she did know that I miscarried this summer. She walked right up to me and said that she really felt the Lord impress on her that she should come tell me that it’s not always about my timing. She said that even though I might feel like it’s time for me to have a baby it may not be the right time for that baby to be born. She reminded me that any future children we have all have their own divine appointments, and they have a specific time their life is meant to be lived. She said that right now might simply not be that time. Talk about humbling!!! Here I am thinking all about us and our timing in life, and I wasn’t even considering that a child would have their own life to be in at the right time. Ever since then, I have had such a peace about it. I know that God will take care of us in our own timing. Even though I hate things being unknown, I know that what I’m learning is…you guessed it, perseverance. I refuse to give up and become one of those people who sit around and worries about this or becomes consumed with it. I’m not full of baby fever, nor do I feel anxious about any of it. It will happen for us when it’s meant to happen, and that’s all I could ever ask for. Maybe God will change my heart and lead me to call the doctor, and maybe He’ll have us wait for 5 more years. I want to honor Him through this whole situation, and not let it be about me and what I want or feel like I should have. His timing and His ways are perfect. How could I ask for more?! It’s about learning perseverance. Not getting upset when it happens for others. Not getting anxious or feeling like I need to control the situation. Not pushing my agenda, but persevering in the trust I have in Him.

If you’re still with me (and I doubt many of you are), I wanted to share this too. This has become my favorite song to listen to when I “run” (I use that term very loosely). I love, love, love the lines that say, “Even when the rain falls, even when the floods start rising, even when the storm comes, I am washed by the water.” I am so thankful that God uses hard times and difficult situations to teach me things like perseverance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOjpkqrCEOU&feature=related (Click the link to see the video. It wouldn’t allow me to embed it.)

1/24 (A little late)

2011-01-07T07:24:00.000-06:00

In my last post I talked about how I really wanted to stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on what is positive. The very next day, I ran across this on Beth Moore's blog. I thought it would be a great way to fill my heart and mind (and mouth) with God's faithful promises. Beth's challenge is that you memorize 2 scriptures a month, on the 1st and the 15th. That ends up being 24 in a year. You're supposed to choose a verse that is significant to you at that time, not a verse that you think someone else needs to hear. I decided it would be good to keep track of my verses on my blog, so here we go! (I have been studying my verse since the 1st, but haven't had time to blog. Oops!)

Verse 1 out of 24

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

I chose this verse for me because it's a new year, and there's no better time to let go of the past. I know that every pain and hard time we go through, God can use for His own glory. We just have to quit worrying, and let Him do His thing. If you hold on to worry and heartache, then you lose the joy of the moment you are in. God is able to make streams in the desert, so I know He can handle my silly little issues.

Even if you don't want to commit to memorizing 2 scriptures a month, I'd encourage you to go check out Beth's blog on the 1st and 15th of every month. The last time I looked, over 2,500 women had linked up the verses they were memorizing. Just reading through them will bless your heart.

Catching up and New Year

2010-12-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone. This year was our year to spend Christmas Eve/Day with my family, and we're headed to Ft. Worth later today for round 2 of Christmas with Justin's side of the fam. I am super excited and ready to go, but I'm having to wait for him to get off of work. We always have a good time there, and we're looking to repeat our Iron Chef win from Thanksgiving.

Christmas with my family was pretty low key. Justin got me a Kindle DX, so I've pretty much been reading or playing Every Word any chance I get. My aunt also finally taught me how to use my sewing machine (which has been in a box in my closet for about 6 months!), so I have been trying to do a few projects with it. I have a long way to go. Justin got surround sound speakers from me, which he seemed pretty excited about. To me, speakers are speakers, but I'm glad I got him something he really wanted. I love that guy. :)

I'm so ready for New Years. There's something about having a fresh start to a new year that always makes you feel a little refreshed and ready to take on the world. There's several things I really want to focus on changing, and even some things I want to focus on LESS in 2011. Not to be incredibly negative, but 2010 was not the best year of my life. It has been a tough year in several ways, some that I've shared on here and some I haven't. It's definitely a year I won't be sad to see it go in the books. :) Here's a few of my goals/resolutions for 2011.

1. Focus less on the negative in all areas of life, especially work. I started off the year trying to really focus on my students, and not care about what was going on as far as other teachers went. It was going really, really well, and I was having a fantastic year until I let something that another teacher did in regards to one of my students really get to me. I got mad and defensive, and then I got negative about the whole situation. From there on it was hard for me to not be defensive. I had a long talk with a teacher who had worked in my district for 30+ years the other day, and I asked her how she stuck it out when there were things she really disagreed with, when there was bad leadership, or whatever else comes up when you work with 50 other women. She told me simply to hold on to the positive, productive people around you, give yourself every opportunity to build relationships with those people and avoid the "pot-stirrers," and ultimately realize that you have a very important job that makes a difference in kids' lives. She was totally right. I have a wonderful partner teacher, who loves our students to death, and who could care less about being a part of the drama. I have a wonderful neighbor-teacher who is always uplifting and kind, and over the break I had a great chance to get to know better some teachers I work with. My goal is to focus on building friendships with them, and leaving the rest. I love my kiddos, and I love being a teacher with all of my heart. I just have to learn not to let other people's negativity get the best of me.

2. Spend more time with our families and friends. We have some of the best family and friends you could ever ask for. Our goal is to worry less about getting this or that done, and spending more time with them. That includes going to Tyler soon (Jenn!), and going on a vacation with the Barringtons.

3. Read at least 4 classics this year. I'm over half-way finished with Little Women, so I have 3 more to go. Something about reading and rereading the classics makes me remember why I love books so much in the first place.

4. Keep up the 1 new recipe a week rule. It has been a lot of fun to try to do this last year, and we have had a fun with the good and the bad. There's definitely been some bad!

5. Appreciate life more. Lately, when I hear people complain about such little things in life like I got this for Christmas, but I really wanted that, I want to really tell them to get over themselves...not in a nice way either. Just in the past 3 weeks, I have had friends go through losing jobs, deciding on divorce after many years of marriage, go through IUI, lose their family members, and go through illnesses and surgeries with their families. So what it boils down to is this.

If you are healthy, be thankful. Many people are not or are very unsure at this point.

If you have a job, be thankful. Some people are wondering how they will ever make ends meet.

If you have a healthy child, love them well. Some people are desperate to have what you have. Don't complain about them, and don't take them for granted.

If you have a loving husband, respect them, love them, and treasure them. So many girls would love to have what you have. Husbands are a blessing, and never a burden.

Quit stressing and complaining about the small stuff. You can't change any of it, and you waste your life and forfeit your joy by focusing on it.

So, to wish you a very happy new year I'll leave you with a picture of one of the best memories of 2010 I have. Our trip to California.

12 Days of Christmas-A New Tradition

2010-12-07T07:11:00.000-06:00

The other day Justin and I were talking about Christmas traditions that our families have, and traditions we want to start with our own kids when we have them. I told him about every one's cute advent calendars I've seen, and how I think it's a really great idea for keeping you in the Christmas spirit. I kept talking myself out of making one because they seem very kid-focused, but after seeing this one posted by Just a Girl I changed my mind.

In deciding to make my own, I had three rules for myself. One, I had to use materials I already had. Two, the things I chose could not cost lots of money. Seeing as I have a sister, brother-in-law, mother, father, and 2 nieces who have birthdays within 6 weeks of Christmas, this is not the time of year I get to splurge. However, if I was to spend inordinate amounts of money, I would choose this one from Etsy. How cute is it?!?! However, I can't justify spending $42 on something that comes out once a year. Thirdly, I was only going to do 12 days of Christmas because 24 days worth of activities and treats is a little overwhelming with everything we have going on right now. Therefore, behold my cheap-o, pretty much free 12 Days of Christmas countdown calendar.

(Right now they are a part of my table center piece simply because I don't know where else to put them.)

I had these little glass jars left over from a Mother's Day craft I did with my class last year. I had exactly 12 left. Yahoo! I used my handy-dandy Cricut to cut out the circles for the tops and the numbers. I used whatever scrapbook paper I had that was wintery/Christmasy. On each side I used whatever scrapbook embellishments I had on hand that related to Christmas. Some have ornament stickers, some have 3-D mittens, snowflakes, etc. I tried to keep the tops somewhat uniform, but play with the sides. I like the idea of the jars because they are big enough to put a little treat in, but not so big that I have to worry about them taking up so much space in our itty-bitty house. You could easily do them with envelopes too.

Inside each jar is a strip of paper telling an activity that Justin and I have to do together on that particular day. (So sorry for the picture quality. I'm working with my cell phone here.) Most of them require no money (example: play a board game together). Some of them require us to do things for other people. ALL of them are things that we don't really do on a regular basis. I tried to make them things I knew we would enjoy together, but not things we do every day. They are meant to be special activities. I was also picky about when I put each activity. For example, "have lunch together" is on a day that I will already be out for Christmas break, so I can go meet Justin at work and not have to worry about my work. I'm not posting all of my ideas though because I know Justin reads my blog, and I want some of them to be a surprise. :) We won't start these until next Monday, but I already caught him trying to sneak a peek inside one of them to see what we'll be doing. I keep teasing him that "make a Christmas craft" is one because I know he'd hate it. (Be warned, Justin, if you keep peeking every day will become couple craft day at our house.)

So, that's our new family tradition. Anyone else have any ideas on good traditions your family does this time of year?

Fun stuff

2010-11-29T14:43:00.001-06:00

I learned about this website through a workshop I went to. It's called Tagxedo. You type in words that you want, choose a layout, and it creates a graphic for you. Or you can do what I did, and type in a URL. I used my blog, and it created this based on the words you see on my front page right now. It's really fun to play around with. Try it and let me know what you come up with. http://www.tagxedo.com/.

UGH. I noticed how many of my words were negative. :( I'll work on that. I love that God showed up though. Doesn't He always?

Happiness

2010-11-22T10:29:00.000-06:00

The past few weeks/months have not been the easiest. It seems like everywhere around us people are getting bad news or stressful situations are popping up. It's been a little hard not to feel somewhat defeated and frustrated for my family and friends and ourselves. We keep pushing on though, and thankfully we were able to have some sweet, sweet time this weekend.

These are our friends, Blake and Elizabeth. Justin and Blake have been good friends since childhood, but Blake was stationed in California while he was in the Marines. It was there he met and married Elizabeth. They still live in California, but come to Texas once or twice a year to visit Blake's family. The first time I hung out with them was just a few months into dating Justin. I remembered Blake from high school, but I was super nervous to meet Elizabeth. I mean, what does a girl who grew up in the suburbs of Southern California have in common with a girl who grew up in the sticks of East Texas? Turns out...a lot. We immediately clicked. She is one of the most down to earth, calm, sweet people I have ever met. I love getting to talk to her and get to know her better each year. Blake is also one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. My favorite thing about him is how hard he laughs at Justin's attempts to be funny. I don't think I'd ever seen someone be so tickled that they almost throw up until I saw Blake around Justin. He has been a wonderful friend for Justin. They talk on the phone at least 5 times a week, and both he and Elizabeth have opened their arms to me. These two are some of the most genuine, loving people. I always joke with Justin that one of the best things I got out of meeting him were his friends.

We considered ourselves really luckily this year since we've gotten to see them twice. Once being our trip to California this summer. They're in town this week to see Blake's family for Thanksgiving, so we wrangled a little time in with them. Late Saturday night, they showed up fresh off of their flight, and we did what we always do when they're here. We went to Walmart to see how many people we could find that we know. I don't know why that's our "thing" to do with them, but it's always fun. Surprisingly nobody was at Walmart at midnight on a Saturday, so we headed back to our house and decided to have a slumber party. I think the four of us stayed up talking and giggling through the walls until 2 am, and if you know me you know I don't stay up until 2am...ever. Knowing they had to leave in just a few hours to head to his sister's house, we got up really early. After biscuits, sausage, and coffee, we decided to set off across the pasture and plot where we're going to build our houses together when they finally move to Texas.

We hopped a couple of fences, showed them some graves of Confederate soldiers that are on the property behind where we live, made friends with the neighbor's horse, and had the best time I've had in a while. It was a fast 12 hours that we got to spend with them, but it left our hearts full. It was so nice to be in the company of people who genuinely just love life. There was no complaining of work or families. No worry about bills or sadness of loss. Just friendship and lots and lots of laughter. It made us stop to consider how richly blessed we are, even in the midst of trouble. Our house may not be a lot, but we have a house. Family and friends might frustrate and get on our nerves now and then, but we have a community of people who love us dearly. We might fuss and annoy each other, but we found a love that a lot of people would give anything to feel. I am so, so thankful for our friends and the reminder of how great our life really is.

This and That

2010-11-15T14:38:00.000-06:00

Only 4 days and 1 field trip to go until I am off for one whole, glorious week.
I did absolutely nothing on Saturday except watch a Harry Potter marathon. It was awesome and much needed.
I'm pretty sure that I have the greatest husband ever invented. Ever. I don't know what I did to deserve him, but I am so thankful for him.
I hate when you try to be a really fun teacher who lets their kids learn in new ways, and they can't handle it. They act silly and don't learn anything. It feels like such a waste.
I went to Austin last week for a 3rd grade teacher conference. It reminded me why I love teaching. It also showed me that I really want to get my Masters and teach teachers for a living.
I hate when people talk badly about my school and district when they don't have a kid here, nor have they even been in my school in over 10 years. I get very defensive. Ignorance annoys me.
God is crazy (in a good way). I never, ever see the big picture, but seeing how He plays things out in my life is ridiculously good.
I cannot wait to see our friends and family who are coming this next week.
Our dog burps. Loudly. Is that weird?
The gloomy weather makes me want to go home and read.

Magnolia Tree Designs

2010-11-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I got motivated to try and make different types of fabric flowers. I'm seeing them a lot on cardigans and stuff right now, so I thought it would be fun to have different types that nobody else would have. Turns out other people like them too! That's what brought about...

I created a blog for anyone who wants to buy some (and doesn't work at my school where I've done the most business). Just click on the logo above and it will take you to the site. You can pay for them online using PayPal if you see something you like.

I feel kind of weird posting this. I've never tried to sell anything like this before, but it has been such a fun, stress-relieving thing to do. I'm not in it to make a million bucks, but I do hope people like them. Go over, check it out, and let me know what you think.

PS. HUGE thanks to Jenni B. for the awesome design! She drew that tree herself, y'all! Awesome.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

2010-10-15T14:34:00.001-05:00

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. There really aren't words to sum up what it's like to go through, but here is our story if you don't already know it. Pray for those who are going through this right now. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes it seems too dim to keep your eyes set on it. Pray that they may find comfort and strength in the only One that can give it.

What it takes to get me to blog...

2010-10-06T17:18:00.000-05:00

Apparently it takes a broken down car to get me to blog. Well, it's not actually broken down, but I am stuck at school waiting for Justin to get off. See, my gas pedal has always done this weird thing where it sticks without accelerating. It's only ever done it when I'm just starting it up, and we figured out that it's caused by gunk building up on a certain wire that has to go in and out of some other blah, blah, blah. No problem. Just clean it. Well, on my way to school this morning my gas pedal stuck 4 different times. While. I. Was. Driving. If I let my foot off the gas even a little, or had to stop for something my gas pedal would go straight to the floor when I tried to press it again. However, my car would not speed up. Talk about terrified. Luckily my drive includes very few cars, and lots of cattle pastures. I safely made it to school, but I'm waiting on Justin to come fix it before I drive it again. Unfortunately, it's his day to work late. Joy.

Guess that means I have to blog. :)

We've stayed really busy lately, but things have been GREAT. We made a trip to Ft. Worth to see the fam. Spent time with my fam. Had a blast last weekend with several of our friends. Did some projects around the house. Worked. Worked. Worked.

Don't tell anyone I said this, but I actually like teaching math. What's even crazier is that I don't really suck at it! My kids are actually learning math! I know that sounds dumb, but when you know the ins and outs of reading and you switch to math it's tough. I really wasn't confident in myself, but so far my kids have blown me away. My year is going much, much better now that we are in a routine. My saying this year has been, "Get on the bus, or get left behind." To my kids that means, I do my work and follow directions or I miss out on a lot of the fun stuff. It only takes once or twice of missing out before they "get on the bus." I'm loving my hallway too. I'm on the "short hall" (not to be confused with the "short bus"), and there's only 2 other classes, ISS, and math lab around me. It's so quiet, and very drama free. Love it. It's really given me a chance to remove myself from things and realize how much I complained about stuff sometimes. Stuh-upid stuff too. It's easy to complain when people around you are doing the same thing. Ya know, "misery loves company" and all. There's no company for it this year, and I love it. Stupid stuff that used to really irk me is no big deal now. I think God definitely knew I needed that.

I've done a lot of soul searching about simplifying my life too. I say yes to way too many things, and that always leads to crabby stressfulness. Justin and I both have really tried to make an effort to say no to things that are not vital, and say yes to things that include more of our family and friends. I know some people have gotten mad or upset with me/us for not doing what we've always done, but that's their deal. I'm not worrying about what they think of me. Justin and I are responsible for us, and for making our lives what we need them to be. My calling is not the same as your calling in life, and your calling in life is not the same as mine. I don't think my life has to be filled with things other people deem important as long as I'm following God's plan. I can say for sure that His ways are not their ways, so why stress? Trust me, I have almost 29 (eek!) years of people pleasing built up in me. For me to have this mindset and mean it, is a huge thing.

Ok, since you people like pictures I thought I would leave you with one of my new love in life. Here she is...Francesa.

We saw this comforter at Pottery Barn when we were in Ft. Worth, and I've stalked it online ever since. I'm currently saving my pennies and dimes so that she will be my very own. (I just can't justify spending that much outright on a quilt. I.Am.Cheap.) I'm counting the days until my birthday money comes in so I will be really super close to bringing her home. Love her.

Maybe I'll blog again someday...hopefully it won't be because of a broken car though. :)

Catching Up

2010-09-06T08:42:00.000-05:00

I have thought about blogging in the past few weeks, but complete brain exhaustion from school usually wins out. Let's just say that this has not been my easiest year in the classroom so far. It's really a combination of teaching a subject that I have to really think out and find resources for, not being able to control some aspects of my planning (thus having to rely on people who maybe aren't OCD like me), and some interesting personalities in my students. It's getting better though. I know that this is my year for a reason, and if I sit and wallow in how hard it is I will only feel worse. I have to choose to find the bright side. I had a moment last week where I realized that I just have to quit comparing myself to the other teachers and teach my way. Once I did, it was a lot less stressful. Being in a new subject area, I kept thinking I needed to do what they were doing to a t, mostly because I wasn't feeling very confident in my ability. Couple that with the fact that I had 4 walk-throughs within the first two weeks of school, and I was on edge. We're getting better though.

We've just had a bad case of Murphy's Law around here. It seems like we're late everywhere we go (pet peeve). I can't seem to keep my hands on anything. I can't even begin to tell you how much stuff I have broken or lost over the past 2 weeks! I've managed to get bleach spots on two newish shirts by cleaning our sink with cleaner that I had no idea contained bleach. I've tripped over my own two feet more than I would like to share, and I'm pretty sure I wore two different color socks to school one day. We missed out on a trip to Ft. Worth this weekend because Justin's car is broken, and trying to fix it has totally taken up his weekend. Plus we're both fighting allergies that won't seem to go away. Luckily, I married a guy with a good sense of humor and he can help me make light of all of these things.

The best thing of the past few weeks have been sweet conversations with my very best friend. Kelly and I have always been the kind of friends who talk a lot about God and keep each other accountable however we can. We decided a few months ago to really step it up though. We were both in need of a good friend to kind of hash out what God is doing in our lives with. (Doesn't it amaze you how you can have tons of Christian friends that you see on a continual basis, but you never talk about what God's doing in your life?) We decided to start studying a book of the Bible each week and then talk about what we learned in our Sunday night conversations. So far we've done Romans, 1st Samuel, and 1,2,3 John (or the little Johns, as I call them). We're flipping between OT and NT each week. I.Love.It. Yes, a lot of it is stuff we have read before, but so much of it is in a different light now that we're both in different places in our lives. I love being able to hear what she has to say about it. She's Mrs. Masters in English, so she always has a poetic way of looking at things that I don't . It has really reminded me that friends are meant to challenge us and to walk this road with us. I love having the accountability, but I really love just hearing and seeing how God is moving in her life. It helps me to not just focus on everything that is frustrating right now, and see it for what it is...a lesson on how much I need God's grace and guidance.

I promise I'll try to do better with interesting posts, and I'll even try pictures. In my defense, I tried twice to upload pics of my classroom and stupid blogger wouldn't let me. Maybe since fall (my favorite!) is kinda sorta here, I'll feel more like taking pictures. We'll see. :)

Cute-ifying Organization

2010-08-12T10:42:00.000-05:00

I officially start work again next week, but I've been working off and on in my classroom. I'm not quite done yet, so I'm going to wait to post those pictures, but I thought I'd share some of my organizational ideas. I've had several people at school make comments about how I do things, so I thought I'd share. (Pardon the not-so-great pictures. I haven't found our camera charger since California, so I used my phone.)

This is my super-cute "important stuff" notebook. I keep everything in this thing. It's made pretty by a little scrapbook paper and some cutting on my Cricut. The side and back match the front. I wanted it to be cute since I use it probably more than anything else in my room.
I realized that I must really love this pattern because it totally matches my teacher bag!
Here are the dividers. Again, I just covered regular dividers with coordinating scrapbook paper and made labels for the subjects I needed. I think if you click on it you can see them closer. I keep things like permission slips, grade proof sheets, parent contact info, and important notes in it. When we have a fire drill, it's what I grab to take with me. If I need to call a parent while I'm at home, I can just take my notebook home with me and have all of the info there. I love not having to dig through my file cabinet to find stuff. It's right at my fingertips.
How cute does it look next to my daily folders?! I shared those last year. They are just regular file folders covered with school-themed scrapbook paper. I sweet talked the work room lady into laminating them for me so they would last longer. I have a folder for each day of the week, and I put what papers in the folder of the day we're doing them. That way, I just grab the folder and know that I have what I need for that day. It also works out great for an emergency sub because if it's Tuesday, they know to do what's in the Tuesday folder. I have used this system since my first year, and I don't think I could live without it. I promise it was lopsided on accident. I was not drinking at school. :)
I stole this idea from a workshop I went to last summer. They had these great storage bins on each table full of supplies we needed. Stickers on the back tell the kids what table to put the boxes on. They don't stay on the tables, mostly because kids will color, cut, or glue whatever they can whenever they can. On the top I have enough glue sticks for each kid at the table and a pencil sharpener for map pencils. The covered part houses 6 pairs of kid scissors. The top drawer consists of two boxes of crayons, and the bottom houses map pencils and markers. I'll swap out supplies as they run out or get old.
Here is the delight of my world. Avery labels. Yesterday, my teacher friend called me the "Label Queen," a name I gladly accept. I make labels for everything! We label all of their folders and composition books so that when I say, "Get our your journal," we don't have to flip through 3 notebooks to figure out which one the journal is. I also label two page protectors and put them in their binders. One is for homework, so there's never an excuse for not knowing or losing your homework. The other is for the Week at a Glance, which is a weekly calendar we send home telling parents what is in store for the next week.
I also try to label things so that kids know where it goes without asking me a thousand times. Pencil sharpeners are like gold around my school, so I do all I can to protect my little jewel. I know it sounds awful, but I don't let kids use my mechanical sharpener. (Trust me, spend a year in a classroom that does let kids use the sharpener, and you will be amazed at what all they try to stick in that thing. I had a kid try to sharpen a marker once. Seriously.) I especially don't let kids use it since I'd have to pay to replace it. We use these tubs, with their cute pencil font, to make our pencil process go faster.
Since I have two classes, I organize everything by color and class. Each table has a labeled tub where we keep journals and folders. Of course, please ignore the lovely crayon markings. Typical. I have kids whose job it is to swap out the tubs on the tables for each class so their stuff is there waiting to go. We don't have to dig in backpacks or desks for them.
My library tubs. They aren't on my bookshelf yet because it's currently sitting on my porch waiting to be painted! I got the genre labels from Beth Newingham. If you are a teacher, and have never checked out her website, do yourself a favor and go NOW. She has incredible ideas, and she shares them all! She's kind of my teaching idol. I use her method of leveling my books too. It basically consists of a color and number code that tell the kids how difficult a book is. I have not labeled my books with AR levels mostly because I've been through AR re-leveling their books, and it's a nightmare to change them all again. I just teach my kiddos that if your AR level falls between these numbers, it falls between these colors. It seems to work.
Here's a closer look at a label on one of my tubs. They really are super cute.
I love our lunch pockets! Our kids have four choices of lunch, and each kid gets a lunch stick (tongue depressor) with their name on it. It's part of their morning routine to check the menu hanging above and put their stick in the pocket they choose. It keeps me from having to call out everyone's name, and also gives them a little bit of responsibility. They know that if they choose a salad for the day they can't change their mind when they get in the cafeteria, so they have to think through their choice. I'm all about the kids having responsibilities in the classroom. I just check the pockets and do my lunch count while they're working on warm-ups.
When I taught Language Arts, our copies were run off for us six weeks at a time. I invested in a handy little crate from Walmart to keep my papers organized by weeks. It is a lifesaver when trying to get ahead on lesson plans. I'm hoping it will be just as helpful in Math this year.

A closer look at the folders and tabs.

Those are really my main organizational tips. Lots and lots of labels to make my life easier. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them! I'm off to paint my bookshelves. I'm really wishing I would have painted them before the nine thousand degree weather descended, but oh well. Now or never!

Back to Reality

2010-08-03T20:27:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you to all of you who have left sweet comments, voicemails, texts, etc. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and encouragement more than we could ever express. We are grateful for the amazing friends we have.

We are doing much better. My surgery went really well Friday. We were in and out in a few hours, and besides some pretty gnarly soreness I was good to go. In all honesty, we were both so calm and collected that day. I know that it was nothing but the covering of prayer we had. We honestly could not have done this sanely without God's peace. The doctor told me not to go anywhere or do anything for 3 days, so that left lots of time for visits. My mom went above and beyond. She stayed with me most of the that time, and I think she cleaned every surface in our house along with washing and ironing any piece of cloth she could get her hands on. (I know I said at least twice that it was not necessary to iron Justin's swim trunks, but she did it anyway. Moms!) I appreciated the help tremendously though. A messy house stresses me out. My Kelly came by too. She showed up with the healing balm, also known as guacamole, tons of great food and sweet flowers. Justin and I both enjoyed hanging out with her, and introducing her to the Next Food Network Star. (We love that show!) It was a very relaxing, healing time for us. I'm ready to get back into a normal way of life. I'm still kind of trying to deal with some aches and pains, but nothing outrageous or unbearable. Hopefully, after taking it easy this week I'll be ready for school to kick off . My classroom is in desperate need of some TLC.

Anyhoo, I'm about go to spend some quality time with the hubs, but I wanted to check in and tell you all THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. We are doing well.

What's Up with the Williams?

2010-07-29T14:17:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've gotten that question a lot lately. I haven't just been absent, but in every day life too it seems. Not that it's the best or easiest subject at this point, I'm willing to share what we've been up to.

Exactly one month ago today, we found out we were pregnant. Shocking? Yes. We weren't actively trying. It seems that a change in medicines left a window of opportunity open, and we were floored to find this out. It was only a few days before we were leaving for California on the big family vacation. I went to the doctor, had it confirmed, and we decided to tell our families. We thought we were about 5 weeks along based on the dates, but since I've never been "regular" we found out we weren't as far along as we thought later on. We told Justin's family since obviously they might catch on to me puking and avoiding rides at Disneyland. We told my family because it's not really fair to tell one and not the other. We thought we did a pretty good job of keeping our secret for the most part, although we both got to tell a friend right away since it's hard news to keep in.

Everything in California went amazingly well. We could not have asked for a better trip. About 4 days after we got back though, I had some random bleeding. It wasn't a lot, but enough to freak me out. That led us to the emergency room, where we found out we were two weeks behind what we had thought we were. Everything looked fine, and I was told to follow up with my doctor. The next day was a Friday, and my doctor doesn't see patients on Fridays so I had to wait until the next week. The nurse assured me on the phone they had seen my results from the ER and everything looked normal. I admit I was nervous, but I was still having all of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy and no bleeding so I thought things would go well. On the way to the doctor that day, I started bleeding again. I still wasn't worried because I had never had any cramping, and that's what everyone kept telling me would come with an actual miscarriage. They hurried me in for an ultrasound, and we could see that the baby had grown from what we saw in the ER...a very good sign. My doctor was very quick to give me the, "We aren't out of the woods yet" speech, and promptly put me on a week of bed rest.

That was last week. I was going stir crazy to say the least, but with the help of an amazing husband and family, I stuck with it. I barely left the couch or bed without good reason, and I didn't take a step off our front porch. Fast forward to yesterday, where we went back in for a check-up ultrasound. At this point, I was 6 weeks and 6 days. We were looking for growth in the baby and a heartbeat. Justin took the day off to go with me, and we were FULL of hope. I had every classic pregnancy symptom for the past week, no bleeding, I was certain things were going to be positive. Boy, was I wrong. We had the ultrasound, and were ushered into a room full of boxes (my regular doctor was out of town, so we were put in a storage room) to be told by the nurse, "No growth. No heartbeat. You need to wait and talk to the on-call doctor for your options." Wow. Then, I had to sit in the lobby and try not to lose it in front of all of the baby bumps that surrounded me. I did pretty good until the doctor started talking options of what to do now that I had officially miscarried. (Can't I just stop and rant about how much I hate the word "miscarry"? Seriously?? Why not make the woman feel worse than she already does by implying that she carried the baby in a wrong way. I teach Language Arts. I know the meaning of the prefix, and I think it's a horrible word for this situation.) After talking to the doctor, we elected to go ahead and have a D & C instead of waiting around for "nature". I'd rather get it done now and know that it's safely done, then have the physical results of a miscarriage on the first day of school. I go in tomorrow morning for the surgery.

I know I'm not the first woman that this has ever happened too. I can think of 4 of you that read this blog who have been through the exact same thing, if not worse. Unfortunately, I won't be the last woman this happens to. I'm just sad. I know God has a purpose. I know that whatever happened is for the baby's best, but I'm just sad. How can you be attached to something so much that you never even saw outside of grainy black and white pictures? I know I'll be ok though. I think I'm just waiting for tomorrow to be over, so I don't have that hanging over my head. I will pick myself back up. I will have hope again. I'll move forward. Today, I'm just sad.

Out of all of this though, I can't even tell you how much more I have grown to love Justin. He has been above and beyond the most amazing husband, friend, and kleenex I could ever ask for. We've always had a good relationship. I've always known that he loves me, and that he would do anything for me, but he has blown me away in the past month. I can't even begin to tell you how strong, selfless, and compassionate he is. I am thanking my God for him every minute.

I'm not blogging about this for sympathy. Goodness knows that I'm ready to stop answering a million questions about it. (I've instituted a 3 day phone hiatus to get a break.) I think you all know by now that writing is cathartic for me. I need to heal my heart, and getting my words out helps. I also know that it helps to know that other people go through the same things we do. Although, I hate being a member of this "club", I know that I'm in the company of some amazingly strong women. I would also ask for you to pray for us...especially tomorrow. I'm sure that it will be a tough day emotionally, but also pray for safety in the surgery and traveling back and forth. Pray for our sweet "Glory Baby."

"Glory Baby" by Watermark

Glory baby you slipped away as fast as we could say baby…baby..

You were growing, what happened dear?

You disappeared on us baby…baby..

Heaven will hold you before we do

Heaven will keep you safe until we’re home with you…

Until we’re home with you…

Miss you everyday

Miss you in every way

But we know there’s a

day when we will hold you

We will hold you

You’ll kiss our tears away

When we’re home to stay

Can’t wait for the day when we will see you

We will see you

But baby let sweet Jesus hold you

‘till mom and dad can hold you…

You’ll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little babies, it’s hard to

understand it ‘cause we’re hurting

We are hurting

But there is healing

And we know we’re stronger people through the growing

And in knowing-

That all things work together for our good

And God works His purposes just like He said He would…

Just like He said He would…

BRIDGE:

I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies

and what they must sound like

But I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home

And it’s all you’ll ever know…all you’ll ever know…

Wedding Memories

2010-06-29T17:47:00.000-05:00

I've been going through some old pictures for various projects, and today I ended up cleaning off my flash drive. On it, I found the slide show we used for our wedding. I don't think I've ever put this on here, so I thought I'd share it. The song is called "You Could Be the One" by Bethany Dillion Barnard. It pretty much sums up how we started our relationship. We were both so hesitant to say that this could be "it", but it ended up being blurted out in a very memorable phone call. Anyhoo...just thought I would share with those of you that weren't at the wedding. =)

200th Post!

2010-06-18T14:41:00.001-05:00

Happy 200th post to me! I don't really have anything significant to post about, but I couldn't go without noting the milestone. You may notice a new look on the blog. Heather and I spent a frustrating afternoon trying to figure out how to cute-ify our blogs with little success. Needless to say, it's worth paying someone to do it. Whoever is smart enough to understand html, you have my complete gratitude. I don't understand a bit of it. I am not happy with how mine looks right now, but it will have to wait. Today starts a few weeks of insanity. I've already been to Austin once this week for a workshop, but we're making another trip again this weekend for Father's Day with my family. I'll be back Sunday and then leave Monday for a week of youth camp. Then, I'm back for a few days and it's time for the big Cali trip. Super excited about that, but I'm a homebody. Being gone for this long is not my favorite thing, especially since I won't be here for Justin's 30th birthday Monday. :-(

I thought I'd update this since a few of you knew about it. About a month ago, I went for my well-woman exam, and my doctor said she felt a "mass" in my left breast. She was quick to tell me that it's rare for someone my age to get breast cancer, but we all know it's not impossible. She sent me for an ultrasound to check things out more closely. The radiologist couldn't find anything, but didn't give me much hope when he said that it could be really good or really bad. If it was a mass that could only be felt and not located, then it wasn't a cyst which we were hoping for since those are pretty harmless. He forwarded all of the results to my doctor, and along with that and my tests from my exam with her, she determined there's nothing there! A "fluke" in her words, but an "answered prayer" in mine. God is good! I really wanted to thank you guys that prayed for me during that time. Your prayers were felt and graciously answered. I know God placed this test right at the time I needed to learn a lesson of peace.

I had started reading Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity a few weeks before all of this happened, and everything in that book was resonating with me throughout that ordeal. I've never been a Beth Moore groupie. In fact, the only books I own of hers were given to me as gifts, and I can't say I've ever read them. Something about it seems so commercialized. Something about this book drew me to it though. I read several people's reviews of it, and ordered it from Amazon on a whim. All I can say is, if you are a female of any age Read.This.Book. Even if you think you are the most confident, secure woman in the world, read it. It will strike a chord somewhere in you, and if you allow God, He will total heal your heart in places you might not even realize. It really was that good to me.

Anyhoo...I'm off to keep packing! Trying to pack for two separate trips at the same time is killing me, but I'm almost done. Happy Friday!

Relaxin'

2010-06-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

Summer has officially started, and I'm loving it. Last week was filled with swimming, doctor's appointments, VBS, etc. This week is one of very few that I don't have any where I have to be. Glorious. Monday, Justin and I were both pukey, so it was a stay in your PJs all day kind of day. Yesterday and today I've spent a lot of time reading and hanging out by myself.

As you can see, Bella has been more than happy to have me home. It's so nice to have your days open. My house is clean. Laundry is caught up on. I have been able to work out and cook good meals every day. The only thing that would make it better would be for Justin to be able to be off and enjoy some of this time with me.

Things will really pick up soon. Next week, I have a workshop in Austin, followed by Justin's 30th birthday, and leaving for youth camp. When I get back from camp we have one short week until the California trip. By the time we get back from it, I will have to start thinking about setting up my new classroom. Ugh. Not ready to go there quite yet. I am loving this time off though. I've really needed some down time to get some things in order, and just not think about school so it's been nice to have.

I'm looking forward to plenty of more relaxing days at home! Hope you are all having a good summer!

School's Out for Summer...almost

2010-05-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

Just about 3 hours from freedom. I can't wait! It's so funny how I start off the last day of school being so sad to see my kids moving on, but by 10 I'm wishing their parents would come pick them up early. I think it has something to do with them being totally bored, and me being ready to be out myself. Only a few hours to go though.

I am SUPER excited to get this summer started. This is the first summer in as many as I can remember that I'm not working, moving, or getting married like I was last summer. There's still quite a few things going on, but nothing that stressful or time consuming. I'm looking forward to not seeing 5:15 AM on the alarm clock for a few months. I've got a lot of things I want to get done or try out this summer, so what better OCD way to express it than a list!

1. Re-grout our bathroom tile. Not looking forward to this one, but it's mandatory.

2. Read at least 5 books. Any suggestions?

3. Finish our flower beds.

4. Learn to sew.

5. Find at least 8 new recipes we both like. That should be a good goal since I'm still trying to stick to my trying one new recipe a week resolution.

6. Actually getting around to scrapbooking all of our engagement/wedding/honeymoon pictures.

7. PRINT engagement/wedding/honeymoon pictures.

8. Figure out a collage/shelf system for our dining room wall, along with a new dining room table.

9. Stain our porch posts, make and stain shutters for our windows, possibly stain our concrete.

10. Go to the beach with Kelly, California with the fam, visit people I don't get to see during the school year.

Ten is a good place to stop, I think. Anymore would be overwhelming. That's not including church camp, VBS, and coming up with ideas for teaching math. Yep, you read that right. I'll be a math/science/social studies next year. I'm trying to accept the change positively. I understand why it's happening, and I'm ok with it. I'll have great partners to work with, and it's not the first time I've taught math. It is the first time I've taught only math though. I'm a reading teacher at heart. I'm going to have to do some research on creative ways to teach all of the skills, but what's the fun of working if you don't challenge yourself every now and then? Ha! I totally sound like I'm trying to convince myself to be happy with this.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my first summer as a semi-stay-at-home wife. If only 1:30 would get here sooner...

Have you ever had one of "those" days?

2010-05-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days that you can't seem to catch up with your mountain of paper work no matter how hard you try? I have.

Have you ever had one of those days that you have to remove yourself from a situation before you go all "un-Christian" on someone's butt? I have.

Have you ever had one of those days that your children have been whiney and complainy and you can't get them to stop? I have.

Have you ever had one of those days that these scary suckers invade your house? I have. (3 in a row as a matter of fact)

Have you ever had one of those days that you are so incredibly tired you can't keep your eyes open even though you got a full 8 hours of sleep? I have.

Have you ever had one of those days you've been really thankful to have a completely understanding, bug killing, non-complaining when you wake him up 2 hours early, great listener, helpful husband? I have.

Have you ever had one of those days that you are counting the minutes until you can go home? I have.

Yep. I've had one of "those" days.

Playing Along

2010-05-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

On Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner, she asked people to blog about their children's names or what names they would give their future children. Before I launch into our uncertain choices, I thought I would offer a little advice to would-be parents. As a teacher myself, I would say that most teachers would generally agree on a few things that annoy them about students names. Here are a few ways you can keep your child's teacher happy in regards to naming them.

1. If you want call your child something, name them whatever it is. Do not name your child Billy Ted Jones and want to call him Jack. Give us some hint somewhere of what the child is to be called. This especially applies to elementary teachers who write children's names on everything at the beginning of the year. There's nothing like having to change Elizabeth Sue's name tag to Jenny because you decided 6 months after she was born you like that better. Calling your child by their middle name is acceptable.

2. If you choose an unusual name for a child, spell it phonetically. Q7thflg is not pronounced, "Sally." Spell your child's name in a way that we won't have to refer to our grade books every time we need to write the child's name.

3. For goodness sake, teach your child how to spell their own name...including their middle name! A third grader should be able to tell you what their middle name is and how to spell it.

4. Try to refrain from naming your child "Precious," "Miracle," "Diamond," "Stud muffin," "Princess," etc. It's kind of like getting your girlfriend or boyfriend's name tattooed on you. It's a curse.

If you follow those simple naming suggestions, I'm sure your child will be a happy, well-adjusted kid in the classroom.

As for our baby names, nothing is set in stone. We both like the name Hudson for a boy, and Emmerson (a combo of our nieces' names) for a girl. We've also come to like the name Quinn, but I don't know what middle name you can put with it, and Quinn Williams seems like a mouthful. We'll see. We've got plenty of time to think of those things. :)

**Disclaimer**All of the names used in examples above are fictitious. They are not representative of any students past or present.

Misc.

2010-04-29T14:30:00.000-05:00

I've not been a very consistent blogger, have I? Sorry about that. With summer quickly approaching maybe I'll get better with that. It's been a really busy time. Just in the last week we've had shopping trips, funerals, TAKS tests, going away parties, and regular life stuff. It's been busy, but good. I'm more and more thankful for Justin each day. It's so nice to have someone to go through life with.

I wanted to share this with you if you haven't already seen it. I know a lot of you read Kelly's blog, but her post that is up now is so encouraging and relevant to so many of us that I had to post about it. This week is National Infertility Week. Kinda sad that we even have a week to recognize that, but it never ceases to amaze me at how many people deal with this. Kelly posted her own story of infertility, and how God totally answered her prayers after a long wait with Harper. When Harper was born, they were told she would not live. Now she's 15 months old! What has simply amazed and impacted me the most, are the almost 300 comments that have been posted with people's stories of victory and battles with infertility.

It really hits home with me. You may remember this post in September, when I found out that I have PCOS. PCOS is the number one cause of infertility in women, and the pregnancies you do have result in a miscarriage 43% of the time. One thing I read said women with PCOS are 300 times more likely to miscarry than the average woman! Since my doctor labled me "high on the spectrum" (basically I have all of the effects of PCOS, while some women only have a few) getting pregnant for us could prove to be difficult...very difficult. Whenever we give the doctor the "go" we'll start right away with the medicines and treatments. Not really how I pictured getting pregnant would be! We really don't dwell on the fact that things could be hard when we do start to try. We know that everyone's story is different, and we trust that God will provide for us whenever it's our time.

One of the things that I love about blogging and reading other people's blogs is that you can truly be a part of God working in some one's life. I found Kelly's blog right before Harper was born, and I remember praying for her daily when they were unsure if Harper would live. She keeps a prayer blog for women who are waiting for husbands or struggling with infertility. You would be in awe of how many of those have "Praise!" written next to their names. Thousands of total strangers are praying for those women, and we all know that God is faithful in hearing our prayers. It's so incredible to see God's people reaching out and caring for each other, even over something as silly as a blog! So this week, if you are the praying type, say a special prayer for all of those couples dealing with infertility. Pray for peace, strength, and God's provision to be on all of them. Pray for them to be filled and satisfied with God Himself, and not just a baby. Pray for us as we one day (not today, folks) start our journey with all of this. You never know what a simple act of prayer could mean to a person.

Sometimes being annoying pays off...

2010-04-21T10:12:00.000-05:00

So, y'all know I blogged about the wonders of The Pleated Poppy. Love, love, love her stuff. She posted this super cute Bloom Bag as a giveaway, and I tried everything I could to win it. I'm not usually that obsessed with things that I just have to have, but I just had to have this bag. I loved it! I talked about it to Justin a ridiculous amount. It was so perfect for a summer bag. Well, I didn't win it.

A few days later she listed one for sale in her shop. I was SO excited! Surely nobody else wanted this bag as badly as I did, right? Wrong. It sold out in no time. Like, didn't even have time to get out my wallet fast. I was so bummed. I even went as far as to see if I could make this bag myself of find something like it. I scoured Etsy, and every other handmade site I could find. Nothing. Nothing even close to the cuteness of this bag!

Night before last, Lindsey tweeted that she would post TWO Bloom Bags in her shop the next day. I was determined to get me one of those bags. I kid you not, starting at like 6:30 in the morning I checked her shop at least twice an hour. (Obsessed much?) Well, it paid off! About 10:00 I checked and there it was! I was so excited!! I clicked "Add to cart" and my heart sank. Some other stinking stingy person had put it in their cart, but hadn't paid for it! It was keeping me (the rightful owner) from buying it! Heartbroken, people, completely heartbroken. I tried again and again, but just couldn't get it to let me buy the thing. I finally decided to take a cue from our friend, Jared who isn't afraid to call 1800 numbers and leave questions or comments. I emailed Lindsey and told her about my delima. I went to lunch, and when I came back I decided to give it one more chance. Let the angels sing...I GOT MY BAG! She reset it so that the person didn't have a hold on it anymore, and I bought the sucker in 10 seconds flat.

Behold my preciousness

I can't wait until it gets here! It might have almost cost me my job and my sanity, but I got my bag! For once in life, being annoyingly obsessed with something paid off.
(Photo from here)

Momma said there'd be days weeks like this...

2010-04-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

This is some week. This has been some month. This is always a busy time of year, but this year is out of control. For the past two days I've seen my husband a combined hour and a half. I have left my house by 6:45 a.m. and returned at 9:00 and 8:25. Today and tomorrow will be much of the same. The really sad thing is, we've had about 3 weeks straight that it has been this way. Please, Lord Jesus, bring summer soon! It's hard trying to balance your family and friends, while preparing your kids for the biggest test of the year, teaching after school tutorials, raising money and trying to organize our school's Relay for Life team, planning lessons for my GT class on top of regular lesson plans, etc. etc. etc. My poor husband probably thinks I forgot where we live! It will get better though. It's just that time of year. We're trying to tie up all of the loose ends while having all of the fun stuff we've put off in the name of keeping the kids focused. There's family and friends who come to visit or we go visit, and those are precious things in life you can't give up. I've enjoyed those times immensely. My brain and abilities are just being pulled in 90 different directions right now. I don't sleep well when life is like this either. My brain just goes a mile a minute. Last night, Bella woke me up at 12 needing to go out. Usually I can fall right back asleep. At 2:30 this morning, I was still laying there wide awake thinking of what I can do to improve on my mystery unit I'm teaching in GT right now!

So here I am. On my lunch break. Sitting in a dark room by myself. Eating my Red Velvet yogurt. (Ok, that part is pretty fantastic.) Trying to get some peace. I keep thinking about the ability to say "no" even when other people don't understand. It's a hard lesson I'm about to learn, because I just ~~can't do it~~ don't want to do it anymore.Time to quit my people-pleasing and do the right thing for myself and my family.

Bookmark Worthy-The Pleated Poppy

2010-04-06T16:58:00.000-05:00

Several people always make fun of me because half the time my stories start with, "I saw _______ on someone's blog." Yes, I love to scour blogs. You can get so many good ideas! I decided that I'm going to start telling you my "Bookmark Worthy" blogs instead of keeping the goodness to myself.

Lacey sent me a list of blogs she loves weeks ago, and I've been so obsessed with this one that I haven't even emailed her back to say thanks. So THANKS, LACEY! You're going to love her too. Or you will be totally jealous of her creativity like I am. Introducing...

This is Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy. I absolutely love her blog! It's super cute to begin with, but she's got ideas that will keep you busy for weeks! She inspired me so much I went out and bought a sewing machine. No, I'm not kidding. I've actually thought about getting one for awhile now, but she sent me over the edge. Now if only she could teach me to use it! Ha! You should all check out her blog. There's so much more than sewing. Super cute ideas for kids' birthday parties, decorating ideas, and tons of positivity. Definitely a blog to bookmark.

Recipes

2010-03-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've been awful and forgetful lately, so you'll have to forgive me. I know several of you have told me that you would like to be able to post recipes on Recipes Between Friends and I have never sent you the info. If you will email me at recipesbetweenfriends(at)gmail(dot)com I will send you the username and password. Also, be sure if you are linking to it, or trying to get to it that you are going to recipesbtwfriends.blogspot.com. Notice the btw? It's not "between." That's someone else. :)

Before & After- Living room

2010-03-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

I really should title it "Before & Still in Progress," but I figured it was finally time to post some house pics. I keep waiting on things to be perfect, but like that's ever going to happen. For those of you that don't know the story of our house, I'll give a brief recap.

In February of 08, Justin and I had a pretty serious conversation about what our next step would be. We knew we would eventually get married, and we both decided that we wanted to live near our families. Luckily both of our families still live in our hometown. So, after some talking and consideration, we decided that we would like to live on land that was home to Justin's maternal grandparents. There was a little bitty house that needed some work, but it would be a free place to live and we could redo things to suit us. So, literally a few days later we went to visit the house and ended up ripping out the carpet that night! The changes were supposed to be minor. A little floor redo and some paint. The rest could come later. Neither one of us had really thought the whole thing through, so we definitely didn't have the funds to put it all together. The project took on a life of it's own. For about seven months, we worked on the house every waking minute. We both lived in Beaumont then, so we made the drive every single weekend to work on the house. Every minute of spring break, school holidays, spare minute, you name it was completely consumed by the house. For about 4 months it was fun! It was fun to pick out our stuff knowing that one day it would be "our" house. It was fun to be able to paint a wall with color! (Hello, eggshell dorm/apartment!) It was fun to see our progress. Then, it just got old. We were cranky, completely exhausted, and just done with it. I moved in at that point (I had been staying with my in-laws after my lease in Beaumont ended.), and since then we're doing things piece by piece. We've made HUGE progress, as you will see. I'm going to try to not be that annoying person that points out everything that's wrong. Let's get to the pictures!

I thought I'd start with the living room since it's probably the biggest transformation.

BEFORE

This is our living room view from the front door. Notice the door on the back wall.

This is the living room facing the door that used to go into the kitchen/dining room. That wall no longer exists. We took it out because it just made the room unbelievably tiny. Definitely my first experience with knocking down an entire wall...FUN.
The view from the kitchen to the dining room. The living room would be to the right.
AFTER (Sorry for the blurry pics! I currently hate my camera, so I used my phone!)

Current view from the front door. You can see that we no longer have a door in the wall right across from the front door. Justin filled that in to give us one solid wall.

This is the view from our guest room, which is the same view as the second picture above. Yeah. Changed, huh? If you could, imagine a large brown rug being on the floor too, please. It's currently outside drying from our massive cleaning day. Anyhoo...Here, we knocked down the wall that separated the living and dining rooms. It opened it up to make both rooms seem much bigger. We're looking around for a bigger dining table right now, and after I have that I plan on changing up the wall behind the table. I thought about doing a collage or something. We'll see. The beams that you see are to cover where we ripped the wall down. Justin's dad made them for us out of wood from his grandpa's barn. I loooovvveee our beams.
This is the view going the opposite direction. The camera was crooked, not the room. :) Through that door you see our guest room. I told you our house was tiny! I love our bookshelf. Mostly because it was free dollars. Please don't notice the picture frames with no pictures. I have a habit of revamping that shelf a lot, and the other day I decided to include more pictures. We also have a box that Justin's dad made to hold keys, mail, etc.

That's our living room! In this room we replaced the flooring with laminate, put up dry wall, painted the ceiling, painted the walls, put up crown molding, replaced several electrical outlets, took down a wall, filled in a doorway, put up beams, and spent a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. It was worth it.

So, that's our living room before and after. I'll work on getting the other rooms together to show you!

Spring Cleaning

2010-03-16T10:15:00.000-05:00

There's just something about warmer weather that makes me want to clean out and redecorate everything. That's why spring break comes at such a good time for me. Yesterday, Justin took the day off to hang out with me since I was off too. It is one of the only days we've both been off that we can just do whatever we want. What did we want to do? CLEAN. I actually didn't have to force him. He was as ready for it as I was. We are both very project-minded people, and love to do stuff to our house. Clean, clutter free house = more space to start new projects. It was a win-win situation.

We started out by cleaning out both of our closets and our dresser. Then, I attacked our guest room closet, which is really my craft/board game closet. I just can't figure out our guest room. I always end up feeling like I make it the ugly step-child of our house. It always gets whatever decorations are leftover from other parts of the house. It is never decorated, organized, or cleaned like I want it to be. I guess it's because we spend the least amount of time in here, but now Mac's in here so I'm sure we'll see it a lot more. We did switch things around by getting rid of the queen bed we had, and replacing it with a day bed that was mine when I was a kid. It gave us a lot more room, but now I have to figure out bedding. Oh well. A house is a never-ending project.

We ended up cleaning out and reorganizing every closet, drawer, nook and cranny, you name it in our house. We packed away all of our bulky winter clothing, deep cleaned our rugs, finally hung the picture frames I bought for the hallway two years ago (even though they don't have pictures in them yet!), and and did all of the regular cleaning stuff. It literally took all day. What did we have to show for our hard work?

Six bags of clothes, books, and purses for Goodwill. Along with a printer or THREE. Who in the world has three printers just laying around? We don't anymore!

I still have a couple of projects I want to get done this week. One is to organize all of my loose recipes into one binder. We got a couple of great create your own recipe books for wedding gifts, and I'd like to get everything that I have on scratch paper into one place. The other project will take me longer. I have tons of Real Simple magazine, or other magazines I love laying around because I find ideas, tips, or recipes in them that I want to remember. I think I'm going to start tearing them out and putting them in a binder too. It will keep me from having a huge stack of books waiting around to start a fire, and I will be able to find things easily (like the article on starting a container garden that I have searched for for over a year now!). We'll see if I can get it all done this week, or if other things will take over my time. I'm off to organize more!

I'm in looooovvvveeee

2010-03-15T10:02:00.001-05:00

So, we may or may not have a new addition to our family. Blogworld, meet Mac.

Yep. He's all ours. All 27 inches of cuteness and productivity. He is wireless (unbelievable!), well organized, HUGE, and best of all...he connects us to the internet! Could it be that the boondocks have FINALLY learned what high-speed internet is?!?! Oh yes, we have! Justin and I are like kids in a candy store at the fact that we can read blogs (ok that's just me) at home and not have it be on a tiny phone screen! Woohooo!!!

We've been talking about buying a computer and really checking out the internet thing for awhile. It gets really old having to stay at school to put in grades, make games, or do any of that stuff on the computer. Until now there really haven't been any internet options, but we know a few neighbors who have been using a Verizon card. Turns out, it's fantastic! Our internet is really fast! It took Justin awhile to convince me, mostly because I'm in "saving money and pay off debt" mode hard core right now. We both agreed though that we would give up our Iphones to cover the cost each month, and it turns out that we'll actually save money that way! That kind of won me over, even though I looovvveee my phone. I love more that I can actually work on school stuff, enter grades, BLOG, and all that stuff from home now. (I can also upload the Printshop program I bought over a year ago, and never could load at school because those computers don't have DVD drives. Super excited about it!) So, Saturday, while I nursed my headache, Justin made a beeline for Best Buy and came home with this baby. I had one of those, "Ugh. I really don't want to like this thing because I don't want to spend money like this right now." It won me over though...quickly.

Now, here's my question. If you are a Mac person, give me some hints! I'm trying to figure out the programs, and it's quite a bit different from Microsoft. For instance, how do you put clipart into a TextEdit document? I don't even know if that's what you really call it, but if you are a Mac user I'd love to hear what you do on yours.

Well, I've got a long list of spring cleaning to start! Better get to it!

Not a great start...

2010-03-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

So, my spring break officially started on Friday. I couldn't be happier or more ready for it. Our friends, the Breauxs, were driving through town that night so we got to have dinner with them. It was so great to see them even though it was for a short time. It's really sad to me how close some of our friends live, but with life being the way it is we hardly ever get to see them. We're going to have to do better about that.

Saturday morning I scheduled Justin and I both eye exams. He hasn't had his checked since he was 15, and I wanted to see if my eyes could be the source of my headaches. Justin ended up getting his first pair of contacts, which is hilarious considering he is not a patient person. I keep trying to explain that it just takes practice, and you eventually get over the thought of shoving something in your eye. I think he was ready to give up yesterday though.

I found out that the prescription the last quack gave me was waaaayyyy off, and that is most likely what's been causing my headaches. Just to show you how off they were, the higher the number is on your contacts the stronger they are. I was wearing 4.75 in both eyes. I should have been wearing 5.50 and 5.75. No wonder I couldn't see anything and my eyes felt like they were about to explode! The doctor (who was sooo nice!) gave me a new pair in the right prescription, and warned me that it was going to take about a week for my eyes to adjust so I will still probably have headaches. He was not kidding. It was so bad yesterday that I would have been thrilled for someone to pull my brain out of my ear so I could get some relief. It sidelined me completely. I'm hoping that the entire week does not go this way. I'd really like to enjoy my time off and not feel like there's a marching band in my brain. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who will take care of me when I feel like that. :) I got a good one.

Coupons-Again!

2010-03-12T07:24:00.000-06:00

I've been asked about this about a hundred times now, so I figured I would just go ahead and post it so I could quit emailing it over and over. I should really put a big disclaimer here that I am a total newbie to this, so don't think that I know it all! Here's a quick run-down of how I am doing my coupon stuff.

How I Get my Coupons
I get a Sunday paper and use the coupons from the inserts. I've learned the beginning of the month has the best inserts. I also print coupons from
http://www.coupon.com/
http://www.smartsource.com/
http://www.redplum.com/
Red Plum and Smartsource usually have inserts in the newspapers too. I am not really sure when they change or update coupons on their sites, so I generally try to do a quick run through every day. It literally takes about 15 minutes to cut them out and get them organized in my super-cute holder I ordered from Etsy. Some people organize theirs in binders, but I like my system that I can take with me just in case I find something extra great.

How I Shop
My shopping day has become Thursday--only Thursday. I am realizing that I am a total impulse buyer when I am just "running in to get one thing." So, it has helped to force myself to only go one day a week. If we run out of something, we run out of it. We can surely last a few days.

We only have a Walmart, Brookshires, and Walgreens where I live. Both Walmart and Brookshires reset their sales on Wednesdays, so I wait until I see both of their lists before I make my grocery list. I try to buy things that are both on sale and that I have a coupon for. That way I double my savings. I'll also spend "high value" coupons, like Buy One Get One Free coupons. I'm trying to not be in the habit of just buying something because I have a coupon, but I have done it (and regretted it). I will try to wait until it goes on sale, unless we really need it or the coupon is going to expire soon. You can check Walmart's weekly deals at http://www.passionforsaving.com/. I'm not one to only buy stuff because I have a coupon though. Like, last night I needed multi-vitamins because I was out. They weren't cheap and I didn't have a coupon, but I bought them anyway.

I've always been big on trying to plan our meals for the week. We have 2 lists on our fridge. One is just a list of anything we have the stuff to make and the other is a Sunday-Saturday calendar with a dinner idea written on each day. I've found that if I know I'm going to make tacos on Tuesday, then I'm likely to go ahead and set out my meat to defrost, get stuff together, etc. It also saves time of trying to think of something to fix when I get home. It's already decided for me. However, I live with someone else, and sometimes he doesn't want tacos on Tuesdays, so the list of everything we can make comes in handy then. I can just choose one of those things and not have to worry about not having the stuff.

I've also started organizing my list in order of the store. That way I don't walk down random aisles and see anything I just might "need." It also makes things go much faster. On my list, I will put a "C" next to the item so I'm sure to check my coupon and get the right stuff. I'll also do a "check the price of" area where I know I have a pretty good coupon, but I'll only get it if it's on sale.

Another idea is to stockpile. This week was not a good sale week for foods, but I had great coupons and sales for stuff like toiletries. We stocked up on that stuff. Even though we won't use all of the toothbrushes, razors, and deodorant I bought in the next week or even two, we can put it up and save ourselves lots over time. Especially considering most of them were buy one get one free! I'm doing that with frozen foods (especially veggies), detergents, paper goods, etc.

The Best Help I've Found

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ has become my favorite website. She posts all kinds of deals that she finds online, but also offers practical advice. You should check out her series on 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget. Awesome stuff. Also, http://www.thecouponproject.com/ has great advice for getting started. There's tons and tons of sites to help you.

I really would encourage you to try it for a month and see what happens. I've only been at it for a month or so, and I've already saved about $100 just in coupons. Last night, was my record. I saved $30.15! That is not including some stuff I got on sale, but didn't have a coupon for either. It has become like a game to me, and even Justin got into it yesterday. He kept saying, "Wait! You mean you get that for FREE!?!" Yes, sir I do. We can all be better stewards of what we have. This is a way to somewhat entertain yourself (if you go with the right attitude) while saving some major bucks!

Finishing Failure

2010-03-10T16:01:00.000-06:00

Lately it feels like I can't finish any project I start. Ugh. Don't you hate that feeling? Then, all I do is think about how badly I wish ____ was done. Prime example. I'm blogging instead of finishing the poster that is 90% done in front of me, or making my grocery list from the coupons scattered all over my desk. I'm desperately needing some finisher motivation. Spring break is thisclose to being here, so hopefully that will motivate me to get stuff done.

The past few days I have had the headache from Hades. (Heather, I don't know how you dealt with them for so long.) I think it has to do with my eyesight. Either changes from some of my PCOS medicine or the fact that the last eye doctor I saw was a total quack. I'm having a lot of trouble focusing, so I'm booking my second eye exam in 7 months for next week. J.O.Y. At least it's an excuse to make my husband, who hasn't had his eyes checked in 7 YEARS get his checked.

Let's end on a good note! Chris at Just a Girl is doing a giveaway from The Vintage Pearl. You should all go enter! Who knows? You could be the one in 380 (that's what number I was!) to win! Good luck!

2 things that made me smile

2010-03-03T11:38:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I emailed Justin to tell him that I had a meeting after school and to ask him if he would set out some meat to defrost for supper. I came home and found this...

What? You don't defrost your ground turkey in a mason jar full of hot water? He was so proud of himself. It really worked too. I guess that's how country boys take care of business.
The other thing that made me smile was this hobo...

We live in an old farm house, so we have to use window AC units and this space heater. When that thing is turned on, you can't convince, bribe, or force Bella to move out from in front of it. Last night, I kept trying to move her over so I could stand in front of it, and she would do her little groaning noises that she makes when she doesn't like to be bothered. It isn't a growl. It's literally like she's groaning that you are bothering her. She does it every morning when she hears my alarm clock go off. Hilarious.

Dear Pottery Barn,

2010-03-01T14:53:00.000-06:00

If you wanted to send me this...

for free. I might just love you forever in spite of your extremely high prices that I will never be able to afford on my lousy teacher budget.

Love you so much,

Lessons Learned

2010-02-17T15:14:00.000-06:00

Well, I tried it and I learned a few lessons. I set off for Walmart after school yesterday with my list and coupons in my hand. All in all, it was a positive experience...as much as Walmart after work can be. I learned a few lessons I thought I would share with you though.

1. Apparently a big stack of coupons in your hand causes random people to engage in converstations with you about where and how you got said coupons. Really slows you down.

2. Walmart lies in their coupon policy and says they accept all other stores coupons, but apparently they hate Target. I even bought a couple of specific things just because I had a Target coupon for them, and got ripped. I really thought about telling the checker that I just didn't want those things, but she was having a rough day so I let it go. Anyone want some Target coupons? I'll mail them to you.

3. It really is a feeling of accopmplishment when you see how much you save. I don't think I've ever been that excited about getting a $13 bottle of laundry detergent for $8 before. I met my goal of saving 10% of my total, even with the handful of coupons I had to smash back in my purse since they bear the hated red bulls-eye.

I've got a long way to go, but I'm getting there. I even ordered this cutie-pie from Etsy today.
That's my very own coupon organizer! I'm very excited!!

I promise every post from now on won't be about coupon clipping.

Coupon Queen

2010-02-16T14:23:00.000-06:00

I keep singing that title like the ABBA song, "Dancing Queen". =) That's what you folks are going to be calling me before long! Coupon Queen, that is. I'm Baptist, therefore, born with a lack of rhythm.
I have a new endeavor, and I'm looking for some help from you smarty pants out there. Lately, I've had several conversations on what it means to be good stewards of our money. Of course everyone is trying to save where they can these days, and I feel like groceries is one way I can help do this for our family. Although, I have an amazing husband who will grocery shop with me and a lot of times for me, I'm the primary buyer. That and this is appealing to my competitive nature. I decided to become a coupon clipper! It started because I read this girl's blog. I found her somewhere and instantly liked that her name is Leslie too. She is a thrifty to the core. Her budget is $25 a week for her and her husband. TWENTY-FIVE! Homegirl sticks with it too. She along with this great cookbook

I just found, with their special section on how powerful coupons are, has really got me on board with this. We already buy a lot of our meats at Sam's and freeze them in smaller portions, as well as buying our paper goods there. I don't have all of my plans laid just yet. Y'all know I'm going to have to cute-ify all my coupon keeping materials, so that could take some time. I also have to just get in the swing of things. I know it's going to be difficult too with the fact that I live in One Grocery Store, Texas. Seriously, not including Super Walmart where I do most of my grocery shopping, we have ONE grocery store. It's not even that great to begin with. I definitely don't have a Publix, which seems to have the best deals. I am going to work this as much as I can though. Right now these are my Clippin' Goals:
- To save at least 10% on my grocery bill each time I shop
- To use coupons for as many items as I can.
- To not become the coupon psycho that won't buy something if it's not on sale or I don't have a coupon. Hello?!! Sometimes you just need to buy some Santitos!
- To be more consistent with my menu planning and sticking with my grocery list. (I'm pretty good at this now, but could use some work.)
- To think of this as a challenge to myself and not a chore.

So far, I've found these sites to be helpful
Money Saving Mom
Coupon Mom
And of course, Leslie's site I listed above. You can also see her button for Tuesday Tips over there. ----->

Anyone else have any suggestions? Stories? Comments on how you do this? Help a fellow Clipper out. See ya in the check out aisles!

I'll be the one clogging up the lines with all my coupons. =)

Chaos

2010-02-12T09:18:00.000-06:00

I know this is very bah-humbug for me to say, but I just don’t like days like today. Today is the day we celebrate Valentine’s Day at school, and it’s too much mass chaos for my type-A personality. See, we don’t have a V-D party like normal schools. We do 30 minutes of children running free in the hallways giving cards to one another, which is just chaos at its best. You have random children standing in the hallway writing your name on yet another Jonas Brothers’ card with matching temporary tattoo, and you have to feign enthusiasm like it’s the greatest gift you’ve ever been given. You have TONS of candy that totally ruins any kind of diet you are attempting. You have third grade romances that are just plain creepy. I know I sound very anti-love, but I dare you to experience one elementary school holiday party and you will feel the exact same way. The only thing that makes it more stressful is when parents show up, which leads to you trying to keep your children from turning the hallway into the Kentucky Derby while their parent wants to discuss little Joey’s benchmark test. Like I said, I don’t like days like today.

I think I’m starting to develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I’m in desperate need of sunshine. We haven’t had snow here minus a few flurries on the way to work this morning. It’s just cold and wet. Neither of those things appeals to me. I’m ready for some 80 degree dry heat. I am however, very excited about this 3-day weekend we’re starting. Tomorrow I plan on sleeping as late as humanly possible, staying in my pjs until the absolute last minute I can, and watching some “Lost.” We have to go to a banquet at Justin’s parents’ church tomorrow night, so that excludes me being a total bum. Even half a day of laziness will do for me right now. Sunday, Justin and I are going on a date, which will probably include some sort of Mexican food and a trip to Sam’s. Aren’t we romantic? Monday, my sister and I are hitting up the Harwin Street in Houston in search of some cute jewelry and purses. All in all, I’d say it sounds like a winner of a weekend. Now, if only I could get it to start a little sooner…

Hair Poofing

2010-02-10T14:36:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. Another video. I even wrote out a whole post about the marriage retreat we went to this last weekend and deleted it because it just felt rambly and boring. I have seen this video mentioned on several people's blogs, but I finally watched it today. Girls, y'all are going to love this! Ever wanted to know how to get a huge "poof"? Here's how!

Poofing from Jennifer Francis on Vimeo.

She seems so sweet! You can't help but love her to death. That video cracked me up though. Now let's all get to poofing.

Oh How He Loves Us

2010-02-08T11:33:00.000-06:00

I know I'm linking to a lot of stuff lately without really posting much, but you'll have to forgive me for this one. I know a lot of you read Kelly's blog, so you've already seen this. I just had to share though. She participated in a Cardboard Testimony at her church and shared the video I've posted below to show what she was talking about. I've heard of these before, but I've never seen one in person. Let me tell you, I sat here and sobbed watching this. You must watch it. All of you. Now. Then, click on Kelly's blog and read the hundreds of comments reminding us just how much He loves us.

Suffering Well

2010-02-04T14:38:00.000-06:00

Read it. Thank God for your life. Hug your family.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_re/us_rel_the_pastor_s_cancer_1

This and That

2010-02-02T15:34:00.000-06:00

I promise I haven't forgotten about my blog. Things have just been insane around here. We're either trying to keep up with meetings and events, or chasing down washers and dryers across east Texas. I guess a bullet list is the easiest way to update you on the happenings.

Several weeks ago, during our major freeze, we had a crazy power surge that fried our dryer and a pipe freezing has caused a leak on our washer. We've resorted back to the college days of toting our laundry around to get clean clothes. Justin finally found a really great deal on a set, only to go back a few hours later and find them sold. Lowe's said that they could track some down for us in the area for the same price if we were willing to go get them. Last night we made a flying trip to pick up a dryer, and there's another hour long trip planned to get the matching washer tonight from a different store. It looks to be worth it though.
This year I am co-captaining my school's Relay for Life team. I'm really excited about some things we have planned. A lot of time has gone into planning and organizing things from all the teachers involved. It is so great to see people working together for a good cause.
We're getting ready to go to a marriage retreat in Bossier City this weekend. The people who wrote the Fireproof movie are doing the retreat, so we're really excited about that.

I co-coached our 3rd and 4th grade Oral Reading team for UIL. We got robbed. :(

Working with the youth is going GREAT. God is really revealing a lot of things to the people around me. Super, super cool.

Sigh. This is what has been a newly found love.

Eek! It makes me so excited! I bought Justin Season 1 for Christmas, so we started it a week or so ago. We're already done. We found Season 2 online for really cheap, and it's just sitting at home begging to be watched. I am HOOKED. I know that most of the questions I have now won't be answered until this final season finishes, but oh how I love this show!!! It's so crazy-good. Like, seriously crazy and good. I'm glad I don't have to wait a week for the next episode like you current Lost ~~suckers~~ lovers. (Ohhh, love that strikethrough action don't you?)

Combine all that with starting Couch to 5K with my fellow "losers," teaching, Bible study, and every day life and you've got one busy girl. I promise I'll get better at this though! After I finish Lost. :)

Award and a Question

2010-01-19T14:36:00.000-06:00

I got my first Blog award! Kristin gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award! Kristin is my high school BFF. She and I have just about been through it all together. I'm so glad that she has been a part of my life. It would not have been the same without her!

So, the rules are
Thank the person who nominated you for this award.--Thanks, Kristin!
Copy the award & place it on your blog.--Check
Link to the person who nominated you for this award.--Check
Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
Nominate 7 bloggers
Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

Interesting things about me: (I'm taking a broad interpretation of "interesting")

1. I have some OCD habits. Like, when I put laundry detergent in the washing machine I have to wash out the lid twice. Not once, not three times, twice.

2. I've never wanted to be anything except a teacher. Now I'm not so sure that I will be one for the rest of my life. I've secretly always wanted to have some kind of ministry for women in their 20's.

3. I have a Twitter account, but have never "tweeted." I just like reading what other people write. Rainn Wilson being one of my current favorites.

4. I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth, and even though they cause me to grind my teeth badly at night I don't want to go through the pain of having them removed.

5. This will make Justin cringe, but I couldn't care less about cars. I probably didn't even know the difference in a Ford or a Dodge until I was old enough to drive one. Not that I don't like nice cars, but it's not something I sit around wanting.

6. My idea of sleeping late is 8:00 or 8:30. Sometimes I have to convince myself to even sleep that late.

7. I have developed a big crush on Mr. Shue from Glee.

Now for my 7 lovely nominees

1. Elizabeth
2. Heather
3. Jen
4. Jenni
5. Jessica
6. Renesha
7. Sarah

Ok, I have a question for all of you now. Are any of you brave enough to dye your hair at home? If so, what do you use? Any certain brand? Here's my dilemma. My hair is GRAY. Seriously, like wads of gray hair popping up. I have a girl that I've been going to to get my hair cut, but for her to color and cut it has been over $100. I just can't afford that. There's no way that is practical. I could maybe understand if I was going to Tony and Guy themselves, but I'm not. This is Podunk, USA. It should not cost that much. So, while I'm trying to find someone else more affordable I am going to her to get a hair cut this week. (I'm so desperate I'm about to shave my head!) I don't want her to color it though, so I thought about doing it myself. I need advice, people. Comment away!

Recipes Between Friends

2010-01-13T15:38:00.000-06:00

There's a new blog you should add to your "must clicks." Recipes Between Friends is a new site that I just put together to encourage a swapping of (easy) culinary ideas. Since one of my new year's goals is to try a different recipe each week, I'm in need of some inspiration. I need quick, easy, and no strange ingredients. The recipes will be posted by friends and fellow bloggers. Anyone is invited to view the blog, but if you would like to also be a contributer just let me know! I can email you the log in information. I'm really excited about this! Be sure you check it out and check back often. We'll update it as we can. Happy cooking!

Journey

2010-01-11T14:33:00.001-06:00

I really like that word. I love on Biggest Loser when they constantly refer to life being their journey. I teach my kids that a "journey" is not just a trip down the road, but being on a path for a long time and facing difficult times along the way. I always have them talk about whether getting to the end of a "trip" or a "journey" would be more rewarding. They always say a journey. I'm just now coming to see my own life as a journey though this world. It's been in my mind a lot lately. Right now, I am reading this

(AHHHHHMMMMAAAZZZINNNGGG)

and doing this

Both are inspiring me to take stock of my life. The gist is that your life is a "story" and you need to actually be a part of your story. Make it one that people would want to read. Your life is not mean for you to grow up, get married, have kids, have a job, retire, die, and go to heaven. (I've been hearing great sermons about this at church to!) Your life is meant to be LIVED and you are meant to be an active, engaged participant in your life. You are meant to step outside your box, and best of all your life is not about you. Your life is about doing God's work, advancing God's kingdom, making Him (not you) famous. It would be an understatement to say that my heart has not been completely overwhelmed with this thought. He is stirring up something within me. I don't know exactly what it is, or what "inciting incident" I am meant to put myself in, but I'm praying that my eyes are open to it and that I will dive into it wholeheartedly. I'm excited. I really am. Mark my words now, God is bringing something up. I really don't know what it is, but I feel Him preparing my heart. I am hearing and seeing Him teach me about obedience and being fearless (I posted on that months ago!).

I'm praying for you too. If you read this blog, whatever you are feeling in your life right now, I am praying specifically for you whether I know your name or not. That He would raise you up to do what you are meant to do. That He would prepare your heart and open your eyes. That He would make you faithful and fearless. That He would comfort you in whatever situation you are facing that seems unsure. (That feels like it's a big one for some of you.) That you will ultimately find Him as the source of everything in your life. That you would draw closer to Him. I hope that whoever you are, you have a church family or a good group of godly friends you can talk with. I hope that you will take time to seek them out and have some good, quality time with people who know and love the Lord. It can be so refreshing and challenging all at the same time. I hope that you will stop to consider if you live day to day, or if you really are engaged in your own "story."

Long Time, No Blog

2010-01-05T15:32:00.000-06:00

Hello, again. Sorry for the hiatus. That's what I get for living in the middle of nowhere. We had a wonderful Christmas break filled with lots of game playing and gift giving. We were lucky this year and all of our family came to us. We ended up not having to travel anywhere after a super quick turn-around trip to Dallas the first weekend. I was a bridesmaid in my friend Lindsey's wedding, so we rushed up and rushed back so that we could be here for other things that were happening. I'm not really one to make new year's resolutions, but I am a sucker for setting new goals. I guess you could call them resolutions, but if you do that means I probably won't keep them and that would defeat the purpose. So, let's just call them "goals." Here (even though I'm a few days late) are my goals for 2010.

1. Read more books, watch less TV. I am already better at this since we've gotten married. I'm much less likely to sit around and mindlessly watch TV now that we are married and there's someone to talk to. I'm also a lot more likely to read a book then watch some of the shows or play some of the video games that he does because they just don't interest me.

2. Be more active. Every one's on the cliche weight loss wagon, and we have been for awhile. Luckily I didn't gain anything over the holidays, but I definitely didn't South Beach-It either. We're back on track though, so my goal is to up the workouts. My school is doing the Biggest Loser, so I've got a monetary prize to motivate me too.

3. To care more. To do at least 1 random act of kindness a week. I used to be so good at this, but I feel like I've really lost that touch. I'm praying that I would see the needs of people around me, and take action on them.

4. To try one new recipe a week. I'm an ok cook, and my list of things I can do is growing. I just need to think outside the box (or chicken in my case). Tonight the new recipe is Fiesta Lime Chicken. We'll see how it goes.

5. To learn to be a better wife. This whole thing is new to me, and we're doing pretty great at it so far. I know there's always room to improve though. We talked about what we could do differently for each other while we were taking down our Christmas tree, and Justin said that I could ask him to kill bugs less often, or at least make sure they are actually bugs before I make him come "kill" the harmless piece of fuzz that floated across the floor a little too quickly. That, I think I can do.

6. To get us on a budget and stick to it! Build up our savings and pay off all of our debt by the end of the year. (HUGE goal on that one.)

7. To see our family and friends more, even if that means inconvenient travelling.

8. To "finish" the house. I put it in "", because I am smart enough to know that a house is never done. I'm determined to have some cute flower beds this spring though.

9. To become a better, more creative teacher. I'm getting tired of my same old lessons and routines. I need to take the time to revamp some ways I do things.

10. To be more faith-ful. To worry and stress less. One of my favorite song lyrics is from Justin McRoberts. It says, "I'm choking on the gifts this world gives, Jesus...Free me, Lord, to live this life believing all I really have is You." Seriously. I must.

So those are my 10 for 2010. Happy (late) new year y'all!

My Husband is Famous

2009-12-09T12:12:00.001-06:00

Go here to prove it.

Say it ain't snow!

2009-12-07T17:24:00.000-06:00

This is what our pasture looked like the next morning. After it snowed like this...
for a good 4 hours. It came down so hard! This is another shot of our pasture where Justin's grandpa's old barn sits. We got engaged right by those trees. :-)
This is what redneck people do when there is snow. We hitched up a hydroslide that we *found* at an abandoned house to the back of Aaron's 4-wheeler, and took off.
Here's my little elf trying it out first. Bettcha can't guess whose idea it was to try this.
Then, there's me. Let's just say that I'm not the bravest person in the world, but holy cow was that fun! Well, that is after...
I got the hang of it. That's Aaron taking off on the 4-wheeler without me. I was pretty much laughing so hard I could barely hold on. (I can't believe I just posted a picture of my butt on the internet.)
I made everyone give me their "happy" face and then their "I'm scared for my life face." Guess which of Jessica's this is.
This was our front yard the next morning.

I can't wait until it snows again!!

Video from Matt

2009-12-07T14:45:00.000-06:00

I had every intention of posting a fun, silly post about the snow we had this past weekend, but I just came across this and really needed to share it. This is a video that Matt Chandler made to his church a couple of days before he went in to have surgery to remove the tumor that is on his frontal lobe. (From the updates I've seen and heard he's doing great since the surgery. He's been moved from ICU, and is still recovering.) I am just overwhelmed at his faith.

I taught in Sunday school yesterday, the story of the Roman guard's slave being healed by Jesus. (Luke 7) The guard, who was a Gentile--in other words not one of the "chosen"--had so much faith that Jesus could heal his servant that the said Jesus needed to only speak from where he was and the servant would be healed. The greatest thing in the passage was when Jesus said that he was "amazed" by the centrion's faith. What a compliment, what an overwhelming thing for JESUS to say that He is amazed by you. I love it. God's been speaking to my heart about fear so much lately. It has been all around me, so I'm guessing that He has a big lesson in store for me. My hope is that you will watch this video, and realize how truly amazing and wonderful God is--even when you are a man who is on the brink of the ultimate unknown...in danger of being gone in an instant. I know that Jesus has to be amazed by Matt's faith. My hope is that you and I will both be found as faithful when hard things come our way.

Video from Matt

Where my brain has been lately...

2009-12-03T14:45:00.000-06:00

I feel like such a boring blogger lately. I read other people's, and they have such great pictures and creative ideas. I have this...

That's where my head has been lately. We're busy cramming six weeks worth of skills into 4 and a half weeks of instruction, while battling the stupid full moon and looming Christmas break. It's times like these I wish I could just make them sit and watch a movie while I read my AR book. I wouldn't do that though, I promise. You have to at least wait until the last week of school. :-)

Other than grading papers and reading kids' books we've been doing this and that. I stayed sick over Thanksgiving break with a sinus infection, and then Justin and I both got really sick Saturday night. It was not fun. We have gotten a good chunk of our Christmas shopping done though. I plan on getting it finished asap. I don't want to feel rushed this year. I'm praying that tomorrow we get an early Christmas gift and that it will snow! There's a chance according to the weather "experts." I'd settle for some drizzle that looks like snow. Us folks in southeast Texas don't know how to handle cold stuff falling from the sky, so we're prone to shutting down school in a moment's notice. Fingers crossed, people. Until then, meet my new Christmas favorite...
Peppermint Mocha Coffeemate...Heaven. You gotta have some good coffee to stay up and grade that stack of papers, right? Old Pep' is helping me make it these next few weeks. I just can't wait for Dec. 19th when I won't need him so much anymore. Only 11 more school days to go!

Pray

2009-12-02T07:26:00.000-06:00

I feel a little dorky posting this because it's not like I actually know him in person, but he has played an important part in my relationship with God over the past few years. Some of you have heard of Matt Chandler and some of you may not have. He's a pastor at The Village Church right outside of Dallas. Years ago, Matt traveled around speaking, and I had the chance to work with him at Super Summer. I started really listening to his sermons after that. Even talking to the guy once or twice his passion for God and his desire for people to know and love God was so evident. Obviously, I don't go to The Village since we live so far away, but I do listen to his podcasts regularly. He's a great, bold, godly man who has literally brought thousands of people around the world the hope of Christ. He is not afraid to tell it like it is, and God has used him in a HUGE way. Hey, even my blog is named after a series of sermons he did over Ecclesiastes!

Last Thursday, Matt had a seizure at home. They then found a small tumor in his frontal lobe. He met with a neurosurgeon yesterday, and they decided to do surgery to remove the tumor this Friday, Dec. 5th. They do not know whether or not the tumor is malignant. Please, please, please if you are a praying person, pray for Matt and his family, especially Friday. I've been really heavy hearted for his family since I first heard about this. He and his wife, Lauren, have 3 small children. It is so heartbreaking to think of them in this situation. They seem to have such an amazing attitude with all of this. (You can check out their blogs and twitters below.) Matt is a modern day "hero of faith", and I'm sure that he would appreciate any prayers anyone could offer.

You can keep up with Matt's progress if you are interested by going to any of these.
His wife, Lauren's blog
The Village Church website
Matt's blog
Facebook group "Praying for Matt Chandler"

Secret

2009-11-23T07:26:00.000-06:00

I admit it. I've been keeping a secret from you. Some of you already know about her, but some of you don't. I'm finally just going to quit feeling guilty for not sharing and tell you all about...

There she is. My newest hero. Teacher. Whitty writer. Cheap craft expert. She's where I've been getting all my latest ideas from. (I actually stole her from Jenni.) When I say that I stalk her blog, I mean I.Stalk.Her.Blog. I've read every entry dating back to her very first one. I have bookmarked my favorite projects. She's the best. I thought in the spirit of Thanksgiving that I would share my secret with you. Go forth and craft wisely.