Living in Transition

Wrapping up my time in Searcy is a bittersweet feeling. I am sad to be leaving everyone here. Yesterday at school we had a "reading slumber party". It was one of the most enjoyable days I've had at school since....ever. My kids did really great. I will miss them like crazy! I invited some people to come read to my kids at various times during the year. I asked the reading coaches to come read and I also read aloud to them throughout the day. One of my visitors was particularly memorable for me. One of my teachers and great friend from Harding, Cheri Smith, came and read a book to my kids. She and I have become very good friends since I was her GA during grad school and I dread saying "goodbye" to her...again! Anyway, I invited her to read a book to my kids. I had been in her class at Harding but I had never actually seen her "do" the things she taught. God never fails to teach me new lessons, the older I get. Or maybe I'm just now seeing the lessons. It seems like I always get the best lessons when I'm not expecting it. A rare thing in the education field is when you get to actually see your teacher teach the kids that she taught you to teach. (Clear as mud right?) Anyway, I got to sit with my kids while she read a book aloud to them. I think I learned more watching her for 20 minutes yesterday then I've learned about teaching children all year. It was such a privilage to be there, and I will cherish that for the rest of my life. First of all, it was a great learning experience for me as far as my career. Secondly, I got to see my mentor and friend do what she loves to do. I hope that one day people will be able to see my passion so evidently while I am doing something so simple as reading a book to some kids. I am so grateful to Cheri for teaching me in the classroom and more importantly in situations like yesterday. I will miss our talks, late nights at the office talking about...EVERYTHING, Tuesday evening dinners after class, and just being able to see you at a momence notice. She has become one of my closest friends!
The Sweet part about leavnig Searcy is the things I'm going to be moving toward. I'm about to have 2 brand new nephews, and I could not be more excited! I can't wait to hold them, love on them, and just be their aunt. I think the closest I've been to being an aunt (before Gloria's baby girl) is the Pirtle children. I cannot imagine loving any kids more than I love all 4 of them. I guess I'm about to find out. I know that being all the way across country from them is extremely hard. I don't want to try being even 7 hours away from Diane and Lori's baby. Gloria will be living in Melber for the next year so I will have the best of both worlds for atleast a year. Another sweet thing about moving is my new job. I have to admit - going to a new school with new people is a little scary but definitely exciting as well.
For your enjoyment, I've also included some pictures of mom and dad's cabin going up. The outside is done (minus the staining off the wood). It is beautiful. The staircase and fireplace are all put in (except the rock on the fire place). Come visit!

Finishing Up and Thinking Forward

My time in Searcy, AR are quickly coming to an end. AND - I'm about to the the aunt of a beautiful baby boy (in about 3 weeks). I also will be moving my stuff out of Searcy in 2 weeks and then living with Krista and her husband until school is over. I can't believe that I have finished my 2nd year of teaching already! Here I go, jumping into a new place full of people I don't know....what a great challange and adventure!

I am doing my best to cherish my time left with my wonderful 3rd graders! All 17 of them! :) Even now I"m learning more and more about their personalities and just what makes them tick. The recent lesson they have taught me is their amazing ability to be creative and just rise to the occasion. We have been studying about the history of Arkansas and about the Arkansas flag. I gave them the project of recreating the Arkansas flag in some unique and creative way. They could you use anything they had at home except poster board and markers. You would not believe how they rose to the occasion. I was so proud of their effort and creativity! I was blow away. It just proved to me that I have underestimated the abilities of my kids! They can be so much more if people will not put their expectations in a box and limit what they are capable of in their life! I have included some pictures of more of my kids projects! Enjoy :)

Updates and More...

I just can't seem to update my blog on a regular basis. Sorry! Life, for some reason, keeps me running in circles.

On the school side of things, this week coming up is the state testing week. My kids have worked REALLY hard this year, and we are all ready to have it over with so things will get back to normal. We had a big pizza party last Thursday, and almost all their parents came. I was so proud of them, and I know they were so excited.

Tanya and the kids came to visit me last weekend. She is speaking at a ladies day at her mom's church in Hot Springs. They stayed Saturday and Sunday with me. We had a blast. We climbed Sugarloaf in Herber Springs and ate at The Brick Oven. I loved seeing them and miss them all the time. They kids are growing up sooo fast! When we dropped them off at Bible class on Sunday it hit me how old they have gotten. What wonderful kids they are!!!

2 Nephews on the way - Diane is about 7th months along right now and he is moving a ton! Aaron seems to take after Dado - always working. Baba says that the name fits just right! Lori is about 5 months along. No name yet but their short list is awesome! I am so excited to seem them at Diane's baby shower in Tullahoma. With two boys on the way, I can't seem to keep myself away fromt the baby section in every store I go into. Can you tell I'm excited? No news yet on a job in Nashville. Still waiting...

Mom and dad are building a log cabin in Melber, and the guys building it are like 4 supermen. They are builing it SO fast. Seems like everytime I'm home they have a whole other builing built. They built the garage in a weekend. Crazy. The picture on here is for your enjoyment. The house is in the middle and the garage sits off to the left (and the barn is back from the garage). There is a wrap around porch all the away around the porch and a breeze-way that connects the garage and the house.

Gone Shopping...

I know I haven't blogged in a while. All I have to say is one word - BENCHMARK! There is about 15 days until the big test and my kids are working really hard. I'm really proud of them.

Anyway!!! I decided to write a little about the events of last weekend. I took a personal day and met Diane (and Jerry David), Lori (who also took a personal day), and Ninja Andrea (and her baby Adian) in Murfressburo, TN to go baby registering. If that is even a word....We went to go register for baby stuff. You get the picture. So we had an absolute blast! We looked for and found everything that you could possible find that had any relation to a baby. We went to Walmart first but discovered that there registery was broken. SO - we decided to go to Target and then try another Walmart, after stopping off too eat of course. Can't you just picture me with 2 pregnant women and one with a 4 month old. We really did have a lot of fun, and I actually think we got everything registered for that Diane wanted. I wish I had a picture for you but we didn't take any. Sorry. Our focus was pretty much baby...baby...FOOD...baby....STARBUCKS (Lori)....and baby.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

We found out yesterday that my sister is going to have A BOY! It's official and everything. I guess he just got tired of hearing us call him "Jerry David" and decided to "step up"! Needless to say, I'm sooo excited! I'm gonna have a Nephew!
Oh, and by the way - I just want to point out that I posted earlier about how I knew it was a boy and I was totally right. Just wanted to point that out.

Now all we have to do is find out what Matt and Lori are having and we'll be set!

(sorry-no pictures)

Long Months Ahead...

I've learned that time is a funny thing. Whenever I think about the last year things to have moved sooooo fast! But then I think about everything I still have to accomplish in the next few months ahead and it seems like it's taking forever to get there. For example, I can't believe that my 2nd year of teaching is almost over. It seems like I just started in a lot of ways. It also seems like time is dragging on. The benchmark is coming up sooner than I'm ready for and I am in constant prayer and thought about the test and my kids. I'm also waiting on TWO little miracles to come into the world and that's taking forever! On the other hand it's hard to believe that we are already at the age of having babies. I'm sure Diane and Lori are more anxious than I am, seeing as they are the ones actually having the babies but it sounds better when I write it! :)

I got a new phone today. Of course I've already entered all my phone numbers and taken a few pictures. It's a fun new toy to play with at least for a few hours anyway!

Abby is growing by the minute and enjoying herself. She is still chewing up EVERYTHING she can find. Seems like everything I give her to chew on she doesn't like and everything I want to keep away from her she is uncontrollably attracted to. Figures! Sorry I don't have a picture for you. I keep forgetting to bring my camera home from work.

I have been seriously contemplating moving to the Nashville area. Both Matt and Diane live about 45 min. to an hour away from Nashville and since they are both getting ready to parents it's all I can do to be away from there. So I figured, why try? I have started the paperwork to get my TN license and started looking at schools around suburbs of Nashville. Hopefully I will be able to get a job pretty quickly. It's bitter sweet for me because I really do LOVE my job here in AR. Augusta has been a great first job for me and I am really torn about leaving. I am going to continue to pray about it and see what doors God opens for me.

Christmas, New Years...and then some

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that stuff!

I had a great Christmas Break. Thinking back, 2 weeks seems like it should feel longer. I went to my parents house for the whole 2 weeks. It was a wonderful 2 weeks. At some point, the whole family was together. For the first few days it was just mom, dad, and I. Then Matt and Lori came Christmas Eve and stayed through the Friday after New Years. Mark and Diane came Christmas Eve as well and stayed through Sunday the 3rd. Gloria, Ryan and Elayna came a few days before Christmas and left the 3rd. I got to spend a ton of time with my new neice and it was wonderful! After Christmas, the Pirtles came to visit for a few days. It wasn't near long enough but I guess I'll take what I can get seeing as how I can't be picky when they live so far away. I miss them something fiecere so it was awesome to see them and play with the kids. I think one night we stayed up till 3am playing cards, Rook specifically. All of us "kids" bought each one of the Pirtle kids gift certificiates to Walmart and then took them to spend it. We ALL had a blast! The most fun I've had in a long time. We did so much during the break it's hard to write about everything but I will put a few pictures up.