Friday, December 28, 2007

Welcome to Our Home!

TAD's kitchen =)

front door and front room

the view from my bedroom window

garage door, basement door, and hall to bedrooms and bathroom

we love love love the high ceiling!

that's it, on the right

the "loo"



the big ol' basement...we'll make it more cozy

home sweet home!

the kitchen


bathroom and my room on the right, T's room and linen closet on the left


We will be moving in this weekend and the beginning of next week. I, at least, have so much junk to go through before I pack up and leave. I'm sad to leave mom, but she is happy for us. If you want our address email me. I can't just give it out randomly considering T's line of work. I'd love to get mail at my very own new address! Praise the Lord =)


Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Merry Christmas yesterday!

scarf from TAD; Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans were in my stocking

I spent all afternoon and evening with the Woodby family. So fun!

TAD wanted to hand out the jelly beans and not tell us the flavor so we'd

have to figure it out as we ate the jelly bean.

This Christmas was definitely different, but it was fun. We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve this year. I didn't really want anything much for Christmas. You know, the older I get, the less I care about gifts. They just don't really concern me much. Oh well. Anyway, I did have a favorite gift and a favorite "stocking stuffer". My favorite gift was Harry Potter 3-6. I bought 1 and 2 for myself quite some time ago, and mom got me 7 for my birthday. Now my set is complete! Already I am almost finished with book four. (Ok, I listened to 2, 3, and the first half of 4 on disc=) My favorite stocking stuffer was the bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. They are a candy from the Harry Potter books. The flavors are things like sardine, black pepper, pickle, ear wax, dirt, sausage, earthworm, and vomit. Totally disgusting! Once all our presents were opened I got them out and TAD, Annie, and I tried a few. You should have seen our faces! We had to spit out a few because we just couldn't stand it. These were a favorite because I got to share them with TAD and Annie, and they made us laugh and have a good time together. Weird, huh? It has been so long since I've spent time like that with those two; it was so much fun!

From 2:30 til about 10:45 I was at Woodby's house. We played games, watched movies, and ate a fabulous dinner. I love being at their house. Everyone was there and all the kids love being together as a family. You don't see that a lot these days. We had a fun, relaxing time. It was definitely different from any other Christmas, but I'm ok with that.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Family Christmas Caroling

Jeff and Will

Rosana and Grandma waiting to leave

Cate's just about ready!

Kameron is ready to go


Sam gets Will bundled up while Jeff...who knows what he's doing?

and we're off!



Alex and Luke get distracted and share a few snowballs with each other

what song should we start with?!

Aunt Sandy, Mom, Sam, Jeff, and Will

Cate commented to Sam, "Mom, we're singing in the street!"
Sam replied, "That's what we do!"






Friday, December 21, 2007

A Very Merry Christmas Party!

Mitchell won the "pass the present" game

I love my kids!


oh, this poor tree...

we watched Madagascar this afternoon


wonderful gifts from wonderful students


they liked their gifts from me



our goofy tree with many gifts


getting ready to open our presents





Yeah, today was the last day of school before Christmas and New Year's break!! We had a super fun day today. The morning started with a Bible and spelling test, and everyone did excellent. What awesome students I have been blessed with! Then we played the rest of the day. We did some word games and puzzles that took a few minutes each and winners got a piece of candy. Our first big activity was a "pass the present" game. For the first round I read a story I got off the Internet; every time I said "left" or "right" the gift was passed that direction. At the end of the story, the person with the gift unwrapped a layer of paper. Then I played music and when it stopped another person unwrapped a layer. So on and so forth til the gift was completely unwrapped. Mitchell was so excited to win the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet.
We did our gift exchange...everyone got what they wanted from each other and from me. And, I got some pretty neat stuff from them. Mostly chocolate. Bummer =) We had a pizza lunch at noon, then came back to class for my favorite part: an auction! I bought 18 fun, under-two-dollar gifts and wrapped them. Each students had $100 (plastic bingo chips) to spend, and they could bid on whatever they wanted. Everyone got at least two gifts. They seemed to enjoy it. Maybe this will become a tradition in my class. You know, something for upcoming students to look forward to. I certainly had fun! After lunch we played the animal game (they figured out that if they got me laughing hard enough I would get out. but, I was able to get control and held my first- chair position!) Our final event of the day was watching Madagascar. More laughing! Oh, it was fabulous day. I love my students, I love my school, I love my job, I love the Lord...life is truly beautiful!



Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Glow-in-the-Dark Mistakes




All I can say is "grrrrr". I am quite annoyed with myself at the moment. Today I bought a package of glow bracelets to use with an activity at our class Christmas party on Friday. I had to open the box and set some aside, but the ones I set aside I either bumped or smashed one way or another. If you crack one of these things the glow stuff starts seeping through the bracelet and lights it up. Yeah, four of them wasted! They don't last forever, you know. Oh, I am such an idiot!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Girls Night










Since Brett and Beau Hendrick are in Zambia, I was able to go to Andrea's and have a Girls Night with her, Cara, and Segrid...oh, and Dallis too! We played Settlers of Cataan, ate some dinner, and took silly pictures. I spent the night, but had school the next morning so I had to leave early. It was fun though. It sort of reminded me of college days. Even though Andrea and Segrid are married, they are just as wacky as the rest of us. I thank God for such a large number of fantastic friends!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Correction!


I made a mistake in my previous post. Mom caught it when she was reading it yesterday. These adorable little birdies were not my great- grandmother's, rather they were a gift from my grandma to my mom at my parent's first Christmas together. Mom had six of them to start with. Two of them she gave to good friends of hers on some special occasion or other. Annie and I will each inherit one eventually as well.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Holiday History

















So here is my handiwork from yesterday. The star on top of the tree belonged to my great- grandma Warnock - my mom's mom's mom. =) The cute little birdie also belonged to my great- grandma, and it has three siblings perching elsewhere on our tree. The treble clefs are only a few of my mom's hundreds of music ornaments. She has been getting them as gifts for around thirty years! One of my ornaments is the adorable Precious Moments girl you see here. She was a gift from Aunt Ellie, a friend of my parents' in college, at my first Christmas. Oh, and the gifts under the tree are just a few I wrapped because the tree looked so lonely without presents underneath it!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

In the Mood

If my camera batteries were not dead I would have some lovely photos of today's holiday activities. I spent the morning Christmas shopping, the afternoon putting up the Christmas tree, and the evening wrapping gifts. If you had walked in my house at some point today you probably could have felt the Christmas spirit all over the place! The only thing not Christmasy was my music...I was listening to the soundtrack from Shall We Dance?. Oh well. =)
Sitting here at the computer I can look out the window and see houses down the street with all their lights sparkling and blinking. One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the colorful lights. I could look at them for hours. But think, all the lights and tinsel and gifts and family and happiness cannot compare to the greatest Gift of all - Jesus Christ. Rejoice this Christmas, for He came and died for you!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

It's December 6th (I think)


This year has totally flown by me! I cannot believe it is December already. I must say, when all of life is focused on and revolves around one thing, time just zooms on by. I let my kids decorate our classroom for Christmas. That is one of those times when I just have to sit back and keep my mouth closed because I am a perfectionist and would rather just do everything myself! But they did a good job. And my contribution was the bulletin board. I am quite proud of it actually. I got the idea off the internet and adapted it to my personal needs and style. I am pleased with how it turned out.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend

I really meant to keep up with my blog, but I guess I totally failed! Things didn't get much easier or better after I last posted, so I haven't exactly been in the mood to share my "wonderful", "exciting", and "happy" life with you. Especially since those words are definitely not what I would use to describe the last few weeks! Oh well, I am doing better now and will make an effort to post regularly.
You know, I was so looking forward to this Thanksgiving weekend. I didn't have many plans, and the ones I did have promised to be fun and relaxing. Wednesday, after I got off work at the day care, I went to Adam and Amanda's for dinner and a movie. We stayed up late, as usual, and had a blast. Thursday we had a morning church service, dinner at Gram and Gramps', and a free afternoon. That evening I went to Adam and Amanda's again for frozen pizzas, Oreos and ice cream, and Ocean's 13. Good movie. Unfortunately, I was sick all Thursday night and ended up with full blown flu all day Friday. I'm talking fever, chills, throwing up...it was bad. I have not felt so miserable in a very long time. Saturday I stayed home all day, mostly in bed again. Watched a few movies, did some laundry, but mostly stayed in bed. Now I am home from church this cold fall morning, wishing I was anywhere but in this house! If I rest this morning, perhaps I will be up to evening church. Can you believe I am actually looking forward to going back to school tomorrow?!
What a way to spend a vacation weekend, eh? I wanted to shop (yes, I know I am crazy), go see a movie, spend some time with my grandparents, hang out with the Woodbys. Nothing was set in stone, but it all sounded like such fun for a long weekend. Bummer!!! I will have to make up for it over Christmas break...

PS...(do blog posts have PS's?)Psalm 37 is incredibly encouraging if you are discouraged, frustrated, or hurting in some way. It lifted my spirits right up!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Getting Back to Reality

I apologize for not keeping up with the blog the past few weeks. I am in the process of standing up for what is right, and it is not easy. You see, over the past month or two I have turned my head and my heart to unimportant things and have begun to slouch spiritually. You know, to truly stand up straight and have good posture takes work, work, work. I got so tired of my ballroom instructors telling me "head up, shoulders down, back straight". Aaahh!! But you know what? After a while, I started getting compliments on my excellent posture! It became natural to stand up with perfect posture. It can be tiresome and a bit painful at first, getting all those muscles to work for you, but eventually it comes together and the end result is worth it. The same is true for standing up straight spiritually. My spiritual muscles have weakened and I am working at making them strong again. God has shown me His grace and has given me a handful of loyal sisters to get me back on track. Every day my soul longs for His Word a little more, and every day the Word becomes a little sweeter to me. I don't regret making mistakes, even though the consequences aren't pretty; I would regret not learning from them, though. God has turned my mistakes into great lessons for my life. Someday I may be able to use these experiences to encourage someone else should their faith falter.
I hope now that, as my eyes turn off myself and back onto God and others, I will be consistent in keeping my blog up to date so you all can see the great blessings and mercies God shows to me each new day. Thank you for checking this blog, for checking on me.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

This Time of Year

Fall is my favorite season. I love everything about it. Jeans, sweatshirts, rain, leaves everywhere, soccer games, football games, hot chocolate, pumpkins, apple cider, trips to the orchard, the spicy smell of leaves, sitting by a camp fire, deer hunting...the list just goes on and on! Many of my sweetest memories are of things that took place in the fall. One of those wonderful things is our time in the deer woods. Gram and Gramps always go Up North to hunt; they take their trailer and park it for the duration of hunting season. I have the best memories of camp fires, tracking deer, sitting in the blind with Gramps, long walks, trips into town to visit V&S Variety Store, and playing cards late at night by the light of a lantern. Oh, so dear to my heart were those times! Since I graduated from high school (6 years ago, aahh!) I have not spent even half the time in the deer woods as I used to. But this past weekend I went up with some other family members and spent a few hours sitting by the fire, walking in the woods, and visiting with my loved ones. I wanted to stay forever; to never return to reality. If only... Sometimes the memories make me so sad with longing for "the good ol' days", but I am glad to have those times to look back on. They mostly make me smile and praise God for the life He has given me and my family.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

What They Don't Teach You in College

This week I have been learning what being a teacher is all about. For the first time I am really dealing with parents about academic and social issues. Aaahhh!!! Wouldn't it be so much easier if I could just hand my problems over to someone else?! My administrator has been an amazing help and encouragement though. How wonderful it is to know I have his full support. I didn't even feel bad telling him I just honestly don't know how to help one of my students in a particular area. Praise God for a super boss! And, if God called me to be a teacher, will He not supply all my needs to do just that? God is great; He is love. I don't like these problems, I don't want to deal with them, I want to run away. But since I have to deal with them and I can't run away, it sure is nice to have some incredible support!

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

"Life's too short to dance with ugly men" (Oscar Wilde)

I found this quote yesterday on a birthday card. It is definitely my new favorite quote. Some of you may not appreciate it as much as others. If you know how much I love ballroom dancing, and how very single I am, you should understand why I absolutely love this quote. I laughed out loud in Hallmark when I read it!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Surprise, surprise...

Thursday morning we teachers left for the Great Lakes Christian Educator's Conference (Convention? I can't remember...) It was early and I was tired, but Katie, Karin, and Stacie rode with me in the Expedition so we had loads of fun. Our first meeting was a big group session with all the teachers at the conference. As we sat and waited, Karin said, "That's Beth and Melody." I about had a heart attack. "Beth" is Bethanie Wall, my best friend from college whom I have not seen in person since May 2005. Though we have kept in touch, I have not seen or hugged my best friend in over two years! Imagine the feelings of happiness in me....well, you can't really, it was too incredible. During the conference we passed each other and talked a bit, but today we sat together at the last workshop and spent a while talking afterwords. Walking the halls with our bags, standing around talking while we waited for the next session, stopping off at the bathroom on our way, made it feel like we were back in college. Two years is not enough to separate two friends who shared such a close bond during college. It was as though we had never been apart. Beth and I have our own lives in different places now, but she will always have her own special place reserved in my heart. Love you, Beth!!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Chicago!!!


























I wish I could tell you every little detail of my trip to Chicago with Amanda last weekend. But, that would take so long because every little detail was amazing! Our dinner out Friday night was incredible...from the valet parking to the complimentary desserts...it was quite an experience. Staying at Bethany's apartment made me want one of my own; and in the city wouldn't be too bad, I decided. I never knew Bethany before, so I made a new friend that weekend, too. Amanda and I decided to be brave and adventurous so we took the train from Bethany's to Chicago Ave. where we walked the few blocks to Michigan Ave. We spent all day Saturday shopping on Michigan Ave. The weather was fantastic. Dinner at Giordano's was the perfect end to the perfect day. This birthday weekend, with Amanda (and Bethany), was probably the best weekend of my life. So refreshing....my heart smiles to think of it.