A child of God educating other children.

I am so glad that the hurricane is over and to know that Jon is okay, and so is my friend Brianne. Brianne stuck around because her dad needed to help out with things, so she took cover with her family, not wanting to evacuate without her dad.

And last night Jon had up his live video stream online. There wasn't a whole lot to see, so Jon made it entertaining with using a chatroom and sound. Tim and I went to the high school football game yesterday, well at least the first half, then came home 'cause I was cold, and we're not too wild about football. So right when we got home we got online with Jon and stayed on until 12:30pm when his electricity went out.

Dad has been keeping me updated today by email on Jon, which is really nice. Jon should be getting to my parents before midnight tonight. That is comforting to know, and surprising he found a way out. Last I heard from Brianne was at 7am this morning letting me know they were still getting bad weather. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her.

I didn't get to sleep until about 1am this morning and still couldn't get my mind off of the storm. I had to wake up early to make it to my massage appointment I set. (That was such a nice time!) I'm glad I had it this morning to get me off of the computer to stop watching all the disaster photage. Then from 3pm-9pm I hung out with 2 of my small group girls going to the annual Grape Stomp festival. And when I got home, I was back online watching disaster photage.

I am exhausted and heading off to bed. We're going to the 8:30 service tomorrow, then I'm teaching one of the four 2nd grade Sunday school classes.

Posted in: family, friends, Hurricane Ike, ministry on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at at 7:51 PM 0 comments    

Tim and I got to Virginia beach last night in time for dinner. We're having a great time hanging out with Kym and Jason and their two kids. Today for lunch they took us out to a Japanese restaurant where they cook right in front of you at the table. That's always fun, and it was Tim's first experience of that. Then we went to their store, Mister Jewelry and Jason cleaned my wedding band and engagement ring. I didn't realize how much it needed it until I saw it finished. Wow it looks great! We have a little more time here before we leave in the morning to meet up with Tim's side of the family and start all the wedding festivities. It's fun to hear all kinds of stories of Tim's family while he was growing up.

Posted in: family, friends, vacation on Thursday, August 28, 2008 at at 3:06 PM 0 comments    

Tim went down to the cities today for a youth pastor's meeting. I planned on not working today and going down with him, but Maggie and Adrienne were busy, so that didn't work out. But I still took today off 'cause I was able to meet with Marcia, my co-teacher with confirmation and go bowling with one of my small group girls.

I had a great time with Marcia. She came to our house and we worked on confirmation stuff and I cooked us lunch. She is such a sweet and neat woman. I am so glad that I get to co-teach with her. Allison is also helping us out with confirmation. She is a senior in high school, and did an incredible job with the girls last night. We split our small group into 2 groups again yesterday, and I went with Allison, she did great! I was very impressed with how she lead. And it seemed so natural! I am very proud of her.

Marcia and I were finished just in time for me to go to the bowling alley and play one game with the homeschooling community. One of the girls in my confirmation group is home schooled and they were doing a bowling day, so I got to hang out with her and meet some of her friends. I had a really good time.

Then the rest of my day I spent going to Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries then cooking Tim and nice dinner for when he got home. I made meatloaf and potatoes and carrots. Pretty good.

I had about 30 minutes with Tim from when he got home, eating dinner and me heading out the door to hang out with Laughing Ladies group in our church. I really enjoyed hanging out with those ladies. They are fun to be around and I really look up to them.

I enjoyed having a social day, it was nice to be busy and hang out with different people. I have been wanting to do that for a while. I did start to miss Brianne like crazy by the end of the day though. I miss having my best friend around, or at least being in the same state so I could drive to see her and it being a lot cheaper than getting a plane ticket. When I got home tonight I got online and looked at airfares right now to Texas. I'm getting another homesick spell after today. I'm looking forward to after Christmas when my parents and Katelin come to visit. That will help.

Posted in: friends, ministry on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at at 8:45 PM 0 comments    

I really enjoyed having today off of work. Tim and I slept in 'til around 11 then had lunch with our neighbors/land lords/ youth volunteers/eye doctor. :) We had some great home made food and enjoyed visiting with them for a while. God has really blessed us with John and Ruth.

Most of the day we relaxed around the house. I finally sewed my dress pants which I've been meaning to since we moved here and I borrowed Ruth's sewing machine. Today was the first day I used it, now I'm working on a quilting project. When I first borrowed the sewing machine I went to Wal-Mart and bought all their cute fabric scraps under a dollar for me to practice on before sewing my pants. I really enjoyed sewing so now I've got a project! :) I think what kicked me off with sewing is that I've been reading "The Girls of Lighthouse Lane" series by Erika Tamar and Thomas Kinkade. The stories take place in 1905 when girls learned to sew at school and such. It is a great series that is so much fun to read. Theres another more mature series by Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer that I will start probably tomorrow.

Okay, the rest of our day. I called and talked to my Mom for a while which I loved. I've been feeling a little homesick again. I really want to go to my parents for a little while and visit. Talking to my Mom helped, I felt like it has been a long time since I've talked to my family. Then Tim and I went bike riding for a little bit and then came home and grilled some real beef burgers. I don't know if we've ever grilled beef burgers, we buy turkey burgers which are a lot healthier and don't taste any different, but it was just nice to know we were eating beef. :)

Oh! Tim and I started our budget on the 1st. So far so good. We've already saved money. We went grocery shopping yesterday and were cautious with everything we got, looking at the cost per ounce they stick next to the price sticker and also going with store brand items instead of name brand. We bought just as much as usual for our one month groceries, but came out saving over $100! So that extra money will go towards paying off debt. I'm so excited!

Alright, I've procrastinated making our lunches for tomorrow and going to sleep long enough. Good night!

Posted in: books, budget, cooking, family, friends on Monday, September 03, 2007 at at 8:36 PM 0 comments    

Yesterday Katelin and I spent about 3 hours in the lake alternating between swimming and kayaking. We would swim until I got too cold then we would kayak until we were tired. All together we kayaked around the whole lake, but we did it in sections with swimming breaks.

And today we had the most fun of all the days Katelin has been here. Our neighbors called us up to join them out on the lake. We got to tube, knee board and ski today spending 4 hours out there. But it was worth it. It was great to watch Katelin do water sports for her first time, and she had a great time too. The weather has been poor for playing in the lake most of the time she has been here, so God was very gracious giving us great weather and the opportunity to do water sports!

Katelin and Brittany at one time went about 4 feet out of water jumping a wave and kept with it, not falling off!

I think knee boarding is my favorite, although I don't quite have the good arm strength, it's a fun challenge and rewarding to do. My whole upper body is so tired now though, and will probably be more sore in the morning!

Tim did a great job for skiing only his 2nd time ever. He got up quickly and went around the lake 2 times!

Tim and I did great balancing ourselves as Doug tried to get us off. We didn't fall off once, but it wasn't easy staying on! (Just look closely at our faces!...you can click on the picture to see it bigger.)

Posted in: family, friends, lake, water sports on Sunday, June 10, 2007 at at 10:15 PM 1 comments    

The associate pastor and his wife put on a pot luck dinner at their house for the new young couples in the church to get to know each other. This is so good for Tim and I just moving here, and come to find out, most of the people that were there have only been at our church for less than a year. One couple I talked to said that they haven't even found a young married couple in the church to hang out with yet. Tim and I got the information for 2 couples to start hanging out with...hopefully our Tuesday nights will become even bigger. And then I got to talk to a couple others that we have met and talked to some, but not real quality time. I really enjoyed talking with the Pastor's wife tonight. She had a lot of good advice and insight for me being a newly wed. I also got to talk to another lady who recently had a child, so I got to hold her son as we talked. Hopefully I'll get to start hanging out with her more too.

I'm really glad we had this night to get to know others, and it seems like everyone else was needing this as well to get connected with other people. When I subbed in 1st grade for 2 days a few weeks ago there were 3 boys in the classroom that go to my church, and one of them was there tonight with his family. His mom came and introduced herself to me, and I was able to catch the boy's eye to smile and say hi...his face just lit up! :)

There were also a couple of young single girls that were there tonight too. They were so sweet and eager to talk to me. It'd be fun to do a girl's night and hang out with them.

I am really looking forward to putting time and energy into building more relationships with people here. God is awesome.

Posted in: friends, ministry on Friday, May 18, 2007 at at 8:32 PM 0 comments    

I have really felt God drawing me more and more to the youth here. And it's crazy, 'cause I know it's not my own power creating this in me. The kids are great, and I've been wanting to get to know them better, and God is creating those opportunities. Tonight at Jr. High Youth Group I got to talk to a couple girls who I really haven't had a good conversation with before. One was her second time to come, and she was very sweet and stuck close by me even though she came with a friend. Then the other is a regular attender, and I've been in her group when we split up, but we haven't had a time when we've just talked. We played Ultimate Frisbee tonight and she was awesome at it, so after the bible study I told her how good she is and she just started talking to me about all sorts of stuff that she likes for about 15 minutes or so. I thought that was pretty cool with how eager she was to just sit and chat.

My eyes are becoming more and more open to the fact that a lot of these students that come have hard lives. Everything isn't all put together, things are difficult for them. It breaks my heart to find things out, but at the same time, I'm glad to know because then God can use me in ways I didn't know.

It is really starting to feel like home around here. Oh! And we've been having our weekly get togethers with Amanda and Connor M. and Amanda and Mark E. So that has just been wonderful. It's nice to have people our age to hang out with every week. Pray for Amanda M. She has an interview tomorrow for a landlord position. It would be so wonderful for her to get this job. She just found out today that they want to interview her, so I get to watch Davis, Tricia and Bria tomorrow from 1:30-3:30 or so. Tim's parents and little brother and sister will be here at that time, but these kids are so easy to take care of. I'm looking forward to it! :)

Posted in: friends, ministry on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 at at 10:22 PM 1 comments    

Connor, Davis, Amanda, Tim, Dana, Amanda, Mark

I turned 24 today! Woohoo! I had a good birthday. Parts of it were hard, such as being homesick for being away from my family...but Tim was great. He even decorated the house for me! We have streamers and balloons all over our living room and I even had a crown to wear. :)

I also got a few calls from people in the church with birthday wishes, and talking to family was great. I also got non-stop text messages from facebook with all my birthday wishes from people on there. My phone's battery died early tonight with all the excitement, so I need to plug it in. :)

We had Amanda and Connor and Davis and Bria over and Amanda and Mark over for dinner. We had Papa John's pizza and DQ ice cream cake...which we have a lot left over of. It was great, just sweet....and I like ice cream, but I don't eat it much. :)

Then all of us played Mad Gab; boys against girls...and the girls did an overwhelmingly great job at it. Then we played Taboo and the boys were harder competition.

I have really enjoyed this whole birthday weekend. It was nice getting to hang out with Tim's siblings, and our new friends here in town.

Now I'm exhausted and ready to go to sleep.

Thursday and Friday I am substitute teaching for a 1st grade teacher. I'm really excited. I've been getting more calls from the district lately. Praise the Lord!



Davis helping me blow out my candles.
Connor taught us a new way of cleaning our socks...
Or just a fun way to play with fire. :)

Posted in: birthday, family, friends, marriage on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at at 9:36 PM 2 comments    

I had a great day yesterday! It finally got warm enough up here for the ice on our lake to completely melt. The day before we still had quite a bit of ice on it, but not anymore!
I went over to Amanda and Connor's house to visit for a little while. Then at 2 I went over to another lady in the church, Robin's house. It was fun visiting with her. Her family moved up here from Kansas in August. So they are pretty new to the area too. I love meeting people from down South too. I just feel an instant connection with them 'cause we can relate to all the changes and things you have to get use to of the Northern culture. The main thing is getting use to taking your shoes off when you go into someone's house. Definitely something we're not use to. :)

Then last night Tim and I had Amanda and Mark over for dinner and watched "RV" with Robin Williams in it. Grace (Tim's sister) had mentioned many times that it's a good movie, so I had been wanting to watch it for a while. It was very funny, I think we laughed through the whole movie.

We also watched American Idol, which I was very pleased with. And I'm actually listening to country music right now 'cause it got me missing it. Phil Stacey was amazing last night. Country music is his nitch and he did a GREAT job! I was so excited for him that I voted for him for the first time. Awesome job Phil! I thought Lakisha totally bombed her performance. She picked a song that meant something to her, and I love the song "Jesus Take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood, but it wasn't a song for Lakisha's voice. Jordin Sparks did well as always. And Melinda Doolittle was just my favorite as always. And I think she just looked gorgeous last night! I loved her outfit and how her hair was done. I think last night was her best performance overall. So of course I voted for Melinda also. :)

I wasn't impressed with any of the other singers. I thought Blake did okay. I was glad that the judges finally pointed out Chris' nasally singing. It gets on my nerves every time I listen to him. I just can't handle it. I'll be okay if he is voted off tonight.

I was mainly excited 'cause Melinda did awesome as always and Phil did an incredible job! I really like his personality, I think he is a really sweet guy and humble and just likes to have fun, so it was great to see him in his element.

Posted in: american idol, friends, melinda doolittle, phil stacey on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at at 9:20 AM 1 comments    

Easter Sunday was wonderful. It's nice to enjoy all the firsts with being married. God has blessed Tim and I with such a wonderful church family. The youth put on an Easter breakfast to raise money for our 2008 mission trip to Belize. There was a good amount of people that came to help support the youth. The youth worked so hard at making the breakfast possible, and there were lots of great adult helpers and parents that contributed also.

David and Adrienne were able to come up and spend Easter with us also. We all went and had lunch at the home of a family in our church who invited us over. Being with friends and family that you love makes holidays even more special, so I am so grateful for that opportunity. This was my first year to be away from my parents and sister for Easter, so it was very nice to have plans. I still get homesick, but not as bad now.

The other day Amanda and Connor came over. They have been cleaning things out of their house and had a couple things that Tim and I are so happy to have from them. They continue to make us feel welcomed and blessed. Then tonight Tim and I had dinner at another couple's home, Amanda and Mark. They're another young couple our age that we met last week. We're slowly getting to know people our age. It'll come as time passes while we're here. I'm still adjusting to things, so I'm okay with taking things slow. :)

I still don't have a job. I had to redo my fingerprints for my certification, so I got that done tonight after dinner. Now I'll mail them in tomorrow and pray that these are good for them to keep. I had an interview Saturday to be a photographer's assistant. I was pretty excited about it 'cause I love photography and thought it'd be a good opportunity to learn more about it, but I would have been working a lot one and one with the photographer who is a man. He is looking for a female assistant to be around when he's doing wedding photos and girl's photos, but that would also require other times when it would just be the two of us. Tim holds the standard of never being alone with a female who isn't me or family, and I really appreciate that and admire that of him. With that, I need to hold myself to the same standard. I'm a little bummed to turn down a photography position, but I know God will have the perfect job for me. I did enjoy meeting the photographer's wife. She was really sweet, and they were both complimentary about my portfolio cd of some of my favorite pictures. She had just had surgery on one of her legs last Saturday. I've been praying for her recovery. We talked a little bit, and like most people it's hard to just lay around and rest when there are things to be done. Although the job wont work out, it was fun to meet new people.

Posted in: Easter, family, friends, marriage, photography on Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at at 9:35 PM 0 comments    

For the weekend Katelin and I went back to Dallas so I wasn't away from Tim for more than three days, and Brianne came up to visit also. I had a wonderful time getting to hang out with my two favorite girls. Friday night was pretty relaxing just catching up on life. Saturday we slept in, went shopping and ate out at Cheddars. Then Sunday was Church and us girls hanging out while Tim was busy at the church. I introduced facebook to Brianne and Katelin unlocked everything on Crash Nitro Kart. Sunday evening the four of us played Taboo and Apples to Apples. Come to find out, my competitiveness that I inherited from my dad's side can get pretty annoying to others during Taboo. :)

To add to the excitement of the weekend the weather men were forecasting horrible winter weather for the DFW area, of which we didn't get any, but people still freaked out and stormed the grocery stores because we had rain and the temperatures were in the 30s. Tim and I had fun laughing about that with our move to Minnesota around the corner.

I think I'm unconsciously putting aside the thought that Tim and I are actually moving. I've moved all over Texas while growing up, but I still am not a fan of it. It hit reality a little more tonight when I spent some extra time with Katelin before she went to bed to say good bye since we'll only get a little bit of time with each other before she goes to school in the morning.

I've got mixed emotions of happy, excited, sad and scared all at once about our move, but I guess that's normal. God will bring me through it, and I know he will take care of all my loved ones here in Texas.

Posted in: family, friends on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at at 8:44 PM 0 comments