House Update

I have had several requests for updated home photos. I am sorry it has taken so long. We don't have a camera so we have to borrow. That is trickier than we thought it would be.

The front of our house. The shutters on that front window will be painted a deep red.

The south side of our house.

The North side of our house.

The east side of our house (the back).

A look at our front porch. The door will be painted a deep red.

Our front porch light. Just installed today :)

This is our doorbell! I rang it for the first time today!

Our front door and entry way.The window and light above our entry way. I love this part :)

The left of our kitchen/dining from the living room. That is an island in the center.

The right of our kitchen/dining room from the living. Our table will go in that big, empty space.

A close up on the left side. Look at all those cabinets! And that door is a pantry.

Closer view. The fridge will go in that big empty space (the didn't have any in stock for us).

A close up of the island. That is the dishwasher to the right of the sink.

My living room from the kitchen. The door on the left is our master bedroom.

A look at all the pretty windows in our living room. They are east facing. So, the hot sun will not be in our living room all day! A close-up of the fireplace. It is gas and wood burning. Laundry room. That is a sink in the right corner.

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom. The door closest to the tub is our closet. The open door is the private toilet. There is another door for the linen closet and I am just realizing that I did not take a picture of the shower.

Vanity in master bathroom. That is two sinks and plenty of drawers. :)
My bathtub. Jake says this is the only reason I wanted to build this house. :)

Private toilet in master bath.
Linen clost in the master bath.

The LEFT side of the master closet. (There is more on the left of this picture that I couldn't fit in.)

The RIGHT side of the master closet.

Other bathroom for guests and way future children.

Bed Room #1. This will be our office for awhile until we need a 3rd bedroom.
Bedroom #1 closet

Bed Room #2. We will just close this one up until we need a second bedroom :)

(A couple of years still!)

Bed room #2 closet
Garage: Standard two car garage.

That's all folks!

Wow!

Man, it has been a long time since I actually updated everyone. What have I been up to?

Teaching is going fantastically! Well, most days anyway. Yesterday was a bad day. I had a little girl just have a complete melt down. The other teacher had to take her for awhile just to give me a break. But she had a good day today. I have most of my routine and procedures in place, it is just figuring out what to teach and how. Then what to assess and how. I have learned that it is very easy to just let them play without really helping them learn. I have had to stop myself a few times and remember to put their best interest at heart. I have also learned that this job is not always rewarding but when the thank yous and hugs come, it is all worth it. And, I love to see them trying their hardest and engaged in a learning task.

I joined a bible study last week. It is called Bible Study Foundations (BSF). This is an international, nondenominational group with bible studies in 30 countries, including China, Japan and Uganda. It is a very in depth study. All the groups in the world are all studying the chapter of John this school year. I think it is going to challenge me and I am excited about that!

My house looks like a house! I need to take another picture for you guys. The outside is almost finished. I have walls, plumbing and a fireplace. The further it goes, the more excited I get. I can't wait to move in and make it my own!

I got to go to an OSU game last weekend with my mom. I used to go all the time with old friends of mine. It was nice to be back there. I forgot how much fun it is to be a part of a crowd and cheering for the same goal. It was not fun that it rained and we lost, but still it was a great experience! Not to mention, it was great to spend the day with my mom. I was surprised at how much she knows about football.

That's about all I have to say. I will try to update sooner next time. :)

HELP FUND MY CLASSROOM!

YOU SIP AND KIDS LEARN!

Here's the deal! You go to Sonic and buy any size drink, anytime of the day (even happy hour). Enjoy your drink and then take the code from the cup and click the above link to vote for my classroom project. If I get enough votes, Sonic will fund my classroom project. And if you are feeling EXTRA generous, you can help fund my classroom by donating a few dollars of your own.
So, go enjoy a Sonic drink! You know you want to!

I am a REAL Teacher!

So, my first day with my kids was on Monday. The day went much better than I thought it would. I only had 2 criers! It was much harder to get them to sit and listen than I thought it would be. I also blanked several times throughout the day and would completely forget to do certain activities or not explain something well. It is definitely a learning process. I am still trying to get my classroom in a working order that works for my students, assistant and me.

I have already fallen in love with my kids! I have a few handfuls. C likes to think the schedule should go as she wants it. She will cry and pout if she can't have a turn on the computer or it isn't her day to be the leader. D is something else. I am pretty sure he has ADHD. He won't sit still for more than 1.5 minutes. No joke! And I am not trying to making them sit for long or anything crazy like that. I just want him to listen to one picture book or sit long enough to finish his snack! He definitely keeps me on my toes. S is a special little girl. She had brain trauma as a baby and is definitely behind. She is such a sweet heart though. This week has been a lot of playing games, singing songs and doing free centers (blocks, pretend center, puzzles, etc.) We will start with the heavy stuff next week. Hopefully we will have procedures down a lot better by then.

I never really realized just how hard this job is. Especially when you are just trying to get them to walk in a line! How in the world do you teach that? I just thought everyone was born knowing it. LOL. Oh the fun I am having. I am enjoying it and if it stays this crazy, I will lose some weight. I haven't had time to finish my meal all week.

In other news: I went to a Hillsong concert last night with Sierra. Jake knew we wanted to go and entered to win us tickets on Air 1 (a national Christian radio station). And he won! That was a major blessing. We wanted to go but the tickets were $45. We had such a great time. I was fantastic to be in a room of believers all singing to Dad! I enjoyed just watching the raised hands and people praising with all their hearts! Not to mention how great it felt to be in true worship again. It is hard for me to feel that in my Sunday services here. Sierra and I talked about how we didn't realize how great the BCM worship was until we didn't have it anymore. We were "lost in worship" as Sierra put it.

Sorry it took me so long to update. My life seems so crazy these days. To close here are a few pics of my kids

Lies!

So, in my quest to have a relationship with Dad again, The Enemy is at his usual antics. In the back of my head I can hear things like:

• This is only going to last a few weeks and then you will quit again, so why even try?
• You haven't even done the right thing to get back to Dad yet anyway. So why are you wasting your time?
• But that other book you are reading is so much more interesting.
• Going to sleep instead of reading the Word would make you feel better.
• Is learning about Him really going to help you?

Now, I know all of the answers and replies to these things. I know that they aren't true and they are silly tries to bring me down. But I just wish they would go away. My thoughts are that they are proof of how childlike my relationship is at this point. I think that as I continue you in that those will go away. Of course, then his attempts might get worse. But Dad won't give me any more than I can handle!

Trying to Get Back

First, let me show you some pictures of how our house building is going...

I took these yesterday. It looks like they are about to pour the foundation. Here is the front.

Here it is close up. I can only tell you a little about what is going on. The wood is the frame for the concrete. The white you see is a tarp that is covering lots of dirt. The black lines that make a grid are cables that help make sure the foundation is good and sturdy. And the black things standing up are the pipes for plumbing and electrical.

This is our backyard. It dips off into a creek.

Last week we went and picked out things for our home. We picked out: carpet color, stained concrete color, the brick (black and reds), the siding color (a light yellow), the front door color (red), cabinets style and color, and indoor paint and trim. All we have left is lighting and appliances. Picking out things for a house is very tricky. You have to pick it out so fast and you are hoping the whole time that it all goes together. I never realized how many choices there are in building a home! I can't wait to see it all done.

The school year is fast approaching. I only have one week left of daycamp and then I have a week free until I have to report to the school. I will spend that free week, working on my classroom and getting as much done as I can to make it look nice, organized and functional. I am getting nervous and excited all at once. We have our first faculty meeting tomorrow from 9-2pm. It will be nice to see everyone again and plan for the year. I hope I am a good pre-k teacher!

Ok, down to business. Since, I have graduated and left the BCM and supportive Bob and Deb behind, I have been finding myself drifting from God. Not in any horrible way, I was still going to church and making the major decisions that I should. But not the little decisions, like truly trying to learn from the service and our Sunday school lessons, or spending time with him daily, or showing His love to others in as many ways as possible. (Ok, so those are horrible things to miss.) I was in what you call a 'rut'. It was starting to show in my attitude and in my marriage. Again, not in any major way, just little things. I have been quick to think of myself first, be snappy towards him, and just not feel so close to my husband. Before we got married, I never realized how much my relationship with God would reflect in my marriage. Our marriage is at its best when we are putting God first. I have known for awhile that I needed to get back on my feet but I was waiting. Waiting for what you ask? I dunno, some major break down or sign from God, some major problem in my life to bring me spiraling back to him, some great speaker or song that snaps me back in place. But after some prodding from God and watching my best friend get back on her feet, I realized that all I was waiting on was myself. I needed to make a decision to live for God on a daily basis because I want to and for no other reason. As I type this, I realize how simple that all is. Why did it take me so long?

So, in short, please pray that I will begin to live for God as an adult married woman, not some college girl with people to make sure she is doing her quiet times.

Jaclyn: I hope you enjoy your time with him. :)

Darla: I am glad you are settling in well. I hope you figure out the bus systems soon. You are so brave for traveling in a foreign place like that.

Wicked

Wicked was amazing! We had great seats, 10 rows from the stage. It felt like we were right there with them. It had great music and was just funny! 

I got all dolled up, after Jake questioned why it was taking so long, then we went downtown to eat. We ate at a little mexican restaurant, El Guapos, it was very tasty. Then headed to the show. I was worried that Jake wouldn't like it. But he thought it was "brilliant." I think this was a good show to introduce him to musicals. Hopefully, he will take me to more of them! We also ran into Cody and Breanna there. They also enjoyed it. 

I have spent the week at a workshop called Great Expectations. It's for teachers. It was good, a little boring at times, but good information to know.