5 on Friday

This week my husband and I have seriously enjoyed some good television. It is so nice to come home after a long day at work and relax with my man while we watch are shows. This Fall there are 5 shows that I just LOVE!

1. Blacklist

It is new and it is oh so good! I am so ready for next week!

 

2. Sleepy Hollow

This is also new, and it also comes on tv on Monday nights. Mondays are just about the best television day. I love all of the mystery in this show!

 

 

3. How I Met Your Mother

I am very sad that this is the last season of HIMYM. My husband and I have watched this show together since the beginning. I will be sad when it is over. For now it brings laughter to our Monday night line-up. I so love this show and all the great characters.

 

4. The Big Bang Theory

This show brings tons of laughter into our home. I love watching this with my hubby on Thursday nights. I can't wait to see what will happen next week.

 

5. On Sundays we have several shows we watch. While I am so ready for Walking Dead to return, my absolute favorite Sunday night show is Revenge. Every week it gets better and better!

 

 

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful October weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

Five on Friday

This has been a great week! Sure I have had this annoying cough and hadn't had much sleep BUT I seriously have so much to be happy about!

1. I love that I started teaching two year olds at a pre-school that is 10 minutes from my house. My little ones are so smart and so precious! I am so blessed to be their teacher! I am already looking forward to Monday! I just love those kids!

2. I am still so happy that Alabama beat Texas A & M last Saturday! It was such an intense game! Roll Tide!

3. I am also so happy I was able to spend some time with my sweet friend Brynden. I hate that we live 2 hours apart from each other, but I sure do LOVE to visit her!

4. I am also LOVING my new hair!

 

I can do it straight or curly! Either way it is super quick and easy!

 

 

 

5. And on this Friday I am still so happy about being a new Aunt! I love my little niece so much! I wish I could see her and hold her everyday! She is so beautiful!

 

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

 

 



Five on Friday

This is my first time ever posting a 5 on Friday! I am very excited!
For this first ever 5 on Friday, I have some especially wonderful things to be happy about!

1. My niece is finally here! I am a first time Aunt to Merci Grace! I love her so much! She is beautiful, and I am so proud of my sister. She is a wonderful mother. I am so ready to visit my niece again!

 

2. I am so thankful for my sweet husband! He works so hard for our family, and we are now discussing going back to school for our Masters! I am very excited about this new adventure with my wonderful husband!

 



3. I am so very happy about our new home! I just love coming home everyday after work!

4. One thing I love about having a new home is all the decorating. It is still a work in progress, but I am happy with everything so far. I look forward to making our new place feel more like home. One part I am so proud of is our new photo gallery!

 

 

5. Lastly I must share that I bought these cute shoes for only $10! I just love them!

 

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

 



 

New School Year

For two years now, the first day of the new school year has come with much excitement, anticipation, and a little nervousness. I wanted each new day to be better than the day before. I wanted my students to learn about reading, writing, and communication. I wanted to prepare them for adulthood. I wanted them to know they are important, and I care so much about them. Well Monday I will not be standing at my door ready to welcome my students. Even though I know God has a different plan for my life right now, I still miss my students so much. I want all of them to have an amazing school year, but more importantly I want them to begin to discover who they are and what their purposes in life are. I will always remember this group of young adults!

Monday will be the first day of the new school year! For some of you there are mixed feelings about this day. Some may be super excited [probably mainly to see friends ; ) ]Some of you may be bummed that summer is over. Then there are my precious graduates! For the first time in quite a long time, you will not be starting another year of high school. As for me, I am starting on a slightly different journey. While I am super excited about this new adventure, I will always fondly remember my Elba Tigers!

For those who will be starting another year of high school, remember you are worth more than gold, you will be successful with hard work AND determination, give respect even if you think someone may not deserve it ( you will reap blessings one day), life CAN be tough but you do NOT have to let it break you, you are strong ( some of the strongest teenagers I know), people are always watching so make wise decisions, when typing click SAVE often, it is good to speak your mind but even more valuable to learn how to listen, and know that I will always remember you, love you, and care about you!

For my graduates, you made it! This is what you wanted for so long. No more high school. I hope you are enjoying life. I hope that you are taking classes, working, or both. I hope you are making something of yourselves. You all have the potential to become amazing adults. I hope you are finding a way to contribute to others. There is nothing more enriching then serving others. As you can see, I have many hopes for ALL of you. Remember that you are sophisticated and you will be successful with hard work and determination, but it may not all happen on your time table. I hope you learned a little about patience in high school. We each have an amazing opportunity to live a life full of purpose. I pray you find your purpose. Don’t give up when life doesn’t go your way. Persevere! I am so proud of all of you! I will never forget you! Please stay in touch. I would love to know how your lives are going (the good, the bad, and the in between) Thank you for so many wonderful memories!

  

 

 

8 years

If you ask me, 8 years is a long time : ) On this day 8 years ago, Michael and I went on our first date! Yesterday he made one of my life long dreams come true! We went to Niagara Falls!! The trip was expensive with air planes, rental cars, those nasty toll booths, and all other things associated with travelling, but it was SO worth it. Michael has now taken me to Savannah Georgia and Niagara Falls! I am such a blessed and happy girl. In 8 years, he has worked so hard to always try to make me happy. It is crazy to think that about the time we will be celebrating 4 years of marriage, we will also be celebrating 10 years of being a couple!!! The Lord has been so good to us. I am very thankful for His provision and peace. While we did have the opportunity to go to Niagara Falls, the main reason for the trip was the wedding of our dear friends Tierney and Ryan. While at their wedding, I was reflecting on just how awesome these first 2 years of marriage have been for us. I love Michael so much and look forward to spending every day with him!

Our Love Story

I thought since our 2 year wedding anniversary is Tuesday I would blog about our love story! This just might be my most favorite post; I will try to keep it short : )

We met in 7th grade. I know, I know, we were super young! We were best friends all through high school, then we finally started dating our Senior Year! We had one of those he was dating someone when I was single and I was dating someone when he was single kind of things going on. It actually ended up working out for the best because when we finally did become more than just friends, I knew I could truly trust him. He had proven his loyalty time and time again during our friendship.

It wasn't until I ended up in the hospital after a bad car accident and the end of a relationship he was in that our love story could truly begin. God had brought us through so much and our paths finally crossed at just the right time. God's timing is everything. I had made it through a horrible wreck. I was an 18 year old kid, and I was legitimately worried I would never find the one for me. Now I look back at that time and realize how blessed I am that God brought Michael and I together when we were so young. I was reading Captivating, and 2 months later was actually not searching for a boyfriend. I wanted to be focused on my relationship with God and His plan for my life.

Well it's just like they say, as soon as I officially stopped looking Michael began pursuing me. Since we began dating at such a young age, we knew we had a long road ahead of us. We both wanted to go to college and get jobs before we were married. Was it hard watching friends get engaged and married before us? Absolutely! It was especially difficult when some of our friends were getting married after only dating for a year or two. While the emotional side of me wanted to marry Michael much earlier in our relationship, I knew God's timing would be best. I wanted His plan for our lives. It was also an early lesson in patience, which I am now quite thankful for. So we dated all of college. One week after graduation, he PROPOSED! That may have to be another post, because this one is getting kind of long. We were finally engaged! I was the happiest girl in the world! After 6 years of dating, we were wed on July 23, 2011. It was the most magical wonderful day ever! Michael was finally my husband, and I couldn't wait to start our lives together! We went to the Dominican Republic for 8 glorious days, and we couldn't have been happier to finally be married. I will have to write separate posts for proposal, wedding, and honeymoon! As our anniversary approaches, I realize I have so much to be thankful for. I am so proud of the man he is. He is a great husband, coach, teacher, son, and friend. He reminds me to stop, slow down, and enjoy life. He makes me smile. He is my rock, and he is still my best friend. Nothing melts my heart more than watching him play with the 3 year olds we teach on Sunday mornings : ) I know he will be a great daddy one day. Until then I am so grateful for our marriage and our wonderful life that God has given us. I look forward to many more years with my sweet husband.

Trying to be a Mary in a Martha World

From the first time I ever heard this Bible story (I was probably 5 maybe younger) I knew I was more like Martha. As I grew up, I didn't really see anything wrong with being like Martha. I knew that being more like Mary would be better, but my Type A personality was much geared towards Martha tendencies. Then the pressures of being a Martha became too much, and I spiraled out of control (but that is a story for another time). Now at 26 I fully realize and appreciate the beauty and value and importance of being a Mary. I truly want to be more of a Mary than a Martha, but it is difficult. It is especially difficult when I see friends, TV shows, family, and all sorts of ladies who seem to have it all together. They have a great house with beautiful decorations. They work, cook, clean, AND take care of children. While most of my friends don't have children, some do. With or without children, they appear to have such productive, organized, decorated, and well-managed lives. When I see this in the lives of friends and family, it makes me feel that I need to turn into a Martha and get busy making my home and life productive, organized, decorated, and well-managed. I can easily become distracted with cleaning, cooking, and projects just like Martha was the day Jesus came to visit. Well this week the Lord truly got my attention in His perfect way.

While last week was great getting things unpacked and organized around our new house, I knew that me finding a job was a higher priority. When the Lord granted me a wonderful opportunity for a new Job Wednesday, I gladly took it. I am so blessed for his provision. The only thing is that now I have less time to do all the stuff to make our new house feel more like our home. Since I worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I knew that today would be a day of work. Michael and I woke up and pretty much went straight to the garage to start working. While we had a wonderfully productive day of unpacking and organizing, when I took some time this evening to do my devotional these were the first two lines: SEEK MY FACE, and you will find all that you have longed for. The deepest yearnings of your heart are for intimacy with Me. WOW! Is that crazy or what? Then a few lines later I read this: Do not feel guilty about taking time to be still in My Presence. Again - Oh my goodness! Finally I read this: To follow me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your desire to please other people. I really thought at that moment that my devotional book was written just for me. The Lord knew that I needed to read those words today. He set everything into motion back in April when a good friend told me about this book. I was amazed. God is so incredible and SO patient with me. When I keep my focus on Him he will give me all the desires of my heart, but more importantly I must let go of trying to please/impress everyone around me. While some competition is healthy in certain areas of life, competition does not need to be the driving force for every aspect of life. I also realized if I stopped trying to be like others and please others, some of my "wants" would go away. I only want what God wants for my life. I want to spend more time simply enjoying God's presence instead of worrying about cooking, cleaning, and decorating all the time. Those things are good, but I want to seek God above all else. I am also so much more relaxed when I am being more like Mary. While it is not easy to be a Mary in a Martha world, the outcome of a Mary life will be much more of a blessing than one could ever humanly imagine. So with God's help, I want to work on being more like Mary and less like Martha. We must not be afraid to be different from other people. The path God has called you to travel is exquisitely right for you. The more closely you follow God's leading, the more fully He can develop your gifts. My God is so good to me. I am humbled by His love and patience with me every day.