Oh Pinterest!

To all my friends out there who kept peer pressuring me, I finally broke down and got one... I finally gave in and got a Pinterest account -- WOOHOO!!  Honestly before I got it I had no idea what all the hype was about (the only thing I knew was that multiple people were telling me that I needed one and that I would love it and that they just couldn't stop pinning).  Well, to say the least, I am IN LOVE!  More like addicted and cannot stop pinning pictures myself... it is a very bad habit.  I just got my account last night, and it consumed most of my night -- Reagan was very confused as to what I was doing, until I showed him the yummy recipes I had found and then he was totally ok with it ;)  So to say the least, get an account and start PINNING!  It is definitely a must and there are some awesome things on there that you pretty much can't live without!  So enjoy yourself and start pinning pictures that you love because it will definitely make you smile... I sure did :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday! But seriously, get a Pinterest account now-- you will thank me later!

"I like things that make me smile in life... it makes the day so much better!"

Tired

Today was a loooong Monday.  One that never seemed like it was going to end!  I was so tired all day (but this may also be due to the fact that I was up a lot with my tummy last night-- we were definitely not friends to say the least).  So, my eyes were definitely droopy today and I did not feel rested at all.  I am counting down the hours to bedtime and don't know if I have much energy to do anything this afternoon... I was planning on going to the gym this afternoon but that is definitely out of the question-- with how tired I am I would probably fall right off the treadmill!  I promise I will make it to the gym tomorrow afternoon as long as tomorrow is a decent day and I have enough energy -- these little kids are taking it all out of me!

This weekend was one that was a little busier than expected.  We had dinner on Friday night (last minute) with our friends Eric and Shavaun since neither of us could get motivated to cook.  It was so nice to have dinner with them and chat and the night got even better once we got FROYO!  Saturday, Reagan started his online Greek class for seminary, so that consumed most of his day.  We did make it to the gym to work out and I got groceries for the week and some house chores done.. woohoo -- Saturday's are not as eventful as they once used to be before we got married... TOO MANY ReSpOnSiBiLiTiEs!!! Sunday, we visited another church and really liked it but came when the lead pastor was out of town-- so we will definitely be going back to hear him speak.  After church we had lunch with Reagan's family and then back home to study... yes study-- Reagan had more Greek homework and I had chapters to study for my certification test.. yuck!  For dinner we went to my parents and had yummy bar-b-q... Reagan was one happy man!  Then it was back home to get ready for the week.  Having a job is a lot of work and is definitely tiring!  I am looking forward to this weekend since it is a three day weekend... YAY for Labor Day!

I hope everyone had a Marvelous Monday!

"God thank you for walking through today with me... I needed the extra encouragement You provided me with!"

First Week Complete!

The First Week of School is complete!!! WOOHOO! Some of us thought it may never get here but it finally did!  Even though it was a long and crazy first week I enjoyed every bit of it!  I am enjoying getting to know my co-workers more and more and learning each of the kids personalities!  I am loving working alongside Laura and could not be happier for all she has to teach me this year.  One thing I learned this first week is that I love being in the school... it just feels like me when I walk down the halls or work with the kids in the classroom -- so please everyone continue to pray for me as I study to take my certification test and also pray specifically that I pass it the first time! Thanks for the prayers in advance :) I think the hardest part of this week was teaching our little kiddos about routine... I know eventually they will all get it and it will make perfect sense (one day hopefully) but it was so awesome to see that by the end of the week some of them knew exactly what the morning and afternoon routine was... made my heart so happy!  Before work today we had a birthday celebration lunch for two ladies on our pre-k team.. I loved just getting to sit and chat with them-- I am definitely blessed to be able to work alongside these awesome ladies!  Other than getting used to being exhausted by the end of the day (kids have a lot of energy) it was an incredible week!  I hope everyone had a fabulous Friday!  Enjoy your time away from work this weekend and love on your family... I know I sure will!!!

"Lord, thank you for walking with me through this week; I definitely could not have done it without Your strength and provision.  Help me to continue to give You the praise through all things You do through me this year!  Thank you for Your love and guidance."

Happy Hump Day!

Wow, it seems later in the week than just Wednesday!  I am having a blast with the kids and learning all about their little personalities (some have very big personalities in a little body... haha!!).  These Pre-k kiddos are definitely full of energy and are wearing me out... by the end of the day I would love to just crawl into bed and go to sleep!!  I know once the first week is over and we are in a better routine it will all get easier and hopefully I will not be as tired... here is to wishful thinking!  I am definitely learning a lot and loving the teacher I am getting to work with-- it is truly a blessing to see how she interacts with the kids; she is amazing -- absolutely love learning from her!  Well tomorrow is a new day and we get to wear a shirt that represents our summer, I will definitely be representing TCU and that chapter of life I finished in May... I definitely miss college (being a grown up is hard, but I definitely don't miss all the school work that comes with being a student!)  I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

"Never forget to smile, because life is too short not to smile!"

First Day of School

Today was a great first day of school!  Everything went just like it was planned to go... at least in our classroom!  Surprisingly none of our pre-k children cried when their parents left... we were all shocked to say the least!  The day went by so quickly; I felt like I blinked and it was time for the kids to go home!  We have a great bunch of kids who seem eager to make new friends and learn new things.  In just one day, I learned so many great teacher tricks... I cannot wait for all the others I will learn!  Even though the day went by so quickly, I am tired but feeling so blessed with the job God has provided me with.  All in all, I could not be more happier and I think this year of experience is going to make my future journeys that much better!  I work with a great team of teachers who have such a passion for teaching and instilling important lessons into my life!  So, here is to a great year with the kids and me learning as much as my brain can put away!  I hope everyone had a great first day of school and is excited to go back tomorrow!

Ps: please keep praying for me as I am studying to take the EC-6 test!  I know God is going to give me everything I need to pass this test the first time I take it.  So please keep praying and I will update you as soon as I take the test! (I just wish there wasn't so much material to study for it!!)

"Thank you Lord for the new beginnings you have given me today.  Help me to be grateful for each day of this new chapter whether it be good or bad.  I am overcome with joy for the blessing you have given me in being able to work alongside such amazing teachers and serve such amazing kids.  You are so faithful Lord."

The Help.

My life became complete today (ok nothing as special as getting married or anything like that)... BUT, I finally got to see the movie, The Help with a dear friend of mine, Shavaun.  We (Reagan and I) had lunch with Eric and Shavaun today after church and we had planned on going to a movie we could all see but the husbands had a different plan.  We went on a girl date movie and the guys got an action packed movie.  Shavaun and I were completely fine with seeing our girlie movie without them... we had heard awesome reviews from other women so we couldn't wait to rate the movie for ourselves!  Shout out to Eric and Shavaun... thank you so much for opening our eyes to a delicious new sandwich shop, spending the day with us and just hanging out with us.  It was great to have not only couples time but guys and girls time. Love y'all both to the moon and back!

Let me just start off by saying, I will be buying this movie when it comes out on DVD.  It was such an incredible movie and it did the book great justice.  If you have not read the book, I highly recommend it... you will laugh and cry throughout the whole book.  I did not cry in the movie today but there were several places I got choked up (I was surprised I held my tears in.... I usually can't, but I think I was just so focused on the movie that my eyes never left the screen and I was too focused to be crying.. LOL!).  Though, I will say there were tons of women crying and laughing so loud in the theatre, and there were also older men who were also enjoying every bit of the movie... we had an older man sitting behind us and he cried through several parts of the movie -- we think it brought back old memories for him, which was super touching for me.

When the movie was done, I heard an older couple say out loud "Wow, they did an incredible job of portraying how life was back then."  It just made me stop and think and really re-evaluate how others should be treated, and it broke my heart to think that people back then were treated so wrongly because of the color of their skin.  Race nor color should matter how we treat others, and it definitely does not matter in God's eyes... so I think we could all work on being less judgmental to those who are not like "us." It makes me think of the song I used to sing in Sunday school... "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are all precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."  With this song in mind, I want to work on being even better at loving people like Jesus loves.  It is so easy to get caught up in the world, and make judgements and stereotype people based on what society thinks.  There is NOTHING that makes us better than anybody else... God loves us all the same.  This movie really helped me remember these key things today... that I need to show compassion to all and LOVE like Jesus loves-- if we all stopped and did this more often the world would be such a better place and people would truly see what it means to be a Christian... Just food for thought since my mind is going crazy with thoughts tonight!

So with all that said, that is what I took away from the movie today, and the book even hit me harder-- it all really touched my heart and made me re-evaluate things. I love books and movies that stop and make you think.  Seriously though, Read the book and watch the movie and then read the book again and watch the movie yet again.... it is just that good!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! School starts tomorrow! I am off to bed so I can be ready for those sweet little ones tomorrow! Hope everyone has a fabulous Monday :)

Mark 10:14 -- "Let the children come to me, Don't stop them!  For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Thankful for today

Wow what a whirlwind today has been. I am just getting an opportunity to collect my thoughts from today. Let me just start off by saying that my first day of work was fabulous and I am in love with the people I get to work with... they had me laughing all day long! It was so great to be at my school working with other people who truly care about kids... Seriously I was overcome with so much emotion today-- pure joy and gratefulness. There were times today were I just sat there taking it all in because it just didn't seem real that I get to work with such amazing people.  Today, I got to work alongside with the teachers I will be working with all year and I already learned just so much from them in just one day... we have a great year ahead of us!!

Today was busy with getting stuff ready to meet the students tonight. We had so many last minute things to get in order and praise the Lord it all got done! I got to do my first bulletin board (all by myself) today for our room... Let me tell you what-- my creative juices were flowing and I think it turned out absolutely fantastic! Our theme was monkeys and let me tell you what, people were going bananas over that bulletin board... Haha!!! I would have loved to take a pic of my beautiful work but it had our students names on it, so that's a BIG NO.NO... So seriously just take my word, it was great and I was so proud of my hard work!

I think we are going to have a great group of kids this year... Little pre-k kiddos in a big brand new elementary school.. What could be better?! When we met them all tonight, their eyes were so big... There were so many toys to see and people for them to meet, you could tell it was all just too much for them to take in!! I will be the first to admit, new beginnings take a while to get adjust to, but by the end of the year I know we won't want to let any of these kids move on! Though today I fell in love with so many of the students I got a chance to meet-- they were absolutely melt your heart precious!! There were so many that I just wanted to give big bear hugs to or pinch their cute little cheeks... They were that stinkin' cute! I cannot wait to see what God has in-store for this year... I know I have so much to learn -- not only from the other teachers but these kids. If you can't tell I am a little excited. A little overwhelmed. But extremely grateful.

Oh also... Please be praying for me.. I am studying (every free moment of my time) to take my certification tests.. So many prayers needed. I would like to pass them all the first time around! Much love and thank you for your prayers in advance!!

"God, You are so good to me and Your plans for my life amaze me. Help me to continually give You the praise for the great things You are doing in my life!"

Stuck.

Ok all you people out there who love to exercise.... I am in need of help... I am stuck in a rut... I am bored with my exercise routine.  With school about to start back and wanting to make time for the gym once the kiddos leave, I need new ideas while working out!  I am still going at least 3 to 4 times a week but I am just so bored with the routine I have going.  I need some new weight lifting tips, cardio advice.... pretty much anything that will make me excited to go to the gym and will show me results (I am seeing results now... well kinda, it's just going slower than I would like).  So, flood my comment box with ideas or videos you love or whatever you do in the gym that makes you want to go back for more and push yourself harder!

Happy Hump Day everyone!

"Live a life you love to live!"

Loooooong Weekend.

This weekend has been non-stop busy.  So busy that I think I need another weekend just to rest... thank goodness I have a couple more days before I have to be up at the school! Wow.. school starts for the kids next Monday-- my how the summer flew.  We had a ton of big changes happen this summer, which seemed to make the summer go by even faster-- I need more time!!

So I bet you are all wondering how are weekend could have been so long and busy?!  Let me begin with Friday.... the first official day of our weekend. 

So on Friday, Reagan and I had to make a quick trip down to Corpus Christi to see my grandma
(Mee-Maw as us grand-kids call her) and take care of some business she needed me to do.  So we thought we would make it a trip and go see her.  It was great to see her and take her to dinner and wonderful that I got everything taken care of that she needed me to.  On the flip side, it was sad to leave her.  She is getting so old and her health is not well and she lives all alone and it just makes me super sad.  I wanted to pick her up in my arms (yes she is that light) and put her in my car and take her back home with us.  We had planned on staying the night with her but realized we had so many errands to run on Saturday that we had put off all week that we needed to head back Friday night late... we ended up getting home around midnight (a super short trip made for a lot of Driving on Friday).

On Saturday, we had a bazillion errands to run.  I needed to get my car inspected, we needed to go to the grocery store (our fridge was way too empty), then to the gym we went to work out and then we finished Saturday night with a birthday celebration for our friend Eric.  By the time we needed to go to the party we were ready to go to bed because we had not stopped since we woke up that morning.  But, we are glad we went... It was great to see our couple friends that we have known for some time and catch up with them!

On Sunday, we got up and got dressed for church.  I was very resistant about trying another church that Reagan had picked this morning.  Surprisingly, it turned out really well and we knew some couples that attend the church.  So the church looks promising and we will definitely be going back to check it out some more!  After church, we headed to Reagan's Nana's house for a birthday lunch for his step-mom and aunt.  Once lunch was done then we headed to Reagan's other grandparents house to help Jon load some sofas so that he could get all packed up to go back to college station.  Once the couches were loaded than we went to Reagan's parents house to finish helping Jon load everything (I was more of a supervisor than a mover... let's be honest.... I stayed inside with Julie and talked... it is just way too HOT outside to be moving)!!!  Once this task was complete (after several hours) we were finally able to come home since Reagan smelt horrible and needed a shower.  You would think our day would be done now and we would be plastered to the couch... oh no, we are headed to my parents for a yummy grill out.  Even though we are tired, we are loving all this time we are getting to spend with friends and family!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever!"

Getting Excited!

Being up at the school and helping my teacher get her decorations and bulletin boards up makes me excited for the school year to begin so I can meet all the kids!  Honestly, education was my calling.... I get so excited about school supplies, decorating bulletin boards so cutesy, and meeting all the kids it is ridiculous.  I had the teacher I will be working with rolling with laughter today because I am so giddy about meeting the kids and making the room super cute for them.  Let me just tell you, I am extremely grateful to God for this opportunity to get my foot in the door with such an amazing education system here in San Antonio and could not be more excited to work with such an amazing elementary school and an incredible group of teachers.  Sometimes lately, I have to pinch myself because it is all so real, and I have high hopes that because of this year and all that I will learn from others that I hope one day in the future I will have a classroom of my own that I can love on those sweet kiddos and teach them all I have learned and more from this year. Wow!! I cannot even begin to truly express how grateful I am and how full my heart is with just pure excitement and love for the passion I have for working with kids and the incredible teachers I will get to work alongside this year.

I hope everyone has an incredible night... I am off to relax with the hubby!

"Lord, thank you so much for answering my prayers and providing me with a job that fulfills my passion to work with kids.  I feel so blessed for the opportunity you have given me, and I pray that each day of this year I love on these kids like you love on me everyday God.  Thank you for the provision you have over my life; not my will but Yours oh God."

Busy as can be

These past couple of weeks have been super busy. I feel like there is not enough time in a day to do everything I would like to do. Reagan has been busy with work and traveling; he is loving his job, learning a lot, and absolutely enjoys the people he works with! He has had some great sales and I am so proud of him for working so hard and learning so quickly-- he is a natural born businessman... No wonder he loved his major so much!
I on the other hand have been keeping the house in order and getting ready for the school year to start. I bet you are all wondering... School?? Didn't she just graduate??? Yes I did just graduate and no I am not getting my masters! I am going to be working as a teaching assistant for a brand new elementary school. I am so excited for this year and the learning experience it will be. Also, I am studying and getting prepared to take certification tests to be able to teach the following year! I love the teacher I will be working with this year and feel like she has so much to teach me and I have so much to learn! So God has definitely answered prayers in providing me with this opportunity and Reagan having an incredible job... We are feeling very blessed!

On top of the crazy busy schedule of life, we had our first townhome visitors this weekend. Our friends Jace and Karlie came to stay with us for the weekend. It was great to have our
couple friends come and visit with us and be able to spend time with them. The trip was short, but we got a lot in for the little time they were here! Can't wait to see them again!!

So after these past couple of weeks that have been so busy, we are ready for things to slow down a bit so that we can enjoy each other before work starts up for me!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Monday!

"thank you Lord for the incredible new beginnings you have given us; may we embrace each step of the journey to the fullest."