Friday Five

1. One of my favorite childhood memories was "playing" guitar and singing with my dad. He would change chords and we would strum while we sang our Wee Sing song of choice. I may have teared up a little the other night when I found Matt and Avery doing the same thing.

2. I started planning our back-to-school children's ministry event today, and I'm so excited about it! We're doing a family night at the Mercy Me concert/Ranger game; what a great way to end the summer! (Even if it is with every other church group in North Texas. Seriously, it'll be packed.)

3. I read the first Harry Potter book for my adolescent lit class in college, and I enjoyed it, really I did. However, I've never been a fan of anything of the sci-fi or fantasy genre, so I had no desire to read the rest of the series. I tried to watch the movies (less time commitment and all), but I fell asleep during the first one and gave up. So I cannot for the life of me understand the big deal about seeing HP7.2 (or whatever it's called) at midnight and spending so much emotional energy obsessing over it. I mean, I get the attachment to an extent, but it seems to me that some people need to engage more real life rather than living their lives through a fictional character. Call me crazy or flame me all you want, but I just don't. get it.

4. I know it's a little early to be looking forward to it, but Matt and I are getting a much-needed date night on Monday (yay for summer break)! Avery's getting a sleepover at Grandma and Granddaddy's, so we're going to the drive in! My mom is taking Avery to the new Winnie the Pooh movie on Tuesday (while we take a carload of preteens to camp!), so the timing works out pretty perfectly. Now we just have to decide on which two movies to see (guess which one we won't be seeing, haha)...

Photo courtesy of Ask Miss A

5. I've thought it was Saturday all day, so now I feel like I have a bonus weekend! Tomorrow I'm going to my friend Kati's Shaklee party and then we have a Sunday School pool party that evening, and on Sunday we're having a little get together with our small group. Who knows what we'll do tonight, but happy weekend everybody!

Hometown Nazareth

Oh, VBS. I hate you. But I kinda love you, too.

I tend to try to steer away from tradition, especially when things are done simply because they've always been done. This also holds true in regards to children's ministry; I dreaded putting on Vacation Bible School because I feel like it's such a gimmick. My ideal summer children's outreach is to host a free soccer camp for community kids, sharing the Gospel through the best sport in the world. Since I knew I'd be having a baby this summer, I wasn't quite ready to reinvent the wheel, so I decided to stick with a traditional VBS.

But then I started looking at curriculum. Ugh. So many of them were so me-centered and completely obsessed with a theme that it was hard to pick the Gospel out of them. I didn't want the kids to come to VBS for a week and only remember that it was about a panda (*no offense to any churches who chose that curriculum); I wanted them to see a true picture of who God is. I was thrilled to find the Holy Land Adventure, which this year took us to Nazareth when Jesus was a kid. The whole week was totally God-focused, and I loved that the format wasn't so typical.

I like to do things on my own (or as Avery would say, "by my own self") because I'm such a perfectionist that delegation is not in my vocabulary. God kinda threw the whole dependence thing in my face though. Dependence on Him, utilizing others' gifts, etc. And I'm so glad He did because there is absolutely no way I could've pulled it off on my own.

It was a great week. God was glorified. I'm glad it's over. :) Here are some pictures, and the thank yous are at the end.

We had SO many volunteers during the week, but I'm especially thankful for:

• Adrienne, who was my right hand through the entire process. She doesn't even think she did anything, but she kept me sane through the planning while I bounced ideas off her. And during the week of VBS, she practically ran everything while I was hiding away nursing Landon in my office. And she was our resident photographer for the week!

• Jennifer, who planned, coordinated, and executed feeding 70+ volunteers every night. I didn't even have to think about food because I knew she had it all under control.

• Matt, who organized the band and led the Celebration time every night. I love his heart for worship and serving. 

• Mom, who took care of Landon while I ran around like a crazy woman and took Avery home to get her ready for bed while we were closing up shop each night.

• Kendra, who coordinated all the decorating with her brilliant theater mind and then played the part of Mary each night. 

• Sandra, who publicized the event so well and got the word out into the community (not that numbers really mean that much, but we had double the amount of kids this year from last year, and about half of them weren't from our church).
• Every tribe leader, kitchen crew member, tech team member, marketplace shopkeeper, Celebration team member, games helper, nursery worker, registration worker, and everyone else who played a part in making the week happen. I can't say thank you enough!

Bulletin boards, tacos, paint, and consignment sales.

This week has been such a nice turnaround from the past two. It's been absolutely gorgeous outside, and without any snow/ice days this week, we were finally able to get back in our little routine.

On Wednesday, we finally made it back to BSF. We hadn't been since the middle of January (thanks to Avery being sick and then two snow day sin a row), and I was scheduled to help with the children's program. I helped with the three year old class. What a fun age!

Avery went to her friend Pearson's house after her nap (thanks, Whitney!) so that I could go to a funeral for a sweet lady from our church. After the service, I picked up Avery and we took a little trip to Sprouts for some fruit and eggs. Um, does anybody else find it impossible to shop with a toddler? Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but the battle of sitting in the cart vs. "helping" push the cart is completely draining. I don't mind her walking in a store with me, but whether or not she stays with me is a gamble; some days she's really great at doing what she's supposed to, but other days she's running all over the place, meaning that she goes back in the cart (with a fight and lots of glares from fellow shoppers, of course). I guess right now I'm just trying to figure out which battles are worth picking and which are worth holding my ground on. Parenting is so much easier in theory.

Thursdays are Mother's Day Out days, so I work at the church while Avery is at "school." I finally updated a bulletin board that hadn't been touched since August. It had been on my to-do list for months, and after I finished it, I had no idea why I had put it off for so long. In the process of putting it all together, I downloaded over 700 super-cute fonts to my new church computer (if you're a font-lover like me, check out the free ones here and here), so now I can go crazy with formatting! I'm such a nerd! Anyway, here's the new board. I love simple, colorful designs!

After MDO, we played outside (have I mentioned how much I LOVE this weather?!?) until Matt got home. We had planned a family date night, so once Matt joined us, we headed to one of our favorite food places, Fuzzy's Taco Shop. They just opened one about 15 minutes from our house last week, and we went as soon as we could!

Then we went to Lowe's and Home Depot to get some paint chips so we could finally decide on colors for all of our painting projects. We're painting Avery's new (used) dresser/nightstand, Landon's room, the guest/kids bathroom, and our bathroom, so we have some decisions to make, and I'd really like to get stuff painted soon and just get it over with. Painting is not my favorite. :)

Not that we need the extra calories, but we caved and stopped at Dairy Queen on our way home. Um, I had no idea how much Avery loves ice cream. I'm pretty sure she ate half of my blizzard. In the car. In the dark. I was feeding it to her, but it was chocolate. Not a pretty sight when we got home.

This morning Avery and I went to a consignment sale that her MDO teacher told me about. It's called Rhea Lana, and today was half-off day. We scored some major deals, and Avery did really well while I shopped. Here's what we ended up with:

Avery

• Carter's swimsuit
• Carter's pants
• Gymboree skirt
• Circo sundress

Landon

• Two onesies
• Two long-sleeved shirts
• Three shirt/pants sets
• Three sleepers

And my grand total was $31. So even though the selection was a little more picked over at the end of the sale, I personally think it's worth it to wait for the 50% discount (unless you're looking for specific bigger items) at consignment events. I'll definitely go back to their fall sale.

We met up with an old friend (Carissa, who I've known since I was six) and her kids for lunch at Chick-fil-a, and then Avery only napped for like 30 minutes, so our afternoon has been a little, uh, trying. Oh well, you take the bad with the good, right?

Tonight is date night, so Matt and I are headed to the movies! We're so original. :) But right now, I have a screaming little girl who needs some attention. Have a great weekend!

Happy Anniversary and It's a...

I've taken almost a week-long blog break because we have been swamped. I had the brilliant ridiculous idea to redo the church nurseries this week while Matt was still off work to help, so we were working in those rooms every free second we had. We're not completely finished (still need to paint the connecting sink area, organize a few things, and put some art on the walls), but I'm so pleased with how it's turned out so far. Hopefully soon I'll get an "after" picture (since I didn't get a "before") posted.

Anyway, in all that excitement, we also celebrated our 4th anniversary on December 30th! I'm so thankful for Matt and for our relationship; it's been an incredible four years, and I'm looking forward to the many more to come!

I had my big ultrasound scheduled for the morning of our anniversary, so we took Avery with us and instructed the ultrasound tech not to tell us the sex yet because we were going to wait until our date that night to find out. She obliged and put the sex-revealing picture in an envelope (which Matt promptly sealed because, let's face it, he knows me too well) so we could open it at dinner. I have no idea how people choose to go the whole pregnancy without finding out if they're having a boy or a girl. The suspense was killing me! And it was only a few hours that I had to wait! But the baby looked good and was measuring a few days ahead of my due date. Not that due dates really mean all that much.

After the appointment we went on a family lunch date to Genghis Grill (Avery loves that place almost as much as we do!), followed by ice cream from Sonic. Apparently I'm trying to help out my pregnancy weight gain.

Avery got to spend the night at Grandma and Granddaddy's house while we went on our date, so after we dropped her off, we headed out to Simply Fondue for a fantastic 3-hour-long dinner. We went to the Arlington location (we've only been to the Dallas one on Greenville), and it was so nice. I actually liked it much better than the Greenville restaurant. Anyway, we completely devoured the pepper jack fondue (which is surprisingly better than the Wisconsin cheddar) and our salads before the feast of meat and veggies. Yum. If you've never been to Simply Fondue, you have to go. (It's a little pricey for our current budget, but we had a Groupon, haha!)We couldn't decide on our dessert so we just went with the original milk chocolate. So freaking good. Yum.

We did the big reveal between our salads and entrees, and Matt opened the envelope to find out that we're having a BOY!

We had planned on seeing a movie after dinner, but since the typically 2-hour feast lasted for 3, we skipped it and went to Target so I could buy the little monkey onesies I had been holding off on getting until after I knew we were having a little man.

It was such a great day, and I'm so glad I got to celebrate it with my favorite person in the whole wide world. I love you, Matty!

Where We've Been

Whew, this week has been crazy to say the least. I won't attempt to catch y'all up on everything, but here's a brief rundown.

On Wednesday, Avery and I had to stay home from BSF because she had started running a fever on Tuesday afternoon. I didn't want to be the mom who got everybody else's kids sick. Plus, I felt pretty craptastic myself. We also ended up staying home from Lifegroup that night because I wanted her to sleep the whole night in her own bed (as opposed to going to sleep at my parents' and us picking her up on the way home). We figured a little sleep would go a long way and she'd be better in no time. She was on an antibiotic for an ear infection, after all.

Well Thursday morning she was acting like she felt tons better, but I noticed some spots on her arms and legs when I got her out of bed. I thought they were insect bites and immediately started inspecting her bed, but no little critters turned up. I kept her home from Mother's Day Out just in case, but we did run up to the church for  an hour so I could get things ready for Sunday (since I was missing my normal workday by keeping her at home). On out way out the door, I asked Adrienne (the super helpful Tuesday/Thursday church volunteer) what she thought of Avery's spots, and she thought they looked like chickenpox.

Great.

Only, Avery had gotten the chickenpox vaccine about 10 days prior. So I called the doctor's office and when the nurse called me back, she thought the spots sounded like a "normal reaction" the the vaccine that shows up on about a third of kids a week or two after getting the shot.

As the afternoon wore on, however, those spots had spread all over her little body and looked like hives instead of insect bites. I took my little cheetah girl across the street to my super-nurse neighbor Whitney, who was like, um, that's not a reaction to a shot; she's allergic to something.

I gave Avery some Benadryl that night and decided to call the doctor in the morning. But when Friday morning rolled around, Avery's poor face had ballooned into a swollen red mess. Poor thing! I got her into the doctor so they could actually look at her without just trying to diagnose it over the phone, and it turns out that she is severely allergic to her antibiotic (which, ironically enough, she didn't break out until her last dose).

To top it all off, my little monkey fell in the office and busted her chin. At which point I promptly lost it and we both left the office in tears.

Then I found out that her babysitter for Saturday (I had a ministry team workshop and Matt had all-region all day long) backed out on us at the last minute, and I had no other options because I had lined that up two weeks in advance.

So while my sweet neighbor Brooke watched Avery so I could run to Costco (by that point, I just couldn't handle taking a sick baby with me), I called my friend Kendra who was completely willing to come with her husband Carlos and spend the day with Avery while we fulfilled our commitments.  As long as they could come watch the Ranger game with us at my parents' that night. Yes, please! I'm so thankful for good friends!

And then we all know how that first ALCS game went. Up 5-0, 8th inning meldown, 6-5 loss. No need to relive it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much a blur of non-relaxation, and now we start over.

I'm still wrestling with all God has been teaching me, Avery's still not 100%, Matt's schedule this week is out of control, our house needs to be cleaned more than you know, and we came to the incredibly difficult conclusion this weekend that we need to find a new home for one of our dogs. Sigh.

But surprisingly, I'm okay. And I'm not grading research papers this week. :)

Movies, Mother's Day Out, Meatballs, and Muffins

I like alliteration. Sue me.

The Back-up Plan was dumb. Ugh, I had such high hopes for it to be a fun chick flick that I wasted the number one spot on our Netflix on it. Jennifer Lopez should not be allowed in movies, with the exception of The Wedding Planner. And even then, Matthew McConaughey, Justin Chambers, and Judy Greer were the ones who made it amazing, not ol' Jenny from the Block. Okay, so consider yourself warned if you decide to watch this poorly acted, obnoxiously written, completely far-fetched romantic "comedy."

Avery started Mother's Day Out today! She wasn't even a little sad to leave me all day (I mean, come on, Avery. Is one tear too much to ask?), and I had to literally pick her up off the floor to get her to leave the room to go home. Mommy Fail of the day: not packing enough lunch. That's my girl. She's an eater. And when I got there to pick her up, her teachers asked me if she talks a lot at home because apparently she wouldn't stop talking all day. Again, we might be related. I think it's safe to say she had fun, and I got lots of work done at church. Everybody wins. Oh, and today was free lattes for the parents, so I might have won a little more.

Tonight's (delayed-because-I-overestimated-my-cooking-abilities) dinner: BBQ Meatballs a la Pioneer Woman. I am SO on a PW kick. And so is my waistline, thankyouverymuch. So so so so so good. However, (and I feel blasphemous for saying this because Ree and I are tight like that) our associate pastor's wife, Julie, makes better meatballs (and sauce). There, I said it. Please don't hate me, P-Dub. I still love you.

Tomorrow's (breakfast for) dinner: Make-Ahead Muffin Melts.They're pretty much a heart attack on an English muffin. But we'll have fruit, too, so that makes it okay, right? Right? Just humor me, okay?


My neck hurts. It's probably because I have worked from sunrise (okay, so maybe not that early but it felt like it) to sunset (and beyond!), and a good portion of the day was battling a copy machine that wants to see me die (or at least burn off my fingers). Now would be a good time to end this random little note and head to bed.

So. Goodnight.

Astonishing

Ah, to have my life back. Whatever that means. The musical is over, I'm back from preteen camp, and we have a whole week at home before we head out for vacation.

Hanging out the night of our final performance

This is my first opportunity to sit down and write my official Little Women post, hence the reason it's a week overdue. After debating whether or not I should even write this post, I decided it was too big of a chapter in our lives to leave out. Plus it was awesome. There, I said it.

Our simple but effective set. I had several scenes in the "attic" (the platform). Scary!

Kendra, Matt, and I got the crazy notion almost three years ago to start up a community theater ministry through our church, and we presented You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in the summer of 2008. It was a huge undertaking (to say the least), but the church leadership and congregation rallied behind it, and it was a smashing success. I have a feeling this post will include many cliches. You've been warned.

Kendra (Sally), Me (Lucy), and Matt (Charlie Brown) in YAGMCB

Our director, Kendra, who also played Sally in YAGMCB, did Little Women with her high school kids (she's a theater teacher), so she had some set stuff, props, a fully orchestrated soundtrack (which translates to no dealing with orchestra rehearsals) and lots of costumes. I've loved the show since I saw it on Broadway (um, Sutton Foster, hello, can you say amazing?!?), and it doesn't require a huge cast so it seemed like the perfect choice for our next endeavor.

 Pre-show warm-ups. (L-R: Steve (Mr. Laurence), Mom (Marmee), Chris (Braxton), Michael (Laurie), and Katherine L (Meg)

And it was. After opening up auditions outside the church, God brought together the best cast we could've imagined. Eight of the 13 were from the church, three were from DTS, one was from DBU, and one was Matt's former student (who will be at DBU next year). The group just clicked from Day One, and it's a good thing since we only had five short weeks to put the production together.

 Director Kendra with Allison (Beth) selling tickets after church

The actors are the ones who end up getting all the credit, but our director is fantastic. She has such vision and passion for the creative, and she challenged us every single rehearsal to get outside of ourselves and become our characters. We also had a stellar crew of techies who mastered the details like nobody's business.

The four March sisters...FOREVER! (after the preview the Sunday before opening)

I can't overlook the fantastic babysitters who helped take care of Avery while we were rehearsing. Shout out to Debbie, Holly, Chelsie, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Tina, and Brooke! You guys are amazing! I know it was a sacrifice of your time to help us out, and we appreciate you more than you know.

Haley (Amy), Mom (Marmee), Shalimar (Aunt March), and Katherine R. (Clarissa)

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little skeptical of whether the show would actually come together, but I never should've doubted. The show went smoothly all three performances (well, with the exception of the freak power surge on opening night that left me singing the climactic song a capella; talk about not breaking character-- yikes!), and the post-show feedback was glowing. I never made it through a performance without bawling during my song with Allison. Oh well, the tears were appropriate. We had great audiences every night, and it was just fun.

Sisters on stage and off

Side note: When people say they're going to be somewhere and then just don't show up, it's hurtful. Especially when it's something you've put countless hours into and were really proud of. I'm so thankful that I had so many family members come and support the show, but my friends were really a let-down. I know people have lives, and I don't expect them to just drop everything, but it was very, um, telling when all was said and done. I miss having close friends (and I'm sad that my closest friends live so stinkin' far away). Now I sound like a loser. Rant over.

Backstage with the brunette March sisters. Haha, we kind of look alike. :) 

I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet such great people and work together to create something that was so beyond our capabilities but not the Lord's.

I truly believe that the goal was accomplished: To glorify the Creator by being creative. The arts can be performed well in a non-secular setting, and I think people are starting to see that.

Rangers, Bath Products, Brilliant Saturdays, and the World Cup

Life is a whirlwind! It's a good whirlwind, but it's windy nonetheless.

Lately, we've pretty much been working hard around the house, running errands, and spending time with Avery during the day because we've had rehearsal every. single. night.

On Thursday night, Matt got a small reprieve because he was able to go to the Ranger game with our church's men's ministry. One of the guys has a "suite" hookup (haha, I'm so punny), so a bunch of guys got to go hang out for the evening. Matt doesn't take pictures, so here were a couple he managed to snap (not of himself, of course!).

Friday was my reprieve. I got to spend the morning and early afternoon with my mom, sister (Allison), and sister-in-law (Chelsea). We went to a store called Bath Junkie, and it was so cool! You get to mix your own scents from their huge list, and they even have "recipes" that you can test out to see if you like them. Then you just tell them what product you want, which scent you chose, and what color they should make it. And voila! You take home personalized bath products. I got a face wash (to hopefully clear up the ridiculous redness that has made its home on my visage) and shower gel. Love it! After we left, we went next door to Central Market because 1) I needed to get some fruit for the rest of the week, and 2) it's just fun to walk around in there. And then the best part was that there was a Cafe Brazil right across the street! YUMMYILOVETHATPLACE! I ventured out and got chicken fried steak and eggs. Now that's a heart attack just waiting to happen. :) It was so much fun just hanging out though; I wish Chelsea and Aaron didn't live so far away! Okay, so it's only a little over an hour to their town, but still.

On Saturday morning, Matt went and met some guys from the church for breakfast (7:00 in the morning?!? no, thank you!), and then we met up again at the church for the Little Women tech rehearsal at 9. After rehearsal, Matt took Avery shopping so he could get some Professor Bhaer shoes, and I stayed at church to get some children's ministry stuff done. I get so much accomplished when I work up there (vs. working from home)! I'm so thankful I'll have a couple days a week to be there next year while Avery goes to her awesome MDO. Then we met up at home in time to get Avery fed and down for bed, and we enjoyed the rest of the evening with chips and queso and guac while we watched a movie. Ahh, it was a fantastic day.

Speaking of Little Women, we did a preview song during church today to help advertise the show, and tickets are already going so fast! You should come see it-- we open this week and have performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. If you're in the DFW area, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll send you the rest of the info!

And I know I should be watching the World Cup final right now. I've been a huge soccer freak my entire life, so it just seems like it'd be natural for me to follow the biggest soccer event of the quadrade. (Haha, I'm pretty sure I just made up that word, but there really needs to be a word for "every four years.") Anyway, I've just been so busy that I can't even bring myself to care. And that makes me sad.

Tomorrow begins a new week. I'm SO excited about the show next weekend, and as sad as I am for it to be over, I'm really excited to have some down time. Whatever that is. :)

Playing Catch Up

Do you ever get the feeling that you're always behind on something? To-do lists, bills, laundry, cleaning, the list seems to be endless. I'm at the point right now that I need to find balance. I'd much rather spend my free time cultivating my relationships with my husband and baby girl than conquering the unchecked items on my multitude of lists. However. Those items need to be addressed too, right? Soon after Avery was born I found out the importance of paying your water bill on time. (Oops.)  A messy house is not conducive to relaxing as a family.  We have to have clean clothes to wear. I must visit the grocery store every now and then so we can eat. That's kind of important. So how does it all mesh? That's where I'm at.

One of the things that has been pushed aside for the time being is my computer time (and I've been thankful for the "break") and, as a result, my blogging has been neglected as well. So here's the quick rundown for those who are still following:

• Avery hit the 10-month mark on May 3! I'll post the monthly update soon. Well, before June anyway. 

• We had a garage sale with our neighbors Cody and Whitney a couple weeks ago, but the weather was iffy, so we didn't have a ton of traffic. Whitney's trying again this weekend, and I already took off work on Friday, so I think I'll join her. This stuff has got to go!

• The church officially hired a nursery coordinator! I'm so very thankful that that area of children's ministry has been lifted from my load. My friend Kyndra is now in charge of the little ones, so I'm now able to focus on the preschool and elementary age kids. I'm currently working on finalizing curriculum for the fall and finishing up some summer plans, and I'm excited about what God's going to do in the lives of these kids! I've been watching some Children Desiring God conference videos (put out by Desiring God Ministries, i.e. John Piper=good stuff!) and I've really been convicted about the common vision in many churches to sum up children's ministry with the word "something" (i.e. Let's have "something" for the kids, or activity-orientation vs. having a goal in everything we do to ultimately spread a love and passion for the supremacy of God.). My hope is that our children's ministry will be done with purpose.

• We had our first read-through for our summer show, Little Women, last weekend. Oh. my. goodness. I'm so excited about working with this cast! It's going to be crazy putting the show together in one short month, but folks, it's gonna be good. If you're in the DFW area, mark your calendars for July 15-17 to come out and see it! 

• We celebrated Mother's Day by going to the Ranger game after church with my family. (Is anyone really surprised?) Matt packed a bag of baseball game necessities (trail mix, peanuts, coke, etc.) and surprised me with flowers. It was perfectly low key and awesome. 

Haha, the crotch-hold is cracking me up. She's a squirmy little girl!

• I played my last indoor game (for awhile anyway) last night. We ended up pulling out the championship with a 10-6 win. Yours truly scored 5 goals. No big deal. HA! That was a very big deal because I am not typically the goal-scorer. I'm usually the one taking people out in the defensive third. Okay, I'm done bragging. Thanks for letting me get that out there. :) 

Sorry for the lack of pictures; I have been really bad about getting them from the camera to the computer (much less printing them!). The ones I included only exist courtesy of my awesome blossom sister. We've also decided to get a new camera. Nothing fancy, just a nicer point-and-shoot. Ours is okay for taking "say cheese" pictures, but it just doesn't cut it with action shots, which obviously doesn't suit our needs with a very mobile 10 month old! Now I'm on the hunt for a Canon something or other that Allison recommended.

We're heading full-force into summer; I cannot believe we only have three and a half more weeks of school until I'm a full-time stay at home mom! The rest of May is just as hectic, but hopefully the updates won't be quite as sporadic. Happy almost-summer!

2010 pt. 1

New year, not-so-new busy schedule. Therefore, lack of consistent bloggage. Sigh. Even now I really need to be in bed. So here's the quick rundown...

• Avery turned 6 months old yesterday! I still haven't taken her cute little 6-month onesie picture, so keep your eyes peeled.
• I officially started my new position at the church as Children's Ministry Director. Things have already been interesting, and I'm not sure I'm ready for what I just got myself into. :)
  
• It is very cold outside. Like very cold.
• I won a prize on a blog today. It wasn't the one I worked my little booty off for, but it will suffice. And now I can't say I never win anything! Yippee!
  
• My student teacher started today, so to break him in, we took 200 sophomores to the Holocaust Museum. Okay, fine. Those two things weren't cause-and-effectual (yes, I just made up that phrase), but I'm sure it was an interesting way for him to start his teaching career. And just think, we get to take 200 more tomorrow.

If I'm going to have any energy at all for this week, this post must. end. now.

Night.

News flash!

Well, my blogging has been a tad inconsistent as of late, so see my previous entry for the reason. I do have some news though, so it's time to share it with the blogosphere. 

As many of you know, I've been wanting desperate to be a stay-at-home mom next year. I tried to do the working mom thing this year, fully expecting to enjoy being able to "do it all" and have the best of both worlds.

I didn't though. Enjoy it, that is. 

It's been so beyond frustrating having to "raise" other peoples' kids while I've sent mine off to someone else.  I want to be the one teaching her and facilitating her development. I want to be the one who's there when she starts crawling, pulling herself up, walking, and talking (ohmygoodness) for the first time. So as great as my students are this year and as much as I enjoy my profession, I'm happy to report that...

...this is my last year to do it. For awhile anyway. It's going to be a big adjustment (financially and emotionally), but we're ready for the challenge. I'm so thankful to have such a supportive husband who is willing to do whatever it takes to do what is best for our family during this season of our lives. I know not everyone who wants to be a stay-at-home-mom gets to, for whatever reason, so I consider myself very fortunate. 

(Please note that I don't look down on any of you moms who do work full-time; every one of you is doing what you feel is best for your family, and I applaud you for that.) 

Anyway, this brings me to my next announcement, and that is that I've accepted the Director of Children's Ministry position at our church, effective in January.  I'll still be teaching until June, so it's going to be a balancing act to do both for the first half of the year, but I know for sure that this is where God has me, and He has me here for a reason.

So it seems that's the next chapter in our adventure. We can't wait!