The Lord has a will...

I know that I've been the worst "blogger" ever, but it's therapeutic for me to write about some things...this is one of those.

Teaching 4th grade has been every bit of a learning experience. I never dreamed that being an educator would put this much stress or pressure on my life in such a short period of time. I just feel like I am working as hard as I can humanly work and working toward a goal that is completely unattainable. I know that sounds absolutely terrible, but I'm being completely honest. That is just how I feel. I cannot continue to feel this amount of stress and discouragement and still live a healthy life. I do realize that some of this could come from being a rookie at the job, but talking with other teachers lets me know that so much of it never goes away. Don't get me wrong, I love my students, and I want more than anything for every one of them to be successful, but again I am only ONE person.

All of this goes to say that I am weighing a HUGE decision, and need every prayer that I can get. I am trusting that God will lead me to the right decision for me and my future. Please pray that His will is made clear to me. My life's desire is to be pleasing to Him, and I have faith that He will guide me to the right decision. Thank you ahead of time for your prayers.

Finally Fall Break

FINALLY! I needed this break so bad! The past 9 weeks, teaching 4th grade has been an absolute learning experience! Not only tons and tons of things about being a teacher, but so many things about myself too. I have learned that if I don't let myself feel overwhelmed I can get a lot more done. I have learned that attitude goes a long way. Don't sweat the small stuff, life is too short.

I started my break Friday after school was over by getting into Vicki the Volvo to find that she wouldn't start. My trip to Henderson to get Rob and Mary Anne was already off to a late start. After about 30ish minutes later, Mr. David (our custodian) at school, got my car jumped off. I drove straight home to swap cars with my mom. No complaints there-the Edge is bigger, nicer, and all of the above! We got to Starkville about 9, and I was in bed asleep before 10:00. Swollen lymph nodes, fluid on the ear, and swollen tonsils don't make a person feel too great. Hopefully antibiotics + whatever else they gave me will = back to normal.

Go Dawgs! Early game this week @ 11:00! Tailgating with breakfast was pretty awesome! The morning was pretty chilly, but not to be confused with the rest of the afternoon at the game. My face and arms are no less than CRISPY. The sun blazed down on us the entire game! Alcorn State didn't have much to bring to the table except their half time show. Show is an understatement at that. "My kinda band" was my text to my mom. She replied with "I know what that means coming from you. Lots of booty shakin". She knows me so well! HA!

Fall Break is off to a perfect start, and I feel confident the rest of it will be just the same!

Sorry for the delay :(

Where to start? The last time I blogged was July 3, and SOOoooo much has gone on since then, I don't know where to start. I guess I'll just start wherever my brain is right now.

We've officially been in school for 7 weeks now. I can't believe it! It has absolutely flown by, I can only imagine how fast the next 29 years will go by. The start of the year was not so smooth for me. I tend to prefer things to be in order, or quickly get that way. That was not the case when I started teaching. It has taken me a long time to get in the swing of things, and actually feel like I can enjoy my job. It is *SO* much better now than I ever thought it could be after the first week, but especially the first day. Thank goodness! I absolutely love each and every one of my students. Each one is completely different from the others. They all have different personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. The keep me on my toes, and we usually have fun together! Hopefully I am teaching them something too :) The people I work with are absolutely to die for! I could not ask for better co-workers.

Well, football season is off to another start and that means weekends in Starkville have started too! I love every weekend that we get the opportunity to go to Starkville to make more memories with all the Phillips'. So many good times and many more to come :)

Still praying, praying, praying for Walker/Liz/Davis. Big decisions can really be trying. I know they will be guided to make the best decision for them and their family. They are a wonderful growing family of God. I know they will be servants wherever they are.

God is so good! WDCC has been blessed with a new preacher (Ricky & Kim Burse). Things have been looking up since they have been with us, and what a great thing that is. The blessings that God has allowed me to experience are just innumerable. Each day driving to school on 104, I think about all of my blessings and how awesome God is-it sure does get my day off to a great start. Sunrises and sunsets are two of the most beautiful things that God created for us to enjoy. I am convinced that He created those to give us another opportunity to acknowledge His greatness.

I pray that I can be a shining light to at least one person everyday. I pray that I can be an encouragement to those people that need encouraging. Galatians 6:2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Newbern Grammar School

Well, I've finally found out! I will be teaching 4th grade at Newbern Grammar School. It's about 10ish minutes from my house, so not bad at all! The school is actually the one that Maw (my grandmother) and Aunt Nell graduated from high school in-pretty crazy! I'm getting really excited to be able to prepare everything. I get to go up on Tuesday and meet my principal (Mrs. Jackson) and see my room, the school, etc. So thankful to finally know :)

I still cannot believe that I am old enough to have a full time job-especially one that requires that I keep up with 20+ kids all day! I just don't feel like this is real yet, but I know that will come to a reality a lot sooner than I think. I only have about a week and a half to work before I leave and won't be back until new teacher orientation, so lots has to be done! Any thoughts, ideas, tips, etc are GREATLY appreciated! Prayers too!

It's Been A While

So, I know it's been forever since I last blogged. I'm sorry :( I've been all over the place lately. 2 weeks ago, I went to see Rob in Lanett with Mrs. Pat and Mary Anne. We had lots of fun and made lots of memories. Got to stop along the way to see Mrs. Pat's sister/brother-in-law and then on the way back, I got to meet her brother. It was wonderful, of course, to get to visit Rob for a couple days. He took us on a tour of Auburn and showed us lots of neat places around the town! We ate at a Cheeburger-Cheeburger (I had never been to one, but it was awesome!!) I don't get to see Rob again until we go to the beach :(, but as they say: Absence makes the heart grow Fonder!

After we got back to Hendersonville from being in Lanett, I spent the night with the Phillips, and then got up the next morning and made my trek to Louisville for the week. Got to spend the week with my wonderful brother, sister-in-law, and absolutely precious nephew! What a treat! :) We made tons of memories! We had a full week: got to visit the splash park at the Louisville Zoo, did Jillian's 30-day shred videos with Liz, went swimming in Mr. Jay's pool, hung out with some of their friends, taught Davis how to blow bubbles, and SO much more! I could go on and on about how incredibly cute he is and how he is the sweetest most precious child in the whole world, but I'm sure those of you reading this already know that! haha. Davis Walker is truly a joy to so many people's lives! I am very grateful to be his Lala!

Left Louisville Friday morning and got to stop in Nashville to eat lunch with Shaunda and Kayleign. It was good to be able to visit with them for a bit-I sure do miss them being around! I then made my way to Hendersonville to pick up Morgan to go to Wes and Marcy's wedding Friday night. We got ready and made our way to the chapel. What a beautiful wedding, bride, bridesmaids, etc! Marcy looked absolutely breathtaking! So happy for their new life together :) It was good to be able to visit with some friends from school that I hadn't seen in a while. Also found out that the one and only Lindsey Jenkins McPherson is an avid reader of my blog. I was super pumped to hear about that! Hope she is proud of her shout out! haha. Got to spend the night with Ginny and her parents in the hotel Friday night and then spent the day with Ginny in Cool Springs.

Went to see Grown-Ups last night...wasn't impressed at all :/

Back to the Y this morning for 45 minutes of strengh training then 30 on the eliptical! Gotta get back on my routine!

P.S. Still waiting to hear what grade I will be teaching! Lots to do and so little time already to do it all in.

Down 6!!

YAY!! I went to the gym again this morning, not even thinking that today was my weigh-in day! I weighed before I showered and I am down 6 pounds! Today marks my first week, so if I can keep it up then that will be good! Woo Hoo!

So since I joined the Y on Wednesday, I worked out Wed/Thurs. I was obviously extremely sore after Thursday, but a good sore of course. My parents were going out of town this weekend, so I was told that if I had their yard sale for them then I could keep the money! I was all on board for this idea :) So, Molly and I spent Thursday afternoon/Friday night pricing everything and setting it out under the carport. Going to bed at 4:30 Friday night/Saturday morning and then waking up at 6:30 for the yard sale was tough-believe me! We worked all morning in the BLAZING sun. I decided I pretty much got a work-out in Saturday too because of how much I sweat. As the day went on, we were all about making a customer a "deal"-just to get rid of it! Sold one lady something for $.30. haha! Molly and I had packed up everything that didn't sale, gotten it into the house, and were pulling out of the driveway at 1:30. I thought that was quite the accomplishment! Meant to take pics of the before and after, but I forgot my camera. Can't forget this important detail: $627 dollars later, I consider my sale successful! :)

This week, we have 6 girls staying at our house for work camp at church! This morning was fine with them waking up on time and being ready, but we'll see how that progresses the rest of the week! haha!

I am more than ready to get back into the gym this morning! Go at 9:30 for strength training! Woo Hoo!

Y-M-C-A

So, yesterday morning I joined the Y! I'm so excited! I even went to my first class their yesterday-Strength Training! It was tough, but still worth it. I'm very excited about the results that this Weight Watchers + the gym is going to equal. I'm expecting big results! It's just amazing to me how good you can feel after exercising. I never experienced that before Ashton made me go with her Memorial Day morning. I am thankful though, that I am discovering this now in my life, instead of 20 years down the road. I never knew I could enjoy (even the slightest bit) exercising! Glad to have learned differently :)

New Happenings...

So, since my first post, I have gotten a job! It was actually the day after my first post that I got "the call". I will be working with the Dyer County School System. Haven't been told what school/grade yet, but will hopefully by the end of this week. I'm SO excited! I knew something was going to work out, just had to continue to be patient. I cannot wait to start getting my classroom all put together! This is kind of a dream come true :)

Also, Sunday night I went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Ashton. I spent the night with her afterwards, and she informed me that she had started going to the gym in the mornings, and that I was to go with her! I was not real excited about this. Actually, pretty nervous. I had never been to classes at a gym. I didn't bring tennis shoes to her house either. Ashton had a plan for me though! She made me go buy a nice, lovely pair of "Starter" men's tennis shoes. Believe me-they were stylish! Needless to say, we left her house a little before 8:00 the next morning! An hour and a half later, I have to say I felt incredible! We did a cardio/strength class and an abs class. Looking back, I'm very thankful she made me go with her. I'm going to look into classes here in Dburg to continue with! The morning at the gym was a great start to my plan for myself for the rest of the summer. New Job = New Beginnings!

This morning when I woke up = SORE....SORE....SORE! I barely made it down the stairs-haha. Mom text me and told me to call her, so I did. Only to learn that this morning as she was leaving for school and looking at the flowers we planted yesterday, she backed into my CAR!! She felt so bad for it. I let her know it was okay, but afterall it is kind of funny!

A New Kind of Patience and Faith

So, this being at home for 2 weeks and waiting for a job has taught me a couple things. I've never experienced anything like this before. Up until now, there's always been a "next step" that was there waiting for me. It's been hard for me to just wait. It's taught me to have a real faith that really trusts God's will and plan for my life. It's also taught me that it's not always easy to be patient. Trying to think about other things has been hard because all I'm worried about is my cell phone ringing and hoping this one is "the call". I know God has a plan for me, and I know that His plan will happen. I just have to remember that He is in control, and quit trying to do it on my own. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.