Summer Begins...

Matt and I after playing Ladderball.

Matt has made a lot of best friends in my family including my sister's dog. Jack comes running to Matt everytime he sees him. I don't blame him though.

This summer has started off better than I would have ever imagined! I am two weeks into my summer and have already done many fun and exciting things. I have taken it easy, planned and hosted parties, helped with VBS, gone to Bible study, hung out with family and friends, played the Wii ALOT (I am going to be a pro wakeboarder by the end of smmer!) celebrated birthday, etc.

My dad and sister both celebrated their birthdays this past week and we got together this weekend to have a party. It was a fun day of food, fellowship and games! My dad and sister are two of the most important people in my life. I am so thankful that God blessed me with both of them! I look forward to many more years and fun memories to come!

We always love a good competition.

Saturday we went to my friend Kristen's wedding. We had a lot of fun watching Kristen and Chad get married. Congratulations guys!

I will add more pictures of the Birthday boy and girl later. The Bachelorette has come on so its time for me to watch it.

Happy Father's Day!

I am so blessed to have the best dad a girl could ask for! My dad and mom committed to raising my sister and I in a Christian home and for that I am thankful. My dad has taught me so much about loving and serving God. Yesterday the sermon at church was about Dad's and what role they have in the family, my dad I am proud to say exhibits all of those traits: expressing genuine love, transparent life (showing us the way God wants us to go), unselfish deligance, genuine spirituality, and a positive influence. Thank you for always being here for me Dad! I love you!

The Sour Grapes of Wrath

Here are a few pictures from our Murder Mystery party...

Norm and Vicki D'Adly (The Married Couple from New Jersey visiting her sister in California) They are some of my really good close friends who will be married this fall! Jeff and Amy are wonderful spiritual leaders in our Bible study and I am so thankful for their friendship.

Dr. Chelsea Barren (Psychologist) Marcenia hosts our Bible Study each week and definitely has the gift of hospitality. She is such a sweet friend!

Enrique Graves (The Farm Hand/Ladies Man) Jeromy is another one of my close friends who definitely knows how to act out his part! He is always willing to lend a helping hand and listening ear.

Michael Nightshade (Real Estate Broker) and Kathryn Lawless (the Librarian/Cat Woman) Jeff and Rebecca have also become good friends of mine. Jeff always provides a good laugh and Rebecca is a lot of fun to talk to! I am glad they are part of our group!

The other week Matt and I threw a Murder Mystery "Wine and Cheese" Party! It was a Black and White formal event and took place as what we recreated as a winery. It was a blast! We learned a lot while planning this party...

1. It is hard to find a free Murder Mystery online

2. It takes a lot of time to plan a party

3. There is no one stop shop for parties even though they say there is. (We ran all around town for several hours finding things)

4. We def. overshot on the food

5. It's a lot of fun playing host and hostess

6. But it is all well worth it because in the end we all had a great night with friends.

Happy Birthday to my Sister!

Happy Birthday to the best sister a girl could ask for! I am so blessed to call you sister and friend. I hope that you have a fantastic birthday and an even better year! May God bless you with many more birthdays and memories! I love you!

Second Grade Memories

Wow this year has flown by! I sure am going to miss my sweet little class of 15. We had some great memories together. Each student had a unique personality that added to the dynamics of our class! The summer is a bittersweet time. I will miss this group next year but look forward to all the fun memories of this year. Here are some memories from my class. Enjoy!

The best part of second grade was coming in the room and meeting my teacher. She is the best teacher I have ever had! J.V.

Doing arts and crafts. My favorite was making a pattern with the man and his caps from Caps for Sale. L.F.

Playing games as a class. My favorite game was Ghost in the Graveyard. S.W.

My favorite part of second grade was my teacher, she was very nice. F.B.

I liked having movies and popcorn for AR Celebrations. A.M.

Social Studies. We made canoes. A.P.

When we made the ice cream. A.W.

AR PARTIES! R.C.

Play time. B.R.

Silent reading after lunch. M.K. (WOW they actually enjoyed that?!? YAY!)

Walking the track. B.K.

Doing activities. Playing games, watching movies. M.M.

Reading on the carpet. E.L.

Watching movies. A.B.

Being with my teacher. K.W.

And by overwhelming votes was the ATOM dance to learn about molecules!

If they had any advice for upcoming 2nd graders it would be.....

1. Have my teacher, you would like her.
2. This is the nicest teacher you have ever had.
3. Art is really fun.
4. Be nice to your friends.
5. Friendship.
6. Second Grade is cool.
7. Do the best on your work.
8. Be good.
9. Study homework every night.
10. Do your best job.
11. Be kind to everyone.
12. Get a good report card.

And in the words of one of my students...

"No more homework, no more school, no more teachers hollering!" F.B. (However he clarified I did not holler. He is excited about no more homework!)

HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER!

Count Your Blessings

Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done! We are so often blessed by the many things that God has given us but do we take the time to count the blessings and thank Him for them? This post is dedicated to some of the blessings He has given to me.

After 14 years of living in this town I am finally feeling as if I am home here. During High School I always had friends here but now that I am back here after college and working God has truly given me some of the best friends. We have a great time together wherever we are! Most of the time we see each other several times a week whether it is at church on Sunday mornings, Bible Studies throughout the week, or just hanging out at night. You can always find us having a good time! It is so great to be able to grow in the Lord with each other. I know He has great things in store for all of us!

My sister. We can be complete opposites but we are always there for each other and lending a helping hand. I know that I can call her and she will be there with a listening/encouraging ear! (That is if she answers her phone---haha) It is fun to get the updates on things that she is doing and for her to share an interest in my life as a teacher. She always has the older sister wisdom that I need. Even if sometimes it takes a while for me to let it soak in. My sister is extremely smart, a loving wife, daughter, and sister and I know that one day she will make a wonderful mom! :) I am looking forward to that part!
Family. Not only am I thankful for my immediate family but also for my extended family. We all have a blast together! I wish that we lived closer to each other so we could get together more often. There are many good stories/laughs/adventures/inside jokes among all of us! I am so thankful to call them not only family but friends. I cherish every moment with all of them and leave anticipating the next time we will all be together!
My Parents. I have two of the most Godly examples as a Dad and Mom! I thank God every day for the parents that he has blessed me with. I do not know where I would be in life without them. They lead me in the way that I should go, whether it is by prayers, directions, advice, or just a listening ear they are always right there. I am truly thankful that they raised my sister and I in a home that sought God in everything. They have taught me that no matter the circumstance God will be faithful and provide! I love them dearly and am looking forward to many more great times with them in life!



Also a wonderful job that I enjoy going to everyday. One where I get to teach and share smiles, hugs, and love with many little children. I pray that I will be a witness to them everyday somehow and someway. I know that God has a plan for my job next year and I am excited to see where He leads me next!

Thankful for the blessings the Lord has given me, are you?

King David: The Restoration of a Sinner

In my Sunday School we have recently started having Small Groups through out the week and ours is studying the life of King David. It is a John MacArthur study and I am loving it. How neat is it to see one of God's chosen kings life be like ours. God chooses us just as He chose King David to be one of His. Even though we sin as David sins we are also able to be forgiven! What an awesome thing that is! God gives us forgiveness and grace. God offers His grace to cover our sins. After reading the devotion of 1 Samuel 11 and the John MacArthur viewpoint, I headed over to James 1 and found some similar things. Its neat how God leads us to things and connects everything together to teach us something He has in store for us.

Witness in School

All year as I have been teaching I have been praying that God would allow me to be a witness to the children that I have in my classes. In the past few weeks I have seen several ways that I have been able to do that. While studying Egypt one student came up to me and started telling me about her doing her devotions at night and how she was reading in Exodus about God's people being in Egypt and how God led them out of Pharoahs hand. I was able to talk to her about that being my Sunday School lesson and even taught her the old camp song "Pharoah, Pharoah let my people go"

I have had another student ask me about church several times and told me she doesn't understand why people go to church. I told her I love to go and have been trying to show her in other ways about God's love. Even some of the students have caught on to it and started talking to her about loving church! Oh what joy that is to hear those words in my classroom! :) Please continue to pray that my life will always be reflecting God's marvelous love!

"How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me"

May we all let the Hope of Glory that lives in us shine outwardly to other people! Look up Ephesians 4:4-5.

Am I listening?

This morning as I was doing my devotions the main question that popped into my head was, "am I truly listening to God"? I was reading "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers.

One of the verses He used was John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." It caused me to sit back and think about how so often sin tries to creep into our lives and sometimes we give in, after giving in we feel guilt, hurt, etc. We turn back to Jesus and seek His love and forgiveness and He freely and willingly gives it to us! By this I am truly humbled, God loves me so much that no matter when I fail Him He accepts me with loving arms. So looking at John 14:15 and knowing how I do really love God, I am going to strive to press forward with His help and when the enemy tries to destroy let God answer the door.

Pressing on to love God and keep his commandments!

Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

Wow, I have never seen so much snow in my ENTIRE life and it just keeps coming! However being a teacher I have one of the greatest perks of the snow, SNOW DAYS. Since Christmas I maybe have taught a little over a week and not necessarily in consecutive order. You might ask well what have you done with your time off? So let me clue you in to what I have done.

1) I have all my science and social studies units planned until probably March maybe a little longer depending on snow.

2) Made Valentines for my sweet students of whom I may or may not see on Valentines day.

3) Slept

4) Watch TV...I have been able to catch up on many programs and get hooked on many other ones. Yes, Dear, According to Jim, The Today Show, Regis and Kelly, Say yes to the Dress (this quite possibly might be my new favorite!), Real Housewives of Orange County, Rachael Ray, Paula Dean, Wife Swap. So as you can tell I've completely enjoyed watching shows I don't normally get to watch.

5) Read books and Blogs (I have read Forgotten God that I posted about in an older post, and am currently reading through Crazy Love; another great book you should check out.)

6) Gone to Bible study. We just started community groups in our Sunday School and I am very excited about what these will hold for us as we grow closer to God and each other.

7) Played in the Winter Wonderland

8) Slept

9) Played lots of card games and drank hot chocolate or coffee!

10)Hung out with friends and family.

Last weekend I went sledding with some friends. We had a blast! Many many laughs were shared and many new memories were made. I believe that my intense sledding days are getting numbered after the wipe out Jordan and I had. I want to post some pictures but it won't let me right now so I will try again later.

By the way I am just about done with snow for the year! Where is SPRING?!?

Bookends of the Day

If you have never read "Forgotten God: Reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit" by Francis Chan, I highly encourage it! I just finished reading it today and wow I have been completely challenged by all that it has in it.

I have been completely guilty of talking the talk with God but not truly walking the walk. I have decided I am tired of this and am ready to "quit talking and start walking". As Chan said "Life is too short. I don't want to speak about Jesus; I want to know Jesus. I want to be Jesus to people. I want to experience the Holy Spirit's presence in my life in a profound way."

When people look at my life I want them to be able to tell that I have been with Jesus just like they could tell about Peter and John in Acts 4:13. I pray that I can encourage others to obey the Spirit's leading but also that I will listen and obey his own leading in my life! In order to do this I need more courage and boldness in my own life. I need to be able to hear His voice in my life.

A neat thing I heard yesterday at church:
God should be the bookends of our day...spend time with Him in the morning and in the evening and then our day will have been surrounded by Christ. If we start our morning with Him then we can receive His guidance through the day and not have to spend so much time seeking forgiveness at the end. None of us are perfect but with God's help we can have His desires become our desires and not so easily give in to the desires of our own flesh!

My Sunday School class is getting ready to start new small groups that I am very excited for. We have needed them for a long time and we are hoping that we can all grow together and in Christ. I hope that these groups will be used for God's glory and that people will sense a group of community among each other.

Question of the day: In what ways can I encourage others? and How can I better listen to the Spirit's calling on my life?

I will leave you with a quote today from my old preacher...
"Seek Him (Jesus) in the morning if you want Him through the day!"

Fruits of the Spirit

This morning during my devotion time I read about becoming more like Christ and letting the Holy Spirit lead me. It talked about when we truly allow the Holy Spirit to lead us we are able to gain more of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The more fruits we bear the more people can see Jesus in us and the better we can do His will. As I continue this study on the Holy Spirit my goal is that I will begin to bear more and more of the fruit that He has to offer me.

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruits of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, paitence, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

I am excited to see what fruits God gives me as I continue to grow and seek Him in 2010!

I feel that this also coincides with the sermon yesterday at church. We are talking about having a greater vision in 2010, one of the visions that our church has is that we will be able to better evangelize to the people around us. If we all seek after the Spirit and allow Him to fill us and guide us wouldn't we be ready to evangelize more. It is my prayer that I allow God to use me to reach others.

Check out the song "God of This City" by Chris Tomlin.

Wedding Weekend

The last weekend in May was a blast! Laura (my roomate from college) got married to Jonathan, these two are very close friends of mine and I was so excited to share this big wedding day/weekend with them. :) David and I left Roanoke on Thursday and made our way to the "Rivah", we had a ton of fun driving up stopping to eat and discovering new delicious goodies at Starbucks! We stopped at a new 4-wheeler dealership and had a good time looking at the 4-wheelers and comparing them to the new one that he had just gotten! (see picture below) I think it might have been fate that we missed our exit and got to stop there...haha We arrived in time for a cookout and then went to the newlyweds new house and hung out. Friday we helped set up for the reception and then went out to discover the town. We found a really good restraunt called Virginia Street Cafe and enjoyed fresh seafood for lunch! We then went back to the house and relaxed waiting for the rehersal festivities to begin. We had a great BBQ dinner, we sure ate well all weekend. After rehersal and dinner we met the future Mr. and Mrs. at Mojo's to enjoy the evening. Saturday was wedding day!! We slept in, fished, and layed out waiting for the wedding to roll around. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the love they have for each other was very evident! I am so happy for these two and glad we were able to help them celebrate.

Mom and Dad after the wedding...

We've got "whatever it is" :)

Laura and I...

Bridal Party

Having fun at Mojo's

Mr. and Mrs. Longest

A little slice of heaven on earth

Sitting on the dock of the bay...

The new 4-wheeler! Lots of fun

College Graduation

May 9th I graduated from college!! What a great feeling of accomplishment as I walked across the stage to receive my diploma and moving the tassel from one side to the next. After a few days of rain and storms the day turned out to be beautiful as well as hot! I am so glad it was a morning ceremony. I can't believe how fast the past four years went, it sure is filled with lots of fun memories and good friends. I am so thankful that my parents, David, Emily and S, Uncle Emory and Leslie, as well as my grandparents and great aunt and uncle were able to go to graduation with me! We had a fun Friday night in Farmville before graduation, we went to Applebees on the way up. Layed around and watched golf until Emory and Leslie got to the hotel and then I showed David, Emory, and Leslie around Farmville and Longwood since it was their first visit; afterwards we headed to Charley's for some yummy dessert to celebrate! After the parents retired back to the hotel David, Leslie and I headed over to Hampden-Sydney to visit with Thomas and Taylor.

After graduation on Saturday morning we came back home and had a party at the house. It was a lot of fun and filled with the BEST friends and family a girl could ask for. I am so fortunate to have all of the love and support that they each give to me!

David and I before the party...

Leslie and I at graduation...

My parents and I...

David and I at graduation...

Shaking Dr. Cormier hand and getting my "diploma"...

Thank you EVERYONE for your love, support, and prayers! :)

Pictures over the past month or so, writing below! :) Enjoy!

Well what's new, it has been a long time since I've updated the blog.

It has been a GREAT and FUN month filled with family, friends, and David! We have been to Chapel Hill, Christiansburg, Eden and Roanoke. Keeping the road hot and having a blast. God has truly blessed us over the past few months! :)

I graduate in three weeks and this is the last week of student teaching yay!! Can't believe these four years have passed so quickly! Second round of interviews coming up in the next few weeks, keep praying! Also I passed the Praxis II, boring boring test but I passed!

March is going GREAT!

March has been a great month so far and has kept me busy busy! Lots of fun being able to hang out with family and friends! :) And as you all know I have been filling out job applications and also studying for the Praxis II, well some big days with that is coming up. THIS Saturday is when I take the Praxis, please pray that I will pass the first time! I have been spending my afternoons this week reviewing the information and think it should go pretty well. I also have two job interviews coming up the last week of March, stay posted for how they go!

Last Friday I finished my Kindergarten placement and the class threw me a fun farewell party! We had snacks and opened my presents. They gave me a scrapbook that Mrs. Blevins made for me with pictures from my time in the class as well as pictures of the individual students. Each student wrote me a sweet letter to go a long with their picture! I love my "Bee Book" and enjoyed looking at it with the children. They also gave me flowers, a candle, and then a bag with each of their handprints on it, and the bag was full of school supplies that I will need as a teacher. They were such a cute group and I will miss them :)

This Monday I started in Fifth Grade and it is quite a drastic change from Kindergarten and most of the kids are as big as or bigger than me! They are a fun group of 96 students so I am trying to learn each of their names. They say I'm a pro at learning names and are impressed with how fast I am learning them, there are still a few in block that I need to learn. I am currently helping direct/teach the class and will officially take over on Tuesday teaching plants and animal cells in Science, and Language Arts will continue to be class projects for another week as we wrap up Nonfiction.

FOR THE NOW VERY EXCITING NEWS!! During the past week I got to go see UNC play twice! I got to go to the Carolina/VT game in Blacksburg last Wednesday and saw a great game however one that also kept me nervous to the last minute. It was a lot of fun being with Emily, S, and the Bolinskys for dinner and the game! On Sunday Dad and I headed down to Chapel Hill to try our luck at getting tickets to the Carolina/Duke game and we were SUCCESSFUL! :) This is the second year we have gotten in the game and it is truly the best game a basketball fan could EVER go to. I also enjoy it because I can see the senior introductions and speeches. In 2005 when I started college and the senior class at Carolina was freshmen I set my mind on it that I wanted to be there for their senior game! I loved every minute of it! Dad and I went down on Franklin Street for lunch and shopping, then went to the basketball musuem (needed a lot more time to stay in there), and then we headed out to find tickets. We were out on the sidewalk for a long time and got to know the scalpers quite well! haha That is how we got our tickets though because one had spent time around dad and I and when a guy said he wouldn't sell his tickets to scalpers he said well then sell them to this girl cause she has been dying to get inside that game all day! I was soooooo excited that we were in! :) The game was great with a wonderful outcome as well!! Pictures will come soon, gotta get batteries for the camera before being able to upload them.

Snow Days

The snow was a lot deeper than I expected when I stepped in the grass.

Woods in the backyard

Thought the wheelbarrow looked cool

Well we finally got the snow we had been looking for all winter, only had to wait til March! I had already counted that we'd get no snow and stopped my snow dances and was READY for warm weather. However the snow has been nice to have a few days off of school and who knows maybe tomorrow at least a delay? It doesn't look like the snow is going anywhere today with the low temperatures. We probably got around 7 inches of snow and it is beautiful but seriously where is SPRING and SUMMER? Days at the lake, beach, outdoors, cookouts, putt putt, baseball games, etc. I am ready for it all!

I discovered yesterday that Snow Days are not as much fun as when you're younger or have people your age living around you. When we were younger our street used to sled and play in the snow from sun up to sun down but now everyone has grown up. Or Emily, S, and I used to go out in the snow and have Nintendo marathons. Now my snow days consist of going out in the snow for a little bit and then JOB APPLICATIONS, and dinner with my Bible Study group! Oh yea, and I also watched The Bachelor last night, the decision def. threw us all for a curve ball, for some reason I get suckered into this reality tv every season. Now I am waiting for tonight to see if they are still together, haha! I was talking to a friend last night at Bible Study and its funny talking about the show cause it's like you are talking about people you actually know.

Well I am off for a day of shopping, watching basketball tonight, and The Bachelor update.

Sick Days...

This past week has unfortunately been full of sick days for me! All kinds of stuff has been going around school and I have caught it. Last Monday-Wednesday my throat was really swollen only to be told by the doctor I didn't have strep or tonsilitis and all she could tell me to do was over the counter drugs and it worked! I was better by Wednesday morning. I kept on teaching that whole week while sick and not sick as it was my first full week of teaching myself and I didn't want to miss a single moment of it! I loved it :) It was full of excitement as I saw the lightbulb turn on in many students heads! That is one of the most rewarding parts of teaching! Well yesterday I got to school sore throat and fever in tow but thinking I'd make it, however by 10:25 I was on my home for some rest, relaxation and recouperation. The main thing that is getting me this time is the FEVER! Hopefully I will be good as new tomorrow and on my way back to Kindergarten. My sweet teacher that I work with just called and checked on me, she is one of the nicest ladies and I am truly blessed to know and work with her. I am going to want to stay in touch with her for years to come! She also said we have 5 out today sick! See I told you I am all around germs!

I have enjoyed my day at home today though and have started reading "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young. I definitly recommend it and I'm only in the fourth chapter. I don't want to put it down but have had to. I am taking the Praxis II in two weeks so I have disciplined myself today that I have to take some time while I can to study for it, so far this morning I have studied Language Arts and hope to get Math in today as well. Then complete one or two job applications. Who ever thought that Senior Year, student teaching, finding a job, and living my life would be so busy? There are many things to do! I think all the tests that are required for me to recieve my teaching license might break the bank, haha. Do they understand that Student Teaching is a NON-paid position? As soon as I get all the tests done that will be it. Well besides of course waiting on a job. No leads on a job yet but I have finally heard that a few counties such as Montgomery and Rockingham in NC, are hiring! So that is a plus :) Just got to keep trusting that God will provide and place me where I need to be. Please pray for me as I take the tests and that I will pass them as well as continued prayers for the job search!

Even though I have been feeling under the weather I have been able to have some fun times as well! I have started a new Bible Study on Monday nights, I have enjoyed getting to know everyone in the group and grow closer to God as well. Right now we are studying what it takes to be a Godly spouse as well as boyfriend/girlfriend, either preparing for it in the time of being single or growing in it as you are married! It is a group of young adults some single, some married with kids. They are a great group and have really made me feel welcome.

This past weekend was full of birthday celebrations! We went to NC to visit with family and friends for mom's birthday, it was full of much laughter, fun, food, and fellowship. Even some excitement as three cop cars barracaded my grandparents street at midnight on Friday to arrest a drunk moped driver. Glad they got him before he or anyone else got hurt but being outside listening to what they were saying was rather humorous! Our family friends daughter turned one and we celebrated her birthday Saturday night. Her mom sure knows how to throw and amazing and beautiful birthday party, I think she could even go into business doing it! It was a Chinese themed party because they would like to eventually adopt from China and in leiu of gifts you could make donations to Shaohannahshope. Which is the adoption organization that Steven Curtis Chapman set up to help people who want to adopt be able to financially afford it. For more details check out www.shaohannahshope.org Laeklyn is a cute little girl and it was great to finally meet her in person! Their family means so much to mine and we have so many good memories with them, it was nice to visit with each other again. I sure do love my time with friends and family!

Well I'm sneezing off to study some more...

Pictures from the Superbowl!

Didn't take many pictures :( But enjoy the two I did take!

Update and Superbowl Fun!

Haven't been on here in a while, student teaching sure is keeping me busy as well as of course doing things with friends and family! It's been fun being back home and catching up with old friends! Student teaching has been quite the adventure, the class is pretty wild but they are the cutest kids and I love being in there with them. There are challenges that come with the wildness though. Last Thursday was a day where a lot of them had to get playtime taken away from them and was just a rough day in general. Thank goodness there have not been many like that! :) I have now taken over everything but Language Arts and I believe that will be coming next week! Math has been a lot of fun to teach, right now we are learning about Time and Money, today I was teaching about sequencing using the words first, second, third, last, next, before, and after. Lots of words for Kindergartners to remember but they continue to amaze me with the information they know! The principal came in during my lesson, my first thought was like uh oh, i sure hope the kids continue to behave, I hope she likes my lesson, etc. After talking through the lesson and giving examples the students got into pairs and had sequence cards that they had to put in order and then have me come over to hear them use the vocab. words as they told me about them, then as a reward because they did a fantastic job we played a game of Simon Says because it is kind of a sequencing games. After playing for five minutes I still had five students standing, sure can't trick them! Then it was time to do their worksheet. She was VERY pleased and commented on it several times as well as to my cooperating teacher!!! She said I was a natural born teacher and what she looks for!! :) SO HAPPY to hear that, now just hope there is a job opening there next year! With budget cuts it looks like job openings are going to be sparse this coming year but I know that God will provide!

Which leads me to mention to please pray for me as I go through this job search and that I will listen to where God wants me to teach. Also I have several friends and family members that are having harder times with jobs right now so please continue to lift up everyone as the economy is at this point.

Yesterday I had my first parent teacher conference day and overall it was a complete success and it was great to see how to conduct a conference. Those are things that preparing to be a teacher you def. should see one in action. It made for a long day though not getting done til 7 and then 12 1/2 hours later back to school for today!

Over the weekend I worked on job applications, watched ACC Basketball...GO UNC!! :) Sunday for the Superbowl Emily and S came into town. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them as it was the first time I've gotten to see them for longer than 15 mins. since Christmas! We all went to lunch and then came back to watch the Duke game and hang out at the house. Later we went to the Bolinsky's to watch the first half, eat pizza and wings and just enjoy each others company. We headed to New Century (our friend Jared is the youth minister there and God is truly doing a great job and blessing him there) for halftime to hear Kenny Lewis (VT running back) to give his testimony. When we got there Kenny Lewis started talking to me, sadly I had to ask who he was :( kinda embarrasing but when they all have their helmets on during the games you don't see their faces! He laughed and was a neat guy to talk with. He then introduced me to the rest of the players, a Hokie fans dream! His testimony was great and how he has stayed strong through the years and keeping God first in His life doing things for His glory. His verse he left everyone with was Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Hope you all are having great weeks and I am going to try to get better at "blogging"!