Block Buddies

My senior year in college I had "block" with Erin and Eliza in the fall. We had soooo much fun together in our classes. Looking back I remember being "stressed" (oh how fooled I was) (and how easy I have it now) but loving carpooling up to ETSU for class with the girls on Monday and Wednesday. We were in class from 8 until 4:30 and we stayed on the same floor all day. We had one of the meanest teachers, one of the craziest teachers, and 3 really cool and amazing teachers. We did a lot of studying goofying off in the back row and have lots of fun memories to look back on from that semester.

After graduation we were all hired as first grade teachers and have almost completed the first half of year 2. Last weekend Eliza came in and we had dinner and dessert together in JC. We ate at a German restaurant and  after we were all stuffed we walked around downtown before we decided it was to cold. We then headed over to dessert for coffee and dessert and had to call it a night.  I am so thankful for both of these girls and the friendship that blossomed in the back row of class. 

Red Ribbon Week Fun

In high school I loved homecoming week. As a teacher, I still look forward to the dress up weeks throughout the year. I obviously love pj day because teaching in my mickey pants couldn't get any better. However, tacky day and decade day are my personal favorites. I honestly spend more time preparing my outfit in hair on these two days than I do on any other day. I wanted to be originial and not follow the typical 80s wear by wearing leggings which I wear everyday anyway. I snooped through my mom's old clothes and found the perfect outfit. I tried to poof my hair, but it didn't quite have the effect that I wanted it to. One of my students even tattooed my name on his arm for decade day, now thats a way to get extra credit. Tacky day is one of my favorites because it is just an excuse to be extra silly and crazy.

Awkward Middle School Years- Take 2

When Pastor Andy came down to visit our church for the first time I got to meet with him with a couple of the boards from the church. I had the priviledge of getting to ask him the first question. I already knew what I wanted to ask him and I was pleased with his answer. I asked him what his plan was for my generation- the second take of the awkward middle school years. After high school and even more so after college there really isn't a place for you, just like when you are an awkward 12 year old. As a 24 year old I feel as if I'm not an adult but I'm not a kid either. We're stuck in the middle, but that doesn't mean that churches should forget about this age group. I honestly feel that, like middle schoolers, we are at a very vulnerable time in our lives. If we don't reach out to the unchurched at this age, it will be even harder to grab their attention and get them into church once they have established families.  I have gone to my church my entire life and I have always felt loved and welcomed. However, there has never really been a ministry or even a place for 20 somethings to turn to. I never really experienced this problem when I was in college because I was blessed to find a college ministry I loved. After college I felt that I didn't really belong anywhere, but I was searching for a place to grow. I tried going to youth, but quickly realized I wasn't getting what I needed from the lessons. I attended the adult class (and still do), but felt out of place. I wanted our new pastor to do something about this because I was growing more and more frustrated. I've already made my church my home church, but I thought about how a new 20 something might feel if he or she came to visit. I knew that creating a ministry for the round 2 of middle school years would be important if we wanted our church to grow in the future. Andy agreed that we needed to do something about that and he and his wife made sure that happened.

 At the beginning of August we had our young adult kick off party. Warren and Kim (who used to be state youth directors) and Becca have aggreed to lead our young adult group. I was so excited that my prayers had been answered. I finally had a place that was especially for me. We have been meeting weekly on Sunday nights to dig deeper into doctrine and  discuss tough questions about why we beleive what we believe. Our weekly discussions have been very intense and deep, but even though I have left class confused it has allowed me to grow in Christ. We have talked about many questions that we as young adults, have had for years, Warren has led us in great disussions using scripture to back our beliefs. I am so glad that we have left confused  at times because that allows our faith to grow because it creates a deeper desire to learn and dig into scripture even more. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to grow along side of people who are my age through great disucssions about scripture.


At the end of fall break we had a campout at the Pastor's house. We had a great time fellowshiping, eating enourmous hamburgers, and sitting around the campfire. Shiana, Erin, and I decided we would be brave souls and campout on the trampoline. We stayed pretty warm because with a trampoline you have no choice but to use each other's body heat. :)

1000 Gifts

I want to get back in the habit of posting ten gifts each time I post. I've been busy preparing for fall retreat this weekend so I don't have time for an actual post, but here's to being thankful for the small things.
46. A great fall break relaxing with Nathan and my family
47. Roasting marshmallows by the fire
48. days when the Sun is out, the windows are down, and the music is loud
49. Phone dates with my best bud Ashley
50. A new pastor and pastor's wife he have hearts for young adults
51. Carry in dinners
52 boots and scarves
53. Gifts from my kiddos after fall break
54. A clean room
55. Free butterfingers

Bedroom Redo

After many years I decided it was time to get ride of the bright orange. Since I was a teenager my room has been a bright bright orange color. With a bright bright pink comforter. Most people said "how do you sleep in here?" when they walked into my room. I decided to tone it done a little bit since I'm still living at home.

Giraffes & Birds

Last week we went on our first field trip to a local zoo. I was really worried about the weather, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. It literally just started to rain as we were loading the bus to come home. One of my favorite parts about this zoo is that it allows you to feed birds and giraffes. Here are a few pictures of the adventures from the zoo.

Fall Break Trip

I have officialy fniished my 2nd first nine weeks as a teacher. Wahoo! It has been a good first nine weeks of year two. I have a bigger class this year, but I love my kiddos. However, I defintiely needed a break. I was super excited about our week long fall break this year. My family planned a trip to Virginia to meet my brother and his family. Nathan even decided to join along and I was super excited about that. My parents left Friday morning, but Nathan and I left after I got out of work on Friday. It wasn't too long of a drive and we got there just in time to see the kiddos before they went to bed. We of course fit in a game of cards after the kids were tucked in. What would a family vacation be without cards?

I slept in the floor next to C in his blow up bed and every night he ended up crawling beside of me and sleeping with me the rest of the morning. It was nice to get these extra snuggles in. Saturday we got up and ate pancakes for breakfast before heading to a festival at the resort we stayed at. The resort has a really neat chair lift through the mountains but because of the heavy fog we decided to pass on the chair lift. I was pretty disappointed about not getting to take some pictures of the mountains, but Nathan and I enjoyed sharing a turkey leg from the festival. R got to ride a pony and get a face painted like wonder woman. She is certainly a spunky little girl. We headed back to the room Mom and Dad stayed back with the kiddos so the four of us could go to dinner. After dinner we played Taboo couple against couple. Nathan and I ended up edging out Jason and Traci before the girls kicked butt against the guys. I loved games like Taboo because it is a lot of fun and creates a lot of laughter, plus it is still competition (which is super imporatant to my family).

Sunday  the weather was a little bit better, but still wasn't a sunny day. We ended up playing two rounds of putt putt in the sprinkling rain. C loved playing and Nathan was a good helper. We went back to the room and watched movies and napped. Then, we sang happy birthday to Nathan and enjoyed some cookie cake. That night we picked up BBQ and relaxed in the room before playing more cards before going to bed.

Monday the kiddos and Jason and Traci headed back home after lunch which was super sad. Nathan and I planned to stay another day since he was on spring break as well. We played putt putt again with my parents before going shopping and going to dinner at Texas Road House. We ended the night with another game of cards before heading to bed. We had planned on spending most of the day at the resort but because of the rainy day we decided to head home in the morning. We had to stop at  Bass Pro on the way home, but I figured I owed him one.

It was such a fun, relaxing, and much needed weekend with my family.