Thanksgiving and Jonathan's Job!

Jonathan and I spent our Thanksgiving in Murphy, North Carolina with Jonathan's family. We had a really great time. A friend of ours has a home that they rent in North Carolina because they are planning to move there soon. They weren't going to be using it during the holiday weekend, so they allowed Jonathan and I (and his family) to meet there. It was definitely a HUGE blessing. :o)

This is a picture of the house. I felt like I was back in the mountains of Colorado. It was so quiet and peaceful up there. One morning, I worked on my Bible study on the porch swing. It was so nice to get away from the "busyness" of life and just "be" for a little while.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday instead of on Thursday because we were all traveling to North Carolina on Thursday. Here is a "before" picture of the turkey that Jonathan cooked.

And here is the "after" picture. The turkey and all the "fixings" all tasted sooooo yummy!!!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I LOVE the way the leaves change colors. I haven't really seen a "good" fall since I lived in Portland, Oregon. The leaves in North Carolina had already fallen off of most of the trees, but when we were heading home and were in Georgia the trees still looked beautiful. Here are some pictures that I took at one of the rest stops that we stopped at.

I do have to say, if the leaves had still been on the trees in North Carolina, I believe that Jonathan would have had to bring me home "kicking and screaming"!! It would have been really hard to have left. It was hard enough as it was to leave the peace and the quiet to head back to our busy lives in Florida.

When Jonathan got to work on Monday, he was informed that he was being laid off due to a lack in finances. His last day will be on Dec. 19th. We see this as an answer to prayer because about four weeks ago, we had started to pray and ask God if Jonathan was supposed to continue working at his current job or not. I guess God answered that one, loud and clearly. The really cool thing about it all is that when we got home on Monday night, my dad had sent us a package. He was sending us his old Ipod. There was also an envelope in the package. When we opened the envelope my dad had told us that he had needed to sell some of his stock options at work and he was sending us some of the money. The check was for $1500.00 and we had NO IDEA that this money was coming to us. My dad had also post-dated the check for December 1st (the same date that Jonathan had been told he was getting laid off.) Only God could have lined up that "timing". :o) We know that there is another job out there for Jonathan, we just ask that you be praying with us that our eyes will be open to see what it is. We know that God is protecting and providing for us during this time.

****in case you are wondering why the "job" part of this story is in a different color, it is because for some reason I couldn't get blogspot to allow me to turn this part into another paragraph. So weird!!******

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hello everyone!! I know that I am a day early with this post, but Jonathan and I are leaving today to head to North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with his family. (They are driving from Kentucky to meet us in North Carolina.). I am not sure when the next time I will have "good" access to a computer will be, so I thought I would wish you all a very blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving! I pray that God will remind you of all of the many blessing that each one of you have and that He will continue to pour His blessing down on each and every one of you. :o) I love you all and pray for safe travels for those of you who are traveling (even if it is just across the street) and for healthy bodies during this holiday season. Embrace your loved ones and remember there is no guarantee of tomorrow.

God bless
Stacey

15 Things That I Am Not Afraid to Admit!!!

Okay, so a friend of mine, Karin, tagged me to post the The 15 Things I Am Not Afraid to Admit, so here it goes....

1. I am a procratinater (I am not sure I spelled that right)

2. I don't know how to spell.

3. I was a stoner in high school.

4. I love watching Hannah Montana. (sometimes you just need something mindless to veg to)

5. I love watching Suite Life of Zack and Cody. (same as above.)

6. I like watching "Spoof" movies. (as long as they aren't the unrated, uncut version of the movie)

7. I was a nerd before I became a stoner in high school.

8. I am not afraid to admit when I have been wrong.

9. I will often cry during movies that weren't meant for crying. (ie...Cars...yes I am talking about the animated movie)

10. I will admit that I sometimes talk without thinking. (ouch that can hurt sometimes.)

11. I admit that my house is often messy. (cluttered not dirty)

12. I don't like beans. (only green beans)

13. I love food. (as long as it isn't beans...see #12)

14. I will sometimes spend the whole day watching movies...one right after another...while sitting on my couch.

15. I am not afraid to admit that I love the Lord with all of my heart. :o)

Okay, so now I tag Michele...Susan....and Mandy.

Phase One is complete!!!!

Jonathan and I have been cleaning out the garage this afternoon. We have completed phase one. (Who would have thought that there would be several phases in cleaning the garage, but apparently there is.) I should have taken some before pictures, but I didn't even think about it. (This is were I would be putting the before pictures if there were some.)

One thing I learned (or was reminded) about my husband is that when he gets around to cleaning something, he isn't going to "cut" any corners. He is going to do it right. Me, on the other hand, just wants to get it done. :o)

Here is what the garage looks like after phase one. Believe me this is an improvement. Before there was barely enough room to walk down the middle of the garage to get from the house to outside. (I am kicking myself for not taking a before picture.)

So, you might be asking yourself what phase two is? I will show you pictures of phase two in just minute, but let me explain phase three and four first. Phase three is taking everything to good will which is basically the stuff in the back left hand corner of the above picture. Phase four is reorganizing once we actually have some more room. There is of course, the possibility of a phase five or six, but I have no idea what those would look like. Now, we could at anytime need to return to phase one again because we let too much time go by before doing phase three and four.

These two pictures are of phase two. Yes it is the mess that we moved into the house, so that we could go through the boxes and hopefully throw many many more things away. Phase two might take a little while, but hopefully not too long.

That is what we have been up to today!

Annjeri and Wongla!!

I am heading out to mow the lawn (what fun!!), but just thought I would post something before I headed out. (If you were thinking that I just procrastinating then you are right...I am guilty!!! I dislike mowing the lawn more than I dislike doing the dishes...and I REALLY dislike doing the dishes, but somehow it has become my CONSTANT job that I do around the house! Anyway, back to my blog....)



Last weekend, we had some friends from Colorado in town to visit. There names are Annjeri and Wongla (okay, her name is really Monika, but Annjeri sent me a text message that called her Wongla by mistake, so OF COURSE, her name became Wongla for the remainder of the trip!!) While they were in town, we went to Islands of Adventure (thanks Dad, it was his anniversary gift to us!). We had a blast. My favorite ride was the White Water Rafting Ride...Bluto's ride...it was really fun!!! And we were all soaked!! (Wongla took some pictures...I am just waiting to get them emailed and then I can post them here! HMMMMM...just had a thought, maybe I haven't seen the pictures because I keep calling her Wongla! Something to think about!) We pretty much rode all the rides...The Hulk...Spiderman...Dueling Dragons (only Wongla and I were "brave" enough to ride that one)...and many more! :o) It was great hanging out with our friends!

I guess I am going to head to mow the lawn now!! Enjoy your Saturday!!!!

A New Job....

Hmmmm...were to I begin!!! Two and a half weeks ago on Thursday the 21st of August, I had a talk with my boss at work about some things that I was having a hard time with that were happening at work. I realized during this conversation that we weren't going to see "eye to eye" on these issues. I spent from that moment until Sunday praying about what it was that I should do about the situation and the compromise that was happening at work. The big question was "do I stay working there or is it time for me to move on." By the time the weekend was over, I really felt like it was time for me to move on. (Jonathan and several of my friends agreed with my decision). So, on Monday morning, I handed my boss my two weeks written notice. I have never left a job strictly on principle. It has always been because I was moving to another state or because I was no longer needed at my job, so my boss and I were in agreement that it was time for me to move on and it was always on good terms. Needless to say, I did feel a little anxious because I was leaving this job because of principle and my convictions and not for any of the reasons I stated above. The exchange of the letter went pretty good because of the fact that the exchange only lasted about a minute and a half. My boss didn't agree with my decision but once I had given her the letter, I felt peace and the anxiety had lifted. Now that that step was completed, the next was to find out "what now?" So, I asked God, "What now?". I really felt like He told me not to worry and that the job would come to me. I had complete peace about this. On Thursday, August 28th, a friend of mine told me that she had asked if they were hiring at the preschool that there daughter goes to. They were and they had told Ava to tell me to come by and fill out an application. On Friday, I stopped by and filled out the application. I got to meet that assistant director and just had a great feeling about it all. On Tuesday, September 2nd, they called me to set up at interview and on Wednesday I went to an interview during the lunch time. The interview went great and I also LOVED The director. She was so easy to talk to and very sweet. At that time, I set up with them to come in on Monday, September 8th, for my second interview/play date. On Thursday, I got a call from the director asking me to call them, so when I got off work I gave them a call. They said to me that they got a really good "vibe" from me and they didn't want to let me "slip away", so they were wanting to forgo the second interview and hire me on the spot. :o) I told them that I would LOVE to work for them. It still makes me smile thinking that God had this all worked out. He knew the job He had picked out for me. I start work on Monday and Friday was my last day at my other job. I won't go a day without work (in an economy were it is hard to find a job). I will be working with one year olds, which is my favorite age group and the age group that I have the most experience in. They have someone leaving, who works with the one year olds and her last week is this upcoming week. I will be paid a $1.00 more per hour compared to my last two jobs. After 90 days, I am eligible for health insurance. (this will be the first time we will have health insurance since moving to Florida). They close for Thanksgiving and the day after. They close at 2:00pm on Christmas Eve and stay closed until the following Monday, so we get a four day weekend. They also close at 2:00pm on New Years Eve and stay closed until the following Monday, so another four day weekend. If we have to close due to a hurricane or something, we get paid 1/2 of what we would have been paid that day. Did I mention that the director is also a Christian. I feel like God's blessings are everywhere right now. I couldn't have asked for a better job than this. I am super excited to see what God has in store for me at this preschool!!!

NAPTIME!!!!

Every Sunday (or most Sundays), after church, Jonathan and I take a nap when we get home. It doesn't matter how tired I am or how little sleep I got during the weekend, when I lay down to nap, I nap for about 20 to 30 minutes. Jonathan lays down to nap and it is for at least an hour and a half and that is usually because I wake him up. (If I can't sleep why should he get to. Besides if I let him sleep too long, he will never go to bed at night.) Why is it that I can only sleep for a short period of time? I just don't understand. Looks like it is about time for me to go and wake up Jonathan. Have a great week everyone!!!!

Hi! This is what I made for Jonathan for his birthday! My friends and I have started decorating pottery. It is a lot of fun! The rose is purple because that is "our" color and the scripture is our wedding scripture and we sign all our cards to each other with it. :o)

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that Jonathan is home. (Actually, he got home on Monday). It sure is good to have him around again! I missed him lots. He had a great time! My dad and uncle took a lot of pictures with his digital cameras, so once we have them, I will post some of the pictures for you guys to see. Jonathan said that he had an amazing trip. I should have him post a message, so that you guys could all hear about it. :o)

It brought a HUGE smile to my face!!!!!

On Monday, Jonathan left for two weeks. He is going rafting in the Grand Canyon with the men on my dad's side of the family. For eleven of the fourteen days that Jonathan is gone, I won't be able to have any contact with him. (I think it is time to get a cell phone tower put up in the Grand Canyon. I am, of course, only kidding.) Last night, I went to dinner with a group of women. We had Thai food, it was soooo yummy and a big treat because Jonathan doesn't like Thai food. When I got to the restaurant a friend of mine handed these roses and the card to me. They are from Jonathan. He called one of his buddies and asked him to pick them up and then had his wife bring them to me. It was a most special surprise!!!

"An Airplane Did That, Right???"

Whenever I have shown people this picture their first response has been. An airplane did that right? Nope! God did! Last Saturday evening, we were at the healing revival that is going on in Florida right now. During worship, some of us looked up in the sky and this is what we saw. (There were over 10,000 people at the event, so I guess that "some of us" was a pretty big number.) It was amazing. The Cross moved across the sky for about twenty minutes.

Shortly after the Cross showed up, this wing appeared in the sky. It was really awesome!

For those of you that might not know what is going on, on April 2nd a man named Todd Bentley showed up in Florida to do a week long meeting that focused on God healing the sick. Needless to say, it is still going on today. So, a "meeting" that was supposed to last just one week has just hit 45 days. It is amazing, people are being healed of cancer, scars are disappearing, broken bones are mending. People are getting out of wheel chairs and walking for the first time in years.....knees and joints are being healed...arthritis is being healed....and many other things are happening. People are coming back to the meetings a few days later with doctor reports and x-rays to support the healings. People who has been manic depressant are no longer taking their medicacines (for weeks now).

A few testimonies from people that I have a personal relationship are....

A good friend of mine, Julie, went one Friday night with her whole family (her husband and their three kids). Elizabeth (one of their daughters) had broken her elbow two week prior to this particular meeting. Towards the end of the meeting, Todd said that God was healing some one's elbow that was broken. Elizabeth at the time had fallen asleep (it was about 10:30pm at that point), so Julie let her continue to sleep. On Saturday, Julie asked Elizabeth if she had heard Todd mention that God was healing some one's elbow. Elizabeth said that she did hear him say that. Julie asked her if she had felt anything when he had said that and Elizabeth said that her elbow felt hot and that Jesus came down and healed her elbow. (Elizabeth is six years old) Elizabeth was still wearing the temporary cast, so Julie took it off believing that God had healed it. They began to move her elbow around and Julie kept on asking Elizabeth if "this hurt" or "that hurt" and Elizabeth simply said "Mom, it doesn't hurt, God healed it!!" A few days later they went back to have it x-rayed and sure enough it was completely healed. :o)

Another testimony, Matthew (Jonathan's brother) has been taking anti-depressant medication for years (it has been for so long that Jonathan doesn't even remember exactly when Matthew stated taking them.). He was taking one pill a day and he now hasn't taken one for three weeks. His family (wife, mom and dad) have said that they have noticed a huge difference and he is so much happier. His face even looks different because of how it looked "drawn down", it now looks fuller and happier. He was healed of his depression. Matthew wasn't even in Florida when God healed him, he was watching it on the computer or on God TV.

The third time that Jonathan and I were at a meeting. We were having a time of worship and during the worship time, "we" (everyone there) had stated singing something about God's Fire. I was standing there with my eyes shut just enjoying God's presence and I started to smell the faint smell of something burning. Right at the same time that I started smelling the smoke, the worship leader says, "Do you smell that?!!!". The scent got stronger and stronger. We were actually smelling the Fire of God. It was really cool. I had NEVER experienced something like that before. Jonathan was out in the hallway talking to a friend and they could smell it also. Then Jonathan text messaged a friend of ours in Maine that was watching on the computer and they said that they could smell it in Maine.

I LOVE when God does things that we can't figure out with our minds. When He forces us to let Him out of "the box" that we have put Him in. God can do ANYTHING!

But don't take my word for it. Check it out at freshfire.ca through a web cast or if you get God TV, they are airing it live at times. Right now there are having meetings at 10:00am EST and 7:00pm EST, every day. (God TV usually airs the 7:00pm meetings every day, live.) If you don't get God TV, you can also check it out at god.tv.

God is doing some amazing and powerful things, here and around the world.

My cup runeth over!!!

On Thursday, I was sitting in class watching my kids play and I just thought, "My life is so blessed!". Right now, I am not sure I could ask for anything more. My relationship with Jonathan gets stronger and healthier every day as God shows the both of us what it means to "be one" and we learn to be open and honest with each other, communicating what we are thinking and what we are feeling with each other in a productive and healthy way.

I have family (both near and far) that encourage me to do and be all that I can be. I have friends (both near and far) that enrich my life with their wisdom and laughter.

I LOVE my job. (most days) My classroom dynamics have changed a bit since I left my last post about work. I usually have four to six kids a day. From oldest to youngest, they are....
~Dominick (He is one of my original children. He is turning two next month though, so he will be moving up to the two year old class. He is a pretty easy child to have around (most of the time), he does have his "moments" and during those times, you probably want to get out of his way because he is LOUD and very angry. )
~Dominic (No this isn't a mistake, there are two Dominic's in my class. This Dominic is 22 months old. He is "chatterbox"...although you can't understand a word he says. He also LOVES to talk with his hands. So, imagine that person in your life who loves to talk and is very animated...that is Dominic.)
~Yaselyn (pronounced Jocelyn. She is also 22 months old. She has two older brothers, so she pretty much "runs" my classroom...or at least that is what she tries to do. She is learning to give hugs instead of pushing/hitting. The other day I caught her right before she was going to hit someone and said "nice touches" and she gave them a hug instead. She really has a very gentle and sweet heart, she just needs to learn to express herself properly.)
~Katelyn (She is about 14 months old. She has such a quiet and gentle spirit. She loves everyone. I am also convinced that she tells me (by whining...it is really the only time you hear from her) that she has wet her diaper. I have a feeling she will be easy to potty train when that time comes.)
~Alexandra(She just turned one year old. She also just started coming to our school last week. She is such a cutie. She isn't walking or crawling or sitting up. She has been a "challenge" in some ways to get used to because she is used to her own schedule and such, but when she smiles and you look into her eyes, your heart melts. She is a treasure.)
~Nathaniel(He turned one this last Thursday. He is a "kick back" and "easygoing" kind of guy. I am still getting to know him. He has only been in my class twice. His older brother is in the two year old classroom.)

I have a boss that I can laugh with. I have co-workers that I can "goof off" with.

I belong to a church that feels like family, where people encourage and equip you to become who it is that the Lord has designed you to be. (not who they want you to be)

So, as you can see, I am blessed with a job I love, a husband that I adore, friends, family and a God that knows what is best for me. I have more love in my life than one person deserves. :o)

Blog Etiquette

I am fairly new to blogging and I was wondering what is the correct thing to do if you want to comment on what someone left on your own blog. For instance, if I have a friend that comments on one of my posts do I go to their blog and leave a comment on their last post or do I leave a post on my blog hoping that they will come back to my post and read it. What is the "right" thing to do? Or does it really matter? Thank you for your feedback!!! :o)

Easter Saturday!

This year we had our Easter "feast" on Saturday night before Easter and I have to say that I think we might have started a new tradition! It was an amazing night and what I liked most about it was that it didn't feel rushed and overwhelming. (You know how Easter Sunday can feel with church, cooking and running here and there) It was perfect! We had some of our friends up to the house. We started of the evening with the guys running to the store (it seems that something is always forgotten) and then the meal. We found out during the prayer for the meal that our friends, Adam and Arissa, are expecting there first child. Adam "threw us all off" when he mentioned God blessing the baby that was growing in Arissa. We all thought that he had meant to say Casey, which is our other friend that is due at the beginning of July but as we all processed what he had said, we all were soooo excited for them!!!! The dinner was a yummy ham dinner with all the fixings. (Thank you everyone for pitching in and bringing your part!)

After dinner, we sat around and chatted about different things. It is always fun to get together with friends and just hang out and catch up on life. After awhile, we had an Easter egg hunt. (Jonathan and I had hidden some eggs in the house). Once all the eggs were found (there were 12), we sat around and opened them one by one. These were special eggs. Each plastic egg had something in it to represent the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. For instance, one had a piece of leather that represented the whip that He was beaten with...another one had three nails in it to represent the nails that were used to nail Him to the Cross...another had 30 cents in it to represent the 30 pieces of silver that was given to Judas...and so on. As each person opened their egg they talked about what was in their egg and what it meant to them. We opened eleven of the eggs and the eleventh egg was a piece of bread. At this time, we all took communion together. It was really powerful. Adam started singing this beautiful song as we were all sitting there. It was incredible. After we were done praying (and singing), Jonathan opened the twelfth egg. It was empty...to represent the Empty Tomb and the Risen King. It was amazing. The power of God was very powerful.

I know that Jonathan and I have started a new tradition that will carry on in the years to come. We are very thankful for all of our friends that were able to spend that special night with us. We are thankful for each and everyone of you. We are also thankful for our friends and family that live too far away for us to get together. We are blessed that God has put each and every one of you in our lives. Thank you for making our lives "richer". :o) We love you all!!!!!

(Pictures to come!!!)

Perspective

I was reading this this morning and I had to pass it on.

THE RICH FAMILY IN CHURCH By Eddie Ogan

I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12,and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.By 1946 my older sisters were married and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. When we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could. For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1.We made $20 on pot holders. That month was one of the best of our lives.Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church, so figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change.We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before.That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering.We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet.But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt rich.When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20.As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes! Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills.Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our Mom and Dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the spoon or the fork that night.We had two knifes that we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor.That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed--I didn't even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor!I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor. I decided that I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time. We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor. We didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way.Mom started to sing, but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?" We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week.Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy. Ocy put it in the offering.When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100."We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? From that day on I've never been poor again. I've always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!


If you wanted to read some more about The Rich Family in Church you can visit this website. http://snipurl.com/richgirl

Spur of the moment visit!!!!

From February the 6th until February the 18th, we had some very missed visitors at our house. That's right Jenn and Joshua Tom came in for a visit. (For those of you who don't know who they are, they are some really good friends of ours that moved to Florida to plant the church with us and then they moved last year, right after Joshua was born to Maine. Bill and Jenn were both in our wedding.) Bill Tom wasn't able to come visit because he had to stay in Maine and work. Bill we missed you and wished you could have come. We had a great visit with Jenn and Joshua. He is such a sweet baby and it was fun coming home from work and having a baby in the house. It was also great spending time with Jenn and getting to catch up on life sitting "face to face". We were sad to see them go, but know that they were eager to get back to Bill in Maine. Here are some pictures of their recent visit.

Joshua LOVED Jonathan's Scooby Doo!!! (or was it just the tag that was attached to his head)

Here he is hanging out at one of the many gatherings that we had in Joshua and Jenn's honor. He is such a cutie!!!!Here he is sleeping in my arms at my birthday party!!

Bill, Jenn and Joshua...we love you guys and miss you a lot!!!

My First Week at Work!!!

I have completed my first week at work and I LOVED it!!! (I am also exhausted!) I have five to six children that are one year old. They are so much fun and each one of them has such a different personality. They keep me busy every day. Let me introduce them to you. There is Alex. He will be turning two in April and he is a really smart boy. He talks to me the most. (granted unless you speak toddler you can't always understand what he is saying. I am needing to brush up on my "toddler" but being "thrown back" into it full time definitely helps with this. It is definitely true, you learn a foriegn language best by living in it). Then there is Dustin. He will also be turning two in April. He reminds me of the boy from the Andy Griffith show. He is a very compassionate child. Dominick will be two in May, he is probably my most "kick back" child. When we are sitting on the floor reading books, he will often come and sit right next to me the whole time. He LOVES to swing on the swing. He is very sweet. Yaselyn (pronounced Jocelyn) is about one and a half. She has three older siblings, so she kind of tries to "run" the classroom. She definitely had a mind of her own and is NO pushover. Isabel is beautiful. She turns two soon but I can't remember exactly when that is. She only comes to my class two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is very sensitive and also sweet. My youngest child is David and he is 13 months old. He is really fun to have around. He is still trying to learn the "ropes" in the toddler classroom. It is a lot different from the baby room that he is used to.



It is ironic because people will often tell me how blessed these kids are to have me, but I feel like it is the other way around. I am blessed to have them be part of my life. I get to be "one of those people" that LOVES their job and God teaches me so much about myself each day through these kids. He also shows me how to be greatful for each child and their strengths that they each have. Not to mention that fact that I get unlimited hugs and kisses throughout the day. What a great job I have!

I was tagged!

(1) You must post the rules on your post before you answer the questions.(2) You need to list one fact about yourself using each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name use your maiden name instead.(3) When you are finished with your answers, you tag one person for each letter of your name.

J Joy
U Unique
L Loving
I Interesting
A Apple of God's eye. :o)

I didn't know who to tag, so I will have to do that at another time! :o)

Okay...please be patient with me!!!

It is taking me a little while to figure all of this out. When you are leaving a comment, you can choose either "nickname" or "anonymous". If you choose nickname, it will actually let you put in your name. (It also asks for a URL, but you don't have to put one if you don't want to.) If you choose anonymous then you will basically leave your comment as anonymous. Hopefully I won't need to post again about this...hopefully I got it all this time.

Comments

I just wanted to let you guys all know that I changed my settings, so that anyone can leave a comment. All you have to do is select anonymous when you are on the comment page and then you can leave a message. :o) I didn't realize that I needed to change the setting.

My New Job

"I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." Rev. 3:8

As a lot of you know, I have been looking for a job. My last job was a temporary job and it ended right before we traveled for the holidays. I asked the Lord to open the door that no man can shut and that He would shut the doors that no man can open and then I went looking for a job, trusting that God would do just that. Before my last job had even ended, I had put in an application with a friend who is the director at a preschool called Small Wonders. (She also attends our church. I was encouraged by many people to connect with her and to also put my application in with her.) I had learned after leaving my other job (and getting back from our vacation) that she had moved over to another preschool called Grace Kids. So, one of the first things I did was I went over to the new preschool and filled out a new application and dropped off my resume. When I was there filling out my application, she let me know that there might be an opening in the 2 year old classroom. A few days later she let me know that they had decided to give the teacher another chance, so the two year old position was no longer available. I had really felt like this was were I was supposed to be, but trusted that God knew were I was going to be and decided to send out some more applications. The next day, I got a call from Larissa (my friend) and she said that they had a part-time openning available and that I could start on Monday. I went into Grace Kids to have my final interview and Larissa pulled me aside and let me know that she was going to go back to her old job at Small Wonders. She told me that God had placed me on her heart and that she was supposed to hire me. Larissa asked me what I was going to do, if I would like to stay here at Grace Kids or go with her to Small Wonders. The scripture that was dropped into my spirit when she said that was " Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. " (Ruth 1:16) So, I will be going with Larissa to Small Wonders and God has blessed me with a full time job and the opportunity to work in the exact age group that I was wanting to work with, THE ONE YEAR OLDS!!!!! The job starts in two weeks.