Thanksgiving

Thanks to all of you that prayed for me for my interview - I feel like it went well, but you never know about that stuff! Anyway, the principle said that he is needing to make a decision before Dec. 20th (the next school board meeting) so that they can make a recommendation to the board. There are a couple other qualified people also interviewing, so we'll see!

Now, I have been too busy to write about Thanksgiving. I have been thinking about truly being thankful...I don't say the word thank you nearly enough, and I really want to work on that. I expect my children to use the words all the time, but I don't know that I set such a great example of that. So, I wanted to make a list of at least 10 things I am truly, truly thankful for in my life. Here goes:

1. I am thankful for God's plan for my life - I can only imagine where I'd be if it wasn't for God's hand guiding me! I would never had gone to Harding, never of heard about Camp Deer Run, never met Mark at CDR, etc. He had a plan for me from the beginning, and I never thought it would include living in Texas, but like they say, God works in mysterious ways!

2. I am thankful for my husband - he is truly the other half of me. Morgan told me yesterday that we are just perfect for each other even though we argue about stupid stuff (like me not being able to drive at night)! I can't imagine going through life without him - I just love him so much.

3. I am thankful for shelter - can you imagine living without it? The rental we are living in right now is only about 1100 square feet, but it is so much nicer than most of the places I saw in Brazil last summer. I am so thankful that I have a place to live - something I take for granted all the time but am truly thankful for.

4. I am thankful for my children - I know several people that struggle to conceive, and I am so thankful that I was not in that position. God has truly blessed me and Mark with three beautiful, amazing, and wonderful children...they are the light of my life.

5. I am thankful for my health - not only for my health but that of my family. I see the special needs children at school every day, and I cannot imagine living without sight, hearing, or the ability to walk. I am thankful for my legs, my arms, my sight, my hearing, my health! I am thankful that the most traumatic health issue we have had in my family is that Jacob had to have two sets of tubes instead of only one! We are truly blessed.

That's the first five, and the post is getting quite lengthy. I need to get my kids in the shower, so I will write the next five soon! Thanks again for your prayers for my interview!

Please Pray!

I have my job interview first thing tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 8:30 a.m. Please pray that all goes well ! Hopefully it is in God's plan for me to get this job. Thanks! Have a great day.

Haleigh's Pictures of the pond

We have been having some trouble with our pond ever since the heavy rains hit over the summer - the pond was full and holding water, but then the rain just kept coming and coming and coming. That was a good thing for all of our lakes and ponds, but somehow it caused a leak in our pond at the dam. We don't really know what happened, but our pond guy came out to fix it recently. Now, we are holding water, so it is almost full again. Mark, Haleigh, and Jacob went out the other night to see if they could catch any of the bass that we stocked in it. They didn't catch any of the bass, but they did catch a couple of perch. Haleigh had the camera, and these are the pictures that were on the memory card! Haleigh would just die if she knew everyone saw this picture, but it was only one of about ten in which she was giving the peace sign with one hand while taking the picture with the other - she sure is a nut! She thinks she is a little gansta!


Like always, here is a picture of Lightning with JACOB (he can't take a picture without him these days).


You can see the bridge in the bottom right hand corner of this picture, and this is a view of the left side of the pond (almost full again)!

Here is the view to the right of the bridge - you can see the lily pads (few, but growing).

Here is a picture of the left side of the pond from the bridge - so pretty with the reflection of the trees in the water.

I guess she let Mark have the camera for a little! She is using Mark's fly rod, and she has a perch on - look real close and you can see it just above the water.

We can't wait until the bass grow and grow - good fishing to come!

Last Days

I haven't posted in so long - too busy. Here is a really cute picture of Jacob and Lightning. Jacob wants me to take his picture all the time with the dog. He just loves him so much! Just had to put this picture on. (Jacob's hair looks like that because he had just taken a bath)

Thursday was my last day to work at The Learning Ladder (where I work after school in the homework room). There weren't very many kids there on Thursday, but here are a few pictures with some of my favorite little people. This is a group of the kindergarten and 1st graders that were there. They are so cute, huh?

Here are the 2nd and 3rd graders that were there - they are a handful.

They wanted to take a silly picture too!

Here are the 4th and 5th graders (hardly any there on Thursday).

There are normally way more, and you gotta love them too.

Friday was my last day in my classroom. Here is my host teacher (the best teacher ever), and here are the kiddos in the class (2 are absent). They are so stinking sweet. They had a going away party for me this week, and all the kids made me a card and they gave me a huge box of classroom goodies like stickers, dry erase markers, post it notes, staplers, paperclips, pointers, bulletin board decorations, and so much more. Hopefully I can use them soon!

Silly picture...

...and yet another silly picture! Why do all kids want to take silly pictures?


These are just some of my favorite people in all the world - it is killing me to have to leave them. However, I start my new job Monday. They got me funded as a special ed aide as well as an instructional aide (since I am highly trained now)! I get to work as a reading interventionists for kindergarten, first, and second graders. This will be good training for me, but VERY little pay. Anyway, a foot in the door is a foot in the door. Also, I talked to the principal on Friday and they are going to interview me for a second grade job. As of Friday, the second grade is FULL! My friend Tera said I must have pretty powerful prayers! Anyway, they are going to open up another second grade class, and my interview is Thursday, November 29th at 8:30 a.m. So, I need you guys to pray again - really, really hard! I would love to have this job!

Anyway...done with student teaching, yeah!

Halloween

I enjoy looking at everyones blogs about Halloween and how much fun they had. To be honest, Halloween Day was not a great day for us. We had very little time to trick or treat, and everyones mood was poor. My mom was here the weekend before Halloween when there were fall festivals, Halloween parties, etc. going on. That was when we had more fun. Here are a few pictures...to show the fun!

Here is Haleigh at a fall festival after she got her face painted.

Here is Jacob - he got his face painted like his shirt. You can't really see his shirt in this picture, but it looks like his face!

Just a few pictures from the fall festival...

Here are a few pictures of Morgan and Jacob -

what a beautiful sunset in the background.

Now for the Halloween pictures...

Jacob got to dress up 2 days in a row...the benefit of going to 2 different schools! I bought him a Spider Man costume about a month ago, but then his friend Cole (who gives him a ton of hand-me-downs) gave him a Spider Man costume with muscles. The costume I got for him was quickly forgotten about, and the muscle one was now his costume of choice! Too bad I spent $20 on a costume he ended up not wearing! He is such a cute Spider Man!

Morgan chose a Southern Belle costume, and she wore it to a friends Halloween party. I didn't take a picture of it (I don't know why), and it got ruined that night. The kids kept stepping on it, and it tore all over the place. She had another party the next weekend, so we had to get her a new costume. This time she chose a geisha costume. Her school didn't allow costumes on Halloween. Instead they had red ribbon week, and Wed. was pajama day. They still got to dress up I guess...in their pj's. She is losing her desire to trick-or-treat, so she wasn't too excited to go out. Anyway, here she is going to her second Halloween party...I did take a picture of this one. She looks very grown up...I don't think I will like it when she wears make up.

Haleigh was a pirate/goth cheerleader. She looked really cute, but she wasn't too happy when I took her picture. This is right after we went trick-or-treating. We were headed to church, and she forgot her change of clothes. She did not want to wear her costume to church! She was embarrassed. There were other kids at church with their costumes on, but she gets stubborn...she was not happy. I hadn't taken her picture yet, and I really wanted one. She didn't want to cooperate. The first picture is a true reflection of her mood that night...the second picture is her attempt to make a smile so that I could have a picture of her for Halloween. She was going to wash her face, and I wouldn't have had a picture...she never put the costume on again, so I guess I was lucky to get what I got.

I got a job!

I got a job at the school where I am doing my student teaching. It is not a teaching job, but it is a foot in the door! I am going to be an aide for an autistic student in kindergarten. I already know the little boy, so he is already comfortable with me. That is good! I already know the teacher pretty well too - it is my good friend Deena Jordan. I am pretty excited about getting in the school. There is a second grade teaching job available pending enrollment. Once 3 more second graders come, the classes are all full. So, what I need is for you guys to pray that 3 more second graders move in! If that happens, there is a really good chance that I could land a teaching job before the year is over! Just wanted to share the news - only 2 weeks left for my student teaching! Woo-hoo.