Winds of change.

Well it is a school night once again. Tomorrow marks Day 4 of our school year (I know, we started so late!) and while I am not looking forward to a the early mornings that school days bring, I must say that I am really excited about this school year. It is such a relief to be coming back to the same school and teaching the same grade again. After jumping into brand new environments the last 2 years, it is an incredibly nice change to begin a school year with some idea of what is to come (not that you can ever truly know what's going to happen with a classroom full of kids!).

This year I have a class of 16 and I am the only 3rd grade teacher. While that definitely presents some challenges to not have a partner in the same grade, I can't deny that I am a bit excited about the autonomy presented in having a grade of my own. I can set my own timelines and schedules, and set up a structure that suits me and my kids without having to make sure that I am matching up with someone else. After taking an absolutely fabulous summer course in Responsive Classroom, I am uber excited to implement new ideas in my classroom. In just these 3 days we've had so far, as I've already put into practice some of the training we got, I can already tell a difference in my classroom. Compared to how my year started last year, it is truly refreshing to feel like things are a bit more under control. It's also crazy to admit that I'm now in my 3rd year of teaching. Most days I still feel like a newbie. :)

As I begin this school year, my prayer is that God's light is shining through me every single day. I hope that I create an atmosphere in my room where my kids know they are respected and loved. I pray that I can be patient with them and meet their needs for this time that they are in my care. I am so thankful that God has placed me in a career where I have the opportunity to impact young lives. I just pray that I am able to make the most of that opportunity.

On another note . . .

FOOTBALL SEASON IS UPON US!

While the sting of the Colts' score today is quite painful, I have hope that the Colts can still make history as the first team to ever host the Super Bowl with home field advantage! Peyton Manning needs to heal quickly and the rest of those boys have got to hold themselves together in the meantime! But it's early in the season . . . so don't bury them yet!

P.S. I have a new pastime . . . fantasy football.

Happy school year, work week, football season, or wherever you find yourself! God bless.

[hugsfromMD]

Alaska in pictures.

First of all, I am lucky to say that Brent and I have survived Hurricane Irene (we are some of the few with electricity) and also survived the earthquake earlier this week. 2 new experiences for me, and I think that's enough natural disasters for awhile. At least until school starts next week. ;)

So, a few weeks ago, we were so blessed to go on a cruise to Alaska with my family. The whole group included Brent and I, Mom, Dad, Nick, Steven, and both sets of grandparents. I had a friend point out that I am in a lucky place in life right now, where I am able to spend quality time with my husband, immediate family, and grandparents. What a blessing! There will be lots of pictures here, simply because it's a trip with stories that I don't want to forget. This is just a small glimpse of the incredible trip we had!

We flew to Seattle, Washington, where we had an evening and morning to spend in Seattle before the ship left.

Saturday night we walked to the Space Needle

Sunday morning we walked to the Seattle Public Market. It's a huuuuuge local market with so much fresh food! Such a cool place! We also had the most delicious fresh fruit smoothies ever while we were there.

Seattle was such a neat town. I read on this list that Seattle is America's most active city. With all the hills you have to walk up and down, I can see why! Sadly, Tulsa, OK City, and Baltimore are all on the top 100 least active cities... not so good!

We set sail to Alaska on the Norwegian Pearl

 I've said this many times when people have asked how the cruise was, and it was just beautiful. There is no way that words or pictures can do justice to the vast, beautiful, and untouched landscape of Alaska and the coast of Canada along which we sailed. Definitely reminded of God's workmanship! Again, I have to say that my pictures just don't do it justice.

We saw lots of waterfalls along the coast!

 Our first stop was in Juneau, AK. I found out that it is only accessible by water or air. There are no roads leading into Juneau because of the surrounding, harsh (though gorgeous) landscape. While there, we toured a salmon hatchery, hiked to Mendenhall Glacier and a waterfall, and enjoyed an absolutely delicious, fresh Alaskan salmon bake, complete with a friendly bear!

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, AK

The gorgeous waterfall next to the glacier

It was chilly!

There were even icebergs floating near the glacier! And they were all an amazing turquoise blue since they came from the glacier (it has something to do with the crystalline structure, I think).

This friendly bear cub is apparently a regular at the salmon bakes. He was after the marshmallows!

Toasting marshmallows . . . yum!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole family, but Brent did catch part of us while we were sipping hot chocolate! 

Grandpa also found a new friend in this giant Alaskan husky. This picture is priceless. :)

 After we left Juneau, our next stop was in Scagway, AK. It was such a tiny little town, but really cute. While we were there, my brothers did a zipline while the rest of us got a tour of the town, a train ride along the Yukon trail into Canada, ate some more yummy salmon, and got to pan for gold in "Liarsville, AK." It was quite a day!

We saw the most amazing scenery along this train ride, I can't even describe it! Alaska is gorgeous.

Almost surreal.

Brent made a friend in Liarsville. :)

After our stop in Scagway, we sailed through Glacier Bay National Park, which is in Alaska. It was so crazy to wake up that morning, go out on the deck of the ship, and see icebergs and glaciers. It was so cold we could see our breath! It was incredible to see scenery that is just so different from anything I've ever seen before.

Incredible.

Yep, that's us in front of glacier. Crazy!

Did I mention that it was super cold?

I love this photo. It shows how eerily vast, yet peaceful the landscape was. It was breathtaking.

After Glacier Bay, we headed South to Ketchikan, AK. Nick, Steven, and myself went kayaking while the other folks went on a tour. Unfortunately, Nick got put in a separate group from us while kayaking, so we don't have pictures together. Also, we didn't have the camera out on the water with us because I was afraid I would drop it in the water! I wish I would have had it though. While we were out on the water, there were humpback whales so close to us in the water! There were also eagles, seals, and lots of pretty scenery. What an amazing experience! I'll also show you some neat photos Brent got while on the tour!

I had to steer, since I was in the back. Steven accused me of not paddling though, since he couldn't see me behind him. But I would never do such a thing! ;)

 Here are a few photos that Brent took! I'm jealous they saw so many eagles!

Eagle!

Native meeting house with totem poles

This is a lighthouse. I love how the sky looks in this picture.

Another incredible picture that Brent took. The sky and clouds look simply amazing behind the mountain.

Apparently, Sasquatch makes his home in Ketchikan, AK. Who knew?

One of our favorite pastimes while on the ship was playing Bingo. While we didn't win anything, we still had a fun time! Mom almoooooost won the jackpot on the last day!

Ladies lookin' good! :)

We continued to head south to our last stop of the trip, which was Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. It was a beautiful city. We didn't have a lot of time so we just walked along the streets admiring everything. 

This is a beautiful, old hotel, called The Empress.

This was so funny. Brent got pulled into a street show! He was throwing pins and juggling right along with this guy! The crowd loved it. In return for his participation, the man gave Brent a lottery ticket. Unfortunately, we are not millionaires. It was fun, though!

I love this photo of the capital building. Doesn't it look almost whimsical with the carriage and lights?

 And that was the last of our cruise stops. The next day, we arrived back in Seattle where we all parted ways and headed back to our neck of the country. Brent and I traveled completely across the country and back! What a memorable trip. :)

If you ever get the chance to go to Alaska, go.

[hugs]

Summer summary.

I don't quite understand how I've updated less during the summer when I'm not working every day, than during the hectic school year. And now summer is almost over [mixed feelings]. But that's for another post.

Quick recap of the last month:
Lots of reading [I love this aspect of summer].
Not having internet for almost 3 weeks [verrrry long, frustrating story].
Amazing weeklong Responsive Classroom training [one reason I am so excited for school].
Appointments that don't fit in during the school year [eye, teeth, car, internet, internet, internet].
Brittany coming for a quick visit [we witnessed an anime convention together, I'm just sayin'].
PandaMania VBS at church [fun but oh so different from the good ol' days at FCC]
ALASKAN CRUISE [so monumental that it will get a post of its own soon, with pictures].
Passing the one year mark of moving to MD [seriously can't believe it's been 1 year already].
Planning for the school year [trying to get ahead of the game a bit].

At the end of the school year, I remember saying I would post soon about some of my goals for the summer. [Quick check back to the ol' blog . . . yep, never happened]. As the summer draws to a close, I've been reflecting on what I have and have not done over the summer as I had planned. I have: done some lesson planning, made necessary appointments, became more consistent in reading my Bible daily, tried some new recipes, worked out often, visited the farmer's market, read some books just for fun, hung out with Brent lots, and made the bed almost everyday. I have not: done as much school prep and planning as I wanted, updated the blog often, played around with my camera to become more adept with it, lost weight, memorized much scripture, or bought a pair of TOMS.

But I must say that it's been a relaxing, lovely summer. Compared to last summer's events: finishing teaching year 1, watching Brent graduate, planning the wedding, getting married (!), honeymooning in Mexico, moving across the country, and starting a new job . . . it was nice to have a chill summer this year. As always, though, the summer has passed so very quickly. I hope to make the best of these next 1-2 weeks until the school routine sets in again. [School doesn't start until after Labor Day here, so weird!]

I catch myself reflecting so often on how life has changed since we moved over a year ago, and I can say that we truly do like it here in MD. We miss our families dearly, but we are blessed to be here. I love looking back on the people we've met and the situations we've been in that we would be missing out on if we were somewhere else. I love knowing that we have a God with a plan, even when we can't see it yet.

Another post will come soon about our cruise! I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was. Picture preview [more to come!]:

Glacier Bay National Park, AK

Hoping you are enjoying the end of your summer or beginning of your school year! God bless!
[hugsfromMD]

One whole year!

So I am pretty excited to say that Brent and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! I can't believe it has already been a whole year since we stood up on the stage at FCC and were married. The day was just perfect and there's still nothing I would change about it!

 So much has happened since then! Marriage, honeymoon, cross-country road trip, moving to a new state, starting 2 new jobs, setting up our first apartment, traveling, and so much more! It's amazing to think about all the fun adventures we've had this year and I am looking forward to so many years of adventure in the future! I have truly loved being a wife and spending every day with my best friend, whom I was apart from for so long. I honestly don't feel like the "newness" of getting to spend so much time together has worn off yet. :) There are so many ways that God has blessed us as we have moved and begun our lives here. It's amazing to simply reflect on how different life would be if we were somewhere else. Simply put, we know that God has placed us here for a reason because we've seen him working in our lives in so many ways.
We celebrated our anniversary at Rehoboth Beach, DE, for the weekend! It was fun exploring the cute town and hanging out on the beach working on our tans . . . er, sunburns. :) Reminiscent of a week spent in Riviera Maya, Mexico, last summer for the honeymoon! We had some delicious seafood this weekend and just enjoyed relaxing while we were there!

It was a fun little roadtrip there and back. We crossed Chesapeake Bay on the giant Bay Bridge...

... passed so much farmland, which, I can't lie, I totally loved . . .

Am I in Patoka?

. . . don't worry, we also had the essential piece to every trip, of any kind.

We also passed a bison farm. I'm sorry to report that I did not manage to get a picture of them. We decided they must have stolen the bison from the Midwest. That's the only logical explanation.

But, yeah. It was a fun trip. :)

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Sadly, we were not able to have our anniversary cake since we moved. It would have been hard to transfer cake on a 2-day roadtrip or via airplane, so we made due with some delicious cookie dough ice cream to celebrate when we got home.

 

Brent also surprised me with this lovely gift! A diamond bracelet. So pretty! I had no idea!

So, needless to say, we had a lovely first anniversary and are continuing to enjoy every minute of being married. I have the best husband and look forward to many more amazing years together! He makes me so happy. :)

Thanking God for His blessings. :)
[hugs]

A happy heart.

Ah, sweet summertime. It is here! I hope yours is going as well as mine.

It was a perfect start to my summer break to head home to OK, which welcomed me with the familiar arms of the Midwest heat. And what an occasion to make it home for . . . nothin' better than the wedding of an old friend! My kindergarten friend and college roommate, Julia, got married last weekend! I had the honor of being a bridesmaid and loved being a part of her special day. My dear friend looked just beautiful and it makes my heart smile to see her so happy. :) Another bonus: mbf, Mrs. Brown made it to town for the wedding! I wish I had a picture of the 3 of us from 1st grade when we all became friends, but I suppose this one from the wedding will have to do.

Blessed to have known these girls so long, and for many years to come!

The rest of my time in OK was spent just seeing all the people I love the most. When I headed back to MD, I brought along a couple of stragglers with me. Nick and his friend Mikey joined me and we spent a few days exploring DC. I can say that I spent my 24th birthday in Washington, D.C. I'll add it to the list of other places I've spent some birthdays: 17th-France, 18th-Cozumel (with Julia, actually), 24th-Washington, D.C. I'm sure there have been some other fun places along the way too, but I won't reminisce too much for now. Nick, Mikey and I walked our poor feet all over DC on Thursday and Friday, and managed to see so much! We made the monument tour and hit 4 of the Smithsonians. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the Obamas when we visited the White House, though.

The 2 best-lookin' boys in DC. Way to represent, OK, boys!

Of course, for my birthday dinner, we had Mexican! On the Border doesn't quite compare with Compadres or Lindo or some of the places from back home, but it will have to do for now.

Handsome husband... btw, anniversary is comin' up! How is that almost here already?

Nick!

Since then, I have taken to spending my week attempting to be productive: working out, cooking, running errands, and watching Food Network and SVU! The usual trophy wife stuff. ;) Ha.

Another pastime . . . pinterest.com. I am officially addicted. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's a site where you can "pin" ideas and photos you find on the web and want to come back to later. You can pin anything . . . recipes, projects, fashion, quotes, anything at all! You should head on over there right this minute! Seriously. You have to be "invited" to join (not sure why, because you just request an invitation), and so if you want to join, send me a message or comment and I'll invite you! It's super fun, I can't lie. But you may end up spending [way] more time on it than you planned. Consider yourself warned. :)

And, that brings me to tonight. My sweet husband is out of town on business so I am making good use of my evening alone. Eating leftover stuffed portobella mushrooms (a new recipe I tried this week, absolutely delicious!) and currently watching The Sound of Music. This movie has been favorite of mine for so long (Mrs. B knows what I mean!) and I haven't watched it in forever! Dad always says, "Isn't that movie, like 5 hours long?" Nah, just 3. :) It's a good thing Brent isn't here to witness my quoting and singing of every line. Ooops. But it makes my heart happy.

"When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." -Maria, The Sound of Music

What makes your heart happy?

[hugs]

Home of the Brave.

Last weekend, Brent and I had the privilege and honor of attending the U.S. Naval Academy's graduation ceremony in Annapolis, to watch our dear friend Josh Teeman graduate. The graduation speaker was the Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, who announced that it would be his last commencement speech from his position. What an honor to listen as he imparted words of advice to the thousand young men and women offering up their lives in service to our great country. He even got a bit teary and emotional at the end of his speech, as he was discussing the burden of sending young people, like those he was speaking to, off to fight for our country. I got a bit teary myself, just looking across the football field at the crisply uniformed graduates, taking an oath to honor and protect our country in service to the Navy. Not only am I so grateful to all of those graduates and all service men and women, but also to their families. We sat with the Teemans during the ceremony, and it couldn't help but think about how much they are giving up as well: long months between seeing their son, brother, and boyfriend and worries when he is on deployment. I have a friend from church whose husband is in Afghanistan, so she goes many months without seeing him. Coming from a long distance relationship, I empathize with their pain, but also have no idea what it would be like to worry about a loved one in danger daily. I can't thank the families of our military men and women enough for their sacrifice either. I consider these people, these families, those I was surrounded by on that Friday, to be the most patriotic and brave of us all. I was honored to be among them.





I love that the graduation coincided with the weekend of Memorial Day, another chance to honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and freedom of all Americans. Again, the families of those men and women are heroes as well.

I also love that, on that Sunday, our preacher spoke of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us as well. On Memorial Day, I hope that we all remember that we are forgiven and able to go to heaven because of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus paid for us.Though we didn't deserve it, nor were we even born yet, Jesus loved us and died so that we could live.

 How could we not be eternally grateful, literally?

We truly live in the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave.

[hugs]

Summary.

Due to my lack of posting here for the last month, it's time for a quick summary of April and the beginning of May:

• Spring Break gave us a chance to head back to OK for a few days and it was lovely! I got to meet 3 cute babies while I was there: Miss Brynlee and Josiah and Garret! Just precious. Moms (and Dads) should be so proud! :)
• Easter with new and dear friends (see last post)
• HersheyPark adventures with Damon and Adam. It was a full day of nothing but riding roller coasters! Oh, and attempting to eat a bucket of fries, listening to Brent scream on the roller coasters, and convincing Damon to make a music video. Fun times were had by all! :)
• Celebrated Brent's 23rd birthday last week! His friends got him a grill! Yessss!
• Felt appreciated during Teacher Appreciation Week with sweet cards and gifts from students and parents. I now hold the lives of 3 potted plants in my hands. I've never actually attempted to care for a plant or flower for a long period of time, so I'll let you know how that goes.
• Finished reading Crazy Love with our lifegroup. This was definitely the most challenging and life-changing book I've ever read. I feel like I've grown in my faith and am more aware of how my actions affect others as I attempt to love them with the same crazy love God has for me. More importantly, I have been challenged to simply live my life in accordance with my love for God. I need to purposefully live each minute, each day with the intent of loving God and loving others. I am so blessed to be part of a lifegroup and church family that strives to show God's love to the community so that they too can feel the hope and love that only Jesus can bring!
• Learning more to pray specifically for God to work in people's lives. It is absolutely amazing how He works for his will to be done in ways that we will never understand, and that's ok with me. I'm glad I'm not in charge and have someone to rely on who knows it all.
• Reminded of the amazing friend I have in Miss Brittany. I am so blessed to have found in her such a beautiful friend, as well as a prayer and accountability partner. I hope everyone has a friend like that!
• So thankful for my husband and how he continues to love and provide, as well as make me laugh every single day. I love that we have been married for almost a year (what??) and I still wake up each day so excited that I just get to hang out with my best friend! Now, if only I could figure out how to beat him at Kinect Sports . . .

Hope all of you are well and looking forward to summer which is almost here! I have 13 days of school left, not that I'm counting! :) Post coming soon about goals for the summer, of which there are many!
Count your blessings today.
Love you all.
[hugs]