Really Productive Weekend, Really Crummy Week

Yep, I've got laryngitis, but let me tell you about my week.

Last Friday, my old co-worker who now stays home with her daughter, Stephanie, came up to the school to give me a voucher for 2 tickets to the Dallas Stars preseason games. I'm pumped! But I do have this really bad headache where my skull meets the back of my neck. I go home to rest and feel better to go to the Stars game that night...so I thought. On the way there, I make Michael pull over to get some Tylenol. We decide to just use the tickets on Wednesday - when they play Colorado (a better game anyways.) So we rent a movie and I go to bed early. (Oh, and a Bowflex we bought from Michael's co-worker is brought to the house!)

We got up early Saturday and I feel much better. We go to a marriage seminar up at church given by Tom and Sandra Milholland. Afterwards, we eat a late lunch with Tim and Stephanie Avance. The weather is beautiful after morning showers. Michael and I do some MAJOR yardwork. Michael is using the chainsaw and I'm ripping out monkey grass and other stuff. I grade two assignments while Michael cleans the house and does the laundry (ain't he a peach??).

Sunday, we go to another really awesome class at church. We discussed what it means to be human. Fasinanting! Really! We make it to lunch with some people afterwards. We go home and get a much-needed nap. We wake up to go to Life Group, but get a call to unload Michael's parent's Uhaul. We go up to Lewisville and unload the last of their Abilene home into storage. We go up to Denton and eat a dinner with Michael's parents and sister's family.

Monday, all things are good - except for that I'm very sore from the Bowflex, yardwork, and moving.

Tuesday, I come home and do more yardwork and workout to ease my muscles. I take an hour nap and wake up with a sore throat.

Wednesday, I must go to work to get my kids prepared for tomorrow's test. I feel really bad by the end of the day and don't get to make that Stars game.

Thursday, I wake up feeling pretty good and know it will be an easy day since it's just a test day. I come home to take a nap before Michael comes home. I wake up w/o much of a voice, but I can still communicate.

Friday, I can speak loud enough for a class can hear me. I know there is a sub shortage, so I don't even attempt calling in sick. Things are going fairly well until I have to yell down the hall to get a principal's attention. There had been an incident right in front of my door that needed attention during the passing period. I have lunch before I teach this class. Things seem to be going alright, but with 20 minutes left in class, my voice disappears. I have an off period to find a teacher to cover my class and get istructions put together. I leave my last class in the hands of another teacher. May God bless him for taking this pretty bad class. Michael takes off work to take me to the doctor. I thought I could handle it since I felt okay, but was thankful for him to be my voice for me. I leave with 4 medications.

Today, I'm all drugged up. I've just slept and used "sign-language" with Michael. He has been super great- until he says something and I can't make him pay for it with a comeback. He loves that I'm so defenseless. We cancelled an evening with the Burrows. Hopefully we can do that next weekend.

Please pray that I can get my voice back and teach next week. I hate leaving my class with someone else!

Here a Baby, There a Baby

Friends, Alan and Rachel Wages, had a baby boy last night. I'll update this when I find out all of the details.

Brother, Blake, and sister-in-law, Jaime, found out this morning that they are having a little girl in February.

Wonderful friend and old roommate, Lori, will be having a baby girl REAL soon.

Can you hear all of the squealing from these new babes yet????

My Weekend

FRIDAY- Michael and I went over to the Burns' house (Tiffany and Eddie) and had a game night. So fun! It is always a good time to hang out with those that we were all friends with when we were all single. None of us really go to the same church anymore, so we don't see each other that often. Michael and I are the old married couple with these people - which is weird.

SATURDAY- Moving Day! Yippee. We traveled to Abilene to move Michael's parents to Dallas. The Lord finally allowed their house to sell after they have been living here for over a year. So we packed up most of their stuff and didn't need any convincing to go to bed that night.

SUNDAY- We woke up and hit the road to come back to Dallas. We were able to unpack everything into a storage unit before the bottom fell out. We were literally going back to our cars when the rain hit. We took a Sunday afternoon nap and got up to go to Life Group. Very cool conversation about living life and anticipating Jesus' return. The good conversation continued over dessert with Tim and Stephanie Avance.

INTO THE WEEK: Monday was picture day! All of the students got their picture taken during their Science class. That means I was a babysitter each period today. The kids were surpisingly well-behaved! Then Michael and I took my parents out for their birthdays (belated and early). Good times and good food!

I'm On Board With IPOD

CFBISD is starting an IPOD program for teachers to do podcasts. Our school did a pilot last year with our newcomers. These kids had vocabulary each week to learn. They learned, on average, 40% of the words each week. After receiving IPODs, the kids jumped up to learning 98% of the words. So, obviously IPODs can really jumpstart education. Kids today were born in a digital world and need to be taught digitally. I attended a training last night to get me familiar with IPOD and will soon learn how to do podcasting. Today, I had a professional development on setting up a student email, messageboard, chat, and blog website. Wow! I didn't do half of this stuff right after college graduation....where did this stuff come from???



So, now I have songs downloaded and have been listening to podcasts. How cool is that?!

Walk For Honduras

Today, Michael and I joined our church to do a 5k walk, raising money for a health clinic in Honduras. There is a goal of raising $50,000 by 2009. I feel like the money really helps so many people that desperately need it. So, Michael and I got up early and drove 40 minutes to do this walk. We nearly didn't get out of bed because we were both so tired, but we did get up and found it to be a lot of fun. We got to walk alongside Caleb Cole and Jackson Stevens. They're about 4 or 5 years old and they were hilarious to walk with.





Our church, RE, is holding classes on theology. I have found it to be very intriguing. Very tough questions are asked and you end up really wanting to make your faith's foundation much stronger. I believe there is a book that was written by Randy Harris and others that goes along with the series. I'll have to check that out and I encourage you to do the same.

Have a nice weekend!

A Fabulous Year!

Sunday marked our 1 year anniversary!! I am so glad that the wedding thing is behind us and we were able to move forward in our lives together. Michael has been an incredible blessing in my life. God gave us to each other at the perfect time and in the right place. So many times people comment to me that he seems like such a great guy. HE IS! I wish the people that know me well, knew him better. I guess that just take some time. Michael has been such strong yet gentle leader in my life. I have learned so much from him in the 2 1/2 years that I've really known him.

So...the fun stuff! Michael sent me a dozen, long-stemmed red roses to school on Friday. These roses were gorgeous! Maybe the best looking flowers I've ever received! Big, bold, and beautiful! It was so fun having the kids see them! We got to spend Friday night just relaxing. We both had been working so hard that week and we both just wanted to veg.

Sunday was our big day. Michael gave me an album with some sweet things written inside and a recent picture of us. It is set up in way that we can put a picture of us in it everytime we celebrate an anniversary. So thoughtful! We went to church and out to eat with everyone. Later, Michael took me to Ruth's Chris Steak House. He knew that I loved their sweet potato casserole and wanted to take me somewhere nice. Now, my momma makes a mean sweet potato casserole and she comes close to Ruth's Chris. Michael, who hates sweet potatoes, even tried to finish off my plate because he liked them so much. You may want to order it for dessert some time. They're that good! We were given a complimentary chocolate dessert, but after the steak and sweet potatoes, I was stuffed! Our waiter, Gianpierre, took many pictures of us, including this one:



Then, Michael took us to the hotel where we went on our wedding night. This place is really cool too. We got a little lost on the way. I guess that's because we didn't have a limo driver this time. Las Colinas is such a nice place and the weather was very cooperative. I even got to swim! (I miss swimming so much!)

Overall, Michael was very romantic this weekend. I love you so much, babe!!

Here's another friend who needs prayers for a family member. Tobin has an aunt with cancer. Tobin and her mom are doing a 60-mile walk in 3 days to support the fight against canacer. Tobin has raised about half of her goal. If you would like more information or would like to support this fight, please go here.