Home Owners

We closed on our house this past Thursday. This is what we have done since then...3 straight days of flooring, taping, and painting. Much more to come!

Kitchen with new floors and a coat of primer on the cabinets.

Living/Dining Area

View from the front :)

Changes Ahead

We found a house! Before I go on, I must say that house hunting was much more stressful than I imagined. Looking at houses was so fun, until I started getting worried that I liked too many of them! I was afraid I wouldnt be able to decide. There is so much to think about when buying a house. Location, space, affordability, which will be more marketable later, features I wanted most in a home, appearance, etc. It gets really complicated when you are trying to decide between two houses you really like. How do you decide which one wins? Ha, well we found our house and after some negotiating we got an accepted offer. Now if the home inspection goes well on Tuesday we will be set for a closing date in early April. We have moved pretty quick considering we just decided to buy about 2.5 weeks ago. :)

So we are very excited about that. There is a lot to think about and get ready for. Also today we attended an adoption seminar at Southeast Christian. We have been thinking about adoption for a while. It is not something we can do immediately but we know it is something we want for our future. It was really exciting to think of expanding our family in such a wonderful way. We just pray that God will help us to know when the time is right and where we are called to adopt. It is just the beginning :)

House Hunting

Last Tuesday Derek and I decided to buy a house. We had no intentions of doing so and had actually already signed papers for another lease (even though we were early). Yet for some reason we decided it was time to buy. We feel like we are meant to stay in Louisville and hope that this will be the best place for Derek to get a job once he finishes his MBA. So everything worked out to leave our apartment, we have talked with a banker, and have a real estate agent. We are so excited!

We have looked at probably a hundred houses online. After a while they look the same and we know it is hard to tell a lot from pictures with bad camera angles. So we begin our official search this Thursday. We really want to find a house in a few weeks. It is amazing how many concerns and questions you have when thinking of buying a house. Hopefully all will go well and we will be homeowners soon. I know Marty is also really excited. He wants a yard to play in :)

Trust

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice, or we trust in his holy name.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you. - Psalm 33:20-23

Derek and I are reading the Bible in a year with our church group. It has been such a great experience so far. We read a portion of various books of the Bible each day and we meet to dicuss our weekly readings each week. I have been keeping a notebook full of my questions and thoughts on what I have read. That really seems to help me understand everything more. I felt so unfamiliar with many parts of the Bible before (which was totally my fault). I am learning more everyday and I hope to be able to share that with others in some way.

Through this experience so far I have learned a great deal about myself. Reading through some of the Old Testament I wondered about the faith of these people who had God in their very presense. How could they not obey God when he was right there speaking to them? Then I thought about my life. I often wonder when God is really speaking to me. Since God is not speaking to me directly as we read about in the Old Testament, it becomes much easier for me to not listen to what God is trying to tell me. I also realized that I act just like those in the OT.
We praise God for the good, yet wondering where He is the rest of the time when life feels uncertain. I believe we can all look back on periods of life where we felt lost. I certainly can and it was terrible. Yet now being able to look back and compare where I am now in life has allowed me to see how God used that time in my life to bring me closer to Him. It allowed me to realize just how much I needed him and that my life was a mess when I alone had the reigns.

So after lots of rambling, my point is that I am trying very hard to listen for God. That I am trying very hard to remember that God's calling for my life may not be easy, or traditional, or something I can plan for. I am trying to alwasy trust and put my hope in Him :)

It's Been a While

Well I decided to begin blogging in the summer when things were calm and boring. I was waiting and praying for a teaching job to open up. Thankfully one did and I got a job on my first interview in which they called me at 3 to schedule and just asked me "how soon could I get there." I think I was to frazzled to get nervous and therefore, it went really well. So I have been MIA in a lot of ways for the past 7 months because I have been educating fifth graders and working on my KTIP (Kentucky Teacher Intern Program) aka: lots of extra work for 1st year teachers. :)

Things are finally settling down. Boy, I never knew just how busy things were going to be as a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I knew that it would be time consuming but I never dreamed it would be THAT time consuming. The first 2-3 months I was working over 60 hour weeks trying so hard to get into a routine and mentality for creating and developing lessons and managing a classroom. Then finally one day, it all clicked. I knew how to handle things in a more time efficient manner and it made the world of difference in my life. So slowly I've made my way through the year feeling confident as a teacher and finally am finally able to see the light at the end of my first year of teaching tunnel. I really enjoy the school where I work and love all of the other teachers there. I really feel like God was looking out for me and knew I would fit right in here. Being a new teacher is really hard. You can not truly learn to be a teacher through college courses. College definitely prepared me to be in the right frame of mind to teach and how to set up my classroom. Yet at the same time I felt like I learned more about being a teacher in the first 2 weeks of beginning my job that I ever had before. As a teacher you really do wear many hats.

So, as I have regained my identity again beyond my job I am trying to expand my activities elsewhere. Hence the reason I am beginning to blog again.

The Birds!

Nope, not Alfred Hitchcock's version, but rather my own. It all started earlier this past week when I would take Marty outside. The birds have been particular loud lately, chirping or squawking directly at us. That is annoying enough because these particular birds do not have a pleasant song to sing. So then I started noticing that the birds seemed to be following us from our apartment to the grass across from our parking lot. They fly from tree to tree scoping us out. Creepy, right? Well it gets worse, the birds have now started swooping at us! That's right flying from tree to tree diving at my poor doggy and myself! These birds play dirty too, they don't ever come at us to our faces. They come from behind and scare us half to death. They seem to aim for Marty much more often and have actually nipped him with their beaks from behind! He gets freaked out every time he has to "go potty". He can not go in peace at all. So needless to say I was always freaked out by the movie "The Birds" and now I feel like they are going to come after me and my doggy.

Poor Marty :(

So, here is the funny part. I told my dad that this was happening and he told me it was because they were nesting. Ok, that makes sense. Just mommy birds trying to watch out for their babies. He also said he had seem birds do this with cats. So I figure, maybe they think Marty is a cat, I mean he is about the same size. Then as i was telling Derek about the incidents he informs me that it is probably because one day when he took Marty out, he noticed him chewing on something. Upon closer inspection this was not the usual bit of mulch or pebbles that Marty usually likes to gnaw on. This in fact was a birds egg that had fallen from a tree! So the birds definitely do hate Marty. No wonder, but in all fairness Marty chews on everything and I'm sure this egg was particularly appealing.

One of the most beautiful words in the English language

SUMMER! I know that it is not officially summer yet, but it definitely feels like it. The weather is hot, the pools are opening, and the stores are filled with brightly colored dining sets for your outdoor dining enjoyment. I mean really, how can you not love summer? I will agree that the heat can sometimes be too much, but for me it is still better than my limbs freezing and my ears burning from the cold wind. I am a firm believer that the seasons affect my mood and outlook. I just feel so much more alive in the summer.

When you ask most children what their favorite season is they almost always all say summer. Winter is just too busy with school. Summer is full of fun sports like baseball and soccer. Kids get out of school (and teachers!) and enjoy free time, camps, and sunshine. I have to admit that my great weakness that has developed over the past few years is my passion for traveling. My family always loved the beach, but always Myrtle Beach. Then I began to babysit in the summers and I traveled with the family everywhere they went and they LOVED to travel! Sometimes we would take 3 or 4 trips a summer. It was definitely go, go, go but I loved every second of it. Now I just want to travel all the time! Sadly, my wallet nor Derek's schedule this summer will allow for any travel time. We figured that this would happen because Derek would be starting graduate school so we decided to take a trip back in March: A cruise! Ever since my first cruise I have been a huge fan. Being on a trip that allows you to visit several amazing places in one trip and all the food you could want seems ideal. Plus the price tag is pretty appealing when you come across great deals last minute.

Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Islands

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We had such a nice time!

So today, and for the rest of my summer I think I will back on our cruise and all the other summer vacations that I wish I could be on. Now this situation is not terrible as Im sure I will be a frequent visitor of the pool at our apartment complex with book in hand. Now all I need to do is create a summer reading list and go to town!