Friday Food.

Friday night was pretty laid back. We got Panda Express takeout (one of our new favorites), and I made homemade banana chocolate chip muffins. Yummy. :)

Blast from the past.

Sometimes I like to watch our old wedding slideshow for fun. So, here are some of my favorites from years past. Enjoy.

The hole in my heart only You can make whole.

Sometimes I get upset over people making the same mistake over and over again. Sometimes I get upset over the same issue in marriage coming up over and over again. Sometimes I get upset over teaching my kids the same things over and over again.

Psalm 145:8- The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

What a great verse! Thank you, Lord, that you ALWAYS embody this verse. I would like to consider myself a gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love person. Sometimes I am. But a lot of the time I am selfish, impatient, quick to judge, and lacking love.

I am a type A person. I like to plan, know what's going to happen, and be organized. Mostly this is a good thing, but, sometimes your strengths can also be weaknesses (said wisely by my husband). This becomes a great weakness for me when I play God in my own life and try to live without Him.

I can't believe how many times I have had to relearn this lesson. Over and over again. Yet God always yearns for me to come back, always displays patience and forgiveness towards me, and never leaves.

This week wasn't very good for me. I felt grumpy and easily annoyed this week. It felt like a long week because it was the first full week back after break. I was grumpy because it was cold and the sun wasn't out. I was grumpy because my kids were misbehaving. I was not patient and loving like I should have been. I was grumpy because I had to go to a teacher training at night after working all day. I was grumpy to have to fast all day to give blood at the doctor after work. I was extremely grumpy to get a filling at the dentist. I was grumpy that Kley is still on Christmas break while I had to go to work and do those other things.

I also let my spiritual time slide this week, which only compounded the situation and made it so much worse. What I really needed was to fill myself up with Him to help me deal with the tasks I had to complete this week, but instead I grumbled to myself in my mind.

It's astounding how easily I forget God. I was driving yesterday, feeling grumpy and wondering why, and it hits me like a brick that my God-sized hole in my heart is gaping open, completely unfilled.

I am so thankful that God never forgets me, and He welcomes me back with open arms.

John 14:6- Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus is the only way to true life.

I am thankful for a relaxing weekend to help me recharge after last week, and I am thankful for God's never ending love and forgiveness. This weekend I am thankful  I got to go to Target (and Kley even came with me!), order Olive Garden takeout and had my favorite soup for my sore mouth after a filling, watch a movie, catch up on sleep, see my best friend, have dinner with my family, and have a relaxing Sunday afternoon with Kley with great conversation/connecting.

Thank you, God, for blessing me even when I am grumpy, for rejuvenation, and for loving me even when I mess up. Thank you, God, for filling up the hole in my heart.

Not to us but to Your name be the glory.

Joy in sledding...Conspiracy of naughtiness.

Hello! Last night I was going to post about "joy in sledding," but blogger was freezing and wouldn't let me. I was going to rave about how awesome of a day Tuesday was, but today tainted my vision of the wonderful post because it turned to a conspiracy of naughtiness. Funny how that works.

Tuesday and Wednesday my awesome coworker was sick. But, thankfully Tuesday was a really good day anyways. Tuesday was "bring your favorite outside toy" day, and someone brought the most perfect sized sled for a two-year-old with a rope attached for me to pull it. It was so great and the kids had such fun! It makes the 20 minutes before of getting everyone's snowpants, boots, coat, hat, and mittens on so worth it. Their laughs and smiling faces were such a blessing to be a part of. I was sweating by the time I was done! Also, one of my kids who I have been struggling with some behavior wise had a super good day on Tuesday, and we even called dad to tell him about it, I was so proud.

But, today I think my kids had a secret meeting before school and decided to revolt and all be naughty together. This was one of the worst behavior days I've had in awhile. It was unreal how off almost everyone was. The student who had a super good day on Tuesday had one of their top worst days today.

On the bright side, we did have a really good Bible time today. I was so encouraged. This week at school we are talking about how Jesus chose 12 disciples and they were followers of Jesus. We've been talking about how we can be disciples. Today we looked through a picture book of Bible stories we have learned about, such as Noah, Jonah, David/Goliath, Daniel, Mary/Joseph, and talked about whether or not they were good disciples of Jesus and why or why not. It was incredible how well they remembered previous stories and were about to talk about them and make connections. I was so happy! Their little hearts for Jesus are inspiring and encouraging.

So, there you have it, the highs and lows of teaching, all within a few days. Thankfully, the good so outweighs the bad. :)

Weekend of seeing loved ones.

This weekend was a pretty good one! Friday night was our work Christmas party. We ate, talked, and found out who our "Secret Sister" was and gave them our last gift. It was so much fun and I was so glad I was able to go. It was great to be able to be together just girls, enjoying our time and fellowshipping. I am so blessed by my coworkers and my job!

Saturday I was able to hang out with my friend Stephanie, who is here for two more weeks until she moves away to DC! We went to Target, and I got a new swimsuit and a few groceries. (I am just a little excited for spring break! :) Also, as a side note, I LOVE going grocery shopping. I was discussing this with Steph, who said she hates it. Funny how people are so different! Going grocery shopping is seriously one of the highlights of my week. I love the feeling of providing, planning, accomplishing a task, and cooking! We also got some Starbucks and painted our nails. A great outing I would say!

Saturday night we hung out with my family, eating Little Caesar's pizza and playing a rousing game of Taboo. :) My sister, Karlie, is still home, so we wanted to see her again before she goes back to school tomorrow. (My brother, Keaton, went back on Wednesday.)

Today was spent at Church- it was so great to have Lifegroup again after having a few weeks off for Christmas. This afternoon we took a nap, and have been spending a lot of time reading the book Radical by David Platt (a separate post about that later). We are almost done with it.

Hope you had a great weekend!

P.S. Tomorrow the Bachelor starts! Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it on Mondays due to teacher training for the first few weeks, but I will definitely be catching up on Hulu. :) Also, the next three Mondays in a row, I'm getting a new kid in my class at school. I am praying the transitions go smoothly and that they adjust quickly (and me as well with my class growing)!

Your love never gives up on me.

Sometimes I struggle to let things go. It's something I am working on. You know when you feel like you've dealt with, mastered a situation, and moved past it, but then you see something that instantly reminds you of the situation and you feel angry all over again?

That happened to me today. I was hurt a lot by my previous boss. It's something I can't/don't want to reveal intimate details about on the blog, but I felt like I was handling the situation really well, but then today I saw something that reminded me of the hurt and I felt so angry again.

As hurtful and hard as the situation was, God definitely use that situation to mold me in many ways- as a teacher, coworker, professional, and helped shape me spiritually. It was a huge lesson for me in letting things go, which was something I needed.

That instance today was a vivid reminder that no matter how good I think I am doing, I NEED Jesus and will ultimately fail without trusting in Him.

On the way home, I heard this song, and it really struck me today. Your love NEVER gives up and it NEVER runs out on me. Always. No matter how many times I've messed up. Thank you, Jesus! 


"One Thing" by Jesus Culture

Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing remains
One thing remains

Your love never fails it never gives up it never runs out on me x3

On and one and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never ever have to be afraid
One thing remains

In death and in life I'm confident and covered by the power of your great love
My debt is paid there's nothing that can separate my heart from your great love


Today I am thankful for my current boss and that I got to love on my kids again after a long break! 

Continuation of greatness (2013).

Happy New Year friends! 2013 has officially begun.

We rang in the new year super low key, and I was totally happy with that. This was the first year we felt like old adults with no plans. My best friend, Stephanie came over and hung out with us- yay! My brother and his girlfriend also stopped by, but they were only here for about an hour. We made dinner, ate Steph's yummy desserts, watched the movie New Year's Eve, and then watched the ball drop and people sing on TV. It was pretty boring, but I loved it. (And how funny is it to watch New Year's Eve ON New Year's Eve? Ha.)

I was going to title this post the beginning of greatness, but that's not true, so I changed it to continuation of greatness. 2012 was pretty great for us, and I'm looking forward to 2013! If your 2012 wasn't too great, I hope you can have a great beginning to 2013. Kley and I are blessed with great family, friends, Church, a place to live, a great law school, and a great teaching job. Nothing too monumental happened to us in 2012, and that's okay. Sometimes the ordinary routine is a wonderful blessing in itself.

This Christmas break was so awesome- it was so nice to have extended time off and to be able to relax. As sad as I am do see it end, going back to school is pretty great too. I truly do love my kids and I'm excited to hug them again tomorrow.

2013 here we come! I'm ready to visit Colorado, Washington DC, and Florida, and to keep trucking through law school! Thank you, Lord, for many many blessings. You are GOOD!

Psalm 136:1- Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.