'Cause you gotta have friends...

I promise I’ve thought of twenty things to blog about the past week or so, but I honestly just haven’t had the time to sit down and get anything out. I don’t have any cute pictures because I’m an awful picture taker. I don’t have any really amazing, funny stories because life just hasn’t really been like that lately. Sorry! It has been full of some amazing conversations though.

Last Friday, I headed to Dallas with my BFF, Kelly for our friend Lindsey’s wedding shower. It has been a really long time since Kelly and I have been alone in a car (or any place for that matter) so that we can talk about our lives without self-monitoring. You see, Kelly is that friend who has walked beside me in all areas of life. I am a firm believer that different friends serve different purposes in your life. Kelly is just that friend who has been through a lot of the same things in life and can relate to what I’m saying 99.9% of the time. We can just be completely honest with each other. We talked a lot about what God is doing in our lives (awakening a lot of new stuff in us), diets (she’s down 40lbs and I’m down 17 woohoo), and friendships. That was the big one.

Sometimes, it is so stinkin’ hard to be friends with women. I know some of you can relate! We are judgmental, gossipy, competitive (THE WORST), and quick to write people off. Well, I know that I am at least. I am not saying that like I’m proud of it. I’m just being honest. It’s hard to fit in with girls a lot of the time. Sometimes I find myself not even wanting those friendships, but then again those are some of the greatest relationships of my life! It seems like I have a good friend who can relate to some area of my life whether it’s college memories, high school, church, school stuff, family, and marriage. Why can’t we just have it minus the drama?

Our whole discussion centered around the age old, single friend vs. married friend. Now, it wasn’t long ago that I was on the other side of this fence, but now I’m on the “married” side. Why is this so hard?!?! As a single friend, I often felt like I didn’t want to intrude on my married friends lives, now as the married friend I feel like my single friend doesn’t really want to know about boring married life! It gets even worse with one has kids and the other doesn’t! Why don’t men have these problems? One thing I took away from our wedding, is how many wonderful lady friends I have. Seriously, the best.

Anyways, without getting on a rant, that’s one thing I’ve learned I need to work on lately. I think you should all go call your women friends (especially the single ones) and love on them a little bit.

Health Check

I've been asked about this several times lately so I thought I would update on how all of our health stuff is going. So far, so good! I've been on my medicine for about a month and a half now, and things seem to be leveling out. Even though I really hate taking medicine, I definitely feel better, so that's a good sign! I've been learning a lot about PCOS, and actually had another friend find out that she also has it! She is low on the spectrum, only a few symptoms instead of being like me and having them all, over achiever that I am. She was told since that was the case they are hopeful for her to not have some of the same health issues, especially with infertility.

Justin and I are still working on the overall getting healthy part. We've not been exercising like we should (stupid time change), but we did just start the South Beach diet. We had both been seeing some results before, but we felt like we still weren't eating the best we could. If you know me, you know I have to have a plan and be organized. I researched it, and found out that SB is very highly recommended for women with PCOS because one of it's main purposes is to level out your blood sugar. The hormones kept in your body by cysts throws your blood sugar way off and can cause you to be insulin resistant, which is what was happening to me.

On SB, for the first two weeks you can't have carbs like breads, pastas, rice, tortillas (our biggest loss), and no sugar at all. We're on day 3. Day 1 and 2 were rough! We definitely saw a slump in our energy, and we were craving the weirdest things. We both just stood in the bread aisle at Walmart staring at it like a long lost friend. Weird, I tell you. Today, seems to be much easier. We've heard that if you get past the first few days it really is easy to follow. So we're hanging in there. I've lost 12 lbs. so far-in the whole month and a half, not just from 2 days of SB! Wouldn't that be awesome though?

I've been asked why don't I just have weight loss surgery, but I'm pretty set on not doing it. Don't get me wrong, I have several people very close to me who have literally had their lives saved by having that surgery. I don't knock anyone doing it! It's not as easy as some people assume. I've even looked into it myself, but what I'm finding out is that women with PCOS often don't have the same success rate as other women. I can obviously lose some myself now that my hormones have been regulated, so I'm going to keep pushing through and do this thing. As much as it is because I don't like doctors and don't want to deal with them for the rest of my life, it's also because I am stubborn. I want myself to believe in myself. (I know that is a completely grammatically wrong sentence, but go with me.) It feels like a really long time since I have truly accomplished something great. I've put stumbling blocks in front of myself a lot in life, or haven't had the confidence to do some things, so part of this is to just prove to me that I can start something and see it through. I can work at and stick with something that is no doubt going to be really difficult at times. So, that's my thought on that. I am determined to see this through. Keep me accountable, people.

Retreat

I've mentioned before that Justin and I teach the Jr. High Sunday School class at our church. We generally do Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings with the whole youth group. This past weekend, we had a retreat at a lake house that belongs to a couple in our church. Not a bad time when this is your view for the whole weekend.

We spent most of the time hanging out with the kids playing games. It turned out to be really relaxing. Of course, our Jr. High boys couldn't get enough of Justin. I think they hung on him every chance they got. All you could hear were giggles and thumps going back and forth all weekend.This is where he was most of his time.
We did a few lessons over living your life according to God's call in the "here and now" instead of pushing it off until you are older or feel more equipped. The lesson I taught was on fear and and how God calls us to be confident and to trust Him to be with us through everything He calls us to do. God has such a sense of humor having me teach that lesson.

We feel so blessed to be working with these kids. We were a little unsure of what our roles would be at first, and how everything would fit. It has been so great though. They are such good-hearted kids who really want to live their lives for Christ. We love being a part of it.

Workings

Lately it seems like God is really doing a lot in my life and the life of my church and friends, which is great but almost seems tempting to Satan. Sunday, our lesson for the junior high kids was basically just a presentation of the Gospel. We talked about what it means to accept Christ, and why sometimes we make such an easy thing such a hard thing. We talked about how a lot of times when God is moving in your life and you are receptive to it, Satan will attack you big time. I feel like that's what is happening to me the past few days. I just feel a lot of anxiety for some reason. It's not even that I'm stressed out about anything specific, but there's just this nagging feeling that seems to get pretty big at times. I know that sounds really strange, but man has God been faithful to me.

Last night in our couples devotional book, there was the scripture that says, "I am the Lord, I do not change." Malachi 3:6. I really needed to hear that. No matter what I'm feeling, whether it's founded or unfounded the TRUTH is that God is the same "yesterday, today, and forever." I'm so comforted by that. I'm so honored that God would even give me the chance to know Him and to know His peace. What an amazing, humbling God I serve.

Justin and I went to Beaumont last night to run some errands. Just so happened that Shane & Shane's new CD came out yesterday too. It's going to have to grow on me in some areas, but this song is already a favorite. The video is one they posted on their website as a promotional thing for the new CD, "Everything is Different." (That song is great too!) Take a listen.



Here's the lyrics for those of you who "can't understand them" (JaredHollier) Just joking!

Great Reward
Jesus You're my great reward
You are my portion Lord
While in heaven plead for me
Draw my every thought to thee
Draw my every thought to thee

I love You, Lord
Jesus, my King
I want to love You more
My great reward

I have this treasure in a jar of clay
All Your glory on display
Am a sinner who's saved by grace
You have made me a dwelling place
You have made me a dwelling place

I love You, Lord
Jesus, my King
I want to love You more
My great reward

For You are all I'm living for
I'm moving toward the prize
One thing I ask and this I seek
To gaze into Your eyes

I love You, Lord
Jesus, my King
I want to love You more
My great reward

I love You, Lord
Jesus, my King
I want to love You more
My great reward
My great reward
My great reward

I have this treasure in a jar of clay

Weekend Wrap Up

It's been awhile since I've had such a great and productive weekend. My aunt was in town from Austin, which always leads to craftiness. I think she's who I get it from. Friday, I took a sort of mental health day to spend some time with her and take care of a few things I've been needing to do. After decorating several coffee cups for my sister, and showing off the general greatness of the Cricket, we got a little daring.

First, my aunt helped me make several lanyards for me. I have to wear an ID to work every day, and wearing the same old Bulldog one gets boring.

Right now I've made 3. A paw print, zebra print, and pink and brown. I can't wait to make some more though. I like being able to switch it up so easily.





We even got really brave and made t-shirts! Here's the one we made for my older niece, Addison.

Sorry for the bad pics. All I had was my phone with me. It was so easy to make, cheap, and super fun! Too bad I don't have kids to make them for! Ha! I'm going to try out a couple of different things with this, but my first attempt wasn't too bad.

We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning out our guest bedroom and closet, making breakfast for the youth, and spending time with family. It was such a great, relaxing time. Too bad the next few months are going to be really, really busy. Enjoy it while you can!

Teachery stuff

I was inspired by Jenny's post about her super cute library to post about my classroom. Please keep in mind that my school is over 50 years old (so ignore the stains on the carpet), and I am no Beth Newingham . Welcome to Room 308!

When you first walk in my door this is what you see. The table at the front is where I do most of my teaching, which is mostly guided reading.


This is the view from my desk. Notice those stains now? Haha! You can also see Blogger pulled up on my computer. I love our tables. They're colorful and cheerful. I really do like them over desks.
Another view of the room. My reading corner is next to that window. Here's a closer peek.

My chair came from a garage sale for $20. It used to have an ottoman, but there's just not enough room for it here. This is where the kids can do independent reading in centers, and where we meet to do some of our reading skills. Today we compared and contrasted biographies and autobiographies using the Ruby Bridges book you see here.

This is our library. Most of the books are mine from when I was a little kid. They are organized by genre. I can't take credit for the labels. I stole those from Beth Newingham. (Sorry for the lighting. It's actually NOT RAINING today!)

Our Center board. This is how the kids know what centers to go to. It's a life saver. This year my kids rotate by color of tables, but I've done group numbers when I have had desks instead of tables. The icons come from a Fountas and Pinnell book.

My sad desk!! I used to have a cute little holder thing on it, and then my kids started stealing my stuff. :-( Notice my new Tervis Tumbler (love it!), and the fact that there's no picture in my frame. Oops. I keep meaning to put one in there from the wedding, but I just haven't yet. I always have a folder with that day's papers in it. Of course me being a scrapbooker...

I make mine cute. Ugh. Just turn your head upside down. I have no idea why it did that. I've covered plain file folders with cute school-related scrapbook paper, labeled them (like I do everything else), and made friends with the copy lady so she would laminate them for me.

Well, that's all I have time for today. I wanted to share this with you though. In reading The Ruby Bridges Story with my kids this morning, I was really struck by her prayer at the end of the book. If you have never read this, I recommend it. It's about one of the first little girls to enter an integrated school. Every day she would pray for the people who yelled things at her. This was her prayer...

Please, God, try to forgive those people.

Because even if they say those bad things,

They don't know what they are doing.

So You could forgive them,

Just like you did those folks a long time ago

When they said terrible things about You.

Wisdom from the mouths of babes.

28

Yesterday was my 28th birthday. Woohoo. Felt like any old Tuesday to me! I'm not sad about being closer to 30. I think I'm almost ready for that point. It sounds like you figure a lot of stuff out after 30 that would be a huge relief. We didn't really do anything elaborate. Justin made chicken fajitas (my favorite!), which is way better than eating at any restaurant around here. We also watched The Proposal. We never got to see it in the theaters because it came out this summer. We didn't see much besides wedding stuff this summer! It was a great flick though. I would recommend it. This weekend we're going shopping, and out on a date. In honor of my 28th, I thought I'd post a random list of 28 things I love in my life right now. (They are not in any type of order except what comes to my mind.)

1. My husband. (Of course!) Silly. Sweet. Handy. Great cook. He's got it all.
2. Fall weather. Thank you, Jesus! Please let it stick around.
3. Jr. High Sunday School We've been teaching this class for a couple of months now, and those kids are a hoot and a half. You never know what they're going to say or do.
4. Our 100 Days of Praying for our Marriage Our church started this in September, and so far it has been great for us. We've been doing a short devotional and praying together every night, and we've both gotten a lot out of it.
5. Church in general. It took us a long time to find a church we both felt we belonged to, and now we love it more than we could ever say.
6. My job. Well, I'm thankful that I have a job, and MOST days I really love my kids. On days that they steal stuff from me and are disrespectful I question my sanity. I know in the long run though, I will be sad to see them go.
7. Same Kind of Different As Me. Looovvviiinnnggg this book.
8. Pickled Okra
9. Ponytails
10. Sweaters and sweater weather (see #2)
11. Cute nieces and nephew in their Halloween costumes. Too cute!
12. Being crafty
13. Redecorating I have an itch to change things around.
14. Starting to think about Christmas presents
15. My comfy bed. Oh how I wish I were there right now with #7.
16. My very fall-ish orange purse. That's right...orange!
17. The color orange. I used to hate it, but lately I love it on everything. Not like, neon orange, but deep, fall orange.
18. That my kids are loving to read books. Our librarian should take 99.9% of the credit for that, but I just love that my kids are excited about books!
19. Feeling normal again.
20. Blogs...especially creative blogs.
21. Having some good girl friends.
22. Glee
23. Quiet time.
24. Letting myself relax a little instead of stressing out that I have to have everything done right now.
25. Homemade Tortilla soup
26. The fact that I haven't been to Walmart in a very long time.
27. Being inspired by other people.
28. Life in general.