ABC talkin bout 123

And the teaching begins...Here is the promised Student Teaching post. It has been such an awesome experience so far in student teaching. Today, the newspaper honored Mrs. Yoder and me with a front page story. I was so stunned that my little role as a student teacher would be honored in the newspaper. I expected a very brief story tucked away in the lifestyle section. Wow! I am truly blessed to be working with Mrs. Yoder this placement. I have already learned so much. I love the kids...they are precious. I am now teaching the full lessons all day. In 4th grade at TES, each teacher teaches a subject. So, I have the entire 4th during the day, one class at a time. It has taken me a while to get a good handle on all of their names, but I think I've got it now! I love each one of the personalities that come out on a daily basis. I feel like I have been in a tornado-like time warp for the past week. Time has flown! I guess I've been having fun. Today I finally felt like I had a good handle on the whole routine. It is hard for me to remember to try to have a life outside of teaching right now. I am trying to get better about not letting the "papers" monopolize every spare minute.

Here's how my student teaching experience began. School's closed!!!
This cute card was from Amy! She's so thoughtful. She prepared me a whole bag full of teachery supplies with the trademark hand sanitizer.
The first day of student teaching I had a sign waiting on my desk from my homeroom class. I nearly cried!
Books!!!!!! Lesson Plans!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!
Not only do I have an obsession with fairies, gnomes, and hats, but also pins. I acquired this delightful little habit from my kindred spirit Mrs. DeLong-sometimes it's scary how much alike we think. My collection has exploded since I began collecting them. I love them. So here's my teacher one!

Well since most everyone probably feels as though I have dropped off of the face of the Earth, don't worry...just look for my car in the Tomahawk parking lot! I'm either at school, working on school plans, or sleeping while dreaming about school plans.

Knock and the door WILL be opened!

I can't believe that I'm finally getting to post this amazing news! WE HAVE A HOME!!! On Wednesday, Brian and I signed the contract to make the deal official. It was a little scary, but, O so exciting! I was so ready to get excited about our first place and be able to tell everyone. It was quite a frustrating process, but it was well worth it. We will have occupancy the first of May, when Brian will move in. No fair! He gets to enjoy it first. O well! Seems like a small concern in the grand scheme of things. Finalizing the plans lifted such a huge stressor off of both of our lives. We really appreciate everyone's kind suggestions, wisdom, and prayers. It is a little scary doing all of these 'first' things sometimes. It seems a little hard for me to think of any other wedding plans that we took care of because we have been so focused on the townhouse. But to be honest we are at a bit of a standstill since last week with any other wedding plan type arrangements. Well, I know that this is what everyone wants to see anyway...Roll that beautiful home footage!

Signing one million and one papers...but it's worth it!

Me, excited? What makes you think that?

Our first street: 63 Logan Lane

A work under progress...with the sold sign in the window!

Our lovely board ramp! MY KITCHEN!!! MY KITCHEN!!! I can't believe how beautiful the cabinets are!

This is a picture from the living room into the kitchen...I can't wait to cook in this kitchen!

My KitchenAid is going to look gorgeous in this kitchen! Can you tell I think that the kitchen is the most important room?

Taken from the kitchen into the living room. I love those arched doorways!

Our deck picture taken from the master bedroom window.

Mom and me in the doorway!

These windows are the bomb! Vicki offered to clean all of them every Saturday!

Here is the Encinco Man hand on our front door! Well that's all for now folks! I hope that everyone enjoys this glimpse into our future. Until next week!

Wedding Update Already?

January is going to be over before we know it! Another Tuesday has come and I can't believe it! Seems like I just finished writing my last wedding update...Well this one won't be quite as long as usual due to the fact that I am student teaching as of today...More on that tomorrow! A whole post dedicated to education at Tomahawk Elementary! What fun! Today is all about the wedding update...Our invitations came in today! I can't wait to pick them up and look at how beautiful they turned out! Here is the update promised by the sneak preview...We finished registering at Target! I can't believe it! It was really difficult to register for things without knowing where they will go (eg bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen stuff)...I mean I know that bathroom stuff goes into a bathroom, but I mean within a home that we do not have as of now...Despite that challenge we managed to pick out what we liked...notice that I say "we" because Brian had input on everything...A couple times it was a bit tense deciding, but that's what marriage is all about...compromise! After finishing at Target, I must confirm it as my all-time favorite store! We managed to find everything that we were looking for in Target in order to complete the registry, which is more than we could say the day we registered with Kohl's. So, for everyone's information we are now registered at: Target, Kohl's, Home Depot, and Belk. It was a ton of fun registering, but it was time comsuming. We had fun though!

Here's Mr. Zapper!

And again....

Brian and I have been trying to figure out the wisest decision for us to make when it comes to finding a home. We really had no idea what we were in for when we starting looking around. It takes patience. We really have valued our families' and friends' wisdom in making such a huge decision. We realize that this is a decision that could affect us the rest of our lives if we overextend our resources. We also realize that it will be a great learning process in trusting the Lord to supply our needs. It has already been a growing process for the two of us to go through so many decisions and details. We are hopeful that the search will come to an end soon! As I look at this picture above, I realize that already a great opportunity has been presented to us. We are certainly blessed to have such an opportunity, but we want to make sure that it is the door that we need opened. Keep praying, and the minute things are squared away I will be posting a praise-the-Lord-He-is-good-report! Well, that's all for this week folks! Here's an updated countdown: 123 days!!!!

Heaven's Food

I will no longer ponder to formulate an answer to the famous what's-your-favorite-food-question. I know! This is it! Eureka!

I have discovered the official food of heaven...Papa John's Bar-B-Que Chicken Hawaiian Pizza. No words can explain the taste of this genius creation. The ingredients are as follows: Regular crust with a bar-b-que sauce, chicken, onions, and the best component-pineapple! I am convinced this is what we will eat all the time in heaven (without gaining any weight)...I do not disagree with my Granny on many issues, but regardless of what my Granny says, fruit does belong on this pizza. After a very long and brain-twisting day, Brian and I decided to order one of these masterpieces and it was a very good decision! I highly recommend everyone try one of these pizzas. Even if you are like my Granny- thinking that fruit does not belong on pizza, at lease put this pizza on your to-do-before-I-die list.
Here is the goodness!

Here is a sneak peak of Tuesday's wedding update. We finished regestering at Target--which is, by the way, the best store ever! If only they sold Papa John's pizzas! Brian was being a good sport as long as he could zap everything that we picked out. I am having a tough time figuring out who is cuter-Target doggie or Brian...They are both so stinkin' cute! Well, more about registries on Tuesday!

Well, here is Mrs. Cardinal takin' it to school. We have so many birds in our backyard. It is so neat to stand and watch them all and their cute little bodies hopping around. The cardinals are the most skiddish...Here at the Stone Botanical Garden and Bird Observatory we feature: sparrows, black-capped chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, wrens, mourning doves, woodpeckers, finches, junko, and even a red-tailed hawk.

Speaking of school, tomorrow is supposed to be my first day of student teaching. Well, I think that the weather may delay that for me, but only time will tell...Well off to get ready just in case Campbell County braves the storm--fat chance!

Weekly Wedding Update: Step Right Up!

A day late, but at least I got it done! I feel really aweful messing up my usual Tuesday schedule post, but I was out of town until last night. So much has happened since the last blog. I will give you the list: semi-finalized reception menu, ordered invitations, arranged transportation post ceremony and reception, bought wedding shoes, went through the first alterations appointment, registered at Belk, selected flowers, made a doctor's appointment, came a step closer to a home, and somehow managed to survive it all so far!

I am so excited to have gotten so much done since last week. I could not be more pleased with the invitations, they are B-E-A-utiful! I am slowly coming to realized just how rapidly the big day is approaching. The end of last week was a little rough as I felt that I was going to drown in all of the to-do lists. May I say overwhelmed? In order to avoid a mental breakdown, I write a lot of lists. This past week had me scribbling on anything possible...calendars, envelopes, and scraps of paper. It is unbelievable to think that almost everything got done on all of those lists.

Mom, Granny, and I went shopping on Monday for my wedding shoes. At first, Mom was a little worried that we would not have enough time to find an adequate pair of shoes. She thought that I would be too picky...me?too picky? Well, that thought was quickly misproven. By Granny's brilliant suggestion, we stopped by the local Shoe Carnival in Roanoke. I have a new favorite shoe store! This place was great!

Within five minutes many miracles took place: I had located shoes that went with my dress, I found them in my bigfoot size 10, and they were comfortable!

Needless to say, Mom and Granny were happy enough to buy more shoes...Which is exactly what we did! I do have to say that I was, at first, a little weirded out by the idea of a shoe store being like a carnival, with a spinning wheel and a man carrying a microphone. This guy must have asked us ten times if we needed any help. Then, all of the sudden his little weasel voice yells, "this aisle only, two pair for fifteen dollars!!" Mom and I looked at each other and started making our way to the next set of miracles. Mom located a pair of super-cute boots. There was, of course, no bigfoot size for me! But, the miracles continue, I fit into a size 9! Mom and I both got a pair of the boots for 7.50 each! We had pestered the guy so much that he let me spin the wheel and I got three dollars off of our total! We had such a great time in the always great Shoe Carnival of Roanoke, Virginia!

These would look so hot with my dress!

You cannot believe how hard it was to stand up in these shoes!

These shoes made me want to sing: "You're the one that I want, you are the one I want...Whoo, whoo, whoo!"

Spin that wheel...This guy was a unique man!

This was great! I got to shop, spin a wheel, and save money! What could be better?

Now enjoy these crazy shopping pictures. For those of you who know me well, you know about my obsession with hats. One day I'm going to actually have the confidence to wear hats more often! I guess I was born in the wrong time period. Anyway, fun times in the local MACY's.

I'm not sure what kind of animal this outfit killed. I especially loved the scarf made of furballs.

This is the Spring blustery day look.

This is the hip hop hat that I never have the guts to buy or wear!

Well after our wonderful day of shopping we were pretty worn out. Yesterday-tuesday-we had the big appoinment...the wedding dress alterations. I was so thrilled to try on my dress again. This time I had a much better idea of what it will look like on the big day because I had my shoes and slip on with the dress. Luckily the dress does not need to be hemmed- ah thank you tall genes...finally one charge that we can avoid. The alterations went well and then we went to Belk to register for china and flatware. Granny and I were a little disappointed with the amount of items that were out of stock, but never to fear I went to the Lynchburg Belk today and updated everything that I couldn't in Roanoke.

Mom and I went to Arthur's today and picked out all of the floral components for the wedding/reception. Let me tell you, if anyone is looking for a way to make money here are my top three suggestions : 1-make wedding dresses 2-alter wedding dresses 3-grow and arrange flowers. I know that the flowers will be beautiful because they do some great work at Arthur's.

Lastly, we scheduled the all important doc's pre-wedding visit. I want to make sure that the birth control is very well worked into my system before May! We don't need any Maui babies! Ha! That's about all I have to say about that! And concerning our living situation...God has been faithful and we have been so blessed to see situations change in our favor. We will go this weekend with our great realtor and walk through a townhouse. We are so excited about this possibility and are trusting God to provide and lead us further in the decision.

What a long post! It's no wonder I don't post very much anymore. I use all of my energy on the Wedding Update...I guess it is kind of important. Until next week...Toodles!

Week 3: Weekly Wedding Update

Another Tuesday already? Well, I'm trying to post like I promised. I said every Tuesday, and I didn't give a time deadline. Whooo, good thing! First thing I want to say a big CONGRATS to my best friends, Toni Jordan. Toni and her boyfriend, Jeremy, got engaged right before Christmas and I had not posted anything about it yet! Jeremy did a great job picking out a beautiful ring! It was worth the wait according to Toni! I am honored to say that Toni asked me to be in the wedding and I'm so excited for the two of them!

Here we are: the two Brides-to-be!!! I feel so blessed to have met Toni at LU as we were both going through the El. Ed. program. I can't wait to help you with your wedding too, Toni! Congrats!

Well now on to my crazy days of wedding planning. Well there are, as always, tons of things that come up that still need to be done for the wedding. First, I will tell you that the flowers, invitations, and transportation will probably be taken care of before this time next week. So the update next week should contain some juicy information if you care about those type things. Now, if you know me, which I guess you do since you are reading this blog, you know that I am a person that often worries a little too much about things. That has especially been the case since the end of this past semester. It feels like everything is hitting at once and the days are just flying by so quickly. I am slowly but surely making some progress toward crossing things off of my ever-increasing list. Realizing the wedding is nearly four months away is a bit scary, but O so exciting! I have to admit I had been doing some ulcer-inducing worrying last week, but Sunday God presented me with an amazing sermon at church from my pastor Mark. Phillipians 4:6-8 is now my mantra. In the passage, Paul urges his brothers in Christ to be anxious for nothing. I am learning to release worry and rejoice in the Lord. This is a major struggle for me very often, but I am very blessed to have a wonderful fiance that has been there for me to calm me down and remind me of the truths found in Phillipians.

Well here is a sneak peak at our Honeymoon getaway! I am so excited to go to Maui! More about that later! Enjoy the pics!

Brian and I are now facing the decision of where we will live after we are married. Keep us in your prayers that we will make the wisest decisions to get off to a good start as a married couple. This picture from Aruba below makes me think of how wonderful Maui will be in just a few months!

Christmas Eve, Day, and Day After

Well here is the Christmas posting for all of you "stalkers" that read this Blog. Let me say, I think that blogging is really neat and--for reasons unknown--my fiance' thinks that I am a stalker because of my blogging obsession. Anyway, back to Christmas. I have posted pics of the craziest three days in December: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and THE day after. Here we go, hold on tight:

1)Christmas Eve: The morning started out by attending our normal service at Grace Church. The service was great and we got to see everyone and wish them a Merry Christmas as Brian and I were greeters that morning. Afterwards, we went to my house and had a huge lunch--just the Stones. It was great! After lunch, I went over to the Davenport's house to hang out until church that evening. We then had Christmas Eve dinner at Brian's house--which included the traditional Christmas Ham, Mac and Cheese, and Jello Salad(minus the cat food). After eating we went to Heritage United Methodist for the Christmas Eve service. It was especially beautiful when, during the last carol, the entire congregation stood with candles lit and held them high--to remember the reason for the Christmas season, the light of the word, Jesus Christ. After Service we hit the road to Roanoke, stopping for the traditional visit to the Elks' Home. It was wonderfully lit and many memories of my childhood came back as I told Brian: "that's new", "that's been here forever", and "roll the windows down." After the exterior illumination show we continued to Granny's singing Christmas songs all the way. We arrived in Roanoke in time to get a plate of food. Granny's house was full--as always--and I had on my festive red cheeks which Granny and I have in common. Then it was picture time...read below:

This is just one of the 10,000 pictures that Mom took over the holidays. Granny with all of the grandchildren that were present except for Zach--who is now in Germany with the Army--and Danielle--who spent the holidays with her new hubby Jon. Left to right: First row-Lindsay and Keri; Second row-Alex, Barbi, Laura, Me, Granny, Alan, and Franklin.

An exciting game of Pass the Pigs, which quickly caught on a couple years ago as a holiday tradition! We have the best time playing! Linds even got in on it this year! Brian was a little over-confident and didn't play as well as last time.

2) Christmas Day: Christmas morning arrived after a longer-than-normal Christmas Eve slumber. The older I get, the easier it is to sleep! I had to drag Keri out of bed to get started on our stockings and then we got to the presents. More below:

I got an iPod! And to make things better, it's green! I was so excited, but unable to enjoy it as it was empty and had no songs loaded. Keri gave me the docking system that plays the music! It is so cool! I love it! After we had done our family stuff, Brian came over and we did our gift exchange. But first, we got a special gift from Mom...

Our very own VT gnome! Now we can roam a gnome all year long! Funny story, new tradition made short: Mom got me a Christmas gnome this year and it was moved just about every night to a new location. Brian, Mom, Me, and even Missy were in on roaming the gnome. Perhaps I'll share more about that in a later post, just know that my love for fantasical magic creatures is wearing off on those around me...Hooray!

Brian and I then gave each other our presents. He gave me a new watch, which was a great surprise...I ended up needing links taken out so we took the watch back to Macy's and got another one at Belk. I got lots of nice new clothes for my upcoming semester of student teaching. I also got tickets to the Celtic Woman concert! I'm so excited! Well After presents we went to Jeff and Jen's house for more presents and lunch at 4. After eating a quick lunch, we drove to Roanoke and enjoyed a dinner an hour later. We were stuffed, and Brian tried to have a roll eating contest with my cousin' s husband--Brian won--big surprise! We hung at Granny's until about nine and then headed back to L'burg. The day was such a whirlwind of business.

3) THE day after: Brian and I decided that to celebrate our last dating anniversary of four years we would chip in together and buy a Christmas tree for our own place the we will have next CHristmas. So Mom and I were on a mission and we met Mrs. D and Missy at Target bright and early at 7am. We couldn't believe it, but there was a line waiting to get into the store and we ran in behind it. We made our way through the store like it was a matter of life and death if we got behind any more people. Then I saw the trees and none of them really jumped out at me. Disappointed, Mom and I went and bought my iPod accessories and then walked back to the holiday section again. There it was--just sitting there all by itself, one more of the StayLit 7.5 Bavarian Fir trees Pre-lit with 800 staylit lights. After examining it I decided it was our tree! Mom lugged it through Target without a cart, which--believe me--was quite a sight to behold. We checked out and took it home! Later that night my Dad's side of the family came over for food and a movie. We watched Cars and ate lots of junk food! Yum!

Here's the whole crew: Below-Tyler, Keri, ME, Laurie with Carter on her head; Above-Dad, Kenneth, Mom, Josh, Trevor, Bradley, and Sherry. We had a great time and it was fun to catch up with the Aunts on the wedding plans.

WOW! What a long blog...No wonder that I procrastinated it! O well, it's nice to remember all the good times with friends and family during the crazy holiday season.

Week 2: Weekly Wedding Update

Well, after missing one week of the ALL NEW weekly wedding update I have much to write! Brian and I are getting so very excited as it seems the day is approaching more quickly. Brian and I celebrated our last ever dating anniversary of 4 years yesterday. I can't believe that we have been dating for that long, though it feels like much longer--in a good way. I can't believe it's 2007--I'm getting married this year! Well, here's the big 3 update:

1) We met with the new minister at Heritage United Methodist Church--where we will be married. Riley--the minister-- was super nice and is totally cool with us having him and Mark(our pastor from Grace) perform the ceremony together. We only have to separate the ceremony for them and that big hurdle will be over! Riley seems to take very seriously the relationship of the couples that he marries, which is very important. We still have a date with him to go over some pre-marital information that he likes each couple to review. Now I just have to meet with my wedding coordinator, my best friend's mother, my student teaching principal-- Mrs. Donna Brown!

2) We REGISTERED! I was so excited to finally get to register! Brian and I were so excited about going to pick out OUR new wishes for OUR new home--don't ask where yet, but we're looking. TARGET was so much fun, and by far the best place to register! We got soooo much accomplished there. We registered for everything but our bathroom and bedroom coordinates and linens. We are waiting to see what type of bed and kitchen table we will have in the future. Not to worry though, there is plenty on the registry now! Brian carried that little zapper gun around like an extension of his hand the whole time! We didn't really have any disagreements on anything, he was pretty open to what I liked, but if you check out the registry you'll see that he registered for some of his likes too! Next, to Kohls....
When Kohls first opened in L'burg we were so excited, thinking that perhaps it could overcome TARGET and become our fav store. However, after yesterday, TARGET is safely our first choice. Not to take anything away from Kohls, but it was showing a little post-holiday trauma. We went ahead and registered there because there are some things there we really liked. It took us about 30 minutes to get a scanner because no one in the store knew how to work the registry. Brian eventually told them how to do it! Ha! It was a good patience tester! So there is now a very wide selection on the registry there as well! Fun times! Boy, were we tired after about 5 hours of shopping with nothing to show but a couple pieces of paper!

3) We have a Honeymoon destination: Ka'anapali Beach Club--MAUI!!!!! We now have the room booked--it feels weird not to say rooms! Brian and I decided that it would be a great place to start our life together! The flights have yet to be booked, but there is time. We went out and bought a book MAUI REVEALED and have been reading up on the DO's and DON'TS of Maui. We are soooo thrilled to finally know where we are going after the wedding! More pics and info to come later about the Honeymoon! Well, that's all for now folks! Until next week, toodles!