Changes

So my week of almost no technology was great! I had a ton of time to think, pray, work out and just clean up my life. I'm hoping I can keep this good vibe up. I'll use my computer and watch some TV, but I don't want it to consume me like it has in the past. It felt very good to have so much time to think and recenter myself.

During this time American Idol started. That was so hard to not watch the whole thing! We fastforwarded thorugh most of it, but I think I saw the highlights. I had several wonderful ladies over to scrap Friday night and that was a blast! Carmen came and we helped her kick off the scrapping habit. I think she is hooked! I still haven't picked up all my stuff so I think I may get back to it in a bit. Overall it was a great week and I look forward to a great year!

I will continue to pray for all those around me and I hope you all will continue to pray for me. We need to remember the true reason we are all here. Letting the wordly things come between us and God is not the way to be. I hope you all have a great week and God bless!

Luke 9:23-24
Then he said to them all: " If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Going off the grid

Wow what an evening at church we had. Thanks Robby for such an inspiring message! I'll get to that in a minute though. If you can keep up with what I am saying awesome! If you have questions or want to know more let me know. Here I go:

Since the beginning of the year I have been all about me. I want to lose weight, get healthy and get organized. It's all I have been talking about. What about God though? Do I not care enough about him to change that area of my life? Sure I go to church, I volunteer my time, and I read my bible. But could I be doing more? Think about this:

James 4:4-10 "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves, the, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

How can I give up the friendship of this world? What has become my idol? Wow....I didn't have to think about it for very long. I just spent all afternoon on the couch watching TV. While I was watching TV I spent time on Facebook. How much of that time could I have spent in the Word of God learning and preparing for the week ahead of me? Almost every day I spent multiple hours watching TV and checking my Facebook profile. At night I spend maybe 5 or 10 minutes on God. That seems wrong to me and I got a huge slap on the face tonight. God spoke to me and said get up off your rear end and learn about me. Memorize scripture, get to know me. Spend time with your family.

So, in thinking about this here is what I came up with. I will no longer be checking my Facebook, I will be watching little to no TV and I will be taking up my time thinking about God and how much he can change me. These worldly things aren't needed to entertain me when I have the most wonderful book ever written at my fingertips. So I hope this starts you thinking what you can change as well. Don't hesitate to comment and we can start a discussion. I love you all and may you be blessed!

Well Happy New Year to you all! I can't believe it is 2010 already. It seems that 2009 went so fast and was mostly uneventful which was great. Beau and I are hoping that this new year will bring many happy memories and lots of great things. We are going to be traveling to Australia, Beau will be possibly moving jobs, I'll be switching buildings and we are starting to begin planning for a family. Two days ago we bought a larger car so hopefully we can save up lots of money to pay that off as well! I'm not one for resolutions, but I do have some hopes and ambitions. I would love to become healthier, more organized, and not stress out so much. So here's to a new year and a new look on our lives! Happy New Year!

Wow how long has it been? A long time...What a semester it has been so far. It started out a little rough for me and I didn't think October would ever end, but here we are and it's Christmas Day. Time is flying by and we are already halfway through another school year. Nothing terribly exciting has happened, but here is an update nonetheless. I have a great class this year and Carmen is doing a fantastic job of helping me out. Beau's year is going OK as well. He's looking at moving districts next year, but we'll see what the next few months hold for us. My class is supposed to be moving to a new campus next year as well, but again we'll see what happens. For now things are going quite smoothly. We went and saw Beau's family in Destin, FL for Thanksgiving, we took a mini vacation to San Antonio for Christmas and we have just paid off our Australia trip. I'm looking forward to seeing another country in June, but I suppose we have to finish out the school year first! So for now this is the best update I have and I will try and update more often this next semester! :)

So first week of school is done and over with. It was interesting. I think it will get better as the year goes on. Carmen is great and I think she is really excited to be working with my kiddos. Right now we have 2 kids in the morning and 7 in the afternoon. It's a lot, but we are handling it OK. Only 36 more weeks left! I'm already ready for next summer though. Beau and I are planning an Australia trip and I can't wait! I hope we can make it work. It's so expensive to go there. Beau is enjoying his second year in GCISD. He has already had a run in with the director of special ed and some parents, but they are working on it. Right now we are just spending our days at work and our nights relaxing. Can't wait for our first break! :)

Vacation

Wow summer has almost come and gone. It was a great time though. Beau and I went to California and Florida both this month. His dad lives outside of LA now and the scenery was beautiful out there. We broke in the camera and had a great time! After coming home for a few days from there we went to Orlando in Florida for a week with Justin and Heidi. We had a great time seeing the beaches, Universal Studios, and Sea World. Beau's mom has a condo out there and we got stay in a nice resort and just relax.

So school is getting ready to start back and things are looking good. I'm excited to start the new year and I'm ready for a new batch of kiddos. It's going to be a good start to really teach what they need. Last year I kinda felt like I was stepping into someone else's shoes and this year I know what I'm doing and it really feels like my classroom. I'm also getting a new aide and she is excited to get a change in pace. This will a fresh start for us both!

Wow June has already come and gone. I am thoroughly enjoying summer so far. Beau and I taught summer school for a couple of weeks and that was actually not bad at all. It was just 1/2 a day and very relaxing. The money we got we were able to put straight into our Australia fund. We are hoping to take a trip out there next June. We also just got back from youth camp. For 4 days Beau and I were sponsors for 28 youth from our church. I actually had a very good time. We went to the lake for a day and did a scavenger hunt at the mall. It was a great time to really get to know some of the kids. The other big event for us is that we just bought our first DSLR camera. We choose the Nikon D5000, but it was not an easy choice. We went back and forth on the Nikon and the Cannon Rebel T1i. It basically came down to comfort and few extra specs on the Nikon. It should be coming in today so as soon as it does I'll get some pics up :) We have a few vacations planned for the coming weeks and school will be starting before we know it. Summer is flying by!