Life update

I am so excited about starting my last semester at Auburn! I don't want to think about leaving Auburn and my friends but I will be so glad to graduate. Last semester I taught 1st-3rd graders and although I enjoyed it, it made me realize that I am most passionate about teaching younger children.

This semester I am happy to say that for my internship I am teaching preschool! I have 3 and 4 year olds four days a week then a teacher workday on fridays. I also only have a 10 minute drive to school compared to my 35 minute drive and working in the eastern time zone last semester.

My three year olds arrive by 7:45am and leave at 10:15am. Then the four year olds arrive at 11am and leave at 2pm. There are about 8 students in each class. Most of the students have language delays or other developmental delays then we have a couple of typical students that act as peer models to model appropriate behaviors and developmental milestones.

I love my kiddos and can't wait to update y'all on what we do each week!

God is still Sovereign

Despite the loss and the sadness that Mallori's family is having to bear, God is still at work in their lives. Mallori's husband acknowledged that he was missing a lot more than just Mallori in his life; he was missing God. At Mallori's funeral, the pastor announced that her husband had accepted christ as his savior and acknowledged his need for him.
I pray that he continues to grow in Christ so his children can be raised by a Godly father and that Christ will continue to heal his heart.
There is something so healing in knowing that God can and will use things as horrible as the death of a loved one to bring about his sovereign plan and further His kingdom.

In need of prayer

Today, immediately after church, I was informed that my best friend up through Jr High School was killed in a car accident. Mallori Whisenhunt Harper was thrown from her car after it flipped on hwy 174 between pell city and odenville. Her 2 young children (bailey-2yrs and harris-3yrs) were in the car with her. Bailey came away with minor cuts after escaping from her seat and crawling into a nearby yard. Harris is currently in the ICU with multiple injuries. Among his injuries are bruised and swollen eyes, a punctured lung, and shattered leg bones.
Mallori was the oldest of 4 kids. Her siblings are Blaine, Andrew, and Abby. She was living at home with them her mom, kim, and her stepdad, kevin, and her two kids. Mallori just turned 22 years old last week.
Praise the Lord that her 2 babies are ok but the whole situation is a mess. There are so many things for which I would covet your prayers.
1. Mallori was in the middle of a divorce and custody battle. For this you could pray that Mallori's mother would receive custody of the children since the children's father's job requires him to be gone weeks at a time.
2. Pray that the custody battle would not get ugly.
3. Pray for rest for the family as they grieve. Grieving is so exhausting but it is so hard to turn your mind off and actually rest.
4. Pray that the family would find strength in God and know that they can make it through this trying time. It definitely will not be of their own strength. Words cannot describe how it feels to look back on the hardest experience of your life and realize that God was and is powerful enough to bring you through it.
5. Pray for peace for the family--that they won't blame themselves for anything and that they will be able to slowly move forward without dwelling on the accident and what they could have done differently.
6. This last request is a little selfish, but pray for me. Pray that God would use me to be a comfort to this family. Also pray that God would grant me peace as this situation brings back a lot of memories from the loss of Rachael and as I mourn the loss of my friend Mallori.
Thank you for your prayers!

Family

The family is still crazy as always. Here's our christmas update:

1. Jordan is senior and is considering attending a local community college, Jefferson state, for 2 years while living at home then transferring to another school after he finishes his core classes.

2. Corey is 13 and taller than me. He is playing soccer and football at Moody Junior High and enjoying attending public school.

3. Katrina is also enjoying attending public school and is struggling to figure out who she is and what she stands for. She will turn 16 in about a week but is grounded for the rest of her high school life, so she may never drive a car until she goes to college.

4. Sarah is 11. She has a heart for children (excluding her siblings of course) and enjoys babysitting. She is taking piano lessons and her teacher recently found her a beginner's piano book of the Jonas Brother's sheet music--which she loves.

5. Annika is 9 years old and very difficult to describe. She definitely dances to the beat of her own drum--literally. The boys her age love her because she is basically one of them. When someone called her a "tomboy" she responded by saying, "I'm not a tomboy! I'm a tomgirl--half boy and half girl."
6. Mom is continuing to work on designing her children's heirloom clothing patterns. She recently had a photo shoot for some of her patterns to be displayed in next year's christmas edition of Sew Beautiful.

7. Dad is keeping busy with work and his large list of things to do at home. We recently added an addition onto the house for a new den. We started this addition before the turn in the economy and were planning on paying for it by cashing stocks. Dad is stressed over finances both with paying for this addition and thinking about all the kids going to college, thus he is thankful that jordan is considering living at home and going to a community college for a few years.

Picture Updates are a lot easier

Me and my buddy, Cathy, with Santa at the Best Buddies Christmas party at the Farmhouse frat house after my last day of class. :)
Sunday through thursday, I was at Lagniappe helping with the RUF blitz build. We built a 4 bedroom house in a matter of days despite the rain, mud, and fog. The dots on the picture above is all the moisture in the air--not rain, just fog.

Thursday I left Lagniappe and returned to Birmingham to attend a couple of wedding showers for my friend Ruth Ann. Here she is at her lingerie shower looking at her underwear mobile.

I also attended a bridesmaid's tea for another one of my friends whose wedding I am in in May but I don't have any pictures yet from that.

Time Saving Tips

I had a long, tiring day yesterday while writing a paper for finals and trying to get things done for Best Buddies and Friends For Life. I also spend a good chunk of time every day listening to messages and returning phone calls. The one thing that made my day yesterday was...are you ready for this?...discovering how to text in the shower!
I'm a genius! Granted, this probably won't save that much time but it is pretty fantastic. I wonder if I could use the same method to return phone calls while in the shower. Ok--that's kinda weird, but I could listen to messages.
All I did was slid my opened flip phone into a plastic baggie, sealed it closed, and viola! You are now ready to text or listen to messages in the shower!

Mmmm

After cleaning out my fridge to leave for Thanksgiving break, the mere contents of my fridge now consist of 2 beers, a bottle of wine, and a bag of carrots. Ahh...the college life. :)