A lot!

Well, since I have so long between all of my posts, I have of course a lot to say. Where to begin...

School has started, and I am feeling a bit of deja vu. Many of you know that last year I had low numbers so after school started I had to pack up my class and move schools and start a new class. I will admit at the time I thought it was the worst experience of my life (believe me...it was bad) but the Lord showed his glory in the move in that I was moved from a school where I might not have had a very good year to a wonderful school with a wonderful supportive staff that was perfect for a first year teacher. Well, this year I again have very low numbers, so I have spent the entire year wondering if this is going to be the day they tell me I have to move. It is harder this year because I REALLY love my school, but I am trying to trust that the Lord is directing me and remembering that he worked things out for the best last year. Overall, I am hoping that my section doesn't get closed, but just trying to trust the Lord in it regardless. Obviously, I could use some maaaaaajor prayer!

Other than the moving situation my year has been great. I feel much more confident in the classroom, and my kids are so smart and well behaved. No one has pulled my hair or kicked me....yet! I will be sad to leave them if it comes to that.

Now on to my BIG news....

We are moving!!! Wait, wait, wait.....we are moving towns, but just to Odessa. The Lord has blessed us with an amazing opportunity and we will be moving in the first of October. Through a series of what seemed like random, although perfectly orchestrated, events we were offered to live in a house FREE OF RENT! For those of you who don't know, rent in Midland is beyond outrageous! Ryan works in Odessa so he already commutes every morning, so now we will just switch. I will be driving to Midland, but it really isn't very far. We are really excited to live in a house and not an apt for so many reasons...a yard for Izzy, no loud neighbors, more room, the perks go on and on and on. We are so thankful for this blessing!!

The cruise was wonderful!!

Time for supper!

Well, I just have to face the facts...I'm never going to be a consistent blogger! Everytime I pull up the page I go blank! But today in my struggle to not finish cleaning the house, I think I can manage a little something.

The truth is our lives lately have been so crazy we really haven't had much time to breathe! We have been out of town every weekend in July with several of those being long weekends. We have been visiting family a lot. The fourth is my Nana's birthday so of course that was spent in Snyder. Also, Ryan's brother that is in the Navy had a 12 day leave so we have spent the past two weekends in Big Spring visiting with him. Poor Ry has been pulling 10 hour days so that he could have Fridays off AND shadowing two nights a week at the Emergency Room. Whew...he sounds a lot more busy than me!

I have been trying to get some things ready for school. My room is going to be much more coordinated this year. My theme last year and this year is Dr. Seuss. I'm sure some of you have seen the books and stuffed animals Kohl's does for 5 dollars. Well, the did two rounds of the Dr. Seuss books and characters, so that is where I got the inspiration. Well, I have stocked up this summer on more things such as banners, posters, and a really cool welcome sign! Thankfully my mom's lack of grandchildren spurs her to spend money on other people's children (i.e. my classroom :) ) The company that sells all the Dr. Seuss stuff told me that they don't make any calendar sets....so this summer I made my own. It ended up being very inexpensive and pretty cute. I downloaded a Dr. Seuss font and added some clip art and wha la...I have my own calendar set. My cousin also painted this old desk for me. She has true talent! It turned out great. It has a cat in the hat on the desk part and is just overall too cute. I am pretty excited to start decorating!

Overall, I just fell so much better about this year. I actually have a clue what to do! I have three days of inservice starting tomorrow on our Math Curriculam. It will be really nice to catch up with my coworkers. I have truly been blessed with a great team.

Let's see...what else..o Ryan and I broke down and bought a Wii. It has already proved to be a lot of fun! No Wii fit as of yet, but we shall see.

But the best part for last....

We leave Friday for the cruise!!! We are heading out as soon as Ryan gets home from work and driving and dropping Izzy off in Big Spring, and trading cars with my Nana who has a much more gas efficient car than either of ours. Then its off for San Angelo for the night for some much needed Jessica time. The next morning we are driving to Houston and staying with Ryan's friend Jay, and the next morning it is BON VOYAGE! I am so excited, I don't think Friday is going to get here quick enough.

Well turns out I had a lot more to say than I thought! Hope you all are doing wonderful!

Is there a light at the end of this tunnel??

I think these last 5 weeks of of school might just last forever. Am I being dramatic? Well, yes of course. But you lock your self in a room with 16 kindergartners who just want to be outside and have forgotten all about inside voices, new testing plus old testing, deadlines, paperwork, preparing for the new student I am getting with one month left, and fire ants. Yes, I said fire ants. I thought whining might make me feel just a tad bit better. But to no avail. I think its just one of those days. You know, one of those day when everything seems a million times worse than it really truly is. Whew!

Ryan and I have recently gotten hooked on One Tree Hill. Thankfully I have a super cool mom who bought us ALL of the seasons on dvd. Guess what we have been doing a whole lot of. :)

This past weekend we broke our no traveling rule because my cousin and her kids came to my parents unexpectedly. If you were at the wedding, her two girls were my adorable flowergirls. They are seriously some of my favorite kids on the planet.

Did I mention they have a seriously cute brother too? He is boy through and through.

Well, truthfully I do know there is an light at the end of the tunnel. Right now it is faint but it gets brighter each day. And that light my friends is............................................................

Ryan and I are going on a cruise July 20th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to Jamaica, Cozumel, and the Cayman Islands. Truthfully, we were major penny pinchers on our honeymoon. So this year, we decided to take a Student Loan Payoff celebration and Happy One Year Anniversary to us trip. Hopefully, the next few summers after this will be filled with Ryan going to school so we are jumping at this chance to go this summer. Since your first anniversary is supposed to be paper, we are exchanging our cruise tickets. Kinda cheating I know. :)

Well, I hear One Tree Hill calling my name......

I will leave you with my almost one year old puppy (She was born May 11th and we got married May 19th...destiny I tell ya) and her new bow.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, as you can tell these posts are going to be far and in between. The past few weeks have been crazy busy. School is beginning to wind down and all of the tasks, testings, and deadlines are beginning to wind up. Only about a month and a half to go. Whew, can't believe I am almost done with my first year. Needless to say I am very, very ready for a break. I am also getting evaluated for the last time sometime this week. Midland makes you do three your first two years. I will be glad to be done for sure.

We had a pretty fun weekend. Things in Midland are getting better as we begin to make more friendships. Also, Mark and Kaitlin came and stayed one night with us. It wasn't near long enough but it was really nice to hang out with them. Growing up and moving away from your friends is stinkin hard, but Kaitlin and I are determined that we will all end up near each other. Some way, some how.

Monday morning started out bright and early with the phone ringing. I am pretty sure there were a good three rings or so before I finally figured out that it was the phone and not the alarm clock I was trying to turn off. I actually never figured it out, Ryan sleepily told me. But the good news is that the person on the other end of that phone was JESSICA! As most of you probaly know she is in Southeast Asia this semester. I have only gotten to talk to her on the phone one other time, so I quickly woke up to take advantage of getting to talk to her. She is definitely missed.

Within the past couple of weeks I have gotten to catch up with a few old friends. It is crazy how you can go so long without talking to someone and then things just fall right back into place.

Something I read has been heavy on my heart, "A truthful witness saves lives." Its in Proverbs and I can't quit thinking about it. I think about all the times I have tried to seem like I have my life together, like I don't struggle. It doesn't say perfect witness, it says TRUTHFUL. How much have I downplayed the abundance and power of grace in my life to people who NEED to see it because of my own pride. Hmm, not sure if that makes sense outside of my head, but it just gets me thinking. Good Stuff for sure.

:) Have a good one!

Well, I knew I would fall behind! School has started back up and things are already moving fast. The last two months are going to be a whirlwind. I can not believe I am almost finished with my first year! I am definately ready for summer!

I have been redoing our spare bedroom. It was supposed to be a Spring Break project. But lets face it, I was never going to get it done in just one week. Here's a sneak preview:

Definately a lot more to do...after all only half the headboard is finished. I am holding off on painting until we figure out our living situation for the next year. I would love, love, love to say goodbye to this apt and get a house, but houses in Midland are pretty much outrageous.

Well, I must go do something more productive, but since I figured out the picture buisness I will leave you with a picture of my sweet baby girl.

Oh, and how/where do you get a cute background??

Happy Birthday Hubby

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday, which is why this will be super short!
One of these days I'm going to figure this picture thing out......man.

Today was also the first day back to school. It was pretty crazy! I had 7 extra kids due to our sub shortage, but it wasn't too bad. Tomorrow is picture day AND a field trip. Whew, I am tired just thinking about it!

Gotta go get reaaaaaaaaaaady!

Mi Vida Loca

Well, due to all this free time I have during Spring Break, I have started a blog. I used to have one a loooonng time ago, back when livejournal was the way to go. It was quickly abandoned, as I am sure this one will be as well.

Life has changed so much in the past 10 months or so. Just take almost every major life change you can have and put it all into about one month, or one week rather and apply it to my life. To say that there have been aftershocks would be an understatement. Some have been amazing, like waking up to my best friend everyday and getting a big hug from some of the cutest, smartest kids on the planet, and some have been less than lovely (i.e. moving away from everyone we know and getting my hair pulled and kicked by a 5 year old. :) I will let your imagination run with that one).

So, lets get you updated....

Change #1: Graduation
Ryan and I both graduated from Angelo on May 12th of 07. Of course we couldn't graduate in the same ceremony, so we got to hear all of the speeches and names....twice!

Change #2 Wedding
This should have been the biggest change. You know committing your life to someone, vowing all your days to someone, but this has been the easiest of all of them. I would be lying if I said it was all flowers and daisies and we spent all of our days basking in the joy that is our marriage. Not only would I be lying, but you would be rolling your eyes. But even on the worst days, it is the best thing in my life. I am a blessed girl.

Change #3 Moving

On the same day we graduated, we said goodbye to San Angelo. This has been the hardest for me. I LOVE San Angelo. Not only for its comfort in friends and familiarity, but I just love it in general. I love the river. I love downtown. I love the small town feel of the bigger town. I love Coldstone. Man, I even miss those nasty nutria.

After the honeymoon, we moved to Midland. Life in Midland has been a process for me. Midland is just about of the opposite side of the spectrum from San Angelo in every way possible. But we are here for a reason ( He's going to let me know it someday ;) ). Life in a new town after college is hard. There are no tailgate parties or mixers for you to get to know people. But slowly, we have grown and spread our wings a little here.

Change #4-Isabelle Vela

Ok, probably not what you are thinking! We did not get pregnant...we got a dog! We got Izzy about a week before I started working. I have never had an inside dog, so she definitely took some getting used to. She sure did discipline me! We love her, well most of the time!

Change #5 and #6- Working!

Why two changes you ask, well my first two weeks of school proved to be very eventful. I started teaching Kindergarten in late August, had a REALLY bad first day and wanted to go get an application at Wal-Mart. I will spare you the details of my dramatics. Well, two weeks go by and the kids get used to me, I get used to them, and life is looking a little better. Well, in walks change #6...... My class only had 14 kids in it. So, I got moved to another school that had an abundance of Kindergartners. This meant....packing up the room I spent all summer getting ready, saying goodbye to kids I was already attached to, leaving a school that I spent two weeks (really all summer) trying to make relationships, unpacking and putting together a new room in 4 days, getting a new class and virtually starting over. Again, I would be lying if I said I did all of this saying "Thank you, Lord" with a big smile on my face. However, after the many "Why's" I have come to see His glory in the move. I love my new school, class, and feel his blessings everyday. It's hard to explain, but I have never had a more evident example of His will in my life being better than my own.

Needless to say, life since May 19th has been a rollercoaster. But having someone beside me to scream with during the exciting parts and hide my head in his shoulder during the scary parts has made it all worth it.




Ok, maybe not the hair pulling.