What a busy two weeks

Oh my goodness....I have been so slammed the past two weeks. I forget how hectic the beginning of the school year is! This is the first time in five years that I've moved classrooms and I really had forgotten how overwhelming that can be! Everything got done though and I've really enjoyed the first week of school with my students!

There are a couple pictures of my classroom from the first day of school. I am adding instructional materials nearly every day but let me tell you A LOT of work was put into what you see! :) Tons of organizing took place over the summer while moving but it's SO worth it! 

I also celebrated my 27th birthday last Monday-the first day of school. One of my students brought cupcakes for the class to have in honor of my birthday! I felt so loved! I have a really special group of students this year and we are going to have a FABULOUS year. I have prayed over this school year so much and I know that God has special things in store for my students and me this year. 

Over the past week I also became an Independent Designer with Origami Owl. You can visit my page here to check out this awesome product. You can also go like my Origami Owl page on Facebook. I am very excited to have something to spend some of my extra time on AND make a little extra money. While I was in Birmingham with Evan my mom shared an Origami Owl book with me and I fell in love with the product and knew immediately I HAD to sell it! I had to be put on a waiting list though (because the product has become SOOO popular) and finally got my "invivtation" last week. I accepted immediately and have already began booking jewelry bars for people. I have a locket myself that represents what I'm all about. It has some baby boy footprints {Evan}, infinity sign {Evan and Brent-love}, cross {my heart belongs to the one who died on the cross for all of us}, and a plate that says faith {which grows everyday!}. I love wearing my locket because it allows me to express myself! You should definitely check it out. 

Friday {August 23} marked when Evan would have been 23 weeks old. It was a tough day but God carried me through. Saturday was also tough as I attended a friend's birthday party. As I was heading to the birthday party I was so sad. I realized it was because I wished I wasn't driving there alone but had my sweet baby boy in the backseat. Even knowing he is in a much better place, there are times I just can't help the tears that come to my eyes. 

I am looking forward to an awesome week with my students. I hope to blog more regularly and not get so behind. It's just easy for that to happen with all that the new school year brings. Tomorrow night is Open House. Please say a little prayer that I (and all the other teachers) can welcome the parents into our classrooms and share the love we have for their children. Also that our words can adequately explain what the school year expectations are! 

Love in Christ and have a blessed week

Keeping baby Hadlee and other happenings

The past couple weeks have kept us pretty busy. I wanted to share about my experience keeping baby Hadlee last Friday. My best friend Megan asked if I would be willing to keep him for a day for her and I was so excited to get to spend a day with him. Who doesn't want to sit around and hold a sweet baby all day?!? There was a tiny (teeny tiny actually) part of me that was a little nervous that it was going to be tough. But I feel like I am doing pretty well separating other babies from my grief over Evan. This isn't the case ALL the time and definitely not the case for babies that are right around the age Evan would be but it's true for the post part. I spent basically the whole day holding him. It was so nice and I enjoyed myself so much. It would be terribly easy to spoil a baby to being held all the time. If I put him down and he made even the slightest whimper that was reason enough for me to pick him back up. I think that this was an integral part of healing. Taking care of other babies is still a little tough for me. I can't help but have the thought in the back of my mind "I should be taking care of/feeding/changing Evan." But I can still appreciate the sweetness of other babies. Sometimes it is more difficult than others BUT I LOVED my day with Hadlee and can't wait until I get to keep him again.
I mean look at this sweet face...my view basically all day :)

Although since I go back to work tomorrow that will probably be a while :( Speaking of going back to work...I cannot believe that the school year starts tomorrow for teachers. I am both excited and not. I spent one of my days this past week preparing meals for the freezer. I posted a picture of my meals on FB because I was so excited about all of my meals and had quite a few requests for the recipes. I typed them up in a word document. Send your email here and I will be happy to send the file your way. Fall and winter is such a busy time and I am really looking forward to having some meals on hand to just pull out and throw in the crock pot! It took me about 2 1/2 hours (I was putting some other meat away and doing other things around the kitchen during this time) to get about 10 meals ready. I didn't think that was too shabby!
Brent and I have been trying to savor one another's company this weekend. With school starting back for me on Monday I know that life is about to get crazy hectic and we will spend less time together. We spent Friday at the beach with my mom, sister and my cousin Andrea and her two adorable kids. Then Saturday we just hung out around the house in the morning and then went to a birthday party that afternoon. We watched the movie Mud while eating supper on Saturday night and went to bed much later than we should have. Which leads me to Sunday when I slept through my alarm clock and we missed church :(  I sweet-talked him into cleaning the house with me on Sunday afternoon and we are planning to go to bed super early tonight. I am so off schedule and I know I will hate myself if I keep the hours I've been keeping this summer. They resemble the hours of an owl and that will not go well with being at school. I cannot wait to share pictures of my classroom when I finish it up this week. On Friday I will get to meet the sweet faces of the children that will be "my children" this year. Then next Monday the school year will begin. I pray that I can be the best teacher possible and that His love shines through me! Please pray for all teachers as they start back in Santa Rosa and Escambia tomorrow. I read this blog today when someone shared it on FB. It was very well written and really explained well what a teacher does. Besides work 7-3 and have ALL summer OFF. (As many people think...It's very well worth reading and checking on.

The beach was beautiful on Friday. We had such a great time relaxing and playing with the kids. We dug a huge hole with a tunnel with them.  I was reminded how great of an exfoliant sand is. My knees are still a little raw. 

Saturday afternoon at Oops Alley for Madilyne's birthday party. I cannot believe this little girl is already six!

I like to keep little devotional books sitting around my house in various places. When I just have 5-10 minutes free I can sit down and quickly read a little passage and it just uplifts me!  My friend Deanna gave me Jesus Today by Sarah Young while Evan was in the hospital.  One of the mini-devotionals from that book that I read today featured Luke 11:10 "For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened."  I found this so appropriate for the time Brent and I are at in our lives. We know that we want to try to have another baby in the somewhat near future but we are still very nervous about doing so. There will have to be some testing performed before we go down that road again. Without going into details we just want to make sure we are as well prepared and informed before we begin trying for another baby. Our sweet Evan will NEVER be replaced but the rainbows we see almost every day remind us that there is hope beyond this storm we are in the midst of right now. Please pray for us to allow God to lead us in the direction that is His will in this area of our life. That is something we are praying about on a daily basis.

My friend Deanna is with her family at the Wahoos game tonight. She just sent me this picture of a rainbow. Even as I am talking about rainbows and their hope and promise I am reminded yet again....
So beautiful.

I better start preparing for the week ahead. Early to bed tonight I hope!  :) 

Rainbows all around...

First of all I want to say THANK YOU to all my friends and family that came to see me give my testimony at Pine Level a couple weeks ago. I feel like that experience was such a blessing to me. I hope that it was also a blessing to those who heard me. They recorded it (yikes..don't want to see myself on camera) and are supposed to give me a DVD of it. I may/may not share it when I receive 

that :) 

The new school year is right around the corner and I cannot believe that summer is OVER :(  It's bittersweet because I keep thinking to myself "I should be getting ready to take Evan to daycare for the first time." I know he is way better hands than he would be if he were here but it's still a tough step. 

Teachers go back next Monday. I really am looking forward to returning to work because days that I stay busy are SO MUCH easier than days that I don't have much to do. Although lately I've had a lot to do because I've been running around trying to complete all the things that I've put off all summer. I am moving into a new classroom (PRAISE THE LORD) and so that has consumed a ton of my time lately. There are also a lot of birthdays in our family/friends in August and September and October so I've been working on some projects (and/or ordering presents) for those people. I know once school starts back I just won't have the time. I've also been trying to finish up some things around the house that I want complete. Here are some things I've been working on at the house.....

The sign with our pictures is self explanatory if you read our last post. I just finally got the picture with Brent kissing Evan printed and finally framed and hung up. Then on the top right is a sign I made with my Cameo Silhouette to cover a small boo-boo that our bedroom door had. I also love seeing that every time I enter the room that I share with my husband. Finally the picture on the bottom right is a sign/chalkboard that I ordered from Etsy. Since November I have been putting scripture on sticky notes and strategically placing them around the house. These are usually uplifting verses that I stumble upon during my devotion each morning. I really want to focus on memorizing and knowing more scripture by heart. So that when I am having a sad, or happy time (or anytime really) I can immediately think of God's word. I love reading my Bible but there's just something so special about knowing His word by heart. One day I hope that my children can memorize a verse each week and always have God's word in their heart! 

This is my new area for devotion and Bible reading and just reading and relaxing in general. I love this chair but needed an ottoman because it just wasn't comfortable without one. Also, I wanted a lamp and side table. A couple weeks ago I went thrift shopping to find these few things. I was so happy when I stumbled upon 2 of the 3 things at Alyssa's and got a great deal. I wanted to make this a useful area for me-but without breaking the bank! I have really enjoyed sitting there and looking through the front window and drinking coffee and reading God's word. It's been very healing! This is the closest I can get to a front porch for now. I'll take it...at least it's air conditioned :)

Other things I've been working on are new things for my classroom. I've been so excited to get moved to a classroom in the newer part of our school! My theme for my classroom this year is going to be rainbows. Of course this is because when I look at a rainbow it reminds me of my sweet Evan. There was the most beautiful rainbow the day of his funeral and this summer has brought soooo many. It seems like more rainbows have appeared than normal but it could definitely be that I'm more attuned to them than I was in the past. I don't have pictures of my classroom ready to post yet but I did make a rainbow sign for my office door. 

I can't wait to be surrounded by rainbows in my classroom and constantly have a positive reminder of sweet Evan!! (Even though I think about him ALL the time!) Rainbows symbolize hope and promise and I think that is such a fitting theme for a classroom. I can't wait to start this new school year with my new students. (Even though I am a little sad to see my freedom end for now.)

The other evening Brent was outside doing something and he came in and hollered for me to come outside and see...this is what I walked out to. 

It was such a beautiful rainbow that began in a field directly across from our house. These are the little things that give us hope on a daily basis. It seems that they appear just when we are needing a reminder that through the storm there will come a beauty of a rainbow-hopefully in the form of a healthy baby for us to love!  I ran across this saying the other day on Pinterest and it really clicked with me that day. I will write another post on rainbow babies another day but I am going to leave with this little saying. (For me it isn't just rainbow baby/babies but rainbows in general.) I thought it so fitting..which is probably why it was on Pinterest in the first place. I'm sure it's fitting for so many people! 

Love and Blessings!