Wedding post...finally!

Yes, I know it has been three weeks but I figured it was time to finally post about my weekend in Birmingham/Rome!  The bridesmaid lunch, rehearsal, dinner, all the prep. before the wedding, pictures, ceremony, and reception all seem like a fantasy now!  It could not have been more perfect and I am SO blessed to have gotten to spend time with all of these beautiful people!  Thank you Taylor and Josh for letting me be a part of your special day! Love you guys!

Some of the bridesmaids at the super cute bridesmaid lunch Mackenzie and Taylor's aunt did.  Mackenzie even surprised Taylor with by playing/singing a song from Wicked on her guitar! So precious!

Don't know where'd I'd be without these lovely ladies!  Fab Four since 4th grade!

Beautiful ceremony centered around the love of Christ.

Love this of everyone!  Brittany did great with the signs!

Another favorite of the entire wedding party with the barns behind us!

One of my favorites with the girls.

The bride and I!!!

With our boots!

Absolutely stunning bride!

Love this family SO much!

Not only was the wedding a blast but I got to see another best friend and the family as well!

Pinterest perfect reception.

After we sent them off to Hawaii with a shower of rose pedals, I booked it to Rome to spend a little over 12 hours at home.  Hung out with Carrie on the mountain for a while, went to church and had lunch with the family, and then even got to enjoy some Berry College soccer!  Cannot wait to be back for Mountain Day and actually get to talk to people and catch up!  Only a few more days!!! This week we have 9 weeks testing.  Pray for my kids as they take these tests and that they would use the test taking strategies and things they have learned in class.  I am very nervous that they are going to take these tests and show that they haven't learned a thing since August 6!  :/  Should be an interesting week since our schedules are thrown off with the testing but I'm glad it is a short one!  Hope to see most of you next weekend!!

Routines and blessings

Life in Mississippi is slowly but surely getting into a routine.  And if you know me, I am a huge fan of routines!  Every day still brings a new struggle at school but love has been so much more evident in my classroom and we are working on bringing in a sense of urgency as we learn everyday.  There is SO much to learn this year and we don't have a minute to waste.  When my kids really understand this concept, we will truly be on our way to achieving incredible things academically!

Last weekend I was blessed to be able to be apart of Taylor and Josh's wedding and it was hands down the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen!  Everything was absolutely perfect and it was so wonderful to see friends and celebrate with them.  I hope to share some pictures with you all soon! I also spent a little time (barely 12 hours) at home and at Berry.  As fantastic as my weekend was, I did miss Hazlehurst and worshipping at FBC.  Although First Baptist is very traditional and definitely not what I have been used to over the past 10 or so years, I really enjoy it.  The people at FBC are so welcoming, the worship is sincere and takes me back to old school Calvary (singing "No Other Name" today brought back SO many memories), and I love the pastor.  He is no Steve Andrews but I am always challenged and encouraged by the message.  The message today was so meaningful as he spoke on the feeding of the five thousand in Mark.  Incredibly applicable as I think about the Lord using me just as he did the disciples to work relentlessly for those who need Him most.  It can be such a tiring and overwhelming task but He has called each of us to work for His glory and all things are possible through Him.  First Baptist has definitely contributed to the sense of routine and consistency as I am finally getting settled and feeling at home in Hazlehurst.  I am continually amazed by the blessings the Lord has given me!  

Hurricane, Paycheck, and more!!

We survived the hurricane!  Isaac definitely made an appearance in Hazlehurst.  One that caused a 2-day hurrication from school, power outages across town, several downed trees, huge puddles, and one sleepless night for this girl.  I think the April 27th tornadoes/wind that knocked down trees all over Berry made me paranoid of trees falling.  I didn't sleep but like 45 minutes on Wednesday evening (on the bathroom floor none-the-less) due to all of the debris hitting the house from every direction!  Praise the Lord we had no leaks or fallen trees.  Just lots of branches and limbs around the yard that we will eventually pick up if it ever stops raining!  As scary as the whole hurricane experience was, it was SO nice to have a little weekend in the middle of the week!  And it was even nicer to go back for Friday and then have a three day weekend!

But wait, it gets even better! Not only do we have a three day weekend for Labor Day, we also got paid on Thursday! Again, PRAISE THE LORD! Angie and I went grocery shopping today and it was so nice to be able to buy real food instead of whatever $20 would buy us.  We are looking forward to a day of shopping on Monday to hit up all the big Labor Day sales and reward ourselves for a challenging first month of teaching.  Don't worry, I already made my budget so nothing too extreme for me!  Many of the things I plan on purchasing this weekend are for the wedding next weekend!  I am thrilled to get to be apart of Taylor Andrews and Josh Hines big day in just 7 days!  Not only will I only have a three day week because of it but I also get to see my best friends that I grew up with.  Since we started college, the time that Taylor, Becky, Chelcie, and I have had together has been very limited so I am super excited to spend two days with them!  (One more reason to celebrate next weekend- Becky just got engaged this weekend as well! Three down...I'm the only one to go!! HA) Since I'm already going to be in Birmingham, might as well drive the extra two hours home for some much needed family and Berry time.  If you cannot tell, I am VERY excited about next weekend and all of the tiresome fun that it will entail.

Before then though, I have three days of teaching and giving my all to my students.  During the hurricane, I was able to get ahead on some lesson planning and I am finally getting to the point where I actually feel like I know what I am doing.  We are getting into a regular schedule now that we have our reading curriculum and I have already seen improvements both in the quality of my students work as well as in their behaviors.  I'll finish this very excited and joyous post with something one of my students wrote on her science test this week:

Question: If you have a seed, what do you need to do to turn it into a plant?
Student's Answer: "I will have to give it soil, sunlight, water and air.  And I will give it some plant food to make it grow into a beautiful flower and people will take pictures and ask me how to plant a flower!"

Some days, I want to come home and cry or pack up and get out of here but then I am reminded of precious things like this that my students do and say and am reminded of the reason I am here.  Happy Labor Day everyone! Can't wait to update you on the exciting wedding/Rome weekend!