today marks 9 months of marriage for josh and i... my oh my how time flies. seriously. i am realizing more than ever how life really is a breathe in the whole scheme of things in this world. i want to keep remembering that time is not guaranteed and it is completely uncontrollable. so happy 9 months joshua... i still cant believe i get to spend the rest of my life with you.

this past weekend we went to lynchburg. dan and ally are one of our favorite couples to be around- we all get each other and i just really love that. so when we heard mark driscolls marriage tour was going to lynchburg we asked dan and ally if they'd be interested in going... they are not married but will probably be one day and the even welcomes dating couples as well. so dan left radford and we left norfolk to set out for lynchburg. what else made this weekend such a good one is that allys birthday was sunday na dans is tuesday- so we got to celebrate a bit with them! the conference was great. mark driscoll is a funny guy who speaks truth. we learned a lot and honestly just being able to sit and breathe for a minute together was a blessing for us. the conference went until 12 pm on saturday. by far my favorite part of the conference was the very end. driscoll offered all the men in the room to stand up and take a vow to love god and be a leader for their wife and family. dan asked ally if he could stand up which was seriously so sweet and respectful. so the men all stood up and after were able to pray over all the wives. it was so beautiful. and moving.

so after our other friends from chesapeake met us up in lynchburg just to hang out. katie & brandon. they couldnt come to the conference so we all met up after to eat lunch. we ate at the market on main... a little townie lunch in downtown lynchburg. it was a really cute little place. then the girls headed over to the jcrew warehouse sale while the boys went to climb (of course... dan and josh love love love to climb and i heard brandon wasn't too shabby either) so let me tell you briefly about this jcrew warehouse sale... absolutely insane. we waited an hour to get inside. it isn't a clearance event at a store. its a warehouse with boxes and boxes of stuff. all with set prices. shoes $10-20, little kids crewcuts stuff $2-10, womens dresses for $20. not kidding- i got a 100% silk dress originally marked $168 for $20.... that is a steal. you have to dig. but it was thrilling/exhausting. they give you a price list when you walk in and a trash bag. you cant try anything on but we wore camis and made due somehow. it was wonderful. it also only happens about once every 3-4 months. but worth the wait.

after a long day at the warehouse we went to the fosters home where we stayed. they are a couple on the young life committee in lynchburg and are absolutely one of the coolest married couples we have ever met. their home was beautiful and their kids were so sweet (3,8, and 10) those are both understatements. their home was insanely gorgeous- he is a contractor and built it himself. on the way home josh and i both said how blessed we were to stay there. heidi made dinner saturday night and it was so good with rodneys home brewed beer too.

a beautiful and wonderful weekend.

couple things:
1. i finished the 2nd book in the hunger games trilogy and im hooked. trying to hold myself off for the 3rd one until NEXT WEEK when we go to europe.... yup next week we leave.

2. josh is officially finished on friday. please pray that a maury SS teacher is planning on leaving... that would be such a blessing.

also that i could find a summer job... hummm

3. happy birthday to some of our favorite people to be around- dan & ally we love you so much and are so glad we got to spend some time with you this past weekend. cant wait to make our viral videos, get rich and famous, build houses in the obx, and use the rest to open a rock gym/craft store.

lynchburg & nine months.

boston.

josh was on spring break last week so when my brother and dad told us in january that they were going to boston, we asked if we could tag along. a little break for him while he is student teaching...

well next thing you know, my whole family is going. so my family left wednesday afternoon for one of the best cities in the US.

i love boston. so does josh. he loves big cities and new england in general. nyc is pretty- but boston is beautiful. its clean. and you have to love the new england accent and food. seriously though- if youve never been you should go. the buildings all have so much character and not to mention the best seafood money can buy.

it was a beautiful weekend and my parents surprised josh and i with tickets to opening day at fenway park. for those of you who dont know- i was born and raised a red sox fan- and if i were anything else, id be banished from the family im sure. i love the red sox. i used to follow it much more in middle & high school and it is harder for me now since we dont have cable and our schedule is crazy. but i still love the red sox. theres something magical about being at a baseball park- and its ten time more magical at fenway park. its 100 years old this year- no park has ever reached that (and to think they were thinking about tearing it down a few years ago!) the smell of hot dogs, sausages, and beer. the lights, the people yelling. oh i do love it.

 100 years.

my sisters beautiful family.

my beautiful family.

we crushed the rays in the 8th inning.

crazy kids- jaydon & savannah.

we left boston and headed to my cousins house for the night- jennifer, michael, patrick, and little michael. what a family we have. sad we didnt get a picture of everyone, but it was wonderful to see them again and catch up. i love my cousins.

little michael, patrick, savannah and jaydon eating breakfast. 

boston was good for us. josh and i got to spend some time together with no agenda. we needed that. this trip has me more and more anxious for europe in a couple weeks- nervous but mostly excited!

have a wonderful week....

boston.

the good & the bad.

the bad.

i have to go through an interview process to officially be accepted to the odu education program. thursday i received an email "your followup interview is for april 18th." perfect. i mark it on my calendar.
the next day i get an email saying i missed my appointment and need to call monday morning. needless to say- i freaked out. hildy was here...(sorry hildy...) i call almost immediately because there must be some sort of mix up. the lady i have to deal with is... well... not the nicest woman in the world- at all. i told her i never received an email about the first interview which i guess was on march 22nd. she tells me she and dr.butler both received the email and told me i must have forgot. i didnt forget. i wouldnt forget. so im trying to explain to her that i dont see any missed emails- the only one i received was yesterdays. i start crying. and she told me "stop crying. its not the end of the world. calm down." what? why was she being so rude? i do not know. i do know that they have gotten a lot of complaints about their customer service. i told her i was looking at my email right now and the only one i got from her was the one from yesterday. she told me shes not going to argue with me.... ummmm.... im not arguing. im upset and trying to explain myself. i am NOT  a slack student. she told me "im hanging up now. you need to call back monday." never in my life have i been talked to like that from a complete stranger.

i sobbed hysterically for about 20 minutes. not a good start to the weekend. josh reminds me she is only the grumpy secretary. luckily she has no say in my academic future.

i went to the office myself in person monday in-between classes. she was on lunch (whew!) the nicer later takes a message, but no word by 330 so i call back. mean lady answers and i make the conversation short. she is looking for three "panel members" to do the interviews and will let me know soon.

im so worried itll be next thursday or friday- i will be out of town. we are going to boston to see family. i NEVER see my family. i will be so so sad.


please please pray it wont be on thursday or friday....





lets end with the good.

last thursday was a day i will always remember. i got a sub job as a kindergarten teacher assistant. i wanted a higher paying job (being assistant makes less....) but this would due. i am so glad i didn't find a new job. i subbed at thurgood marshall elementary school. its a title 1 school. that means most of the kids come from a very low income area. most of the kids were fed breakfast. and provided a lunch as well- along with an afternoon snack. at 730 the kids started pouring into the cafeteria and getting their breakfast. most of the teachers were so grumpy.... but my heart melted when those little 5 and 6 year olds smiled at me and asked me "are you nice?" being at a title 1 school also means full day kindergarten (i like the idea of full day kindergarten so much more.) so i had the little ones all day and those kids melted my heart and warmed my soul. there was only one white boy in the class. much different than anything i have ever done- i went to hickory. i still remember their names, and ill probably spell them all wrong. quasean, ja'sean, amiya, namya, zanya, and jamaya, raleek, najeeh, amandre, david, thomas, angela. i loved them all. i loved seeing how smart they all were. they were in kindergarten- counting money. thats so advanced! i was impressed. they have a good teacher. they all wanted to write my name with chalk during recess.... a dozen times each. they got these things called "blurts" and you put a check by your initials on the back board if you are not following the rules. ja'sean was a little bit of a worm- he liked to wiggle. he was also about 4" shorter than everyone with these huge glasses. oh my goodness he was so cute. he got a blurt and had to go give imself a check. so he walks to the back board, grabs a piece of chalk, and just looks up at where the teacher had placed his initials for that day- it was like he was looking up at the beanstalk from "jack and the beanstalk" i couldnt help but chuckle it was so darn cute because he stood on his tip toes as if he was going to be able to reach it- he was about a foot away from even being close. those kids taught me so much. no one wants to teach at a title 1 school. well almost no one. it can be rough. but those sweet babies are kids just like me and deserve so much- deserve a chance at learning and growing.

oh my heart still melts when i think of those kids... i keep telling josh "i want to go back and see the babies."

i hope one day.

the good & the bad.