A New Post (and I'm Not Fooling Around!)

I'm back. My next hiatus will definitely not be this long.

I have been re-inspired after reading a great blog post. The poster was talking about why she journaled her life. She even took a picture of the boxes of journals that she has finished off. One of the things that struck me was that by looking back through them, it was a way for her to look back and see God's faithfulness in her life. I recently completed Patricia Shirer's One in A Million bible study. Several times she mentioned journaling as a way for us to keep up with answered prayers, evidence of God in our lives, etc. Reading that post yesterday was a reminder that I needed to hear and I am now re-inspired to keep up with the blog.

Right now, I am sitting in the living room of our rental house surrounded by clothes. And when I say surrounded, I mean consumed. It's that time of year...  the semi-annual switching of the wardrobe. You know, where you take out the winter clothes and put in the summer clothes, and vice versa. I told C last night that it is my hope that our next house will have a closet large enough for this to not have to happen. If not, I will be SEVERELY downsizing my wardrobe because this really drives me INSANE! :)

Speaking of next homes... that is our HUGE focus and goal right now. We have been looking since this winter. Our lease ends on our rental home at the end of May. We have the option of renting by the month at that point. Ideally, it would be great for us to move over the summer because I would have time to unpack, get things settled, etc. before going back to school. Realistically, we have to move when the time is right. We have an overall area where we would like to live (not far from where we currently are living). We love this area. The homes are a little older (think hardwood floors, neat architectural elements but small closets and if they haven't been remodeled- fabulously 50s tile bathrooms!), etc. However, a lot of the homes that we seem to find in our price range are too small (2 bedrooms and 1 bath -- not something to complain about, but not something I can feel great about investing money in. I have a feeling we'd outgrow it WAY too fast!) or the homes need WAY more work than we want to put into it (neither of us has a contractor's license nor do we even have those kinds of tools !). Of course, we look at other homes in different areas and it seems like we can get more for our money. I guess right now, it's pretty fair to say that we have to figure out WHAT we want... the best house in our price range or the best house in the area we are looking in. It's a HUGE decision, and we are certainly praying about it. We are especially praying that we will be patient and "know" when we have found the right house. C and I both have the tendency to overthink things and I don't want either one of us to be up at night wondering if we made the right decision.

I cannot believe that it is already April! I have 4 days of school this week and Spring Break next week, 1 week of school, and then will be off to Disney for our 6th Grade Trip. I am super excited about that, but kind of sad and anxious to leave C and Snap for an entire week! I know they will be just fine- they have survived without me before, I just hate to leave them for 4 nights! But, I also know how much fun I am going to have and will be so "busy" that it will fly by. I feel certain the week will fly by for the boys, too! They won't feel like they had nearly enough time to do all the "guy things" that they decide to do.)

Free Printable

So, I am a Pinterest-aholic. No big deal. I love the printables (even the ones I don't print).

However, sometimes I find them and I want them but they won't match my house. So, I never print them. That's changing. I just made my very own printable.

Here it is:

I am thinking that I will frame it to put it inside our front door area (which is also known as the living room). If it looks good, I may just have to make some more. :)

WHAT IN THE DICKENS?

That's probably what you are thinking right now. It turns out that since today is officially winter, I missed an entire season in the blog world. That's right... the ENTIRE fall!

What in the dickens...
... have you been doing the last few months?
... could have made you forget to blog for SO long?
... happened to you?
... are you going to write about?

Well, here's the truth. We have been living life. Married life. Two people and a dog under one roof, sharing a bedroom and bathroom kind of life. Oh and you know, the wife cooks, husband does the yard kind of life. And did I mention that we go to work, too? Yeah, we do.

Let me summarize our end of summer/fall:
August:
-School starts... teaching 6th grade Language Arts @ a new school. 36 new precious students. LOVE!
-Getting into a married "routine" (aka learning how to get along with someone else's habits). also a LOVE!

September & October:
-Drew has his accident and subsequent surgery, hospital, and rehab stays (See Drew's CaringBridge... this became my new "blog")... I spend more time in hospital waiting rooms than I had ever hoped for. But, I can also say I got to meet some amazing people. It makes me cry to think about ALL of the people who became so invested in Drew during that time.
- I traveled most days after work for a month to Columbia to be with Drew, friends, and family.
- We (sometimes both, sometimes just Christopher) travel to Clemson for home football games (how about that PERFECT home season... all wins in the Valley!).

November
-Thanksgiving in Florence... lunch at the Club with immediate family, Granny, and my uncle L & aunt K and baby cousin Caroline. Ate snacks/dinner (we were pretty full!) later with Christopher's family
-Drew's 22nd birthday

December
-Drew's surgery on Dec. 15th to reattach skull
-I began 17.5 day vacation from school!

I know that I will post more on all of these things in later posts. I just wanted to get "caught up" so that I can begin to blog our life again. I was thinking today that these really are days that I never want to forget!

We did it!

In case there was ever a doubt, we got married!

The Wharton- Williams Wedding Slideshow

More pictures and info on the honeymoon to follow!

Wordless Wednesday (1 day late)

Hey! It happened on Wednesday.... and it's only a day late.

And it's almost Friday!

Bridesmaids

Yes, I have 5. And I love them. I love them a lot. But, I am not talking about them. It's these ones that I am talking about:

So, I did the natural thing, and invited a bridesmaid, April, to come with me. Christopher got mad so I told him he could come, too. he wasn't that excited but I read him [parts] of some reviews that were convincing that it was not a "chick flick." (and despite the number of chicks... it is not for those that are weak in heart  stomach) I was sitting in between April and Christopher in the theater and I swear that there were times that they were both choking they were laughing so hard. And yes, I laughed out loud. So that means it was really funny. And we're already making plans to go and see it AGAIN!

Finally... it's Friday!

Well this week has been monumental...


First, there was the BIG tests....

(and NO, I did not take this picture. That would be a test security violation because I would have used an imaging device... only people who read these words four times this week or for many years know what I mean... we actually have to read that statement to our students...)



And then yesterday there was.... (drum roll please)

an offer on my house!

Great news but it means that someone will be moving out in 2 weeks! Let the packing begin (and figuring out where in the world the boxes will be delivered to... yeah, minor issue, I know!).