Memorial Day Weekend

It has been a wonderful weekend. Three days off is always a good thing in my book.

I need to take a minute and give a shout out to all the men and women who have served our wonderful country and to those who are currently serving. I think too often these people go without the appreciation they deserve. They put themselves in harms way so that people like me can live in a free country, so that I can worship the God I love openly whenever and where ever. I also want to say thank you to the families of those serving. Those families make such a huge sacrifice.

This seems to be the weekend where people feel the need to be on the lake or in the pool. The husband and I did neither of those things this weekend, yet it was still a great weekend.

Friday night was spent at home just resting from the crazy week we have had.

Saturday we lazed around the house doing a bit of cleaning here and there, but nothing too strenuous. Saturday evening the husband went to Riverfest. Riverfest is a local outdoor festival held every year during Memorial Day weekend. It is always filled with outdoor concerts. I've been a couple of times, but it really isn't my thing. Normally I send the husband and stay home. This was the case Saturday night. While the hubs was out watching The Black Crowes, I stayed home and watched The Time Traveler's Wife.

Not sure how I felt about this movie. It was good, but a little weird. I definitely did not prefer the ironic ending. Have you seen it? What did you think?


Sunday we slept in and then got up and had a late lunch. We decided to join Journey Church for their Memorial Day potluck. It was nice to see our old church family. I enjoyed visiting with people I don't get to see enough of.

Our nephew wasn't able to go back to Riverfest Sunday night so I decided to be a good wife and go with the husband. I don't know why. He would have been perfectly fine going alone. It wouldn't have been a first for him. But, I just wanted to spend time with the husband so off we went.

Steve Miller Band was on the agenda for the night. I know who Steve Miller is,but I don't know just a ton of songs by them. We got there a little more than hour before they were supposed to play so we were just standing in the crowd listening to the opening act.

You all know how I feel about crowds. I HATE THEM!! Riverfest crowds are the worst because people tend to do a lot of drinking and smoking... both legal and illegal things. My husband does a wonderful job of keeping people off me, but it is still very crowded. I made it through the opening act okay because people were pretty calm considering the situation. But they started getting a little crazy when they put a curtain and started setting up for Steve Miller. I lost it. I started crying. It was just way too crowded. It got better once Steve Miller started playing.

I guess I enjoyed it okay.... I just hate Riverfest. I don't know why I do that to myself. But I did get to spend time with the husband. And even though he would have been happy to go alone, I like to think he was glad I went with him.





Today the husband packed his bags and headed to Texas. He isn't sure how long he will be there, but he'll be there at least a week.


After he left I decided to paint our guest bathroom. It is something I've been wanting to do it for awhile. It isn't quite finished. I still need to do some touch up work on the paint but here are a few pictures to give you an idea.

BEFORE: It was just your typical beige color.




AFTER: Though I couldn't get a good shot...





I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I'm also proud of myself for painting all by myself. It was a first. :)

Picking A Name

For the past few days, I've been playing around with some different blog design ideas. Designing my own blog has proved to be much more difficult than I thought. The hard part is the technical side of it. That - I've figured out. It's the look. Things always look better to me when they are made by someone else. Every little flaw stands out to me when it is something I've done.

One of my biggest design blocks is finding a name for my blog that I love. I've gone back and forth with this since I started blogging. I want something more exciting than just The Weavers. It's hard. I want my name to be descriptive of my blog, but my blog is dedicated to one area of my life. I also want a name that can stand the test of time. I want a blog that is good now and will be good ten years from now.

I've been searching through blog after blog looking at their names. I have gotten no ideas from this, but I have been reminded that I'm not a mom. And I'm not a newlywed anymore. It seems that every blog is either about parenthood or the life of a newlywed and the names of blogs reflect that.

Guess that means I have the Not a Mom, Not a Newlywed blog. HA!! Maybe that should be my title.

How can naming my blog be harder than naming children. I don't even have those, but I have their names all picked out.

If only there was a blog naming genie!!

Maybe I should stop trying to have a perfect blog name. What does it really matter in the end anyways? Are you going to stop reading my blog if it's name totally stinks?

Planning

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11


I'm a planner by nature. I absolutely love buying a new calendar/planner each year and filling it up with events. As a teacher my calendar revolves around the school year. I buy my new calendar in June instead of January. I'm the person who likes to browse the aisle with planners at Wal-Mart. Dork! I know!!

Some of my fellow teachers think I'm crazy because I'm already writing lesson plans for next year. I've already done my science lesson plans through the end of September. It's just what I do! Part of this planning comes from the fact that I love looking for new ideas.

My planning obsession has calmed down some since I married the husband, who is the youngest of six. I'm not sure if it is because he is the youngest or because he has several siblings, but sometimes we don't get told about events until thirty minutes before they are happening.

I remember the first Christmas we were married... oh the memories of that Christmas. A Saturday or two before Christmas, I was getting ready to go to work. I was working at Sonic at the time. The husband was just bumming around the apartment. It was your typical Saturday. My mother-in-law calls and asked the husband where we are... if we are on our way. He was like.... On our way where? We were supposed to be in Cave City, almost three hours away, in like an hour. We had know idea!!! We missed the extended Weaver Christmas that year.

Andrew can be a planner at times too. We plan to plan to have our babies be due in April so that I can just take the rest of the school year off. Yes, we are planning to plan. :)

No matter how much I plan or try to plan my life out, sometimes God has a different plan. My life today at 26 is nothing like I planned it would be. It's better. God is a far better planner than I am.

My entire life I planned to be a teacher. We all know that was a plan God agreed with. However, I always planned to teach English or History. Those were the two subjects I felt I was good at and I enjoyed. This is not the plan God has in mind. I will be teaching Math and Science next year... the two subjects I DID NOT want to teach. Sometimes I think all my planning makes God laugh. I'm sure he chuckled a few times in my planning to teach English and History. But like I said, God is a far better planner than I am. I LOVE teaching Science. It has become my comfort zone. It's so much fun. And as scared as I am, something tells me I will enjoy teaching math as well.

God has plans for us. They are plans for good, not bad.

There are a lot of things in the husband and my lives right now that are up in the air. I look forward to seeing God's plan in these things.

Family Weekend

I have had the best weekend! It has been packed full of family & fun!

Friday as soon as I left work, I did some last minute birthday shopping and then came home and packed. I headed the two hours north to my grandmother's house for a celebration of birthdays.

We celebrated Sawyer turning 3!



Livvy celebrated her 8th birthday!


And my Mommom celebrated 71 years!


It was such a nice night. I have the best cousins. We talked and laughed for our hours. My cousin, Tyler, is finishing up his junior year of high school. His school is getting a new greenhouse next year. With this new greenhouse comes new classes such as Turf Grass Management! Doesn't that sound like the class every high school student is looking to take?

Andrew was not able to go with me. He had to work until almost ten o'clock Friday night doing inventory. I don't think it went very well, so he was not happy about it. Things are kind of up in the air for him at work right now. His company was recently bought and so there are changes being talked about. Nothing too bad, it just makes it hard for us to make any plans at all. I'm scared to death that they are going to call and require him to travel out of state to help open a new branch the week of my surgery. I'm trying to tell myself it will be okay if he has to be gone. I know he will be here if it is at all possible for him to be. Just praying he doesn't have to be on a business trip that day.

Anyways... since he wasn't with me I decided to spend the night with my Momma & Daddy. I didn't want to drive home that late. I was sleepy and I have a headlight out right now.

Saturday morning I woke up and decided to drive to Blanchard Springs to spend the day with my brother and cousin. They were camping for the weekend. I hadn't been to Blanchard since I was in high school. When I was little, we camped there a lot! That was also the place for field trips when I was in elementary school. One year we would go to the caves and the next year we would go to the Ozark Folk Center.

The drive from my parent's house to Blanchard was absolutely beautiful! I couldn't help but praise God for his creation.




Seth and Joseph didn't know I was coming so it was a bit of a surprise to them. I think they were happy to see me. I had the best time hanging out with them. I definitely caught camping fever. I am hoping Drew and I will be able to take the nephews up there for a weekend before my surgery. Just look at the pictures. You'll see what I'm talking about.












Today we got up and to church at Geyer Springs. They have been without a preacher for quite some time now. Jeff Williams from Florida preached this morning. They were going to vote on making him their pastor tonight. Andrew and I really enjoyed hearing him this morning. He reminded us about what the cross really means to us. He reminded us that the lost people around us should matter to us because they matter to God.

After church, I took a nap. Yesterday's adventures wore me out. This afternoon Andrew and I went driving around looking at land. On the way home we stopped in North Little Rock, grabbed some lunch at ate at beside the river. It was beautiful! Great way to end the weekend.

How was your weekend?

My Sweet Brown Girl

Today is Miss Liberty Belle Weaver's birthday. She is 3!


She is my little runaway!



She has taught many lessons about patience.



She's my girl!! We sleep back to back every night.




She loves her little brother.


Her favorite game is tug-a-war.


She is so good with babies and kids!!!




Happy Birthday Miss Liberty!

Happy Birthday

Today my baby brother turns 23!!


Guess that means he isn't such a baby anymore.


Isn't he handsome??

To some, he is a famous wrestler.



To me, he is one of my very best friends.



Happy Birthday little brother! Love you bunches!

Neighbor

"And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself." Mark 12:33a

Can You Hear Me Now?

I currently chat it up on my Samsung Blackjack 2.


Before my blackjack, I was using a phone that didn't take pictures or have a full keyboard. GASP!

The husband convinced me that I needed the full keyboard and a data plan. I really didn't see the point in paying extra money each month to be able to surf the web on my phone. After all, I had a computer at home.

Oh my goodness! How did I ever live without a full keyboard or a data plan. I love it!

Of course my upgrade rolls around in a couple of weeks. I'm really thinking I want an iphone. Does anyone have one of these? What are thoughts? Pros? Cons?

If you have an iphone, do you still your an ipod or just the phone?

Help me decide!

Tired!

For the past three or four days, I have felt tired. I have been tired in every way a person can be tired. I've just wanted to quit. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it is how I have felt. I have been tired physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Just tired.

I could feel myself slipping into a place I didn't want to be in, yet I went there. There didn't seem to be anything I could do to prevent it. I know a lot of this has to do with the fact that I've been letting my time with God be swept under the rug lately. I have used the excuse I just don't have time a little too often lately. Honestly, if I spent all the time I spent saying I didn't have enough time on building my relationship with God, I would probably be a lot better off right now.

I have been up and down this weekend. I am so thankful that we didn't have any plans this weekend. It's been too long since I could take a weekend to just relax and enjoy it. That is exactly what I've done this weekend. I've read, painted, and done some scrapbooking.

Sometimes I just get tired of trying to keep up with everything in my life. I get to the point where I feel like I'm pretending with every thing and everyone. I feel like I can't let anyone in on how I'm really feeling. I hate that! Why do we feel the need to put up a front for everyone. Why can't I just say I'm struggling and I really need your prayers. Wait a minute! I can.

I'M STRUGGLING AND I NEED PRAYER!

There. I said it.

Bless my sweet husband's heart. It has been no secret to him that something was up with me this weekend, but he didn't know what. I just couldn't manage to put it into words to talk to him about it. He tells me loves me on a daily basis and multiple times each day at that. But I think he has told me he loves me more in the past two days than he ever has. He knew I wasn't ready to talk yet, but just need him. He's the best!

Even when I'm feeling tired and ready to give up, God is there. I have received random emails and text messages from family and friends this weekend letting me know they were thinking of me or praying for me. They were all people who don't normally email me or text me. I know this was of God and I am so thankful for his intervention.

I have no way of wrapping up this post today. But I will say that I have a thankful heart today. I'm thankful for a God who loves me even when I'm feeling low. I'm thankful for a husband who loves me even when I'm slightly moody and crazy. And I'm thankful for you, friends that I can poor my heart out too.


Praying that you have a blessed week!

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Confession.... Before I was a Weaver, I'm not sure that I had ever seen a black and white movie. I just figured they were all boring. BOY was I wrong.

I remember my first Christmas as a Weaver. Daddy Weaver wanted to watch It's A Wonderful Life, but none of his kids wanted to watch it with him. They had already watched it that year. I mentioned that I had never seen the movie before. Daddy Weaver was so excited. He just had to share this movie with me. So Christmas 2004, I watched It's A Wonderful Life for the first time.

In the past six years of being in the Weaver family, I have been introduced to some of my new favorite movies. I love Bringing Up Baby and Shop Around the Corner. Old movies are just good. They are funny and clean and just good. :)

We have a theater nearby that shows a classic movie the second Tuesday of every month.

Last night they were playing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another classic that I had never seen.

We made it a family affair. Andrew's parents, Grandma Mc, Joy and the boys all joined us.

What a great movie!! It was made in 1939 and is all about a good honest, slightly naive Senator, going to Washington for the first time. One of my favorite things about classics is that they are hilarious. This was no exception. I laughed all the way through.

If you have never seen this movie, I definitely recommend it. There are some other good classics coming, but I'm most looking forward to White Christmas in December.

Numbers

I am twenty-six years old. I have been married for six years. I have zero kids. Some people have a hard time understanding why that is so, especially when they know I want kids. All that together makes Mother's Day fill me with a range of emotions wider than I think I've ever known.

I have ten loving and caring sibling-in-laws. One of them understands what it is like to wait for a child. She waited ten years before trying to conceive and then another three before God blessed her with this beautiful little girl.

Jill blessed me Sunday evening with a mother to be gift. No we are not expecting, but someday I will be a mom. And that qualifies me for a mom to be. :) I was so surprised to receive a gift and even more thrilled when I opened the box and found this.


I posted about wanting one of these two months ago.
I can't wait to get it into my flowerbed. Mine is pink and green which go perfectly with our huge tree and nine azaleas.



There are seventeen days of school left. Two of those are student-free days.

My surgery is in thirty-seven days. I will not be able to walk or drive for at least thirty days afterwards. Right now all things in my life are measured around those thirty days. Everything must be done before the 17th of June or after the 17th of July.

Andrew will be going to Texas soon, possibly on the 15th of this month. The number of days he will be gone is MUCH bigger than I like. While he isn't one hundred percent sure, the number of days gone will probably be bigger than fourteen. I will be home alone with our two dogs during that time. I already have lots planned to keep myself busy.

With all these numbers, I might just be ready to teach math next year.

Happy Tuesday!!

I HEART BOOKS!

One of my favorite past times is reading. I love books. I think I always have. I definitely remember being the kid in school who would try to hid whatever novel I was currently reading behind my history or math book. My two best friends and I would each buy a different book and then trade them among the three of us.

My favorite author has a child was Judy Blume. I loved "Just As Long As We're Together". That is probably the only book I've read multiple times. As I got older I went through a spell where I didn't really read very often. I was too old for the books I had been reading, yet I didn't enjoy books that my mother was reading either... Danielle Steele and John Grisham. Okay so I never tried them,but they just didn't appeal to me. Around that time my Aunt Judy introduced me to a new author Karen Kingsbury. I read "Halfway to Forever" and was instantly hooked on Karen Kingsbury and Christian fiction. Karen Kingsbury is now my favorite author easily!! I have read all of her books except a couple. I will be reading those next month. I have a weird thing where I won't read any book in a series until they are all out. I don't like to be left hanging.

I also have a love for children's books. I love their simple messages and amazing illustrations. My sister-in-law Jill bought books for her children before she was even pregnant with Amelia. I loved this idea and have started doing the same. As of today, Baby Weaver has over 60 books. Oh how I hope I have a child who shares my love for books. :)

Most of those 60+ books have come from the Scholastic Warehouse sales. I love these. You can get books for up to 80% off. They have a sale in my area going on right now. I recently learned that you can volunteer to work at the sale and earn $10 in free books for every hour you worked. So this morning, I was the official Scholastic Warehouse Booksale greeter!! I sat in a chair for 3 hours welcoming people to the sale. Easiest books I've ever bought/earned.

A couple of the titles I picked up today were "There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve" by Pam Munoz Ryan, "Library Mouse" by Daniel Kirk, and Little Lam by Piers Harper (A Soft-To-Touch Book). I bought so many books. I picked up a couple of Amelia Bedelia books. Love these!!

I also picked up a 4 book package that included "Walking the Plank to the Baptism Tank", "Church Summer Cramp", "Preacher Creature Strikes on Sunday", and "Mission Trip Impossible" all by Mike Thaler. Because they were in a package, I could preview them at the store, but went ahead and bought them because the price just couldn't be beat. I opened them up and started reading as soon as I got in my car. I have to say, I don't think these are ones we will be keeping in our library. The attitude of the character telling the story isn't one I'm sure I want to be sharing with my kiddos. However, there were two lines out of these four books that I liked and wanted to share with you.

From "Walking the Plank to the Baptism Plank": Everyone applauds. I guess I have to get out. I feel clean and new. It's like a Laundromat for the spirit.

From "Church Summer Cramp": Well I'll just go and trust and in God. After all, he's got the best G.P.S. there is - God's Protecting Son.



I also picked up "Little Miss Star" by Roger Hargreaves.
I love the Little Miss and Little Mr books. I remember checking one of these out every time I went to the library when I was in elementary school. They are so fun! When I got home and began adding my new titles to the ongoing list, I realized I already had a copy of Little Miss Star. My mistake is your gain. I'm giving away a copy of Little Miss Star to one of you lucky readers.

Here's how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment sharing your favorite children's book.
2. Become a follower of my blog.
3. Blog about this giveaway.

I will draw a winner on Thursday, May 13

Lately

Life has been very busy lately. It always gets like this in May. The school year is coming to an end and it seems like we try to cram so much into the last month of school. On top of that is all that is going on at home with the husband and me and our family.

Here's what we've been up to lately.


**Saturday.... We drove two hours to northeast AR for my cousin's wedding. It was a very small country wedding. Anthony, my cousin, is one of those people that is hard for me to picture married, but now he is. He and his bride, Susan, both seemed to be very happy Saturday. I'm thankful they have each other.

**Sunday..... Church in the morning. Great as always. I love hearing my brother-in-law Gerry preach. The past few weeks I think God has given Gerry information about my thoughts. I have felt like he was speaking directly to me in his message. God has really been showing me some things about the sins that are in my life. It is very exciting.
After church, the husband and I went bath towel shopping. We bought these cream colored towels at Kohls. I absolutely love them. Since Sunday, I've wanted to take several baths a day just so I could use these new soft towels. HA!
Sunday afternoon my brother called with a little surprise. He was coming to spend the night. The husband and I spent the rest of the evening cleaning our house. It was AWFUL!! The brother wouldn't have cared, but we finally had an excuse to clean. I can love my home again.

**Monday.... We had people from the state department at school for our audit. I woke up a nervous wreck. At one point, I started feeling sick to my stomach, so I asked Andrew to stop for a moment and pray with me. I am so thankful to have a husband who will do that for me. As soon as Andrew prayed for me and the other teachers at my school, I felt much better. I continued to pray all the way to school. They never came into my room, only peaked in. We passed the audit with flying colors. Every school they have been to this year has been written up for something. Every school but us. We were in compliance with everything. We all clapped and cheered at lunch when we got the news. I think all of us teachers felt a huge relief. Monday was a stressful day though and felt like it should have been our entire week. I can't believe it is only Wednesday.

**Tuesday and Wednesday... Yesterday, students voted for new student council members for next year. This is my least favorite part of sponsoring student council. In 7th grade, there were 21 names on the ballot. There were only 7 slots. I knew some students were going to be upset. Today I posted the results and there were students who were upset. I think some of the ones that were in it before felt they were a shoe in. That was not the case. I only have 3 returning members. The others are all new. I'm looking forward to giving a whole new group of kids the opportunity to be on student council, but I hate that some are upset. I'm glad the students vote and I can honestly say I had nothing to do with it.