Locks of Love & More

Wow!! It feels like forever since I've let you in on what's going on with us Weavers on this blog. See, I'm doing Project 365 again this year, but instead of scrapbooking it I'm blogging it. So even though I haven't posted here in awhile, I've been blogging about our day to day lives. It makes it hard to put it here, because I feel like I'm being repetitive.

But since I haven't told you yet, let me fill you in on what's been going on in our lives this past week. Tuesday night I had the honor of keeping my niece, Amelia.



The evening started off smoothly. Amelia was showing me her house (cardboard box) so Jill snuck out. We played for probably a minute before Amelia realized Jill had left. She instantly went over to the front door and started trying to turn the doorknob.




Ummmm....break Aunt E's heart!! Then came the tears. The tears went from just a few drops to full out screaming her little head off very quickly. This went on for the first hour. Baby Fever....Cured! J/K! The girl had three shots and no nap. I'd be emotional too! We finally sat down and watched her praise video. It was the only thing that stopped the crying, plus I kinda like her all snuggled up next to me.




Once she calmed down she said the best thing EVER!! AUNT E! Every time she said it I would just smile and laugh and tell her to say it again. Music to my ears.

Of course as soon as Jill came home she was all smiles and was being silly. Girl just needed her Momma!

Before I went to keep Amelia Tuesday afternoon I went to the salon and had all my hair cut off. I woke up Tuesday morning and decided that I couldn't deal with any longer. Basically I was having a bad hair day, an acne bomb had exploded on my face, and I was feeling very pale. The hair was the only thing I could fix instantly. Andrew's wasn't too thrilled about it since he likes my hair long, but he knew the day was coming. So after school I drove over the salon and told them I wanted 10 inches gone and after that I didn't care, just make it cute.





It feels so much better. Andrew had to go out of town so he hasn't seen it down and fixed. He'll get used to it...and then it will be long again. I'm donating it to locks of love. I feel so blessed that I can do this. I was looking at pictures of recipients on their website and just started crying. It's such a little thing, but I know it is going to be a big blessing to someone.


Oh and in between the salon and keeping Amelia a strange cat got in our house. It was laying by the front door when I got home. I had my hands full and though I tried to stop it, it followed me anyways. It immediately went under our bed. Took me 10 minutes to get that stupid cat out of my house. Sorry cat lovers, but you know I'm a dog lover.


Last night I sat in the gym all night. My 7th graders have been asking me to come watch them play basketball since October. Last night was the first time they played at home. Since Andrew was out of town I figured it the perfect time for me to go. I watched both 7th grade teams and both Jr. High teams. We lost all the games except Jr. Boys. They played a very exciting game and won.



Tonight was a blast. I was able to get together for dinner with my little brother, my BFF from high school and her husband, our band director from high school, and Jennifer and her girls. Jennifer happens to be both my friend and Madison's (band director) niece. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if the husband and Jen's husband could have joined us. They work together and are both out of town for a couple of days. Boo!!

It was good to see Mandy, my BFF and Madison again. It's been forever!! I really enjoyed visiting with Jen too. Up until now it's been like we were just facebook/blog friends. We've never been able to just hang out. We are a lot alike in several different ways. She is such a sweet women and friend. Her girls are absolutely precious. Peyton kept telling me I had water on my head and Dr. Pepper on my chin. I'm still trying to figure out what that means.




Laila sat by me and kept trying to touch my leg. She was playing shy. If I looked at her or tried to talk to her should would turn away. I couldn't talk her into taking a picture with me but she was too cute.



And baby Mika was just as happy as could be. Don't you just love her big blue eyes.



It was a good meal with even better company.




So that's been our week. Busy but fun! I have a ton of papers to grade this weekend, but I plan on getting some scrapbooking and shopping done too.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Dream Weaver

Last Wednesday night I had a bizarre dream. I got absolutely no rest because it felt like I was dreaming all night long. The same thing occurred on Thursday night and again on Friday night.

They slacked off for a couple of night, but have been back the past couple of nights. They are so vivid and real feeling. I wake up remembering every bit of it. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I pick up where I left off as soon as I fall back asleep. One night what felt like the first thirty minutes of my dream, I was looking for a parking space. There were only two rows of spots in the parking lot. One row was on a very steep hill and when I tried to park there, my car would roll down the hill. The other row was all full or handicap spaces. I don't remember ever finding a spot.

Last night I dreamed that Andrew decided to give Liam Bailey away. I was devastated, but went along with it. A husband and wife came over to our house to meet Liam Bailey and see if they wanted him. The wife immediately fell in love with him. (Who wouldn't?) Liam Bailey stayed right by my side the entire time. The woman could see how much Liam and I love each other and she couldn't bring herself to take him so I got to keep him. :)

Honestly....crazy stuff that doesn't make sense most of the time. One night I was at a Pier/Water Park/Casino and was being chased by three boys.

I've shared the fact that I'm having crazy dreams ALL THE TIME with a few friends who happen to all be women. Every last one of them has asked me if I am pregnant. Apparently crazy dreams translate to pregnancy. Who knew?

Well...I'm not pregnant so I don't know what is causing them. The last time I dreamed like this was this past summer after I had bunion surgery. My pain meds made me have crazy dreams. No pain meds this time.

Someone suggested that stress could be causing them. I don't feel stressed, but I'm sure I am. I'm crazy busy and always feel behind. I've had a terrible case of acne break out along the left side of my face. That's a sign of stress too so I guess that makes sense.

All I know is that I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week and I'm more than ready for these dreams to stop. I will do whatever I need to do to get rid of them.

A Heavy Heart

My heart has been so heavy today. There are numerous family members and friends that I have felt burdened to pray for today. Everything is my life is going beautifully right now, yet I feel this cloud looming over me. I have yet to be able to voice my thoughts, my concerns, my prayers into a sentence. I don't have the words to tell God what is own my heart.

The wonderful thing about my God is that he already knows. He knows my heart and he knows the struggles of those whom I feel so burdened for. He knows about the woman whose marriage is struggling. He knows the mom who had her 11 year old son tell her he wants to live with his dad. He knows the young newlyweds who have a 3 month old baby in the hospital. She can't keep food down and is losing weight. Doctors haven't been able to find a solution. He knows the woman who lost her second husband this week, the two men who lost their dad.

These are only a few of the struggles that are happenIng in the world around me. God seems them all and many I don't see. It's one of those times when I ask the question Uncle Kevin posted about recently. How is God possibly going to use these things for good?

God has put on my heart to love more this year. It is something I feel I'm supposed to work on in 2011. He has asked me to really step up this year and show his love to the people around me. I want to be the one who loves on the ones who are too often see as unlovable. It's easy to love some people, others are more of a challenge for me. I'm trying to learn to see people the way God seems them, to love them despite the fact that they might be a little different from me. I personally feel called to show God's love to a few family members who don't know Christ as far as I know.

Two of those people are the young newlywed parents I mentioned above. The father called me tonight with an update. Their baby girl, Alyssa, gained 11 ounces since yesterday. The doctors don't know what caused the change. I told him I knew WHO caused the change. It was God, an answer to our prayers. I can't help but smile as I type this. I LOVE when God works miracles!! There is no other answer for Alyssa's improvement other than God.

It was reassurance to me that even though I haven't been able to find the words to give to God, he knows my heart and still chooses to answer those prayers. He truly is an awesome God. He still answers prayers and he still works miracles.

Snow Days

Sunday afternoon it began snowing and continued to snow all night. It was so pretty. Made me smile. It was real snow too, the fluffy kind....not ice like we usually get.

I've been home yesterday and today due to said snow. I have to admit I've really enjoyed having the past two days off. I know I will think differently in June when I'm still in school, but for now it was nice.

I took advantage of being home yesterday and tackled our bedroom. I had wanted to do this over the weekend, but didn't get the chance to because of our last minute trip to Tulsa. I knew our bedroom was going to take a full day to do right. I lucked out and discovered that Darlene at Time Warp Wife had posted 28 steps to deep cleaning your bedroom yesterday. PERFECT!! I printed it off and got to work. It was an all day job. I started around 10 yesterday morning and didn't call it quits until arond 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Hard work!! But well worth it. It feels like our bedroom doubled in size yesterday. I really do love our house when it is clean.



I had thought about tackling the bathrooms today but the bedroom smooth wore this girl out yesterday. I slept in instead. We had lunch with my parents today. My Daddy is 49 today. He's definitely one of the greatest guys I know. :) He chose Red Lobster for his birthday lunch. I was suprised to find something there that I like. HA!! We had lunch and then hit a few antique stores with them before heading home.


School is back in session tomorrow. Honestly, I've have mixed feelings about it. I don't want to be in school all summer, but the past two days have been so nice. Andrew has worked from home. He's been busy so we've haven't spent all day together really, but he was in the house. Made me want to be a stay at home wife and have him work from home. I can't say that I've missed school the past two days either. Oh well. Going back tomorrow.

My Granny's husband passed away today. She married Herb shortly after my PaPa passed away in 2002, at least it seemed like shortly after to me. I cannot imagine losing one husband in my life, let alone two. The hardest part is that I don't know where Herb stood with our Lord. I honestly have no idea. I plan to ask my Granny. I hope she knew where he stood.

Please, if they don't know about your relationship with Jesus Christ, tell your family.

Sunday News

***It's snowing!! It's coming down hard. I love it! I'm pretty sure there will be no work for me tomorrow. Andrew says if it keeps coming down like this and continues to stick, he will be working from home.


NEWS UPDATE: NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!


***Though I haven't blogged about my goals for 2011, I have them. One of them is to get and keep our house clean and organized. Darlene over at Time-Warp Wife has a housekeeping schedule. I'm using it as my guideline. Of course I have some major cleaning to do before I can keep a maintenance schedule like this one. I made myself a calendar and I'm hoping that will help me. I hate cleaning, but I love a clean house. Since we can't afford to pay someone to do that for me right now, I'm left with no choice but to be a grown up and clean my own house. :( I had big plans to work on this Friday night and Saturday, but we ended up taking an overnight trip to Tulsa. The husband had to do so me work at the Tulsa office so I tagged along. I graded papers for the first part of the day and then went shopping the second part of the day.

***Do you remember this post about new paintings for my living room? Well, they are finished. And they are beautiful!!! AND HUGE!
This picture doesn't do them justice. I absolutely love them and can't wait for the husband to get them up on the wall. My sweet friend, Amanda, is the artist. God has truly given her a gift. She does amazing work. She even painted a baby shower gift for me on very short notice. By short notice, I mean I asked her Wednesday and the shower was Thursday afternoon. Yeah, she rocks!!! She recently started a blog so you too can have some of her artwork. She graduated in December with a degree in education and is currently jobless. She is taking advantage of this time to share her talents with you. Her blog is Splash of Design. It's brand new so I'm not sure she has pictures of her work posted yet, but keep checking back.

***Every time I decide it's time to cut all my hair off I have a good hair day and change my mind. I let it air dry on Thursday and wore it wavy. I got so many compliments. So many of my kids walked into class Thursday and told me I looked pretty. So sweet!!!

***I should have a new look here at the old blog in the next day or too. Miranda over at Little Sailor Design is in the process of creating my new design. The drafts that she has sent me look great! I'm excited about it. She did a FAB job. If you are looking for a new look, check her out. She does a great job, is easy to work with, is fast, and is affordable!! I give her two thumbs up. My new look is going to contain my very own button. It will be my first one. Be sure to grab it when you get a chance.

Memorizing Scripture

At the beginning of every year I always say I want to memorize scripture. I struggle with remembering it long term. I will work to memorize a scripture in a week but a few weeks later it seems to be gone. I always just hope it is inside somewhere and God will bring it to the surface when I need it.

I'm participating in an online Bible Study right now called From Chaos to Calm. I'm really enjoying it. God has already started working on my heart through this study and we're only on Day 3.

Anyways, each day the devotion includes a scripture to memorize for that day. I can't memorize a scripture in one day. Maybe you can, but I can't. I always end up feeling overwhelmed and not memorizing any of them.

I'm wondering if any of you have done a study that has a memory verse every day. What do you do? Are you like me and can't memorize one a day? Do you just work on one until you have it and then move to the next?

I've really felt the desire to put these scriptures to memory. I don't want to end up with that overwhelming feeling again. I need your advice on how to make the most out these memory verses.

January 3

I know what you are thinking. How in the world did she come up with such a creative title? Well, let me share my secret with you....it's today's date. :)

This is just going to be a random post about today so I thought what other title is more fitting than the date.

Today was my first day back to work after having two weeks off. I won't lie. I've been dreading it. I have never been so ready for June so early in the school year. This year's group challenges me. I'm sure I'll be thankful later because they are stretching me as a teacher, but right now it's not so fun.

Anyways, today actually went quite well. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but the day was far better than I had anticipated.

I came home with high hopes of an anniversary date with the husband. Unfortunately he isn't feeling well. He has felt bad since Saturday. He just didn't feel like going out tonight. I think he felt a little guilty, but I assured him that I wasn't upset about it. I'd rather he stay home and get to feeling better.

Since we didn't have a hot date, I decided to go on to my cardio dance class while he slept. It's been several weeks since the last session ended and I have really missed this class. Excersicing really does make you feel better. I sleep better and have more energy when I excercise. But let me tell you, I could tell it had been several weeks. I was feelin' the burn tonight. There were a couple times I really wanted the class to be over for the night, but when you are in a room full of women you have no choice but to go on.

We did a new song tongiht that we didn't do last time where we have to do lunges. We go to the right side, then left side, and then face forward and squat. I can't go to the left where I'm stretching the toe of my bunion foot. It HURTS!!! So I just stood there like an idiot. I really wanted to yell out that I had surgery and just can't do that so that everyone would know why I was just standing. HA!! That's the other thing. Last time I was getting to wear I could do more on my right foot, but it was tough tonight. I will have to work back into it.

Tomorrow is Sugar Bowl Day!! Woo Pig Sooie!!! Our principal is letting where our hog gear tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that. Yes, it's the little things in life.

Seven Years

Seven years ago today I walked down the aisle to meet my groom and join him as we became husband and wife. Andrew and I chose to repeat the traditional vows to one another. We felt like whatever we tried to write would just end up saying what the tradional vows already said quite beautifully. In the months before the wedding we joked that I was not going to take him sickness because he is so whiny when he is sick. So as we stood before our family and friends I remember sharing this look with one another and giggling a little as I took him in sickness.

Though I took over vows seriously on that day seven years ago, I'm not sure I fully understood what it was I was committing too. I was young and in love and that is all I was thinking about.

Now it's been seven years and we have taken each other for richer or poorer, though our richer wasn't all that rich, in sickness and in health, though our sickness haven't been major (Praise God!), for better or for worse.

God is still teaching me what it means to truly honor those vows. Though we've gone through many ups and downs in our little seven years of marriage, I pray that we have many more years of marriage ahead of us. I know those years will continue to be filled with ups and downs.

We have laughed together and we have cried together and it has been through that laughter and those tears that my husband has become my very best friend. He has a way of making me feel safe and secure during those times when my world seems to be falling apart around me. He is my spiritual leader whom God is still teaching me to trust completely.

In this past year, I have watched my husband make sacrifices and work incredibly hard to support the two of us. He has made a decision to get us out of debt and has been diligently getting us there.

He has his faults and I have mine. Our marriage is not perfect by any means. There are still days that we make each other want to pull our hair out. But the days that we make each laugh and smile far out number the other days. We're human and we make our mistakes. I'd like to think we learn from those mistakes and they make us a stronger wiser couple.

I look forward to the adventures that God has for us in the years to come.




Happy Anniversary Husband! I LOVE YOU!