burger barrel

had lunch here yesterday....

This good 'ole Burger Barrel has been in business since 1920 and is still going strong! It's right down the street from our house and I chuckle every time we drive by!! Thanks to my dad, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for random, weird, local, hole-in-the wall restaurants. (I guess this is more an actual barrel than a hole-in-the-wall.... but its still totally random!) so yesterday we decided it was time to try it out. I was actually pretty impressed. I think I'd give it a B-. (would have gotten a B but the two women who cooked our food were quite frazzled when I changed a few of the drinks and they also forgot to give us straws and ketchup)

Thanks Burger Barrel! We'll be back!

baby on the way!

We're pregnant!!!

It's true and we can hardly believe it! I'm around 11 weeks along now and feeling sick, tired and very pregnant :) I have my first doctor's visit next week and will hopefully find out a real due date and maybe even see the sonogram! Mark has been the sweetest husband through this first trimester and is going to be the most wonderful daddy! After the shock wore off (this came as quite a surprise to us!!!!), we now feel so blessed that the Lord has chosen to give us such a remarkable gift. Please join us in praying for our little one as he/she grows throughout the next 7 months! Keep you posted....

hello fall

It's always hard for me to admit that summer is over.... but the beautiful fall day we had today sure made it a little easier. We had the best first "fall" weekend! We went to a high school football game, watched a lot of football on tv (well, let's be honest, I didn't actually watch much but I sure love to hear it in the background), we opened our new windows and turned off the a/c, mark worked in the backyard, we ate soup, we went on a cool evening walk and we wore jackets!! Thank you 60 degree weather for such a great weekend!

Dear Fall,

Please look like this in Amarillo this year like you do in Branson:

Thank you.

catch up...

Well, it's been a while. I am now back in Albq. for my second round of Math Recovery training. We've had two weeks of school and I'm getting excited to get back to Amarillo and start helping these lost kiddos one-on-one! It is the coolest program and I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it.

Mark is now in his second rotation. Praise the Lord he made it through Internal Medicine and now he's onto psychiatry, which is supposed to be much more laid back and no more call!! yay. I'm glad to have my hubby back.

My parents came to visit two weekends ago and we had a blast. I always love it when they come. We didn't spend the whole time on home projects... but my dad, mark and mark's dad spent most of the day Saturday installing new windows in our back living room! It looks a million times better! thanks for all your hard work.

i'm sure there's more to catch up on.... but that's all for now.

glory to God.

"But I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust and confidently rely on the loving-kindness and the mercy of God forever and ever. I will thank you and confide in you forever, because you have done it (delivered me and kept me safe.) I will wait, hope and expect in your name, for it is good, in the presence of your saints." Psalm 52:8-9

Glory to God in the highest for he has done it.... provided a fantastic job for me!! I am going to be a Math Recovery Specialist for 1st - 5th graders at Margaret Wills Elementary. It's a full-time teaching position (with awesome teacher pay and benefits) but I won't have a whole class of kids.... I'll just be pulling kids out of their class throughout the day to come to my class for tutoring. It's a brand new program that AISD is starting this year, so it could be interesting as we figure out exactly what it will look like. As far as I know, It will be a lot of assessment and really meeting these kids right where they are to challenge and encourage them to step it up! Wills is a title 1 school, meaning many of them are from underprivileged homes and are also ESL kids... so it will definitely be a challenging position but I am so ready and excited to see how the Lord leads!

It takes me exactly 3 minutes and 20 seconds to walk to school (which I couldn't be more excited about), I have an actual classroom which I'm sharing with a special ed teacher (i was ready to be stuck in a closet or at the end of the hallway somewhere so this is a blessing!), my principal is awesome and I really feel like she is completely supporting me and whatever I think we need to do to get this program going!

I'm headed to Albuquerque tomorrow with the six other math recovery specialists from AISD for a week long training program. yikes! I'm prepared for long, draining days of conferences and lectures and lots of homework each night, but I know it will good to figure out what I'm going to be doing this year.

*Please pray for strength and patience as I begin this journey! God is good and I couldn't be more excited to follow as He leads.

branson!

here is my summer day schedule these days: sleeping until 8:30 or 9, drink coffee and watch regis & kelly, workout, take Gunner on a walk/run around the park, have a long, quiet time with my Jesus on the porch, clean, go to Target or the grocery store, make dinner and wait for my hubby to get home from the hospital, enjoy time with the hubs, go on another walk with marky and gun, watch hgtv, go to bed.

all to say, I haven't had much to do. so..... last week I drove to Branson to be with my family while Mark was on call and at the hospital.

It was a wonderful trip! My mom and I shopped and went to see Peter Pan (the broadway show with Cathy Rigby is in Branson this summer! it was amazing), we ate some yummy food, played at Kamp with the Coopers like the old days, had a cookout, went to the new Saturday night service at church and just spent some great time together!! I also got to stop in Fayetteville and meet my dear friend Katie's little boy Sawyer. What a cutie!

I couldn't love my family more and am so so thankful for such a wonderful, relaxing time with them.... especially since, I AM NOW EMPLOYED! more on that to come...

God's Masterpiece

Amazing how God knows exactly what we need to hear at the exact right time. This video brought me to tears. What an awesome picture they paint of God literally chiseling away our humanly sins and desires only to reveal Him in us! I pray that I will live that out and see myself as the masterpiece God has created! I loved the part where the man said, "God, I feel like I've let you down!" to which God replied, "How could you ever let me down? You're not holding me up! I'M HOLDING YOU UP!" awe.some. The past few weeks that is totally and completely how I have felt... like the only way I'm persevering is because of the Lord's strength and nothing of my own. Thank you Jesus. I could never make it without you.

You have to watch this. I pray God will speak to you in the way He did me!

As dear Spike White used to say, "God don't make no junk!"