New Life in New York

And The Winner Is...

...well, we may not have come in first place at the cheerleading sectional competition on Sunday, but our team is first place in my eyes and in God's! To say we had a difficult season this year would be an understatement. God allowed several trials to come our way this season, and we came through them with a lot of prayer and a lot of faith. God so tenderly reminded us that He cares about every area of our life...even cheerleading. In addition, we learned that God likes to use every area of our life to bring us closer to Him... even cheerleading. I'm so humbled to have coached these girls for the past three years. They love God with all their heart and desire to glorify Him in all they do...yes, even in cheerleading.

Last minute practice before it's our turn to perform.

The proud coaches stand back and watch!

The girls and I wait for the results.

Webster Christian Cheerleaders (08-09). Coming in fourth place at sectionals.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know what you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24

To Be Or Not To Be

Each of my high school classes are reading one of Shakespeare's plays right now. One project my senior students have come to look forward to do is to recreate the globe theatre. I'm blessed to teach students who are so creative and talented. Take a look for yourself.

A work in progress...

The globe theatre presentations...

Displaying them in the WCS library for all to see...

Will Someone Please Let Me In?

Gracie has been doing this new thing where she barks until we let her outside. She loves to play in the snow (that's not new), but she doesn't like us to close the door. Since it's 20 degrees outside we can't just leave the door open for her. Today, Will got so tired of her barking he let her outside and shut the door. It took her a while to notice that he'd closed the door, but when she finally realized it she started pouting at me (with a snout full of snow) until I finally gave in and let her in. To no avail, she immediately started barking so she could go outside again. She's ornery but adorable!

P.S I understand that some of you may be tired of us highlighting the minor events in our dog's life... but she's our only baby. Until God blesses us with two legged children, she's all we got. So, please be patient with us. We're so thankful to be sharing our lives with you via this blog!

Whiter Than Snow

Lately God has been teaching me a lot about love. His love for me, my love for Him, and my love for others. I love the Word of God! I love that sometimes the most obvious topics are the most difficult to walk out in our personal lives. I love that He loves me so much that "while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me"(Romans 5:8). I'm thankful that God not only loves me but He is love. Love is in His character. It's impossible for him to act outside of His love for me...and for you!

I've also been studying the life of David in my small group Bible study. If I've learned anything about David, I've learned that He loved the Lord His God and in response to his love for Him, he worshiped. We are blessed to see some of David's beautifully poetic praises to God in the Psalms. As I was working from my house today, I've been blessed to look outside my window and watch the snow fall. It started this morning and hasn't stopped all day. Just a moment ago I looked outside, reminiscing about how beautiful the fresh snow is, when I was moved to praise God and remember what he's done for me, "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" (Ps 51:7).

Thank you, Father, for what you've done for me! Beauty for ashes, beloved, beauty for ashes!

Happy Valentine's Day

Will & I had a great day. We worked together to make our Valentine's dinner here at home.

Will is almost done with the main course; salmon with a basil pesto sauce.

I was in charge of the veggies and bread.

Gracie ate her favorite meal. Carrots!

Dessert!

Happy Valentine's Day!

1 John 4: 7-20

Busy as a Bee

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been pretty busy since the beginning of 2009. Here's just a few things I've been up to...

Preparing for the National Honor Society ceremony...

Teaching...

Coaching...

Going to cheerleading competitions...

Attending school pep rallies and laughing at the sophomore class who preformed an original routine to the Back Street Boy's song..."Bye, Bye, Bye"

Going to school basketball games...

Serving in the children's ministry @WBC

Whew! 2009 is shaping up to be quite a year.

P.S Will and I are on our last days of antibiotics. We are starting to feel more like ourselves again. Thanks for praying for us!

Alive and Well

For anyone who was worried that Will and I had fallen off the face of the earth...we're checking in and saying hi.

We've had a VERY busy beginning to the New Year. After returning from our fabulous trip home during the Christmas break, I jumped into work with both feet and found myself swamped with things to do. Will and I were only home about two weeks before we were back in Texas for a short trip to Lubbock and El Paso. Thanks to the combination of generous germ sharing from multiple plane rides and flip flopping from sub zero temperatures in NY and the cooler weather in Texas...I've been sick for the past week. I'm almost fully recovered and feeling MUCH better. Will came home last night after spending some time with our families in Denton/Dallas and Mt Pleasant. He's not been feeling very well either and now he has pink eye in both eyes! We're really just pitiful, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, all that aside, we're doing well. I didn't want anyone to think I'd abandoned our blog. Hopefully, we'll be settling into our "normal" routine this week and I'll have more time to regularly post updates. I finally had time today to change the Christmas decor to something a little more fitting for the month of LOVE!

Well, I hear Will calling for me and Gracie is barking so I have to go for now. Talk to y'all soon.