An Exciting Day!

Today was an exciting day at our church for a couple reasons.

#1 We both wore shorts to church (just kidding... Well, we did both wear shorts, but that's not why it was an exciting day).

#2 We celebrated the ceremonial ground breaking for the church building! That's actually why we wore shorts. Instead of meeting at the school where we usually have Sunday worship, we met on the property that has just been cleared this week. Imagine an outside service in Florida during the summer. That's why we all dressed comfortably and cool. ;) We did have a big tent that kept us pretty shaded though. It's an amazing blessing to be a part of the church in the midst of so much growth. It was planted about 11 years ago, and in the last 3 we've been here it's just amazing to see how God has/is working and moving. And even better to know the vision is to use the building to SERVE others, not just have a pretty place, and secondly to know the church isn't really a building. ;)

#3 We ordained deacons, including Matt! Four deacons were ordained, and it's really neat to see God provide a place for Matt to serve in this capacity, as his heart is so oriented to serve.

I took my camera, but I didn't get any pictures because we were on the greeting/question answering team and I didn't want to walk around with my camera. I'll post some from our pastor's blog as soon as he puts some up!

We hope you had a good weekend. :)

It's Been Awhile....

..whew ! August 23 was my last post. Eek!

I guess you could say things have been pretty busy around here. I haven't been able to do any more embroidering or sewing since TS Fay came through and I had those 2 days off for the storms. But I am hoping to this weekend, especially because I have some more gifts to make. :) And the fabric is already picked out, so that helps a LOT!

It has been SUPER busy at school. On top of keeping a team of 6 (3 brand new to our school) going, I have my own classroom things to keep running. Tomorrow night is open house, so that adds a whole other element to the current stress level. And then Monday is our last day to enter progress report grades. In the past, we've done them by hand (on carbon copy forms). But this year we have a fancy schmancy new program that we have to use. I need to grade some reading and writing assignments, and then I should be good to go. We had a slow start with reading since we didn't have our whole kids (just TEs and student books). And the pace I think is just a lot faster than lots of my new-to-my-school students are used to. I was trying to give them a chance to complete their folder work, so I wouldn't have to enter incompletes for assignments. And then writing has been delayed because we JUST got the writing criteria finalized/approved yesterday afternoon! Ay ay ay!

Last night I got home at 6, and tonight I got home at 6:30. While I have a GREAT class (really, I do!), it's still a long day when the alarm goes off at 5:30, you chase 8 year-olds around all day, and then stay in your room until 6:30. Matt is oh-so-sweetly picking up our favorite Chinese on his way home tonight. Yum!

It's amazing the things that fall by the wayside when your day is filled up with work. You know, things like:

• laundry (especially ironing... but really, it's not AWFUL... yet)
• **depositing my paycheck that I received Sept. 1**
• vacuuming (and getting a replacement belt for the vacuum, because I think mine will wear through ANY day now)
• grocery shopping/meal planning
• walking the dog
• sleep

You get the idea. ;) Then you add the WONDERFUL addition of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, to the mix, and you have a FULL plate! On top of all that, we drove to SC last weekend to meet Isabella. :) We wouldn't have wanted it any other way, but I didn't get anything done around the house. I was "lucky" do get my grading done in the car and figure out what I was teaching for Monday on Sunday night!

So, I think you have a snapshot of our life right now. There have been some other confounding factors that makes it seem like that balls we're trying to juggle are actually dropping left and right, but we know Who's really catching them--and we're unspeakably thankful to know Who really has it all in control (we'd be in SO much trouble if I was truly in control, as I'm so apt to think I am). Hopefully those things will settle out in the next couple weeks and with that will go a huge load we've been carrying.

Thanks to everyone who's been praying and encouraging us through this absolutely crazy time!

Love,
Becca

On your mark....

... the school year is about to begin and we are SWAMPED!

I started getting my classroom ready the week before preplanning (actually, the Friday before that !). With 2 teachers on my team who are new to my school, one of whom is a first year teacher and the other hasn't been a homeroom teacher before, I thought it best to get my room as ready as possible to be available to help them and answer questions. Boy, am I glad I did! They are both GREAT, and I'm really excited to have them on the team, but I was running around getting answers to lots of questions and working on things for the writing committee that came up. I cannot imagine where I would be if I hadn't already put most of my room in order, because I was still at school 12 hours yesterday--8 to 8! Whew! Then we stopped by again today (Matt came with me) and we stayed for probably 2-3 more hours, I think.

I have one thing left to do for prep that really needs to be done for Monday. The other things I want to do can wait until the second week of school. And I need to finish deciding on plans for the rest of the week after Monday. Add to that a tropical storm that is projected to hit the gulf side of Florida near Orlando as a hurricane and then basically cut right up through us--the first week of school--and it makes for one CRAZY week coming up!

So, we're about to make the 2 week spring to Labor Day weekend, at which point we catch a little breather before diving in again. I really think I have a *fantastic* group this year, and I am very excited to get started with them. I have 19 in my homeroom, I keep all of them for reading, writing, science, and social studies, but I'm currently slotted with 4 (count 'em, FOUR) students for math. Amazing, huh? I can only imagine the things we'll get to do with only FOUR! At most, I might end up with 3 additional students.... that's still only 7!!! WOW!

I need to head for bed--our church is starting back up with 2 services again for the fall beginning tomorrow and we are on for ushering. We hope this finds you well, and please be patient as the first weeks of school are hectic. I'll be back to more regular posting soon, I hope. :)

Love,
Becca

Soooo Excited!!

I just went to check the mail, and I as I flipped through the envelopes and magazines (yea, Real Simple!), I saw our utility bill.

Dun, dun, dunnnnnnn the moment of truth!

Our first bill that includes time with the new HVAC...

Has it made as much of a difference in efficiency as we hoped????
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YES!!!!

Even though this bill includes time we still had the old unit, even though we're at our hottest time of year, it's $100 cheaper than our summer bills last year!!!! It's cheaper than our monthly average!!!! I am so, so, so excited!

Thank you, Lord!! :)

Some Outside Shots

Here are some more recent pictures of the yard, and Samantha. :)

A flower that popped up last week out of nowhere! :) So bright and happy and PINK!



GRASS IS GROWING and filling in the bare spots! We are SO excited! Matt's vision for a GREEN backyard might actually come true!
Praise the Lord for cleaned up yard debris and especially for much needed rain!


The hanging planter I filled with clippings from the yard (fern, ivy, elephant ears, etc.).
Still going and still growing!


Sammy surveying her yard.


Samantha hunting for lizards among the logs and sticks (from a dead tree we took down). The sticks used to be a neat stack, but the stack was the FIRST place she would run when we let her out. In her attempts to wrangle a lizard, she has managed to completely dishevel Matt's hard work! But BOY does she love to hunt lizards. :) I think she would literally spend hours in that one spot if we let her. Only, it's made her slightly neurotic. Now, even if a stick moves because she paws it, she is *convinced* there is a lizard there and stands guard, pointing, just waiting to make her move. It's pretty cute to watch. :)

DONE!

I'm alive, I promise. Just recovering from the baby shower and the end of the school year! :)

And now, trying to determine with Matt which contractor to use to replace our HVAC. Right about now, I wish I had a "choose your own adventure" book. It would be entitled The Amazing Air Conditioner Adventure. On about page 10 or so, it would give you the option of contractor 1 (turn to page 11), who installs a brand with the lesser reputation but the 99 year condenser warranty, 2 years of free servicing 2x/year, and proclaims to pull permits and have the municipal building inspector come inspect the finished job; or contractor 2 (turn to page 25), who quotes you on a superly efficient unit with a better reputation and seems more professional and thorough. I would read ahead and see how each contractor panned out, and then go back and make the right decision.

But, there's not an HVAC choose your own adventure book. I believe we are about to choose our own adventure indeed, don't get me wrong. I just hope the adventure is one we're pleased with in the end! Does anybody have a "best contractor" detecting device we could borrow?

Gardening and such

Yesterday, two of these popped up in the back yard....

And this weekend I took various plants from the backyard and filled this hanging planter (its original vegetation all died while we were home for Ruthie's wedding)...

I took some elephant ears, some ivy, some fern, and the purple things. :) They all seem to be propagating quite well around the yard, so hopefully they'll make it and fill in my hanging basket, too!

Then I planted some things in the corner we cleared out. We decided the chain link isn't our favorite look now that we removed all the overgrowth. We're devising a plan.... but in the meantime, here's what we have in this little spot (we're taking it one spot at a time).

I'm not sure I have the greenest thumb ever. In fact, this sign I found on clearance at JoAnn's just about sums it up for me (and so it is hanging on the lanai now).

If I can't get anything to grow/stay alive, I guess I'll just stick to flowers like this (another JoAnn's clearance find).


:) But let's hope I can get some real things to stay perky!

Front Door Flowers

Today I had a coupon for Home Depot for "buy one hanging basket of flowers, get one free." While there, we decided to get a few more plants to spruce up the front door (especially with the baby shower next month). While I don't have pictures of the hanging baskets yet, here are the front door planters. These are also the ones I hope to switch out (the vessels themselves, not the flowers--I would transplant them all) to something more our "style." The grape clusters just aren't doing it for me. ;)

There is an end in sight!

When we first moved into our house, the yard was SO overgrown! We are finally at a point that the "clean up" efforts seem like they will come to a close. Sometimes I wondered if we'd ever get there! Here are some pictures of the progress we made this weekend. :)

plants we bought for one of the cleared spaces

Look at that! The debris piles are REALLY shrinking!

We took out really scraggly bushes on either side of the front door. I would like larger, not "grape cluster" planters for this area, and I waited all of last year for when they would go on clearance at the end of the season.... it's like it stays so warm here that never happened. So we might have to just bite the bullet and get some on sale (instead of on clearance).

A dead tree we cut down (with the kumquat tree in the foreground and palm to the right)

Some Virginia Creeper-like thing had climbed all the way up to these branches from the ground! I yanked it down--that stuff drives me CRAZY!

Two Times the Fun

I think I've written before about getting to hang out with my friend T and her twin boys, Taylor and Wesley. The boys are growing so fast! We first met T, her husband R, and the boys back at the beginning of the year through our Bible study. R is finishing his first year of residency on top of the boys being born in October! What a whirlwind year for them, right? I have had the pleasure of going to hang out with T about once a week to talk and play with the boys and catch up from our week's events. It's been a huge blessing to me and answer to prayer in God providing a friend!



Last week T took a fun picture of Taylor and me, and tomorrow Matt and I have a special treat! R and T have concert tickets, so WE get to babysit the boys! Granted, they'll probably be asleep the whole time, BUT, I am really excited to see the boys and to help T and R have a date! They pour themselves out raising these two boys on top of such a stressful year of medical training. We are thrilled for them to have some "grown up" time together. So, here's one of the cute little guys I'll be listening for through the monitors tomorrow night. :) I'll let you know if we hear many peeps. :)

Yes, Virginia...

...Matt & Becca DO have grass.

Errr, well, okay. Matt & Becca have grassy spots. :)

On Sunday we ate lunch on the lanai (which I cleaned on Saturday while Matt picked kumquats). Sitting out there and having the lanai all cleaned up made me wish the yard was cleaned up too. After lunch I decided to begin raking. You might think "palm tree" when you think Florida, and while we do have a palm tree, we live in the more northern part of Florida where you have plenty of pines and other coniferous and some deciduous tress as well. When I saw year yard nearly 2 years ago for the first time, it did not send the message "days' worth of raking and bagging leaves." Oh, but it does now. :)

While Matt picked more little orange fruits on Sunday afternoon, I raked and bagged 7 bags worth of leaves and pine needles. Seven. That might not sound like a lot to people with large lots, but in Florida? Small lot, palm tree Florida? I'm not kidding! And that was less than 1/2 the yard! I won't admit how long the leaves had been piling up (I don't know the last time I raked, but I DID mow last year.... does that count?) , but I had just had it. This afternoon I raked and bagged 5 more bags. The whole back yard (except for the little corner outside our window, which I left because it was dark/for comparison's sake in the photos/due to blisters, has been raked and bagged! On Sunday I also used the blower to get leaves off the driveway and to blow leaves off the yard and into the natural area in about 1/3 of the front. Whew!

Now onto pictures to prove this amazing feat! :)

Part of Sunday's bags

Looking to the right from the palm tree

I know it's blurry, but look! You can see GREEEEEEN grass!

More GREEEEEEN!!! :)

This is to compare... this is the side yard (and a crazy pooch) still covered in leaves. The whole yard used to look like this.

PLUS, I cut out as much of the seam allowance as possible in the thumb of the oven mitt and cut a slit in the wrist, and it's actually functional! I'm not going to give it as a gift, but right now it's on display on top of our fridge. It's a great hubby-swatter. :) Hehe

If you're tired of the cold, come visit! We are in bloom already!
(this one obviously "coming soon")

Lastly, we recently received this in the mail.
I already asked off for it, and I can't wait to come home in May! Not only will we be coming HOME, but we'll be come HOME to CELEBRATE and REJOICE in Ruthie getting hitched!
I can't wait, I can't wait! :)


Ooops... lastly (for real) you can never have too many Sammy pictures. :)

More Valentine's Photos

Here are some more pictures from around Valentine's Day...

The weekend before Valentine's Day...

Tyson flew down to visit us. On Friday night, we broke out the Star Wars edition of Monopoly for the first time. Matt dominated (see below). JUST when I thought I might actually do well (the last time I played I was a little kid and my brothers let me play along, but I ALWAYS went bankrupt first as a kid), Matt turned on us all.

This is how he looked...

This was Tyson's reaction to dishing out the dough to Darth Matt...

This shows Matt's pawn crushing Tyson's pawn

And Darth Matt desperately wanted a picture to capture all his "hotels and motels" for posterity. He says he'll never do that well again.... we'll see.

My only consolation is that I DID have all the railroads for a short time...

Valentine's...

For Valentine's Day, I got Matt tickets to see Cirque Extravaganza. Here we are dressed up for a evening of entertainment and dinner out.

And a picture of me with my new necklace (though it's hard to see in this one)

Odds & Ends...

Here is Samantha being a NUTTY DOG on the couch...

And yes, Charis, unforunately, Sammy "made a mess" again!

Blessing...

...needing 2 leaves added to the table to accommodate 8 people for dinner (one chair looks missing because I'm sitting on it at the computer)! Who'd have thought?

(sorry the left side of the photo is fuzzy)

a silver-plated pillar candle holder we got over Christmas in SC... Judi got a great price for us! :)
It needs to be polished, but still!!

It even has beading around the bottom like:
a) our china (as seen behind the candle holder)
b) our silverware (everyday and extra nice)
c) my engagement ring
d) my wedding bands :)

BRRRRRR!!!

Just a little "funny" from last night. We are now hosting a Bible study in our home on Sundays. I was busy cleaning up some last minute spots that needed tidying (I had cut a bunch of fabric for a baby blanket and desperately needed to vacuum), and I was feeling pretty warm when I was done. Matt is *always* hot, so I just decided to turn off the heater for a little bit.

After Bible study, one of the couples invited us to come over later for dinner, so we fed Sammy after everyone left and then got ourselves ready to go have dinner with them. We had a tasty dinner and really enjoyed visiting with them. When we came back home, I was struck by how COLD it was in our house. Matt commented on it, too, but I said, "Let's just grab a fleece blanket. We're going to bed soon anyway." So, we made do for an hour or so. When we DID head for bed, I did a double take as I passed the thermostat. In the winter, we normally set the heater to a cool 67. There aren't THAT many cold months in FL, and usually if we're still chilly at 67, a sweatshirt or blanket does the trick. Anyway, the thermostat said it was 61 in our house!! I forgot to turn the heater back on! BRRRRRRRRR!!! I laughed and told Matt (as I turned the heater on and gladly heard/felt warm air begin wooshing through the vents). I'm so thankful we caught that mistake, and we got to sleep snug as a bug in a rug! :)

Bummed in FL

We hatched this great scheme last winter to go back to the exact condo where we spent our honeymoon for our second anniversary. The rates are lowest in winter AND I have a 4 day weekend for President's Day, so that's what we planned toward. With money put away each month, we excitedly checked the booking calendar online periodically. Still open... yup! Still... yup! Today (I called to try to book it): still??? Well, according to the website, yes. According to the actual reservation agency, no.

Bummer. Big time.

What could better than 4 days (beginning Valentine's night!) reliving our honeymoon, I ask you??

So, now we have this money saved up... do we try to find somewhere else? Try to go sometime else? Hmm......

I'm Going...

...to Disney World!

Yesterday, Matt and I drove to Orlando to spend the day at Disney World. I have never been to Disney when it was decorated for Christmas. I have wanted to go at Christmas ever since I found out we would be moving here. This year is our third Christmas in Florida, and we finally went!! We had a GREAT day, even though it rained off and on, and even though it was warm enough for shorts and a tshirt with the rain. Here are some pictures of our time. :)


(p.s. Sorry some are blurry--it was dark by the end ;), and sorry they are out of order)