Goodbye Mr. Fish

Four years ago Louisa E was three years old and went to the petshop and picked out her very 1st pet fish. She named him Sharkbait Oooh Aaahh (Nemo's new name in Finding Nemo) after her favorite movie that she got for her 4th birthday. A few months after her birthday her family moved to Virginia. She decided that Molly, her nanny, would do a good job taking care of Sharkbait. He came to live in our house shortly after we got married. He was our first pet. Today he died. Sharkbait was one of the oldest pet fish I knew. He even had a personality for fish. Whenever Jay would talk to Sharkbait through his bowl he would puff up his face at him and or swim towards him at the edge of the bowl. I know he's just a fish but I'm a little sad. Goodbye Sharkbait.

Yes, we can.

This is what Courtney, Inara and I did last night.

Student Teaching

I have been so blessed this semester to be placed in a wonderful school with an amazing Cooperating Teacher. Laurel has been teaching for 15 years and has had 4 student teachers before me. I have been placed in 4th grade at Ott Elementary in NISD. Over Christmas break I was really having a hard time trusting the Lord for my placement. My cooperating teachers from two other placements had expressed interest in me student teaching for them. I was very sure that I would be placed at either of these great schools and really hoped that this would be the case. After an eight day illness in January and a one day hospital stay I received the news that I was at Ott. At first I was nervous and unsure of this placement because I was going into the school blindly, not knowing anyone. I had never had this situation in any of my placements before. My CT has been welcoming to me since the first day we met. She got me a desk to work in (which I was FLOORED about) and made sure that I felt at home and that we would be sharing this class. Ott is a very large school at 1300 students. We have 9 classes per grade and about 24 students per class. Even though the school is big they do a wonderful job of building community between the teams and making it work. The administrators do a great job of making each student teacher, faculty member, and assistant feel like an integral part of the team. I have learned so much from Laurel and the other members of our team. One team member I have been especially blessed by was her student teacher from last year (good sign - they hire their student teachers :-) ) He has been great at giving advice and sharing with me where he was this time last year. Tomorrow my CT will be absent so, with the sub's help, I will be teaching the class. I am so excited!!

Goodbye Summer

No matter how much I love Christmas or my birthday (springtime) summer is the time of the year for me that always seems to fly by WAY too fast. All in all its been a pretty good summer. I graduated from SAC with my associate degree (with honors) in May. Then Jason and I went on a weekend trip to Rockport, Texas. In March 2005 we were blessed to win a weekend trip to Rockport from WOAI radio and Jason decided to surprise me with the AWESOME suprise graduation trip.

Once we got back from our trip I had to say goodbye to the awesomest kids Josiah Luke and Acie. Their dad is a doctor in the military and was transfered to Langley AFB. God quickly blessed me with a new job at Grace Point Preschool and Daycare. This summer I taught 12 three year olds at GP. Working at Grace Point was a completly new experiance for me I have enjoyed working with other girls my age and being able to minister to the children in my class. At Grace Point I have made many friends it has been a challenging summer there but great. In July I flew out to Little Rock, Arkansas to help Sage drive Jo, Acie and Luke to their new home in Yorktown Virgina.

The trip seriously rocked it was fun helping the kids explore their new home and being able to see the country for the first time.Before this trip I had never flown alone or even been anywhere outside of Texas other than Moldova. I still really miss my sweet kids but I have a feeling we will see each other soon. When I got home Jason and I celebrated our 2nd anniversery in Fredricksburg. We were able to stay at the same bed and breakfast cottage that we stayed at for our honeymoon.

Right now God is really doing alot in our life right now. He is directing us and taking us in a complety new and differnt than I would ever imagine right now. I'm totally excited to see what God has in store for us this year. School starts on Thursday which I'm kinda excited about kinda sad. Please keep us in your prayers and let me know how I can pray for you!!

Virigina Chronciles Editon 2

Well, we are here. Last night we got to Yorktown Virgina the Thurlby's new home. The house is beautiful and the children are glad to finally be home after living out of suitcases for a month. Molly and SAge are still recovering from the busy drive though. Sage may have picked something up during the trip keep her in your prayers. Yesterday we visited the Yorktown Riverwalk. Picture the San Antonio riverwalk and now think of the total opposite that's the Yorktown riverwalk. The Yorktown riverwalk reminds me of mainstreet Fredricksburg with a beach and water. It is the quietest place with colonial style bulidings. My baby, Lorelai is doing better and her daddy is taking good care of her. Today we went to the Children's Muesum of Virigina. http://www.childrensmuseumva.com A total must do for kids of all ages I had fun too!! I loved the train and bubble room. It was much nicer than the San antonio Children's Muesum. Then we ate at a really cool kid-friendly sports bar/restaurant called Roger Browns. That's all for now from rainy Virgina.

Virgina Chronicles: Edition 1

This afternoon I arrived in Virgina. I'm on a trip with some friends from Little Rock Arkansas to their new home in Yorktown Virgina. Tonight we are staying in a hotel for some much needed down time after getting up at 4:30 this morning to drive from Jackson, Tennesse to Roanoake Virgina. Six pancakes, 2 states, 1 bee sting, 4 juice boxes, 3 movies and 5 exausted people later we decided to rest before making the next leg of the journey. I can't wait till tommorow when we are able to relax some and get the kids settled into their new home. Please pray for me, Sage, the kids and our husbands and dogs at home. My dog has already gotten in some trouble (ask jason about that) and needs some TLC. Since this is my first post leaving me some love would totally make my day. Well, Night-nite. I'm off to eat some junk food :-)