some thoughts on grace

a simple reminder I came across tonight from the One who created this amazing joy we call life,

"the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
He gives us grace and glory.
the Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right."

grace: God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

praise the Lord for his saving grace, that is so beautiful and ethereal is overcomes me at this moment.
Lord I praise you!
You are so good.
You are my everything.

moments of weakness.
redeeming grace.

overwhelming grief.
saving grace.

a nation destroyed.
sovereign grace.

a temple defiled.
merciful grace.

a starving soul.
the beautiful grace of our Lord.


You are all I've got.
You are all I need.

everything you do, be it small or tremendous feats, do it all for the glory of the Lord, our gracious God.

amen.

I'm Back!

after months away from the blogging world, i am very proud to say that i am back! :) so much has happened in the last 3+ months, i don't even know where to begin!
first, let me give my (lame) excuses for why i haven't been blogging...

1) my trusty ol' laptop died (well, kinda) and a couple-hundred dollar repair on something that was 5 years old just didn't make sense. so, after a few paychecks, i now have a brand new iMac! :) and i love it!
http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html

2) i had to have my appendix removed. the sunday after one of my best friend's wedding, i woke up with what i thought was a tummy ache. well my "tummy ache" began to ache more and more until i was walking around the house like a lion! after a trip to the er, an ambulance ride and a few doctors later, i had my first apendectomy (sp?) and am now appendix-less! what a way to start my first month of teaching, right?! let me have you know that my substitute plans are dynamite, thanks to my recent experience! :o)

3) school is insane. just when i thought that i got lesson planning down pat (i have to create daily lesson plans for 9 different conent areas), now i have to develop DAILY guided reading plans for EVERY child (remember, i have 43 kindergarteners) EVERYDAY! holy canoli! :o

4) i got engaged! john proposed to me on october 20, 2007 at big meadows lodge, on skyline drive. it was a beautiful day filled with wonderful memories. let the wedding planning begin!

so, as you see, i've been very busy this fall. however, i am so glad to be back into the blogging world! between long days in kindergarten, long nights lesson planning and weekends filled with wedding planning, i know that i will have lots to share. stay tuned! :)

watermelon fun

john's place in culpeper is very much a.... rural .....home. he lives amidst hundreds of acres of hay, corn, & soybeans. the farmhouse is set back off of the road, directly in front of two huge ponds. the peace and serenity of such a setting also comes with a price: no ties to the outside world! okay, so it's not quite that bad. however, john's place does not have a tv, has no internet connections, no landline and no cell phone signals! (his work phone works in the house, however that is the one exception!) i say all this to provide an exception for the loads of pictures below.

i normally spend my free time at the house either baking, cleaning or reading. however, when john's around we like to do things together. so what do you get on a warm, saturday afternoon with two bored 20-somethings with ants in their pant? a photo shoot with watermelons! enjoy :)

summer = MIA

one of the things i love the most about summer is the sense of sponteneity that arrives with the season. weekend getaways? sure! a long weekend at the beach or the lake? why not! visiting family and friends all over the US? summer is the time to do it!

much of my summer has been spent on the road, and most recently, in the air! weekends at the lake, weekends in culpeper with john, beach vacations in hatteras, weekends with extended family in delaware & north carolina-- i have been very busy! the corolla and i have been weekend warriors together, trekking all over the place in search of loved ones to make memories with.

so, let me backtrack a bit to the weekend of july 20th.the following pictures were taken behind john's house in culpeper, va. as you can tell, john lives on a HUGE farm (i believe it's 500+ acres) in the small town of culpeper. after eating dinner at a local greasy spoon one night, john & i decided to do a little photo shoot in the beauty that is his backyard. enjoy!

John with his dog, Sadie

(this is John's backdoor-- check out how old his place is!)

Sadie Lou is certainly not scared of heights!

Being silly in John's backyard

I can let loose a little too :)

GUNS! Or lack thereof

such a beautiful sunset

it was such a beautiful night

and check out John's new haircut!

he calls it his "smoked wig" :)

eight random facts

so my friend AK tagged me in her online blogging game of "8 random facts." here's how it goes:

1. you're tagged by a fellow blogger
2. you decide you have nothing better to do than share your oddities with the blogging world
   
3. you come up with 8 random facts about yourself and create a post
   
4. at the end of that post, you tag 8 additional people (8 other blogs) to play the game
5. you tag someone by going to their blog and leaving a comment on the most recent post saying, "tag, you're it!"

so let's see....eight RaNdOm facts about me that you might not know upon the initial meeting....

1. i really, really, really like cows. stuffed cows. cow fabric (my mom made me a cow quilt!). cows by the lang company are my favorite.
2. i cut my hair impulsively. i don't get regular cuts or trims. instead, i cut my hair about 2-3 times a year when i wake up and decide i need a change. sometimes it's a bad idea, sometimes it is a welcome change. today was one of those days.
3. i've never flown before. in august i embark on my initial air travel as i head to see my best friend, myra, in boston. i'm not sure what will make me pee my pants first-- being at the mercy of the winds or seeing my best friend for the first time in over 6 months.
4. i'm a pk. that's right, my daddy is a preacher-man! some of you already know that, but lots of you may not. my dad has been a pastor since i was 10 years old and it's been such a blessing to grow up as a "preacher's kid."
5. i want to have a barn wedding when i grown up. :) my dream wedding has always been country-themed, with my ideal reception location a quaint, old, still-in-good-condition barn! THIS is what i have in mind. :) (photos courtesy of www.fearrington.com)
6. i cannot stand cool-whip! anything with the texture of the nasty, sticky stuff is not my cup of tea either-- peanut butter, reddi whip, whipped frostings-- yuck!
7. i've lost a toenail in every 1/2 marathon i've run to date. granted, it's only two, but they still haven't grown back. the podiatrist said it was because of my shoes, but i like to think of it as a medal of honor for all of my training & hard work. :) (a very big "im sorry!" to everyone out there that i just grossed out!)
8. i've played the violin since i was in 5th grade. i love the beautiful sounds that german wood makes and hope that someday i can pass it down to my little girl.

there ya go! now i have to "tag" eight others. sorry, but i'm not sure if i know eight other people! i'm not quite the blogger as my buddy ak is. :) hope you enjoyed my oddities!

happy 23rd john!

this past friday (6/29) john celebrated his 23rd birthday! i went up thursday afternoon after summer school to spend the weekend celebrating with him. we went to dinner at a little restaurant in downtown culpeper on thursday since we would be on the road friday night. although my seafood wasn't anything to talk about, john's steak was tasty and we had a nice long dinner over a bottle of red wine. a perfect dinner if you ask me!


john went to work on friday from 7-5 while i headed up to leesburg to meet some of my friends for a day of shopping! kristie and melissa, two college buds who were also in my major, met up with me for a fun afternoon of shopping. we shopped til we dropped and then i headed back to culpeper to wait for john as he got off work. once he got home, we packed for the lake and were off once more!

we met kelly (john's sister) and her hubby, kevin, in charlottesville. from there we all piled into kevin's car and headed to smith mountain lake. this was my first visit to the lake so i wasn't sure what to expect. boy was i in for a surprise!

the winstead (john's mom & stepdad) and the tanis (john's aunt deb & uncle dave) families bought the lake house together back in 1996. the beautiful home is filled with family photos of many a weekend spent skiing, relaxing, boating & jumping off the top deck of the deck! the house is situated in a quiet cove off the rather busy lake, the ideal spot for a relaxing weekend away from it all. saturday was a bit overcast, with a rainy afternoon; however, we had a great time enjoying each other's company and simply relaxing. the skies cleared up around 4:00 and we had some more lake time before dinner at mexico viejo, also on the lake. we piled into the boat while captain john drove us to & from the restaurant.

playing on floaties!

sadie, the SML long-jump unofficial champion

the whole gang!

rockin' the boat!

captain john

barbie, kelly & aunt deb

with the birthday boy!

kelly & kevin

aunt deb & uncle dave
(with the yummy margaritas!)

on the dock after supper

sunday we woke up to beautiful sunshine peeping in through the miniblinds. after a hearty, homemade breakfast, we headed out for a morning of skiing and boating.










after lunch we had a little more water time before it was time for kelly, kevin & myself to hit the road again. it was a great weekend spent with the person i love the most and his incredible family. we're heading back for a quick visit again this weekend to celebrate the 4th; i could get used to this! :)

family photo shoot

mom & i thought it would be a great idea to take family pictures on the beach. we told everyone to bring khaki bottoms and white tops for our little photo shoot. the pictures came out GREAT, thanks to our amateur photographer- john pollock! if you want his email, just let me know. :) in all seriousness, we had a great time and these look beautiful. thank you so much john! enjoy!