happy easter!

"As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord! He spoke to them again and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.....You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway." [John 21:20-21,29 NLT] 

I pray that you feel the peace of our Lord today, this Easter Sunday. May your faith in Him be alive just as He is today! :)

this was taken this morning after our (early!) easter service at church. our easter "baskets" were these black, decorative shadow boxes we had registered for at target! we were so excited to get them and all the sweet, yummy goodies within. what a creative mama i have. :)  

i am proud to share that tomorrow starts my week of freedom, aka, spring break! :) have i mentioned how much i love teaching in public education?! my tentative agenda for the week is as follows:

• road trip with mom to richmond, lexington & blacksburg
• spring clothes shopping at the short pump town center! 
• sleeping in. daily.
• wedding planning with my mama!
  
• possibly heading to raleigh to see the sweetest kids in the world
  

as you can see, my week will be spent far away from lesson plans, guided reading books and all things kindergarten. see ya when i get back! :)

engagement pictures!

our engagement pictures are up!

 john and i had such an awesome time with christi, we just knew they would come out great! she has graciously sent me some images to share on my blog, so enjoy ya'll!

shamrock festival

this weekend john and i each drove the long hours to roanoke, va for the shamrock festival! shamrock is a volleyball tournament that john's cousin (mark) and his wife (tamalyn) put on every year. this year's turnout was HUGE and a tremendous success!

 john and i were site coordinators at the salem civic center in salem, va (right outside of roanoke). our job was to record scores, maintain civility and try to keep the players/coaches/parents/officials/spectators happy! we had a great time being together despite the long hours and lack of sleep. our busy schedule kept us on our toes, so i don't really have any pictures to post except for the one above. i hope you all had a wonderful, restful weekend! :)

ps- engagement pictures are coming-- SOON! :)

flower question

i need your help! i am using white daisies as my primary wedding flower. however, i want to incorporate another color (using daisies still) into the bouquets. the bridesmaids dresses are dark blue, so i was thinking maybe a pale pink. i'm trying to avoid yellow, because i'm tired of blue and yellow. (they were my high school colors, my room is covered in the two, etc.) any other ideas? i really need your comments-- so let me know all you flower-savvy strangers out there! :)

playing techy-geek

so by now you have probably noticed my oversized, too large for the space, dark blog banner. but hey- at least i have something new, right?! with blogger's new features that make it easy for tech-incompetent folks like me, i'm trying some new stuff. hopefully i can have a snazzy, eye-catching blog before too long! but for now, enjoy my mistakes! :)

ps- john and i were back in blacksburg this past weekend for our engagement photos- hooray! the weather finally held out (apart from the wind) & we had such an awesome time with christi. i cannot wait to see the final proofs! :) i'll post more info. as soon as i can!

fun with zappers

 i don't know what the formal name is, but john and i just love playing with "zappers." we have used the past two weekends here in chesapeake to register for everything we could ever need for our new home (apart from furniture!). we didn't take any fun photos while we were in macy's, but we did in target! i guess the atmosphere in target is, well, a little more laid-back and in tune with random photo-ops. so enjoy goofy us!

okay, so i didn't register for this trashcan.

but isn't it cute?!

the boys have to have something fun, too!

decisions, decisions

me with a scanner at target?

scary! :)

productive weekend, but no pictures

hi everyone!

so i think i should rename this blog "the life of a first-year teacher, blessed with the incredible duty of teaching 42 kindergarteners, trying to plan the wedding of a lifetime and making the most important decisions that will decide the rest of her future, in 5 short months!" yipes!

so last weekend john and i went to blacksburg to meet with lots of vendors for our wedding. we met with the wonderful bakery who will be doing our cake, our daily bread. we even got to take a yummy poundcake home with us, compliments of the wonderful owner, karen!

we also met with the caterer and made our final menu decisions for the dinner. one of the many things i am so excited for is the fact that we get to-go boxes made for us so that we can enjoy the food later in the night! how neat! (everyone says that you never get to eat at your wedding. that's fine with me, as long as we get to see all of our wonderful family and friends!) :)

next we went to rent the china for our reception. since the german club doesn't have stock china on hand, we decided to rent it to make the reception a bit more special. the print is b-e-a-utiful and i think everyone will enjoy!

on sunday, we checked out the church we were counting on. the pastor was wonderful, the people were welcoming, but it's about 75 people too small. :( bummer! so we're still busy looking for a church that will accept two students who are not members and not local. we are continuing to pray that the Lord will lead us to the perfect place and open up the heart of the pastor there so he will let us use his services/facilities.  please keep us in your prayers!

now for the sad news,

no engagement photos! the freezing cold temperatures, in combination with rain and nasty clouds, pretty much surrounded the entire day we were supposed to do our engagement photos with christi austin. so we have rescheduled for march 1st. pray for good weather, please!

sorry i don't have any fun pictures. john and i are spending a weekend together and not doing a lick of wedding planning this weekend! (okay, well maybe just a little bit, but not a whole day!) have a super friday, ya'll! :)

 

off to the 24060

hi everyone!

just wanted to share some exciting news...

this weekend john and i will be 

doing our engagement photos! :)

we are meeting our photographer, christi austin, sunday afternoon in roanoke for a fun session. we are so grateful to her as she fits us into her already hectic schedule! hopefully we'll have good weather (rain is currently in the forecast) and a great time. our first wedding-ish photos, plus a fun-filled weekend of wedding planning should equal a great weekend together in blacksburg! enjoy your weekend, ya'll! :)

(this is one we took-- self-timer style-- the day after we got engaged!)

wedding attire, take two!

so let's try this again!

for the bridesmaids:

a simple, strapless tea-length dress in our primary color: blue!

click here if the picture above doesn't work!

and for the groomsmen:

(click here if the picture above doesn't show)

a classic, black Calvin Klein suit...

(click me if the picture above doesn't show)

...with a coordinating vest and tie to match the girls dresses

i know this is not as exciting to look at for most people as it is for me, 

but i wanted to share! 

have a super day! :)

some wedding stuff

hooray! i'm finally home for a weekend and relaxing enough to blog! :) 

i thought i would share a picture of some wedding attire that we had finalized this past week:

my dress

....is white! that's all ya' get til' july 12, 2008 :)

the bridesmaids

a strapless dress to match mine (hint, hint!), tea length, in our primary color- blue!

too bad this image is a little bit brighter than the real dress color

*image taken from www.davidsbridal.com

the groomsmen

a classic calvin klein suit 

and a coordinating vest & tie to match the girls dresses

*images taken from www.menswearhouse.com

now john and i are off to the mall to create our macy's wedding registry! so fun! :) have a super sunday! 

overwhelmed

after crying the past 3 out of 4 days this week, i thought i would share my frustrations with the blog-verse to vent a little further! :) teaching has been so consuming, so frustrating and so demanding these past two weeks. i want to do everything i can to make each one of my 42 kindergarteners successful, but sometimes the demand is all consuming. the workload this month is killer, not to mention the stress of my yet-to-be-planned wedding and our future after july 12, 2008. how is one to plan the most important day of her life when 42 young minds need to be shaped, molded, & taught the basic skills of life? 

after deep breaths, hugs from coworkers and reflection, my best advice came from the Bible:

"don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it's own worries. today's trouble is enough for today." -matthew 6:34, nlt

i remember driving to school back in the fall and listening to kLove (the christian radio station) one morning. the announcer/dj lady reminded those listening that we are all called to service. well it struck home with me and as soon as i got to school that morning, i jotted this down on a post-it note:

"you are anointed. you were called to love and teach these children. be an instrument of Christ's love to everyone of His precious children. be filled with grace in all you do."

this daily reminder of my amazing opportunity as a teacher is now beaten up, taped together and still falling apart (just like me!) however, it's still on my desk. and i plan for it to stay. i'm still putting my all into these children. time spent teaching is never lost, right? 

thanks for listening. i feel better now. :)

drumroll please....

here it is: the announcement of the big day!

  john and i are gettin' hitched on july 12, 2008! 

(and for your viewing pleasure, a picture of us from last july!) 

jp and i knew that we wanted to get married in blacksburg- it was the place where we met, where our relationship blossomed and where we fell in love! it was an easy decision to agree upon a location. now, for long-distance wedding planning....

i am heading up to culpeper to meet john tonight at 6 & from there, we will ride together up to his dad's house in salem for the night. tomorrow we make the rest of the trip to blacksburg for a saturday filled with wedding planning! (note the blue? it's one of our primary wedding colors!) we are meeting with our bakery (carol lee!), caterer, florist and hopefully making final arrangements for the ceremony. hooray! 

AND blacksburg is in a "Severe Weather Warning" for the weekend- woohoo! wedding planning AND snow? what more could a girl ask for?! 

have a great weekend everyone! :o)

my favorite renfrows :o)

i have yet to post about the newest addition to the renfrow family: miss claire marie renfrow! claire was born on december 20th, 2007 and is absolutely beautiful. my parents were in raleigh for the birth of baby claire and i went down two days later (after the last day of school) to see her. i must say, she appears to have her aunt ashley's olive complexion and dark brown hair. regardless of her adorable appearance, she was a bit jaundiced and had to get her healthy glow from a fiberoptic lamp for a few days. after some time with the magic light, claire's jaundice disappeared and left her even more beautiful than before. she is simply perfect!

while mom and ali tended to claire, my buddy and i played with some verizon toys. :o)

and the color version of us!

my lil farmer in his carhartt overalls

i know, he's adorable ;) 

baby blue eyes

wyatt just LOVES his shoes :)

check it out

so i waited a long time to post this, mostly because i think it's tacky to post close-up pictures of your engagement ring on the internet. marriage is about the love you share with the person God blessed you with and the engagement should be a celebration of just that: your love, not the ring! but after lots of requests (and being so far away from everyone!) i have decided to post a picture of my ice. hey- i'm proud of this bling i get to wear everyday! nice job, john!

you GOTTA check this out!

wow!!!! :o)

so i have to give a HUGE shoutout to Christi Austin of Christi Austin Photography! after entering a contest via her blog online ( i love the blog-verse!), tonight i found out that she picked john and i to receive FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY! this is so amazing, i still don't know what to think. i cannot seem to upload pictures well with the new mac like i could with a pc-- any suggestions? because i want to put as many props as i can to this amazing woman (with her permission!) and her generosity. christi, john and i are both SO EXCITED to meet you and so very thankful for your amazing gift. i thank God for your gift for photography and your generous heart.

check her out everyone!

http://christiaustinphotography.com

and here is her blog!

http://christiaustinphotography.blogspot.com

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" :)