an early birthday celebration!

Although Heather doesn't celebrate her 25th birthday until Cinco de Mayo, she and Trey came and we had our family celebration this weekend. Unfortunately Kristen had to work all weekend, but her sweet husband brought Henry and they were able to be here too. We ate at one of our favorite places, City Bagel, Friday night. They have FANTASTIC pizzas! Spending time with the family is great, but I am always so sad when everyone leaves!

Nana, Henry, and Mom at City Bagel. He loves to eat.

me and my sweet sister

my 2 brothers-in-law, Rob and Trey. They are the best.

Dad, Henry, and Trey. Henry loves holding people's hands when he walks. I love this pic.

Henry riding in the red wagon at Nana's. Dada loved this wagon.

....and again...Then he insisted on pulling the wagon himself. Precious.

What a great family I have.

The beginning of the work week is usually tough for most, but I'm anxious to get it started because I only have 4 weeks of school left!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Oh the things kids say...

I'm at school right now, so no time for a lengthy post, but I HAD to blog about these happenings before it was too late. Enjoy.

1. male student: "Miss T. I can use the bathroom? My bowels is stopped up."

me (in shock that a 2nd grader just used the word "bowel"): I just pointed to the door. Couldn't speak.

2. This morning I passed an adorable little Chinese girl who's in kindergarten here. I told her good morning and she looked up at me and said "Hi! You look like Chinese!" Obviously she said that because of my squinty eyes. Of course my reply back to her was "why THANK YOU!" Question: Have you ever seen my dad? No need to wonder why I have the eyes that I do. Thanks Dad. :)

3. A parent sent an excuse to our school office because her child was absent from school for a few days. The excuse read, "Please excuse ______ from school. He had a case of the doo doos." I'm not even kidding.

I so need to be writing a book.

Have a happy Friday.

My little helper, IDOL talk, and a VERY disturbing video...

I had to post this picture. Look at that little face (try to look past the fact that his eyes make him look possessed). He always loves to lay on clean towels that I am folding, especially when they're just out of the dryer! The other night I was folding away and when I noticed his little head resting on a couple of towels, I placed 2 more folded towels on his head. Being the spaz that he is, I thought he'd jump up immediately. No. It must have been comforting to him because he stayed exactly like this for a while (his little eyes even closed after a few minutes too! Haha). He didn't even budge when I walked out of the room to get my camera. He must have had a really hard day. Bless his heart.

Man, I love that dog.

Alright, so it's crunch time on Idol. We're down to 6 contestants (one of which will be eliminated TONIGHT). I want to hear your predictions. Mine? David Cook ALL THE WAY. After I was able to get over Michael, the Australian hottie, getting eliminated, D.C. became my man. In my opinion, he's the most consistent and the most versatile of them all.

I've added a poll on the right side of my blog, so you should definitely cast your vote and let me know what YOU think.
And finally...are you ready for this? I saw this on the news tonight and was completely APPALLED. I understand that there are quite a few people out there who disagree with George W., but SERIOUSLY? This has gotten out of hand. To make things worse...THIS IS A CHILD!!Take a look at this:

WARNING: You should NOT watch this with children around! This little boy has quite a potty mouth!

Unbelievable.

Little Faith+Big God= Huge Results

My mom receives these daily devotionals via email. She sent this one to me this morning. I thought I'd share it in case there are some you out there who needed to read it as much as I did.

Little Faith + Big God = Huge Results

by Rick Warren
[The boy’s father said,] “. . . If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!” Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!” (Mark 9:22-24, MSG)
*** *** *** ***
Is it possible to be filled with faith and doubt at the same time? Yes!
You can have faith that God wants you to do something and still be scared to death. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is going ahead and doing what you’re called to do in spite of your fear.
You have to begin with the faith you already have: it may be just a little, but you start there. A beautiful example of this is the story of the man who brought his sick son to Jesus in Mark 9. Jesus looked at the man and said, “I can heal your son. If you will believe, I will heal him.”
The father then makes a classic statement: “Lord, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.”
Have you ever felt like that? “Lord, I have some faith. But I also have some doubts.” This man was filled with faith and doubt, yet despite his honest doubts, he went ahead and asked Jesus for a miracle. And he got his miracle – Jesus healed his son.
No matter how weak or how frail you think your faith is, it’s enough. It’s enough to get you through what you’re facing, and it’s enough to complete the vision God has planted in your heart.
Matthew 17:20 says, “If you have faith as small as the mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible to you.” (NIV) That’s not a lot of faith; in fact, it’s just a little faith. But what else does that verse teach? “If you have faith as the mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, ‘Move’ and it will be moved.”
Mustard seed faith moves mountains. Don’t get this reversed. We like to read this verse backward. We want it to say, “If you have faith like a mountain you can move a mustard seed” – as if it takes enormous faith to do a very little task.
God wants you to start with the faith you have, and based on the example of the mustard seed, you don’t need a whole lot of faith to do great things for God. You just need a little.
What does this mean?
Everybody has faith – You had faith this morning when you ate your cereal – faith that your spouse didn't put poison in your granola! You had faith when you sat down in your computer chair – faith that it wouldn’t collapse.
Everybody has faith; the difference is what you put your faith in – Sometimes people will say they don’t want to go to church or make a commitment to Christ until they understand it all. Believe in this trustworthy equation: Little faith + Big God = Huge results. You take your little faith, “Lord, I believe! Help me with my unbelief!” You put it in our big God, and then he’ll show you how he works out huge results.

slideshow trouble?

If you're having trouble seeing the slideshow I posted yesterday, click on "view all images" and you should be able to see them. I don't know what the deal is. Enjoy!

Howdy, ya'll!

Well, I have returned from my adventure to the Wild West. Meredith, Claire (note: Claire's blog URL address has changed! Make note of her new address!), and I had THE BEST TIME together. I knew it would be a long, fabulous weekend with 2 of my dearest friends, but it was even better than I imagined. I'm still SHOCKED (and a little disgusted) at the amount of food that we consumed while we were there. Sure, I'll probably be wearing skirts with expandable waists for at least a week, but it was totally worth it. Alpine, TX was unlike anywhere I'd ever been before. I am SO glad I was able to experience seeing that part of the country. This was a much needed vacation for me.

My hope is to visit Meredith and Vic again before they move. I LOVED IT! I've created a slideshow of some of the pictures from the weekend (notice I said "some" of them....I took nearly 50!). Enjoy the slideshow!

THANKS AGAIN FOR A WONDERFUL WEEKEND MEREDITH AND VIC! YOU WERE THE BEST HOSTS!!!!

Before I say farewell for the night, I must give a birthday shout out to 2 of my most favorite men! Happy Birthday to my Uncle Bobby (dad's brother) who celebrated his birthday yesterday the 19th, and my wonderful dad who celebrated his birthday today! Here is a classic picture of the 2 of them reading their birthday cards. They are 2 of a kind.

Happy Birthday! Love you both

Henry, an upcoming trip, and a birthday shout out for a very special person!

Heather said I needed a new post. I agreed.

And what better to post than new pictures of Henry?

I spent the weekend at Kristen's. I will refrain from going on and on about how cute Henry is and how much I love him, as you know that already. I will, however, post several pictures of him from the weekend so you can better understand my obsession and see how adorable he is for yourself. :)

This is going to be a short work week for me. I'm hopping on a plane Thursday and heading to Alpine, TX to see Meredith. Claire will be there too! It's been a long time since I was THIS excited about a trip. Hanging out time with these 2 is long overdue, and I'm in MUCH NEED of a vacation.

I.CAN'T.WAIT!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, so in case I don't get around to blogging, I need to give a birthday shout out to one of my best friends SHANNON! She will be 26 tomorrow (such a mere child!). She and I have been close since we were probably 11. She now lives in Nashville, and not a day goes by that I don't think about how much I miss that girl. We're totally different in most ways, but we are completely out of control and have the best time when we're together. I LOVE YOU SHANNON!!!!

(This is the collage I made for her birthday post LAST year.)

TAG!

I was tagged by the sweet and very talented Renee Guest (who I have never met but feel like I know well!) to play a “who are you?” game. So here goes--the rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people, posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged.

Now for the fun part: =)

-What was i doing 5 years ago? hmmmm...I was in college and doing the Elementary Ed. Block (Yuck! I never would have made it without you, Candy!)

-Five things on my to-do list today ( or things I did today):
1. school
2. jogging
3. walk Max
....hmmmm...only 3 things? No excitement here apparently!

-Five snacks i love:
1. chips and any kind of dip
2. anything chocolate
3. TCBY ( I miss it DEARLY)
4. Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Coke (one a day---it's a treat for me!)
5. cheese

-Five things i would do if i were a billionaire:
1. get out of debt
2. give more to church
3. buy a house with a fenced in back yard for Max
4. give really good presents to people. EVERYONE would want to be my friend
5. finish paying for my car

-Five bad habits I have:
1. worrying
2. nail biting (getting a little better)
3. slightly OCD. Some would consider this a flaw
4. eating too fast
5. worrying even more

-Five places i have lived:
1. Meridian, MS
2. Starkville, MS - with my parents
3. Starkville, MS - on campus
4. Starkville, MS - in a house with my dog Max!
5. Oxford, MS--don't worry! It was only for a summer!! I was a camp counselor at Camp Lake Stephens. Sidenote in case you're new to my blog: I do not like Ole Miss.

-Five jobs i've had:
1. babysitter/nanny
2. day care
3. Aspen Bay Candles
4. student worker on campus
5. teacher!

-Five people I don't know very well and want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!):
1. Marty
2. Jade
3. Brooke
4. Regina
5. Trace

I'm back.

So, my blogging "break" only lasted a little over a week. For some of you that's nothing, but those of you who are regular blog readers of mine know that 9 days is way too long for me to go without posting. So I'm back.
I've always said that in the midst of trials, it's important to focus on the good things in life. That's exactly what I've decided to do. As you will see below, the good things in my life heavily outweigh the bad. This realization allows me to believe that I am going to be just fine.

So, I've compiled a list of things that have particularly made me happy this past week and a half:

1. My parents. THEY ARE THE BEST. I can't even begin to describe all they've done for me, not only during this time, BUT ALWAYS.

2. My sisters. Want to know how great they are? They BOTH changed their plans last weekend and drove to Starkville because they knew I needed them here. Wow.

3. Henry. Just looking at that face makes me smile. I melt when he says "Lala" or kisses me on the cheek. Spending time with him somehow makes me worry-free.

Bully, Henry, and "grandaddy" at Super Bulldog Weekend.

Henry hugging on his favorite stuffed animal.

4. My friends. Overwhelmed is a good word to describe how I've felt this past week because of my amazing friends. I'll never know what I've done to deserve such loyal, caring friends. They've gone out of their way to check on me and make me laugh, even if I don't really feel like it. This friend allowed me to spend the entire day with her and her little one the other day. (He did a pretty good job of making "LT" smile, too!). This friend insisted on flying me to Texas to see her in a couple of weeks, so this other friend and I are heading to Alpine soon! Yay! My "teacher friends" are awesome too. I won't even go into the number of encouraging phone calls, messages, emails, and cards I've received from caring friends, too. I'm so undeserving.

5. My students. I missed a couple of days of school last week and when I got back, several of them had cards and pictures for me. They said "I love you, Ms. T" or "I missed you." Even though they can most defintely drive me crazy sometimes, :) spending many hours a day with them helps keep my mind off of other not-so-happy thoughts!

6. Flowers. As you probably know from previous posts, I'm a big fan of flowers. I love them. Last weekend when Kristen, Rob, and Henry were here, we planted flowers in my yard. I also bought fresh flowers for the inside of my house (Oprah says you should ALWAYS have fresh flowers in your house!). It's amazing how flowers really CAN make you feel better. Aren't they pretty? Maybe I'll be a gardener when I grow up.

7. MAX. WHAT IN THE WORLD WOULD I DO WITHOUT MY DOG?! Enough said.

8. Ann Taylor Loft. You know that's my absolute favorite. Last weekend, I told my mom that I needed to go shopping, so we headed to ATL and did just that. I bought several new pieces, which made me happy. New clothes ALWAYS makes you feel better, right?

9. (Lastly, but most definitely not least!) God's neverending love! I know I have not been forgotten, and that although the uncertainty of my future scares me at times, God DOES have a plan.

Thank you so much for your sweet blog comments and prayers! I hope you all had a great weekend.