Here comes the sun....

Today I dressed warmly for work, and what was I thinking?? It's so beautiful outside - again - and just a total delight to have such sunny warm days.

I have tried for a while to find a good balance for my blog. I want to respect my family's wishes to remain anonymous and protected, while showing my readers a little glimpse into me and who I am. There's not a whole lot for me to say while I try to carefully step into a blog post. Do any of you have a good recipe for this teeter-totter of writing?

I'm going to keep my family photos in another place and refrain from any wild revealing stories. Yet I would like to find a focus or theme that suits me and make more regular appearances.

Hope you enjoy the sunny week and any comments or ideas are welcome!

itty bitty update

My baby girl is 8 months old! Leave a comment if you want to see recent pictures and I will send you the link.

We celebrated 4 years of marriage and went to the zoo to celebrate. Oh what fun! The weather was just perfect and the animals entertained us for hours.

28 days of school left and I'm looking forward to this summer - taking a few more classes toward my Master's and I'll graduate in '09.

Life is good. Sometimes stressful and overwhelming, but mostly very rich and wonderful. I am blessed.

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

greatness

Life is good.













Happy New Year!

I may "pop in" here and there like I did in the past. However, I'm trying to keep the confidentiality of my family members and won't share much personal stuff in the blog world. If you want to keep in touch or see photos, please e-mail me. jacobandbecca@yahoo.com

A smile

Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown


Now that I am back to working, I treasure the evenings when I can be with my family. Before the kiddo came along, I would often arrive home from teaching and crash on the couch until dinner time or do grading and other work-related stuff into the late hours. Though I could always use more preparation time and love a good nap, those aren't exactly options now, eh?

Tonight I picked up the little one after work and we came home and just hung out together for a few hours. We spent some time just looking in the mirror together. It's sweet to watch the "domino effect" of a smile... I smile at Abigail, she smiles in return, sees a "baby" smiling in the mirror and her grin gets bigger and bigger... too cute.

Oh... did I mention that she slept through the entire night (9pm - 6am) for the second time? Yippeee! I sure enjoyed the extra rest since my voice and throat were suffering yesterday.

Vocal vibes

Another fantastic day today!

I seem to be losing my voice - I'm definitely not used to doing so much talking in one day. It's a bit more challenging to get through the many explanations and introductions without much of a voice.



"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
II Corinthians 4:8-9

Woohooo!

I conquered my first day back at work! Overall it was a great day. Dropped off the little darling at the babysitter's house and I was able to start at work nice and early.

The day started slow and I felt scattered, like it was all a dream. Soon the pace picked up and the final bell was ringing before I knew it. Whew!

I was pleased with the classes and I can tell that this will be an awesome year!

off to bed...

Whew! What a tiring day. It started at 5:00 this morning and I've been constantly busy since then. I don't know how working moms do it!

One thing that is going great at home is our share of responsibilities. My husband graciously has cooked the meals at our house for the last week or so. He went grocery shopping today for me and made a delicious dinner! This is a huge help to me and I tell ya, it's some good home cookin'!

I'm headed off for an early night's sleep!

Career mommy

I'm going in to work in my classroom tomorrow. Tuesday will be my first day back to teaching. I've looked forward to -- and dreaded -- this day for many weeks.

I am not sure what to expect. I know I will get through it one day at a time, and so will my family. I may be stretched physically, mentally, and emotionally in many ways for the first few days, but I do have a nice break to look forward to. Parent/teacher conferences and Thanksgiving are around the corner, and Christmas break is not far off!

I can guarantee God will hear from me quite a bit in the next weeks as I cry to Him for strength, patience, and rest.

FlyLady

Have you used FlyLady's home organization system? Which of her routines do you use in your home?

I've spent time reading her website and applying some of the principles. Two things that have worked well for me are 1) "shining the sink" at night, which requires me to load the dishwasher and 2) making the bed every morning. These two things keep things under control and give the kitchen and master bedroom a more "together" look even when things are getting chaotic.

banana background

New title up today... the name "bunches of bananas" comes from my camp history. Did you know I grew up at camp, worked at camp, met my husband and then got married at camp? Yup, that's pretty much the foundation for my life!

My camp name for 4 years on staff at the best camp ever (yes, the place where all of the above happened) was CHIQUITA. I thought it was funny when the junior campers called me "Cacheeta" probably because they hadn't ever heard the word chiquita before.

Well, my life is still pretty much bananas, I love fruit and I love kids.

11 weeks

My itty bitty girl is eleven weeks old today!

Abigail is a smiley baby. She loves to talk to me, in a conversation of "o" and "eh" sounds.

Today Abigail woke up with a sniffly nose... poor little thing! She was a trooper at the babysitter's house and as I shuttled her in several busy errands today.