Office Renovation!

We recently redid our office/3rd bedroom. Casey is in dire need of having an office since he is working on his masters at DTS and he has TONS of seminary books! Good grief. The pictures show just a few, but there are more in the attic!

Anyway, when we bought our house this room had a super bright, lime green wall. The picture below shows the color of the lime green, but it is after we had started painting the wall (shoutout to Rachel & Jordan for helping me paint! They were awesome and helped me knock it out in one night before Casey got home!). I wish I had gotten a picture of the big green wall beforehand so you could see the craziness! They got it on the ceiling and the baseboards. It looks like a kid did it. I'm betting it was since it is lime green. I don't know what they were thinking since they only did one wall and part of another. Anyway, here is our progress!

Our new bookshelves courtesy of Target! Since we HAVE to have bookshelves, I liked this idea because it's a little cuter than the standard-full-of-books-shelves!

The shot above is the latest shot, but I went ahead and put this one on since it shows them at an angle.

This part is still not completely done. We are going to put a cutsie chair on the right side where the DVD case is. The DVDs will probably go in the closet for now. We also need some curtains or some pictures for the wall because it looks a little barren, but I do like that it is less cluttered than it was a week ago!!

Bathroom Redo

Our guest bathroom has had a small renovation recently. About 2 or 3 months ago, Casey began to change out the light fixture and mirror. He started on it, and realized that he was in a little over his head due to some inconsistencies the builders made when they put in the light and hung the mirror. About 2 weeks ago, Charlie Rickerson came over one morning for about 30 minutes and helped Casey tape and patch the drywall (Casey had cut the huge hole, but wasn't sure how to fix it properly). After Charlie did that, we retextured it, painted the entire bathroom, and hung the new light fixture and framed mirror. Here are some pictures of our progress! We are really proud of it! :)

Here is what the bathroom looked like when we moved in. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the old mirror and light fixture, but just picture the vanity type of light with 5 bare light bulbs going across and just a standard, rectangle, sheet mirror on the wall.

Here is the new light fixture and framed mirror! Casey did a great job!
Our cutie black and white stuff

Our new towel hanging shelf instead of the old silver towel rack

I hung two black and white pictures that I took in Europe

Cinque Terra, Italy & Paris France

The vanity one more time!

Now that we're done with the bathroom we're working on our office. Those of you that have been to our house know that our office is basically the catch-all room and is extremely messy. We're working on it, and I'll post pictures of our progress soon!

Date Night

Last Friday night when I got home from work Casey had a whole date night planned for us! We had dinner at Truluck's in Dallas and then stayed at the Sheraton by the Galleria. It was a great night to end the summer before school started today!

The next day we had a great shopping trip at the Galleria! It was tax free weekend, but it wasn't too bad at all. We both had gift cards- me to Forever 21 and Macy's and Casey's was to Old Navy- they were both for a small amount, but due to some great sales and everything being tax free, Casey didn't pay a dime and I only paid $5 for everything that I got! When you see the pictures, you'll know how great that is!!

Here are some pictures from our fun evening!

My crab for dinner :) It was good!

Our yummy dessert!
Where we stayed that night
Me dressed up for our date!

Casey lookin' handsome!

Casey's clothes from Old Navy that he got with his gift card!

Notice Lucy in the background! :)

My 8 items for only $5! A dress, shirt, belt, emory board, and necklace from Forever 21 and my $100 shoes on sale for $25 (which happened to be the amount my gift card was for!) and earrings from Macy's! The only thing I paid for isn't even in the picture...it's a little polo for Lucy from Old Navy. On sale for $5 :) Great trip overall!

This might be a lame post to some of you, but I love hitting some great sales and getting out without paying any of my own cash! :)

The Power of Prayer

Good grief today was good.

Let me start by saying that at our wedding, Casey's best man, Scott, told me in his speech that he thought that I should utilize the power that prayer has and really work in our marriage through prayer. I have thought about his words several times since our wedding, and I have listened to them again on our wedding video.

Anyway, lately the power of prayer has really been evident in my life. There have been several things that I have really poured out in prayer lately and so many of them have been answered.

There is one story in particular that really touched me today.

Let me back up by saying that there are a couple of girls from my class at school last year (6th grade) that our now in our youth group (as of a couple of weeks ago when they promoted into 7th grade). They started coming to our church about a month before school let out in May and Blake, the Jr. High guy was their Sunday School teacher while they were still in 6th. (It has been really cool to have them at church, by the way). They were twins that I was really close to last year. This morning I saw them and their mom and her fiance at church.

Today at church, David Griffin preached about salvation. He said very early on in the sermon that we should pray for other people's salvation. I usually don't take notes, but I have for the past couple of weeks on our church bulletin (we call it a cLink). Anyway, when he said that I wrote out "Pray for other's salvation" and then I wrote my twin girls' last name next to it. I felt it lay very heavy on me during the entire sermon and kept praying and thinking of them and their family. I didn't know if they were Christians or not, but didn't really think that they were, but wasn't sure either way.

The service was great, and we actually had an alter call, which we basically NEVER do. I was a littl shocked that we did, actually. :) Anyway, I looked over at the girls and their parents several times and they never moved. I actually felt dissapointment...even though I didn't know if they were Christians or not.

I left the service and went to the youth worker meeting to get food ready and set up chairs. While I was in that room, Blake, our junior high minister told me to come with him. He said he had a surprise for me. Blake likes to play jokes, so my first thought is that I was about to walk into some prank. Instead, I went with him to a room where he got his Bible off of a cabinet and pulled out two cards. He said, "What does this mean to you?" He showed me that both of my girls from class had filled out cards and accepted Christ this morning. I immediately started crying, took the cards, went to show Casey, and get the bulletin out of my purse. Blake followed me, and I am sure he thought I was crying more than was necessary, but I showed him the place where I had written their name on my cLink. That was the part that got me so much. I felt like God had taken my prayer and showed me how powerful He was -- in less than an hour. Wow.

I could go on and on about this because I still feel so dumbfounded, but I am sure you get the point by now.

Summary: Prayer is powerful and God is VERY good :)

Happy Weekend!

This is what I came home to today. Two sleeping pets on the couch and chair in the living room. They're so cute :)

Miss Ella all stretched out on the chair and some laundry :) I think she liked this spot because the lap top underneath the laundry made it all warm :) How many times have you seen a cat lay like that? She's so funny.

Sweet little Lucy taking a nap on her favorite pillow :) She recently learned how to jump on the couch, and we are so glad because we were getting tired of picking her up every time!!
You may wonder why the candlesticks are on the couch next to her. That is because Casey painted our new mantle while I was at work today. He had today off and I came home to a clean house, painted fireplace, and a sweet husband that had planned the evening for us. We have dinner reservations at 8:15 at Truluck's and then we're staying the night in Dallas somewhere (the actual place is a suprise). He said it was one last hoorah before I start back to school for good. So sweet. :)

Happy weekend!!

Back to School I go...

Well, this week I started back to school for staff development. I went back on Tuesday. It was a tired, busy day. Wednesday and Thursday were also staff developments and tomorrow is a work day (where I work in my classroom & on different projects around the school). We have another staff development on Monday and Meet the Teacher night is that evening. Then one last work day on Tuesday before school starts on Wednesday!!

The first three days were good, although I was VERY tired since my sleeping schedule was off from the summer. By the way, I already miss summer. Ha ha. I do feel like this is going to be a good school year, though. I have been feeling a little bit sad that I won't have my same kiddos. I loved them so much, but I know I will find that with this new group as well.

On that note, I wanted everyone to know that I am making my blog private again, so if you would like to be invited to read, please comment and leave your name and email address and I'll add you. I will be making the blog private again some time next week when school starts, so comment if you wish to read!

Here are some pictures of the last week or two of summer.

I got a free ticket to 6 Flags from school so Casey & I went one Friday and had a blast!

Casey & I on the little train at 6 Flags!

Another try at not having Casey's neck look broken :)

You can't really tell, but I am soaked from head to toe here thanks to the Roaring Rapids!

Casey & I in line for the new ride: Tony Hawk's Big Spin

It made us SO dizzy after it was over!! The ride itself was fun though!

It is kind of like the Crazy Mouse at the Fair that we love :)

We went to Louisiana for Katie's (Casey's high school friend) wedding!

The bride & groom dancing!
A North Mesquite picture :)

Casey, me, Carolyn, & John (Carolyn is one of Casey's best friends from high school)!

And yes, I know my purse clashes with my dress, but that's what happen when you travel 4 hours to a wedding and change into your clothes in the car :)

On one of Mom's days of we ate at Ava's in downtown Rockwall.

Very cute place!!!

At lunch!

Mom enjoying her food!

Our AWESOME food. We ordered two and split both :)

Well, that's the final update on my summer unless I still pictures from my mother-in-law or sister-in-law of our fun trip to the cabin in Oklahoma! I forgot to take any pictures and was kind of bummed, but they took lots for us :)

Happy school year everybody! I hope it's a good one for you all!

Keeping Caleb

A couple of weeks ago Casey & I got to babysit our nephew Caleb (age 3) at his house. It was a lot of fun! :) I had a video of him "reading" a book that he had memorized, but for some reason when I downloaded the pictures, it didn't download and now it is erased off of my camera! Very upset about that because it was so cute! He knew it word for word!! Here are the pictures from when we kept him.

Sitting in his Caleb-sized chair ;)
Casey & Caleb wearing all of Caleb's hats :)

Casey & Caleb reading books Caleb being silly! Caleb got the camera and took this picture of me!

Caleb & Casey playing - it looks like Casey is singing to him

Caleb with the little log house we made while we were there! ;)

More reading! He loves to be read to!

We probably read over 15 books to him while we were there!
If I ever find the video that I took of him reading, I will put it up!

Happy Sunday!!

2 Doggies Get New Homes: Maddie and Lucy

Part I of the story: Maddie

So, as most of you know, Maddie, our black lab was missing last weekend. She was gone from Saturday to Tuesday. Turns out that some of our neighbors had her in their backyard. To make a long story short, we found her and took her back home with us. That whole incident got us thinking though... We just don't give Maddie enough attention that a lab needs. They are extremely active and need a LOT of attention. This summer we have gone on five different trips to youth camp, mission trip, San Francisco, Austin, and Oklahoma. Being away from such an active dog for that long is just not good. We felt guilty because we knew Maddie needed more attention than that. It was selfish to keep her and not give her the attention and even training that she needed.

So, Wednesday I made an ad for her on Craig's List and got over 10 replies immediately. I kind of sifted through them until I found a guy that would love and train Maddie. He is about 30, single, went to UT (he & Casey had that in common and talked a bit), has had labs before, and is extremely intent on training her. He even told me that she already has appointments with his vet! So, Thursday morning, Bryant showed up and bought Maddie--even though she is a crazy hellion of a dog, he seemed to like her. He said he would send a few emails with updates on how she is doing. He told us some stuff about labs that even we didn't know, and we felt very good about giving Maddie to him. She will have a better home--indoors and with lots of attention!

Part II of the story: Lucy

Now, rewind back to Tuesday when Maddie was still missing. My mom and I went to the Rockwall Animal Shelter to see if Maddie happened to be there. Well, she wasn't there (she was at the neighbors!), but while we were there I fell in love with a beautiful little female dachshund. She is probably 1/4 of some kind of terrier because she has some long hairs on her face, ears, and feet, but not on the rest of her body, so she is not a long-haired dachshund. She is black with tan eyebrows, snout, and feet! :) I found her on Tuesday, but went home without her. Casey got home from work and we went back to see her. He, of course, loved her because he LOVES dachshunds. (It's funny because both of our exes had dachshunds, and we both like them from knowing theirs! My old boyfriend had five short-haired dachshunds and his old girlfriend had two long-haired dachshunds!) Anyway, we left without her because he thinks I would take home all animals from the shelter (and I probably would...I hate that they are there and that they might not get a home!!).

So, that night we found Maddie! We were very excited, but that is also when we talked about giving Maddie a new home. We have talked about it on and off throughout the summer, but I think her being in another home (it seemed like the neighbors wanted to keep her, but they didn't say it) made us think more seriously about it. So, that night we decided to put Maddie up for adoption. The next day I had over 10 replies. That morning I also went back to get little Lucy (after I talked Casey into letting me:) I knew that he would because he LOVES dachshunds, like I said). She was surprisingly still there! So I took her home and she has been great! She seems to be magically house trained already! How in the world that is the case, I don't know. She uses the bathroom outside every time I take her out and she obeys me. She is so calm and will sit in our laps while we watch TV. She also sleeps through the entire night with us! She cuddles up right next to us! It's great and we feel that we have made the best decision for all of us. Maddie has a new owner that will give her all of the attention that she needs, Lucy is out of the animal shelter, and Casey & I have a new dog that fits our lifestyle. She is also starting to get the cat, Ella, to come around. :) She seems to like Ella just fine, but Ella still hisses at her sometimes--although she sniffs her up and down. Ha ha.

Here are a few pictures of our cute, new Lucy:

Her first walk! She did well :)

chillin' on the couch while we watch tv :)

common theme between Ella & Lucy....Lucy sleeps and Ella stares at her. She follows her around the house to make sure she doesn't sneak up on her first, I guess.

another stare off. they have actually gotten a little closer since I took this last night. I caught them running around the living room together this morning. I think they'll end up as friends :)

all conked out :) I am sure there will be many more posts to come with Lucy and Ella. I have taken a bunch of pictures of them chasing each other and "playing." At least, I hope they're playing :)

Also, please keep me in your prayers as I start back to school on Tuesday. Summer has been so good, and it will surely be missed, but hopefully I can get pumped up about school starting soon. I really want to WANT to be there! :) Our first day with kids is Wednesday, the 26th. I will have 3 classes this year instead of 2. I will still be teaching the same 3 subjects: Reading, English, and Social Studies (they separate reading and English on the report cards in 6th grade). So, that means I will be grading more than usual and definitely more than last year. I am already trying to think of ways to save time on grading! If you have any tips let me know!! :) Enjoy the last few remnants of summer! :)

What more could you ask for?

As most of you know, Casey is the youth minister at our church in Forney, Community Life Church, better known as cLife. Our Wednesday night youth service is called Momentum. Tomorrow night will be there first night that the new 7th graders (last year's 6th graders) are invited to Momentum! It starts at 7pm.

Anyway, two weeks ago, the teenagers did an awesome skit, and I was so moved I had to take a picture to remember it! Casey said that he felt like it was one of the best youth services yet, and I agree! Not because of himself (although he is awesome:), but because of the kids. They are greatness.

First let me back up just a bit...at the service the week before, Casey asked the students to write things in their life that they wanted to be rid of on cards. Fast forward....this week he during his talk he nailed the rest of the cards on a cross.

Moving.

Then, after he was done talking, the band played a really good song (it was new, and I don't remember the name of it), and several kids dressed in black got up and started painting on 5, big, white canvases. At first you couldn't tell what they were painting, but then towards the end you could kind of see. At the very end a girl came by and splattered the red on all of the paintings and made it obvious. After that, all of the kids held them all up like you see in the picture.

I almost cried. When you really think of what Jesus did on that cross and all that he went through, it is incrediblly moving.

While the kids were holding up the paintings, Casey came and put the cross with all of the kids cards on it in front.

Moving again. When I think of why Jesus did that it blows my mind. He did it for us. He did it for me. He did it for my sin that is nailed to that cross.

I was also proud of the kids. It is very neat as an adult to go and be so moved at a youth service. They truly know how to worship. And they are awesome in dramas and the artsy stuff (some would say more than adults!).

Here are a couple of pictures.

I took this one after the service so you could see it better.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.