What a wonderful weekend...

So much to celebrate this weekend!

Pedicures for mom's birthday.

Then all the partying we did (just kidding really).

All those games. The party lasted until about 9:30, which is way past my usual bedtime. We laughed so hard my stomach hurt and then my throat was sore too. 

Sunday was the best!! Mom's birthday and all the White family was at church for the first time since Mother's day. We then got to eat lunch with them!

So much fun with this crazy, fun family of mine!

Had to end the day with a little D'ilishi and corn hole.

How blessed we are!!

Cleaned up

Oh man! Today, I cleaned all day. I'm so tired as I write this. It was like I waited to do my spring cleaning until now. We had to rearrange a washer, dyer, and freezer, plus clean for a party tomorrow. 

Is it a little redneck to put your freezer on the front porch? I think it's better than the master bedroom, where it had been for the last 2 years lol. 

I'm so excited about our party tomorrow! It's a bachelorette party for my sister. I think I have everything ready for it, so it should be great!

Lots of paint

Today I did have Little Miss Red with me. My Mom dropped her off and we have spent the day together. 

First thing I said jokingly, is do you want to pick weeds. She first replied with no, then decided she would help. For about 2 seconds. That's okay though, because I got the rest of it done. Thank goodness! As I was pulling up the unwanted plants, I thought about how great it is that God takes unwanted things out of my life when I ask him to. What a great thought! I don't have to do anything to rid my life of unwanted things, HE can do it for me!

Miss Red decided she would play in the tree for a bit, then she needed to start painting. 

Which is her favorite thing to do at my house, and the front porch is perfect for it!

She told me this was for DP.

We went to Hannah's BBQ for lunch with some other ladies. 

We ran some errands, took DP done sweet tea, then came back home. It was nap time, then which is my favorite. I worked on some party things for this Saturday's bachelorette party for my little sister. 

Then it was back to painting and hard work. 

Notice the safety glasses (in style of course) and the hammer in the pocket. 

She had to get a seat, because the artist life is hard. 

She needed a tire for Grandma Ruthie's golf cart, that she is going to change first thing in the morning. 

She helped me with super, putting up dishes (I was the one to break something lol), cleaning up from supper, then it was time to go kayaking.

Yes that is a life jacket. 

I have had a blessed day with this little helper, but it's almost 8 and I'm pooped!!

I do thoroughly enjoy my time with her and her spunky personality. All I cabs say is, I'm thankful she has older brothers that will be able to mow before she can. 

Sew Monday

Sew. Literally. That is what I did for most of my day. I made a black maxi skirt that I have had fabric to make for weeks. 

This is the only time my iron and ironing board are ever used. 

I also made some door silencers. We used magnets for most of the school year, but mine got lost in the madness of the last week of school. 

I only received one injury, a pin prick on the thumb that actually drew blood. Which oddly enough, has never happened to me. 

I also got fabric stuck in the machine before I was quite finished, but close. 

Thank goodness I married a fix it man!

I worked on some school stuff for a while, we went to Bible Study, and then my sweet husband gave me my new watch! My old one had gotten messed up, so it was time haha.

Before we ate supper, DP (that is my husband) worked on cutting out wood slices for my little sister's wedding next month. I think they were both about in tears because it was not working quite like we thought it would. But God is so good to us, and he got it all done and she is super excited!

Tomorrow I get to hang out with Little Red, so it should be a great adventure! 

Can I just end with how great our God is??!! I am blessed beyond measure!!

P.S. I used the Blogger app on my phone, don't try to take a picture while you are blogging lol. Only use ones you already have saved. Found that out twice :)

Father's Day

So today is Father's Day. I am very blessed. I have a wonderful father, a great father-in-law and best of all, the irreplaceable Heavenly Father. All of these men have helped to guide me and mold me into who I am now.

My sweet Daddy has always been there for me and helped me realize when I was being a little too crazy!

 My father-in-law helped guide me when my husband was not yet my husband, and had no clue we should be together. [That's a long story for another time ;)]

Today we had a wonderful sermon at church. Usually, this is terrible to say but honest, I don't enjoy Mother's Day and Father's Day sermons. Today was all about being a Godly husband and continuing to work on your marriage. No matter how long you have been married, you will always have to work at it. Our pastor used a passage from Song of Songs (Solomon). I don't know if I realized how passionate this book was/is. WOW. What a romance. What an example of the way we are supposed to always respond to our spouse.

As I sat there taking the message in today, I realized how blessed I am. I have a husband who encompasses so much of what was being spoken about. I couldn't have picked any better if I tried. And one day, he is going to make a wonderful father as well and I will be able to praise and rejoice him and who God has made him into on this day as well. 

Planning and Trusting

Today has been just wonderful!

I am so excited about school for next year! We are moving to a brand new school that is still in the process of being built and will be complete right (and when I say right, I mean like 2 days) before school starts for the 2015-2016 year. I will be teaching with a different group of ladies which I am very excited about, but the best news of all is that I will be teaching, planning, sharing and all sorts of great things with a wonderful Science Teacher! We actually got together today and started planning.

After we met up today, I came home and got straight to work. She had everything typed up and sent to me so I created some posters for our classroom with Silhouette Studio. I think they are pretty darn cute! I also have never done anything like that before. 

I planned with my sweet friend until lunch time when I met my sweet husband at his favorite place for lunch. 

Yes Taco Bell is his very FAVORITE!!

It is usually a time where just the guys hang out, but since I am out of school for the summer, I get an invite too. Which is very nice of them :)

While I was creating my Lab Team Roles, I decided to create an account with TeachersPayTeachers and try to sell some of the things I create this year. 

Here it is! First item in the store! And it's free :)

It was a little tricky to figure out at first. I had to do a little research to know how to convert everything to a PDF, then how to get everything in one document, then back to a PDF. My sweet husband was more than willing to help and I am so grateful. He keeps me from stressing out so much, because he is so patient. 

Which brings me back to the title of this post. Planning and TRUSTING. I can plan for school. And a lot of times I like to plan for school. I like to dream up what it might be like. New kids. Different teachers. Different classroom. WOW that's a lot of different! There are some things I will never be able to plan for. Like class size, a new student on Tuesday, internet not working properly, a meeting with parents...That is where trust comes in. I have to trust that I have planned enough, so that I'll be okay when those surprises come. 

I also have to trust The Lord, that he will equip me with whatever I need to make it through. It is very difficult to trust a lot of the time. Take for instance, right now, I am trusting my husband for a decision for our family. I am trying really hard to be patient and wait on The Lord's guidance for him and our family. I am trusting that The Lord with reveal truth to my husband and grant us peace whatever the outcome may be. 

Trust, it's hard. But it can be even more difficult to plan sometimes. Or to plan and then plans change and we have to adjust to all of that.

God, grant me peace and understanding for all that you have in my future.

Hello there!

Ok so here goes....

I have had a desire to Blog for quite some time. Today is finally the day. I had a little bit of extra time, so why not. I don't know that I really have a lot to say, but wanted an outlet for it anyway.

This year has been a little crazy for my extended family. My sister found out she had Thyroid Cancer, which was treated and she is great now! My little cousin just about a month ago had a severe case of strep throat, that actually turned out to be a a heart condition for him. He ultimately needs a heart transplant. He is a sweet young man and has made a lot of progress, but can we talk about how crazy this is??!!

We also have a lot to be thankful for. We are all still here, mostly healthy. And the Lord just keeps blessing us. More and more and we are amazed.

So, a little more about me, I'm a Science teacher at our local Middle School. I really like my job, and getting to be involved in young people's lives, they are so interesting. We get to do fun experiments, not as much as I or the students would like, but we do some pretty fun things! I try to use my job as a ministry, but unfortunately, I fail on a daily basis when the stress of life gets to me.

I would like to use this blog as an outlet for ideas and sharing what the Lord has taught me and is still teaching me and sometimes as a stress relief, because let's face it, we all need that sometimes. I hope to include some of the crafts I enjoy doing, and will be doing a lot of for my sister's wedding next month. I also would like to share what we are doing in my classroom, because next year is going to be GREAT! I will post pictures of all the adventures we will go on in life.

Until next time,

Olivia