This is what it is all about......

Teaching is a hard job, no if's and's or but's about it. Sure we have the whole summer off and 2 weeks at Christmas, but it is because we need it. Teaching has changed so much since I was little, and even in the last 6 years since I started. I find myself complaining to everyone about all of the paperwork and minutia that is required of us. Between RTI folders, Lesson plans, grading papers, tutoring, workshops, and parent conferences, we actually have to TEACH! Sometimes I think that maybe teaching is not for me, but today I got a note that reminded my exactly why I teach....because "to teach is to touch a life forever" I have taught for 6 years and never gotten anything like this from a parent. So thank you for reminding me why I do love this job!

Mrs. Leon –

I wanted to say thank you for being the person and teacher that you are. I know I haven’t met you (yet) but "B" cannot say enough good things about you. The character that you possess precedes you and you are making a lasting impression on my daughter. Written words cannot express my gratitude for who you are and what you have done for my daughter!

Last school year was a horrible one for her – she would get in the car every day after school in tears and say she never wanted to go back and even getting her out the door in the morning to go to school was a daily battle. She was REALLY dreading this school year (and I was, too – it’s awful to see your child in pain.) If she did not get placed with a compatible teacher this year, things were literally to the point that I was going to change her school if there continued to be problems.

It may not mean anything to you, but we have been praying since the middle of last school year that the teacher she would get in 3^rd grade would be a better fit for her. And it hasn’t just been the prayers of our household, but the prayers of others in our family, our church community, and personal friends. Even though we did not know who her teacher would be, you have been covered in prayer for a long time now! God knew who you were before we did!

"B" is SO happy now. She is enjoying herself SO much, and FLOURISHING! God has answered our heart-cries to Him for a good teacher that can handle her little idiosyncrasies with great grace! I literally cried when I received her report card because there were FOUR positive comments about her! (Last year, the negative comments far outweighed the positive ones.) She shows those comments to EVERYONE that she can – even the mail man – and she is just glowing. She’s even eager to do her homework – which for ANY parent is an answered prayer!

Keep doing what you’re doing, Mrs. Leon. I am sure that one of your goals as a teacher is to positively impact the lives of the children, and I must say – you are doing an awesome job at that. I asked "B" who her favorite teacher was out of all the teachers that she’s had, and she said you. 

Again, thank you. God bless you.

Home Sweet Home!

I can't believe that this time last year we were moving into our very first house! It is amazing how fast time flies. Buying a house was a very quick decision for us. We went home to see Rod's fam and found out that his sister was buying a house and she was all excited about the 8,000 tax credit and low interest rates. I never thought we could do it, especially with Rodney not working, but we crunched the numbers and found that we could buy a house for pretty much what we were paying in rent every month. We came home looked at houses for less than a week and found "THE ONE". We didn't have much time to dwell on the decision since it was such a great deal so we made the decision and never looked back and I am so glad that we did!

So here is what I LOVE about our house and where we live....

• We live in a small town with 2250 people...crazy to think that you can find that just 30 miles from downtown. 
• We have a great community that has a swimming pool and gym (in case I ever felt like working out, I have been once in one year!)
• We have become great friends with 2 of our neighbors. It is nice to be able to walk across the street for a BBQ or to hang out with friends.
• I absolutely love our house, and feel so blessed that our "starter home" is so NICE! I never dreamed that I would have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and an office, plus granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances!  
• We have a Sonic within walking distance (I think Cherise likes that more than I do :)
• We can see the stars in our backyard :)

What I DO NOT like about our house and where we live....

• We live at least 15 minutes from Shopping, restaurants, movies theaters, and anything fun!
• Most of our friends live at least 30- 45 minutes away :(
• We are already running out of storage space in the kitchen and we have no hall closet in our house, who builds a 2,000 sq ft house without a hall closet???
• Traffic.....grrrrr
• Teeny Tiny spare bedrooms (Sorry Cherise and Carroll)
• Pretty much all we have is a Sonic :( I stop there frequently so that they will not go out of business!

Even though we have lived here a year, we haven't been able to do too much to the house. Between Rodney not working the first 6 months we lived here and paying for some wedding stuff we haven't been able to afford too much.

Here are a few before and after pics...

Before.....This picture was taken waaaay before we moved in and by the time we bought the house the grass looked awful so Rod laid new sod in certain areas.

After......

Close up of the stone work Rod did around the trees

Rod built a flower bed in the corner because that is where all the water would run when we didn't have gutters, it was a mud pile and nothing would grow there.

Before......

After......Our Hibiscus plants are growing out of control!!!

Before.....ugly, plain white fireplace

After.......gorgeous, thanks to my hubby!

Before........

 After... (Mikey wanted his picture taken)

Before.....

After.....

 Before......

After....

Pics of our office....

And our bedroom..... and 2 months later it is still a work in progress!

A wonderful pic from our snow day last year.....been playing around with the effects on iphoto