Ranting

UGH!

I have heard several times over the past year about young married couples (around our age) who have been married for a short time and have decided to get a divorce. Let it be known that THIS IS RIDICULOUS! So marriage isn't easy. So it's hard to stay on a budget. So you and your spouse have disagreements from time to time. GOD'S PURPOSE FOR MARRIAGE ISN'T TO MAKE US HAPPY, IT'S TO MAKE US HOLY. AND MARRIAGE IS TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH. Do you think Jesus will ever leave his Bride? I didn't think so. If you aren't going to stay married "til death do you part," then don't get married at all.

Lest the ranting end before I get all my anger out, I have one final thing to say: if you are really a Christian, ACT LIKE IT!!!! I am so sick of all the hypocrisy. And if I'm sick of it, I can't imagine how God must feel, dealing with it since the beginning of time.

Now that my temper tantrum is over, I will go back to praying for these situations. Please join me in doing the same.

It's been a while...

Everything is moving so quickly! I can't believe we've been in TN for 6 months already! I also can't believe that I've not been back to Richmond since July. Even though we love it here, I am looking forward to returning "home" for Thanksgiving next week. Secretly, I think Justin is, too. :)

School/work is going well. I love the students and teachers that I get to work with. Thanks to some pretty awesome teachers, I even get some instructional time in the classroom! Honestly, though, this job is quite challenging. I constantly yearn for my own classroom. I am learning to take a back seat and to allow others to be in control. I'm also learning to let the little things slide. It's tough! I read a prayer for teachers the other day that said, "May I not be so concerned with rules and procedures that I forget to show mercy and love toward the errant student. Amen." I'm making that my daily prayer.

In my down time at school and at home, I have been reading a ton of books. I love having this extra time! I recently read Redeeming Love and And the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers... amazing! I can't wait to read more of her stories! I'm currently reading CrazyLove by Francis Chan, and it's awesome as well! God has really been teaching me a lot more about Himself through these books and Scripture as well (especially Hebrews).

I have also been blessed to have made great new friends here. It is amazing to me that God already had a group of friends waiting for me. I had really been missing the fellowship shared between sisters in Christ, and He provided that in a big way.

God has been so good to us!

first. day. of. school. !.

Friday, as everyday, the Lord provided me with a job! Today was my first day as a 504 assistant at a local elementary school. It was fantastic! I can already tell that I'm really going to love this school, the teachers, and the students!

Thanks to everyone who prayed that I would find a job! I am so grateful!

...working...

We have finally wrapped up VBS and M-Fuge: Birmingham! What an amazing and tiring two weeks! Maybe I'll post some pictures or more details later, but for now, my reflections on working for the Lord are short:
1. I taught kindergarten VBS. I need way more patience to teach kindergartners. If it weren't for Katie (a new first grade teacher, yay!), I would have lost my mind.
2. My social track at M-Fuge went door-to-door doing surveys. It was hot.
3. It's amazing to me how God has given me such a love for the people at Persia so quickly. Especially the youth group... this is so much better than I could have ever hoped! I LOVE LOVE LOVE working with them! :)


On to working in the secular world... it won't be happening in my own classroom this year. :(

Because Kentucky's licensing process contains one year of internship, I do not have a full valid license to transfer to another state. Therefore, I must take TWO ADDITIONAL Praxis tests! Hello, money. Of course I found out about this after I can get test results in to be certified for the fall semester. So, I'll be taking the tests in September. Maybe a job will open up in the second semester.

I'm currently looking for a teacher's aide job. If that doesn't work out, I'll be subbing. Either way, I know that God is in control. His will is going to be done. Regardless of whether or not I understand exactly what that looks like or why it has to happen that way.

Pray for me, please!

His blood commands my guilt to leave

"Oh, I tried and tried to rectify my hopeless situation.... Now I'm working 9 to 5 like I can earn my own salvation.... But there is no condemnation in You..."

Forgiven and Loved

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those that love God, to those that are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

God has once again proven Himself to be faithful to work things together for His purpose! It is hard to believe how easy this transition to Rogersville has been!

Here's a brief rundown of the past two weeks:
**Moving Day**
-14 people from Persia Baptist Church showed up to move us
-All of our items were packed on the trailer in 50 minutes
-As we pulled in to Rogersville, Steph and I stopped at Wal-Mart for no more than 10 minutes. Before we got back to the car, Justin called to say that our boxes were unpacked and our beds were put together!
-Several ladies from the church had prepared food (and *delicious* desserts) for all of us, and we had a great time of fellowship!
-Steph helped me get the kitchen set up in record time!

-Since moving day, we have had so much help from church members in completing tedious things like getting the cable/Internet/phone set up, getting insurance, getting a new license plate/registering my car, finding a groomer for Macie, and finding great places to eat!

I still can't believe how easy everything has been! This has been a great reminder that God wants us here!


Despite all of this, we are missing our friends and family. We're not really homesick (we've been back a couple times already for Steph's Senior Awards Day---3 scholarships!--- and to clean the apartment), and we definitely haven't been lonely, but we still miss everyone... not in a sad way, though. We just want all of you here with us! If you can't be here with us, keep in touch with emails, phone calls, texts, etc. We would love to hear from you!

Finally, thank you to all of you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers. You may never know how much it means to us. We love you!

T- E- Double N- E- Double S- Double E

We're moving to Tennessee!


Here's why:
Justin is the new Student Pastor at Persia Baptist Church in Rogersville, TN! His primary emphasis will be on youth, grades 7-12. He will oversee the children's and college ministries, too. This is an awesome church, and we are so blessed to be a part of that body of believers.

Here's when:
Our official moving date just got bumped up---we'll be in our new home on May 16! This is a week earlier than we had planned, but God had a different plan. And His is always better! We are finishing out this week at our current jobs, and then we will slowly start moving next week. It's going to be crazy!


Here's where:
The church is providing us with a parsonage! Rogersville is in NE Tennessee, which is a 3 hour drive from Richmond. It's about 45 minutes from Pigeon Forge, and 45 minutes to an hour from Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol.


Other stuff:
The youth group averages around 25 students on a weekly basis. The students seem to be very spiritually mature. We will be joining them on their trip to M-Fuge in Birmingham the last week of June... we're pumped! There is also a fantastic group of adults that work with the youth group. The youth team will continue to offer support and assistance as we also step into leadership roles. The church is discipleship-based, which we love! We really couldn't ask for a better situation!

I will hopefully get my foot in the door in the education system in Rogersville, as well. There are a few strong connections that we will have, but nothing is certain. Join with us as we pray about my employment, and remember that the LORD always provides!

Also, Cherokee Lake is about 5 minutes from our house! Justin loves this part! It is absolutely beautiful.

The hard part:
In order to be obedient in this matter, we must leave our family, friends, church, youth group, and home. While we are excited about the new chapter in our lives, we are certainly upset about all that we will leave behind. I am having an especially hard time with this. I have never really lived anywhere other than Richmond, and there are some dear friends and family members that I will really miss seeing on a regular basis. I know that 3 hours isn't so far away, but it just won't be the same. So, the only option is for our family and friends to visit us often! We will have plenty of room, so please stop by!

The next few weeks will be crazy, I'm sure. Hopefully soon I'll have more pictures of our new home, as well as some new contact information. Until then, please keep us in your prayers as we seek to follow God's will for our lives.

P.S.- Last night, Justin got to baptize his brother, Austin! It was such a beautiful blessing. Congratulations, Austin! We're so proud of you!

Yay!

I finally got to sub today!

And, I'm officially available to sub on any Tuesday or Friday anywhere in the county---elementary, middle, or high school.

Tell all your teacher friends to hit me up!

I just found out there's no such thing as the real world...

I wish the "real world" included spring break.

That's all.

Distraught

Why are "Christians" making a mockery of the name of Christ?

I heard a girl with tats and piercings say to her family last weekend, "If I was not part of your family and you saw me walking on the street, you wouldn't even talk to me." Seriously? Are we so hypocritical?

Christ called us to be set apart. So, it's all or nothing. Amen, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

I had to cheat a little bit

These are the rules...
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder

3. Explain the picture

4. Tag 4 people to do the same
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc)

Haha! It's a picture from my personal bridal shower with my Bible study girls---I was so embarrassed. What fun!

And-FYI-this picture is from album #3. Album #4 is filled with pictures from elementary schools that I can't put online. So, my cheating is legally acceptable.

Okay, now I'm tagging:

1. Jennifer

2. Amanda

3. Marie

4. Krystal

The weather outside is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you, Lord!

:)

"There is power, power, wonder working power"... in our apartment again! Praise the Lord! We were able to stay with family for the 5 days we had no power, and we are so thankful!

Also, may my old car rest in peace, I got a new car!!! My poor little Neon (graciously traded for $200 instead of the $138 he was worth... seriously) has been replaced by a 2007 Nissan Sentra with FOUR DOORS!! If you ever had to ride in the back of the Neon, I apologize. Now, you can ride with me and have your very own door! We are so blessed. As soon as we get all the salt and grossness washed off of the car, I'll post some pictures.

Oh, and this is totally random, but I know that most people name their cars with girls' names, but I feel like I drive cars that are boys. So, the Neon's name was Leon, and the Sentra's name is Samuel. Who cares, right? Except that after naming my new car, I was preparing for discipleship by reading 1 Samuel 1. Hannah prays and prays for a son, and when he is born, she names him Samuel, saying "because I asked him of the Lord." A bit ironic, huh?!

God is so good.

I'm not sick, but I'm not well

Not a lot of people know that I have been having some medical problems, but after reaching my breaking point of passing out while I was talking to Marie, I decided it was time to have some serious testing done. Now, don't freak out a whole lot, because the passing out incidents are thankfully few and far between... we're talking 5-ish times since Justin and I have been married.

So, I went to see a cardiologist on Wednesday and he did a tilt-table test. Basically, they strapped me to a table, hooked me up to a bunch of monitors, and moved the table to differing degrees of elevation. The point of the test is to make you pass out so that they can see what happens and try to understand why it happens. It worked. I passed out at the very end of the test, so they were able to get all the information they needed.

Results? For some reason (maybe my birth control, maybe something else), my heart rate is always varying from 70-170 beats per minute. My body does a really great job of adjusting my blood pressure so that my really fast heart beats don't cause me any trouble most of the time. That is until my heart rate goes up to 190. Then, I basically have no blood pressure, and I pass out. Therein lies the problem.

For now, I am taking some medicines to try and fix this. We're not sure of the cause yet, so we will have to play with different treatments until we find one that works the best. Until we find the cause and best treatment, and even after we do, I would really appreciate prayers. I'm way too young to be falling apart like this!

And, Marie, thanks for taking great care of me during the last episode. Justin and I are so grateful for you!

Scrubs.

That's what I get to wear at my job. Yes, JOB! Today was my first day at Advanced Animal Care, and it was great! I'm doing some receptionist/office kinds of things, and it is really satisfying my business-y side.

Before I go on, let me thank God one more time for providing this job! He always provides!

Okay, back to the job description: I will be spending my days (and evenings) answering phones, talking to/playing with adorable animals, making files, scheduling appointments, etc. This is the exact same kind of thing that I did when I worked at the Graduate School admission office, so I really don't have a ton of stuff to learn from scratch... other than a different computer system. It's surprisingly less stubborn than EKU's system. :)

I feel so blessed to have this job. It's not what I want to do with the rest of my life, but it's going to be the best option for me for now. Teaching is still my passion and will be my career soon, I hope. For the time being, though, I'm happy to be employed at AAC!

Thanks for all the prayers. God answered in a BIG way! And, Jenn, your husband is the best!


PS-- Did I mention that I get to wear SCRUBS?!?! This is the best job ever! (Well, besides teaching...)

I love my husband!

Justin and I have been able to spend way more time together since I am presently jobless, and I keep finding that I love him more and more each day. I love him for all the little things that he does with and for me.

Examples:

- He took me to see Bride Wars and didn't even complain about it being a chick flick. (By the way--- go see the movie! It was so funny! And clean---PG, I think.)

- He went shopping with me yesterday. All day. Again, no complaints.

- He plays with Macie and helps me take care of her, even though he says he doesn't like her. Yeah, right. Who doesn't like my puppy?!

- He loves me unconditionally and keeps me going when times get tough. Justin has been such a great encouragement to me while I have been searching for a job. He is a constant reminder of the Lord's provision in my life.

Thank you, God, for my wonderful husband!

Not much to say

Just a few random updates:

1. I have been "degreed"--- graduation went well, and my reception was the best.
2. I still don't have a job--- but the Lord provides.
3. I have wonderful friends and family--- I love getting to spend time with them all!

Bottom line: God is good, and I don't deserve all of the blessings in my life. But I am so thankful!