IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

I love this time of the year. The leaves changing, the weather cooling down, it finally being ok for you to have Christmas lights up! It just feels so good to me.

Things have finally settled down here.

I had planned on taking a year off from teaching, seeing as my pregnancies are so hard and my mom was sick. After losing the baby, I stayed at home for about 2 months. And I started to miss work and church. I couldn't have been more thrilled when my boss called me and asked me to come back. THRILLED! I love it. And this month, Jodi & I received the OCTOBER TEACHER TEAM. YEAH, US!

I received a raise at work (WOO HOO). J received a raise at work (BIGGER WOO HOO). He finally earned his vacation days, which was helpful, as he had to use 1 day right after they were granted to him, so he could go with me to take G to get an absessed tooth pulled! YUCK!

Last week was tough, tho. An aquantance of mine died in a tragic car accident. It was very had not being able to hug those that I knew were hurting (like Rachel) or to hug those that I knew would comfort me (like my mom). But it truly is a blessing that Rachel's mom is now working at our church, for one of the pastors. I was able to go up and get a hug from her ... and I don't know if Ms. Debbie will ever know how much I appreciated that! It was like getting a hug from my mom & Rach all in ONE! My two favorite women. I needed that, and I'm glad that our church provided me the ability to go visit her!

Church has been good for us. It has opened up the conversation lines for J & myself. We have had many discussion about our Christianity and faith and future! It's been amazing. And after 2 years, we finally feel like we have found our "FIT" in the church. We love our new CONNECTION GROUP. We are with people our age, who have kids our kid's ages, and have similar interest (and J's best friend, Jim is coming, too...what an answer to prayer). God is really working in our lives! I am seeing things now that I never saw, with a father who was the Minister of Music & attending a private BAPTIST college, majoring in Religious Education (emphasis on Children's ministry) and minoring in music; and J is discovering a more personal relationship than he ever had as the son of the Pastor! We are growing. We are growing TOGETHER. We are growing as a family and passing it along to our children. It is such a blessing to be a part of church that has our hearts (for our children and for us) interest! TRULY A BLESSING!