Getting to know Mrs.J

1. Do you have a fetish?my house being dirty

2. Do you sing in the shower?If I am in a really good mood I will, i mostly sing in the car

3. Who was your first crush? Patrick Edward Coggins, Jr. He is a marine in Iraq right now. He is married with a baby girl. We were neighbors since we were 5. His birthday is Valentines Day and it always bugged me because from Feb 14 to May 19 we were the same age but I really am older :) Praying for ya PC, come home safe!

4. What do you think is the best manly trait a guy could have?Manly trait? I love that Mr J can fix, build, or grill anything. I mostly love that he can fix anything. He is so handy. I also love his sense of forgiveness and letting nothing stay between us.

5. Do you sleep naked?Ask Mr. J

6. What do you do when (you think) no one is looking?the same as when they are looking...

7. What's the first thing you do when you go online?facebook, blogs, then email

8. Summer is.....?No work. =] Just around the corner! Kids are out Wednesday. I am done next Wednesday! :)

A funeral for my attitude :)

I am celebrating the death of my bad attitude. I have been kind of negative and a butthead lately due to recent events.  I am choosing this morning and promised my husband that this is the death of that attitude. The message at church was very simple but hit me right in the heart.  I am going to be filled with the joy of the spirit and speak with loving kindness.  I will strive to be the essence and fragrance of Christ daily.  I will fail.  I will make mistakes. I may have a bad day or so, but I am going to battle with the strength God gave me to be joyful.  So here it goes! :)

We started going to a new church. We were kind of tired and not pleased with the church we were going to.  It has been a learning experience as a married couple to find where we fit in. It has been weird for me to find where Chad fits in to the thigns of the last 5 years of living in College Station.  With that said, my college church was definitly not the place for us and that is ok.  The Lord spoke very clearly to us on that point.  We are LOVING First Baptist Bryan so far and can not wait to see where it takes us.  

Well right now Chad is at the store and wouldnt let me go or tell me anythign about where he was going. I am guess it has something to do with my birthday on Wednesday! :) 

There is more to stay but I can sum it up by saying Summer is only days away now and school is out!

Springtime!

I do not like cold weather. I am sick from September to February! Actually..it is still march and I have 2 more days of Antibiotics for my ruptured ear drum courtisy of sinus infection. Spring is FINALLY here.  Right now Chad is making hamburger patties and fired up the grill! The sun is out and flowers are starting to bloom. It is such a refreshing time of year. I love seeing new colors and being outside.  I can finally breath again and enjoy being awake and out of bed :)

My kids are growing up so much as we get closer to the summer and they are almost Kindergarteners.  I am so very proud of how far they have come this year.  

I don't have too much to say except that thigns are going really well for us right now.  We had come together and found are place of contentment.  The Lord has brought me dear friends who has sent me messeages of verses and love. He has sent me an incredible husband. He has spoken sweet comfort to me and showed both of us his love.  Our family is his and he knows the plans he has for us.  

Love you all so very much! 

Karen

A Heavy Heart

Caution: This is a very blunt post about my feelings right now. Read as much as you wish to know.

My students are "asleep" which means I am watching them wiggle and roll on their mats and trying to get them to rest.
About two weeks ago, a student at our school was killed in a four wheeler accident. The mother is my "personal trainer" ( I use parenthasies because she does not charge and it is a group of us that she works with up at the school) and a very dear friend. I cannot wrap my mind around the pain she much be going through. My heart is broken for her. It is also painful to watch the small chilren of our school, mainly his classmates, go through this at such a young age. Their best friend died. He was so young and full of life. He was a believer already and is waiting for us all in heaven, probably playing basketball or something he loves. His siblings have returned to school and are doing well, but my heart is still broken for my grieving friend. We miss her deeply and despereately here at school. She is such an encouragment to many of us. She brings me such joy with her smile everyday. My prayer for her is to find peace and find some sense of normal in their new road as a family. I hope she can find her way to school soon and return to us.
My second heartbreak right now is a baby. Being a mother has been my wish my entire life, but I have also been told all of my life that it would not be possible. I always told myself that if I prayed hard enough and wished long enough that I would become pregnant when I got married. When I met Chad, my heart for adoption grew bigger and became more real to me, but I still told myself that when I was older I would get pregnant because I wanted it so bad. We both want children. We want our family with little ones running around. We also have been praying for a long time about when we should have children. We wanted them fairly quickly after we got married and knew we would more than likely hit road blocks. We wanted to start the very long road to parenthood under God's will and see what was ahead. We have talked extensively and prayed abudantly what should happen. We know that I do not need to be off any of my medicines including the bc. We also know that we DO NOT want to do fertility drugs and in vitro and mess with my body. Both of these make me a crazy person and that is not good for any human I am in contact with :)
So basically, we want to get pregant or we will adopt. We just feel like why try SO hard and screw u my body chemistry when there are precious babies that need homes and families to provide for them. This is where is become VERY hard for me. There have a been a few moments that we thought I might be with child, but no such luck. After thinking about it, I do not want my child to hvae to deal with my medical issues so conceiving has become almost a bad idea to me. I also would love to feel that baby move in my belly. I would love to have belly pictures and I would love to feel it grow inside of me. I know this is not for me. God has spoken to us and we know that adoption is for us. God is working on my heart to fall deeply in love with a child destined to be ours. I am just not good at waiting. We will have to wait until he is done with school adn we can afford a house. We want to be ready, stable, and prepared for a child. I am just learning to love the waiting game. I am learning to rely on God to carry us through. God is working on our marriage, on us as individuals, and on my heart. I love my job, and I am not ready to be a stay at home mom. It is a weird place to be in, and my husband is so very supportive. He is my champion, my hero, my best friend. He is going to be a fabulous father some day and I cannot wait to see that. We are still so young and have many greay years ahead. I just need to be patient and wait. I need to wait on the Lord's will. I need to wait until my husband is done with school. I need to wait until we have a good home to live in as a family. I pray that this journey grows me. I pray daily for the child that will someday be ours. I pray for the family that has to part with a child that we can give it life. My heart is heavy. The Lord is good and he knows what he is doing. OK I am done. THe kids are awake. Love ya, see ya, bye!

Hello 2010

Hello blog world. 

Just wanted to say hi again. Life has been pretty crazy. School has been a whirl wind. The kids are taking off academically. They are starting to read sight words and follow along when I read stories. It is simply amazing. This has been a week of blessings for me. I am looking at my school and job and thinking about how lucky I am to have ended up in such a fantastic place for my 1st year teaching and hopefully many more.  It has been the neatest year of my life, being married and teaching.  I have wanted to be a teacher my entire life and now i actually get to do it. I LOVE my job and my class. They are so much fun. 

I can't wait to meet my new neice or nephew this summer. Haley is having a baby.  It will be a great adventure. I hope she stays healthy and strong the entire pregnancy.  Her puppy is sick right now and is not good, but hopefully he will be okay soon! Check her facebook for details.  The vet butchered his neutering and his ball sack bled and got all nasty and swollen.

Chad is as silly as ever.  You need to call and hang out with us no matter who you are. We miss everyone sincce we have been so busy and haven't seen many people.  Pray for us as we make decisions about our life and move into nearing our 1st annivesary.  I don't have much else to say except thigns are going well.  Being married is great. Our pizza just arrived. I'm going to go eat. Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Ok. So life has been a bit crazy. No big deals.  I am now feeling MUCH MUCH better.  I am a functioning human once again.  The day of my last post, they put me in the hospital for 4 days.  I regained so much strength with the tons of medicine pumped in me.  My wonderful husband spent the entire time hanging out with me and bringing me yummy food and movies.  It was not much fun, but I am feeling much better.  

Our Thanksgiving was a blast. His parents came and spent a few days with us.  It was very relaxing, except me and my MIL went Black Friday shopping.  That was exhausting but so much fun.  His cousin then got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  THe Johnson clan took over BCS. It was a blast.  It was fun seeing so much of the family at the wedding and the brunch the next day.  

Ok, lets skip to now.  It is Christmas season, my favorite time of year! It love the crisp cold weather, only for a few days though. I love being snuggled in blankets with hot chocolate and watching lights.  But one of my students has forced me to forcus on the real meaning of Christmas. Being a Christian school, I am spending three weeks immersed in the Christmas story with my students.  Part of this includes our Christmas musical.  On of the scenes in the play is a p.e. coach who is disgruntled about all of the Christmas shopping, parties, and commercial holiday mess.  A song in this scene mentions "stop making Christmas such a celebration." One of my students looked up at me during the song while we were practicing and was clearly upset. She said, "why do they want us to stop celebrating Christmas."  My sweet and precious students are yet untaited by the commercialism of Christmas.  They come from such wonderful families and could very easily explain to me that the real meaning of Christmas is that Jesus's was born and all that is to come from that moment.  We talked about how some people simply focus on presents and shopping.  Our memory verse this week was..And the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring good tidings of great joy that will be for all people." Luke 2:10

Jesus did not come for a few rightous people.  He didn't come for the people who can put the most presents under the tree.  The joy of this season is for ALL PEOPLE.  I challenge myself and you to think about what joy this season is that our savior is born for ALL of us.  My assistant and I have been talking about, since one of our songs brings up the braveness of Mary, how we could not even imagine what Mary went through.  She sacrificed so much and was so strong.  Her story challenges me to think about my life.  Mary was no celebrity or rich person.  She wasn't the one with the best clothes or anything special. She was simply a girl and the Lord was pleased with her enough to carry his only son.  WOW. Is the Lord pleased with me? Does he look on me and my life with favor? 

I just love the beauty in the Christmas story.  A simple girl brings the Lord of all the Earth into the world in a manger with dirty animals.  He has come to save the world, but started off in a barn.  The Lord loves us so much that he came down to be with us on a beautiful Christmas night.  That brings me more joy than my fantastic Christmas tree across the room or the Christmas lights in the park.  So I am going to take the next few weeks to enjoy the real joy that the angels tell us about this season, our Lord has come for all of us. Amen to that.

Sickly Wife

Ok, for those of you who have been around me in the past month, you know that I have been coughing my lungs up.  It has been miserable.  My body is exhausted.  It has gotten worse.  I have been in bed, literally just sitting in bed, for 4 days now.  I am on Fall break from school which is a conveinant time to be so sick, but I would rather have enjoyed the pretty weather. Guess not.  I am asking that you pray the doctors would figure it out today because I am miserable.  I am so tired of being sick.  It is the story of my life.  I just can't fight it off.  WIsh me luck today with the Dr.

On a good note,  my in-laws came this weekend.  THe boys built a huge deck and storage building in our back yard that is AWESOME!! You should all come by and visit to see it. It is so neat.  My MIL helped around the house while I was sickly, a BIG BIG thank you for helping me out!!!! 

There were plenty of babies born this month.  I am desperately trying to get better so I can visit them.  Chads friend was the first baby.  Julia Faith was born a few weeks ago.  I got to hold her at 3 hours old. She is precious.  Then, the Turner's had baby Benjamin Micah.  I babysit for them and took care of big brother Wesley when I was in college still.  I adore that family so much.  It is killing me to not see them yet.  Then, this past week an old dear friend of mine that mentored me in college had her baby girl Ragan.  She is adorable! Courtney will be a great mom. That is going to be one tall, skiny beautiful girl. Chad's cousin also had a baby a few weeks ago, Ty Johnson.  he is precious as well.  He has two loving and excited big sisters!! His other cousin will be havign her baby around Thanksgiving.  So many babies!!!!  My assistant is also having a baby in January and I got to feel her baby girl move for the first time last week.  It was really cool.  Jesse has 2 kids and is a great Mom.  I am so blessed to have her in my classroom wiht me.  We have tons of fun.  

Well, not much else to say.  I am LOVING my job.  School is going great.  The kids are really soaking it all up.  We are on Fall Break which is a super neat week-long vacation. I had tons of things planned to get done, but guess not.  We are going to be staying in College Station for quite a while.  We have made some decisions that will keep us here for at least a few years.  Just pray that the Lord will be guiding us in the way to go.  Chad will be starting school and there are many things up in the air for us to figure out.  It is VERY VERY Exciting!   

Being married is such a beautiful gift.  We have had a bumpy road to get to this point over the last 5-6 years, but the Lord has given us something truly beautiful.  I enjoy seeing my husband every morning when we get up to that stupid alarm.  I love the way he wants the same thing in his lunch every day .  I love how he calls me just to say hi throughout the day.  We make a great team and I can't wait to see how the next 100 years will be!