A day in the life...

2012-01-13T20:23:00.001-08:00

Babies, Christmas, and Sweet Friends...

Well, most of you probably know, but we are having another sweet baby! We are so excited and my due date is August 11th :) I've been to the doctor once and we were able to see the baby's heartbeat and my doctor said everything looked great so far! I've been feeling good, just super tired. Thankfully, Levi takes a napt for about 3 hours every afternoon, so I have been napping it up with him!

We had such a relaxing Christmas Break. I really love that we get two weeks off for Christmas and an entire month off between semesters! It is a MUCH needed break after the busyness of Fall Semester. My mom got up with Levi EVERY morning. I was so spoiled when we left :)

Levi LOVES playing rough!

We spent a weekend in Texas for a wedding I was in and stayed with some friends. I was busy with bridesmaid duties for most of the weekend and this is one of the cute pictures John Aaron sent me...

Lunch with friends from home!

We met our college friends for dinner one night and met their sweet new baby, Rhett.

Rhett and Levi share a birthday, except Levi is one year older!

....And this is the sweet bride!

Students came back Thursday and Welcome Week starts on Monday...We are looking forward to what God is going to do this semester!

2011-12-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving...

We spent Thanksgiving in New Orleans with John Aaron's family and then drove 5 and half more hours to see my family for a day before driving 10 more hours back to Cookeville. Yes, LOTS of driving but it is worth it to see our families!

Good thing Levi is a good little traveler :) We have a DVD player so he watches alot of baby einstien (his favorite), eats lots and lots of snacks, and sleeps. See that sweet smile behind his paci?

We ran a 5k together as a family and John Aaron pushed the running stroller the whole way - that's a big deal to me! It's about 40 extra pounds for him to push!!

All bundled up for the run.....and checking out his hands :)

We finally got everything unpacked last night, John Aaron's parents are visiting this weekend, and then we leave next week to go to a wedding in Texas, Christmas with my parents, and then Passion 2012 Atlanta. Whew! Hope you're having a Happy December!

2011-11-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

Volleyball...

John Aaron is playing on one of our BCM intramural volleyball teams, so Levi and I went out to cheer him on at his first game! Levi walked up and down every stair, hallway, and row of seats during the game :)

Doesn't he look so tall??

2011-11-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Halloween & Levi "reading"...

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this cute costume idea:

My mom made Levi a cute little bowtie and we had plans to dress him up as the english boy that Mary Poppins nannied, but, it didn't happen :) Our BCM party started at 8:00 (which is Levi's bedtime) so he didn't dress up this year, but he didn't know it was Halloween, so it's all good.

Before Levi was walking and getting into everything, he would love to have someone read to him. In the past few months, he hasn't been into reading as much because he has got too many things to explore! About a week ago he started doing this....

He will sit and "read" for about 20 minutes - which is a long time for an 18-month old! This makes the teacher inside me so proud :)

2011-10-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

Weekend Getaway...

John Aaron and I decided it was time for a little family weekend so we went to Ridgecrest, NC for the weekend. We spent the weekend eating (ALOT, I am seeing several 6 mile runs in my week!), exploring Asheville, Black Mountain, and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a lovely weekend!

I know everyone says their child is the cutest, but seriously. Levi is SO. cute. He is dancing here. No music. But this boy is always dancing!

A massive pumpkin!

Sweet times...

The boys...

THE family picture of the weekend :) JA & I have dreams of hiking and camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway when Levi gets bigger. It was soooo pretty!

Hope everyone is having a Happy Halloween! We are going to Mary Poppins & Dick Van Dyke it up at our BCM party tonight :)

2011-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Bits and Pieces...

An adventure of Levi and John Aaron...

Herman Cain came to speak at Tech last weekend, so JA took Levi had a little outing to go listen. And Herman & Levi became fast friends!

We have been doing some serious chalking in our backyard!

Cheering on JA at a BCM soccer game!

2011-10-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

At the Pumpkin Patch...

We took Levi to the pumpkin patch last weekend to pick out a pumpkin, go on a hayride, and have a picnic. It was delightful!

2011-09-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!

Fall is my new favorite season :)

2011-09-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome Week...

We just finished our big welcome week! The week was full with catching up with returning students, meeting new FUN freshmen, meeting with leadership, reaching out to our campus. Some highlights of the week...

Having standing room only at our first Common Ground Tuesday night...we had about 250 students!
A freshmen girl gave her life to Christ during our Freshmen event called Survival and one of our upperclassmen girls is already beginning to disciple her.
We feed over 300 students at our first Soul Food Cafe and had a line of students down the street waiting to come in!
We ordered Levi a BCM tshirt this year and it is ADORABLE on him!!! i love it!!!

Family Pic at Dancing on Dixie! This picture is a great snapshot of the stage Levi is in - not wanting to be still for anything :)

And....he looks like such a big boy in this picture!!!

How cute is he in his BCM shirt??

Going down the slide at the BCM Block Party!

Sunday afternoon hike at Burgess Falls!

Happy new school year!

2011-08-23T13:03:00.001-07:00

John Aaron's favorite iphone app...

Occasionally, I get random texts from John Aaron that look like this...

or...(trying on bridesmaid dresses)

and...

and we can't forget the one of our niece, isabel...

hope these made you smile!

2011-08-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Our NEW YouTube Channel....

So, we updated and changed the name of our YouTube channel from johnaaron15 to thematthewfam. I hope you enjoy seeing Levi in all his sweetness and cuteness!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMatthewFam?feature=mhee#p/u

2011-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

Thursday Random Thoughts...

Levi & his friend Kallie playing while me and Kallie's mama are at her diaper shower for her new little sister who will be here in a couple of weeks named Carmen :) We can't wait to meet her! And yes, Levi looks like he is in a daze in this picture...haha.

I got a feather in my hair because i am just. that. cool.

School starts on the 29th so we are busy, busy, busy preparing for the start of a new school year! Our BCM leadership team (56 of them!) will come back next wednesday for a welcome back dinner and we will get started with lots of fun welcome week events! We're excited!!

When I came home from working out Saturday morning, this is what I saw....

We had JA's favorite, chicken pot pie, for dinner last night. I added a little too much Tony's so we like to call it cajun chicken pot pie :) Notice the cute teapot? That's my new color I am added to our kitchen. We have some awesome red dishes and other red accents but i felt like our kitchen just needed a little something. So I've added some tealish/turquoise accents and they look so cute!

two more randoms...

1.we're going to a hillsong concert tonight in nashville - yay.

2. i just finished the help, and we're going to see it tomorrow - woo.

and levi just woke up...gotta go get that sweet boy!

2011-08-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

a bit of louisiana...

john aaron's sister, husband, and their four kids came to visit last week. they brought their boat up and we spent a day on the boat, did some shopping, and we went on an adventure to rock island!

john aaron, mathew, isabel, and alexis at rock island. they hiked and did some cliff jumping!

levi taking his nap on the boat - he looks a little squished :)

playing a game on the iphone!

we love family visits!

2011-07-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

silly boy...

i was out and about with john aaron's sister and my 2 nieces and john aaron sent me this picture:

i thought i would share :)

2011-07-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

summer on the road...

we have spent the first half of the summer traveling ALOT. first we went to india, then to louisiana for a fews days, then to texas to go to a wedding of students we worked with during seminary, and then, to atlanta for the fourth of july to visit my aunt and uncle. it was so fun seeing my family often and visiting with old friends, but we so happy to be home! we don't have any big road trips planned until thanksgiving so we are living it up in cookeville for the next few months!

in atlanta john aaron ran his very first 10k...go ja! every year me, my uncle, and brother run the peachtree 10K (which happens to be the largest 10k in the world). along with 60,000 other runners and super hot temperatures we finished the race in 1:02. we also took levi to the zoo and the aquarium where he kinda looked at some of the animals :)

he thought this was fun to stick his head through.

walking through the tunnel!

mr. and mrs. symank :) we love our students we worked with in texas and it was so fun to catch up with them. levi stayed in shreveport with my mom and dad because he was recovering from an ear infection (pre-tube surgery). in december we will go back for lindsay (bottom center) and brandon's (left by ja) wedding where i will be a bridesmaid! i am so honored to be a part of their wedding. caris (bottom left) is the maid of honor and these girls are sweet, lifetime friends!

for the rest of the summer we plan on doing lots of playing!

happy summer!

2011-06-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

a glimpse of india...

here are just a few pictures of our time in india. we had hundreds of pictures so here are some highlights:

hitesh & mannali's wedding - so fun!

our other friends tiffiany, josh, and catie were also at the wedding. tiffiany & josh live in new orleans and catie works for a non-profit organization in the middle east. it was so special to be at the wedding with our friends. oh, and did i mention we were IN the wedding? it was a surprise for us, too! we danced down the aisle with the family and sat on the stage with hitesh's closest family during the ceremony. i just talked to mannali last night and she and hitesh are loving married life and she is also loving living in chicago!

our tranlator, sureika, and her little sister uma. each day we had translators go out with us and sureika and uma went with us a couple of days and we got to know them very well!

the rickshaws - our crazy and exciting way of tranportation in mumbai.

sweet children in the slums.

and i had to include a picture of our handsome levi! my mom got pictures taken of levi while we gone and they turned out soooo cute! levi got tubes in his ears yesterday morning and he is doing just fabulous! he was super cranky for about 20 minutes after the surgery but after that he was a happy boy. we have been struggling with lots of ear infections these past few months so hopefully this will help!

2011-06-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

To do lists....

On my daily to do list, updating our blog always gets pushed to the bottom. But here I am with 30 minutes to myself (levi is with the hub and I am about to go to get my hair trimmed and highlighted-yay) so I thought I would fill you in with our excitement that came with may!

We kicked off the month with celebrating levi's birthday with 2 birthday parties! We celebrated on his birthday at chick fil a with our bcm Students who have made Levi's first year full of fun. For those of you who don't know, I work part time with john Aaron at the bcm as the associate director. I work in the mornings and levi comes with me so there is always a sweet college student to help take care of levi while I get some work done. Our students are such a blessing to our family! We celebrated with our family who came in from Louisiana and our church friends the Saturday after his birthday with an owl theme birthday party. I had so much fun making all the decorations....it brought me back to my days of teaching pre-k! We had a great week of celebrating levi!

Our next big may event was INDIA! I have been praying about this trip since the fall because we were going to be leaving levi with my mom and dad for TEN days! I knew levi would be perfectly happy with my mom and dad but I had some of that mama guilt going on....which I knew was not from god! I knew that god had a plan for us going to Indian and that he had prepared people for us to share the gospel with so I knew that I needed to trust him with everything that we have, including levi! As god always does, he took care of all my worries and fears. Levi was perfectly happy and got to have a special week with my parents.

We brought a group of 6 students with us to Mumbai, india. While we were there, we went into the slums and shared how Jesus had changed our lives and shared bibles stories with them. We went out in groups of 2 with a translator. It was so amazing to hear from the people we encountered their desire to know more about jesus when most of the people we met had never heard of Jesus. This was my first overseas mission trip and it definitely brought me out of my comfort zone and god grew and stretched me in lots of ways. I'm thankful for a husband who pushes me to be used for christ!

John Aaron turned 28 during our trip to india and we celebrated our 7 year anniversay! A super special thing we were able to do on our anniversary was to be a part of our good friend hitesh's wedding in Mumbai. We met hitesh during our senior year of college at la tech at the bcm. He came for graduate school and became a believer during his first. John Aaron got to baptize him and hitesh is still one of our closest friends today. A few of our other friends from college made the journey to india to be at the wedding, too. It was so special to meet hitesh's family and be a part of his wedding day. he and his new life will be living in Chicago.

Last, but not least, levi has officially left his baby days behind! He now walking around everywhere, taking one afternoon nap a day, using a sippy cup (no more bottle!), has eight teeth, and weighs 25 pounds! We are having so much fun with him!

I will post india pictures on my next post but check out my facebook page for all of our india pictures! Time to get my hair did :)

2011-05-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Levi's First Birthday Party!

2011-04-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

We have a YouTube channel now!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=johnaaron15&aq=f

Now you can see Levi in action :)

2011-04-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

2 months later...

Since I haven't posted in TWO months, here is what you've missed! At the beginning of March, Levi got sick for the first time. And he got super sick. One night he started running a fever and the next morning he woke up with the flu, a double ear infection, and conjunctivitis. Thankfully our pediatrician's office is open on Saturday mornings! She gave Levi five perscriptions, and the next day he was already feeling much better. This all happened a week before we left to bring our students to Beach Reach in Panama City, FL so we were thankful for Levi's quick recovery!

At Beach Reach, we partnered up with 300 other college students from around the U.S. and gave about 3,000 free van rides between 10 P.M. and 2 A.M. and served about 8,000 students a pancake breakfast each morning. Levi loved the beach and the pancakes!

Levi has been doing alot of walking (holding our hands) in shoes! He wears a size 5 EXTRA wide (haha) so finding shoes that don't squeeze his feet has been hard.

It is finally warm here and we have loved being outside....we've been doing lots of swinging!

John Aaron and Levi got to throw out the first pitch at the opening season Tech baseball game! The team gave us Tech baseball t's and a keepsake ball for Levi...it was so fun!

Our group at Beach Reach

Loving the sand...but not so much the water :)

2011-02-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

Lately....

Levi on his 9 month birthday! I can't believe that in 3 months Levi is going to be a year old. At his 9 month check up, he was 23 lbs and 28.5 inches long - he is so big!

Today we had our first day of warm weather (about 60 degrees) in what feels like forever. We were loving it! We were able to go on a walk and enjoy being outside....I am excited about getting outside and playing with Levi!

(He is trying to eat a leaf in this picture - yum.)

2011-01-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

(This picture is supossed to be at the bottom on this post, but I couldn't figure out how to get it down there, so just pretend, okay?)

Check out his 2 bottom teeth!

(And this is where the post starts :))

Caving in Cookeville?

Okay, so to me, the whole idea of caving is so weird - I guess because living in Louisiana and Texas, we never really had caves (that I know of). John Aaron went on his first caving trip with some freshmen boys from the BCM. They had lots of fun and came back covered in mud!

Cool Boys...

The had to crawl through little holes to get to other parts of the cave!

Cute little bat. Don't worry, the won't bite :) John Aaron touched one (with a glove on) and it just squeked!

Now for a couple of Levi pictures...

He started crawling this week! Here he is in action - It's hard work to crawl!

2011-01-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Levi, the little explorer!

Levi is into everything...and I love it! He loves taking things out of boxes, bags, baskets, whatever - and making a big mess! But it sure does make him happy :) He is now 8 and half months old and weighs 22 pounds. We switched him to his big boy car seat this week, he's got his 2 bottom teeth in, and his is crawling/rolling/scooting everywhere. Here are a few sweet pictures of his new adventures....

Trying to get close to Zoe - she's ignoring him.

Ripping up all my magazines!

Exploring magnetic letters for the first time. He is starting to be able to play with all my Pre-K supplies from teaching - He's going to have fun with our garage full of manipulatives!

Hi!

Checking out a late Christmas present with Zoe.

p.s....we had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas in LA, but I did not have time to post pictures - but we had so much fun visiting our family, friends, and relaxing!

2010-11-21T18:42:00.001-08:00

Da, Da, Da....

Levi & John Aaron = BFF

Levi has started to say, "da,da,da,da" but he doesn't associate that with JA yet, so we're pointing at John Aaron and he answers him everytime he says it. I thought this was a sweet picture.

Levi was in the Homecoming Parade with the BCM. The theme was "Tech Tunes" so we did the magic school bus and we won third place! And...one of our BCM students won Homecoming King and another one was on Homecoming Court. It was a fun weekend!

2010-11-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

levi - the pumpkin, the potter, and the 6 month old!

Here are a couple of pictures of Levi being a cool 6 month boy.....

sitting up in the buggy!

November 4th - Happy 6 month! Levi now weighs 20 lbs. and is 27 inches long. The past 3 nights he has slept from 8 pm is 8 am without a feeding...it's been great for me and John Aaron! He has started eating baby food so I guess that is helping keep his tummy full. Yay for baby food!

Sweet Zoe in her Halloween bow. Levi has started to grab her hair and Zoe doesn't seem to mind - yet. Any time Levi sees her he smiles so big and giggles.

Costume #1 - my mom made me this for my first halloween, so it was very special for levi to wear it to trunk or treat at our church.

The potter family! We wore this to our sunday school party and our bcm costume party. The bcm party went from 8:30 to midnight and Levi slept the night away in his pack and play in JA's office...we were thankful for that!

2010-09-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

A little bit of lately....

Levi's reaction when JA came home from a reteat!

So happy!

Levi's first football game...One of our students was holding Levi and the eagle came and took him away! We were a little nervous, but Levi didn't seem to mind and we got some cute pictures :)

We had to leave the game early because it started pouring down rain and our Louisiana Tech umbrella (which we decided it was time for a TN Tech umbrella) started to leak on Levi's head. Levi just cuddled up against me and looked around...he didn't make a sound!

2010-09-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome Week & Levi's 4 month!

Last week school started at Tech along with our crazy Welcome Week Schedule. We've been really busy but Levi has adjusted to being around tons of students pretty well, we've met lots of fun new freshmen, and have loved spending time with returning students. God is already working through the BCM (we had a student accept Christ last night at Common Ground!) and we are excited to see what's to come this year!

Our Freshmen Survival Group...John Aaron and I met 9 years ago today at Freshmen Survival at LA Tech...love!

Sweet baby boy on his 4 month birthday! He now weighs 17.5 lbs and is 26.5 inches long. He is such a big boy!

He was a little tired :)

Laughing at JA while he sucked the boogers out of his nose & sang a song about boogers...haha....gross, i know! Welcome to the life of boys!

2010-08-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hello from the adventure of parenthood!

After an almost 4 month break from blogging, I am back to post a few sweet pictures of levi. he is about a week away from being 4 months and this parenting thing is getting easier and much more enjoyable :) please don't judge me for saying that, but the first couple of months sure were hard! everyday he seems to learn something new...he's so cute and sweet - see for yourself!

Levi, on his 3 month birthday!

I took these pictures all in a row when he was about 5 weeks, they are my favorite!

2010-05-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

A peek into Levi's room...

So today I am 39 weeks pregnant...yay! We are all ready for Levi to be here and now....we're just....waiting....and waiting :) I go back to the doctor Monday morning and maybe she will have some exciting news for us. We finished Levi's room today, so take a look!

John Aaron wrote a letter to Levi explaining to him where we got his name from and what it means. It is so sweet and one of my favorite things in his room!

2010-04-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

A little bit of lately...

Only 3 weeks until Levi's due date!! I can't believe he will be here so soon! Last weekend was our last weekend that we had free before Levi will be here, so John Aaron worked hard on the yard, to get our house looking cute and cozy to bring Levi home to! Here are some pictures...

Zoe, relaxing on the front porch.

A fun flower pot holder!

Our 6 year anniversary present (a month early). We will be celebrating our 6 year anniversary on May 29th and we wanted to get rocking chairs for our gift. We got our rocking chairs early so we can use them when Levi arrives! John Aaron hung the bamboo shade and pretty hanging pots with pink and purple flowers. He also picked out a pretty purple orchid to go on the table.

All done! John Aaron worked in the yard for about 10 hours on Saturday...he's one good husband!!

We spent the weekend before at a BCM state wide leadership conference in Linden, TN.
This is a picture of our leadership team for next year...they make our job FUN! Can you tell??

2010-03-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

6 Weeks to Go!

We had our last baby shower this weekend, given by our students at the BCM...Here are a few pictures!

This is Ayla, who talks to Levi and rubs my belly everyday, I'm pretty sure he will recognize her voice! Fun Fact about Ayla: She is serving in Peru for 10 weeks as a summer missionary!

We were pretty excited about this bib...so cute!

The cake and all the decorations matched Levi's room. Hannah, one of the hostesses, and her mom made it! It was yummy, too!

Group Pic!

The hostesses (From Left) - Maicie, our faithful house and Zoe sitter when we are out or town!, Kelley, our great photographer!, Hannah, the cake maker!, and Bethany, who is getting married this summer! Thanks girls for such a great and fun baby party!

2010-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Beach Baptisms...again!

JA is on the front page of Threads, the young adult ministry for Lifeway, under "Blog". Check it out!

http://threadsmedia.com/

I am so proud of him!

2010-03-23T15:20:00.001-07:00

Sweet Memories!

One of our college students, Kelley Ramey, came over Friday afternoon to take a few maternity pictures. She did a great job and I am so excited to have these memories captured in some cute pictures! Thank you Kelley!

2010-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

My 1st Post-Levi Race!

Yay! Today I registered for my first race after Levi comes. On July 4th, I'll run the Peach Tree 10K in Atlanta with my brother and uncle....i'm sooo excited to start running again!! My mom and dad got me and Levi a cute purple running stroller, so we are ready :)

2010-03-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Beach Reach 2010!

God did some great things during our week at Beach Reach! We joined with about 250 other students from around the United States are were able to be a part of serving 4,240 students a free pancake breakfast, giving 4,939 students a safe ride to wherever they needed to go, our students led 3 Spring Breakers to Christ, and 5 of our students made a decision to follow Christ in baptism. John Aaron got to baptize our students in some very chilly water and I was so pround of him! Here is the link to the baptism video:

http://vimeo.com/10080572

Our Group!

2010-03-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Beach Reach, here we come!

We leave at 7 A.M. tomorrow to bring a group of students to Beach Reach in Panama City, FL. Here is a description of Beach Reach:

"College Students get out of their comfort zones and grow spiritually in the company of dedicated, mission-hearted Christian friends. The BeachReach experience helps students develop comfort in sharing the gospel that translates to new boldness on their home campuses, Students will utilize their gifts to make a kingdom impact through prayer, servant evangelism, administration of the ride program, witnessing, working on the ride hotline, and engaging Spring Breakers through fun activities on the beach."

The 2 main things we will be doing a free pancake breakfast from 10 A.M. - 1 P.M. and a van ministry, which will provide Spring Breakers a free and safe ride back to their hotels from 9 P.M. - 2 A.M.

Please be praying for us as we are traveling and ministering to students in Panama City. We are excited about bringing Levi on his first of many mission trips!

2010-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

10 weeks to go!
This semester is going by so fast, Levi will be here in only 10 weeks (yay!). John Aaron is still working away in our house getting ready for Levi and we are getting ready to go on our Spring Break Mission Trip for Beach Reach (http://threadsmedia.com/beachreach/) in Panama City, FL. next week. Here are some funny comments I've heard this week:

You look really pregnant today!
You look prosperous! (weird, I know)
You can really tell you're pregnant now!
Levi was kickboxing during church! (Some friends saw my belly moving during church :))

Highlights of February:

Our baby shower in Shreveport was on February 13th. It was so good to see our family and lots of friends that I have known forever! Our cute cake...we saved the top layer to freeze and have in the hospital when Levi arrives.

Our good friends, Sarah Kate and Jared from college were able to come to Shreveport for the shower. We met Sarah Kate and Jared our freshman year of college at the BCM. They started dating around the same time that me and John Aaron started dating. We were all in each other's weddings and John Aaron officiated their wedding. It was so good to see them!!

Fun Fact...my mom and John Aaron's mom share the same birthday, February 13th! We were able to celebrate our mom's birthdays together...

♥ My mama ♥

♥ John Aaron and his mom ♥

A few days after the shower, John Aaron's sister's family came and visited us in Cookeville.

John Aaron took them on a winter hike at Burgess Falls...it was cold, but fun!

2010-02-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome Home, Computer!

Our computer came back to Cookeville this week and we are very happy to have it home! Here are a few fun pictures of the last month:

Visiting sweet friends from our church in TX and eating the most delicious grilled cheese and onion rings....YUM!

For those of you who don't know, John Aaron has been a Saints fan since he was little and he was so excited about the big win! He makes me wear this Saints shirt everytime they play....haha.

Yes, this is an igloo!! Tech students made this on campus during the last big snow. You could actually crawl inside...it was really fun!

Levi's room....so far! John Aaron has been hard at work getting ready for Levi and he's doing a great job! We are in Louisiana right now for a baby shower, but when we get back has a few more big projects to work on...i'll update when he gets finished!

The crib and bedding....love it!

And now, for a Levi update...I will be 28 weeks on Saturday and he is kicking and moving like crazy...so much that sometimes you can see Levi move! We picked out a pediatrician and pre-registered, so the doctor can be all ready to visit Levi after he is born. John Aaron and I started our childbirth classes last week and were able to go on a tour of the labor and delivery area of the hospital. We have 4 more classes to go! On Monday, we are having a 3-D ultrasound. They will give us several pictures and a DVD so we will be sure to post them!

2010-02-01T15:02:00.001-08:00

Christmas, Snow, & Levi!

So, I thought I was on a really good blogging roll, and then our computer broke...and is still broken. But is in the process of being mailed back to HP to get fixed. Sadly, this post will be picture-less!

Christmas...
We had a great Christmas Break! We spent 3 weeks traveling in Louisiana and Texas. We had our first baby shower in New Orleans, where John Aaron and Levi got matching Drew Brees Saints jerseys. That was definitely John Aaron's favorite gift! We spent Christmas with my family in Shreveport and then New Years in Arlington with our college students from the church that John Aaron worked at. It was fun to spend time with our family and old friends! We are going back next week for baby shower #2 in Shreveport. I am so excited!

Snow...
We had about 6 inches of snow this past weekend! Some highlights...

1. A super fun igloo was built on Tech's campus
2. JA went sledding on a truck hood pulled by a 4-wheeler
3. Cookeville looked extra special and pretty

And the most important...Levi!
We went back to the doctor this morning and our doctor said that Levi weighs about 2 and half - 3 pounds...I can't believe he is that big already! Although, when he kicks and moves around he feels pretty big :) Everything is looking good with him and we go back in 2 weeks for a 3-D ultrasound. We also have his room and bathroom painted, his crib together with his bedding, and his changing table up. His room looks like a fun boy room!

I will post pictures as soon as our computer is fixed!

Shutterfly | Photo Cards

2009-12-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

Shutterfly Photo Cards

2009-12-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

It happened on Sunday. After I wore my size 0 skinny jeans from American Eagle all weekend and could not breathe every time I sat down. I retired my favorite jeans. It was a sad day for me. I said hello to Old Navy Maternity Jeans, which I had ordered as soon as I knew I was pregnant so I could be prepared....but I was holding onto my favorite jeans for as long as possible. But at 19 weeks, I said goodbye.

Now little Levi (who weighs about 8 or 9 ounces now) can have room to grow and move...and I can breathe again. :) American Eagle size 0's....you will be missed!

2009-12-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

Our first TN snow...

We woke up last Saturday morning to this!

We drove to Knoxville to register at Target for Levi, and the drive was so pretty with the trees and hills covered with snow. It definitely makes the cold weather better when there is snow!

2009-12-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

It's a boy!!! (or man as JA likes to say!)

Take your first peek at little Levi Aaron Matthew......

2009-11-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

John Aaron and I are hitting the road bright and early at 6 A.M. tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with our families. Tomorrow we will eat at my very favorite restaurant, Posados, in Shreveport, do a little shopping (woo!) and drive five more hours to New Orleans Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with John Aaron's family. We will be there until Saturday night, drive to Shreveport Saturday night and leave Sunday after lunch to go back to Tennessee. My sweet ER nurse friend in our Sunday School class told me that we need to stop every couple of hours so I can walk around....apparently, you can get blood clots if you're sitting too long when you're pregnant....scary! Anyways, we are so excited to see our families....and I can't wait to eat at Posados!!! I've been talking about it for months :)

This time next week we will (hopefully) know the gender of our baby!! I have an appointment on December 1st at 11:30 and John Aaron and I are so excited. We will definitely let everyone know as soon as we find out!!!! I cannot wait! We have our baby names picked out already so I will go ahead and reveal those....Emma Joy or Levi Aaron. I am so excited about decorating the baby's room and being able to call him or her by their name!

John Aaron has a full MAN beard, if you've seen some of our recent pictures. We are having a Beard Auction at our BCM on November 30th to raise money for our summer missionaries. This is how it works....The boys grow out their beards for the month of November and at the auction, students buy someone's beard and whoever buys the beard, gets to shave the beard however they want. Then, the student has to walk around campus with their beard all crazy for 24 hours. I am hoping to buy John Aaron's so he can shave it all off!! A group of students are threatening me that they are going to buy it and give him a Hitler mustache.....ugh. I hope that doesn't happen.

John Aaron has been playing intramurals with the BCM team, here is a peek at his volleyball skills and his beard!

2009-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas in the Matthew Home!

John Aaron and I always decorate before we go home to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, because it's nice to come home to a Christmasy house, and because we leave before Christmas to go back to Louisiana. This year we won't go back to TN until after New Year's so we like to enjoy our cozy, decorated house for as long as we can.

Every year when we decorate our house we make hot chocolate, cookies, and watch a Christmas movie. Last year, we started the tradition of creating something out of our tree skirt...it was so silly and fun that I decided that we have to do that every year now! John Aaron made a choir robe out and I made a poncho last year. Here are our creative costumes we made this year...

John Aaron's Christmas Super Man Cape (Notice the staircase that JA painted the banister and bead board, he stayed up ALL night working on it)

My one shouldered Christmas shirt, I promise there is a tiny baby bump under there!

Sweet Zoe with her Christmas blanket.

2009-11-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

This picture describes me perfectly right now...

College boys, Video Games, and the GI Joe Movie...

Those 3 things together is what has inspired the blog post. As I am typing this, John Aaron is living the post seminary life of a Friday night with college students. And I am in the bedroom NOT cleaning up and packing, which was my plan, but facebook always is a distraction. So our bedroom is messy for now and I am post a way over due post!

So...as everyone knows, thanks to my inablility to keep a secret, we are going to have a baby! I am 14 weeks tomorrow and you can see a tiny baby bump (if you look for it!). Pregnancy so far, has been the opposite of what I thought it would be. I was so scared that I would feel super nauseous the whole time and think that I was dying. That's usually my reaction to any pain/sickness that I feel. But in the words of John Aaron, I am, "The funnest pregnant girl ever." I think I'm pretty fun :)

John Aaron and I are loving being able to do ministry together at the BCM, God has been doing some great things here and we love being a part of it! We are so happy to be doing what we have dreamed of doing since we met eight years ago at LA Tech. Yes, that's right....we also celebrated our 8 year dating anniversary on October 28th! We spent the night making last minute plans for Homecoming, dinner, and at the homecoming float site. What more could a girl want?

2009-07-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Life in Cookeville...

John Aaron and I are loving life in Cookeville! We have been busy getting to know students here, planning for the Fall Semester, working on our house, and enjoying our new town! Here are a few pictures of lately...

Celebrating our five year anniversary!! We took a belated anniversary trip to Fall Creek Falls where we hiked, went horseback riding, paddleboated, and relaxed.

Our first girls trip! We took a shopping trip to Lebanon and Super Target....how I miss Super Target! :)

A visit from my mom...the rest of the family is coming in a couple of weeks...i can't wait to see them!

And...a visit from our favorite TN neighbors...The Osbornes!

We went to Atlanta to visit my aunt and uncle for the 4th of July. We spent the weekend on their house boat, where Zoe did some swimming!

2009-06-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Waterfalls, Waterfalls!

John Aaron and I decided to take a break from working in our house today and we went to Burgess Falls...which is only about 10 minutes from our house! For all of you who are making trip to visit us this summer, Burgess Falls is definitely on our to-do list so bring your swimsuit and some good hiking shoes! :)

2009-06-20T18:16:00.001-07:00

A peek at our new TN home!

The living room and dining room...

Living room view from the stairs...

Dining room...

Our kitchen...

More pics to come! :)

2009-06-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hello TN!

A few sweet girls in my class at Parkway...from my viewpoint :)

Saying goodbye to the sweetest cafeteria ladies around!

Going into our house for the first time. It has a purple front door at the moment! Tech's colors are purple and yellow, the people who lived in this house before had school spirit! I will post more pictures of our house after everything gets put back together. We've had hardwood floors installed, new black appliances in the kitchen, and granite countertops installed in our kitchen and downstairs bathrooms.

Yay! Our new ministry!

Our first day! John Aaron has his very own parking spot :)

2009-06-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

A Birthday, Anniversary, and a Move!

The last week in May was busy! On the 25th, we celebrated John Aaron's 26th birthday with a surprise party in Arlington...and he was surprised! We all kept it a secret, which is very impressive for me and all our college students. On the 28th, movers came to our house to start packing our house up and on the 29th they loaded up all our boxes. We celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 29th in downtown Fort Worth. We are postponing out anniversary trip until after we get moved and settled in. Here are a few pictures from last week!

A robin's next in a tree by our front porch...this is our first nest we've had on our house! We were excited for some reason :)

We are so thankful for John Aaron's new job and the movers who packed everything up!

We are currently living our house with an air matress and lawn chairs...it's really funny.

Our movers, Joe and Eddie. Yes, I made them pose for a picture!

All of my teaching stuff! My class thinks it's "SO AWESOME!" that our classroom is mostly empty. I have 1 and half days left with my class!

JA's surprise birthday party at BJ's in Arlington.

Please pray for us as we are waiting to close on our house here in Fort Worth. As of now, we are planning on closing on our Fort Worth house on Friday and our TN house on Monday. Please pray that everything goes smoothly!!

2009-05-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Our Last Texas Weekend...

We have had a last weekend in TX full of a camping trip, our last sunday at Lake Arlington, and our going away party. Here are a few pictures of the weekend -

On out camping trip we played capture the flag with water guns - at night! Agustin (the one in the middle) is our college intern and supplied all the water guns. He has been collecting water gun since he was little and had a huge bag full of them!

One of our sweet going away gifts....a scrapbook full of letters from the students in our college ministry.

Praying for us as we start our new life in TN!

The hostest with the mostest! The Xeapolis fam. who threw our party. They have been a huge support to us while we have been here. Thanks for a great party!!

2009-05-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Caris & Lindsay!

Celebrating Lindsay's birthday late, and Caris' birthday early. We have gotten to spend lots of time with Lindsay and Caris these past two years at our church. We love them!!

2009-05-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

John Aaron graduated on Friday! I am so proud of him! He has worked really hard, and finished his Masters of Divinty in 3 years. Since he is done with school (which means I have more access to the computer) I am going to update our blog more often.

Our graduation weekend was so fun! My parents, John Aaron's parents, John Aaron's sister's family, my brother, and grandparents from both sides came for graduation. We went to a graduation reception Thursday night, graduation Friday morning, the Fort Worth Rodeo Friday night, and John Aaron was ordained at church Sunday morning. It was so sweet to have all of our family with us for the weekend.

And up next....we are moving to Cookeville, TN at the end of the month. John Aaron and I will be the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry) Directors at Tennessee Tech University. We sold our house and we are waiting to hear back about a house we made an offer on. We can't believe we are done with school and are excited about the next chapter in our lives.
This picture is from a collegiate conference, Summit, that we went to last week in Nashville. We were able to write TN Tech on our nametags for the first time!!

Go Golden Eagles!

2008-12-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

LA Tech Friends!

Tonight we went out to dinner with our friend Ben, who went to Tech with us and his wife, Lori. We spent the night telling stories from our college days.....BCM, late night adventures, old friends....

After we ate, we went downtown to look at the Christmas lights and then stopped by Barnes & Noble for coffee and to visit Kyle - another Tech friend and fellow seminary student!

2008-12-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Zoe!

Thursday was Zoe's birthday, but John Aaron was studying for his Hebrew final (which he did good on!) so we didn't get to take her out to celebrate. Today after church we brought Zoe to Southwestern to run and play. She chased squirrels, played in the water, and saw our friends Kirk & Mark.

Looking @ the goldfish.

Hanging out with Kirk in front of his dorm.

2008-12-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Jingle all the way...

John Aaron, Jeremy, and I ran the Jungle Bell Run 5K in downtown Fort Worth tonight. Here is how it went! (Sorry the pictures go from the end to the beginning. I downloaded them the wrong way!)

At the finish line!

Waiting for the race to start with our jingle bells ready to go...

Pre-race

Downtown Fort Worth

Getting ready!

Next Up....The Cowtown 10K in February!

2008-11-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

the cutest blog on the block.

due to the love i have of reading other people's blog's i was inspired to update our blog...finally! so, by the end of the december, our blog will be up and running! keep checking in!

One cute class!

2008-02-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick post of my morning pre-k class...i thought this picture was super cute!

Our White Christmas

2007-12-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

Here is a peek at our Winter Break so far....

We spent the days before Christmas on a ski trip with our church in Aspen, Colorado. It was my first time to ski and John Aaron's second time. We had a great time!!

John Aaron's awesome ski skills...

At the end of our last day in Aspen!

We spent Christmas in Shreveport with my family...

Me, Hannah, and my mom

John Aaron's cool new backpack for school!

Zoe's day out

2007-11-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, John Aaron and I took Zoe to Fort Woof, the dog park in Fort Worth. We had alot of fun watching all the dogs play together in the park...they were so cute!! Here are some pictures from our trip!

Zoe on Halloween!

Fall Highlights!

2007-10-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

I am finally updating our blog! These pictures are from a weekend we spent in Shreveport a few weeks ago. One of our good friends from college was getting married, so we had a chance to see alot of our old LA Tech friends. It was fun to see everyone again and the wedding was beautiful!

The Matthews and the Ramseys. Sarah Kate was my roomate in college and her and her husband Jared were in our wedding. John Aaron officiated their wedding a year after we got married. We have lots of pictures with these two posed just like this one at different BCM events through our college years!

The wedding was outside at the Rose Gardens...the bride's last name was Rose!

The circle of rings.

My home church in Shreveport had the Ugandan Orphans Choir come to their church and sing. My mom and dad had the chance to host three of the girls at their house...Maureen, Iaisha, and Suzane. We were able to spend the weekend with these sweet girls. John Aaron and I also decided to sponsor a boy from Kenya named Elvis Wambui. Elvis is eight years old and wants to be a pilot when he grows up.

Week 3 of our British Adventure!

2007-07-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

On the trip back from Scotland to Oxford, we stopped at the Scotland/England border. We thought we would try a new pose for this picture...we totally look in love!

We toured Endinburgh Castle in Scotland, also know as Hogwarts from the Harry Potter books and movies. London Bridge!! This was on our 2nd trip to London. We walked across the bridge. We also saw The Tower of London and we discovered that The Tower is NOT a tower, but a palace...or something.

During a rainy day in Bath, we rode on the top of a double decker bus for a tour of the city. Don't worry, the top was covered! It was so fun, I have always wanted to ride on the top of a double decker bus!! We saw the ancient Roman Baths, Bath Abbey, Jane Austein's home, and Nicholas Cage and Johnny Depp's summer homes!

We saw stonhenge. Did you know the devil put these rocks here??? Just kidding, but that is one of the myths about Stonehenge....along with Merlin, and aliens...What do you think??

More Oxford...Grasmere and Scotland!

2007-07-17T12:24:00.001-07:00

This is where John Aaron and I went to church on Sunday in Oxford - Christ Church.

We stopped in Grasmere in Northern England on our way to Scotland. William Woodsworth was born here and Beatrix Potter also lived in Grasmere.
Our quest to the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was an adventure!

John Aaron and I climbed to the top of a tower in the ruins of St. Andrew's Cathedral in St. Andrew's, Scotland. St. Andrew's was the early center of Christianity in Scotland....and also, the birthplace of golf!!!

We saw many relatives of Zoe, our dog!!! I was so happy...Can you tell???

A Peek at Week 1 in Oxford and London...

2007-07-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Here are only a few of the many fun memories we have already made here in the UK...Enjoy!

Oxford Taxis...This is a few streets over from where we are staying in Oxord. We love it!

The alleyway to our flat. I think it looks very "Englishy!"

This picture is a few of the buildings that are a part of Oxford University. We went on a tour of the city and the University.

The Messet Family!

John Aaron and I met Alan, Alison, and Alannah about a year and half ago at my aunt and uncle's house in Atlanta. They live in Cambridge, so on Sunday afternoon they took me and John Aaron to Blenheim Palace in Oxford. We saw the room where Winston Churchill was born and toured the palace. It was "quite lovely!". We had so much fun spending the afternoon with Alan, Alison, and Alannah. We are planning on hanging out with them again before we leave.

This was Big Ben in London. We also went to the British Library, The British Museum, Buckingham Palace, and Harrods.

"God save the Queen!"

2007-07-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

The UK!
The UK! Hello everyone! John Aaron and I have not been able to post our pictures yet, but I thought I would just give an update of what we have been up to in England...

We arrived on Tuesday morning around 10:00 A.M in London. From London, we drove to Oxford (about an hour and half) and had an orientation. Wednesday morning and afternoon John Aaron had classes and then we went on a tour of Oxford Univ. Thursday, John Aaron had morning classes, and then we all went on a tour around the city Oxford. Friday, John Aaron had class all day. Yesterday we went to London and toured the British Muesum, the British Library, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and we went to Harrod's. We walked ALOT but we had alot of fun! Today we are going to church at Christ Church (some of Harry Potter was filmed there!) and then we are meeting a family from Cambridge that our family knows. They are taking us to tour a palace here in Oxford. Tomorrow we are going to Edinburgh in Scotland and we will be seeing Stonehenge and a few other cities in Scotland. We will drive back to Oxford on Thursday.

We love and miss y'all! Hopefully, we will be able to post pictures soon!!

Preparing for Oxford...

2007-07-07T21:42:00.001-07:00

We have been budy getting ready to leave for Oxford...we're leaving on Monday! John Aaron has been working on homework for his Oxford classes. He is taking Baptist Heritage, Teaching and Administration in the Church, and Church History 2. He is also planning all of our Fall Events for the college ministry at LABC. I had my last fun weekly meal with Lindsay, one of the students at LABC. She is leaving tomorrow to go to New Orleans to serve alongside with a church in N.O. to help hurricane victims. She's awesome! This picture was after our "early morning" breakfast.

We went to Shreveport this weekend to see our family and to give Zoe to my mom and dad for an entire month!! We already miss her but we know she will have lots of fun with my fam....we had to take one last family picture!

My mom and dad with their "granddog!"

Please pray for us while we are in Oxford...for safety, fun, and good grades for JA!

Check back for travel adventure posts!

A North Carolina Wedding & A Fabulously Fun Visit With Our Favorite Family!

2007-06-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

John Aaron and I took a 2,500 mile road trip! First, we were off to Panama City Beach, FL, for high school came with our new church, Lake Arlingtonm Baptist Church. We got to know lots of fun students and adults....and we played on the beach!

Next, we drove from Panama City to Asheville, North Carolina for Ashley and Ryan's wedding. Ashley and Ryan went to LA Tech with us and went to church at Cook Baptist, where John Aaron was the college minister. It was so fun to see them again and all our other Tech friends. Here are some pics from the big weekend!

The Bridesmaids....GO DAWGS! The rehearsal dinner was at Fun Depot (kinda like Main Event) and we all had t-shirts with our "titles".....Bridesmaid, Bride, Best Man, etc. It was our most fun rehearsal dinner that me and John Aaron have been a part of!
The Bride and Groom!

From Ashville, we drove to Gatlinburg, TN to meet up with The Osborne Family. Linda was our BCM Director at LA Tech and her husband, John...and children, Julianna and Evan were, by far, our favorite family when we were in Ruston. We were so happy to see them!! We went to the aquarium in Gatlinburg and then we drove to Nashville where they live now.

Julianna and me on the way to Nashville...

John Aaron and Evan playing spider games before we went to bed.....

After we stayed in Nashville for the night, we went swimming the next day....in very cold water!! We love you Osborne Fam!

From Nashville, we drove to Shreveport....then back to Fort Worth. We will be in Fort Worth for 2 more weeks and then we are off to Oxford, England with Southwestern!

Our summer....so far!

2007-06-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Since we haven't posted pictures in a really long time, I thought I would post some of our summer highlights of May and June. Enjoy!

This was my last day of school. John Aaron came and played all his instruments for my class. The children loved seeing, hearing, and playing the guitar, drum, harmonica, and egg shaker!

Our three year anniversary trip to Galveston. We totally got rollerblades for our anniversary presents!
Our Hotel!

Giggle...

Erick (John Aaron's brother) and Namoi's wedding...My 2 sisters!

The Dixie Chicks Return....

2007-03-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know...Me, Megan, and Julie once made a Dixie Chicks music video with cardboard instruments at SPAR Park in Shreveport. We are really cool...

Megan and Julie came to visit me and JA last weekend. We went downtown Friday night and ate outside at 8.0. Then on Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo (yay!) and ate in the garden at

Joe T. Garcias. It was a delightful weekend!!

John Aaron fed a bird at the zoo!! This was in a big cage thing with tons of birds flying around...it was a little scary! Megan and Julie watched from a distance!

St. Patrick's Day Fun!

2007-03-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

During Spring Break, John Aaron and I rode in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New Orleans....Here are some pictures from the day...

John Aaron and his dad with his grandfather's 1908 Model T that we rode in! John Aaron's family has been riding in the St. Patrick's Day Parade for over 30 years.

Before the parade began...

John Aaron's neices, Victoria and Isabel.

Another snow day!!

2007-01-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, we had another snow day!! And...school for me and work for JA was cancelled! We woke up to see about 3 - 4 inches of snow covering our neighborhood. Here are our two favorite pictures...

Zoe's birthday night and a curtain project!

2006-12-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Today was Zoe's 1st birthday! To celebrate, we took Zoe to Petco where she shopped, shopped, shopped!

We also spent the night putting up curtains in our living room. Well....I really just watched while John Aaron did all the work!

Snow Day in Texas

2006-11-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

Snow flakes flurry around our new home in Fort Worth,

and I loves me some snow!

Emily had a great day at work. She only had three children in her afternoon class and they took a break to go out side and watch the wintry mix of sleet and snow fall to the ground.

Zoe and I watched the snow fall from the warm comfort of our home.

After Emily put Zoe's pink corduroy Old Navy jacket on, Zoe was ready to play in the snow.

"...One of the top THREE nights of my life..."

2006-11-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of what John Aaron described as, "one of the top 3 nights of my life!". Mom and dad came to Fort Worth this past weekend and these pictures are of us in Downtown Fort Worth Friday night. We ate yummy pizza at UNO and then went to Starbucks for Hot Chocolate. John Aaron got a little whip cream on his face...
I love my mom and dad!!

Who bats her lashes perfectly?

2006-10-31T14:26:00.000-08:00

My A.M. class!

I think that John Aaron gave me the cutest Halloween card ever...if I were a bat, I think I would look like this card! The inside says...

"Who bats her lashes perfectly
and has a smile oh so sweet?
It's the one and only charming YOU
Who makes every day sweet!"

So cute!

Anyway, I had my Teacher Appraisal thing today where my principal came to observe me. We cut open a pumpkin andtalked about how it felt inside. It went pretty well except when I talked about cleaning the pumpkin off of our hands with a baby wipe and one little boy said, "You use baby wipes to clean pee pee and poo poo!!!!" really loudly and then most of the class started saying "pee pee and poo poo" and laughing. Delighful, huh? JA and I are both off to class for Halloween!!

My P.M. class!

Little Miss Sunshine...

2006-10-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday nights are me and John Aaron's official date nights...here we are being so spontaneous! At 7:00 last night we decided to go see Little Miss Sunshine at 7:35...we didn't really know what it was about, but we thought it was going to be really funny. It really wasn't that funny, it was actually really weird...and kinda funny in a scary way. Then we went to Starbucks afterward and saw a few of John Aaron's friends from SWBTS studying. By the way, Starbucks has yummy hot chocolate!

An all nighter!

2006-10-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

So...John Aaron experienced his first Seminary all-nighter...and he looks pretty good!! This is us at SWBTS before our class on Tuesday night. John Aaron has an Old Testament class and I have a class about being a minister's wife from 6:15 to 9:15. Lately in the class we have learned how to sit, stand, pick up things, and how to set the table - extremely important things like that, but last night we talked about the role of women in the church. Mrs. Patterson read a verse that I have heard a thousand times:

"This is the day that the Lord has made,
We will rejoice and be glad in it."
-Psalm 118:24

Since I have started teaching Pre-K, some days I forget that God is alot bigger than all the worries I have. That verse was an encouragement to me to remember that God is big and he knows what he is doing with my life. Remember to rejoice in this day even if you have 4- year olds saying bad words to you and even if you have pulled an all-nighter!!

we're back!

2006-10-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

hello everyone! sorry it has been so long since we last updated our blog spot! Hopefully, we will get better at letting everyone know what is going on with us in Fort Worth.

We have exciting news to post tonight...John Aaron got a job!! He is the Assisstant Pastor for 2nd and 3rd graders at Fellowship Church in Grapevine. You can go to www.fellowshipchurch.com to check out the church's website. There are about 1,000 2nd and 3rd graders that come each weekend (There are 4 different services). He will be leading the large group part of the service in 3 of the 4 services each weekend and then during the other service, we can go to church together. Every 2 months there is a different theme so this weekend kicked off a new series called "Treasure Quest" which is in the jungle. These pictures are on the set....John Aaron gets to swing on a rope swing! So....we're really excited and it's fun to see the great things God has planned for us here!

And in other news equally important...I discovered that I really liked headbands...if you're a girl, you should definitely invest in one!

The Scoop on IKEA

2006-08-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

We took this picture at IKEA last Sunday after church. Emily needed a picture of us to go on a "parent information" bulletin board and we thought that this creative kitchen backdrop was as good as any. For those of you who don't know what IKEA is, you really are missing out. We have IKEA furniture and art splashed around our house and children's lighting, rugs, toys, and seating in Emily's classroom. So if you want to visit IKEA, give us a call and we'll see if we could meet you there. After mid September is the best time to visit so that we can get through with the first few weeks of school.

Teacher Inservice = Going to sleep at 9 p.m!

2006-08-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Since our last blog, John Aaron and I visited Fellowship Church again, went to IKEA with Jeremy and Hannah, and decorated my entire classroom! We really liked Fellowship again and we are going to keep visiting there for the next few weeks. So far, the pastor has not been there but last week the worship pastor spoke and he was really good. After church, we met Jeremy and Hannah for an afternoon at IKEA.

Last week my school opened up so the teachers could work on their classrooms. John Aaron came with me to help pick up all the heavy things and help me vision. My room has a "sea" theme going on, I have a fish tank, very cute fish rugs, a frog you can sit on in the reading center, and lots of other cute sea creatures. I wasn't planning on having a sea theme, but they had alot of cute sea stuff at IKEA. So....all that to say, I have a very cute "under the sea" classroom! The scandalous thing about my classroom is....there is nothing for the children to work with!! There are no blocks, manipulatives, or any fun pre-k things! No worries though, because my principal told me that i have other things to worry about (thanks) and that he would make sure i had things for my room before school starts-thank you mr. moore!

Yesterday my two weeks of new teacher inservice began (see picture, don't i look excited??). It was supposed to last from 8-4, but we were done at 9:30. Today we didn't get done until about 3. I met my "Mentor" and she is the bilingual pre-k teacher at my school and she is very sweet!! She is only 25 but she is the only other pre-k teacher. I was really glad to get a young girl as my mentor because it makes me feel more comfortable asking her tons of questions. While I was being "mentored" this afternoon, I learned that I get to create my own curriculum and basically do whatever I want to with my children. I am very excited...and a little nervous! Thursday and Friday I have inservice stuff at my school, so hopefully more of my questions will be answered.
John Aaron has been working hard at home while I have been at work. He is a great home improver!!! I think we are going to update our blog about once a week, so keep checking in!

New church + first police chase = one crazy Sunday

2006-07-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at home drinking a cherry sprite from QT while watching a police chase on TV. A man with a gun and a women have been driving an 18 wheeler through Dallas, Arlington, and now towards Fort Worth. There's over twenty police cars, a bunch of helicopters, and a few Dallas SWAT vehicles in pursuit of the truck that's driving on its bare rims.

Emily suggested that I make an entry while listening to the the chase coverage, so don't worry, I'll update you with chase information throughout the blogcast.

Instead of visiting FBC Burleson, like we previously led you to believe, Emily and I decided to go to Fellowship Church (the one on TV). The church is a little over 30 minutes away, across from Grapevine Mills mall, so we got directions from Google Maps and left a little early. The directions stunk! They weren't just a little wrong they were almost all wrong. After a few stops for directions we got there about fifteen minutes late. The church was rock'n. We really liked it, but the service seemed a little short. We later realized that the service started thirty minutes earlier than we thought. Oh well, it was still great and we're looking forward to going back next week.

now for a news update...
...The chase has been going for almost 3 hours and has now passed through Fort Worth headed westbound on I-20. The woman is driving an has rammed a police car and is swerving from one lane to the other. The police just shot out the tires and the engine block. The truck has pulled over and stopped and the man has forced the women in the back of the cab.
now back to the blogcast...

Okay. Well, this police chase is scary and not fun anymore. So, lets change the subject. Zoe is doing well. She got a really bad hair cut in bossier a few weeks ago from Posh Pets and I think they were mean to her because she acted skiddish. We complained and the owner was really rude to us. So spread the word, Posh Pets is not "posh". Zoe loves it out here and loves to dig in the back yard and roll around in the grass. She is soon to become a neighborhood celebrity.

Well, we miss everybody and we think of all of our friends and family often. I pray that this truck chase ends well and that you are all having great summers. We know that God has great plans for you and for us. Trust Him and as we learned in church today, always have "an attitude of gratitude!"

>>John Aaron

--Okay so the woman hostage and her dog was just released from the truck and the man was taken into custody.

New state, new house, new school, new job, new blog!

2006-07-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

My cool brother Jeremy gave us the idea to create a blog spot to keep everyone updated on our Texas adventures. Here's a shout out to my big bro., Thanks!

So.....John Aaron and I moved in (with the help of my mom, dad, Jeremy, and his girlfriend, Hannah) to our brand new house last Thursday night. While everyone was here we pretty much got all unpacked, had our new furniture delivered, and got our DSL hooked up. John Aaron has been doing things I didn't know he could do. Like changing chandeliers, sodding our backyard, installing a peep-hole, and other handy-man like things. Our family being here was a big help!!!

We have been working out on campus at Southerwestern in the mornings and that has been fun. We haven't really met anyone except our across the street neighbor Herman (who I really like his name!!) and a professor who is building a house down the street that works at the Seminary, so that's good! Sunday we are visiting First Baptist Burleson so we are excited about meeting more people. They offer pilates at their church in the mornings and that I want to go to!

Tonight John Aaron's brother, Erick and girlfriend Naomi are spending the night with us. They are almost here, so I gotta go...keep checking, we'll add pictures soon!!

Emily