A little bit of everything..

We had Andrew's 6th birthday party yesterday... I hope to write a post about it Wednesday (which is his birthday).

School has been going great! I love the high school! I'm learning tons of Geometry;).

It's going to be a terribly CRAZY week. Cameron has pre-employment training for HP this week from 6:00 - 10:00. We're very thankful he was asked to do it and very hopeful BUT this week is going to be hard without him. He's really not going to have time to come home so I won't see him at all. I'll need some prayers to make it through work all day and then home all evening without him... we'll get by but I sure will miss him, so will the kiddos!

I had a sweet talk with a lady from my old church today. We were at a baby shower together. God used her to encourage me and remind me how powerful He is. I LOVE talking to others whom God just beams through!

While I'm on God's blessings... He has reunited me with an old friend who is SO dear to me. Kim and I met in Rwanda. She and I were instant friends and have so much in common. She's from Canada and I've lost touch with her over the past 5 years or so and out of the blue she emailed me. I am SO excited about finding out all about how God has blessed her over the past 5 years... thank You God for good friends, even if they live far away!

Well, off to bed... my neck has been really bothering me lately so I've taken a muscle relaxer and I'm hoping to sleep well.. Good night all!

Head, shoulders, knees and toes...

Piper Jane LOVES to sing! Her favorite song is Head, shoulders, knees and toes. She wants to sing it all the time. When she knows we're almost finished singing it she says, "Heeeaaaad" trying to get us to start it again;). She also has gotten really good at saying "Tar Tar" and "Ju Ju"... translation... Parker and Andrew;). When she wakes up she always says their names and looks around until she finds them. It's SO sweet!
This school year is going fabulous so far! I'm LOVING the high school and Andrew is LOVING kindergarten!
Have I mentioned how much I love couponing?? OOooooo,.... thrills my soul! Today I found out I'm responsible for providing snacks this week for Andrew's classmates. I have to take a snack for 20 kids each day. I was a little nervous I wouldn't find coupons to match deals with such little time BUT I was able to buy enough gogurts, pop-tarts and granola bars for all the kids for the week for under $10.00. I was giddy... just giddy! :) I love a challenge;)

First day of Kindergarten

This has been a wonderful day! Cam was off work but he still got up early with me to read our bible together and pray for Andrew as he started Kindergarten today. Andrew has a wonderful teacher. She's very sweet and she's a preacher's wife. God has really given me a joyous peace about Andrew being there. He had a great time today.
Today was also my first day teaching at the high school and I LOVED every minute of it. I taught in the Jr. High for 3 years so I know most of the kids and I was SO happy to see them all again. It was a joy, joy, joy filled day! As soon as I arrived, I checked my mailbox at work and I had the sweetest letter from a student I had a few years ago. It wasn't a student I would ever expect to get something like this from. I had to get onto him several times and even called his parents a few times. The letter talked about how much my love of the Invisible Children of Uganda has caused him to think more about others. He said, "I remember you talking to me about how what I say really has an impact on other's feelings and they may not have other friends". I was so impressed, it was a full page of the sweetest words. I thanked God for letting that be the first thing that came across my desk at my new job. Thank You Lord for placing me where I am. Please use me to point others to You.

Ring around the Rosies...

I uploaded my pics from my camera and these were on some of the recent photos around our house. The kids love to play ring around the rosies. Piper giggles and giggles. I just had to post a couple of pics with her little pony tails;). So fun! She also enjoys playing Andrew's recorder. She blows and wiggles her fingers like she's really playing notes. It's SO cute!

You asked...

okay, so maybe only 2 of ya;). But here's a picture of our back porch and part of the butterfly garden. It's not a great pic cause I took it with my phone, but good enough. This is where I sit in the mornings, watch the sunrise, the hummingbirds and butterflies... ahhhh... what a way to start the day! I love it! The kids and I also spent many hours out here this summer. We would just turn on the ceiling fan, a box fan and sit in the shade and play. They made a LOT of mud soup on this porch this summer;)

Shooting stars...

Last night we stayed up with the boys and watch the meteor shower. It was SO fun. We have a parachute that I laid out with pillows and just laid down and watched the stars. The boys were super excited because they had never seen a shooting star. Cam hadn't really seen many, either. I, however, would like to say I'm a meteor shower pro;). My dad and I use to lay out in lawn chairs and watch them. Some of my greatest memories. My dad actually watched them last night while he was fishing on his dock. The boys were a little impatient at first and really sad when they missed the first couple but they grew very excited after seeing their first. I hope it's a night they'll always remember. I know I will!

Blogging from my back porch...

Oh, I LOVE our back porch! We covered it this year when we added on and got some comfy, cute furniture to add to it (cheap thanks to craigslist and an auction;). We have a hummingbird feeder and a butterfly garden on the edge of the porch and it's been such a joy for us to sit out here and watch those beautiful winged creatures!
I've been so lazy lately, well, I guess if it's possible for a mother of 3 young ones to be lazy;). My kids afforded me the opportunity to sleep in everyday this summer. I was dreading that alarm clock but then I decided to not dread it. I thought, "God has given me this beautiful porch to watch the sunrise, these beautiful birds and butterflies and I need to enjoy it... so I decided to get up 30 minutes earlier than I normally would for work. It was WONDERFUL! I came out spent time with the Lord and the winged wonders. I watched the sunrise through the pine trees. Ohhh... why have I not been enjoying peaceful mornings like this more often, I thought. I'm really hoping to make this a morning tradition. PLEASE Lord give me a hunger and thirst for You so I will meet you first thing in the morning, every morning. Thank You for always being patient with me... again and again!

So.... today was my first day back to work... it couldn't have gone better. Before going to school, I checked my facebook and I had the sweetest message from a darling, young lady. It read " so pretty much the only reason i'm excited about going back to school is being able to see you (hopefully) everyday!" Reading that post made my day! It was such a reminder of the opportunity God has given me to make a mark on these young, impressionable students. I LOVE them SO! I really, really do. This same sweet young lady came to visit today with her mom. Made my day again;). For those that don't know... this is my first year at this high school. I've taught at the Jr. High in this district for 3 yrs and then 1 yr elementary (last year)... so I know most of the students I will have this year at the high school. What a blessing it is for me to follow them along. Some of the ones that were really at-risk, I was like a mom to and I would give them advice daily. I would always say, "you better listen, you won't always have a Mrs. Wallace around" hehehe.. some of them have called/texted/messaged me and said, "oh, how right you were... what I would give to still have a Mrs. Wallace around now". I'm really excited I'll get to have some of these students again, at least for a little while longer.

Okay, so the thing I'm NOT looking forward to... brown recluse SPIDERS. You've GOT to be kidding me!!!??!! I have killed a total of 6 today in my classroom! WHAT?? They're at my house AND my place of work. I told someone about it at work and they said, "Oh yea, they love that annex building"... WHAT?? Oh my... this should be an interesting year.

Debt free.... oh the joys!

No... we're not debt free but we're certainly keeping that our goal! Cam and I just refinanced our home for 15 years and are enrolled in Early Mortgage Payoff so it will be paid off in 12.5. We also have a rent house (a house I bought before we were married) that we will have paid off in 8 years. I am SO thankful for the convictions God has given us both about living frugally and simply. Cam and I are not going to have a $200,000 home paid off in 12.5 years but a $80,000 home paid off in 12.5 years and you know what... we LOVE our home. God blessed us with enough money to add on to our house this past year and make it 4 bedrooms/3 bath so it's plenty big enough. It's got a wonderful yard with a pool. A great built in storm room. There are definitely things about our late 80's home that we'd like to change and when we have the cash we will slowly but we are so thankful for God's gift of contentment! We're hoping to pay off our Highlander soon and then have no car payment. I'd like to save up enough money for a minivan before purchasing one but I'm not sure we'll wait that long but I know we'll have a lot of it paid for with cash when we buy it. I'm not saying any of these things to brag, I'm honestly just SO thankful that God has burdened us to live this way. In fact, I guess I am saying these things to brag on Him... He is definitely the one who has blessed us with these burdens and wisdom. I truly believe that God will meet your needs but so often we "Americans" live as though we expect God to meet our "needs" which really were our wants. We know everything we have is His... He's letting us be stewards of it and we are so thankful for that! He has been so good to us and I can't tell you how many nights we lay awake thanking Him for just that! Living below our means has brought us complete joy and no financial stress! Our dream goal is to pay off our rent house and then use the rent from it to put back for the kid's education. We've got a little put back now but when that mortgage is paid we'll be able to put back several thousand a year. Then when they move out to go to college, they'd have a home they could stay in (assuming they go to college in the area). Our mega dream goal... :) is to be able to buy a couple of acres in Marshall, Valley Springs, or somewhere close to there in the mountains and build a very small cabin. Wouldn't that just be wonderful to have a little cabin the woods to go and relax. Ahhhh... mega dream :).
Probably the thing I'm the MOST thankful for was my humble upbringing. I did not have a silver spoon in my mouth, more like a plastic one;). I remember vividly driving up to our rented shack with the floors caving in and my dad proclaiming ... "our mansion on a hill" :). One of my best memories and you know what... I didn't even realize we were poor. I don't think I ever realized that. One year there was a flood in a town near ours so my parents got our Christmas presents free I guess. They wrapped them in a big blanket and put them on our porch. Heaven, I tell ya. My parents made more money the older I got but I always knew how hard they worked for it and was so thankful for everything I was given and thankful for the lessons God taught me along the way!

1...2...3... Go...

these are the words the boys and I chant while holding hands before we jump into Narnia. Oh what an adventure. This past weekend I bought the Chronicles of Narnia to read to the boys. There are 7 books in all and we're 2 chapters away from starting the 3rd book. These past 5 days we have spent many hours exploring Narnia. The boys are captivated. They've seen the movies and love them! I was hoping they would like the books but wasn't sure if they were old enough (Andrew is almost 6 and Parker is 4). A friend of mine said she was reading it to her son who was Parker's age so I thought I'd give it a try. It's been so much fun. I've personally never read the books so it's SO wonderful for me, too. All I can think about while reading it is how good our God is! His goodness is poured all through these books. The boys and I stop often to talk about it while reading and they NEVER let me stop. When they know it's the end of a chapter they plead to hear more. It's so sweet:).