our sweet baby

On Monday, December 28, we got to have our first ultrasound!!! It was absolutely amazing to see our tiny miracle and hear his or her heart beat!!!! WOW!!! It made us so thankful for God who creates life. Our baby is just about an inch long and already has so many vital organs and body parts. It really was an incredible experience that we will never forget!

My sweet doctor confirmed what we thought was the due date. Right now Baby Clark is scheduled to arrive on August 9, 2010....8-9-10....wouldn't that be a FUN birthday:)

sharing the big news

We debated about how best to share the good news with our parents and sisters. Since it was so close to Christmas and we would see everyone soon, we decided to wait until we could tell them in real life! Keith didn't think I could wait three whole weeks, and I did almost slip when talking to my mom and sister a couple of times...but I did it, and I'm so glad:)

The logical thing was to reveal it with an early Christmas gift, but what should it be??? So many of the things we saw were pink or blue, or they had a specific grandparent name.

We were excited when we found the book, The Gifts of Being Grand for our parents. Their delayed reaction was cute...."Does this mean what we think it means?!!"

For the sisters, we got picture frames with a note inside for Aunt Misty and Aunt Laura to reserve this frame from their future niece or nephew, scheduled to arrive August 2010.

All six of them were thrilled about the new addition to our family!

Telling our families our news was special and telling our friends has been too! Thank you all for being excited for us!! Your sweet hugs, phone calls, emails, kind thoughts on here, and comments on facebook have all made this experience one that we will always treasure!! We are thankful to be able to raise our little one along side such precious family and friends:)

itty bitty

We got our very special news on Tuesday, December 1. After seeing only one line month after month, we were so happy!!! We hugged and cried tears of joy. We celebrated with a quiet evening at home putting up our Christmas tree. We ordered a pregnancy book online and decided to keep our news to ourselves until we could tell our parents in real life.

The next day, we took Belly Pic #1, and I could not stop smiling all day!! I IMed Keith and said, "I just cannot believe there is an itty bitty teeny weeny baby inside me!!!" From then on, Itty Bitty stuck as our fetus name:)
The following Friday night, we celebrated with dinner at Olive Garden and went to Target to browse the baby section and buy our first onesies (a sweet little gender-neutral set that says, i love mommy, i love daddy, and i love hugs)!
Our hearts are heavy for all of the people out there who want a baby so much, but are struggling with infertility. We started trying a year and a half ago, and it felt like a such a long time to wait. It was difficult to see other people get pregnant so easily, especially those who didn't even want a baby. But, we know that a year and a half is nothing compared to the time so many couples pray for a baby. May we remember to be sensitive to the struggles of others as we celebrate our miracle, and may we never tell a young couple that it's about time they have a baby without any knowledge of their situation or the desires of their hearts. I love these thoughts by Josh Ross. May they be a reminder to all of us.

a very merry christmas

In early December, I got to go to a conference in Gatlinburg, so Keith came with me, and we had a blast! Gatlinburg is a super fun place to visit, especially at Christmastime! Everything was beautifully lit up and decorated. We spent the evenings bundled up, walking around town, sipping hot chocolate, chatting, and shopping. It was fabulous:)
Then, we celebrated our sixth anniversary at Chaffin's Barn, a neat dinner theater in Nashville. It was a Christmas comedy set in small town Texas:) We loved it.
Then, we got to travel to Texas and spend Christmas with my family! Yippee! We had the best time relaxing, talking, eating, and playing games together! Then, to top it off, we got a gorgeous snow on Christmas Eve!!!! It was neat, because instead of snowing during the night and melting the next day, it snowed all day, and stuck around for a couple of days, so we had a white Christmas and loved it!!
But, the best, most wonderfully amazing thing about Christmas was.............we got a positive pregnancy test!!!!! We could not be more excited and thankful!!! Our hearts are full!! We are in constant prayer for our itty bitty miracle, and we love him or her soooo very much already!!!!!

thankful

Thankful.

Life. Love.

People. Places.

Family. Friends.

Texas. Tennessee.

Men. Women.

Children. Grown-Ups.

Relationships. Communication.

Old. New.

Creativity. Variety.

Winter. Summer.

Spring. Fall.

Predictability. Routine.

Church. School.

1^st grade. 6^th grade.

Computer. Phone.

Camera. Crafts.

TV. Music.

Fancy. Simple.

Sun. Snow.

Leaves. Flowers.

Food. Beverage.

Work. Relaxation.

Movement. Stillness.

Forgiveness. Memories.

Curiosity. Confidence.

Learning. Understanding.

Talking. Listening.

Smelling. Tasting.

Seeing. Hearing.

Touching. Hugging.

God. Jesus.

Thankful.

october

I always have such a hard time choosing my favorite season, because I really do love the special things that each of them offers, but I am LOVING my first fall in Tennessee!! In addition to my usual favorites: scarecrows, pumpkins, candy corn, boots, sweaters, and yummy-smelling candles, the weather has been cool and crisp, and everything is absolutely beautiful! The many shades of red, yellow, and orange almost seem pretend they're so pretty!! In addition to the amazing weather and gorgeous foliage, October brought my mom, dad, and sister to Hohenwald for such a FUN visit, Oktoberfest festivities in Hohenwald, a quick trip to Texas for Ashley's wedding, fall fun with our church family, and trick-or-treaters galore!!!! It has been a fabulous fall so far!!!

This picture does not do them justice, but here's an example of our BEAUTIFUL trees!

They are so pretty, I made wreathes for the people at the nursing home with the kids at church. They did a great job and the wreathes turned out beautifully! Tonight, we went and gave them to the sweet people at the nursing home and my third-graders were PRECIOUS! It was an honor to watch them imitate Jesus!

I was out of school for a few days in early October for fall break!!! I know, I know, soooo FUN! They used to not have a fall break here, but Oktoberfest has become such a HUGE event that all the teachers were asking off and the buses couldn't get through because of all of the traffic!!! Lewis County quadruples in size during that weekend every year!! It is CRAZY! People are EVERYWHERE! There are massive traffic jams in our little town! Needless to say, it was FUN and a little Stars Hollowish;) Because I was going to be out of school, my parents and sister decided to take a vacation and come see us!! We had such a great time together. We played, shopped, talked, relaxed, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!!

Misty and I at the Grand Ole Opry on her birthday! Sooo FUN!

I drove back to Texas with Mama, Daddy, and Misty to be there for my sweet friend, Ashley's wedding. We had lots of fun visiting in the car and playing childhood car games. I was honored to be part of Ashley and Argimiro's special day as her matron of honor!! It was so much fun! Ashley and I became best friends right after I moved to Roby in eighth grade when she was thoughtful enough to invite the new girl to her slumber party! Thanks Ash:) We've been BFF ever since!! Her friendship is so special to me, and we have so many wonderful memories together. We used to talk and dream about our future lives...and though we're not next door neighbors in Buffalo Gap like we once dreamed;), we have both been blessed with precious husbands who love and honor us, and we got to stand beside with each other when we said "I Do."

What a precious friendship!

After the wedding, I flew back to Tennessee and it was COLD!! Several of us from church went to a haunted hay ride and corn maze! Once again, it felt a bit like Stars Hollow! Corn mazes are all the rage around here in the fall, and I was so excited to participate! Those of you who know me well and are familiar with my direction disability, don't worry, I did not go in alone! In fact, Kaye and I had Anna, our fearless second-grade leader!!

While my sweet mama was here, she helped me decide on a FUN costume idea for Trunk-or-Treat at church! Then, she and Misty helped me make our costumes! I thought they turned out really well! Everyone was surprised that Keith was going to dress up as a crayon, but I didn't even have to twist his arm, he was a great sport! Then, with the help of my cricut, I made our trunk decor:) We had fun passing out crayons and candy! Thankfully, some friends warned us that our neighborhood was the happening place on Halloween, so that we could stock up on candy, because they were not kidding!! We had about 250 trick-or-treaters....sooo fun!!

Hope you are all having a happy fall!

sixth grade happenings

I am LOVING sixth grade English!! I never thought middle school was my thing, but I knew if I never tried it, I'd never know. Teaching little first graders was just who I was, but I've got to tell you, I am having so much fun! I knew it would be a big adjustment, so I spent a lot of time thinking it through and processing aloud with sweet listeners like my precious mama and husband:) I'm so thankful I've had lots of people praying for me!! I felt surprisingly peaceful throughout inservice week and the first three days! I am so thankful for God's granting me peace!

The other sixth grade teachers have made me feel so welcome and a part of their team! When I first accepted the job, I was nervous about interacting with middle school teachers, because they always seemed so different than us elementary people, but they are WONDERFUL! They love the kids and support one another. They have all been friendly, warm, and hospitable.

The kids have been sweet too! They're great listeners and are so good at following directions:) I had them write stories on Friday and had the best time reading them this weekend. I wasn't sure what to expect from their writing, but I was pleasantly surprised with their use of paragraphs and adjectives!!

My sweet family is always so supportive and helps me get my classroom ready for a new school year, and since they were far away and couldn't be here to help, they sent me these beautiful flowers just in time for open house!!!! Isn't that so thoughtful?!!! They're the BEST:) These pretty flowers have been the perfect welcome to my classroom and have made it smell good too!Keith's sweet mom knew how much I was missing my mom as I set up my classroom, so she made me this super cute curtain to hide the kids' cubbies!!! Once again, SO sweet!!
Then, as if that wasn't enough, Lourene and Laura (Keith's mom and sister) surprised me with this SUPER cute wreath!!! Aren't they talented and crafty?!! They worked all day the day before school started just to make me feel special! All of the pencils remind the kids of how much writing we're going to do this year:)
I am so thankful that Keith and I both have such sweet families to encourage us!!! Thanks guys!! It's looking like a fantastic school year so far!! I hope all of you Texas teachers enjoy your last week of summer!