My husband, Charles

I realized that I didn't have any pictures of my amazing husband on this silly website, so I figured it was about time...

Ode to Charles, I love you very much...

Christmas with kiddos...

We spent our Christmas vacation with Charles' family.

Here is a special greeting from

Aurora, Jenna, Alexis, Trinity, Romeo & Gabe

Life's Questions...

Do you ever wonder what God wants to do with your life? I can remember for years knowing that God wanted me to open a youth center. Even though I was a poor naive college student, I knew if I had a million dollars and a building, I could do it...and I knew God would provide it...even though I didn't know when, where or how. But He did. But now, I feel lost. I have no real direction or purpose. I'm teaching 9th grade English. Today we made board games based on the epic poem, The Odyssey. I has been fun, but my heart really isn't in the classroom. But where is it? I love my husband. I am so blessed by him. You have no idea. I love being married. He is so good to me. But trying to figure out God's will for your life is so much harder when there are two separate people involved. Two separate sets of feelings and emotions. Two separate visions and preferances. No worries, though. It is a fun adventure nonetheless (is that a word? one word? see...I'm supposed to be an English teacher!). "You never know what a day will bring." says Charles.

Turkey Day '08

This is my family on Thanksgiving day. We are crazy. Katie, brett, Leigh, Jared, Nicole, Andrew, me and Charles...we miss Karl and Sara...oh, and Brook and Nick, too....

I tried to kill Jared. He cut the summer sausage too thick.

MD 3

So I'm laying on the hide-a-bed in my parent's living room watching the Mighty Ducks 3. I don't think I've ever seen this one. We are officially in Seattle! We went to Mars Hill for church yesterday. I have heard many interesting things about their pastor. I was a very non-traditional worship experience. We spend lunch on pier 55 at Red Robin (my absolute favorite!) while we watched the Seahawks beat up on the Bears and went to the Old Curiosity shop. Starbucks is right next door, so after a peppermint mocha, we drove down to Burien where my parent's are looking at buying a home. I love this city. I love the northwest. When we met up with my bridesmaid extrodinare (sp??) Alicia, it was as if we were never apart, even though it has been a year since we've seen each other. Don't you love friends like that?


P.S. Erin is having a baby!

Sitting at the airport

So I'm sitting in the Tampa International Airport waiting for our plane to load for our long journey to SEATTLE! We have a lay-over in Cinncinatti. I was in Ohio once. I think that is where the Football Hall of Fame is...yes, Canton, Ohio. A few years ago I flew to New York with my uncle, cousins and sister and we drove a school bus back across the country. We stopped in Canton to see those famous football players.

I found out one of my bestest college sisters, Erin (or EJ as many used to call her...I guess that doesn't work so well now that her name is Erin Camper, not Erin Johnson...EC??)...anyway, I found out she....hold on...my plane is boarding....I have to go....can't miss it!

9th grade English, youth group and Atlanta Bread

Well, that is my Wednesday in a nutshell. I am sitting here at Atlanta Bread (another free wifi hotspot!) with my amazing husband checking out what is happening in the lives of my loved ones across the country. This is only the second time I've created a post, so this is relatively new to me...in fact, Charles is walking me through this experience. Check out his blog at the church website, faithbaptistwh.org. This is a picture of a live alligator in the "wild" of central Florida. We were eating dinner at Carrabbas and when we came out to our car, we looked through the fence into the pond and there he was!

I can hardly contain my excitement as we prepare to head north this weekend for Turkey day! I love Thanksgiving. I love being with family...eating turkey and lots of mashed potatoes...stovetop stuffing...putting olives on your fingers....I might even try a sliver of pumpkin pie...we play spoons every year. One time, my dad flew across the table and almost broke it. We also like to watch old home videos. Why don't people have video cameras any more? We love making fun of Jared passing out playing the lead role in the church Christmas play. "The Bengals are really tough, ya know!"

my first blog

wow. i've never done a blog before. i don't have the time to spend making my page look cool on my space so i thought this would be fun. we don't have the internet at our house (yet!) so i have to journey to either Java Jacks or Richard's Fine Coffees in order to check in with the peeps all around the country. i will admit it is extremely inconvenient, but is is also free. the starbucks where i work is also in the stone age and does not have wireless internet, either, so here i sit, at Java Jacks. i do have to get going but i'm so excited about this. i hope to hear from you soon!