Bethany has said for a while now that we should get a big map and I should put pins at all the places I've lived. Well, Google maps has allowed me to do that online.

A Geographical History of Me can now be viewed online, with brief descriptions at each location.

There's just nothing like making your personal history available to millions of people...

Adorable Pictures of our family!


Gracie posing for the camera

Hannah loves being a big sister and taking pictures with her little sister.
anytime she can hold her, she gets excited!

It looks like Grace is laughing! Then the next picture
I took she was crying. Goofy girls!

The cousins trying to pose for the camera.
Try getting 4 little kids to smile for the camera all at once, very hard!

My big 2 year old girl!

Daddy and his little girls!

And Finally, the family! All dressed up for Easter!

AND NOW THE UPDATE!
Graduating:
In less than a week, I will be free from school (sort of) forever! Granted, I am getting my Education degree, so I will be in school until I retire probably, but I will not longer have to do Taylor or Hitson papers (for those of you who don't know, they are 30+ page papers)

I will be student teaching in the fall, but I will be FREE FROM SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE forever! Yay!

For those of you who don't know, I have been going towards an Elementary Education major for 6 years. I took one semester off to get married (which is a very good idea) and then I had to take 2 more Spring semesters off to have babies. I wouldn't change the way my life is for anything. I love being a mommy of a 2 year old and a 2 month old. They are so beautiful and fun to watch grow up. I could never have done any of this without the love and support of my husband and family. My husband has been wonderful, playing mommy sometimes when I would take my night classes. It has been hard, but it's has so been worth it. Now I am able to make all of those all-nighters, 30+ papers all worth it. I can be in the classroom making a difference, one child at a time. Thank you to all of you for all of the encouraging words that you have given me throughout my schooling. I don't think I will be doing any more classes for awhile (except the ones my school decided to tell me I didn't have and almost said I couldn't graduate!) But eventually I will get a certificate (probably) in Special Education, but I want to be able to take a break and be a full-time mommy with maybe substitute teacher until I am done having babies. (Yes, we may have more, don't know yet)

I know this sounds corny and everything, but my graduating is just one step closer to another chapter in my life. It still feels surreal that I will be walking across stage getting my degree (sort of) after spending 6 years in the program watching all of my other friends graduate before I could. Now there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The Family:

Since I still have your attention, I thought I would give you all an update on my family as well.

Clint and I have been going to Desert Spring Bible Church since November and love it! Hannah loves being in the toddler room.

Hannah is a precocious little 2 year old. She loves being a big sister, but at the same time hates it. She still wants mommy to do things for her on demand and realizing that there is someone else that demands my time, is difficult for her to grasp and comprehend. But she is a good big sister. She loves to help mommy with taking care of Grace and Grace really responds to her. Grace's first smile was at Hannah. Grace loves to hear her big sister. It's so cute! Hannah also has been expanding her vocabulary very very much. She is such a talker. And she picks up her vocabulary from tv, from us, from everyone. And she is talking in almost full sentences. My baby is growing up to be such a big girl! I can't believe it!

Grace is already 8 weeks old (2 months on the 3rd). She is growing sooo fast! She is the opposite of Hannah, at the moment, which we knew was going to happen. She gained 2 pounds in one month, so at least I know I was feeding her right. I am sure she is well over 11 pounds. She also has the cutest little baby rolls on her legs :) And now as I mentioned above, she is responding to the sounds of voices. Just today she was talking to her daddy. Grace is really a good baby. She eats a lot in the morning, has a good long afternoon nap, and then eats for a little bit in the evening. Then she usually sleeps for about 6-7 hours at night. She usually eats at around 9:30/10:00pm and then goes to sleep til about 3 or 4 and wakes up when the alarm goes off at about 6:30. She is definitely different from Hannah, but in a good way.

Life is busy, busy, busy, but so good. God has blessed us with so much and we are so thankful for everything we have in our lives. I am just so thankful for all of the support and love through this chapter in my life. I am so greatful that I pushed myself to get my degree. Now I can move on with my life and be a REAL teacher.

So, I will probably not be on here much because I will have to be getting my house ready for a party! If you are graduating, congrats and I will see you at graduation! Excited, excited!!!!!

If it seems like all I do on this blog is direct you to other blogs, you're almost right. I guess I don't give myself enough time to have an original thought. Maybe it's because I work in a callcenter and talk about the same things every day. Who knows?

Anyway, Brant Hansen has some good thoughts on "sacred vs. secular." For instance, "Your computer isn't secular. If you mop a floor at work, you're not mopping a secular floor. If you're mowing grass, you're not mowing secular grass. It's God's grass, man."

When I was at Greenville College, that was a big thing they talked about- "All truth is God's truth." It doesn't matter who it comes from, truth is truth. There are no degrees of truth, just as there are no degrees of sin (ie- homosexuality is no worse than gluttony).

Look at that, an original thought. Cool.

You can read Brant's post here. While you're there, browse through some other posts. He's posed some interesting questions, like "Was Jesus a good teacher?"

Enjoy!

Wow. It's been a month since we've posted anything. Gracie is about 7 wks old already.

If you have kids, plan to have kids, or have been a parent for a long time, read this essay. If you've read this blog before, you probably know that I usually like and agree with what the Internet Monk (Michael Spencer) has to say. The link above is about how religious/Christian parents screw up their kids. It's quite interesting and unfortunately true, to a degree. See what you think!