Geez Louise, what a week it's been...here's the quick rundown:

-School: going great, but CRAZY right now. This week I had three midterm tests and a big paper due. Then for the next couple of weeks, I have two more papers and two projects/presentations...so it's been full. But it's amazing how much I am learning. Going back to school has been an incredible experience. I am soaking it in, it's just SO applicable and I know the information is much needed for my abilities as a teacher.

-Job: this has been amazing! I had been subbing at various schools since August. Well, as of Monday, I am teaching 7th grade Language Arts three days a week. They asked me to do all 5 days, but agreed to work with me since I am in school. The situation was one in which their permanent teacher has been out this entire semester, and the interim wasn't going to be able to stay. It's been amazing to see God place me right smack dab in the middle of the situation. It's a lot of weight and responsibility, but my organizational radars are going off like crazy as I get that classroom back in order: both the room itself and the students, plan with the other teachers and LEARN A TON!!!! God's grace is all over it, the students have been incredibly receptive to me and it's just awesome!

-In Vitro: As everyone knows, we have had a slight delay, because I had surgery about three weeks ago (it seems like much longer than that) to take care of some polyps. That kind of delayed things...in order for my body to heal. We are still set to go, and anxiously awaiting, but at this point, it's basically up to when my body gets ready! (I'm sparing you the major details!) The downside is that we could run into the issue of the office being closed for Christmas. The whole thing is very exact and very timed, so there is a chance I am going to have to wait until January now. The circumstances are completely out of our control, but I know entirely under God's, so I am fully at peace with this and awaiting whatever He reveals as the perfect timing.

-Church/Friends: Jordan and I are just LOVING living in Spring Hill. I mean, we've been here almost three full years now, and working in the city even longer than that. There are connections and relationships popping up ALL OVER THE PLACE! We are having a chili cook off on Sunday evening for the neighborhood, and we've had a great response so far. It is just so on our hearts to connect people, not just with us, but with each other, and watch God work as people learn to live in community.

Okay, I'm signing off...need to study for my advanced grammar midterm before I head off to class this morning. Blessings!

Well I am doing well! Surgery went fine, I recovered...pushed it a little too much but then caught up on my rest later on. So, now we're just waiting....back at square 1 with IVF....I guess not completely square 1....that happened a while ago, but square 1 for the treatments. Which is fine, since we're still on track to do it! For that, I am thankful.

Other than that, we had a full week. I had classes, work, meetings, and fun times with family and friends. Last night we celebrated Independence High School's homecoming, and Meagan Fernandez who was part of the Homecoming Court. Jeannie Wherley and a couple of the U-turn girls made shirts, and they were nice enough to make me one! How fun is that?!?



How fun is that? Independence won, 31-28 and it was a good game. Afterwards, Jordan and I came home and watched "While You were Sleeping." That really is an incredible movie! Great morals, great story, funny and so sweet. It's a few years old, but totally worth it!

Today we enjoyed celebrating with our friends Paul and Alison Hillenbrand at their baby shower. They are expecting their first, a little boy in December and we are all SO excited! Next week they're moving into a brand new house in Spring Hill, just right down the road from us! We had a great time, and I wish I had taken pictures, but I was busy taking them with Rachel's camera, so I didn't get any. Oh well!

Well, I must be gone...LOTS of homework to do, and this day, as relaxing and great as it has been, has FLOWN by!!! Must be working!

Rinah Joy Picture

So Exciting! I got the privilege to see precious Rinah today, and HERE SHE IS!! So pretty and so precious, and I thought you would enjoy a little sneak peak. Mom & Baby are doing very well!! Praise the Lord.

Rinah Joy Clinger

BABY RINAH JOY IS HERE!!! YAY!!!

Poor Sarah, this has to be one of the worst labor stories I've heard in a long time, but she is such a trooper. Her water broke around 1:30am on Tuesday morning and she and husband Mike headed to the hospital. She then proceeded to be in (natural) labor for 19 hours. Yes, that is not a typo- 19!! She pushed for a FULL 3 hours before they finally decided to C-section her. They then proceeded to hook her up for the epidural which DIDN'T WORK! So, final result was Sarah being put under FULLY and she delivered via C-section that way.

I am SO proud of her, and hate that she had to go through that, but happy that Rinah and Mommy are happy and healthy. Rinah was 7'15oz and apparently looks just like Sarah!

They're pretty exhausted, so they're asking for only immediate family to come to the hospital, but I know we're all excited about getting to see the precious Clinger family soon!

Pearson Story

Okay- incredible, incredible things are happening!! I may have said something before on here about my friend Martha, but this is just too amazing to not post. Al & Martha have been married almost 10 years and have had a long long journey trying to have a baby, with many heartaches along the way. Late last summer, something happened that was completely incredible, and now we're seeing it fully coming about.

(I am majorly condensing this) So, in the spring of last year, Al & Martha experienced their second miscarriage. It was heartbreaking, but still I watched them walk through it with such faith and trust in the Lord- I was amazed!! Absolutely amazed!! Heb. 10:23 has been their "theme" verse the entire time! Click HERE to read it. They continued to trust in what they knew was a promise from God. In the late summer, at an event we had at church one Sunday evening, God led a couple they didn't even know to pray for them and the lady gave them a word that she believed that the number 10 was significant for them. (They celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this June) She also said she felt the Lord was saying that they were going to conceive and have a baby boy, and that his name was to be Jeremiah! WHOA! Al & Martha walked away from that encounter very encouraged, and after praying about what she had said, felt like God confirmed it to them as well. Martha shared this with some of us a few weeks later and we began to pray even more, our hope renewed!

They continued to trust the Lord, Martha even quit all her "charting" and anything she could do to try and control it, and right before Tgiving in November, they found out they were pregnant again. Read HERE for the story. It's been an absolutely amazing thing to watch. Martha's been pretty sick, but she actually loves every minute of it- knowing she has a growing healthy baby inside.

So yesterday, they had their 18 week ultrasound and they confirmed what we knew all along- There is a baby boy: Jeremiah inside of her!

PRAISE THE LORD! HE is SO good! Martha will deliver in early August, just weeks after she and Al celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary, and will begin to watch this promise grow beyond anything they could have imagined.

What are we willing to believe God for? He is more than able, more than willing to do incredible things in our lives, if we will just have faith!

Lakehouse Trip

We had a great weekend. We got to go back to the Lakehouse (I know we've been going there a lot!) But this time, we got to go with our friends, which was SO fun. We have some AMAZING friends, but unfortunately, because we are all in vocational ministry, our hang out time is significantly less than we might like. BUT, we are trying to change that. Anyway, we got a weekend away with us, the Owens, the Kellums's the Hughes, the newly-married Loera's and we greatly missed the Clingers....come on RINAH JOY!!!!

We ate, laughed, talked WAY too late, played games, watched a movie, went to the park, got ice cream, ate some more, prayed, shared our hearts and stayed up way too late. It was awesome and SO encouraging. I LOVE these people and I am SO thankful for friends in ministry. Many people say that ministry/leadership is a lonely place, but I don't agree. God has provided us with wonderful people over us and beside us, and this weekend was living proof of how great it can be. We're looking forward to our next time away together.

B-day Fantasmo

Yesterday was just great. It happened to be my birthday- AND the superbowl!! How much better for me does it get. The day went something like this:

-Woke up, had a nice relaxing morning. Got to sleep later than usual b/c we have gone back to one service at church so I no longer have to be there at 7am....it was 8:30 instead.

-Had a great in some ways, sad in some ways service at church (we have some families leaving the church, so it's difficult to say goodbye) All in all, it was a great morning and good connections!

-Went to lunch with my honey at Moe's and had a great connection with someone we ran into there...love how God works!

-Stopped by Publix to pick up a couple of things....had another great connection with a couple Jordan knew from a previous job- found out they moved into the neighborhood next door...pretty cool....again- so cool how God works!

-relaxed until Robby & Ferris arrived- had fun chatting with them

-The Kellums surprised me (I was hoping they were coming, but didn't know for sure) to hang out for my b-day and watch the game

-Ian joined us, and we all had fun watching a GREAT game and eating yummy food!! (Menu: grilled shrimp, homemade guacamole, chili/cheese dip, homemade vanilla ice cream and apple pie, double tomato bruschetta)

-closed out the evening with the Kellums watching 'The Office."

Great day, great evening, and looking forward to a great and full week!

Had a great weekend! It seemed to fly by, but it was great. Friday night we had dinner with the fam: Robby's parents came in town and his brother Jeff and fiance Heather joined all of us for dinner at my parents. We got take out from PF Chengs and enjoyed eating, laughing and playing Cranium before all heading to bed. Saturday I had to wake up to do some rehearsals at church and then had an incredibly relaxing afternoon....I got a lot done, but it was relaxing and fun...not hectic and stressful. I enjoyed sitting by the fire and working on some things...I am so thankful for laptops and wireless internet :-) Yesterday, (Sunday) we had an incredible service: it was our New Song Family Service, where we celebrate the season together as a family....we had some hilarious moments via video and some touching moments via song..it was great and turned out SO well. I am thankful for everyone who was involved. We had lunch with the girls and then I prepared the pork tenderloin I was making for dinner and got that in the oven. Watched a little football with a sleepy Laurel and a sleepy husband....kept checking my fantasy team, and then took a long bath. FABULOUS! Then last night we had 8 of our good friends over for dinner. The Clingers, Hughes, Owens, Kellums and of course, the Roes. We had a yummy yummy meal, everyone contributed, and SO much fun talking and laughing with everyone. I LOVE all those people and the opportunities we get to see them. Ended up staying up until almost midnight with the Kellums. I know- we're crazy, but it was totally worth it!

SO, here I am. I can't believe it's Christmas week!!!! WOW! Dylan is on his way here- YAYAYAYA!! We have some of Janel's friends coming over for dinner tonight, so I'm sure that will be interesting.....in a fun way!

Enjoy your time with friends and family and don't miss the little things!

It's Friday, how exciting! It's a beautiful day here in Middle Tennesse. This morning, I was out watering my flowers (which are growing splendidly, by the way!) and marveling at the size and height of my pink impatiens. Mom & I planted several plants a few months ago and despite some plants having difficulty growing in my flower beds, these have LOVED it. I've never seen some get so tall. Here's an idea of what they look like when you buy them at the store:

Here is what one of the stems from my plant looks like....plucked out of the whole bush of them:



I think it's hilarious! Who knows why some grow the way they do...it's just the mystery of God's incredible creation!

Big news to announce: Baby NOAH is here! Scott & Courtney Ray's little baby boy was born yesterday around 2:30 by C-section at Baptist Hospital. He was 8 lbs. 6 oz which was a BIG relief to Scott & Court who had been told based on ultra-sound that he was swiftly approaching 10 lbs!! (They thought he was 9lb.8oz) Jordan and I will see him later tonight, so we'll post some pics of that, I'm sure! I got to talk to the new momma this morning and she sounds great! So, CONGRATULATIONS!!

All of you have a marvelous Friday and weekend! May it be full of God's perfect will for each moment :-)(That's what I'm shooting for!)

We got to have our "adopted" children over this weekend! Charis & Judah Moore spent the evening with us so Mommy & Daddy could spend some time for their anniversary. Our time was full. We had sandwiches for lunch, and took naps, went to the park and played on swings and in the sand pit, went to the grocery store and got balloons and Diego (from Dora the Explorer) fruit snacks, ate chicken and zucchini (which they loved) for dinner, watered the plants, and ate pancakes and bananas for breakfast. Oh, and of course took a bubble bath! (Just the kids, not me- haha) We had a great time and we hope Mommy & Daddy did too!

Baby Nava is here!!! Our friends Meishach & Chera Moore have finally welcomed to the world their newest addition: Nava Bethia Moore. She was born last night at 8:23pm, and weighs 7 lbs. 5 oz. She is beautiful!! They did a home birth so I spent the whole day yesterday and morning today with Judah (3) and Charis (2) They came over for a sleepover with "Beppy & Jodan" It was tiring but so much fun...Chera did a home birth so they needed some space and to get the kids out of the way for a while.

We're so excited she's finally here!! And so thankful that everything went well and Mommy & Baby are doing so well!

Okay, so I haven't been a big fan of You Tube in the past, but this is too cute. My friend Marianne told me she thought her husband had put their daughter's recent violin recital performance on there, and we found it easily this morning. How fun! We love you Jayda :-)

Just got back from an amazing evening. A family who is a fairly new one to Jordan and me, but already dear to our hearts, has experienced a very big loss. Marcy Hayes, wife of Mark and mother of Hank (7) and Isaac (almost 2) passed away on Sunday afternoon after battling cervical cancer for three years.

My mind is still spinning with events of today, and my heart rejoicing for the way in which God was glorified, so I don't feel like writing much, only to say: it is incredible to see already the fruits of someone's life the way I've seen tonight. And it's amazing and simply miraculous to see a husband walking in the kind of peace, love and joy as Mark Hayes is walking in. I TREASURE the days and many memories ahead of us with this precious family.

May God be glorified through my life even a small bit of how He has been glorified through Marcy's death.

He truly is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Last night we got to spend some time with the beautiful little girls that live next door. Our neighbors Josh & Elizabeth were going to a dinner and so Jordan and I watched the kids for them. Well, we really just saw Kaitlyn, baby Isabelle was asleep when we walked next door. We had a fun time: making snowflakes, playing all the classic games, from Don't Break the Ice to Whack a Mole (my personal favorite) It was a lot of fun! Isabelle is 4 months and Kaitlyn is 5 years.

They don't call it "Dirty Santa" for nothing! Also known as "White Elephant," we played this last night at our Life Group Christmas party. And as usual, Jordan and I were the conniving ones of the bunch. In our comparatively small amount of Christmases together, Jordan and I have become surprisingly good at working together get what we want and strike deals to make the game work for us. Last night was funny!

It all started pretty light. There were 15 people and rounds 1-6 went smoothly, noone stealing any previously opened gifts. I was # 7, and I chose not to steal as well, but only because I knew that the purple bag Chantel had brought held a nice assortment of Aveda products that I had my eye on. I snatched it up quickly. The first steal of the night wasn't until my husband, round #12, when he snatched up the Cadoo game, and then what followed was a mayhem of thievery- Cassy stealing my Aveda, me stealing the scarf that Melody so desperately wanted (and that I had brought) We ended up switching gifts several times and created quite the mayhem, but in the end, everyone went home happy. I had sympathy on Courtney and traded her my Aveda stuff (that I ended up with) for the red gloves that I had also brought.

I think we taught a few people a whole new element in playing that game. Happy gift exchanging!

Fantasy Football update: I play Robby this weekend in the first round of our playoffs. I'm the #2 seed and he's #3. Everyone say this with me now: "Stop that run! Stop that run!" It is going to be tough- he has a pretty stellar team (Romo, Peterson, Westbrook) but hey- stranger things have happened :-)

It's going to be a GREAT week!

It started off with an incredible and fun church service yesterday morning. We had some baptisms, and Thanksgiving testimonies about things God's done in people's lives this past year, and we just rejoiced together as a family over God's faithfulness.

Kyle Cooper & Ian came over for lunch after church and I made Thai cashew chicken. Mmm....I've been buying the packs of rainbow peppers from Costco because they are DELISH and I put them in everything. So I added some peppers and broccoli to the dish- it was yummy! Afterwards, I cleaned up and the boys rested a bit. Then they pitched in and helped Jordan put the tree up. We decorated super early this year so our family from out of town can see it. They were a funny spectacle putting that tree together. Of course anything Kyle, Jordan and Ian do together is funny! I made them some no-bakes cookies and we watched a little football.

Kyle had to leave about 5, and I took off to get a few more things for the home-made pizza I was making, and to pick up 2 more strands of lights. Most of ours worked but you're always going to have a few go out. Oh well! We finished the tree, watched a little of the Patriot's massacre the Bills (side note: Randy Moss: 42 points for me in FF) watched a little American Music Awards, finished decorating, made the pizza and turned on "The Santa Clause." It was a top-notch evening! I told them I felt like I spent all day in the kitchen though, b/w lunch, cleaning up lunch, making no bakes, cleaning up no bakes, deep-cleaning the kitchen, making dinner, cleaning up dinner, but I shouldn't complain, b/c I love it.

This morning I woke up early and turned on the Christmas lights- beautiful! I made yummy eggs with peppers, red onion, mushrooms, spinach and feta for me and my husband and a bowl of oatmeal w/ walnuts and cranberries for him. We have a full work day ahead of us, drs appt, meeting and then we get to see family! They all fly in tonight- so we are pumped. I'm telling you, it's going to be a wonderful week!!!

Last night we helped pack up the dear Borst family for their move to St. Louis. Frank & Wendy and their girls (and Josiah) have been in our lives for over a year now, but a year has seemed like much longer- they have become SO dear to our hearts. Last night, as we were working and loading, the only way to keep from crying was to not really think about what we were doing. Their oldest girl, Chantel (on the end) is staying in the area, so we'll still get to see her, but we are saying goodbye for now to Janel and Laurel.

I am so thankful to the Lord who brings people in our lives, and though it may not be incredibly long, they can leave such marks on us. I know that our relationship is not over with this family, and we are believing God's best for this new season in their lives!

We got to celebrate one of our dearest friend's birthdays last night. Several of us gathered at Mark & Penny Mumford's home to celebrate Robby turning 26! We love you Robby!! We love your funny faces, especially the one when you're trying really hard to process something or figure it out. We love what happens to you when you drink even the tiniest ounce of caffeine. We love your marathon naps! We love your desire to organize Fantasy Football leagues. We love your refusal to partake of anything containing a grain of sugar. We love your extreme attention to detail and your love of Nacho Libre..



...in all seriousness, we really do honor you and treasure you as a friend, brother, leader and fellow worker in the Kingdom! Happy (late) Birthday.

Moving Fun...

Last night we helped Kyle & Janelle with packing up their apartment. They closed on their new home last week and are beginning the fun moving process. They've already been working on painting everything, which looks amazing! Tonight is the "big" moving night, lifting furniture, boxes etc. Not that I'll have to do too much of that. I'll try to get some good pictures! We're very excited for them!!

(this pic is obviously not of us moving...but of them at their wedding last year)

VOTE FOR TRISH

Here's a water bottle one of my friend's designed. She's a super talented designer, so if you get the time, stop by this site: www.mysigg.com/siggart and scroll down to find her water bottle and give it 5 stars to vote! :-) Thanks!