April 26, 2001

Ten years ago, I met Jeff.

We sat together on a bus at the Coca-Cola Scholars weekend in Atlanta. (We were both brainiacs, believe it or not. Well, you probably believe it about Jeff.)  :-) We spent nearly the entire weekend talking and being silly. I told all my friends when I got home that I had met the "boy I would marry."

A couple months later, my church took a mission trip to New Mexico, and Jeff's parents said he could go. (Can you imagine letting your 18-year-old go on a trip states over for a week with someone you didn't even know?) It was definitely a "God thing." We got to know each other even better through a week of serving God, and I can't think of a better way to have started our relationship.

Jeff went to the University of Alabama the following year, and I went to Birmingham-Southern. We saw each other a lot on weekends, and I ended up transferring to UA during the middle of our sophomore year. The following year, we were engaged on Christmas, and we got married the summer after we finished college. A year-and-a-half later, we added Maggie to the mix, and two years after that, sweet Miller joined our family.

God has blessed us with things we could never deserve, and we pray every day that He will use us to glorify Him. He has shown us that we cannot take each other for granted, and that marriage is a blessing each day, whether things are easy or hard.

Man, am I grateful for April 26, 2001.

Share Night Music

Share Night and Field Trip

Maggie had a big week last week. Her Wednesday night church class, Great Adventure, had their music share night. The next day, she had her first school field trip. All the 3-k kiddos got to visit Baker's Farm and see the baby farm animals. She had a blast! (Apparently Mills had a blast this day, too. He got to play with Aunt Jessica, Lane, and Bethany, and he and Lane played the "Ticka, ticka, ticka you!--No, not get me!" game all day. Ha!) Here are some pics...

Love this song...

Princess Miller

The video and pictures speak for themselves. We are wondering at what age we should start discouraging Miller's love of dress-ups and all things pink. He's as tough as they come, but having a just-older sister definitely has its impact on our little Miller Monkey... I can't wait to show his first girlfriend this picture... At least he's half pirate in this one. (Wait, is that a good thing?)

The Stack is GONE

Well, it's gone from our house, at least. Jeff mailed it in today--a day EARLY. He stayed up until 4:30 a.m. last night (well, this morning) and had to be up before 6 to go to school. He worked on finishing the National Board stuff every spare minute today, and he managed to get it mailed in on his way home.

He is currently celebrating all the late nights and early mornings with blueberry donuts, popcorn, and Mountain Dew. So Jeff...

I am very proud of him, and also very glad he doesn't have this looming over his head anymore. Yea, Jeff! I'll bet he gets good sleep tonight in spite of all that Mountain Dew...

The Stack

This picture sums up Jeff's life lately. I call it "the stack," and I keep finding it at various places around the house, sometimes organized neatly, and sometimes spread out over the floor of a whole room.

Jeff is working on his National Board teaching certification, and it takes A LOT of time and energy. My dad got his several years ago, and I remember him sitting in the living room floor until past midnight working feverishly. It has been a similar story around here lately. Lots of late nights and hard work on Jeff's part. I'm proud of him, and all of us will be relieved when "the stack" is mailed in to be reviewed on THURSDAY. Whew!