Snow, snow and more snow...

Snow. Everywhere I look there's snow.

I was so excited to be able to go up to VA to visit Nessa and Corey, and I must say, I had a great time. Our weekend was cut a little short though, because of the snow and ice. Since it snowed in Roanoke (for the first time in a while I'm told ;) ) I decided it would be best to head back home earlier than I had planned. I have a fear of driving in ice...it's scary. Instead of going to church (which I'm def. looking forward to next visit), I started the trek home. It started out pretty good, and I was actually wondering why in the world I had made the choice to leave early. About halfway through Virginia though, things got kinda yucky. It started sleeting/snowing, and the roads were getting slushy in some spots and slick in others. I was a little stressed, but I made it. Traffic was a lot slower than normal, so it took me a lot longer to get home than usual, but I made it safe and sound.
The news said we could expect around 3 inches that day/night. Three inches turned into 10-12. I haven't seen that much snow in a long time, so when it kept coming down, I was really excited. It was so beautiful, and it still is...but its gettin kinda old. School was cancelled, which meant that our trip to NC State was also cancelled. I was pretty sad about that... we were really looking forward to the trip, but maybe we'll get another chance. Monday was nice, we got out and walked to get the mail, and we played with the dogs outside some. Eleanor absolutely loves the snow, but she's so short and has long hair, so the snow gets stuck to her in big clumps, and by the end of her romps, she looks like a big snow ball...it's pretty hilarious! The snow was just about as tall as she is, so she couldn't walk or run through it normally, she has to leap and bound to get anywhere, it's a big ball of fun to watch her I tell ya.
We spent most of the day inside playing board games and the Wii. We also made some snow cream, which was pretty yummy I must say. Yesterday, we woke up and the snow was still hangin around. We really had a lot of fun just hanging out, especially since we weren't able to spend the whole weekend together. I was very thankful for the break. Sam took the truck out to make some tracks down our driveway...which really helped us later on. We tried to get the car to the tracks, and it was a no go. The car got stuck, so we decided that we'd have to use the truck to get to work the next day. However, the truck wouldn't start. It acted like the battery was dead, and it's a new battery, so Sam thinks the alternator is out. Not that big a deal, except we were stuck. We couldn't reach the jumper cables across and we couldn't move our car, and if we did jump it off, if we drove it anywhere, we might not get it started again.
So we went back inside to give our brains a minute to think up a solution. We decided that the only real way to fix it was to dig out the car and try to get it to the end of the driveway, or we wouldn't be able to get to work the next day. Shovels in hand, we set out to digging, and digging and digging. We'd dig a little, drive a little, dig a little, drive a little, till we finally got to the end of our superbly long driveway. Geez o pete it took forever.
Needless to say, our car set at the end of the driveway, and so we took a little hike to get to work this morning. It was kinda fun though. I wouldn't have had a lick of fun if I was by myself, but Sam made it wonderful.
Being married rocks.

Wonderful weekend :)

My weekend was pretty fantabulous. Friday at school was pretty fun. We started out ready for the long haul because we had signed up to chaperone the middle school valentines day dance. Everyone was hyped up on candy and pre-weekend excitement, so it made for a pretty crazy day, but it was still pretty awesome. We found out halfway through the day that there was a chaperone overload for the dance, so we didn't have to go (unless we wanted to, and we didn't ;) )! That was pretty awesome. So we got to go home on time and chill. Sam worked on our taxes a little while I worked around the house. The taxes were pretty stressful, but it's all ok now. It turns out that the montesorri school I worked at in Knoxville did not take out enough federal taxes for me, so of course now we have to pay. Bummer, I know, but it's ok. We did a lot of praying, and we learned that we need to check our checks every month now! Another lesson learned I guess. God has been good to us though, I can't complain.
Saturday was amazing. I got to sleep late, I woke up to a call from Nessa (very nice) and I made brunch for us. Because it was so beautiful outside, we hung out with the dogs out there. Sam's mom and her husband stopped by to visit for a while, and then we went out for our valentines date to Mis Arados in Sparta. When we came home I baked a valentines day cake and some brownies for our potluck at church on sunday. After all the baking, Sam and I cuddled on the couch and watched a movie. It was wonderful :)
Sunday was great too, as usual. We woke up to another beautiful day and headed out to church, brownies in hand. The message was about Ruth and Boaz's love story...very v-day appropriate. Then we hung out and ate finger foods with forks. It was loads of fun. We also drew our secret pals for the year. It meant a lot to me because this is the first time in a long time where I knew I'd be at the same church for a solid year. God is good.
When we got home, we let the doggies out to run again so they could soak up the good weather while it lasts. Then I wrote a paper for my class while Sam watched some Stargates (good b/c I am not a fan...he's gotta catch em while I'm doin somethin else.) When I was done, I cooked up some supper and did some laundry.
Nothing too exciting, but it was heaven for me :)

Sundays

I love Sundays.
They always come with the amazing feeling of new beginnings, no mistakes, family, and God.
Yesterday was one of those Sundays.
We started out sleeping in till about nine. Always a good way to start the day. Then we did the same ol same ol...ironed clothes, took showers, got dressed. I don't mind doing those things on Sundays. Mondays through Fridays though....that's another story. We met Sam's parents and drove up to church together. I think being at church and worshipping God means even more when you can do it with the people you love.
Anyways, church was awesome. We talked about how God has given us many gifts that we sometimes don't even recognize. One of those gifts is being able to be full of joy, no matter what. Even though things are thrown at us everyday, and we seem to be struggling, God has told us that we can give all that up to Him. No matter what it is, He'll take care of it. No worries. No cares. Just Joy.
Now I've known about this gift, but sometimes I ignore it. Sometimes I make myself belive that if I worry about it and work on it and focus all my energy on it, I can fix it. I stress myself out to the max stuggling on something that I could've just offered up to God. Geez I make things difficult on myself. I need to work more on taking full advantage of this awesome blessing. If you hear me talking about being worried about something, smack me and remind me of how awesome God is!
After church we went to Thomas' (Sam's stepdad) parents house. We call them our new grandparents. They are wonderful. We ate lunch and hung out with the new fam, and we had a great time. After we left, we drove on home and let the doggies out to run. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Right smack dab in the middle of winter we had a spring day. It was just what we needed from being cooped up with freezing weather for the last couple of months.
We hung out with the dogs and watched a movie together...worry free ;), and then we got ready to go watch the bowl. We stopped off and got our goofy 3D glasses, and headed out to watch the SuperBowl with our family and a couple from church. It was a lot of fun.
I'm getting old though. I was so tired by the end of the game that we drove home and I went straight to bed...after thanking my God for Sunday.

411

So here's whats up in the world o hope.
I've got about 10 minutes before I go help out in a math class, and as you can see I'm using my planning time very wisely.
Last night I finished up a bunch of scanning I had to do for our schools 50th Anniversary Book, which was a big load off my mind. I've been putting it off forever, and it only took my like 30 min to finish it all up....geez. I'll know next time (hopefully).
Our kids are participating in two competitions in the next two weeks (science fair and soil and water speech competition). Its a great opportunity for them, but it's driving me crazy. My plate of responsibilities is just too full. I'm worried that I didn't do all the technical things right. Paperwork is not my best talent.
Anyways... today we're gonna go make an appointment to get Eleanor fixed, so that should be fun. Poor puppy :( We're also gonna stop by and get library cards. We've been here for like 6 months and we haven't got them yet, isn't that awful?
Then I need to stop by the grocery store and pick up a few things. Then I've gotta go home and do laundry and pack up to go to KY this weekend to visit Suzie. I'm pretty excited about that. I haven't been up there in quite a while. As crazy as it is, I miss Berea, and it'll be great to see Suzie and Gabriella.
I'm also planning for a trip to Roanoke, where there will be a lot, I repeat a lot of Goodwill and Thrift store browsing and shopping. I'm soooo excited. It'll be nice to visit when I'm not on my deathbead. It'll be a whole new experience. I can't wait.
Well I need to go to math.
It's been fun.