thrifting thursday - wearing nothing new.

Hey guys! I just finished packing the last of our twenty-five shoe boxes and my hands are killing me from all the rubberbands I had to stretch. So I'm just going to share this pretty awesome TED talk the wonderful husband found the other night.

Watch. Enjoy. Take something from it.
And please let us know what you got out of the video! I'd love to talk about it.

loving a person.

I just wanted to share this song with y'all because it is one that has been a theme for the challenges I'm going through and the growth I'm facing lately. I hope you can get something out of it or see the beauty in it. :)

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8

boiled peanuts and birthday cake.

This will be my LAST birthday post. Promise.
Here I am, in all my birthday glory this weekend. Ordering my wonderful husband to take my picture. Getting boiled peanuts with my birthday cake because I can down a bag in about five minutes. And having my mom explain to me that my candles are in tens and ones because we're teachers and that's just how we do things around here.

Does anyone else get really embarrassed and feel really awkward when people are singing happy birthday to you?

PS.
We are now officially at 20 followers, which is pretty cool! So thanks from both of us to all of y'all - it means a lot that you would join us on this journey of our life!

our little bean needs help!

Friends, meet Chloe.

She is our youngest puppy. She's a lovable, playful, energetic, joyful, amazing shih-tzu who will be TWO YEARS in August. Chloe is the life of the party and she doesn't meet a stranger. She isn't really scared of anything, either. She'll even fight the vacuum cleaner. 

Until recently.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a HORRIBLE storm here and something happened to Chloe. She's experienced quite a few storms in her lifetime and has even played outside in the rain without any issues. But for some reason, this one storm really bothered her. And she had a really bad panic attack. Here's some video of part of it.

It all started when I got out of the shower that night. I went in the bedroom to change and when I walked out, I found her crouched in between the toilet and the shower violently shaking. I called her to come into the bedroom with me and she ran into the corner in between the bed and the wall and hunched over. When I walked over to her to try and comfort her, she started frantically running around the room in circles, and after much comforting by both Nate and myself, she resorted to what looked to me like pacing all over the apartment.

And now, ever since that storm, she starts to have these anxiety attacks every time she hears thunder. We've been putting her in her crate or holding her really close to us to help her feel safe, but I'm still not convinced it's really working. Any other ideas on what to do? Or do y'all think we're doing the right things?

a good day. :)

Today was a good day. :)

I made it through my first week as a real live teacher alive and with no injuries. There were some crazy times, but nothing can beat the hugs and having the children hold up their work, beaming, saying "Miss Stephanie! Look at what I did!" It's a tiring job but it's worth every ounce of energy spent. And there is nothing in me that wishes I had chosen to do something else with my life.

Nate and I had a Mexican night tonight! Fajitas for two! Which is more like fajitas for about six - SO. MUCH. FOOD.

After dinner, we took the dogs for a walk down to the dock at our apartments. The weather was perfect. And there was nobody down there but us. It was so nice to have some time to relax together. :)

beautiful view from the dock.

watching the boats.

abby LOVES her daddy.

:)

her favorite place to be.

And here is a wonderful video of what happens when you try to get Chloe to do a trick.

Absolutely nothing.

 Most people say she's stupid. I prefer to say she does things on her own terms.

Anyway. Now it's 8:00 and we have the rest of the night ahead of us (and I have a four day weekend ahead of me). And it has been a good day. We are definitely blessed :)

Oh, I almost forgot. Nate just reminded me. We went to Carowinds yesterday for the bajillionth time so far this year and rode the Intimidator. And Nate took his iPod ON THE ROLLERCOASTER and took video. So here it is. In case you can't tell from the video, my anxiety level was through the roof because I thought he was going to drop it. I was seriously having a panic attack. I'm glad we have the video now, though. So yeah. Here it is. Enjoy. :)

I'll try to get to work on my trust30 post later on tonight. If not, it'll be posted in the morning.

What is something you've been blessed with today?

i'm sorry. but i have to do it.

i just have to share this video with you. because nate and i have been watching it every night for the past two weeks.

and we still laugh just as hard.

yes. we are THAT lame.

so. HAVE YOU?

there's no place like home for the holidays.

So this holiday season has been pretty wonderful.

Nate and I have been blessed with his new job. We discovered that we're a little over a month away from paying off another student loan, meaning there will only be ONE left. I got to spend extra time with my three amazing kids the week before Christmas. Nate and I got to spend three days in Columbia with the family. We got to see parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. We were blessed enough to be able to afford to give gifts and cards to everyone. We enjoyed a lot of good food and good times with family. It even snowed in COLUMBIA the day after Christmas - and the snow stuck!

Now I am taking my day off to recover from the past weekend and get everything in the apartment back in order.

And I figured I'd move on to truth number six since it's been awhile...

6. Something you hope you never have to do.
I hope I never have to move somewhere north of the Mason Dixon Line. I HATE cold weather.

Chloe, on the other hand, LOVES it. Abby? Not so much. Last year, Abby was the one running through the snow and playing in it while I had to hold Chloe just to keep her warm. This year was the exact opposite.

Now it is time for me to do some more housework and get some running in before the hubby gets home. I will leave you with some pretty insightful words that were on Dave Ramsey's Facebook today:

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change."

What words of wisdom have had a great impact on your decision making and how you live your life?

Also, I got a Barnes and Noble nook for Christmas. So if anyone else has one, let me know! I want to figure out this whole book sharing thing.

one day our dogs will be able to do this. one day.

Please go here and watch the video! It's amazing. And adorable!

meet chloe.

So if you don't know us very well, then you don't know that our dog Chloe is very special. She is sweet and loving and always full of joy. But she learns, well, let's just say...differently. Her brain doesn't process things quite as quickly as most puppies.

I have been told she's dumb. I have been told she can't be trained. I have been told she's going to be this way forever. But now, I am proving every last one of you who has said those things wrong.

Watch this. And watch the whole thing. I promise she does finally do the trick. It just takes her some time to work it out in her head and then warm up to it.

We're so proud of our baby girl. :)  Hah.

number two.

Before I get started on the second of my thirty truths, I need to share a video of my puppies that I think is adorable but the rest of you probably couldn't care less about. :)

This is what they spend all day doing. Abby usually wins but Chloe is definitely learning to hold her own and I think she'll be able to beat Abs one day.

Now, onto truth numero dos...

2. Something you love about yourself.

I think it's pretty funny that I'm having a harder time thinking of an answer for this than I did for the first one. But after a good bit of thinking, I think I've FINALLY come up with something.

I have this crazy ability to see things from other people's points of view. Whenever there's an argument or disagreement or situation where someone is wronged or gets in trouble or whatever...my first instinct is to try and figure out what the people involved are thinking and feeling and why they made the choices they did. If someone is being treated badly I automatically start trying to figure out how it makes them feel. I even go so far as to do that when someone says something about another person behind their back and the person being criticized is never even going to hear what was said. This drives Nate crazy because it means I can get defensive and start rationalizing things people I don't even know have done. I'm pretty sure he thinks I could defend a serial killer.

What it comes down to is that I am just REALLY empathetic to what people are going through. Not sympathetic, mind you. I actually FEEL what other people are feeling in situations and then feel the need to stand up for them or justify their actions to whoever's around (usually it's the hubby). This doesn't mean that I don't ever do things without considering the feelings of others. I am human and I do make mistakes on a daily basis (probably closer to an hourly basis).

I do feel that it really is a good quality to have. It definitely helps me when it comes to my career, which is working with children. It especially helps me when working with children who have special needs. It helps me to relate to my kids and to see their needs and wants. It helps me understand why they might be displaying certain problem behaviors, what might be frustrating them, and how to better work with them and work for them. I really feel that this is a gift with which God has blessed me in order to better equip me for working with children. It helps me to see my kids through His eyes.

Not only does it help me to see my children the way God does, but it also helps me to see everyone through His eyes. While I don't think all actions are justifiable or excusable, I know that He loves us all the same. And I know that the only way I can truly impact the lives of others is to see and treat them with that love. And I really do think that my empathetic nature makes that more possible. Not easy. And definitely doesn't make me an expert at it. But it makes it a little more possible.

What is something you love about yourself? Don't be shy!

“Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘who am I to be so brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God: Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson

walk the walk.

Today was a pretty great day! We had friends and family come up to see us and walk in the Carolinas Walk Now for Autism Speaks. And our team raised $505, which was over 60% of our goal. Not to mention that I not only met my fundraising goal, but surpassed it. Which was really awesome, because I hadn't put nearly as much effort into raising money as I should have. There was just so much going on this summer that I ended up putting it on the backburner for awhile. But all in all, everything went well. There was a great turnout today and the weather was perfect!

Oh, and here's a video of me doing the Pit Stop Challenge at the walk. Nate, Wesley, Rebecca and I all tried it. I was a little slow, but I definitely think I could have been super quick with some practice. 

After the walk, we all went and ate lunch. Then Nate and I came home and passed out. I had been up with a seriously annoying cough until about 3:30 this morning and then had to get up for the walk at 7, so by the time we got back to the apartment I could barely hold my eyes open. We were hoping to go to the corn maze today but there was absolutely no way I could have made it through that. So I guess we'll save it for next weekend. It'll be something to look forward to! There's supposed to be some sort of mystery to solve in the maze this year...so I am super excited! Anyway...I slept for about two hours and probably could have laid there longer. We had TACOS! for dinner and now we're getting ready to watch a movie before getting back in bed.

By the way, I just have to throw this in... Our Gamecocks beat Alabama today...YAY! :)

We also finally got rid of our tomato plants yesterday, but I did take a picture of our last harvest.

We'll miss you, tomatoes. Until next year...

I was going to do the second of my thirty truths, but I'm ready to curl up with the puppies and watch this movie, so I think I'm going to save it for later. Goooooooooodnight! :)