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Friday, January 28, 2011

It's really real

Tuesday was Mike and I's 3 1/2 year anniversary. I know right? 3 1/2 years!!! That's a long time! So the plan was to play the board game that he made me for Christmas, enjoy a sort of 'progressive' dinner which would have included only THE best french fries in the world from Hannah's.

(Seriously, if you live in Denton, and have never eaten the fries at Hannah's, it's a MUST. They don't even call them fries, they are called something super fancy in French... and trust me, ketchup would be the biggest insult to these fries. They are fried in truffle oil, I'm pretty sure they put some garlic on them, fresh cut chives, freshly shredded parmesean cheese, and salt and pepper. SO GOOD!!!!!)



Ok, so enough about the fries, you don't really care about the fries! Although you should. Anyway... and then we were going to make our way over to eat some wings... because I am in love with wings now. And for desert some Beth Marie's ice cream. After dinner, we were going to read through some old letters we had written each other over the years while Mike was still in California.

We didn't make it really past the board game.

So, we are playing the game, and if you get a 'dare' card, you have to do whatever the other person dares you to do, or you lose the game. Now, Mike and I are very competitive, so for us to do something silly to keep us in the game is not that rare of a thing. So after about 15 minutes or so of playing the game, I get a dare card. It actually wasn't a dare, but Mike had to get me out of the house somehow! So he dared me to go outside and sing at the top of my lungs.

So of course I say I will because I don't want to lose the game. I walk outside and Mike points out the change that is on the ground.

Let me just say for those of you who don't know, I love finding change on the ground. Even if it's just a penny, I get so excited over it. (For our 1 year he surprised me with a pile of change on the ground that I naively thought someone actually dropped on the ground!) I mean, if you find a dime on the ground, that's worth at least 2 copies in the union, and if you save what you find, you will be able to make more copies. Just think about it.

So I then realized that the change made a trail around the side of his house. Ooooooooohhh I asked if I needed to follow the trail, and he said 'yes'. So I followed the trail, which led back to his drive way which was blocked off with a white sheet and covered with Christmas lights.



And on the ground, spelled out with more than 3,000 coins and in over $150 of change, was the big question: Will you marry me?



AAAH! Freak out moment! My first thought was: "is this real????" I think I said that about 4 times before he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.



YES!!!! I have never been so sure of something in my entire life. And after dating for 3 1/2 years, being so far apart, waiting patiently on the Lord, it was real.



The Lord is SO good and SO faithful. I now have a wonderful fiance, and cannot think of anyone I would rather spend the rest of my life with.

We only made it to Hannah's... and I could only eat 1 fry. :)

Happily engaged,
lisa

ps Thank you Michelle for taking pictures and Natalie, Sam, Rob, and Corey for helping with the coins and blasting Batman in your living room so I wouldn't hear what was going on outside!



Oh, and of course, here's a picture of the ring! Handmade by a girl in New York, the band looks like a branch.



I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Friday, January 21, 2011

Down in the Valley

So this week in my student teaching I had the pleasure of singing and playing the song "Down in the Valley" for 2nd grade. It's such a pretty song, and is just so peaceful. Down in the valley, valley so low... I first learned this song when I was taking guitar lessons way back in 9th grade with Mrs. Dyer. She is the sweetest lady. I'm so glad she taught me that song. It truly makes my heart happy. :)




Today one student came up to me afterwards and told me that her dad used to sing that to her when she went to bed before he went overseas with the Army. (So sweet!) One girl just looked and me while she was lining up and said "You're beautiful." And then today in one of the meetings I had to go to with my mentor teacher, the 2nd grade teachers said that their students could not stop talking about it. (I don't know if there is a job out there quite as rewarding as being a teacher, and to teach music!)

It's not just about the compliments... though those are nice. :) But about making some sort of impact in a student's life. If I can bring those happy memories back to a student who's dad is serving overseas, then that is so awesome. I would do that for free any day.

Monday, January 17, 2011

I Need a Craft

I wouldn't deem myself the "super-creative-type", but I would say that sometimes I can get a little creative kick in me. I do have some amazingly creative friends though, and that is enough to inspire me to do something creative and crafty. So I've been looking at different craft blogs to get some ideas and inspirations and I would say that I have seen some interesting things.

Some were a little strange... like a fingernail necklace. Ok, ew. And tacky. And just ew.



But some were actually really cool and seem to be easily achievable.

Like this faux wrought iron wall decor made from toilet paper rolls!


Or these photo negative lamps.


Or these cute little pocket notebooks made from recycled paper and playing cards!


Or how about these super cute decal penny pendants!?


Or these square framed painted mirrors?


So I would say between all of these crafts, I can find something to keep me busy. My good friend Michelle also suggested to starch either fabric or paper designs to the wall to add some flair. I might try that out as well. :) (By the way you should check our Michelle and Miranda's really fun blog at http://countrychickcitychick.blogspot.com/)

So I will let you know what crafts I end up creating. And on the plus side, being a "poor college student", most of these crafts are do-able under $10! So yay!

Until then, I hope you find something productive to do with your time. :)

lisa

Friday, January 14, 2011

Shout!

I've decided to start a blog. I wasn't really sure what to call it, or what the format should be, or what I should "blog" about, but I just figured it would be a good way to share with people I love what is going on in my life with a little bit more detail.

So here we have it: A Joyful Noise! I noticed a poster in my mentor teacher's room yesterday that said "Make a joyful noise" and I thought, Wow, I've never seen that poster before in her room. And then I thought, Yes! Yes, we should!! Needless to say I stole the name from a poster that stole the name from the Bible, Psalm 100:1

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

My Bible says

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

You know what? Shout, sing, dance, laugh, serve, eat a pickle, vacuum your house, go shopping at a thrift store, work at a crummy job. Anything with joy to the Lord! As a matter of fact, if you keep reading Psalm 100, it goes on to say in verse 2

SERVE the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful SINGING.

Huh. Waddya know? The rest of this chapter is so good, I'm just going to go ahead and share the rest of it with you!

Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and
His courts with praise. Give thanks to
Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting and His
faithfulness to all generations.

Friends, there are so many reasons to be joyful in the Lord. And so many ways to express that joy. So I encourage you, to rejoice, REJOICE in the Lord... ALWAYS! Again I will say REJOICE! (Philippians 4:4) FACT: words relating to 'joy' in the Bible, i.e. joyful, rejoice, gladness, etc. numbers over 570 times!!! 574 to be exact. I counted. Well, I added them up on a calculator after I did a word search online. But still. And I'm sure I forgot some synonyms to the word 'joy', so there might even be more! Wow! So, despite whatever is going on in life, we can have joy because we have Christ. And that, is something to shout about!

Joyfully singing,
lisa