Totally Tuesday

I'm about to head out to lunch with my great friend Kim (ponderosaponderings@blogspot.com). I think we are hittin up McAllisters today...I'm excited because she's going to tell me all about her trip to DC. I seriously LOVE vacations - Even when I don't even get to go! She went up there to visit our good friend Jennifer Baker who's a grad intern at the White House!!!

In other news... I GOT THE JOB! Yep, I'm officially going to be a 4th grade teacher at Connally Elementary next year. In fact, I already started filling out all the paper work. I serve an amazing God...this is the exact job I've been praying for. Its great pay, in the community we live in, Chris goes to school in the district, the grade I want, and the subject I want. Ummm can it get any better than that?? I actually found out I got hired the day after my interview last week...but I didn't want to post it on here until I had some pictures to post at the same time. I'm so lame!

Another cool thing happened lately...We got to meet Chris' brother last night. His name is Nick and he's 11 years old. He lives about an hour away in a group home for mentally retarded children. Even though he is MR...he's hilarious! We met up with him and his caseworker at Chic-Fil-A and then after eating headed over to a park to play some ball. Aaron would pitch, Nick would hit, and Chris would field. Everytime Nick hit the ball, he'd yell to Chris "Go Get The Ball FAT BOY!" Chris would just laugh and laugh... It was wonderful seeing the two of them together. They haven't seen each other in almost a year, so it was a huge blessing for God to bring them together again. I think the judge is going to let them start seeing each other once a month, so get ready for more funny Nick stories. Oh and PS...Nick farts ALL the time. Like I heard maybe 30 farts yesterday - sick, but hilarious!

Word to your mother,
Rach

Navajo Chris

Chris and his brother Nick

Obie and Vader - Bluebonnet Pic

Potter

Crazy Dogs!

New Post

Well I had a job interview yesterday and I think it went pretty well. It was at Connally Elementary school for a 4th grade reading position. This happens to be the exact position I want, in the district I want, with the salary I want....sooo, hopefully I get the job! I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

In other news - Our awesome son Chris now has a mohawk. Yep, he's taking after Aaron. Well actually, it was Aaron that convinced him to do it. Chris looks awesome - kind of like a renegade commanche warrior or something. I have a picture of it at home but for now just picture something like this...

Hmmm... I guess I don't really have much going on right now.

Peace,

Rachael

A little survey

1. What is your occupation? What day of the week is it? Time of day? Ministry Assistant/Coordinator, Friday, 10:39 am

2. What color are your socks right now? White No Show Socks

3. What are you listening to right now? Travelin Soldier by the Dixie Chicks

4. What was the last thing that you ate? A yummy cheese and berry danish on the way to work

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Sorta

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Director – Dr. Paul Stripling

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Heck Ya

8. How old are you today? 24

10. What is your favorite drink? Milk, Water (with lots of lemon), Capri Suns

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? All the time!

12. Favorite food? Fresh spinach leaves with olive oil, cole slaw, and sandwiches

13. What was the last movie you watched? Drillbit Taylor

14. Favorite day of the year? Any day that I can just hangout outside with my husband

15. How do you vent anger? Yell or read a book at Barnes and Noble

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hmmm..I like hanging out with my dog BINGO

17. What is your favorite season? Summer and Fall

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Of course!

20. Who is the most likely to respond?

21. Who is least likely to respond? ????

22. Living arrangements? With Aaron, Chris, Grant (my bro moved in for a while), Obie, Vader, and Potter. We live in a cute little house out in the country surrounded by bluebonnets and cows

23. When was the last time you cried? I don’t know – By I cry about every 3 weeks or so

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes and boxes

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? I don’t know which of
my friends check my blog, but it would have to be Amelia, Andrea, or my sister (but I don’t think she checks it unless I make her)

26. What did you do last night? I had class until 9:00, then went over to Chris and Robin’s house
to hangout, then back home and waited for Grant and Chris to get home from the Brian Regan Comedy Show in Dallas.

27. Favorite smells? Summer rain, Chlorine..weird I know, but it holds so many memories, Aaron’s cologne

28. What inspires you? God’s love for me and every person on the earth, my parents and their wonderful encouragement and support, my husband’s wisdom and humor, my friend Kim and her guidance.

29. What are you most afraid of? Not much, but I am afraid of the dark sometimes

30.. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

31. Favorite dog breed? I like them all, but I’m partial to Border Collie Mixes (shout out to Obie and Vader)

32. Favorite day of the week? Saturday and Sunday

33. How many states have you lived in? Just Texas

34. How many states have you been to? Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, and Hawaii.

35. How many countries have you been to? Poland, Trinidad, Mexico, Canada, China, Russia, Italy, Greece, England, Sudan, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal…. Umm obviously I love to travel!

Reading Rainbow

My sister-in-law Haylie is turning 23 tomorrow ~~~Happy Birthday Haylie~~~ When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she surprised me with the most wonderful answer ever. She wants BOOKS!

Some of you may be surprised that I am a passionate reader. In fact I was up until 2:00 a.m. last night reading "The Other Bolelyn Girl" (not a favorite at all). I also collected over 1,000 books to send to my friends in Sudan because I felt called to start a library at the English Language School in Khartoum <---I'll give ya'll all the details of that adventure later.

Anyways....my cute little sister in law is going to try to develop a love for reading. Here are the books I'm sending her: Blessed Child, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Cheaper By The Dozen, and The Wedding. I discovered a used bookstore yesterday and it was as good as walking into a room filled with gold. So many book...I mean they were literally everywhere! Anyways, I got four books for the grand total of $18.00...Not bad huh?!

Here's a list of some of my top books...if you haven't read them yet, let me know and I'll let ya borrow!

Gone With The Wind
Scarlett
Cheaper By The Dozen
The Mark of the Lion (series)
Father Elijah
Redeeming Love
The Davinci Code
Angels and Demons
The Chronicles of Narnia (series)
Christy
Alanna: The First Adventure
Enders Game
Captain Ahabs Wife
Harry Potter (series)

Happy Friday!
REJ

!! Celebration !!

Men, Women, Boys, and Girls...

Today is a day to CeLebRate!!! The WRBN website is officially up and running. I have been "working" on this website for 6 months or so and I'm so excited that its nearing completion. I know absolutely nothing about technology and so I hired the amazing Internet Imagineering to create the site and it is turning out great. The really cool thing is that I now know how to manage the site: you know, like edit text, add pictures and links...all the fun stuff.

Hip Hip Hooray for http://www.wacoregionalbaptistnetwork.org/

Check it out and see what ya think!

Web MD

Its almost 6:00 a.m. and I'm sitting at my computer drinking a huge glass of water... "Why?" you may ask. All because Web MD told me too. Supposedly drinking a large amount of water is going to cure my little illness that started last night. But, drinking water or anything for that matter is the last thing I want to do. Ughh...I just want to be back in bed!

On a side note...At about 4:55 am I woke up with my pesky little health problem and wondered if I needed to go to the doctor. I was sitting in bed weighing the pros and cons of a doctors visit when all of the sudden it hit me - America's health care system sucks. Now don't worry...I 'm not going to get political about this, but isn't it a shame that a 24 year old girl with a decent insurance plan has second thoughts about scheduling a doctor appointment because she knows the costs associated with the visit are going to be astronomical. Instead of calling a health care professional like a "sick" person should do..... I turned to a source I could actually afford: the Internet. Perfect?!?!

PS.. Isn't that picture kind of creepy - Who wants a doc with a sick mustache?

Hey gang, Hey gang, Hey gang…
(if you’re from the Rock, then you’ll know the rest of the cheer)

I don’t have much to report on – Oh but here’s a little funny thing that happened to me today. I went to the music ministers lunch fellowship this afternoon … just to say hi to everyone and kind of represent the WRBN and Hilltop Christian Fellowship. They were all talking about a huge event that Columbus Avenue Baptist Church is hosting this Sunday evening: The 2008 Community Hymn Sing. There are going to be about 30 churches participating, a 300 person choir, and a 50 person orchestra…So yeah, this is going to be a pretty big deal.

So, I am the only non-music minister in the group and everyone is going around the table talking about which hymn they are going to conduct. Well it comes to me and I just smile and assume that they’ll just move on to the next person. Nope, the leader of the group enthusiastically encourages ME to direct a HUGE CHIOR and a HUGE ORCHESTRA in front of 1,000 PEOPLE! I can just imagine the chaos now…me waving my little arms around, trying to tap out the beat with my foot, and 300 voices singing out trying desperately to follow along. Nope, no thank you…but it was a hilariously sweet suggestion!

??? ??? ???

Still no official word on a teaching position. I had a GREAT interview last week in the Connally School District and I was told that I'll be getting a phone call sometime this week for a second interview...so I'm just wishing and hoping and thinking and praying. I'll let ya'll know when I hear something!

Aye Carrumba my mom is in CUBA!

Yep, you read correctly. My pretty little momma headed over to Cuba this morning at 6:00 a.m. She's going on a 7 day mission trip with her church, Lake Pointe. They are leading 3 leadership conferences for a few different Baptist churches in Cuba. My mom is leading two seminars: the first one is about the importance of small community groups within the church and the second seminar is about the role of women's ministries.... Cool huh?

I'm so proud of her and can't wait to hear all about her travels and the amazing things that God is doing in Cuba. She was a little nervous about leaving...It was kind of bad timing work and family wise, but she really felt like God was telling her to go - so she did! My mom's been to Cuba once before, about 7 years ago, so thankfully she's at least a little familiar with the culture and the people.

I know that she's going to have a great time, but if you think about it...please pray for my mom, her group, and the Cuban churches while they are over there.

Love ya'll,

Rach

PS. In reference to my last post - Did I mention that I had wedding cake flavored snow cones at my wedding?! They were fantastic!

For the love of snowcones

Here's a little haiku for your reading enjoyment

Snow Cones

snow cones are my love

blue hawaiian / wedding cake

frosty sticky fun

Every year I count down the days until snow cone season officially begins. For me, the beginning of snow cone season represents the beginning of summer. I love saving up my change and heading over to Mr. Snow for blue hawaiian / wedding cake mix with lots of cream. There was an entire summer that I literally ate relatively nothing but Subway and snow cones.

Some of my best memories are associated with snow cones... like the time I Aaron and I were riding on the motorcycle and we decided to go get snow cones and then head back to the apartment to watch a movie. Of course, I convinced him that I could hold both the snow cones all the way back and that I could just "hang on" to the motorcycle using my leg strength?! After about 5 minutes of that nonsense I threw his snow cone onto the pavement, wrapped my free arm around his waist, and we traveled all the way back home laughing about how I selfishly saved only my snow cone.

Yesterday I was on my way to class (ughh) and I decided to make a pit stop at Mr. Snow for the first snow cone of the season. Thankfully I had just enough change (I only pay for snow cones using change...even if its pennies). I showed up at class with blue teeth, sticky hands, and a giant grin on my face: SNOW CONE SEASON HAS BEGUN!

Long time no see

Hi everyone...sorry it has been SO long since my last post!

This past weekend was a busy one! On Friday night we went out to dinner with a new family that just recently started coming to our church. Robin, our youth minister's wife also came. It was so much fun - We went to Shoguns for sushi (yum!). We ate, talked, and laughed for nearly three hours!

Then on Saturday, Chris had his first baseball game of the season and he was the starting pitcher! Even though he didn't play all that well - it was still so much fun to get to see him in action.

On Saturday night, I drove home to Rockwall and went out to dinner with my mom...We went down to the Harbour and it was rockin' down there! On Sunday, my sister and I went to LakePointe (ahhh memories!) and then threw a shower for my childhood best friend. I finished out the weekend with a relaxing dinner down at the Harbour (again) with the whole family and then the hour and a half drive back to Waco. Oh, and a stop for kolaches along the way!

When I got home last night Aaron had a present waiting for me - What a great husband!!!! I would have to say that this was just about a perfect weekend. Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment...

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