Whew!

Okay, since the last time I posted, I have been telling myself that I really needed to get busy with updating the blog and with 37 minutes left of the year 2011, I figured now was a great time to at least make notes of all that has taken place in the last 6-ish or more months.
I am sad that with all that has taken place, I have don't have it documented as I would have liked. Thankfully, I have loads of pictures on my phone and camera that will help me catch up on the blog.
For you bloggers out there that are moms to one, two, three, and four or more children and still keep up with documenting life's moments, you are amazing. :)

All that has happened in 2011 that I did not blog about at all:
-I coached a girl's T-ball team in the spring
-My sister, Deidre got engaged! (& I wasn't among the first to be notified)
-Julie, my friend that introduced on the blog, and her family, welcomed their new bundle of joy, Elias on June 15th.
-Planned and organized a faculty/staff retreat
-Lucas played his first season of baseball - I loved it. He didn't.
-World Changers in Franklin 2011
-I found out that I was getting a permanent teaching position at Mountain View Intermediate School. I later found out I would be teaching 6th grade, Language Arts/Social Studies! Amazing!
- Worked on school stuff for most of the summer
-Lucan & McKenzie BOTH started Kindergarten!
-First day of my job!
-Second day of my job!
-Third day of my job! - you get the hint. I love it. The months of August, September, October - my learning curve was vertical. Overwhelmed was an understatement (this could be the reason I didn't blog)
-Matt & Deidre said "I Do" on 9.10.11 - a beautiful day - ceremony - & couple!
-Brandon bought me a guitar for my birthday! Lessons begin soon...
-October Beach Trip to Destin, FL
-Approached my Principal about taking 6th graders to Washington, DC. I gained his support, along with the support of the Board. Therefore, as of today, I have 121 students/parents registered for this trip. We go in March 2012.
-Thanksgiving Festivities - we have much to be thankful for.
-Natasha & Brian & McKenzie welcomed their new bundle of joy, Lexi on December 5th.
-Christmas Festivities

...and much more has happened that I haven't listed simply because either I don't have the words to explain them or because we are still unsure as to where all these "small" things are leading our hearts and lives. Although it hasn't been written down very well, these things have been written on our hearts. There have been prayers prayed and prayers answered. All that has happend and all that has not, has set our hearts on a journey that will not end, although this year will in just a few short minutes. Instead, we will being the new year, 2012, in prayer, continuing the journey of our hearts.
I hope to document much better as well as catch up on the last year.

We finish the year 2011 with a prayer and begin 2012 with the same one:

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are thankful for 2011 and hopeful for 2012.

Happy New Year!

What are we chasing?

I am interrupting my "catching up on the blog" series to simply post something that is super current in our lives. For a few weeks now, I have wanted to share these thoughts - at least get them on the blog for our personal documentation purposes, so I guess tonight's the night. I mean, what else would I do at 11:22pm on a Sunday night and it is summer? Blog, right?

Currently, Brandon & I find ourselves in a place where are fervently praying that we will not chase the American Dream - the dream created by our culture, but that we will chase the dream that we were created to chase - the dream created by our Father.

It seems as though everywhere we look, our culture encourages us to buy bigger, climb the ladder, and get more. But today and everyday we are clinging to Matthew 6:19 -21
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Our hope is to chase the dream that our Father has created us to chase - a dream that will give us "a hope and a future".

Natasha's Award

My Sister-in-Law, Natasha, began attending SCC for Cosmotology in January 2010. You can read about how this journey began here. She has now graduated, however, I wanted to post pictures of her award night, before I posted pictures of the graduation.

Grady Montgomery Holland

March 1, 2011, my Papaw, Grady Holland, the Patriarch of our family, went to live with Jesus. Just so I can have it recorded, I have included his obituary on the blog. Blogger would not let me copy and paste, therefore, I typed the whole thing out myself.

As I typed it out, line by line, I couldn't help but think of what injustice these words are. Though these words are all true, as any obituary, these words do not even begin to tell the story of this man's life.

I am thankful however, that my family is the family that has the privileged to tell the story of this Sweet Man's life as we live our own. Throughout our lives - the choices we make, the values we cling to, and by serving those around us, we will be telling the story of Papaw, loud and clear.

I have blogged about Papaw before. You can read about the 64th Wedding Anniversary that he and Mamaw shared, his 95th Birthday that we celebrated last summer, and about Papaw receiving his medals from WWII on Veteran's Day, 2010.

Grady Holland, 95, of Franklin, passed away Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

Born in Macon Co., he was the son of the late Jerry Marr Holland and Hettie Jane Dills Holland. In addition to his parents, he is proceeded in death by a son, Jesse Grady Holland; grandson, David Wayne Holland; four brothers, Charlie Holland, Jack Holland, Dewey Holland, and Watsel Holland and a sister, Gertrude Hughes. Grady was an US Army Veteran and served during WWII under General George Patton. He loved to farm and was a member of Pine Grove Baptist Church.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Betty Margaret Stuman Holland; two sons, Gary Holland and wife Edith, and Randy Holland and wife Christine both of Franklin; daughter, Marianna Solesbee of Hiawasee, GA; nine grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; several step grandchildren and great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be held at 11:00am Friday, March 4, in the Chapel of Macon Funeral Home. Rev. Wiley Gibson, Rev. Brandon Breedlove, Rev. John Rogers will officiate. Burial will be at Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery with full military rites conducted by VFW Post 7339 and American Legion Post 108.

The family will receive friends from 6-8:00pm Thursday, March 3, at Macon Funeral Home.

Pallbearers will be Barry and Lane Cabe, Cameron and Michael Holland, and Michael and William Hamlin.

Memorial donations can be made to Pine Grove Baptist Church Building Fund, 7454 Highlands Rd, Franklin, NC 28734

Macon Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Baseball

This Spring Season, we have enjoyed watching Lucas play baseball. He seems to enjoy it, but there are still those moments of playing in the dirt on the field, watching an airplane fly over, and an occasional water break, by running off the field while the rest of the team is out on it. :)

I took these pictures at his very first baseball game. As you tell by the people in the background, it was a very cold day, but a great time was had by all!

Go Cardinals!

Sooo Cold.


Up to bat!

Go Lucas! Ready to score.
Pep talk from the Coach.

"Good Game...Good Game..."

And the reason why he is playing baseball....SNACKS!

A Weekend with Rachel

Towards the end of March, I got to visit my friend Rachel for the weekend. Rachel and I met in 2004 as we served on the same World Changers Summer Staff Team. On each SS team, typically there are 2 girls and 2 boys. The four of us ride together to the states that we are assigned to. Basically, for the entire summer, we are a family. It is crucial to be able to connect with all your teammates, but it was especially important to connect with your same gender teammate, for obvious reasons.
The day Rachel and I met, we became great friends. Not only did we serve together in 2004 in Illinois, Indiana, & Missouri, but we also got to serve together in 2005 in the state of Texas. I do not have a single memory of those two summers that Rachel is not a part of.

Rachel lives in Lawrenceville, GA - about 2 hours away, but entirely too close for me not have seen her for a year and a half!

The weekend was just what I needed at that exact time. Conversation was about World Changers, Teaching, Life, and started over again. Thank you Rachel for a weekend that was good for the soul in so many ways.

This is the only picture I took of us together. It is hard to see, but oh well.

This is the apartment complex that Rachel lives in. It was my home for the weekend.

Unbelievably Behind on Blogging...

We have had a great Sunday afternoon. After church this morning we had Chloe's Gymnastics Exhibition. She did a great job. We don't get to watch her do gymnastics all that often so when we do see her, we can really tell how much she is growing as an athlete. I loved getting to watch her today.


We then went to Brandon's parent's house, where everyone jumped in to help me make my students' End-Of-Grade Test encouragements. 125 of them in all. Testing begins tomorrow.


Then for the rest of the day, Brandon and I have just hung out at home. I sat down to blog, I went through my pictures and oh my! I am crazy behind on posting about anything in our lives. I am actually pretty embarrassed to admit it, however, by the time I am caught up, I will have to go back to March 1st! Oh. My. Goodness!


Anyhow, let the catching up begin....

Chloe's Gymnastic Exhibition

EOG Eagle Encouragements

"You are one smart cookie!

Do your best. I believe in you!

Mrs. Breedlove"

Inside the baggie, there is an Oreo. It is in the corner of the picture.

Sunday, May 1, 2011 - Osama Bin Laden

For records sake, I feel as though I need to take some time to reflect and document what exactly this day means in the life of our nation.

September 11, 2001, I was a high school senior. The cap and gown had been ordered, the prom dress search had officially began, and all was well in the lives of the seventeen year olds that filled the Algebra 2 class we were in. I had not been feeling well that morning and was running late getting to school. Mom & I were in the living room and before I left for school, we saw the breaking news that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York City. It had appeared to be an accident. I left for school, which was less than half a mile away.

As I got onto campus, I headed for Algebra 2. Walking down the hall of the Main Building, I knew something had occurred. It wasn't the news on the television that told me, nor was it the discussions that poured from the teacher lounges and other classrooms that told me, but it was something else. There was something else on the inside of my normally chatty Algebra 2 classroom: silence & fear.

The students in my classroom along with every other classroom in the school, were glued to the televisions. Another plane had hit the second tower and as more news came across the airways, one thing was certain. This was not an accident, but instead, it was a carefully calculated plot with a man by the name of Osama Bin Laden as the mastermind behind it all.

Along with the rest of the world, we watched. The hearts of America were broken and scared.

Security increased for a little while and although the we were all aware of "The War on Terrorism" eventually, the lives of most Americans found their way to normalcy - most American civilians that is, as the lives of American soldiers and their families were increasingly anything other than normal. This has been the case for the last 10 years as soldiers have spent their days and nights fighting for protection and freedoms for our nation and searching Osama Bin Laden.

*10 Years Later*

Monday, May 2, 2011, I woke up to the news that a group of Navy Seals had killed Osama Bin Laden the day before. As I got on to work, I again found myself walking through the hallways of a school, hearing this same name coming from classrooms and teacher lounges that I had heard 10 years ago. I even heard students talking to one another about the death of this man that they had led in the 2001 terrorist attacks, the year they were born.

Throughout the day, I checked the news. I have read about the celebrations taking place across the nation as this man has been brought to death. Yes, there were emotions in my heart throughout the day like relief and thankfulness, however, I can not say that "rejoicing" was one of them.

I have struggled with how to word my thoughts, but when I came across J.D. Greear's blog, I felt as though he sums up my heart today. Please click the link to go to his blog, which is much more powerful and shorter than this one.

Needmore

Brandon's Papaw lives on Needmore, which means that it takes a long time to get to his house. :) It also means that in order for us to get to his house, we must go on a curvy, gravel, one-car wide road that follows the river with zero guardrails. It's scary in the summer time, much less in the winter when snow and ice are a relevant concern. Therefore, this winter, we didn't go down very often at all for a visit. So when the weather cleared up we all loaded up and went for a visit. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of his papaw... weird.

Gazebo Date

A Spring Date with Brandon & Lucas was in store at the Gazebo one Saturday afternoon. It was among the first really nice Saturdays of Spring and we were all three ready to get out and enjoy the sunshine. So the Gazebo was the place to go!

While we were waiting on our food, Lucas & I entertained ourselves by taking pictures with my phone.

This is the sweetest picture

The boy that was too cool to have fun taking pictures. :)

Spring Time - The Season of Baseball

This year, Lucas is playing tball. This is his first year and I'm not sure who is more excited him or me.... (just to give rest to curious minds.... I AM.... by far) I do however think he really enjoys playing although it may be difficult to see his excitiement when he is playing in the dirt or picking clover out on the field, but what's that matter? Here are a couple pictures of us practicing in the yard. Which "practicing" to Lucas means you pitching the ball so he can hit it and NEVER having to catch or throw himself.

Accidental Hiatus

2 words for you: accidental hiatus. I have so much to share and to blog about. I sat down about two weeks ago to try to catch up, but ran into a little snag. I was looking for my card reader and my camera card so I could post pictures, when Brandon brought it to me. The reason why I couldn't find either of these things was because they were in the pocket of my jeans, which were in the WASHING MACHINE! Thankfully, the camera card still read perfectly in my camera, which was my main concern. Unfortunately, I can not say the same about the card reader. :( Still I have not gotten another card reader, but it is most definitely on my to-do list. Until then, we are doing well, busy as always, and way behind on blogging. In case we actually have regular readers, this is just a friendly notification that the hiatus will soon be over. :) Happy Wednesday!

Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant

February 18th, Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant were in concert at the Smoky Mtn. Center of the Performing Arts.

Most definitely there was a hype buzzing all around the theatre, however, there was a personal excitement too. I was working the ticket part of the show, but I was also going to get to watch the show by joining a group of friends.

We had a great time. The concert was amazing! I enjoyed every single minute.

Again, my camera was, I don't know where and I only had my phone, however, it worked.

Not pictured: Brooke. I'm not really sure where she was when I took these.

Catch Up & Sunshine

The last several weeks have absolutely flown by! It seems as though February and March have completely passed by without being noticed. I am doing my best to get caught up on all that has happened within the last couple of months. Thankfully, I take pictures with my phone, reminding me of all that I need to blog about.

So this post is an attempt to get back on track.

Towards the end of February, Sunday afternoon was spent at Brandon's parents' house along with his siblings and their families. The weather was great and we all took advantage of it and spent as much time as we could out in the sunshine.

Sandy had to fix her pond and Brandon and Chloe got the privilege of returning the fish back to their happy home. The great weather urged me to take pictures of our excitement in the sun.

Bedroom Makeover

Over a month ago, Brandon and I decided to paint our bedroom. We had been talking about doing this since we moved into our apartment 3 1/2 years ago but never had. So on the one Saturday that we had no plans at all, we decided it was the perfect day to paint? Why do we do this to ourselves? We long for a day with NO PLANS and we decide to paint? Whatever. Anyhow, I was so pleased with the results.

Chloe Goes for Gold!

This year Chloe participated on a Competition Gymnastics Team. She has loved every minute of it! Unfortunately, most if not all of her competitions were out of town and on a Sunday. It's really difficult for Brandon and I to get away on Sundays with our roles at church. We were unable to attend any of the competitions this time, but hopefully, next time we will be able to make it to at least one.

February 6th was Chloe's last competion of the season. She went to Clemson, South Carolina and returned home with all kinds of medals and awards.


There were lots of teams from all over South East participating in this competition. Chloe was awarded 3rd in the overall competition!! Way to go, Chloe!!!


Her other awards included 1st place in the Floor Excercise!
Her scores were:
Bars 8.650
Bean 8.80
Vault 9.35
Floor 9.2

We are super excited Chloe ranked 3rd overall, but to us, she is our #1!