Life on the Married Side

Ringing in the New Year

2011-01-01T15:24:00.003-07:00

Well it's been a long time since I posted. Things have been very busy but going really great.

Here are some highlights from 2010:

- Finished my first year of teaching! (hardest but one of the greatest things I've done!)
- Received my contract for another year at my same amazing school- seriously so blessed
- lost 50 pounds (gained some of that back but spending the next several weeks getting it all off again- definitely learned the struggle of the holidays with weight loss- haha we won't make that mistake again and we learned a lot but we don't want to continue to Yo Yo in our weight so we are taking this seriously now that we see how quickly it can come back)
- Celebrated 2 years of marriage- going on 3 years now!
- one of my best friends in the entire world had a beautiful baby girl
- another beautiful best friend got married!
- really clicked in our young married's small group and have found such joy in those friendships
- started my 2nd year of teaching and loving every day of it (ok well not always everyday but I definitely love what I do and know I was made to teach!)
- went on our first cruise (already planning our next one!!)
- Jeremiah is heading into his 5th year at Palm Valley Church and we bought a building and it's been a huge blessing to move forward and have our own space
- adopted 2 adorable wonderful kittens
- bought a new house closer to town and LOVE it to pieces
-struggled with my time with God and He continued to convict me to work actively on my relationship with Him and ready for 2011 and God to show up big!
- coached a middle school sport and loved the bonding time with my fellow coach and girls!
- and so many other little details that could fill pages and pages

2011 is going to be great... I pray God blesses us, stretches us, challenges us, and continues to provide so that we can bless others.

Bring it on 2011! :)

Finished!

2010-07-27T11:28:00.003-07:00

Well both Jeremiah and I have finished our last round of HCG and are so proud of the results. We never cheated, never diverged and did it by the book and it has paid off! We don't plan on doing any more rounds of it- just maintaining a healthy lifestyle with food and exercise to keep our current weight and even lose a little bit more on our own.

Jeremiah is officially down about 70 pounds!!

I am officially down about 50 pounds!!

It has been such a great journey doing it on our own with HCG. We know that HCG is not a miracle diet and that we can gain it all back in a few weeks if we go back to our old lifestyle. We have learned so much during this process- SO much about food and realizing that food is really 90% of the weight loss battle. We look at ingredients now more than nutritional facts (while those are important- we now don't really want to be eating something a low 100 calories but with sugar as the first ingredient). We just look more closely about what is in our food... we eat a lot more fresh foods and organic foods when possible. We haven't had any processed food in 10 weeks and it's amazing how I haven't felt sick or anything all summer (which usually happens when I am done with school or preparing for school) and it's great!

We are so thankful that we did this being so young, before we have kids- so we can help our kids develop healthy eating habits. We know we will have our weekly treats or "free" meals where we can eat a few things that we wouldn't eat on a regular basis and we love that we can see those as a "treat" now and not our normal foods.

I'm stoked to go back to school 50 pounds lighter with so much energy.

We are officially doing our 2nd half marathon in February and excited to smoke our old time being so much lighter. Training starts in a few weeks. :)

God has blessed this time in our lives and we pray we have the discipline to keep it up!!

Summer 2010

2010-06-16T08:57:00.002-07:00

Well so far this summer has been fabulous!! I have been super busy but it's been nice to just be busy with life and not life AND work/school haha. Our diet is coming to an end (well the super strict part) and we are both so thrilled. I'm down about 30 from when we started a few weeks ago, Jeremiah is down 40. Its been great. We are going to do 1 more 3 weeks cycle of it to get down our last 15-20 pounds and then maintaining it for hte long hall begins.

I am going to Idaho for 4 days to see one of my best friends get married and stand by her on this special day! Its so great to watch my friends go through this phase of their life now that Jeremiah and I aren't really considered "newlyweds" anymore (even tho many people would disagree haha).

Jeremiah and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary and celebrating with a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean (SO THRILLED!!!) and so many people around us are having babies (including my best friend Lauren and I SO wish I could be there when baby Emily comes!) and it makes me want to have some of our own- so instead of going that route yet- we are getting kittens! I LOVE cats and I'm excited to have them in our house soon. Babies will, Lord willing, be in a few years- we are enjoying this time to just focus on each other and have a little bit extra money to splurge haha.

I'm enjoying summer- only about 5-6 weeks left and my second year will be so much easier than my first (in the sense of planning and having things to go off of!) There will be challenges ahead, joys to come and many things to look forward to!!

6 weeks is over- maintenance period begins!

2010-05-29T13:04:00.002-07:00

Well 42 days has come and gone and we did it!! We successfully completed 6 weeks of hcg and we are so pleased with the results. 6 weeks, 26.5 pounds for me and 37 pounds for Jeremiah (nuts!)

It was REALLY hard at times but the scale and fit of our clothes was worth it all. We both still have about 20 pounds to go for our goal weight but to get this close to our goal weight is just wonderful! Jeremiah is the smallest he has been... well... in almost 10 years! He looks and feels great! I am putting on clothes (special dresses or few things I kept) from high school! A whole new wardrobe has to be purchased but it's SO worth it!

There were MANY times we wanted to quit, cheat or just felt discouraged. We were thankful we didn't and had people around us to encourage us!

We are now on a 3 week maintenance period. Still no sugars or starches but we go from 500 calories a day to 1500 calories! (sounds like SO much food after eating so little) but we don't have drops anymore and can have dairy, salad dressing, oils, all veggie's and fruits up to our allowed caloric limit. So wonderful! I had egg casserole and bacon this morning, melba toast with laughing cow spreadable cheese, a huge salad with cheese and dressing and turkey hot dog with chilli for lunch! So low in calories all those foods but SO delicious after a very limited menu before).

Our cruise is in 4 weeks so we are hoping to lose as much as we can by then and spend the rest of the summer getting down those last 20 pounds. Back to the gym this week (so excited) and much more going on in our lives!

Glad the hard part is now over!

Week 4- only 2 weeks left!

2010-05-16T09:47:00.002-07:00

I can't believe we have been doing this diet for a month- NO cheats!

My body actually feels really good to not have had ANY sugars, oils, butters, white starches! So crazy - I remember the first week and I just thought I would never be able to do this- now it's 2nd nature!

While I do miss a lot of my favorite foods, I know that eventually I will be able to eat everything (in super moderation and being more conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth).

I had a revelation the other day because I weight myself at night (dumb idea haha) and I was 3 pounds heavier than I was that morning- now i know that your weight fluctuates during the day but 3 pounds! How was I going to lose 3 pounds just by sleeping. .. The next morning I had lost 4 pounds *which was a pound less than the morning before) and I got to thinking that by putting healthy food in my body all day, over night my body used that food ALL up- there was no excess food, fats, junk, to figure out what to do with- my body utilized every ounce of food and then I lost weight.

It was a huge breakthrough in thinking that if I help my body out by eating what it needs, I will get the results I was looking for.

2 weeks from today I will be able to have salad dressing, dairies, some oils and all the rest of the fruits and veges and just counting calories closely.

As of today I have lost 19.5 pounds!! (I am SO close to the 20 pound mark and so excited!!) We have 6 weeks until our cruise and my goal is 3 pounds a week until then to get failry close to my goal weight :)

Jeremiah, oh gotta love guys, has lost 27 pounds!! He has another 20 to lose until his goal weight and it's encouraging to see an average of 5-7 pounds of weight loss a week!

I just really desire to feel confident- I don't have a goal pant size really or a certain number that I feel would make me "happy" i just want to be confident and have my body reflect the energy, athleticism and personality I know I have but that might have been hidden by my weight.

Pics to come eventually :) Thanks for all your support!!

Week 2 and going strong!

2010-05-01T16:18:00.002-07:00

Well we are finished with the 2nd week of our new eating plan.

Great results and feeling good. Don't really feel hungry anymore, tons of energy and sleeping really well!!

We are on day 15 and I am down 12 POUNDS!! It's so awesome. I am starting to feel it and see it a bit. I think next week once we are closer to the 20 pound mark, it will be more obvious. It's been hard when the scale says the number is loser but I don't see it in the mirror or feel it in my clothes. Today I started feeling it in my clothes :)

Jeremiah has lost 16 pounds!!! He is doing really well and starting to feel it and see it more. It's been hard for him with the limited choices on food but we know it's only temporary and we will get all our food choices back again (just in moderation and smaller portions). We know this is a life change but we are ready for it. Getting ready in a few years for starting a family, we want to make sure we have a habit of a healthy lifestyle so we don't have to figure that out while starting our family. :)

We booked our cruise to the Caribbean last week- more motivation! We are both hoping to lose around 30 pound (Jeremiah probably more!) and we will be so confident on this trip and really enjoy ourselves. God has provided free plane tickets, cheap cruise price and the time off!

We are so thankful and blessed!! Stay tuned for week 3 results!

Been a while- lots to catch up on!

2010-04-24T15:09:00.003-07:00

Well it's hard to believe but in 4 weeks I will be done with my 1st year of full time teaching!! How did this year pass by so fast?????

I'm happy to say that I've been offered a full time contract for next year and I signed that puppy so fast!!
I'm so thrilled to be back at Country Place next year and be with my students again. It will be a blast- and a lot easier now that I don't have to come up with ALL my lesson plans again, just recycle many old ones :)

This summer is going to be great! Middle school summer camp, going to Idaho for one of my best friend's weddings!!! And a mystery vacation for Jeremiah and. While we have money saved, vacation fund set, full time jobs for next year and a few weeks off, we are going to go somewhere this summer. We are hoping somewhere tropical, a Bahama cruise, or Hawaii or something. We know that in the next few years when we start our family we won't have that luxury as much with extra funds, time, etc. So we are wanting to do this now!

Another big thing we are doing is the HCG diet. We have had many friends do and successfully complete this diet and we are thrilled to have finished our first week on it!

Basically we take these hormone drops and can only eat 500 calories a day! I know I know... it sounds crazy but the drops allow our body to go after the fat cells (rather than muscle sells that normally would happen on that low cal of a diet) and they suppress the bad hunger, although we are still pretty hungry.

So far in the past 5-6 days I have lost 6 pounds and Jeremiah has lost 8 pounds. (Darn boys and losing more weight!)

I will be posting each week our progress and we are hoping to be down 30ish pounds by the 1st week of June and then reward ourselves with a 'beachy' vacation and be proud of our bodies!! Then we go up to a 1500 calorie diet and exercise and if we keep with that, we will maintain and lose even some more weight.

I'm excited to rely on God for this because it's hard not to cheat!! I want to eat EVERYTHING haha but I know the reward will be worth it!!

New changes

2009-10-17T18:48:00.002-07:00

Well several weeks ago Jeremiah and I found out just how low the housing market had sunk out in the west valley. We LOVE our home, but when the house across the street (which is MUCH bigger than ours) is cheaper than our house- it made us think. Because of our situation, we qualified for a nice loan with a really great interest rate. So... we began looking...

I fell in love with a house... the only major difference was an extra bedroom and bath and a little bit bigger kitchen/family room.

Our only obstacle... finding a renter (because we would lose money on our house at this point). So we looked around- a few prospects fell through and we prayed hard! Jeremiah and my last prayer about it was "Lord, give us a CLEAR direction." The next day, our last prospect for a renter (a renter that we knew/ church family that we trusted) fell through and the only house we really liked was sold! After every house we looked at, we came back home and we just said "wow, we really have an amazing house."
I (along with many amazing ppl) have spent so long decorating, painting, improving this house... after our CLEAR direction was shown- we decided... why not spent the money we had been saving on improving our current house- to make it something even more lovable. So... that is what we did!

Nothing in our house was new. Every furniture piece and appliance was used either from family/friends or off craigslist. We decided to get a new sectional, coffee table 2 more sitting chairs. This changed our living room from seating 2-3, to seating 9! Then we decided to landscape our backyard. It has been nothing but weeds and dirt since the house was built. We are now totally changing everything! A huge new patio, flag stone seating area/planter, fire pit, rock, trees, bbq, flowers, patio furniture- the works! ALso redoing the front yard with a new rock and plants. We realized that spending a lot of our savings on a down payment of a new house with no new furniture was not as appealing as spending just a little bit of our savings on improving our house now.

I am excited to really make our house an entertainment house. Lots of places to sit, fire pit to entertain, patio to sit on and seating galore!

Pictures to come soon. The backyard is in the works (will be done totally in about 2-3 weeks!) and we just need 1 more end table to complete our living room. I am excited at this decision- still knowing that a bigger house will be in our future (once kiddos come) and the market rises just a tad :)

God has blessed us IMMENSELY and brought people in our path to help us to get out of previous debt and be very secure in our marriage financially. I just pray that we continue to use our money to bless God. We believe that even allowing our house to be more of a place of fellowship through more space to bring people in, is a small way to praise Him through His money in another way.

Can't wait to show everyone the results of it all!!

Another month and no blog... here it goes!

2009-09-19T13:19:00.003-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I blogged. In 1 1/2 weeks, I will be 25% of the way done with my first year of teaching.

WHAT!?!?!? Can that be true!?!?

My schedule is nuts at this school because I have not repeated a lesson in 8 weeks... so I have done a year's worth of lesson plans in 8 weeks and now in 2 weeks I finally get to just repeat almost everything I did the past 8 weeks. SOOO EXCITED!

This year so far has been absolutely incredible. I have had my really hard days where I got up at 5:30 (everyday haha) and just cried on the way to work thinking "is this what I am supposed to be doing" and almost everyday after my first class is over... I have a renewed spring in my step thinking "yes! yes it is!!"

I am so attached to all 250 kids I have right now. in 2 weeks i get a new batch of 250 kids... I hope my heart melts for all of them just the same. I have 5 year olds who don't know how to sit on their bottom or tie their shoe and a few hours later I have 13 year olds who are dealing with more issues at home and with their self image than I could ever imagine. It is a challenge but to see their faces light up with joy in my class can never ever out weigh the hard days.

My prayer has been to uplift those hard students (and man do I have some hard hard hard students) and encourage the great students at the same time! God constantly reminds me that there is more to each of these students than what I see. I have students in foster care, students who were abused, students whose parents are both in jail, students who have to work on the weekends to help provide for their families, students who have great lives and spirits, students who are spoiled, students who care so much about the adults around them and students who have been burned by so many adults that they aren't sure if you are for real... It's so much to deal with sometimes but man is it a great position to be in! So much influence!!

I have my first "concert" on Friday and I am sooooo proud of my students. My junior high students are doing STOMP (learning rhythm and putting together a performance with random household instruments). Last week right before we started learning the routine they said "Mrs. Hann- we aren't going to be good. This is going to look so bad!" and I promised them "If you work hard, I will NEVER let you embarrass yourself or look bad." On Friday they finished learning half of their routine and they all had the biggest smiles on their face. One of my rough kids came up to me and said "High five Mrs. Hann! This is going to rock!" It just made me want to cry. They aren't becoming amazing musicians, doing ground breaking things- but they are growing in their confidence and trusting another adult in their life not to disappoint them!

I am so so so so so blessed. To have an amazing husband, a great ministry and home church and the most amazing job.

My students always ask "Why don't you have kids Mrs. Hann- you're married so you should have kids (haha so funny)" and I told one of my classes "Well I have all of you guys- that's enough kids for me right now" haha. They all said "oh we are like your kids!!" Gosh even typing about them right now makes my heart melt!

I am excited to take a week break on the first week of October to rest and recoup from this crazy quarter! Many more successes and praises to come!

Busy Busy

2009-08-15T17:18:00.002-07:00

FINALLY UPDATING :)

It is a good thought to know that I have enough free time right now to finally update my blog.

These past 3 weeks have been ridiculous.

I have officially been a teacher for 2 weeks now :) and I... LOVE IT!!!!!!!

It is the greatest reward, the hardest thing I've ever done and so worth every tear, laugh, penny, loss of sleep.... worth it all!

I had a great first day of teaching. I actually had my admin come in and observe (my first day- yikes!) and they announced at staff meeting how impressed they were with me- it was a nice feeling... but..

day 2 came haha

I cried on day 2 and 3- I didn't think i could do it anymore (sounds weird but true). I knew the first week would be hard but finding out that I had a class full of kinders who didn't speak English, who had specials needs but weren't tested yet, 32 5th graders who also had language barriers and 7th/8th graders who I wasn't sure would enjoy the "elective" they chose to be in my class.

Monday came of week 2- and I spent SO long on lesson plans, making it work well- and it paid off! Week 2 was great (had its struggles) but I pushed forward and got so many great rewards this week. I love giving the teachers a prep during my class, I love encouraging teachers by telling them growth I see in their class, and I love meeting my coworkers and making friendships.

Being a believer in my work place has been difficult, not because I can't share with the students (because I believe the love and acceptance I show to the students will speak so much louder than most things) but with my coworkers. A lot of them have asked me to hang out with them and I have been invited to a junior high teachers party next week (which I think J and I will stop by at- just to make an appearance because I do enjoy those teachers a lot) but a lot of their "hanging out" is not something that I do because it usually involves alcohol. So I am hoping that this party next week, will be ok, that I can still enjoy myself and not make a big deal about not drinking. I want them to respect me and be able to speak into their lives through that respect (not through condemnation).

I am optimistic about this year- I know it will be hard but I am keeping my head above the water and truly can say I am happy!
(not to mention we have 2 paychecks! Let the saving begin!!)

That's the scoop. Check out my class pics on my facebook :) Until next time.... :)

So many emotions...

2009-07-20T20:12:00.002-07:00

With only 2 weeks left until my first day of teaching, emotions ran high today.

I got into my classroom today and was completely overwhelmed...

I went to begin decorating and because another teacher (the band teacher) is using my classroom for the last hour of the day, a lot of the stuff in the class was hers and there was SOO much stuff in the back storage room that overwhelmed me... I just felt as thought there was so much that with the little time I have with the students that I couldn't possibly handle it all.

I think any first year teacher feels this way... but it wasn't until today when it all became real did I really emotionally crack. I am a confident person and in my abilities as an educator and musician... but I am no longer under another teacher (whether my college professors, observing with other teachers, or my cooperating teacher from student teaching)... I AM IT and that scares the heck out of me.

When I went in to get a tour of the school last week, it shocked me how much the admin valued me. The assistant principal said to me "Amber, right after you finished your interview, we unanimously decided that you would be hired- even before we finished all the rest of the interviews." He said, "The other school that you interview for, one of their admin was at our school after you did the interview there and they asked us who we wanted to hire and I told them, Amber Hann, and they said 'darn! we so wanted her!"

Not trying to seem overly confident, but it was a GREAT reminder and assurance that they had faith in me even before I set foot in my classroom.

Well this morning after I had my break-down, Jeremiah tried his best to comfort and I love him for standing by me even when I doubt myself... I needed to get a stapler from the front office and at the EXACT moment that I walked into the work room, the principal of my school (who I had not met yet) ran into me and introduced himself and pulled the AP aside to talk with me also.

I was not crying at this point but I mentioned that I was a bit overwhelmed but that I had so many great ideas and want to do lots of programming and little concerts and they both just smiled and got so excited.

I live for programs (haha thats what I've done and been apart of since grade school) and it's my passion. So I am excited to show the school and community that this school deserves to see their students perform musically... They just want me to have a very well run classroom (management wise) and to see the results of my students' music through programs. I CAN DO THAT! :)

I am not praying enough... I need to... only God can hold me during the hard days, only He can give me total confidence in the abilities HE has given me... I can do this...

I have lots of work to do this week with lesson plans (I realized that I don't need to have all my 900 lesson plans for the year done by next week... haha I just need 50 or so... no big deal :)

well time to go to bed. Headed to the dr. tomorrow b/c I need to find out why the heck I am getting UTIs at least once a month. it's painful and it's moved to my kidneys (so my back is killing me!) I hope they can do some tests or something and find out!

Well pics of my class to come soon! It's a work in progress!

Wicked!

2009-07-08T09:53:00.002-07:00

I am sooo excited about going to Wicked tonight! I had that soundtrack memorized right when it came out 6 years ago! My girlfriends and I would sing "Popular" while driving in the car! Such a cute, great, AMAZING musical. If you haven't heard any of the music, go to Youtube or something and listen! It is great!

Jeremiah has never seen it and my parents have a friend who could get great seats for free- so as an anniversary present they got us tickets to go with our family. We love musicals- our favorite part about Disneyland i the Aladdin musical they have (at Cali Adventure- it's like an hour long- go check it out!)

Anyway.. all that to say- we are going to get all dressed up, head to dinner with the fam and then have our minds amazed!

Pictures soon!

No longer newlyweds!

2009-06-20T13:19:00.015-07:00

Well today marks our 1 year anniversary! I can't believe it came and went so fast!

That day was such a blessing! Our family, friends, people around us to encourage us. Today Jeremiah surprised me with a DVD of our wedding day and reception. We have had the tapes sitting in our office area for a year and I guess he took them several weeks ago and converted them to DVD and made a whole movie out of it. It was incredible!!

So many things have happened since June 20, 2008...

an amazing honeymoon-

some great concerts-

wonderful first holidays together

some fun adventures

Long hard road of school, student teaching and... GRADUATION

This year has been wedded bliss (no pun intended). Jeremiah has treated me like a queen, he is so special to me.

We have worked so hard this year on our marriage. Working through struggles, fights, differences, time restraints, money issues, and God came through every time in the end. I doubted so many times, God revealed Himself each and every step of the way.

Jeremiah, to my wonderful husband and best friend,

You have showed me how God calls a man to lead his family. You have loved me more than I could have ever imagined. You fight for me, protect me, cuddle with me, kiss me, care about my feelings and pray for me. You have given our relationship up to Christ and He is blessing us. Thank you for reminding me daily that I am worth the love that God gives and that you give to me because of Him. I pray that we grow even more in love each day, week, month and year and that we look to God for each decision in our life. I cannot wait until the year of our marriage that we can grow our family with children and new adventures. I can't wait for another year and what amazing ways God will show up in our lives. I pray that our ministry is a reflection of our marriage and that our love is a total reflection of our relationship with God. I love you Jeremiah Richard Hann, with all of my heart. One year... 100 years... I will always love you. You are my best friend and my biggest supporter- thank you.

With all the love I have,

Your wife

Real World

2009-06-16T09:45:00.003-07:00

The closer and closer July comes, the more nervous I get that I am actually going to get my own classroom... Everything is up to me (for the most part). I have always been so confident in my abilities but now that I am accountable to myself basically (no professors, no cooperating teacher to fall back on... just me). I stayed up late last night just thinking (worrying haha) about if I can do it.

This Thursday I go and sign my new teacher hiring paperwork to make it official. I get all my information on my salary (still unreal!), benefits, schedule and new teacher orientation (at least there will be other people in my situation. I hope that once we get back from vacation I can finally see my classroom, find out what resources and curriculum I have and get down to work with lesson plans, choir music and many ideas! I am so grateful that my mom works for a city choir so I have TONS of music at my disposal and I have so many music teacher friends who will be of great help and support. I am the only music teacher at my school (minus the band teacher who travels to a few schools) so unlike a regular classroom teacher, I don't have a team of people that are teaching the same thing, going through the same thing, so that's the hard part about being a specials teacher, you are basically it.

I know that first year teaching is "survival year" but that scares me to think that I just need to "survive." I'm sure it will be tough, rewarding, eye opening and a blessing. I just want to get ahead of myself with the 3 weeks I have before meetings start to get at least lesson plans started... I can't wait to decorate my classroom, figure out my classroom rules and meet the over 850 kids that I will need to learn their names, faces, personality, etc.

I am most nervous about my colleagues and making "friends." haha it's like high school again (making friends haha). I tend to be an introvert when I'm in new situations (not in my classroom but around people my own age or older). I don't want to isolate myself but I know it will take time for me to open up and meet others... I just pray God gives me confidence, humility and wisdom. I will definitely have to rely on God moreso than I ever thought this next year. I can't do this on my own... I can do anything with Him though! :)

This is my beautiful new home for the next year :) This school is SOOO beautiful, I can't even imagine what my classroom will look like!!

Thoughts

2009-06-09T10:16:00.002-07:00

Sometimes I look back at my life and wonder why God has blessed me so much... honestly. It scares me to think that I have not gone through much heartache or pain in my life. I have been disappointed, heart broken, felt alone and many other "hard" times but sometimes I think, "when does the really hard stuff come... and am I ready for it?"

I see the extreme pain that people are going through, so much even this week. I know God will prepare me for it when it does hit but have I lived such an innocent life so far that when real true pain hits- will I run straight to God and know that I am ok?

So many people have been in my mind the past couple of days, some of them people I don't even really know. But I think, God must know they are ready for something this BIG- does God want me to dive deeper in His Word, draw closer to Him, pray like mad and prepare myself for tragedy that is inevitable?? YES- I don't think I take that serious enough.

I have not experienced loss like most people have (death or abandonment), I have not experienced physical pain hardly at all (haha child birth might be the first way I break myself into that haha), and have had little disappointment in my life. What is the first big thing that will come into my life and am I too naive to think that it can happen at any point. I feel almost like knocking on wood as I write this post (God forbid something does happen).

Can anyone else relate? I am so blessed and yet humbled to think that God in His infinite wisdom knows when I will be ready and will walk with me through anything. Do I take His sovereign plans seriously enough to do something about it?

God and Junior High

2009-06-06T13:49:00.002-07:00

Have you ever just watched junior high students who like each other? (or remember the days...?)

You spent all your time thinking about them, talking about them, writing about them... but rarely any time actually TALKING to them.

I watch these relationships play out every week (seeing as though my job and ministry revolve around teenagers) and was compelled to think that that is what my relationship with God is like sometimes.

I tend to think about God a lot, write about Him in blogs, status, etc., and talk about Him a lot to students, parents, others etc.

But I was convicted to think how often to I actually talk TO God. Not as much as the others I'm afraid.

It was a big awakening to think that I think it's silly for younger students to like someone so much, think about them so much- but not EVER ACTUALLY talk to them.

Am I like that?? Too often... yes.

Vacation Update

2009-06-04T09:32:00.002-07:00

I am so excited that we decided to go out on a limb and use priceline for our vacation in 2 weeks.

There was one set back but other than that - it was perfect!!

We bid on 4 & 3 1/2 star hotels and got some amazing deals. We are spending 1 night in Hollywood and we bid $60 and got the hotel Marriott in Downtown Los Angeles :) It's beautiful! The set back- they charge you to park (and you have to valet park) -boo. So we are going to try and park somewhere close and walk, but we'll see.

We next bid on hotels in San Diego and that was a bit harder, but we ended up getting another Marriott hotel really close to Sea World but again we got hit with a parking fee (I think we will have an easier time finding a place to park in San Diego but downtown LA might be harder).

Needless to say when we averaged our hotel rates at $70 a night for amazing hotels! Heck even if we have to pay the parking fee, it still makes the quality TONS cheaper than the normal price.

We are so excited to find great deals for this vacation and spend less money than we thought :)

We did our research for priceline and got lots of tips and it definitely paid off :) Give it a try sometimes!

Vacation!

2009-06-02T12:42:00.003-07:00

This is for you Lauren!

Well this summer were had many different ideas for vacation... we were not sure what this year would hold with my job situation so we planned on using some tax return money to get annual passes to Disneyland. This would ensure that no matter how type money continued to be that we would have a sure-fire vacation for the next year.

Well since the job offer at Country Place Elementary- we had been thinking of a less expensive summer trip since we want to save up to go to New York next summer (our favorite place ever!)

So my cousin told me about a deal that Costco has for a Southern California pass (it is on sale this summer). So we have decided we are going to get this pass which will give us a 3 day park hopper to Dland, 1 day to Sea World, 1 day to the San Diego Zoo and 1 day to Universal Studios!

Jeremiah has never been to San Diego or Universal Studios so we thought it would be so much fun to spend some time in Dland then spent the rest of the time in San Diego and LA. Gives us more of an adventure and will be fun to go a few places Jeremiah has never been. So now we have to make a few hotel arrangements (Pastor Greg might come in handy with his Priceline/Hotwire intelligence!) and might not be able to go hit up Saddleback but will definitely go to some church that weekend either in LA/Anaheim or San Diego (always fun to check out other churches and youth groups on our weekends off).

So that is our plan this summer. That gives us about a week to wind down, be together and get away and then I will jump straight into my classroom, meetings and ready for the school year.

For now I am relaxing, cleaning, meeting up with some girl friends I haven't seen in a while and getting lots of SLEEP!

Junior High Camp

2009-05-30T13:22:00.002-07:00

Well this week was the most incredible experience of our ministry life so far.

Last summer we had camp, but as I have said before, I just did not put any heart into it (seeing as though our wedding was the same week and I had laryngitis- haha crazy time).

This year we dove head first into planning camp, praying for the students and preparing ourselves for what God was going to do- but I NEVER thought God would work in these students' lives as much as He did.

Some setbacks happened a few weeks before camp which discouraged us but we were determined to make this about the students and not dwell on things that were no longer in our control. There are several things we wanted to do differently but God had a different plan and I knew He was testing our trust in Him. I could feel Him saying "Will you trust me if I take this away? What about if you don't have this anymore? What if this happens?" and each step of the way Jeremiah and I said "Whatever happens, we can handle it with God."

We started off not thinking we would have enough kids signed up (we had to pay for a minimum of 100 kids- whether they signed up or not, that was our contract with the camp. As of 2 months ago we only had about 50 kids signed up- that was soo scary thinking we would lose that much money- we don't expect to make money off of camp but we definitely did not want to owe tons of money. The day we left for camp we took 119 people with us to camp! That was a miracle by God, we gave out many scholarships to kids that would not have been able to go and we even had to add another cabin of boys because so many students signed up. It was INCREDIBLE!

I got SUPER sick last week and was not able to help as much as I could, but I pushed through it and God really gave Jeremiah extra strength and energy to be able to take care of me and get camp in order. Miraculously, I was over my sickness the exact day we left for camp. God never ceases to amaze me.

The camp was amazing, students were eager to hear from God's Word, to make new friends and play some awesome games! Jeremiah, for the first time I believe in his time at PVC, really became the face of the jr. high ministry and he was so excited to feel and be seen as their pastor and not the worship leader or the helper. It was amazing to see him come full circle, grow in his confidence and really let God use him and to see the students embrace him.

Our students are going through some amazingly hard things in life, they were hungry for answers, questions about life, my small group of girls asked hours worth of questions about the Bible and questions about God- I was blown away by the questions and discussion we had and the other mentors said they had the same.

We had about 20 students raise their hand that they accepted Christ for the first time and a majority of the students took Pastor Greg's challenge on the last night to stand up and live their life for Christ. The whole camp was called Fl!P- all about flipping their lives from what the world teaches to what God teaches. I cried on the last night, watching the students tune in to Greg's message and really challenge themselves. I am so proud of our junior highers and our leaders.

Junior high ministry is one of the least rewarding in the sense that they usually take and take and take from what we give, and we rarely see thanks in return. This past week I was moved to tears in thinking that this is the exact ministry God has called Jeremiah and I to and that we are rewarded in seeing life change from the students and are encouraged that they are becoming prepared to go to high school. I am so thankful that we have people supporting us either through prayer or being apart of the junior high ministry. God has called some amazing volunteers to join us and we are so thankful for people who have a heart for junior highers- without them, we don't know where we would be!

We are home now, after Sunday at 12:30 we will get to settle down, have a date night and get ready for our vacation in a few weeks! This summer is going to be great!!

One Heck of Summer So Far

2009-05-23T15:46:00.003-07:00

Well it's been 2 weeks since I graduated and it has been SO eventful (great and horrible at the same time).

After graduation, I knew I had 2 weeks of "free" time before jr. high camp madness, but I never expected those 2 weeks to be totally full from the start.

I had a day with Jeremiah, just to ourselves, and Tuesday was the most uneventful day of the 2 weeks. Wednesday I went back to the school I student taught at and helped with the talent show and whatnot and Thursday the madness began. Thursday I had a zillion things to do after graduation, thank you cards, organizing things around the house and Friday morning I got the best call ever... "Hello Mrs. Hann, I am calling to schedule an interview with you for Country Place Elementary School for the music teacher position."

I just about panicked and called Jeremiah and my family... haha didn't even have a job, but just an interview freaked me out! So I started looking up interview tips and questions and whatnot. Saturday was the Phoenix Children's Chorus alumni concert so I got to see some old friends and loved watching Jeremiah play bass.

Sunday came around and I got another phone call.. "Hello Mrs. Hawn (haha), this is the future principal for Littleton Elementary School and I would like to schedule an interview with you for the music teacher position at our school."
WHAT!?!? This was unreal!

I got super sick on Sunday but sucked it up on Monday for my interview, I felt very confident in the interview but there were 4 other people interviewing. I get a call on Tuesday evening "Hello Mrs. Hann, this is Mr. Matera from Country Place Elementary and I would like to recommend you for hire to Human Resources for the general music/choir position at Country Place." (I ALMOST SCREAMED!)

Well after much counsel, I decided to go on the second interview I had on Wednesday, got a call Wednesday evening saying "Hello, Mrs. Hann (she figured out how to say it correctly) I would like to recommend you for hire to HR for the music position at Littleton." OH GEEZ.

So long story short- I felt more pulled towards Country Place and their direction for the music program (while Littleton was a great, warm environment). I accepted the position at Country Place.

So this week amidst a great sickness (severe UTI and a viral infection in my stomach), I leave for camp on Monday, and a week from this Monday I go down to the Department of Education and get my teaching certificate and soon after go down to the district to sign my contract :)

I am soooooo nervous to actually be a teacher, alone, on my own- my OWN classroom. I already subscribed to a music teacher's magazine that I LOVE and have several things I want to get for my classroom. YAY my dream has finally come true and thinking about actually having a FULL TIME pay check is unreal!

thank you for all of your support, encouragement- next year will be but I know I have great people around me to help! :)

College Graduate!

2009-05-10T16:35:00.003-07:00

Well the day came and went... college came and went and now I'm a college graduate. It hasn't really sunk in that school could officially be over for me. While I would love one day to get my Masters and maybe even Doctrine (I have big dreams haha), I also know that I could be done with schooling.

I am in a period of waiting right now. I am not nervous about it, anxious, upset... anything like that... I am relaxed, curious and kinda interested to see what God will do with an open plate. I have put my application, resume and whatnot into several districts, I get my certification within 2 weeks and then let God work in whatever area He wants me to be in. I pray that is full time teaching music somewhere.

Graduation was incredible, a very good ending to a long, great 4 years. During college I learned to be independent, I grew closer to my family, I met some of the most incredible people in my life, some of my best friends, made my relationship with Christ my OWN, dove into the Word, met my best friend of all times, married my best friend, got our own house, finished school, lived off of 1 salary for 6 months, taught 926 kids and learned most of their names, and now.... it's done.

I am so blessed and ready for the summer to recharge and spend time with people I have not spent time with in a long while!

Enjoy these pics from the day :)

Weigh in!

2009-05-05T19:25:00.002-07:00

Well we didn't post our weigh in last week but in the past 2 weeks I have lost another...

3 Pounds!!

J has lost another 5.5 pounds!!!

So I am down almost 13 pounds

Jeremiah is down almost 17 pounds!!

HOW EXCITING! It is a slower process then I originally thought but worth it thinking by the end of the summer we could be at our goal weight as long as we stick to it!! :)

The eating is becoming so much easier (sometimes we cheat more often than we planned on- little snacks here and there)

We boosted up our work out with weights and cardio and today we did our workout class tonight and we OWNED that class! We didn't have to stop at all really ( and it was a new lady filling in and she was TOUGH)- 10 minutes of straight cardio and then 5 minutes of weights- no stopping.

I feel incredible, I have so much more energy and a great confidence about myself. I usually start something like this and don't make it longer than a week or so, but with Jeremiah pushing me, encouraging me and seeing results in himself, we are unstoppable!

Tonight is whole wheat chicken enchiladas for dinner- the recipe is great if you want (kind of a cheat night for us but we LOVE them and love that we don't waste calories anymore, we don't live to eat, we eat to live and it has changed our marriage and our friendship).

Thanks to everyone supporting us and those of you who have jumped on the band wagon and doing it along with us- GOOD LUCK!! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Question for you!

2009-05-02T16:14:00.002-07:00

Well now that I have this summer to unwind a bit... (this year has been more than eventful- marriage, buying a house, last semester of school driving 90 miles a day, working at 3am, student teaching 40 hours a week with no pay, passing my AEPAs and as of next week- graduating). I have junior high camp in a few weeks, and our vacation in June. Other than that I am planning on teaching voice, looking for a teaching position and catching up on life!

My question to you is:

What do you do to relax, unwind, refuel... what fills you back up?? I'd love to hear your thoughts and encourage others to take that time! :)

No obstacles to becoming a certified teacher now :)

2009-04-28T20:17:00.002-07:00

I thought that life couldn't get any better, a great student teaching experience, Jeremiah and I making it 7 months with only 1 income (pastor's income haha), having an amazing year of marriage coming up and excited for summer, but....

seeing my test scores with the word: PASSED: next to them- beat it all. I have worked SOOO hard for 4 years, pushing through hard classes, tough teachers, struggling and succeeding in voice lessons (hardest part), working for the school, and growing as a woman and it all came down to these 2 tests...

It didn't matter how hard I worked, if I graduated without passing these tests, I didn't have much of a chance of landing a job next year.

I wanted to go into this job market with all odds my favor (not the excuse of not being qualified enough) and I am excited for whatever God has for me, even if that is subbing for the next several months. I am going to dive into serving and volunteer work, spending time with my family, doing everything I can to get as much time with J as possible and many more things. This summer is going to be bliss. Summer camp, week vacation with J, and many new adventures.

God is so good. He is always good. At the Catalyst conference I had many thoughts in my head of how to apply everything and step up as a leader. God's HUGE, resounding take-away point was.... Prayer. Prayer for Jeremiah, for our ministry, for those around me. It has been transforming. I am reading 'Power of the Praying Wife" and it is just incredible to be able to serve Jeremiah in that way that I never thought about, honestly. It has opened up a new season of our marriage (yes yes, only been married less than a year but so great to have "seasons" already haha).

I am so blessed. This week is filled with family for Jeremiah's birthday, work outs and a fun surprise date I have planned for J on Sunday :)
Next week...

GRADUATION!!!!!!

Week 3 weigh in!

2009-04-21T19:20:00.002-07:00

This week was hard- less workouts and harder with food

but...

I lost about 2.5 pounds!

J lost...

3.5 pounds!! :)

Cali this week with the church so we are bringing good snacks and gonna work hard to stick with our new food types :)

Stay tuned for next week :)

Weigh in week 2

2009-04-14T18:29:00.002-07:00

Well we got our butts kicked in our workout class tonight. I like the lady that runs the class, very positive and calls us out when we are wimping out :)

We did one cheat night this week and that made me nervous but after today's weigh in, I walked out to meet Jeremiah and his face was just as glowing as mine was..

I lost...

4.5 pounds this week!!!!!!!!!!

My total- 8 pounds in 2 weeks! (my short term goal is 20 pounds by graduation- May 9th- I CAN DO IT!)

Jeremiah lost...

5 pounds this week!!!!!!!

His total- 9 pounds!!!!!

we can't tell a different in the mirror but man it feels SO good. We wanted to run and tell everyone haha.

Thanks for the all the support- check in next week for #3!!

Recipes

2009-04-13T19:08:00.002-07:00

Here is the recipe for the protein bars (you can make one batch and cut them into 2"x2" bars. They don't taste like a candy bar but they are a great snack substitute with a tiny hint of chocolate to give ya a smile :)

Ingredients:

6 eggs (egg whites only are better)
2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
4 scoops protein powder (chocolate flavor if you have it)
1 tsp olive oil
4 tbs peanut butter (or as much or little as you want/like)
1/2 package Carob Chips (look like chocolate chips) or 1/2 package of peanut butter chips (I use dark chocolate chips)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 325
Mix all ingredients together in the order listed above
spray 9x13 baking dish with non stick spray (very important!)
back for 23 minutes

After they cool, cut and refrigerate!

ENJOY! :)

I also answered a few questions in the previous blog comments if you want to check it out :) I have lived this life for forever (cuz my parents are health/work out freaks- so I know all the answers, I just got lazy and let myself go, so it's nice to know how to put all this into good use :)

I always eat a protein bar before we work out, gives me a little boost and doesn't make me feel dizzy or full when we're working out :)

Tomorrow is weigh in #2 after our group workout session. I'm nervous and excited. I'll reveal the results tomorrow! :)

Our New Life

2009-04-12T12:06:00.002-07:00

Well several people have asked "what are you guys changing that you saw several pounds in the first 5 days??" Well I figured I would share what we are doing now and I'm so excited/nervous to weigh in on Tuesday again. I cheated and weighed myself on Thursday and I had already lost another pound so it was an exciting motivation. I have to stop myself from checking everyday.
Here is our routine on a normal day

Breakfast- 2 choices: protein shake (2c. water, 1 tbs fat free vanilla yogurt, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, half a banana, handful of frozen, sliced strawberries- blend)- IT IS AMAZING, OR- 2 eggs only 1 yolk) and 1-2 pieces of turkey bacon

snack- apple & 1 tbs peanut butter or string cheese or 8-10 almonds or orange

lunch- few slices of deli meat, string cheese (only if you didn't have string cheese for snack), piece of fruit, carrots

snack- protein bar (homemade- my mom and dad found a recipe for healthy, GOOD protein bars because most packaged protein bars are either really high in sugar and fat, or they are just SO expensive. If you want the recipe, lemme know- they are so cheap and one batch makes enough for both of us for 2 weeks!)

dinner- meat and veges (either grilled/baked chicken with seasoning or fat free marinade- no fried or with oil), turkey meat either for taco salads, meatloaf (1 pound ground turkey, 1 cup bread crumbs, 8 oz fat free sour cream, salt and pepper- mix all together and put in a pan- bake for 50 minutes, top with little bit of brown sugar and ketchup), pork- grilled or baked, you can do fish but Jeremiah doesnt like fish haha so that is out- or VERY lean beef- we don't eat much beef.
veges are always steamed or baked. Broccoli, green beans, corn (rarely), or a salad with meat on top and fat free dressing.

dessert- we have 2 choices that we like- Skinny Cow ice cream pops (we get skinny dippers- 80 calories in one) or sugar free, fat free fruit/yogurt bars from Sams Club). It is a great little treat

We work out 5 days a week for an hour to hour and a half or we do group workout classes on Tuesdays. Cardio for 75% of the time- in our target heart rate, and then we do a cycle of stations that work upper and lower body and then we always do core (crunches, planks, etc).

It was SUPER hard the first week and this week it is fairly easy. It is more hard to resist when people offer stuff that we can't have. We have both been good and stuck to it. For easter my mom got us a basket full of orange and apples haha. :) so nice :)

So that is basically what we are doing for right now. High protein, almost no sugar, very little carbs (no complex carbs like breads, pastas, potatoes, etc.)

We had our first "cheat" meal on Friday and we went to Pei Wei and got lettuce wraps and chicken teriyaki with brown rice- ha so we didn't cheat too much but it hit the spot :)

I'm hope for 5 pounds this week which will make it almost 10 in 2 weeks and then about 20 pounds by graduation :)

Any questions or comments- feel free to!! :)

Weight Update!

2009-04-07T18:53:00.002-07:00

Well we got our butts kicked at cardio class today and then we weighed ourselves-

with 3 big work outs this week (we had a lot of orientation nights at the gym so less work outs then we hope) and doing REALLY good with food--

I lost....

3.5 pounds!!!!!!!!!

Jeremiah lost close to....

4 pounds!!!!!!!!!

HOW EXCITING! Now that we have the motivation that this is working, we are going to be very diligent from now on and get the most out of our work outs!! :)

I will update each week, so keep us accountable so it's like our "weigh in" haha.

thanks for the support guys! It's just the beginning!

a new lifestyle

2009-04-04T10:48:00.002-07:00

Well lately I just have been really convicted of our health and the "honeymoon" weight that we have put on. I have never been a "small" girl by anymeans but I was always athletic and I never worried about fitness or food because in high school I was at softball 6 days a week and my parents were health freaks so I always ate healthy. College hit and ramen noodles and microwave foods were cheap and easy with a busy schedule. I carried that into a marriage (not so much ramen noodles but just cheaper, easy foods) and I have been looking at pictures of us lately and even comparing to our wedding and how in 10 months we have let ourselves go.
So last week we decided not to make excuses anymore and we just went full force into a new lifestyle and while it has been somewhat of a challenge, we feel so good about the decision!

My dad is a fitness guru (as in he has like 6% body fat or something ridiculous and my mom has always had a good handle on personal health and so I know all the correct answers, ways to eat, work out routines- so I had no excuses at all! :)

So on Monday we went to Lifetime Fitness to get a tour and set up our plan with them. let me say-- Lifetime is AMAZING! It is a little more pricy than the other gyms but they offer so many different things, open all the time, and they really have given us many tools for success. Granted Lifetime is basically the closest gym to our house but it has been great so far. Everyday day this week we hit up the gym together- I love spending that purposeful time with Jeremiah. We did a group cardio class on Thursday and MAN it kicked our butts- can't wait to see how much easier it gets with time.

We have changed our eating habits DRASTICALLY- very few carbs and almost all protein, fresh/steamed veges and fruits. Ha when I look back at what we used to eat, one of our dinners before would have been the amount of calories we eat all day now. We have our mid morning and mid afternoon snacks as well- everything high protein and fresh produce. It is challenging to find varieties that we really enjoy but that was an excuse I used before-

I can't wait to step on the scale on Tuesday to see how far a week has come- as long as I loose something, it will be worth it!

Reality Show Junkie

2009-03-29T20:05:00.004-07:00

I have to say, Jeremiah and I LOVEEEEEEEE reality TV- all reality tv (minus like nasty Jerry Springer Junk)... let's name a few we love!
The following are in no particular order :)

what can I say, we need some release from everyday life :)

Bliss

2009-03-17T12:09:00.002-07:00

The first full day of spring break to do nothing and it is pure..... BLISS!!!!

I slept in... haha 9am was my max of sleeping in. But it has been wonderful. Yesterday Jeremiah and I spent the whole day together. We went to the Moreno's for a voice lesson with Cory. Then we went to guitar center to get some stuff. We drove to Deer Valley 30 and went to our favorite little restaurant- Bamboo Grille... MMMMM. Then we saw Taken (GREAT MOVIE!) Then we went to Penny's to give Hayley a little birthday surprise and then hit home for some dinner and a butt whooping to Jeremiah on Mario Party.

Today has been relaxing, cleaning and waiting for some mysterious package from FedEx that we dont know about. haha.

Brittini got married this past weekend and it was just perfect. The weather, the people, the bride and groom. Simply perfect. I am so proud of the woman Brit has grown into. I have known her since 8th grade and it's funny to see us be there for each other in our weddings and I hope we can have babies together one day and since we both live in the west valley haha it's perfect.

R&R

2009-03-13T12:42:00.002-07:00

Oh thank the Lord for spring break!! 2 whole weeks of freedom. Gonna do some lesson plans, sleep, CLEAN BIG TIME, go to NAU for a weekend with Jeremiah and the rest of About the Author, go to the zoo with the Moreno's, hit up an awesome Christian concert, have some quality time with Penny and anyone else who is free too!!... I'm sure there is more but I'm trying to keep it pretty open so that I can rest.

It's hard to believe but I only have about 7 weeks left before my graduate- save the date---- May 8th at 11am! So exciting! Soon i'll get paid to bust my butt daily haha. The kids have been great these past 2 weeks- today we had a snowball fight with recycled paper, freeze dance, musical dots and much more- it was great!

Definitely up for these 2 weeks- hope everyone else is getting some much needed R&R also!

Mixed emotions

2009-03-07T14:43:00.003-07:00

well March has started off with just a blast of emotions. Birth(days), weddings, memorials... it's all too much at points. I sat at a memorial today for a girl who's life seemed to be cut very short, barely 20 years old. A girl full of life, love and from the standing room only at the church- full of impact and encouragement to others. That last night the same room was set up for a celebration of two lives being joined. God has so many things in store for us in life. That is evident this weekend with so many land marks in people's lives. Today the Whitney's mom (such a strong profound lady she is!) said something that reallly hit hard. Something that I have known most of my life but to hear her talk about her daughter who is in the presence of God really let it sink in. She said...
"no matter what happens in life, God is WORTHY to be praised." Whether we like what has happened, whether we understand.. God is still just as worthy to be praised as He was in the beginning and will be in the end.

Tonight I will be at one of my best friend's bachelorette parties- she gets married next week. I couldn't help but think- one day Jeremiah and I will lose each other (I always tell him that I have to go first because I can't even stay home alone for a night let alone a life time) and I have never lost anyone remotely close to me. Grandparents I have but I remember my grandma at the age of 90 telling me that she was ready to go home to Jesus. I can't imagine someone who's life seemed to hold so much more end so quickly. It reminds me that God is in control. It reminds me that the small things in life that consume my mind don't matter in the end. If God is at my center thoughts, I won't be consumed with the world's worries.

Whitney left a lifetime of memories and encouragement but her Savior is forever and now she is forever with Him. :)

9 birthday parties a day?? possible???

2009-02-28T14:11:00.002-07:00

Well I heard this quote this past week from another music teacher that said teaching music is like "throwing 9 birthday parties a day for 5 days straight."

I laughed so hard and then stopped at thought for a bit.

The beginning of the year when I got home after observing all day it was great. I had little to do and had lots of energy.

Now that I am teaching all 9 classes I really understand that quote. There is a big difference between a regular classroom teacher and a specials teacher (esp. music)- you are "on" every minute of class. A regular classroom teacher has many different breaks during the day with recess, reading time, individual work time, etc. and direct instruction is not constant (on the other hand, regular classroom teachers have a TON of paperwork and outside work in order to make those breaks possible.) but as a music teacher the second the students enter the room they stare at you and wait for a creative, fun, energetic, non stop great time.

I wonder why I am so exhausted by the end of the day now that I am teaching all day long- I am going non stop for 45 minutes and then have a 5 minute break (but the regular classroom teachers are usually late so my 5 minute break turns into 2- and then the next class comes in with the same expectant eyes.

I sit at home on a saturday afternoon enjoying a big break :) church, bridal shower and bachelorette party all part of tomorrow's day, so I'll take this break now!

Big Star

2009-02-22T20:13:00.002-07:00

I am so proud of Cory. I met cory about a year ago when his dad said "he is pretty shy about singing but has a great voice." Ha jeremiah and I never knew what would come out of that little body! I now have the privilege of having Cory in my voice studio and I am so excited to take his God given talent and work with him. He has also been selected to sing for many other sports games (D-backs, Coyotes, and hopefully Suns). He is a remarkable boy with a lot to offer other than his voice and I am excited to see where his voice and God's plan will take him! :) check him out on YouTube by clicking the video below!!

Teaching is my passion!!

2009-02-20T18:55:00.002-07:00

I am having such a blast this semester!! I know I keep saying it but it's so true. Sometimes I end my day so drained from discipline and rude children but something always reminds me that this is what I love.

This week has been a weird week- I am teaching half of the classes and next week I will have 6 out of the 8 classes and then in 2 weeks I will have all 8-9! :) It's tiring. Yesterday the 4th and 5th graders were so awful and the k and 1st's were just a delight. Today on the other hand.. haha. the kinder's were just not good. It was partially my fault b/c I should have planned like 8 songs but I thought learning 3 songs and dance moves would fill 25 minutes- nope... i look up at the clock at the end of my lesson and I still have 10 minutes left- Oops! I survived but they just got worse.

Well I had had enough of my rude 4th grade class- like honestly they were just a mean group yesterday- well I decided that I wasn't going to take that anymore! (you don't wanna mess with mean Mrs. Hann haha). So right before 4th grade entered my room- I put up a powerpoint slide that said the 3 directions they MUST do when they enter the room (they know but I wanted to reallllyyy make it easy for them to follow the rules). So I let everyone in except the 5 students that were the worst yesterday. I told them that I was very disappointed at their attitude yesterday and that I have given respect and it was not returned. They all immediately sank into themselves. They walked in and in the blink of an eye they were great students!! I was shocked!

We had a blast after that!! We got through the whole lesson (recorders- woohoo) and we laughed and had a great time! Man I was so encouraged. No matter the awful or amazing students- the teacher can change the dynamic of the classroom and that is the biggest thing I have learned so far these 7 weeks!

God is good and He has been with me every step of the way!! :)

TAG!!

2009-02-14T16:23:00.004-07:00

Open up the 6th picture folder on your computer.
Post the 6th picture in the folder and tell the story of it.
Then tag 6 of your friends.

This is a picture of the night Jeremiah proposed. He sent me on a scavenger hunt ALL over maricopa- this was one of the stops in downtown phoenix where my clue led me to Robby and Kelly (our great frends who actually moved to Buckeye as well!- don't see them as much as I'd like though). Jeremiah is the biggest romantic and I love it!

I will never forget that day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Jesus loves you!

Inducted into adulthood

2009-02-07T21:06:00.003-07:00

Well my family, entire family of over 50 people, gets together every month without fail. We do birthdays and do it at a different house each month. Well after some debate and hard negotiating I convinced them that now that I am first grandchild of SEVERAL to get married that I can be considered an adult. Adult means you sit with the adults, you exchange gifts with the adults (not $7 gifts from another kid haha- literally the max is $7 for a kid) and you get to host dinners.

So this month was mine and it was adults only (we do one adult only get together a year and we decided to do it at my house since it's smaller)... well Jeremiah and I cleaned all day long (well all week long) and I cooked all day and all yesterday to make a 4 course meal. My dad and mom came over early and my dad helped relandscape our front yard a bit (took our our ugly cactus things! and put in some flowers.. yay)
well it went great! I think people assume that if you are young, married and have a place that the place has to look like a dorm room or something. I just love how we did our house (With the help of my mom and Penny!-thanks!!)... it's sophisticated and modern and my family was a bit shocked I think at how nice it looked.It made me feel very good about the work we have done to this house and the time spent making it fit us and be warm and inviting.

Next is the backyard but... hah we'll see. Now jeremiah has set up for church at 9 at night which leaves me to clean up and do some more laundry :)

Birthday

2009-01-28T21:10:00.002-07:00

I can't wait for this next year of life :)

I just have a feeling that it will be the best year yet! Granted getting married and a home and all the great things with this past year have been amazing but for my personal spiritual, physical and emotional life... this year is just going to blow me away I think... God is preparing me for something big and I'm not sure what... could be the reality of first yaer teaching... could be something else.

So far Jeremiah has been great... Red Lobster (annual dinner) and beautiful roses for my "early birthday" and a secret dinner (haha not too secret cuz he is using one of our gift cards) and then to the exhibit then lunch with my mom on Saturday! yay!!
(haha side note, my mom just got texting and it's sooo funny to wait for her texts and how long it takes her to write back.. haha)

Can't wait for another year of blessings, hardships, and love! Thanks to all my great friends and family who have already made my birthday special!!
here is a picture from our annual red lobster dinner :)

I hate surprises

2009-01-24T15:01:00.002-07:00

Which is why very few times in my life there are surprises because I'm a snoop. Haha almost blew my own engagement because I snoop a lot. Haha so my birthday is next week and I really wanted to go to the Desert Botanical Chihuly Exhibit

so I just happened to ask jeremiah if he had anything planned and he said "well nothing set so far" (since we are going to Red Lobster on Monday (my birthday is Thursday but the crab is cheaper on Mondays haha- we are so cheap) and I said "well I was going to go to the exhibit and I can get tickets really cheap" and he goes "haha another surprise almost ruined-that's where I was planning on taking you but I figured I couldn't keep it a secret" so apparently he has something else planned that night and I won't poke around at that.... well maybe not haha

Life

2009-01-17T13:29:00.002-07:00

I have never been this happy before. (as a whole... haha)

I can't imagine what it will feel like to do what I love and get paid (I say that a lot but it's like 40 hours a week of volunteer work haha)

I come home and can talk to Jeremiah for hours about what excited me in my day (poor guy... i love him for always listening to it all). Last semester I really struggled with having joy and just finding things that really excited me. I had 8 classes, 30 hours of work a week, the ministry, and 2 hours of driving everyday. Getting up at 3 am and working and going to school until 5 really drained me. My voice teacher was really concerned about me because getting up before the sun and getting home as it went down can really mess a person up and suck the life out of you... I never admitted to her (or anyone) that I struggled with very rough feelings last semester because I felt like I had no time for me or my husband and that was hard the first semester of marriage.

Now I get to see Jeremiah in the mornings before I leave (we get up about the same time) and I get home before him. That is the biggest blessing. I can be there to greet him at the door when he comes home and have all evening to spend time with him or doing things we need to do. We are finally working out together. We got My Fitness Coach for Wii and it's a personalized work out video almost. It's honestly hte greatest thing ever. We are super sore haha (thats what I get for being out of shape). I have time for me. I have been doing my SOAPs everyday.

Just trying to rebuild myself physically, emotionally and spiritually.

My next goal:

To spend some time with my girl friends in Phoenix. Man I miss them. I haven't really seen anyone in months and it's rough. I went from living with all my best friends, to not seeing them for months... big change of pace. So I am going to try to reconnect with my girls this year :)

All in all life is good, our marriage is great and I love my classes I am teaching :) Can't complain one bit!

God is looking out... ALWAYS

2009-01-12T21:12:00.002-07:00

So this semester has only been like virtually 2 weeks and God has rocked our world already!!

We have been faithful in our giving and our quiet times and God is being faithful back. We decided that even though my income was nonexistent that we would continue to give the same in our tithing/giving, just being challenged by the church giving and see how far we can stretch out faith.

So when we thought we would be wracking up small debt this semester.. we end up being taken care of. One of my family members that lives out of state sent us an offering (just because they felt led to use part of their giving this month to bless us- they had no idea of our financial situation), then we got a check from our insurance company (still looking into why haha but was pretty amazing- haven't cashed it yet haha)...

then we find out that Jeremiah's car accident case was randomly settled and they are giving us enough to pay off some loans (ahh yay!)

and THEN... we called the student loan place to pay Jeremiah's monthly student loan bill and we asked about pushing our payments back to the end of each month and they asked about out situation and they told us that for a really small penalty fee we can forebear our payments until August when both of us are working!!! NO WAY!!

So just when I wasn't sure where all the money for our bills, food... living.. was going to come from.. God comes through ALL in 2 weeks and gives us exactly what we need to stay up in finances and maybe even be able to save some for a rainy day..

It's always encouraging to share that with people and to remind myself that God will work things out. He might not always work this way, or in this way but He reminds me daily that He has His best interest in mind.

First week as a teacher

2009-01-08T16:34:00.002-07:00

Well this week has had it's ups and downs and many more ups!

The first two days started off rocky because I was sick and exhausted from not really having a winter break. Yesterday and today were great. I got to meet the school staff and sit through my first inservice meeting and that was reallllyy interesting (honestly). Sad to hear how little money Arizona has left for schools but still interesting to hear some honest answers to questions.

I love the kids... some are not so loveable but makes me want to love them more. I am learning a lot but I really am ready to jump in and teach. Sometimes I start taking over the class while my teacher is distracted with something and then I have to back up a bit because I forget that it's not my classroom haha.

Today we learned the hand movements to this song the kids learned and one little girl and boy started crying because they could not get it and they were getting so frustrated (so sad to see a second grader cry over not succeeding), so i sat individually next to them (one boy has special needs) and taught them the movements really slowly and once they got it their face lit up! it was just wonderful!! Sad that there are so many students and so little special areas (music, art, PE, etc) that the teacher can't help each student individually.

Tomorrow we are going to a music conference (the teacher and I) and I am so excited to be with music teachers from all over the state and learn from everyone. Hopefully it will be great!!

So this week has been great all over. Hearing "Hi Mrs. Hann" is soooo weird because I'm used to Miss Amber haha. I feel too grown up haha. Oh well. :)

God is provding financially in SO many small ways and through different people and it is so great.

It's day 7 of the new year and my goal is to consistently do my devotions and now on day 7 I have done 7 devotions/SOAPs and it's so great to see how God can use that time and really speak to me!

Hopefully next week will be even better!

Student teaching!

2009-01-04T19:55:00.002-07:00

Well tomorrow I begin my first day of student teaching. I pray it goes well, I pray I learn A LOT, I pray the children take to me well and I learn the balance needed in a classroom. While I'm not nervous to teach or anything (that stuff thrills me!) I am nervous that It will be overwhelming. This will be the best semester... I can feel it... no more 2 hour drives... no more working 13 hour days (ha my schedule is 7:45-3:45) so i will be home when Jeremiah gets home (HALLELUJAH!) and I will get more rest.. I am starting to plan out lunches and meals... it's just a good stable feeling.

Can't wait to get paid to do this :) (haha going from one paycheck to 2 full time ones will be SOO NICE)

I hope I can sleep tonight!! haha

Great things in 2008!

2009-01-01T11:49:00.013-07:00

Well it's 2009 but 2008 was so wonderful that I had to recap it all.

*In the beginning of 2008, I was newly engaged!

*I was a Residence Assistant to about 20 BEAUTIFUL...WONDERFUL college freshmen

*I did my junior AND senior recital (that was hard stuff!)!

*We bought our first house!

*I got MARRIED!!

*Went to Disney World and Florida for the first time!

*Watched one of my dearest and best friends get married!!

*Finished college classes and enjoyed a first holiday season married!

Been a great year and can't wait to see what 2009 holds!

GO Missions Trip

2008-12-26T20:00:00.003-07:00

Well tomorrow we leave for 5 days with 37 Junior High students who have worked so hard the past 9 weeks to be able to go on this trip. It will be a trying week I can imagine (as sometimes junior highers can be) but I know it will be rewarding. I miss going on my own missions trips.. I absolutely love doing stuff like this, a little more difficult when I'm in charge of something like this. I just need to find ways to serve the students this week, the leaders and those around us.

Pray for us, the leaders and the lack of sleep haha and those we will be encountering! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was NUTS but it was a great time overall :)

Where are you Christmas?

2008-12-24T20:14:00.003-07:00

Gosh this holiday season is flying by. Probably because I worked right up until Christmas day... never done that before. I got my Christmas shopping done weeks ago which was nice but with so much going on right after Christmas, it was good that I did.

This holiday season has been hard (as other staff spouses can attest to I'm sure). We have 6 Christmas services in 2 days and that means staff is virtually gone for 2 days right before Christmas. It's been hard, not going to lie. Our first Christmas together wasn't really what I imagined. Haha home alone on Christmas eve has been a different feeling. THe Christmas service was powerful, everyone did a great job, but I'm ready to have my Christmas now... selfish i'm sure but oh well :)

So tomorrow we leave our house at 7am and are hitting up 4 families and trying to give everyone enough time so they don't feel jipped... haha we still haven't decided when we are doing our personal Christmas and gift exchange. PRobably not until the day after Christmas because we are committed to family until 11pm tomorrow night.

haha this almost makes me want to have a baby so that people will just come to us or something (i'm sure it will be more crazy with a baby) but at least people will understand the chaos of driving 60 miles and spending a few hours with each family. This is the first year that I don't get to see my dad's side because of Christmas services and whatnot... sad but I know God has called us to this life and somethings mean sacrifice. So enough of my "woe is me" haha... I pray tomorrow is relaxed, full of laughs, and a very memorable first Christmas as a married couple. I'm sure this won't be the craziest yet! ;)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

<3 THE HANNS

Holiday slideshow

2008-12-17T15:10:00.001-07:00

took this away because the constant music was driving me crazy haha. pictures on my facebook if you want to see :)

In Love

2008-12-12T10:18:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to say how much I love my husband. He works so hard at what he does, he loves his job and loves where God placed him. We are so blessed to be where we are and sometimes the stresses of life push aside the grateful feelings that I have for him and all he does. Can't believe how much he has done for me even in just about 6 months of marriage and how selfless he is. It blows me away and I hope he knows just how much I love him and appreciate him.

I love you Jeremiah

I'M DONE WITH COLLEGE CLASSES!

2008-12-10T10:19:00.002-07:00

How exciting is that! I mean until I go for my Masters, I am done sitting in a classroom and taking notes, taking tests, writing long pointless 20 page papers (this semester was a beast with a 50 page paper... That's a book!)

I am kind of in a weird mood now that it's all over. I'm definitely not sad.. I'm sure one day I'll miss college life but as for now.. i'm not sure how to feel. I got really anxious last night not having a million things on my mind. All I have to think about is getting myself to work (my last official day will be Christmas Eve I believe which is kind of crazy). So between now and the GO missions trip, my only real focuses are work, girls Bible study lessons and deep cleaning my house. That has really never happened. ah!

I have pretty much finished my Christmas shopping. I bought Jeremiah's yesterday which was a big relief cuz I was blanking on what to get him, but it hit me yesterday.. got to get a few more things to get for Jeremiah's family but other than that we are done. Once I get my USB cable, I will uploud pictures of our decorated house and our tree. Jeremiah did a great job putting up lights, I trimmed bushes so that our house looked a little nicer. He accidently dropped a hammer on his head, which was on the top of hte ladder... that was a big pain! but it's all done and I would say our house looks the best on the block! :)

I am really trying to encourage and influence the people I work with for the last few weeks i"m there. I have really really enjoyed working at Starbucks, some of the people were so wonderful and I have formed worked friendships with many. I have been able to share my faith with a lot of them and that was God's sly challenge to put me in a secular job and test me faith. My biggest challenge for this coming up semester with more time to spare is to be more consistent in my quiet times. This semester took a toll on my physical body and my spiritual body. God has given me this time and I need to give Him the time back.

Next week Jeremiah and I go to Sedona for 3 days and I'm super excited to get that opportunity from a great family friend for free. We are going to just spend that time together, not working, not doing church stuff, not doing household things.. just enjoying each other and our time away from home. :) super excited!

Off to get ready for work! Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!! :)

MUST SEE!!

2008-12-06T21:29:00.001-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Allergist time!... UPDATE!

2008-12-05T10:55:00.003-07:00

Well I am off to the allergist. I just pray that 1) I'm not in too much discomfort because after the allergist I'm out the rest of the night.. smart.. I know! :) and 2) that the figure out what the heck is wrong with me. I have had to be off ALL medicine for the past 5 days and my body is not happy and i have been having hives every day. This morning they are all over my hands and it hurts so bad. Jeremiah has to like constantly watch me because sometimes I start itching and don't even realize it. When the average person has an itch.. YOU ITCH IT... haha but my "normal itch" usually turns into HUGE hives the second I touch them so yah. Allergist... please let this horrible skin test reveal something. I'll update when I know what's going on. Thanks for the prayers... hopefully it's not an allergy to like bread or something. :) maybe chocolate haha and I'll use that as a weight loss excuse! :)

off I go...!

UPDATE

SO I WENT TO THE ALLERGIST AND DID THE AWFUL TEST THEY GIVE YOU.. THE DOCTOR SAID IT MIGHT BE HARD TO TELL BECAUSE I HAVE REALLY SENSITIVE SKIN. THEY DID THE TEST AND THE LADY PRICKED ME WITH A BUNCH OF STUFF AND TOLD ME I HAD TO SIT THERE FOR 15 MINUTES AND NOT TOUCH IT AT ALL...

IT WAS SO HORRIBLE. MY ARMS WERE ON FIRE AND I COULD SEE HIVES FLARING UP.... JEREMIAH WAS SWEET AND PLAYED A LITTLE GAME WITH ME TO HELP ME NOT THINK ABOUT IT.

THEY NURSES CAME BACK IN AND WERE LIKE "WOW WELL LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO SOME THINGS" SO THEY WROTE DOWN ALL THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE HIVES AND TOLD ME THAT I WAS ALLERGIC TO OLIVE TREES, MESQUITE TREES, AND GRASSES FOR CERTAIN.

THE DOCTOR CAME BACK IN AND TOLD ME THAT HE IS DEFINITELY GOING TO GIVE ME ALLERGY MEDICINE. HE ALSO SAID THAT HE THINKS I AM ALLERGIC TO MYSELF.. HAHA! I WENT AND GOT BLOOD TEST AFTER BECAUSE HE SAID HE THINKS MY BODY IS PRODUCING A PROTEIN THAT I AM ACTUALLY ALLERGIC TOO. HOW FUNNY TO SAY THAT IM ALLERGIC TO MYSELF.

SO GOT THE BLOOD TEST DONE (I HATE NEEDLES) AND GOT 3 WEEKS WORK OF SAMPLES OF THE ALLERGY MEDICINE AND THE MEDICINE IS GREAT!! HAVENT HAD ANY HIVES (AND I HAD A LOT GOING INTO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE) AND I'M VERY HAPPY THAT IT WASN'T ALL IN MY HEAD HAHA.

SO IT'S ALL OVER. I HAVE A FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT SO HOPEFULLY THE MEDICINE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK :)

The End is NEAR!!!!

2008-12-02T08:26:00.003-07:00

I can't believe my last week of classes is here.... ahh it's incredible. What's even more incredible is that my SENIOR RECITAL IS TOMORROW!!! (7pm at Church of the Holy Spirit.. 2501 E. Cactus Rd. Phoenix, 85032)

I am wayyyy nervous only because I've been working for so long toward this and it is finally here. I am kinda nervous there won't be many people there... I know it's on a wednesday and thats hard for people... I didnt have a choice though so it's tough. Oh well. I know all my songs and I am so happy to finally be at this point. I remember a few months ago just sitting in my room crying because I just did not think I could make it through this difficult semester. It has been a very long past few months but a week from today.... I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!! AHHHHHH!!!

I told my boss yesterday that I would be quitting after Christmas and he was very understanding and it was a big relief to make this step of faith and just do it. I have worked myself so hard these past few years and I just can't do that while i"m student teaching. Im afraid I would get so burned out with teaching after another tough semester of full time teaching and part time working. My time at Starbucks has been amazing. I have made some great friendships with people that I never would have met. My faith was tested and I was able to share Christ with so many coworkers. It was wonderful. I am alll giddy about being able to focus on student teaching and ministry and not 7 classes, senior recital, 30 hours of work, driving 3 hours everyday, homework and the whole ministry, not to mention personal life.. each week. Gosh it's gonna be great.I'm so thankful that God provided EXACTLY what we needed for next semester. Literally (no more or no less.. it's just wonderful!)

So off to school.. .tomorrow I have the whole day off so I can sleep in and relax before I work my butt off at my recital haha. ALmost done... thanks for all of your encouragement.. the end is near!

Emergency Room

2008-11-23T10:07:00.002-07:00

Well this hive situation has turned a little more serious. Last night the hives got really bad. They were REALLY bad on my hips (I was gonna post pictures but they are on my phone and it's just gross haha). They were all over my hips but they were reallllllyy big. Jeremiah even said he hasnt seen them this big before. So i put on some calomine lotion, took some benedryll and went to lay down. As I was in the bathroom all of a sudden my lips started swelling. It felt like hives on the inside of my lips. I don't think at first jeremiah thought it was real... then he could start seeing my face to swell and hives on my forehead. I sort of paniced. I had heard that they can spread to your throat and cause you to sufficate. that probably didnt help the situation I'm sure. So we called my mom and after we waited to see if the benedryll would help anything once it kicked in... well it didn't. And so a neighbor and my mom said it's better to be at the hospital incase something gets really worse and just to be safe. That was the longest car ride of my life because I was soo nervous that it was even harder to breath.

We get there and we were the only ones in the waiting room which was reassuring because I knew we wouldnt have to wait an hour. We got in right away and they said... "so are you itching?"and I said yes and showed them my sides and they were like "woah those are big hives" so they took me back to a room and I had to pee in a cup to make sure I wasn't pregnant before they gave me medicine.. I'm not :) So they doctor came in and said the only thing they can do since my face is now swelling is give me a steroid and a heavy duty dose of benedryll and hope it goes down because only an allergist can find out the trigger. THey asked me (like everyone else) if anything in my life has changed.. soap, detergent, lotion, food, environment.. we said no. So they explained what I need to do and to come back if my face swells again like this. Then a nurse came in and I was making jokes everywhere cuz I was so nervous and they he tells me to pick a side to give me my shot. I thought he meant arm.. but he didn't.. it was practically in my butt and then he gave me like 4 other pills. I immediately started feeling better after the shot. I was reallllly sleepy (so much medicine) and so i layed there for a while in those pretty gowns and Jeremiah sat by me the whole time. He did so well and I know he was nervous.

They came back in and said my face looked so much better. Sent me home with some medicine to take for the next 5 days to see if that helps before i see an allergist.

Needless to say it was a long night. Got home really late. I was supposed to speak in all 3 services and obviously that didnt happen so Im proud of jeremiah for stepping up and being a great husband. Hopefully I will go to the film festival tonight cuz it's just sitting all night and the week will go fine. Just glad I am ok and still kinda worried it will come back but hopefully the medicine will help.

Thanks for all your prayers and help!

Been a while

2008-11-22T08:49:00.002-07:00

Well it has been a while since I have written anything. This month has been nuts and in 3 weeks I am officially done taking classes at Southwestern College. It's kind of unreal. I had my Dress Rehearsal last night for my senior recital and it went better than expected. I wish I had 2 more years of vocal training with my voice teacher but maybe I can find someone out here. She is one of the best voice teachers in the country and I am blessed to have had her in my life. I have a lot of work to do to finish up for finals and stuff but at least the end is in sight!!! :) I got called for Jury duty next week so hopefully I can knock out a bunch of stuff when I sit around there.

I hope in some way that I don't get called for jury duty because I need to see a doctor. I thought i got bit by a spider last week and that is why my hand started swelling and I got hives all over my body. Well.... it's been 5 days now and I get the hives everyday ALL over my body and it's painful, burns and itches. I dont know if I have some severe allergy that I just developed or if I got bit and it's still in my system... or... I dunno... any ideas? Nothing in my daily routine has changed, we washed all our clothes and sheets and stuff... so I dont know what else to do. I take Bendryll and put on that nonitch lotion but nothing is stopping these things. BLAH! Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon!!

Well I hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving.. i know i am!! Christmas is around the corner!

This is the funniest thing I have ever seen!!

2008-11-14T20:43:00.003-07:00

Jeremiah found this and it was amazing.

What if the church marketed like Starbucks? It kinda overdramatizes the mistakes churches make with visitors and making it into Starbucks just is the icing on the cake. It's funny but pretty accurate! Enjoy :)

Time Flies!

2008-11-13T11:56:00.004-07:00

Can't believe it's been a year since Jeremiah proposed. Memories and milestones like that get me so excited for our first anniversary and our first child and our first.... well I am not thinking that far ahead (haha even our first child is years away so i'll stop there before I get questions about babies and stuff haha).

For those of you who have not heard the proposal story... I will post it... it makes me cry everytime to read because wow did he do an amazing job. I will copy and paste the story that I wrote a few days after he proposed.

I just want to tell you Jeremiah that you are the most amazing man I have ever met. You inspire me, you put my needs first, you make me laugh and most of you love me for me. Your passion for Christ and ministry astounds me daily and our lives have just begun!
Here goes the LONG story. Skip it if you have read it... or cry along with me and read it again haha. Pictures below :)

First off I want to say that Jeremiah is incredible and has lied through his teeth the past month in making me think that he was no where near ready to get propose. Led me to believe that he doesn't have the money for the ring and might not until Christmas... (i was pretty sad) So here it goes.... So I thought the engagement was going to happen Tuesday night because i found out that Jeremiah was conspiring with Melissa (my great friend and old roommate of the past 2 years) and she had asked me to go out on Tuesday night so i assumed that that was the day. So Monday (the day before) Jess and I went shopping for a banquet dress for myself and her dad is the one that jeremiah was getting the engagement ring from and she had talked all afternoon about how Jeremiah hasnt talked to her dad and that she has no idea why he is not prepared. I was livid. I was so upset that he just wasnt preparing at all or wasn't even close. So yah we get a dress at Ross and go to the mall to hang out and just as I am about to get into my car to leave, she goes "Oh wait i have something I forgot to give you" and she pulls out of her purse this huge white envelope with the number 1 on it...I FLIPPED OUT... MY HEART SANK! I knew right then what was going on but had no idea what was happening.
She told me to open it and follow the instructions. So we got into her car and I read the first one and it had a rhyming clue telling me to go to the first place that we met at my freshmen year. Also inside the envelope was a CD of 20 of our favorite love songs for me to play in the car ride. So the first place we met was at the first floor of the RES hall at Southwestern by the elevators. So I get there and Melissa comes out with my 2nd clue. So I open that and read it and it rhymes again and tells me to go to the place where we had our first date. So we drive all the way to Castle's N Coasters (we played mini golf) and Gus and Steve (two of jeremiah's best friends and great friends of mine) were standing there for clue 3. So i open that one and it says to go to the first place we held hands (which was in downtown phoenix in between US Airways Center and Bank One Ball Park... so we drive all the way down there and Robby and Kelly (his old roommate of 4 years and my old RA who are married now) are standing by the cross walk where we first held hands and i got my 4th clue So I open it and it says to call this number to talk to an old friend. So I call it and its my best friend Lauren in California. She gives me my next clue which says to go to a place where you get reclaimed fish water in the face (aka the fountain at the lake/park in Fountain Hills which is where we first talked about if we could see ourselves marrying each other). So we drive ALL the way there (i'm freaking out by this point and Jess is laughing it up!)
So we get there and there is a parking spot reserved with my future name on it (Amber Nicole Hann) and we park there and I can see someone in the distant stnading there but i didnt know if it was him or someone with my next clue. I didnt want to get out because i was scared haha. So I finally get out and I hear over some speaker the song "Love of my Life" by Michael W. Smith (which is the first song we danced to and was our first dance at the wedding) playin in the background. And i see jeremiah standing in the middle of the park in front of the huge fountain that i LOVE. So i get up to him and hold his hand and he says "Amber I love you more than anyone. I want to make you smile every day.. I want to share a life of ministry with you. I will love you until the day we both die" and then he got on his knee and pulled out the ring and said "Amber Nicole Mollerup, will you marry me?" Just as he did that, the fountain shot up behind us.. (he timed it!) All i could say was "oh my gosh oh my gosh" and then when he asked i said "yes" like 50 times!! :) So we took pictures and then I got into his brother's mustang that he borrowed and he had bought me every bridal magazine in the store :) So we called everyone and went to our parent's house and the rest is history!!!

I VOTED... DID YOU!?

2008-11-04T08:23:00.003-07:00

Got up at 5:30 this morning, stood in line for a little under 2 hours and finally... VOTED!!

Make sure you get out to vote!! :)

Also, starbucks is giving out free coffee to anyone who votes! MMMMM :)

November??

2008-11-01T13:59:00.002-07:00

So we had the church picnic today and it was amazing. So many students and adults got baptized and it was really moving (shed a few tears).

But the biggest question I have is...

WHRE IS NOVEMBER!?

I was sweating to death at the picnic, it was in the 90s and it's almost thanksgiving. that's ridiculous!! My electric bill was still over $60 less than it was last month which is great but man i want to stop turning on my air!

SO last night we had our first ever trick or treaters and I was like running around the house SOO excited about having our own house and handing out candy (jeremiah was laughing soo hard at how giddy I was being). The parents thanked us for passing out candy because only like 3 other ppl on our block were passing out candy. We just tried to smile to each kid and parent and try and encourage the families we met even with a simple "have a good night."

I have pretty much settled in on a teacher to student teach with next semester. I'm meeting with her next week. Her school is... check this out... 5 miles from my house!!!!!!!! Oh I cannot even explain the joy that comes from finding her. She is a believer and has been teaching music for like 15 years. I drive over 90 miles everyday to and from school and I will go from an hour and a half drive to a 15 minute drive.

God totally opened doors for that and now we are trusting that He will take care of us financially because we have decided that for next semester I won't work. I can't do it anymore. I work 30 hours a week, go to school and take 8 classes, ministry is my entire weekend and I drive 12 hours a week to and from school. I want to dive into student teacher and enjoy my last semester of being in college and not being exhausted or emotional or worn down. This semester has been the hardest ever and I have not taken care of myself in the way that I need. I have been beat down by life and I refuse to go into my first year of teaching because exhausted and not fired up. Jeremiah is so supportive and is willing to do everything to help us make it without me working for a few months. The gas alone will save us a ton of money and smaller electric bills for a few months. I just pray we can stretch our money and be good stewards of the little we have. God is good and I need to know He will take care of us. I cant imagine He would want to see me the way I have been for any longer, I already am ignoring his screaming of "SLOW DOWN.. FIND PEACE IN ME!" and I cant ignore that voice anymore.

I am sooo excited for next semester... I just need to get through the next 2 months :) I can do it.

P.S. HI PENNY... WE MISS YOU!

Shocking

2008-10-28T13:24:00.002-07:00

Got this from Heidi's blog and it's kind of shocking to think that this election change this country in a very dramatic way no matter who is elected but this video set aside all economics, all war discussions, medicare... and spoke only to LIFE. Powerful and kind of shocking.

VOTE

Not sure why

2008-10-25T18:23:00.002-07:00

So there are many times where I hear people say that they don't agree with Palm Valley's "style" of teaching. I reflect over the messages in main service and youth... even in kids. They are usually simple messages, diving into God's Word and focusing on application to those listening. They aren't wordy or really complex, they aren't foreign in "churchy language" or filled with "candy coated" messages either. We strive to tell others about Christ, who He is, what He did for us, what the Bible is and how to apply the Bible to our lives.

I started thinking about how Jesus taught the people of His time and I somewhat laugh because He taught in stories that were so simple that sometimes people couldn't get them even then. He taught in parables, giving people application to their current lives and showing them how to live their lives for God. He then later would go to His Disciples and explain deeper into what He meant in His Parables. It makes me chuckle to think that people criticize that way of teaching when that is how Christ Himself did it. We have small groups each week that allow time for diving deeper into God's Word and questions about weekend messages.

How awesome is it to have a church (there are many others like Palm Valley as well) where you can leave a service and remember and APPLY what you learned???? What good is it to go to church, be perplexed by the message, hear some really "profound" thoughts and not have a clue what to do with what you heard? There are parts of the Bible that I don't understand (and I've taken many Bible classes with some of the smartest Bible theologians) and they don't even understand everything God wrote (well I guess that's because God did not intend us to know it all) and sometimes I forget about the simple messages I hear or read.

I went to a conference called the Creative Church Conference and the speaker was spot on about so many things. One thing that stuck that he said was "too often people feel like they aren't getting 'fed' in church because they want others to feed them everything rather than digging into stuff theirselves. too often people say that the messages aren't 'deep' enough and to that I say to them "'until you have mastered Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself"' I think you shouldnt be too worried about 'deep' messages"

It's sooooo true. We forget that we struggle with the greatest too commandments in most cases. I am encouraged and challenged to see each simple things that God is doing through church, my everyday life, other people and many other things around me and to continue to ponder all the mysteries about God but settle in the ABSOLUTES of who God says He is.

:) I'm trying to find stability amidst this stressful time in life and... SHOCK... God is the only stable thing in my life.. forever.. always.

TAG.. I'm it!

2008-10-21T17:02:00.003-07:00

so Stacey tagged me to do this so I am gonna do it and tag some of you too!

Here are just a few things about.... ME

1. I work at Starbucks and I hate coffee. I thought with more time I would like it more.... but I don't... I get free coffee and don't drink it... want a free pound anyone?? :)

2. I love chicken.... every chicken. My favorite is chicken wings from Barros or Sardellas... I am pretty sure if I had chicken wings everyday I would be GREAT

3. I have wanted to be a music teacher since... well... forever. I have pictures from when I was little that I drew of being a teacher or singer. I knew from early on and I have never changed that decision. There were times that I thought it was just not worth all the stress and work right now but I am so excited to finally do it!!

4. I love politics. I watch all the debates, read all the magazines they send about all the propositions and people and even was in the young republicans in high school and did the final debate in front of the school.

5. Lastly, public speaking gives me a high. Haha, I don't know what it is but I love public speaking, speaking in front of crowds. It doesnt make me nervous at all, only anxious from excitement. Guess that's a good thing being a teacher and being married to a youth pastor but I think it's great fun!!

Ok Now it's time for me to tag 5 people. You 5 get to write a few things about yourself and then tag that number of people.

Tag... You're it....

Jeremiah
Penny
Vicki
Kara
Lauren

if you read this and you're tagged... then DO IT!! :) or just do it for fun anyway

happy Tuesday

cold weather= hot drinks!!

2008-10-17T10:42:00.002-07:00

I am soooo sick of making frappuccinos!!! I am so excited it's winter almost for many reasons but one main reason is that I wont have to make a MILLION frappuccinos all day long. It's way more fun to learn new, interesting drinks or at least steam milk for a change. I have to get somewhat excited about my job otherwise I'll go crazy each day.

Almost done with school. I have my jury (basically my final) for my voice recital a week from this monday and I'm freaking out. I cry about it almost daily because it's so stressful... if I don't pass... I don't graduate this semester.. I am working my butt off to learn my songs and sound decent. I just pray that this week I have diligence to learn my music and get ready for my jury.

If I pass then my recital will be November 21st at 7pm at Church of the Holy Spirit, next door to Southwestern. Once my jury is over, i'll sigh a bit and have the push to finish strong. most people don't worry too much about the last semester, they just have to pass their classes, i have to get all As so I'm trying so hard to keep up my grades and what not. In about 9 days I'll know for sure. Please pray for me, I am usually stressed but this is a new high. My voice teacher calls me a "tank".. not sure if thats a good thing but i'll push through these last few months :)

Update

2008-10-12T12:14:00.006-07:00

Well I am sitting at San Jose International Airport, 2 hours early for my flight and thought-what better thing to do than write a blog!!

So i have been in San Francisco for the past 3 days, watching my beautiful friend of 8 years finally get married! This weekend was just perfect. It reflected everything about her and Will's new life.I will post pictures up as soon as I get some. I brought my camera and with all of the commotion I just didnt take any haha. Luckily there were like a million photographers.

So the day after I got there, all the girls went to a spa for the day. Oh...My...Gosh... It was heavenly! It was super expensive and I think only like millionaires can afford to really go there haha but it was great. There is a huge lobby area where you walk around in this amazing robes and then there are "quiet rooms" with big huge recliners and dim lighting and curtains to curtain off your area and rest or read. THen there is a HUGE jacuzzi with a mist room, steam room, sauna, HUGE showers bigger than like my bedroom for individual showers. Each has shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, individual razors, hair product. Then there are vanities each with blow dryers, straighteners, curling irons, hair product, hair accessories... and then... there is the 50 minute relaxation massage that I had. It was pure BLISS. A massage has definitely been added to my Christmas list.

THe wedding was great, really short... We had to wear like 3 inch pointy stilletos and our feet were dying by the end of the night but it was great. The wedding was perfect, it ended early which was nice for the newlyweds and nice for the wedding party. This weekend was worth every penny and Lauren and Will are going to have a great marriage together. So hard being so far away from each other but this weekend was perfect to see her off on their new life and hopefully get to see them soon!!

I missed Jeremiah like crazy and I am happy to go home and finish off this semester. I have A LOT Of music to memorize and homework to do haha. Now I have Brittini's wedding in a few months... eek i wanna get married again.. well mainly I wanna go on a honeymoon again haha.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks from date day at the Barlow Girl Concert, picnic in the park and 3rd row seats to the Switchfoot, Third Day concert with some youth kids. Enjoy! :)

Glad to be comin home!! :)

All grown up

2008-10-03T12:04:00.004-07:00

So I know that Im becoming a "real adult" when our families ask us to start thinking about our Christmas lists and so far our list is blinds for the spare bedrooms, a wii/wii fit (cant afford a gym membership haha so we will work out in front of our tv) and my biggest thing on my list is...

TEACHER CLOTHES!!

ha ok this is a bit extreme but I could pull it off haha.

haha how funny is that though. It kinda hit me that from January on I will be in the classroom 5 days a week 9 months out of the year and I do NOT have anywhere near enough dress clothes to make it thro like a week haha. I used to work in child care so didnt need nice clothes for that, starbucks just gave me a lot of black and kakhi pants (not nice ones haha) and I have a lot of skirts but as an elementary music teacher, skirts arent idea haha. I cannot wait to get into the classroom!

That is why this election year is HUGE for me and my fellow music majors. The School Override Bill is crucial for students to get special areas. Without this bill passing many areas such as art, music, band, PE, and SOOO many other areas that children need and thrive in will be cut in many districts. I cant imagine never giving students the opportunity to find their passion and their gifts adn to give them creativity through the arts.

PLEASE.. no matter who you vote for... just VOTE!!

Christmas at the Hann's...in OCTOBER!

2008-10-02T12:41:00.002-07:00

Christmas? In October? Yah well marrying Jeremiah Hann means that on exactly October 1st Christmas begins. We kicked off Christmas season last night by watching Polar Express (it's tradition now). I fell asleep because we had the junior high talent show last night (which rocked!!)

So if you think it's too early to celebrate Christmas, talk to my hubby. I'm surprised we don;t have our Christmas lights up yet. Today before we left for the day he turned on the last scene of Polar Express to play the ending Christmas song...

Oh the things being married will bring out...

So for the sake of my husband's obsession....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! :)

Moving on

2008-09-29T09:12:00.004-07:00

Rough day at work but great weekend in the end. I got the privilege of hanging out with Penny's kids this weekend (they went out of town for their anniversary) and it was great. We watched a movie, J and Aaron played guitar. Hayley and I talked and did hair (typical haha) and then we went to church came back, had lunch and I gave Celine and Hayley a mini voice coaching for the song they are doing in the talent show at church. That got my fired up. I love helping kids with talent go to even the next level with a few encouraging words and suggestions. Talented kids in our youth group!!

Jeremiah is out of town on pastor's retreat and it's hard. I hate being away from him (especially when I am so stressed with school and stuff). So he is gone for a few days and then next weekend I leave for a few days for my best friend's wedding in San Francisco. We really both wanted to go but it was not anywhere near in our budget and I'm sad for that but there will be other things.

I'm excited for her. We have been friends for... wow 8 years now.

I am giving a speech at the rehearsal dinner and everytime I sit down to think about what I will say I start crying. She has been an inspiration to me and I'm so glad she found the man God has for her! It will be a fun weekend!!

Im hoping this week goes smoothly, I have a lot of studying and homework to do. I get Saturday off of work and then I nanny Saturday night for the cutest little boy, Bremer. I just pray I don't have a rough day at work (haha jeremiah won't be home when I get home to let me cry to him).

Thanks for all the concerns about the weekend. I love our church family!!

Bad day

2008-09-27T14:37:00.003-07:00

Sometimes I hate the thought that some people think they can say whatever they want when they want.

Bad day at work. I was called some VERY awful names by customers (funny part is that I didnt mess up, they did!)

I started praying for those people and I know that they must be really hurting if they would use words like that towards someone who offered them a smile and their drinks.

Still didn't lesson the sting of the comment. :(

Students are GETTING IT!

2008-09-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

This week has been entirely too inspiring for words (ha but somehow I am going to write this blog and explain).

This past Sunday was a Sunday dedicated toward hurting students. I think I forget all too often that despite their smiles as they check in and their clapping during worship, some are full of pain inside and no one takes the time to be real with them (myself included). So this weekend we allowed time for leaders to stand around the room and allow students to get up and go pray with a leader. It was POWERFUL!!

I could tell certain students wanted to get up but they didnt. Satan's words of "everyone will stare at you, you are fine, your problem isn't that big" rang loudly in some of their ears. I pray for those students now, that they break that wall of pride and insecurity in their life. Other students broke down. Some did because they were hurting and holding pain in for so long, others broke down because they finally saw the pain of their friends coming out strong. Whatever the emotion, God was in that room.

I prayed with several girls that Sunday and I was humbled and kind of ashamed of myself that I don't remember enough how hard teen years are. My teens years had some really hard times of hidden pain and sin but it felt like no one cared enough to be real with me and really find out what was going on. I dont want to be that kind of adult to teens. I got a letter from a parent of one of the girls just thanking me for being there for her daughter and that even my few words did not go unnoticed. It was a shock to me that the girl even went home and told her parents about the experience. God is good. He is faithful and He is alive!

So then that night Jeremiah surprised me with "date day." haha a whole surprise day with a date he had been planning for weeks. He is cute. We went to a park in Mesa and he had a whole picnic set up. It was great. It started getting too hot so we decided to go to the Christian bookstore just to look around. We spent like 1 1/2 hours in there just going through youth books and talking about ministry ideas. it was great. And I found out earlie that the whole reason for the date was to go to... THE BARLOWGIRL CONCERT!! I was stoked. I love that band and all they stand for. The tickets were general admission (so they were really inexpensive) and JEremiah knew the guy that runs all the Christian concerts, so he let us in early and we got to sit really close and we got to go to the meet and greet. It was great!

I forgot how much I need my personal time of worship. There were hundreds of screaming little girls for this band but I soaked up all that I could. I was reminded that the sin that I hold inside only stays there because I allow it to. Certain insecurities in my life grow so much because I let them and feed them inside of me. I need to daily surrender those. Great date day babe!!

This morning was See You At The Pole and we visited a couple of schools and it was awesome to see our youth kids standing up for Christ and praying for their school. Jeremiah and I were blown away by some kids that prayed and stood out in front of their schools only with like 1 or 2 other people. They were bold and they are living for Christ.

I LOVE SEEING STUDENTS "GETTING IT!"

Glorious Morning

2008-09-18T12:45:00.002-07:00

So today I did not have to work at 4am!! It was just delightful. I stayed up past 10 last night (haha ok so not too much past it) and I slept in AFTER Jeremiah. That never happens. I got up at 8 and did some homework, watched the news, ate breakfast (Not a starbucks drink... finally!!) It was just amazing. I feel so refreshed today. I have class and stuff until 5 tonight which means I wont get home til after 6 but I love not being wiped out by 2pm.

Tonight J and I are gonna go on a walk and it's just a great day. I like when God reminds me that I can find refreshment in Him and He can bring peace amidst the craziness. :)

Hope all of you find that refreshness given by the Lord.

Happy Thursday!

I can do it!

2008-09-14T20:41:00.004-07:00

So despite what many people think, a young married girl can be stressed out. It's true.

Ha granted I usually get stressed if I'm not stressed because I am wondering why life isn't crazy. Well this is my last semester of college and it's really scary. Next semester I will be student teaching (and Lord willing, not working too much outside of that) and it's scary and SO thrilling to think that I will get to focus on ONE thing truly. I won't have to worry about several classes, homework, deadlines, music to learn, tests to study for and papers to write. Teaching will bring on a whole new set of lists to do but man it's what I LOVE! Sometimes I wonder if I am majoring in the right area. ALL I hear from people is "well hopefully they wont take music out of schools totally." Ha the words of very encouraging people. Whether I'm teaching voice lessons out of my home, full time teaching music to little kids, or directing choirs (my ultimate dream, oh man I love directing. If it didn't require endless amounts of music scoring, I would get my Masters in conducting... haha many of you have never seen me conduct and it's like a whole new love for me) I will be doing something in teaching music.

I got my first voice student this semester and it is a BLAST. My voice teacher (former professional opera singer, she is incredible) encouraged me to be confident in my voice teaching and obviously I am still learning but man it is so fun and I love helping people achieve their goal of singing better. I am not the best singer in the world but I LOVE teaching music and helping people achieve their best. This proves to me that I am in the right area of life and that makes it all worth it.

So this weekend I took a break. Friday we went to Derrick and Kim's for dinner and game night and it was a blast. It's funny how little we are around other adults unless it's at church or work. It was a great change and we had fun. Thanks Logans!!

Saturday i worked all day (ha 5:30 am-2:30pm) and it was nuts. Normally I would get a 10 min break early in the morning, a 30 minute lunch break mid morning and another 10 min break in the afternoon). We were so busy that I got my first break at 11am and that was all... needless to say I was exhausted. So I came home, rested for an hour and then went to church. I skipped the second service and we came home and this morning I slept it. It was great. Tomorrow I am sleeping in a bit and we took a nap this afternoon. This coming up week is going to be VERY long and busy... i work everyday and have classes everyday so it was nice to catch up on sleep this weekend even amidst the craziness.

I pray that I prioritize and get things done. This semester will be hard... but not impossible. I can make it!!

Scorpions! Oh no!

2008-09-11T12:35:00.002-07:00

So we moved into our new house and never got it sprayed. Then we started noticing spiders here and there, other little bugs... now we have SCORPIONS! Ugh, killing a spider is gross and scary, and other bugs are just annoying but scorpions KILL! We found one the other week, a bigger one (so not as harmful... ha it was Jeremiah's first time seeing a live scorpion)... so we got a little worried. So after that we are conscious to always turn lights on and watch our steps as we walk an wear shoes as much as possible.

Last night I was being paranoid as usually looking at the ground and found a BABY scorpion. The most deadly. It was SOO tiny and I would have stepped on it had I not been looking cuz it was just crawling around the kitchen. Now we are more actively calling pest control people... we dont want to be in a monthy contract... haha don't have the money for that right now, but we just want a one time spray inside and out just to get them gone. We also might to buy a black light because a lot of ppl recommend that we go outside at night with a black light to find them and keep killing them!

We should do a reality show called Scorpion Hunters!!! :)

So that's the new exciting adventure in the Hann Home :)

date night!

2008-09-06T10:06:00.003-07:00

Well since our wedding, we have had very few date nights. I think only 1 other "true' date night... haha but now that i'm married i understand that there is no "true date night" compared to when we were dating. Ha money wasn't an option, we did crazy things... now a date night might include a movie at home :)

but I wouldnt change that for the world. I love spending every day with my best friend.

God blessed us and my mom gave us a gift card to the movies. So.... WE WENT.

I made dinner at home... we went to starbucks and got a little drink on the way and went to a 9:15 movie. hahaha thats big for us since we are usually laying in bed by 10 or so... but this morning neither of us had to get up so we figured we would go to a late movie.

It was a blast, we dressed up and really enjoyed ourselves but needless to say, we were exhausted by the time the movie got out haha.

Any other creative ideas for cheap date nights out there??

Encouragement

2008-09-01T16:54:00.002-07:00

Ever been talking to someone (or a crowd of people) and feel like you needed to hear the message you were telling them?

Well that's what happened this week. Darius called and asked if I would give the gospel message this weekend. It was a recap weekend of the past few weeks and we were talking about the One True God and he asked if I would give a 5-10 minute presentation of it. I said 'sure' as though it was no big deal, I know this "speech" in and out.

So i wrote up a few notes and Saturday night came and I got up there and almost felt guilty. Who am I to tell kids about who God is, about His love and how they need to be fighting for their friends to know who He is also. Amidst the chaos of change in life (marriage, last semester of school, moving, new job, most of my friends are 50 miles away) I lost my passion for the Lord. I lost my deep connection with Him because of "busy-ness."

I left that stage just dreading the next 3 services because I felt like a fraud. I told them that God loves them SO much and He doesn't care how much you have messed up, He died for you to go to heaven despite your imperfections. Why, before that, didn't I fully get that God, despite my "busy-ness" was waiting to have me back. Waiting for me to get SO exhausted and worn down from life to come back to Him???

I had a few classes that I had still not taken, and my biggest fear in and out was that God was punishing me for being busy and not going to let me finish classes this semester. I am already taking 21 credit hours (which is almost death to most students) and doing a senior recital for my voice major (ha basically that means that in 4 weeks I have to have an hour worth of opera, classical, jazz and musical theater music ready to perform and be graded on before I can graduate). The ONLY way I would be able to be done with classes this semester is if I were to take a test to pass those 2 classes. GREAT.. 2 tests will determine if I endure classes for another semester and prolong my LONG waited student teaching semester.

I go in to take the easier test first... Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (ah!) and 2 hours later, I hit "Complete" and my score reveals that I PASSED (WAY about the minimum score)....

So I think... ok... this could be possible.

So my second test I go in a few days later... College Mathematics (Ha so i met up with a friend who is a high school music teacher and she was stumped on many of the practice test questions.. GREAT!)

I figured... $80 and I can take a shot at passing the last test and finally breath... so i'll do it..
I walk into the testing center (the AC had gone out because of the huge storm)... I muster through the 2 hour long math test.. I hit "complete" and the it AGAIN reveals that I PASSED!

God is telling me to stop tip toeing to the future He has for me and to trust that His timing is PERFECT.

That message hit me as I gave the message to the youth kids all day Sunday. I felt discouraged that if I didn't "get it" that how could any 15 year old get it.

It wasnt until I was leaving the parking lot and got a text from one of the girls that was there that morning. She wrote "Amber thank you so much for sharing that message today. I look up to you so much and know that I can always come to you when I am hurting or need help. I love you."

I cried. I thanked God for His constant encouragement and for using a sinner like me to reach even 1 student that morning.

God is good... I pray He continues to reassure me that He will do what's best for me.

Pastor with cancer... a lie!?

2008-08-23T11:29:00.003-07:00

This story is just gaining traction today, and if you hadn't heard about it yet, you were probably going to soon.

Here's the nutshell version: Pastor Mike Guglielmucci was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He went home that day and wrote the song "Healer", which was featured on the new Hillsongs CD that released last week (titled This Is Our God). Integrity Music and Hillsongs felt it was an amazing story, because it was, and have featured the backstory to the song on the DVD and on the web. People from churches across the country were writing in with stories about healing they were receiving, perhaps as a result of proclaiming the truth of the song.

But news reports out of Australia today are reporting that it was all a lie. Michael lied to his fellow pastors, musicians, and even his own family. He does not have terminal cancer. And allegedly he is now seeking professional help.

This story is SOO crazy to hear. This is why people are turned away to Christianity (it's sad but big news stories like this people use as their justification for Christian hypocrites... granted there are many people in the world like Michael, just not as extreme). Its sad to think that this man has something seriously wrong with him that he lied to a church of thousands, his friends and his own FAMILY. His wife was even convinced that her husband had a serious life threatening illness.

There were many Youtube videos of this pastor singing his profound song and he was connected to an oxygen tank and come to find out.. it's all for show. Wow

Hard to believe this could actually happen. I hope he gets the help he needs and his family can come out praising God through all of this.

weekend ups and downs

2008-08-17T10:04:00.005-07:00

Well this weekend has been fun but been not so fun as well. Ha I am sick at home with the flu and jeremiah has to be at church from 7am-6pm tonight and I obviously opted to stay at home so that I dont get worse or get anyone else sick.

Friday night, though, was a blast. We decided to have every student from the praise band over to our house for dinner and game night. Just a fun night of fellowship and everyone getting to hang out.

check out some pics from the night! :)

We had mexican food, hung out, talked... the boys busted out their guitars and we had a spontaneous time of worship (doesnt get better than that) and then we played Disney Scene it (GIRLS WON!)

it was a great time!! I love these kids!

so now im trying to kill time while I am home alone... hard to do when you can barely get out of bed haha..

School starts next week. Hopefully my last semester of classes!

So my last full day to not have homework or anything and I'm sick.. BOO! :)

OUR house :)

2008-08-12T16:25:00.005-07:00

So here are some overdue pictures of our house. we have worked so hard to get the house together and ready for any guests :) i love it so much and so blessed to have it!!

A Whole Day Off... Can it be?

2008-08-11T21:54:00.003-07:00

So today has been one of the greatest blessings.... JEREMIAH AND I BOTH HAD THE WHOLE DAY OFF! I know... it's crazy. Since we got back from our honeymoon I have had straight work and school everyday and the ministry all weekend. Mondays/Wednesdays I had summer school from 7-noon, work from 12:30-5:30 and night class from 6-10pm and it was BRUTAL... and today we both ironically had the day off. It was great! Yesterday we had church ALL day and then a leader meeting last night and on those days, although they are an amazing encouragement, we end our weekend entirely exhausted.

So today we slept in until we felt like getting up, we watched some TV, layed around, made an actual lunch (ha no quick made PB&J on the way out)... we went to walmart and got a free movie rental (if you sign up at RedBox you get free rental codes no Monday/Wednesdays... and watched movies. We got I Am Legend (jeremiah hates scary movies but because it was in the daytime it was ok haha)... and then we watched our reality night shows (high school musical and the mole!) and then... we played Disney's Scene it!

We love playing games and it's always a fun competition... just grows our friendship which we see as a needed part to our marriage. We laugh so much when we are together and we are just enjoying our new life together. Things get hard being in the "real world"... mainly money because we are working hard on our small salaries to pay all bills and get everything taken care of.

God is good and He is and will provide if we are faithful to Him. I am the worrier in the relationship and doubt a lot that our needs will be taken care of. Jeremiah constantly reminds me that we will be ok... we might not always be filled with extra money but we will be taken care of. He is such a good man and I am more than blessed to be married to such a godly man. We are growing together, learning from the other godly couples around us and working everyday to make our marriage more pleasing to God.

Today was a blessing from God to remind us that no matter how hard we have to work each week, so matter how crazy of a week we might have, to never take for granted just a day at home together. :) tomorrow starts a normal week for us though... so time for bed! :)

Wedding slide show :)

2008-08-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

So we haven't printed out any of our wedding pictures but I figured people are more inclined to see them here :) Enjoy

Baby Mania

2008-08-05T09:26:00.005-07:00

ha so we get married and just when I think I'm finally part of the "clan" of people around me.... join in on conversations, people feel better cuz now we can do things with other married couples... then... everyone goes and has BABIES! So much for being in the loop haha

I dont know what it is but the second you say "I do" people start saying "so when are you gonna have a baby?!?" People laugh at me when I say 3-5 years. We are in no rush to have babies... we are young, newly married and enjoying each other. I went to college and have worked my butt off to get my music education degree (so close.. almost there!) and I want to teach and enjoy that before I become a mommy. Jeremiah and I really have a desire to have me stay at home and watch our kids until they are school age and then go back to teaching and thats a big career hold that I'm not ready for just yet :)

God ultimately will choose the timing of a baby for Jeremiah and I, but as far as we are concerned, we are not planning a little one anytime soon :)

we are so happy for everyone around us having babies and we will get o

ur fill from all the babies around us... we are not having a baby anytime soon (if we can help it... if God blesses us with one sooner than expected, we will be thrilled... but for now...we stay a young married couple with no children :)

So to anyone feeling the need to ask when a baby is coming... save that question for a few years haha

For now we are happy with our family of 2 :)

Another crazy weekend as a youth pastor's wife

2008-07-28T08:50:00.002-07:00

Well, this weekend was absolutely nuts but such a blessing at the same time.

Being a youth pastor's wife comes with so many curves and turns and long weekends. I remember looking back several years ago in high school and vowing that I would never marry a youth pastor. I don't really know why, I just for some reason was really turned off by the idea. I wanted to marry a teacher, and be fellow teachers and... well that was the "dream."

I fell in love with a man that loves teaching... but in a different setting and God opened my eyes to that joy. I am SOO blessed every weekend but the 250 kids that walk through the youth doors at Palm Valley. This weekend we had a record high of 240 kids total! That is amazing. Our Saturday night service which maybe topped out at 20 students had a record high of 41!! God is so good. We are running out of room in each service as so many kids are attending.

I read this blog called Marriedtoayouthpastor.com. It is such a fun thing to read the thoughts of other women married to youth pastors. I get ideas, tips, and encouragement knowing that so many other people are in the exact situation as I am in! I love it!

Each weekend we are at church on saturdays from 1-8pm and on Sunday's from 7am-2pm. It's a LONG weekend. I pray that I don't get schedule to work on Monday's just so I can have that time with Jeremiah (that is his day off) and get that time to rest. Ha today I have school from 7-noon, work from 12:30-5pm and class from 6-10 pm. Doesn't get any less relaxing than that! Summer school is almost over, so I will be glad to get that nightmare of a schedule out of the way.

I never thought, looking back, that I would have fallen in love with youth ministry. It's hard, I get worked up sometimes about it, but it has to be one of the most fulfilling parts of my life! We have the best leaders, students and staff. It's great and I love showing up each weekend and see how the leaders will step up again and prove that they are there with the same passion and drive to see these students "get it." Seeing students click with a message or talk about it later is the most rewarding thing ever. Seeing my husband pour his heart out and challenge students' lives is even more rewarding.

Needless to say, despite these 15 hour days, I am encouraged to know that once this week is over, I will again walk through the doors of Palm Valley and start another crazy, awesome weekend all over again!

Until next time :)

And it begins...

2008-07-23T15:00:00.006-07:00

Well this is my first day as an official "blogger." I guess when you get older, "blogging" is more accepted than Myspace, so this is the alternative!

As much as I feel like I have had significant moments in my life to document, now I feel like my "life has been reborn" in a sense. I am learning to live in a whole new world, new expectations, new job, new emotions... It's all new! So this is the time I felt like I needed to get my moments out there for others to share in, comment about or just keep up with my life. This is also a way to remind myself how good God is and to share those joys and struggles with the world and remind me how real and alive God truly is.

Jeremiah and I have been married a month now and wow did the time fly by. It was the most beautiful wedding, everything I had ever dreamed of

and.... now.... it's over.

You plan for months and months and in a few hours... it's over... wow

I never imagined that it would come and go this quickly and that life would hit so fast. It has been a blast and we are learning so much about each other and about ourselves. It's the best and most difficult thing ever but it is such a blessing.

I started a new job at starbucks and I love it! I love working with adults (I worked in childcare the past 3 years and getting a degree in education... so I needed a break)... I am meeting so many interesting people and God is stretching me. I have never worked in a secular environment before so it is difficult to know the boundaries of conversation and whatnot. I actually have been able to share a lot with my coworkers and customers... one of my managers actually came to church with me this past weekend. Known her 4 days and she asked to come to Palm Valley... it was the biggest throw off ever... It was ALL God.. I just gave her the directions :) She loved it.

I love Palm Valley for so many reasons but this reason is top on my list- We strive to reach ALL people for Christ... we are not a church that has a 'typical' member. I LOVE THAT... People with all backgrounds, styles, personalities find ways to connect at Palm Valley and hear the good news of Christ. Thank you to all you churches who strive to reach all people for Christ and are not afraid to try new, crazy ways of reaching out.

This will be one of many posts as my schedule is so busy and writing my thoughts down seems to help keep me sane :)

I pray that I am a blessing to someone reading and readers are a blessing to me through comments, suggestions or just personal stories of their life.

God Bless