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Happy New Year friends!
I am sitting upstairs in our lovely little office listening to my husband play guitar downstairs and I am struck by the thought that I have a husband! God has blessed our lives greatly in the past year and like many others of you I am drawn into being reflective of the past year in regards to the way that He has moved. It amazes me that in a period of 365 days life can be so complex yet simple and sweet. This year was definitely one to be thankful for as well as remember. 2006 was a year that was started with attending one of the many wonderful weddings of our friends. My calendar was filled with countless meetings, homework assignments, and appointments that at times I had no idea how I was going to be able to keep. Bible study with the girls definitely challenged me at times to honestly think about the way my life was meant to glorify God. The most amazing thought in that sentence is that I am able to glorify God… how beautiful is His mercy and grace! Somehow my assignments were turned in, my calendar began to clear up as decisions were made, and it suddenly was graduation day. College graduation was a special memory shared with friends and family celebrating an achievement that many in our country not to mention the world will unfortunately not be able to experience. Spring was sweet with seeing many family members and special friends in a period of a few weeks at bridal showers and other events. It was so wonderful to be able to see many friends and family members that had taken the time to travel many miles to be with us during this time. June marked the halfway point in the year as well as more importantly our wedding! Luke and i could not have dreamed of a more perfect day to have joined our hands in marriage. Words will never be able to express our thankfulness to all who helped us prepare, mangage, and breathe during the day. We truly saw a tremendous expression of God’s love! After an amazing summer it was time to say goodbye to my job of 3 years at the library. I was truly blessed to have been able to work at such a peaceful environment throughout college. Student teaching full time began in August and my placement at King Elementary caused me to see the world of Fresno in a beautiful diverse way. Halfway through the semester my placement shifted to a much different part of Fresno at Polk Elementary. Classroom management definitely became a much needed emphasis in my day to day experiences with my first graders. Throughout the week at least half of the class would transition in and out to visit the school psychologist, speech therapist, reading intervention, piano lessons, english language development, etc. and I was struck with the realization of how kids desperately need structure and stability in today’s world. Somehow I found myself in December sitting with my advisor for the program reviewing my course requirements and particpating in our ECE graduation. It was a surreal time spent with my family of the past 3 semesters enjoying our completion together. We had the largest graduation class (since I have been a part of the program) and hands down the absolute best. So many great memories. After graduation Luke and I found ourselves going to the tree lot to pick out our first Christmas tree and decorating our apartment for the Christmas season. Christmas was definitely special this year! We entertained many friends throughout the time and were constantly reminded of God’s blessings to us in being 23, living in a nice home, and having so many wondeful people in our lives that have blessed us in return with their friendship and support.
2007 begins today… and with that my calendar is beginning to fill up with wedding dates, job applications, birthdays, and things to do once more. Try and find time to reflect on the beautiful moments that have taken place over the year… believe me you will find many!May your new year find you happy and in love with Jesus! Thank you all for being a part of my journey through life. I appreciate and love you all.

Last night was the culmination of a year and half of long hard work in the credential program. My cohort held our graduation roast and it was amazingly full of laughter and good memories. These 30 people have made a remarkable impression in my life and I have learned so much from them all. It seems odd that we won’t be gathering all together in six weeks to share our new horror stories about those kids in our classrooms who eat their boogers, the horrible evaluations, and the paperwork that we have still yet to start working on that was due two months ago. I was blessed to share life with my friends- we went through pregnancies, marriages, grandbabies, and passing our CSET/RICA together to say the least. As we received our rainbow lanyards last night I had the thought…”so this is it?!” I know that it must be time to continue out into the professional world but it still doesn’t seem as if it is time yet. Isn’t life weird like that? When is the magic time that suddenly we are ready to be ready? And when logically it seems like we should be ready why do we think that we surely can’t be? At least those are my ponderings this morning. If you have any insights let me know!