3rd Anniversary Re-Cap :)

Do you know anyone who would travel across three states just for this...

because we totally do!  Yes, Sonic is that good.  Yes, if you live by one, I'm sure you vastly under appreciate it.  Yes, we are that big of fans of this place to spend just under an hour in the car just to get there.  Why, do you ask?  Oh, do you even have to?  Too many reasons to count, that's why  :)

Indulgence with food is just one of the many things we Fohner's like to do so we think absolutely nothing of spending a total of 4 hours in the car just to reach our favorite destinations for good grub.

We started the day with our favorite Entenmann's & had a very lazy morning.  Then it was off to the closest Sonic in Winchester, VA with Jill (our trusty GPS) leading the way.  It was a beautiful drive so after enjoying our meal we looped back through Harpers Ferry to take in some more sights.  It was almost enough to make us park right there and jump in the river...so beautiful.  We got back just in time to relax and take a nap before heading out to dinner in B-more.

On the way there, God surprised us with this...

how cool!  We figured it would rain at some point yesterday since on the days of every single big event in our life together, it has rained at some point on those days...our first kiss...our first date (yes, we realize those events are out of order, but it just kind of happened, we were friends only [in my eyes] for 6 months before Matt realized I was starting to feel something more for him, too)...the night Matthew told me he loved me & the night I told him I loved him, too...the night we got engaged (which the rain caused to happen at his college apartment & not at our favorite sunset spot on the beach, it was still perfect, though)...and yes, even our wedding day (just in the early morning) & then it was gorgeous out.

So we finally got to the restaurant for our late night reservation and it was a blast.  The last time I went to Restaurante Tio Pepe was when my parents took me for my 17th Birthday (9 years ago at the end of this month, so I was craving some sangria & roast duck  :)

The food was awesome and it helps when your date is the hottest & funniest dude in the restaurant.  We each had a really good dessert, but low and behold, come 3:00 AM this girl was yakking in commode.  I'm not sure why, but praise God, I was only up for 10 minutes or so and I feel fine this morning (enough to continue the indulgence that is Entenmann's).  The worst part of yakking is always that time leading up to it when you know you are, but you just have to wait until your body is ready and thankfully, I woke up right away and was able to make it to the bathroom in time.  No, I'm not pregnant...this was definitely the dessert so don't you fellow blog-stalkers get any ideas just yet  ;)

After dinner, we headed back to this place...

to walk around and reminisce about that special day 3 years ago (thanks again to J Mallare for his AWESOME rendition of Jars of Clay's "I Want To Fall in Love with You" in the pic...Di, every time we hear that song, Matt always says that Jason sang it better  :).

Of course, for the 2nd time of visiting on our anniversary, there was an all-black wedding reception that had finished up 30 minutes before so it was totally obvious that we were traipsing around the after-party un-invited.  All well, the party WAS over and I did call ahead to make sure it was okay we walked around, so we're good.  We've made it a goal to visit there on every anniversary that we're in town just to remember the day.  Last year we were in CA for our anniversary so that was nixed, but anytime we spend the anniversary near home, we're there  :)

So here's to our Three-Peat and to all the ones that follow  :)

We'll catch you all on the flip side...we've got the big Ward/Fohner Family Reunion down in O.C. this weekend along with Mark & Dana's Wedding (I LOVE going to weddings around our anniversary :) to squeeze in back here on the Western Shore on Saturday.  More to come about that early next week & I'll finally finish posting from our 2 week vaca...until then, peeeace.

3 Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today, we were doing this...

We are truly blessed beyond measure  :)

Here's to only the beginning of our beautiful lifetime together

"Has not the LORD made them one?

In flesh and spirit they are his."

-Malachi 2:15

see the whole album on my facebook page

The Bateman Fohner Fam Vaca - A Video Montage of the Key West

House work chores? Are you kidding me? Totally overrated! I have yet to leave the couch this morning after my previous blog-posting therapy. Blogging, watching the "Price is Right" with your husband, and enjoying being in your bathrobe until past noon is what summer vacation is all about in this house of teachers.

I digress...why not upload our videos from our day at Key West?

Key West Special: Animal Edition from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

On our day at Key West, we were told by our trolley guide that roosters overrun the island and seem to have absolutely no internal clock that tells them to only crow at dawn. Instead they crow any freaking time they want, so since they tend to annoy the locals, we decided to annoy them.

Some of my favorite bits of this video include Thew yelling, "Hey!" and the rooster turning to look at him directly afterwards, as well as my youngest bro, Patrick, threatening, "I'm gonna fry you" at the end. Oh, I love the men in my life :)

Key West Special: Animal Edition (Part 2) from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

After walking around the island more, we find a group of chickens and roosters hiding in a grove of palms. My youngest bro, Patrick and I were given specific instructions to herd the animals to my husband, Thew and other younger bro, Scotty while they took pictures and filmed video.

This is the result...WARNING, you may want to turn the volume down if you're not in the comfort of your own home...there are no curse words, but there is fowl language (get it?), i.e. Thew & Scotty yelling at the roosters that they are little (insert another name that roosters are called). If you happen to be listening to this and not watching it, you'll be utterly confused.  My favorite bit is at the end when we have the rooster cornered only to have Thew sneak up on it all stealth-like.  Priceless reaction  :)

The Bateman Fohner Fam Vaca - A Picture Montage of Key West

So, feeling super stuffed with food after our first dinner on the cruise, Thew & I go back to our stateroom to chill for the night.  Still in shock over the fact that we can gorge ourselves again in the morning with a several course breakfast or choose from the many options that room service has to offer, we decided to gorge on room service, checked our selections, and hit the sack.

Now back it up about an hour previous...we're walking around the ship after dinner taking in the awesome sunset and we remark that we're kinda tired and want to get a good night's sleep for walking around Key West the next day.  After much boo-hooing from my dad and little bro's calling us pansies and old people, etc., we head down to the room around 9:00ish to hang out/check out the free movies on TV/read for an hour or so before dozing off.  Yes, I've become a bore since college...only 3 short years ago...the nights of hanging out 'til 2:00 or 3:00 AM & getting up for a day that started with 8:00 AM classes (or a 6 hour stint of student teaching) followed by 3 hours of practice, are definitely over.  I'm lucky if I can keep my eyes open past 10:00 PM nowadays without the help of caffeine.  If you haven't hit your mid-twenties yet, just you wait!

Anyway, we dock in Key West at 7:00 AM, so this girl's thinking she'll set the alarm for 7:00 AM, get ready, eat her leisurely room service breakfast, and hit the shore around 8:30 AM (giving us plenty of time to see the sights we originally saw on or Honeymoon 3 years ago and reminisce).

Instead, Thew & I (or should I say, just I, wake to a knock at our door at 5:30 AM with a cheery, rough English shout of "Room Service").  I look at my cell phone next to me, which hasn't changed over from EST time, and see 4:30 AM on the clock...WHAT?!  I throw on a robe attempting to not look half as disheveled as I feel and stumble to the door.  Now, I'm sure the foreign room service attendant has seen people in more compromising situations than how I looked, but I sure felt exactly how I happened to look...like someone had just awaken me from a few hours of sleep with a tad of jet-lag, a hastily flung on robe, bangs sticking out & other hair jutting out from my head in weird shapes that are usually controlled by hairspray, and to top it all off, my 1950's-style blond glasses (that I don't ever wear in public).

When he asks me to sign our original order I glance at the bottom of the form to see the delivery time of 7:45-8:00 AM scratched out and hastily re-written in my father's handwriting, 5:30-5:45 AM.  Oh, I'm steaming now...but not enough to let it bother me from my new plans to shove a croissant in my mouth and drift off to sleep again until 8:00 AM.

This lovely routine continued the next morning, when we didn't even order room service...a lovely greeting at the same time before dawn with a healthy order of smoked salmon and 6 orange juices.  Now I convinced this room service attendant to drop off this order at my dad & brother's room just 2 doors over instead of leaving it with us, so I felt a little better.  Oh, and don't you think for a second that I didn't order fake room service FOR THEM that morning for an even earlier time...that's right, you don't mess with me and my precious sleep!

After two mornings in a row of this, you better believe I called room service and made a request that no orders be sent to us, and if they did, they were fake and to please not process them.  Hence, me being able to sleep in in perfect peace the rest of our time on that ship...well, until Friday morning when some drunk loudmouths decided to park it right outside of our door to talk about how slammed they were at 4:00 AM...but other than that, I slept very well the whole rest of the time on vacation  :)

I digress back to the morning of Key West...we walked up and down most of the cool harbor of Key West and Duval Street (equivalent of Main Street Annapolis...man, I miss where I grew up!) filled with cool shops, museums, and the cuteness of the southern-most point of the States, that makes you feel like you're not even in the US anymore.

We hiked up to the Ernest Hemingway House, where we saw 50 of these...

just laying around and waiting for visitors to pet them them...about half the cats (including this one have 6 toes, a rare genetic mutation that randomly appeared in the generations of cats related to Hemingway's original many cats).

Thew & I posing with the concrete-embedded penny that Hemingway claimed was all that was left of his fortune after he came home from overseas to find that his wife had the first swimming pool in Key West put in.  A staggering $20,000 cost (even now), though that was back in 1938 when it only cost Hemingway $8,000 to build his original house that is still standing today (built by a master architect & basically hurricane-proof).  A short time later, Hemingway divorced that wife and moved onto wife #3.

The 2nd Floor of Hemingway's House

A cool palm in the garden that my talented hub snagged a pic of

It was so cool to see where Hemingway spent his time...the beautiful house with wrap around porches on both levels, lush gardens, and writing house.  Though his written works are a distant memory to me, I always remember watching the movie version of his most famous story "The Old Man and the Sea" with my dad when I was little.  There's something about that story of that old man who spends 2 full days to pull the biggest marlin he's ever seen from his line that the marlin has snagged to his boat only to realize that he can't even fit it in his simple boat.  He finally has to kill the marlin so he can even row home with it since it is still struggling.  With the marlin trailing in the water behind him, sharks start to eat it as the old man rows home and the man is able to kill some but not enough to end up at home only with a shell of what the marlin once was.  In the end, the old man's journey allows him to reconnect with his young apprentice who has been forbade to fish with him b/c of the old man's bad luck recently at sea.  So heartbreakingly sad, but such a good story, with a great ending.  You realize the story isn't as much about the old man and the marlin, but is actually about the old man and the sea...how it has connected him and the boy in the story.  A connection that is hard to explain even through Pulitzer Prize winning novella or a simple blog post about a girl's relationship with her father.  My dad and I have some memories that I hold very dear to me of our time spent on and around the waters of Severna Park...one of the reasons I desperately miss my peninsula of a hometown and hate the mountains of Fred-neck, but that's another post.

Key West was super fun and stinking hot...what an awesome first full day of our cruise!  Well, that's enough yapping out of me for now.  After all, I have some housework to catch up on.  I mean, not everyone can afford to do this...

The Bateman Fohner Fam Vaca - A Video Montage of the Ship

New Meaning to the Word Gluttony from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

Our first full day on the cruise, Scotty decided he was going to enjoy all that the all-you-can-eat menu offered.  He attempted (and failed miserably...no really he looked miserable the WHOLE meal) to eat SEVEN COURSES.  The third entree (a 8 oz. beef course with veggies) after three whole appetizers was what did him in.  Though he did scarf down some orange sherbet afterwards and managed to actually walk around for a few hours that night before finally succumbing to some much needed sleep to aid in digestion.

Why Asking Your Dad & Little Brothers to Take a Romantic Picture of You & Your Spouse isn't Romantic from Matthew & Lynsey Fohner on Vimeo.

After dinner on our first full day on the cruise we headed outside for pictures on the deck (even though half of our fam had already changed out of their nice clothes).  So Thew and I are within weeks of our 3rd Anniversary and decide to take a romantic picture...enter my dad to take the picture and the oldest of my little brothers to distract him.  Watching it explains it all.  Don't they know that it's hard enough to get your hobby-photographer husband to pose in a shot that includes people, especially when all he likes taking pictures of is God's beautiful creation!?  All well, at least we got some cute pictures and a hilarious video out of it!

This was a nightly ritual for the boys.  Every night during dinner, your Stateroom Attendant turns down the bed for you and leaves a schedule for the following day as well as a creation made out a towel...one night; a heart, another night; a seal, another night; a bunny, etc.  Continuing in the tradition started on our Honeymoon, Thew would record himself backhanding the towel-creation...enough said.

The Bateman Fohner Fam Vaca - A Picture Montage of the Ship

This is how the Bateman's feel about required Muster Drills (despite the fact that the Titanic was less than a century ago).  Thew looks excited, though...that dork  ;)

First night on the ship...no I didn't go down the slide...yes, I regret it

My not-so-little-anymore-bro's...I still love 'em despite the fact that they're Terps and not Gulls

Our nightly dinner table with AWESOME food...if you've never been on a cruise, the food alone is worth it

Our last night on the Carnival Fascination...or as the boys called it the Carnival Flatulation (have I mentioned how fun it is being trapped on a boat surrounded by boys)

Whew...Back From Vacation!

So we're back...and here's proof that I survived almost 2 whole weeks of vacation with my little bro's.  Thankfully I had a little break that occurred for the last two days when it was just my mom, Thew, and I.

This video is just a taste of what occurs when testosterone outnumbers estrogen in extreme environments...WARNING the following will totally embarrass my youngest brother, but hey, I'm not even sure he reads this blog...so here it goes...

Who knew that guys even did this/would videotape it/find this hilarious?  I, myself, am frankly just confused/cracking up laughing.

More pics & videos to come in the next few days  :)

Until then...you'll find this girl relaxing at home & catching up with our severely neglected house, visiting with friends & our puppy, and chilling out  :)

We <3 Free Airport Internet

So we have a little lull before our flight back to B-more and Matt decided to turn on my Mac just to see if we could get internet access.  Sweet...Ft. Lauderdale loves it's customer's, unlike BWI who wanted to charge us for internet access (dorks).

We just wanted to give you all a little update on the Fohner-Bateman vacas.  Here are some pics of us having some fun with the iPhoto on the plane to FL.

The cruise was absolutely wonderful!  Let's just say that there is nothing like visiting the beauty of the Carribean to see first-hand the beauty that God has made with His creation down there.  So many fun experiences and times of laughing until I almost threw up, although I can't wait to see my mom and actually get some contact with estrogen.  Straight testosterone for 5 full days has it's downfalls.

Biggest reason I miss home now...two of our best friends gave birth to their third child and first son on Tuesday.  Jett (Jacob Allen Whicker II) arrived at 4:54 AM at a nice 7 lbs. 1 oz.  We totally thought Beth was gonna go on the Friday before we left and actually spent the night at their house to watch their 3-year-old and 18-month-old girls.  They sent Jake & Beth home the next day  :(  Man, I can't WAIT to meet him when we get home!

You'll hear more from me next weekend, but until then I'm looking forward to some more sun & sand in Bethany  :)

Peace...

We <3 Summer Vacation

So you'll be seeing lots of pics like this in a few weeks because the Fohn Fam is headed off to enjoy the sun & surf over the next 2 weeks with the Bateman Clan :)

We left Fred-neck yesterday morning to head to Pete's (Matt's Dad's) house in Davidsonville to have a Mini-Fohner Family Reunion. The real Ward-Fohner Reunion is August 8th-10th in O.C., but Matt's youngest of his older sister is pregnant with her and her husband's fourth child and isn't allowed to travel far from home from now on. So Pete wanted to have all of his kids, their spouses, and grandkids over, since the Sifford's can't come to the reunion. So the eighteen of us all enjoyed a nice cook out while being constantly soaked by water balloons and squirt guns from the nephews and nieces. We all don't get together but a few times a year since they're so many of us, so it was really nice to spend time with everyone.

We're having a nice, relaxing afternoon at my mom's house then we're heading off to the Mallare's to have a chill dinner, hang out with J & Di, and play with little Lily. Tomorrow morning my Dad's flying us down to Ft. Lauderdale with my little bro's and treating us all to a cruise :) We'll stop in Key West and Cozumel, which we're really excited about because Key West was one of our stops on our Honeymoon and we've never been to Mexico, so we're psyched.

When we get back on Friday we're headed straight to Bethany for a week with my Mom...wooo-who! This time of year is when we absolutely LOVE being teachers. God's really blessed us with the ability to be able to enjoy the first few years of married life with summer's off...time to spend with each other working camps at the beach, going on vacations, and just relaxing together.

So here's to a great, safe, wonderful time on a much needed vacation...see you all in a few weeks!

P.S. This is a pic of my mom and I in the OBX on the 4th. Yeah, I got a haircut...I promise I'll put more pics of it when I get back, but it's so nice having short hair. I definitely feel more sophisticated :)

Another Wagner Girl :)

Last night @ around 10:30 while hanging out with Ashley, Cassie, & Lainey I get the following text message from Dave...

"At 10:08, 20" and 7lb 12 oz Hope Ann Wagner entered the world.  She is beautiful with a full head of hair.  Praise God!"

Wooo-who!  So excited for you, Dave, Nicki, and Ella!  I can't wait to meet her  :)

P.S.  The pic above is from Nicki's Baby Shower that wasn't even 1 week ago!  I feel so blessed to still have these awesome girls in my life 11 years after we all met during our freshman year of high school  :)

Well, actually...I've known Shannon (in the middle) for almost 20 years and Di (2nd from the right) is the most recent BF of the group since I've only known her for about 10 years, but still...how many people can say they're still close with their best friends from grade school when they're in their mid-20's?  Love you girls (& miss you, Jax)!

A Movie Showing Just for the Fohn Fam (& a Stalker j/k...read on)

So while checking my phone after Vacation Bible School tonight I get a text from Matthew asking me when I'd be home and that I had a surprise at 9:30.  Wooo-who!  I was psyched...he's pretty good with surprises.

So I quickly say good-bye to everyone and hop in the car.  I come home to a just showered, cologne wearing (LOVE that Ralph Lauren Romance :) husband ready to whisk me off to see "Wall-E".  Sweet deal...we love Pixar Movies.  So the movie theater isn't too packed and when we walk into our specific theater, no one is there yet.  Then I remember it's a Sunday night and we're about 10 minutes early (c'mon, we're early every once in a while).  As the minutes pass, still no one comes in we remind ourselves that it is a kid's movie and most kids have been in bed for hours now.

So the previews start and we're thinking, how cool...are we really going to have the WHOLE theater to ourselves?!  Well, one guy walks in about one preview in, looks around and proceeds to walk a couple of rows behind us and sit.  At this point I'm thinking, oh man...this isn't as special and where is this joker sitting?  As soon as the word "joker" pops in my head I start thinking about the "Batman" preview from the previous night that Rachel, her friend Emily, and I watched and I start getting a little freaked.  All the sudden, I'm hoping no scary previews come on so I can get the image of Heath Leger doing an awesome job playing that psycho joker (who happens to be holding a knife in almost every scene) out of my head.  Wait, a knife...where did that weirdo who came to the movie by himself go?  Has this ever happened before..."young couple stabbed to death in late-night theater showing of 'Wall-E'...the headlines run through my head.  Thankfully some more previews distract me enough to prevent me from turning around and trying to find out where this guy is sitting.  After all, it's going to be completely obvious if I turn around, although the more I think about it, the more I want to do it.  Can I get away with acting like I'm digging in my purse beside me and then nonchalantly just turn enough to the side and peek?  Before these thought completely consume me, I see a flashing light of a cell phone and the guy descending the stairs out of the theater...whew!

Thew and I look at each other and simultaneously say "weirdo" and nervously snicker, a bit relieved that we're now the only ones in the theater.

So the ENTIRE rest of the movie, no one even walked in!  How cool!  I felt like a movie star whose husband rented out the entire theater so we wouldn't be bothered while we enjoyed ourselves.  We propped out feet up on the seats, leaned back, and snuggled a bit, relishing in our pseudo wealthy feeling of having the means to rent out our own theater.  So fun  :)  Second time in a little over a week that God has let me enjoy something with almost complete isolation (see last Monday's first blog post), only this time it was with my favorite person  :)  And on top of that, a really cute movie...it will definitely be sitting on our movie shelf when it comes out on DVD.  Although, I do have to say I did have to snap myself back to reality quite a lot while watching this.  I kept thinking that it was ridiculous to think a computer-generated robot has feelings and here I am constantly leaning over to Thew saying, "how cute!" when Wall-E talks or droops his eyes or shivers.  Ridunculous, right?  All well, it was cute!  And the PE Teachers in us loved how all the people in the movie are morbidly obese and detached because in the Pixar-minded future, we'll have the technology to have hover machines that do our traveling for us, so much so that we have to learn how to walk again...a really good wake up call to our un-healthy nation.

That's all for now, signing off with champagne somethings and caviar dreams (or whatever Robin Leach used to say at the end of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"...gotta love the 80's (do you think this theater experience got to my head...hehe  :)

Happy Anniversary, Barnette Family!

End of day shout out to our bestest friends, Kyle & Ashley Barnette, to say HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSARY!!!

This time last year we were finishing dancing, saying goodnight, and reminiscing on the awesome memories of the time leading up to the wedding of mine best friend to Matt's best friend.

I believe around this time of the night last year, Erica and I were desperately trying to nonchalantly go through their wedding gifts to find the sheets that they registered for that we knew someone got for them but that they needed that night since they were going back to the house they had just bought.  We wanted to make sure that their first night together was just perfect and you obviously need sheets on a bed for that to happen, so here are the Bridesmaid and Brides Matron frantically searching through gifts that are not ours trying to find what would look like a set of sheets while the Maid of Honor distracts the guests so that they don't notice.  Ummm, a little awkward.  I'm pretty sure that Matt and Ben were doing their worm dance in their tuxes around this time, too, so I'm pretty sure no one noticed.

Anyway, who cares if anyone did notice...we found the sheets, they had an awesome first night, and Ash I and were free to gossip and giggle about it in the back seat of mine & Matt's car as we drove them to the airport at 5:30 the next morning.

So Happy 1st Anniversary, guys (even though I know you almost never read this thing).  We wanted to let you know we were thinking about you today and praying for you that God continues to bless your union!  Some of the best and favorite moments of mine & Matt's life together have been spent with you all.  We love you!!!

P.S.  Kyle & Ash, thought you would both appreciate the pic with "Stevie Brue-na" in the background from the annual Valentine's Day Dinner...he almost looks as if he just chopped a quart of wood in an hour  ;)

The OBX & a Sunrise Just for Me :)

So I'm back after over 17 hours on the road (combined from the trip down and up...ugh).  Totally worth it though!  I'm currently waiting for a totally cute pic of my mom and I to be e-mailed to me so I can upload it to the blog here.

It was such a blessing to be able to spend some time with my mom and her future fam.  We had such a great time hanging out.

I also got to enjoy some much needed "me time".  There are few things more peaceful than waking up to the sunrise on the beach with absolutely NO ONE around for 45 minutes.  I'm not kidding either...I woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 and walked out to the beach to watch the sunrise and I didn't see a soul for over 45 minutes!  I had the entire beach to myself the whole time!  It was so beautiful just being able to feel the sand between my toes, watch the waves slowly roll into the shore, and see the sun peek up through the clouds.  I can't remember where the verse is, but God's Word speaks of how he makes certain things on earth just to make us smile...and that sunrise was just for me on Saturday  :)  I brought my Bible and journal out just in case, but I couldn't take my eyes away from His beauty and thought that He just wanted me to enjoy His creation for a bit instead.  I took a 30 minutes walk out to the ship wreak and back and still didn't see ANYONE!  As I got back ready to walk back up to the beach house, I finally saw a jogger and a guy on an ATV, but I still choose to think that God made that sunrise just for me that day  :)

Also, after Matt and I spent some much needed time together here at the house tonight, I turn on the computer to catch up on e-mail and such and find that I got mentioned on one of my favorite blog sites (scroll down to the "Sunday Flashback" Post).  And while you're at it, check his son's blog (AMAZING story)!

What a cool weekend!

Now for an awesome dinner out with my favorite of God's creations...my handsome hubby  :)

Stuff Christians Like and Things That Slightly Perturb Them

Okay, so while doing my almost daily blog stalking I come across a mention of another blog, Stuff Christians Like (think any other "Stuff [insert certain group stereotype name] Like" blog) on a pastor's blog.

Of course, I click the link (just like you all probably already have before even reading the rest of my post...how rude of you!  j/k) and start to go into one of those talking giggles while skimming the posts trying to show Matt how funny all this stuff is.

Don't get me wrong, I only did some minor skimming.  I have a long drive down to the OBX tomorrow morning which was going to be tag teamed with the oldest little bro (who I am currently slightly perturbed at since he bailed on me t-minus 8 hours before the estimated meet-up time).  Seriously, I really have been looking forward to this time with Scotty and am upset that he just couldn't take off work to come (insert inside joke...really, no hard feelings, although Mom's pissed at you [and I'm not j/k about that]).  This last minute decision on your part doesn't reflect well on the generosity extended by her future in-laws (by the way, are you all annoyed by the fact that I keep using parentheses?  I happen to love them and it's my blog [i.e. deal with it]).

Goodness, it's late...I need to head to bed.  After all, I won't be able to nap tomorrow in the car (that's my last jab at you, Scotty, promise...unless you don't pay me back for the Father's Day present we got Dad ASAP.  I might even start to charge you interest, j/k).

Here's to an awesome 4th down in the OBX  :)

The Pencil Test...duh, duh, DAAA! Uh-oh!

So being the skeptic that I am, when Di told me about the Pencil Test, blogged about, and then strongly urged everyone she knew to try it, I was like "yeah, right...that thing does NOT work!  The person who's holding that pencil is making it sway the way they want to.  There's so many chances for error...yada, yada, yada."

For those of you who don't know, it's an experiment involving looping about 3 inches of sting to a needle and then pushing that needle into the eraser of an un-used pencil.  You place the pencil over your wrist, hold the string, and wait.  The pencil will start to sway back and forth the length of your arm (boy) or back and forth across your arm, like a watchband (girl).  Apparently, the pencil stops swaying and will do tiny circles and then begin to sway again to indicate another child.  Then it will stop all-together to indicate the test is finished.  Of course, this is where I was extremely skeptical (did I mention that yet?)...how can the pencil just stop?  But it actually did...all 7 times we tested just the two of us!

Well, my grandmother and I were hanging out today down at they're farm (catching up on my blog-stalking) and low and behold, Di makes another post about The Pencil Test.  So we decided to try it out.  Here's when the duh, duh, DAAA comes in (insert a maniacal shout and hearty giggle from Cassie).

The Results...(I feel like this is a remark of impending doom...just kidding, it's all just for fun)...

Boy  -  Girl  -  Girl  -  Boy  -  BOY     (Insert, big UH-OH!)

Goodness gracious, Pencil Test!  For real?!  I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE kids and want a bunch...but FIVE?!  For serious?

Now don't get me wrong, I completely realize this is just for fun, and I refuse to believe that something like this could actually predict the gender, birth order, and number of children that Matt and I will have, even if Di does have 8 examples of cases when it was correct.

So, because I am THAT skeptic girl, I did it 3 more times...SAME Result (insert HUGH UH-OH)!

Okay, whatever, stupid Pencil Test!  I'll show you!  I'm going to try you out on my grandmother!

Girl  -  Boy  -  Boy  -  Girl

Fine, Pencil Test...you were right that time...let's try it another 2 times!  Ha, we'll get you now!

Ummm, same results two more times!  What?!

Anyway, again to reiterate...I know this is just a fun thing to do, but it will be interesting if this thing proves right.  Only time will tell...

Long Time Coming...

Yeah, I know it's been forever...give me a break, people! No, seriously...the end of the school year was a little stressful for me.

Back in October I resigned from my two year varsity coaching job. It was a very tough decision, but one that God led me to after months of prayer. At the time, I didn't understand all the reasons why some of the struggles that have come to me since being hired at the age of 22 to be the only varsity coach of a struggling program, while enjoying being a newlywed, moving over an hour away from my family and friends, owning our first home, and getting through my first year of teaching. Whew! That took a lot of energy even writing that.

For those of you who don't know, my first year of teaching was really challenging for me and my second year of coaching was extremely hard. This third year was easier in those departments, mostly because I really believe God protected me through the prayers of myself and others as well as me making the decision not to coach this past spring. Don't get me wrong, there have been moments I have thought twice about decisions that Matt and I have made that have brought us here, not just with coaching. But NOT ONCE have we ever regretted any of those decisions. They have been brought about after hours of prayer, searching the scriptures, and fasting.

Tears, begging, and pleading have ensued from many of my former athletes to have me come back over the past eight months (as recently as yesterday), and if coaching was all about them, I would have. Once it was leaked that I was being excessed, all of that was repeated from my students...and that was HARD. I love those kids and I miss the time that I spent with them, but unfortunately high school athletics is not what it used to be. And for some, just playing together on a team with friends learning more about a sport they love wasn't as important as playing time, bashing coaches, backstabbing, gossip, and extremely hurtful actions towards me from parents and staff.

Though like every trial in life there is a reason behind it...an experience that we have to go through to get a lesson. And there have been many. Through this persecution (and I do mean persecution...I was attacked for my faith in ways I hope most Christians in the U.S. never have to go through), I learned a lot about myself. Though it wasn't fun and not the most ideal way to get there, I have grown in my faith and learned how to cling to Jesus in way that I literally could not get through the day without constantly turning to Him through prayer and reading His Word.

I was also given gifts that have meaning beyond what I can write about here. I was sent numerous e-mails, phone calls, and letters encouraging me. People letting me know they were praying and to not be discouraged...I had parents walk straight into offices and demand to see the people in charge immediately, saying they were not going home until an explanation for what was going on was given...parents made phone calls to Jay Sekulow (Christian lawyer and Radio Personality) to see if there could be a case against the School Board...numerous prayer chains via e-mail were forwarded to me in support of myself.

Now, back to how I started this post...Because I chose to resign from coaching, I was given a letter informing me that the decision had been made to excess me out of the school. This means I was still guaranteed a job teaching PE in the county, but it would be at a different school the following year. There is rule in our contractual agreement that states that High School PE Teachers "may be required" to coach. At first, I had no problem with this and most people don't. Some don't even think it's a big deal if PE Teachers don't coach and I didn't mind coaching, so I didn't think much of it. Then the craziness that was last April happened. When I had the extremely wrenching meeting with my girls informing them of my decision, it was beyond explanation how hard it was to tell them that I would not be coming back. I told them I was returning to school to take classes for my masters and couldn't give them the time and energy that they would deserve from a coach.

So needless to say, my time since packing up my office on June 16 and leaving the school for the last time has been a restful and much needed break. Those of you who don't understand why teachers need a summer vacation have never experienced what the demands of teaching are and have NO room to complain about it...try me and shadow me for a day (see if you live to tell about it!) No, I'm only partially right there...I do enjoy it for the most part and that's why I still do it.

So two nights ago, Matt and I returned from our church's Mission Trip called World Changers. Man, did we love it! So many awesome things happened and I'll have to give more details later because this post got way too long anyway, but in summary...God is SOOO good!

Halfway through the week, on the way to my job site, I was informed of an opening position at a middle school, one of the top three middle schools in the county (Matt's at the first, that stinker). I know what you're thinking...middle school, I must be crazy. And you know what, I partially am...but it's a job, I can coach on my own terms if I have the desire to, and two of our youth from our church attend there...even a woman who volunteers for the youth at our church with me works there.

I took the job without hesitation because my prayer for months has been for God to lead me to the school where He wants me to be. And I'm confident that that phone call was the answer to all that prayer, pouring over the Word, and fasting.

Though I'm leaving the high school behind (I was a wreck that last day there and I couldn't even say good-bye to some of my favorite co-workers because I was bawling so hard due to mixed emotions).  But over time (after months and months), I've found that getting upset, angry, and complaining only hurts myself and prayer is the best way to deal with all the emotions that come with trials like this.

So, I'm headed off this afternoon to my grandparents for a few days since I haven't seen them in months and Matt's in O.C. working a basketball camp 'til Thursday.

If you're reading this and I haven't talked to you in a while, give me a call. Summer's an awesome time to catch up and get back to what we're really put on this earth for...spreading His love to lead others to Him as well as fellowshipping and encouraging. Hope to hear from you all soon :)

Much love in Christ,

Lyns