1+1=3

Big news from the English household....  it's been a little while since I blogged, but I think this will make up for it:


We are expecting a baby due February 22, 2012!!!

Yes.  I know.  CRAZY!  We are still a little shocked and scared but we are most EXCITED!  We weren't necessarily planning for this, but the Lord obviously had other plans in store for us.   Just a month after we celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, we will be welcoming a new person into the world!  

It has been so hard to keep this a secret.  I found out the Friday of Father's Day Weekend - how appropriate? Jesse was already planning on coming home that weekend, so I surprised him with a Happy Father's Day card when he got to Starkville that night. I think he first thought it was from Maggie until he looked up and saw the  look on my face.  We went through all sorts of emotions that weekend - excited, scared, freaked out, excitied, etc. It was very appropriate for Jesse to hear a sermon about being a father that Sunday! Once we shared the news with our families, it became more and more real to us and the excitement has grown so much over the past month!  It has been so fun to share with friends and I am so relieved that the whole world can now know!

We ask that you pray for us in this time.  It is so exciting, but it is still a little scary.  I will finish my masters this December and Jesse will finish in May. My maternity leave will take us through the end of May, and then we will see what God has in store for us.   It's very comforting to know that the Lord has plans for this precious life.... that is being created inside of me... which is still weird to fathom. 

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Prasie Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

I guess that's enough news for today.  :)

Quick Update

I hate that I have not had much time to blog this month!  Orientation really is taking over my life.  We are about to start our last week - beginning with a Counselor Dinner tonight followed by our last Freshman session Monday and Tuesday and our last Transfer session on Wednesday. What is getting me through this month?  Well its these people in this picture.  Some of the biggest blessings in my job are these people you see below.  It's very rare when all of us are together for any amount of time, due to our recruiting territories, but it always fun and interesting when we are! We are so excited about the class that will be joining the Bulldog Family this fall.  Missing you, Megan and Matt!

MSU Admissions Counselors

Where has June gone??  We have anticipated this time of the summer for a while, and it is about to be over.  Crazy.  I'm sorry that this month has caused me to be a distant friend...  I'll be back very soon! I'm definitely looking forward to what July will bring - a roommate!  Kelley is moving in for the month before she heads off to become an adult and teach English to the 7th graders of New Albany, MS. Today I'm working on getting the guest room cleaned out and ready for her to move in.

Awaiting me at the end of this week is the English Family 4th of July trip to North Georgia!  On Friday, Kelley, Trae, and I will pack up and meet the rest of the family at a lake in Ellijay.  I am so excited to see Jesse and hang with the fam.  There most definitely will be a fun post with pictures from the long weekend!

Until then...  :)

June - Survival Month

So, June is officially almost halfway over.  Really?  June brings many changes to my life - and its almost half way over??  This will be a short post, but just wanted to catch you up on what is going on in the English household.

It seems like it was just yesterday that Jesse was headed to North Carolina... and he has gone again, but this time to Atlanta. He is pumped about going to all the Braves games! He is at an internship this summer in downtown Atlanta for the National Park Service and is living in the Decatur area.  I wasn't able to help move him in because of the other thing June brings to my life - MSU Orientation.  We have already completed 2 sessions, with another one beginning on Thursday. By the end of June, we will have completed 7 sessions. Whew.  It has been really cool to see my students at Orientation!

More to come later - until then, I wanted to share the best recipe that I have ever found for Oatmeal Raisin cookies.  Jesse and I made these a few weeks ago and I can't get them off of my mind.  Follow every step. Including whipping the butter and sugars for 5 minutes - I've never done it that long, normally until it is just combined - but it's worth it!  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/10/oatmeal-raisin-cookies-recipe-flour/

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

I know a lot of my posts end up being about my favorite pooch... but this one is special!  Our Magnolia Mae is 1 year old today!  We went to Madison to visit with my parents for the weekend.  She had a very eventful birthday weekend.  As usual, there are many pictures to go along with the story.  

Last weekend we celebrated Memorial Day with Jesse's family and had to board her, so she was really excited this weekend once she realized she was getting to go with us.  

We woke up Saturday morning to spend the entire day on the lake. Maggie was quickly a big fan of riding on a boat.  

Jesse caught a bass...

...and I caught a catfish!

Which we ate for lunch today. Yummy!

 

After fishing and riding, it was time to get in the water. (By the way, why is June already so hot this year???????)  A dip in the lake was very refreshing - and we finally convinced Maggie that being a lab means that you must be a waterdog.  We tried to get her to swim back in November, but she was not a fan...  So, after some coersion, in she went!  She made a b-line to my Dad who was chillin on a raft and immediately climbed aboard to safety.  

Here's a video!  At this point, she still wasn't too sure about it and was ready to be back in the boat... as you will see.

But once she got used to it, she loved swimming and sitting on the rafts!

Surfing Dog!

After a great weekend in the Brick City, we made it back to Starkville for a birthday dinner with Aunt Kelley and Trae, who brought a gift!  Every lab needs a duck toy.

Overall, I think she had an excellent first birthday.  She is absolutely pooped now that she is home.  And so it is time for bed. Goodnight!

How to Partner with God in His Work

I’ve heard plenty of Christians talking about partnering with God in His work. I think this is a great concept, but usually when that work is explained it’s incredibly limited. When people partner with God in his work, they’re often talking about building the church, and even then the church is so narrowly defined you’d think God’s work was exclusively about building small, academic institutions in which people study theories about God. I think God is truly working to build those small academic communities we commonly think of as church, but the whole church is much larger and less easily defined. God can see the church but we can only feel around in the dark and recognize it when we see a common Jesus in a neighbors heart.

That said, I think God is working on much, much more than building the church. If we look at the work God has done, we see God has made beauty, so I think creating beauty is Gods work. We see that God has created structure and order, so cultivating a place is God’s work, too. God created love, and seeks to protect love, so creating and protecting love is Gods work and we can partner with him in that work. God created brains that can solve problems, so science is God’s work as well as theater and literature.

When we narrowly define God’s work, we end up channeling people into working for the church, often motivated by guilt, rather than partnering with God in whatever skill or passion he has given to them as a gift, as a way of bonding with him.

So, do you really believe planting a garden is a way to partner with God in his work? Do you believe writing and performing a play is partnering with God in his work? What about studying micro-organisms? What about baking a cake? It’s all God’s world, and in everything we do we can partner with him in his love for it. How do you partner with God?

How to Partner with God in His Work is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog

Fredericksburg, TX

Elizabeth Walker and I met in high school through random friends and she has been such a consistent friend since.  She went to Baylor for college and was a Chi O there!  Throughout the years and all the miles, we have remained friends, even though we do not get to see each other very often at all. Each Christmas break when everyone was home from college, my friends Kaylan, Liz, and I would always meet up and spent hours catching up in Liz's hot tub.  She drove all the way from Waco and back just to come to my wedding. Such a sweet, dedicated friend.  

Christmas 2005

Kayan, me, and Liz

Fastforward to 2011 and Liz will be marrying Mr. Joel Wilkins this July.  Here's the lovely couple.  The wonderful Casey and Laura Z will be shooting their wedding and I'm so excited!  

Last weekend was spent in Fredericksburg, TX for a bachelorette weekend in honor of Liz... and it was so much fun!  Kaylan and I made plans to fly to TX to meet Liz's college friends and spend the weekend celebrating her and the next phase of her life.  It was such a great weekend of relaxation and catching up.  

I apologize... the rest of the pictures were taken from my phone, so they aren't the best.  I can't believe I forgot my camera!!!

It really is so much more fun to fly with friends!

We arrived in Houston, then piled in the car to head to Fredericksburg, "The Heart of the Texas Hill Country"!  For those of you (like myself) who are not very familiar with Texas, here's where we were.  Fredericksburg is such a cool place!  There is an adorable downtown areas with tons of places to shop, eat, and hang out! 

We arrived in town and pulled up at the cutest bed and breakfast.  The girls planning the weekend booked the whole house, which is normally divided up into two separate spaces; the Keidel Inn and Guesthouse, and the Legacy Suite on Main.  It was AWESOME.  

Our first meal in town as at Der Lindenbaum, an authenic german restaurant, where I learned the definition of scnitzel.  I had Wiener Scnitzel (basically a fried pork chop) and Kaylan had the Sausage Sampler. It was yummy!

We came back to the house for some yummy cupcakes from Sprinkles!  Red Velvet and Strawberry. Yum.

 Some bubbly before Liz opened her gifts.  :)

The next morning, we woke up, got breakfast, and hit the town shopping!  I didn't get anything, but this picture is from one of the cute shops downtown!

We had lunch at an amazing restaurant called The Peach Tree.  It was SO GOOD.  I recommend the "Super Good For You Sandwhich." What a name. haha  The food was so fresh and delicious.  After lunch we made out way out to Becker Vineyards.   I didn't realize how many wineries there were in TX, but it was awesome!  Liz's sister works at a winery, so she used her expertise in selecting this particular one to visit.  $10 for 6 tastings and a wine glass?  Sign me up!

I brought home a bottle of Malbec for me and the hubs.

We all purchased our favorite wine, then headed back to the bed and breakfast for the evening. The next morning, we loaded up the car, headed back to Houston, and Kaylan and I flew back to the 'sip.  It was such a great, relaxing weekend. I'm so glad that I was able to go! 

Side note:  Kaylan just got engaged and is getting married this December, so we got to talk "wedding" a lot during the weekend.  She asked me to be a bridesmaid and I am so excited!  I've been thinking about running the St. Jude Half again, and this wedding might be the best motivation to do it!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Jesse, Kelley, Trae, and I all walked to the farmers market and then onto the garden this morning.  Guess who is having fresh veggies for dinner?!?! Yummy.