The possibly new house????

well - even though we've been living in the apartment we've been looking to get out and our realtor has been sending us houses since the summer. most of them are too far away and too expensive. then we got this one a little while ago - this one is 10 minutes away and almost perfectly priced. there is even a little yard for charlie - so we were so excited about it that i wanted to post some pictures to let you know what it looks like. we're not positively sure that we're going to buy it. but we are definitely thinking seriously about it. :)



this is the kitchen - we would get to keep everything that is in here. its not wonderful, but its do-able.

this is the master bedroom - not anything spectacular, but again it is something that we can live with and fix up if we like. the plus about this house is that the master bedroom has 2 closets!!!:)
this is a picture of the garage from the outside. there would be a lot of room for storage even besides a car which will be helpful.
this is the outside - #28 is the one. yeah that's our realtor locking up. :)
and this is our porch with our little backyard that we can fence in for the pooch. behind us is a cemetary - i guess we won't have to worry about it being too noisy.

well - i hope you enjoyed please let us know what you think!!! and we'll let you all know what we decide. :)

What Teachers Make!!!

someone sent me this e-mail and i thought that it was really good.

What Teachers Make

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. one man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from soneone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point he said to another guest, "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?" Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what i make? (she paused for a second, then began...) "Well, i make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. i make a c+ feel like the congressional medal of honor. i make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 minutes without an IPOD, Game Cube, or a movie rental. You want to know what i make?" (she paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.) i make kids wonder. i make them question. i make them criticize. i make the apologize and mean it. i make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. i teach them to write and then i make them write. i make the read, read, read. i make them show all their work in math. i make my students from other countries learn everything that they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. i make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. i make my students stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, because we live in the United States of America. Finally, i make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life. (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) "Then, when people judge me by what i make, i can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant...You want to know what i make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?

THERE IS MUCH TRUTH IN THIS STATEMENT: Teachers make every other profession!!!

this is jen speaking now. at first i was offended by what the business man said. but then i read all of it. and it definitely is true - and actually all of the things that she said that she had to make her students do - i am going through right now with my class. and my hope is that they will turn out the right way and become great because of the things that i have taught them. that last statement is part of the reason that i am a teacher.

so teachers keep pressing on. it may seem hard now (believe me - i understand) but look towards the future - try to see the end product!!!

Snow Camp!!!

Well we are finally back from snow camp and we have one year under our belts. this church does things a little differently than other churches that we've been to. they actually go skiing, snowboarding, and tubing. we waited a little too long to go to another camp so we did the same thing that they did. we went to camelback mountain in the poconos. it was a lot of fun. on friday night we went ice skating and then saturday we went to the mountain to ski etc. i got the fun job of playing policeman in the lodge. :) ugh!!! every night we stayed in a hotel - and of course mark and i were chaperones along with some of the other parents. it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. mark was the keynote speaker. (that's funny to say). he did a really good job. its neat to see him a position like this. its something that he hasn't really done before, but it is something that he is pretty good at. :) anyway here are some pictures of the mountain and my favorite place - the lodge!!! :)

camelback mountain - this was the skiing and snowboarding trails - the tubing was at a different hill.
this is a picture that mark and i took at the ice skating rink. that actually was a lot of fun, because i did better than i thought that i would. and while we were there we saw a girl fall and dislocate her shoulder. mark got to play doctor and help her out until the police and the ambulance people came. luckily it wasn't one of our own!!!
this is the lodge - the nice of the two. the tubing lodge is the one that i spent most of my time in and it was pretty much horrible. :) but then again i survived so it wasn't that bad. :)

Happy Thoughts

well - as we speak we are getting our first snow. of course it isn't sticking so that means school will go the whole day today, but it did a good job of getting the kids all excited. so mark and i get to experience our first winter weather since moving up here from florida - lots of fun!!! :)

well last night during youth group while mark was speaking, i found this verse in one of the corinthians and of course now i'm having trouble finding it. ahh - found it. although it was in a different version - i only have my school kjv with me.

I Corinthians 15:10

But by the grace of God i am what i am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but i labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Anyway - i thought that it was a neat verse. i am only what i am because of God's grace. it definitely encouraged me. i've been kinda questioning teaching next year, but we turn in our intent form saying that i am. and this just encouraged me that i can do what i do with God's strength.

also in my bible class God taught me along with the kids - its kinda unnerving when that happens. we were talking about God's mercy and how much he has done for us. then we in turn should show the same mercy and forgiveness to others. its easy to say - oh its different for me cause i'm the teacher and i can be mean cause i have to deal with you. but that isn't what God wants us to do. he wants us to forgive as much as he forgives us. he wants us to merciful just as he was and is merciful to us. just a thought to remember.



anyway - this is the picture that mark and i sent in our christmas cards. it was about the 15th pic that we took - the dog was not cooperating. but we finally got it settled. we have also decided that the dog doesn't like the cold weather. he gets all mopey and depressed and then when it warms up he is energetic and annoying - so tempermental!!! :)

have a great day!!! only 1 day till the weekend.

PICTURES FINALLY!!!

well i know that it has been a really long time since i have posted any pictures. i have been having some problems with my camera and getting them to a postable site. in fact there were other pictures that i wanted to post but they didn't seem to get with the others. oh well - we're back at school, but thankfully we have monday off for martin luther king jr day. :) it will be nice to have a break. mark has been going to more away games now than before christmas so ia have been spending a lot of time with the pooch. he was very well behaved for awhile and during christmas, but now that he is spending a lot of time in the crate again, he is back to his old self. during christmas, charlie would play tug of war with my parents dog and it would wear him out nicely. but no kisha here so ugh. i have to do it. :)

nothing exciting has happened since christmas, just back to school and work. so here are some pictures from over the holidays and a little before.


mark and i had sharon and derek over during christmas break it was nice to spend time with them (we just watched a movie and played FRIENDS scene it that mark got me for christmas!!! it was a lot of fun.) but no clues as to when the big proposal will be!!! :) we tried to get it out of him but with no luck!! :) ( oh - notice our very small christmas tree in the background. we couldn't put up our big one because of the lack of space and our annoying dog would have treated it like a toy. :) )
this is my sisters and me with our stockings that we begged and pleaded for - even mark gets one - lucky!!!! he's one of the girls now. :) and very soon jonathon will be joining the very exciting club.
by the way - the stockings were really great this year!!! and we got them for my parents too so that they would see how fabulous they are. i think that they enjoyed it!!! yes we finally did have a youth group activity - it was nice we played lasertag and arcades and then came over to our apartment and played cranium. it was a lot of fun. and we all got to experience mark's amazing talents for dance dance revolution.
and this is the corbin family. minus the most exciting parts (me, Jeff (Cheryl's husband), and the boys.) we had a really good time there - it was nice to see everyone again. and if you think of it pray for mark's dad as he looks for another teaching position in the fall.

hopefully there will be more pictures to follow!!! :)

MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

well - we finally made it to christmas break thankfully!!! we spent some time with family and friends and of course relaxed (something that was definitely needed). and we were supposed to go back to school tomorrow but they cancelled school so we don't go back until wednesday!! so looking back on the pas t year, it has been neat to see how God has provided for us. we are enjoying being close to family and friends. and we are excited to see what God will do for us in the coming year. we hope that you all have had a wonderful christmas holiday and a blessed new year!!!