Couple of Corbins

for the eager readers :)

2008-09-23T15:07:00.002-05:00

so i know that it has been forever since i've written. time really has flown. school has started and we are super busy with sports. God has been good. but there isn't much to write about right now so i thought that i would upload some pictures. i took this picture of charlie. this was when he was being good. probably tired from a walk. :) and this picture of us is from our anniversary trip. we had a lot of fun spending time together. it was very relaxing.

the beast...doesn't he look so innocent...that should give you a chuckle those of you that know our dog. :)

the angels are rejoicing!!!

2008-08-02T10:36:00.003-05:00

well - i hope i get all the details right here...i wanted to share this with the many of you that have been praying for us.

last night mark was talking to a former student from s florida on facebook. she said that she had a co-worker that lost a baby. so this girl showed her the notes that we've both written. she said that she would like to have the same faith and hope that we have. so she showed her the gospel and the girl got saved!

this is so exciting to me to know that God is still using Annika to bring others to Him. each day He shows us a little more of His master plan. thank you for all of your prayers! please continue to pray that God will keep using us and Annika to bring more people to Him!!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!

the One who holds your hand

2008-07-30T10:20:00.004-05:00

the other day i was looking through the journal that i keep, and i found some verses that i had written down during my devotions a couple of years ago (when we lived in s florida during hurricane wilma). and i thought that these verses were so neat and really encouraged me during the time i'm going through now. so i though i would share these with you now to hopefully be an encouragement to you.

Romans 8:37
but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

- i love this verse. we won't just conquer, but we will overwhelmingly conquer.

I peter 5:10
after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

- yes life will be hard, but THE GOD OF ALL GRACE will use it to perfect you!
this last verse is my favorite...

psalms 37:23-24
the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. when he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

- this verse is so encouraging to me...we won't be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds your hand...it just reminds me of the verse that says that (and this is jen version) God won't give you more than you are capable of handling. and all the while you're going through this hard time He is holding your hand! so cool!

these are some quotes that i found in a great devotional book called STREAMS IN THE DESERT.

"God turns our lives upside down so that we might see Him in a completely different and unforgettable way."

- so true...and if He didn't turn our lives upside down, we wouldn't get to experience the new things we learn about Him.

"Jesus Christ is not my security against the storms of life, but He is my perfect security in the storms. He has never promised me an easy passage, only a safe landing."

-sometimes we think that life is going to be easy because God is in our lives. but He never tells us that. He does say that He will be with us the whole time and that we can trust that He will never leave us or forsake us.

i hope that this is an encouragement to you. even if you aren't going through a hard time right now, its an exciting reminder of all that God does for us!

again thank you all for your prayers, please continue to pray for us as each day brings new reminders of our precious annika

God is good.

2008-07-08T10:16:00.003-05:00

i have been wanting to post some pictures of annika so all of you could see her. i'm a little nervous about it which is kinda dumb i know. i just don't want any of you to be hurt. i want you to be able to see what a special gift God gave us.

by the way - she does have the levis nose for sure. :) mark thinks that she doesn't really look like him, but she did have pretty big hands (basketball player hands) :).

annika ruth corbin

june 9, 2008

8 lbs. 2 0z.

21.5 inches long

the picture below is from the private viewing we had at the funeral. she looked so pretty. although the shoes that we had for her were just a little too big :) . this picture is probably my favorite of all of them. its so neat to know that she is enjoying God's presence right now.

tomorrow will be one month since annika was born. i was just telling mark that it feels so much longer than a month. i think that its been so neat to see how God has taken care of us. people we don't even know that well have been sending us cards. words can't even express how much it means to us. yes we have our hard days, but God is good. He tells us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. that was something that i never really did before and definitely didn't understand fully. but God has made that so real to me now. i know that i can trust Him with anything that comes my way. He is in control and He knows what is best for my life.

when we first got pregnant i was so worried about how we were going to pay for everything because we didn't have insurance at the time. i worried so much. we had so many costs come up as well as extra blood tests (fun ;)) but every time God provided. He took care of us. and in my journal every entry i wrote about how we can trust God and He'll provide and take care of us. little did i know how God would test us. But now 1 month later, i can say without a doubt that i trust God and He'll provide and take care of us.

Remember, no matter how horrible the situation may seem, God has a plan. He can see the big picture. He can see the road ahead. i just need to trust Him and He will take care of the rest. i just want to thank everyone so much for all of the prayers and support that you have given us. There is no way that we would be making it today without them. and if you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior, i hope that you will accept Him today. with Him your life can be an abundant life.

a bend in the road

2008-06-13T11:41:00.002-05:00

this has been a week that will be etched in my mind forever. it all started on sunday, i was 4 days past my due date and contractions started. at first i didn't really realize they were contractions so we went to church where they continued and then out to eat afterwards. by the time we got home i finally realized what they were and we started keeping track. we went to the hospital around 12 that night and they admitted me right away. the contractions were really close together and mark kept telling me to just relax. whatever obviously he hasn't experienced contractions before :). finally the doctor with the pain medicine came in (i couldn't figure out how to spell it correctly :) ). the epidural was fabulous. i was dilated 4 cm when we came in and by around 6 i was fully dilated. they wanted to wait a little longer so that the contractions were closer together and the baby would face downward. then they lost the heartbeat. there was a bit of panic and they had me in a couple of different positions. finally they rushed me in for an emergency c section. which i must admit was really scary. the doctors took really good care of us and tried to calm us down. all the medication that they gave me combined with the hormones made me shake really bad. mark was really scared and we prayed probably the entire time. God really took care of us. when they took the baby out they found a heartbeat but she wasn't breathing on her own and she wasn't moving or responding. her eyes also weren't dilating which means her brain was probably damaged too. they finished the surgery and took us back to our room. we talked to the doctor and he gave us a very grim picture. at this point we didn't know that she had a heartbeat. after he left we prayed that God would work a miracle and He gave us an amazing peace. we asked if we could go see her and the nurses made sure that we could they even rolled my bed into the nicu and we got to see her and hold her. they even took her off the ventilator and unhooked all her tubes so that we could see her. my mom was there along with mark and our pastor and the rileys. it was the hardest thing i have ever had to do, but amazingly God gave us the strength and we said bye to our baby girl. we knew deep down in our hearts that God had a specific purpose even if we couldn't see it right then.

we had the funeral yesterday. i kept telling mark that i feel too young to have to do this. we had a private viewing which actually was really nice. both families were able to see her and she looked so perfect and peaceful. we even got some more pictures of her since she was all cleaned up and in a beautiful dress. the only problem was that her shoes were just a little bit too big. ;) we had the memorial service around 2 yesterday. it was beautiful. there were so many flowers and so many of our students and athletes came. the whole time i was a little worried. i really wanted to see a slight glance of God's purpose and at the end of the service Bro. Marne (our pastor) gave a salvation invitation and at least 2 people got saved. it was so encouraging to me. i knew that annika was special, but it was so exciting to see results of her impact so soon!

and lastly i want to thank everyone for all of your prayers and support. i don't know how we would have done it without our friends, family, and especially our relationship with God. and we want Him to get all the praise and glory for everything that has happened!! God makes no mistakes!!

baby update!

2008-05-29T12:11:00.002-05:00

sorry about the last blog. i'm so tired and cranky that i had to vent somewhere! ;)

we were just at the doctor yesterday, and he said that i'm progressing nicely but it doesn't look like she will be early. which is good for me if you read the last blog. it will be nice to have the baby when i don't have to worry about my class behaving and getting things done for a substitute. as reassurance the doctor told me that he wouldn't let me go past 41 or 42 weeks. ugh!! i don't think that i want to wait that long. but so far everything seems okay.

we have the baby's room all ready to go. we picked up the last few little things that we need last weekend so we're ready when she gets here. we will definitely post pictures of her and her room as soon as we can!

through all of this it has been neat to see how God has taken care of us and the baby. i'm excited to see what she looks like and how God continues to take care of us in the future!

another update

2008-05-19T12:02:00.002-05:00

well - here we are may 19 and only 11.5 days of school left. (that doesn't include the weekends!!) that also leaves me with only about 2.5 weeks until i'm due. everyone has been giving me encouraging words about how i'm going to go early. but for me its not that encouraging. pregnancy has not been that horrible for me except that i'm so tired and have to use the restroom all the time. plus if i go early then i have a substitute for my class the rest of the year - which i am prepared for but would rather not have. so i guess i selfishly want to keep my baby where she is until june 4 then by all means let her rip!! :)

sorry if i sound a little bitter. i just get irrritated because every day someone is telling me - oh you look like you could go any day now. and really i would rather not go any day now. i just need to remind myself that God is in control of the timing of the birth and not those around me. his timing will be perfect.

anyway - sorry about that. so far so good. the doctor checked at my last visit and i wasn't dilated at all and i haven't had any contractions so we're doing okay. we did visit the hospital and pre-registered and saw the rooms and its actually really nice. i think that its neat because we kinda just picked a hospital without knowing anything about it. God really worked it out. this whole pregnancy has been a trust issue for me. God has really proven himself to us! well we go to the doctors on wednesday and we'll see if he has any new news for us. otherwise we are just trusting God and waiting on HIS perfect timing!!!

a short update!

2008-04-22T12:08:00.002-05:00

i know i haven't written on this in awhile. i feel like i say that all the time. oh well...i just wanted to write, because God has really been at work in our lives lately. first i had to have some blood work done. those of you who have been pregnant will understand the hated sugar test. well the first time i had it done they didn't tell me what they were setting the appointment up for. it was also the day of our carnival at school. so i was hungry (what else is new) and i ate a bunch of cotton candy. of course that didn't help my plight and i failed the first test. so they scheduled me for another more in depth sugar test. this one would take 3 hours and i had to fast. what a pain. well...i failed the first of the four blood tests by one point. the rest i passed. when we talked to the doctor he said that one abnormal made the whole test abnormal. he said that they could treat me as gestation diabetes or we could do the test again. well since i have a dread of needles and a lack of money to pay for all the stuff necessary we decided to take the test again (it wasn't really that hard of a decision). so on thursday last week i did the 3 hour fast test again. i was really praying. it is so hard for me to not worry about these stupid things even though i know that God is in control. finally i just relaxed and realized that God was in control and if i had this diabetes that he would provide and give MARK (because i of course couldn't do it myself) the strength to give me the injections :). and the tests on thursday went fantastically. God really worked it out. everything was low so no worries.

its also been neat to see how God has provided money for us. our insurance is lacking so we've been paying pretty much out of pocket for the doctors visits, blood work, and ultrasounds. and when they told us how much we would have to pay a month i freaked out. i had no idea where the money would come from. (you can now completely see how much a worrier i am). but each time we had to pay somehow we had the money. it didn't come from miraculous means necessarily (like george mueller) but we had it. now we only have one payment left. and i don't know how we made it. bills were paid; we had food. God is good! that's all i can say. so if you are discouraged today or you are worrying - DON'T!! God is in control and he has a perfect plan for your life.

also we have the baby's room almost finished. and our guest room too. everyone who has been staying with us has had to sleep on air mattresses well no more! we have a real bed with a real mattress and even some decorations. so i will post pictures of our finishing touches later hopefully!

we hope that everyone is doing well! have a fantastic tuesday!

pictures finally

2008-02-28T13:00:00.003-05:00

well we finally have pics and its at the end of my class' computer class so i have to hurry. we hope that you all are doing well. we are looking forward to the end of basketball. only a few more games to go. march 15 here we come. :) otherwise everything is the same :)

this is a picture of our baby annika ruth. sorry that its been awhile. right now i'm 26 weeks. :)
mark came with us to our animal kingdom field trip. and we went to a bug's life the 3d show and these are our glasses. we thought they were funny. so we took a pic. plus i couldn't go on any of the other rides 'cause i was pregnant so we had to have some fun. :)
and here is a picture of our beast at christmas. i took so many pics to try to get a good one and actually had one that came out. he's actually behaving. :) he's been doing much better since we moved, but he still is his excitable self. in fact he probably jumped at the camera as soon as it took :)

more news!!!

2008-01-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

well - on friday we had our ultrasound. yeah i know its a little late. we were waiting on medicaid (which amazingly we make too much for - ugh!) we found out that so far our baby is healthy and normal. the doctor also said that she is 95% sure that its a girl. so we're excited. we'll probably name her annika (after mark's grandma anna - it also has a cool meaning - a woman graced by God's favor) ruth (after mark's mom). so i have to scan the picture for the relatives so as soon as i do that i will post it on the internet. hopefully soon! hope that everyone is doing well!

an exciting announcement!!!

2007-12-14T14:14:00.001-05:00

well - we wanted to let everyone know some exciting news that we have. we are having a baby. we just had our second appointment. i'm 15 weeks along with a due date of june 4. we are very excited. we don't know what it is yet, but we were able to listen to the heartbeat on wednesday which definitely made it real. :) anyway - we just wanted to let the bloggers know our special news. sorry no pics again. i really need to get my act together. :)

merry christmas!!!

long time no write!!!!

2007-11-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

i know its been forever. i'm sorry - i'm sure no one checks this anymore, but just in case i'll post a few words. we've been having trouble with our computer so i have to get all our pics off and bring them to school to upload. i'll get around to it sometime.

so...what's new? well - this weekend is our last weekend of volleyball - praise the Lord!!! i have never felt so horribly about a sport in my life. this season was just way too long. our conference is set up really weird (mark is trying to change it). our sports overlap - they were still having volleyball games and we had to start bball practice our first game is on monday!!! ahhh!!! mark is coaching the boys and guess what i am coaching the girls. :) yes - i know everyone is shocked. so far its going well - although i do have some funny stories about girls that i am sure have never even see a basketball before let alone shoot or dribble one. yeah its slightly frustrating. anyway - that just gets me worked up so lets move on.

we fixed up the outside of our house although the one side is still all sand. yuck! we painted the outside and landscaped - a little - i'll be sure to post some pics later.

besides sports nothing else is happening really - we are really looking forward to thanksgiving break - not only are we going to get to see our family but we also get some vacation time. something that we really need. although i'm sure we will still be tired afterwards that just seems to be the way that it works. :)

well - i should go - my class computer time is almost up. have a fantastic day!

pictures finally!!!

2007-07-12T10:17:00.000-05:00

well i know that some of you have been eagerly waiting to see what our house looks like now. i had taken some pics when it was clean but lost them so i had to take some more spur of the moment. :) so pardon the messyness. this is the living room - well part of it. the front door is behind the striped couch. and i was a little worried about the brown, but i love it. the floors look like wood but they are actually kindof like linolium. makes it perfect for the dog. i was a little worried about wood floors and him ;)
here is the kitchen. this room we haven't done much to because of finances, but we are planning on changing the ugly green countertops and painting the cabinets as well as putting hardware on them. but the one thing that i love about this is the amount of storage space. its fantastic.
here is a picture of the living room - all of it. we will probably be putting in a coffee table. but we still need to work on refinishing it.
this is our bedroom - inspired by pottery barn. we really liked the dark blue with the dark wood and the white accents so we made it our own.
here is our dining room - we might actually be getting a new table and chairs from my gma levis and the "buffet" i found at a flea market and we'll be putting floating shelves to display our china, but that hasn't been done yet either so now its a place for my purse and dead plant (i should get rid of that) ;) we do have two other bedrooms - one is going to be the office. we finally finished painting the desk, but we still have to paint the room - red. yes we do like our colors. and the guest room doesn't have any furniture - we're still waiting on that. and no painting in that room - we'll wait to really decorate it. most of our money now will be going into putting a fence around our backyard mainly for the dog, but also to give us a little privacy since we do have any elderly neighbor that likes to be in the know about what's going on. this way he might not be able to tell just by looking out his back door. yeah he's a little creepy. :)

so those are the pics. update on betsy - she went to the oncologist and the lump was gone and the doctor gave her a clean bill of health!!! praise the lord!!!

and mark and i just got back from celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary. i can't believe how time flies. its so much fun. we went to madeira beach its just south of clearwater florida. we had a lot of fun and came away with sunburn. and yes we did put on sunscreen but obviously not powerful enough. or we had just been out of the sun for a little too long. :)

so we hope that everyone is doing well - enjoy the rest of your summer!!!!

Sorry about the wait!!

2007-06-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

i have been putting off blogging cause i wanted to post some pics. but i forgot that we don't have access to the internet yet so i'll post anyway and offset the confusion. yes - we did get the house everything went perfectly fine. it didn't even take that long to sign the papers. so yes we are living in the house and we unpacked and painted and moved most things in. we're still working on some minor details and spending lots of money :). but its fun. and i promise to post some pics as soon as i get internet which should be this week sometime.

while i post let me write a prayer request. my sister betsy went to the doctors for a routine physical and they found a lump in her breast. she is only 20 years old. so they went to get an ultrasound done and the doctor's found nothing. but they are still concerned cause if they felt something they should have seen something. so they want her to go to the oncologist. the only appointment for her to go is while my parents are in alaska visiting steph and jonathan. so if you could be praying for her and my family that would be great. she is very nervous as would be expected.

thanks so much for your prayers and your birthday wishes.

the move!!

2007-06-07T22:03:00.000-05:00

we left pennsylvania on wednesday and took two days to drive down to florida - stopping in greenville, sc to see some friends on the way. tomorrow is the big day - we close on our house. so if you think about us be praying for us that it goes smoothly without any problems. we will let you know more details soon!!!

More Wedding Pics

2007-05-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

well some of you asked for more pics of the wedding party. so here they are. mark tried to take more but they didn't come out quite right. if you would like more you can check out www.stylishimages.com and look under hamilton wedding. enjoy!!!

Steph's Wedding!!!

2007-05-25T09:27:00.000-05:00

so the wedding is over and steph and jonathan have been married for a whole week. its definitely a little weird, but i guess that i'll get used to it. :) so i wanted to post some pics of the wedding. it was really pretty and went very well.
so my mom made the dresses again just like she did for my wedding.
here's the fam with gma...
so this is steph and me at the rehearsal. it was a pretty emotional night. steph gave us started scrapbooks. and of course i started to cry. its hard thinking that she'll be living in alaska from here until God moves them. but we're okay. we'll keep in touch. :) so it was a good time and i'm looking forward to seeing them when they get back (from the cayman islands) :).

the busy month of may!!!

2007-05-16T09:05:00.000-05:00

well - may has been pretty busy for us. it started off with steph graduating from clearwater christian college. we were all able to make it. it was really neat to see how God worked out all the details. we had a lot of fun celebrating this milestone in her life. and as many of you know steph is getting married on saturday (may 19) to jonathon hamilton, and they are moving to alaska after they get married. so we enjoyed this one last family event before steph "falls off the face of the world" (or alaska in other words).

part of our being able to go to steph's graduation was that we became the chaperones for the senior trip. we flew down to clearwater and met up with them and headed off to the wild's christian camp. they didn't seem to excited about it, but i think that if you asked them now they would say that it was so much more fun than they expected. they really did have a blast. and of course so did we. it was really neat to see God work in the kids lives as well as ours. :) i did really enjoy being a chaperone. while the kids suffer without there cell phones - we were still able to use ours!!! :)
if you've ever been to the wilds you know that they are famous for their giant swing. now i've been on it twice and didn't feel like being on it again. but mark decided that he would go on it with one of the boys. this is "THE DROP". it was so funny!!! we really did have a good time. so much laughing!!!:)
well - these are the kids - that's right only 4 (actually there are 6 but 2 of them weren't allowed to come). and this is the van...our faithful companion. with all of our stuff crammed in it it seems that they still enjoyed themselves. :)
here they are again. so that's may so far and its far from over... i'm sure that i will have plenty to write about after the upcoming nuptuals(sp?). i hope that all of my faithful readers are doing well!!! ;)

PICTURES!!!!

2007-04-24T07:13:00.000-05:00

this is mark and me at the junior/senior. that is the delaware river in the background.

much better than those self taken pics. :)

this is the delaware at sunset...definitely not that bad! :)
this was over spring break - we were in ft lauderdale visiting some friends from our previous school - the three kids on the left are students of mark's. (christina, chris, and kirstie and then matt and jodi)
we took a pit stop in greenville. we went to this park and saw these waterfalls - it was really beautiful. although we had to look at them from this suspension bridge which i didn't enjoy too much!
and this is us on that horrible bridge. once again - a little bit better than those self taken pics.

have a great tuesday...2 days down - 3 to go!!! (until friday of course!)

a long weekend.

2007-04-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

well i was going to post some pictures of our junior/senior, but i forgot the camera hook up at home. we went to this nice place just over the bridge into new jersey. it was right off the delaware river (i know if you've seen the delaware its not that much to be impressed with) but it was really pretty at sunset - we got some pretty nice pictures - well i guess anything is better than a close up taken by us - you know the hold out the camera type. so we did that friday.

i was so excited to get to sleep in on saturday that i almost killed the dog when he decided to start barking incessently at 6:30 in the morning. so i got up and fed him and walked a mile and a half then put him back to bed. and guess what he decided to keep it up. i was going to shoot him. i told mark that if it continues we would take him to the spca - i don't love him enough to endure the barking. so mark and i did shifts of playing and sleeping. needless to say it was horrible. he was out of his crate a very good part of the day and he seemed pretty worn out. i think that total he probably walked 6 or 7 miles. :) so we put him to bed thinking that he was just mad that we were out late on friday night, but then at 6:30 sunday morning the dog goes off again like an alarm clock. so i did the same thing as before and of course it didn't work. so after church we went to petsmart to look at those zapper dog collars - like on fun with dick and jane. they are ridiculously expensive.

so my question for the few viewers that i have is this: how do you keep your dogs from waking you up at the crack of dawn? how do you keep them quiet? we are open to all techniques - humane or not. :)

well - i hope that your weekend was much better than mine. and of course the work week has arrived all too soon!

ps - i must say that mark is fabulous. i was so tired on sunday that he played with the dog for 2 hours while i took a much needed nap. and then before church he put my desks back in the correct arrangement in my classroom!!! he's is definitely without question my most favorite person! thanks babe!

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!!!

I HATE INCOME TAXES!!! :)

2007-04-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

well - i must say that pride does go before a fall. i was so proud of myself this year cause i didn't wait until the last minute to file our taxes. the last couple of years i have waited until right before to get them in the mail. but this year - i did them in february. and i was so proud of myself. sunday i was even chuckling about how my sister in law was still doing hers. then yesterday i was talking with some of my fellow teachers and realized that i had not done delaware state taxes. ugh!!! so yesterday was panic. i also had no time to do them because we had the first time home buyers class from 7-9. so i raced to target after school to get a tax program and them raced around finally after the class i was able to get started at around 10:45. then it wouldn't let me finish cause it had to update. stupid program. so this morning we got up at the crack of dawn to come to school to use the internet. then i had all kinds of problems thinking that we owed 1200 dollars. but it all worked out and hopefully i did it right. and they should be in the mail today. lucky! anyway - so this morning i'm all a mess of nerves and yet still have to teach my class. thank goodness its over.
well- we had a fabulous spring break. it was so relaxing and warm. i'll have to post the few pics that we have. but that might take awhile. anyway - i hope that all of you are doing well.
have a great day!

WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!!

2007-03-30T13:16:00.001-05:00

thank you so much for your prayers. this is just the cherry on top. we knew before that God wanted us to move, but this house pulling through really helps to solidify the decision. we are so excited about what God has for us in this new place. so here are some pics of our new house. this is the front of it. it is located on a very quiet cul de sac
this is the living room with my very favorite hard wood floors.
this is the master bedroom (yeah the people were still living there so you have to use your imaginations). nice and big with a walk in closet!!!
this is the kitchen. i would rather that the cupboards didn't have this weird pink tinge to it, but oh well - it will be fun things to change
this is the backyard - it goes a bit the other way to and the deeper way.

so anyway - thank you again for praying!!! it is so cool when God answers prayer!!! :)

Florida or Bust - AGAIN!!! :)

2007-03-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

well - some of you have heard the news, but for those of you that haven't - we're moving to florida once again. but this time not to a thriving metropolis - this time its a small town in northern florida about an hour from orlando and tampa. we weren't looking to move, but our former administrator called us and offered us both positions. so we went down to look and loved it. its a perfect small town to raise a family in and settle down. we're really hoping that this is our niche. :) the school is inverness christian academy (that's the town its in) and the church is fort cooper baptist church. the school is small but growing and so is the church. the other benefit is that we could buy a house and afford it. the houses that we were looking at up here were 200,000 and the ones down there we were looking at were 140,000 to give you some perspective. anyway we're really excited about it. and it looks like we're moving right after school is out at the beginning of june. (yes - before my birthday which i'm not too happy about.) we have to get down there so that we can start working for the summer. so i thought that i would post some pics of the school and church and our favorite house that we looked at.

this is inverness christian academy - the facilities are really nice!!!
this is the entrance to the church - fort cooper baptist church
and this is our favorite house - its on a cul de sac with no other houses around it. its got hard wood floors and 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. and its only 141,000. so if you think of it you could be praying for us as we go about telling the people here at concord and as we make plans to move down there this summer. also be praying that the Lord works out our housing situation so that we have a place to move into when we get down there!

so that's our exciting news - florida or bust! once again (and this time with an overactive hyperenergetic dog. if you have suggestions please feel free to share :) )

Long Time No Write!!!

2007-03-14T07:47:00.000-05:00

Well - here i am...its been awhile and i wanted to post some new pics, but i just keep forgetting.

so here is our christmas pic with our ridiculous small tree in the background.

well some interesting news is that mark and i have been offered a new job in florida - our administrator from our old school moved to a different school and is offering us a position there. mark and i had decided that if God brought something to us we would be open to it and look into it. so that's what we're doing. tomorrow we fly down to orlando, florida - to take a look at the church and school. we would definitely appreciate your prayers as we look into this new place of employment.

i hope that all of you are having a fabulous day. today in pennsylvania it is going to be a whopping 72 degrees and i am going to enjoy it to the fullest!!! :) i hope that you get to enjoy your day as much as i am going to enjoy mine. (what also helps is that my troublemaker student is on vacation and i'm taking the dog to my parents tonight which means - FREEDOM!!!) :)

open house :(

2007-02-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

well - these are most of my angels. the one all the way in the front is isaiah. this was taken on his last day of school. which i thought would make my life a whole lot easier, but i got walter. he's all the way on the right with the bunny ears. walter doesn't know his times tables, can't divide, spell, or read really. so i'm slightly confused as to why he's in my class. anyway - i have been tutoring but it is definitely like pulling teeth. if you think of it pray for walter. the other kids in the class don't really like him so they make fun of him. its sad - we're working on it.

well the reason that i'm posting so late is we have an open house at school - so i'm sitting here doing nothing. pretty much no one cares about 6th grade. :) so i'm bored!!! so i thought that i would update!! pretty much that's all that's new. no houses recently. hopefully some will come up soon!

thanks so much for your comments - i do appreciate them!! have a fabulous night!

the ups and downs of home buying!!!

2007-02-05T08:42:00.000-05:00

well - we didn't get the house. my mom said that that is the way it works. sometimes you put in a lot of offers and you still don't get the house. it takes awhile. well for someone like me who lacks patience it makes the situation difficult. especially since i got so stressed out about putting in the offer in the first place. oh well - there is another house like it that the realtor sent to us so we'll see. its disappointing but we know that God can provide.

anyway - another freezing cold week in southern pa. we can't seem to get a snow day if our lives depended on it. the stupid weather people will even say that we are getting snow and then we will get little or none. ugh!!! we could really use the rest found on a snow day. but once again we know that God can provide. :)

well - i hope that you all have a wonderful week. hey feel free to leave a comment. i do like responses - its like getting mail. :) (which if you would like to send would be great too. :))

Taking the BIG step!!!

2007-02-01T08:37:00.000-05:00

well - mark and i are taking the big step today. we are going to make an offer on the house. we'll see what happens. part of the reason that we are doing it so soon is that we found out that there is another offer on the house so we wanted to get ours in. anyway - we're not sure what will happen so if you could be praying for us and the offer that would be wonderful. we do know that if we don't get the house it is God's will - He knows our needs and He will provide for us. This is another lesson in faith.

this is a picture of mark and i after our date night. we have to set these aside especially during basketball season. we went out to dinner and saw a movie (the first one in a very long time!!!). all of it was paid for with gift cards - gotta love it! anyway it was a lot of fun - so we took a picture!!! :)

we hope that you all have a fabulous day whether you're in the about to get rain/snowed on northeast or elsewhere!!! :)

The possibly new house????

2007-01-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2007-01-25T08:10:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2007-01-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-18T14:25:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2007-01-10T14:08:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2007-01-01T13:03:00.000-05:00

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!!!

Is Christmas Break Here Yet????

2006-12-14T11:26:00.000-05:00

ONLY 4 1/2 SCHOOL DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!!!

i don't know about the rest of you teachers, but i am tired. and christmas program practices make me cranky. for some reason the students just cannont control themselves. so i am very thankful that there are only 4 1/2 school days left for me. luckily the program is tonight which means that our program practices are done - hopefully. well - i hope that the rest your day goes well. hang in there! only a few days until peace!!!!

Back to School!

2006-11-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

well - we are back to school - ugh. coming back from a break is always hard. and the kids seemed to be feeling just as much as i was. i think that the break between thanksgiving and christmas is such a punishment for students and teachers alike. no one wants to be there which just makes life difficult. there were a couple of nice things about thanksgiving, for instance, charlie was completely worn out from playing with my parents dog. (a wonderful peace!!) we also got to see some friends and family (specifically steph, betsy, and the infamous sister stealer jonathon.) and of course i forgot my camera so i didn't get any pictures although my mom is supposed to be getting some copies for me. oh and mark's sister christy was home so the whole family on both sides was there. it was really nice - not very relaxing but nice. (we got up early two days in a row so that we could go to shady maple with both families. i never thought that i would be tired of that place - but i actually think that i am.) :)

and here is a picture of mark and me at northland. we took our basketball teams up there for their high school tournament. we thought that the boys would do better, but they definitely improved as the weekend went on. they ended up with 4th place out of 8 teams. the girls did okay - they ended up in 8th place (out of 8 teams - they are pretty young, so we'll cut them a break.) they had us staying in camp rooms - gross! i got to stay with a couple of 8th grade girls who were much calmer than i thought that they would be. it was kinda weird to be back and not be a student. i did take every opportunity that i could to wear pants and to hold mark's hand. anyway - it was fun. there weren't many people there that i knew - even teachers. a lot of them have left. anyway - the last couple of weeks have been good. we are looking forward to christmas - only 15 school days left!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2006-11-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

well - i hope that everyone has a very nice thanksgiving. mark and i are going to be spending it with family. we're very excited about an actual day off. we have so much to be thankful for. we hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!

A Very, Very Late Happy Birthday!!!

2006-11-09T08:21:00.000-05:00

Well i've been so busy with school and stuff that i haven't had time to wish my fabulous husband and my youngest sister happy birthday. yes this means that birthday month is almost wrapped up. although we have two more corbin birthdays in november. (mark's sister janice and our nephew kyle who will be the big 5). so to my husband - sorry!!! that it is so late. i love you and hope that you had a very wonderful day! i love you. and becca - so glad that we could spend the day with you! first time in a long time! hope that it was great!

mark with nephew #2 tyler who is 2.

and below this is mark and becca last new years

(sorry bec and mark this was the best picture i had)

The Pooch

2006-10-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

well - i haven't posted any pictures of our pooch recently. and even these pictures are a little old. he is definitely growing by leaps and bounds. we took him to my parents on monday and he is the same size as their dog. just a few months ago he was so much smaller. now he finds great ways to use his time. for example he likes to jump up on the counter and see if there is any food there for him. on sunday i turned my back on some chicken for a few seconds and he was up there chowing down. he's a sneak. he's started this crying when he wants to get out of his crate. its so annoying. he'll wake us up on saturday mornings with his crying.

this is the one and only period of silence in our lives when we actually wear the dog out enough so that he falls asleep. then when he does we don't move and we definitely don't talk, because if we do he will wake up and the madness will begin.
here is a picture of charlie with my parents dog kisha. this is one of the few times when they aren't play fighting. charlie will chase kisha around barking at her. its really funny to watch. but also very noisy and kisha gets hair everywhere and my mom gets mad.
well - its wednesday and it feels like it should be friday. i'm so tired. but volleyball is finally over which means that i'll actually get to see mark for a little while. :) and hopefully we'll actually get to rest this weekend. we'll have to wait and see!

happy birthday steph!!!

2006-10-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

jen and steph at sea world
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

yup that's right already another birthday. when we were younger these were the best couple of weeks, because becca's birthday is nov. 4 so we got to eat a lot of cake. steph is 22 today. she is spending her birthday at college is sunny florida - lucky!!! well - i'm sure that she wishes that she could spend her birthday with me. :) the last couple of years she has been able to. we would have her over to our apartment. the first year i tried to make fried chicken - man was that a disaster!!! oh well! lots of fun times that we will miss! this picture was taken when we were at sea world before mark and i moved. florida teachers get into sea world free. it was a lot of fun. they tried to convince me to go on the one and only ride at sea world, but i'm pretty stubborn and also very afraid of heights!!!

anyway - steph we hope that you have a wonderful day!!! we love you and miss you!

happy birthday mom!!

2006-10-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

becca and mom
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

today is my mom's birthday! and finally this year i got her a real non-giftcard present and i can be here to celebrate!

this picture is of my mom and my youngest sister becca while we were at the lake for our family vacation. becca is experiencing being the only child since everybody else is in college or real life (like us). becca gets to spend this weekend with us since my parents are going away to celebrate their anniversary which is on friday! so lots of fun. hope that you have a fabulous monday!

Our Fabulous Apartment

2006-10-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

Well i finally got this to work. these are pictures from our apartment. pardon the mess - this was while we were still unpacking.

this is our kitchen. we didn't have a lot of space to put our junk so we got these shelves to put stuff on and the microwave stand.
this is what the outside of our apartments look like. i'll have to take some better pictures soon.
this is our fireplace with our mammoth tv. it was mark's sister christy's but she gave it to us. it is so heavy that we can't find another place to put it. (its too heavy to move.) :)

i have some more pictures and maybe i'll post them again soon! i hope that you have a fabulous friday (thank goodness - i don't know about you guys but i'm tired!!)

a whole decade

2006-10-18T08:47:00.000-05:00

jen and mark at jr. sr.
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

that's right mark and i have been together a whole decade. 10 years ago today we started "dating". yes we were in high school - 9th grade to be exact. its actually a pretty funny story that i would like to share with you all.

it was the week of homecoming at our school (you know spirit week, pep rally, and a huge game on friday). at the beginning of the week one of my friends told me that some boy liked me. now join me in the world of boys never liking me. (junior high had been very rough). so i guessed and guessed but they wouldn't tell me. i thought that it was very rude. and was in fact furious. on wednesday - we had youth group and i was still furious that they hadn't told me. (they said that this boy was going to talk to me about it - so of course i didn't eat all week :) ). well at youth group i figured it out. and go figure i hadn't even thought to guess mark corbin. and even worse i didn't like him at all. he was a gross boy that i had grown up with. so of course i dreaded the day that he would talk to me. i avoided him at all costs! :) then on friday during the night soccer game he cornered me with the help of those same friends. and we had a chat - he asked me to be his girl friend. i don't really remember what i said, but i do remember what i felt. i told him i would think about it. then my friends began their work. so later that night i agree to be his "girl friend". i thought that it would be like all the other relationships i'd seen - you know last a week or two at the most. (little did i know).

anyway - to make a long story short - the entire first year we hardly talked. then i tried to break it off, but i was dating the most stubborn boy in the entire school. we went through some hard times in high school , but we made it through. then came the process of finding a college - and God led us to the same one. Then God continued to develop us and we got married in July 2004.

so i always tell my class. little do you know - you might marry the boy or girl sitting next to you. of course they think that's completely disgusting. and i understand i felt the same way until God changed my mind.

i am married to the most fabulous guy out there!!
thanks mark for being so stubborn!!!
i love you!

Fun Facts!!!

2006-10-16T11:21:00.000-05:00

i've seen this on some other blogs and decided that it looked like a lot of fun. Mark isn't here with me so i'll have to guess. but as most of you know - i've known him pretty much his entire life -so it shouldn't be too hard!!!

Jen will be in red, mark in blue, and both of us in green

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables - mark doesn't eat vegetables :)
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment – who hasn’t?
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero - AWANA man
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played Touch Football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari-at Disney World :)
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life.

its not that mark hasn't done a lot - we just usually do everything major together!!! :) and i'm a little more adventureous in certain areas than mark. (as far as hair dying goes!!)

little angels :)

2006-10-13T13:57:00.000-05:00

6th grade class
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

this is my class - we had just gotten back from a field trip so they were all wound up.
back row (left to right): George, Charles, Isaiah, Zhane, Michelle
front row: Nicholas, Dallas, Gavin, Felicia, Rolanda
very fron: Courtney

anyway - so the weekend is finally here and we can relax. the only thing we have to do this weekend is go to church. ahh...i know that it will go much faster than i want it to. ugh. and unfortunately there are no breaks in sight!!!

well - i hope that you all have a fabulous weekend. rest up because monday will come much faster than you would like!!!

i know - its been a long time!!!

2006-10-09T15:19:00.000-05:00

the fam
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

well - it has been awhile - partly because we've been so stinking busy, but the other part is that i've been waiting to post these pictures. this was from our family vacation this summer. it wasn't anything big but it was fun to spend time as a family.

life has been going pretty well. the other weekend we had a class reunion. (its been 6 years since i've been out of high school). anyway - a lot of people showed up. it was nice to see everybody and find out what they had been up to. then last weekend we went up to mark's parents house to spend some time with his sister christy who we hadn't seen since she moved to west virginia. it was a lot of fun.

my most fabulous sister - becca - watched charlie for us while we were there. after the boys of course kyle and tyler got to see him. whenever cheryl tells tyler (he's 2) that he gets to see aunt jen and uncle mark he makes barking noises. we've been outclassed by the dog. anyway - it was a good time.

today - my class had a field trip which i am very thankful that it is over. i am so tired. but be in prayer especially for the 5th grade teacher here at my school - her name is donna and she is having some health issues.
well - i hope that everyone is doing well! we love you and miss you all!

sunset in beautiful florida

2006-09-21T09:32:00.000-05:00

sunset from the porch
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

so this morning i got up to take the dog out and i'm pretty sure that jack frost bit my nose. i know it probably wasn't jack frost, but it definitely was cold. i told my class this morning that all i have are summer clothes and shoes and one coat. i told them that i'm going to die this winter. and i probably will. i can hear the death march. other than that life is great. today has been much better than previously. and i get to see sharon today!!! i'm excited. have a wonderful sunshiney cool day.

An entry at last!!!

2006-09-18T15:06:00.000-05:00

well - i know that my posts have been few and far between. but we really have been busy. mark has been coaching volleyball which makes life busy plus church. but we finally made it to the weekend and got a little rest. i've been learning a lot. my first year of teaching was hard. i had a difficult class that took a lot of energy. then last year my class was pretty good even in the midst of all that happened at the school with the hurricane. this year i have 11 students and there are a lot of difficult situations. and i've had to be reminded to rely on God. i have this quote on my desk:

A little rain can straighten a flower stem.
A little love can change a life.
-Max Lucado

this statement has done a lot to remind me of why i teach. its not for the money or for the status. its to change lives (or at least to encourage strongly to change). and when i'm struggling or depressed i must remember that God has put me in this particular situation to influence lives. am i taking advantage of such a high calling? i hope that i am. and i hope that i've encouraged all of you teachers out there. God has a perfect plan, and he will give you the strength to do the best that you can.

this verse is on the other side of that piece of paper.

Galations 1:15-16
But when God had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that i might preach Him among the Gentiles.

now i know all you Bible majors and pastors are probably all upset that i took this verse out of context, but it encourages me that God planned this for me from the very beginning. He set me apart and called me to preach Him among the Gentiles (6th grade students :) )

so - yes i did have a difficult day today. Mondays i have zero breaks so i spend a LONG time with these kids and its easy to lose focus. but God is good and gracious and gives strength to the weary!!! i hope that God blesses you all - have a wonderful evening - i will try to post some pictures eventually.

school has begun!!!

2006-09-07T14:40:00.000-05:00

well - school has started and i have 12 students in my 6th grade class. it has been interesting being at a new school. there are so many things that come up that i don't know what i'm supposed to do. so i just wing it. it has been exciting. my feet hurt so badly and my voice is getting scratchy. so the week is almost over - thank goodness. i could definitely use the week about now. and to top starting a new school year charlie has started limping around. hopefully its nothing serious!!! we'll have to wait and see! hope that you've had a wonderful day!

summer jobs...

2006-08-15T12:26:00.000-05:00

daycamp kids
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

well these are some kids from the daycamp that i've been working at this summer. from the left its amara, luka, chinasa, disha, larry, and nitya. all of them are 4 except for chinasa who is 6 (she is also luka's sister). you can kinda tell from the picture that luka is having a bad day. (like most days) well to say the least its been an interesting summer. luckily i only have 3 days left. the countdown begins.

florida girls

2006-08-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

the girls 2
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

well - i thought that it would be nice to mention the girls that we spent a lot of time with while we were in florida. from left christy (mark's older sister - now living in west virginia) sarah (working at bju in greenville, sc) fritzie (working on becoming a flight attendent) and rachel (working on getting her nursing degree while living in greenville, sc). and then me. these girls were really an encouragement to me. we really pulled together after the hurricane (wilma) hit our school. we would spend tuesday nights together for dinner and gilmore girls and amazing race (before they changed the time). it was a lot of fun and i miss them. i also miss playing tennis all year round with fritzie and rachel. we had some good times and i hope that God continues to work in your lives!!!

from the missing friend

2006-08-12T08:48:00.000-05:00

well - mark and i took the week off partly to help christy move and then my mom decided to make up for our lack of a family vacation, by planning these events for this weekend. we were going to go to hershey park, but we took into consideration my dad's recent hip replacement and thought better of it. so instead we went water skiing yesterday and all except for mark and steph got sunburned. and today we are going to a reading phillies game. so needless to say i have been without internet all week. soooo....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!!!!!! i think that i deserve the props for calling her first. i accidentally called at 3:30 in the morning. and i thought that it was the wrong day. i can never remember what the time difference is and i was so0oooo bored in the rental truck full of christy stuff. so i thought that i would call....next time i will rethink it.

anyway chris - i love you and miss you and i wish that we were there to spend your birthday with you! it looks like you had plenty of fun. and i really wish that i was there with you after i saw on your blog what you got to do! lucky!

anyway- i hope that the rest of you are doing well! it was good to hear from the long lost friend keara!!! miss you all

so what's up?

2006-08-04T14:01:00.000-05:00

well - i'm sitting at work and i'm looking at all of the blogs and there is nothing new... i'm so bored just sitting around watching the kids so you funny ones post something!!! hey and where is our long lost friend keara. i've been wondering what she's up to as well as the rest of you. so help me out and write something!!! love to you all - have a wonderful weekend.

jen and steph

2006-07-31T16:13:00.000-05:00

jen and steph
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

so this is a picture of my wonderful sister steph. she just got back from visiting her fiance in alaska. that's right i am going to be related to an alaskan. and that alaskan is jonathon hamilton. so i wanted to blog about her because she is one of my closest friends and in a year she will be far away - cause they are moving to the great beyond of alaska. anyway - this picture does show a lot of her personality for those of you who know her you can agree.

so nothing else much is knew. we are just hanging out and preparing for a big weekend of helping christy move. i hope that all of you are having a wonderful day!!

another day in the "exciting" life of the corbins

2006-07-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

jen and mark new years 2
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

well - this photo was taken new years eve. yup a long, long time ago. but i'm a little slow at uploading pictures. this weekend mark and i are hanging out with his parents. we're going to go to shady maple of course and then go to the outlets!! that's the best part. although i know some people would beg to differ.

mark and i have been learning a lot lately. well me (jen) especially. last night i was reading in my devotions and i was reminded that our God has everything at HIs fingertips. it is easy to think in human terms and see the small picture. but God has the larger view and i need to remember that. life may seem difficult and we may go through hard times, but God has a perfect purpose for it. i can trust my life to him.

well school is rapidly approaching. no matter how long of a summer i think that i have, it never seems long enough. people keep talking to me about school and asking if my classroom is ready or telling me "wonderful" stories about my future students and i just want to climb back into my summer vacation hole and live there forever (but of course get paid for it :) )

anyway - i'd better go! we have to get an early start tomorrow morning! have a wonderful evening

the newest addition to the corbin family!!!

2006-07-25T16:14:00.000-05:00

pose for the camera
Originally uploaded by jenandmark710.

yes this is our puppy charlie. he is a chocolate lab and almost 16 weeks old. we got him a little over a month ago. time flies!!! i was a little worried for awhile because he would just lay on the carpet! i know some of you are thinking - well what's the problem with that? i know i'm wondering now why i was worried. anyway - he seems to have adjusted well to his new home. he is finally getting housebroken. now that i say that he will probably pee 3 times on the carpet tonight. ugh!!! we bought a crate for him (its kind of like a cage, but nicer :) ) its his little home/den whatever. that has helped a lot with the house breaking. he does some of the cutest things. he started hiding behind our couch that is against the wall as well as climbing into the middle shelf of our end table. but one of his most favorite things to do is go to my parents house and play with their fluffy white samoyed keesha. (that is their dog) keesha isn't really friendly, but charlie doesn't really seem to mind. he just keeps bugging her until she gives in. she's pretty old and is grumpy and cranky. anyway- he has been a lot of fun. and i'm sure that i will have many stories to come.

Welcome to our Blog!!!

2006-07-25T14:46:00.000-05:00

hey all - yes we finally did it. mark and i started a blog. of course, it will be just me most of the time. mark isn't much of a writer. so not much is new or exciting or adventurous in the corbin life. we are working on getting settled into our new apartment of which there will be pictures to follow. now i must tell you that part of my hesitation of starting one of these is that i usually have nothing funny to say or an interesting way to say it. so don't expect awe from my blog. we thought this would be a good way to keep in touch with family and friends. well - i promise that i will write more later! love to you all!