Category Archives: Just For Fun

August 27, 2012 · 9:08 am

I’m Back with Some Big News! :)

Long time, no see, lovely readers!

My how I’ve missed you these weeks I’ve been away! While I’ve been really busy during this little hiatus from the bloggie, I’ve missed connecting with you here. A lot. So believe me when I say that I am SO excited to be back!

Lots of things have happened in the past weeks. My oldest started 1st grade, my youngest started K3, and I’ve been working like a maniac. We’re back to our school routine and looking forward to the cooler temps of fall.

I’ve finished up the history course I was writing for the university (Praise the Lord!) and I must say, that was an experience. Throughout it all I was reminded of how much I love history and how much I love teaching– and how much I do not love writing curriculum, especially for someone else to teach. But, I do love the history and I look forward to teaching it again someday.

With that coursework now behind me I can FINALLY get back to my writing!! I have had MAJOR writing withdrawals. But the forced time away from it has been really healthy, I think. I’ve been able to hash out some more details for my WIP and I’ve come up with a new series idea that I absolutely cannot wait to start on. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait, actually– that’s how excited I am about it. More about that later.

On to the big news and some updates!

During my time away from you, readers, my family received some very exciting news.

I am expecting! Our third child will be joining us in late March.

It’s still early in the pregnancy, so I ask for your prayers for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. We are thrilled with this news, of course. I’ll be sharing more about this in another post– this is another miracle as we wade through the waters of infertility, and gratefulness doesn’t even begin to describe my feeling. God is a miracle worker, friends.

Update:

Several weeks ago I shared with you about Rachael, the young girl from my church who is struggling with cancer. You can click on the link to read her story, but I wanted to update you on her current status. Rachael has undergone several rounds of chemo and has celebrated her 12th birthday! Last week she went in for a CT and was told that the tumor, while still massive and present, appears to be shrinking and in some places, appears to be dead. While we were all praying for the cancer to be gone from her body, this is the best news, other than a miracle.

Rachael will now undergo another round of chemo starting this week and then will have a very invasive, very big surgery to remove the tumor that is attached to several organs. Please pray for her, friends. Please pray for this sweet girl and her family. I know that Rachael wants to get back to the soccer field and back to school as soon as she possibly can. What a wild summer she’s had!

Now for some blog news– I will be back to my regular posting schedule from now on, with a few minor interruptions.

Mark your calendars for the week of September 17-21!!! My dear friend Lacie Nezbeth and I have planned a HUGE and FUN celebration that week that you are NOT going to want to miss. There will be tons of fun and TONS of GIVEAWAYS!!

Hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer. Update me on how YOU are doing!!

Share with me: What’s been keeping you busy this summer? What news, praises, prayer requests do you have to share? Any great books you’ve read that I need to put on my to-be-read list?

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Filed under Family, Just For Fun

Tagged as blogging, cancer, history, pregnancy, updates, writing

July 4, 2012 · 6:00 am

Happy Birthday, America!

As a US History teacher, I could bore you to death with wonderful, historic, and patriotic things to post today. But since flags, fireworks, and fun food are on the brain, I’ll refrain.

Instead, I ask that you watch this short video. I pray you’ll be moved, encouraged, nostalgic, and full of pride and gratefulness for just exactly what it means to live in The United States of America.

Happy 4th!

Share with me: What are your 4th of July plans and traditions?

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Filed under Just For Fun

Tagged as July 4th, military, patriotism

June 29, 2012 · 6:00 am

The Absentminded Professor

I’ve had a lot of fun creating one of the characters that shows up in my WIP. He’s an eccentric, zany college professor.

Although he’s only in one scene, it’s a pivotal scene– the scene where my main characters first meet.

Did I mention it’s been a fun scene to write?

I must have eccentric university professors on the brain because I was slicing a watermelon a few days ago and it brought back the memory of one of the most eccentric profs I ever had in college.

And I’ve had a few.

One liked to bring her guitar to class and make us sing campfire songs about teaching. (Clearly hadn’t been in a high school classroom, for which she was preparing us, in a very long time.)

One talked about Nathaniel Hawthorne like they were in a romantic relationship. (Creepy.)

One taught Latin dance lessons (which I took, thank you very much. So fun!)

One wrote his own textbook. (Ego, much?)

One continually forgot what we were doing in class and relied on us to make up our own assignments and grade them. (Not my favorite.)

One was possibly the devil.

But the one I think was the most “eccentric” was really the most fun. He was my geography professor. While many on campus didn’t care for him or his methods of teaching, I enjoyed his classes. Because of my degree, I think I took about 5 or 6 classes from him. Thank goodness I liked him.

He was a good ole Southern boy, but super, super intelligent with lots of wisdom and experience, and he wasn’t afraid to share. He was also a little bit of a dirty old man. In a funny way.

His “rambling” was very entertaining.

His exams were always challenging.

By challenging I mean that you better hope and pray that you wrote down and studied every.single.word that he said in class, because there was absolutely no telling what he’d put on the exam. You might be studying Africa, but a question about politics in the US would show up.

One time he came into class, late of course, and shouted “everyone get out a piece of paper. Draw Russia. When you’re done, you can go.”

By “draw Russia” he wanted an exact topographical map, to scale. Yeah, even this geography nerd found that challenging. Russia’s big, y’all, and it’s got a lot of stuff going on in it geographically. 🙂

But let me get back to the watermelon.

One of my fondest memories of his class is when he went off on a tangent about watermelons. He began lecturing us on the best way to slice a watermelon so that you wouldn’t “lose its soul.”

No, I’m not kidding.

And guess what showed up on the exam?

Question 38– What’s the best way to slice a watermelon so you don’t lose its soul?

No, really. I’m not kidding.

Share with me: Do you have any stories or memories of a zany, eccentric professor from your university days?