Joel + Eloise = Joeloise

A House Full of Characters

2011-03-14T21:37:00.004-05:00

One of my bucket list items was to host a murder mystery and we scratched that off the list this past weekend!! Baroness Audrey von Munchen was murdered and our Sunday School of 32 people gathered at our house to investigate who did it! I, Freddie Farr, the Baroness's lawyer, was thoroughly impressed with every guest that came. They were dressed up beautifully, according to their character and so many of them stayed in character nicely throughout the whole evening. At the end, no one officially claimed they knew who the murderer was, even though some tried to say afterwards that they knew who it was. Hindsight bias does that to you everytime. :)

Overall, I think it was a HUGE success and we'll definitely be sure to do it again. Perhaps this summer we'll do a pirate themed version. I can't wait!

As always, Eloise

Hooked on Gardening

2011-03-14T21:16:00.006-05:00

One of my closest friends, Karessa, has always told me how much she loves working in the yard and in her garden. I never understood why until this past week during our spring break. Joel & I decided to create some curb appeal to our house (since there was none).

Thanks to our wonderful Sunday School leaders, Scott & Dee, we were able to help plan out what shrubs we wanted in the front of our house. They were so helpful in figuring out which ones would work well on that side of the house. One afternoon they came over and we drove around the area to look at various shrubs to see which ones we liked.

Then we planned it all out and stopped by Hughes Plant Farm in S. Tyler off of 69. Instead of buying expensive plants at Lowe's or Home Depot, we bought them for 1/2 the price @ Hughe's!! We did buy one plant @ Lowe's and that was a beautiful hydrangea.

Over 2 days, we worked our butts off creating flower beds and planting some beautiful shrubs!! We're now hooked onto gardening and can't wait to tackle the backyard this summer!! Now let's hope we can keep them alive even through the hot TX summer!!

As always, Eloise

Good grief!

2011-03-14T15:09:00.002-05:00

so it's pretty lame that it's been over a year since I've blogged. So here it is...a new post!! The end. ;) More to come later....hopefully not a year from now.

As always, Eloise

Raggedy Owl: An Inspiration in the Quilting World

2009-12-24T00:59:00.002-06:00

For those of you familiar with etsy.com, then you need to go immediately to Raggedy Owl's shop. You will find the most fabulous quilted, crocheted, and crafty creations this side of the Atlantic ocean! My "next door roommate" from Geneva College, Angela Mitchell, creates all of these fabulous projects out of her home in Erie, PA, while taking care of her 2 precious boys.

She also has a blog that also displays her latest creations and her thoughts behind them and so forth. :)

http://raggedyowl.blogspot.com/

Whenever I become a stay at home mom, I hope to be just like Angela and use my crafty skills to create lovely items and sell them on etsy. After all, she is my inspiration. =D

As always,
Eloise

Life as I Know It

2009-11-15T17:55:00.003-06:00

A typical Sunday afternoon consists of planning out my week at school...or at least Monday, grading the previous week's journals of all of my students and additional papers I've slacked off in grading. If I have time, I'll take a much needed afternoon nap and maybe do some laundry. Sadly, that's as good as it typically gets. Although, we did attend our first couples shower at Sean & Becca Spray's lovely home today! It was for Josh & Bonnie Pehl who are expecting their first baby within the next 3 weeks. :)

On a much more interesting note: all day yesterday, I was a lean mean productive machine. I cleaned most of my house yesterday in addition to doing several loads of laundry. I even folded most of it...but of course, I haven't put it away yet. It's residing on its temporary home...the loveseat. AND to top it off, I cooked 20 meals to freeze for later enjoyment. :) How's that for being efficient and productive!?!? Let me tell you though, I haven't been like this in a long time, basically ever since school started. I don't know where the energy came from!! In fact, I've been feeling like I'm getting a head cold...so I shouldn't have pushed myself. But I couldn't resist...the house needed some serious cleaning and we were running out of clean clothes. Basically, when we're struggling to find clean unmentionables, it's time to do laundry. ;)

And now it's off to finish some much needed laundry and grading. Be jealous.

As always,
Eloise

At long last...

2009-10-10T11:36:00.012-05:00

Sadly it's been about 2 months since I've updated this, so here's a quick synopsis of the end of summer/ beginning of Fall 2009.

We sold our 1998 Honda CRV via craigslist and bought a 2006 Toyota RAV 4. We absolutely LOVE it!! I would recommend this car to anyone, especially someone with kids.

In late July, we went to Destin, FL for a week with some friends from church and had a great trip! We even went to Tallahassee for 2 days to visit friends and then drove back to Texas. Overall, it was a lovely trip with friends.

Soon after we got back from vacation, school arrived. Mid-August found us being all consumed by paperwork and preparation. To this day, our lives fully revolve around teaching and probably will until the beginning of June. I, Eloise, am a first year teacher with 4 different preps, meaning that I teach 4 different classes [6th grade math, reading resource (6th-8th grade), 7th grade math resource, and 8th grade math resource]. Plus, I'm a special education teacher meaning I have lots of additional paperwork to attend to. As Mary Hanson, one of my amazing co-workers from across the hall, and I like to say "in my spare time." We'll always have a ridiculous amount of work to do and whenever we add one more task to our "to do list," we say we'll do it "in our spare time." :)

Joel, in his 4th year of teaching/ 3rd year at Whitehouse H.S., has finally learned that he LOVES teaching, especially economics. His love of economics has inspired him to pursue a master's degree in business administration. He's taking 2 master's classes and feels a little overwhelmed with his workload at times. But he took his first test in one of his classes recently and got a 98%!!!! Of course, he was upset that he missed ONE question. ;)

As if we didn't have enough on our plate, I've joined an Apples of Gold bible study, which has been AWESOME!! This community of older women mentoring younger women via cooking, marriage, & family has proven to be a beautiful way to fellowship. Our community group and Sunday school class are both great, as always. We're continuously blessed by those relationships. AND last but not least, I've joined an adult hip hop class at Dance N Drill. Every Thursday night, I join ladies of all ages in looking like idiots and acting like we have rhythm. It's a great stress relief and I've met some really fabulous women!!

All in all, it's been a most busy autumnal season and will continue to be...more updates to follow as time allows.

As always,
Eloise

Eloise

2009-08-07T21:48:00.007-05:00

It is my turn (Joel) to put in my two cents on this blog, since it is named for both me and Eloise (Joeloise). What dost a blogger blog? My heart's condition? My mind's frequent and feeble wanderings? News? Such an odd condition to be in. To have a need and want to write something, but not have any idea what to say. So many things to write about, but a loss for words. And yet, if there is any one thing to write about in my life, one all encompassing, important, heartfelt story to tell, it is about Eloise, my beloved and beautiful wife.

Eloise, the name itself implies a singular personality. Not many people under 60 named Eloise, are there? There is really no way to acceptably describe Eloise in one statement, however, if I absolutely HAD to, I guess I might describe her with four words: joyful, social, prepared, and forward :). Basically, Eloise, at her heart's core absolutely loves to be with people, whether it's just me, or a group of friends, she is most comfortable when she is interacting with humanity. Her most endeering attribute is her ability to have fun in any situation (most situations, it so happens, includes other individuals).

With her bright blue eyes, sunlight blond hair, and her infectious laugh and manurisms, it is also difficult to be melancholy when she is around (which is good for me, since I can easily give in to the blues). She likes to do two things, interestingly, they both involve fun and/or service to others: GAMES and COOKING. If there is a game within ten miles, she will mostly likely want to join :). Whether it's a fun interactive game like Cranium, or thought provoking, puzzles like Set or Word Twist, she will compete fiercely. As for cooking, well, give her a measuring cup, and a cookbook, and you will easily have attained her friendship. For instance, today she cooked enough food to last for a month, literally. Thirty days of eating created in one day! What else does a man need? Other husbands, insert your answer here.

And whether it's playing games or cooking a vastly enormous amount of food, she must have music. Oh, Eloise likes all kinds of music, but I think, although she may not admit to any partiality, her favorite is hiphop or dance music. For the most part she loves this kind because she adores dancing. Her secret heart's desire is to be a dancer, which is why I am blessed enough to watch limitless episodes of Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You can Dance, and America's Best Dance Crew.

In addition to these great and, happily, positive characteristics, I must mention her great strength that I, unfortunately do not possess. There are few people in this world that are forward. You may attempt to contradict this statement, but I have not finished it. Yes, Eloise is forward, like many, however she is forward in an acceptable and loving manner. She has not the fear or hesitation that many have when it comes to saying that which most feel awkward to say. If there is something to say amongst friends or family, and it is most unpleasant, Eloise will probably say it. However, her comment will be made wistfully and humorously so as not to burn, but only to convey her thoughts and feelings. Although many may say that this is not a desireable attribute, I disagree. It is one of those gifts that I find most valuable in my dear Eloise.

And, speaking of gifts, it would be a most unfair to describe Eloise without mentioning her greatest love language: Receiving Gifts. In the numerous occasions that Eloise has taken the Five Love Languages Test, Eloise has always ended with the same result. Yes, words of affirmation are helpful, and she does appreciate me telling her that I love her, or that I believe her to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen; and she also enjoys spending a lot of quality time with me, but if there is one thing that will make Eloise giddy with excitement and love, it is when I get her a gift. It warms my heart when I have the opportunity and the means to bless her with a gift. And it does not go a short ways. There is nothing more filling to Eloise's heart than a present.

And as if this isn't enough, there is one thing I am absolutely sure of, Eloise loves me outright and passionately, and I adore her infinitely :)

Blessed Beyond All Reason,

Joel

Our Heart for Missions

2009-07-20T23:03:00.005-05:00

You may or may not know that my husband, Joel, went to a boarding school, called RVA (Rift Valley Academy) in Kijabe, Kenya. It's about 1 hr. away from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. I always knew marrying Joel would mean that we would one day become missionaries, most likely in Kenya. For a while, we've been debating on either working at the Lighthouse for Christ eye center, where some of his family works at, which is in Mombasa, Kenya OR working at RVA as teachers and potentially dorm parents.

Just recently, we saw the latest promotional video for RVA and our desire to serve there was renewed. Honestly, I really feel RVA would be the best fit for the 2 of us. It's kind of like camp and school put together. Joel would love to mentor some younger guys & doing so in the states as a teacher is frowned upon these days; whereas, at RVA, that is one of the main goals. Plus, he's just really learned that loves teaching, which has been such an answer to prayer. Being that I'm a special ed. teacher and RVA doesn't have special ed. students, they would need someone to coordinate special services, i.e. tutorials for kids who have A.D.D. and are struggling to keep up in school. I could also be an elementary teacher, which would be great too!

We're planning on going in about 3 years. There are a few reasons behind that: 1) I want to have our first child here in America & that would be in about 2 years. 2) Joel will be done with his master's in about 2-3 years. 3) We have to apply to AIM and get accepted, raise support, and go through lots of training.

If you click on this link, you can see the video that renewed our passion to serve the Lord in Kenya. http://www.aimint.org/usa/videos/rva.html

Please be praying with us as we consider going on this amazing journey that the Lord has laid upon our hearts.

As always,
Eloise

Freedom's Day of Birth in the U.S. of A.

2009-07-07T14:09:00.005-05:00

Joel & I watching the fireworks.

Let the fireworks begin!

Friends cooling off and having fun in the pool.

We had about 20+ friends from our sunday school come to our house for a pool party from 12-4 to celebrate the 4th of July. It was a really fun time & the pool felt GREAT in the 102 degree heat. Later, we went to Fatherheart for fireworks!! It was spectacular!! Check out the fun video I shot and enjoy our comedic commentary. =D

* So I've been trying to upload the video for 3 days now and it's just not happening. Perhaps it'll happen later, in another post.

As always, Eloise

The Heart of Servants

2009-07-03T22:48:00.006-05:00

Amy having fun babysitting the girls.

Joel & Joe Baird working on taking down the chandelier.

Mari Carmen (aka Hammer) touching up my poor texturing job. And Katie sanding Hammer's head. =D

Carter & Brian tag-teaming putting up the fans in the guest bedrooms.

Joe tackling the hall lights.

For a little over a month, our community group/ care group/ small group (whatever you want to call it) have been taking turns at each other's homes doing whatever house projects need to be done this summer. It's great because all of us have homes that, as many of you homeowners know, always have a project or two or more needing to be done. With the help of friends, it makes the process so much faster and way more fun!!

Whoever's home we're at, they provide us with a meal and we all chip in to help do whatever task is at hand. I chose to make meatball calzones (one of Joel's new favorites), salad, and rocky road freeze dessert (sooooo good...a little too good if you ask me). After a quick dinner (because we were fighting against the sun setting & losing light to work on the fixtures), the boys helped put up all new fixtures: 3 ceiling fans, 1 chandelier, 1 kitchen light, and 2 hall lights. The girls helped me sand and re-texture my awful 1st attempt at our guest bathroom walls. We were originally going to spray texture from cans all over the walls, but it needed some desperate touch-ups first. Joel & I then finished the texturing & painting of the bathroom the following day. More pictures to come.

Everyone did such a fabulous job!! We seriously couldn't have done it without them. Well, we probably could of, but it would've taken a LOT longer to get it done. ;)

As always,
Eloise

Making Some Progress

2009-07-03T22:43:00.002-05:00

Just yesterday, I finished assembling all of my squares...I think. There may be more that I need to add later, but for now I think I've made some great progress!! I've figured out how the rows are going to be & so I just pinned them up and will probably start sewing the quilt on Sunday or Monday!

As always,
Eloise

Just a taste...

2009-06-30T19:54:00.005-05:00

Here's a taste of what's to come of my first quilt! I LOVE this fabric, especially the fact that it came already cut into strips (in a "jelly roll") and squares ("charm packs"). The fabric pack is called "Recipe for Friendship" and I'm so excited about it! As of now, I plan on setting it up on our guest bed. I'm so thankful that I found this fabric already paired up and pre-cut.

When my friend, Sue Bugg, took me all over town looking for fabric, I was completely overwhelmed. It's so very important to find the right fabrics that will flow together on a quilt. Even though, I had initially intended on doing a brown and blue quilt for our master bedroom, I couldn't quite find what I was looking for. Instead, I stumbled upon this lovely fabric by Moda. I'll keep you posted with my progress. For now, click on the title of this post to see some better pictures of all of the fabric involved in this quilt.

As always,
Eloise

Mixin' Up Van Gogh

2009-06-30T19:25:00.004-05:00

In the words of Vincent Van Gogh, "What would life be if we never had the courage to attempt anything?" So meet one of my latest bravest attempts, my Van Gogh-ish mixed media collage.

Thinking about my future as a classroom teacher with special needs kids, I wanted some inspirational quotes all around the room. When my Les Artes de Amis craft group got together for mixed media month, I decided to find a quote that I wanted to incorporate into my collage. Sure enough, I found this Van Gogh quote and thought I could do my own version of "A Starry Night". Chapel Hill school colors are blue and yellow, so I thought it all came together so well and here are the results as pictured to the right.

As Always,

Eloise

Adding Some Spice to Cooking

2009-06-30T18:50:00.004-05:00

Facts you may or may not know about me:

1) I LOVE to cook!! I'm addicted to the fabulous art of finding new recipes ALL the time!!

2) I used to belong to 4-H Sewing Club back in 4th-6th grade. I LOVED to sew, because I wanted to be just like my mom! She used to sew all of my church dresses, even a flower girl dress for my cousin, Mike's wedding. She was an amazing seamstress! Unfortunately, I lost my love and drive to sew like her due to the awful rite of passage of inadaquacies, otherwise known as the teenage years.

Recently, I have gotten the drive to sew, sew, sew. Thanks to my craft group of women, we made aprons recently and my love for sewing has been renewed. Take a look at what I created!!

As always,
Eloise

Brotha's Day O' Birth

2009-06-26T00:00:00.004-05:00

I just want to wish my brother, Byron, a very happy birthday!! I know our family doesn't use these words very much, but I "love you" very much! I love our relationship and wouldn't have changed a thing with how we grew up. =D I wish you all the best in life!!

As always,
Eloise

Customer Service That Bites

2009-06-25T00:33:00.008-05:00

You ever have one of those days where lots of little things go a-wry and it just snowballs into feeling super frustrated?? Well tonight was one of those times.

First, Joel took our CRV in to get one new tire, which ended up being 2 new tires, with a possible 3rd tire (we're going to have to replace our spare soon). The CRV also needs a couple of other things done to it. Oh joy.

Second, we made a stupid decision to go see "Year One" with Jack Black and Michael Cera. Stupid movie with stupid humor, which actually ended up being kind of boring. So we left almost halfway through as the characters were on their way to Sodom. I think you get where that was headed. We even asked the theater if we could have a refund or exchange our tickets for another movie, but they said they could not do that. Joel was rather perturbed about it.

Next, we went to eat dinner at Chik-Fil-A, which is one of my favorite fast food places ever...until now. I don't know about you, but I love Chik-Fil-A food & their advertising is brilliant. I could eat there at least once a week.

Unfortunately, the 2 chains here in Tyler typically get our orders wrong 75% of the time. It's very disappointing. Normally, I just go w/ the flow. Tonight was a different story. We had coupons for 1 free chicken salad sandwich and 1 free chicken sandwich. Joel used the chicken salad coupon & ended up getting a grilled chicken sandwich. We didn't say anything because it wasn't a big deal.

Then I ordered from a different cashier, who was Hispanic. Honestly, I don't have a problem with hispanic people...as long as they can speak ENGLISH....our national language! Needless to say, something was lost in translation. I asked if I could get the deluxe sandwich instead of the original and just pay for the lettuce and tomato. She asked if I wanted the combo & I said yes. She said it cost $6.81, I paid it, but then thought, "hmmm, that sounds like I paid for the whole thing & that my coupon didn't actually count at all." Then my tray came out and they had 2 sandwiches on there. One original and one deluxe! I tried to explain that I only ordered one sandwich and wanted to pay to "upgrade" it to a deluxe b/c the coupon said one free sandwich.

There was another cashier who understood what I said & even added that I should've only paid for the lettuce and tomato, which cost about $.35. My cashier had to explain to another co-worker in spanish because obviously she didn't understand what I was talking about. A customer next to us even understood what I was saying. She said I should've gotten my meal for free. Naturally, I liked that idea!

Instead of getting $3 back for the sandwich, I ended up getting $.35 back! Really?!? REALLY?!?! That's as if my coupon said free lettuce and tomato on your sandwich. REALLY!?!? A long line started developing, so I just decided to let it go and take my $.35. But oh wow...seriously, how hard was that to understand!?? The other customer next to us was so sweet that she gave us 2 coupons for free brownies. I told her thank you and that I'd probably use it another time. ;)

After all of that, we proceeded to Walmart to rent a movie from Redbox. On Joel's iPhone, he has a redbox application, which sometimes gives him promo codes to get a free movie. So I punched in the code and ordered the movie, slid my debit card, and waited for the movie to come out. I looked at a nearby poster for a few seconds, then tried to grab the movie. It ended up getting sucked back into the machine. I tried using the promo code again, but it wouldn't let me b/c it said it had already been used. Joel tried one more time and of course, it didn't work. I told Joel that I didn't want the movie anymore, it's not worth the additional frustration.

We came home after a very disappointing evening feeling rather frazzled. I chose to neglect working on my quilt because I was so afraid something would go wrong with the way everything else played out thus far. Man, when you get bad customer service, it's like getting the wind knocked out of you. You have a hard time recovering, but once you do, you can move on with your life. That's what I plan on doing. Tomorrow is another day with hopefully a much better outcome. Lord, please help me with my attitude.

As always,
Eloise

The Big Three

2009-06-25T00:12:00.003-05:00

Our nephew, Matthew, is turning three today. Unfortunately, we can't be over in Kenya to celebrate with them. However, I most definitely wanted all of cyberspace to know that today is his birthday and that his Uncle Joel & Aunt Weezy love him sooooo very much. We miss him, his brother Caleb, and most definitely his wonderful parents, who have really been our best friends throughout the past 6 years. I know that God is doing great things through you guys and that the Kenyans are blessed to have you in their lives. The selfish me wants you back, but I know God's got greater plans in store for you than my selfish desires. :/

Needless to say, we love you all and miss you. Matthew, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope you have a wonderful, fun-filled day with family and friends. WE LOVE YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!

As always,
Eloise

Visit from the Bells and Bethany

2009-06-15T22:18:00.004-05:00

One of Joel's good friends from RVA, the boarding school he went to in Kenya, came to stay with us for a night. We had a really great time with Caleb & Lindsey Bell, along w/ their friend, Bethany. We had dinner, went to Java Jams to play games, and hung out in the pool before they drove out to Dallas for a friend's wedding. It was so great meeting them & I can see why Joel really misses his friendship with Caleb. I think the Bells would be great friends if only we lived a little closer.

As always,
Eloise

Embellishing Tea Towels

2009-06-13T21:40:00.005-05:00

Embellishing tea towels?!? I know it sounds ridiculous, but I ended up LOVING this! Once a month, a group of women of all ages meets to do some kind of fabulous craft project. We call the group Les Artes des Amis. We've recently made aprons, pin cushions, and embellished tea towels. I had no idea what I was going to do, but it ended up working out great!! Check out what I did:

As always,
Eloise

Chapel Hill M.S.'s Newest Addition

2009-06-13T20:40:00.005-05:00

When I finished college graduating summa cum laude with 2 certifications, EC-4 Generalist & All level Special Education, I thought for sure that I would be able to find a job quickly. Let me rephrase that: I thought that if I just put my resume out there that someone would snatch me up the first day after graduation. Little did I know that it was going to take much more effort than I originally intended. Even though it felt longer than a month, I was in complete agony knowing that some people weren't hiring brand new teachers. They wanted more experienced teachers. How do I get experience if no one wants to give it to me. Overall, this was a very humbling experience.

Tyler ISD put me in their job applicant pool after the job fair, but as soon as I contacted schools w/ openings, they told me they already filled their positions.

Then I applied to Whitehouse, Chapel Hill, and eventually Troup, who later called me for an interview, but of course it was right after I accepted a job at CHMS. I thought surely I would get a job at Whitehouse because of Joel working there and my student teaching supervisor used to be the assistant superintendent for a long time. I thought I had my foot in the door already. Boy, was I mistaken. I even emailed principals at some of the Whitehouse schools with job openings, but only one responded saying they wanted more experienced teachers.

Then I heard from Chapel Hill's Kissam Intermediate School for an interview for a resource position. If they had offered me the job, I would have taken it in a heartbeat! I love the older elementary kiddos. Unfortunately, they called me 2 weeks later to tell me they went w/ someone else, probably someone with more experience. In that same week, I got a call for an interview with Chapel Hill M.S. on Monday, had the interview on Wednesday, got rejected from Kissam on Thursday, and got the call on Friday asking if I wanted to join their team. Of course I said YES!! That next Monday, I went in to meet w/ the principal again, got a tour of the school, and saw my future classroom! I don't know exactly what I'll be doing, but it'll be either math resource or being a co-teacher or both! I'm very excited to not have to wait anymore about finding a job & the ability to start planning for this coming school year!!

You can check out my school district's website here: http://www.chapelhillisd.org/

As always,
Eloise

4 Years of Wedded Bliss

2009-06-13T20:23:00.010-05:00

On May 22, we celebrated another big

milestone. Our 4th wedding anniversary!!! We couldn't afford to get away to celebrate, so we decided to make the best of it in town by doing some things we haven't done before. We ate at Bernard's Mediterranean Restaurant for the first time. We were pleasantly surprised with the price and the delicious food. We love escargot, but never had it in its natural form until that night. I typically don't care for food looking the way it did when it was alive, but I sucked it and ate it. Little did I know, I would still enjoy it. =D We then went to K.E. Cellars for some dessert and some port wine listening to Grant Cook. This, too, was something we never had done before, but really enjoyed our time. Then we finished the evening off by going to our favorite movie theater, Times Square Cinema, to watch Night at the Museum 2...good flick! Overall, it was a great evening with my beloved sweetness!!

As always,
Eloise

Graduation Party #2

2009-06-13T19:58:00.005-05:00

Apparently you can't celebrate a graduation just once...you have to have at least 2 celebrations! Since it was quite an accomplishment, we wanted to celebrate with friends this time around. Sat, June 6th, was a beautiful day for partying in our backyard. We had a lovely time with friends and family and were so blessed by all that came!! Joel did a wonderful job putting this together and getting decorations for it. I appreciated all of his hard work & thoughtfulness!

As always,
Eloise

Graduation Day Has Finally Come!

2009-06-13T19:34:00.006-05:00

As of May 9, 2009, I became a college graduate from the University of Texas at Tyler with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. What does that mean, you may ask? Well, basically, I learned a little about a lot. I am soon to be certified in Early Childhood - 4th grade generalist and All-level Special Education. I'm just waiting for my certification to arrive in the mail. For the big graduation day, my mom, dad, brother Byron, and Uncle Carl & Aunt Jo came down from PA to help celebrate and it was a WONDERFUl visit. I love having family visit and showing tons of hospitality AND making lots of food! =D I am blessed for the family I have & I love them so much!!

As always,
Eloise

Here we go again...one year later.

2009-02-08T19:46:00.004-06:00

Hello friends,

Sorry it's taken me so long to update this blog and so it goes.

Joel is in his 3rd year of teaching, 2nd at Whitehouse HS teaching senior economics. He loves economics so much that he decided to start his MBA at UT Tyler, which he did this past Fall 2008. Not only will he be pursuing his MBA, but he's decided to pursue an accounting certification first. This way he can get some job experience in a business setting.

I am all done with my classes for my bachelor's in EC-4 & All Level Special Education. Now I am student teaching at Hubbard MS in a math resource classroom. Then I graduate on May 9th!! It's going well so far; I know I'm going to learn a lot! My teacher's really helpful & the kids are pretty good. However, I can't wait till I'm going to be in my own classroom.

Still no kids for us, but we do have 3 dogs. I know...3 is a ridiculous amount of dogs! It's a long story, which I will share another time. We also moved since I wrote on here last. We moved right around the block. That story's for another time as well. Also, another story to look forward to will be telling you about how my brother-in-law, Jason will be moving into our house late February. He'll be a paying tenant of course, since we need the extra cash & he needs a place to stay. But again, that's for another time.

As always,
Eloise

Bringing back the kid in me...

2008-02-28T22:55:00.001-06:00

Basically this one course is consuming me this semester...Children's Literature. Not only do I have to read many different books, but they have to be different genres for different ages and I have to write a journal entry on plot summary, literary style, illustration style, my personal response AND get peers to review them too!! As much work as it is, I have to say that I truly do love many of the books that I have read thus far. Being that I've never been much of a reader, this is a huge event for me...to actually enjoy reading!! So what if they're children's books, I'm opening my mind to be like a child's and to enjoy the ride the books take me on.

Here is what I recommend reading thus far:

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White- LOVED the sacrifical love & friendship between Wilbur & Charlotte!!
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt- a very enchanting tale
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix- a sci fi story about living in a society where you can only have 2 children, very interesting & suspenseful read.
Amelia & Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan- I wish I had their spunk & courage! Very inspiring women! My new heroes!! :)
The Kid Who Ran for President by Dan Gutman- very charming tale of a 12 yr. old running for president of the YOU-nited States!

I should've known...

2008-02-25T00:12:00.001-06:00

Never being the best at journaling in a notebook, I should've known that I would have a difficult time keeping up with our blog here. So here it is...my apology for not keeping up with this in the past, present, and future. So bare with me & please feel free to leave comments that encourage me to persevere and keep my thoughts down on this virtual form of paper. Thank you!

A Stroke of Irony

2008-02-15T17:16:00.000-06:00

For the record, Joel & I are normally not this irresponsible. We've just been very busy. So with all of that to say...the car inspection to our CR-V was way overdue. I will leave out the date it expired due to the fact that it's ridiculously embarassing. Whenever we'd think about getting it inspected, it was always inconvenient or at night. Well, Joel called me today to see if I could go to our insurance company to take care of something. Of course, I went straight away to Farm Bureau. As I was driving, I remembered that I needed to get the car inspected. But I said to myself, "self, I'll do it after I go to the insurance company." Well, wouldn't you know it...as I was passing by TJC on 5th Street, I also passed by a cop car, in which I noticed the cop looking at my car. And I just knew...he saw the inspection sticker. But I kept on going and didn't see him coming after me, until I was at the Broadway & 5th St. light. Surprise, there were his lights flashing behind me, so I pulled over on a side street on Broadway. And the officer was extremely sweet and thankfully only gave me a warning. So I thanked him & assured him that I would get it inspected. And thus I did! I couldn't believe the irony of it all! That'll teach us a lesson, eh?

A Vote of Confidence

2008-02-15T14:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I received a call from one of my professors, Dr. Packer. She had just received a letter about the Bonnie and Scott Palmer Service Scholarship and she immediately thought of me. Basically I have to explain how I have served the community and how it's affected my academic goals and personal growth.

Last semester, I did a powerpoint presentation in Dr. Packer's class about The ARC of Smith County. I talked about all of the programs they have to offer the special needs community here in Smith County and how I participated in some of the programs. Because I worked at Robert E Lee with the life skills classroom, I had the opportunity to participate with my students during after school hours on my own time because I wanted to. I never really considered it a service project because I had a ton of fun! I even invited some of my kids to my wedding and we danced the day away!! Because of my experience with those kids, I decided to go back to school to get my degree in special education.

So for my professor to think of me and take the time to call me about this scholarship was so meaningful and touching to me. She thinks I have a great chance of getting it. It's $500, which I hope to use to join the national honors society and the Council for Exceptional Children. This would be a great opportunity! My application is due this Friday, Feb. 22. So say a little prayer with me that I get it. Thanks everyone!

Hearts are aflutter everywhere.

2008-02-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

On a more lighter note than my previous blog....today is Valentine's Day. I'm not sure how the rest of you feel about it, but I am fond of it because it's an additional reminder to me on how great I've got it being married to Joel. I almost think of it as just another day; because my husband tells me often how much he loves me and is thankful for me. He is one of the most romantic and thoughtful men I have ever known. So how can I expect even more out of him on this 1 holiday out of the year. Especially, since he's so amazing the other 364 days of the year. Of course, I don't give my husband a ridiculous list of things he can buy me. I just appreciate thoughtful gifts and quality time being spent with just the two of us. Since my love language is quality time...my ideal Valentine's Day would naturally include some good, quality Joeloise time. Which also probably means playing games with my beloved, because nothing says fun to me like playing games with the ones you love! :)

Oh, before I forget...Joel wrote me a lovely poem that I would like to share with all of you. He woke me up this morning to read it to me. It was a great way to start today. So here it goes:

Eloise,
You are the light that keeps my darkness at bay
You make all of my sad feelings go away
It's all I can bring myself to do
To keep from crying tears of joy when I think of you
You loved me when I stretched out my hand
In vulnerability to ask you that question grand
It's amazing to think that you chose me
A humble man now barely twenty three
I love you so deeply...with so much passion
And all I want to do it to take care of you
Your heart is in my hands, and I can only hope
That I myself am not a sorry bloke
Though I may be clumsy and oafish at times
I want you to know that I am your valentines.

HOW GREAT WAS THAT?!? Thank you Joel! I love you more than words can truly express!

It's okay if we don't have a lot of money right now to buy each other lavish gifts. I am quite content with this sincere and thoughtful poem that he took time out of his very busy schedule to write from his heart. And I will see him at the end of the day, to spend the little bit of time left that we have before we lay our heads down to sleep. Tomorrow night, we'll go out for dinner to "officially" celebrate V-day. And that's that. Nothing extremely extravagant, but I don't really need that because I've got my Joel. He's a wonderful husband who works so hard to provide for us. He's constantly working on our budget to see how soon we can pay off this debt and that debt. He works as a full time teacher (so 40+hrs. during the week) and then tutors after school at Sylvan Learning Center, on average 12 hrs. a week - some weeks less, but lately it's been more. He works so hard, so that I can focus on just being a student and to finally finish my degree, which means a lot to me! My husband helps me do the dishes from time to time & that in itself is good quality time when we do it together. My husband is my sweetness whom I'll cherish and thank the Lord for each and every day.

I pray all of you have someone like that in your life. It makes life worthwhile, to have a partner in whom you can confide, who serves you just like Christ served the church by dying on the cross. I'm not saying that my husband is Jesus. He's far from being perfect like God, but he's perfect for me and I couldn't ask for anything more. God is good all the time & has blessed me immensely with my beloved husband, Joel Benjamin Ghrist. Happy Valentines Day, my love!

Procastination leads to some kind of production...eventually.

2008-02-14T14:03:00.000-06:00

As I sit here scanning through my academic planner, I immediately become overwhelmed. Education majors don't have it easy. I hate it how people say that our major is a joke or they use the stupid phrase, "those who can't do, teach." If you do believe that, then I'm sorry, but you suck. Education is a tough degree. You're constantly asked to read, read, read, create, create, create, do, do, do, plan, plan, plan...and so forth and so forth. I think you get the idea!

I just can't believe how stressed out I get over our many assignments. I have sadly become an "authority addict," where I have a hard time doing an assignment if I don't have someone telling me exactly what they want me to do. Granted, I'm not as bad as some of my fellow students. I just have a hard time starting an assignment without proper direction or guidance. I have one professor who says..."do a lesson plan" w/o giving us a rubric of what he's expecting. Then he gives them back to us the following week, only grading some and not others...for those of us who got a C, D, or F (I got my first C in a long time - not happy), he tore our lesson plan apart saying things we should've have said instead. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for constructive criticism. But why don't you practice what you preach in class about the teacher having objectives and an appropriate assessment. If you don't tell us what you're looking for, how are we doing to succeed in your class? Is that really how you want us to be as teachers? ARG!

Needless to say, I have several frustrations with UT Tyler right now. I won't even bore you with details or more frustration. Plus, I need my blood pressure to go down. :) On top of that, I'd like to sincerely apologize for my first attempt at a blog being an angry one. I promise, I'm not usually like this. If you know me, you should know that this is a very true statement. For those of you who read this entire blog...you are a true & caring friend! My heart thanks you!

More writings from a 26 yr old college student to come...stay tuned!

Eloise