At long last...

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

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

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.

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

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

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...

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