playing catch up

Okay, I know it's been a while, but there hasn't been much excitement to report, and I hate to write about the mundane!

For Thanksgiving Glenn, Brooklyn, and I made the trip to P'Cola to spend the long weekend with the Smiths.  It was lots of fun!  I really  have the greatest in-laws ever, and I love going to visit!  After a YUMMY meal courtesy of Mawmaw (with enough food to feed an army...and all of it unbelievably good!)  Karen (my mother-in-law) and I hit the stores for Black Friday.  We sat down the night before to decide our plan of attack, and were out the door by 7am!  (I will always get up for shopping!)  We found some really great deals, and got lots of fun things for everyone!  Mama Smith bought Glenn and I a Dyson...which I am so excited about I can't stand it!!  AND IT'S PINK!!!  I am in love with this vacuum cleaner!!!  So, after we shopped til we almost dropped we headed home for a quiet night of pizza and cards.  On Saturday we watched some football...1st the Georgia game...we won't even talk about it...then the Auburn/Alabama game...we won't talk about that one either!  The only bright spot of the day was the Heels pulling out a win over Dook!  We headed home on Sunday and sat in traffic for what seemed like a million hours!  Brooklyn was a very good traveler and always loves going to see MeMe and Papa!

No change on the job front.  Glenn is just undecided about what he really wants to do...so we are exploring a few options.  We have a few resumes out for youth minister jobs, but so far haven't heard anything about any of those.  It's just frustrating because he feels so bad for "dragging me into this" and that breaks my  heart!  Please continue to pray for us...mostly for direction and guidance, and a sense of peace for Glenn.  This is not an easy time for him, and extra prayers will help!  :)  God has been amazing through all of this so far!  This was our first month without his paycheck, and although he is working full-time at the UPS store, that is only a little less than half of what he was bringing in before...but we have managed to pay all of our bills, tithe, take Brooklyn to the vet unexpectedly, participate in some Christmas giving, but presents for each other, and our family, and still have a tiny bit left over!  On paper there is NO WAY that should have worked out...we should be WAY in the hole....but God has worked it out!  He is so good!!!!!!!!  We know that one day we will look back on this experience and say, "Oh, I totally get it now!"  but truthfully, it is hard when you are in the thick of it!  Thankfully we have the love and support of family and friends, and we have an amazing Father to go to!!  I can't imagine going through this and not having a relationship with God, and a husband that is truely seeking His will for our lives, and amazing family and friends...so thank you to all of you who have prayed for us, and who have been there for us!!  (Life group...we couldn't do it without you...we love you all!!)

So, that's pretty much it...only 4 more days of school, and I will be on Christmas break so yay for that!!!!  Merry Christmas everyone!!

Not much to report

I know I promised to keep everyone posted on Glenn's job situation, and I haven't done that.  But that is because we don't have anything to report.  Unfortunately, we are in the same place we were when we got the news.  Glenn has applied for a job with the North American Mission Board, and we are still waiting for news as to whether he will get an interview or not...we hope to hear something this week.  He has been working sporadically at the UPS store to bring in some extra money to squirrel away, and we have been in competition with ourselves (the best kind!!) to see how  much money we can save at the grocery store each week...it's been pretty fun, and we've done really well.  Other than that we really don't have any news.  We appreciate so much the prayers from our friends and family, and we ask that you keep them up!!  We are faithful that God will get us through this time, and show us where He wants us to go from there!  It's really cool to see Him work during this time!!

So, Thursday was Brooklyn's 1st birthday!  She had puppy ice cream and Glenn and I sang to her.  She of course, had no idea what was going on...but she LOVED all the attention!!  We will be going shopping this week for a birthday toy courtesy of Nana and Papa!

Well, half time is over...gotta go cheer on the DAWGS!!  Until next time... 

Prayers please!!!

So, this weekend Glenn and I went up to TN to see my dad and other TN family.  Overall it was a really good trip, much to my relief.  So, we are very happy about that!  We watched football all day yesterday, and I was the only one to go to bed happy!  Tennessee lost, Auburn lost, North Carolina lost....but Georgia won!!!  GOOOOO DAWGS!!!!  4-0...take that!!!  Also, some interesting facts I learned while watching the game... only 3 other teams have been moved down to #3 while remaining undefeated, and all 3 of those teams went on to win the national championship the year they were  moved to #3.  Interesting huh?!

Anyway, moving on.  Thursday, on our way up to TN, Glenn got a call from Rob (the money man for Mobilizing Students!) and Rob told us there is no more money, and that as of Nov. 1st there will be no more paychecks.  YIKES!!  Needless to say we are very overwhelmed, and very unsure as to what to do.  We are faithful that God will take care of us, and get us through this time.  However, we have some huge decisions to make.  So, please be in prayer for us, as Glenn and I try to decide what God has in store for us over the next several months, and for the rest of our lives.  Please pray that Glenn will find a job he likes, that will make us enough money to get by, and that God will show us where we should go from here.  We appreciate so much the support and prayers we have already received from friends and family, and we will keep you posted on this new chapter in our lives!  

Fall break, travels, and marriage

I can't believe it is already Wednesday night of my fall break!!!  It's been very restful, productive, and a lot of fun.  I think I could easily get used to being a stay at home person! :)  So, last weekend we (the band, Mere, Brooklyn, and me) headed to Pensacola, FL to play at Glenn's uncle's church.  There were a decent amount of people there, and the band played for awhile, so it was a lot of fun!  I was able to watch the UGA/SC game at my in-laws house, and even though they are DIE HARD Auburn fans, there were helping me cheer on the Dawgs!  We headed home on Sunday after being stuffed full of amazing food prepared by Glenn's grandmother and mom...it was REALLY YUMMY!  

The rest of this week has consisted of cleaning the house, getting school work done (report cards, lesson plans, etc.), and hanging out with my sweet husband.  I have really enjoyed getting to spend all day with him everyday this week, I will really be sad to go back to work. 

In other news, our church has started doing a marriage series, and our Life Group is going a Song of Solomon study.  I am very excited about both of these, because you can always learn more about what makes a good marriage, especially since we are still new at this!  2 years does not make us experts by any means!!  So, needless to say, it will be fun and interesting to see where God takes us through these studies!  

Well, that's it for now!  Until next time....

Football Weekends

Well, so far the Dawgs are 2-0.  Take that all you naysayers! (who knows if I spelled that right!)  Anyway, we have had some fun football Saturdays so far.  Our living room has been converted into a sports bar of sorts, thanks to my football obsessed husband, who has rigged up 3 TVs so we can watch 3 football games at one time!  These TVs are not up all week long, they are only rigged up like this on Saturdays.  Men love it, women think it's ridiculous, I just think if that's what makes him happy, then it's fine with me! :)  Last week we had our friends Derrick and Lauren come over to cheer the Dawgs on to their victory over GA Southern, and today we had my friend Allison come up, and bring Bailey.  We cheered the Dawgs to victory over Central Michigan, while we played referee for our very rambunctious puppies!!  They had fun though, and should both sleep VERY well for the next couple of days! 

Tomorrow I will be going to see Glenn and the rest of the Momentum flag football team play their first game, so that should be fun.  There will be more updates on that later, apparently Glenn will be playing Wide Receiver...so we'll need to make sure he has very unslippery hands!!! :)  Also tomorrow, Glenn will be playing in the Momentum band, and leading worship in both services, so that will be fun.  It will also be a little weird, because I've never seen him play with anyone but the CWB...so we will be branching out!  

Only 1 more week until Fall Break!!!  YAY!!!  I am REALLY ready for a week off!!  I need to rest, regroup, and get ahead of the game (by more than just a day or two).  We will be going to Pensacola, to see Glenn's parents, and the CWB will be playing at a church down there....that is as long as Ike doesn't decide to land on PCola instead.  The tail-end of my fall break we will be going to TN to visit my Dad and family up there.  So even though it will be my "break" I won't be doing too much resting, since we will be pretty busy.  Oh, well, story of my life!!  

Until next time...GOOOOO DAWGS!!!  Enjoy watching us win!! :)

My life is a movie

Well 3rd grade is off and running with a bang!  Well, I should say a few 1-2 punches!!  That's right...in the entire 10 days of school so far I have had one student punch 2 separate people, and another student just slap another girl in the face.  I'm thinking of inviting the Ultimate Fighting people to come and do a special in my classroom, because seriously, I think a few of these kids could qualify!  So, my life was immediately spiced up by "Kung Fu Panda" when he punched a kid on the 4th day of school...when asked what he could have done instead of punching him, he replied, "I could have hit him harder."  Noooooo, but good try!!  Since then Kung Fu Panda has punched one other kid, and my Diva In Training just straight-up slapped a kid in the lunchroom, and ripped off her necklace.  In addition to Kung Fu Panda and Diva In Training, I also have Junior Napoleon Dynomite in my class.  Imagine Napoleon as an 8 year old, same voice, and same random comments, and that's what I've got.  A couple of examples... "Mrs. Smith, sometimes, when I look in the mirror, I can see myself as a grown-up.  I have a goatee, and it's pointy, with a stripe down the middle."   Okayyyyyyyy.  Here's another one.... "Mrs. Smith, sometimes I have stress in me, and then I don't."  Riiiight.  I have no idea what to do with 99% of the stuff this kid says to me!!!  But, he makes me laugh, so that makes it all worth it!!  So, needless to say, 3rd grade is off to an interesting start!!

On a complete opposite note, Glenn is thouroughly enjoying his life as a house husband and Brooklyn and I are very glad to have him home for a while!!  With that being said, call us, we'd love to hang out!!  

That's it for now, and I will leave you with this....

Everybody was kung fu fighting.....those cats were fast as lightning.....

time to take a break!

Okay, I realize our blog is entitled "Smith Family Adventures", but that title is misleading, at least right now...we are a very uneventful family right now, but sometimes that's nice.

Since it feels like EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE WORLD is either pregnant or has a baby and has their pics posted on their blog, and we can't participate in that because we are in the 1% of people who have no baby, and no baby on the way, I have decided to post pictures of our puppy.  In my opinion Brooklyn is as cute as a baby anyway!!  :)  So, here she is...all 40 pounds of her!!!

Well, everyone should be happy to know that Glenn and the rest of the CWB have a month off!!!  YAY!!!  I, and the other wives are very excited, because we have missed our men!  The guys are excited because they all need a break.  Traveling and leading worship all over the country, while it's an amazing and rewarding job, is also an exhausting one, so they all need some naps and time at home!  

The 1st week of school is officially over!  It went pretty well, I have a lot of the same kids as last year, but I also have some new kids...and lets just say that a few of the new ones are making life interesting.  There was a lot of drama in my class this week, hopefully this is not a sign of things to come, but merely a rough spot in the settling in process.  :)  I am really happy with the way my classroom looks, the awesome team I have to work with, and how on the ball I have been so far!!  We'll see how long I can keep it up! 

So, as exciting as all of that was, there is nothing else to report.  We are tired, need naps, and are really looking forward to having some time together with Glenn being here, and not having to go to work at the UPS store.  It will be a fun month!  

There's no place like home

WOW!  What a summer!!  

The Chris White Band has been super busy with traveling all over the country, and fortunately I'm a teacher, so I get to come along in the summer.  It's really fun to be a groupie, and just get to hang out with cool teenagers from all over the place, and worship every night.  The only down side is that we have only been home for about 15 days total, the whole summer!  And now, although it's been a great summer, I only have 2 weeks until school starts...yikes!! 

Glenn will be getting to concentrate on his job with Mobilizing Students, without having to go to the UPS store anymore!! YAY!!  He will be substitute teaching sporadically to keep himself busy and to bring in some extra cash (that certainly never hurts!)  It will definitely be nice to have him home in the afternoons and be able to hang out more when he's not traveling.

We have finally found a church that we love...yay!  We are going to Momentum Christian Church here in McDonough, and absolutely love it.  We have the opportunity to co-lead a Life Group with a super cool couple, and I am going to start working in the children's ministry come August.  Glenn will rock his bass in the praise band when he's home and needed. :)  We are really excited that we finally found a church that we love, can serve in, and is close to our house!

We are really settled in to our adorable little house...we still have some projects that we want to tackle...but I'm quickly learning that is an ongoing thing when you own a house!  

Our little Brooklyn makes us laugh everyday!  We love her to pieces, and she has become a member of the family.  Well, who am I kidding, she's our baby! :)  She has been to the emergency vet clinic more than Glenn and I have been to the doctor this year...she's allergic to a lot of stuff, and gets into everything!  She's very happy, very nosey, and loves to cuddle and give kisses.  We adore her!!  

Well, that's about all that's going on in the lives of the Smiths... everyday is an adventure in our little family.  We are just taking life a day at a time, and seeing where God wants to take us next!