Happy Days!

Hello again friends! What a crazy month it has been!! It has been a month full of surprises and joy! For starters, Wyatt and I found out that we are going to be parents in July!! SURPRISE!!! Our pregnancy was definitely a joyful surprise, but a huge surprise at that. It has been so fun to share the news with our family and friends over the holiday season! What a blessing a baby Jenkins will be. He or she will bring so much JOY to our lives, I can't wait to meet him or her! Wyatt will be a wonderful dad, I can't wait to watch him with our little one! YAY! What a year of adventure it will be! :)

Christmas was wonderful! We celebrated with Wyatt's family on Saturday, we took shrimp and egg rolls (that is not my pregnancy diet, that is exactly what the kids asked for :):)) we had lunch and opened presents! It truly was a good time! We headed back home Saturday evening and had breakfast with some of our Sunday school class on Sunday morning, again a blessed time! Wyatt and I had lunch together then finished up our wrapping and baking throughout the day. At 6:00 p.m. we headed to my home church for the candle-light service which I always enjoy. Both of my parents have amazing gifts and talents, but as I sat in church listening to my mom play the piano I was absolutely overcome with amazement as my mom's fingers flew over the piano. She is amazing at playing piano!! She can play anything at any time!! I am so proud of her and for the way she humbly shares her gift with others!! She is pretty cool!! After the service we always eat together, usually it is a Chinese place, but seeing how it was Sunday evening, hardly anything was open, so we headed to my favorite place, Cheddar's!! :)

Christmas morning Wyatt and I woke up in our very first house together and opened presents just the two of us. We actually had an amazing chat about what life would be like next year with our baby. It is so crazy to think that we are going to be mom and dad to a perfect little one. After our amazing talk (emotional at times), we prayed for this upcoming year. Hey, if we are going to get through everything, God is going to have to be at the direct center of everything!! It was the best Christmas morning we could have shared! About 11:00 a.m. we headed over to my parents house where we laughed and talked, ate, and opened presents all day long!! It was a wonderful day of family!!

Thanks

What a fabulous week and weekend!!! I LOVE Thanksgiving!!! I love everything about it!! I love the family, I love the food, and I love the time to share together with friends and family laughing and talking, and being thankful for life!! This Thanksgiving was especially special for so many reasons!! Wyatt and I spent thanksgiving day at my grandparents house in Marshfield, MO. My great Aunt and Uncle and cousins were there, it was so much fun!! My "great aunt" is only 5 years older than my dad so my sister and I always beg her to tell us funny stories about when my dad was younger. They hung out a lot together since they were so close in age! She always tells us hilarious stories of my dad as a kid and a teenager!! Whoo-hoo, hilarious!! :) After lunch my dad and I decided that we wanted to look through the News-Leader to find the BEST sales for the day after thanksgiving so we got in the car to take a quick trip to the closest convienence store! Well little did we know that the only thing that people do in Marshfield on Thanksgiving day is sit around and eat turkey while looking at every single solitary paper that was sold in Marshfiled!! They were ALL GONE!!!! Every single one of them!! We went everywhere in town, every gas station and store that was open (including Wal-Mart,) they were all gone!!! So we ended up going on a mission to find a paper and low and behold we finally found the last 4 papers in Conway!! Yes my dear friends my dad and I drove to Conway to get an everloving paper! :) What was supposed to be a 15 minute trip took an hour and fifteen minutes! It was so fun though, I love spending time with my dad so we had an awesome talk while driving around!!
One thing that I missed this Thanksgiving was everyone going around the room and telling what we were thankful for!! So I am going to tell all of you!! YAY!
I am so thankful for my amazing husband Wyatt. He knows me so well, and still loves me!! He laughs with me and is quiet with me, he is tender and compassionate with me, yet he loves to pick on me. Never could I have imagined marrying someone so entirely wonderful!! Wyatt, I adore you!
I am also thankful for our friends!! You guys are such a blessing to us!! You have helped us grow so much in our relationship and marriage! You have helped us stretch our friendships! You guys have refined us! We are so thankful! We look forward to so many of the adventures we all have ahead of us!! We love you all!
My family is amazing!! God knew that I would need each one of them throughout different times in my life! They are here to love me and laugh with me, to grow with me and stretch me! I love them all so very much!!
Last but not least is Jesus Christ! What an incredible gift!! I am so thankful that I have Him to lean on and to trust when I feel scared or unsure! I feel so happy to know He is there whenever I feel lonely or when I simply cannot talk to anyone else! He is my Savor and King! I feel so blessed to have come to know Him at such a young age!
For all of these things, I am thankful!

Hello Again!

Hello friends!! Sorry that I had to take a few days off from blogging, these past few weeks have been CRAZY!! Thanks for your thoughtful comments! You guys always make me smile!! :)
Wow!! What a fabulous weekend!!! Friday night was a fun evening with my husbando!! We shopped at Sam's to get cool stuff for Caryle's baby shower, then we had dinner at Qdoba! Honestly I do not love their food, but I tried something new (thank you very much) and I loved it. So next time you go to Qdoba, try the chicken gumbo, it is delicious!! :) It was so fun though, Wyatt and I just sat and chatted, like best friends do. We talked about our families and our friends. We talked about work and life, but mostly we just lived life together, slowly and lovingly at Qdoba!! It was so much fun!! Sometimes I forget that we need to continue to date one another even though we are married! I have such a wonderful partner in life! Good times!!
Saturday was a BLAST!!! Wyatt got up super early to go hunting, yes friends I did say hunting. Now most of you would not think that Wyatt is a hunting man, and really he isn't, but his brother-on-law (his sister's husband) has been inviting him for two years. So alas, he gave in and went hunting!! He had a fabulous time! Anyway, I got up and started preparing for Carlye's baby shower!! Saturday was such a beautiful day! People were out and about. You can tell people are getting so excited for Christmas (I am one of them!!:):)) Whoo-hoo!! At 1:00 p.m. Wyatt, Paige, Katie Sinnokrak, and Teresa joined me!! THANK YOU SO MUCH friends for all of your thoughtful help!!! It was such a fun shower and I could NOT have pulled it off without your help!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! So the shower was fun, lot's of good times with Lynette!! Let me give a Shout Out to Caryle's parental units (I am sorry, that is just what I call them.:):)) You guys are so fun, thank for hanging out with us!!! Feel free to move here....I mean come back anytime! :):):)
We hung out with the Ferguson's on Saturday evening which was a BLAST!!! We are SO thankful for you guys!!! Thanks for having us over, your house is so warm and comfortable!!! Paige your scrapbooks warmed my heart, they were beautiful!! Scrapbooking, here we come!!!
Sunday was my sister's birthday!! She is 28!! Yes, I did say 28!! Whoo-hoo!! One thing that I love about being the younger sister, is that she will always be older then me! :) I will always be more mature, but she will always be older!! He he!! She really is a joy in my life and I am so thankful that God blessed me with a sister! We had a great time hanging out with my parental and grandparental units all afternoon!! And THEN we went to our church's Thanksgiving dinner!!! Another good time had by the Jenkins' and our SS class!!!!! The Barber Shop choir was very interesting. They definitely LOVE to sing and they are very good at it also!! We had a fun time listening to them!! It was even more fun to be there with the Ferguson's, the Frederick, (Teresa we missed you!!!), The Sinnokrak's, The Harshman's, The Bryant's and the Marquis and Rima! :)
It is going to be a busy week, but a fun one!! Remember ladies to put December 4th on your calendar for the Ornament exchange!! Christmas is coming...... :) Take care friends!!!!

A Great Weekend!

Hello friends!! What a FABULOUS weekend it was!! Friday evening was a little sad. Wyatt and I went to Joy Warner's visitation. It was beautiful, there were tons of flowers there, and even more people who loved her. She made a difference in SO MANY people's lives! She was amazing! Many people were of course crying but a lot of people were full of joy (for her) because they knew she was in heaven with her Father! What a wonderful place it must be!! After we left there, Wyatt and I had a wonderful talk about life. Sometimes I just take Wyatt and my family and friends for granted not really realizing that life on earth is really temporary. We are not here for good, and at some point God will call us home. So we must live every moment for Jesus, we must SHINE so brightly for Him that people cannot help but see our love for Him. That kind of joy is contagious good friends! Whoo-hoo!! I also realized that I need to spend more time in God's Word! Whenever I am in God's Word, I often think to myself, "Why do I not get in here every single moment that I have free??" There is so much good stuff to read about! Let's live to make a difference! Make a difference in someone's life, that is my challenge to you today! I will take on the same challenge and I will pray that God will reveal to all of us someone we have made a difference through! God's love will be shown to all who live for His glory! YAY!
On with the weekend. :) On Saturday we had "Harshman Work Day," which was a ton of fun!! Adam is not really an emotional person, but I think he had a lot of fun, it was sure fun surprising him! :) Saturday evening I got to hold and kiss on my little nephew Mr. Max. He is so absolutely adorable! I love him SO much!! It is always fun to see how your friends take on new roles! Nick and Katie are awesome parent's, I am amazed at their strength and patience! (Schmickle's and Harshman's you are next!! Whoo-hoo!!!)
Sunday was awesome! Sunday School rocked my face off :):):) and the sermon was one I certainly needed to hear!! Sunday afternoon was also fabulous!! We enjoyed having all you people over!! We had a blast!! Thanks to all who came to hang and watch the game!! Thanks girls for hanging out with me and talking about girl stuff!! I cherish you all!!
Hope you all have a fabulous week!! I can't WAIT to see you soon!!!

The Week at a Glance

So it is Wednesday! Can anyone believe that it is Wednesday?? Holy cow! Time flies when you are having fun! It has been a very cool week. On Monday we visited the small quaint town of Bolivar, MO. I could never live in Bolivar, MO. I just couldn't, it is too small. Now some of you might be thinking, "Don't they live in Nixa, isn't that a small town." Ah contrar good friends, Nixa is indeed a small town, but it is a COOL small town. There are fun restaurants (we don't have many restaurant' s mind you, but the ones we have are cool!!), cool shopping places, AND fabulous friends who live in or around Nixa!! (YAY Ozark!) There is no such thing in Bolivar. Nope, Bolivar is just straight up boring, not much to do there! I am so glad it was a short visit! :)
Tuesday evening was way cool because we got to hang out with the Schmickle's! Now they are a fun crew!! Carlye and I laughed and chatted, and I think the boys did some of the same (perhaps they did not laugh as much, but I think they had fun too.) We are so thankful for those Schmickle's, thanks for letting us be real with you both! You are a blessing to us!
Tonight was family night. We usually have family night on Thursday night, but since we are having our Financial Fun Class, we had to move it to earlier in the week!! Family night is so very special to me! I have a wonderful family! We started having family night when I was 5. My dad is a campus minister so there were always students at our house, or he was often off doing something, so there were times we did not get to spend a lot of time together. So, one night we (I say "we" although I am sure I did not do a lot of the deciding about getting away for the evening, I was only 5) just decided to get away from the house and from the phone, so we could spend some time just together!! So we walked down to the McSalty's that used to reside by campus, ordered a Bear Pie for dinner and thus had our first family night. We have been getting together every Thursday night since! I am so thankful that Wyatt likes my family, he makes family night so much fun!! He and my dad often remember things that happened when they were away on missions trips. It is so much fun to hear their wild and crazy stories!! Great family, special friends, we are so blessed!

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer...

Ok, so I know this is going to be a VERY silly question, and perhaps I am totally and completely computer illiterate, but could someone PLEASE tell me how to get links on my page to other peoples' pages. (As I am typing this, my hands are going around and round, motioning that I would like to get to get to other peoples pages! Just wanted to give you a visual. :)) I am telling you I have tried everything, and my blog just doesn't want me to have other links!! What is up with this??? Laugh if you must (which I am sure you are, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to technology), but please know that computers are not my specialty! HELP! Can a girl just get some links to her friends, the other loyal bloggers in her life? I mean really, come on now?!?!? :)
Paige, I changed my page template in your honor!! Pink ladies have to stay together!! :) Pink ROCKS!!
Thanks in advance for your help, I appreciate you all!!!

A tiny bundle of JOY!

What a week it has been!! A blessed week, a joyful week, and certainly a week to celebrate, but what a week!! :) Happy Birthday Max Powell Ramsey! Max is my new nephew! He was born at 11:15 this morning weighing in at 6 pounds and 15 ounces. He is a beautiful baby boy! He has dark hair and beautiful eyes!! I have never loved a tiny person so much! He captured my heart the second he was born! I cannot even begin to imagine what a joy he will be in our lives. I had the honor of sitting with his new mom and dad (Nick and Katie Ramsey) last night and this morning as they anxiously anticipated his arrival. We kept taking bets on when he was going to be born. Whoever won, we bet, would be treated to Cold Stone Creamery. (We all LOVE CSC!!:)) Well none of us won (and we bet like 5 times,) but he is here and he is healthy and I love him so much.
I was a little nervous when Katie called last night just as we were leaving for family group to say, "Max is on his way, can you come?" I was thinking, "Whoa, back that buggy up, what do you mean he is on his way? Stop him, he is too early, there is still so much to be done!" However, when we arrived at the hospital we waked into the Labor and Delivery room and found two of the most excited people there, I was reminded that God's timing is always perfect. Nick was beaming with excitement and Katie was glowing with anticipation. We had so much fun talking about what Max was going to look like, and when he would come. After a few minutes of stress, an epidural (for Katie, not Nick, Wyatt or I,:)), a rousing round of "Friends" trivia, a lot of waiting, even more laughter, and a ton of ice chips later, Max is here! It was such a joyful experience, it was such an honor to be there with them watching their joy come alive!! Thank you Father for having perfect timing in all circumstances!! We love you and are so thankful for the blessings you give us!

Joy!!

Hello good friends!! What a FUN week it has been!!! First of all, I have to give a shout out to Paige and Todd, we had SO MUCH fun with you guys on Saturday!! THANKS so much for inviting us to the auction!! Cabool is a hip and happening place. It is probably not a place we would go for vacation, but if it were to get a Cheddar's, a Wal-Mart, and perhaps a few good craft stores, we would so be there!! Although I do have to say that Clea's Flower Shop is pretty amazing, I could have shopped there all day!! Honestly though it is always fun to be a part of someone's family for the day!! We hung out at the auction, we went to the fabulous cabin in the woods, and roasted hot dogs and s'mores. It was FABULOUS!! We had a GREAT time hanging out with the Ferguson's, the Fredericks, and Paige's family!! Whoo-hoo, what an adventure!!
Sunday was also a fun day! We went with my family to Silver Dollar City. We all traveled together talking and laughing. My mom, dad, sister, and I LOVE roller-coasters!! We do. My husband and brother-in-law would rather watch, but we all feel that if one person is going, we all need to try it out. It is pretty hysterical to see a 50 year old guy (my dad) get excited about going on a ride. Of course he can't get too excited (that might ruin his cool, calm and collected attitude,) but let me tell you, as we are waiting in line for the huge disk ride that rotates around as it slides back and forth on a half-moon track, he was almost giddy! I rode inbetween my dad and my sister (somehow I thought I might be safest there,) and off we go with my dad holding his arms straight up in the air (as I am clinging onto the bar in front of me for dear life) with a huge smile on his face. I am shrieking, thinking death is inevitable as my mom and sister are on the other side of me laughing hysterically!! What a blessing it is to have so much fun with family!! I LOVE my family, we have a great relationship!! Now my family is certainly not without its quirks, some people don't understand us at all, but we have such fun adventures together! I am so thankful!!
Hope every one has had an awesome week!!! What a beautiful week it has been!! Happy Friday tomorrow friends!!!

Lots of Thoughts

When I was in third grade my Sunday School teacher challenged us to memorize a book of the Bible. I am not such a good memorizer, so obviously I did not think that this was a great idea. However everyone else thought it was a great idea we decided to take on the challenge. Our class decided that James was the book for us to memorize, so we started studying it. Every week our teacher would assign us a different verse, we would learn what it meant, how we could apply it to our lives, and then we memorized it. It was amazing how "easy" memorization came when the verses really meant something to me! Sometimes as a child I did not think that the Bible applied to me, I thought it was just for my mom and dad, and the nice man who yelled at us from the pulpit every week! :)
But learning about scripture and how it affected my family and I made a HUGE impact on me.
One of the big ideas of Classical Education is memorization. At GDA we teach Classical Ed., (for a full definition of what "Classical Education" is, please ask for the 5 pages of notes I took on Classical education for my interview for this job. Did I end up needing them? No! Did they even ask me about it? NO! But if you need great notes, I have them! ) so I am having my students memorize poems, and we are currently memorizing all of the countries in Africa. We are also memorizing scripture (Psalm 47 is our scripture for the month.) IT IS AMAZING how much joy my 5 year olds receive from hiding scripture in their hearts!! We go through each verse, talk about what it means, and then we memorize it together!! IT IS SUCH A JOY to see them at such an early age memorizing the Word of God!!! Priceless!!
I did not memorize the entire book of James like my Sunday School teacher might have hoped, but I did memorize the first chapter. Having this scripture in my heart and mind often eases worry and doubt away. Just the other day, someone flat out told me that they thought my joy was annoying and that they wish I was not so happy all of the time. Obviously I was hurt. I love living life through Christ, why not have joy??? How could you not be happy? I realize that life is not perfect, but life with Christ is pretty amazing!! So I started thinking, "I do not want to be annoying, am I turning people off of Christ because they think I am superficial???" Will you all please hold me accountable for this. If I ever get to a point where you feel I am giving off some sort of fake or superficial vibe, PLEASE let me know. I always want to be encouraging and uplifting, not a pain in the butt!
When I was thinking through all of this, the one James chapter that I have memorize popped into my mind, it was a true blessing of reassurance from God!

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." James 1:2-8

What an incredible chapter!! We PRAISE YOU Father for the way you always encourage us through your Word!

Happy!

What an awesome day!! I got to teach today, and it was awesome!! My kindergarten are so much fun!! I LOVE teaching them!! We have a great time together!! I am also so blessed by the new women this school has introduced me to! It is a small school so there are just 8 of us teachers, but we all just click and it is such a blessing!!
For example this morning I was in my room getting it ready for the students and I open my BIG green cabinet and the door falls off. Oh yes, the entire door. Not only does it fall off, but I do not catch before it falls to ground making a huge BOOM on the floor. My good friend Torrie (the second grade teacher) runs over to my classroom to see what has caused this gigantic rustle! She runs in and finds that my entire door has fallen off, and bursts into a fit of laughter. Ok, so I did not think that it was that funny, after all, how am I going to keep everything in my cabinet without a door??!!? (And, I tend to get a little embarrassed when random things happen to me that I am not quite prepared for!) Finally after a few minutes I started to see the humor in the situation and I began to laugh with her. After all it is not everyday you see a large green door falling off a cabinet onto a short (but buff) unsuspecting teacher on a Monday morning, with her students well on their way into her classroom and the director just one classroom away!?!?!? :) Whoo-hoo!! Bring it on!
Yes, it was a blessed day!!
"Rejoice in the Lord always," I will say it again, "Rejoice!" Let your gentleness be evident to all, the Lord is near!!" Philippians 4:4-5

A Lesson from a 2 year old!!

I love Sunday's!! I do!! I love them!! I love getting up and going to church to praise God!! I love our Sunday School class and our Church service!! I love the joyful fellowship among believers, there is nothing more uplifting than being together with your friends and family!! Today I have realized how blessed Wyatt and I are! We live in a beautiful house, drive two cars that always start, and have a love for one another that grows every single day. We are not perfect mind you, we still pick at each other at times, and we still argue over who holds the remote, but, besides those things we are blessed!
I work as a nanny for a perfect little boy and I love him so very much!! He is 2 and a half. (Just ask him, he will tell you in plenty of detail exactly how old he is.) I have been with him since he was 2 weeks old! I sure did think I was going to drop him when he was so tiny. I had really never been around children very much. So I don't know what possessed me to even look for a nanny job, but I did look for a nanny position and God has blessed me richly through it!! (P.S. I did not exactly drop him, but I did watch him fall off of a bridge one time just last fall as he was leaning over the edge on one of those little play areas, against my better judgment. I did not quite catch him in time, but no worries, he is alive and well. That story, another time! :)) He was so beautiful!!
In his two and a half years his life has been turned upside down a variety of times!! His parents divorced almost exactly a year ago, and since then they have each had a significant other. Even though he is so young he certainly knows that his world has been turned upside down, YET he continues to be joyful and happy!! I am amazed at him, he has taught me so much about rejoicing even in the hard times! He is an amazing little guy!!
Remember this week friends to be joyful about everything! God has given us such an incredible purpose for life, HE created us to be exactly who we are!! I am so thankful!!

A GREAT Day!!

Hello friends!! What a beautiful day it was!! Wyatt is home, we got to hang out all day, AND tomorrow is Sunday!! Could we be any more blessed!?!?!
So today, Wyatt did the wonderful husband task of helping me in my classroom!! Now please understand that Wyatt just got home from his last audit for the season (hopefully.) He arrived home with all of his luggage, some fun stories, and a cold, so he was not SO excited about getting out today, but that is beside the point! :) So here we are at church working on my classroom, he is sneezing here and there trying to be the best husband ever and I am going on and on about my students and how much I love school etc. etc., when I realize that I do not quite have everything that I need to work on the said classroom!! Ooooops, (I might have told him that I had everything because I thought I did, but you know, oooooops... :)) so I think ,we should just run like lightening to Mardel so I can finish my classroom today, never mind my husband is sick and just needs to rest!! So here we go to Mardel for just a quick shopping trip! Seconds turned into moments, moments turned into hours, we might have seen a few people we knew, and just a few hours later we were back at church "finishing up" my room!! I have to give Wyatt the "Husband of the Year" Award for being such a trooper! I am so thankful for him and his graciousness and thoughtfulness!!
It was fun, it was fabulous, it was a great day!!
P.S. Does anyone have any advice on the spell-check botton?? I keep pressing it and it keeps giving me a pop-up saying that I can't use it?!!? What??!?! I apologize for the mis-spelled words!

Joy

Hello friends!! I want you all to know that I am becoming a fellow blogger to follow in your foot-steps!! You all have inspired me! I read your blogs every evening before I go to bed!! I love to hear about the things going on in your lives!! I am not SO great about posting every day, but this will be so fun, I promise to try to post at least once a week!! I appreciate you all with your joy and bantering!! It is so much fun to be friends with such joyful people!!! Happy Friday friends!! I look forward to seeing you soon!!
" A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17.