Good Lord...

Ok seriously..does he have to be so beautiful? I mean I'm still drooling just looking at him. I sure wouldn't mind waking up to that every morning for the rest of my life! Anybody want to give him to me for Christmas??!! Thanks..one Brody Jenner please! ;0)

Prayer Requests!

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know of a couple of prayer requests that I had. I personally have been praying about these, but I know that the more people I have praying with me, the better it is!

• Please pray that I find a roommate. I'm still really needing someone to live with me and help share my living expenses. It would just make things a lot easier for me! I would be able to save a lot more, pay off more debt, and allow me to finally get a new car!

• Pray that I am able to find and make friends with young, single, girls my own age. As embarrasing as it is to admit, I really don't have a lot of friends. (That actually sounds worse than it is)! I have amazing co-workers who I love working with every single day. I wouldn't trade them for anything! However, it's not the same as having your best girl friend that you can go do girl stuff with and hang out with on the weekend. Most of my teaching team is married, with families or husbands, and they have their own lives. I do have my best friends, Jacque and Jason here, and they're more like family. Most of the time we hang out on weekends, but when they're busy, I don't have any other friends to hang out with, or even call up. I don't want this to sound like I'm having a pity party for myself, because I'm TOTALLY not! I am a very independent woman and I've liked living by myself. Sometimes it is nice to just hang out and relax at my house during the weekend and recharge alone. However, sometimes I do want to go out, and I don't want to do it alone. I have been going to my Sunday school class and getting involved in church, but I just don't seem to be making any friends. In my ABF, everyone has been really nice, but it's like they already have their friends or know people...and I don't. This past Sunday I just felt soooo awkward and alone..in a room filled with people. I just wonder when am I not always going to feel so alone.

I know that NOTHING is impossible with God and I know He has already heard my cries. Please pray that I will continue to trust Him and continue to surrender my life daily to Him. Thanks guys! Love ya'll!

TIME TO VENT!

If you haven't already read my post below, STOP now and do so. If you have, then proceed on!

I didn't want to ruin my wonderful post about my beautiful lights with bad news, so I decided to do a whole new post and vent about what went wrong this afternoon! I wasn't necessarily bad, just made me soooooooooooo MAD!!

First of all, I of course was outside all afternoon putting up my lights. I also had my windows inside open since the weather was nice. Well, I went inside to get a drink, and then all of a sudden my alarm starts beeping. I have an smoke/carbon monoxide alarm in my house. I thought it was really weird that it was going off, because I had been outside and hadn't even cooked/burned anything to set off the alarm. So I went to look and on the alarm it had the green light on and then it had a red light by the "go to fresh air" area. Hmmm..so I called my daddy and he said to try and get up there and fan it or turn it off. Yeah, that didn't work. There was a reset button, so I pushed it. The alarm went off for maybe a couple of minutes, then came back on. So then my dad said to take the battery out. I said ok, I'll try that and we hang up. So I climb up there and yank and pull and push till I finally get that dang thing off the ceiling. Then I pull and shove and push till I FINALLY get the freakin battery thing off, and I pull out the battery. *sigh of relief, it finally stopped!)

I climb back down the ladder, go about my business, when what do you know..it starts beeping again! DANGIT! It wasn't as long as before, but the alarm was still beeping. So I call my dad again! He said you took the battery out? I say yes, hmmm...then I don't know what else to do..something else must be powering it. I told him that the green light was still on, even though it had no battery! He then suggested going to my breaker box and flipping the breaker. So I run to the garage and flip the breaker, run back in, and the green light was off! yay? NO!! Then the freakin alarm beeped at me again! I swear I was about to climb up there and beat it to smithereans with my bat. However, finally it went off. That is the most stupidest alarm EVER!! I still want to smash it into little, bitty, pieces! :0) It was like an animal or something that just wouldn't die..you're just like DIE ALREADY!

THEN when I was climbing up the ladder one of the 50 jillion times, I had my hand under one of the handles and raised it up really fast, and completely ripped a chunk of nail/skin off of my little pinkie! Then it started gushing blood and I raced to the bathroom to put it under water and apply pressure. It hurt soooooooo bad! I'm not a swearing woman, but I came pretty close to it just then!! Right now I have a bandaid on it, but it's still throbbing! Dumb alarm, dumb ladder!! UGH!

Well, at least I have beautiful lights up and nothing major happened. I'm just glad I have good balance and didn't fall off and break anything! :0)

Ok, now that I've vented, I'm off to bake a pecan pie for grad school tomorrow! Yum yum!

Taa Daa!

Well, here it is, 3 plus hours later, and I can finally say that I have successfully finished putting up my Christmas lights! It wasn't as bad as I thought! I only had to make one trip to Walmart (this is a big success for me..I thought I'd have to make more) to get more lights and clips. I originally bought 3 boxed of icicle lights, and one thing of clips that had 26 in them. Well, turns out I way underestimated. I went back to Walmart and got another thing of clips, and 4 more boxes of lights. I guess my little house is longer then I thought! I should have bought 2 things of clips when I was at Walmart, because I completely ran out. However, I was NOT making another trip back, so I ghettoed it up and taped up the rest of my lights with clear tape! :0) And you'll never tell the difference ;0). Since it was after dark when I finished it, the pics aren't that great. I'll put up a pic, but in the pic it looks like my lights are colored..but they're NOT! Watch the video if you want to see how they really look, but you can't really see my house that much. Oh well! I must say that it was quite an adventure today, but I'm really proud of myself. I did the research before, read the instructions, and was prepared as I could be! I did it and I think my house has the best icicle lights on the block! ;0)

I really hope this works!

Well friends, I'm off to attempt to put Christmas lights on my house! I have never done this before..my dad and brothers always put them on our house. I'm afraid my experience is limited to putting lights on my tree and up in my room. I have everything I think I need, but you never know! I will report later on how my attempt went! :0) Wish me luck!

New Look!

So I finally got around to changing my background to a new Christmas one! I love it! I liked this one because:

• I love the blue color
• I LOVE the snow
• I think I look a little like the girl in the background
• I think she has cute boots on
• She looks like I feel during this time of season: in awe
• She looks like I imagine the wise men did when they followed the star in search of baby Jesus..
• I think this layout is just beautiful

The end :0)

My one and only "blonde" moment

For those of you who know me well, you know that I do not have "blonde" moments, and my hair is as dark as dark can be. Well, you could say that all those years of making fun of the blondes finally came back to bite me in the butt this weekend!

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family in Comanche, Tx (it's in the middle of Brownwood and Stephenville for you West Tx folks). Because of all the Thanksgiving traffic, I always drive down with my family and then drive back to Rockwall after we're finished on Saturday, to avoid all the traffic.

I printed off the directions from Comanche to Rockwall, and it said the drive would take me about 3 hours. I had made this same drive last year with my sister, so I wasn't worried about doing it again. I got off later then I had planned from my uncle's house and left around 5:30 p.m, but oh well.

I drove for probably about 2 hours and was getting close to Dallas when I saw the sign that said "Dallas 47 miles". I knew I was supposed to get on I30 E from Hwy 67. About this time, Jacque called me so I was on the phone talking to her. I saw the sign for I30 (or so I thought) and the turn looked familiar, so I got on the interstate. I talked to her for a while and then after we hung up, continued to drive. I suddenly saw a sign that said, "Hilsboro- 15 miles". Now, some of my friends will understand why I panicked at this moment. For the rest of you, I will continue to explain.

When I drive home to my parent's house, I drive from Dallas, to Hilsboro, to Lorena. It takes me about 2 hours to get from Rockwall, to Lorena. Hilsboro is about 40 minutes from Lorena. ENTER MY BLONDE MOMENT! In reality, when I was on the phone with Jacque I actually saw the sign that said I35 W, which leads back to Hilsboro/Waco/Lorena.

I TOOK THE WRONG EXIT AND WAS GOING THE COMPLETE WRONG WAY!! I WAS CLOSER TO MY PARENT'S HOUSE THAN I WAS MY OWN!!

There is no way to describe how mad I was at myself. I thought that it must be a cruel joke on me; however, it wasn't. I thought back to when I was on the phone with Jacque and thought I had seen a sign earlier that said "Waco", but I thought..nah, couldn't be. Turns out it WAS!

So my "3" hour trip turned out to be an over 4 hour drive. The only way I made it was listening and singing along to Christmas music. Otherwise, I would have probably pulled my car over and just cried.

STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!

Here's a funny for ya..

So last night I decided to put all my Christmas stuff up so I was all relaxed and comfortable.

Normally my thing to do when I get home during the day after work, is to strip off my clothes and change into something super comfortable. Sometimes I strip off my bra without realizing that I've just done it!

Well, yesterday was one of those instances. I didn't worry about it because I wasn't going anywhere and there's nobody else around, so I just put on a big sweatshirt and went on my merry way.

Later while decorating my tree, I realized that one of the set of lights I bought had the white wire (which I think looks tacky) and I also realized that I bought the wrong star for my tree. So I decided to go ahead and drive to Walmart to exchange these while nobody was there. So I go put on my tennis shoes, grab my purse and keys, the lights and star, and go get in my car. I start up the car, open the garage door, back out the driveway and start to drive down the street BEFORE I said.."crap! I don't have a bra on!" So, I have to drive back in the garage, go back inside my house and put my bra back on.

Geez..I'm such a weirdo. Has this ever happened to you?!

Happy Birthday Shaunna!

Today is my good friend Shaunna's birthday! We met during college and were in our sorority Sigma Phi Lambda, together. We were in the same prayer group and became close there! Those were the good days! I got to go to her wedding a couple of years ago, and she was such a beautiful bride! I am so blessed to call her my friend!

* Shaunna,

Happy birthday sweet girl! I hope that you have a wonderful birthday! I celebrate that today you were born, 25 years ago, and that God destined for us to meet and become friends! You are one of the most precious, sweetest, people that I have ever met. You have set such a godly example for others and have shone the light of Christ in your life! You are such an encouragement to me and I know to others. I know that you are going to be an amazing mother and Baby Dawson will be so blessed to have you as his/her mother! I hope that today, dear friend, you feel loved and celebrated..because you truly are!

Much love,

Chelsey

Time to hit the open road!

Well right now I should be finishing packing and getting ready to leave..but you know me..can't resist one last post!

I'll try to post during the break if I can, but I know my family is going to be traveling alot, so we'll just have to see. I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family! I know I will!

Love and blessings to you all! :0)

Stanley Leone

Don't let the name fool you..because that's exactly what it to me.

When I arrived to my teacher conference day this morning, along with the rest of the RISD employees, I was expecting an older, unattractive, man who was said to be a "good speaker". I thought..ok, whatever..he better be good if I have to sit and listen to him all morning long! The only thing that I can say after listening to Stanley Lenone for over 2 and a half hours this morning, is that I would have sat and listened to him all day long if they would have let me. The expectations I had of this man were lifetimes away from what he actually turned out to be. I don't think I can do Stanley justice with my own words, so I'll let this article I found online do it for me. It wasn't written about Rockwall, but his story is the same. PLEASE continue reading and then follow the directions for how to view a short clip to see Stanley. (They didn't have one on YouTube, so I tried to find the best one I could!)

From Drug Dealer To All-American Scholar

Thursday, 08 March 2007
RIVERSIDEBy Chris Levister

How does a white, former drug dealing street thug relate to a room full of mostly Black and Latino teens on probation or expelled from Riverside County schools? It's a question all-American scholar Stanley Leone, Jr. hears hundreds of times.

"Pain has no ethnicity. Pain sees no color," he says. Leone a motivational speaker from the Texas based Flippen Leadership Group has shared his life story of tragedy and triumph with ten of thousands of people.

On the campus of Arlington Regional Learning Center he enters a standing room only gathering of students and educators wearing a yellow shirt.

"A white guy in a yellow shirt, right away you can see the skepticism on their faces," admits Leone, "How tough can he be?" That skepticism fades quickly when he dims the lights and transforms himself into a menacing looking tattooed thug dressed in a knit cap and black sleeveless tee. Within seconds he lures listeners into a riveting snapshot of his childhood, a life of poverty, homelessness, drugs, violence, and sexual abuse.

"I'm five years old. I'm watching my father hold a shotgun in my mom's face." Leone paces the floor, his breathing is labored. "If I cried my father would beat me."

"Another night I wake up. A man is on top of me. The next morning he was laughing and joking with him my momma as if nothing happened. She made me swear not to tell anyone. I pushed the pain down."

"My mom did the best she could. We went from living in a trailer park to sleeping in a car, except there was no sleeping. You stayed awake to protect the family. I hated my father. I refused to take his name Stanley. I insisted people call me JR."

By age 13 Stanley Leone was a hardcore gun toting veteran of violence, drugs and incarcerations. By high school he was a fearless gang leader, drug dealer and street thug charged with felony assault. "I remember the police came to my school handcuffed me and took me to jail. Beneath my bad boy talk, I was hurting. I was insecure and scared."

"The boys I hung out with would say ‘yo dog I'll die for you'. In reality they weren't dying for me they were dying with me."

Leone told listeners football kept him from sliding deeper into a life of anger, pain and self sabotage. "I would play football to mask the pain." In his senior year Leone met Monda Simmons who taught the Flippen Group's Teen Leadership class at his school.

"She was a small lady. I tried to dog her. But she wasn't having it. She looked up at me and said ‘beneath your thuggish ways, son I see a champion', when she said that I started crying like a baby. She saw what I'd been hiding all those years."

Leone told teachers and administers, "you do make a difference in children's lives." He credits Simmons with helping him turn his life of tragedy and violence into a message of inspiration and hope.

"I can honestly say if it were not for Monda Simmons and the Flippen program I would be in jail or dead."

Stanley not only completed high school with a 4.0 average but went on to graduate magna cum laude from St. Xavier University in Chicago.

"That's my story. Each one of you has a story. You don't have to be a football all-star to be a winner. But you've got to be serious about changing your destructive ways. It's hard work. In this very room there's a Monda Simmons waiting to help you. But man, you've got to want to change," said Leone."

"He scared me," said David who was expelled for using drugs. "He was a pretty scary homeboy -- kinda like me."

Tonya expelled for fighting called Leone's story ‘amazing'. "He brought tears to my eyes. He said we got to fight with our minds. Not with hate, guns, knives and fists. That's deep."

"Life changing, rejuvenating, I wish all of our teachers and students could have seen and heard Leone's remarkable turnaround story," said Learning Center principal Tony Johnson. "His powerful message lets kids know they really can turn their lives around. We're here to help them accomplish that."

"I see Stanley Leone in every child," says the man who mentored him, Texas psychologist Flip Flippen founder and president of the Flippen Group. Flippen's award winning achievement program Capturing Kid's Hearts is in 22 Riverside County elementary and secondary schools.

Please go HERE and watch this short clip! It says: WPTV News story about Stanley Leone's presentation to the faculty and staff of Palm Beach Country School District. It's the second to last "In the news, videos". You have to watch this and see him to truly understand. I wish EVERY person and teacher could have been there today. It would have changed your life..like it did mine.

There

Cass..I did it..pictures, pictures, and more pictures! Now it's your turn..and I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed now! Love you!

Saturday night "Hoe Down"

So to update all on my Saturday night festivities, the evening went really good. I went out to Sabine Ranch, which was about 6 miles down the road, so I was already happy that I didn't have to drive far! The weather was great. When I got there, I met a couple of people and we just sat for a while and chit chatted.

Around 5:45 p.m Shannon told us that we were going to go out to the area. We were like ok? but still went out there. As we got closer to the arena, we saw what was actually IN the arena. What was it you ask? Well, they were GOATS! Yes, I said goats. I thought to myself, "I seriously doubt that I'm dressed correctly for whatever event we're going to be doing!" I of course had dressed in my cute, western, outfit. Not my comfortable, running, getting down and dirty outfit..but I was like oh well! Good thing I like animals and goats!

So we all get into the arena with the goats, form teams and then find out that the first "game" we're going to do is called "dress the goat". We had to go down to the herd of goats, find one, dress it in a t-shirt (legs included) let the instructor know when we had it on, and then take it back off in the fastest time. Sadly, my team got an A for effort, but didn't have the fastest time. Our time was 1.18 but the fastest time was .36 sec. They were fast!

The second "game" tested our goat herding skills! :0) Our team had to herd the entire herd of goats to a certain point across the arena in the fastest time, with the largest number of goats. I am very proud to say that my team had the fastest time and won the herding contest! Oh yeah..watch out..we've got some serious skills ;0) Man..only in Texas! That's why I love this place so much..and am never leaving it.

After we worked up an appetite with our goat dressing and herding, we all headed back in to have some grub. After we ate dinner, we played games, and my group played the game "Mad Gab" one of my favorites..I'm so good at that game! We definitely had some good laughs!

*Kyrbie, remember when we played this at your house for your 16th birthday party? That was the first time I played that game. I still remember how much fun we had and how much we laughed. :0)

After playing the games, we all went back outside, treked about half a mile out in the dark, down to the bonfire. We sat around the campfire, made smores, and one of the guys brought his guitar and we all sang worship songs. It was so awesome! I was reminded again of how astonishing God's beauty is. Sitting there with people who love the same God that you do, worshiping in the same way, admiring the same sky lit with beautiful stars that our Creator made..it was so amazing. It felt like God was wrapping His arms around me and saying, "I love you, beautiful daughter of mine!". It felt like...home.

Thanksgiving threw up!

I told ya'll it was bad! It looks like Thanksgiving threw up around my room at school :0) However, I think it looks very cute! The bulletin board you're looking at below, portrays all of our very fine turkeys. The students were each given a "Tommy the turkey" and instructed to disguise Tommy so that he wouldn't be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. We made the other turkeys in class.

This is our "thankful turkey". Each year I put up the turkey and then the students discuss what they're thankful for, and write it on a feather.
While talking about fall, the students decorated a tree and then described their tree to me. I loved their answers. Some of them were hilarious!

Click on the picture above and read David's description. His was my favorite! (Remember, all I said was,"tell me about your tree". Then I wrote down whatever they said.)
During Thanksgiving week, when we talk about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, each student gets to "create" their Native American name. I give them them format, (action verb and a noun) and you can see what we ended up with! Mine was Dancing Sun :0)

Overall, it was a great week!

Amanda and Wes' Baby Shower a.k.a "Eli's Party"

So I've finally gotten to the post about Eli's Party! It was so much fun! I'm not gonna write a lot about it, but ff you want to read more in depth, you can read about it here.

It was so good to see my friend Amanda. Our families have been close friends for a while, but because we both moved different places, we haven't seen each other in a long time. Amanda, I loved that we were able to just pick up like it was yesterday! You are so precious, and you are going to be an AMAZING mother! Eli is so blessed to have you and Wes as his parents! Love you!

this was Jeff's sweet van, telling of Eli's "partee"

me and the beautiful mommy to be!
opening gifts (sorry the pics are so dark!)
Wes looks really excited!
opening my gift!

create your own onesie (sp?)

the Langford House where we had the shower. It was beautiful!
these were the gorgeous houses in the neighborhood!