My Momma!!

Well well where to begin! I'm not sure! Over Christmas break it has really hit me just how amazing my mother is. No it has not taken me 25 years to figure this out! ha
She is just always going nonstop! She retired about a year ago and I think it was the best thing ever for her! Yes she was a great teacher, for like 30 years (mostly special ed.) but she deserved to retire. She is a woman that can just go an go and go. Now that she is retired she can up and come see me in Columbia or my brothers in Mississippi and Kentucky. Obviously, Andrew gets to see her the most...WHY??? Well he has the kids which means her grandkids...and man she is obsessed!!! ha I LOVE that she and my dad and just go and see them whenever they please, they both deserve it. My mom has always been the one that does for everyone, always always puts others before herself. She has wore so many hats in her life its just amazing! I can only hope to be like her one day. She is a daughter, wife, mother, friend, teacher, aunt, sister, cousin...and the list goes on! She is the aunt that all her nieces and nephews LOVE!! It's always can we go to Aunt Gayna's house! She always goes to their ball games, band concerts, plays, and anything else they are involved in. You always know she will do whatever for whoever! She is a true inspiration to me and I love her very much! She used to have a license plate that said "The one and only GAYNA" and that is TRUE!!!!! Everyone knows Gayna or Mrs. Taylor!! And I'm glad that I can call her MOMMA!!!

Nana and Poppy


Nana with her kiddos


Mom with her Friend in Honduras!


Mom and her Daughters in Honduras

It's the Most Wonderful time of the year...

WOW!!!! I can’t believe that Christmas is here again! This year has absolutely flown by! But I’m so excited because this is truly my most favorite time of the year!! I first want to give thanks to God for all that we have to be thankful for. Yesterday, (Wednesday) was 5 years ago that my dad suffered a massive heart attack! I can’t thank God enough for allowing my daddy to still be here with us today! That Christmas was a true nightmare for me BUT with God we got through it and my dad is doing GREAT!!!!
Tonight my dad called my niece and nephew and he was “Santa”! It was great!! We put it on speaker phone so we could hear Mattingly…it was hilarious!! Mattingly told Santa she wanted a leapster! She also asked Santa what kind of cookies he liked and what kind of milk he wanted!! It was precious! Then McCoy gets on the phone, he isn’t talking much and he said, “ho ho ho” and “ball” his two favorite words right now! They are the funniest two kids and they getting so big!! Mattingly will be 4 in February and I feel it was just yesterday we waited up all night for her to be born!! Time flies!! Have to enjoy them while we can! Tomorrow, Christmas eve, Matthew and Hannah will be here and then Saturday afternoon Andrew and his family will be here. Now, for me having to wait until Christmas day night to open presents its nothing but torture!!! Ha I am and will always be the little kid at Christmas!! : ) Even though I know everything I am getting this year there is still something about opening presents Christmas morning!!
I ask everyone to say a special prayer for everyone who is missing a loved one this Christmas. I know we all miss our loved ones all the time but the holidays are really hard! I miss my great grandmother so much at Christmas! Especially this year…she would have been 100 on Sept. 15…she was one special lady to me!!! I love you Bea!!!



Merry Christmas to all!!! Happy New year!!!

God's Plans

Wow- I can’t believe I have gone so long without blogging. I will finish the second part of the Honduras one ASAP. But first…
I know that God has a plan for all of us and sometimes it is hard seeing that plan right away or we don’t like what HE has planned for us. But this has really hit home with me lately. I am into my 3rd year teaching at Columbia Academy, which I just knew after my first year I would leave…but year 3 and I’m still around. I prayed and prayed a lot about what do this year and I stayed at CA, that was in God’s plan. This has been a tough year needless to say- but I am making with the help of God.
This has become one of my favorite verses- Jer. 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
I have a little girl in my class, Sammi, her mom has been very sick with cancer. At the first of the school year I was told she wasn’t given much time to live. This was very hard for me to grasp, I couldn’t imagine watching my mom die with cancer at the young age of 8 years old. I have prayed for this family constantly, they are great. Sammi has a sister in 5th grade and a brother in kindergarten. I had her sister a little bit when we switched classes my first year. They are so precious. A couple weeks ago we got word that the mom was not doing very well and wasn’t expected to make it through the week that literally broke my heart. I immediately starting trying to think of what I can do…all I knew to do was pray and love those precious little kids. One afternoon Sammi stayed with me after school so I could help her with homework and finish a project- obviously getting help at home was out of the question. A week ago today we got word that the mom had gone into a coma. We have been on fall break for 2 weeks so I have not been in Columbia. It really made me sad to know these kids are home watching their mom pass way. I just constantly prayed and prayed. This past Friday morning I got a text early saying that she has passed away. She definitely was a fighter until the end. I knew that without a doubt that I would go to the funeral. So Sunday night I get there for visitation and we are waiting in the lobby before it was time to go in and Sammi comes out of the room the family was in, she was crying with her grandmother. Several of us were just standing around; some of my students had gone up and was talking to her. Then she sees me and she starts running towards me and just jumps into my arms buries her head in my shoulder and starts bawling- it was at that moment that I realized this is the reason I was at Columbia Academy this year. I just held her and let her cry. I couldn’t tell you how many times already this year should to crawl in my lap at school and just cry. It always made me sad to think that she was going though. So when she jumped into my arms I was really struggling to hold back the tears, but I knew I had to be strong for her. And I was only with the help of God! After a little while she was better and was playing with other kids at the funeral home. Monday at the funeral, it was sad!! But the preacher really talked about how she was a fighter until the end and she may not be in their home anymore but she will always be in their hearts. Then he read something that each kid wrote to their mom- it was so sad!! BUT they were able to focus on all the good times!! I’m so thankful God has used me to help with this family and precious Sammi. This is a special family and they will be needing lots of prayers! Please pray for them. The will have many hard days, weeks, months, and years to come!!
Cancer is awful and here lately it is starting to hit closer to home and it scares me. One of my good friend’s dad was just diagnosed with very aggressive brain cancer!! I just pray that we can find a cure for this awful illness!! I know too many people who have lost their battle with it BUT I also know several who beat cancer too! And lots more that are still fighting it and I pray they can beat it too!! Please say a special prayer for everyone that you know who has cancer, lost a loved one to caner, or is a survivor, and for doctors to be able to find a cure!!

I left my heart in Honduras- Part 1

Yes I have to admit that my heart is definitely still in Honduras. Who would have thought that in 11 shorts days you could LOVE a place so much!! With this just being my second trip to Honduras I know that without a doubt and Lord willing this is going to become a yearly thing for me. I had rather spend my summer vacation in a third world county rather than hanging out on the beach!! (And that says A LOT- I do love my beach) I am going to give you a quick run day of what my 11 days in Honduras consisted of!
Thursday July 1- Traveling… bright and early! My mom and I left from Nashville. We arrived at the airport around 5. However, once we got on the plane we were delayed and due to that delay we almost missed our flight from Atlanta to Tegucigalpa Honduras! And there is only one flight a day from Delta that flies into Hondo! However we made it!! And when we landed I felt like I was home. It had been 5 years since I was there last! Once we landed and had out language we were off on the awesome TORCH school buses! Whew riding in Honduras is always an experience. Stop signs and stop lights exist over there BUT no one pays attention to them! You just hope for the best and GO!!! OH and maybe honk your horn if you want to pass! I love the rush you get from it! Ha We first go to the little mall grab some lunch and then go grocery shopping. Two of my good friends from Freed were also on our flight- Mariano and Christina. I was so happy to see them! Mariano is just like another brother to me! Once we got our groceries we headed to the Mission House! This is on a mountain and it like a campus. We waited for the other groups to arrive and then we had a meeting to get room assignments and all that fun stuff. Once the other groups arrived I was so happy! I was being reunited with some of my closest friends from FHU! All of my “brothers” were there! Nathan, Chad (Nino), Rudy, & Mariano…oh yeah and my real brother flew in Saturday. (All of these guys played soccer together at FHU! They really are my brothers and I love them dearly) I was a little nervous about the room assignments because I didn’t know many girls on the trip! However, my roommates turned out to be AMAZING!! (I’ll save that for another post) We got our stuff to the room and then went to work! Two of my roommates (Haley & Allison) and I went to do the bodega (storage building) and helped unload a container that was sent over. This contain had the most random items in it. Several things were from a hospital- lots of medical things! It took forever! But it was fun! We unloaded two that night and then went back to the mission house! Here we had dinner and then had devo and got the run down for Friday.
Friday July 2- Today I chose to stay around the mission house and do the little behind the scenes things! First it started out going through boxes and getting items out for our hygiene kits we were to make. We had to sort everything out. My table got stuck with sorting and opening tooth brushes, toothpaste and floss. I have never seen so much toothpaste! It was also! We also had tables full of soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotions, razors, you name it, it was there for the hygiene kits. And the best part was knowing it had all been donated. After we did the kits we had to go back to the bodega to unload yet another container and man this one has the BIG stuff in it!! And sadly we didn’t have nearly the men we had had the night before! However, we still got the job completed successfully! After we unloaded back to the mission house we went. Now it was my time to be a pill pusher/drug dealer, however you want to say it! We had TONS and TONS of medicine donated and we had to go through and count pills and label the drugs! This would have been a miserable task however knowing I was doing it for the people of Honduras and I had Karen & Haley by my side for nonstop laughing made it a wonderful task! We were in this room for hours upon hours sorting pills. The worst thing we had to do was the TUMS!!! I have never liked those things cause of the smell…well I had to overcome that!! I don’t even know how many TUMS we bottled up but it was A LOT!!!! But Karen, Haley, & I made some good memories! After being a pill pusher we had our devo and got Saturday’s game plan!
Saturday July 3-
I was really looking forward to Saturday because my brother, Matthew and his wife Hannah and some other good friends…Zach and Meagan were arriving. I decided to take on a new challenge…I helped build a house. I really went out on a limb because I didn’t know anyone I was going to build with. I forgot what mom did that day. But it was a good thing I went solo for a day. I met new people so it was good. However I liked building houses but maybe not my favorite thing todo…and also we had too much help so I felt worthless most of the day! And there weren’t many kids around to play with either! However, when we finally left to get back on the bus to head to the mission house…we left a family with a roof over their head…which they didn’t have that morning!! Such a great feeling!! And I was really tired ready to get on the bus and sit down…did we no we had a full bus!! ha BUT I was the last one on the bus and guess who was sitting in the front seat of the bus..MATTHEW AND HANNAH!! Boy was I excited!! At this point I was ok standing for the bus ride because I had them to talk to. I was so glad they were there!! Once we got back to the mission house I took a shower and read some of my book for my masters program! Then we had dinner and devo- the usual and the hang out time!
Sunday July 4-
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY…from Honduras! Not your typical 4th no fireworks but that’s ok!! We got to sleep in this morning which was good! After a few short days of work I was exhausted!! We then went to see the TORCH guys play the Cobras- Honduras Police in soccer! It was fun all the “soccer guys” (Matthew, Nate, Nino, Rudy, and Mariano) and some other guys that play soccer played. It was fun watching all the guys play and we won!!!!!!!!!!! 3-2 I believe was the score! After we left the game we went to get something to eat and went out to the Valley of Angels. This is a cool place to shop and just walk around! After there we went to the Jesus Statue for our church service! WOW This was my first time to go there and it was beautiful. It’s a huge statue of Jesus that overlooks the city! Breathtaking!! We had an awesome devo- the singing out there was great! (Made me miss the Clayton chapel days at FHU!) After the devo we go back to the mission house! Sunday was a nice relaxing day- helped us prepare for the amazing week we had ahead of us!!

Well I am going to stop here for now! The rest of the week will be coming soon!!! And I’ll add pictures later too!!

The Widow's Mite

Mark 12:41-44 And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

Luke 21:1-4
And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on."

The Jews were instructed to give to the Temple and to the poor as part of their service to God. (So are we). One day Jesus sat at the Temple and watched people putting money into the offering boxes. Some people were rich and gave lots of money. Some gave money, but were unhappy about it. Then an poor woman, a widow, came up to the boxes.

The poor woman put two of the smallest coins there were in the offering box. The disciples with Jesus weren't very impressed, but Jesus said this woman has given more than any other today. How could that be? Jesus said it was because it was all she had.

How did the woman think she would buy dinner that night? She trusted in God to provide for her. She obeyed God's command, knowing that He would fulfill His promise to care for her in return. We must trust God the same way. Matt 6:33 says: "Seek first the kingdom of God and Hid righteousness and all these things (food, clothes, etc) will be added unto you."

WOW This story hit home for me tonight. As in the previous post I am leaving for Honduras in one week!! At church we have been collecting t-shirts to take to the people in Honduras. For them to get a "new" (our used ones) shirt is a HUGE deal!!! (Just yet another thing we take for grant it...clothes on our back- I'll save that for another post) So we have received TONS of shirts, unfortunately we can not take all of them but we taking some. Not only have we received shirt donations but also money to help pay for the cost of an extra bag (Yep it cost $200!!!!!) and for the cost of the trip in general. So an older lady came up to me tonight and handed me a one dollar bill...she said it's not much but I hope it helps! I was speechless because the Widow's mite story came to my mind. I thanked her knowing she did all that she could. Just tonight at church we received almost $300 BUT that one dollar means more to me than the other $299!! I am so thankful for all of the people who are generous enough to help especially the lady who gave "all she had!!"
Again I ask for your prayers more than anything!!



Romans 8:28-And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

9 days until... HONDURAS!!!!!

9 SHORT DAYS!!! WOW I can't believe the time has come for me to be back in Honduras! I haven't been able to in a few years because I have been in weddings that have conflicted...not this year!!! I am so excited I can't stand it!! Tonight mom and I booked out hotel by the airport!! Lucky us we are flying out at like 6 am on July 1 SO that means have to be at the airport bright and early!! But I'm ok with that!! We're flying out of Nashville our first stop is in ATL and then Tegucigalpa HONDURAS!!!! This year will be extra special...this is not only going to be great time to serve our Lord but its going to be a reunion with all of my "brothers"!! Matthew and all of his soccer buddies from FHU and their wives are getting to go. They are all like my brothers!! I really miss all of these guys and can't wait for all of us to be back together!! Not only is my mom going with us but also my second mom, Margaret will be there as well!! Lots of hard work and prayers have gone into the work of TORCH Missions and I ask that you please continue to pray for us.
There are several groups flying in from different places and different times- please pray for safe travels to and from Honduras!!
I know this is going to be the best 11 days of my summer!! I'm very thankful for everyone that has made this trip possible!!
This is the TORCH Missions blog if you would like to follow- it will be updated while we are over there working; http://childrenoftheking.blogspot.com/
PLEASE PLEASE pray for safe travels, our work while we are there, and also for our families that we are leaving behind in the states!!

Matthew 25:34-40"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink;I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

My 2 favorite kids...

Today I got to see my niece and nephew- Mattingly & McCoy. I absolutely love these kids and haven't seen them since February!! I hate being so far away from them, but so thankful for the time that I do get to spend with them. I went down today couldn't wait to play. And we did just that!! On my way down there my sister in law calls and said that Mattingly wanted a corn dog, so I stopped at Sonic and got her a corndog! She loved it and McCoy got one too. Then I had their Easter baskets from Nana & Poppy (my parents) so we got right into the candy! These two LOVE candy! They also had bubble blower guns- they have a thing for bubbles. So we played with bubbles for a while and yes I had bubbles all over me, jeans covered in it but did I care- NO WAY!! We were having to much fun. Then we just played and played. Worked some puzzles, played on the Zippity, played with the baby dolls(a BabyAlive doll that you feed and then they "fill their diaper" well this one got it all over me so adding to the bubbles all over me now i had nasty baby alive food on me!!)- you know just a little of it all! Then we decided to go outside. Both love to walk so we got the wagon out and went for a "short walk". My brother Matthew and I and Hannah got the wagon for Christmas. They love it- Mattingly have to have me to pull her in the wagon. She also wanted to pull McCoy! After the walk we went back and blew some big bubbles, played on the swing set and had a mini kick ball game!! Then came my favorite thing-playing with side walk chalk!!! I LOVE THIS STUFF!! We all drew pictures and Mattingly's favorite thing was to draw a baseball for her daddy!! Precious!! Awesome time outside! They LOVE being outside! I can't wait to spend time with them this summer- they're at the perfect ages 3 and 18 months!!
When we went back inside we played ring around the rosie, hide and seek and by far my favorite thing, Mattingly has a CD with kids church songs on it and she sang!! WOW she is one amazing girl!! :) I loved hearing her sing the songs! And McCoy even knew some of them!! Then it was back to more hide and seek!! She is so funny playing this game!! And we ended the night with a tea party!! Pretty successful day if you as me!! The worst part was saying bye! McCoy was already sleeping but Mattingly gave me the biggest hugs and kisses!! Saying bye is aways the worst! All good things must come to an end...I suppose!!
I'm so thankful for Mattingly and McCoy! They're are super special to me! I can't believe how fast they're growing up! I feel like just yesterday Mattingly was born and I stayed up all night at the hospital, went to my classes all day at FHU, and then back the hospital!! And never seemed tired- I think I was on a high!! ha They're such a blessing to me and I love having them around to help me appreciate the little things in life!! And most importantly I'm thankful that they're healthy little kiddos!!
Here are a few pictures from the days adventures!

In my Spare time..

Over spring break I decided I needed something to do...so I decided to make a diaper wreath for a lady at school who is having a baby. I have seen these before but never attempted to make one before. My cousin had one at her baby shower and I got to looking it at and I thought...I can do that!! So I did! I got a metal wreath hanger from Hobby Lobby. Then I got some diapers, wash cloths, pacifiers, teething ring, baby spoon and fork, travel size lotion, baby powder, and shampoo, and some baby hair bows. After i got all the diapers on I just went back and tied the other things on. Then my aunt helped me make the bow. I also decided to put the baby's name in the middle. So I found some small wooden letters at Michael's and painted them pink and hung them down the middle with purple ribbon.




I love making things like this! I also love to make candy wreaths or letters. I use a regular metal clothes hanger and shape it into a circle and then with metal floral wire tie on the candy. I've done a peppermint one and a bubble gum one! Really cute!! Also for my brother and sister in laws wedding I made a candy "T" My dad had some metal and shape and welded it to a T and then I wrapper it with jolly ranchers! They used it at the reception and hung it over the candy table!! It turned out really good!! But just took FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! and had TONS of jolly ranchers on it!!

Happy Birthday Mattingly

Happy Birthday
Mattingly Reese!!!

Today we celebrated my niece, Mattingly's 3rd birthday!! Her actual birthday is on Feb. 7. She had a polka dot party! It was super cute! We had it at the elementary school my brother used to work at. It was great because we could play in the gym. The kids had a blast!!! It was a great day!! I still can't believe that she is three!!!

Mattingly when she was just a few minutes old! Feb. 7, 2007 Mattingly's 1st birthday- Hello Kitty Mattingly's 2nd birthday!! She had pizza (candles on the pizza) and ice cream sundaes Mattingly's 3rd birthday!! She kept the icing on her lips because she said it was her white lipstick!! Blowing out the candle!!

Well I finally gave in...

Well I have finally given into the blogging world!! I've always said no I'm not going to do that, I don't have time!! BUT after reading several different ones and one friend (AHR) kept telling me to do it, I thought hey I can give this a try! What can it hurt, right?? So here I sit...blogging!!
A little about me... I graduated from Freed Hardeman in May of 2008, completely unsure as to where I was going once I graduated! But I knew I would figure it out! And I did...here I am in Columbia, TN! NEVER EVER thought this is where I would be but it was in God's plan! I'm a teacher and coach at Columbia Academy. This is just my second year teaching but I absolutely love it. I have 3rd grade and it's great! I have always always wanted to be a teacher. I come from a teaching family- mom, brother, and several aunts and uncles are teachers. I always played school when I was little. I thought I was the coolest kid on the farm (can't say block cause I'm a country girl) because I would have my mom's old teachers manuals!! So I was the girl that went to college and from day one I knew what I wanted to do and didn't change my major 4 different times! I coach the girls junior high soccer team. I have played soccer all of my life and loved it! When I went to college I chose not to play and boy did I miss it. When I was asked to coach soccer at CA I was a bit hesitant and nervous. I was already the assistant girls high school basketball coach. It was my first year teaching and coaching 2 sports- I didn't think it would be possible...but I said YES to soccer and I'm so happy I did. Funny story- I was ALSO asked to coach junior high softball- ha ha I had to say NO to that one!!! It was like hey it's the new teacher, she'll say YES to EVERYTHING...ha negative! It wasn't my goal to go crazy my first year in the real world. But I didn't go crazy! It was a great first year all around wonderful. This year I'm only coaching soccer- and its wonderful!! I actually have some free time now! Whew- first blog done!! I think I'm going to like this!! Have a great day!