A New Beginning

God has revealed many things to our family this past year. It is amazing just when I think God has gotten as big as He can, He just gets bigger. I just love when he shows us His Greatness! Our family has had quite a bit going on lately to say the least. Let's It is so fun to see God's mighty hand in our lives and in our family. To God be the glory for He really has done GREAT things!
The summer days are officially over for me so I wanted to wrap it up with what we have been doing leading up to the days of my new job!
We have been very busy with family, friends, we got a kitten who practically chose me one day at the flower shop so I couldn't resist! Paris stays outside and the pups enjoy wagging her around. We have been enjoying our new boat which we completely do not deserve what so ever no matter what anyone says.

We have been preparing (a complete understatement) my classroom for students who I pray their lives change because of God's light that I ask God to shine through me daily.
This week has been filled with work meetings, meeting students, meeting parents, and meeting teachers. I spent some time and prayed over my room.

(Before...Imagine everything else in cardboard boxes as well...including books and such. I forgot to take a picture before this stage as well)


(After)


(Before)

My classroom is not mine, it's God's and I can't wait to see Him do great things in that room. I'm looking forward to seeing the children grow, shine, and to find joy in their hearts through what we do. It is going to be an amazing year. God has got me right where He wants me and I have faith in His plan for this time in our lives. He is going to do great things in my new beginning and I can't wait! On my way to the first half day of school I was overwhelmed with the amount of joy that I had from God in my heart.

(Before)

I thought back to my daily drive to a temporary job I had last year and prayed every morning for God's plan for my life. At that point last year, I did not have any idea what He was planning. I was excited about it, and excited to see the outcome. On the drive to my first day of school yesterday God reminded me of those drives.

(After)




It was at that moment when I knew my feet were exactly where God wanted them. After the students left after a very successful day yesterday, my heart was full of even more joy.

I am overjoyed and completely humbled that God would choose me for this position. I can not wait to see what He has in store for this year in this school. People have come into our building saying they can feel the energy in it and in all of us teachers.

It's an incredible faculty that already feels like family, it's amazing students, and an all amazing God that I serve and I can not wait to see how He is going to show His Greatness this school year!
I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my home for the next 180 days!

A Maholland Vacation

It's hard enough for our family to even get together for supper during the week, so planning a trip to the beach was even more exciting when we found out we could pull it off. John and I flew out last week to Daytona Beach, Florida to meet his family for a 5 day vacation.

I was very excited, because one: I love family more than anything and two: I'd never been to the east coast beaches before. It was gorgeous. The water was clear and the sand was nice and cool. We had absolutely perfect weather the entire week. Our condo was so nice and we had enough room that it should have been claimed a beach house. We had our own privacy, and the Maholland's were nice enough to give us time to ourselves as much as we wanted. We still can not thank them enough for all they did for us. We had a blast with our time together!
We sun bathed,

rented golf carts,

rented surf boards, shopped,

fished off of a pier,

wrestled a shark,

climbed to the top of a lighthouse,

ate dinner at amazing beach front restaurants and enjoyed crab legs almost every time!


We enjoyed a concert on the boardwalk, saw one of the Jonas Brothers one night and enjoyed the tilt-a-whirl...ahem. The other adults were to scared for it! ;-) We took family portraits which I am very anxious about!

It's been a while since John and I had some good pictures taken of us. We were due!


Out of all the things that we got to experience, the best thing of all was spending time with family. I am so thankful and extremely blessed to have such amazing in-laws. They support us and love us no matter what we choose to do and that really means the world to us. We made some wonderful memories this past week! Thank you so much Steve, Andrea, Andrew, and Luke for being so amazing towards us all week! You each made it all so fun in different ways and we will never forget our trip together! And Mom and Dad, Thank you so much for loving on our fur babies while we were gone! We think you spoiled them a bit too much! They miss you!

Two Years

It's hard to believe two years ago, I married my best friends. It's an exciting thing. It's something I praise God for everyday. When I arrived home from a long day of school, the back door was locked. Hot, hands full, and sweating, I fiddled for my keys. I couldn't find them or better yet get them. At this point, I had looked up and noticed my amazingly handsome husband approaching the door dressed..ahem...VERY hot. He walked to the door all good lookin' with roses in hand and greeted me with a kiss. He sat me down at our kitchen table and gave me a letter. It was fabulous. He always gave me a note, which lead me to the next surprise--a special dinner.

He then handed me something with ... yeah, I'm going to go ahead and embarrass him .... tears in his eyes. He handed me an envelope with his name on it. It was the letter and the song I sang for him on our wedding day. Reading it was so special to see what words were on my heart for our wedding day.

We later enjoyed each other at an amazingly planned out dinner for two at a private table with a special planned dessert for two. I will have to say that my husband is quite the romantic one! It was the perfect anniversary! It is amazing to me to see how far we have come. We had no idea two years ago that we could go any further! We praise God for His great love He has pounded upon us. To my beloved husband, I love you beyond words. Here's to more years of laughter, kindness, patience, and love. xo

Remove Your Tail Feathers...

...And put on your stingers! Yeah, that may make zero sense to some of you, so I'll explain now! John and I celebrated our precious Hines twins 8th grade graduation this past week. 8 years of being Eagles, they will now trade in their mascot for the fabulous Yellow Jackets!

Words can not explain how proud I am of them. These girls mean the world to me. It all started about 5 years ago when I began a little internship for the children's ministry at our previous church.

These girls were in third grade. They and their parents welcomed me in with warm hearts and were encouraging beyond words. I grew close to all of these kids. I was honored to watch these girls grow up, go through new experiences, and mature into these beautiful and amazing 14 year olds.

Rebekah,
My prayer for you is that you will remember forever who your God is. He is your best friend. He calls you beautiful.

I am also here for you when you need advice on *ahem* boys, clothes, and of course shoes! ;-) I love you so much Rebekah! Shine strong in these next 4 years!

Michaela,
I am so proud of your independence and spunk. Keep your focus strong and your head on straight! Love your mom, because she is and always will be your best friend.

Always remember how beautiful you are in God's eyes! Remember me to of course when you need help in all the other twists and turns!

Love you girls so much!
Your very big, fabulous sister!

Joseph

These past two months have been packed full of rehearsals, choreography, late late nights, and three fabulous nights of shows of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat!!! It felt so great to be back in a production.

We had an incredible cast, producer, and director. I am so thankful for the new friends that I have made during this.
I want to personally thank EVERYONE that came out to support me in this. It was amazing to see all the friends and family that decided to take time out of their night to come enjoy some good music!


I am very sad that it is all over. I feel like I have to rest, and then rush to the show. It's over--but not for long! Try outs are about the start up again and I'm going to hit the ground running!



Performing is my passion, and as long as I am able, I will use the gifts God gave me to glorify Him!

Press On...

One year ago I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Music. It was by far one of the happiest days of my life. A sense of relief came over me that beautiful May afternoon as they called my name and I walked across the stage. I was ready to take the world by storm! Ready to conquer all, and really succeed! Little did I know. God had a plan.
I began to enjoy my time off for the summer. I got settled into our new home and my husbands new job. I loved being a housewife. It was a nice break. Weeks went on. Resumes were created, edited, trashed, and created again. Job applications were turned in day after day. Emails and calls were returned to me with disappointment. Weeks went on. I had days of discouragement. Many days I felt like a failure. Why couldn't I find a job? Anything would do for me; it didn't matter what it was anymore. I had tried and done everything that I knew I could do to solve this problem.
Then it hit me. Well, God hit me. I began to not focus so much on "holding on" to this career thing, but "letting go". Completely letting go! It was reviving. Comforting. Encouraging. Then, after more months went on, I got discouraged again. But God lifted me up. We began to learn many things in our marriage together. We grew even closer to God individually and together. We began going to a new church that we now call our home. We learned to not focus on worldly "things" and money. We learned not to be judgmental. We learned to daily seek more of Him and less of us. We had finally somewhat figured it out. This life and ALL that is in it is isn't and never was OURS--it's God's. It's His to take ahold of and it's our job to fulfill and listen to His plan for our lives. Our home is His, our money is His, our possessions are His, our problems are His, and we are His. From that day on, we sought daily to be a vessel for God to shine through, we were in a constant state of prayer, we loved people--all people, and we learned that this life is not for us, it is simply for God. That was many, many months ago now, and ever since that moment, we have seen God practically throw Himself upon our lives and it is better than any "thing" on this earth.
So months continued to go on being unemployed. I felt great about what God had planned for me. I knew that His plan was perfect, no matter what my timing had in mind. I became very excited one day as I suddenly began to see His hand at work.
I had received several phone calls about a certain position over the course of a few months. I had begun to suddenly fall upon people involved with this position and meet with them. One day, I even went to meet one important person, and walked right in to interview. I wasn't planning on interviewing that day, it just seemed to happen. Isn't God so cool! I love when He shows us His greatness and love. After my first interview, I was asked for a second. The interview was perfect, my words flowed as if God were giving them to say--and I know that He did. I apparently was appealing to these people, because I was asked for a third and final interview. With this interview, I studied hard, read books, and asked sources a ton of questions to prepare. It was interesting all the things that I learned before this interview. Going into this final interview, I was ready for God to shine through me. I was ready for Him to take hold. When I walked into the room, I sat down, answered a few simple "non interview" questions and was out of there in less than 10 minutes. It was as if God was simply saying, "Lindsey, I've taken care of this. Don't worry about a thing." OK, God. So here I was a one year college graduate, walking out of the Robertson County Board of Education with great peace in Him.
One hour later I received a phone call. It was the best phone call I've ever received. I'll never forget it. John and I were in the parking lot of a gas station looking at a boat. (Go figure) It was the Assistant Principal of Springfield Middle School telling me they wanted me aboard their team as the Music and Choir Director.
*PAUSE*
WOW! I scream. In her ear. But, I think she was just as excited as I was. This was it! I had received my special gift from God!

After one whole year of searching and not finding anything, I am so thankful that I am finally here in my life. I have found what God wants me to do. He has revealed this to me in His timing and not my own. And it is perfect.

Yesterday I was digging through some old things and found this. It was given to me when I graduated from high school by a very special and now very significant person in my life. It stated this:

"I wrote My purpose into you...
It is My song you have to sing...
I gave it to you with love.
In your fear,
You think you have your own song...
that the idea to sing is your own
and that the music depends on you.
You are My precious child,
And before you were even born,
I had you in mind.
I am the One who wove the
melody and lyrics
into the fabric of your life.
So, My child,
sing My song.
Let the music flow through you with
freedom...
as My love and power
flow always through to you.
And don't forget...
The song in you in My idea."

Thank you God for showing Your Great love towards me. I am completely humbled that you would love me so much. I am honored to see your Greatness in my life over this past year. It has been long, and it has been very hard, but You have shown through the entire time. You are so big God. Thank you for showing me this. I am so unbelievably thankful to be here in my life doing what I was created to do. God, shine through me daily. I am Your vessel simply living for You and spreading your Word. Let the music begin! The song in me is and always will be Your idea. Thank you God for my prize! -Amen.

Flying Through

These past couple of weeks have flown by for us. We have had lots to celebrate in our family and so much to share! I usually don't like splitting up events for each post, but we have a lot to share with you this week! So fasten up tight--here we go!
We celebrated our mother's with a Sunday lunch BBQ at our home for my mother.


We had the whole family over to enjoy some of mom's favorite BBQ, play some basketball, and enjoy everyone's company. I baked lemon cupcakes with fresh vanilla icing garnished with lemon zest and individual lemons for each cupcake. They were a hit with mom! Lemons are her very favorite! It was a beautiful day to celebrate! After lunch, I celebrated with my mother-in-law at their home. We had a relaxing time together with the whole family. It was a perfect day to celebrate mothers!
Also that weekend we celebrated HUGE with my Aunt Beth! Or, should I say, Dr. Beth. Words just can not explain how proud I am of her! She is so young and has accomplished so much in her lifetime. We enjoyed a gorgeous ceremony outside, brunch afterwards, and a night of dinner and fun to celebrate this incredible achievement! You go girl! Loves to you so much!

Amongst all the celebrating, and flying through we managed to build a raised bed and plant our first garden. We wanted to plant one last year but missed our chance! We had a blast building the bed and finding the perfect place for it in our yard!
We went to a local grower and specially picked out each fruit and veggie plant we wanted for our garden! This year we will host some fresh squash, okra, tomatoes, cucumber, tomatoes, and strawberries!
Here in our life we ask that you stay tuned for some good and juicy stuff this week! We have lots to praise God for and we can't wait to share it all with you!!

A Sweet Birthday Party

This year for our family has rung in some major important birthdays for all the little ones! We celebrated Isabella's first birthday yesterday. Although the weather was dark and dreary, we ventured down Candy Cane Ln. to Candyland for a bright and happy day!

We enjoyed watching the babies play games.
There were life size lollipops,
a castle,

an icecream castle,
personalized party hats, and

King Kandy and friends even showed up for her on her special day!
Isabella even decided to show us how well she can walk now!


Happy First Birthday Isabella! You are a precious and sweet little girl!