3rd Year Teacher & My First Furniture Painting Project!

I can't believe I'm starting my THIRD year teaching! Wasn't I a college student just yesterday? Either way, I am determined to make this school year the best one yet. I am teaching 5th grade again, but just Math & Science (praise!), and I am teamed up with a great teacher, Michelle. I feel so much more comfortable now with my co-workers, and I'm really hoping to develop some deeper friendships. Pray with me for a more missional focus with my co-workers. The second full week is coming to a close, and I'm realizing just how exhausting it is to get back into the swing of things. Here are a few classroom pics if you didn't already see them on Facebook. Big ups to my main man for spending 2 full days helping me move classrooms and set it up!

Last weekend, I finally got around to painting a piece of furniture (I'm not sure what to call it...a rolling buffet table??) that we got from the Normans back in June. We have a ton of space in our dining room, so I stuck it in there with hopes of updating it with a fresh coat of paint. I finally mustered up enough courage (thanks to the gentle prodding of my sis) to pick out paint colors and get to work. Just know that this was a big deal for me. I seriously lack confidence when it comes to decorating and being creative, so I thought this would either boost my confidence or kill it completely forever :) Thankfully, I think it turned out pretty good, and I even discovered a new found love for painting furniture! I have my eye on painting our coffee table next!

Here's the before... Colors weren't terrible, but just outdated, especially with that faux finish circa 1997.

After spray primer...

And the finished product! Hooray!

Thoughts Lately & 3 Years

Last Tuesday, Brandon and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary. Money is tight these days, so we didn't exchange gifts and had a low key celebration in the park with Rev and cheesecake. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Every year, we write in our journal the highlights from the past year. It's one of the best parts about our anniversary because we get to reflect on the year's events and then set goals for the upcoming year. It's truly amazing to realize the better place that we're in than we were a year ago.

Here we are posing with our delicious cheesecake :)

As I was driving home tonight, I felt a pretty overwhelming sense of peace and contentment with where we are right now. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I no longer needed a GPS to get from one part of town to the other (talk about freedom!), but regardless, I just kept saying to myself: This is HOME.

Nashville is pretty hard not to love...tons of outdoor events, beautiful parks and scenery, good live music any night of the week, farmers markets, great food, paletas, and more. But aside from all of the surface-y stuff, I'm just so glad Brandon and I are here. I think about the leap of faith that we took to follow the Lord's lead here, and I am still pretty amazed that we actually did it. It took a lot to unclench my fists from leaving my best friends, tons of family, and a wonderful church...but I'm so glad the Lord kept nudging us.

Because of His nudging, we jumped into a great church, and we've found some of our best friends there. I'm so excited to be a part of the beginning of a church and discovering what exactly the Lord is going to do with us meeting on Vanderbilt's campus.

Because of His nudging, we are living in the heart of the Belmont neighborhood, and I can't wait to get involved in those college students' lives.

Because of His nudging, we are a walking testimony that it IS possible to leave your hometown to experience a new city. If we can do it, I promise you can too!

Because of His nudging, Brandon and I have been through some of the most difficult points in our marriage, and we're only stronger because of it.