Goal!!

So I was thining about GOALS lately.
For the last five years my goals have been your average dreams of someone my age:
Get married, graduate college, get a masters degree, have a child, start my career.

Ok, well check, check, check, check, and check! I've done it. I'm there. I have arrived :)

So what are my goals NOW??!

Sure to be a good wife, mom, teacher, etc. Those were kinda already implied in the other goals.

So what now? I mean I am totally happy and content with my current life and I LOVE my husband, daughter, and job, but shouldn't I still be reaching for something?! All I've been doing up until this point in my life has been for what I have accomplished this past Summer.
So....
Anyone have any ideas for new goals for my life? I'm listening :)

"SMILEY WHILEY!" -goofy movie

Is there anything cuter in this world than when a little baby starts to smile?! NO, there isn't :)
Rebecca is getting soo big! She is 8 weeks now and is so strong. She also sleeps through the night as of two weeks ago. PRAISE GOD! :)

After 5 LONG years..I am now officially, without a doubt a TEACHER!

The Summer is coming to a close and although I basically haven't been working since June I've been VERY busy.

Looking for a job is the most time-consuming thing a person can do. In fact, to find a good job you really need not to have a job so you can attend interviews until you find one! THAT is not right. How is anyone suppose to make their lives better if they have to quit their current job just to 'look" for another one. It's not right...but that is how it is.

Luckily, after putting an application in for every school district around here, including the neighboring state of North Carolina, I was fortunate enough to be offered a real, live teaching job. I was getting very scared that I would have NO job at all and with a new baby that is REALLY scary.

First I was offered a job in Portsmouth and I don't even know why. I had been to about 10 interviews after I had this "winning" one. This one went HORRIBLE and it was the ONLY one that had been like that. I just KNEW when I left that school that they were not going to hire me. To my surprise, just a few hours later, I received a call and a job offer. I orginally accepted this offer and was pumping myself up for third grade...

then as I was walking through Target I got another call from an interview I had almost a week ago. This time it was Newport News and although people may think I'm crazy for travelling this far every day, the school there was SOO much nicer and the interview went so much better. The staff was also the friendliest I had met and I love the idea of teaching pre-k a lot better. :)

The job is ALL-day pre-school. It's the same group of students from 930-4 with NO NAP.

I will have 18 students and a teacher's assistant, but the greatest thing I think is that every Wednesday the students leave 3 hours early and the teachers get a planning time for themselves!

I haven't even received my classroom yet and "Meet your Teacher Night" is September 3rd!

"YAY! Mom's a Teacher!"

becca's 2 wks old

Becca is now 2 weeks old!

I can't believe it has already been two weeks since I became a mother.

I think David and I have adjusted nicely to being parents and God knows our parents have completely embraced being grandparents :)

Having Rebecca has def. started a brand new life for us...one we look forward to with great anticipation. Everything has new meaning. This Thanksgiving and Christmas will be unlike any other because we will have a baby to share it with and which of course will change every holiday after that as well. Of course we are always busy, but it's a good thing and something we will adapt to as life gets even more hectic as I begin my teaching career this fall.

Sometimes I worry about what's to come, but just looking at Rebecca and David I know everything will be ok and even when it gets hard I'll always have them to remind me it's all worth it.

4th wedding anniversary

For the past 2 weeks David has been home on disability due to his knee surgery.

During this time we also had our beautiful baby girl, Rebecca.

David has always been known to be a little queezy at the sight of throw-up or needles, but he was absolutely amazing throughout the entire labor and delivery, not to mention cutting the cord.

He also stayed with me for 4 long nights in the hospital on one of the most uncomfortable chairs ever.

On top of all of that, we are now home with our baby and he is a pro when it comes to changing diapers or anything.

I am just so happy I am blessed to have a great husband and now he is a great father too and

we've been married for four wonderful years as of today :)

BECCA'S HERE

So Dave and I have stepped into a new chapters of our lives: PARENTHOOD

this is our brand new, beautiful baby girl.

Rebecca Rose Jimerson

8 pounds even

19 1/4 inches long

born July 1, 2009

4:11 am

Not 24 hours after entering this world, Becca had her own website thanks to her uncle Daniel and Aunt Adrienne: http://web.me.com/pastord1/Site/Welcome.html

It's amazing just thinking about the technology she will grow up with if she's already got her own webpage.

Maybe this isn't the most momentous occasion ever, but it has a great impact on me:

I am DONE, and I mean DONE, with Hallmark.

Some of you may be utterly relieved that you will no longer hear stories of customers and whatever happened ornament-related lately, and I don't blame you at all, but being done with Hallmark leaves me with mixed feelings

I don't think it's the store itself. I could care less that I never take inventory on cards ever again, but I think I feel lost because I have been thrown out of my comfort zone.

I worked there for what would be 5 years as of August. I stayed there the entire time I was in college, doing practicums, and student teaching. I was so incredibly comfortbale with this job. I knew what I was doing from the inside-out and I knew all my co-workers really well.

Now I'm home and I think the time between now and when the baby arrives will be the hardest.

I am use to being INCREDIBLY busy. I am use to working about 30-35 hrs a week AND being a full-time student. This past Spring I was student teaching 40 hrs a week and still working about 20 at Hallmark and let's not even talk about the time I spent at the Child Study Center last Summer. I guess I lived in stress and I was use to it.

Now, I am doing nothing but waiting...and taking care of the crippled husband,

so we're actually home together for the time being.

Dave just had knee surgery last Friday.

They fixed his torn miniscus (sp) and he will be on crutches for a few weeks, but is hoping to return to work ASAP. He will be taking a week off for the baby tho :) when she FINALLY comes!!

It's ALSO Dave's bday.

He is TWENTY-FOUR! :)

38wks and job hunting :)

I am 38 weeks tomorrow! That means Rebecca could come just about anytime now.

We are really excited!

At first being a parent fills your head with 100 things at once and makes you nervous, but she is going to come here and turn our lives upside down no matter what, so we might as well be happy and positive about it! There will be lots of stressful things, but there will be lots of fun and good things too!

I am glad to say I am still working about 15-20 hrs a week and I feel well enough to do even more if it wasn't for my feet! So, I am doing really well and feel great other than that random swelling after standing or walking for a while.

The job hunt is looking up as Elementary Teacher positions open up, not only in Hampton Roads, but right here in VA Beach. I have been able to apply for about 10 positions right here in the beach and am hoping and praying these are just the start of more to come!

I also keep telling myself that this can be a last minute thing. Some of my friends didn't get offered their first teaching jobs until August and that was a few years ago when there were a lot more opportunities around here.

...And just to share...

Since I didn't go to my Master's Degree graduation last month and I JUST discovered these pictures hiding on my parents' computer, this is my ODU Bachelor's Degree graduation 2008:

What graduations are really all about is right on David's face!: People sitting for hours waiting for the person they are there for to FINALLY get done with the darn ceremony that has sucked a day out of all our lives.

These are the things we do for people we care about :)

food for thought

"I'm not perfect by any means I just serve a God who is."

In this world, no one is perfect and even followers of Christ have their ups and downs.

The great thing though, you can always count on, is even when we are at our worst, God is at His best.

Even when we mess up, we can come back to the throne of God, ask for forgiveness and just like that He is gracious to forgive.

A life lived for Him is never wasted and never stops.

strawberries and strollers

I may regret saying this, but I think it's official: we finally have everything we need for baby.

Between buying a minivan and getting excited over things like strollers and carseats, I feel like I'm 30 already, but that's ok.

It is weird to be excited about a stroller though and we got ours last night!

I gathered up all my target gift cards and headed down to the much nicer, much bigger, StArBuCkS having Target in Greenbrier.

There I got a venti strawberries and cream :) which I don't need and this which I really really needed:

More showers...

This past Sunday was my work baby shower. We had the whole Hallmark crew there, as well as Emily, Jamie, and my mom :)

The party was at Debbie's house and we had a lot of fun.

Debbie made a beautiful, creative cake :)
(It says "Rebecca Rose" on the sleeves)

Jamie, Jess, and Candice did a great job with games and planning.

We played a game where you remembered the baby items in a basket and wrote them down.
...I got the basket afterwards. That may have been the best part of the game :)

We also got to guess baby food flavors.
I surprisingly did really well.
Laura and Debbie weren't real hungry after that one :)

Linda made a beautiful "cake" herself out of diapers and baby socks.
It was really cool.

It was just a good time and Rebecca got a lot of things she will def. be needing!!
Thanks everyone :)

Church Baby Shower

On Saturday, May 2nd, My sister Candice threw me a baby shower at our church.

It was a lot of fun and she and everyone else who helped did a really great job. We also got a lot of stuff that will help when little Rebecca comes.
Thanks everyone!!!!

Jacquie, ME, Megan R, Megan J (sisterinlaw)


(Tanya, Stephanie, Mary, Kris, and Tatyana)

graduated and praying

After 5 years of constantly attending college classes, 4 practicums, the dreaded time in the child study center, and my student teaching, I am FINALLY able to say I am DONE.

I am now on the official job hunt to be a teacher.

This will be a tough, scary time considering the way things are going with jobs and the economy right now, but I believe God will help me find the job I need to help support Rebecca and us.

Please keep my job search in your prayers :)

Amazed

I have been working my butt off for the last five years to earn my masters in education and as my masters degree is more and more in sight (I will have earned it as of May 1st), I can't help but be completely amazed at how this is not the greatest accomplishment in my life.

As I sit here, working on my final portfolio to finish up this degree I've worked so hard for, I feel Rebecca moving inside of me and realize that having my marriage and this baby tops anything so far in my life.

All through high school and even part of college, I would have never thought in a hundred years that I would trade my education and career for a husband and a family, but here I am starting my family and although I didn't make that choice, I am here to say I completely understand everyone who has ever chosen a family over a career/college education.

Rememberr 4/16

When the VT Tragedy happened two years ago today, the saying below this ribbon rang throughout college campuses. I believe it still holds true as everyone remembers and recalls the way we all felt on this day, especially those here in VA.

--Remembering the Hokies. 4/16

Church Community Day

Our church had a huge community day today.
EVERYTHING was free to the public and we had a ton of stuff for kids.
We had games, food, inflatables, egg hunts etc.
The only problem was, after all our hardwork, it was suppose to rain.
Well, first thing that morning, about 8am, Mary opens a fortune cookie.
Contents of fortune cookie: It can't rain all the time.
As more people arrived at the church concerned about rain, we shared this simple occurence and it overjoyed everyone. We were surprised at the reactions we received. A simple cookie lifted a lot of spirits.

The Community Day was to last from 10-4. We had beautiful sunshine and no rain until about 2:30, so we simply packed up early, but about 400 non-church members came and won prizes. It exceeded expectations and we were all tired by 2:30 anyway. Ending early was a blessing, haha.

movie picks!

Here's how this works:
1. Pick 20 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess. (extra points for guessing who said it)
4. Strike it out or put it in italics when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO cheating, if you don't know any of them then that's just too bad.
6. You don't have to be tagged in this to play
7. If it is a movie in a series, you must name the number in the series also!

1. This pop isn't workin', Benny! I'm bakin' like a toasted cheese-it! It's so hot here!

2.Why, when I was your age, I've never even been invited to a party. Look at me, now!

3. You can own the earth and still, all you'll own is earth until...

4.Well, I guess I shouldn't talk. I named my kids after snack foods: Brownie, Praline, Cherry and Baby Ruth.

5. No! Not my Jessica! Not pattycake! It can't be! It just can't be! Jessica's my wife! It's absolutely impossible! Jessica's the love of my life. The apple of my eye. The cream in my coffee.

6.People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that's not what Rome is about. We should totally just *stab* Caesar!

7.Honey, look around you. To everyone here who matters, you're vapor, you're spam, a waste of perfectly good yearbook space, and nothing's ever gonna change that.

8. The encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe!

9.Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

10.I have a question, say we get into the cage, and through the security doors there and down the elevator we can't move, and past the guards with the guns, and into the vault we can't open...

11. I can't believe the Pope is coming! This is better than ice cream!

12. One of our first class passengers would like to sing you a song inspired by one of our coach passengers. And since we let our first class passengers do, pretty much whatever they want, here he is...

13. I heard what you said about the Mouseburgers, and I'm gonna tell everyone. I'm gonna get Wily Burp. Cause he's the law.

14. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, expands to new territory, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously.

15.Most parents believe their children are the most beautiful creatures ever to grace the planet. Others take a less emotional approach.

16.Wow. What a day. First that restaurant by the bay. And then that, that play, that, that, that Oedipus thing. Man, I thought *I* had problems.

17. One pair of gloves for two people?

18. Now let's see your war face. Ooh, I think my bunny slippers just ran for cover. Come on, scare me, girl!

19. You write the most beautiful things. Do you actually believe in love and marriage and just pretend to be a cynic or are you actually a cynic who knows how to spin romantic crap for girls like me?

20. Marry her? You don't just walk up to a girl, hand her a bouquet and say, "Hey, remember me? We were kids together. Will you marry me?" No, it just isn't done that way.

making the change

As my friends abandoned livejournal for something new ,and much more user friendly it turns out, I have followed their lead.
Thanks angela, jamie, jacquie, and hailey for turning to the blogspot side.

I suppose we are all entering new chapters in our lives. Mine will be as a full-time mother and teacher, so although my life isn't real exciting this Summer really should be.
Good luck to me :) I will need it.