I can do this!

It's less than two months away from when my time as a college student will come to an end. Technically that doesn't happen until May, the 7th to be exact, but I won't be in classes after Dec. I will be doing what I want to do as a career, minus the pay part. I will be planning lessons how I want to plan them. It will be the end of group projects and doing stupid little busy work things. I will be working in a school system that will hopefully soon be the school that I will teach at. I must continue to keep my eye on the goal and trust that God will not give me more than I can handle. At the moment, I feel completely overwhelmed and do not see the end in sight. I have decided that the only way for me to make it through the rest of this awful semester is to have two things: a) a countdown, so that would be 25 more class days from right now and b) prayer. I have never been this confused, frustrated, mad, and any other adjective that you can think that goes along with these. I need prayer! So for the next 25 days (class days) or 1.5 months please pray for patience, understanding, and calmness as I complete this last semester of college classes, because this has been the most difficult semester I have faced. I just needed to vent, but also get some support and be real about how things are going for me at the moment and here is the best place for me to do just that! I know that I can do this, but it will not be done alone!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support for our lives!

Funny Story

As I said in my last post, I went today to observe my teacher that I will be student teaching for in the spring. Well I thought that I would share a funny story from the day. I signed in the office that I always do at every school I go in to. Today was no exception. I talked to the office ladies and went on down to my classroom. Well if you sign in you think to sign out. I go to the office to sign out and find about three different sign out sheets. I get confused and ask the lady I talked to earlier which one I needed to sign out on. She said word for word "The bus bell has already rang. You don't need to sign out." I was in shock, but flashed my little badge because words didn't come. She said "Oh don't worry about it. You're good!" I walked out laughing. I know that I look young, but middle school young!? I haven't gotten that one! Even though I felt slightly belittled on that one, I walked out with pride...my short, young middle school looking self! On the bright side, at this rate when I am 40 I will look about early 30's maybe late 20's! I thought I would share my funny story from today! (Just so you know, I love my teacher and the students! The school is pretty great too! Obviously I fit right in!) :)

Camping Getaway with a Little History Lesson

This weekend is my fall break weekend. Being in the school of education means you don't get a fall break, so Sam and I decided that I would get a fall break weekend instead. I say this because I have to spend my fall break observing the teacher that I will be doing my student teaching with next spring. So Sam and I asked our friends Josh and Kim to come along with us and we headed out Friday to Piney campground. All signs pointed to not going this weekend, but we weren't going to let a little rain, sleet, frost, cold, or anything get in our way. Really all we were missing was the hail and snow and we would've completely met the postman motto! We set up camp Friday and stayed until this afternoon. We had a great, relaxing weekend. We sat by the fire, played Uno, went sightseeing, sat by the fire some more, cooked, ate, played more Uno, and slept. It really was great! Here are some pictures from this weekend.

















The last picture is a candle lit dinner camping style...or just a source of light, but I like to think it was a "candle lit" steak dinner!

On our way home, Sam and I took a little detour and had a quick history lesson. We went to Fort Donelson and took a little drive tour of a Civil War landmark. If you don't know, I love American history, but I love seeing American history more than learning about it in a class. I am a huge Civil War buff you could say! I love visiting all the Forts and landmarks and stuff. I think that started in 4th grade, renewed in 8th grade, and has continued on a little since. So anyways, we saw trenches and an eagle's nest, canons, and other significant things.



It was a fun little detour! We left from there and headed home to watch the embarrassing act the Titans put on today! I told you I would catch up and I sure did! I wouldn't let you down!

Good Times With Family

Last weekend, Sam's cousin Daniel came in town from South Carolina. He brought his girlfriend with him who loves to dance and listen to country music, so what better place to take her than the Wildhorse Saloon! Sam and I met up with Daniel and Paula and Sarah and Jake and went to the Wildhorse. They had already been to see the Grand Ole Opry before this. Sam and I went to hang out with our favorite and temporarily only niece Calyn.
She's pretty fun to hang out with. She can say our names which is really cool, but anyways on with the story. We all went to the Wildhorse and just hung out. Sam, Sarah, Paula, and I all learned the line dance to the Purple People Eater song. If you would like to learn it, I will give lessons, but it will cost you just so you know! :) Sarah and Sam danced...Paula and Sam did the electric slide...Sam sat down cause Paula kicked his butt...it was all just one fun night! It was great getting to meet Paula and hanging out with the family!

Newest Tarheel Fan

It should be no surprise to many of you that this household supports UNC. I was converted many years ago when I was forced to watch UNC college basketball. By forced, I mean that I did not have the remote and college basketball is what was on TV and I just had to deal with it! This really hasn't changed much over the years, we've just added more sports that we watch such as all football and all basketball and a little baseball. I at least get a break with hockey..we don't watch that! Anyways, I have become a Tarheel fan too you could say, at least with basketball. So Sam has Carolina shirts, I have a sweatshirt, but poor Bailey had nothing to show support for the team. This was an easy fix! I went to the flea market in September and told a lady who sold sports wear for dogs that if she got North Carolina stuff I would get it. Sure enough, October flea market came and there in a nice little row was a sweater, jersey, and bandana all North Carolina. I got Bailey the jersey, so now this whole Shrewsbury household has North Carolina gear we can sport when needed. Bailey wore his jersey for the last game and they won just so you know! **Side note: Please excuse Bailey's appearance! He is getting groomed this week due to this long haired look! Thanks!

Happy 30th Steve!

I'm a little behind with my blogging, but I will soon catch up! No worries! Amanda called me probably in June or July and told me she had decided the theme of Steve's birthday surprise! Needless to say is birthday was in October, so I thought she was crazy for being so ahead of the game! I am a procrastinator at heart, although I try my hardest to hide it! I don't do a very good job at that! Anyways, so the week finally came of Steve's birthday and I helped Amanda get some things finished the day of. His friends and family came out to surprise him at his Vegas themed surprise birthday. Amanda is a party planner at heart and will one day do that full time! (I'm pulling for you Amanda!) She went all out with decorations and had to hide them from Steve. Hard task when you live with the person who is impossible to surprise. It was a great night for Steve and I really think he enjoyed himself! I mean his name was on the sign and everything! Here are some pictures of the party:

A Perfect Day

It is pretty safe to say that it has been a crazy couple of weeks around the Shrewsbury house! Last weekend I was down for the count with flu-like stuff. This past week flew by with school and getting ready for Regina and Mike's wedding! We have finally slowed down enough that I even have time to blog!! Now that should tell you something! Friday was spent doing little odds and ends to get the ceremony and reception site ready. They got married at my aunt and uncles barn, so there was lots of preparing to do these past few months! I wish we had a before picture because then you could truly see the transformation! Anyways, Saturday morning we set tables, cleaned up, and put everything in its place. Regina's day was finally here! There were no clouds, no chance of rain, annoying wind but that's alright, and the sun was shining bright! She had a dramatic entrance coming in from a field like she just appeared out of nowhere! I can't lie it brought tears to my eyes! The ceremony came and went and then the party started! They had tables set up in the field for dinner and a dance floor in the barn! It was so much fun! Steve Barrios was the DJ for the night and he did a wonderful job! We had some oldies but goodies, a little cha-cha slide, and many more! My favorite was doing the dance line like from the end of Hitch! We all had such a good time! They finally left and are now enjoying the pleasant warm beaches of Jamaica while we are back to work on this cold, fall-like Monday morning! We love you two! Congratulations!