New Couches!

So... we are broke :) We can't afford new furniture, but there is no reason we have to look like we can't afford furniture! Jonathan's family donated some fabulous plaid couches to us. Now I am not really a plaid couch kinda lady, so I went out and bought some slipcovers. They make it seem like we have new couches! Dave Ramsey would be so proud...

BEFORE

AFTER

Confessions of an Engaged Woman...

Sometimes I sign my name "Kristin Freel" on cards and guest books and other things like that... :)

Riffed then Rehired!

In May, South Bend Schools had to lay off 50 teachers. I was 6 people from the top of that list.... which was depressing, but I decided to use the situation to expand my teaching license. I went through the list of endorsements I could get just by taking a test. My choices were Math, Language Arts, and Family and Consumer Sciences (Home Ec). I hate math, my writing skills aren't strong enough to teach junior high, and I loved home ec in high school. So I took the test one Saturday morning in June. I honestly didn't know if I would pass or not. I felt like I was putting it out like a fleece before God saying "if this is the path you want me to take I will pass this test." Well I passed it by like 20 points! So I started looking into the openings in South Bend for FACS teachers. The one that really interested me was SAMP (school age mothers program). I just felt like this was the job i needed to apply for. I went in for the meeting with the lady in charge of the program and the lady over all the FACS classes in South Bend. We connected on our ideas of teaching and learning. I got the call today that I GOT THE JOB! It's a half time position which will be paired with another half time position in an intermediate center. So with SAMP I will have 3 classes: sewing, foods and nutrition, child development/parenting. My classes will be between 4-10 girls and they will be pregnant or teen moms..... God has a plan for me with this program. I am so excited to see what this year will be like. It's going to be crazy because I will be adjusting to 2 new schools and planning a wedding/being a newlywed, but it will be good. :)

Jonathan just started his 1st clinical for grad school. He is in Physical Therapy School at Andrew's University. He will graduate with his doctorate Aug. 2012. His first year was HARD but he finished strong. Now he is up in Kalamazoo, MI for a month working at an Outpatient Clinic. After 2 days he loves it! He feels confident in the skills he learned this year and the guy he is working with is giving him challenging stuff to look up at night. I love that this is only increasing the passion he has for physical therapy. I'm excited to see where God leads us after he graduates and what aspect of physical therapy he will like the most (orthopedic, sports, neuro, etc....)