We're Almost Settled

Well…our house is almost unpacked and organized. Notice, I didn’t say that our house is almost finished. We still don’t have a lot of decorations. We have things that were given to us as wedding presents and things that we already owned. More than likely, though, that will be all we will have for a while. Decorating and preparing a house in general is expensive! I’m hoping to be finished by the end of this month and have pictures up on Facebook. I’m also hoping to have my wedding album ordered and prints from the wedding ordered by the end of this month. I’ve been using Shutterfly to make photobooks recently. I already put together, ordered, and received a photobook of our Rehearsal Dinner and I’m currently working on one from our Honeymoon.

I really love my job. I just feel like I’m never prepared or organized. I’m hoping that will come soon. It all just happened so fast, though, and I’m very blessed to work with great people who have helped me out.

Within the next two months, we’re expecting two important visits. Lee’s family is planning their first visit to Roxboro. They want to come see where we live and work. Then, my family is planning their second visit. Hopefully, Meemaw will be coming with them. I’m excited about these visits! I miss my family!

Speaking of that…here are some other things I miss:
• My family-I don’t even need to explain this one and I mentioned it above. I grew up very close to my family. We had a lot of family gatherings and family vacations. I miss all of them.
• My friends-This is another no-brainer. I have known some of my friends for my entire life. This gets worse when I’m watching TV shows or movies that I used to watch or talk about with my friends.
• Football-Yes, they have football in North Carolina, but it’s NOTHING like football in Alabama. In Alabama, 95% of the people live football during the fall. Everyone goes to Headland football games…you can see people there that you haven’t seen in years. Everyone’s statuses on Saturdays revolve around football. Most discussions on Sunday and Monday (and sometimes on into the rest of the week) revolve around the previous games.
• LaBamba’s-Even Lee admits that he would rather eat LaBamba’s than the Mexican restaurants here. No offense to those places, but I just LOVE LaBamba’s. I get cravings (especially on Sundays) where all I want is a bowl of LaBamba’s cheese dip. The workers there are so friendly and they know you if you’re like my family and go all the time.
• College Ensemble and Simple Offering-I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I really enjoy singing and I miss singing with these two groups. I know that my singing improved greatly because I was a part of these ensembles.
• Comics-I loved reading the comics in the Dothan Eagle. We do get a local newspaper here, but there’s no comics-just political cartoons.
• Harvest Day and the Peanut Festival-I know that these events haven’t occurred yet. When they do, I am going to be very sad that I’m not going. I have attended these events every year for as long as I can remember. The Peanut Festival is a huge deal for the whole Wiregrass area. I have so many memories there from putting together an FCCLA exhibit, to making it a family event, to hanging out with friends there, to going on dates there. I saw a lot of good concerts there. I will miss walking around and viewing the exhibits, crafts, and pictures (my favorite). I will also miss eating all the good food.

Those are just a few things I could think of off the top of my head. However, don’t think I’m miserable here. I really am doing better than I thought I would. Lee and I are settling into our home and married life. We have great neighbors! I have a great job that I love and I work with awesome, helpful people. We go to a loving, caring church where the members have welcomed us and taken care of us. God has truly blessed us and I know that we are where we need to be right now.

Well, I just wanted to give an update of what’s going on with me. Hopefully, my next blog will be giving you a tour of our home.




Until next time,

Megan

Life Lessons Learned Through Sarah's Life

Wow! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! The Monday after we got here, I had an interview at a school called Stories Creek. This school seemed perfect for me. It’s about 5 minutes from our house and most of the children that go to Theresa Baptist attend this school. So, I went in for the interview and thought it went ok. It was a little intimidating because this was my first true interview and I had to interview with the principal and about 5 or 6 teachers. Several days later, I heard back from the school and I did not get the position. I was highly disappointed to say the least. At this point, Lee and I began to stress.

During this time, I was reading about the life of Sarah in my Women of the Bible book. Most of you know this story. Sarah was the wife of Abraham. Abraham was called by God to leave his home and travel to a new land. Shortly after arriving in the new land, there was a famine. So, Abraham had to take his family to Egypt. The question was why would God call Abraham and his family away from their home into a new place and then cause a famine in their new home. This story seemed to parallel my own life. God called Lee and I to move to North Carolina so that Lee could complete his seminary education. Then, he called us to live in Roxboro to serve at Theresa Baptist Church and be a part of this community. He called us here yet did not provide the job for me at Stories Creek. My first reaction was to question God-why would He bring us here and then not provide me a job? He knows I need a job. After reading about Sarah and Abraham, I realized that my reaction was not having faith that God was going to provide for us. He did know I needed a job and He did call us to live in Roxboro, so He was going to provide for us. I began to have more faith and not to stress. Lee and I just continued to send out resumes and make contacts. That was all we could do. The rest was up to God.

During the next week, I had an interview at a preschool and an interview at a school near the seminary. Both of these places were about an hour away. Then, the craziness began on Friday. Person County’s budget was released and several schools had money to hire more teachers. In all, there were 5 positions available in Person County. On Friday morning, the principal from Woodland called me to set up an interview. I had that interview the following Monday. I also scheduled two more interviews with two other schools in the county. The interview at Woodland went well. I was more prepared for it than I had been before. I felt comfortable and confidant. After the interview, the principal took me on a tour or the school. This was a good sign. Then came the hard part-the wait.

Waiting to hear back from an interview is stressful. You want to be hopeful that you got the job, but you don’t want to get your hopes up only to be disappointed. My other two interviews in the county were scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, the school near the seminary that I had interviewed at called and offered me their position. This was a difficult situation. I didn’t want to turn down a position, but I was hopeful that a position in the county would come available. This was a true test of my faith.

Once again, my life was paralleling Sarah’s. During Abraham’s life, God promised him a son. Both Abraham and Sarah doubted this because they were so old. Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands and offered her servant to her husband to give him a child. Neither Sarah nor Abraham trusted God to fulfill His promise. The results of their decision are still evident today. I worried that accepting the job near the seminary would be “taking matters into my own hands” and I would not be trusting God to provide me a job closer to home. So, I turned down the job offer.

Late Tuesday morning, the principal at Woodland called me to ask some questions about my references. This was more good news. He was contacting my references. About an hour later, he called back to offer me the job. I was thrilled. I had heard so many good things about this school and it was also about 5 minutes from our house. I accepted and began calling everyone with the good news. I went to the central office to sign some papers on Tuesday afternoon.

I began work on Wednesday. We were in a faculty meeting all morning and then I was able to work in my classroom that afternoon. Everyone at the school has been so helpful. I also worked in my classroom on Thursday and Friday. Saturday I went to two teacher stores to try and get enough supplies to get me started. I will be able to work in my classroom Monday afternoon (we have another faculty meeting that morning) and hopefully all day Tuesday. School starts on Wednesday. I will be teaching 2nd grade. Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures of my classroom on my next blog.

God knew the best place for me to be. He had this plan for me all along. How silly it was of me to doubt Him. God’s timing is so different from our timing. I just hope that I will remember this time in my life when I face another trial.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:19

~Mrs. Hall (2nd grade teacher)~

The Honeymoon's Over

Well, a lot has happened since my last blog. First of all, we tied the knot! The wedding went so smoothly. It was awesome to see everything come together. It all seems like a blur to me, but we’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it. I am so thankful to everyone who was a part of our wedding. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s help. I hope to work on posting pictures to Facebook soon or you can view our wedding photos at www.annamoreheadphotography.com. You click on the client viewing tab and then click on our names. Next, you enter your email address and the password is hall1.



After the wedding, comes the honeymoon. On Sunday we drove to Helen, GA. Helen was a really neat place and I would love to go back. Lee did an awesome job and picked a cute bed and breakfast for us to stay at. Our room was the only one with private access. It had a living room area and then the bedroom/bathroom area. The owners of the B&B fixed us a yummy breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs and gave us some tips of things to see in the area. Luckily, we took their advice and we were able to see some stuff that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. While in Helen, we ate the BEST sandwiches we’ve ever had in our lives! If you ever go to Helen, eat at the Old Sautee Store Café. Words can’t describe how good these sandwiches are. Lee wanted to stop back by on our way home!

Then, we had a fun drive to Gatlinburg with plenty of beautiful scenery along the way. We stayed in a cabin in Gatlinburg called the “Cuddle Shack.” It was very nice and secluded. We saw turkeys on a couple of occasions and saw a bear one evening! While in Gatlinburg we visited the Titanic museum, Ripley’s aquarium, rode ATV’s, shopped, visited Cade’s Cove, and tried out a lot of different restaurants. My only complaint was how crowded everything was. I would have loved the Titanic museum and aquarium even more if there had been less people there.

After the honeymoon, we were in Graceville/Headland for a few days and then it was on to Roxboro, NC. I had to say goodbye to my friends and family (for a little while anyway). This was very hard. Our experience in Roxboro has been very positive so far, though. Everyone has been so helpful in getting us settled in. We are renting a home owned by three sisters. It was their childhood home. It is a very cute little house and we are working hard to make it our “home.” This has been frustrating and expensive at times. We are both so ready to have everything unpacked. Living out of suitcases and boxes is no fun.

We are currently on the quest for a new mattress. Our current mattress was my mattress at home and my dad’s mattress before that, so it’s older than I am. Lee hates it. We made the mistake of visiting the Sleep Number store. Those mattresses are amazing! Unfortunately, they are way out of our price range. So, we’ve been shopping around and hope to purchase one soon! I hope it’s soon anyway because I’m tired of testing mattresses. Going into a store and laying on different beds while a stranger watches you and asks you how it feels is kind of awkward.

Until next time,
Mrs. Hall :)