Brown Paper Bag

Check out the Brown Paper Bag Blog. She is giving away a vinyl machine from Silhouette through New Years Day. Go and check it out!

The title of Queen of Shelter Cove given by Abigail

I was awarded this title by my friend Abigail who has spent many evenings at Shelter Cove whether it was to bring or pick up Madeline from a spend the night with the girls, to eat dinner and play cards, which has now turned into Dominoes, to go through Corn Mazes, or for whatever reasons. Abigail I am so thankful for the friendship that we share, our children share, and our husbands share. We have had so much fun since we have moved up to the North GA mountains. There are many things that you and I have in common like loving the color green, shopping, UGA Go DAWGS!, TJ Maxx stores, our dislike of cooking and speaking our minds. But we have many differences to mellow out the likes. You are much more organized than I will ever be and I just have to accept that. You love your coffee and Hazelnut creamer and I will stick to my sweet tea. With the likes and differences I am so glad that God brought you and your family into our lives. Our life would not be the same without you!

Along with this award I'm instructed with a few rules as follows:
1. Thank and link back to the blogger that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy.
4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award.

7 Things about myself:

1. I am a nerd and I love school. At the end of 2011 I will have graduated with my fourth degree from four different schools: Young Harris College, Georgia Southern University, Piedmont College, and University of Georgia. That is also why I am a chemistry teacher so I can hopefully help others learn to love school (if only right).

2. I love the color green. I know most people think that means you love money but that is not the case. I like green because it represents living things. I do have a biology degree after all. I as well am a green person ( as some would say a tree hugger). I will dig plastic out of someones trash to recycle it. Sometimes I have to drive 20 minutes to take my recycling off or I take it with me to Athens when I go to class. If only all towns could have recycling centers like the ones on campus. I love to plant new trees. We are fans of Arbor Day and get a shipment of trees each year. When the girls were born and when we got married we planted a tree in Statesboro.

3. I love mission trips. My first mission trip was to Juarez Mexico during my first year at YHC. Rev Whitley made a huge impact on my life as well at Costa Por Cristo which is the ministry we built houses through. We built two houses within a week. God is good! The 2nd and 3rd mission trip that I went on was through my church PPUMC to Barahrona Domican Republic. I went there in 2001 and 2003. This was a medical mission trip. My team treated around 1200 people in several days. I learned so much about being the hands and feet of God during those trips. I can't wait to go do more mission work.

4. I want to go to Ireland and Switzerland one day. Don't ask me why those two specific places. Maybe Ireland because of all the green. Switzerland I always wanted to ski well enough to ski on the Alps. Hopefully I will get to one day.

5. I love the beach. All parts of the beach. I love the way the sand and sun tan lotion smell, the sound of the waves crashing, digging for sand dollars, finding shells, taking walks, reading a good book, and the relaxation of it all. I miss living an hour from Tybee but now I have the mountains and snow instead. I love it too!

6. I love love to read. This has not always been the case. The first time I learned to love reading was in the 3rd grade. I finally found a series that I loved. It was the Box car children, Nancy Drew mysteries and the Bopsy Twins. Now I read all the time. I got a gift card for Christmas to Barnes and Noble so I can go and buy a Nook. I love to exchange books too!

7. I am the daughter of the most High. You see growing up without a father I struggled to learn how to develop relationships with others. I think a father is who is supposed to teach you those things or I think I learned that in psychology class in college. Anyway once I developed my relationship with Jesus I knew that I did not need an earthly father for he was the only father that I need. Don't get me wrong earthly fathers are great. I am married to a great father of my children and they are super blessed but who can be a better father than the father in Heaven.

7 Blog Awards:

1. Sisterly blog awarded to my sister at the O'Dell family. My sister set up my blog when I graduated with my master's degree. Even though I am not as consistent as she is I am thankful for her doing this. love you sis!

2. Lindsey at Random Acts of the Bracketts. She is my reading blog buddy. If I ever want to borrow a book or share a book it is with Lindsey. Now you have to get an e-reader so we can one day share.

3. April at Life in the sham. April has been my longest friend up in the mountains blog. We were reunited after 7 years where we met at YHC. I am so glad God brought her back into my life.

4. Mindy at Ship Shop and Pop Pop: Mindy is my ten of us blog. Mindy has been my friend since the 7th grade and a part of the ten of us from high school. I love to read about her adoption process. Even though she is far away I can keep up with her. love you mindy!

5. Garrett News is the next one: Laura is the master mind blogger. We have yet to have a tutorial but I know when I need one she can help. I love to keep up with Sam and Jack on her blog. She is much more dedicated than I am.

6. Jessica, Mad, and Alex gets the roomate blog award. Jessica was my roomate my 2nd year at YHC. Mad and Haleigh are the same age and Alex and Zoie are close in age too. It is sad that we don't see them more often. We love that family!

7. Black Tag Diaries: Thankful thursday blog award goes to Julia. She is a constant reminder of how thankful I need to be. I love to see all her creative ideas that she has stolen or created. We miss seeing you Julia. Hope Kentucky is good to you!

Christmas Traditions

So I am copying my sister on this post. There are so many Christmas traditions that I grew up with that I hope are continuing to be passed down to my own children. My mother always made sure she did Christmas right. By right I mean knowing the true meaning of Christmas. When we were growing up we always went to Savannah to look at the gingerbread house and chestnuts roasting at the civic center. We always went to Christmas Eve candlelight service at Pittman Park church. We always went to see the real Santa in Augusta Mall. He was real because his beard was real. He was the one for Coca-Cola so you know he looked real. We always went and cut down a tree from the Wiggins tree farm or we got one from Lowes as we got older the weekend after Thanksgiving. We did Christmas at Mama's and then she would come to our house on Christmas morning. We would have some kind of breakfast dish that mom made on good Christmas china. And the rule was stockings were the last thing that were opened. I guess it was saving the best for last.

Now that I am married and have children I have tried to replicate these traditions and make our own for the Holland family. We as well get our Christmas tree the weekend after thanksgiving but thanks to our good friends the Black's we now go up into NC to O'Sage Christmas tree farm and cut ours down. Thanks Lance and Julia for the tip. This year we bought two trees and began the tradition of the UGA tree. I have always gotten UGA ornaments throughout the years but this year they have their very own tree. This tree is special because I am getting my fourth and last degree at UGA. The other ornaments come out. I have posted a few pictures of my favorite ornaments. The one picture is of Haleigh during her first Christmas in 2002. The pink shoe is in 2005 for Zoie's birth. The one from Gulf Shores is from my best friend Nikki who we took a beach trip with I think in 2007. The Biltmore house is a trip that Scott and I took two years ago for an adult weekend. The newest addition is the gold ball from Disney World. If you look closely you can see the Mickey ears. That was our thanksgiving trip we took this year. I will blog about that later. So you see our ornaments have such meaning to them and I love them.

The next tradition that continued is honoring our Saviors birth. We go to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at Bethlehem Baptist Church where we sing songs of his glorious birth. When we get home we read Luke Chapter 2 describing the birth of our Savior. We bake cookies and put them on a plate with a glass of milk for Santa. I then prepare the breakfast casserole to be ready for the next morning. On Christmas morning the girls usually have to wake us up. That was not the rule in my house growing up. We had to stay in bed until at least eight to let Teresa sleep. Now it is I who likes to sleep. Santa does not wrap the gifts for the girls nor did he when I was growing up. We started a tradition this year for the girls that there are three gifts from mom and dad to represent the three gifts for baby Jesus. If three was enough for Him then it should be enough for my girls. Those present are wrapped and under the tree. Just as when I was little, the stockings are opened last. Now that we are far away Mama does not come over but T and Hart do on Christmas morning. We usually see Mama at some time during the holidays.

The last tradition is to go see a Christmas movie the day after Christmas. We usually drive to Discover Mills and last year we saw Princess and the Frog. This year the family got the flu instead and we did not make the movie. Hopefully we can go soon. The girls want to see Tangled or Yogi Bear. We usually meet up with my sister and her family the weekend after Christmas to exchange with them.

As you can see there are so many important traditions in my life associated with Christmas and now in my own family's life. But the most important tradition is observing the birthday of Jesus. For he is the Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Holy Lord, Emmanuel, King of Kings, Lion of Judah, Jehovah the great I am, and Everlasting Father. He is the only reason of the season. Without Him it would not be Christmas. Let us always remember the reason of the season. The other stuff is just fun but He is everything!

First of Many First Days

This past week was the first of many to come. Zoie began Pre-K this year. Hard for mom to realize that my baby was now in school. She is a big girl now. There are many changes that occurred with in this first week. Our county became a charter county which meant lots of changes for us. But one major change was our seat time. Our students only have to attend school for 174 days this year. Because Zoie's school is not a part of our system this rule did not apply to them. So last Thursday during my pre-planning Zoie began Pre-K. On Thursday morning I dropped Haleigh off at Kingdom Kids which is the place Zoie went to daycare. I get much more work accomplished without the girls so she went there. Then we made the trek to White County Pre-K. I walked her into her class and explained where she would be going after school. Zoie looked at me hugged me and said "bye Mom love you". It broke my heart. But made me glad that she did not cry. I was so proud of my baby girl but inside I was breaking. So the weekend came and Haleigh began to get ready for 2nd grade. We went and met her teacher and she seemed ready to go. However on Friday night Haleigh came down with a bug. A nasty bug that would go on and infect our whole entire family. Yes me included. You see you cannot tell a virus when you would like it to invade. It picks the time. Zoie became sick on Sunday night and Monday morning trying to take care of her I became sick myself. Now what are the odds that I would get sick too. Well for me and White County High School that would be 50%. Two years ago I missed the first day of school because Haleigh was sick. Bless my subs Joe's heart for he has subbed for me lots in the past but especially on these two wonderful occasions of the first day of school. So Monday I called in and got a sub while Scott took Haleigh to school. Haleigh rides a shuttle bus to my school in the afternoons. So we continued as planned so not to confuse anyone and my friend Libbye graciously brought her home so I did not have to leave the house. Well the virus does not like to stop until it has all its host. So it traveled on from Zoie and I to Scott. Yep the 4th member of the Holland family got sick too. Monday night Scott began getting sick too. It has been a week and it is only Tuesday. So today I finally got to meet my new Chemistry and Environmental Science students. Today was my first day but their 2nd. I guess everything can't run smoothly if so we would never appreciate anything. I hope if we have anymore first in the Holland family that they are not dealing with sickness. I have included pictures of the girls for their first days of school. I am so proud of them both!

St Catherine's Island Trip

This week started out with us meeting at Horton's seafood on Friday morning at 9:00 and a trip to tour Georgia Sea Turtle center at Jekyll. What an amazing place. Here they treat turtles that will hopefully be released into the wild or placed into captivity. We then left for lunch in Darien and onto the dock at St. Catherines (SCI) to begin our work. We left on the boats for SCI at 2:30. We arrived on the island and was given a quick course on how to work the gators that would be our vehicle for the week. Late that afternoon we went to North beach and found four hatchlings that had not made it out of the nest. What an amazing site. We went ahead and released them since it was so late in the afternoon. We headed back for dinner and then crashed for the night.

There are so many amazing animals on SCI. Not only are the sea turtles special but there are lemurs, alligators, heartabest, zebras, hornbills, and kudus. The pictures above show one pack of lemurs. There are 7 groups on the island.

Each morning we got up and arrived on the beach between 6 and 7. That means we were up at 4:45 or 5:45. Now for those of you who know me you must know how hard this was for me to do. I am not a morning person. It helped that we would be spending our time on the beach. We ate a quick breakfast in the dining hall or on the way. I usually was paired in a gator with Lindsay. My group leader was Ginger and my team was April, Anna Susan, Lindsay, Leslie, Steve, and Mirium. I loved my group! They all worked hard without complaining. Each day we rotated to a different beach. There was North beach closest to the compound and the smallest beach and then South beach was divided into North South Beach and South South Beach. SSB was where their were so many pretty shells, but most of the nest were always predated. North Beach has the most nest and the most activity.

Each day we were assigned a beach and then check for new nest, emerging nest (ones that babies have crawled out of), and predated nest (ones that ghost crabs or raccoons have destroyed). I found a new hatred for ghost crabs. I know they are part of the food chain and circle of life but there are so many of them. When we found a nest we checked to see if it was in a good location. If it was then we left it covered it up and marked the nest with a green marker. If not then we moved the nest and covered them and marked them with an orange marker. We usually finished up by lunch time.

After lunch we were free to do as we wished until 4 when it was debriefing time. Some days we went to the pool, took a nap, or went exploring on the gators. After debriefing we had dinner. Dinner was cooked by us researchers. We picked a night to cook and clean. We ate like kings and queens. After dinner one night we got to explore the Button Gwinnett House. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It was amazing to see such history in this house. It is now owned by the family who owns Life Savers. Another night we got to tour the mission. The mission is the oldest church in Georgia. What is left of it is nothing. Where the support columns used to be have been replaced by planted palm trees. Our last night we got to go on a pirate boat ride. We went at dusk and road the boat. It was beautiful.

If we had baby turtles to release that happened at night too. Our second night we released over 250 turtles. Babies have 1/1000 chance of making it to adulthood. The odds are so stacked against them. My favorite story is a baby we found on the last day that was left in an emerged nest. I found him so I got to take him to the ocean. you see you cannot do it for them. You have to put them down twenty feet from the tide line. They have to align themselves with the magnetic field so they know which current to take. I let me little guy go and he started crawling. He would get tired so he would stop and take a break and then go again. Our team was cheering him on. When he finally reached the water he tucked his head down and paddled as fast as he could. A wave hit him and pushed him back. He did not get discouraged, he waited for another wave and tucked his head and went again. He finally made it into the ocean.

I have to say this trip was an amazing research trip by far the best I have ever been a part of. It also was a trip that proclaimed God's amazing glory. That a baby so small would know which way to go to meet the water, that a mom would come back to the same shore to nest time after time, and that a mom can dig a hole that is so complex without looking and with her back flippers. Try that next time you are on the beach. It is hard work. But God put all this into motion and all for his purpose and glory. Sea turtles are amazing and I hope to go back next year to be part of such an amazing trip.

Beach Trip SSI for the 4th of July

This week could not have come any sooner. I worked really hard to get all my school work done before we left but things never turn out the way you imagine they would. We had been planning a beach vacation for a while. We originally were going to the gulf until the oil spill. Instead we decided to go to on of my families favorite destinations. SSI that is St. Simons Island. We love that place and have been going there since I was little. The last time we traveled there we had just moved up to Cleveland so it had been a while. We asked my grandmother to go with us to get her out of the house. I really think she was planning to go that is until she had to go to the hospital. I was so worried. This was the first time she has ever told me that it was bad. So Wednesday night we headed that way to stay at her house even though she would not be there. Kind of weird staying at her house without her there. On thursday we got up to head down to SSI. We were going to swing by Savannah to visit her in the hospital. Little did we know that she would be coming home that day. I even got to go to the hospital to pick her up and bring her home. Once we got her home and settled our little family headed back the same way I had come that morning to the beach.

Thursday turned out to be a dreary day so we let the girls swim for a little bit in the condo complex and then we headed to Spanky's to eat supper. I don't know if you have ever been but it is another fav place of my family. They are famous for their spuds, chicken fingers, and fried veggies. Yum. Needless to say supper was wonderful.

Friday turned out to be the chaos day. Our air conditioner at the condo had to be repaired before we got there but then the toilet started to overflow and it did several times that day. It is hard to spend a day somewhere without a bathroom. We had to use the pool bathroom, then the ones at the beach, and then finally at 9:45 at night after a day of chaos we got to use the one in our condo. Boy was I glad that day was over. Even though we spent the day at the beach and at the pier. Then we ate at another one of my favorite places Barbara Jeans. They are know for their crabcakes which you can order online www.barbarajeans.com.

Saturday turned out to be the first day of real fun. We finally could focus on enjoying ourselves. We played and played at the pool and went to each at Mullet Bay for dinner. We went back and made homemade ice cream.

Sunday was the 4th. We spent the day at the pool and cooked dinner. We then headed to the pier to watch the festival. SSI fireworks are the best. They lasted almost 1 hour. Just when you thought they were ended they would begin again.

Monday we had to head home. We spent two hours in the pool before we said our goodbyes. For the first time I was not ready to go home. I could have stayed another week. We love SSI and can't wait to go back.

The Best Vacation Ever

So a couple of weekends ago we headed on a short weekend vacation to Wilderness in the Smokies. This is an indoor waterpark in Tennessee. I took a personal day to pack and wait on Scott to get home so we could hit the road. Needless to say it did not go as I had planned. We did not get on the road until 4:30. It is about a 3 hour drive. We arrived only in time to check in, eat dinner in the hotel, and let the girls play for about 1 hour before the park closed. We awoke the next morning and Scott ran out to get breakfast. Then we hit the park. There was four water slides, a Jacuzzi as large as a pool, a put put course, a wave pool, 1 indoor pool, and three play areas for smaller children. Haleigh was tall enough to ride everything. Zoie however was not. The picture above is of hands and that is Scott and Haleigh coming down one of the really big slides. She had no fear. There is one slide that takes about a 15 foot drop. I was scared and did not go. My 7 year old was braver than I was and went with her daddy while Zoie and I watched. Zoie preferred to play in the kids areas, the Jacuzzi, and the wave pool. Sunday morning we checked out but then you can still use the park all day. We even went and played put put. There is an outdoor waterpark as well but it would not be opened until this weekend. The girls said it was the best vacation ever and wanted to know when we could go back. I have to say I am ready to go back too!

Meet Sadie: The Newest member of the Holland Family

The story of bassett hounds in our family has been around for a while. Right after Scott and I got married we bought two dogs. Now understand this two dogs would be joining two other dogs. I got a bassett hound and named her Buffett. Yes that is right after Jimmy Buffett. She was your typical female. She was very tempermental. You would hold her when she wanted to be held and not any other time. Scott got a pointer which he named Lady. Not long after I had Buffett did she venture down to the highway and got ran over. It was horrible. I had such a hard time with it. It was a while but we decided to get another one. We named her Georgia. Yes after the Georgia Bulldogs. She was my everything. She was brown and black and beautiful. She was much more loving than Buffett. At this point Haleigh was just a baby. I am not sure what it is about that hwy, but at the same location Georgia ventured and was ran over too. That was by far the worst. After Scott had to bury two he said no more until we had a fenced in backyard and did not live on a hwy. Well I have been asking for another one for about two years. So finally my wish came true. Happy Mother's Day to me. Sadie came to join the Holland Family last night. Scott brought her home from South GA. I picked the name Sadie and little did I know that it was her mother's name. It has stuck. I have already learned to love specific things about her. I love the way she trips over her ears as she runs. I love how she skids on our hardwood floors and then wimpers. I love how the girls chase her around and she follows. She is beautiful and I am so excited. It was a great mother's day. My husband and girls did good. However stay tuned to see Sweetpea's reaction. She is none to thrilled to say the least. I hope this changes soon.

Be careful what you ask for

It is kind of like asking for patience and it seems that everything goes a certain way that you have to learn some patience. Well about five months ago I began contemplating going back to school for my ED.S. I had just finished my master's degree in May. My mom seemed to be pushing me to go to Piedmont where I did my master's because that is where she taught but I kept saying that I wanted a challenge. I wanted to learn more about my content area. So I decided to apply to UGA. Understand that I lack a lot of faith in myself in what I am able to accomplish. If you told people that I went to school with or even my family for that matter that I had gotten this far they would be shocked. I was always the student who had to study really hard. But I had so much motivation. I wondered would I ever see my motivation take it's true form. In January, I was accepted to UGA much to the amazement of many people. I finally did something that alot of people did not think I was capable of. Well here comes the be careful what you ask for. I wondered would the grass be greener on the other side. We grew up avid UGA fans and had season tickets growing up. My sister attended UGA. So this was a big deal and I really thought the grass would be greener. Currently I am taking two classes and I learned that the grass is greener in this circumstance. I have learned more in these two classes than I did my master's degree combined. So be careful what you ask for: well I will ask anyday to prove that yes I can do it and for an opportunity like this one. What an amazing semester this has been!

The Big 30 and 30 thankful things

Well today was a big reality that I turned 30. My mom has already made me cry this week asking where the time has gone. I have to agree that the past 30 years have flown by. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was getting ready for prom just like my students did this weekend. I have been blessed. So to celebrate I am listing thirty things I am thankful for:

1. To be the daughter of an amazing King
2. To be married to the greatest man
3. To be the mother of two beautiful girls Haleigh and Zoie
4. For my mom, mama, and sister and her family
5. My niece who will be born in less than a month
6. An amazing church
7. Wonderful friends
8. Saving grace
9. Forgivness
10. A wonderful job and co-workers
11. The sound of rain
12. An amazing father for my children
13. My education that I have worked really hard for
14. My students
15. My puppydogs Sweetpea and Lady
16. Unconditional love
17. Two wonderful best friends
18. Our home
19. The seasons that come each year
20. God's majesty
21. My children's health
22. Good health and seeing another birthday
23. the smell of flowers and fresh cut grass
24. my children's laughter
25. God's word and assurance
26. For my salvation
27. For my nieces and nephews
28. The beach and its peacefulness
29. The mountain air
30. Freedom for what is used to be

Biddies and Easter Time

Well I can tell spring is in the air. Even though it comes about a month later than in south GA the trees and flowers are finally starting to bloom. Easter is coming. I do love this time of year even though the fall is by far my favorite. This is an exiting time of anticipating the death and resurrection of our precious Savior. It is also a time of Easter egg hunting, a new Easter dress and planting of our garden. This week has led way to the arrival of spring and Easter. On Wednesday, twelve new "organisms" became part of our family. Yes they are organisms as I teach science but these are twelve that I am not enthusiastic about. We have twelve biddies. That is twelve baby chicks. Now you may ask why is that so bad. Well it would not be to most except I grew up with two chicken houses containing about 52,000 chickens. Yes you read that right. Now don't get me wrong we never ran out of eggs but I hated those things. So much to my disagreeing, my husband and girls bought twelve. Haleigh's first question was "Momma when daddy goes out of town will you help me with the biddies?" It is hard telling your child no sometimes but this was quite easy. I said "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" They are cute while they are young but I know what they grow up to look like and smell like. Not interested. I will be glad to post pictures of the organisms when I figure out how to post pictures. In the meantime you can just imagine. A year from now we will have fresh eggs to eat.

Today we headed to Cleveland to watch the Easter Exstravagansa parade with Ms. Heather and her family, and Ms. Carrie and her family. Afterwards we were going to Babyland for the annual Easter egg hunt but it was too chaotic so we headed to the park to play. Apparently I assummed that because the sun was out that it was warm. Boy was I wrong. We headed home shortly after that for Zoie to go spend the day with daddy fishing. Haleigh got to go hunting in the fall twice so this was Zoie's day. I did not take pictures of this because I forgot my camera. Oh well maybe next year.

Happy birthday to my mom/Time spent with mama

Well maybe one day I will get this blogging down but I still can't add pictures or change anything so when someone is ready for a lesson I am willing to learn. Today is a very special day. It is my sweet mom's birthday. This past weekend my grandmother (mama) came to visit. She stayed Friday night with mom and then on to our house. She is the best. We always get to pick what we want for her to cook when we visit or when she visits us. I have finally gotten two recipes after 15 years of asking. My mama makes the best:
1. Sweet tea
2. pimento cheese
3. dumplings
4. and so much more

I got the recipe to the dumplings and her rice and tomatoes. Her cooking is special especially when it involves my girls and their great grandma. She let them help make the dumplings. What special memories for them! On sunday we just made it to church and then sunday night we had a birthday dinner with my mom in commerce. I thank God for these two beautiful women who have both raised me and made me the person I am.

I love you mom and mama