Happy Fall!

Fall is my favorite time of the year--cooler temperatures, hot drinks, colorful leaves, rain, all things pumpkin, sweatshirts, apple picking, crunchy leaves, and the list could. go. on. forever.

School is off to a great start!  While it is not without its challenges, I love my job.  I cannot describe the difference this new position has been.  I must confess, while I had some hesitation to teaching this age, and a combo class at that, God has been working in my heart. I am loving my job! Lesson preparations take a lot more work, grading takes much longer, and I sense a more seriousness in having to prepare them for middle school.  Despite these added challenges, I can't see myself doing anything else.  God is so good!

One of my favorite things about being an adult is being able to take a situation and determine if the "consequences" are worth it.  For the mister and I, the question usually goes something like this, "Is it worth how exhausted we will be afterwards?"  And the answer usually goes like this, "Eh, we are young and will bounce back afterwards.  We only live once and don't want to regret saying "no" to this because we didn't want to sacrifice our energy."  Most of the time, we are thankful we "went for it", despite how exhausted we may be afterwards.

The first day of school, we chose to go visit the mister's sister who lives an hour and a half away, because she was getting her new German Shepherd puppy.

The following Monday, the mister left for a two week training on Eddy Current Inspection.  It was good timing though because I had a lot of extra work to be done at school with it just having started.  He has been able to get several extra training this year.  While I miss him terribly, we see this as an opportunity to prepare for the mission field.  We don't know what he will need on the field, and so we are thankful for these times when he is able to be trained further in his career.

While the mister was on training, he had a birthday!  I was able to fly out Friday night and spend the weekend with him.  While we were out there, we went to the National Museum United States Air Force.  It was huge, and it was amazing.  Since marrying the mister, my interest in avionics has increased exponentially.  I learned a lot at the museum, but enjoyed the time with my man most.

The mister got home on Friday, did a load of laundry, and then we went to his parents for the weekend with his sister and puppy.  It was a relaxing weekend together.

A few weekends later we were able to catch up on some much needed time together.  We had a day on the road, which ended with apple picking and time with family. The time together was refreshing.  With the apples I was able to can four pints of apple sauce.  Four pints are embarrassing compared to the twenty quarts I used to help my mom with, but it was a fun project.

All of this to say...our little family is loving this season!  We are loving this season of our marriage.  We are loving this season of weather, We are loving this season of life that the Lord has us in.

Classroom Reveal

This school year, I will be residing at the end of the very long hallway.  The opposite end from the restroom, and the opposite side of the building from the copy machine.  Hello exercise!

Welcome to my classroom!  I have 19 students total- 5 fifth graders, and 14 sixth graders. Having the "big kids", I needed a mature theme, so I decided to go with the timeless chalkboard theme.  There are so many helpful decorating ideas and resources on this theme.

As soon as you step in, this is what you see!  this is what you would have seen Thursday afternoon, before any students stepped foot in my classroom!  Papers are missing, books are no longer perfectly in their baskets, s'mores have been consumed, and things are no longer quite as crisp!  That is okay with me though.  As much as I love organization, I want my classroom to be used and have signs of 5th/6th graders living in it {and we all know that does not equate to organization}.

Most parents at our school have multiple children, and that means they have multiple classrooms to go to, and teachers to meet.  My goal was to simplify things for parents in having two categories: colored papers to fill out immediately, and white papers to go home.  The s'mores were a success with the students!  I got the great idea over at Ginger Snaps, and she even provided a free printable.

Another thing you may have noticed is that I chose to put the name tags on the back of the chairs, instead of the top of the desk.  We shall see how this works out.

May I say how thankful I am for the quality supplies and facilities my school provides for the teachers.  I am not just talking about this amazingly huge desk, but the technology, cubbies, storage closets, and overall general quality of most everything.  This year, I added a lamp to my desk and am already loving the warmth it adds to the atmosphere.

While I was so nervous about Back to School Night! last night, it went so well.  Some of the situations I was most nervous about went smoothly and in the end I was very thankful for the evening.  I had some wonderful conversations and learned a lot.  It got me even more excited about the school year- if that was possible!  No year is without its challenges, but I expect it to be a phenomenal year.

Daniel and I have been praying for years for a full time teaching position, and He has answered.  My personal goal this year is to deepen my prayer life to remain very aware that I am not doing this alone.  I can only be successful with His strength, wisdom, and guidance.  The spiritual theme I have for our class this year is that in everything, we seek to glorify Christ.  When we are seeking that, everything else will fall into place because we are doing our best for Him!

I covet your prayers as school starts Monday!

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Wow.  We have had a busy few weeks recently.  Here is a picture recap of our  Summer 2015 adventures together as Mr. and Mrs.

At the end of June, we took some time off from work to go visit my parents in Vermont.  It was a delightful time.  We had been having a heat wave here, and their weather was so comfortable.  Better than the weather was the time with all of the family.  We were able to rest, love on the nieces and nephew, weed-wack, and visit lots!

We got back from Vermont in time to celebrate Independence Day at home, just the two of us.  We ate well and found an amazing spot to watch the fireworks.  We drove the Mountaineer, and put the back seats down.  Since we got there early, we opened up the back hatch and played Phase 10 in the back.  The weather was breezy.  The fireworks were spectacular!

The celebrations continued as my mister spoiled me for my birthday.  Food related, he made me waffles for breakfast before work (I leave for work about 6:10am), bang bang shrimp for dinner, and a frozen peanut butter cheesecake for dessert.  He worked hard, and we enjoyed the fruits of his labors.  The spoiling continued with his giving me a market bag and new cricut cartridge, both things I had been wanting!

 Yesterday, we took a day trip to meet up with the mister's parents at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.  We had a blast.  The weather was amazing, and so many of the animals put on a show for their small audience by coming close to the fence.   Of the many exhibits we walked around to, we only missed getting to see the red fox.  We figure he was hiding behind one of the rocks.  Overall, the day was a spectacular success!

We saw these sweet fawns as we were walking one of the paths.  They were not in a cage.  After seeing them, we saw this poem posted on the side of the path.

While we have been having a blast, we feel a bit like this polar bear that we saw yesterday...absolutely exhausted.  Despite how tired we may be, we have enjoyed adventuring through life together.

Shine!

In light of the supreme court just legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, I was encouraged by what my friend posted on facebook,

‪#‎lovejustwon‬ No. Love won 2,000 years ago when Jesus conquered death and sin. When the darkness grows even darker, light has the opportunity to shine even brighter. Shine on, Christians of the Word. "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

 I am tempted to be discouraged by the sinfulness of our country, and overwhelmed with sadness that our country, that was founded on Biblical principles, has strayed so far from God's law.  I feel defeated, and for the first time in my life, have been able to truly say "Lord, come quickly!". In the past, I have always added a small addition to that, "After I have children, Lord, come quickly."  I have been tempted to be fearful to live here where society is flaunting their sin, because of what God may do to this country (remember Sodom and Gomorrah?).

I must stop myself though.  I do not serve a God of fear.  My God is still on the throne, and remains the same...all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise.  I do not need to be afraid.

One way we are all equal, is that we have sinned.  No matter the sin, it separates us from God.

As my friend stated, "Love won 2,000 years ago when Jesus conquered death and sin."  While I do want the Lord to come quickly, I have the opportunity now to continue to shine before others.  My purpose in life is to bring HIM glory, and with the light HE has given me in this dark and sinful world, I am equipped through HIS power.

On another note, we have had a wonderful month visiting with friends and family.  We are thankful for godly friendships that laugh with us, eat with us, pray with us, and continue to point us to Scriptures to find our answers in this journey called life.

It has been a good month, and we look forward to another month to shine Jesus' light, in this dark, and sinful, world!

My Lifelong Dream {Part 2}: Being a Mom

Yesterday I wrote about the fulfillment to my dream of being a wife.  God has blessed me richly in the man He blessed me with to call my husband.  I am very grateful.

I must confess though that some days I wallow in my grief that now is not God's timing for us to be parents, for me to be a mom.  We have been married for just over two years (I understand that is not long at all), and I am sure you can imagine how many comments we/I get asking when we are going to start a family.  I know they mean well, but this hurts.  It hurts deeply.  I remember hearing people say how hard it was for them to hear these comments, and I now understand.

We want to add to our family, but know that responsibly, now is not the right time.  My head doesn't question this at all.  My heart on the other hand, struggles at times to be content.

Going back to yesterday's post, another recurring thought happens later in the day as my husband drives home from work: "I can't wait for him to get home.  We get to spend the whole evening together!"  I am still slightly {okay, very} possessive of my husband.  I love any, and all, time we get to spend together.

While I so badly want to grow our little family, I don't want to wish these years away.  These years where our family consists of just two adults.  I constantly am reminding myself that we will never get these years back when we are young and it is just the two of us.

In talking to many older and wiser woman, I hear a common piece of advice, "Enjoy these years, because they don't last."  I am in a phase of life right now.  I don't know how long this phase will be, but it is the phase the Lord has me in.  I don't want to waste it wishing to be a mom.

Currently, I am a wife to a wonderful man.  The days will come, Lord willing, when it won't just be the two of us.  Those days are in God's timing.  Until then, I bask in the blessing of marriage and the gift we have in spending time just the two of us.

Miller Missions: Volume 3, Issue 1

We are praising the Lord for His provisions.  Here is our missions update letter!

V3 I1- Spring 2015- Blog Version by Rebekah Miller

If you would like to be on our email update list, make sure to send us an email requesting to be on our Miller Missions Update.

My Lifelong Dream {Part 1}: Being a Wife

I have recently noticed that I have a recurring thought.  This thought comes to me at least once a week on Saturdays when I am cleaning our small apartment.  The thought goes a little bit like this, "I can't believe I am a wife and get to keep home for my man."  The thought continues with my amazement at my husband and all he does for me.  I love married life!

I have always dreamed of being a wife and mom.  I am a wife right now.  I am living my dream.  There are a lot of days that keeping home and fixing meals is not all that exciting.  In fact, it is stressful and difficult.  I am trying to balance between being a teacher, a keeper of our home, and a wife who spends times with her man.  Many days I am tempted to throw my hands up in the hair and give up because it is too difficult.

Saturday mornings though help refresh me.  I don't always enjoy the action of cleaning the toilet or washing dishes, but it is the big picture that I wouldn't trade for the world.  I am living my dream.  I am cleaning the toilet, and washing the dishes in the home I share with my husband.  I  am living the life if a wife.  I have a home and husband to care for.  For that, I am thankful.

I love being a wife. I love trying to find ways to make our home a haven for my husband to come home to.   I love the feeling of a clean home.

May I be able to use this gift that God has given me to bring Him glory.  May I better understand His love and sacrifice for me, to then turn around and example it in our marriage.

Stay tuned for a sequel to this post.

Our 2nd Anniversary

This mister and I just celebrated our two year anniversary.  We are thankful for the gift of marriage, and continue to absolutely love being married to one another.  God is so incredibly good.  We began a few traditions last year, and enjoyed continuing them this year.

Note the roses.  My sweetheart gave me two roses for our 2nd anniversary. His Dad does this for his mom each year, and my mister has decided to continue this legacy.  He has added his own creative twist, making it even more special.  As he put it, "The vase seems large now, but I plan on there being a lot more roses in there in the years to come."

I love my man, and am thankful to be his Mrs.

Coming Soon: a Miller Missions update!

Gloominess turned into Thankfulness

Heads up- if you don't want to read about my mister, then you may want to stop reading this post and check back again when there is a new post.

I am supposed to be grading right now, but my mind is running a mile a minute.  It was a rough day at work, and has been a discouraging day on many levels, for many different reasons.

I am trying to pull my mind from replaying a million times over the discouraging thoughts, and force myself into focusing on what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my mister.

Cliche as it may sound, God has blessed me way beyond what I deserve.  I can truly say that my mister is a huge contribution to who I am, and to any accomplishments I may have.  They say "Behind every good man is a great woman."  I would like to switch that though, at least in our situation, "Behind this woman is a great man."

This year I have struggled in knowing how to "turn work off".  I bring it home- the grading, the hurts, the lesson plans, the words I said and heard, everything.  This has proven to be very unhealthy.  My mister has reminded me that worry is a sin, and has helped refocus my mind. In this, I have grown to love him all the more, and realize what a gift God gave me when He gave me my mister.

I can't put this into words, because there aren't enough.

I am thankful for his gentleness.

I am thankful that he is willing to have the tough conversations with me and call me out on sin (ahem, worrying).

I am thankful that he not only listens, but offers deep advice.

I am thankful that he hurries home to me after work.

I am thankful that he loves my family.

I am thankful that he helps me with my job.  He helps me grade papers way more than I care to admit.

I am thankful for how he financially provides.

I am thankful for how he treats others that he loves.

I am thankful that he is unwavering- mentally, emotionally, spiritually!

I am thankful that he is my best friend.

I am thankful for how much fun we have together.

I am thankful for every moment we get together, and that it is never enough.

I am thankful that we are still on our honeymoon.

I am thankful that he tells me when what I cooked for him didn't turn out the best.

I am thankful for his compliments.

I could go on for days, weeks, months!  Simply put, I am thankful for my husband and his unconditional love.

Proverbs 16:9

I sit down to plan out my week, as I always do, and I reflect on the verse "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" Proverbs 16:9 (ESV).

Just like every other week, I sat down to plan my week-- meals, outfits, engagements, lesson plans, church activities.  The list could go on.  I am a type A person, and am a big planner.  My pitfall though is in handling a change to those plans.  Clearly I have not yet mastered handling it gracefully with trust in what the Lord has in store instead.

This week, sickness hit our home, and it hit harder than normal. All meal plans went out the window.  We had to cancel some dinner plans we had with some friends (might I add that we had worked hard to actually find a time that worked into our two families' busy schedules).  I had to skip Bible Study and church.  I had to stay home from work and get a substitute.

All of my plans had gone out the window.  I was reminded though this past week that while planning isn't bad, I need to be willing and flexible for however the Lord may change my plans.  His way is perfect.

One of His perfect plans for me this week that I saw first hand was in the choice of my husband.  He was such a great help this week, and a great blessing.  This man would go to school to get things ready for the sub.  He ran to the grocery store more times than I care to count for all the foods you need when sick, but we did not have.  He rented a movie very much with my interests in mind.  He sat with me on the couch for hours on end.  He did dishes.  He fixed food.  My mister is amazing, and I am beyond thankful to the Lord for giving him to me.

Now here's to a planning this week, with the understanding that it is God who establishes my steps.

Spring is here...and busy!

Spring is here, and with spring comes a busy schedule.  March has been a very rewarding month in our home.  Call me crazy, but at the beginning of the month I had many changes I wanted to make.  I wanted my time to be productive.

Why I didn't do this during a winter month when the regular schedule is a little less crazy, I have no idea.  Instead I waited for spring.

A few days before the end of February, I wrote down a project checklist in my planner.  I planned out my big picture, and then when I had free time, I would look at it, and decide which project I wanted to tackle.  Several of these items had been on my list forEVER!  I am happy to tell you I completed all of the items on my list.

The first project I accomplished was making a wall hanging for our dining room, involving a curtain rod, some shoe box lids, and scrapbook paper.

The next Saturday I created this wall decor for behind our bed in the master bedroom, using colored vinyl and my Cricut cutting machine. 

This saying is dear to our hearts because the congregational worship song at our wedding was "Be Thou My Vision", and will always be extra special to us.

For both of these projects, I had all of the supplies (I have had them for months in fact).  It took being intentional though to get them done.  My desire is to make my home a haven.

For the third Saturday of the month, I worked on reorganizing our paper filing system.  Let me tell you, I have been dreading this one.  I love to organize, but even to me this was a daunting task.  We still have several papers from before marriage, and several I have no clue what they are.  My mister helped explain a lot to me, and with his brains, and my organization, we reworked our filing system.  My favorite part- it is color coded.  

I primarily used the system over at Clean Mama, but we also went digital with several of our tedious papers (pay stubs, non paper-less bills, etc.).

I have had the extra time to do this crafting because my mister has been working extra- a lot extra!  While I struggle sometimes with missing him, we rejoice at this being an answer to prayer.  

For those of you who do not know, we are planning on going overseas to do missions work just as soon as we can.  Most missions agencies frown upon debt.  We do have some school debt, and praise the Lord for how He kept us from having to take out any more than we did.  If you read our Christmas letter, it is our prayer to be completely debt free by the end of 2016.

By our own strength, and regular scheduled hours, this goal is impossible for us.  We know that God is able though, and recognize that God provides in many ways.  One of those ways recently has been in giving the mister so many extra hours of work.  We praise the Lord also for some financial gifts we have received from a dear friend.

This past week we were able to pay off one of our loans.  I am overwhelmed by His goodness, and this was only possible because of His provisions.  All praise and glory goes to Him.

Because we work opposite schedules, and my mister has been working extra shifts on top of that, our time together has been limited.  I would be lying if I said I have had the right attitude through all of this.  I miss my husband.  

When we do get time together, we treasure it all the more.

The other night we had the entire afternoon/evening together and it. was. wonderful!  The weather was gorgeous, and so we packed a picnic and went to a local park we had not yet been to.  We had a blast sitting in the woods, relaxing in a hammock, walking around, and simply being together!

Notice the goose's tongue out in the picture where he is flying.

  

All this to say, while March has been extra busy, it has reaped some wonderful rewards--projects done in our home, a loan paid off, memories made together!

I trust you all have had a great March, and are looking forward to a new month.  We are looking forward to April because we have a beach trip planned this upcoming week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13

If you are on facebook, you know this verse has been on my mind a lot lately.  Just think of it.  Jesus did not deserve to die.  In fact, He is the only one that doesn't deserve to die.  Yet, His Father loved us so much that He sent His only {let that sink in} Son to die {a miserable} death. For me. For you.

His death being the greatest act of love, He exemplified love in so many others ways as well.  I am convicted when I see how short I fall of the kind of love I should have- towards my husband, my family, my students.

While I am a firm believer that love should be shown 365 days a year, I do enjoy the extra excuse to be over-the-top intentional about doing special things to make others know how very much you love them.  Same as last year, I did the "14 Days of Valentines" for the mister.  I love doing it, yet am not very good at keeping up with it.  Some days, my mister had to wait for the note to be placed.  Oops.


Due to my mister having to work today, we decided to celebrate early.

It. Was. Wonderful.

Simply put, he has been working a lot lately, and my job has been increasingly stressful.  Our time together is largely spent either grading papers or sleeping.  So an afternoon and evening just us was welcomed with open arms.

I worked Thursday morning, and then came home to a bouquet of roses {that smell amazing}.  We ate a quick lunch and then enjoyed each other's company for a restful afternoon.  We then got all spiffed up for our Valentine's date.  The best part- we silenced {including vibrate} our phones.  

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner for two, and walked around one of our local malls.  It was just fun to be together.  We would do that a lot before we were married and life has simply become too busy.  We don't make the time as we should.

The evening was spectacular.

Friday was our day to celebrate Valentine's Day at school.  The teacher in me couldn't help making these cute pencils for my students.  My 2nd graders learned about homophones earlier this school year and L-O-V-E them.  They are finding them everywhere and asking me about it.  It was fun to see them catch on.

In addition to the roses from my thoughtful mister, one of my students also gave me flowers.  If you walked into our apartment and judged by the aromas that permeated our small home, you would almost think you were at a florist.  I love it!

All this to say, it has been a wonderful celebration these past few days.  I am thankful for the added excuse to be intentional about love.  I trust you have been able to enjoy celebrating those you love dearest, while marveling at the love given to us by our Savior.

From our family to yours, 

Happy New Year

One of my new year's resolutions is to take more pictures.  The mister and I have such fun living life together, yet I have so few pictures to show for it. One of our resolution's for 2014 was to be more intentional with our time.  We were.  We did a lot in the year and had a blast doing it.  Unfortunately, I have very little to show for it.

Our Christmas is no exception.

I had two weeks off from work, and so we did a lot of traveling.  We were able to visit with both sides of our family, as well as spend some time together--just the two of us.

It. Was. Wonderful.

 We celebrated our Christmas together before our travels.

Our travels began with driving to Vermont.  We were reminded several times to be thankful for our safety.  We drove many miles, and the Lord kept us, and our vehicle, safe.

We then drove from Vermont to North Carolina, where the mister's parents live.  Somehow my in-laws escaped any pictures.  It was a restful few days in their new home.

Like the slippers?

We came home for a night and then drove to Tennessee for a mini vacation.  We had a sweet date and enjoyed the scenic drive.

Reality struck again though on Monday morning.  I added a class this semester.  A dear teacher friend retired from teaching, and I took over one of his classes.  I am now teaching 6th grade Math.  My work load has grown exponentially, but I am learning so much from this experience.

I have also recently committed to teaching in the preschool again this summer.  I feel I have it made when I get to spend the summers with the little kiddos, and the school year with the bigger kiddos.  Again, I am so thankful the Lord has made it so clear to me what I enjoy doing.

In other news, we have been praying that God would provide ways for us to pay off our school loans quicker.  God provides.  The mister has been working a lot.  Sometimes it feels like non-stop.  He has had several days with overtime recently.  While I miss having him at home SO much, I am thankful for the answers to prayer we are watching first hand.

2015 is upon us and I have no idea what to expect.  Two things I know is that I want to continue being intentional with time, and want to take more pictures.

Happy 2015!