A Fat Tuesday Surprise

Today we got a super fabulous treat in the mail. I heard a knock at the door and was surprised to find the UPS man waiting with a package for us. As soon as I opened the door and saw the box, I knew exactly what it was and was very excited! It was a king cake straight from Paul's Pastry in Picayune, Mississippi, sent courtesy of my mom. The UPS man said that he has actually been delivering alot of boxes like ours and seeing my LSU shirt, he knew just why we were getting one, too. Derek and I have never been big on the Mardi Gras scene, but there are two things I love about it...the first is the time off you get in the south from school, and the second is king cake! King cake really has a neat story behind it that has to do with a European tradition in celebration of when the three wise men found Jesus. I love the story and I love the cake, so thanks Mom for thinking of me and sending this special treat!


This is the box the UPS man was holding.


Here are the contents of the box...we got to put our cake together!


The finished product! Yum, yum!

More Snowshoeing & Sledding

I am finally able to post pictures again...yay! Here are a few from our adventure at Mt Rainier.


It was a beautiful day!



It's amazing that this is the same mountain we see from a distance.

Hanging out after a steep climb

Derek sledding without his sled =)

Snowshoeing & Sledding at Mt. Rainier

We are really fortunate to be a part of a really awesome small group at our sponsoring church in Olympia. Since our group is so awesome, we like to do really awesome things and this was one of them. We took a trip to Paradise at Mt. Rainier and spent the day snowshoeing up the mountain and sledding. It was both mine and Derek's first time to do either and we had a blast. I don't have pictures up right now, but here are a couple of videos you can enjoy of our sledding adventure.

Derek's Adventure


Alissa and Tif's Adventure

Valentine's Day Blessings

This has probably been the fastest week of my life! With my new hours at the center, I am really learning to make some adjustments in my schedule. I went from housewife to working 45 hours a week...talk about a change for me! It was a great first week for me as I learned some things about how the center operates. I was very nervous yesterday since I was conducting my first parent conference about enrolling a student. I didn't feel that I had enough training or preparation, but it's what my boss asked me to do, so there was no getting out of it. Since I was so nervous, I spent alot of time praying about it and asking God to help me explain to the parents why their son needed to be at the center. Sure enough, God helped me through the entire thing and I enrolled my first student...an adorable, but struggling first grader, who is originally from....Memphis! How crazy is that? We moved from West Memphis and his family moved from Memphis! I am so thankful not only that God was right there with me, but that this little fellow is going to get the help that he needs. :)

My Mom and Dad also had a busy week. They spent the entire week in Houston at MD Anderson and just got home earlier this afternoon. Dad's new doctor ran lots of tests on him this week. The tests showed that Dad still has cancer on his lung only, and so they are going to treat him with a chemotherapy pill and let his oncologist in Slidell monitor his treatments. Mom and Dad are due back in Houston in May, and he will have many more of the same tests run to check for progress. The ultimate goal would be for the tumors to shrink, but at the very least, we don't want them to grow. We are praising God for a great week and also for the health insurance he has blessed my family with. Without insurance, Dad's medicine would be around $8500 dollars a month, but with insurance, my parents only had to pay $10!! My heart goes out to those people who need medicine like my Dad's, but can't afford it. I've really been burdened this week to pray for people in those situations, and am just so thankful for the blessings that we have.

I can't let today go by without sending you a Valentine's wish. We want to wish all of you a Happy Valentine's Day because we love all of our friends and family so much! Whether you have a valentine to celebrate with or not, you can be certain that you are loved on this day, not only by us, but by your Father who created you and loves you more than you can ever know!

Lots of Celebration!

God has done some really amazing things for us this week! I started my new job as a tutor at Huntington Learning Center on Monday, and I absolutely loved it! I've been telling Derek since my first interview that I wish I could work there all day and not just after school during the tutoring hours. Well, my new boss Erica called me on Tuesday and said that she would like to talk to me about the possibility of coming on staff full-time. I was so excited and it seemed like forever until our meeting on Friday. I really didn't know what kind of full time position she would offer me, but I was pretty much willing to do whatever she asked. My new position is Managing Director of the Huntington Learning Center in Lakewood, Washington!

How great is our God that He would take me from tutor to director after just one day of work! Only He could do that. I have just been floating around all weekend! Kyle and Terry even treated us and our friends Eric and Stephanie to a celebration dinner at our favorite pizza place (Farelli's). Last Friday is definitely on the list of one of the greatest days for me. I'm just amazed by how God made this happen. I had been getting very discouraged because of all the difficulty I've had with switching my teaching license over to Washington. One of my heart's greatest desires is just to teach kids and I feel most fulfilled when I get to do that. Sitting on the sidelines had really gotten me a bit down, but at just the perfect time, God gave me this wonderful new job. We constantly praise Him for being so good!

Another reason we had to celebrate this week is that my Dad finally heard from M.D. Anderson and has an appointment with his new doctor, Dr. Nizar Tannir, at 7:30 Tuesday morning. Mom and Dad will be traveling to Houston on Monday and will probably be there through the end of the week. I am so thankful that my parents live so close to the number one cancer hospital in the country and that this treatment option is available to my Dad. Please continue to pray for my family and pray for also for the new medical team that will be diagnosing and administering treatment for Dad's cancer. My entire family has been through a roller coaster of emotions over the last few months, but one thing has been constant, and that is the fact that God has been and forever will be in control! Praise Him!

A Great, Great Weekend

This past weekend was such a great one for us! Our friends Hunter and Debbie flew in from Arkansas on Saturday and we got to spend a lot of time with them. Kyle, Terry, and Ryne picked them up at the airport and gave them a quick Seattle tour while I got to stay back and have lots of fun with Kade until they got home (Derek was working). Hunter and Debbie got to see the market, the original Starbucks, the space needle, and more of Seattle while Kade and I read books, built a mega blocks neighborhood, played with stuffed animals, and watched Finding Nemo...it was a fun time for all! =) When Derek got off work and the crew came in from Seattle, we had a great time just hanging out.

On Sunday we had a fabulous day at church and then got together with some friends and neighbors for a Super Bowl party. We all enjoyed cheering on the Cardinals (except for Derek, the Steelers fan) and chowing down on some frito chili pie (Our friend Justine makes the best!!) Needless to say, we were pretty bummed at the outcome of the game, but at least it was a close one. The Super Bowl is the one NFL game per year that I actually watch, so I don't like being disappointed. =)

Hunter and Debbie had to fly back to Arkansas today, but not before I took them to Subway and we had some delicious sandwiches made by my hard-working husband! They were so yummy, thanks Derek! We love having familiar faces here, and it's always sad when they have to leave, but we are so thankful to have such amazing friends and can't wait to see them again!