Happy Birthday..

Today is Brandon's 19th Birthday.  We are celebrating this afternoon with the Hall's, Douglas's, and the other Rader's.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Santa Clause is coming to town..

The other night, me and Courtney dressed up Rader in two of his Christmas outfits and took a ton of pictures. He was such a good sport throughout the whole thing. Here are just a few of the pictures!

Here is an outfit from Ebay that I got him. He is a little reindeer : )

John's mom got him a Santa's outfit and it is so cute!!!

PERFECTION

Here are just some more pictures of my pretty near to perfect nephew. Yes, I know I am biased but am completely in love with this little man!!

The other night, me and Courtney took Christmas pictures of Rader and dressed him up in a Santa and Reindeer outfit. Those pictures will come very soon!!! All I can say now is that I love life and am so blessed : )

Rader Jackson Brose

Not only did I find out that I passed my Praxis test today, but my nephew arrived.  There will be many more pictures to come but just wanted to go ahead and post one.  He is PERFECT!!! Mom and dad are both doing great.

"Rader" Jackson Brose

8 lbs 3 oz

20 inches long

Blessed

This weekend was went by so fast.  We had a game on Saturday against Southern Wesleyan (which we won) and Sunday was filled with lots of activities.  To begin the day, the basketball girls went and helped out with Creating Christmas Memories.  This is a thing that takes place every year in Cleveland at K-Mart.  Children are chosen from around the community to come to K-Mart and spend $100.00 on WHATEVER they want.  This year the basketball team volunteered to help out.  This is truly a humbling experience.  You are assigned a child and you walk with them around the store, helping them pick out things.  All of these children are those that are less fortunate and sometimes it is so sad to see where these kids come from! This year I had an adorable little girl who was in first grade.  She stole my heart and I enjoyed every minute of it.  

After we got done with this, I enjoyed the rest of my Sunday afternoon doing homework. Tonight was our Christmas Formal for Upsilon.  Upsilon is a guys fraternity at Lee where I have the honor of being a Little Sister for a wonderful group of men.  Here are some pictures from our formal which was held on campus and was lots of fun!!!!

All the Little Sisters in Upsilon

All the guys that I got in with last Spring (09)

All the girls and guys that are in Sigma.  Sigma is the girls sorority that I am in at Lee.

Here is my date and best friend on the left: Eric Thomas and another one of my good friends on the right.

3rd time is a charm

As a lot of you know, November 14 I took the Praxis Test for the THIRD time. For the Masters Program at Lee, you have to pass this test before you can do your "official" student teaching. This past time was the last opportunity that I had to pass the Praxis to be able to complete my student teaching in the Spring and graduate on time.

Here is what this day consisted up
-Drive to Kentucky Friday, November 13 and play a game that night
-Stay up studying late that night and wake up at the crack of dawn to drive to Kentucky State
-Get there and take the test for a whole 2 hours!!
-Grab a quick bite to eat and get back to Georgetown, KY within 30 minutes to make it to my game
-FINALLY, I made it back to Georgetown and played our game. We ended up losing in overtime which was a huge bummer!!!

Needless to say, I was stressed to the max but knew so many people were praying for me. So the good news is I was sitting at the hospital waiting for my sister to have the baby and had the courage to look and see if my scores were up. I PASSED!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord, he truly does answer prayers, and YES the third time is always a charm : )

This day can't get any better..I passed my test and Baby Rader should be here at any moment..

Catching Up

I have been so bad lately about updating because I have been extremely busy with school, work, and basketball.  Here is a brief overview about what has been going on the past month.  With basketball just starting up, my life has definitely been extra chaotic lately.  We are off to a good start with with a record of 4-1.  It is kind of sad to think that this is my last season to ever play.  Okay I am going to stop there or else I will become depressed.  

Thankfully school is almost over with.  This semester has for sure kicked my butt with 14 hours of masters classes and an online class.  Let me just say if you have never taken an online class, DONT!!!!! There is so much more work to be done, or at least with this one I am taking that is the case.  Anyways, only 2 more days of classes and then finals.. I will be so thankful if I make it through the rest of this semester alive!!!! Well here are some pictures of the past month with Court's showers and basketball.. 

Court's shower at the church.

The cupcakes I made for her shower at the house.

The shower at our house.  It was so much fun and turned out well!

All the shower throwers minus Shawn & Karen

Our very first last game at Lee (Seniors).  Our pink uniforms were worn in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.  

Team picture before our first game

Another year has come and gone

Gosh.. I feel like when you get older, time begins to FLY by. I had always heard that but am just now beginning to believe it. I feel like just yesterday I was starting college and now I have graduated and in my last year of playing basketball. I'm not going to lie, it is a little depressing to be getting older. I remember when I couldn't wait to be 21 and wish I could stop right there and not get any older. With turning 23 today, it really makes me stop and think. Even though it is somewhat depressing to get older, I must say that I have so much God has blessed me with. To kind of lift my spirits about getting older, I thought of 23 things that God has blessed me with. So here goes : )

1. A heavenly father who loves me through everything

2. Godly parents

3. the good health of my family

4. a college degree

5. chance to play bball in college

6. wonderful christian friends

7. amazing church

8. being alive for 23 years

9. being able to work on my masters while still playing bball

10. a precious nephew that is on the way.. I cant wait!!!

11. a wonderful sister and brother (can't forget brother in law) :)

12. a teaching job at Ocoee Middle

13. wonderful grandparents

14. a FREE place to live

15. getting my college paid for

16. overcoming several knee surgeries

17. having plenty of food to eat always

18. a car to drive & dad still paying for it : )

19. great professors at Lee who have helped me along the way

20. still being able to have homemade meals made for me every night

21. a nice, new bed that I just got (thanks to Brandon)

22. mom and dad still doing my laundry (most of the time)

23. God's plan that he already has for me that I cant wait to see

God has blessed me in more ways then I can imagine and yes, eventhough it makes me sad to get older, I have SOOO many things to be thankful for. I really couldn't ask for anything more!

It's Football Time in Tennessee

Saturday night me and my dad went to the UT football game.  We were so excited to bring the Hall's along with us.  Here are just a couple of the pictures from the game on Saturday night!

This past weekend, we went on our annual basketball retreat.  This year we went to Fall Creek Falls and hung out for the day.  Some of us went repelling, others rock climbing, and there were a few who didn't do anything (this would be me).  I have learned that the older I get the less adventurous I have become.  It kind of makes me sad to a certain degree but then I realize how you could easily get hurt doing some of this stuff and so it keeps me on the ground : ) Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful scenery as well as our team for this year. 

A beautiful view from the top of Fall Creek Falls.  

This is our team this year.  After about the tenth take, we finally got a good one!

We were the only four who weren't brave enough to go repelling.  In all honest, we were the only SMART ones : ) If you would have seen this 150 foot side of the mountain they repelled off of you would be sitting right where we were!

Fall is in the air...

It's almost October! Crazy how time flies by... We are about two months into school and I am loving it.  I love my kids even though most of them are little hellions : )  It takes me back to my good ole' middle school years when I was probably just like them.  I am trying to make it with teaching all day, practice, and classes at night.  So far so good and only two months left till this semester is over.  Yahoo!!!! 

I am so ready for Fall.  Here in a couple weeks I will be 23 and it's a little scary.  They say the older you get the quicker time goes by and I truly believe that.  When I was little, I wanted to grow up so bad and now that I am here I am wanting to go back to kindergarten.  Lately, I have been stressed out about what to do after graduation in June.  I am in a phase right now where I want to move to Nashville and teach for a while.  We will see when that time comes around and I have a brand new nephew if I still want to do that.  Speaking of Baby Rader, he is already taking ALL of my money.  I have a lot of downtime at work and always find myself shopping online.  If you have not ever done that then DONT start it.  It can be very addicting.  So lets just say that I am working to support my spending habits for him. : )

 I have a full weekend ahead of me.  I will be going to the UT game on tom and going on our retreat with the bball girls on Sunday to Fall Creek Falls.  Will have pictures to come after Sunday.. Until next time.. Adios!!!

Falling Behind

I feel like it has been FOREVER since I last updated. My life is incredibly crazy and hectic right now but I couldnt of asked God to bless me anymore than he has lately. For the master's program at Lee you have to do a full year of internship WITHOUT pay. Oh yes, you work for free for an entire year. Just a couple weeks ago I was called and asked about interviewing for a job at Ocoee Middle. I was super excited because this means that instead of doing this all for free I can get paid!!! I was hired at the beginning of school and am currently working full time at Ocoee Middle as a Reading teacher. It is so much fun and extremely rewarding. Along with this I am taking 17 hours and playing basketball. Talk about running around crazy these days, I def. am but cant complain. I love it. My day consists of going to school 8:00-3:00, bball practice 3:30-4:45, class 5:00-8:00, and finding time to do homework somewhere in between. I really do love everything about it all but it can be stressful thats for sure. I'm going to try to get better at updating as hopefully my life will slow down. Oh yea and I have found some time to shop online for my nephew. The main reason I am excited about job and making money is so I can buy him so adorable, stylish clothes : )

It's a BOY!!!

Who would have guessed that I would be having a nephew?  I completely thought and was preparing myself for a girl even though deep down I wanted a boy!!  I was beginning to get used to the idea of a niece and then suddenly everything changed.  Yes I know as long as the little baby is healthy that's all that matters but you know everyone has their own preference.  I am so excited that Courtney is having a boy!!!!! I will be able to buy all those cute little polos and sweater vests.. I cant wait to dress him in style... I sure hope December comes quickly.  

By the way please everyone don't EVER watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette again.  Yes, I say this every season but am beginning to think this show is completely rigged.  The good and perfect guy never end up winning (Kiptyn) so lets all boycott it and stop watching it : ) 

Coming to an end....

I feel like every summer I am always saying to myself where has it gone. The older I get the more times flies by and it's kind of scary. For my last vacation of the summer my family and I went to Daytona Beach. I only got to stay till Tuesday night because I had to fly back for class. My family will be returning home on Saturday. I wish I would have got to stay longer ,however, it was so nice to FINALLY get a small break from summer school. For the time that I was there we mainly just hung out at the beach. One night we went to Aunt Catfish's. If you have never eaten there you need to. It is SOOO good. They have these cinnamon rolls that they give you with your meal and they are to die for!!! It would have to be my favorite restauraunt in Daytona. The next night we went to Down the Hatch. The last night I was there we ordered pizza because Courtney and I just couldnt take the chance of missing The Bachelorette. Oh how excited I am for the finale this coming Monday. I will soon post some pictures from the beach.

Only one more week of summer school. WAHOO!!! I have never been so happy. I havent had a break all summer and actually just get a weekend before I start up for school again on August 3. I am doing my intership at Ross Elementary in 5th grade and I am so excited about it. I am excited to finally be in a classroom setting and hopefully next year will have my very own. This summer has absolutely flown by and is quickly coming to an end. Although I am excited about what's to come. Please stay tuned : )

With this being my first attempt to blog, it makes me a little nervous. Where to begin? My life this summer has been very busy. I just graduated in May from Lee and right away started my Masters. I know that I would never go back and do it if I didn't start right away. You see my self discipline lacks so I knew I needed to go ahead and start. I have taken classes in May, June, and July. I say this to talk about how fast my summer has gone by.

Even though I have been in classes all summer, I have had the chance to go on several vacations. My family went on a cruise to Grand Cayman Island and it was so much fun. Court has posted some pictures so you can see those on her blog. I am right now in Daytona with my family. I needed to get away and have a break from school so I will be heading back that way on Tuesday night.

Although this summer has flown by and been somewhat stressing with school, I think that God is moving me into the plan that he has had for me all along. With this being my last year of basketball and school, it definitely makes you open your eyes. I am so excited what God is doing in my life and cant wait to see what all he has planned for my life. This is just the beginning so I hope you can follow me throughout all my adventures : )

Welcome!!

Here is my first attempt to blog...hope everyone enjoys my adventures :)