Baby Patey!

Hearing the heartbeat, seeing it suck its thumb, seeing baby's mouth moving to drink amniotic fluid.  These are some of the amazing moments of seeing our baby thus far!  Here are a few pictures!

Preggo!

I have needed to post about this for some time now!  Nick and I are expecting our first baby!  Baby Patey is due May 27, 2011!!  We are so excited for this blessing God has given us!  Here are a few pictures of my first 3 pictures so far!  One month, two months, and three months.  At this point I am 15 weeks along!  That means baby Patey is the size of a large orange!  So cute and sweet:)  We find out the gender in a few short weeks, and can't wait to see whether baby is a boy or girl!

This last picture is how I look today at 15 weeks!  Crazy how time is flying!

APU alumni game

This past weekend, APU had its first alumni volleyball game! I am going on close to 5 years of being out of college volleyball! I cant believe how time has flown! It was a great opportunity to see old friends and get together and play once again. It felt like we had never left each other! It brought back so many memories of daily practices and games, and the team unity that was such a great part of college volleyball. It made me really miss the days I spent playing college volleyball at APU. After our alumni game we watch APU play and beat Westmont and then had an alumni dinner with past and present players. I loved listening to the coach of the 1980 team that won the national championship. She had such a heart for athletics, but also for God first in everything the ladies stood for as athletes. It inspired me, and made me want to play college volleyball again! Overall it was a great experience, and I hope that we don't wait 5 more years before our next alumni game!

School has officially started!

So as of yesterday I am back to school.  Nick has been back for 3 weeks now!  It does feel good to get back into the swing of things, even though I am sad to see summer go.  It was so nice to spend time in our home taking care of it, and working on projects that we are too busy for during the school year.  Both of our years have started off well, and we are enjoying our students.  It is so wonderful that both of us are done with BTSA and our Masters degree!  We will have more time on our hands, which will hopefully allow us to get back into the world of club coaching!  We are also excited to get to serve at Grace Baptist with the High school ministry!  We have our first meeting coming up and we are looking forward to investing in the next generation!

We have been able to get involved alot with our BLISS sunday school class at church, and really love being a part of Grace Baptist Church. God is good, and we are blessed to be surrounded by a wonderful church family.

I am trying to stretch myself in my reading by taking on Mere Christianity.  It is a book that I have always wanted to read but I have to think through it as I read it, which can be difficult at times.  I will have to post about the thoughts it gives me as I work my way through it.

End of summer...

So summer is officially coming to an end.  Nick has already started back at Golden Valley teaching Algebra and CASHEE math.  I can't believe he is beginning his 5th year teaching!  Wow, time sure seems to fly by!  I am getting ready to start my 3rd year at Magnolia Science Academy on Sep. 1st.  I get to change some of my focus this year to leadership within my department which is exciting, especially because I have more time to do it now that I am done with BTSA and my masters!!

This summer was wonderful being in our home, traveling with family and friends and working on house projects.  Nick was a busy guys painting the fence, painting the kitchen cabinets, working on the landscaping!  We got to stay involved with our BLISS class at church and had a fun progressive dinner to end the summer, as well as a family picnic next week!

Things to look forward to is my (Brickner) family reunion this weekend!  There are so many people in my family I have not see in months!  I look forward to sitting down and hanging out with individuals and catching up on their lives!!

Other than that I am trying to enjoy my last days before school starts again.  The year will soon be busy with grading and lesson planning, so until then I am soaking up my relaxation time:)

Trips!

Tomorrow we leave for Santa Cruz to celebrate our 3 year anniversary!  I can't believe it has been 3 years since I married the love of my life!  Nick is the most amazing man I know, and God blessed me big time when he brought Nick into my life!  We have never been to Santa Cruz so it will be fun to travel around and check out the city!!  On Friday there is lots going on in preparation for the wedding of Lindsay and Randy! Woo hoo that it has finally arrived!!  I am so excited for my friend to take this next step in her life!  After the wedding on Saturday Nick and I had to Bass Lake for the annual family vacation!  I am ready for a week of lounging around a dock on a raft with a book in my hand!  It is a great time of relaxation and fellowship, and we are looking forward to going after we missed it last year when we were in India!  As for the house update.....we have been BUSY!!  Right now our kitchen is ground zero, but all the tile backsplash has been taken off and dry walled over, and the cabinets have been primed!  When we get home from Bass Lake it will be time to paint!  I will post pictures of the finished product on the blog!  For now I will leave you with a few pictures of previous Bass Lake trips to get in the mood for the next week of awesomeness!

Summer!

So thankful that summer has now officially begun!!  A camping trip to June Lake/Mammoth with the family was the perfect way to kick off summer break!  Nick got to fish with the boys, we had great fellowship, and Kookka got to be wilderness dog for a day!  It is so nice to have a break from the busyness that comes throughout the school year!
Our summer to do list includes:
1. Office project, building a storage closet, cleaning up the office and decorating it some!
2. landscaping the backyard and part of the side yard!
3. painting kitchen cabinets, scraping teapot wall paper!
4. Nick building a front gate from scratch!
5. Lindsay and Randy's wedding and our 3 year wedding anniversary in Santa Cruz!
6. Annual Bass Lake family vacation!
7. Camping with Andrea and Brian Underwood our new friends and neighbors!
It is going to be one busy summer vacation, but let me just tell you about the blog I stumbled upon, thanks to my good friend Colleen!!  http://www.younghouselove.com/  Is amazing!!  This young couple gives you tips about how to completely DIY to your house at an amazing low cost, and with the latest fashions!  I am in love, and so excited to take some of their ideas and apply them to my own home this summer!

My class

So proud of my kids at school.  We began raising money for an organization called Smile Train, which does celft surgeries for children all around the world.  Each surgery cost $250.  The goal was for my class to raise $25 to help go for the surgery.  Well after discussing and encouraging my students they showed up the next day with $50!!  They wanted to continue raising the bar on themselves and by the end as a class we had raised $250, which was enough for one whole surgery!!!  Wow!!  I was so inspired and amazed at my kids!!  When I told my mom, she and my dad were so impressed they wanted to help sponsor a party for my students.  We celebrated at school today with In N Out burgers, fries and cake that one of the students' brought in!
How awesome it was to see 12 year olds excited to raise money to give back to others.  What a great example of giving everything you have to help someone else.

back to the blogging world!

It has been a long time! I am missing blogging, although I didn't blog very often. I think I would like to try again! I spent some time customizing our page and changing pictures and settings around. The picture I chose for our main picture is of us in India. My heart misses India and the people we met there. God is doing such an amazing work there, it was so awesome to see His kingdom being built!

On a side note, I am incredibly thankful this school year is coming to an end. Ever since India Nick and I have not had a moments rest! We have been so busy with family stuff, our masters, teaching, buying a house, adjusting to a new city to live in, finding a home church. It feels like the list goes on and on! Needless to say we are very excited that summer break is just around the corner, only 2 weeks for nick, and about 5 for me. We have family camping trips, friend camping trips and a wedding (yea lindsay and randy) this summer, not to mention catching up on some much needed rest!

I am going to throw in a picture of Nick and I from our recent masters graduation! Praise the Lord we are finished (well almost, nick will be done in a few weeks). We are so thankful to have that extra schooling, and so ready to be done with it!

Lastly, I changed the description of our blog to simply Love. When I think about who God is and what he asks of His people, love comes to mind. "

The greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second is to love your brother." Mark 22:37-40

When I think about that word, and the struggles and circumstances I go through on a daily basis, I can often times narrow it down to how am I doing at loving God and loving those around me? Am I love my husband by the way I treat him, and support him? Am I loving my students by being patient and caring? Am I loving my God and Savior and starting my day with Him, my Beloved?