Last year, I made the decision to work on my Master's Degree. Last week, I completed it!! I now hold a Master's of Arts in Teaching. What does this mean? Ummm...not too sure. I know I get a raise!
Actually, I needed to take some course work in education to become fully licensed to teach since I was not an education major in college. It seemed wise to get a Master's Degree to earn my full license instead of just taking random college courses.
I thoroughly enjoyed my year of graduate course work. I learned a lot about education and special education (that was my emphasis area). This has helped me to become more aware of my son's educational needs (Jamie has spina bifida). It has really helped me in fighting for his education and helping him in as many ways as possible. I always thought I would home school and this may still be an option in the future. But Jamie needs to go to school--it is great for him. I could not imagine him growing as much as he has emotionally and socially without attending school. Needless to say, my degree seems to have been more beneficial for me as a mom!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Finding a Church
Finding a new church has never been this difficult until I moved out of the South!! Once I graduated college, I moved to Virginia and found a few great churches. However, I was getting married soon and would be moving to West Virginia. On Sundays, I started driving up to John's house (about an hour away) and we began searching for a church together. We found one we loved! It was a good size, offered a wonderful children's program, sound doctrine, good music, and best of all-a teacher! The pastor did not have loads of energy and was a little monotone, but he taught the Bible. He was honest and was not scared to speak the Truth. This was great. We were excited.
In December, we finally bought our first home together and moved to Berkeley Springs, WV. It is a small town and a wonderful location. However, it is about 50 minutes from the church we loved. We started the journey of looking for a "home" church. There were a total of three Southern Baptist Churches in the area. When we pulled up to one of the churches, we were the THIRD car. This would be okay for just us, but we have a child that needs to fellowship with children. We went to another church and it was so laid back, even the preacher was in jeans. However, we told each other to look past the attire and see how the teaching was. WOW!! As soon as we got in the car, John and I looked at each other and agreed that this was the worst preaching we had ever heard. I cannot remember exactly now what he thought he was preaching on, but we got home and immediately began to look at scripture. We discussed how incorrect the preacher was. Needless to say, that was not the church God was calling us to.
We continued our search and decided to expand our denominations. I had already looked for a Founders church. This was where my heart truly was and where I wanted to be, but the closest Founders church is about two hours away. So, that was a no go. Then I started looking at PCA (Presbyterian Church of America). John was a little sceptical, because he had only been to Southern Baptist Churches; however, in college, I went to a wonderful PCA church. However, there was only one PCA church near us. The church was less than 10 years old. It was still in the process of raising funds for a building. It currently met at my work, Daniel Morgan Middle School. It was wonderful. I truly enjoyed the service. The preacher was an outstanding teacher. The music was not great, but hey, they are in a school! So what was the problem? One--it was about a 40 minute drive. Two--since it was a new church using a school building, they did not offer much after Sundays, especially for children. Three-I never thought the preacher's wife could be as judgmental and negative as she was--and it bothered me.
We sat down and discussed our thoughts. We both agreed that we wanted a HOME church that was close so we could be more involved. We decided to try the United Methodist church that was beside our house. The people were so welcoming and nice. They had a good group of children. The choir was very good. So, what is the problem this time? THE PREACHER NEVER READ A SCRIPTURE!! He only talked for about twenty minutes. When he was done, John looked at me and said, "Is that it?" We were shocked.
Now, here we are still churchless. We finally decided that we needed to move back to the Carolinas to find a great church! Since that is not possible at this moment, we have decided to make the 45-50 minute drive every Sunday to go the first church we loved. It is a nice little drive, but a wonderful church family. The only problem--how involved can we be in a church that is so far away, especially when we pay $4.09 for a gallon of gas?
In December, we finally bought our first home together and moved to Berkeley Springs, WV. It is a small town and a wonderful location. However, it is about 50 minutes from the church we loved. We started the journey of looking for a "home" church. There were a total of three Southern Baptist Churches in the area. When we pulled up to one of the churches, we were the THIRD car. This would be okay for just us, but we have a child that needs to fellowship with children. We went to another church and it was so laid back, even the preacher was in jeans. However, we told each other to look past the attire and see how the teaching was. WOW!! As soon as we got in the car, John and I looked at each other and agreed that this was the worst preaching we had ever heard. I cannot remember exactly now what he thought he was preaching on, but we got home and immediately began to look at scripture. We discussed how incorrect the preacher was. Needless to say, that was not the church God was calling us to.
We continued our search and decided to expand our denominations. I had already looked for a Founders church. This was where my heart truly was and where I wanted to be, but the closest Founders church is about two hours away. So, that was a no go. Then I started looking at PCA (Presbyterian Church of America). John was a little sceptical, because he had only been to Southern Baptist Churches; however, in college, I went to a wonderful PCA church. However, there was only one PCA church near us. The church was less than 10 years old. It was still in the process of raising funds for a building. It currently met at my work, Daniel Morgan Middle School. It was wonderful. I truly enjoyed the service. The preacher was an outstanding teacher. The music was not great, but hey, they are in a school! So what was the problem? One--it was about a 40 minute drive. Two--since it was a new church using a school building, they did not offer much after Sundays, especially for children. Three-I never thought the preacher's wife could be as judgmental and negative as she was--and it bothered me.
We sat down and discussed our thoughts. We both agreed that we wanted a HOME church that was close so we could be more involved. We decided to try the United Methodist church that was beside our house. The people were so welcoming and nice. They had a good group of children. The choir was very good. So, what is the problem this time? THE PREACHER NEVER READ A SCRIPTURE!! He only talked for about twenty minutes. When he was done, John looked at me and said, "Is that it?" We were shocked.
Now, here we are still churchless. We finally decided that we needed to move back to the Carolinas to find a great church! Since that is not possible at this moment, we have decided to make the 45-50 minute drive every Sunday to go the first church we loved. It is a nice little drive, but a wonderful church family. The only problem--how involved can we be in a church that is so far away, especially when we pay $4.09 for a gallon of gas?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
A Blogger's World
While I was in college, I called many of my friends once a week to simply talk. We would discuss what God has done in our lives over the week, what He taught us, where He was sending us, and simply laugh over the past. It was great! I spent hours a week on the phone. Some conversations lasted hours, while others were only 15 minutes. Some people I even talked to for hours every night. I even made phone calls while I was in Thailand! A group of us even planned annual events to keep in touch through the distance. We were close. Some people even received handwritten letters every now and then (do people send regular mail anymore). I loved sending cards!
Slowly, we all evolved to simplying emailing each other. Our lives got busier and it became easier to send a mass email out to everyone at one time. And now, where are we all? Updates are given through Facebook, Myspace, or Blogging. You log onto to Facebook to see a high school buddy changed her status to "Engaged." Or maybe you check a Myspace page to learn that a baby was just born. No longer do we give weekly updates on the phone. Better yet, we do not even do this through emails any longer. Instead, we log onto to our blog and write about it. If you are lucky, you may get an email that says, "Amber has added a new entry. Click here to read more."
With all that said, here I am. A year ago, I tried to keep everyone up-to-date on my life by adding a Myspace page. However, if you have looked at my page lately, I have yet to change anything on it. Oh wait, I do believe I put a new picture up after I got married. In college, I joined Facebook. I do believe I have done well at keeping it up. Some of you may even get messages from me every now and then.
Now today--lucky for you all, I enter the blogger's world. I cannot make any promises, but I am going to try to keep my friends and family up-to-date through the use of the Internet. It is summertime now, so it will be easier for me. Wait until September, I am sure I will forget all about this. Send me a message every now and then to remind me to post something new.
Slowly, we all evolved to simplying emailing each other. Our lives got busier and it became easier to send a mass email out to everyone at one time. And now, where are we all? Updates are given through Facebook, Myspace, or Blogging. You log onto to Facebook to see a high school buddy changed her status to "Engaged." Or maybe you check a Myspace page to learn that a baby was just born. No longer do we give weekly updates on the phone. Better yet, we do not even do this through emails any longer. Instead, we log onto to our blog and write about it. If you are lucky, you may get an email that says, "Amber has added a new entry. Click here to read more."
With all that said, here I am. A year ago, I tried to keep everyone up-to-date on my life by adding a Myspace page. However, if you have looked at my page lately, I have yet to change anything on it. Oh wait, I do believe I put a new picture up after I got married. In college, I joined Facebook. I do believe I have done well at keeping it up. Some of you may even get messages from me every now and then.
Now today--lucky for you all, I enter the blogger's world. I cannot make any promises, but I am going to try to keep my friends and family up-to-date through the use of the Internet. It is summertime now, so it will be easier for me. Wait until September, I am sure I will forget all about this. Send me a message every now and then to remind me to post something new.
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