In exactly 36 days, Christopher and I will be on the road heading towards this cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's got a wrap around porch, guys. In the mountains. With a hot tub outside. Excited is an understatement, people. The countdown has BEGUN.
I can't believe that we're entering the fifth week of school! Work has been pretty good so far. The kids are adorable and so smart, I really believe that it's going to be a great school year.I think 4 year olds are my favorite age group so far. They're still young enough to call them "honeybunch & sweetie pie" but too old for things like Dora and 10 piece puzzles. If that makes any sense...
I used to be obsessed with American Idol. I watched every season, cringed throughout each "Hollywood Week" and lived for the extravagant finale. I stopped watching when Paula & Simon left the show and they started to recruit people like Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. I'm sorry but JLo belongs on the block & Steven...just no. Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks are some of my favorites from past seasons. They're all such powerhouses with very distinct music styles. One of the seasons that I didn't watch a man named Phillip Phillips won. I remember hearing about it and just thinking, "Weird name." Eventually, I heard his single "Home" and fell in love. It was so catchy and so very different from any other Idol winner. His sound is kind of folksy/blues-y/soft rock. I bought his cd and was not disappointed in the least. I honestly love every track and it stayed in my car for a solid two months. But, no matter how many times I listened to the cd his single "Home" continued to be my favorite. (bear with me, I'm getting to the point, I promise.)
I left my job of three years this past May to start a new adventure somewhere else. At the time, I had planned on working there throughout the fall as well as in the summer. However, the plans for the fall fell through and I was left job hunting again for the fall. My previous employer graciously took me back, and I start this Wednesday. To be quite honest, this past few weeks have been very emotional and hard for me. I felt like I took a step forward only to take five steps back. Slowly, but surely I'm coming to terms with everything. As some of you may know, Chris and I are in the midst of starting a charity for children overseas. It's time-consuming and a lot of hard work. Trying to balance that, his school, both of our full-time jobs and managing a somewhat normal household is proving to be hard. But, it's what we signed up for. We're not there yet, but you can be dang sure that we're on our way. And, while we're in this season of our life I'm so incredibly grateful to have my family and friends rooting for us.
(Here's the point!)
All that to say the song "Home" means so much to me right now. Consider it our theme song to each other in this season of our life. Part of my birthday gift from Chris were tickets to the John Mayer/Phillip Phillips concert. (We really just went for Phillip) He put on such an amaaazing show. He has such heart & passion when he performs. He saved "Home" for last and I am not ashamed to tell you that I cried throughout the entire song. Happy tears. Hopeful tears. It was such a special moment, I can't even begin to explain it. If you're going through a tough time right now, I promise it will get better. It's for a season, and most likely for a reason. Beauty & growth will come from it.
I recently made an interesting discovery. I am 10 times more likely to write if I have a cheap blue pen & a legal pad. Weird, right? I won't question it. Since my little discovery, I've had breakthroughs in my life.
I just recently finished writing my resignation letter to my employer. Even though I won't be handing it in for another month or so, it still felt so good to put pen to paper and finally just do it.I've been working at my job for exactly three years this month. I've been in three different classrooms and I've seen a lot of kids come and go. I've been wanting to find a new job for a while now but the timing was never right. The timing literally just became "right" on Monday. I'll share more about my new job situation another day. It's all still very fresh and I don't want to put the cart before the horse.
I created a bucket list! It's been something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, and just never got around to doing. Let me tell you, half the fun is writing it!
:Just a fair warning, half of these involve England:
Visit London.
Go to Buckingham Palace.
Take a picture with a Royal Guard.
Make the guard smile.
Visit Israel.
Get baptized in the Jordan River.
Learn how to ride a bike.
Hike Appalachian Mountains.
Go White Water Rafting.
Go to a Yankee-Red Sox game.
Own a red Jeep Wrangler.
Have children.
Sell one of my craft creations.
Go to the Grand Canyon.
Go to Niagara Falls.
See Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway.
Have a meal on an airplane.
Ice skate in Rockefeller Center.
Go to a taping of The Jimmy Fallon Show.
Have a garden.
Visit Big Ben.
Go to the Florida Keys.
Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
Swim with dolphins.
Watch the horses run at Chincoteague.
Try all of the Baskin Robbins flavors.
Hold a baby kangaroo.
Sew/crochet a baby blanket.
Meet Derek Jeter.
Have a "signature" dish.
Go to the Galapagos Islands.
See the remains of the Titanic.
Find the lost city of Atlantis.
Have a Great Gatsby themed party/
Go on an archaeological dig.
Go to the Olympics.
Go to an NFL game.
Take a tour of 30 Rock.
Visit a castle in Europe.
Be kissed underneath the Eiffel Tower.
Ride a double decker bus in England.
Visit the Coke factory/museum.
Visit Graceland.
Visit the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Go underground at Disney.
Learn calligraphy.
Draw water from a well.
Be apart of a flash mob.
Be my own boss.
Visit Africa.
"And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run that reads it." -Habakkuk 2:2
Chris & I have been seriously talking about a dream of ours recently. It's called Love Loud and I'm really excited to share it with the world soon. :) It's so healthy to write with pen and paper. Sometimes, typing on a keyboard just doesn't cut it for me.
Chris and I recently started leading the middle school youth group on Fridays at our church. I've got to be honest, the first night was really overwhelming. It's been awhile since we've dealt with that age group. At our previous church, we had about 5 kids in our group. Now, we have about 14. Thaaat's a big difference. All of the sudden, I found myself trying to remember what was "cool" when I was in Middle School. Roller skating, Instant Messenger, and gel pens. Yeeeah, ALOT has changed. It's been really fun though. It's nice to see how excited they get over the possibility of going to events like Acquire the Fire & WinterJam. Because, I can so clearly remember being in Youth Group and awaiting the van rides to outreaches & youth retreats. It's kind of surreal, to be honest that we're the "adults" now.
2013 has proved to be a great year so far-and it's not yet February! After nearly a year of job searching, Chris landed a new full-time job. It's much more stable, close to home and just b e t t e r. I am so proud of him for diligently applying to jobs day after day, week after week and month after month. With little to no complaining, might I add. He's such a great provider and rock for our little family. I look forward to see what the rest of this year holds. Aren't you?
Blogging is really not my forte. I love reading other people's blogs and reading in general. But, I just don't think that I am "good" at writing or "blogging." I write how I think, and a lot of the time I feel like I don't make sense. Ohhh well...
For the longest time, I struggled with finding my "place" as a person. Whether it by by the style of my clothes, the way I talk, the music that I listen to, the people I surround myself with. Am I a cool kid? Am I a loser? Am I the quiet girl? Am I the loud girl? WHO AM I? I found my answer today. I am Katie Ackerman. Plain & simple. I like Mumford & Sons AND Justin Timberlake. I watch American Idol AND Downton Abbey. I read Harry Potter AND Thoreau. No label can define me. I hate that it took me 23 years to realize this.
That being said, 2013 is going to be a big year for me. I've set some big goals for myself and I am confident that I will achieve them.
Simply, Kate
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Forgiving is so hard to do sometimes.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
My husband and I went to Williamsburg for our one year anniversary a couple of weeks ago. Let me tell you, it was just what we needed. It's so healthy to just "get away" from everything for a couple of days. We had so much fun and I am already daydreaming about the next time we can get away together for a couple of days. Until then, I'll just look at our pictures and pretend we're still there...
