We have had a miracle in our lives this week :) Yesterday my sister brought my beautiful nephew into the world!

Timothy James Verbick

Born July 5, 2011

at 1:20 p.m.

9 pounds 8 ounces

21 inches long

head: 14.5 inches

chest: 14 inches

Although Shannan was hoping for a normal birth process, she ended up having to do a c-section. For one thing he was 9 pounds 8 ounces and for another... he was breach. So we were able to be in the hospital the whole time the process was taking place. We were all so excited for his arrival! Of course with the ultrasound technology we have today, we were able to tell whose nose he had several months ago, but the rest was a mystery until yesterday :) And the conclusion is (drumroll please)............He looks just like his daddy! (except the nose) the hairline which has been in Mike's family for three generations has now graduated to the fourth. And he is just a bundle of sweetness and love! He is the biggest newborn I have ever seen! As we were watching the nurse take care of him yesterday in the nursery we noticed his massive cheek drooping down onto the bed. What a cutie! I promise we have more pictures, but when I tried to take them on my phone so I could upload them today, Mike insisted we use his camera which of course is much better quality, but that also means no pictures until later :( But I will post as soon as we get them :)

Shannan is doing well. She is really enjoying the morphine and had a blessing yesterday for a swift and smooth recovery. She is going to try and walk today to help the process along. She is a beautiful, strong, positive person! I am so proud of her and feel blessed to call her my sister! And I guess Mike is okaaay. :) They will be amazing parents who will teach Timothy how to be a righteous priesthood holder in Zion, who knows his Heavenly Father loves him and has a testimony of Jesus Christ! We love our little Timothy James Verbick!

Long time no blog

Man oh Man! It sure feels like it has been a lifetime since we found little Beyonce in Crowley.. Its crazy how time flies!! Since then we have put our house on the market and actually we now have a person interested, she just has to see if she can get a loan. So please pray for us to sell that house!!! It would make life sooooooo much better to have that off our backs.

Lets see what else has happened....

My choir has had a successful year :) With our glee-like homecoming performance! Our fun-filled Christmas Extravaganza and the Magical Beauty and the Beast! Man oh man was it hard! So many times I decided I would not be teaching at Leesville next year! So many times I just wanted to quit right then and there. But we made it! The kids were AMAZING and it was a super success!!! And now it feels so good to have it all behind us :)

In the baby-making realm, we had an HSG done in October and because of the results of that, were told that IVF was our only route to have a baby. Daniel and I didn't really believe it, but when we went to the specialist in Lafayette he kinda told us the same thing although he said in order to be sure he would have to do a laparoscopy to see what was up. Then he wanted us to pay 5000 smakaroos so we said no thank you.
Then we went to Dr. Grunert in Houston and he has been so so so awesome!! We had the surgery done and then he showed us pictures (eeewwwwwwwww) lol and it looks like the only problem is that I am not ovulating. And he says that is easy to fix! So we are beginning a clomed regimen in a couple of days and hopefully that works :)Pray for that too!!! :)

Daniel graduates in a YEAR!!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!! Still don't know where we are going but I am sure it will be fun wherever we go :)

That is pretty much all the important stuff from us. Can't wait for summer break!! :)
Oh, I almost forgot! Daniel got me a HUGE towel for Mother's Day so when we visit Raul and Kelly I can use it to lay in the sun! Can't wait!!!

Beyonce comes to town :)

the other night Daniel and I were making one of our frequent late-night runs to Wal-Mart and on the way there we found this...

This thing was massive!!! And She was in the road, infact we almost ran over her. So we picked her up and were going to put her in this field by our house, but on the way to the field she decided to relieve herself all over Daniel!!!! Pretty disgusting. So then we needed to go home and let Daniel shower and change. In the meantime we put this beast in one of our extra aquariums from snakes. That's when we began trying to think of names for the beast..Daniel's first impression was Machomp from Mario, and we both liked it, but it didn't really fit. Then we thought maybe Hercules because she was so strong..but she was a girl..so we had to keep thinking...
As Daniel was getting cleaned up we both decided it wouldn't be good to put her so close to the road so we contemplated where we should put her so she would have enough room..(we think she might have been trying to lay eggs) and then Daniel remembered a place I told him about when I found a shortcut from one of my schools to another. It has this crazy pontoon bridge.Its a bridge that floats on the water and when you drive onto it, its like you are driving right on the water!..There is this pretty large bayou over there, so we decided that would, in fact, be the best place.
On our way to the bridge we noticed some marks on the back of her shell..It looked like she came into contact with either a large alligator or boat or something that kinda messed up the top center part, but it had healed and she was doing just fine and she sure was FIESTY!!! Man oh man she was trying to chomp Daniel all over the place!! he started singing, "She's a survivor. She's not gon' give up, etc....." Then, at the same time Daniel and I both said we had the perfect name!!!..Beyonce!!! And so the beast became known as Beyonce the turtle until we arrived at our desination.Then we had to say, "goodbye Beyonce. Have fun in turtle paradise." Daniel put her down on the bankAnd Beyonce ran away as fast as she could..gracefully getting caught on a couple of logs in her haste lol

SUMMER!!!!!!

I LOVE summer time!! Time seems to slow down and Life seems simpler. Its also nice not having to deal with crazy kids all day every day :) This summer is pretty busy but we are REALLY hoping to go to AZ like July 10 through the 19th. We were pretty sure it was gonna happen until we had to drop like 700 bucks for 4 brand new tires. Oh the joys of owning an SUV...I actually love it, but not the expensive tires part. Last week and this week we are trying to finish up the remodel of our house so we can put it up on the market. it is slow going. especially with the crown molding!!! I officially despise crown molding! lol IF we ever buy a house that needs remodeling again (which will not happen) we will make sure that we have the money for professionals to come in and take care of EVERYTHING before we even move in so there will be no remodeling while we live there. Plain and simple.

Other things happening this summer...My brother is getting married July 1st and we are all looking forward to that. He and his fiance Felicia are very happy and super cute together :) We are all going to Houston for the wedding so hopefully we will be able to pop by a Fiesta Mart and pick up some delicious Mexican food!! LOVE IT! Then most of July I have flagline camp. You see, I was stupid this year and said okay to being flagline sponsor at our high school! WOW! How many times to I have to fill my plate way Way WAY overflowing before I will learn to say NO!? Oh well. Hopefully I can whip them into shape so that next year someone can take over a great team that is self sustaining. :)

Changing the subject, Church was really awesome today! Our testimony meeting was so spiritual! We had two babies blessed and many wonderful testimonies borne. It has been a while since I felt the spirit giving me personal instruction. Plus the young women were bearing their testimonies about girl's camp last week because the bishop challenged them to. These young women are truly remarkable! They are so stalwart and so close to the spirit. I know what the leaders mean when they talk about the rising generation. They truly get better and better. That meeting was just what the (spiritual) doctor ordered. Then in Sunday School we talked about Samuel and how we all NEED to work to know what God's will is for us and we need to work to achieve His will for us. Very Powerful. And the Relief Society lesson was based off of Julie B. Beck's talk "Mother's who Know" I really enjoy Sister Beck's talks and this is one of my favorites. I ALWAYS feel thoroughly humbled yet uplifted after reading it and I want to be better.

I know I concentrate on the subject of infertility a lot, but it plagues me almost everyday. I have found on some days my testimony wavers because I think, "Haven't I done what I am supposed to do? I was a righteous young woman who found a wonderful priesthood holder to be sealed to for eternity. I got my education and am now inspiring young minds to be productive citizens....Where is my blessing of children?...Is it not a righteous desire? What else do I need to do to prove my worth?...... Buts its not about worth is it?

Recently, I was studying the barren women of the scriptures. Mainly Hannah, Elizabeth, and Sariah. All three of them were amazing women. Faithful and stalwart and dealing with infertility MUCH longer than I have. It doesn't say they were mad at God. No, in fact Hannah goes to the temple often and prays fervently and meekly. And from these women came mighty men of God! They each had GREAT work to do. Now I am definitely not saying Daniel and I might have a prophet waiting for us in the pre mortal existence....not anything even remotely like that, but I am saying I will strive to be more like Hannah and Elizabeth and Sariah of the bible. They were incredible women who were barren for a LONG time. But did they feel sorry for themselves? Probably not. Did they pout and think that God was giving them unjust punishment? I seriously doubt it. If I want to be a faithful daughter of God, I will look forward with faith, hope, and charity.

Wow it has been a VERY long time since I have posted! Time flies by so stinkin' fast I can't keep up! Heavenly Father is just blessing us so much I don't know where to begin...We are kind of established in Leesville now. My Mom's house is MUCHO cleaner because we all worked so hard before the wedding. My sister is now married and is Mrs. Michael Verbick. She is super happy. And I am so happy for them. Daniel is really doing well in school. He is so amazing! I know I will never be able to thank my Heavenly Father enough for the awesome husband he sent to me! I know eventually he will be an excellent father :) I think we make a great team!
I am also super grateful for the time we got to spend in Alabama with Raul and Kelly! You guys are so wonderful. We always have a great time with y'all :)

General conference was amazing! The people we got to watch it with were also amazing lol. Before the Sunday morning conference started the guys were watching some talks from the priesthood session and we watched Pres. Uchtdorf's talk. Oh my goodness..if you are having trouble waiting for something that is the talk to listen to! I am grateful he was inspired to give that talk because sometimes I get really frustrated with God...I see several pregnant high school girl's everyday. I see many abused teenagers come into my classroom. I see all kinds of things and wonder why myself and some of my dearest friends are not blessed to be mothers (yet). I mean what is the hold-up! But that talk has humbled me and brought my eternal perspective back. He says, "Patience, the ability to put our desires on hold for a time. is a precious and rare virtue. We want what we want and we want it now. Therefore the very idea of patience may seem unpleasant and at times bitter." We must have patience and know Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. In order to be perfect we must align our will to his and growing closer to God brings happiness. "Patience deepens happiness."

" Patience is not passive resignation...patience means actively waiting and enduring...not simply enduring, it is enduring well." I know patience is something I need to work on and I am grateful for the opportunity to work on it. I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ who has made it possible for me to repent and improve. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who gave me the best man in the whole world to be sealed to eternally. I know growing together with Daniel and working on our eternal marriage has brought me closer to God and I try very hard to improve myself to be the best wife possible!!!

Just found this little video, love the interpretation.

How to discourage discouragement

Here's a little something we found on LDS.org. Its awesome! Good for the soul. Watch it and maybe comment with your reaction :)

Hello LHS!

Say hello to the new choir teacher at Leesville High School!! WOo HOO! It all happened so fast. The Thursday before Thanksgiving I found out that the old choir director was leaving. The nest day I put in my application. We had vacation the next week so nothing happened with that, but then I called Mrs. Davis the next Thursday and we scheduled an interview for Monday...I found out this last Tuesday that I got the JOB!!!! I never thought in a million years this position would come open! It is really crazy the way life works. We were just starting to settle downs and get comfortable when along comes this opportunity to blow us in a new direction.

The best part of this whole thing is this now gives Daniel the opportunity to go back to school at a school that cares and he knows he can succeed there. So awesome! I am excited for him...and for my new kids! We are going to have a blast! Although I know it will be hard. Especially the first couple of years, but I am ready and willing and Daniel is too! Yay

Our weekend

This weekend was pretty awesome! Felicia came over and we finally got to go shoot these guns of ours. My 40 cal is pretty powerful...I LIKE IT! lol but actually I think right now I prefer my brother's 9mm. Smoother shot. But I think I could get used to mine. :) Then yesterday we decided to stop by the Frog Festival in Rayne. It was pretty lame. But we got some excellent jambalaya from one of the booths. Very YUMMY! And Daniel went on his first ferris wheel ride in his whole life! LoL. He was kind of freaking out and has now decided that he is afraid of heights.

And then today we went to church in our new branch in Jennings! That is really the highlight of the weekend! I love that little branch! All of us already feel totally at home! It is sad that we have been missing this for w whole year! See, We have kind of been in Limbo the last year (ever since we moved to Crowley). Because we thought we were in the Jennings Branch boundaries, but our Bishop in Lafayette ward told us not to worry about it. Its all good though. Now we have found where Heavenly Father wants us :) So awesome!

Happy Veteran's Day

YAY for Veterans. I am so grateful to all the vets who have fought and are fighting for America. And especially to my awesome husband who served honorably and continues to live as a righteous man in Zion. I LOVE you Daniel!!!

Also YAY for Baby Zoey!!! She is so precious and little! I wish we could be there with Crystal and Kevin, but alas we are too far away :( I hope and pray that all continues to go well with you guys. :)

And today my students performed a veteran's day program for one of the Elementary schools. It was very successful and I think even the littlest children were at least touched by the music. It was great and I am SOOOOOOoooooo glad its over. So all in all it has been a wonderful week so far. Now we get to start on Christmas music, and I have decided that since we have been working so hard thus far, instead if having a Christmas performance per say, we are going....CAROLING! Woo Hoo. I am even going to look up some of the addresses of the school board members and carol them YAY. Super fun.

Wow it has been a while. Well how is life? Let me see... I think I have finally gotten into the groove of teaching this year. I am actually kind of enjoying it. And I think Daniel is feeling better since he quit school. He has less pressure on him, but now he wants to go back....I promise that man is more fickle than most women!! Anyway, whatever he does I am supporting...although my preference is for him to finish school and that way I can stay home with our future babies. Which brings me to another topic. I normally don't complain because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us, and I really try to see the good in all situations, but right now I am just frustrated because I feel like Daniel and I are pretty righteous. I mean really we are average, and I know we can be much better. But why can't we just be able to have kids!!??? Why do I have to have stupid problems with hormones and fatness?! Why do I like food so much! Its really frustrating...

Stupid teenagers who don't know what they are doing and other people who don't even want their kids are having babies all over the place@!

But then I remember all of my friends and family who have problems and I think how much they are hurting. What right do I have to complain. Plus, like if we would have already had babies, we wouldn't have had this time to grow together and grow up. So I know its all good. I just find it a little hard to enjoy church sometimes because most women either have kids or are pregnant there. And i feel like I am less of a woman sometimes because I can't do the one thing that is the catch all purpose of women...to be a mother. Also all of my extra facial hair doesn't help. lol well anyways

Other than these negative feelings which don't really arise very often, we are doing well. Daniel really is the cutest man on the planet! He is very supportive and I just noticed that when I get home he changes into this super excited man who is just happy with life. That makes me feel like I am at least doing something right :) Well good night.


P.S. Where is the baby Zoey we are all so anxiously awaiting? Zoey? Zooooeeeyyyy...

Pics

We have some crazy bruising on our bodies! It is nuts how our bodies can change to such different dark colors, but that is not what I am posting pics of. I don't want to show off this fat belly to anyone except Daniel. :) I am posting pics of our car. We went to go get everything out of her today. REAL SAD :'(. Yes I HATE shopping for cars. I never know what I really want. Daniel says he wants a camaro. lol. YEAH RIGHT!!! I kind of want some sort of SUV thing or something bigger, but still get good gas mileage, or maybe a prius.... I don't know! Anyways here are the pics of our beautiful car (taken by my phone).

Prayer

On our way home from Lafayette yesterday, we rear ended a stopped vehicle while we had been going approx. 70 mph. We are fine, my brother was discharged last night from the ER and Daniel and I didn't even need to get checked out. The other people are also okay. We KNOW that we were protected by God. (Especially since we were in the Corolla and we caused SOOO much devastation without really even being touched.)

But our car is totally destroyed. And the truck we hit had a trailer on the back of it that had a motorcycle and a tractor on it.(And all of it is totaled.) Of course we rear ended them so it is our fault and we are not sure what is going to happen money wise. Please pray for us that everything will work out.

London part one

I know! I Know. I haven't posted in a LONG time...sorry all of you who have been waiting patiently :) So much has been going on. So anyway. We went to London and had a phenomenal time there. It was absolutely stunning and I would love to go back and spend more time there. But I think my sister is planning on going to Hawaii next summer and we are supposed to be going...so...well anyways. I took a TON of pictures and have been trying to choose the best ones to post. Here are a few from our first day.

This was a very typical sight there. Very many houses had this kind of detail.

On our bus ride to the hotel we saw a little boy on his way to school. He was SOO adorable!

This was a Methodist church that was right next to our hotel. It was absolutely stunning.
Everything was Super detailed...including the sidewalk!
There were flowers everywhere! These were outside of the mall. It reminded me of My Fair Lady :)
Here is the pub we ate lunch at. So gorgeous.
This was our Tour Director. Her name was Sharon and she is from an island in the Caribbean.
More flowers. They loves to put them on balconies and window boxes. It was really charming.
As we were walking to the restaurant for dinner, we came across a random lighted wall. Very peculiar, and cool for pics. This is my student Mary Kate and some girls from California.

This is Danielle (a parent) as we were walking to Trafalgar Square. She has a famous double decker bus behind her.
I thought this was cool. It was a restaurant with a random bathtub out front and yes it had water in it.
We got to see Rudyard Kipling's house on our way to Trafalgar Square.

This was a pretty popular chain restaurant. I liked the name.

The next three pictures were taken at Trafalgar square. Although I have many more I am going to put those in another post with more detail about them. The first one is George Washington, second is Big Ben (from a distance) and the third is a couple of random British guys hanging out in the square. lol

yes...it happened again. Sigh

THis little one was found in our driveway half starving, flea ridden and scared. So we are giving her a new home...actually we are not sure if she is a girl, but whatever. Anyway, we can't think of a name. post one if you can. (No, I'm not really that happy about another animal, but what can you do? Shelters kill cats like this everyday.)

London meeting

Last night I had a final meeting with all my peeps that are going to London. This is gonna be SOOOO fun! I have been looking at our itinerary and there is a day of free time so I was thinking maybe we could go as a group to Paris! That would just be the cherry on top! The people I am going with are really awesome! I know we are all going to have a blast. On top of that, one of my parents was telling me about her sister who is older but just found out after 5 years that she is getting a baby from China! A precious little girl! Her name is Wei' An which will be her middle name when she gets here. But she has the cutest little chubby cheeks and big brown eyes! I am so excited for them (even though I don't know them) Anyway, that parent gave me her number because she did a lot of research about adoption agencies and stuff. I would be totally happy with an American baby and it would be a lot cheaper. Well, maybe not a lot...She said the whole thing is costing her sister $17,000. So actually that's not that bad. Anyway, I got really excited about that as well and then came home and Daniel wanted a haricut! I really don't like giving Daniel haircuts because I feel I never do a good job and I like him to be cute! lol. But I gave him one anyways and it is WAAY shorter than what I normally do. It looks like he is in the army again! Oh well... at least his hair grows fast!

This is really good. You should watch it!

This is an arrangement by Jon Schmidt. He's the guy that wrote mine and Daniel's song.

Our kitchen cabinets are coming in in two days! FINALLY! We are almost finished with demolition, but are trying to keep some sort of order while we have to live with it. So that is really cool.

But something even cooler is that my best friend's little brother, Ryan, just got back from his mission today! It was really exciting! And he cried...so cute. We all went to the airport and helped his mom blow up balloons, and his brother-in-law, David made this awesome banner. Afterwards we went to eat at Ryan's in Alexandria and had a good time. That was when Theresa, Sandy's older sister said I needed to blog more. So here I am blogging. lol :)

Mainly the thing I have been doing the most since school let out is laundry. I don't know how two people create so much of it. Insane! I know I should throw some clothes out, but I love all of it so I will just have to deal with doing TONS of laundry. Shannan and I have also been watching Britain's got talent on Youtube. Our favorite was the dancing group "Diversity" They are really awesome! And we also found this funny guy called Dave Days. He does some pretty funny stuff. We have also discovered some new mangoes at the store that are very yummy. They are not the normal ones, but smaller and yellow. Oh my ghoodness they melt in your mouth and are super juicy and delish! So anyway, that's what's been going on with these Curiel's. I have also taken lots f pics of our kitchen which you will see when the transformation is complete!

Happy Last Day of School!

Whew! Got through another year. I hope next year isn't quite so hectic. But the summer is here now and I don't have to think about work AT ALL! Soo wonderful. Shannan has come over and we are having fun exercising and eating healthy. Its always better when you have someone doing it with you. We have pics of some stuff that I will post later. And yes Kelly, I am taking my medicine again. Its not fun, but I know its good for me. well see y'all later

Another play..I know...I'm crazy

So...my friend Patty and I are co-directing a teen mystery dinner theater play. We will be having rehearsals most Sundays throughout the summer. I think the cast is a bunch of very good kids, so it should be fun. So now we are doing a new kitchen, finishing the rest of the house, visiting Raul and Kelly lots, going to London, going to see Wicked, planning for nest year, and doing a play! What am I thinking! Well.. it will all work out :)
Now on to happier topics, tomorrow is the last day of school! Woo HOO!! But I still have lots to do and get it done before 1 o'clock tomorrow. whew. It will be crazy and fun and relieving. So that's that.