There's quite a few exciting things happening!!

Yes, I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while, but I really have a great excuse! Remember how we were in the process of purchasing our first home? Well, here it is!

We closed on this charming, 1937 country home on Thursday, May 5^th. We were beside ourselves with joy and this overwhelming feeling of being blessed. The house is 30 minutes from the rental home, yet closer to everything important! Moving is quite a process… especially when you had things stored at your parents’ home on top of all that needed to be moved from our rental house (oh, and let’s not forget packing up my classroom!). The house and moving process would not have been possible without our family! God is so good!

So we closed on the house May 5^th and guess what blessing we received on May 6^th? The gift of expecting a baby! Yay! Again, joy flooded our hearts as we were able to share this news with family in our new home. How perfect… more to come on how we shared the news later! Here is a photo of our sweet baby at 13 weeks and one of me at 17 weeks. We are now almost 19 weeks along and can’t wait to meet our little boy (yes, a boy!) in January!

While in the midst of organizing things in our new home and feeling giddy over the fact that there’s a baby growing in me, we have been busy with Taflan Pictures as well. Meeting clients, shooting weddings, maternity sessions, and senior sessions have kept us (especially Matt) constantly at the computer editing after a day of work. We have also tackled a couple projects around the house and are in the middle of a couple more! We finished the chicken coop and all it needs is a coat of paint, the washer and dryer have been set up and operating in the laundry room in the shed, and we are in the middle of building custom desks for our little office. We also have a new front door sitting in the dining room waiting to be put on, and should I even mention what the future nursery looks like? It’s shocking…yikes!

Those are just a few of the things keeping us Taflans busy. It’s crazy to look back to May and see all that has taken place since then in just a few short months. We are so thankful and continue walking in faith that God will continue to provide and care for us as He has done so faithfully in the past.

6th Grade Social Studies

I am happy to say that I subbed two days in a row and loved every minute of it! It was for a 6th grade social studies class, and while I was hesitant at first to be with middle schoolers all day, I have to say that I truly enjoyed it. The school was awesome and I'd like to sub there again if possible. It was certainly a God-thing that I was able to get the same sub position twice - You see, you have to refresh the internet page literally every minute to look for new postings. Almost as soon as you read about the job, it's taken and you're back to clicking refresh once more. You can wait and see if you're called in the morning, but I'd much rather prefer knowing the night before where I'm headed and what age group to prepare for. For the past two nights while talking to my family on the phone I'd constantly hit the refresh button for jobs. The same job I had Tuesday came up last night and I went back to the same classroom again :) It was great!

Something quite unique happened my first day subbing in that class. During 4th period I was taking attendance when I stumbled across a familiar name. I asked the student the name of her parents, and when she told me I was surprised. Our parents had been friends long ago when my family lived in Florida before. They went to the same church before my parents had kids. I told this girl that we used to get pictures of her when she was real little, and now here she was in this classroom! Crazy :) I know I weirded her out the first day and today she came back saying she remembers going fishing with us.... I don't remember that because I thought we last saw her when she was three... either way it was neat that God placed me in that particular school (out of over 100 in the county) and in that particular 6th grade classroom.

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from subbing and heading over to Seminole county to sign a paper. I received a phone call saying that once I sign this paper then they can hand over my substitute approval letter. Yay! Now I can sub in both counties. I also have to tutor tomorrow afternoon for two hours - then assess a new student that is coming into the tutoring program. I'm going to be at the library from 5-8 tomorrow night. Talk about being there at the worst time... dinner time. Oh well, I'm helping students and making money :)

I need to make about 15 cupcakes for Friday night. It's another Girls' Night Out for those in the Projects, like we do once every month. This time they're actually coming over to our apartment for a belated Valentine's night. We're going to talk about purity and eat a meal together. Our place isn't very large... but we can spread out on the floor I guess. I'm looking forward to it because it's always fun hanging out with these middle and high school girls. They seem to say the funniest things and ask the most random, put-you-on-the-spot questions. If I can ever figure out how to upload pictures, then I'll post one of all of us Friday night. My prayer is that each time we get together, they will see God in a new way and draw closer to Him. Most are not saved and live in unfortunate situations.

Warm cookies and ice cream are waiting for me! I'm going to spend the rest of this evening relaxing with my husband, probably play some Wii games with him, then head to bed for some much needed sleep!