But the greatest of these is LOVE

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! I hope each one of you feel loved today, and that you each share some love. :) I felt love today from a stranger - they let me into traffic. So I decided to share the love and do the same for another vehicle later down the line. Which is a big deal to me, especially when there is a lot of traffic. :) (One day, I'll get patience down when it comes to traffic.) I'm a firm believer that we don't NEED a particular day in order to express our feelings. We shouldn't take our love for someone for granted. We definitely should be expressing how much our friends, family, and/or significant others mean to us from time to time. But I'm also not against a day that is specially set aside to tell people that you love them. I am looking forward in spending quality time tonight with my husband. - No distractions, no school work (all books left in my office!). We will be doing one of our favorite things together - cooking and eating! :D Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo is on our menu tonight with a Chocolate Fondue for dessert! Jealous? You should be. ;) How are you spending Valentine's Day today? Or sharing the love?

AFRICA update: I almost have all my funding for the mission trip! It's been amazing watching God work. I am SO thankful for the support of my family and friends for my mission trip. I have also become very emotional each time I open up a letter. God is definitely working on my heart. I have submitted my application for my passport, and I am currently waiting the 4-6 week period for my passport to arrive in the mail. Submitting my application went very quickly. In fact, I think it took me longer to ride the elevator than to review and submit the paper work. Also, next week will be my first team training meeting. I'm really excited about starting the trainings!

HOUSE update: My husband and I have looked at houses twice now - a total of 7 houses. There is a forerunner out of the 7, and I REALLY like the house. In fact, we are going see the house once more on Tuesday. Our current position is praying for direction on wither we should put a bid on the house, or wait for more houses to come onto the market. We've got our reasons for both choices.

I'm hoping to post more blogs in the future, that are not just about updates. (More like some of my older posts) But school has really gotten me bogged down this semester.

Keep living in love!
-Miche

Taking It Easy

As you can see in the picture, Travis and I took a small cruise vacation this past weekend to Cozumel. We had a great time taking it easy and relaxing. This was our late anniversary celebration. In short, we lounged by the pool, ate to our hearts content, took advantage of 24 hr frozen yogurt machines, enjoyed some entertainment on the ship, and enjoyed the presence of another couple that joined us for vacation. Check my facebook if you want to look at more pics. I love playing tourists!

SEMESTER update: Since my last post, I've picked up another class. Yep, another class. I am REALLY at my max this semester. Here's my break down: 1 lecture, 4 electronic, 3 online, and managing the tutoring lab. I am being very challenged this semester. I've quickly learned to be flexible this semester. You have to be when trying to teach in a computer lab and the computers/internet go down and the copy machine is broken all in the same class period. I now have a plan b and am currently working on a plan c. But I won't go much more into detail with my classes. Hate to bored all my readers out there. :) I'm very thankful that God has blessed me with the gift of teaching and a job that I love! I know that all these extra classes are only for a season, but I'm so thankful for God in providing the extra income to put towards student loans.

AFRICA update: I have taken all of my shots needed for the trip, although I'm not complete done with shots. I will be following up on the Hepatitis A shot in 6 months to complete the series. My doctor was also kind enough to prescribe a few meds in case I get nauseated or diarrhea. Better safe than sorry! I am very thankful that my doc is looking out for me, because I didn't even think of something like that. This week I will be applying for my passport. Prayer Request: God please let the process be smooth and quick. I will be cutting it close with the time issue. Thank you to all my supporters out there who are following along. :D

HOUSE update: Travis and I met with our relaters, whom are sisters. The meeting went very well, and I feel very comfortable with them. We were able to get to know each other a little bit, and narrow down our search for a house. This Saturday, our relaters have lined up 6 houses for us to see. I'm pretty excited, since this will be the first time we will be looking at houses - in person! We may find THE house or we might not. Either way, I'm looking at this experience as a win win situation. Why? Because I will learn more about what type of house I want to live in.

Until my next update...
Keep living in love,
-Miche

Spring Semester 2011

First, Happy Martin Luther King day!

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” -MLK.

I used to not really care about this particular day. I was just happy to have the day off of school! But now that I am older, I now know and understand the amazing words this man spoke. May we all try to live with love and treat all people with equality.

This past Saturday marked the beginning of my Spring Semester 2011. I must say that I am pretty excited about this semester. I'm making some major changes to my face to face classes. This semester I'm piloting (testing) an electronic math class. I'll be trying out this new and upcoming trend with 3 of my math classes. Basically, I will meet with my class, just like I would in a regular lecture class, except we meet in a computer lab. I will only lecture about 20 min a day versus the entire 50 min or 80 min. The rest of the period, my students will log-in to a special math website to begin practicing what I just lectured on. It's a great website that has lots of help buttons for the student, and the best part in my opinion, is that it gives immediate feedback! In other words, the student knows as soon as they click submit whether their answer is right or wrong. During this "lab time" I will also be walking around and helping the students out. I'm excited to start the class this week with some basic orientations on the computer. Keeping my fingers crossed that there will not be many computer or log-in problems. I'll be comparing my results at the end of the semester with my pass/fail ratio from my 2010 spring classes. I think this electronic class will benefit the students greatly. I guess we will see in May! I am also teaching 3 online math courses this semester. I know most of you are like how do you teach math online?! Well, the website/program we use for the electronic classes we also use for the online courses. Again, it's a great friendly user program for the students and instructors. I assign my students lecture videos - a teaching explaining the basic concept and a problem first, then after a student watches the video they can have access to homework/practice problems. Of course questions arise of, well how do you know the student is actually doing the work and not someone else. I don't! lol BUT, my students must come to campus twice during the semester to take a Midterm and Final exam - with is worth at least half of their grade. So that's how I can make sure the student (and not someone else) passes the course. Looking forward to a great semester! (and hopefully a successful one!)

AFRICA update: I got my Tetanus shot on Friday. The shot wasn't bad at all, but I must say that my arm is still a little sore. I'm currently waiting for my last two shots to arrive at the pharmacy so that I can pick them up and report to my doctor to get my last two immunizations in my body. I also got my perscription for my Malaria medicine. I'm happy to report that insurance kicked in nicely for this med. I also picked up a bottle of B-12 vitamins to take sometime before and during my trip. Trying to be precautions and stay healthy as much as possible. I'm also having a great time writing Thank You notes on my super cute animal print notes! Again, thank you all who are supporting me with my mission trip either through prayer or finances. It means SO much to me! I just get so excited inside when I talk or write about the trip.

HOUSE update: Travis and I met with a possible lender, and were pre-approved! We got our credit scores run for the first time ever and were happy to learn that our credit is good. I learned a lot in the meeting and was very satisfied with the lender. She was extremely helpful and willing to work with us and our particular needs. She kept things practical and real with our budget. That's exactly what I wanted! Tonight Travis and I will be meeting with a realtor for the first time. We've been in contact through email for the past couple of weeks, but I'm excited to finally meet in person and talk about a future home. They have been sending us emails about once a day of homes for sale that are in our price range. It has been fun shopping online and seeing possible houses. I know that online pics don't do a house justice, but it is nice to eliminate some homes just from the info listed. I'm really happy that we are not rushing anything, but at the same time we do have a deadline - so we don't get too laxed with it all!

Keep living with love!
-Miche

Let the Hunting Begin!

A new year has embarked, and I just can't believe how fast time flies as you get older. I remember when I was young hearing older people say this phrase. Well now I'm actually experiencing it. This past Monday, I celebrated my 2nd anniversary with my amazing husband! I can remember our wedding like it was yesterday.

I had a great holiday celebrating with friends and family. During the holiday, I celebrated my 27th birthday with dinner at Copeland's and Celebration in the Oaks with my family (on my birthday eve) and eating at The Broken Egg, Hobby Lobby shopping (I love that store!), and a Sucre cupcake all with my hubby on my actual birthday. I'd also like to thank Santa for my awesome cool pix camera. I hope YOU had a wonderful holiday season as well.

There are two big events that will be occurring in my life in 2011:
1. As most of you already know, my mission trip to Africa with the Vineyard church.
2. Travis and I have begun the process of searching for a house to purchase.

AFRICA: I have found out that I have taken one of the shots that I need already when I was in high school, but I still have 3 more shots to go. I have also written and mailed out support letters. I am trusting God that He will provide financially to make the trip possible for me. I also need prayer support, so if you are reading this and would like to support me, please pray as my team and I prep for the trip. Our first team meeting is in February. I'm so excited to get started. I also got a few things for Christmas to help me prepare for the long plane ride - a book light, a few books (thanks Travis for the Zambia one!), a journal with elephants on the cover, and the cutest stuffed elephant ever (Ellie Horton McClain) to comfort me at night. Bad news, I can't begin the process for my passport until the first week in February because I need my birth certificate for the end of January for a cruise that Travis and I booked 6 months ago (our big celebration of our anniversary). I'm praying that all my paper work will go smoothly and quickly so that I get my passport in time.

HOUSE: Travis and I have been saving every month in order to have a down payment on a house. Well, we have finally reached our goal and have decided that this is the time to begin the process of purchasing our first home! I'm very excited and so overwhelmed with that statement. We are hoping to be in a house by this August. We have contacted a relater and tonight we are meeting with a lender for pre-approval. So as you can see, we are definitely in the beginning stages. Lots of stuff to do, but it has been fun hunting for houses on the internet!

I'm excited about the new year! I've got changes to my job that will be happening this semester (but I'll save this topic for another blog..), and big changes in my life that will occur - due to my two big events! Thank you God for a great 2010! I'm looking forward in seeing what He is going to do in my life for 2011.

What are you looking forward to in the year to come?!

Heaven is a Place on Earth

The past 11 months, I've committed my life to move. I didn't do this alone, for I was part of a class at my church called the School of Kingdom Living that addressed each movement and challenged us to move. I enjoyed this class very much, because I was able to discuss and experience struggles with others during the movement process. This blog is a reflection of the major changes I've made in my life regarding each movement. (warning, this blog is lengthy)

Movements: Upward - Loving God, Inward - Loving Myself, Inward - Loving Others, Outward - Loving the World

UPWARD: I realized that Heaven is not a final destination, but can be experienced on earth. Hence the title of this blog, Heaven IS a place on earth. Heaven is not a particular place on earth, even though relaxing with my toes in the sand while listening to the waves crashing wouldn't be a bad picture for heaven (unless of course you hate sand), but it can be experienced anywhere on earth. How is this possible? Well, let's look at the BIG picture of God's story. (thank you Brian for the repetition of circles :) Short version: The story begins with God creating the earth and man. Humans were able to experience the fullness of the Kingdom - LIFE (Genesis 1 and 2). Then humans chose the enemy which created a new kingdom - Kingdom of the World - Death - which separated us from the Kingdom of God. But God's Kingdom wasn't defeated, God had a plan to restore humankind back to life. He sent his son Jesus to earth, which now connected us back to the Kingdom of God. Jesus spent his life loving and healing people - a glimpse of heaven. We are currently in this stage where there is still hurt and death, but because of Jesus we can experience joy and life. One day, God will fully restore His people and the kingdom of the world will be no more. This is when we can once again experience the Kingdom of God full again. So why live life waiting for heaven when you can begin to experience it here and now! - This is a picture of living life to the fullest.

How do I experience heaven on earth? Let's "move" on.

INWARD: I used to think that I had to put God "#1" in my life, and I always fail at this. In other words, I thought choosing to do housework over reading my Bible was not putting God first. I had somewhat separated God with my life. Instead, I now incorporate God into my life. In other words, He is #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc. Keeping an orderly home can glorify God just as much as reading my Bible.

I am also more observant of myself. I think it's quite easy to observe and judge others, but would never look at myself. I now question my own actions wondering if I could have handled situations better - instead of immediately putting blame on others. I also try to not live on auto-pilot, and live for the moments in the present.

How do I share the experience of heaven on earth with others?

INWARD: This could be summed up in two words: Love People. How do you love people - even strangers - well here are a few suggestions: pray for people, let people into traffic (still a work in progress), play Bingo with cancer patients, cook and share a meal with friends, resolve conflicts, communicate by actually listening, thinking, then replying, stop gossip, bring a friend on a picnic who had a rough semester, give food to a food bank, showing support to friends who are adopting a child, being patient with students, not judging others, not being bitter about having to share an office with the new employee - but being open and sharing my resources to make the "newbie" feel welcomed, donating money to a charity or a friend in need, sharing life, etc. This list could go on. What could I add to this list? How can you put these into practice? One thing I do know, I know the incredible feeling I get when someone does an act of kindness to me, so why not share that feeling with others?

OUTWARD: I must admit, that when I began learning about loving the world, I had no idea what God had in store for me in my future. To keep this one short, I'll quote some of my SKL notes: "We all have a unique role to play in loving the world around us, If God is putting something on your heart, and the timing is right, then do it!" So with that being said, in May 2011, I will be going on a mission trip with the Vineyard to Zambia, Africa for 17 days!

Thanks for reading my story and my current journey. I would love to hear what God is doing in your life and how you are "moving" so please feel free to share your experiences of heaven. :) And if you are not currently moving, then I challenge you to take a step and move!

Renew Our City

This past weekend, my husband and I were part of our church's "Renew Our City" project, and I thought I'd share my experience. Saturday morning many teams went out into the city to serve the community. Some teams did major projects like going to a school to paint or do yard work. Some teams did simple things like hand out water in the park or donuts to local businesses who had to work early Saturday morning. My husband and I were on a team where we did a $1 car wash. Now I know that if I saw a sign that read $1 Car Wash, I'd probably think there was a catch since $1 is extremely cheap for a car wash. Well, if you thought there was a catch, then you were right. The catch was that we gave our customers $1. That's right, we gave THEM $1 after washing their cars. The faces of our customers were priceless. I was impressed on how many people wanted to donate money (more than $1), but one by one we refused to take any money and handed them a dollar. We encouraged all of our customers to "pay it forward." We showed love by washing their car in hope that they would return love to someone else - whether it be donate the money they would have spent on our car wash by treating someone to coffee or lunch or just show love in any other way. In a few hours, our small team probably washed close to 50 cars, including a limo!


We had a little waiting area with refreshments and chairs for people, and one thing I found fascinating was that while people were waiting for their car to be washed, they had the opportunity to connect with other people in the city who were also waiting to get their car washed. At one point, I walked over to tell a lady that her car was ready, and she insisted on finishing her conversation before leaving the parking lot. Now I didn't get to partake in much of the conversations, but it was neat to observe as I washed and dried vehicles.

One man came in a brand new company car just to drop by a donation (he didn't think it would be wise to let us wash it). Of course we didn't accept his donation, but he stayed a while just talking to one of our team members.

The limo driver was awesome! - His license plate read "My Treat." What he does is treat his friends and family to a limo ride when they go out drinking - to ensure everyone has a safe ride home. So we were able to bless a man who is already blessing and loving on others.

Another thing that impacted me was the amount of elderly people that came to get their car washed. I thought, wow, something simple that I can do in minutes with no problem probably would be very difficult for them. One man had difficulty getting out his vehicle and walking. So I began thinking...how are ways that I can help out the elderly in the city? I don't personally know any, but I'm sure I can help them when the opportunity arises at maybe the grocery store?

Giving up sleeping in on a Saturday morning and being physically sore the following day was worth the internal feeling I felt by just helping people out by simply washing their car. I know I've been challenged to keep this "pay it forward" movement by not necessarily doing big things like washing cars, but small simple things when the opportunity arises. So I ask you, what will YOU do to pay it forward?

25 Things about Me

Twenty-Five Random Things

1. At the age of 5, I was saved by grace through faith at my church's Awana program, but wasn't baptized until the age of 19.

2. I am happily married to a chef :) who is teaching me a lot about cooking.

3. At the age of 21, I graduated from NSU with a Bachelor's of Science.

4. A semester later, at the age of 22, I started teaching college math at NSU.

5. The only career choice I've ever considered (even as a kid) was a teacher. I didn't know what kind of teacher until high-school. I didn't know what age, until I student taught. Thank you God for this journey!

6. I worked at Glorieta, New Mexico for 2 summers and can honestly say that it was some of the best times of my life. I experienced things I never thought I would and grew spiritually.

7. In college, I was involved in a prank war that revolved around a picture of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre. hahahahaha Sha' Craig!

8. I have a really bad habit of biting my nails. :/

9. I can't completely straighten my left pinky finger.

10. My favorite flower is Daisies.

11. My niece doesn't know that my real name is Michelle. She only knows me as Auntie Miche.

12. I'm sad that I rarely hear my nickname anymore now that I moved to N.O. :(

13. If I could pick my last meal it would be: crab cakes, red beans and rice, fried speckled trout, fried pickles, vanilla creme brulee, and mango sorbet.

14. Anberlin is my favorite band! They have been around for like 10 years. I discovered them my first semester in college. I finally saw them at the House of Blues last month. The drums were awesome!

15. I've always been a Saints fan thanks to my father. In fact, my favorite family picture is of my family all in saints t-shirts right before a game - I was in 2nd grade sporting a slap bracelet. Oh yeah!

16. I have a fear of deep water and drowning. But I don't let this fear totally prevent me from doing some stuff.

17. I skydived at the age of 18. At that time, I was able to say that I had flown in an airplane, but never landed in one. Haha! (I've been in a airplane a few times since then).

18. I've only had two hairstyles my whole life - long with bangs, long in layers w/o bangs. Can you tell I love change?!

19. I've never seen my husband totally clean shaven.

20. I hate when people settle for less, when they KNOW they can do better. Drives a teacher crazy!

21. I hate grading tests because I feel like I am grading myself as a teacher sometimes...

22. I absolutely love to scrapbook. I love looking at my husband and I's journey through the pictures.

23. It's so hard for me to pick up a book. However, when I pick a book up, I can't put it down. Book of choice - non-fiction Christianity

24. One day I will own a brown short haired daushound.

25. I can't wait to one day start a family, but scared out of my mind at the same time.