A Busy Week

Well it's been about a week since my last post, so I thought today would be a great time to get caught up! This has been a pretty busy and eventful week for the Tepes, and I guess I forgot how much actually occurred until I sat down to type. Most of our 'business' was due to celebrations of different kinds, so maybe our busy week was more of a 'count your blesings' week!

First of all, last Sunday was our 1 year annniversary! Neither of us can believe that it has already been one year since our wedding. It's really crazy to think about all that has happened in our first year of marriage. We've experienced many highs and lows and have discovered that everything we experience is so much better because we are together.

On Monday in addition to going to class everyday, I helped with JCPS (Jefferson County Public Schools) during their summer school. For my grad program, we are all required to spend a week of the summer helping with summer school, 4 hours everyday. I spent the week in Algebra I, mostly tutoring students after the teacher had given instruction. I also got the opportunity to teach a couple of times, which went very well I think. My supervising teacher was great about getting me involved and she let me do anything I was comfortable with. The class had 24 students. I expected these students to have poor attitudes and and no motivation...it was summer school after all. However, I was very impressed with their determination and work ethic. It was a very fun week with them and the teacher told me I could return any time for the rest of the summer. This was a very valuable experience for me. I was exposed to new and different challenges and issues. I learned that being a teacher involves so much more than instruction. Teachers, sometimes, really are the only positive role model a student has in their life; and as their teacher I need to be a catalyst for positivity and encouragement. I learned that every student is different-comes from a different home, background, culture-and that understanding them individually will help to instruct them based on their needs. I also learned that there are circumstances in life that just aren't fair. I left school on Friday realizing that some of these students were facing huge injustices that they had no control over, and that made me very sad. I am still processing this information and experience, and as a follower of Christ, I have to know that they are still loved by God and that He has their life in His hands, whether I see it or not. There is no one outside of God's reach!

Wednesday, the 16th, was Dan's birthday!! We have been a couple for Dan's last 4 birthdays, but three years ago he was in Costa Rica, and last year we were in Jamaica for our honeymoon, so we haven't really established Dan's birthday tradition yet. (My birthday tradition=Cheesecake Factory!) So I got up early and made him sausage balls for breakfast and decided to make strawberry cupcakes for his 'birthday cake.' Dan loves strawberry cake and my mom has a really good recipe, but I decided to try something new and make cupcakes instead of a cake. I told him dinner was his decision, that we could eat whatever he wanted. So if you know Dan, you probably know what we ended up having...pizza. Yes, we enjoyed a wonderful birthday pizza for dinner and yummy strawberry cupcakes afterwards. Yum!

The cupcakes right out of the oven!

Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream icing. The recipe is a secret, right mom?

Friday night we decided to go out to eat to celebrate our anniversary/Dan's b-day. We ended up eating at Cheddar's. It's not a fancy place, but Dan loves their country fried steak. About halfway through the meal we both decided not to get too stuffed, so we asked our waitress for to-go boxes and boxed up our leftovers. We thought having them again after spending Saturday out of town (see below) would be perfect. However, just as we have done numerous times before, we forgot to get the to-go boxes when we left. :-(

Saturday we travelled to Bowling Green, Ky for yet another wedding. One of my roommates from college, Laura, was getting married so we drove down for the afternoon wedding. (My 6th wedding so far this year.) It was great! It was in the chapel of the church where Laura and her husband, Drew, met and attended. It was a very intimate ceremony with lots of personal touches. Both Laura and Drew come from musically inclinded families, so the bride and groom and their siblings led the congregation in the singing of How Great Thou Art, which was really neat. We spent the reception visiting with college friends and eating good food and cake. In addition to the groom's cake, Drew had mini Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes...you know I loved that! When the reception was over we drove back to Louisville...thinking about how we could have been looking foward to our Cheddar's leftovers....but no.

It was a great week of celebrating and seeing how blessed we are as a couple. We are blessed to have each other, blessed to have a year's worth of marriage and memories with family and friends, and blessed to celebrate the marriages of others-always a great reminder of what great gifts love and marriage really are!

Over the past year, we have kept mementos from all the different events we've done. This is where we put wedding invitations, sporting event tickets, birthday cards, anything we've collected that reminds us of things we've experienced. I guess you could say we have a rich life together!