2012: What a year!

It has been awhile since my last post! Since it is the last day of 2012, I figured I would just write a quick note on how busy this year has actually been!! Every month something has happened!

January- Joe started interviewing with Mesabi Nugget, and I started my last semester of college by student teaching.

February- Joe was offered the position at Mesabi Nugget! He started packing his things to head up to the Iron Range and left his job at St. Cloud Hyundai. I also quit my job as a Direct Care Provider for people with disabilities-it was just too much to handle with student teaching!

March-I continued to student teach for Sauk Rapids-Rice school district while Joe moved up to the Iron Range to begin work (he stayed with his parents in Makinen, MN).

April-We celebrated my 20th birthday by spending a weekend up on the North Shore. I was offered a teaching position at NorthLand Learning Center in Virginia, MN for the 2012-2013 school year. Right after I accepted the job, we put in an offer on a house just outside of Aurora, MN (the offer did not go through). We also celebrated Easter with Joe's side of the family. We are so thankful for the gift of Eternal Life that Jesus Christ gave us by dying on the cross! We also completely moved out of Cedar Square Apartments in St. Cloud. I moved in with Joe's grandparents to finished out the school year.

May- May was a busy one! I graduated from St. Cloud State University with a Bachelor's of Science in Special Education! Praise the Lord I actually made it! The day after graduation I packed up all of my things from "Grandpa and Grandma" Hyslop's and joined Joe up on the Iron Range.We did not have a house yet-so Joe and I crammed ourselves into the basement of his parents. We were so thankful to Rick and Bev for letting us live with them for so long!  The Monday after I graduated I started subbing at NorthLand Learning Center. At the end of May Joe and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary! We also started attending Cross Hill Community church in Virginia, MN.

June- The first week of June we joined my mom, dad, and brother on a vacation to Hopkins, Belize. My mom and dad were so generous to use their frequent flier points to purchase our plane tickets and let us stay in the house they rented in Belize. Without their generosity, we would have never been able to afford an opportunity like that! During our vacation in Belize, we were also working on getting paperwork together in order to purchase our first home in Virginia, Minnesota. After the long journey home-our paper work was still not ready...so we kept waiting. Finally, we thought the paperwork was going through....so we got a dog! Then...our closing got pushed three more weeks. Bailey (our dog) hates cats, and we were living with Rick and Bev...they have two cats. That was sure an interesting three weeks......

July-We moved into our very first house! It feels gigantic compared to our tiny little apartment in St. Cloud! I am loving my craft room, and Joe is loving the 2.5 stall garage we have!! We are so blessed and thankful to have our own home! In July, I also stood beside one of my good friends, Amanda Sullivan, as bridesmaid on her wedding day in Rochester.

August- We painted almost the entire second floor of our house! (One room I even painted twice!). I started my job at NorthLand Learning Center teaching secondary and transition students with severe developmental cognitive disabilities and emotional behavioral disabilities in a restricted level four setting. My first year of teaching has been stressful, challenging, painful (literally and figuratively), and interesting. It was not what I expected, but I am learning a lot through the daily challenges I am presented with.

September- The beginning of September we hosted our very first guest in our new home! Our good friend Jordan Matthews, came to visit for the weekend. We had a lot of fun going to the Minnesota Discovery Center and Mine Overlooks. Our best "couple friends" Emily and Jesrin were our second house guests that month. We went down to Duluth to garage sale, and tour the Glensheen Mansion. Later that month we traveled back down to St. Cloud where Joe was an usher in wedding for one of his good friend's (Scott Popp) wedding. They worked at St. Cloud Hyundai together for the past few years.

October- October Joe and I celebrated 5 years of being together. I still can't believe that I was introduced to my husband when I was only 15 years old! We painted our main floor bathroom, and Joe started knocking out walls to put in a bathroom on the second floor. Other than that-October was not very eventful.

November-Joe celebrated his 23rd birthday!! He was working all day....but my Aunt Mary came up to visit for the weekend. We decorated the house with balloons and streamers! ;) Aunt Mary and I went down to Duluth, and hunted for "good rocks" along Lake Superior's shore (it is one of our favorite pastimes!). We also visited my cousin and his wife. For Thanksgiving Break, Joe surprised me with a bed and breakfast in Afton, Minnesota. We spent Thanksgiving day with his dad's side of the family in the cities, and then headed up to St. Cloud to spend time with his mom's side of the family. We did NOT go early morning Black Friday shopping!

December- We prepared to host our very first Christmas! Praise the Lord for coming to this earth as an infant to save us! My mom and Dad drove all the way up from McKinney, Texas. My brother drove up from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My Aunt and Uncle drove up from Menomine, Wisconsin. We had a full house! It was great. We are so thankful to have family that is willing to drive all the way to the Iron Range to see us! Joe, with his crazy shift work, was very blessed to have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off this year!!


Well, that is our year! This post was much longer than I thought it was going to be! A lot really did happen during 2012! I am so thankful for all of the experiences this year, and I look forward to what 2013 has in store for me. I know that God has a plan already for me (Jeremiah 29:11), and I just need to trust in him!  I can't wait to see what new things I will get to experience, and new people I will get to meet during my second year as an Iron Ranger!

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path."


Happy New Year!!!

Love,
Emily

Our First House!!

I know this is way over due, but hey, better late than never...right?

Below you can find two videos of our new house. There are two videos instead of one because I don't know how to edit videos...and I thought I paused the first video...but I guess it just stopped. Whatever. If you have any suggestions as to what color we should paint the entry way, living room, and kitchen, we are taking suggestions!! Enjoy (mom and dad)!!! ;) 

School Starts "Officially" Tuesday!

It has been a BUSY week at Northland Learning Center (NLC). There are a lot of new staff, including myself, this year. Everyone is running around like a chicken with its head cut off! I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know students and staff this past May when I subbed. It gave me a foot in the door.  :) I am excited and yes SO SO nervous for schools to start on Tuesday. (Prayers would be MUCH appreciated!!!)

For those of you that don't know, let me give you a quick tidbit of what my job entails. I teach students grades 7th-12th with developmental disabilities and I also teach NLC's transition program, Pathways. Pathways is a program for students of transition age (18-21). In the program students focus on vocational skills, functional academics, and independent living skills. 

I posted a tour of my classroom below. It isn't anything too special, but I hope you guys enjoy it, and your Labor Day weekend!! Have a good rest of your week! 

~Emily 

Two new additions to the family!

This weekend was FULL of excitement! Everything and anything from trips to central Wisconsin to buy a car, to family visiting, and becoming "parents." ;)

Last Thursday morning after Joe just got off his last stretch of night shifts, he got stranded at the Holiday gas station in Aurora. His car had decided it didn't want to go all the way home. I drove into Aurora and we got out the jumper cables. This is the car that stranded him, just to give you a picture. 

The trusty Buick with the custom bumblee paint job!

This Beaut was bought from my Brother-in-Law, David.

This is probably the third or fourth time the buick has decided to quit on him, so we decided it might be time for Joe to get a little bit of an upgrade to a car that will be dependable.

On Thursday afternoon Joe was craigslisting (nothing out of the ordinary) and discovered the SUV that he just had to have. This SUV was in Hortonville, Wisconsin. Joe said it was really cheap, and it was, so of course it was worth the 12 hour round trip! After all it is a Saab. We all know a certain someone who is obsessed! ;)  We made our venture down and back in a day. Let me tell you, I was SICK of driving. On the way home I had to open the window and stick my head out just to keep myself from falling asleep! Anyway, the vehicle that we made this trek for is a 2005 Saab 9-7X. Here are some pictures (courtesy of Joe Heitke,  he wanted all the angles just right. ;))

Joe would like me to point out that it has the "5.3". To those of you who don't speak  "car", it means "really fast".

It is also rust free, which is very rare to find in a used truck/SUV in  Minnesota!

After we purchased this "beauty", we had to drive right back up to the Iron Range, because family was coming up to visit the next day. Of course we had to make it back up in time to visit, AND so Joe could show off his new car. ;) 

Saturday was full of adventures. Joe, Derek (Joe's cousin), and I had a very busy day. We went garage saling (Joe bought a shovel). We wanted to give Derek the real Iron Range experience, so we also went to Mine View in the Sky, and to Mesabi Nugget (Where Joe works). That afternoon Joe and I became "parents". 

We made a trip into Hibbing in order to meet our "new addition" and sign the adoption papers. The "adoption agency" we went through was Range Regional Animal Rescue!

Meet Bailey Jane, the Lhasa Apso mix! 

Miss Bailey Jane!
 

She is such a cute lil dog! The Rescue Center said their best guess was 1-2 years old. 

Bailey just loovvvees to get her belly scratched! Look at that tongue! 

Bailey has had her naughty moments, but has been a pretty good little dog so far. I just learned she knows how to fetch this afternoon, so we will be having lots of fun! This pup already has many nicknames such as, Poopsie, Poopsicle, Herbert (ask Joe...), Dum Dum, and Pup Tart. She has made a wonderful addition our little family.

We had a wonderful adventurous weekend, and are hoping to have another one coming up. We are supposed to close on our very first house this Friday, if all goes as planned! (Please pray that it does!)

 Well, I am off to do some more beading. The flea market is coming up next week, and I still have some jewelry to make! 

Have a great rest of your week! 

Emily 

It is OFFICIALLY Summer!!!

So much has happened since my last blog post. We celebrated our anniversary, took a trip to Belize, have been to many garage sales, an auction, started getting ready for a flea market, and have been up to many other things! 

Our anniversary happened to land on Memorial day this year, so I didn't have to go to school. We celebrated by touring an underground mine in Soudan, Minnesota. It was really cool. We got to go down a little over 1/2 mile into the ground. This is very different than the mining Joe is doing. He works in an open pit mine, so there is nothing underground. Anyway, after we were done touring the mine we drove into Ely for lunch. It was yummy. After we ate lunch we walked around downtown Ely. We didn't buy anything except for some delicious ice cream cones! 

The following Saturday we left for the airport at 4:15AM. My fabulous Uncle-in-law got up bright and early to take us there in time. We arrived in Belize City and met up with my parents and brother shortly after. We walked over to a car rental place and picked up our Jeep that was ours for the week. 

Our trusty Jeep!

After a three hour drive from Belize International Airport to Hopkins, Belize we arrived safe and sound. We rented a house for the week. 

 

The back of the house is on the top. We could sit on the deck and look at the ocean. The bottom picture is front of the house. We rented the second floor of the house. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

The first day of the trip we took an adventure down Monkey River. We saw some really cool things! There were howler monkeys, birds, crocodiles, flowers, plants, manatees, iguanas, and a "Jesus Christ"  lizard (It is called a Jesus Christ because it can walk across water on its back legs!!) Here are a few shots of our trip down the river. 

 These are black buzzards. They are very common in Belize.

This species is was some people call a Joel. I call it my baby brother.

This is Joel with a Cashew. In order to eat it, you have to let it dry out, pull off the fruit, and peel the cashew. No wonder they are so expensive!!

Here is one of many crocodiles we saw on the tour!! Our guide, Ralph, pulled up right next to them. It was really cool!

Mom, Dad, Ralph, and Joe. Ralph was a Monkey River native! He lived on the south side of the river where there is no road access, only boats! He was very knowledgeable about all of the plants and animals.

After the tour we went home for dinner, a quick swim (we saw a HUGE starfish, it was about the size of toilet seat lid...odd comparison, I know.), and then off to bed. We got up early the next morning to tour the Lubaatun Mayan Ruins. The ruins you will see in the pictures are in shambles because an explorer in the 1800s thought there was treasure buried, so blew them all up with dynamite. What looks put together has been reconstructed. 

 

The following day we went on a snorkeling and fishing trip in the barrier reef. We saw many different kinds of  fish. We even saw a sting ray! We watched it swim around and them bury itself in the sand. So cool! We fished for a while, and I caught a barracuda with the help my pro-fisherman brother. 

I snagged the fish on the side instead of in the mouth, so it was really hard to reel in. We sent it to a local restaurant called the "Watering Hole" and had it for dinner that night. It tasted like chicken!

Thursday we took a trip to another set of Mayan ruins. These were much farther away, but worth the drive! The Xunantunich Ruins were much bigger than the ruins we saw earlier in the week.We were just two miles from the Nicaraguan border. On the way to the ruins we went through a police checkpoint. They had very LARGE guns. Our tour guide at the ruins said there were so many police officers around because of the proximity to the Nicaragua border.

In order to reach the ruins we took a ferry bridge

across. You had to hand crank it! 

 

Stairs on the way to the top.

                     

The "Stone Lady" ruin. This is where the priests lived.

 

Joel, and Joe.

Dad and Mom on the way back down!

This is a view of Guatemala from the top of the ruin, "Stone Lady". 

Friday we just relaxed at the house and got ready for our trip the following morning. After 21 hours of travel Joe and I made it back safely to the Iron Range and were in bed by a reasonable 3:02AM! Joe got to sleep in until 5:15AM before he was off to work a 12 hour shift (He said he wasn't tired at all when he came from work that day, but I don't believe him.) We are very thankful to my parents who provided the frequent flier miles, housing, and ground transportation for the trip. We would have never had the opportunity to go on a trip like this without them! We got to experience some really cool things during our week in Belize!

Now that we have been back for a week, our Minnesota summer has started. We scored at garage sales and auctions. Joe and I (with the help of his dad) are working on restoring some antique furniture we purchased from an auction down in Moose Lake. It is going to look so cool in our (hopefully) future house! I can't wait to see what it will look like when it is all finished!

Right now I am getting ready for a flea market on July 3rd. As many of you know, I like to make jewelry as a hobby. Well, now I am in super-power mode because I will be selling this summer. I hope to attend a craft fair this fall, but we will see how the flea market goes first. So far I have made 30 pairs of earring and 7 necklaces. It sounds like a lot, but I have many more to make!!!

So much has happened since my last post, this one got pretty lengthy. Thanks for taking the time to read it. More pictures from the vacation should be on my facebook soon! I hope everyone has a wonderful week. :) 

A Year?!?! Already?!

Time for my second post, took me long enough! Lots has happened since my last post. Let me start off with our current house hunting status.

In the beginning of April, right after I was offered the job at Northland Learning Center (NLC), we put an offer in on a little yellow house on 4 acres. It didn't go through... We continued hunting. About a week and a half ago  we toured a 1950's 2 story right in Virginia. It is located in a nice neighborhood (only half a mile from NLC!), it is a one owner home that has been very well maintained, and has cute built ins! We put in an offer, they counter offered, we counter offered, they counter offered, we counter offered, and they accepted! So if everything goes smoothly (we are having it inspected on Tuesday) we should be closing on our house the last week in June! We are very excited to be (hopefully) having a space to call our own in the near future. 

With the house being so close to NLC I am considering buying a bike! It would be a very short ride to work, and good exercise! As the school year is wrapping up at NLC I am really looking forward to starting in the fall. I am currently working in my future classroom as a paraprofessional. I have been getting to know the students that will be on my caseload in the fall. Being in my future classroom is beneficial for both the students and myself. It will make the transition much easier on all of us! I can't wait to get to know my students on an even deeper level when I am officially their case manager! There has been a slight big change in my title for this up coming school year. As student numbers dropped, and teachers resigned, the programs for students have changed. Originally I was going to be the transition teacher, working with students 18-21 years old. Now I am  going to be the 7th through 12th grade DCD (Developmental Cognitive Disabilities) teacher AND the transition teacher. My student caseload is not going to be outrageously huge, but I will be running two programs instead of one. I am excited for the challenge, but scared that-as a first year teacher-I will not be able to do it! Prayers for this upcoming school year would be much appreciated! 

Joe is currently finishing up his second rotation in his new position as a shift utility worker. He has a very unique schedule, but seems to be enjoying it. He works 4 days 7am-7pm, then has 4 days off, returns to work 4 nights 7pm-7am, and then has four more days off. He says he really likes the whole four day off thing. I think I would too! However, I don't think I would be successful in the position he holds at Mesabi nugget, I am much too clumsy. Joe is learning how to operate many different types of heavy machinery. I think he even gets to drive one of those gigantor haul dump trucks (the kind where the tires are twice as tall as a person)! I can't even imagine driving something that large, I have issues parking our Sierra in the lines! 

Joe is working the last day of his four day stretch today (on a rainy Sunday, gross! Poor guy!) I am so thankful that today is the last day, because tomorrow we will be celebrating our 1st anniversary! I can't believe it has been a year already, but at the same time, it seems like it has been much longer than that. There have been so many changes, twists, turns, and surprises in our first year of marriage I can't believe it! Let me share a few of my favorite pictures from our special day (photo credit goes to Brent Schoepf!)   

                         

      

                                                                                            

I am so happy I said yes to him when he asked me to marry him the October before last. While there are things I would change about the way we did our wedding, I would NOT change who I married! Many people told us that our first year of marriage would be the hardest...I thought it was pretty great! If it can still get better than this, then keep it coming! I am so blessed to have a great marriage to my awesome husband, but even more blessed an even better friendship! 

Going Full Speed

I am starting a new crazy adventure with my husband in northern Minnesota, so I thought I might as well start a new crazy blog to go along with it! Let me fill you in on a few key events that led to where we are today.

This January my husband (Joe) had about his fill of detailing cars for a lifetime, so he decided to start job hunting. After a long interviewing process, with several trips up to the Iron Range, he landed a job at Mesabi Nugget! Mesabi Nugget is an iron mining company that produces pure iron nuggets. After only two short months at his new job he has already been PROMOTED! That's right people, in only two months. I'm so proud of my hardworking (dirty) iron miner. Sometimes he comes home with a completely black face. Ew. I make him stick his lips out really far before he can get a hello kiss. Anyway, Joe moved up to the Iron Range in March and I finished out the school year in St. Cloud. 

Last Sunday marked my moving day to the Iron Range. I graduated from St. Cloud State University last Saturday, moved Sunday, and started working on Monday! I landed a job at Northland Learning Center last month. I am subbing for the remainder of the school year, hopefully teaching summer school, and then in the fall I will be the newest Special Education Teacher at NLC! I am so excited. I will be working with students ages 18-21 years old who have developmental cognitive disabilities.  

That brings us to now. We are currently living in the newly renovated basement apartment of my in laws. We are SO blessed and thankful they are letting us stay there. We are currently in house hunting mode (I feel like we should be on HGTV). I can't wait until we find "the one"! 

We made the big move, and things are always changing. I have a life-verse that seems applicable in every situation, especially this one!!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11