Some pics..

So our good friends Christy and Larry needed to borrow our house to have some awesome Julie Robert's photos taken. So Julie the awesome photographer that she is decided to give us a few photo shots for free for our trouble...even though it was no trouble at all. So here are a few of what's coming. I love my family.

our sweet girl....and she is daddy's girl...

a rare moment..but I swear this is the cutest....

the family..

I have got a lot to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Excited about thanksgiving I have much for which to be thankful. However, it is uncertain what my future holds at my current job. I have not been renewed officially for next year due to budget cuts, however, there is still a possibility something might work out. Not sure. May not know for a while. In the midst of everything great in my life, this is the one bad. Well I know God has brought me through worse times before. I have till August 2009 to find something to do. I would love to continue teaching full time at Milligan but with the financial scare they are cutting back and it affects me.

I am going to apply at nearby colleges and see what shakes loose. I don't want to move anywhere although Charleston, SC does sound nice. Kristen has a great job and I would not want to move away from that and our families. Hopefully I will get my dissertation done before summer and that will help in my employment searching. Please pray that something opens up.

But we are excited that we get to see Crystal, Andrew and Finley and they get to see Eliza Mae our princess. So happy turkey day..

a visit to see Eliza

Papaw and Nana came to see us on Friday night. I mean to see Eliza. Eliza has started smiling a lot and I have got to tell you it is the most wonderful sight when she does. Here is a picture of her smiling at Papaw.


Uncle Arlis came, even though he needs a hair cut, and Uncle Josh and Aunt Eden came as well. Josh loves to give me a hard about UT football and his first words to me were "So what do you think about Phillip?" Meaning Phil Fulmer. He is very funny.


Nana got a suprise when Eliza decided for the first time to hold her own bottle. It was amazing. I am sure she is gifted...:)


In other news still uncertainty about my job for next year. Also apparently I have a condition known as "pre diabetes" it is when your blood sugar isn't quite bad enough to require insulin but usually because of extra pounds it is much more sensitive to sugar. My fasting blood sugar this a.m. was 116. I have a glucose tolerance test on Dec 9. But today starts day one of my new life where I will try to go low carb, no sugar, and lose 30-40 pounds. No problem right? This can help take care of the pre-diabetes thing. But I have to watch what I eat big time.

Well that's about it for today..

Uncertainty...

Tomorrow I meet with the Academic Dean at Milligan to discuss my future. I have a year to year contract as a non-tenured track Visiting Professor. So if the budget is tight which it is, if they need to cut someone they start with people like me first. I am a bit anxious about it and am trying to trust that God will take care of me no matter what but I also want to be some sort of provider for my family.

I would say there would have to be a good chance I was staying simply because I teach three sections of humanities a semester and that would displace about 64 students a semester that the other teachers would have to absorb. Plus one of the history profs is going on sabbatical next year. That would leave 5 open sections of Humanities in the Spring. So hopefully I can stay.



I so enjoy teaching at Milligan but I am making good progress on the dissertation. Once I get my Ph.D. I can look for other jobs as most schools won't hire you without it. I really feel like I do a good job at Milligan and have excellent rapport with the students, but I don't know if that will count for much. If I got a job at another school it might involve moving and Kristen has the ideal job at the VA. So I guess I could try to teach high school but would a school hire someone with a Ph.D.? I guess i should start looking. :(



If you are my friend just say a prayer for me. The family thing is working great and I am sure that somehow God will show me the way through it all. In other news here is the latest pic of my sweet daughter...

Mondays....

Well today Kristen goes back to work. Pray for her. She has really enjoyed being at home with the kid but sadly I make a teacher's living so we really need her income. And she has decided of late that truly God's ministry for her is her job and she feels good about it. I am glad. She really is a bright ray of sunshine in those people's lives.

But this is also the first day I dropped Eliza off at mom's. It went well of course. Eliza was smiling so much I barely wanted to leave. She is a cutie like her momma. In other news we got a new car. Our volvo began having transmission problems so we traded it before it died. We had spent so much on that car fixing it. We got a 2008 Honda Civic and the payment is almost the same...although the payoff date is a bit farther out in the future. But at least it runs. And it gets great Gas mileage. So we are happy.

Other news. I have finished two chapters of the dissertation and submitted them. No word yet but it feels good to be making progress. I have about 2 more to go. Hopefully by summer I will be Dr. Ted.

We also have been visiting at different churches lately. Nothing against our old church we just have a huge drive, and we want Eliza to grow up at a church with people she goes to school with. We have visited many and found some great and friendly churches in Johnson City. Right now we are visiting with Grace Fellowship. This is the church that kristen went to before dating and marrying me and I think she has always missed it. Their worship is incredible and the teaching there is so insightful, intellectual and engaging. Yesterday's sermon was on the persecuted church throughout the world. Grace has missionaries that are in countries that persecute Christians and we prayed for them collectively. They also talked about how we sometimes love the world more than we should and how we are so attached to it. It was very challenging. So we shall see what happens.

Off to teach Beowulf. Here's a pic of my daughter.