She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes- Pt. 2-Engaged Edition!

Yay yay yay yay yay YAY! The cat is out of the bag, so now I can write about what I really wanted to write about the hiking trip, the climax of the trip, the main reason the trip rocked, the pivotal moment, what all the excitement is about…Okay, I’ll get to it.

THESE TWO…

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ARE ENGAGED!!!

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The moment I met them I knew they were the real deal. I soon began asking Zach if he knew when David was going to propose. Te he So, I’ve been waiting on this ever since I met the two of them. :) They’re the most perfect couple ever…next to Zach and I, of course! David, you’ve gotten the “far more precious than jewels” they speak of in Proverbs 31. Abbey is so sweet, and she is beautiful.  Abbey, I guess David is okay. Ha I’m just kidding. You’ve got a man that I know will serve and love you well. I am EXTREMELY excited for you guys! Oh, don’t you just love love, reader friends?

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

Motherhood

The thought of one day being a mother has always made my heart smile. Now that I’m married, I actually have had to think about that being a soon reality. That puts a twist of fear into the mix. That has forced me to think about all of the realities that motherhood will bring, and then there are all of those things that you won’t know or know how to do until you actually are a mother. It’s just frightening.

Weeks pregnant shirt...neat idea. :)

On top of that, it feels like every time I turn around a mother is telling me about all  of the things that happen to your body during and after pregnancy. Now that…that is some scary stuff! The actual birthing part sounds about as desirable as jumping in a shark tank. Then, I hear gross stories about what the children do. Best of all, there are the testimonies from mothers of teenagers… I just  keep telling them that if they ever want me to have children, they need to save the stories and leave me ignorant.

I'm not listening!

Every time a child throws up at school (it happens frequently), I think about how my own children are going to do that. I feel like there’s just going to be a lot of poop and vomit in motherhood. That’s not exciting. When I do laundry I am aware of how much it will increase when children come on the scene. There are also the thoughts like, “What if I am an awful mother?” There has sadly been a lot of negativity surrounding the idea of children.

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Tonight though I saw parenting in a different light. I saw something that overshadowed all the negativity I have been hearing, seeing, and thinking. I was invited to see one of my second graders lead worship…yes, a second grader leading worship. Her father is involved with the worship ministry at Heartland, and she said she wanted to take voice lessons so that she can lead worship like her daddy. Tonight she did just that. Her father and uncle played for her while she sang the songs she had been working on in voice lessons. It blessed my heart so much to see her have that desire at such a young age.

I couldn’t get a good picture of her because of the lighting and where I was sitting.

Tonight was very refreshing and encouraging for me. The whole point of parenting is to grow them in the Lord…teaching them what it means to know and love Him. I saw that tonight as parents did not suppress a young child’s desire, but they have encouraged it and set a model for her. It was also neat to see that the church had supported her in her young adventures by allowing her to do this. May we not discourage the little ones, but instead give them an outlet to grow.

She sang one of my favorite songs.

Tonight reignited that desire for motherhood. All of the poop, laundry, stretch marks, and sleepless nights will be worth it when my children know that their purpose is to know the Lord and make Him known. I have been praying for years that this is deeply instilled in my children and that they live it out. Thank you, Ashley and Michael for the Godly example you have set for your children.

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I have no doubt that my children will have a wonderful daddy! It warms my heart to think about how great of a father he will be and how I KNOW they will see Jesus through him. Fathers, you have no idea just how great of an impact and influence you have on your children! I have no worries when it comes to my children’s fatherly influence.

Ha!

Let me clarify though that I am not pregnant, and my plan is still to try to wait a little while before I get that way. My mother-in-law started praying curly-headed twins over me since the moment we got engaged, and my most commonly heard question is, “When are y’all gonna have a baby?”.  We need to at least get him done with seminary first. I need a minute. Ha I’ve just had a renewal of perspective.

Happy Saturday, reader friends!

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

Lovin’ Memory Lane

 

It’s Wednesday, and 2013 has just begun. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yep, there’s no better time to do a What I’m Loving Wednesday post!

 

I want to start by saying that 2012 brought the most change that any one year in my life has ever brought. It is all change worthy of loving! Let me share all of the 2012 love quickly.

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I got to share the classroom with this lovely lady! To know her is to love her.They’re inseparable. I learned many, many wonderful things from her. She’s a fabulous teacher! 

It was actually in her classroom that Zach Hardy proposed to me on February 10, 2012. You can see the video that she taped of it here. I was CLUELESS that that was what was going on or that it would happen any time close to what it did. It was perfect. I was amazingly shocked.

I accepted my first teaching position at Hope Sullivan Elementary, which is by the way the best school in the world! I can’t imagine a more supportive and encouraging staff and administration to start me off.

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I graduated from Delta State University. Fighting Okra! Doesn’t that sound sophisticated?

I changed my last name!

I got to be a part of some other great friends’ weddings.

 

 

I began teaching in my very own classroom, and I was entrusted with 24  precious, little ones.

I made a 21.2 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail!

 

Those are a few of the highlights of my wonderful year. I can only look forward to how God will grow what He’s already put into place.

There are also a few other things I’m loving on this Wednesday. I’m loving that I’ve rearranged my classroom a bit so that I could clear my desk completely.

See, that’s much more inviting for the little ones to join me for a guided reading group or small group math time. I used to have to push all my pens, papers, and sticky notes to the side when I met with them. The only time my bottom ever hits that chair anyway is when I’m doing a small group. I like this look much better!

I’m also loving that I feel like I accomplished a lot today in the classroom in preparing for them to storm through the doors with all of their holiday hyperactivity and excited story-telling tomorrow. There’s never a dull moment with those little ones.

I’m also loving that I have the best friends in the entire world! It has been a tough 2012 being scattered all over the States. There have been many, many times that I have greatly missed my friends, but they’re all just a phone call away. This was almost a 2012 memory. It was 2011, but I think it should be included in this post. To get just a tiny picture of how awesome my friends are watch this video. My computer broke, and they all got together to get me another one. They threw a sneaky Dirty Santa/Tacky Christmas Sweater party to give it to me.

I am extremely blessed. What are you loving this Wednesday, reader friends?

 

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes (Pt. 1)

 

As I sit here and think about all the lesson plans I should be writing, I would much rather blog about my hiking trip. There has been an Appalachian Trail winter hiking trip in the works for a while now. The plan was to hike for 3 days a total of 12.7 miles and no more than 5.5 miles a day. Oooooh…how plans were changed.

 

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There is one particular shelter along our original route that is very popular. We called to reserve it too late, so we had to change the route. This one we were told would start with a 10.6 mile hike to a shelter the the first day, an 8.5 to the next shelter the next day, and finally a 5.6 miler back to the car on the last day. This was still more than we bargained for, but we were up for the challenge. We…oh! I haven’t explained “we”. Zach and I went with with some sweet friends, David Riem and Abbey Gregory. Abbey did ridiculously well on the hike, I must say.

We started out and began our first 10.6 mile hike. It was NOT easy, but it was stunningly beautiful. For the majority of the day we had a clear view and could see the beauty of the mountain and the snow covered trees. The day was over and night had come before we made it to the first shelter. The noises that we hardly noticed in the daytime all of a sudden became perfect material for a horror film. We were a bit on edge and began doubting our route. We thought we might have passed it. There was a lot of ice, and each step took that much longer in the dark because of the precision it required. I think we all had a tumble on the ice at some point or another. I had about three. Ha

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As soon as we were about to give up and make an emergency shelter or hike back to ensure that we had not missed it…we saw the sign. I had been telling God over and over again that I just needed a sign! We had not seen one for 6.2 miles. That’s a long time! My body did not want to go any longer. My feet didn’t want to pick up off the ground.

That was the longest 0.4 mile of our lives. That three-sided shelter looked like the Hilton when we got there.

I'm not sure why, but we did not take a picture of the shelter. This is one from the internet.

This was an incredibly long, cold, and sleepless night upon the wooden slab in my mummy bag. In all honesty, I probably got about one hour of sleep. I think Abbey related to this. I was a little bitter as I listened to my husband snore like a bear. We met a father and son in Peck’s Corner shelter. They are seasoned hikers, and they gave us lots of useful tips. He also clued us in that the hike planner that told us our hike to the next shelter was 8.5 miles was wrong. It was actually 10.6 miles. I was not very excited about an 8.5 mile hike after our hard first day, but I was REALLY unhappy about another 10.6er just to be at another freezing cold shelter. I’m just going to be honest, as Zach and I filtered our water in the snow at the water source I cried. I did. I really didn’t think my body could do it again. We walked back up, and we all decided that if we hiked another 10.6 it was going to be to the car. Then, I was a little more motivated. I made up songs of going to the car all along the way.

This is similar to what Abbey’s good ole Gertrude (her car’s name…don’t act like you didn’t name your car) looks like. This  picture danced through my mind continually with lights shining down from heaven upon it. Look, I am not ashamed to admit that I was the weakest link of this hiking quartet. My little body just did not want to do it. I hurt all over, and there were points when I seriously thought that I would be okay if a bear came out and mauled me. I couldn’t have done it without the encouraging words of my sweet husband and his hands to help me across the tough parts. 

Look at that snow all over us!

 

When we finally made it off the trail I began to sing hallelujahs until I nearly got knocked over by the wind. The only thing that saved me was that I was hanging on Zach’s arm. We celebrated as we looked at roughly 7 inches of snow surrounding Gertrude and the entire parking lot. You just don’t see this kind of stuff in Mississippi. We thought we might be sleeping in the car. There was a thick layer of ice that covered the vehicle. The doors were frozen shut, but they were finally tactfully opened. We sat for roughly 20 minutes to unthaw the windshield. It was 17 degrees. Buurrrr! We were fearful that once we got on the road it would be too slick, but there were many turn off sections on the side if that were the case. We got on the road, and it appeared that it had been previously plowed, but it was still covered in snow. It took us about an hour to drive 13 miles back to the visitor center where we found out that the road we had just traveled was closed. Our guys waddled like penguins 200 yards to the visitor center to call a ranger to unlock the gate for us as Abbey and I shared our thoughts of the trip and all of its adventures.

We hiked a total of 21.2 miles in two days. I think that’s worthy of a bumper sticker! We have lots of fun stories to tell and a couple new wounds to prove our trek. Ha ha We all waddled like penguins for a bit because of the pain. I sounded like my mom for a little while as I walked. If you know my mom that’s funny. If you don’t, meet her, spend 5 minutes with her, and then you’ll understand.

I didn’t even get to share all of the lessons God taught me through this hike or share the majority of the beauty that was seen. I’ll have to do a part two post, reader friends. Enjoy your last day of this 2012 year! Reflect on all that 2012 had to bring you. I know it was pretty eventful for me.  Until next time…

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

Dear Jessica,

 

You’re 40 years old! Do you still look like a teenager? Do people still inform you that you look young as if you didn’t know? Enjoy your youthful look since you are now hiking up the infamous hill that is spoken of so often.

I only wish I could envision where you  are at this point in life? You married a crazy man with many possibilities. Wherever you are I just hope that you have not settled for the “American Dream” and/or complacency. Wherever you are and whatever it is you’re doing in life, I hope that you are doing it all for the glory of Jesus and making His name known with your life.

Right now I guess you could say that you and Zach are in the “honeymoon stage”. You won’t let him leave the house without giving him a smooch and letting him know that you love him. You miss each other when you’re apart, and you love to greet one another. You love to snuggle with him, and y’all make time to study the Word together and pray together. You have a date night once a week. Do you still do all of these things?

Do you still dance crazily around the kitchen with him when you’re cooking? Do you still laugh at all of his cheesy jokes? Do you still serve him joyfully? Does that heifer still ruffle the decorative towels? Continue to giggle it off. Take time to stop and simply enjoy him. Reflect on all of the reasons you love him, and make sure that he knows that you’re still head over heels. Go watch your proposal video. Go watch the wedding video. Go reflect on the way God wrote this very unique love story. You married an absolutely amazing man. He treats you with respect, and he leads you lovingly and Biblically. He is a wonderful husband, and he is going to be an amazing father. Go tell that silly man that you love him to pieces!

Speaking of children, how many do you have? If it’s up to Zach, we probably have ten. If we have girls, Zach is WRAPPED around their little fingers spends lot of great daddy-daughter time with them. Right now your heart is adoption. Have you adopted yet?!? I sure hope you have and that you are teaching them of the adoption we have through Christ. If you have not adopted you need to get to praying with Zach like right now!

I imagine being a mother is challenging at times. Practice patience. Drop your schedule, and make sure that you spend quality time with them. Listen to them. I’m sure that your little ones are not necessarily little anymore, but it is still so very important to spend quality time with them. I hope that their childhood memories include a clean house and a responsible , but make the memories they remember most those times when you dropped the schedule to love on them. Teach them to love Jesus. Pray over them every single day. Make sure that they know you make mistakes and that you know they will too. Tell them of your forgiveness, but more importantly tell them of Christ’s forgiveness. Let them hear how Mommy and Daddy fell in love, and let them see that love continue on years later. Be their example of a loving, Christ-centered relationship.

Rumor has it that teachers can become a little burned out over the years.You’re in your first year of teaching right now, and you can see how that rumor would be true. Remember why you went into teaching. Love on those children like crazy, especially the difficult ones. They’re the ones that need it the most. Your real purpose as a teacher is not to make sure they can pass a test. It’s to make a difference in their life. This is REALLY easy to forget in the midst of it all. Continue to write down all of the funny things that they say. Those children are so stinkin funny. Dwell on the positive and the sweet moments. Teaching is not the profession for a perfectionist. And stop taking so much home!

YOU have the most wonderful friends in the entire world! I bet you’re all scattered around the world, but you better get to Skyping. Surround yourself with the same type of people that encourage you to grow in your relationship with Jesus and those that bear burdens with you. Right now, as a 22 year-old woman, you call the best people on the planet your friends. They’ve have had many mascara stained shoulders. They have been the cause of the majority of your lifetime’s laughter, and they have been the encouragers for a lot of your spiritual growth. Make sure that those guys and gals know how precious they are to you!

Jessica, love life. Love your awesome husband and precious children, including those that walk into your classroom every day. Tell your friends how much you love them. Make a difference where you are. Be intentional about showing the love of Jesus to others.

{Stole this idea from Nicole Vinson , who stole it from another blogger.  You steal it, too! I want to know what you’d say to your 40 (or older) year old self.}

 

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

The Unknown

What in life makes you happy? We all have those certain things. I love being around children and watching Disney movies. I’m actually a pretty excitable person, but my precious husband sure does have me beat!

I love you, dear!

One thing that he gets excited about more than all of the other things is the Word. I think I can live with that. ;) He loves going through books of the Bible with me. Side note: We are currently going through Hosea, and it is some gooood stuff! He also loves to tell me about what he’s reading in his own personal time in the Word, and he loves to tell me the good stuff that he’s reading in all these marriage books. :) Every night that he comes back from night class at Mid America he goes ninety-to-nothing telling me about the nuggets of information he received from his Old Testament class. He also likes to beat me in games, but we don’t have to talk about that.

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He is a natural teacher, so as we have these discussions I can’t help but wonder where God will decide to use his talents. His desire is to either plant churches or be a campus minister. I personally think that he would ROCK as a campus minister! The unknown is scary and exciting all wrapped up in one. As I have imagined us in those scenarios I smile. Then, I think about how funny God is.

We could end up in neither of those situations. God is teaching me more and more about trusting Him. It’s a beautiful and constant lesson. As I think about our future and where we will be I am honestly excited about the unknown. This is new for me. I love my planner, and I love my plans. In this situation though I am just excited. I’m ready to see what’s next in this adventure we have begun.

 

We shall see in the years to come! :) The unknown doesn’t always have to be feared.

 

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

Power

 

As I sit staring at a stack of classroom things that need to get taken care of, I say “I’m not doing it!”…yet. I need a break; I’m tired of looking at it. So, instead I shall write a blog that I have been mentally planning for a while.

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This summer I worked a recreation camp in my university town of Cleveland, Mississippi. In that time I attended a revival service at the little Delta church where Zach used to be youth minister. I might add that this was quite possibly the first place that he realized that he might be romantically interested in me, but that is beside the point. Rodney Jones, one of my favorite men in the entire world spoke, and I cannot remember honestly what the points were. I do remember though complete conviction as he spoke about power and how Jesus demonstrated power in his three year ministry on Earth.

Yes, I'm a Physics dork.

Zach likes to remind me that I am bit feisty, opinionated, and transparent. No worries, he NEVER says it in those ways, but he tries to keep me in check in a loving manner. He laughs, because I am indeed the Chihuahua that thinks she is a German Shepherd.

     

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In our twisted world we have come to think that vocalizing our opinion and saying what we want gives us power over others. We think that “telling someone off” showed the other person who’s boss. Sometimes, we just want our disagreement to be heard by anybody that will listen. We have justifications for everything, because we never want to appear as if we are at fault. Cutting or condescending comments might possibly make us appear smarter/above the other. I am guilty or have been guilty of every single bit of this. Our mouths can get us into some trouble.

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Enough about me. Let’s talk about Jesus. He holds all the power of the universe. So, how did he display it while he was on Earth? He told everyone that they were making the stupidest decision of their life for crucifying Him. He gave everyone threats, and gave every excuse in the world as to why he was innocent. WRONG! When he was being questioned by Pilate (Matthew 27:11 ff) He stood in silence. This was his chance to worm His way out of the most cruel deaths the Roman world had. This was his chance to plead His true innocence. He stood in silence! As He was being mocked and beaten He was silent! As He was being mocked as He was placed on the cross in OUR place He was silent. He is the only one who has a right to speak! He had every right to justify Himself, to fight his way down, to condemn, and to ridicule. He didn’t. I don’t know about you, but that speaks volumes to me. He displayed His power with silence, self control, and gentleness.

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Let’s return to the habits of my speech. What is the ultimate root? Arrogance, pride, and lack of self-control are the roots. I do not want to be powerful in my own eyes. I want to be powerful in the way that Jesus demonstrated. There is power in silence. There is power in restraint, and there is power in self-control. That is where ultimate power lies. May our speech be filled with truth and love or may it be nonexistent. May we follow the example that our Jesus gave us. How will you and I react to that mocking family member. How will we respond to the next nasty parent note, teachers? How will we respond to the next accusation? How will we respond to the next disrespectful comment? How will we respond to the next insult? It’s good to be back with you, reader friends! Happy Wednesday.

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy