Chicago Survey Trip - 2007

We flew in to Chicago on Friday Night. We got a SWEET rental car, a Nissan , Morano - AWD :o) We are loving it! Friday and Saturday night we stayed with some friends of Jamie and Stacie Potts. They were really very helpful!

Saturday, the 17th , we went into Deerfield to see the Tinity International University. We met Jeremy and Sarah Brown who drove out for the " Taste of Trinity" Days.

** After lunch, Tim and I drove around until about 5pm Apartment searching in the Deerfield and surrounding areas.
Lastly, we went into the city of Chicago, and walked around on the city on Rush street and Milwaukee Ave.

** We went to dinner at the "Grande Lux Cafe"- It was amazing! We ate dinner in the second floor rotunda, overlooking the city. It was gorgeous! I had a signature shrimp scampi and Tim had a shrimp, chicken, and rice meal. It was so fabulous! I don't have pics, because the camera ran out of batteries, but here is the website if you want to see what it was like :o) Click here on www.grandluxcafe.com

Following will be some apartments that we looked at in the area. I will be specifically posting these for family, and friends who are interested :o)




This one is my favorite so far... a bit pricey, but they all are in Chicagoland! It has one bedroom with a nook for Tim's office. It's very spacious and nice looking!

Very much like a hotel entrance and lobby and hallways.


laundary facilities on second and third floors


There is the nook for Tim's office :o)
You can't see it, but we can fit a small table over in the right of the kitchen
The sink is outside of the bathroom .
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think! Tomorrow is job hunting. I have put together my portfolio and I am dropping it off and meeting with administrators all day tomorrw :o) Pray all goes well!
See you all VA Beachers soon!

Here are some fun pics of tim and I at lake michigan :o)

Happy Valentine's Day Sweetheart!

On March 18th , 2002 in New York City, a handsome and brave young man asked his best friend to marry him....

And she said..... YES!

And that had to have been one of the BEST Choices that she has ever made!

It's FINALLY over!

Yup, that's right. I took the (Praxis I) early this morning at Virginian Wesleyan. It took me four and a half hours to finish. There are three sections on the test: Reading comprehension, Arithmetic, and Writing. I got my scores for the Reading and the Math immediately, because it was a computer-based test.I will not get my Writing score for another 10-14 days, as the essays need to be evaluated.

Each test is scored separtely and can actually be taken on different test days, but that was more expensive, so I just did it all on one day :O()

Well, I will start with what passing scores are for Virginia and Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? --I am going to apply for my teaching licensure in WI because that is the state I graduated from.

VA Passing Scores are as follows:
Reading- 178
Writing- 176
Mathematics - 178

WI Passing Scores are as follows:
Reading- 175
Writing - 174
Mathematics - 173

And MY scores.................
Reading - 181
Matehematics - 179

I passed both of thos tests in both states!!!! YAHOOOOOEEEEEHHHH!!!!

Praise the Lord !

Something Missing ?

"Christianity without Discipleship is always
Christianity without Christ."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My Introduction Page to my Professional Portfolio

Introduction:

My life began in Sturbridge, Massachusetts on January 13th . My childhood days were poverty-based, as my mother and father worked in a very small, conservative, Christian School and had five children to support. There were days when we would not have had food to eat for dinner, but someone graciously heard the voice of the Lord, and brought our family a bag of groceries. Although this was difficult as a child, these situations instilled family unity in me at a young age and brought our family closer to the Lord. Needless to say, Family means the world to me. At a young age, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. This decision has played a vital role in my life since that day.
When the small Christian school we were attending closed down for various reasons, my mother and father shared the load of home schooling five children, ages 5-15. My mother would work shifts as a manager at McDonalds from 4am – 10am and my father would work third shift at UPS. By sixth grade, my twin sister, brother and I decided that we wanted to go to public school. We went for one year, and enjoyed our year very much, but we did miss the Biblical teachings that we had grown up with.
At the age of 13, our family moved to State College, Pennsylvania because my Father’s mother passed away due to cancer. By God’s Sovereign plan, our family inherited a large farmhouse with 150 acres of land. It was then, I attended a larger Christian School in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. I attended from 8th grade until I graduated. It was there that I met my high school sweetheart and now husband of four years, Timothy Baylor.
I followed him to school in Dunbar, Wisconsin. I obtained my Bachelors degree in Elementary Education there. I performed my student teaching tasks in a private Christian school in Portsmouth, VA- teaching fifth grade under Mrs. Becky Gravley.
The following year, my husband and I moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia in order for him to attend a local seminary there. I started my first teaching job at Greenbrier Christian Academy, teaching 2nd grade. I enjoyed my first year immensely, but I wanted a little bit more of a challenge with the kids. I really wanted to teach fourth grade. When there was an opening in the fourth grade the next year, I snatched it up. I am currently teaching fourth grade at Greenbrier Christian Academy.
This June or July, My husband and I plan on moving to Chicago in order for him to attend Trinity Evangelical Divinity School . I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to teach in the public school system in the area. I know that God has some exciting things planned for our lives in the Chicago area.

A Stolen Idea

Ok, I admit it, I stole this idea from my friend Sarah B:

I am just wondering how many people out there are just "blog lurkers" and never leave comments! I'm not angry or anything, I am just interested in knowing who checks out "Tim and Jules".
LEAVE A COMMENT if you check this blog :o)

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...BLAST OFF!

Well, There are 10 days and counting until I take my Praxis Teaching Certification Test! Needless to say, I am a bit nervous! I have been studying about 1-2 hours a night and more on the weekends. I am feeling confident in the Language, Vocabulary, and Reading sections. But I am nervous about the Algebra and Geometry though. It has been eight years since I have worked with that kind of Math!

Thanks in advance for all of your love and prayers!

Frustration

What do you do when you are feeling frustrated about something... or just impatient with someone? I'm struggling! HELP!

p.s. It's not my dear husband :o)

At Your Funeral

Tonight at care group, our Pastor, Brett Campbell spoke to us about our "Legacy". He asked us to list the top 3 things we would like others to say about us at our FUNERAL!

I have to admit, I just wasn't sure of what to say at first. I finally came to the following conclusions:

1.) That my words were seasoned with salt.
2.) That I loved eternal things and did not cling to the material things.
3.) That I fervently sought to study God's word in a deep and daily way.


I was shocked by my own answers! Could anyone say this about me NOW? Hmmm...
Something to mull on.

What would your top three be?

P.S. It's 1:45am and I just finished my grades for the 2nd quarter...yahoo :o)
I know this post says it is TRB a.k.a. Luthers stein, but it's actually me...
~ Jules ~

God's blessings to me!

These are my beautiful 19 fourth grade students at Christmas time. They so graciously gave me the "Gift card Tree" beside me. Each student sent in a gift card (Taps, Gap, T.j Maxx, Panera, Kirk lands, Olive Garden.... you name it!) I was sooo flabbergasted, I didn't even know what to say, except THANK YOU :o)

I always love my job, but especially this time of year :o)

No, seriously, I have some pretty awesome kids that I am SURE God is going to do amazing things with this year and in the FUTURE!

It's Not All About Me!

Well, Yesterday was my 26th birthday. And for those of you who do not know me... my birthday is a huge deal to me! Growing up my family threw massive birthday parties for my twin sister and I as well as my brother (whose b-day was Jan 15th and is one year younger than us.)

Well, needless to say there is always so much anticipation leading up to my birthday. I would run like an excited school girl to the mailbox everyday, just to see if I had gotten another Birthday card!I got a card or a package almost every day! One day I didn't get either, so I BEGGED Tim to let me open the B-day present from him early --he eventually gave in and i opened it! He bought me a pair of leather J.crew slippers-- I love them!

The Friday before my birthday, my friends at G.C.A brought in my favorite:angel food cake and strawberries! I got a bunch of sweet cards from my students, and my co-teacher got me a subscription to "Light and Tasty"! That night a few of my seminary friends took me out to Panera and we had a little party for myself and Natalie Trach (her b-day is the 31st). We had a wonderful time together. I got coffee beans, Starbucks giftcards, a new pilates dvd(yahoo!), and two shirts :o)Thank you girls-- you're the best!

Well... it seemed like I was going to have the perfect b-day, until...

1.) I woke up early (couldn't sleep) and had shredded wheat by myself in the Living Room. I realized: It's not all about me.

2.) I ran out of gas on the way to the grocery store! Our gas gauge "Floats" so we never know exactly when we need gas. So I ran out of gas, pulled into Sentara (very near our house) and WALKED to the closest 7/11 with my little gas tank. We only have one car, so tim was not able to pick me up. Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of Dawn Mihelis (my dear best friend!) and she picked me up at the gas station and brought me back to my car. I was quickly reminded that it was not all about me!

3.) I used a new face mask about 30 min. before we were going to go out on the town.. no problem , right? WRONG! It turned my face BRIGHT RED for over 2 hours! I started crying to Tim and sadly said, " I don't want my face to be hot and red on MY BIRTHDAY!! sob sob sniff sob" --He so graciously ---LAUGHED at me! It's ok, I laughed too then, and quickly remembered: It's not all about me!

Fortunately, that night, once the red wore off, we were able to go to dinner with Dawn and Nate to the 219 Restaurant in Norfolk. We had a wonderful time enjoying our meal and the company! I will blog on that later though :o)

I guess God was trying to teach me to be a little less self-centered!

Salvation is of the Lord

The morning after I could not sleep all night, I went to school(Wednesday)and I have to admit, I wasn't in the best of moods. I was tired and cranky. Well... every Wednesday at G.C.A. we have lower school chapel. That day Wes Kouba (seminary student) was preaching about the gospel.

He preached that:
1.)Jesus Christ is our God
2.)Jesus Christ is our peace
3.)Jesus Christ is our Salvation

**It was an AMAZING CHAPEL! He was so animated, thorough, and most of all... BIBLICAL! It was so great!

He told the kids that if they had any questions about the gospel to come and ask their teacher. Well, like I said, I was NOT looking to minister to the kids that day--sadly. But God's sovereignty outweighed my tiredness!

Three children came to me and asked me how to become a christian! I walked them each individually through the bridge tract (very good for kids!) and was able to lead them to the Lord!
Four other children made sure of their salvation and rededicated their lives to the Lord! Praise the Lord for working through and inspite of weak vessels!

It's not by strength, nor by power,but by My Spirit says the Lord!

If you can't sleep count sheep-- or make jewelry and blog :o)

If you can't sleep then get up and do something, instead of lying their worrying. It's worrying that gets you, not lack of sleep.
-Dale Carnegie


It use to be that I could fall asleep wherever /whenever.
Recently, I have been struggling to fall asleep when I want to!

It's 2:30am and I am still NOT TIRED! I know my body needs rest --- but i just get restless in bed! I even took some cough medicine with Vicodine in it... thinking it would knock me out, but it didn't even phase me! I was afraid I was going to wake Tim up at 1am, so I got up and made a 50 inch black necklace!!! Yes, I said 50 :o) I used up ALL of my black beads! I just figured I could wrap it around my head a few times for a different look.

Anyways, here I am now ... blogging.... you are probably reading this at a normal time of the day...wondering how I am making it through my school day with 20 kids hounding me every minute for something. Well, the TRUTH is, I am most likely head down on my desk, drooling on my books, with kids all around me trying to wake me up --or playing a joke on me- one of the two :o)

Well, guess I'll go do something productive and study for the Praxis!

Good night... and Good day!
jules

Prayer Requests and Praises

Praise - Over the break, my 22 year old brother josh, who has some mental disabilities, had a seizure and fell down the stairs at our farmhouse in PA. He went to the hospital for a day and a half and then they sent him home, having fully recovered! The only thing is that we do not know what is causing the seizures (he has had them before) and we would appreciate prayer that the Lord would keep him safe: working, driving, etc. Thank you!

Prayer - I am signed up to take the praxis I test on February 10th. The test will be from 8am - 12;30pm :O() The praxis is a series "Pre-Professional Skills Tests" used to obtain a state teaching license. Since we will be moving to Chicago this summer, (and Northland never required me to get licensed) I need to get my state license. That requires my taking the praxis I. The test is made up of 3 sub-tests: Reading , Writing, and Arithmetic. I have a 666 page study book from Barnes and Noble that I have to go through in a month (Do you think there is an omen with that 666 deal? --hope not!). Anyways, I am most nervous about the Math section. There will be Algebra and Geometry.... and needless to say, I suck at Math! Fortunately I am a little more confident in the Reading and Writing sections, so I should be able to focus more on the Math. If you could just pray that I would be consistent in my studying for the next month and do well on the test in February, I would greatly appreciate it :o)


Prayer- I went to Patient First at 8am Saturday morning after having a soar throat and cough for a week. They told me that I had Bronchitis and on top of that... Pink Eye :O() I guess that is one of the many "Joys" of being a teacher. I am taking it easy, and taking like four different medicines : eye drops, antibiotics, cough medicine, and an inhaler. Sooo hopefully it is no big deal and the meds will do there job. Thanks for praying though!

II Thessalonians 1:3- We ought always to thank God for you, brother , and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love everyone of you has for each other is increasing.
Thank you for your love and prayers!

Annual Gingerbread Building Contest

Well, in December Tim and I met with some church and G.C.A friends to build gingerbread houses. Last year we came in LAST place with a very tall homeless shelter (it was not intended to be that originally --it just kind of turned out that way!)

This year we were determined to pull out of our last place position. We started well, lifting the walls together...
But we hit a low when we realized we had built the walls to wide to support the roof. Here is Tim at his most frustrated point. He worked very hard to make it all work together.




And even though our roof fell down a few times, we finally got it to stay put.
Here is the outcome of our hours of hard work together...

We were pretty proud of ourselves...









That is until we saw the houses that the other couples built...





There was a barn with shredded wheat as hay, a tall house that was built to match the builder's house, a lighthouse with much detail, and a miniature gingerbread village with little tin foil men throwing snowballs and sledding.


So needless to say after the casting of the votes, we came in LAST place again! Oh well! We enjoyed making our gingerbread house and had a great time with our friends :o)

More Christmas pics

Christmas Party 2006

Merry Christmas Everyone!

To family and friends, we hope your Christmas is filled with joy in remembering Christ.

My ebay Addiction

I have to admit it... I'm addicted to ebay! I bought 4 out of the 6 presents for Tim off of ebay. I would bid on something and then constatly check it the next few days to see how my bid was going. If I got outbid, I would be frantic, trying to think through how much I could spend and what the item was really worth. I even stayed up until 1 a.m. one morning, waiting for a bid to close! That's when you know you have gone too far :o)

Honestly, I was pretty skeptical about the whole online shopping scene prior to this year. I figured that I would just try it. It was so simple and convenient! I actually saved money too! I only had one problem with a seller sending the wrong color of something. I sent it back with a note and they sent me the correct color. Other than that, I have gotten exactly what I thought I was bidding on.

Has anyone else every tried eBay out there? Any stories, hints, or suggestions? Thanks for the input :O)

Christmas Gifts for Theological Students

I thought that this might be a good post for any of those wives out there whose husbands are in ministry, but don't know exactly what to buy them. If that is you, here are some suggestions that you might want to look into. If you have any questions about titles, authors, or places to shop feel free to post a question or email me.

First, you need to use a book search engine. This is a small list of a few engines that will help you get the most out of your dollar: bestbookbuys.com; allbookstores.com; or campusI.com. As far as book suggestions go, allow me to make a few recommendations.

Most theological students spend their resources on commentaries because they plan on going into the pastorate which will require purchasing and acquiring books that will help them interpret the Scriptures. The New Testament Commentary Survey by Carson and its Old Testament companion by Longman are designed to help students and pastors make wise choices about which commentaries to buy. This runs for about $12.00 and will be one of the most used books in your husbands' library.

Commentaries are always helpful -- and especially when they are a mixture of good theology and good interpretation. The best way to choose a commentary is by 1) checking your husband's library in advance to see where he has covered and where he hasn't; 2) if your student already has this book, check to see which commentaries to buy or ask your friendly neighborhood seminary student -- but make sure they know what they are talking about.

Another idea for your student is to buy him some theology books. These are always refreshing and needed in theological study. Try a Theological Dictionary. If your student use these words -- "reformed," "Calvin," or "election" -- with any frequency and in a positive context try getting him The Institutes of Christian Religion. If your student talks about Biblical Theology and the need to respect the themes of each author of Scripture you might consider a couple books in the series New Studies in Biblical Theology. These are always well researched and are on a variety of subjects that are both intellectually and spiritually stimulating.

If you are looking to do something a bit more creative this year you might think about getting your student an iPod. Julie bought me one last year for my birthday and I have listened to over 80 hours of theological lectures on it since then. There are an abundance of free theological mp3 resources on the web (see here and here) and so this might be a good way for your husband to have his spirit renewed while doing work in the yard, working out, or driving in the car.


Even better -- any student needs time to rejuvinate spiritually and physically. Give your husband a reservation to a theological conference that he would really love to attend. This will allow him to hang out with some friends and take in some good encouraging preaching in a relaxed atmosphere. Piper's Desiring God conference or the next Together For the Gospel conference are both great choices.


Lastly, while all theological students enjoy tools for reading and understanding the Scripture, they are still guys -- this means that baseball jerseys, tickets to a game, electronics, tools, a gym membership/equipment, or gear for their hobbies will always be a winner -- if you can combine the two, even better.

Home for the Holiday

This past weekend Tim and I went home to Pennsylvania for our Thanksgiving break. We left Wednesday after our half day at GCA and we returned Sunday morning. Both of our families live in PA, just a half an hour apart, so we have a pretty good deal! We spent Thanksgiving Day with Tim's family at the Reynold's Mansion . It's a beautifully designed victorian home located in the Historic District of Bellefonte. There were 24 Baylors in all at our Thanksgiving table! We had a wonderful time fellowshipping, eating (too much!),and playing games with family.


Friday Tim and I traveled out to my parents farm house in State College. We kiddingly call it the "Jordan Compound". It was just my Dad, Mom and brother Josh who were home. We spent the time catching up on things, and playing Settler's of Catan (our favorite)!

The next day we went out with the family and a friend to a local 50's diner called "Babies". We had mini burgers, cheese fries, and Vanilla cokes. --Again-- just one more reason for me to get to the gym :o)

Overall, we had a great time with both of our families. We enjoyed the fellowship and time away.

Flower Power

Tim has been doing a series on the five points of Calvinism on his theology blog: Luther's Stein.
I have really enjoyed reading them, and I thought you might too. I have to admit, that I use to think that these points were too deep or intricate for me to understand in a practical way, but after reading these five posts , I am thinking differently about them!

" Rachel Ray saved our Marriage"

That's what Tim always says when I make something new from Rachel Ray's cooking magazine. I have to admit that I am not the best, nor the most motivated cook around. I get stuck in my rut of the few good meals I know and I stick with them.
Tim loves when I make new things, so I am going to try to turn over a "new leaf". I had some extra time and a little bit of motivation, so I sat down and planned out my meals for the next week and a half until Thanksgiving break. I listed the ingredients that I would need to make the meals and tried to include one new meal each week. Hopefully this will help me in my goal.
Rachel Ray is a great resource. She has simple and tasty meals.

If you have any ideas about how you keep yourself organized and motivated in the kitchen, I would love to hear them!