the matts…

We are now just 7 days away from Presley Claire Matt’s anticipated date of arrival! Chris feels sure she is coming on Friday, which would be absolutely peachy with me. There are still some last minute errands I could run before she makes her debut, but to be honest- I’d be thrilled if she came tomorrow! I just cannot wait to meet her and hold her and find out what motherhood and family-life is really all about. Keep us in your prayers- that labor would go smoothly and she will be whole, healthy and happy. Yay for babies!!!

I would love it if you would join me today in prayer for some amazing people going through a very difficult time. David Song and Lauren Best are great friends of ours, and I have the incredible privilege of standing in their wedding in just 5 short weeks. David’s father has recently become very sick, so they traveled to Honduras this week to be with him and to encourage the family. You can read more about it on David’s blog, as well as on their wedding website.

Please take time out of your day today to pray for them like they were your family. I know that they will be able to feel our prayers, united as an army of believers, believing God for what only He can do- the supernatural.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend… Saturday we didn’t even get out of bed until after 11am. We were trying to take everyone’s advice to get as much sleep as possible now before baby comes After running some errands, Chris did the yard (which still gets us excited because we actually have a yard to do). Then we did something else we don’t often get to do- kick back and watch a movie- which is great on our blue-ray playing PS3!

Yesterday we celebrated the Resurrection with my mom and awesome friend, Wendy, at one of HPC’s 17 weekend services! It was an amazing service and we had great company. After an incredible Easter luncheon of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (hey, I’m 9 months pregnant, ok?), we headed over to Chris’ mom’s house for some family time and yummy burgers. Chris’ cousin, Shea, is also pregnant and just 2 weeks behind me, so we got to share in the bliss together. She’s in the middle of moving now, so pray for her!

It was a wonderful weekend filled with the most incredible people celebrating our most amazing Savior. It will be one of the last weekends Chris and I ever have together without children, so we spent a lot of time imagining our future to come. We are so excited and cannot wait to meet our princess, Presley!!

I stole a variation of this from Dan Ohlerking’s blog, and he heard it from someone else before. Nothing this good is ever original God is just so cool.

” I am the God of the universe, yet I am the least of these.”

Makes you think, eh?

I am off of work until March 31st… and it couldn’t come at a better time. I get 10 days off to sleep in, spend time with family and friends, get last minute preparations made, and relax while I still can! I LOVE my kids, my job, and my school, but it can be very emotionally and physically draining, so a resting period is very much appreciated.

Our hospital bags are packed, her clothes and blankets have been washed, and her room is ready! This pregnancy has been the most incredible time of my life, but with it’s ending comes the most amazing of all blessings- motherhood! Carrying Chris’ child has made me fall more madly in love with him each day… Just imagining the kind of father I know that he will be gives me butterflies. He has an awesome dad to look up to here on earth, and his relationship with our Father in Heaven is growing stronger all the time. I can’t wait to be a “family”… And we are going to have the cutest kid on the planet, so that’s fun, too

So, this morning around 4:40am, Chris and I were awakened by the deafening sound of our home alarm system going off. You want to know what terror feels like? Wake up and think that someone has just invaded your home and is coming after you. Chris was such a hero- jumping out of bed, grabbing that baseball bat, ordering me to stay back, and going out in search of the intruder. Come to find out, it was just a system malfunction (or so we think), but Good Lord in the morning, we were freaked out! I have to tell you- this has changed my mind a little about having a gun. I thought it was a bad idea with kids, but now I cannot imagine someone coming into our home and us having no way of protecting ourselves… Geesh!

In other news, my dad owns and runs his own landscaping business. This is not the mowing grass every 2 weeks kinda thing… This is hardcore landscape designing, and he is AWESOME at it. Anyway, the man needs some help. He has more work lined up than he can tackle alone. If you know of any guys who are willing to work hard, my pops will pay them $10 an hour (CASH) and there will be a lot of flexibility with schedules.  He will work around school, other jobs, etc. This is a great part-time position for anyone who needs good cash and is willing to get dirty. Email me at meghanmatt@live.com if you or anyone you know is interested… and if you don’t know of anyone, please spread the word anyway!

In baby news, I am not dilated at all, but she’s dropped down a lot and seems to be ready to go whenever God decides to bring her into this world.  We are so excited!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for me and the test I took this morning. It didn’t exactly go how I had envisioned it. I did have a great peace this morning and really thought I was going to go in there and kick some Praxis booty. However, Baton Rouge High doesn’t believe in air conditioning and halfway through a sweat session in Math, I realized this test was going to be even harder than I had imagined. (Language was pretty easy, but that’s my best subject anyway)… Once I encountered the Social Studies and Science sections, it began to sink in that everything I had studied was pretty much for nothing. I didn’t recognize 75% of the information in those two sections. I used 3 different study guides (including one from the test-makers) to study over the past 6 weeks; yet, somehow lots of questions crept in that I had never seen before.

The good news: it’s over and now I get to concentrate on the fun stuff- my baby and Lauren’s wedding!!! The bad news: if I didn’t pass (which is most likely), I have to keep retaking this thing again, at a cost of $130 a pop and more endless hours of studying HUGE quantities of info. Plus, I won’t be able to enter my certification program in the summer and will have to jump through hoops in order to keep my job. It’s a scary place to be, but I KNOW that He has got a plan, and it’s better than mine… so I am going to just keep my eyes on that fact.

Thanks again to everyone who kept me in your prayers. Now, it’s time to gear up for baby and finish out my last few weeks at work! The rest of the weekend we are having fun fun fun!!

To all of you who voted “YES” for the kids yesterday, with a heart full of joy and gratitude I say, “THANK YOU!!!!!” Whether or not someone believes that the EBRP school system is working at its best right now, it’s the only choice for tens of thousands of children. Leaving it with less money for improvements would in no way benefit anyone. I can promise you that things are not perfect, but they are moving in the right direction. Thank you for your support!

We have had a pretty good weekend. Couples life group Friday was great… We love going and hanging out with people in the same life stage as us and learning and growing from each other.  Rob Gros did an awesome job teaching us about commitment. Chris had to work allllll day yesterday, so I was home hanging out with the guys installing our alarm system. Our home is now very secure for our sweet angel, Presley. Church was amazing today, as usual. HPC really is the most amazing place on the planet. Only at our church would a dog named Felipe Martinez do an announcement for recruiting Easter volunteers!

With my huge test coming up this weekend and LEAP testing all week, things are going to be a little crazy for us. Only 27 days til the princess’ due date, and the emotions are getting a little high-strung. I pray we can stay grounded in His promises for us, because I know only then will we not be disappointed.

We have lots of big things happening in the next few weeks, some of which could directly affect my future in a huge way. Today’s the vote for the one-cent sales tax renewal. If it doesn’t pass, my mom loses a MASSIVE chunk of her salary, I lose a good part of mine, the over-age kids I teach will lose the community based programs and extra help they need, schools won’t get repaired and our kids will continue to have to attend school in dumps, and highly-qualified teachers/educators will lose up to 20% of their salaries… which means all of our best teachers will leave our parish. Ultimately, business and economy in BR will fall because no one will want to come here without an educated enough labor force. Pretty much it will just suck.

Also, next Saturday I am taking a huge test toward my certification. If I don’t pass, I won’t get accepted into the program this summer, and may not be able to come back to teach in the fall.  I know it’s in God’s hands and I have been studying for 6 weeks, but it’s a test on things that education majors get taught over the course of years… and I’ve had to learn in just weeks. Plus I will have my interview with the program in the next couple weeks. They have already received 3-4x the amount of applications that they usually do, so many people will get turned away.

Everything with the baby’s going great! She’s still so active that even the doctor comments on it in the 2 minutes he messes with my tummy every week now. There was concern that she was breeched, so I went in for another ultrasound Thursday and got to see my precious little angel again. It was wonderful! I can’t wait to see her in real life!! And praise God, she’s faced exactly the way she’s supposed to be.

The state-wide LEAP and iLEAP tests are this week, so please keep the kids in your prayers. There’s so much pressure on the 4th graders- if they don’t pass, they have to go to summer school and then take it again. If they don’t pass that time, they repeat fourth grade. Keep in mind a lot of these kids have already been retained, so continuing to hold them back doesn’t really help much. That’s why I have a kid in my class who’s about to be 14 and he’s in 5th grade. I turned 14 the summer before my freshman year in high school!

Thanks for all the prayers and support from all of you out there. You are awesome blog readers!!

So… I am not usually one to just come out and beg, but that’s pretty much what this is. This weekend we are not just voting for a congressman (ahem, cough *vote Woody Jenkins* ahem). This Saturday, March 8, the EBRP One-Cent Sales Tax Renewal is up for the vote in the form of three propositions.

Proposition ONE: 51%- Funds repairs/renovations, technology, construction, improvement of classrooms

Proposition TWO: 8%- Provides for alternative education, reducing truancy

Proposition THREE: 41%- Maintains current level of teacher and school system employee pay

Let me break this down for you- if this doesn’t pass, the buildings and facilities will get WORSE… My students and I hike out to a t-building every single day on the other side of our campus that floods when it rains and has no covering. There are schools that are falling apart that will not get fixed or rebuilt. Also, if this doesn’t pass, our time-out room moderator (AKA life-saver, sanity-keeper, best friend) doesn’t have a job anymore. Kids who are 2+ grade levels behind (all my kids) don’t get the extra help they need. And worst of all, all of our salaries get cut by a LOT. The teachers/educators/administrators you want in the school system the most- the ones who have been here for 20+ years- will lose over 8,000 a YEAR (that includes my precious mother who’s been serving this system for 33 years)!!!! My salary will get cut somewhere in the range of $3-4,000 a year.

To prove to you that this ONE PENNY is worth it, here are just a few things that have happened as a result of this tax passing in 1998: 7 new schools built, 3 new schools currently under construction, major renovations at 3 schools, repairs at 40 schools, millions invested in technology, 4 new discipline centers, 2 dedicated alternative schools to serve over-age students, 40 time-out room moderators, funding of 8% of teacher salaries- therefore raising ours to some of the highest in the state (which brings in the BEST teachers!!)

I realize that most of you reading this don’t have kids in public schools in EBRP… but for the sake of these kids and the educators who love them- PLEASE VOTE YES this Saturday to all three propositions to the penny tax renewal and urge everyone you know to do the same. Nothing new is being asked… just that we renew this tiny tax that makes a HUGE difference in thousands of lives.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!