Catching Up

I apologize for how long it's been since my last post. LOTS of things have happened! Since we returned from our fabulous vacation to Florida:
1) Daniel has started seminary classes and landed a part time job at a dry cleaners (SUCH an answer to prayer)
2) I have tirelessly searched for any inkling of an available x-ray tech job in all 5 hospitals in Louisville, only to be met with closed doors
3) We have continued searching for a church home
4) I've become addicted to Pinterest

Let's start with number 1...Daniel started his classes on august 16th. He is taking 12 hours of master's courses (full-time is considered to be 9 hours) so he is CONSTANTLY reading! He is getting a Master of Arts in Leadership, which if all goes well will be complete in May 2013! Woohoo! Then comes the question of doctorate or no doctorate? If so, which one? BUT we are trusting the Lord to guide us in these big life decisions. He also scored a part time job his second week of school at Plainview Cleaners. It is about a 15 min drive from where we live and he's working an average of 15 hours a week. PTL!

Number 2...I have searched for what seems like 30,000 years for any crumb that could lead to a job in my field. You would think since I have a degree in something medical it would be easy-schmeezy to find a job! For some reason, God has closed those doors. I'm not sure why, but I know He has a good reason. I'll be honest, I got pretty depressed there for a little while. Having to stay at home ALL day, not really have a purpose, my family not being here, Daniel was (and still is) super busy, all added up to me not having a good attitude. Good news is I had people praying for me, I kept studying God's word, and I leaned on Daniel to be my rock. God has proven faithful--especially within the last week and a half or so. I have since applied for two part-time jobs, and while it's not 100% that I have them yet, I'm about 98% of the way there. I will more than likely be working WAY more than anticipated and probably not at the most convenient hours, but hey it pays bills! PTL!

Number 3...we have searched and visited a different church every Sunday since we have been here. Let's be honest--living in a town that houses a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where most professors are pastors at local churches, you simply cannot find a bad church home. They all teach TRUTH (which is most important) and have fantastic members of their congregations. You just have to pray and week wisdom in where God would have you serve Him in the best way. The church we are very highly considering to be our church home is Kenwood Baptist Church. The pastor is Dr. Jim Hamilton (a fellow Arkansan!) and the church consists of about 150 members, most of which are young seminary families. If you had asked me 2 months ago when we moved here if that is the church we would've ended up at, I probably would have said I don't think so. But, our ways and ideas are not God's, and we are still praying and seeking discernment on whether or not this is the church home He would like us to be apart of.

Number 4...I'm sure some of you have heard of the "newest addiction on the internet" called Pinterest. My wonderful sister-in-law, Rebekah, introduced me to it about a month ago and I cannot stop! It is so fun! For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically a virtual pinboard. You know when you surf the web and find a cool idea and you're like "I need to write that down!" Well, now you can "pin" it to one of your virtual pinboards. Once you pin a website, it is always on your board so you can always go back to it. I've had so much fun pinning new recipes, crafts, holiday decorations and activities, and TONS of other things! What's neat about Pinterest is you can also "follow" people (kind of like being a friend on facebook) and you can see what they pin too. If you're a girl, I highly encourage you to discover this (just know that you WILL spend all your free time here).

Well, I guess that is all for now. I will leave you with this:

"All glory to Him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen"
Jude 1:25

Our "first-vacation-since-being-married" Family Vacation

A couple of weeks ago we had our "first-family-vacay-since-being-married" vacation. We joined my mom, dad, sister, and her friend in Seagrove, FL for a week of fun and relaxation. [My family has taken an annual beach vacation since I was 2 and this was Daniel's first time to experience it]. We had a fantastic time! The weather there was absolutely perfect...sunny in the morning, short rain shower about lunch time, and then more sunshine for the afternoon. We did all sorts of fun things like suntanning, reading, sand sculpting, boogie-boarding, and even kayaking. We also ate at some great places for dinner-- stuffing our faces with fried seafood, grilled seafood, raw seafood...you name it, we probably ate it! It was a great time to be with family and take time out of our busy lives to rest and recharge. I miss it already!

"Go Hogs"... our Razorback sand sculpture. Not that we are proud to be Razorback fans or anything



Me and my handsome man before dinner one night





My beautiful family

Engagement

Today marks the 2 year-anniversary of our engagement...the day that my dream of a life with the man I love became a reality. As many of you know, I was surprised (or maybe a better phrase is absolutely SHOCKED) and completely caught off guard when he proposed--which lead to my infamous response of "shut up!". :)

I'm going to take a moment to brag on my man: he did SUCH an amazing job with the proposal. It was better than I could ever have imagined! He really put a lot of thought into it--he knew my favorite place in the world was the beach, he picked out the absolute perfect ring, AND he kept the entire thing a secret for 2 months. But the best part of the whole thing was that he told me those words every little girl dreams of hearing from the time she is 6 years old: "I want to spend the rest of my life with YOU...will you marry me?" ME. He wanted to marry ME. At the time, I was too shocked and speechless to cry, but when I think about it now-- about how special that moment was, I'll admit I get a little teary-eyed.

Since that day, we have been through lots of life changes:
1) planning a wedding--and ALL the little details that go into it
2) we have since both graduated from college
3) we found our first home together...a duplex in north little rock
4) he got his first "big boy" job
5) made it through our first year of marriage (which was absolutely WONDERFUL, but it takes some adjustment to learn to live with someone)
6) prayed about and made the decision for him to go back to school at SBTS
7) moved to Louisville
8) currently looking for MY first "big girl" job

Throughout all of those changes, it has been a huge emotional roller-coaster...and i'm really not one to be very emotional. I have learned so much about myself and grown a lot in my faith. But even though it has been a roller-coaster, I have had two big constants in my life: my God and my husband. God has proven his faithfulness over and over and over, from jobs to where we live to taking a HUGE leap of faith and moving to Kentucky. And Daniel has proven his love and faithfulness as my husband, being my rock and comforter and best friend.

My mom always told me when I was younger that time flies as you get older...and I was always like "yeah right." But it is so true! Looking back at all that has happened in 2 years, let alone just this past year, makes me excited about things to come in the future years. My life verse for the next year is Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future." God ALWAYS keeps His promises.