Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas this year!

So I was praying a little bit ago, asking the Lord what He wanted me to do today (as the book I told you about has challenged me to do). I heard the Lord say, "Love your husband." I thought, okay! I like doing that. But what does that look like today, when he's at work? & God showed me - put away the dishes. Clean the bathroom. Pick up leaves that Sage has dragged in. What encouragement! I sometimes get a little down about the "mundane-ness" of that part of my life... clean, do laundry, etc. I want to do those things, because I'm called to love Josh in part through keeping our home nice, but sometimes it's a bit draining & I lack joy in those tasks. But I need to continue to view these things as a high calling, as part of loving Josh, & not as the world views them, as boring & something to be look down on. This is part of my purpose & when I do it as obedience to the Lord, He gives me joy in it!

I also wanted to share a story from this book; I got excited about it & I think some of you might as well.

"Obedience, in little things or big things, brings an exquisite thrill. 'My joy, which no man can take from you,' says Jesus.
I was attending a conference in a village. The speaker was an Indian businessman who had worked & lived in Burma for many years. When the Japanese bombed Rangoon, he with other Indians fled for their lives. They lost everything. He had only his Bible & the suit he was wearing. He walked hundreds of miles to return to India. He said that hardships were many, but it was sweet to feel the Presence of Jesus & to have his Bible. While he was talking & giving a great witness to the people, a quick thought came to me just before I had to return to my town: 'Give him all the money in your purse.'
Well! I had to go home by train. Should I not save a bit for my train fare! Of course I had learned not to argue with God - just obey. I put all I had in an envelope & gave it to him.
Then I hurried off to catch my train. A boy was running swiftly ahead of me. When I got to the station the boy came out of the ticket office with a ticket - & gave it to me. I looked surprised! He told me he was at the meeting, saw me put the money in an envelope & give it to the speaker. Then he said, 'God told me to buy your ticket, so I ran.' The train was ready to pull out. 'Get in quickly, Amma.' So I did. The train was off; I waved to the boy. I sat there with that exquisite thrill that comes when people obey God's Plan."

I pray I can be so obedient.

I've got a couple pictures to share - yay Christmas!

Here is our Christmas tree! I just love it.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care! (Note the new color of the walls - no more yellow! Yay!)

Sage says Merry Christmas!

C

I don't even know.

I just spent about 15 minutes writing a post, then deleted it. It felt so pointless. I recently felt challenged to make the things that I say point towards the Lord. Talking about my life, my experiences, & my feelings should point towards the Lord. Now, I still enjoy randomness & silliness because I don't think we should be serious all the time. God is fun! He's hilarious! But I do want to say things that point to scripture, & I want to give advice that causes people to seek the Lord & not just "Godly counsel."

Josh & I were given two copies of "God Guides" by Mary Geegh. It's basically stories written by a missionary in India that speak of the Lord's power & challenges us to truly seek Him & expect to hear Him! I prayed today for the Lord to show me what to do today. & He did! I never pray to find out what my day's plans should be. But shouldn't I??

I'm not very far in the book, but I already recommend you read it.

I'm pretty sure God has some plans to grow & stretch Josh & I in 2008. I think by this time next year we will be drastically different.

I'm so excited for Christmas. We're spending it in Austin this year with my parents, & I'm just looking forward to all of us being in the new house, hanging out & taking a break. (I think the biggest surprise going from college to the real world is that you go from having a MONTH off for Christmas to having... two days. Two days. Saddddd.)

Tomorrow is Josh & I's (the proper grammar of that whole Josh & me's, Josh & my's, is just beyond me - I blame public schooling) annual Christmas date. Each year we get all dressed up & go out to eat & exchange gifts & look at Christmas lights. Yay!

I really hope you all have a very Merry Christmas & that you experience Christ in new & exciting ways!

C

Messiness

I'm SO SORRY for being such a blogspot loser. I went almost a month without blogging! Hopefully I did not lose my loyal fans... well, I know my mom will still read. :-)

I really have had a lot I've wanted to write about, but we've been so busy with the house & potty training a puppy & the holidays that I just never got around to it. So here's a fast update:

*The living room is painted as of last night! I had help from Becca & Kristin & FINALLY those yellow walls are gone. I love the color. I will post pictures eventually, I need to get everything in there situated, & things on the walls, etc. (If you want to see pictures of the outside of the house, let me know & I will email them to you, but I'm definitely not putting them on here for all the world to see :-) ) I'm thinking I'll start painting the kitchen tomorrow, to get rid of the Fiesta Green we've got going on in there. When that room is done, I will be just ecstatic! Those are the two rooms I wanted done quickly.

*Sage is a mess. She's very cute, but less cute to me since I'm the one that picks up her poop! The potty training is going slowly. Toby serves as a pretty good babysitter; they chase each other around & he smacks her silly sometimes (literally... it's funny). Here they are together...

*About a month ago we went on a retreat where God spoke a lot to us. He refined us in several ways, showing us how much our world affects us & how weak our flesh really is. As a result, we stopped watching most TV shows, stopped listening to top 40 stations, & will not be watching movies with even one, "not that bad" sexual scene (which means getting rid of some movies such as "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days"). I hate that those things were even part of our lives. It's not about more rules for us to follow... Josh & I just realized how we look too much like people that don't know the Lord, & what He has for us is so much better than that, & I have seen God bless our lives in several ways since cutting those things out. We want to look more like Jesus!

*It's been amazing what God has wanted for us since moving here. With all that happened with my job, getting so involved in our church so quickly, we are amazed at what He had planned for us. & we continue to be amazed, b/c He has more. It's scary tho. I feel inadequate, & it's going to be a challenge, pushing me outside of what I am comfortable with. But every time I feel that way, & am obedient anyways, the Lord shows up in a HUGE way. More details to come....

*At the retreat mentioned above, the speaker showed us a way that he spends time with the Lord & gets to know Him more, & I have been doing it & loving it! Basically, you create your own list of who God is. I'm reading through the Bible chronologically right now, so after I do my reading, I just flip through the Word & read wherever I land, & search for descriptions of my God. (I'm a goober & I have two lists going - one of nouns & one of adjectives.) Here is an example-

Pardoner of iniquity - Micah 7:18
Husband - Isa. 54:5, Hosea 2:16
My avenger - Rom. 12:9

Incomparable - Isa. 40:18
Perfect in timing - Hab. 2:3
Alluring & tender - Hosea 2:14

Look those verses up - they are good! Anyways, this has been an exciting way to get into the Word, & I know that I'm always going to find more to describe the Lord that I am betrothed to. I recommend doing it. :-)

I just realized I meant to explain the title for this post, so here you go - messy house, messy dog, messy me. & working on all of them!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Yay... I love Christmas!

C

We're in!

Sorry for the lack of updating! Last week was just crazy. Every day all I did was pack, load my car, drive to the house, unload, & back again. My goal was to get everything but the furniture over to the house so Saturday all we had to move was furniture. I succeeded for the most part, & Saturday we had 6 guys & 1 girl (yay Alexis!) come help us move. So we're finally in the house! However, I have no motivation at all to unpack & put things where they belong. Partly because a lot of things, like wall decor, will have to be taken down when I get around to painting. (I have six rooms I want to paint soon - not much will stay the same). Soooo our house will be a mess for a while. Oh well. We are still excited to entertain & have people over, regardless of half-painted walls.

& we get Sage a week from today! YAY!

That's all I got for you for now... I'm not feeling that great so this is short. But I wanted to update you all. More to come!

C

A lesson...

I'm sitting in my favorite coffeeshop where I often come to do work (they make really good iced lattes) & I'm waiting on the pastor I work for to be done with his meeting (in the same coffeeshop) so I can ask him some questions about something I'm doing. I had a really horrible day yesterday - for those of you that were readers of my old blog when I used stars to rate my days - this would have been a two star day (with the one star rating being for death or tragedy). It was mainly emotional; I was feeling a bit lonely, & feeling somewhat purposeless - what am I doing that actually MATTERS?? (Then I hit my face on a door & that left a welp, knocked over gatorade at the grocery store & turned my pants red, & had to call Animal Services because a roaming dog I saw didn't have identification & I didn't want him to be hit by a car. Bad day.)

Back to today. As I wait, I picked up my Bible to do the whole "I don't know what to read right now so I'll just read what I open it up to" thing. It opened up to Acts 6. I thought... "Really? Acts? Well....... okay."

1Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 5And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

It hit me. I am "serving tables!" I am doing things that free up the time of others so they can continue to pray & preach the Word of God. Because of the work of the "table servers," the Word of God continued to increase & the number of the disciples multiplied greatly. So encouraging! I pray that God is able to do things because of my obedience in this job. What a good reminder... the Lord is good to speak to us when we listen!

I'm going to start packing today.... I AM! We close on the house TOMORROW!!

C

Meet Sage!

A boy or a girl?!

I'm SO STINKIN excited to pick out our puppy tomorrow!!! We're visiting the breeder out at their ranch & I'm hoping she'll let us stick around for a while after we pick him/her out just so we can play with all the adorable puppies!! I just love animals. Especially cute ones. & I'm so excited to get our puppy & name it & get it cute toys & train it (altho I'm not sure how long I will remain excited about housebreaking). We have several couples here in SA & a few elsewhere that are going through the whole get pregnant, deliberate over whether it's a girl or a boy, have emotionally draining conversations over baby names, etc. process, & this whole puppy thing is OUR version of it. Yaaaaaaay! I will post pictures after tomorrow. :-)

This time next week we will officially own a house! & in two weeks we move!

I really like lighting candles with matches. Not lighters. I like the smell of a lit match.

I think I want to throw a Halloween party next year. I was so sad not to get to dress up this year. Dressing up is super fun. & not to mention popcorn balls. YUM. I think this is an idea in the making... only 363 days to go!

As it turns out, my brain seems to be in shallow mode today.

C

I blog when I'm busy

This is the first time since the wedding that I have felt BUSY. That excites me! I have lots of stuff for work to do, mainly in the next week or so, then we have two & a half weeks before we move - AHHHH! So much packing to do! & I've never moved an entire residence by myself (well, I have Josh, but I'll be doing most of the packing) so I don't really know how long packing takes. I'm thinking I should start soon...?

I think today is a good day for "San Antonio Lessons." A lot of people know Dallas & Houston fairly well, but many have either only been to SA a few times or not at all. Therefore I feel the need to educate the uninformed. ENJOY!

1. San Antonio is the home of the HEB corporate headquarters. No other grocery store exists here that I know of, except I've seen one Sun Market something or other. Here people are often clustered into groups based on which HEB they go to.

2. I-35 & I-10 run through SA; the loops are called 410 (inner) & 1604 (outer); & highway 281 goes straight up & through SA (becomes highway 37 south of downtown).

3. San Antonio-ites have no idea how to pronounce words. Seriously. Bexar (County) pronounced "Baher." Blanco (Road) pronounced "Blank-o." Huebner (Road) pronounced "Heebner." Boerne pronounced "Bernie." You will be mocked by other San Antonio-ites if you pronounce these names wrong.

4. San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the nation, & one of the fastest growing cities in the nation (I have heard its THE fasting growing, but I can't find evidence of that). It is larger than Austin & Dallas, making it the second largest city in the state.

5. The Spurs, San Antonio's pro basketball team, won the 2007 NBA championship.
Oh, you knew that already? Okay, moving on. ;-)

6. There is LOTS to do here. Riverwalk, Alamo, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World, Schlitterbahn, outlet malls in San Marcos, Fredericksburg, Gruene Hall, float the river in New Braunfels or Boerne, & LOTS more.

7. San Antonio is a really fun place to live & you should move here. (Seriously, everyone graduates & moves to Dallas or Houston. I've probably tried to convince you to move here as well. & you should.)

That concludes everything I can think of at this very moment that you need to know about San Antonio. Wasn't that fun??

This weekend we're going to my parent's new house because they close Friday, then Saturday we're going to pick out our puppy!!! (We won't pick it up until after Thanksgiving tho.) Then Sunday we have lots of church stuff, including the vision/membership class that I plan as part of my job. PHEW! I love being busy!!

C

It's so pretty outside!

Sorry I've been a slight loser & haven't posted in over a week. I thought about it several times, if that makes it any better!

This weekend Josh & I went to College Station again, our second planned trip for the semester. He got to spend lots of time with Zac & see many BCA guys at the reunion, & I got to spend time with Paige & Kristin & have breakfast with my covenant group girls. Oh how I miss those relationships being in the same town. I wish everyone would move to SA. That would make me a really happy person.

I have been bitten by the photography bug. Josh & I want a nice SLR camera for Christmas & I have been researching them & getting really excited about learning about photography & slowly becoming good at it & being able to take pictures of our family & on vacations that can hang on our walls to not only represent memories but be really beautiful too! Plus it will be great to finally have a hobby since Josh has about 23 of them. & of course the blog will be a great place to post my pictures! Stay tuned!

For those of you that don't know yet, my parents are moving to Austin! My dad has been planning on quitting his job for a while, & finally the time came, & they decided to try something new - like living in a pretty town! They decided on a house over a month ago & will move in in the next couple of weeks. & they will be only an hour & a half away! We're excited.

There is a lot to be excited about these days!

C

We got a house!

Yay! Last week we put a contract on a house & the inspection went well, so looks like everything is good to go! We close in November! We're so excited to have a house & everything that comes with it - lots of painting, bits & pieces of remodeling (not too much, the house is in great shape), having lots of people over all the time, living in a neighborhood, getting a DOG! It's going to be fun. Basically we're just excited. :-)

Okay there are two commercials that I just love these days! The first one is the Jeep commercial with the guy & the singing squirrel, birds & wolf. So cute! I wish I had a squirrel to ride around in the car with me. The other one is the car commercial with the girl running down the street & she runs into the car & they advertise for a "car to notice" or whatever, then another commercial plays, then they come back to this girl getting off the ground then running into it again. Hilarious!

You know what I realized soon after we started talking about moving? I have to start packing. Oh boy!

WHOA! I knew it was supposed to get cool tomorrow, but the high is FIFTY EIGHT!!!!! Goodness!! That's jacket weather!! It's supposed to be in the 70's after that. Brrrr!!!

Okay bye!

C

A glimpse of fall!

It is beautiful today! It was rainy this morning & has been cloudy all day, which I don't mind clouds, & it is currently 69 degrees outside - wonderful!! Of course it is supposed to bump back up to the 90s tomorrow. But for TODAY, I have been driving around with my windows open, blaring Anberlin... oh so great.

I forgot to tell you people something very important - we now have a Panera Bread!!! AHH! It opened a couple of weeks ago & I went twice in a span of three days. I was totally bummed that my strawberry salad is no longer there... but oh my... the cinnamon crunch bagels... yummmmm! I'm super excited about this. :-)

I did some work today at one of the coffee shops the church staff frequents (free wireless!), & listened to some http://www.kvrk.com/ mostamazingchristianrockever, & it was great. With great weather. YA!

So great. (Ring any bells Bailey? "sooooo GREAT!")

C

Monday, Monday....

Sorry for the lack of updating! We have been busy bees these days. Normal life things, of course, plus house hunting & poor Toby has been sick. (Note: If you hate cats please skip to the next paragraph.) Toby, our kitty, began getting wheezy & sneezy & sounding congested, & turns out he has a horrible bacterial infection (this same bacteria, if in the wound of a human, say, in the leg, means the leg must, often times, be amputated). He had to get sedated & have the gunk cleared out then was put on antibiotics. At his follow-up, we had to get more meds, & were told he might have to come get cleared out again if he continues to get congested. Unfortunately the meds have trouble getting to the infection in the nasal cavity so we're not sure that he's getting better, & we can't afford to continue taking him to the vet every two weeks. We're not sure what's going to happen. So if you don't think praying for cats is stupid, please pray that we will be able to keep Toby & that he will get healthy!

I am really enjoying work. I take my laptop, basically whenever I want, to a coffeeshop, grab an iced latte or a tea, & do my thing! Sometimes I meet with my "boss" or other people that explain things I'll be doing, but it's basically the most flexible, most casual, purposeful job! I just get excited to do it, & that is a great thing. Waiting on the Lord is good! :-)

I'm not sure if I ever updated y'all on this, but Josh re-dyed the parts of my hair that didn't turn out so well, & it looks a lot better! It has faded a bit so it's not as drastic as I had hoped, but I like it being darker. My hair stylist friend Brittany explained to Josh the best way to dye my hair... everyone here thinks it's hilarious that Josh dyes my hair, AND that he's good at it! Seriously, how many women have a husband with a secret talent for hair coloring??

I just love sitting in my apartment, sipping my coffee, smelling yummy candles burning, watching Toby nap... oh then realizing I have some laundry & cleaning to do! Yuck.

Hopefully I will update sooner next time!!

C

I eat Bugs

So I really like peaches. I like the fruit, I like peach flavored things, I like the smell of peaches. Peachy peach peach. Every time I go to the grocery store I buy two or three peaches & they are eaten in a couple days. Every time.

I was just eating my peach, happy me, when I bit down to the seed, &

a

worm

crawled

out.

I want to throw up. I want to throw peaches as far as I can hurl them.

Where did this worm even come from?! Was it born in the peach? Did it make a hole from the outside of the peach that I somehow missed? Even worse...

How many worms have I eaten without knowing it???????????????

I'm so terribly grossed out right now.

I like October

Something about the word "October" invokes thoughts of crisp cool air, leaves crunching under my feet, driving with the sunroof open & opening the balcony door at home - the beginning of fall. I think perhaps fall is my favorite season. I'm really looking forward to it being cool enough that I can run outside in the mornings instead of go to the gym.

Unfortunately there is no sign of the weather getting below 90 degrees in the next week. Poo.

I dyed my hair. I thought it looked great. I loved the color. Then Josh got home & informed me that the hair in the back of my head didn't all get colored. So I have splotches of my light brown hair from behind. I tried washing it to get it to fade so now I don't like the color either & you can still see the splotches. I happen to have a friend that is a hair stylist & I have high hopes for her being able to help me. Needless to say, you won't be seeing a picture!

I'm reading through a chronological Bible & I'm currently reading about Moses talking to the Israelites & yesterday I read a verse that sums up what God is teaching me & what I am watching & waiting for Him to do in this time -

"To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him." (Deuteronomy 4:35)

I think I've mentioned how Josh & I have been challenged at our church in ways that we had not been in the past two churches we have been part of. One way is that I have seen that God wants to do cool & supernatural things in our lives - just to show how cool HE is! He wants to do things that make us stand in awe of Him & praise Him because He gives good things to those who love Him! He wants to lead you to pray for something, then give it to you, just to prove that He is faithful. He wants to give you a vision of something, then bring it to pass, to show that He keeps His promises. He wants us to think about how COOL He is! I now pray for specific things that I feel led to pray for because I can then watch for God to work & recognize that He really is orchestrating the things I hand to Him (which should be everything, I remind myself). For example, we will soon be looking at houses & seeking the Lord on where He wants us in that regard. I am praying that God is already working in the hearts of the owners of our future house, to plan on moving on the exact date they need to so we can move in when God wants us to, that we will walk into our future home & know that it is ours, that we will know His immediate confidence & peace at that moment. God is not a god of confusion! I'm looking forward to the home-buying experience because I know God has it all laid out, all we have to do is walk in it (figuratively speaking, but it works literally too :-) )!

I think everything I've just written probably is something I have heard before, but it is now real in my life because I've seen Him work & make this truth real in my heart. God just really does cool things when we let Him, & when we open our eyes enough to see!

Josh & I are really enjoying learning about new characteristics of our God that He is choosing to reveal to us in this time of our lives. :-)

I made a macaroni bake yesterday that I got off the Campbell's recipe website. You should check it out if you never have; there are some good & easy recipes there, & what I fixed yesterday was pretty yummy - Josh asked if I could make about a hundred times more of it next time because he could eat it for several days.

Oh, this past weekend we visited College Station, & it was a lot of fun. We got to see some of our close friends & visit Living Hope. A weekend isn't long enough, so I'm looking forward to next time too. :-)

Today feels like Friday. It's not though. (I've had this thought at least three times today.)

C

Is it fall yet??

October is in 3 measley days!! Isn't it time for cool weather, jeans without sweating, light jackets in the evening? I can't wait!

Josh & I went to Dillard's last weekend & got pretty lucky... I'm not sure if the whole store has great deals but I got a pair of jean capris (finally!), regular $64, got them for $16!, & Josh got some work shirts that were regular $30 each, got them for $7.50. So you might should check out Dillard's.

I'm dying my hair again next week! Maybe I'll put up a picture.

The new Thousand Foot Krutch CD is out!! I just became aware of this. Hopefully I can buy it soon. :-)

This entry is very random & quite pointless.

Who reads this blog anyways? I know Kristin, Bailey, Jenn, & Erin do because they leave comments... I know Ashley does because she told me, & of course my mom does... who else is out there?

Josh & I have been looking around our area & searching the internet to find out what kind of house we might be able to get. We are hoping to move into a house at the beginning of the year, so we're slowly (& still casually) looking at our options. It's crazy, & houses are so expensive. I'm praying that the Lord will provide our perfect home, a place that will be safe & feel like our home, & that we will simply be thankful that He is providing this for us.

That's about all the exciting news I have. Next time I update it WILL be October! Yay!

C

Discovery Alert!

Today during my coupon shopping at Target, I sniffed my way through the Glade candles & picked out a candle to try; I had last bought the Angel Whispers candle, which smells good, but I wanted something new. So I bought the "Fresh Berries & Wild Raspberry" Glade 2-in-1 candle.

YUMMMMMM!!!!

I hardly want to leave my kitchen because it smells so good! Hopefully the bottom half, the raspberry half, won't disappoint. But for now... my sniffer is happy.

Candles & Coffee on a Wednesday morning

As I sit drinking my caramel-vanilla flavored coffee, thinking that the world outside can't be moving any faster than I am, I decide to blog, because why not put off going to the grocery store for a little while longer?

I feel like I have learned a lot about people recently. Perhaps God has just opened my eyes. I have realized that even people that love the Lord & want to please Him have times where their "personality" takes over, even when that is contradictory to the Word. For instance, I have trouble loving people that don't love me. Josh is great at loving people, all people. God has shown me that not everyone will always be my friend, but I must still love them. (We're working through it; I'm learning & allowing Him to refine me in that.) But I have also learned that people, including myself, can often excuse these times because well, their "personality" is who they are, as if that excuses the fact that the Bible says to love one another, to die to yourself, to preach the Gospel, etc. Our personalities are so different from person to person, & it's amazing that God has made us so individually. But He has taught me that just because I was born with or obtained some trait, doesn't mean it's okay - I'm to look like Jesus. If my personality trait doesn't look like Jesus, it must change.

This weekend was fun. The Shearer's, the Smith's, & me & Josh floated the Guadalupe river in Boerne on Saturday. As you know, it has rained a bunch this summer, so the river is really high & really fast - you can't even float it without a guide in New Braunfels. But in Boerne it's not AS fast, so we went. The whole length of the float is supposed to last 3-4 hours; we were done in one & a half! There were a couple rapids on the way, & I definitely flipped at one point. Then we all went to Brad's parents house in Boerne & cooked out & made s'mores. Fun times!

I am so thankful for our new San Antonio friends. God is good to provide! I have been missing some of my old friends this week though! I had the opportunity to talk to Claire (who we are staying with next Friday!), Lindsey (who is coming to stay with us Tuesday!), & Bailey (who we are having dinner with Monday!) this week & I'm so excited that Josh & I will be in College Station next weekend to see people. We really want to stay friends with people that aren't here; I'm so thankful for unexpected phone calls, emails, IMs, etc.!

Erin, we're really excited about staying with y'all Saturday night too! :-)

Yay for relationships. Yay for God being all we need to sustain us.

C

(yes, I'm done signing for the both of us... perhaps one day he will surprise us with an entry! :-) )

a testament to His faithfulness

You all know Josh & I have been praying, & many of you have joined us, for God to reveal to me His plan for my time in this place. Two weeks ago on a Wednesday I felt led to pray very specifically about my situation... so I prayed, as I felt led, that God would show me exactly what He had for me within two weeks & that He would bring it to me. The next day, I was offered part-time positions by two different pastors at our church. Both pastors had been talking & knew that they both were going to offer me positions. I heard about both of them & God confirmed quickly which job I was to take.

I will begin working my way into being the assistant to one of our pastors; I will be doing database work from my own computer on my own time, helping plan events that get new members involved in the church, etc. I'm so excited! Josh & I are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to get to know our church's leadership already, & God is placing me in a spot where I will be part of the growth & change that our church is going through.

God is so good - He knew all along what I would be doing & He brought it right to me at the perfect time. He told me to wait & I did not wait in vain! God knows what He is doing & all we have to do is trust!

Thank you to those of you that have been praying about this - continue to pray that God would continue to change Josh & I to be exactly what He wants us to be, & that He would use us in our church & in Josh's work.

YAY!

J&C

Wifey & Husband

Okay, oreo pizza is good in theory... only semi-good in reality. Oh well. Anyone try those oreo cakesters? I want to try just one... not buy a whole box.

So now that Josh & I have both been in San Antonio for three weeks, we are starting to see what our life here looks like & getting into our routines. Here are some things that relate to my wifeness in some form or fashion:

1) Laundry. Lots of laundry. I feel like I do it a lot. I can't imagine what laundry for 6 people looks like!
2) Whenever I'm done washing & folding clothes, it's probably time to wash some towels or sheets. Washie wash wash.
3) myrecipes.com is amazing. I have found some recipes to try that I'm pretty excited about. Tonight I am trying Melissa's mom's taco soup. Yumm.
4) Sometimes I don't make the bed until 4:30. :-)
5) Homemade coffee is great - mainly because it doesn't cost $3. Yay for caramel-vanilla creamer!
6) I keep realizing things that we didn't register for. Good thing we have Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards like crazy!
7) I feel like such a good wife when I light lots of candles & it just smells so good in here. (Although Josh probably doesn't notice, but I sure love candles.)

Here are some things about Josh's life these days:

1) Josh comes home almost every day for lunch, except on most Fridays, when he goes out to lunch with guys from work.
2) He works out after work while I'm fixing dinner.
3) He still doesn't like coffee, but now he gets an iced chai latte when I drag him to Starbucks. We go on Sunday mornings before church; he reads the Sunday paper & I pick out the good coupons.
4) He steals the covers. Big time. Not on purpose though. :-)
5) He likes to cuddle with Toby (the cat... that sentence would sound weird if you didn't know that).
6) He is Mr. Financial Planner man. He pays all of the bills, puts money into savings, watches our expenses, & is currently working on finding out how much we can afford for a house payment. I'm sure glad he does all that!

We are really enjoying finally being here in San Antonio, spending time with our new friends, getting involved in our church, & spending time together. Yay :-)

J&C

OREO PIZZA!!!!!

Yes, that's right. Oreos. on pizza. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before??? Domino's = genius. Josh is at the church softball league practice & I'm really hoping we won't have time to cook dinner... therefore... calorie-laden goodness.

So I should probably have some really good news about a week from now... so you'll have to check back then to find out. (& no, we're not pregnant. Not pregnant.)

Last weekend we went to a wedding in Midland & it was a lot of fun. A lot of the original families from the beginnings of our church were there, so it was really good to see people, catch up, & do some cake-eating & dancing. Some family friends of ours adopted a Chinese girl about four years ago. She's now seven & stinkin adorable. She is "High School Musical's biggest fan" & was doing scenes & quotes from the movies & quizzing me on the characters' real life names. I wanted to stick her in my purse & take her with me!! We would so adopt a Chinese baby... unfortunately, you can get about six brown babies for the price of one Chinese baby. But that's okay. One or two brown babies will be so great. :-) (Jenn, people laugh at us when we say "brown" baby... & here I thought it made perfect sense! Part black... equals brown. Duh.)

Our Aggie friends Brandon & Jessica are coming in this weekend to hang out & go to Schlitterbahn... they should be here in a couple hours. It should prove to be a good time!

That's all we got! Thanks for visiting!

J&C

I made a Stoup!

As requested by Jenn, here are some pictures from the weekend (I have no idea how to do a slideshow so they're just normal!)

The girls before a day on the lake

The whole Aggie gang! Haley & I on the tube
Happy birthday to Ryan!

Jet ski day!

Now for the stoup! I made a stoup (a stew-like soup, according to Rachael Ray) a couple nights ago that is very yummy! I stole the ingredients from a friend here & created my own version that turned out pretty well, so here's the recipe!

3 boxes of chicken broth
1 med. can of tomato paste
1 package of tortellini
1 package of sausage
1 small package of baby carrots (you can use real ones but I realized I didn't have a carrot grater!)
4 leeks

Mix broth & tomato paste in a large saucepan
Chop carrots & leeks & add to soup
Bring soup to a simmer
Cook sausage separately in a saucer & set aside
Bring soup to a boil then add tortellini until fully cooked
Bring soup back to simmer
Add sausage, continue to simmer as long as desired (the soup tastes better if the flavors have a chance to mix)

I also bought the HEB bread that is frozen (multigrain is really good) & fixed that with butter that I added cinnamon to... yum. You could substitute potatoes in for the tortellini & I think it would still be really good. & FYI, this recipe makes a LOT of soup!!

This meal is really filling & yummy!

J&C

Weekend at the Lake

This weekend Josh & I went with Brad & Haley & Melissa & Ryan to Melissa's parents' lakehouse north of Houston. It was a lot of fun! We skiied, wakeboarded, tubed, & jet skiied. We all ended up pretty sore & tired but it was great being out on the water, soaking up the sun, & spending time with friends!

Seeing as how I have just done some super fun cleaning today, I have decided to list my top most disliked & most liked chores. Whoohoo!

Most Disliked

1. Cleaning the countertops in the bathroom. (sick nasty)
2. Cleaning the tub. (involves awkward leaning, also sick nasty)
3. Ironing. (I'm so bad at it & it makes me hot & my back starts hurting)

Most Liked

1. Laundry. (who doesn't love a chore that has a machine do most of the work?)
2. Vacuuming. (easy as long as there isn't stuff all over the floors)
3. Doing the Dishes. (pretty easy stuff)

Mega-Bonus for chores:

Burns calories!

:-)

J&C

It's taco salad night!

You'd think with this whole "no job" thing, I'd update this more often.

Apparently not.

Okay, I have a very important question. I have asked this question several times, but have forgotten each time, but now it is unavoidable. I now have a last name that ends in "s". Darn. So, how do you put it - the Roberts's, the Roberts', the Robertssssssss? (Mainly the first two choices are the source of my confusion.) Is it the first one? I even asked Josh like a month ago, & he told me, & I still forgot. Jeepers.

I really have had things to say, but I've just not sat down to write them.

We have some new friends we're really excited about. There is this couple, Brad & Haley, that we knew in college - he was my Impact leader, she lived in the same apartment building as me, they went to our church. We always small-chatted but never hung out. Well, at Matt & Erin's wedding, we found out they were moving here. So they have been going to our church & we have hung out as couples twice, & I have hung out with Haley several times. What fun! We are so thankful for like-minded friends that are also goobery like we are. :-)

There has been some interesting stuff going on lately that I may or may not blog about. But overall it has been good, because Josh & I have been challenged & have grown to know the Lord more intimately & have become more aware of His power & the things He does that make us stand in awe of Him. It's good stuff.

We are so glad to finally both be back in San Antonio - actually LIVING here!! It's great. We are falling into our routine (we both love our routine you know), & Josh is enjoying finally being in the office & learning more about the things he will actually be doing for his job. & we are especially glad to be spending time with people, making new friends & strengthening the friendships we have made in the past three months. God is good.

Should you pray for us, please pray that I would continue to be content where the Lord has me & that I would trust & be patient on Him. His timing is never wrong, & I know He has something for me, I just don't know what or when. & right now that is okay with me, & I am so thankful to have a husband that prays for me & trusts what I hear from the Lord, which right now is "wait." So we wait!

Josh & I have been getting into green tea. The hot kind, like the kind you get at Chinese food restaurants. Isn't that fun? I might get some tonight at Starbucks.

Check out the Dodds'ssssssss blog - I'm super excited Bailey started blogging, & maybe if I plug her blog then she'll update often. :-)

J&C

Brief. (Discovery!)

So. Good.

These things are the perfect amount of sweetness in just 140 calories! You must go get them. Eat them after dinner, as a snack, heck, have a yummy breakfast.

I will write more perhaps tomorrow. Tonight was a really good night, & I'm hopeful for what the Lord might do this week.

Please pray for Josh while he finishes up training this week in Alabama!

J&C

I am a blogging fool!

What a productive day I have had!

I went to the bank to get my new debit card sent since the first one got lost or something, checked out the sale at Kohl's (but bought nothing, oh well), ate some salad, did three loads of laundry, took out the trash, cleaned the toilets, dusted, & I think I might just vacuum!

Josh has driven through three states & is now sitting in an airport. Poor Joshie.

I'm pretty excited about this weekend! Of course I'm glad because Josh is coming home to break up his two weeks in the... state next to the Peach State. But we are going to have a home-cooked meal tonight & watch High School Musical! Neither of us have seen it & we want to see what the big deal is with this movie!

Then tomorrow I am going to Ranelle's baby shower & hopefully Josh & I will be able to hang out with some of our new friends since we haven't been seeing too much of them.

Sunday we start working in the Sunday School at church!! We are going to be shepherds for (most likely) fourth graders, which means we won't be doing the teaching, but our role is more relational. I'm really excited about it! We have a training meeting before church then start that day, & we will be in there every other week since there is only one service. Yay! Thank the Lord for an amazing church to get involved in & start serving so quickly!

Next week I'm staying here. I'm planning on hanging out with a couple friends, hopefully getting a new social security card, & probably some car maintenance - wash, oil change, new brakes. It shouldn't be too bad of a week... our LAST week with Josh out of town!!! Wahoo!

Yay for life getting going in San Antonio!

J&C

Curly Swirlies!

Okay, so how do these people get these super-cute fonts to sign their blog? I like super-cute fonts!! Anyone, anyone???

We (almost) finally live in SA!

Okay, so my hair faded really quickly. Darn. I'm going to dye it again soon, drastically darker, so hopefully it will fade to the right color. :-)

I spent Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday in Midland with my parents. I didn't do too much, ran some errands with my mom, visited Leslie, etc. Josh has been observing the building of a condo on the beach in Alabama this week but he gets to come home tomorrow!! Yay! Then he'll head back for his LAST week of training - wahoo!!

I forgot to write about something last time. So, the last Sunday Josh & I were in Houston, we visited Lakewood "Church." Yes, Joel Osteen's "church." Goodness, we need to pray that people are not deceived by him!! It's really sad that God's name can be placed on what Joel says. If you are not familiar with him, his "sermons" consist of him telling you, in some way, how you can make your dreams come true, how you can make yourself earn lots of money & be healthy & happy, & how we can use God to do those things. Listen to him sometime. I get so frustrated, mainly because I can't tell if Joel knows he is exploiting the name of the Lord & His Word, or if he is just terribly, terribly deceived as well.

Anyways, for those of you who haven't been to Lakewood, the singing is very high energy, like a concert (apparently the music team writes the songs they sing, so we heard, so we didn't know any of them), Joel rarely mentions scripture & definitely doesn't use his Bible, & - this part is an absolutely mystery to me - almost EVERYONE seems to give money during the offering. Not quite sure how he convinced everyone to do that (I'm not sure that I would be motivated to give if I did not know the Lord & love His church!)... but everyone seemed to put a white envelope in those buckets. We checked out this envelope - you put your name, file number, & amount on the outside - oh, & if you want any of the money to go to missions, you better put an amount in that box, or they won't. They don't give to missions unless the giver specifically says to.

Joel is in a very dangerous place. God is not One to be exploited.

I'm not as good as some at summing up what Joel says, so just Google "Joel Osteen" & read the articles that come up.

OH, I almost forgot. There was a man outside of the building when we left, preaching (I've definitely never seen anyone outside a church preaching!). He had a sign that said "Joel is lying to you" & the one thing we heard him say was, "Do you really think Jesus would die for you so you could make a lot of money?" True, although perhaps not the most effective way to try to show people the deception going on inside. Phew. It was quite the experience.

In other news, I bought baby stuff for Ranelle's baby shower Saturday - it's the first time I've ever bought baby stuff. Weird.

We've had some of my wedding cake in the freezer & I'll pull out a piece every once in a while, defrost it, & eat it over a couple days. That cake was soooooo good (I can say that because I didn't bake it, just chose it!). Yummmmm... I love frosting.

Time to go use that gym we've been paying for but haven't been to in a month!

J&C

I'm an.. auburnette?

I dyed my hair! Yep. Cuz I'm crazy spontaneous, of course.

Actually, Josh dyed my hair. In the hotel bathtub. He was like, "So this is what married people do?" I think he had fun doing it. We accidentally dyed a towel in the process (do you get charged for that sort of thing?). It looked kinda nasty.

But really, since the 9th grade, this is the longest I have gone without coloring my hair - two whole years, people. & I got the itch to do it again. So I went the opposite way than before - not blonde, but dyed it a darker shade of brown with hints of red. I personally don't think it's super drastic, but I guess we will see when I see people's reactions!

I have a mission for you people. Travel to your nearest Houston or Dallas, go to Panera Bread, & order the Strawberry Salad (with or without chicken, whatever suits your fancy). It's so good... strawberry poppyseed dressing & lots of strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple (ok, so I took that part off)... I'm drooling just thinking about it. I can't believe San Antonio doesn't have Panera Bread. I think I might write them a letter & suggest it.

& also eat a cinnamon crunch bagel. You can thank me later.

Which (skipping the two sentences I just wrote, that is) brings me to my next point. I would love to find a salad dressing that is as good as the ones in restaurants. I think strawberry vinegarette is my favorite... we also had it at Drew & Adrienne's rehearsal dinner. I finally found one at HEB but it's not as good. & at Landry's Sunday, we had a honey mustard vinegarette, which sounds nasty, but it was so good. Anyone have any amazing salad dressing recommendations? (Obviously you don't, Kristin, cuz you eat salad dry as dry comes... I told Paige about that & we both think you're crazy :-) )

Toby has a new stretch these days. It's adorable. When he gets up from a mega nap, he always stretches big time, back arched, ears pointed backwards, & now, tongue out. It's so cute!

That's all I've got for today. Now I'm off to read my library book - I need to finish it! TOODLES!

J&C

(We leave Houston tomorrow - WHOOHOO!!)

Thank goodness for cell phones.

Oh, what a week we have had!

So last Tuesday, I tried a new Starbucks near the hotel for my hour or two of thank-you-note writing. First of all, they were playing very loud Hispanic dancing music. Then my iced caramel latte seemed all caramel, little latte. Mainly due to the music, I decided to leave & go to the Starbucks I had been going to. But when I hauled my Target bag of notes, stamps, wedding cards, etc., out to my car, my car didn't start. Okay. So Josh left work early & saved my stranded self. He jumped it & we went to the hotel to find somewhere to take it to. When we went to take it to the dealership, it wouldn't even jump. So we got it towed. Apparently my alternator had failed, so they replaced it & I picked it up Thursday.

Drove it Thursday during the day. Then Josh & I headed on the beltway toward Jessica & Brandon's place for dinner & my stereo stopped working... then lights on my dash came on... then my windshield wipers started slowing down... at this point we start heading back to the hotel to take his car... my air conditioner stopped blowing cold air... I'm crying, afraid it is going to blow up as we drive down the highway... then we exited the highway & my brakes started jerking. We pulled into some warehouse parking lot & my car died. Fun. We called the dealership again & the towing company & no one could figure out where we were. We eventually got picked up & some fuse linkage box thing in my car had died or whatever. Picked it up on Saturday.

So that was some all week car trouble fun!

Oh ya. Then we realized the highway we had taken when we tried to turn around was a toll-tag only tollway. So we're watching the mail for charges from that!

Poor Josh also got sick with a cold last week, & gave it to me yesterday. What a sharing sweetie.

We also found out where Josh would be his last two weeks of training. Not Austin, like previously planned, but... ALA-STINKIN-BAMA!

So he will be in Alabama for two weeks starting Monday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, because he is flying so I can't go (unless we paid for it of course but that's not gonna happen)... go to Midland? Stay in San Antonio & try to figure out what to do with my life? We'll see.

I'm not really looking forward to going back to San Antonio. I'll be glad to be back in our home, of course, but I'll only be reminded that I have yet to hear God show me what to do with my time & that we have no close friends or family-figures. I'm having a harder time with this than Josh; he's definitely more patient than I am. We have really enjoyed hanging out with our good friends Jessica & Brandon while we've been here in Houston, & I got to spend time with Paige & Claire, & I'm very thankful for that.

Please do be praying that God will show me what He wants me to do. I'm quite conflicted over it all. Pray for patience & clarity. & please be praying that Josh is safe during his last two weeks of training. It's almost over!!

We miss you all!!

J&C

Starbucks' chicken salad sandwiches are good! Try one!

I love the ability to make coffee here in the hotel room that is fast & free. It's a lot easier than my coffee maker at home, too, so maybe that is part of the excitement.

Two weeks down, four to go. I have decided that I suppose I will tackle those thank you notes this week to keep myself busy. Blah. I am not a fan of thank you notes (don't get me wrong, I am very thankful - but I hardly know some of the people I write them to so I don't have a bundle to say!). Speaking of not being a fan of a means of communication, I really really don't like the phone. I like it if we are REALLY good friends, or maybe if you catch me on a good day, but if I need to find something out or deliver a message & the way to do that is to call someone... I would SO much rather drive to them to ask in person! I'm not sure why I have such a phone-phobia. But yuck. Just can't stand it.

God has really challenged me, through people we have met at our church, in the area of prayer. I don't pray for enough, & my faith is not sure. I'm not sure if I can fully explain. I have found that there are things that I classified as too "superficial" to pray for, because why would God care about that, or just do that because I prayed it, because it's just not very important? I'm definitely not talking about praying that God gives you more money just because you want it or something to that effect, but praying, for instance, that God stops the heavy rain while you are driving. & I don't want you to think that God is One that just wants to give us everything we want or ask for. No. My revelation is a reflection of the fact that I didn't pray enough or about enough. I find myself praying for more people I don't know, more specifically, & more full of faith that God most certainly WILL answer my prayer, but HOW He answers my prayer is based on what glorifies Him most & what He sees as best for me or whoever is involved. But when I really believe, I find myself looking for His answer, which I think is definitely part of the process. (If anything I said can be taken the wrong way, please do not assume, but ask for clarification - I don't want anything I say to be misconstrued.)

On another note, I have decided that Houston can be labeled as a city of bad drivers. They speed, swerve, honk, weave with no regards to anyone. Now, to my friends from Houston, this does not include you... unless, of course, you are indeed a bad driver, then there you go.

I think God uses driving as a serious means of sanctification!!

I am off to buy myself some sushi for lunch, do some reading, & write lots of thank yous over a caramel iced latte...

J&C

(At first I felt like I couldn't call this a FAMILY blog when I will undoubtedly be the only one that writes in it, or sign it from the both of us when he has no input, but I'm gonna play the "we are one" card in this & all future instances.) :-)

Life in Houston

Weird again.

I've never lived in a hotel before. It's not so bad I guess, with free breakfast, a workout facility downstairs, & not having to cook dinner. I have already staked out the nearest Starbucks, Target, Sonic, Barnes & Noble, etc., & found some yummy cheap restaurants for us to try out. We were glad to know they have a Chuy's here... that is our new Mexican spot, I think. It's good... especially the FREE nachos between 4-7 on weekdays!! :-)

Today I went to Central Market. I have never been there before, but oh my. I just had the best time! I got to sample fresh mango & several breads (I could live in the bread section, you know). I bought a bit of strawberry granola, dried fruit, a piece of baklava, & a chicken salad sandwich. I think I'll be going back there soon... & definitely leaving with some of those mangoes!!

Toby the cat is also here with us... we couldn't leave him in SA without us, you know. That makes it more fun for me too, having him here in the room while Josh is at work.

God is teaching me a lot these days, & I can see how He is changing me. That is a good thing... but a long process. He is also refining us as a couple & showing us how to be married & how now our relationships with the Lord are to be shared with each other & how to be unified in that. I'm not sure how to explain it. All I know is that we have a lot to learn & I'm excited to see how our marriage looks next year, in 5 years, in 50 years; God willing.

I get excited about this time of the day... it means it's almost Me&Joshie time! :-)

J&C

P.S. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I can now do things in Josh's name without him there... like depositing his checks or something. It also still weirds me out when people (like bank tellers or the gym girl) call me Mrs. Roberts. I feel old!

Life is Weird

I wanted to post a picture of my (parents') dog... b/c she's adorable. We can't wait to get a dog.

But yes, life is weird. About as weird as it's ever been. Some parts I like. Some... well, let's just say I've been praying a lot.

It's strange being in a town where you can count on two hands how many people you know. & those relationships are new & not very deep - I really miss my friends that know me & we can have serious conversations or we can have fun or we can sit & not do much of anything. I want that here but I think it's going to take a while.

God is challenging me with contentment. I'm really struggling to be fully satisfied in Him alone... I've definitely realized how important people & relationships are to me. Josh left last night for Houston & this, where I am, will not seem like home again for a month & a half. I don't like being here without him so I'll be in Houston as much as I can... living out of a suitcase. At least we'll have cable! & I guess that will motivate me to write those thank you notes!

Josh is in a wedding this weekend, & his grandmother passed away today (Josh's family would appreciate your prayers), so we will be going to a funeral a day or two before the wedding. Again, life is weird. It's the most inconsistent & unroutine it's ever been. Hmm.

But I know God has something for us in this time. He will grow us & hopefully we will know Him more by the time this period is over.

Pray that our marriage would be strengthened during this time & that we would not let things like money (it costs a lot to drive back & forth & eat out more often than we do here) cause frustrations. We really appreciate your prayers!

J&C

We joined a church!

Yay! Thank you guys for your prayers - God has been so faithful in giving us a church & friends within two weeks of living here! We're really excited about what God will do with us & through us there, & we're now praying that He would show us where He wants us to serve. Also be praying that if He wants me involved in serving the church during the week, that He would provide the opportunity & make it clear to me. But yay for now! The small group we quickly got involved in had a birthday celebration for Josh & our two-year-old member last night, so that was fun & we felt so special that they would honor Josh although we're so new. The Body of Christ is such a blessing!!

We also joined a health club today! We got a really good deal so we're pretty excited about it. I have been trying to run around our neighborhood in the mornings, but with these South Texas temperatures & the crazy humidity, it has been pretty miserable. So now Josh & I have a place to go work out, & something to do during the evenings. Yay!

Kristin is coming to visit me Wednesday! We will have some fun times I'm sure. Then we will be wedding-ing it Friday night, & dinner on Saturday with a couple new friends of ours. What fun!

God is good, isn't He?

J&C

oh yeah

Josh & I recently decided on the four worst date movies we have ever seen (& seriously regretted seeing). Here they are in no particular order-

1. A Lot Like Love (unhappy, real life ending - who wants to pay money to see failed relationships?)
2. Catch & Release (we didn't feel happy feelings toward any of the characters - & the introductory scene totally started off the movie in a disgusting way)
3. Because I Said So (this is the dirtiest movie I think I have ever seen)
4. In Good Company (stinkin real life endings!)

You were warned!

(On the positive side of things, we did see Ocean's 13 & liked it - not as good at 11 but better than 12. I have also read that Evan Almighty should actually be a good & clean movie... hmm.)

J&C

P.S. This is not the "I'll write more next time" time.

wouldn't it be great...

...to be funny?

There aren't many things I would change about my genetic self. I'm pretty confident in the superficial things God gave me, such as my OCDness or my lack of ability to break any sort of rule. But... I do wish I was funny. Wouldn't it be great to be funny? Like, understated funny. Mostly Josh & I are just goobery (Josh is goobery with a large dose of corn). I only have one joke, & I can't get through it without laughing, so mainly people just watch me with a blank stare when I tell it. Wouldn't it be great to be funny?? Maybe one day.....

Keep praying about the whole church thing. As for friends, God has blessed us with a group of people we are getting to know, & we are so thankful. It is a huge answer to prayer!

I have a couple topics I've been wanting to post on, but I haven't had time. Maybe soon.

Josh & I get to go to Erin & Matt's wedding next weekend!! Yay for weddings! We love them. Congrats guys!!

I'll write more next time.

Have a great weekend!!

J&C

Thursday is the day before Friday!

Hello all!

This week has actually gone by pretty quickly. Josh might disagree. Since Tuesday, he has had to be at work at 6 because for part of his training he is spending time in the company's yard, but he's gotten off at 3 every day as well, so we've had more time to run errands, like joining our bank accounts & phone plans, & getting our washer & dryer installed (my dryer has a light on the inside that comes on when you open it - I'm way excited about it). So it's been nice having him here earlier in the afternoon - although that means I haven't had much progress in the apartment! Oh well!

Lindsey visited me Tuesday on her way through town, so we got to hang out & eat some Krispy Kreme's. I was glad to see her & spend time with her. I also got a phone call that day that was so encouraging. Josh & I have been praying for months to quickly find a church home & to make friends (because the Bible is quite clear that we are meant to have both - a church body & people to encourage us & keep us accountable - so I knew that was something God would do). Obviously we're still waiting about knowing which church to belong to. But we met one couple Sunday that we got to talk to for a while, & she called me Tuesday to ask me to coffee & tell me how much they liked us & wanted to be friends. It was such a blessing! We met today at Starbucks (I finally got an iced latte - it's been a week, y'all!) & spent three hours talking about so much stuff, not much of it superficial at all. It was such a great time & I'm so excited about this couple that we might become good friends with. Even if not, it was still a great time of conversation & I'm quite thankful for it.

I'm excited for the weekend! We have a lot to do here to get this place in order, so we'll probably do that most of the time, but hopefully with a pool break or something else fun.

We really appreciate y'alls prayers for us, & I really love getting calls from y'all - I'm sorry to those of you I haven't called yet - I'm really not sure sometimes how the day gets away from me! But we really want to maintain our friendships. & know that we have a spare bedroom that is always available - unless someone else is sleeping in it, of course. :-) We love y'all!

J&C

(I asked Josh if he had any messages for the blog world, & he started talking to Toby - "kittttyyyyyy, kittyyyyyy....")

We're married!

Hey everyone! So we got married, went on our wonderful honeymoon to Victoria in British Columbia, spent a couple days in Cloudcroft, & now we are finally here in San Antonio! Josh started work today & will be training hardcore for the next couple of months, including some traveling (all in Texas) that I'm planning on joining him on. I've been trying to get everything we own out of boxes & where it belongs! It's been quite a process & there is still a long way to go! But we really like our apartment & it already feels like home.

I'm praying that God shows me where He wants me spending my time soon... whether it be very involved in a church, an organization, or getting a part-time job... if you pray for us, pray for that, & that He would quickly show us which church He wants us to be a part of. We want to get involved & start meeting people, so we're really looking forward to becoming a part of a local church body. We visited a church yesterday but don't feel a peace about it, so we're still praying & waiting & will visit another one this coming weekend.

I would also like to mention that I busted Josh's lip. My watch kind of smacked him in the mouth when we were playing with my dog. Whoops.

Toby (my cat) & Josh are bonding as well.

We really are pretty boring people.

I did discover that HEB makes almost every possible product in their grocery store with their own brand that is much cheaper & for the most part tastes the same... I mean, I knew they had that brand, but they really do make just about everything. Except their soup options are pretty slim.

Our big plates don't fit in our cabinets so the door just doesn't close all the way.

I'm really trying here, but we don't have much exciting news for you all right now. We are enjoying hanging out (without cable!), putting our apartment together, & playing with the kitty. It's a pretty simple life right now... but a good one.

Till next time!

J&C

Coming soon...

Yay, our blog is all set up!

Our first post will come after the honeymoon whenever our internet gets up & running!!

See you then!

-J&C