Hi!

I know that my posting has been lack luster at best lately... I don't know, maybe it's the stress of trying to find a job accompanied by the need to get the English training done. Maybe I'm just having a bad day! :~) Could happen!

Today Jamey and I went to see about a job at Krystal's (fast food for those of you who don't know what it is). Jamey got asked to come back, but they didn't have any applications for me... Oh, well! Tomorrow I'm going to try to see about the McD's around here. That should be interesting working in that kind of environment again! :~}

After that Jamey and I stayed in Memphis for a little while longer. We went to some places that we went before we moved and some new ones... It was fun being back in Memphis. I didn't realize this before, but I kinda miss it. I guess I always will have fond memories of this place since this is where my first home was after getting married.

I hope we will have that kind of attachment in China! I'm looking forward to it... I know it will be something totally different than what I'm used to, but I think we all need that sometimes! :~)

I'll do my best to keep you up to date on the job search and how we're doing. Oh, a little brag here... I passed my first assignment with the English as a Second Language course!!!! :~D I needed a 16 to pass and I got a 17! I'll try to do better with this next one, but I'm happy with the results so far! :~) Besides, they had some pretty hard questions in that first one!

Well, I should probably get some sleep so I can face the new day with a smile! :~)

A lot going on...

OK, quite a lot has been going on in the last 2 days... Jamey and I were out all day and I'm kinda tired. I need to get dinner ready for tomorrow so I'll try tomorrow to post more about the busyness that has been our lives since yesterday. Stay tuned... :~)

Been a while...

And it's all my fault, I know! :~) Well, I had to get back in the swing of things and to tell the truth I'm not completely there yet... But here goes!

This is a summary of all that happened at lectureship... I'm going to try to get the notes that I wrote, but that will be for another post! :~}

Let's see... Freed lectureship! :~) We got to Jamey's parents house around 5:30pm their time. We left at about 7:30am our time, so it took about 11 hours! We were able to relax on Saturday. The only thing going on then was a dinner with Jamey's family that went really well and we all enjoyed it. We also had a delayed Christmas gift exchange.

Sunday was church. We went to Jamey's parents church for morning service and also went with them to the nursing home service at 2:30pm. We didn't get a chance to have dust collect cause after that Jamey, Jason and I went to Memphis to visit our old church. It was a blast seeing everyone again and we also got to stay for a Super Bowl party at one of the members houses. We had a good time in the sense that we enjoyed it but also were bummed out cause we knew we weren't going to be back in a while. We didn't end up getting home till about midnight! :~) Which, in retrospect, was a bad thing cause we had to get up early the next morning!!!

Monday we - Jamey, Jason and I - started by getting up at 6:30am so we could get a good start on all the lectures. We didn't leave the house till 7:30 and didn't get to Freed till 9. We were able to catch a good lecture before chapel. Then after chapel we were free to go to the dining hall... That was an experience! I had fun listening to Jamey and Jason reminisce about how bad the food used to be and how spoiled the kids were now cause they got pizza everyday! :~) Our schedule was full from then on with lectures and workshops. We got to eat at Bell's for supper which is like the social highlight of Henderson. The food was good, and the service was friendly! :~) We didn't get home until late this night too because we stayed for the congregational singing and the late lecture. I had an absolute blast!!! :~) I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Tuesday was more of the same except for the fact that Jason wasn't with us. I got to sit in on a ladies lecture which was really good and recommended by a friend... That friend was the lady from Memphis that helped me get my driver's license and was someone that I connected with when we were living there. Anyway, she was there at the lecture so I got to catch up with her a little bit. That was the highlight of the day for me! :~) Back to the lecture though, the lady was really interactive with the crowd and spoke on the Psalms... About prayer, praise and getting to know who God is. It was a three part lecture that went on from Tuesday till Thursday. I enjoyed it and learned a lot! :~) We stayed for the congregational singing, late lecture and also got to stay for the chorale. At the end of the chorale singing they invited all the previous members to come up and sing the last song... Jamey used to sing with them so he enjoyed going up and singing!! :~)

Something that I also got to experience was an open forum... I did not know that there were so many people that could comment on the same topic and say exactly the same thing as the previous commenter. :~} It was interesting and they got into some very controversial stuff. Jamey went up to comment on one of the days and he used something that I had said to him... There was an argument about Christian contemporary music and if we could sing along because these were not Christians that made the music and we should not participate in their false worship. I made the comment to Jamey that if that were true we really couldn't sing almost all the songs in the hymnal cause they weren't written by Christians! Anyway, that made me smile! :~)

Wednesday was a little shorter for the simple fact that it was church night and Jamey's Mom was making some deliciousness that is Louisiana Lasagna! :~p We got to listen to a few good lectures and the open forum then had to leave in order to make it to Jamey's parents house in time for church!

Thursday was a little like Wednesday we got to go to chapel, eat in the cafeteria and hear a few great lectures... However we had to go before open forum because we were going to eat supper with Jamey's family at Shoney's. It was mostly cause Jamey's sister Rachel could only make it that day... We had a good time and I got to talk to his sisters a little more.

It was very difficult to leave Freed on Thursday cause I knew that we weren't going to be going back. I ended up taking quite a few notes while we were there and got the good side of college life. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and got to imagine what it might have been like had I gone to college... Course if I had gone I wouldn't be where I am today so I'm glad I didn't go, but still I couldn't help thinking about it! :~}

Jamey and I also got to go to the book fair that went on all week... It was a good book fair and also a money pit! :~) Jamey couldn't come out of there without spending some money! Hey, when you're surrounded by a lot of great books written by the brotherhood how could you not spend a lot of money? ;~) Another one of the things that I got to do was meet quite a few of Jamey's old college friends and also got to see a few of the people I knew that were going there.

Friday was spent relaxing before having to be on the road for an extended period of time. We just chilled with Jamey's family. We watched some movies and had to pack... I tried not to have our stuff explode all over the floor, but to no avail! So I spent some of the day doing laundry and packing what I could. We definitely left with more than what we came with!!! :~) All in all we had a great time and I can't wait till the next time! :~D

We had a very uneventful trip back and got home in record time. I'm still trying to get back into the schedule that I had for myself before we left... I'm doing well with the meals, it's just the chores that I'm not liking right now! Hopefully this will get me out of the writers block that I've been having. I'll try to write more later... I have ladies Bible study to write about and then just life in general! It's getting late and I have a busy week ahead so I should start thinking about going to bed! :~)

A full week ahead...

Just a quick blurb to say that we'll be leaving for TN tomorrow for the lectureship Freed-Hardeman is having. We'll be staying with Jamey's family so we can get as much time with them as possible while we're in west TN. I'm looking forward to pretending I'm at college for a week. I'm also looking forward to seeing Jamey's family again... Haven't seen them since at least the middle of last year.

We'll be leaving about 7 am tomorrow morning... Yeah, I'm excited to get up that early. Can you read the sarcasm? Anyway, I've been busy today trying to do laundry and pack. The hardest part about packing is that I always have this feeling that I'm forgetting something... And I usually do forget it. What's worse is the fact that I don't remember about it until we're almost there! :~}

I have to put this in here... You know that! ;~) There are some precious pics of my nephew on my sister's blog! :~D Well, I should probably go and get the dishes put away... And then fold what little is left of the laundry when it gets done.

I'm Back... And I wrote a Lot!

I got to drive all the way up to Greensboro NC yesterday... A three hour trip that is tedious in and of itself. This trip however, was made even more difficult with inclement weather. About an hour into the trip I had to slow down to 50 in order to see things ahead of me... It really didn't worry me as this was the kind of weather that I drove going from Memphis to Nashville when we were moving... That and I had the constant spray from the moving truck that Jamey was driving in front of me. Anyway, I focused on the car in front of me... We made it in the time we figured and the trip back was uneventful.

I love to drive but I don't like to drive in nasty weather when not everyone has their headlights on! Not only is it kind of silly not to put them on but it's dangerous. I could barely see the road let alone the cars that actually had their lights on. I'm glad I was able to do it though cause it gave me some experience... Now the only weather I have to conquer is snow! I'm a little wary of that though as the last time I tried to drive in new snow I almost hit a stop sign! :~O

Alright enough about me... I'm not going to write a lot about my nephew as my sister has put more pics of the little guy up on her blog and I don't want to take away from her blog. That being said I can now dispense with the gushing! :~) Of course I'm not biased in any way ;~) but I have to say that he is one of the cutest babies that I've seen! I can't wait to see him in December! He looks like he is getting bigger every day... And he might have a little bit of blond hair.

Munchkin is out and about today. I've been keeping her in the bathroom at night so that nothing will get broken at night! :~) She meows for me a lot. She is very personable for a cat, course we never had indoor cats in Ohio. She seems to have taken to a frog I got at Claire's recently. She plays with it and drags it places she goes. I'll try to get pics of that but it might be hard, the only evidence that I know she has been playing with it is it's conspicuous presence in other parts of the house! :~) Right now she is dragging it like it's her kitten.

Shorty is finally figuring out that he has to bark to go outside and that outside is the only place to go to the bathroom. It won't be long before he can be out all day! :~) He's growing a lot. He's now up to around 12 pounds... He won't get too much bigger.

Birthday season is upon us. What I mean is this... My brother Ira started it by having his birthday this past Sunday. I'm the next in line with a birthday in October, then comes Philip in November and to close out the year is Sarah in December. Lydia's is in March so by next spring we will all be another year older. I'm not looking forward to mine this year for some reason. I'll be turning 24 and for some reason that sounds old to me. I'm no longer in my early 20s I'm in my mid 20s. Oh well, time marches on! :~)

One last thing before I give your eyes a rest... I didn't mean to make this so long, but I'm glad I got back to actually writing something longer than a post-it note! :~) The gospel meeting here went very well. Jamey preached on the different things we do in worship. Sunday morning was Communion and Jesus' death on the cross. Sunday night was prayer. Monday night was singing and Tuesday night was giving. Quite a few people from the neighboring congregations came and Tuesday night we had 80 people. :~) Everyone thought that Jamey did an exceptional job!

I still have that sewing to do... I plan on working on it this month and having it done by the time my birthday rolls around. Kinda like a birthday present to myself! :~) I picked out 2 shirts and 2 dresses for the colder weather. Tomorrow I have to clean... Jamey doesn't care whether or not it's really clean but I always feel really good when the house is spotless! :~)

It's October!! :~)

I'm doing something right now that no southerner in their right mind would do... I have the windows open and letting the breeze in. In and of itself this isn't crazy, it's just that it's still in the 80s! :~O Well, it helps a little... The sound of cars on the road outside is very calming for me. Also I looked at the weather both in VT and in OH... It's 66 degrees in both places right now. So, in my head it's open window weather even though it feels more like summer. Ahhh... The joys of living in the state of TN! :~)

Thursday I already mentioned that we were planning on going to see a football game... The game was in Jonesboro, AR so it was a good hour drive to get there. Oh, and apparently the people that are at ASU can't tell time. The ticket said that it started at 7pm, however we got there a little before 7 and they were already in the middle of the second quarter! That wasn't so bad, cause Memphis was kicking AR butt. However, they decided that winning wasn't everything and gave the game away. They went from 31 - 13 to 31 - 34! It didn't help that there was a little referee favoritism, and that Memphis can't defend themselves real great! By the way, the outfits for the band don't flatter anyone!!! :~p Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy, they wouldn't stand still for us! :~)

Friday was pretty good... I got my shopping done and then got to nap a little before I had to go over to clean house. I got there about 1pm... I had to go back and finish after I went to pick Jamey up at 4pm. It's not that it was dirty, it's just that there were a lot of nick knacks to dust. Not to mention that there were three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I survived and when I got done went home and ate pizza for supper... I got it at Aldi, it's quite good. I wanted to get some khaki pants after that, kinda as a reward. I like Goodwill for this... Usually there are some fancy, expensive clothes there that I would never be able to buy new. I got a pair of really nice pants that are MetroStyle. Yes, they are now my new favorite pants! :~)

Saturday we didn't have to leave until 4pm, so we got to sleep in and enjoy a quiet morning at home. Jamey woke up before I did... He saw how peaceful I looked sleeping and he didn't want to disturb me, so he made breakfast and brought it up to me! Yep, breakfast in bed! :~) I didn't eat in bed for fear of getting crumbs in the sheets... I'm the only crumb that gets to sleep in the sheets! :~) We watched some TV before we had to leave. It only took about 2 hours to get there, which is like having a weekend off! It's so pretty there... They have rolling hills in that part of TN, so we both like the landscape. The people we stayed with were very nice. They had a king size bed in the guest room... Jamey and I could lay out on that thing and not even come close to each other! :~) It was a little weird cause I felt like I was sleeping by myself.

Sunday was good. Jamey did a really good job as always. The elders and deacons ate lunch with us and after lunch the ladies went into the house and we talked while the men were talking. They are a really good bunch. After the talk we got to nap, but it wasn't nearly long enough. Thankfully, it wasn't a long ride back home... We got home at around 9pm so we stayed up a little before going to bed. It was nice to be able to stay up a little after we got home... It meant that we weren't getting to bed after 2am! :~)

Today I have to get some things done so I'll have things to pack next weekend... We are planning on leaving Thursday after Jamey gets off work. That way we can spend a day and a half with his grandma. I'm really looking forward to meeting her. I've heard a lot about her, but never met her before so I'm really excited! Something I'm also looking forward to is going to the Need To Breathe concert here in Memphis tomorrow!! :~)

Second day of Fall?

I've been really quite good about being a Vermonter in Tennessee... However, one thing I will never get over is the fact that it's 90 degrees on the second day of fall and the only reason the leaves are falling off the trees is that it's been dryer than my humor here. Alright, that's it for my peeve of the day. :~)

Friday I was feeling, well... Cramped being inside so Jamey took me out for some entertainment and dinner. It was really nice to go out and not just to Wal-mart.

Saturday we didn't leave until 12:30pm so we got to sleep in a little. It only took about 5 hours to get to Jerseyville IL. It's about an hour away from St. Louis. We went passed the arch, but the batteries in my camera were dead so I missed that opportunity. It was a beautiful day out, but it was hot. Jamey had the air on and to keep myself from freezing I wore my sweater that I finished earlier in the day. The one problem we have is the whole temperature thing... I like to have it so I'm cozy (which is about 80), but to have it that way Jamey roasts like a hot dog. So I figured I'd just wear a little more... Especially since he was driving. I think however the people we met thought I was a little crazy. :~) At least they didn't get a wrong first impression! :~) We got to stay in a hotel this time and it was nice. There was a football game on TV, so Jamey was watching... It was Georgia against Alabama, Jamey is a big Georgia fan. I would have taken a picture cause he was so cute, but like I said before the batteries were dead. :~(

Sunday was an equally nice day out and after church they had a pot luck. However, when service was over an adorable 5 year old came over and attached herself to me. She had been looking at me during church and she came up to me after church telling me that she was looking at me cause I was so pretty! :~) Awww... This child must need corrective lenses! :~) I got to play with her and we sat with the children for the pot luck... They had us surrounded! :~) After that pleasant experience Jamey and I went back to our hotel and took a long nap. Driving certainly takes it out of you! We left after night service. The arch was sorta lit for night and I tried to get a picture... This is the best I could do. You can kinda see it in the middle. It looked a lot better in person. It kinda blended with the sky, both at night and in the daytime.

Today I'm recovering from the weekend. Two more weekends that are booked and then we get a break for my birthday. I can't wait to see where Jamey is taking me for my birthday... :~)

One tiring weekend...

Two things strike me as I sit and write this... I am extremely tired from the weekend I just had and I am wearing a long-sleeved shirt when it's in the 80s here, although it's about 70 inside. Hmm... I have been really cold lately, also I have this urge to wear long-sleeved stuff just because it's the middle of September! Call me crazy but I don't think the high for this time of year should be around 90 degrees.

Friday evening was very sweet on Jamey's part. He usually makes dinner on Fridays, so he asked me what I wanted. In my usual indecisive manner, I said that I didn't know. I hated that I didn't have any idea what I wanted, however, it didn't stop Jamey. He called me on his way home and said to be ready to go to the park when he got home so we could have a picnic. Now, I have been pestering, uh... asking to go to the park and have a picnic since spring time. So I was absolutely ecstatic. It was a little warm yet for a picnic but we found a shaded spot next to a lake and sat and ate what Jamey had bought at the store. We stayed, sat on a bench overlooking the lake and talked for about half an hour after eating before we went home. At home we stayed up and watched my new favorite show... 24. For those of you that don't know about this, it follows a guy who works for something like the FBI. It's unique because the episodes happen in real time... So you have to watch 24 episodes to get through the whole day. Yeah, it's addictive! :~)

Saturday we didn't have to get up that early. It only took about 6 hours to get to TX, so we left about 11:30am. It's a little boring to drive for 200 miles and there is nothing but flat. It was a beautiful day to go driving though. We got there about 6pm and went out to eat with the people we were going to stay with. Being from the north I'm not quite familiar with the nice people of the south. The people we stayed with made us feel like old friends/family. That was nice. :~)

Sunday I have to say Jamey was incredible. There were a few obstacles with the job in TX, but he did a very good job. I was a little surprised Sunday because the temperature was about the same as Memphis. I had always thought that when I visited TX (if ever) it would be sweat city. Apparently this was a mild summer for them... Yeah, I got lucky! ;~) We stayed for evening service. Unfortunately, we thought that it would be about 5ish for service. Evening service was at 6pm. We didn't get out of there until about 7:30. We ended up getting home around 2:30am.

I feel bad for Jamey cause he had to get up this morning and go to work. I got to go back to sleep after I made him breakfast and packed him lunch. Usually Mondays are long nights anyway, but he'll be really beat this time.

Happy Birthday... No not to me!

Ok, I was a little tired Monday so I decided to just skip it. But now I'm back!

Today is my younger brother Ira's 21st birthday. This isn't the first time I haven't been there to rightfully claim my piece of cake, however this is the longest I've gone without seeing my family. I'll call him tonight, but it won't be the same. Anyway, Happy Birthday Ira!! :~)

Saturday and Sunday Jamey and I were out of town, going up to Iowa. Knoxville to be exact. For those of you that don't know... Knoxville is the Sprint car capitol. Ok, that information is only really interesting to me but I thought I would put it in anyway! :~) It took about 10 hours to get to Knoxville which means that I had to pretend to be awake at an insane hour... 5am. Now I have to say I admire the people that this comes easy to... I am NOT one of those people! :~) Yes, we got up that early so we wouldn't get in to Knoxville too late. It's beautiful country up there... If you're not going through pouring rain. At least our car got washed! :~) We got there at 4pm. We didn't get to bed until about 11:30pm cause we kept talking!

Sunday they had a pot luck after service. They know how to cook! After the meal we left. The weather back was much better than the weather that we went through to get there. I was amazed at how pretty the landscape is there. It reminded me of Vermont only without the mountains in the background. We got back from Knoxville about 11pm.

Monday I was moody. I have to say though that Jamey is one of the most patient men I've ever met! :~) The one redeeming thing Monday was we got a dryer! Someone was getting rid of an old dryer so they practically gave it to us.

Tuesday was like Monday only more moody. Marco wouldn't stop barking and the dryer wasn't cooperating. Anyway, I think it was just a little of me being home sick and tired from the trip. After Jamey got home we went out to the mall and Target. Yeah, that helped! :~)

Wednesday was sooooo much better! I opened the windows and got some fresh air in the house and it was just such a beautiful day out. If we hadn't had to go to church I would have liked to go to the park. Anyway, I had a really good day. I found a book that my Grandma had given me for Christmas a couple years ago and I started reading that. One of the things I miss... My girly books.

Thursday I was tired so I decided to not go to class. Bad idea. I should have gone just because that is the only day when I really get to get out. Not that Jamey doesn't take me everywhere I need to go, but I have that sense of independence. However, it wasn't the nicest day out. It started raining about the time I would have started shopping. When Jamey got home, after supper, we went out to Aldi to go grocery shopping. Also the knitter in me had to go to Hobby Lobby to get those double ended needles! When I got home I started knitting and finished the neck of my sweater. I started that sweater about 2 years ago! :~)

So far today I'm just chillin' till I have to pack so we can leave tomorrow for TX. Also I want to tidy my house so I won't have to do it Monday. Hopefully I won't be too tired from traveling to write Monday. :~)