What a great week!

Steven and I decided that I would wait until we were done with the major house work, and after Camp, until I would look for a job.  I have had my eye on a local Senior Living Center ever since we first visited DPBC.  It is huge- almost like a community college campus- and very nice, with fountains in the front!  Last month, they had a "now hiring" sign in front of their entrance, and it was still there this week!  Monday I came in and got an application, and found out they are hiring a part-time and temporary activities coordinator.  They were going to be having a Job Fair on Wednesday, so I came back then to turn in my application and resume.  I ended up having two interviews, one with someone from Administration, and one with the head of Activities (Karen)!  The interview went really well, it was actually easy to "look" excited about the job, because everything she was telling me about it made me more and more excited. She told me they were interviewing several people, but that she would give me a call back. 

Today, I was out running errands and saw that I had missed a call and had a voice mail.  I checked it, it was Karen asking if I could come back in to talk some more.  I called her back, and she said she wants to give me a tour of the facility, as well as go over some more specifics of the job.  I'm not sure how many people they are calling back, but this seems to be a step in the right direction!  I go in tomorrow at 10:30.

I remember being so nervous last time I was looking for a job.  I NEEDED an internship to graduate college, and nothing was working out!  But at the last minute, God provided an opportunity for me at the Tower Club.  After that, as well as everything that has happened this year with God providing Steven a job and us a house, I know that everything is in His hands.  If this is the right job for me, the doors will be open.  And if it's not the right thing, He'll close the door and open the right one at the right time.  Knowing that makes it so much easier and gives me so much peace!

In other news, Barkley had to go to the vet for an extensive check-up on Tuesday.  He was there 8 hours and when we picked him up, the first thing they told us was that he had been very vocal.  Apparently he hadn't liked being locked in a scary unknown cage all day!  Poor guy was SO ready to get out of there, but as soon as he got in my car which is familiar to him, he was back to normal and happy to be going home.  He weighs 55 pounds, and is in good/normal health... the only thing not "normal" was his teeth- because he chews so violently on things, they are a little inflamed I guess.

Today we took Barkley to the dog park with the pond again.  He loved it!  It was only 83 degrees, but felt like 70 to us because we are used to it being over 100!  He got in the water a little bit, and of course did some good rolling around in the mud so he was SO dirty but we gave him a bath at the water hose they provide and he is nice and clean now!

Tonight we are having the Albertson's over to play games!  Steven loves playing games, and I love having people over, so it's a win-win.  :)

I spent this past weekend back in KC!

It was my first time back since the beginning of May when we went to Jhon's graduation.... so it was the longest I have ever been gone.  It was good to be home.  It is a great feeling when you are almost finished driving and starting to recognize what you are passing, and realizing that you are HOME.

I got there about 4:30 Thursday (Steven didn't come with because he had duties to attend to here).  I spent Thursday with my family, playing games and seeing my parent's new rental house.  Friday afternoon, my mom, Austin, Kyla, and I ran some errands and then I met up with Sierra and her boyfriend Emerson at 54th Street Grill.  It was really great to see her before she leaves for China!!  That night, my parents church was playing Soul Surfer at the Lee's Summit Amphitheater so I met them to watch it.  The movie was really good and it was very cool to watch it outdoors.

Saturday, my friend Bethany threw my cousin Ali a bridal shower.  I got to Bethany's a little early to help her finish setting up.  The shower went great, Ali got some cute things and we had a good time with the games.  After everyone had left, the three of us went to pick up Bethany and I's bridesmaid dresses and to get dinner at Applebee's.  We brought it back to Bethany's, and we spent the rest of the night watching TV and laughing. 

I left Sunday after church.  The 3.5 hour drive seems like FOREVER when you are by yourself, but I made it back around 2:40.  Took a long nap, and woke up in time for youth.

Today, Barkley and I went to the park.  We walked through a hiking trail and then around a little pond.  He had a great time and was exhausted when we got home.  In about 45 minutes, our Jr. High kids are coming over for a Tye-Dye and Ice Cream party!  Jr. Highers are great because they are pretty easy to please.  :)

We have some new neighbors.  I think Steven and I will go over there some time this week and welcome them with some cookies or something, since we know that none of our other neighbors will!  Ha!

Camp Rock

Life hasn't gotten any slower or more boring since the last I wrote...

We had a great week at Camp with our youth group!  The theme for the week was Worship, as a lifestyle.  The preaching was great and I think the teens really got a lot out of it.  We had zero problems with the teens, they all did an amazing job and I think we are all excited to go back next year!

Steven and I had to leave early, because Steven's college best friend was getting married in Detroit that Saturday.  We left Thursday night, LATE, after the last service was over.  We left around 10:30, and got home at 2.  We were EXHAUSTED and I am so thankful we got home safely!  We then left Friday morning at 7 go get Steven to the airport for his flight!  I was lucky to be able to go home and take a nap.

This was my first time spending the night at our new house alone.  It actually wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, ha.  It was nice to have Barkley there to keep me company.  I also got a LOT done at the house- finished up the stairs and did some touch up painting that had been needing to be done.

I got to pick Steven up on Sunday at 6:30.  It was so good to have him home!

Monday was our second anniversary!  We spent the night in Downtown St. Louis and did some fun things there.  We Priceline'd a room, and got the Hyatt Regency for $50... plus, when they saw it was our anniversary they upgraded our room to a corner room, and gave us chocolate covered strawberries!  After checking into the hotel, we went to Union Station and walked around.  We got back and took a much needed nap in the hotel, until it was time for dinner.  We ate at Ruth's Chris, and it was sooooooo good!  After dinner, we went to the Arch because Steven had never been up there before.  When we got to the top, we saw some of Steven's family members there!  It was so crazy.  After the arch, we walked to the City Gardens and looked around at the different sculptures and fountains they have. 

in the car on the way to the hotel

view of the arch from our room!

Getting ready for dinner

Our hotel from the arch

Yesterday, we went to Gus' Pretzels for lunch and then to the Science Center.  We headed home early because we were still exhausted.  We had Discipleship last night at church, and it was great as always.

We are so excited to be coming home this weekend!  We haven't been there since the first week of May for Jhon's graduation.  I am a bridesmaid in my cousin, Ali's wedding, and her bridal shower is Saturday so we figured we would make a weekend of it back in good ole KC!

Ketchup... Catsup... Catch Up!

Hello there!

I really can't remember everything that has happened since I last wrote, so I'm just going to do the recent things!

We have been working on finishing our stair renovation.  It is the last BIG thing we are needing to finish!  :)


Last weekend, we had our annual Triplet Reunion in Windemere.  It was so great seeing all of my family.  I am so thankful for the family God has given me, there are some great prayer warriors in that group and they all care so deeply for each other.  Saturday morning, we had a baby shower/brunch for my cousin Dayna who is having a baby boy.  I think it went really well!  We tried this game where we made Liam's (??) first alphabet book, and it was surprisingly well accepted and some of the pictures were very funny!  Steven left on Saturday night, but I stayed because I rode with Mom, Austin, and Kyla back to O'Fallon on Sunday!

I am so glad they came and spent a few days with us!  It was fun showing them our house for the first time since we have been working on it.  We went to a small water park in our area, it had a few "tame" slides and some really tall ones.  The girls only rode the small ones but the boys were much braver and loved the tall ones. We took them to Fritz's, did some shopping, and just kinda hung out at our house   Sunday night, Steven came back from youth and gave us the great news that one of the kids there that night got saved!  It is so exciting seeing God work in the youth group.  I'm so proud of my husband for taking on this calling.  It isn't always the easiest thing, when everyone has their own opinion on how things need to be done, but it is so rewarding and seeing a soul saved really brings you back to what it's all about!


Last Thursday, we took Barkley to the dog park again.  It has been SO hot out, that he has been inside all day for over a week, so we finally decided to just take him and lots of water!  The park we went to this time had a pond, and we really didn't think he would do anything other than MAYBE put his paws in it, because of how much he has hated water in the past.  But, there was a girl dog Abby there, who ran in so of course Barkley had to, too!  The first time he got in, I don't think he knew what he was doing... he was just running for a stick we'd thrown in the park.  As soon as it "hit" him that he was all wet, he ran out as fast as he could!  But after that, he got in a couple more times.  I don't know that he loved it, but hopefully the more he tries it the more he will like it!  He got FILTHY, so he had to take a bath afterwards, but it was worth it!

This is him running OUT of the water as fast as he could!

dirty puppy!

I woke up this morning to Steven walking in our room with a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast, and a glass of orange juice!  I think the last time he made me breakfast in bed was like a week after we got married?  I'm not sure what the occasion was, but it was very sweet and I am thankful that he thought to do something special for me.

Today, I ran some errands to get things for camp.  I needed a couple more pairs of shorts, and we needed Twin size sheets for the bunk beds.  Then we went to Steven's soft ball game.  It was a double header, and we decided to take Barkley.  He did soooooooo good!  He just played with the kids and he even did tricks for them.  He did GREAT for almost two hours, when out of no where they started shooting off fireworks.  Well, Barkley hates fireworks.  HATES.  He immediately started jumping and whimpering and trying to run away as fast as he could.  I took the leash from Annalise, who was walking him at the time, and he bolted to my car.  When I opened the door, he "hid" in the area where your feet go when you're sitting in the back seat.  I have never seen him so scared before.  I just sat there with him in the car, but even after the fireworks were over, he would not get back out.  He stayed there for the last ten minutes of the game, and didn't move until I got to the garage at home!

I felt really bad about the fireworks, and since Steven went to the Albertson's house for a Game Night, it was just Barkley and I.  We went on a "date" to Fritz's.  He did great!  It's fun to watch him when he figures out that we are walking to the ice cream place, because he gets really excited and walks you straight to the counter where you order.  We had a good time, and he was a gentleman and walked me home!   :)

Is it weird how much I have been writing about our dog?  ha!  He just gives me something to write about!  I really feel that owning a dog is definitely the next step before having a child... ha!  It is a big responsibility!  Like, just remembering all of his stuff to take to the game.  And how your heart breaks whenever you know they are scared.  I know Steven and I definitely love this dog, and if we love a dog this much, how much more love will be in our hearts for a child?  The "baby" talk is still a few years away, but I am glad that we made the decision to get a dog at this point in our marriage.

Camp is this coming week.  I am really excited to see what God is going to do in all of our lives!

I can't think of a name

Hello!  I am going to post really fast because we are leaving in ten minutes for Discipleship!

We have been doing well.  Last Saturday, we took the youth group to Six Flags and the Toby Mac concert they had there.  It was really hot but we had a great time and rode a lot of rides!  We went to Lion's Choice for lunch, then the concert, then Taco Bell for a LATE (like 10:00 late) dinner. 

One thing really struck me at the concert... the guy sitting next to Steven was always facing his wife because he was signing all of the lyrics and words that Toby Mac was singing, to her.  It was so sweet.  I couldn't help wondering what their story was, whether she was deaf for as long as they knew each other, or whether something happened during their relationship and he learned to sign for her.  It was just so special and a picture of true, selfless love... giving up his enjoyment of the concert so that his wife wouldn't miss out.

We had a good Sunday, didn't do anything out of the ordinary for our Sunday's though!  Church, nap, church, then hanging out with the teens.  Barkley did really good with the teens over, but one of them (Doug) randomly put a flower in his ear and Barkley did NOT like that.  He kept barking at him until he took it out... don't know if he didn't recognize him, or if he just wanted Doug to man up and take the flower out of his hair!  ha!

Speaking of Barkley, we have had a heat wave here and poor guy is bored silly inside!  I am hoping it cools off soon so we can take him on walks again during the day and let him play in the backyard.

Yesterday, we ran several errands... went to lunch at It's A Better Burger, made some exchanges at Beauty Brands, bought some things at Bed Bath and Beyond, and went to the hardware store to finally buy a pantry!  I am so excited!  I have spent all day yesterday and today Staining it and finishing it, and hopefully when we are back from Discipleship it will be dry enough to take upstairs.  Steven was also nice enough to switch the hinges from the left side of the pantry to the right side for me.  Finally we will have a central location to put our food!  ha!

That's all from me!

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Everything's been going great since my last post!  Keeping busy with some of the final details of the house, as well as everyday things!

Barkley is doing well, he is getting used to us and I think now he feels our house is his home, and WE are his family which is good!  Today we took him to the dog park for the first time.  He loved it!  It was cute to watch him interact with the other dogs.  He particularly liked a couple labs, and when they left he nearly gave me a heart attack when he dug underneath the fence to go with them!  Luckily there were two fences you had to get through to leave, ha!  He had a great time running and chasing after other dogs, but we realized that he was the slowest runner there, so I told Steven he is going to have to go running with him more often!  Tonight they ran together, and Steven said Barkley "gave out" before he did... we need to work on the boy's endurance!

Nothing too exciting going on... some of our friends from BBC are coming to St. Louis for the night, so we are going to meet up with them at their hotel in a little bit.  Tomorrow we are taking the youth group to Six Flags to watch the Toby Mac concert there.

Catching Up

Warning:  There are going to be a lot of pictures this post!

With the help of Mike, a church member, we were able to pick up our fridge (three Sunday's ago, lol).  Steven stood in the back of the trailer stabilizing the fridge for the 20 minute ride home.

That next Monday, we were finishing up the living room paint!  Steven had this position (and others, leaning away from it) at least three times, and I was worried that I was going to have to live in our new house by myself!

Todd came over several days later to help us start laying our laminate floor!

Lookin good!

Todd left, and Steven and I took a break by getting ice cream from the ice cream man!

Late that night, Steven finally taught me how to lay the floor.  Once he did I was a machine!

Writing in all the saw dust...

Yay!

Friday, the 17, we headed down to Springfield to get our stuff!  My parents, Austin, and Kyla came to help and we all stayed the night at a hotel.  We couldn't have done it without them!  Here is our Uhaul, and the BBC apartment area looking like we are hosting a yard sale!

My dad used every foot of space in that Uhaul to make sure we could fit ALL of our stuff inside!

Us with some of our helpers (the others were camera-shy)

Our new puppy, Barkley!  Barkley is a 8 month old Husky German Shepherd mix.  How we got him is another blog post!  ha!

Barkley's first night with us, he walked with us and the youth group to Fritz's

Free doggie cones at Fritz's!

First picture all together :)

The high school youth group had a Camp fundraiser at Culver's!  Steven, Todd, John, and Pastor Dan

On our way to Tyler's wedding reception, I got the camera out and said, "Barkley, Smile!"  This is what I got.

Steven's 23rd birthday at the Cheesecake Factory!

Barkley protecting his new toy from us.  ha!