familiararity...

..there is something very nice and comforting about it. i miss it!

yesterday marked 6 months of marriage for ryan and i! as much as a i love my sweet husband, he's not usually much into "anniversaries" (it's in " " because he's into the actual anniversary-i.e. december 1, but not really into any other ones-like celebrating how long we've been together (dating), and especially not usually into the month by month anniversaries!), but he pointed out early last week that yesterday was going to be our 6 months anniversary...and decided a few days later that we should celebrate. there are two places that we love and are sooooo thankful they are not too far away from our new home: the cheesecake factory and jim n nicks. so, ryan said he'd take me out to eat at one of those places for our anniversary and the other place for my birthday (which is thursday-ahh!!). after much thought, we decided to go to jim n nicks last night...so, we asked some friends of ours about it's location and got terrible directions. they were the sort of directions that i tend to give: "get on the interstate and go for a ways...then get off at so-n-so road to avoid the tolls, then you turn off that road onto another one, but i can't remember the name of that road right now. but once you turn on that road, you just go a little ways and turn again and you're practically there." amazing, right? so, we took our laptop and sat outside the school just long enough to look up the address of jim n nicks and put it into the tom tom (which, let me just say, has been a HUGE help in trying to navigate around a new city-thanks mom!). unfortunately, we did not avoid the toll roads, which was a little bit stressful. they have these huge signs up everywhere saying that you have to have EXACT change. it made me wonder what would happen if you happened to not have the exact change.... one toll we went through didn't even have an attendant-just a big metal thing you dropped your coins into, that somehow counted it, beeped when you had the right amount in and gave you a green light. pretty strange.... anyway, we made it:

and...they had sweet tea! just like at home!!! i went to the bathroom and made ryan order because it's so embarrassing when places don't have it. they just look at you like you are the stupidest person in the world, "sweet tea-why would we have that crap?!?" i hate that....

and they had cheese "bread"...or what ryan insists are actually called "cheese biscuits," according to birmingham restaurants. they are, in fact, more muffin-ish than anything else. anyway, ryan loves these and i was trying to take a pictures of him eating one, but i was too slow--it was already in his mouth by the time i snapped the picture..

for some reason, we think maybe because jim n nicks began in alabama, they had a glass case with this inside:

and one more picture...the sunset was amazing, though the picture hardly does it justice!

saturday

our internet is actually working at our house for the first time in like 2 days! who knows how long we will have it, so i'll make this brief... we spent most of our day at the house, still trying to get things unpacked. our bedroom and bathroom are almost there!! just one room left now...which, could be a big task, seeing as to how all of our random boxes have gone into that room--and it's the smallest in the house!
well, tomorrow we venture to a new church. we aren't quite sure where we are going just yet.. i'm looking forward to starting the steps of getting connected to a new church family, but at the same i'm so sad not to be going to southcrest. the very idea of going to a church that is not southcrest makes me want to cry my eyes out... i think there is something very special about that church..something you don't find in a lot of churches-a connectiveness that truly is community. with some, even more than community, family. i know i've talked about this before, but it is weighing on my mind tonite as i think about the morning. and, don't worry, i know we will find a church here that is just wonderful, but i don't think we will ever find anywhere that is quite like southcrest. all that to say, i'm really going to miss home tomorrow, i'm already missing it just thinking about it...
we are going to grill out with some friends at a local park after church, though, which will be fun, i think. right now, there are 5 other people from southeastern, all living within probably 15 miles of us. it will be fun to catch up with everyone, and of course, it's always nice to be around familiar faces! i think it's no coincidence that these two other couples and one other chica are here...by the time the fall semester rolls around, there will be even more familiar faces with my sweet sister, hannah, being just a few miles away at her new college, university of colorado in denver; my brother from another mother (aka my brother-in-law), nick, who actually will be living with us; another friend from sebc, cody; and a girl who is dating a good friend of ours from sebc, clare (and hopefully that silly boy she's dating will come, too!!). so we are definitely looking forward to that! =)

i forgot to put this pic up the other day, but i just want to share... my sweet parents-in-law, carol and glenn, sent me some "welcome to your new home" flowers this weekend. they are just beautiful and it was so sweet of them to send them! actually, they sent 2 vases of flowers, not purposefully it turns out, but they certainly both made me smile! they actually have joined the blog world, so check them out! also, my sister-in-law has joined, too! So check her out! christina is pregnant with her first baby (she got married a little over a month before us), and will be finding out in a month or so what she is having!! we are so excited for her and kris..and can't wait to find out with them...i'm hoping she'll post lots of pictures along the way, as she grows with this new life inside her (hint hint). =)

well, i'm kind of in the middle of making some cupcakes for our party tomorrow...cookies and cream flavored! they are almost ready to come out of the oven, so i need to get started on the icing! until next time...

life in co

i can't remember if i mentioned this the other day, but, for now, i can only update on the days i visit the school (or somewhere else with wireless internet). very soon, though, we should have internet set up at our place. anywho...
the past few days have been filled with us trying to adjust and get settled into our new home, town, school, etc. we looked for jobs yesterday, but didn't get too far. i've found a great lead that i'm really kind of holding out for now.. i don't want to apply anywhere else until i hear something from this place because i don't want to risk missing out! this job really seems PERFECT for me... i'll tell more if i actually get it. =) we checked out a few other places, though, for ryan and i (just in case), but for the most part, they said we had to apply online and then go meet with them in the store. so, we are going to work on that today (while we are at the school with internet!).

last night, joy and jamie (some friends that went to sebc with us) invited us to go with them to a cookout at the school. we got to meet a lot of people and eat some yummy hot dogs (thanks guys!). living off campus has it's advantages and disadvantages..and one of the major disadvantages is that we aren't as connected. part of me has been regretting our decision to live off campus for this reason, but i think it will be fine in the long run. it would be really nice right now since we know so few people to have that easy connection...but oh well! =) we had a great time hanging out all the same!!

randomly enough, we have bunny rabbits EVERYWHERE around our house. this is a terrible picture, but that little gray thing is a rabbit!

here are some pics of our first meal together in our new home:


it was the first time in a LONG time that everything we had was homemade (by us). we even used our china...and had sparkling pink lemonade in our pretty goblets! it was delightful!! =)

well, i suppose that's all for now.. if you are reading this, we probably miss you! =) ryan and i have spent some quality time crying our eyes out together the past few days... it's not been easy, but it's good all the same.

"slowly, but surely"

(as my sweet mimi would say), we are getting settled in to our new home. the adjustment has not been super easy. this morning might have earned the award for the hardest yet: my mom and ruth left for home. or actually, we left for school. i decided to come hang out at the seminary while ryan is in class today, since mom and ruth had to leave around the same time...otherwise i might have laid on our couch and cried the day away! there is a little cafe here at the school that has a little of this and a little of that plus wireless internet (which we are only "borrowing" at our house right now-and it doesn't work too great...). anyway, i decided this is the perfect time to update the old blog! =) with my mom and fufster leaving, it really made it more real that we are staying here. with them here, it was kind of like maybe we were on a vacation or something (i know, that sounds a little odd...). but we are here for good for a while...with no family near, for now. which is very sad...
i had a strange thought as we were driving to the school this morning. my first thought was, "well, it's not like we are moving to guatemala or africa or something..." (or as scott said told my mom, "at least we aren't going to jail!") then almost as soon as i had that thought, i had another, "well, it could just be that this is going to make another move easier for us." who knows? only the Lord....
anyway, we have found some neat places around here.. and, of course, we took pictures here and there...
we went downtown on our way to take nick to the airport on sunday and walked around a bit. we found this great little pizzaria that ended up being just great!:






we also went to eat at the local melting pot in celebration of my birthday (which is still a week away). it was in this really old building that used to be the public library, then the city jail, and then the melting pot! the atmosphere had the potential of being really cool, but our waiter was a little on the awkward/creepy side...so the experience turned out being not that wonderful. plus, we couldn't get reservations until 9:15, so we were all tired. but, it was a fun to be with everyone, all the same...





by the way, the weather here is amazing today! not a cloud in the sky and about 60 degrees...it's wonderful!!!

more to come later...

our new home

(and the journey that brought us here...)
we had crazy bad weather all the way through kansas! tornadoes in kansas, IMAGINE! (and for all those who know me well, you know how terribly afraid of them I am...I made Ryan pull over at a rest area and we stood under the awning for like 20 minutes.. decided that if we saw a tornado, we'd run into one of the bathrooms!)


check out these strange things (supposedly they are supposed to make energy or something):

we had no choice but to get gas from here (for our 5 mile per gallon Uhaul):

after many, many hours, we made it! (only 3 more hours to go...)

here's our new home:




(these terribly light fixtures are in EVERY room!!! HIDEOUS!!!!)

our new room...notice all the BLUE!

the ad about our house bragged on it's "spacious" bathrooms.. see for yourselves:


more to come later...

we made it to colorado...

though i'm still not positive i am going to make it in colorado!

not quite there yet...

well, we are getting up bright and early in the morning and heading down to the beach, for one last fling before we move far, far away from the beautiful gulf! this has been a very busy week, and today held a very important event. my little sister, hannah, graduated from high school. the ceremony was one of the most beautiful i have ever been to! i don't have any pictures, unfortunately, because we accidently left the camera in the car, and then my brother had his-with his super sweet lense, so we decided not to go back out and get ours...which i'm a little sad about now! but, i have plenty of pictures in my head! =) one of my other sisters and another girl sang a wonderful song that made me cry so so hard... i hope this upload worked:take a minute to listen to it, if you can. it was just what i needed to hear today to be encouraged in this move we are about to make. God has done that two days in a row now-given me a word at just the needed time! yesterday morning i laid in bed and cried and cried as ryan held me. i was heavy, heavy hearted about our move... then i got an email from a fella at denver (and i'm not even sure who it was still or why he sent me the email!!) here is a small excerpt from his email:

..."Having moved across the country three decades ago with my wife and two young children to attend Denver Seminary, I personally experienced some of these challenges you may face. When God calls us to a task, He is faithful—and we can trust Him to provide needed resources to accomplish what He directs us to do. Yes, this is a faith adventure, whether in the area of finances, career changes or relocating a family...."

it was certainly a word fitly spoken! after reading that, i got to have lunch with some of the dearest ladies i know... and i got to hear, once again, their stories-and do you know, 4 out of 5 of those women moved away from their close families not long after they got married??? and God was with them....certainly He is with us, as well....