Preparations...

Can you believe that July is o-v-e-r? We are having a hard time grasping how fast this summer has gone!  We spent this past weekend, preparing... for the Fall.  Lucky for us, the fall will not bring with it 7 days a week of football :)  But, we probably will be just as busy!

Josh starts class in exactly two weeks, and because of the grant money that we so graciously received, he will take a full-load of 12 credit hours this semester towards his Masters of Divinity in Expository Preaching. We are super excited :)  So, in light of all that, we decided that maybe we should move his desk out of the far recesses of our guest bedroom, and downstairs into prime space!  We spent Saturday morning rearranging our family room so that we could fit his desk in, and we are just so thrilled with how it turned out!  Josh says he is more 'motivated' now that his desk is all set-up... hopefully that motivation lasts until December :) 

We also are day by day preparing for the potential of my job.  I started the interview process last week with the local YMCA in Wake Forest, for a position I applied for back in (May!!), that I just long for.  I would be the Assistant Outreach Coordinator, working with youth in under-resourced and under-served communities around us.  I had a phone interview last week, and should find out this week, if I will move on to the next round.  Please join in us in praying for this job, as we really feel that it is a desire God has placed upon my heart!  We should know more by Wednesday!

 Here are a few photos of our new family room and of Josh's desk anxiously awaiting the semester!

A Week of Praises!

This week has been a week of praises all around! Most of you know that back in January when my mom had a complicated number of surgeries, my dad lost his job... it was a whirlwind... and they have really spent the past six months re-cooperating.  It has seemed like an uphill battle, my mom slowly getting better, only to need another surgery this fall... and my dad applying for countless jobs and coming up empty handed.  Well, praise the Lord, because on Thursday, July 12th my dad became employed again!!... and it all was truly better than we could have asked or imagined.  He will be holding a similar position to the one he lost, but will be working for Snyders-Lance (good-bye Frito-Lay!)... my parents did not have to move, and along with the job came a pay increase and a company car.  Truly awesome! They are so excited!

On another note...
Josh's brother, Chris, and his wife, Liz are expecting a baby boy! Their due date was July 16th, so we have spent this past week in anticipation.... anxiously awaiting Baby William!  Friday afternoon we received a call from Josh's mom, that Liz's water broke and they were at the hospital... a little over 12 hours later Baby William arrived.  

1:45am Saturday July 14th, 2012! Baby William! 6 lbs 9 ounces, 19 inches long!
What a day of CeLeBrAtIoN it is! What a week of Praises!

"Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" 

Psalm 106:1

On our way to the hospital!

 The new Dad!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all had a great holiday week! Nothing new here, Josh still landscapes and mows grass daily in the ridiculous 100 degree heat... and I still am a 'lady of leisure'.  This past 4th of July (the actual day) Josh had to work (maybe one day we will have paid vacation/holidays)... so I went to the pool with Hope and a few girls.  We then bounced around to 4th of July celebrations and ended up at a couple's house from our small group at church.  We had an awesome meal, and then our own private firework display done by a family member in their (wooded) back yard.  Needless to say it was adventurous and hilarious, but if you know me I am not a lover of loud noises or danger... both of which are present when fireworks are set off 15 feet in front of you.  I could take or leave you July 4th (sorry America!). 
For the weekend after the 4th, Josh and I went to Lake Norman, N.C.. My aunt and uncle live there, so we celebrated Friday through Sunday with 25 members of the Sullivan family=wild.  The weather was awesome and the water so warm.  Here are a few pictures from our time!

Josh, Michael and I... missing Bub :(

Jet ski Time!

Lake Football

TJ & Ashley's dog 'Finley'

 Josh & TJ

  

Dilemmas...

    Our current dilemma.... wanting people to see and know what life is like for us, yet hating Facebook! Our solution, a blog? We will see how it goes.  If nothing else, it gives me something to do all day.  A quick update on us:  Four months ago we really felt the Lord moving us to N.C., particularly to Wake Forest, just north of Raleigh.  God moved super fast, and opened tons of doors, and here we are.  We have lived here for a little over two months and just love it.
...Oh yeah, and the reason we moved was so that Josh could start his Masters of Divinity at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary... and, so that we could join a solid church :)
   Josh has started his first class, "Baptist History" which he is taking online, just to get his feet wet and prepared for the Fall.  He is also working... manual labor, Monday through Friday... needless to say he is constantly exhausted.  The job has been a huge blessing in our time of transition.  A board of trustee member for Southeastern hires seminary students to maintain his land, consisting of four houses, a pool, a fairway, pond, you name it... it is exquisitely beautiful, a picture of the South.  They keep Josh busy.
     I continue to job search... my days consist of little structure, usually spending time reading in the morning, on the computer looking for jobs, a mid-morning jog, lunch, cleaning... nothing super exciting.  It has been a time where I have just had to be content in the Lord, trusting that He has things under control... and He knows our situation.  For some odd reason He doesn't want me to work right now, which has been somewhat of a theme for the past year... and yet, I continue to fight it!
Anyways.... as the first post of our 'blog', here are a few pictures from our past two months here in N.C.!

Our new house :) 

and...after just a short month of feeling settled in our new house, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary AND our washing machine flooded our house... here are those lovely pictures :)

The floor of our hallway... missing.

 We recreated our actual wedding meal :)

 The boards of our hallway floor around our dinner table!