The simple things....

One of my dear friends blogged about the simple things in her life that bring her joy and after reading her post I got to thinking about the simple things in my life!

This is just to name a few :)

Being around this guy! Spending time with my very best friend brings me so much joy. He truly is my better half and life with him is more than I could have ever hoped and dreamed for.

This may seem crazy, but running is one of those simple things. I love how I feel after a run and I look forward to the evenings when I get to go for a run. Never thought I would say this, but I love to run!

Talking to, or seeing pictures of my nephew James and niece Katie Joy. I miss all of our family so much, but there is just something about these too that makes my heart melt. I think it is the fact that they change so fast. The other day I was skyping with my family and James asked me how Kentucky was. He also asked how may closets I had. Haha! The things 3 year olds say. His mama told me that the other day he told her that he needed to get on an air plane and fly to Kentucky. Katie Joy has no clue who I am, however, I enjoy skyping with her so she can get to know my voice. As silly as that may sound, I enjoy it.

I am so thankful for all of the simple things God has placed in my life. I am learning not to take any of them for granted or letting them pass me by!

What are some of the simple things in your life?

I know that someone has to read this blog, so don't be sky!

Our where abouts :)

So we have been getting to know this lovely new city that we are living in! Lots of great places to eat and lots of things to do. Since we are on a budget we are trying to limit our spending, but we have enjoyed a few things! Our new favorite restaurant is Chuy's. Its Tex-Mex and it is oh so yummy! I have found a place to go running that is flat ground :) I have also convinced Ethan to start running. He and a friend of ours are doing Couch to 5k! Its nice to have people to run with again!

We have finally hung some things on the walls and our apartment is feeling more like home! We love it!

The Lord has been so kind to us! Both Ethan and I have gotten new jobs! I am working at a doctors office and Ethan will be working for the Seminary in the event productions office!

We are so thankful for all of your prayers and we continue to covet them! We miss all of our family and friends back home, but are thankful for their love and support and technology!

So far....

Well, we have been living in our new apartment for 1 week! There is nothing on the walls and even Ethan is beginning to ask when we are going to hang up our things. He said I am rubbing off on him! I am ready to hang our pictures and such, but I want to make sure we hang them in places we will both be happy with :) Silly I know. Maybe we will work on that this evening. Any who, I do have some pictures for you! When I was uploading them they got all out of order, so bare with me!

This is our bathroom. It's hard to see, but this was the best pictures I could get. The shower curtain is a tan color and the rug is green. Accented with green and brown. My mom helped me pick everything out and I am very happy with the way it turned out!

This is our dresser!

Our bedroom!

The hallway between the living/dinning room towards the kitchen and bedroom.

Our kitchen. It's snug, but I have figured out a system and it seems to be working well.

This is the second bedroom. We are going to use it as an office/guest room in the near future. Our washer and dryer are also in a closet in this room.

This is the view of the dinning room from the living room!

This is the view of our living room if you are standing near the hallway.

This is our living room. The picture was taken from our front door. I love the hard wood floors that run through the apartment!

Hope you enjoyed this little picture tour! Once we put some things on the wall I will update again with more pictures and maybe even a video!

Making an apartment our home...

Well, we are here! We are settling into our new apartment and are trying our best to make it feel like our home. I do love our apartment. I have more space than I have ever had and more wall space to fill! We have unpacked all of the boxes and are now in the process of getting the empty boxes out of the extra bedroom. I have decided to keep the door shut until it looks more orderly. The apartment complex is very nice and there are lots of families who live here. Also lots of seminary students. So far it has been nice having neighbors and even though I am convinced that there are 20 people living in the apartment next to us, they don't seems to make too much noise. The people living in the complex seem to have great community and I am looking forward to becoming apart of it.

We are currently looking for jobs and this is a process that I am hoping will end soon. I do not enjoy the unemployment status and will be happy when it is over. I am thankful that I serve a sovereign God who in His perfect timing will provide both Ethan and I with good jobs. He is good and He will always be good.

We have enjoyed reuniting with many of our friends who live here and are thankful for this fellowship as we adjust to being away from our families. Our friends have shown us much love and have welcomed us warmly!

I am not going to lie. It has been hard being away from our family and our friends back home. However, Ethan and I both have a peace that this is where God wants us to be at this point in our lives and that peace is one that I wouldn't trade for anything. We are excited about this time in our lives to prepare for the calling that God We are thankful that He has led us to SBTS and are looking forward to our time here. I am very thankful for the technology that we have available to us as I have already enjoyed its many convinces!

Prayer requests:

1. Please pray that Ethan and I will find good jobs and quickly.

2. Pray that the Lord will begin to provide us with opportunities to minister to those living in our apartment complex.

3. Pray that as we continue to adjust to our new home that the Lord will remind us daily of our calling to be obedient to Him and His word.

Thank you for all of your love and support! I do not have any pictures for this post, but I plan to post some soon!

My niece, Katie Joy

I am beyond excited as I right this blog post. My heart is so thankful and joyful to announce the arrival of my niece Katie Joy! She was born on July 10th at 2:35am. Weighed 5.6 lbs and is 18inches long! She is absolutely beautiful! She has her daddy's nose and her mama's chin and a full head of dark brown hair! Mom, Katie Joy, big brother James, and Dad are doing well!

For months I have been preparing myself to not be able to be apart of this exciting day. Our moving day is July 11th(tomorrow! how crazy!) and my sister Amber was not due until July 22nd. The thought of missing this day made me so sad, but I had a peace with God's timing. Yesterday, as I was packing up our moving truck and I got a text from Amber telling me that she was having contractions and that she was going to go to the hospital and was hoping that it was not a false alarm. I was praying so hard that it was not a false alarm and that Katie Joy would soon make her arrival. I am so thankful that God saw fit to bring KJ into this world before our move. Amber was admitted yesterday afternoon and after finishing our packing Ethan and I headed to the hospital. After arriving we went to grab some dinner and hang out with our nephew James. After dinner we headed back to the hospital and waited. It was so great to get to spend time with our family and some close friends. After KJ made her arrival and they got her all clean and shinny it was our turn to go meet her. As I held this sweet baby girl I could not help but kiss her tiny little face! She is so sweet and just talked and listened to us as we got to know her. Ethan also enjoyed holding KJ and it was sweet to watch him with her. The memories I have of loving on her those first few hours of her life are very sweet ones! Katie Joy is one loved little girl. Not only by her mommy, daddy and big brother, but by the rest of her family!

She is so precious!

Smiling at her mama!

Uncle Ethan's turn!

Our Country Day 5k

On Monday July 4th my friend Leslie and I ran our second 5k(3.1 miles) together! This time we were in our hometown so our family was able to come out and support us! For some reason I was much more nervous about this run then my first one and I think it was because it was in my hometown and I knew there would be people I knew who were running it. Silly I know :) Anyways, Leslie and I ran it in our best time yet! We ran it in about 33 minutes! This may not be a good time to you but we were thrilled! That is about an 11 minute mile and when we ran a few days before we ran a 12 minute mile! We worked really hard to keep a steady pace and I was very pleased with how well we did. I told Leslie that no matter what I did not want to walk and we never did!

I am so thankful for the friendship that has come through running! Leslie, my running buddy, is a dear friend and our conversations where truly a blessing! I am really going to miss our time spent sweating together :)

Here are some pictures from our 5k!

Leslie and I before the race!

Sprinting to the finish line!
Yay!! All done!
PS. The water on my shirt is not sweat. I drank some water from a water station while running and I made a mess :)

Yay!! We did it!

My younger sister Abby was there to help cheer me on!

My mama there to cheer!

Daddy came too!

And of course my sweet husband was there cheering too!

I am planning to continue to run after our move to Kentucky and am hoping to run another race up there!

Happy Independence Day!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful day celebrating our country and our freedom. We had a great time spending time with family and friends and are very thankful for the freedom we have here in America! I ran my second 5k yesterday and will post more about that later. I have lots of pictures to share from the race! For now, here are some pictures from the parade in my home town!

Isabella, Danial(family friends) and my nephew James waiting for the parade to start!

Ethan and I!

James and Nathan (family friend) being silly boys :)