Busy Busy Busy

I haven't posted in almost 2 months exactly. The Hamptons have been very busy people. I decided to take a January term class at Union, so there was no room for procrastination during January. Every week I had papers and assignments due. Taking that class was well worth the stress though.

During the month of January, I also was called for Jury Duty. Some of my jury buddies had lived in Hardeman County their whole lives and that was their first time ever being called. I made sure that they knew that I had only lived here for about a year and a half. The case was very interesting and it lasted 2 weeks. I felt like I missed all of January at work, because of this I am a month behind on all my paperwork. I'm working hard to play catch up though.

Andrew was given great news in January! He's going to be able to graduate this May! That is such a blessing for us. Andrew will be able to promote more easily at Walmart or find another job in the area. Andrew is working very very hard to graduate this month. He is working his third shift job and going to school full time. I'm doing what I can to make his stress level as low as possible. I wouldn't want to do my laundry, clean dishes, or cook either if I was working and going to school full time.

Because of the state's budget cuts, they had proposed to cut my Relative Caregiver Program budget 50% which would have been 1/3 of my job. Fortunately, because of all of the phone calls, letters, and emails they only cut my budget by 15%. I'm not sure how that will affect my job yet, but I know they will cut from every portion before they cut my paycheck. In fact, even though the budget has already been signed, people are still calling their representatives to offer their opinion. One of the representatives from Chester County called our Director and told her to "Call off the dogs" because so many people were still calling.

We are excited because after a long winter, Dan and Sara have moved to Memphis. Andrew and I are helping them move into their apartment on Saturday. Andrew is very excited about having his friend so close again. Dan has worked so hard to get this job and it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

I will have to update this blog with pictures of our house. Many changes have occurred even over the last few months. We are very proud of the work that we have put into it. We might have a little bit of the interior designer in us after all.

Christmas Time!

We were a little unsure about eating the top of our cake. This first year of marriage has gone by so fast!

Andrew grew a beard. He only kept it long enough for his dad to see it, and then he shaved it.

Portia says Merry Christmas too!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. Last year's Christmas was a little bit of a whirlwind for Andrew and I. We got back from our Honeymoon and the next day we went tree shopping. I was determined that we would have our first Christmas tree. The best part about getting our tree 4 days before Christmas was that it was only $7.00 from Lowe's. We got the tree home and got to decorating. The fun part of marriage for us is learning how differently we see things. I expected Andrew to help me put the tree up, string the lights on, help put our Christmas ornaments on it. Andrew expected to set the tree up, string the lights and then hurriedly make dinner because it was a Sunday night and we had to go to church. He didn't know that I expected him to help me decorate the tree and I didn't know that it wasn't as special of a tradition for him to decorate the tree.

We learned from that experience.

This year, we got our tree a few days after Thanksgiving. We once again went to Lowe's (are we starting a new tradition?) to get our real tree. We went home and set it in our "last minute" tree stand from last year. We got the tree straight and it is a beautiful tree!! We put our lights and decorations on the tree. My grandmother started the tradition of giving us an ornament every year. I love that I have these ornaments because it brings back such good memories. I have a collection of Grinch ornaments, some chickens in a coop that sing when hooked up, and a pretty Barbie ornament that I love. I have already decided that when Andrew and I start a family, our children and grandchildren will also be getting ornaments every year. Andrew and I also have a lot of ornaments that the College and Career class got for us at our wedding shower. When we were done decorating, our tree looked beautiful!!

The ornament on the left is the one that Grandma got me last year that says "Our First Christmas Together" and the one on the left is a church that glows.

Then...the tree slowly started leaning to its right. Hhhmmm. Andrew being the type of person that he is, quickly looked around the kitchen to find an object to stop the tree from leaning. He is like MacGyver in that way. I think Andrew tore some cardboard for our quick fix solution. Later that night, just about to fall asleep we heard a "clatter and sprung from the bed to see what was the matter." Not really, but we did hear a crash and a dog running in fear. We decided to wait til morning to see the damage.

During the night, our tree had fallen over. Luckily we didn't have very many casualties. A few balls were crushed and an angel that had Lisa's name on it (oops) broke. The next day, Andrew went and bought us a decent tree holder and now we have a beautiful tree in our room.

Cleaning up the yard

Andrew has been working really hard on our yard. We had to purchase different types of clippers, a rake, a leaf blower, and gloves to start this project. We have beautiful trees that take over most of our backyard, which is wonderful in the summer for shade...but now that it's fall, there are several inches of leaves EVERYWHERE!! Andrew took it upon himself to trim the Japanese Maple that sits beside our driveway. Trimming that tree took a certain pair of clippers, and then trimming the hedges beside our house (that are horrible) also needed different clippers. The hedges beside our house start out very large beside the road and they taper down as get to the back of the house. Andrew had his work cut (pun intended) out for him. He did a very good job at not making our house look like it belonged in the trailer park.

Raking the leaves is another issue entirely. Portia has made herself at home in our backyard and marked her territory by digging "booby traps" in the yard. The trees then cover these traps with their leaves. The holes might be a foot deep, but you won't see it until your ankle has completely twisted or you have stumbled over yourself in the yard. I think that Portia and the trees have a conspiracy against us. The leaves have to be moved, not only for the grass to grow but for our safety as well. The leaves are so bad that you can't even see the walkway or the steps to take the dog out at night.

During the process of working on our yard, Andrew was able to meet our neighbor on our left side. We have lived here three months and we hadn't even seen her outside to introduce ourselves. It turns out that she has been in China! I haven't been able to meet her yet but I'm sure that she has plenty of good stories.


Over this weekend, I watched the movie UP with some of my clients. It was the sweetest animated movie that I have seen in a while. I loved it! I loved it so much that I made Andrew watch it with my that same day. I highly recommend it to anyone, but get your tissues out. My children (clients) didn't understand why Ms. Dana was crying,haha.

First Women's Retreat

Friday afternoon, I left on my first ever Women's Retreat. This was very exciting for a few reasons:

1. My first Sunday night in my Discipleship Training class, over a year ago, was the Sunday they had come back from last year's Women's Retreat. It's amazing what has happened in a year. I never would have guess that not only would I be attending the next year's retreat, but that I would be teaching the youth and children, and my husband would have been the interim music minister. So much had happened over this past year.



2. I have been on many many retreats/camps BUT this was my first ever WOMEN'S retreat. Many of the women who attended have been married longer than I have been alive and I was the youngest one there (only by 3 years) but I had a great time worshipping with these ladies.



Two of the oldest women there were Ms. Nancy and Ms. Barbara. I hope that I am as spunky and funny as these ladies are when I'm their age.



What was different about this retreat was that it lasted for less than 24 hours. Many of these women had to get back to their "mens" and their children. The speaker was Mandy White who had just moved to Nashville a little over a year ago. Mandy talked about Friendships.I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say because Andrew and I are at the same point as she is. Luckily for me, my best friend currently lives 35 minutes away, but Andrew's best friend is currently in Oklahoma. It would be wonderful to have a friends who are in the same place as we are. I found out that the Youth Minister from 1st Baptist and his new wife live right by us. Through befriending the husband on Facebook, I found that we have several interests in common. His wife also looks very friends and we both drive Altimas (that should stand for something). They got married six months after Andrew and I did. I am going to have to be the one to initiate the first contact, so I am either going to go knock on their door and ask if his wife can come out and play or bake them some cookies. His wife is not from around the Bolivar area either and I know that it would be nice to have someone to talk to that isn't related to anyone.

Amazing what Laziness Can Do

Tuesday night was just one of those nights. We didn't want to do anything. We didn't want to go out to eat, but we also needed to go grocery shopping which we also didn't want to do. Andrew and I took our kitchen apart to find what we had lying around to cook. I found some Tilapia in the freezer (You know that you buy, but you never cook) and rice. We had enough sugar to make sweet tea (which we hardly ever make). I usually use my George Foreman grill to grill fish, but I decided I was going to be a little crazy and bake the fish. I rub some spices on the fish and Andrew discovered the ingredients the possibly make biscuits. Andrew quickly grabbed the laptop and began searching for how to make them and luckily we had everything we needed for homemade drop biscuits! He made the biscuits and I cooked the fish and the rice. After the meal was done, I noticed that everything had a white color to it and I thought that my mom wouldn't be too happy with this meal. The fish turned out delicious, as did Andrew's biscuits.

I'm not sure if we enjoyed this meal because it was so good, or it we only enjoyed it because we didn't have to leave the house for it. Either way, it was good.

Holidays are Coming

This is my favorite time of the year. What I love the most is not about the presents or the food, but about the time we get to spend with our families. Being married makes things a little difficult though.

Andrew and I are used to spending time with our families separately and then one would drive to the others' house and see that side and then we'd go to the other. Now that we are married, we are going to have to figure out how we are going to see each family equally. No wonder people gain so much weight this time of year, it's because they are having to eat huge portions of TWO Thanksgiving meals and Christmas dinners.

Andrew and I are lucky that we don't have to have the discussion on which family we are going to visit this year because everyone lives in the same town. Andrew's schedule at work is making things a little more difficult. Luckily, he won't have to work Christmas Day!! We haven't quite decided how we are going to spend Thanksgiving. Andrew will have to work the night before and the night afterwards. I'm not sure yet if Thanksgiving is worth him driving and being so tired that he can't enjoy himself. Maybe I'll just have to cook (heat up) him leftovers.


Good News!!! Andrew met with Bro. Jimmy (our preacher) this morning and they have decided that Andrew doesn't have to lead the worship service or pick the music out any more. He's been doing it for about 8 months now and it stresses him out. Now he can just play his guitar on Sunday morning and sing in the choir. When Andrew called and told me, I could hear the relief in his voice. Andrew #2 will become the official interim music minister in place of my Andrew and he would get paid. That's exciting because that means more resources to go towards his girlfriend's engagement ring. :) God really does hear our prayers and knows when we are at our limits.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.