Long Overdue

When you haven't updated your blog in 10380483938 years, the thought of doing so becomes slightly intimidating. Thanks, Laura, for the encouragement to post again. :)

A lot has happened recently, which is also the cause for my intimidation. Where do I start? Maybe a bullet list with pictures is the best way to ease into this....

*As you know from my last post, my little Corolla recently got a $1300 tune-up... for free. Praise God! The engine light is now off and she is driving beautifully. What a blessing.

*Speaking of blessings, we recently went to West Virginia to meet our beautiful friends' daughter Sunda. You can see pictures from the trip here, but here are two videos. The first one isn't that funny, but Wes is dying for me to post it. Let's just say I've never inhaled helium before. And the second one is of Sunda... the video speaks for itself. ;)





*The election is OVER. What a relief! It didn't end the way I would've hoped, but God is in control, and my hope is in Him. Just to encourage himself, my husband spent 3+ hours on Halloween carving this (while I slept on the couch watched....):


















Seriously? You must be joking. I woke up to a fit of laughter at the first viewing:














Well, at least he was in good company. Casey & Alicia (and their nice neighbors!) joined the fun (and let me sleep on their couch). Here are the prize-winning pumpkins in all their glory:














(Jenn, if you can't appreciate Sarah, I thought of you when I saw Alicia's WWF rendition!)

The proud carvers with their trophies:














Crazy kids. But seriously... we love Casey and Alicia and always enjoy our time with them. And we especially enjoy our time with little Penelope! Let's hope she provides enough "baby fix" to hold Wes off for a while. He's desperate for a little girl....














*Halloween was a big day not only because of the pumpkin-carving fun that was had, but because it was my last day at the Seminary! As I alluded to a few posts ago, I gave my two weeks' notice to Dr. Bolton in mid-October and took a job with our apartment complex, the Village Manor. I'm now a Leasing & Marketing Specialist. After a somewhat rough first week (transition is always hard), I'm still not totally sure what that means, but I'm having fun. :) I love the Seminary, and it was a joy and a privilege to serve in the School of Church Music & Worship for a year and a half, but I felt God calling me onward. I'm exicted to work close to home. I'm excited for a rent deduction! :) I'm excited to be in a place that's still connected to the Seminary (the Seminary owned the property until 2005, when they sold it). And I'm especially excited to still be able to serve Seminary students, but to also reach out to the greater Louisville community. The Village Manor is a rent-restricted, low-income, tax credit property, so when you're not renting to Seminary students, you're often renting to single mothers, families in need, etc. My biggest fear when I started at the Seminary last July was that I would get stuck in a Christian bubble and not have a venue to meet non-Christians and really help people. Though the Seminary was a blessing, that fear was realized in my life. Now I work with and help non-Christians and have plenty of ways to minister to people, and I'm extremely thankful for that. Now if I can only make it through this transition period....

Anyway -- my wonderful coworker, Brandi, made sure that my last days at the SCMW were special. She threw a party for me that faculty and students attended and it was such a blessing! Here are a few pictures of the fun:

Punctuation cupcakes. Brandi made four dozen cupcakes decorated with punctuation marks. Can you believe it? Wes said he couldn't think of a nicer thing she could've done. I completely agree! I am still in awe. You'd better believe I went straight for a semicolon:














Dr. Bolton, me, and Brandi. What fun we have had together (just look at the expression on my face!):














Me with Dr. Hinson (a piano prodigy and one of my favorite professors):














Dr. and Mrs. Smith and me. They are truly two of my favorite people. Dr. Smith keeps me in line (or is it the other way around?) and Rose is a blast. We had them over for dinner early on in my Seminary career, and have been fast friends ever since:














I would say I will miss all of these people, but I refuse to be a stranger around the SCMW just because I no longer work there! God has used that job and those people greatly in my life. And since I work 2 minutes away, I don't think keeping in touch will be a problem. :)

Whew... I think that's basically all I have for now. I'm looking forward to this week because I'm taking a road trip with my friend Kim to Raleigh, NC over the weekend. Why, you ask? Well, Kim has a conference to attend... and I'm going to see my best friend!!!


















My BFF Ashley, that is. It's hard to believe I haven't seen her since my wedding in June 2007. She was the BEST "best maid" I could've asked for. Best maid, you ask?

A: Maid of honor sounds like a consolation prize.
B: Compared to what?
A: The best man.
B: Right.
A: I could be the best... maid.
B: [hysterical]
A: [indignant] Don't laugh!
B: [laughing] That's what you'll be, then....

And that's what she was. The title's in my wedding program! Without a doubt, she certainly was the best maid I've ever had.













I couldn't have done it without her. Besides providing moral support ("Yes, you really do want to get married... I promise...."), she did so much for me that day. It didn't go unnoticed, Ash!













I mean, really... she even wore heels. And makeup. And carried pink flowers! If that's not friendship, I don't know what is.


















So in conclusion... I can't wait to visit my best friend. And I'm sure I'll have tons of fun pictures and stories to post afterward, even if I only get to spend 48 hours with her. The only trick will be actually blogging about it..... :)

Speaking of blogging... this is the longest blog post ever. Complete with pictures and videos! Did I redeem myself?