My thoughts (Brittany)

So I just got back from orientation for PA school at Wayne State, finding an apartment in Detroit, annnnd staying with Ashley! I had a long time to think on the way home so thought I would share....

I am soooooooo pumped for school. I really enjoyed meeting my classmates, my mentor is wonderful, and I feel so much better now that it is over! It will be a very busy time, and very hard, but I am excited! Driving over to Detroit Monday morning, I was super nervous, but then I was just so thankful that I was not going over for another interview, and just thinking where I was last year, and how much God has blessed me. Last year at this time I was going to apply, and dreading beginning the application process (which suuuucks), not engaged to Mark yet, and feeling a bit discouraged about becoming a PA. I was driving (verrrry early) on Monday and just praising God for how far he has brought me. I am starting a great school, moving back to Michigan, and married to literally the most amazing man in the world. Anyway, we got to buy our medical supplies, hear our daily schedule (which turned out to be more manageable than I had expected), meet our professes, and learn that we get all the breaks that Wayne gets! I was thinking that we didn't get as much time off, but we do (for the first year at least!). Yay! Classes start May 10th and I can hardly wait!

I got to stay with Ashley in Lansing on Monday night, which was great. I love her so much and it felt just so normal being back (and especially staying with her), we ate at Cancun (our favorite Mexican restaurant ever), watched the office, and just chatted. :)

Then today, I went to Detroit to find a little place for Mark and I to live. I felt a bit overwhelmed (to say the least), but I just had to get out there and find something (like I said classes are starting soon!). My lovely husband helped make a map and chart of the apartments that we had looked at on-line. Learned an important lesson today (well lots of important lessons), things on the Internet are not always as they appear (go figure right?). Well, yesterday people at orientation who were more familiar with the area helped me rule out a few right away, and then today, I ruled out several based on just driving by the neighborhood. It really broke my heart and surprised me. I have heard how Detroit is really struggling, and it sure is. I have heard the unemployment rate this January is 16% and Mark and I were reading this article (that of course I cannot find right now) but saying that the average American spends something like $37k annually on life (NOT including mortgage or rent), and the average person in Detroit spends $16k (which was the lowest ranked city in the US). So many buildings are trashed, or burned partially down, and there are so many homeless people. It breaks my heart. There is so much crime and violence, so anyway, lots of neighborhoods got crossed off the list, we just would not be safe.

Finnnnnallly found this place in Warren (parkviewtowerapartments.com), and they were great, and its about a 30 min. commute (which I finally came to terms that I will have to commute). The lady who helped me was so encouraging and sweet. ANNNND I felt safe! Okay, here is where the ridiculous begins...so Mark and I have money saved up. We have listened to Dave Ramsey, have amazing parents who have taught us to live below our means, save our money, don't buy things we cannot afford (we aren't congress) and so on. Anyway, thanks to an inheritance my grandma left me, an amazing God, living debt free, lots of frugal-ness, and saving LOTS, we have enough money for me to pay for grad school, and a still quite a nice emergency fund. But, apparently this does you no good for an apartment. I explained that Mark was leaving his job to move up here (his income qualified where he is at now), and they said we could not be qualified. I asked if we could pay a whole year up front and they said no. THEN, she suggested that I take financial aid, and we would qualify then. Ummm?!?!! Excuse me? Take out a LOAN for school that we could simply pay for? (which is totally another story for another day), but I think that it is so engraved in peoples head that they HAVE to go to college, and HAVE to take out loans, that it is sad. There are so many other ways, but anyway, I digress. So, back to this sweet apartment lady, she figured out that if we just made no indication that Mark would be leaving his job in Texas that it might work out. So, we are going to fill out the forms, pay for a whole year, get a one bedroom apartment, and pray that everything works out!

Here the apartment is - in all its glory:

Oh yeah! And cool thing about the apartment is that you can paint the walls!

And here is sweet Anna who I got to babysit Saturday night :)

Love, Brittany

"Mountian" Biking

Just thought I would post some pictures from mountian biking. Someone from down here corrected me and reminded me that there are no mountians down here, so we rode mountian bikes doing mountian biking type things, in flat west Texas. BUT, they do have a great course and it was sooo fun, and such a great workout!

Oh yeah, we got biking jerseys! Mine is not nascar (which my mom thought it was when I showed it to her on the webcam) but is Abilene Biking Club (which you have to become a member to use the course), and Marks was his Valentines day prasent, and is the Team Discovery one. He is pretty much obsessed with it, and loves how he looks in it :) Now we are just saving for some nice shorts!

(above) This is the start of the course....notice the catus on the right and the sign that says "watch for rattlesnakes", not quite like Michigan biking!

(below L) Me at the top of this drop, I was a total wuss, and needed a pep talk to get down it, but I finally made it!

(below middle) Me coming up the other side so pumped that I survived

(below R) Mark on this jump looking all cool.

Love,
Brittany
:)

"Camping" with the youth group

Monday Morning we left with seven youth for a three day long camping trip at Cedar Hill State Park. It was about three hours away (just south of Dallas). The first day we unloaded and cooked lunch and set up camp. The sun was out and it was warm and great. We walked down to the lake, played cards, went to Walmart, cooked dinner, and had a bonfire. The guys bought this new monopoly game and went to their tent and played, the girls stayed up chatting and finally went to bed. No one had any idea that it would rain, and it sure did rain! It rained all night. I woke up a few times in the night and was a little damp and cold. There were some leaks in our tent and my sleeping bag was a little wet. When the other girls were up we all pointed out all the leaks, and everyone showed how wet they were, and then I went out to go to the bathroom and noticed there was a boy laying on the picnic table bench, I thought hmm, and looked, and a boy was sleeping in a chair, and a boy sleeping on the other side of the picnic table, (photo #4). Then, I looked over at their tent, and it was completely flat (photo #5). We girls thought we had it bad, but at least our tent was still up!


Everything was covered in mud, and it was still cold and rainy, so we went to the mall to warm up and dry off. We actually had to wait in the van until the mall opened. It was actually a hit with the kids. They were all well behaved and enjoyed walking around (oh yeah, there were 4 6th/7th grade girls - and a Dick's Sporting Goods for the boys), so everyone was entertained. We then went back to the camp for lunch, it was still rainy and cold, so we made the executive decision to head back to the church and finish the camping trip there. The kids were flexible with that, and pretty much were agreeable. For dinner that night the boy leading prayer prayed "Thank you God for giving us the opportunity to come back to the church". Anyway, the kids loved running around the church. There is a gym at St. Paul's and they set up tents in there, and actually the big hit of the night was choreographing scooter routines to cheesy songs. Mark and Will (his intern) did one to "Circle of Life" and the kids thought it was hilarious (which it was).



Despite the crummy weather, the kids enjoyed their time, and I think it was a success!!

Photo #1 -Mark accidentally locked his keys in the trailer, so he and Will had to cut the lock with bolt cutters, which they obviously enjoyed.

Photo #2 - Someones muddy sleeping bag (and answers to why we had to come back to the church)

Photo #3 - Every ones hands (especially Todd's) were permanently dirty

Photo #4 - Boys sleeping under the overhang (under the sleeping bags)

Photo #5 - Boys tent (the flat one), and next to it is Will and Marks (perfectly fine)

Photo #6 - The tents set back up at St. Paul, and Lexi dance-scootering by

#1#2#3

#4#5#6

Well, that was our "camping" trip in a summery. We were both totally exhausted by Wednesday night!

Brittany

Rattlesnakes, bedspreads, and eggs :)

We thought we would just use some pictures to update you on our lives...Enjoy!

Today we went to the worlds largest "Rattlesnake Roundup" (I just wonder how many there really are to compete with), anyway, it was about an hour away (Sweetwater, TX) and we thought it would be a very Texas experience. And, let me tell you, it was. There were like thousands of snakes, and they catch them all around here (yiiiikes). They just had these big bins (like in the picture below) with about a 3 foot high wall up around them. I was wondering while the walls were so low, and thought it was a bit scary. You could hear all of their little rattlers rattling. There were tons of confederate flags, people in hideous clothes, free samples of chewing tobacco (seriously), milking and skinning stations, and lots of other fun stuff. We packed our lunch and just sitting there watching people was probably the best part.

Below is a picture of them skinning them. They lobbed their heads off right there (and the fangs kept biting after they were unattached -eeeek. It smelled hideous, and they just got all the guts out with their hands (no gloves or anything of course). It was an activity the ten-year-old-Brittany would have absolutely loved, today, not so much.

You could buy fried rattlesnake there, and so of course Mark had to get some, and of course he liked it!! I tasted a tinnnnny little bit, and mostly sat there and watched him devour it.

Anyway, it was a great experience, we had fun, and it is something I am sure (or will make sure) we never do again :) We got Mark a tee shirt, and we got a cross for our cross collection (that now has two crosses in it). Yayyyy.

Here is a picture of our bed - this is the most made it has ever been. Mark did it for the picture. We are not bed makers, and we are totally okay with that - we save a lot of time :) Anyway, we just got a down comforter to go in our duvet cover! I have been keeping my eye on them, and found a great sale at Macy's. There is no Macy's around here, so I ordered it online! It was $381 originally, and then it was on-sale down to $120, then we used some gift cards and it cost us $30. I was so happy- I love good deals! And it's amazing! I love it so much, it is so cozy, and will come in very handy in Michigan!!

This little activity was Mark's idea. When Jenna was here we decided to have craft time, and colored these eggs. Mark hollowed them out, and we colored them with permanent markers. It was actually really fun, and now they are hanging in our kitchen hole (between the living room and kitchen) and are getting us in the spirit of Easter :) Jenna's is on top, then Marks, and mine is the bottom.

Mark is sitting here working on his resume (now that he has finally satisfied with his super mario game boy playing for the night), and we are working on applying for jobs for him in Detroit. I registered for my classes at Wayne, eeek, we have 6 classes this summer, starting everyday at 8am!

We love comments so please leave us comments :)

Bittersweet

Hi! Its Brittany :)

Well, we (Mark actaully) made the announcement at youth group on Sunday that we are leaving. I got into physician's assistant school at Wayne State in Detroit, and so we are moving back to Michigan. We are sooo excited that I got in, and after thinking of what is best for our tiny little family, and what will be best in the long run, we decided to move...again. This choice was not an easy one, and we truly prayed and fasted a lot about it. God is so good, and has really affirmed our decision. We feel kind of overwhelmed with everything, moving again accross the country (again), getting all our stuff back to Michigan, finding somewhere to live in Detroit, the job hunt for Mark (in Michigan's booming economy), and me starting a very challenging graduate program.

We KNOW that God will work out all the details, he already has in so many ways. Actaully, I will share some of the ways that he has, to hopefully encourage someone, orrrr for me to look back on and remember how God always provides. We got a letter from our apartment a couple days ago reminding us that our lease was up at the end of February, this did not make any sense because Mark signed a 12 month lease in September, which with moving we were planning on having to pay to break that (which was close to $1000). So the messed up and put us down for a 6 month lease, and now we get to just pay month to month for the duration of our time. Yay. Here's another way....telling the church and people down here terrified me. Literally terrified. I was so scared, these people have been so great to us, and now we are just leaving. I know we are following God, but was so scared that people would hate us (and mostly me for taking away Mark). Guess what? They didnt hate me, or Mark. Yes, people were dissapointed and sad, but loving and supportive and great overall. Priase God. I literally wanted to run away, or throw up I was so nervous when Mark told the youth he was leaving, but he did it, and some kids cried and then everyone gave him a group hug. Also, this happens to be the week that my little sister Jenna is here for her spring break from Western Michigan University (which at first I was like oh dear, this is the worst week for her to come, when we tell the church, and everyone is going to hate us) but she has been amazing. Just having her here as support and comic releif (she is hilllllllarous), has been so great. Perfect timing - Praise God. One more, my orientation for school is Monday, March 29th. The weekend before that is Lexy's musical, which I loooove watching her do her thing in musicals, shes amazing, and so I can go home and see that, go to my orientation Monday, then have a week at home to hopefully find somewhere to live and get everything settled for school, and then drive down with my mom and Lex, which the timing is perfect and they will also be able to take some of our stuff back with them.

Anyyyway, some other exciting things going on down here:

- Our neighbor from the apartment next to ours, just got back from Kuwait (he just calls it the sandbox), and came over to say that he wanted to come to church with us. Mark had invited him before he left for his tour and he always turned him down, but first thing he said when he came over was that he wanted to go. It was encouraging for us that Mark had shared with him before with seemingly no fruit, but now he is interested in Jesus. So we brought him to church with us (he came to Sunday School with me and everything) and he ate lunch at the chili cookoff at church after! He has some video game thing that Mark thinks is really cool (a PS3 maybe?) and he invited Mark over anytime to play, so I am sure Mark will take advantage of that "tool" to building their friendship.

- We colored (literally with permenant markers) eggs yesterday. Mark hollowed them out and so Jenna, Mark, and I all colored one and we are going to hang them in our apartment. Yes, we are all adults and had craft time. I will try and post pictures later!

- I bought some candels (for 75 cents from Walmart), and we put them in our fireplace (which we dont have anything to build a fire), but it looks pretty awesome! It is kinnnnda fancy looking, and I love it. It makes the black, ashy hole in the wall look much more inviting!

- I am teaching violin lessons twice a week! Yay. A little extra money and its pretty awesome. I love it!

Anyway, I have blabbered on long enough! Just thought I would share a little (turned into a lot) of what is going on in our life. We love you!

Brittany