Update from Brittany

Helloooo

         Mark's parents just left this morning and we so enjoyed having them! They also pretty much saved the day year with their mini van pulling trailor and willingness to help us lug all our crap and pack it into the Uhaul, and pull it all the way back to Michigan with them. We are so thankful. We now have hardly anything left in our apartment, and it kind of feels like camping. Good thing we like camping! We dont really have anything to cook with or a bed, but it should be fun. We woke up this morning and found our internet was shut off. Long story short, something got messed up on ATTs end, and while we got it sorted out we will not have internet til Tuesday night. Perfect, this will make things like working on school stuff, apartment stuff, and finding jobs muuuuch easier. Ugh!

         There is so much going on, and there are so many varibles that need to still be worked out, it is hard not to get overwhelmed. We are still waiting on approval from an apartment in Detroit, Mark still doesn't have a job in Michigan, we arent quite sure how or when moving in to our apartment (when/if we get it) is going to happen, we both still have to drive back to Michigan (weeks apart), and I still have quite a few things that needed worked out before school starts on May 10th. Yiiiiikes. We are trying to be patient and trusting God with everything, and remember that we are on the "same team". It is easy for me to get frusterated with everything and take it out on Mark, forgetting all the huge sacrifices he is making for me to go to PA school, and move back to Michigan, and that he loves me.

        I have recently learned that I cannot be anxious and thankful at the same time. God made my brain incapable of both at the same time. So I have found that whenever I am anxious (which is lots latley), I just start thinking of all the things that I have to be thankful for. It has been a very helpful stratagy.

        Well, Mark and I are at the church getting painting stuff together for tomorrow (we are painting the youth wing). Hopefully some kids show up to help!

 We tooke some fun pictures in the bluebonnet feilds which grow wild down here, and are beaaaaaaautiful!

Love,
Brittany

Hello internet faithful!

It's Mark, Brittany's husband...

I just wanted to give you a quick update on a couple of life experiences that I had recently.  As you know, I am on the job hunt again because, life is just easier when you have a job :)  Earlier this week, I scheduled an interview with a nice church outside of Grand Rapids for this evening.  It's very exciting anytime you get an interview in this economic climate, but especially at a place that you actually want to work at!

Let me set the stage here: Things have been a little stressful here.  With visitors coming and going(please don't get me wrong, we love our visitors!!!!), busy work schedule, dealing with some tough people, tons of pollen in the air making my allergies flair up a little, prepping to pack and move across the country, and look for a job, things are just piling up.  So last night, Brittany and I got to bed a little late, but I fell asleep very, very quickly.  Welllllllll, the middle of the night rolls around and I am shaken awake by my lovely wife, who groggily informed me, "I noticed you fell asleep, so I woke you up!"  Then she rolled over and didn't say another peep!  Not sure what to say about that one.  It seems that her heart was in the right place, right?

Anyway, I'm at work this morning, worrying about my interview later tonight, and I get a call from a 248 area code, which of course is a metro detroit  area code.  I take the call, and it's another church calling me back and I have a quick phone interview with that church!  That church sound pretty cool, really big, but I would have a great opportunity to work on a satellite campus, work with all the other youth directors from the other satellite campus's and have an overseeing youth director helping all of the the satellite youth directors.  This is awesome!  However, in the course of this interview, I was asked what the last movie I saw was.  I blanked!  At least it was on a kinda silly question, but I felt so dumb.  The only movie I could think of was Apaloosa!  A decent western that I had rented from a redbox movie vendor.  I didn't think of "the hurt locker," I didn't think of "where the wild things are," and I didn't think of "avatar," the movie that I saw in the theater and in 3-d!!!!  Which ps, gave me a serious headache, and  some crazy blood shot eye!  Anyway, I'm panicking now.  So I try to explain how awesome redbox distribution centers are for seeing movies at an inexpensive prices, and she has no idea what I'm talking about!  Mind you, this is church is in an area known for it's wealth.  I felt like such a goof!  I stand by my love for redbox movies, it's a good deal!  The rest of the interview felt like it went well, so now I'm playing the waiting game with them.  (Almost forgot, she also asked me what books I was reading and all I could think of was Harry Potter... Another strikeout, hahaha!  However, I didn't say Harry Potter, I recovered and shared about the John Piper book I'm reading, it's called Momentary Marriage, and it's really great!  You should all read it!)

Same story with the church from Grand Rapids, I felt like the interview went well and I'm playing the waiting game...  Yup, just waiting.  If I can make a request across cyberspace here, please pray for me that I can get blessed with a job :)  Thanks!!!

Cake Date!

Well, Mark has a new love. Cake Boss. The TV show on TLC. He loves the main character "Buddy" who owns a bakery with his family in New York. He talks really loud, says rediculous things, but makes awesome looking cakes. So Mark, and his artsy self, thought that we should try and make a cake. With fondont and everything, just "because". Honestly, at first I was not too excited, but when he showed me these recipies he found, and showed me his sketches that he made, I got pretty pumped. Sounded like a fun night to me! So here is how we spent several HOURS (I have never lasted so long cooking one thing in my life) last night.

Latley

Here is a little recap on what is going on in our life:

- My mom and sister (Lex) just left on Friday and I am pretty bummed, we had suchhhhh a wonderful time, which mostly included laying around (while mom worked from her computer, and Mark was at work), and Lex and I watched Gilmore girls and sat out in the sunshine. My mom bought us lots of groceries, so that was such a blessing! I think I suffer from like post-excitement-depression. I get bummed when something I have been looking forward to is over (I realize this is normal, but I think I get more bummed than normal people). So anyway I am recovering from my depression today :). Some highlights from their trip were, getting our nails done, Gilmore Girls, soccer in the park, Dallas, and of courseee our luxury motel (the Motel 6 I recommended). It was so fun to just share our life down here with our family!

- Mark came to Dallas to pick me up at a hotel so my mom and sister would not have to bring me back to Abilene (we went to Dallas for the day/night), and we found a great deal ($10 tickets) for a Texas Rangers game that night. This meant we would have a day in Dallas so we bopped around and found this great little Mexican restaurant ate and walked around, found an Apple store (and drooled over their products), sat at a bookstore and read for a couple hours (Mark read a couple on mountain biking, and I read this book by a doctor of stories from his internship), we were in uptown I think, and everyone seemed really rich, and everything was very nice!

- Mark is still looking for jobs like crazy (I am trying to help), and it has been a bit frustrating. We know God has something planned, and we just are praying for wisdom and peace. This whole transition (moving, leaving down here, getting our stuff to MI, finding an apartment, starting PA school, finding Mark a job, blah blah) has been honestly really hard for us. We are both really scared, and have to remember that we are on the same team (and often say it out loud to each other) a lot. Most of me is so excited to see what God is going to do with our lives and how He is going to work everything out, and then a part of me is honestly scared to death.

Here are some pictures:

First is sweet baby Anna (yes, she is in a car, but it is parked), then a terrible picture of me and my pretty delish banana bread, next is a picture of the map we used to get to Abilene. Not even joking - its my mom's pocket sized atlas, Jenna was giving us some advice on what roads to take, it was pretty hilarious. Then is my sweet baby sister Lex, who is sunburned. Which was pretty much her spring break goal. And the last photo, while it looks a bit crazy, is all the fiber one bars we got. They were on sale for $3.50 for a box of 20 (which we usually buy at Sam's club for $7.38/box), which is crazzzzzzzzzy. The boxes of 20 rarrrrely go on sale, and we also have coupons for $1 off per box. And Fiber one bars are sooo gooood, and we eat them everyday for breakfast, and so seized the opportunity and stocked up. It was great. :)

Looooooooove,

Brittany

P.S. Mark will post soon. Promise.