Hope is 4!!!

I cannot believe that my beautiful, little niece is 4 years old today! I remember going to the hospital right after she was born and holding this tiny little baby. And now she talks all the time, is very smart and plays so well with her little sister. She is a special little girl (not a baby any more, but a little girl!). I was so sad when we left Oregon because she holds a piece of my heart and I am not able to watch her grow while we are gone. I miss that munchkin! She is wonderful. Happy Birthday Hope! We love you!

SUPER Bowl

The Giants won! Normally I would not care about the Super Bowl but I learned alot this year. Usually Jenna throws a party and us girls eat and hang out while the guys watch the game. But this year I decided that I better learn how the game is played since it is Sam's career and he is pretty much a part of the family.

Our small group bible study had a Super Bowl party at Kevin and Tracy's apartment and I WATCHED THE WHOLE GAME! and I enjoyed it! We really got into to and I learned alot (mostly because I asked alot of questions). Anyway...I really feel like I am growing :)

Do You Have a Cause?

I want to challenge you...

In your life, what is it that you live for? Do you live day to day just waking up, going to work, coming home, eating dinner and going to bed? This is a lifestyle that I believe is easy to become accustomed to. However, where is the purpose?

I believe that we should all think about our purpose...to serve the Lord our Savior. Are you doing that is your day to day routine? I have been thinking about this for sometime and although many of us say that we are believers and that we are living for the purpose of serving our King, we are not involved in a cause in our lives as an outlet for that servitude.

Let's all be challenged and find a cause. You do not have to look very far...does your neighbor need meals throughout the week? Can you donate your time to homeless shelters and pregnancy resource centers? Why not lead a bible study at a high school or junior high school in your area to reach our youth?

I come to you all with these insights only because it has been on my heart lately to share more of my faith through a cause that I can serve. As you may know, last week marked a fairly important and devastating anniversary, that of Roe v. Wade. 35 years ago, our country decided to make abortions legal, thus killing (to date) 50 million babies, human lives! As part of my servitude, I want to inform people of the devastation that is abortion. So to start....

The populations of South Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virgina, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Montana...are the equivalent to the number of lives that have been taken through abortion. Think about all of those people, the families, the connections, the places that they serve! And now think of all the connections, the families, and the places that those lives which were taken could have served. If this has an impact on you, please research the live damaging effects (on the baby and those involved) and share your findings with others.
- May I suggest 2 books:
Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Questions (Randy Alcorn)
Why Pro-Life? (Randy Alcorn)
- And also the National Right to Life website: http://www.nrlc.org/

Our Place...

I finally have pictures for everyone!

Here is the dining room. It is the only place left that is not completely unpacked and organized as you can see by the boxes in the corners. Sorry the lighting in this room is not the best for pictures.

Here is my kitchen! Already it is my favorite place. It is all nice and white and clean. New appliances and new cabinets! For an apartment it has quite a bit of storage space as well.

Our bathroom...the shower and toilet area are to the right of this picture with a door separating the two areas. It is really nice to have the two area disconnected because someone can have the privacy of a shower even if someone else needs to get ready (especially when we have guests over). You can see the reflection of the door in the mirror (as well as my reflection)

Bad lighting, sorry. (There isn't any overhead lighting, just the lamp in the corner that we brought. Notice Batchlers bed (blanket) in the corner. The poor dog has been kind of lonely and at night wants to be in with us while we are doing our homework.

Here is our living room. Notice it has yet to be decorated. At least it is clean, that is all that matters! Right Brandy?!

Our bedroom and our closet. We do not anything up on the walls yet, but that is a new memory foam mattress topper on that bed...soooo comfortable. And the bottom picture is our "walk in" closet. It is acutally decent size and hold all our cloths and extra boxes.

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures and that they give you an idea of our humble abode. Once we make it more "home-y" we may post more pictures. For now you get to see the post-moving stage. We love you all!

Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spendmore than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children,are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Calpol, sun lotion or a band-aid to astudent; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from aburglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Updates...

I am so excited, we went out today and bought a memory foam 4 inch mattress topper for our bed! After many nights of not sleeping well and waking up with my back stiff and joints hurting, we decided it was time to upgrade. Unfortunately we could not afford a full mattress, but Ben and Brandy were kind enough to give us their mattress so we bought the topper for it. I cannot wait to sleep on it!

Still no pictures, sorry. That darn camera, we think it might be a problem with the card so we are going to go get a new one but we hate to spend the money on it :(

Yesterday we had out orientation for school with a tour, filling out all of our info for our accounts and health insurance. We had a nig buffet dinner with all of the other new students (which wasn't alot...about 200) and before dinner we had a prayer all together!!! That is so exciting, I have gone to public school so besides FCA in the mornings at Barlow, I never had a group prayer in a school! It was so refreshing and encouraging...I really think that we are going to like it there. OH! And for one of my classes, we are reading The Case for Christ, how cool is that? I am getting college credit to learn about my Lord and Savior!

Miss you all, and we will update again soon.

We're Alive

Hi everyone! Yes we are alive, just pretty busy. We arrived down here last Thursday night. Currently we are unpacking and finding a place for everything, we are going through all the steps for school, Braden started his job the day after got here and we are dealing with a very home-sick dog. We are having camera problems so we have not been able to post pictures of our new place yet, but they will be up soon!