Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sojourn Filled Weekend

Exams were last week and I was SO SO SO happy they were through... The last 3 weeks have been rough.  Lots of tests, lots of studying and lots of lab time.  ICK.

Needless to say, I was SO happy when the weekend was here!  


Friday night I went on a woman's retreat with our church, Sojourn.  

It was at a gorgeous camp!

It was such a neat retreat.  It was my first "women's" sleep away retreat and what a blessing it was.  It really spoke truths into my life about what some of the callings the Lord puts on my life as a woman.  It was so neat that I got to go on this retreat a month after being married.  Before the retreat I had not given much thought to what I thought my roles and responsibilities were in Chris and I's life, and when gender roles came up, I got an icky taste in my mouth thinking that there were things I was just supposed to do.  But this weekend, the first talk was on Ezer, or the greek (?) word for helper that is used to describe what women are to be to their husband.  I learned that the other numerous times this word is mentioned in the bible is in reference to God for who he is for Israel in many times, their need in battle.  How cool is it that our role is the same role God is playing throughout the bible?!  I left that talk feeling most excited for my role in keeping our home happy, welcoming and peaceful.  I really had never thought of that as part of my role, but in any situation I LOVE knowing exactly what I need to do and my marriage is no different! I long to be a Godly wife and for Chris and I to lead a gospel centered home so hearing this weekend some specific things I am responsible for that honors Christ was awesome.
Jenna and I that night heading out to the campfire!

We got back late Saturday and Chris and I just hung out that night.  Sunday we went to church, and then I helped Jenna set up for the baby shower we threw for our community group member, Jamie, this afternoon!  Jamie is having a baby boy and is due some time in June!  We had such a fun time eating, playing baby games, opening up presents and making onsies!   It was an honor to be a part of such a special time in her life!

I wish I had more pictures, but I was using Jamie's camera to take pictures  for her...

Present Corner 
Taylor made the most darling cupcakes
FOOD TABLE!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Mom's 24 hour visit

Last weekend my mom came up here for 24 hours! She was kind enough to drive up my car and Annabelle, both of which had been down there since the wedding.  She also drove up some of our wedding presents!  

Even though she was here for such a short time, it was so wonderful having her here.  

The night she got here we spent a few hours drinking wine, looking through the wedding pictures I had printed out, and just catching up.  

Then we went to a YUMMY Mediterranean food Restaurant called The Grape Leaf.  Having enjoyed true Lebanese food when I was in Lebanon for a month, it was a special treat! It's so hard to find authentic Mediterranean food.  I knew mom would appreciate it too!
I LOVE Mediterranean food! Hummus and Grape leaves!
Love my momma!
Then we walked to Pie Kitchen for some yummy dessert
How do you decide?!?!
We stayed there until they chased us away so they could close...  Mom kept us entertained with the funniest stories!

Then we went home and went straight to sleep.  

The next morning we woke up and mom taught me to make home made cinnamon rolls using the bread machine! Here's the step-by-step instructions from her blog!
The finished product! YUM!
While we were waiting for them to make, Chris went and go bagels and we ate bagels while mom read us the new story she's writing.  It was really fun! The book sounds like it'll be awesome! Chris was really interested in it!

My Beautiful momma!

Anna had to kiss grandma goodbye
Although I was bummed mom had to leave, I was glad she left my baby girl, Annabelle!  

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Friday

We've been up to a LOT of studying around here... I mean normal life functions like grocery shopping, laundry, etc have dissappeared. In fact Thursday night at our community group, we start by giving "highs & lows" of the week and both of our lows were "we have no food".  

So even though Friday we NEEDED to study, we stopped the studying for the sake of the rest of our lives.  

First we went "house hunting".  Chris is awesome in that even with tests ahead he's looking into rental properties and making appts to see the places.  So Friday we looked at 2 apts and drove by a house 
Prospective house #324823772389
We had fun driving around though and treated ourselves to Starbucks sweet coffee drinks.... Annabelle loved it!

Annabelle helping me with my drink
After we finished the house hunting, we went GROCERY SHOPPING!  It was awesome... We have at least 9 meals we can make! WHA WHOO!  WHen we got home I completely cleaned out the refrigerator leaving literally nothing besides the new groceries in it. It was sad.  

Then we made chicken salad for sandwiches/salads and we made home made bread and pizza!  We are set up for success for the rest of exam week. 

When I was done studying, I also washed some sheets/towels and cleaned our room which desperately needed it!  Let's just say I feel SO much better about life now :)


Our clean room!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Jenny's a Dental Student for the Day

So this afternoon we went to school to study- I was heading to the library and Chris was heading to the lab at the dental school to practice his lab stuff. We figured out that I'd never really been into the dental school even though it's right across the street from my building... So he took me on an official tour. Our last stop was the lab which is where he spends many hours a week. Before today I really didn't know what he did in there but today, he not only showed me, but I played with his stuff for awhile!!  He showed me what a random "prep" looked like (a "prep" is how they begin taking care of a cavity filled tooth I think... like how they drill is out).  I used the drill and made one myself! Then I got adventurous and asked him to show me how to use the composite (sp?) to fill it back! 

I was so proud of my tooth!
The catch is that you have to recarve all the little grooves that our teeth naturally have... NOT as easy as I thought.  Another catch is the tooth stays in a mouth that stays in a head so you don't have a lot of space to work with, nor can you get a good look at it.
  I worked hard, but my finished product wasn't too good!  I got to use all of these tools:

So many of them!
Even though I could have stayed there a few more hours and played with the teeth, I went to the library til it closed, but it closed before Chris was done so I came back into the lab and studied there:

One of the stations in the lab
Chris working his magic!
I didn't even attempt the mirror stuff

It was really fun to see what Chris does all the time and what he's learning to do! I'm so proud of him :)

Monday, April 9, 2012

Our First (and Perfect) Easter Weekend!


So this weekend was our first married and non-study-filled weekend we've had!  

Friday afternoon it was GORGEOUS outside! So we parked at the seminary and went on a run/walk around the gorgeous neighborhoods over there.  We passed our dream home several times :) 
I stopped us for a quick pic :)
It's a joke how gorgeous it is here this spring!

 It was fun to get to hear each others "dream home" qualities.  I had never thought Chris to be one who had a dream home in mind, but he definitely wants a welcoming home that's conducive to having a lot of people over! He pointed out many homes that he loved and I did as well. Hearing that made me so excited! 
After our run we went at got some dessert :)

I LOVE the "Add your own toppings" places... I get every kind of chocolate candies there are =)

Then we went for our "groceries for 2 weeks" shopping trip and did it in UNDER 16 minutes! We owned it! We did the divide and conquer approach and it was AWESOME. I think we should always do that.

Then we went to our church's Good Friday Service.  It was such a neat service.  Instead of the normal worship then message combo, it was straight worship with Jesus's 7 last phrases that he spoke on the cross talked about between songs.  The most powerful phrase to me was when Jesus "It is finished".  There are no more words needed, nor are there any other words more comforting to me.  The God I serve paid for my sin and won against sin and death once and for all.  It is finished now and He won.  "It is finished" not only talks about my salvation, but it is speaking to my sins being paid for over and over again, and my way to having a relationship with Jesus possible.  I loved it and it has been on my heart to live my life as if I serve a God that "finished it".

After the service, we went and had dinner with one of our favorite couples, Stuart and Taylor!

They are SO busy so Chris and I were thrilled to hear they didn't have plans for after the service! 

Love him!

The next day we slept in and had a slow morning.  These are my favorite! I wish I woke up early enough to have slow beautiful mornings every day!  I went to Pure Barre (Still obsessed) and then came home and studied for the afternoon.

That night Chris and I went to see the Hunger Games. OH MY GOSH IT WAS AWESOME!   I mean it was just as good as the book!  We both really enjoyed going to see the movie not only because the movie was so good but because it was forced chill time.  We couldn't study or play on the computer even if we wanted to.  It was such a relaxing experience to me! I really want to go see another movie this weekend just for the relaxation! Ha!

After the movie we went to Walmart and got stuff for each other's >$10 Easter Basket.  This was really just for me because I panicked that I'd be upset if this was the first year I didn't get an Easter Basket....  It was slim pickings though! We'll have to remember that for next Easter and go earlier...

The next morning we were up bright and early. We served on the Connect team for the 9 am service and then attended the 11 am service.  Afterwards, we went over to Stuart and Taylor's house for Easter lunch. Like 4 other couples from our Community Group joined so it was lots of yummy food and good fun times.  

All of us sitting down to eat (minus Stuart who's pic this is)

I think the dessert spread should win awards! It was YUM!

The "real" food
The table
We got to play with Chip and Lauren's beautiful babies! I loved it! They were so much fun and so sweet !

Lauren snapped this pic of us! I love it!

Holding Mr. Will! He studied me intensely!
They were so unbelievably cute it was a joke!

Then, to my delight, we dyed Easter eggs! Back at home this is an official sport and is taken seriously so I'm SO glad that Taylor and Jamie wanted to dye eggs with me!
Taylor working hard
The three of us working on our masterpieces

Pros
They turned out pretty darn good for the super basic kit we had!
And the boys watched the Masters all afternoon!

It was such a fun day and Chris and I were so thankful to have our church family to spend our first married holiday with!  

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Honeymoon!

So I'm doing things out of order because my camera had some bad luck (someone brought into the pool with them on the honeymoon...)

Anyways, I have most pics from the honey moon so we'll start there.

We had to leave our hotel at 3:45 to drive the hour to the airport so we could be there in time for our 6 am flight.  After our wedding the night before, that was NO FUN!  But we made our flight and made our connecting flight and landed in *St. Lucia* that afternoon.  From the airport to our resort it was about 1.5 hour drive and the roads weren't the best and I got a little car sick on the way there.  So bad we pulled over 3 times :/ So that first night I went straight to sleep.

The rest of the time was just heavenly! We stayed in an all inclusive type place so everything was included.  There was absolutely NO stress! We lounged on the beach, by the pool, in the pool at the pool bar, in the hot tub... It was perfect! On the flight over we met 2 other couples that were married Saturday night like us and were on their honeymoon, so we ended up hanging out with them a lot.

This picture sums up the blissful fun that made up the week!

Mimosas were my drink of choice

Husband and I on the first or second day!

Sunset 
On the third day we were there, we went on an excursion.  It was by boat so no worries of me getting car sick :)
On the boat on the way!

Oprah's Vacation Home!

Margot Bay

Chris and I by the Pitons!

Post Snorkeling "Island Punch"

In front of the Volcano that makes a mineral hot water spring we used in our mud bath

Authentic Island Food for lunch!

Overlooking the city

Gorgeous!
After wednesday we moved into a new room that was a little house with it's own pool/hot tub/hammock so we were in heaven and found it hard to leave!!
Me in our pool!

Our breakfast nook- we had breakfast delivered every morning

The two chairs where Chris and I read for hours straight!  The hot tub is behind the pool
But while in the really nice room we went to dinner at the 2 nicest restaurants on the property and had fun doing so!
In front of our "Home" before dinner!

About to eat some yummy food!

Mr. Handsome

This is at the fancy Italian restaurant...
We literally just ate, drank, talked, rested and hung out with our newlywed friends!  It was a perfect week!!