A trip to the Danielle Inn and our new furniture

With many thanks to the government for our tax refund, we decided to stimulate the economy by purchasing a new couch! We had to return the loveseat we were borrowing to the rightful owner, so it was time to get something new. And we sort of hated the other couch we had, too. Charlie and I both discovered we love sectionals, and found this one half off! It's kind of light-colored, but it's really comfy and pretty. I think we will enjoy it for a long time. (Hopefully like 10 years :))


Come over and help us break it in!


A group from our church also recently took a trip to the Danielle Inn. It is a really beautiful story. A family from our church received the home as a children's home several years ago... they even adopted one of the boys staying there. They eventually adopted 6 more children, but felt like the Lord was asking them to donate the house as a home for unwed mothers. After about a year of preparing the home and meeting all of the government standards, the new house parents are ready to start taking women. It is a beautiful home, and special to watch this beautiful family believe the Lord to provide for them after their huge sacrifice. Their 8 children are some brave kids with huge hearts. It kind of broke my heart to see them still so in love with their old home, but they inspire me to be generous without question.
(And this is just the house across the street that I thought was so cute. I wanted to show Charlie since he couldn't make it on the trip.)

a valentine's trip to arkansas

Charlie and I took a trip to Arkansas for valentine's day, which happened to overlap with the Louisiana mardi gras break. i definitely still don't understand why they get off for Mardi Gras, but that's okay. Here's Rufus and Punkin on our 8 hour trip up. (Rufie takes up the whole seat. Pernky is such a good, forgiving sister.)


We went up to Mt. Nebo and saw these deer with their babies!

There was a lot of snow and ice, so we had fun being silly.



This is normally a very pretty waterfall

I know it's hard to tell from these two pictures, but on the drive, Rufus had his bottom up on the backseat and his head on the floor. THAT is one goofy dog.

We had a great trip! I wish we could make the drive more often.

it's march!

yesterday and today finally felt a little like spring. hooray! i love a tulip tree and a little sunshine. AND. the first day of the year that i can wear sandals is -always- my favorite day.
we took punkin and roofie on a walk in new roads... i kind of had to pull punkin along the entire 2nd mile... but she's doing so well on her diet plan. she' already lost like 13% of her body weight!
me, too. well, kind of. i'm exercising for lent. monday-saturday. P90X. and i've been gaining weight...? i guess that's okay? i've been told it's just muscle, but i didn't believe it actually worked like that. great job sports med major. apparently i didn't learn a thing.
today, charlie and i did a very big-person thing. we went to a furniture store... and BOUGHT A COUCH! it's a sectional... very pretty. it was like half off... and i'm so excited! i will try to remember to post a picture when they deliver it on monday. (yay!!) we're like real adults!

travels

charlie and i got to spend a wonderful long weekend in arkansas. we surprised my mom, so it was really fun for all of us. charlie and i got to go up to mt. nebo one day to see all the leftover snow. it was -beautiful-! we took a lot of pictures, so i'll try to post some later.
on the drive home today, charlie and i were thinking about all of the places we would like to go this year... here's what we came up with:
1. Denver
2. Nashville
3. Pittsburgh
4. Texas trip (dallas/austin)
5. Kansas for a wedding
6. Arkansas to visit parents
7. a cruise this summer with susan and al to the Caribbean
8. Norway to visit some friends
9. Chapel Hill to visit a grad school
10. Sierra Leone to work in a malnourishment clinic
11. Arkansas to float the buffalo for a summer vacation
12. Grand Isle

Okay government. We could really use a tax return that's larger than the taxes we payed last year :) a really, really big refund, please to fund all of this money we will pour back into the economy!!

6 months

on monday, charlie and i will have been married for 6 months.
it feels longer than that. it feels like we've been married forever.
here are a few of the things we've done since we've been married:

we got married (obviously)



we went on a honeymoon to belize


we played with pernky


we built a fence





we got a rufie


we were in charlie's sister's wedding


became an aunt and uncle to the fantastic fox



i think the reason it feels like we've been married forever is because it's so natural. we're so comfortable together. we know each other so well, and love getting to know each other more every day. he's my best friend.
i respect so many things about him: his work ethic, his ingenuity, his ability to grow food for us :), his wisdom, and his way with people. there's no one i would have rather spent the last 6 months with

just a ramble

i need to blog, but i don't really have anything interesting to say.
i have a fever... i feel like i have the flu again...? i guess we'll see how long it lasts.
i'm enjoying my new job at morgan physical therapy. i still do silly things and mess up... but i'm getting much more comfortable at it. i mostly forget to give a person with a shoulder problem a pillow to put under their arm.
we have some very funny people at work. people we suspect of breaking in... people who claim to do all sorts of crazy things. that's the most entertaining thing. even though we have a lot of crazy, sometimes annoying? people... i've been very challenged to treat all people equally... because... i feel like God's been telling me that i am de-valuing life when i treat someone differently just because of who they are. this is a challenge at work, and it's certainly not something i will ever perfect, but it gives me a lot to think about.
charlie brought home a stray dog we named ginger. she's -really- cute and she and rufie love each other. unfortunately, she does NOT share the same love for pernky. she attacks her every time she sees her and THEN PEES ON HER! YUCK! who does that?! but pernky's so scared, she hasn't been able to go into the back yard for a week. so we have to get rid of ginger :( i hope someone with no pets adopts her. she's really, very cute. she's got a big, fluffy redish tail, and she's not as big as a lab. she'd be a great pet for someone, apparently just not for us. i think we'll look for another corgi :) maybe one of tiggy's sisters

just one tree in a forest

i'm reading an awesome book.

it's making me think constantly, and i'm thinking that i'll probably want to re-read the book soon. just because there are so many great ideas and i feel like i'm hardly absorbing the tip of the ice-burg.

the book is about donald miller learning what a good story is, and then realizing that our very LIVES are stories. we are characters in our own story and we have the choice to either be our own author, or allow God to write the story for us that He intended. (His story is better.)

i wish i could actually articulate what i'm learning and feeling as i'm reading it. like... it's not the ending of a story that makes the character... it's the story itself. and the character MUST go through conflict to make it a good story. the conflict makes the character. the conflict also makes us appreciate the thing we're moving towards.

also, our story rarely goes like we think it's going to go or should go. rarely. but thank God! because he really knows what he's doing. even when we're unhappy. even when we're confused. even when we're upset about how something in our life is going. He knows best. fortunately he doesn't give into my every whim or else i would currently be in nursing school. miserable :)