Spring has sprung...

Hello all!
I don't know if anyone is still doing these blogs...? I'll just keep writing either way=)

I'm at home right now watching reruns. Yay, time wasted! There are so many things that I need to do around the house, and between commercials I'm slowly getting it done. Laundry & dishes. That's pretty much it. It seems like it adds up if you don't tackle it immediately. I can't imagine how people with children do it. Since getting married, I have to much respect for all of the other married people in our lives,.. especially our moms. They raised us while working and taking care of other siblings and I feel like we turned out alright. I always remember having clean laundry, our house was impeccably clean. How did they do that? Kudos to you guys=)

Karie's getting married soon!! I am so excited to be a part of this wedding, and it's nice being on the other side of the stress, since I'm not the one getting married this year. I'm so excited for Karie and Andy to start this wonderful new exciting life together.

Marriage is... wow, what kind of words can we use? Roller coaster? Adventure? Life changing? All of those and so much more. It's really cool that every day you wake up with this person who you get to share every single aspect of your life with. All the goods, bads, and maybe even some uglies. But this person who you know loves you unconditionally is there. Always. How cool is that?

Back to the upcoming wedding, all of the family will be in town soon!! It's been an interesting time having family so far away. My whole family has lived close by my entire life. With half of my husbands family out of town, it's hard to get used to not being able to drop by close family's house at random times, or go over for a weekend barbecue. Perhaps one day we can all do that! Until then, the visits that we do get to have make us appreciate the time we spend together even more. This summer, we're planning on road tripping it to Oklahoma, which I am SO excited about. I've never driven that far, and Joe and I have never been on a road trip with just us. It should be quite an adventure. I can't wait to see where Joe spent 3 years of his life, and where his parents and sister live and how their lives work. Beth has 3 children and I am glad that we're going to get to see them twice in one summer, and watch them as they grow up. Even Joe's brother, who's 13, has probably gotten so tall! I can't wait to see all of y'all!!!

Okay, I'm not getting as much done as I planned so I'm going to go mess with that, but at least my no-blogging streak has been broken. Peace<3

This will be a quick one...
I got married this past summer, what an adventure that is. I'm about to go a funeral in like 15 minutes. My childhood friend's grandmother died this past weekend, also Joe's great grandma died. 2 funerals in 2 days, kind of sad. We have two dogs, Sammy and Zeus. Sammy is absolutely insane, but we love both of them dearly, they're like children:-) My dad just walked in for his lunch break (I'm visiting the parents), so I'm going to go hang out with him!

An adult? Not quite yet...

Hey lookit, apparently I have glasses exactly like my future mother and sister in law:-) We all must have wonderful taste!!


I felt very very adult-like tonight. I left work, got groceries, did some laundry, and cooked dinner. Okay, so I really didn't cook. I followed the directions on the Hamburger Helper box. Nonetheless, it required a stove. So I feel slightly accomplished. Someone told me that I was running out of time to do this whole cooking thing. I almost was offended. Because I'm getting married, I'm expected to learn how to cook??? After much thought, I decided that being angry wasn't worth it. I mean, I'm growing up. Cooking for myself and eventually someone else will be required, it doesn't mean the responsibility lies solely with me.
Speaking of domestic responsibility, Joe and I have had a few discussions lately about the roles of men and women in marriage. Joe wants me to be a stay-at-home mom. To be honest, that kind of scares me. I suppose that's because I'm completely not ready for children yet. Some people that I've talked to believe that if you're not ready for children, you're not ready for marriage. Hello? Am I the only one that disagrees with this statement? I believe that one should be prepared for the possibility of children, but that this is separate from being ready for having children.
I feel like a true multi-tasker. During my writing of this blog, I've managed to clean up my kitchen and bathroom, and read my devotional for today. I've been doing a lot of that lately, multi-tasking God into the day. I have to stop myself before I feel happy about being able to make God fit. I am constantly having to remind myself that I was created for God's purpose. He is not here to fit in with MY time, my purposes, my plans, my goals. My life is His. Why is this so hard? This past Sunday during church, the pastor challenged us: It's not "oh no, I didn't have time to put aside for God today." It's "God, I didn't love you enough to make sure to put aside time for you." Although I've heard this many times before, it struck me during that particular sermon. Even while being out of school, Between work and my many (self ascribed) obligations and new "hobbies" that I haven't made time for daily devotionals and prayer. I decided to give up my beloved Netflix. Movies were taking over all of my spare time, and while I'm still struggling with the decision, I will end my subscription. Joe keeps telling me how most movies are nothing but trash. While I don't agree with a statement this extreme, I do agree that I don't need to be filling my head with fluff when I could be learning and experiencing my Creator. The thought makes me smile=) Therefore, no more Netflix, and I will be monitoring how much time I spend on the internet. Blogging aside, Myspace and Facebook are sucking up my time. I will only check each once a week, instead of the usual everyday routine. So I've made some promises to myself:-) I promise I will actually update soon!!

Okay, off to read and do MORE laundry. Hey, how did all of Joe's laundry become my job?? Coming with the "engaged" territory I suppose...

Reading: Proverbs 31 & Speak Softly, She Can Hear
Listening to: O.A.R. , In Between Now and Then

Everything is winding down...

Today is the last day of school for the semester. This is the last time Joe and I will go to the same school... perhaps. He has sent in everything he needs with the CIU application! God willing, we'll be hearing from them soon.
I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when school gets out and I'm only working 3 days a week. This would be a fine opportunity to clean up my house, but thinking about it makes me weary. I've had a wonderful roommate and I'm very happy about that.
Oh yes, everyone: Joe Lang, my future husband is absolutely wonderful with kids (see picture to right!). Last weekend we went to eat lunch at my grandparents and my cousin brought over her younger brothers and sister, who happen to be triplets. They were all over the place, but as you can see, Joe had it under control! Haha.. it was quite humorous to watch- one of them thought that Joe's name was Fred, so he called him that the entire afternoon. He probably still thinks that is his name...
Joe's mom is coming to Columbia on... the 17th? I believe that's right. That's going to be awesome, spending Christmas with most of the family.
I've only gotten one grade back so far. It's in my practicum class. We had to go to Dent Middle School and play teacher a bit. I got an A so that's pretty cool. I was really nervous going into it. We were involved in the single-gender program so the classes that I was in were either all boys or all girls. They were brilliant kids, and doing this was very eye opening. Boys and girls learn in completely different ways! Who knew? Well, I really loved what they were doing so maybe one day I can work in a single gender program like that. Apparently it's a very controversial topic. When I first started, I wasn't sure if this was the best thing for kids. After watching the different teaching techniques, and how everyone remained engaged in the lesson the whole time instead of the boys drifting off during a lecture, or girls gossiping during a group project, it was obvious to me that this is really a beneficial program.
I have my last class of the semester in a little bit, so I need to head on. Hopefully I will see you guys soon:-)

So I decided to get a blog...

Since most of my (future) family is on here, I thought I would get a blog too, to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in the life of me:-)

Right now we're right in the middle of crunchtime at the ole U of SC. My professors are finding it hard to remember that we are taking other classes as well as theirs so the workloads are getting heavy. Other than that, I believe there are only 2 full weeks of school left, and then we are DONE.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!!! Yay! I think I love this holiday so much because I can eat tons of food and (sort of) be excused for it. Joe and I have a full day. Breakfast with my parents and 1 set of grandparents, Lunch with his dad, and dinner with the other set of grandparents and family. Soo we are going to be quite full by the time the day is done.

**The picture... it was taken with my cell phone so sorry it's bad quality. I just thought it was cute, Joe is a goofball;-)