Picture Post!

So I realize I haven't posted many pictures lately! So here are a few recent ones of stuff we've been up to.

These are the pumpkins that we carved. From the Left is Brad's Pumpkin, Anna's Pumpkin, Jeremy's Pumkin, and my Pumpkin. Anna and I carved a face on the back of ours. Hence two photos of them. Haha. We had our pumpkins out for a day and then it poured. So they molded a lot. Since it was so moist and moldy, a Lizard took up residence in one of them. Haha.

These are from Brad's 23rd Birthday party. We had Jeremy and Anna and some of the guys from Brad's old floor come over for some pizza and cake.

 Recent picture of Sam. He's getting so big!

The aftermath of cooking the Thanksgiving feast!

The Feast! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, pickles, and sparkling grape juice. For dessert we had pumpkin roll and pumpkin pie!

 So, I ran out of kitchen counter space, so the rolls had to stay in the oven for a minute after they beeped. Apparently they did not approve of this.

Turkey and stuffin' muffins!

We spent our friday after thanksgiving shopping in the morning (it was insane! but we got a lot of our Christmas shopping done.) and then putting up Christmas decorations in the afternoon. Tonight we are going to ring in the holdiay season by eating leftovers, pumpkin pie, drink egg nog and watch a movie. Here are pictures of the rest of our decor:

 I put up some of the decorations I got as a gift last year. The cool looking Santa on one speaker, and the snowman candle deal on the other speaker. Behind it is a book of pictures that Grandma got me last year. I'm working on the pictures right now. I ordered them and when I went to go pick them up at Walmart they told me the printer is broken and they will not be done tonight. :( I was sad. So the picture frame by our Christmas tree will also remain empty until those pictures come back!

Our Christmas tree is so small the big ornaments wouldn't fit on it. So here's how we displayed them anyway. :) We also have some lights up around our window and door:

Brad also wanted to decorate the outside of our apartment this year. Here it is:

It was hard to capture a non-blurry photo. Especially since the lights in the foreground are LED icicle lights. I discovered LED lights do not like to be photographed. So there it is. Our apartment all decorated.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Today I have caught up on my homework. All that's left to do before classes start up again:

• Edit Greek Paper
• Edit, format, and make references page for my Counseling Paper
• Memorize Greek Vocab words
• Interview and type up Ethnography Report (won't do until Monday because that's when I can do my interview)
• Type up a journal for doctrines

I'll probably leave it all until Sunday or Monday morning. Because I'm cool like that. Haha. I might try to edit my Greek paper and do the journal after I'm done cleaning the apartment. I'm working on cleaning up the apartment so when we web cam Brad's family, I won't be embarrassed by our messy office. Haha. I'm also going to make the pumpkin roll and the pumpkin pie this evening, as well as get the bread ready for the stuffing. :) I am excited to cook for tomorrow and celebrate Thanksgiving with Brad. I am happy to be starting our own little traditions. It seems insignificant to some, but I am excited to make traditions that will carry over to when we have children and such.

I think Brad and I are going to try to go out on Black Friday to finish up some Christmas shopping. We need to get gifts for the men of the family and a couple of the women. It's our dads and grandpas that are giving us trouble. We have no idea what to get them! But I really like Christmas shopping, so I'm sure we'll find something in our travels.

Anyway, I need to get going to finish picking up and getting things in our apartment in order. I would rather get everything clean this afternoon so I don't have to do it this weekend!

Nice long weekend!

I have a long weekend this weekend because Greek (my only class on M-W-F) has been canceled until after Thanksgiving. I am glad because it gives me a chance to catch up and start on some projects! I got up early today so I could work out and then start on stuff.

Last night Anna, Kelley, and I went to the play some of the students put on. They did Arsenic and Old Lace, and it was HILARIOUS. The movie is pretty funny (Carey Grant, 1944) and I'm thinking I need to buy it. I am glad I went, the play was very well done. The set was pretty cool too. I would like to try out for the show that they're doing next semester. They haven't decided exactly what they're doing yet, but I think I'll have more time to devote to something like that. So why not? I haven't done a show for a long time.

It's official, I have enough money for the deposit on my Australia trip. Now all I have to do is wait until December 1st for the sign up and send in my passport stuff. :) I am excited about that. It's amazing how it all ended up coming through for me. All I have left is $1000 to raise by March 3rd, I believe.

Tonight Brad and I are going grocery shopping for all the Thanksgiving stuff. I'm sure WalMart is going to be a complete Zoo, but we need to go tomorrow so I can get snacks for the Mary Kay party I'm hostessing. I'm excited for it, it should be a lot of fun.

Well, I need to shower and start on my homework! :) 

Wednesdays!

My desk is currently covered in books, paper, and other random stuff. It is so full of junk than it's spilled out and around my desk too! But that's ok, maybe i'll clean it up later. Here's the To-do List for today:

• Finish Greek takehome exam and do reading for class today
  
• Edit and make a Bibliography for my Doctrines paper
• Read and do homework questions for Counseling
• Read and do homework for Psych. of Gender.       

I don't have a *ton* of stuff to do, but I have a fair amount. I didn't do much homework last night because we went shopping for Christmas for our special people for Brad's family's get together. I would tell you who we shopped for, but that might spoil the surprise. ;)

I broke my delete key yesterday. I was trying to kill a spider, and smashed my laptop instead... the spider is dead (now, after missing him) but unfortunately my delete key just isn't the same. :( I'm going to have to have Brad investigate how to fix it so it's back to normal.

I am so ready for a break, I'm hoping to work really hard on getting some of my homework done so I won't have to be a downer and write a paper all weekend. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish my paper altogether, but I should be able to get a pretty good start on it, which is a good thing. I can't believe the end of the semester is just around the corner. The rest of this week, next week (which is short due to Thanksgiving) and then the week after. Then finals. Then Christmas break! I CAN SEE THE END!

Well, I need to get going on some of my to do list so I can get to the gym. I think my take home exam is the number one priority. It's due in five hours. :)

New Look!

I decided to make my blog look cute. I think it's gotten to a point where my mom does more with her blog than I do! Haha. She has some cool pictures of the stuff she's made. This last blog includes little quilted cake peices. So cute!

This next Saturday (the 21st) I am hostessing a Mary Kay pampering deal. One of my profs is also a Mary Kay consultant, so she's going to give us the full treatment. Facials, skin care, perhaps even satin hands! I am so excited. It will be nice to do something other than school for a change.

Anna has also gotten a Blog, so it's kind of fun. We shall be blog buddies! Laura has one for her pictures too. It's really fun to look through all these different blogs. Hopefully we'll all be able to stay active with the blogs. It's kind of fun. Almost like journaling...except more public.

Brad has been playing his guitar a lot lately. He seems to really enjoy playing it. He's actually a lot better at playing guitar than I thought! We'll play praise and worship songs occasionally. Well, he'll play and I'll sing. Its kind of fun. I glad he is enjoying the guitar. The poor guy really needed to find himself a hobby. I think he's saving up his Christmas money to buy a hard case for it. The guitar doesn't have a case at the moment. Just a stand.

Something that we went over in Sunday school has been sticking in my mind lately. Jacob, our associate pastor who is also our teacher, took the 1 Corinthians 13 passage and had us put our names every time the word "love" is. It was really challenging because there are some places that I simply could not honestly say that I am like that. So this is my latest challenge. To actively try to be more like 1 Corinthians 13, so I can say with confidence, "Liz is patient and kind; Liz does not envy or boast; Liz is not arrogant or rude. Liz does not insist on her own way; Liz is not irritable or resentful; Liz does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth." You should try putting your name in there too. It's really challenging and humbling.

Quiet Saturday

Well, Today I have a paper to write. 6-8 Pages on Open Theism (which, in my opinion is a totaly heresy) for Doctrines class. Brad, on the other hand, got to go with the youth group to an equine therapy place for children with disabilities. They're going to be working out there for the day, so it should be fun for them.

The career fair went ok. There wasn't a whole lot in the way of ministry stuff there, but I did learn a couple things. First, I don't think DTS is in my future. It just isn't feasible at the moment. I wouldn't be able to test out of much nor would I be able to do much of it online. So that means I have complete a lot of the degree on campus, and we're just not in a place where we can facilitate going to Dallas every day. I also talked to some of the school districts about what it would take to get certified and teach. Most of them said that i can teach in much needed areas (math and science) next year as long as I am able to enroll in an alternative certification program. So I might consider doing that. I do kind of feel like I shouldn't do that though because my degree is in ministry. I don't know, it kind of feels like a waste of my time to have gotten this ministry degree if I am just going to be a teacher. But I guess I'll just have to get over that and see what the Lord gives me in the next couple of months. Maybe a Church job will come along.

I'm slowly hearing back from a few people about the trip to Australia. We had a meeting on Thursday and I found out some info. First, they moved up the deposit deadline to December 1st because of air fares and visas. Second, we can't sign up until December 1st, so I have to go wait in line at 8:00 am to sign up for the trip. I hope I can get a spot, I'm sure I can because 1500 dollars is a lot of money I'm sure a lot of people won't have. Third, we'll be going into the Outback for 7 days to visit with the Aborigine tribes and work in their schools along the way.

I'm hoping to save up enough money that I can get a decent camera before I go to Australia (if I can go. Haha). I would love to get an entry-level dslr, but they're expensive. Even for the low end ones. So if that's not feasible, I at least want to get a better point and shoot. Mine is older now, and the technology has improved so much since I got it.

Well, I need to get started on my paper and get my day started!

It's another rainy day in Texas...

Today is another rainy day in TX. I do not remember it raining this much in the Fall. All four Falls that I have been here it rained a little, but not incessantly like this. Lots of the nearby rivers are so flooded it isn't funny. While we were in Shreveport last weekend we passed a park that was completely underwater. Only the tops of the trees were poking out of the water!

I've been running lately. I decided that I'm going to run the Student Foundation 5k this year. I'm not really sure why I decided that, but I did. So now i'm following through. I'm up to running two miles non-stop. This, for me, is quite the feat considering in high school (when, presumably, i was the most physically fit) I couldn't even run one mile non-stop. I'm feeling a little accomplished.

Aside from school, I've been knitting a scarf. I found a barely started scarf in a box my mom had sent me probably a year ago. I've been working on it. Maybe I'll give it away as a Christmas gift or something. The Career Fair is on Thursday. There isn't a whole lot for ministry majors, but there are some random places looking for people. Aflac will be there looking for agents to sell their insurance, some banks are looking for tellers. It kind of depresses me thinking that my first job out of college will just be something to pay off loans, not something I love to do or have studied to do. But you know, I guess that is life. Grad school is still a possibility. Dallas Theological Seminary will be at the Career fair, so I'm going to talk to an admissions rep and see what I can find out. The degree I'm looking at is a Masters in Theology (it's eqivalent to an MDiv). It's totally overkill for what I want to do, but it seems the most interesting to me. Unfortunatly it's a four year degree program and i don't think they have a lot of online stuff. So we'll see how the career fair goes.

I need to get going. I need to leave for class in fifteen minutes and I still have wet hair! :)