Today I'm thankful for...

An amazing week with my mom. I miss my family all the time, and this week was so refreshing and fun! We missed you dad!

Our families. The amazing people we're blessed to be related to. The love we've experienced our whole lives because of them.

A small group who loves the Lord and learning about the Gospel. A wonderful opportunity to learn with people we love. A great time of study and discussion tonight.

My husband and the absolute joy he brings into my life. I am thankful that he makes me laugh all the time, and that he is tenderhearted and serves me when I don't deserve it.

A sunny gorgeous day that makes being a little bit homesick ok.

The Yogurt Experience and the awesomeness of it's deliciousness. It may have just beat out Yogurt R'Rock in my favorite spot..and that's seriously saying something.

The joy of making something by myself! (Our new decorative pillow)

Jesus. Who gave his life so that we can experience eternity with God. The absolute truth that he covered MY sin and MY wickedness when he died on that cross. And the AMAZING truth that we now have hope of salvation because he ROSE!! It's Easter this Sunday..and I'm so excited to celebrate that this weekend! (I'm also so excited to spend Easter with our precious friends!)

That's it. I'm out. After a week off...which was phenomenal..I'm back to reality tomorrow. Have a great week!

Hope you enjoyed the use of adjectives tonight! I tried to be INCREDIBLY descriptive!

Mom's here!!

That's it! Mom's here and we're having a blast! We've hit up a ton of consignment/antique stores already and it's awesome! Takes a little pressure of Brad to go shopping with me so that's fun! I'm not sure what all we'll be doing this week, but we have lots of time left to figure it out.

Sidenote: Already though Mom weeded our front yard and has cleaned the stains out of the carpet in our hallway that I have been too frustrated (or lazy) to do. Seriously.

So, though I haven't blogged too much lately, I will continue on the no blogging train this week since family is in town!

And I'm out...have a great night!

P.S. Purdue plays tonight!!! They'll wreck my bracket but I'm totally pulling for them to win!

My lack of knowledge astounds me.

Tonight, or every night for that matter, I was in the mood to sing.

Timeout: This story won't make any sense unless I explain. Recently every old song that I hear if Brad asks me who sings it I automatically say the Beatles. I don't know why, but that's my answer. Brad seems to think I equate all modern songs with the Beatles, which obviously makes no sense, but could very well be true.

Anyways -
So I was sitting here checking to make sure I wasn't on the schedule tomorrow (because apparently even though I am an "adult" and I have a planner, I still don't trust that I'll show up to work at the right time) and I started belting out "Let it be" LOUDLY. As we have JUST discussed the Beatles and my need to think they sing every song Brad states

"Rach now who sings THIS song??"

To which I reply "ME!"

And then he gave me a look that said...."wow" and kindly went on to explain that THIS song was in fact a Beatles song.

Go figure.

Seriously? March Already?

Wow. Every year since college seems to go so much quicker. Maybe it's because school always seemed like it would never end..and now we just work all year..I don't know..but seriously.

So anyways, we've had a great weekend. I was nervous at the beginning because I was a sicky on Thursday and Friday and was pretty frustrated that I would be sick for my weekend off...but thankfully..I've recovered and we've spent the last two days enjoying sunshine and friends!

Currently, I'm in a strange nesting phase for our house.

Note: I realize that nesting is definitely a word for expectant mothers...and I'm not one..but there's not really a better word to explain what I'm doing.

So..I think maybe it's a spring thing for me. Two springs ago I got into my nesting phase..and we found and bought our home. One spring ago Mom and Aunt Vic were here and I was in the nesting phase and we did some serious decorating of the house. And that brings us to this year...

It's on. Sadly..I have a list on our fridge of all the things we hope to have completed before Mom comes in a few weeks. We're slowly marking things off the list. This weekend we brought home #10, 11, 12, and possibly 13 for paint samples for our bedroom. Brad worked on knocking out painting our guest bathroom, and I worked on getting the backyard presentable since Brad so sweetly did the weed and feed this past week. Happening stuff here. But it makes the house feel like home, and I'm thankful for that.

Other than that..I don't have any good stories to offer. I apologize..my blog has gone so BORING recently. I'll get better soon hopefully!

One funny story...one of the patients I worked with this week had a big spot on his knee from an injury at home...I asked him if he limped for three days after he did it...he said "I ain't no girl." Hahahaha. I was super glad that after I had asked if he limped I didn't feel the need to say "cause I know I would have," as I would have simply proven his theory correct. It was awesome.
Also awesome...I'm loving the CCU. LOVING IT. Not quite great at it yet but I look forward to going to work every day. I mean...at the end of the day..it's rough and I'm so mentally tired...but I am excited to go back and learn some more. I'm so thankful for that.

And that's it...all I have for the day. Hope you have a great week!

It makes me smile...

It makes my heart happy too see a snowman in half the yards in our neighborhood. They're adorable. Our neighbors made one shaped like a dog with sunglasses, and I saw one down the street with whiskers like a cat, and two that were as tall as me. Now that's dedication when you have very little snow to work with. I've missed snow, and the kids down here LOVE it or so it seems! Here's what it looked like at our house today.

So it wasn't much..but I LOVED it.

Also..today Ikea closed at 2 pm because of the winter weather. Seriously..this was the worst of it. Oh how I love Austin!

Things I'm excited about.

1. I had two days off this week..in a row. Whoa.

2. I slept in two days in a row.

3. We have found out two weeks in a row that we have friends that are pregnant! Yay for new babies!

4. Our dear friends Preston and Courtney had a beautiful baby girl this past week. She's perfect from what I can see from the pictures.

5. We have spent time together in the last week, and it was nice!

6. We had an awesome Valentine's day celebration together. It was perfect!

7. We're officially trained now to be foster parents, a few more steps and then we'll see what's next.

8. Spring is coming! It's been BEAUTIFUL this week here!

9. I went for a run outside today and through I totally hate to run, it was AWESOME!

10. We're going to watch I can Do Bad All By Myself this weekend. Silly to be pumped about this, but seriously..it's awesome.

11. We're going to paint our guest bathroom and bedroom soon.

12. We bought a dining room/kitchen table today. (Not sure which yet) I am SUPER excited about this!

13. Nana and Papa are coming to visit soon!

14. We have skype..and I got to skype with Sarah, Phil, and the precious girls this week!!

15. I'm in this phase where I'm REALLY excited to decorate and finish our house.

Random..that's all I have for the night! Have a great week!

What happened to the updates...

We've been home for approximately 30 minutes daily that don't involve sleeping or getting ready for the day over the last 2-3 weeks. I mean it's just madness. I have to say though...the Lord has been working our hearts lately. I feel like we're growing and changing and it's hard to believe how our own plans can change in an instant..and I really like it.

Here's a short update of the last month...

There was an earthquake in Haiti..and our hearts were broken.

We went and worked at a concert to benefit Real Hope for Haiti and our hearts were softened.

This guy joined our home...

This guy turned 27...

We celebrated that with his parents...

And lots of awesome friends!!

And then we decided to get trained to be foster parents. Which is a long story. And one I can't really explain...but it started with Haiti...and it ended with us getting trained. I don't say this lightly..like one day we woke up and decided to be foster parents, but it was a pretty crazy change of paths for us..and it did happen pretty quickly. Basically, we don't know what this looks like for us. We don't know if we'll be having children in our home right away, or after we try to have our own biological children. Or even if we'll just be babysitters for those who have foster children. We just don't know.

But here's what we do know...
1. We both feel called to this.
2. We know there is a need.
3. So we're trying to respond as best we can for now, and we're watching for the Lord to guide us from here.

So that's the reason for no posts...busy busy. But all is well and awesome and we're cool with that. Have a great week.