It's that time of year again...

You are probably thinking that I am going to talk about Christmas, but I'm not-well-I might in a minute, but not right now. What I really want to say is that, it is that time of year for me to be cold all of the time. I am a very cold-natured person! And during this time of year, it is all I can do not to shiver twenty-four hours a day. I like to walk around with a blanket wrapped around me! My poor husband and I try to find some type of happy medium, but it normally doesn't work out for one of us. My hands and feet are like ice cubes and my ears and nose want to fall off. However, the funny thing is that I hate socks, big bulky coats, and thick wool sweaters. I will wear them, but I am never comfortable. I feel like I am a buff football player geared up or a game or something.

Now that I have shared that with you, here are some random tidbits...

We have our house all decorated for Christmas! It feels so cozy too! My favorite part about putting up Christmas decorations is remembering past Christmases. We don't have a "themed" tree, but our decorations are mostly sentimental or have been made for us. My sister gave me a holiday shower before I was married and that is where we got the majority of our decorations. Everyone who came to my shower made a Christmas ornament for us, which makes them so special. I also have some ornaments that one of my childhood friends, Melissa, made for me. My mother and sister and grandmother gave us our tree. Kelli Brown gave us our tree topper. Carol, a family friend gave us our tree skirt and stockings, Stephanie gave me these really cool vintage ornaments. I could go on and on, almost every decoration or ornament reminds me of someone special. For a while, this townhouse hasn't really felt like home yet. But now since we have put up our decorations and we are really getting into the Christmas spirit, it is feeling a little more like home. No matter where we are though, SC will always be HOME!

Life in the "village" is good. I am still getting used to this house. For example, the toilets here are possessed. The toilet upstairs has to be flushed no less than two times before it will work, and the toilet downstairs flushes all by itself! (Can we say wasted water??) The oven is marvelous though! In our older house in Lyman, we had a much older oven. It really liked to burn things. With our oven here, we can set the timer for whatever the recipe calls for, and the food is done, no guessing involved. We have set the smoke detector off a couple of times, they are pretty sensitive. One thing that we don't have yet is a washer and dryer. We take our clothes to the Brown laundromat though, and it works out fabulous!

We are still "church hunting". We have found one church in particular that we really like, but there are still a few more churches that we would like to visit first before we make an decision. We really miss Wellford and all of our friends terribly!! We had such a great Sunday School class, and I was involved in an amazing prayer group with some amazing women! Hopefully soon we can find a church to serve in that is equally as blessing as WBC.

A couple of days ago I agreed to help the Browns take pictures for their Christmas cards. They got dressed up, and the girls looked adorable! For some odd reason, we decided to take the pictures at night though. We went to the SEBTS campus to take the pics. Jaime's goal was to take about 100 pictures. I managed to take 165 even though my camera was acting up. Of those 165 pictures, Jaime could only find 19 that she was willing to look at for a second time. Of those 19 she found maybe 3 that she decided to edit, crop, and pray about for their official Christmas Card. I don't know why I am surprised that it turned out to be one of the biggest ordeals of my life. It was a lot of fun though. Would you like me to post some of the outtakes?

I had a minor melt down a few minutes ago. (I must again tell you another story before I can explain my next thought) I don't have Facebook, I used to have it, but now I don't (long story). I have a MySpace account, and I haven't updated it in a long time. *I can barely keep updating my blog* So sometimes I sign on to Brad's Facebook to check out everyone's pictures and catch up on people that we went to school with. My future sister-in-law (Kayleigh's mom) has facebook and is one of Brad's friends. I was scrolling through her profile and found some pictures of that cutie patootie baby! Then I burst into tears. I knew it would be hard moving away from family, but some days are much harder than others. There were pictures of Kayleigh that I had never seen before, and for some reason, that broke my heart! I feel like I am missing her growing up! Whew, let's move on...I don't want to think about it. I get to see her in five days!

I am trying to think about something else to tell you so I don't end on such a depressing note! OK...here is something funny. Brad wants to buy me some golf clubs. He thinks it will be great if we can play together. He is going to teach me too. Sometimes I want to look at him and say, Hey! I'm Libby! Have we met before? Doesn't he know that I am not athletic, uncoordinated, and that I have been hit in the head with a golf club when I was in the third grade and it required 11 stitches, only after the doctor pulled back my skin to reveal to my mother my skull? Bless him. He reads my blog, so honey this next part is for you. I would love to play golf with you! I think it will be fun, if you can teach me to overcome my fears! I know that you will enjoy it, and you are a wonderful teacher! So, if you have confidence in me, then I will try it for you! Plus, its a good excuse to buy some golf clothes.

Okay, I have to go now, we have to run to the grocery store. Here is a picture of my fridge. We have butter, apple butter (from the Farmer's Market), tea, pickles, left overs, sandwich meat, applesauce, and a few random condiments. What do you think? We won't make it much longer if we don't go soon.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Let's 'Tend Like...

AK's favorite saying these days is "let's 'tend like..." and you can fill in the blank with anything that she can imagine. What she is actually saying is let's pretend like...I am your age and I can drive like you, or one day she even pointed to her chest, and then pointed to my chest and said "let's pretend like mine are the size of yours!" It was hilarious! Anyway...

We are going to 'tend like it hasn't been almost two weeks since I last posted.

So, here goes...more quick updates and I will promise to do a better job.

**Thanksgiving: It was awesome! This was the first Thanksgiving holiday, or any major holiday that I actually cooked something besides a dessert. Brad and I were in charge of the turkey! Jaime helped me brine it (wow!) and then Brad and I cooked it. (I came down stairs from taking a shower that Thursday morning and Brad had both arms stuck up the turkey's rear. It was a sight, but I am so thankful that he did it.) It really was a great weekend spending time with my parents and getting to talk to Jordan and Ben! But I am sure all of you have heard all of the details from Jaime's blog. Since I am late posting about it, I will let you check out all the pictures she posted of our weekend. I feel a little sad that I didn't even get to do my Thursday Thirteen of things I was thankful for. But at least here is one Thanksgiving picture that my neighbor took for us outside my house.

**One of the reasons I haven't posted in a while is because I have been sick. I have had an ugly cold and my husband has had me doped up on some good medicine. I was a walking commercial for those medicines that make you feel like your head is a balloon. Thankfully I am feeling on the upside though!

**I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new job!! God has truly blessed more than I could have ever imagined, and in so many ways. I am working with some of the most precious children and some great families. Everything is still very new to me, therefore I am still a little uncomfortable. I am one of these people who wants to know everything ahead of time, and be prepared, and have everything laid out in front of me. Well, things aren't like that right now and its driving me bonkers! BUT, I know that God has a plan in this and that He is preparing me for future obstacles and He is teaching me things through this that I will be able to use later. (*Please pray that I will be able to catch on fast and absorb everything that I am supposed to learn) The thought actually crossed my mind the other day that it would be really neat to go back to school and pursue something in this field. However, I had to quickly erase that thought from my mind because we can only afford for one Brock to be in school right now. I am still shadowing the woman who I am going to be covering for her maternity leave. I have really enjoyed working with her and getting to know her. Her due date is Dec. 13th and she is still planning on working through the 14th. So please be praying for both of us, I might be with her when she goes into labor!

**Before Thanksgiving Brad and I were able to go two weeks and only use half a tank of gas. All of that is about to change because I am traveling for my job and some days I will have to travel about an hour just one way. Dear God, please let the gas prices go down, way down.

**Brad registered for classes today! We have been here for a month and haven't done much for this whole seminary thing. It finally feels like we are getting somewhere with this.

**Next weekend we might be making a trip back to SC. (I am now going to tell you a little story before I can explain my next thought.) When I moved to Anderson to go to school, the advisers or dean, or whoever it was at orientation told my parents and I that it was best if I did not come home for the first month. It was to help us get used to the new environment, meet people, etc because we wouldn't be able to do these things if we were going home every weekend. I don't know why they decided that a month was a good time frame, but nonetheless that is what they told us and I distinctively remember that for some reason. Anyway, it has been a month and I am ready to come back to sweet SOUTHERN Carolina for a visit. I miss my baby niece Kayleigh and everyone else!

**Brad just called and said he was on his way home. He also said that we were going on date tonight. So, I am going to get pretty for my husband, and I will post more for you tomorrow!

**Haley, thanks for trying to keep me in step! (Ha! I just made myself laugh!)

Check this out

I meant to add this in my last post, but I forgot. If you want to waste three minutes of your life for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Target, then click here.

Random Stuff

My sweet husband informed me last night that I was letting my blog readers down, and that I needed to write a new post for my blog. I then tried to convince him to post some updates for me, but as you can see, that didn't work out, so here I am. I think I am in a rambling mood, so if you care to follow along, here are some of my thoughts and a few updates from the Brock household.


I have no excuses why I haven't blogged in a week. I have devoutly read everyone else's blog, and I have even found a few new blogs to lurk upon. I just couldn't think of anything to post on. Actually that is a lie. I can think of plenty of things to post on, but I often wonder, who is going to be interested in reading this? I love how Haley , Terri, and Meredith can write anything and make it sound fascinating; and Jaime, Stephanie, Kelly, Alli, and Jessi all have beautiful children to blog about. I will attempt to write more thoughtful blogs in the future!

I am so happy for my husband and his new job! He loves it, and I love that he loves it! He is working at Hasentree, a private golf course. Almost everyday, Brad calls me or texts me to tell me who is playing at the golf course. Of course, I don't recognize many of the names, but they are famous people. Some one from the Atlanta Braves played last week, people from the Carolina Hurricanes have played, some professional football players, and really rich people from the community too. The membership fees and monthly fees to this place are outrageous! I would feel very uncomfortable there, but my husband does an amazing job!


Speaking of jobs, I FINALLY get to start today. I have kinda/sort of had this job lined up since before we moved up here; however we have had to make everything official, and that has taken three weeks. I am being hired to cover a woman's maternity leave and she won't be leaving until the beginning of December. BUT (and this is a big but) I am going out and shadowing another woman today so I can get experience and some training! Whoopee! We are finally getting this ball a rollin'! And I am getting out of the house, which is another Whoopee!



I am also enjoying living close to the Browns. Actually, I love it. They have really helped us in so many ways! Brad and I were also a little scared about moving so close, but things have been wonderful, and I am so thankful that we get to share this experience together.


Austin Kathleen Brown eats like a horse. She wakes up hungry, and asks for food constantly. It is a good thing that I am starting work so we can get more groceries to help feed this child. Since she has the energy of a tornado packed into her little body, she burns it quite fast. You must feed her, or she gets cranky. I might go as far as to say she probably eats more than Brad, now that is saying something.


Averie Elizabeth Brown cannot be only eight years old. She walks, talks, and acts like an eighteen year old. Where did my baby niece with the fat cheeks, plump thighs, and curly red hair go? She's growing up fast and her daddy better watch out. And her mother, well she is getting payback because Averie acts just like her!

I miss Kayleigh Brock like crazy. I talked to Amanda (her mother) the other day on the phone and she said that she had to go get her six month shots. I about hit the roof when she told me this. I am not ready for her to be six months old yet. I think in my mind, I am keeping her at about four months old, four and half at the most. Six months is half a year. HALF A YEAR. Does anyone else feel my pain on this? I miss her so much and I know that she is growing up so fast, and I am missing most of it! Here is one of my favorite pictures of Brad and I holding Kayleigh. This is how little I want her to stay.

Friday night my husband called me at 6:00 pm asking me what I was doing. I was folding his laundry and I was wearing my pajamas. He asked me to get ready because someone from work gave him tickets to the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey game. When does the game start honey? I asked him. 7:00 Sweetie, he replied. Oh poop. I was torn. Do I finish folding the laundry so his clothes are not wrinkled? Or do I throw on some clothes and put on make up for the first time that day? I chose the second option. In my frenzy of trying to get dressed, I forgot to grab a jacket. Did I mention that we went to see a hockey game? It was so dang cold because we had amazing seats. We were right in the middle (I guess you could call it the 50 yard line of hockey) and we were six rows from the ice. The face value of our tickets were $75 each! AND they were free. We got there a little late because we didn't leave the house until 6:30 because Brad had to come home and get ready, and the arena was half an hour away. We almost saw a few fights during the game, which was pretty cool. We had a wonderful time even though neither of us are hockey fans and we didn't really know what was going on.



Saturday I was having a rough day, and my precious husband could obviously hear it in my voice. He was called into work early, and I probably called him six times asking him since he got to go in early if he would get off early. He didn't, and I was sad. I was also extremely homesick. I think I have done great so far with the move, and the not working yet. But on this day I was just in the dumps. So, on the last of my many phone calls to Bradley, He just said relax, and don't worry about supper. He was going to take care of everything and let me rest. Guess what he brought home? Really, Guess...

I am so easy to please! He brought home my favorite....Papa John's pizza, flowers, and not one, but two bags of Hersey's Candy Cane Kisses. These things are wonderful! It is the perfect combination of two of my favorite things, chocolate and mint! I wait for these things all year long, and they only have them at Christmas time. Lucky for me, Christmas started early this year. I actually put them in my pumpkin bowl. Yes, I have Christmas candy in my Fall/Thanksgiving decor. Anyway, my husband is WONDERFUL and knew exactly how to cheer me up! I love that man!

This is getting kind of long, even though I can think of some more things to say but I am going to wind it up. Please pray for my job, I am getting a little nervous! Hope everyone has a fabulous day!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Jaime!!!

It's my sister's 27th birthday today! Hope you had a great day of celebrating!

Here are some pictures from our childhood that I thought I would share with everyone!

Does this remind you of anyone?

The Layton Four

Happy Birthday Jaime! We love you!

Thursday Thirteen

OK, I will admit it, I am a little bit of a neat freak. My husband sometimes jokes that I have OCD; and that is probably a little bit true. So, for my Thursday Thirteen here are thirteen things that drive me crazy if they are just a little bit out of place!

1. My closet! I have to have all of my sleeveless shirts together, my short sleeve shirts together, my long sleeve shirts together...get the picture? I almost color-coordinated my closet one time, but I had to fight the urge so I didn't freak my husband out.

2. My pantry. I try to have all of the food separated into categories, and then they have to be organized by size.

3. Pictures. It was a small nightmare trying to hang the pictures up in our new house because I wanted them perfect. I measure once, do some math, then measure again, and then double check it, and then usually measure one more time after that to make sure things are centered/even/or just exactly how I want them. Brad started to get a little annoyed after the first room. It is a miracle we finally put everything up.

4. I am getting better about this one...but it really bothers me when I make up the bed and the pillows don't look straight. I usually get frustrated and end up leaving them alone.

5. I hate for there to be any "goop" (is that a word?) around the lid of a shampoo bottle or the toothpaste, or anything like that. I have to clean them off on a regular basis.

6. Rugs. They have to be straight.

7. My earrings are color coordinated. I have a jewelry box with five drawers: Silvers & whites, browns, reds & pinks, blacks, and blues & greens.

8. It bothers me when wires are showing and tangled up. It is a mess under my desk, and it really bothers me, I just haven't gotten around to fixing these.

9. I like for books to be organized by size. My book shelf isn't a perfect example of this, but it bugs me when I see a tiny book beside a huge book and there is this awkward space.

10. Papers & bills. I have to let Brad handle this one, or I would let this get way out of hand. I would make lists, and lists of lists, and have to organize and file papers daily! I am always begging Brad to "please file those papers!"

11. My cabinets. I try to keep these really organized. It is extra harder now though. When we lived in Lyman, we had excellent cabinet space, and when we moved here, our space was cut in half! So everything is jammed into places. I have been known to take everything out of the cabinets and reorganize it many times.

12. My pocketbook. I try to keep it neat and organized too! However, I have not found the perfect pocketbook yet. I have always said that I am going to start designing pocket books so I can make one that I really like!

13. Anything that is out of place. I can't sit down and concentrate if something is out of place. When I was in school, I would have to clean my dorm room before I could even study!

Now having said all of this, you probably think that my house is spotless. It's not, I promise! I just like to have things organized! You could come into my house and find a lot of things out of place, especially since I have two little helpers these days! But, I am working on not being so freakishly organized and trying to relax. I do know the perfect formula to get a picture centered on the wall though! ;-) Have a great day!

Science experiments, Story time, & Singing

This is what I have been waiting to see for a long time! This is Ave & AK walking from their house to my house. The Brown girls are finally back in town! There for a little while, I wasn't sure if they were going to come back home, but they are finally here. Ave & Austin haven't officially moved in with us yet like they said they were going to do, but they have shown many of the village children where we live (I will explain that in a minute).

Yesterday as Brad and I were driving home from church we saw that a huge house on Main Street (in the Wake Forest Historic District) was having a yard sale. I convinced Brad to turn around so we could check it out. It probably would have been a decent yard sale on Saturday, but since we stopped by on Sunday there wasn't that much left. We did find a cool microscope though, and I decided to get it for my Star Wars/Science loving, home schooling, yet still awesome nieces. Brad had to go to work later that afternoon, so after he was gone...this is what happened: The village children came over to do a science experiment. For this experiment, they used leaves. And then they tricked me, they all said that they were thirsty, so I brought out a pitcher of water (because that is all that I had to give them!) and the instead used that for their experiment. Leaves and water...a very interesting science experiment! THEN, they found a granddaddy long-leg spider. They wanted to use this for their science experiment, but Austin Kate was the only one brave enough to touch it. They quickly became bored with that and asked me for some paper and something to write with. Everyone decided to write a story, except for Austin who wanted to serenade us. Here are some pictures of her singing for all of the village children.



Later that night, I was running me some bath water so I could relax and have a nice bubble bath. Right before I got in, Brad ran upstairs and said that somebody was knocking on our door, and I probably shouldn't get in yet. So I went back down stairs as he was opening the door and two precious girls ran in the room! I waited to see if Jaime and Nate were coming in too, but then Ave said that they dropped them off and they wanted us to call them when we were really for the girls to come home. I didn't get my bubble bath, but I had a lot more fun anyway! I am so glad my girls are back! Here is a picture of Averie snuggled up to her Uncle Brad watching the Disney channel!

I couldn't ask my husband to be a better uncle to these two girls. I love to see them together, it is precious! And, I am so glad that we were able to live close enough for the girls to be able to walk over. I am sure this is just one of many fun days getting to hang out with my "Brownies!"

Getting Settled

I can't believe that it has only been one week since last Thursday, it seems like so much time has passed since then! Wow! I don't even know where to start; actually let me start by saying *HURRAY* for the Internet. It has been a very long seven days with out the Internet, not including everything else that we have done that has made the past week seem like a month!

Besides my roller coaster emotions and the torrential rains last Friday our first moving experience went amazingly effortless! I tend to make a bigger deal out of things than I need to, what is that saying...I make a mountain out of a molehill? Anyway, here is a quick overview of how things went...

Friday morning we left beautiful (and sunny) South Carolina, and crossed over into the black clouded skies of North Carolina. Literally, we crossed the line, and the skies turned an eerie dark gray. Not long after that it began to rain; sometimes it was the type of rain where you have to turn your windshield wipers on high speed, go 40 MPH on the interstate, and you still can't see anything in front of you! Luckily for me, I was following a bright yellow moving truck. God really heard our prayers because the rain let up to a slight drizzle so we could unload the truck! We didn't mind the rain too much because we knew that this area needs the rain very badly! We were able to get everything off of the truck, and all of the furniture situated fairly quickly! We had a lot of help. Jon Durham showed up not long after we did, and he came to help us unload. Everything fit perfectly! Amanda & I started to unpack the kitchen stuff while the men unloaded the truck, since about 85% of all of the boxes landed in my kitchen floor!

Saturday morning we woke up at 6:00am to see Amanda & Josh (Brad's brother & his fiance) off. They are saints in my book! They followed us up here Friday to help us move, and had to leave bright and early Saturday because Josh had to be at work at 11:00am. They were SO MUCH help! In fact, I really couldn't keep up with Amanda. If I had been by myself without her help, it still wouldn't be all done. I would have probably stood there, looking at everything trying to figure out where I needed to start. She jumped in and got us going! When they left, I got really emotional. It was so hard seeing them pull away! We have gotten so close in the past year, and it is hard knowing that we won't be able to see them whenever we want. Brad was such a trooper though. My dad, ("Paca" Mark) came up to help us also, and he stayed through Sunday morning. All day Saturday we unpacked boxes and ventured out on the town for a while to get a few groceries and necessities. My dad was a really big help too!

Sunday we got to go visit Richland Creek Community Church. This was a little bittersweet for both of us. We have grown to love Wellford Baptist, and it has become like a second home to us. So, the thought of starting over and finding a new church is a little discouraging. However, we know that this is all in God's plan, and that he is going to use us somewhere special. We finished unpacking that afternoon and finally collapsed from exhaustion that night!

Monday & Tuesday we got to hang out and find our way around town. Brad is doing better with this than I am, but I am figuring it out. He tries to quiz me when we are riding down the road about where we are. I am getting a little bit better though! If he would let me drive somewhere I know I would have to figure it out on my own. (Hint-hint, Sweetie)

Wednesday, Brad finally started work, and he loves it! This is a huge answer to prayer. I am going to get him to post and give you all the details though. And me, well I am still sitting at home waiting. I have talked to the woman several times at the place where I am going to be working. And everything seems to be going well, as far as I know, I have the job. BUT, I am waiting on her to send me a background check, and an application. I am being hired to fill in for a woman while she is gone on her maternity leave (at the beginning of Dec.) but hopefully I can start before then. I am getting a little bored. I don't handle sitting at home by myself well. (*Please pray for that!*) The ironic thing is, if I was working right now, I would love the chance to be at home with nothing to do! Why does it work that way?

Anyway, this is getting a little long, so here are some pictures from move-in day! I haven't taken pictures since everything has been put up, but I will post them as soon as I take them!

This is my kitchen where a lot of the boxes were placed. Don't you like the green painter's tape that we used to close up the boxes? I wonder where we got that tape from? ;) And if you can't tell, most of the boxes are from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. We definitely utilized our resources when we were packing!

This is a shot of my living room before all of the furniture is moved in. If you look through the window you can see my dining room table is out on the front porch. There wasn't enough room to bring it in because of all the boxes.

This dresser was a beast to move! Look closely, and you can tell that everyone is soaking wet from the rain.

The tired Brock Boys!

I didn't get a chance to take as many pictures as I wanted, but it just wasn't the most opportune time to take them. I promise I will post the "after" pictures soon!

Special thanks to Amanda, Josh, Daddy, Nate, & Jon for all of your AMAZING help getting us moved! We couldn't have done it without you!

See you soon!

This isn't goodbye, but just see you soon! The truck is packed, and our house is empty so I will have to wait until we can unpack the computer to post again. (We are spending the night at my parents house!) BUT, when I finally do post we will be in North Carolina! Yay!!

Please pray for Brad and I as we travel tomorrow and as we unload the truck. Satan is really trying to make this as difficult as possible for us, but we know without a doubt that this is what we are supposed to be doing. We also know that God will provide all that we need! I can't wait to share all that He is doing in our lives right now! But for now, I am going to get some much needed rest! Sweet Dreams

Getting Some Practice

We got to babysit our youngest niece, Kayleigh this Saturday! We decided to be brave and go walk around the mall. It was great! I don't know who handled it better, Kayleigh or Brad. She is so precious, and we are treasuring every second we get to spend with her! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. Here are a few pictures of our night.

Uncle Brad got to feed her rice cereal.




She thought he was really funny!


We had to take a bath afterwards.


She got a little cold when we took her out, but this was the only time that night that she wasn't happy!


Uncle Brad is spoiling her by rocking her to sleep!


She is such a precious baby! We had so much fun getting to take care of her together (and we got some good practice)!


We love getting to take care of our nieces! I love these girls like crazy! Ave & AK are at such a fun ages now. I don't want Kayleigh to grow up too fast though! Check out Jaime's blog to see the fun that we got to have with our other nieces tonight!

Is it already Thursday again?

In the middle of packing everything up, I think I have found probably 6-8 unfinished journals that I have started within the last 10 years. I had written a few entries in them for a couple of weeks and then the rest of the journal remains blank. If a stranger would read any one of these random journals they would probably think I had fallen off the face of the earth all of a sudden by the way that I just completely quit writting in them. I tell you this odd fact about me because who am I fooling to think I could keep up a online journal?!? I am trying though! In all honsety, I have had to step over boxes, books, bags, etc. to even get to my computer! So, I have had an excuse not to blog as often. I can't even imagine if I had kids to take care of and do this too! I applaud all of the blogging mothers out there! Anyway, since it is Thursday, here is a Thursday Thirteen to catch you up on the Brocks from this past week!




Thirteen Things I have been doing, other than blogging!

1. Brad and I started a little DIY project this weekend. We found an old trunk in his grandmother's house that was actually his great-great grandmother's. We are attempting to strip it and repaint it. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but I will definitely let you see the "after".

2. We got to go shopping! This was really exciting because in the whole two and a half months that I worked at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, the only thing I bought was a candle and maybe some candy. It was so hard not to buy something I wanted every day! However, I talked Brad into letting me get some new stuff for our new bathroom when we move. The best part, was that I still got to use my employee discount!

3. Packing more boxes. I think I have written "FRAGILE" on every box except for maybe two.

4. Playing with Bella. My parents got a new puppy and I have been taking breaks and going over to their house to play with her.

5. Dinner with the Dales. Stephanie and I have been friends since middle school and we have both been so busy lately that we haven't been able to get together like we have wanted to. So we finally made plans, and had a yummy dinner at their house! Perrin was a doll!

6. My grandfather has been in the hospital, and has now been moved to a nursing home temorarily. I have been trying to help my grandmother in my spare time so we can get the house ready for him to come home again!

7. Packing.

8. Bible study. Brad and I have been doing a Bible Study with our Sunday School class on Beth Moore's Study of Daniel. It has been one of the best studies I have ever done! Unfortunately we won't get to finish it, but I recommend it to anyone!

9. Official moving stuff...trying to plan to have all of the utilities cut off, forwarding our mail, fun stuff like that.

10. One of my good friends from school had a baby this week. I haven't gotten to meet her yet but Lila Moore was welcomed into the world this past Monday! Congratulations Sally & Thomas!

11. I had to rush to Duron the other day to take Brad his contact solution and his glasses. He called me because paint colorant splashed into his eye and had gotten it behind his contact. When I got there his eye was incredibly red and bloodshot and a little swollen. Luckily I came to the rescue and he isn't blind. Yet. He was wearing his last pair of contacts. We might have to go to the eye doctor in the next two days to get more before he is taken off of the insurance.

12. I made oreo balls. These things are heavenly! There wasn't any special occasion, I just wanted to make some.

13. Packing. Have I mentioned I am moving in one week? You're probably tired of hearing about it, but this is my first major moving experience. I haven't compeletley freaked out yet, so I would say it is a success so far.

My goal is to post at least once before next Thursday. I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm Doing a Happy Dance

Okay, so I told you that I started a Thursday Thirteen last week and never finished it. Well, I tried to finish it this morning and I even posted it, but it is showing up underneath my other post. So, just scroll down a little and you can read my Thursday 13! I am going to go get ready for work now. I only have two more days!! You can't see me, but I am doing a happy dance! Have a fabulous day!

I'm Still Here

I promise I am still here but things have been crazy lately! In between working and packing we have been trying to get in our last minute get-togethers with friends and having some family time! Only two weeks, and five days until we move to NC! I even started to do a Thursday Thirteen this week, and got interupted and didn't get to finish it. However, I this is my last week of work...only five more days!!! Not too much has happened lately but hopefully when things settle down a little, I will be able to post more. I do have a few prayer requests though! Please pray for my Papa, he is back in the hospital having more problems with his medication, pray for his doctors that they will be able to get all of this straightened out and that he will be back to his old self again! Also pray for my twin brother Jordan. His plans for deployment have changed several times, but as for now he is leaving October 10th for New Jersey for training, coming back to Charleston on Oct. 26th, and then leaving for Iraq on October 31st. Most of all, pray for his safety!
Thanks for your prayers for him and for my family during this time! I hope everyone has a great week!

Thirteen Reasons I will miss SC

There are way more than thirteen reasons why I am going to miss living sweet South Carolina, but here are just a few that have been on my mind lately (in no particular order)...


1. Our niece Baby Kayleigh. She has only been here for four short months, but man...I love this kid! The thought of not being able to see her when ever I want or having her grow up without me getting to see everything absolutely breaks my heart.


2. Wellford Baptist Church. This church means so much to me, and I am so excited about everything that is about to happen here. We have made so many lasting friendships and this is where we got married.

3. Meadow Street. Brad and I have made our first home here. This house has also come to mean so much to both of us. We have come accustom to all of the sounds that our older house makes, and we can find our way around in the dark if we need to. So many special memories have been made in this house.


4. Mama & Tim. My parents! I am actually the last of the Layton Four to leave home (home, as in the "DLW" area) and it is going to be bitter sweet.

5. FRIENDS!!! Brad and I met so many great friends while we were at Anderson College, and our prayer was that when we moved home and got married that we would be able to find some fun "married couples" that we would be able to hang out with here. We have been blessed beyond belief! We have made so many life-long friends and reconnected with some old friends and it is so hard to imagine that we will be able to find new friends again.


6. Margie, Brad's Grandmother. This is a precious lady who has had such an important role in shaping and raising Brad. She has helped make him into the man he is today. She took him to church when he was a little boy, and I have no doubt that she has helped plant that seed of Christ in his life. If it wasn't for her, we probably wouldn't be on this road that we are on today. She has Alzheimer's and is struggling day to day to remember who we are. She would be so proud to know of the man that Brad is becoming.


7. Papa G, My Grandfather. I have so many fond memories of my childhood playing at my grandparent's house. I love to think of these memories when I think of my grandfather. He is sick and seems to be on a roller coaster ride with his medications. I often worry about us being so far away because it has been so easy for them to just call us if they need anything.

8. Amanda & Josh, Brad's Brother and our future sister-in-law. I can remember being a little jealous of Jaime and Kelli's relationship. I could only hope that I would be able to have a good relationship with my sister-in-law(s) when that day came. Again, I have been blessed beyond measures! They each mean so much to us, and I pray for their marriage!


9. Shannon Forest. This is the school where I worked last year. There are so many amazing brothers and sisters in Christ and precious children here that have made a huge impact in my life! I am sure that my journey will not lead me back here, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. I will always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me and for all that I was able to gain from them.


10. I-85. Ok, so I won't really miss Interstate 85, but I will miss knowing my way around. I am not great with directions, I really don't think I am even good with directions BUT I know how to find my way around, and sometimes, I know more than one way to get there. I am terrified that I am going to get lost in NC! However, I do know how to get to the nearest SuperTarget, so I know I can survive!

11. Niles W. Brock. Who is this you ask? This is my beloved fish. I don't think he will be able to make the trip with us. Does anyone need a darling pet?

12. Football. My husband will laugh at this one! But really, if I think about it, I have always pulled for either Byrnes or Clemson. We can hear the high school games from our yard and the band practicing. It was a little annoying at first, but it has now become the sounds of home. When I move, Wake Forest High School will be in my back yard. They definitely won't replace Byrnes, but I think Nate might convert us to Tarhill Fans.

13. South Carolina just sounds so much better than North Carolina. We have a cooler flag too.

I am tickled pink about moving! We are so excited, so please don't get me wrong when I say this, but dang I am going to miss living in sweet South Carolina.

Not-so-sweet

My sweet husband just called with some not-so-sweet news. We have ANOTHER flat tire on the car! Can you tell that Satan is trying to get to us? God has his hand all over this one though! Thankfully, this time we have an extra tire that we can go get fixed AND its my day off so I can go help my husband (if I had to work today he probably would have been stuck at Duron!) Praise God, we will get through this too!

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."
Psalm 31:24

Two years ago...

I had one of the most romantic days of my life. It was on a Wednesday. My Monday and Tuesday of this particular week were very stressful and emotional! Brad promised to take me out to dinner at a special place in Greenville. This was a big deal for many reasons, (1) we were students and dinner out was a special treat, (2) we were in Anderson, so going to Greenville was going to be nice to get away, and (3) I desperately needed a something to get my mind off of school. In the weeks prior to this amazing day, Brad and I had several discussions which completely led me to believe that I would not be getting anything to wear on my left hand anytime in the near future. So, I was going to take the date night for what it was, an ordinary date night. My only stipulation was that the restaurant have cheesecake.

Oh, but little did I know...

He had two roses in his hand that he was waiting to give me; two roses was an odd number, but I didn't think much about it. We got in his car and had to make a quick stop at the gas station before we headed down the road. (Now this part needs a little explanation: His gas tank was dangerously empty and this was also right after Katrina happened and gas prices were at least $3 a gallon.) When we pulled up to the pump, he made the comment that he was going to put about five dollars of gas in and I laughed at him because I knew that that much gas wouldn't even get us to the interstate. He kept insisting that he didn't need that much gas, so finally we agreed that $10 would probably be enough for now. Oh, but little did I know...

When he got back into the car he reached in the backseat and pulled out a blindfold. Again, I laughed at him because he must have been crazy if he thought I was going to wear a blindfold all the way to Greenville. I actually thought he was paying me back from a couple of weeks earlier when I blindfolded him and took him on a surprise date. He made me put it on anyway, and to really confuse me, it felt like he circled the gas pump ten times to make me lose my sense of direction. I knew that we weren't headed down 81 towards the interstate because that is a long straight road, and we were making some turns. When we parked about 5 minutes later, I knew that we were not in Greenville. (He had taken me right back to the front lawn of the school) He lead me out of the car and I still had no clue where we were, I also was still oblivious to what was going on. When he finally took off the blindfold, I knew! I knew that this was going to be the most romantic day of my life.



The first thing that I saw when he took off the blindfold was Brad's suite mate hiding behind a tree with a video camera; but what I saw next took my breathe away. It was a long pathway of candles and rose pedals (That is why I only had two roses, he used the rest of the bouquet for this). At the end of the path was a table, and on the table were lilies (my favorite), two forks, and a bowl of strawberry syrup. He walked me to the table and we sat down. Off to the side, Brad had one of our friends playing the guitar, setting the mood with music! The first thing that he did was read me a poem he had written me, and in perfect timing when he was done, two of our other friends brought up two plates of cheesecake (hence the forks and strawberries!)



In the back of my mind, I was still questioning if I was going to get a ring or not because he had done a great job of convincing me that it was going to be a while. After our cheesecake, he stands up and reaches in his pocket...my heart stops beating...and then he pulls out a little USB key disc storage thingy. The first thought that goes through my mind is: "I can't wear that on my finger!" Then he pulls out a laptop where he had made a slide show of pictures of us from the past four years together. It was precious! By now, we are both sobbing! When that is over he asked me if I was ready to go eat. My heart sank. I thought it was over and we were going to go eat and that was going to be it. Nope. It wasn't. He grabbed my hand and led me out into the middle surrounded by candles and rose pedals. And he started talking. I am not really sure what he said though. All I know is that I said yes! It was definitely one of the most romantic days of my life!

We've got connections

We got our official housing assignment today! Since we will be living in the same village as the Browns, the first thing I did was call Jaime and asked her to take pictures of our new house. Here are a couple of the pictures she sent me. I will let you take a guess at who actually took the pictures.







Thanks Averie and Austin Kate for taking those pictures for Auntie! You did a great job!

Once Upon a Time

One upon a time there was a young couple who had not been married very long. They didn't have a whole lot, but they were very happy! The husband and the wife each had a car to get them back and forth to work but these cars were not very reliable and would often break down - or sometimes even have random flat tires! The husband would often try to convince the wife that they needed a new car, but the wife, being the practical one in the relationship, could often talk him out of it because of financial or timing issues. One day when the wife came home from work the husband was really excited! He had heard on the radio that a car dealership in Greer was having this amazing sale on new cars. To make the husband happy, the wife decided to go with him to the car dealership to see why they were selling these cars at such a good price. It just so happened that those cars did not have air conditioner.

But that isn't the end of this story.

Four and a half hours later when the husband couldn't say no to the salesman anymore, after much paperwork and a lot of wheelin' & dealin', Look what the wife got to drive home instead:

Flat Tires, Wedding Dresses, & Job Interviews

Wow it's been a whirlwind of a weekend! It all started on Thursday night. Let me start at the beginning by saying again, that we are leaving in five weeks to move up to North Carolina so Brad can attend SEBTS! We are so excited, but our time is so precious, and there is so much that has to be done! This past Thursday I planned on going with my future sister-in-law to a wedding festival in Greenville for a couple of hours before I had to be at bible study later that night. That sounds like a simple enough plan, but it didn't go that smoothly! I left my humble little Camry in her mother's driveway so we could ride together. We had not even been gone for an hour before her dad called to let us know that I had a flat tire! I had to rack my brain trying to figure out what could have happened between my house and hers that could have caused my tire to go flat! After many phone calls between Amanda's father, my husband, and my father it was determined that my spare tire was rotten & rusted, AND that the flat tire could not be patched, I needed a whole new tire.
Needless to say, my plans to attend bible study that night went down the drain. Also, while we were at the wedding festival I saw my boss from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. After much deliberation (and phone calls during the fashion show) I decided that it would be considerate to let him know that I had no way to get to work the next day. It was incredibly awkward asking him if I could get off work on Friday all while he was trying to signup Brides for registries. The good news about the entire situation was that I did get off work Friday and got to go Wedding Dress shopping the next day!
I really enjoyed the time that I got to spend with her and my niece Kayleigh, but I also realized how relieved I am that I don't have to go through the stress of planning a wedding again! Whew, let me say that again, I AM SO GLAD I do NOT have to do that again! Friday night after Brad got off work, he went and put a new tire on my beloved Dori (that is what I named my car). He made it look so simple! Thanks honey! And after that he convinced me to go to the Byrnes Football game. It was not the same high school that I went to! It has changed so much!
Our weekend had only begun though. Saturday afternoon after Brad got off work, we had to make the four hour trip up to NC because Brad had a job interview! I talked Brad into letting me drive, because I told him that one day I would eventually have to make the drive without him. I drove the whole way...and made it in 3 1/2 hours! That is a small but wonderful accomplishment! I normally fall asleep as soon as I get into a car. Anyway, to make this really long story a little shorter...we had a great 22 1/2 hours in NC before we had to come back home. It is always a fun time with the Browns. AND...here is the best part...Brad got a job! This is the golf course he will be working at!This is such a answered prayer (thanks to everyone out there praying for us!!) It is so wonderful to see how everything is going to fall into place and to know that it is GOD who is providing and paving the way for us! I forgot to take pictures of any of this, I promise to do better next time. Now, I am going to bed to get rest for this next week so maybe I can start packing soon!

First Thursday Thirteen...on a Friday

I have wanted to start a blog for some time now, and I thought it would be cute to start off with a Thursday Thirteen! However, I have waited two weeks for Thursday to roll around, and when it did, something always seemed to come up to keep me from finally posting my blog. So I have decided that I won't wait another week for Thursday to come, and I will just have a Thursday Thirteen on a Friday. Here it is:



Thirteen Reasons to Start a Blog



1. We are moving to North Carolina in about five weeks, and a blog will be a great way of keeping everyone updated on what is going on with the Brock's!

2. I can leave comments on other people’s blogs without feeling like I am that person who is lurking around on the internet just reading everyone’s blog.

3. It is obviously the new cool thing to do.

4. It might be sad that I am admitting this, but things will happen during the day and the thought crosses my mind, “Hey this would be something funny to blog about.” I guess Jaime’s addiction to blogging has rubbed off on me.

5. My darling husband said it would become a competition between my sister and me, and I want to prove him wrong.

6. My sister said, “Of course it won’t be a competition, mine will always be better.” I probably won’t ever prove her wrong. Please don’t judge too quickly.

7. I think blogs are a great & fun way of communicating and connecting with new and old friends.

8. I am a big thinker and sometimes I think best if I write (or type) my thoughts out. I am not sure if my thoughts will make sense to you, but I might occasionally share them with you.

9. My prayer is that God will be glorified in everything, and this will be just another small way that I can testify about all of the wonderful things he is doing in our lives!

10. MySpace is boring me.

11. I love a good challenge and I think it will be fun to see how long it will take to convince Brad to be a guest blogger. I was able to convince him to do the Napoleon Dynamite dance for a large group of people! Don’t hold your breathe though.

12. Haley asked.

13. One day I am going to have a great story to tell and I am going to want to share it with you!