Update

I can already tell that I have a little writer's block going on right now. Anyway, I wanted to fill everyone in on what's been going on in our world since I last posted.

First of all...my diet: I have canceled my Weight Watcher's membership. (sigh) But I am in a happy place about my decision. It was getting way too expensive for our seminary budget and I wasn't as devoted as I should have been. However, I have come away with some great core values and really learned a lot about myself. I am not quitting my diet though. One of the women I work with meets with a group of ladies from the seminary weekly, and they follow WW guidelines, but keep Christ at the center of their diet. They pray for each other, and focus on scriptures. Hopefully I will be able to meet with them, or start my own similar group. On a side note, I did get a little tired of my WW leader talking every week on how you could save extra points for the end of the week so you could go out and have beer with the girls. It seemed to me that this was her entire objective: save points for the alcohol. Needless to say, I am moving on. I really appreciated all of your advice and encouragement!

Other little tidbits...

One night, I noticed that I was having difficulty breathing. And then the next day, it progressively got worse. And then, it just became painful. I knew that I wasn't congested, but I had had pneumonia before, and I remember having a hard time breathing. So, I called my dear friend Mandy, (who is a nurse) and asked her if she would listen to me breathe. She thought it was a little weird of a request but she graciously agreed. To make a long story short, after she listened to me breathe, and Brad played with her stethoscope, we came to the conclusion that I had pulled a muscle in my chest and I had an inflamed chest wall. It was a relief to figure out why I couldn't breathe, but that recovery process was a booger!

I have successfully completed my first course in my Women's Certificate Program. I decided to take one of the classes that they offer for the spouses of students. They are a six week course that highlights some of the main points that our husbands are also studying. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. However, I am relieved to have a break before my next class begins. It is hard to juggle work, school, cooking, cleaning, being an auntie, and all the above all at one time!

My parents got to come visit this past weekend. Tim had a meeting in the Raleigh/Durham area, so they got to come visit for an extra long weekend. It is always so nice to have them come up and stay for a while. We had a lot of good laughs, and some fun times hanging out. Brad and I got to finally share our "big news" with them. We wanted to wait and tell them in person, so we finally got to see them, and share this with them. Let me stop here and just say, whatever you are thinking that our "big news" is...you are probably wrong. It deserves its own post, and so I am going to wait, but I will share it with you very soon!

We are anxiously awaiting the return of my brave twin brother. He will be home very soon from serving our country in Iraq. I am pretty sure I can't give details, but I want to ask you to continue to pray for our family, and for Jordan.

I mentioned my sweet friend, Mandy earlier in the post. Her, and her husband Jason, have been such a blessing to us. We actually met back in January at a social for new students. Brad and Jason have all of their classes together. We had been praying for friends before we met them, and God's timing could not have been better. We often joke that "God brought us together." But all jokes aside, I truly feel that God's plan for our lives here in seminary included them. We feel like we have known Jason and Mandy for years! The past couple of weeks have been a blast hanging out with them. We are actually hanging out at their house right now....

...Because our washer exploded and we are here washing some clothes. When we moved here we didn't have a washer and dryer, so we took our clothes to the Brown laundromat. (We were so grateful to them!) For Christmas, Brad and I put our money together to purchase a washer and dryer off of Craig's List. We thought we found a steal. Until the other day when we started seeing sparks fly out from underneath the washer. We were pretty sure that wasn't normal. We thought maybe the load was too heavy, so we took half of it out, and it worked fine for a few more loads. And then, a couple of days later Brad was upstairs when he started to smell something, and he came downstairs and our house was full of black smoke. He went straight to the washer and unplugged it. He opened it up, and more spoke came out. Unfortunately, our steal from Craig's list was a flop. At least we had three good months with our washer, and hopefully we can find another decent one in the near future. We are here at Jason and Mandy's because we thought we might need to let the Brown Laundromat rest.

It seems like there is something always exciting going on here. Please continue to keep us in your prayers though. God is amazing us everyday with his rich blessings, even through the black cloud of smoke from our washer, or the pain from a pulled muscle! I will post really soon on our "big news." Hope everyone has a fabulous week!