stephen is turning 25!

We went to Tuscaloosa Friday night to celebrate Stephen's 25th birthday! We went out to eat Japanese and the food was awsome. Loved the crispy shrimp sushi and have been craving it ever since. The picture below was the moment that Stephen realized I had told the waiter it was his birthday. The waiter came out with the "birthday bong" and got the whole room to sing to Stephen. He loved it...haha yeah right!

I cant believe Stephen let them put this hat on him. I really loved the long pony tail sticking out. Haha! I am sure I will pay for this later :)

What now!?!

So you are probably wondering where we have been for the last few days. Stephen was laid off Thursday afternoon. It was not a total shock but still hard to process and deal with. We are both at peace about it and think that this is the opportunity that we have been praying for. Stephen has been unhappy at this job for awhile now and wanting to change directions but not wanting to take that step when he had the security of another job. God has closed that door now and is forcing him to take a step of faith and see where God is leading him now. Please pray for us as we try to be obedient and follow the path that God would have us go down now. This is just another time period of our marriage that Im sure we will always look back on. Hopefully when we look back it will be to see that we were strong in our faith and obedience to our God and supportive and loving to each other as we grow in our relationship. We will keep you updated!

You know you are a home health nurse...

You know you are a home health nurse when you use your cold groceries to keep a tube of blood from clotting before you can get to the lab. hahaha! now I'm sure some of you are totally disturbed by this this but that is how the twisted mind of a nurse works. Today I went to see patients in Sulligent and decided to stop at their grocery store to pick up some stuff that I could not find at our store. It is amazing what you take for granted when you live in a city. You would think that my grocery store would have reduced fat tricuits...but no! Anyway, any time Im near a better store I will stop and get what I need. I decided to buy Stephen some ice cream that he really loves cause he has been very supportive of me being back on Weight Watchers. When I got back in the car I knew I needed to get the blood I had previously drawn on ice. I didn't have any ice so I just stuck it in a clean bag and then placed it in the grocery bad with the other frozen stuff. It worked perfect and kept the blood at just the right temp until I could get it back to town. Haha! Just had to share cause I knew that only my fellow nurses would find this funny and everyone else would just think it was gross. Off to pick up the dry cleaning and fix some lunch and then back to the office for some continuing education classes!

Reading

I have been reading more lately. Stephen got Kate Gosselin's book for me more my stocking. I read it during our trip to Baton Rouge this weekend. I really liked it more than I thought I would. I am a big fan of the show and thought it would be interesting but never thought it would be so honest. Kate said she wrote it for her kids to read one day. Because she wrote it, she was able to be open and honest about her relationships with her family and also her Christianity. They have said on the show that they are Christians and you can see verses that they have posted around their house but she really talked about how they have to have faith and rely on God so much to make it through each day as a family of 10. I wont ruin the book but I really encourage anyone who ever wants to be a mom or is already a mom to read it. I think it will make me look at the show completely differently now. I also read Still Growing by Kirk Cameron this week. I bought this for Stephen for Christmas and then read it before he had a chance. Really good too! We are ready for Fireproof to come out on DVD! Just a few days away!

New Years and Weddings

We went to Baton Rouge for New Years and to see my cousin Jacob get married. It was a busy 5 days. We went all over south Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. We also had to finish up Christmas with my family. New Years Eve was nice. We got to visit with some family and enjoy and great bon fire, lsu game and fireworks. New Year Day we spent driving around see more family that Stephen had not met yet. Friday we spent helping get ready for the wedding. This day was crazy but everthing worked out. After some really good bbq at the rehearsal dinner we went home to crash. Saturday it was raining and we spent part of the morning with no electricty. We hung out with the groom and groomsman which involved a couple hours of eating and watching football and only about 30 minutes of them getting showered and dressed. So not fair! This picture was taking after Jacob got dressed before he headed to the church. For more pictures check out my facebook. Glad to be back home after a long trip! Now we just have to get ready for work tomorrow!

ahhh! our neighbors

So our neighbors had a party this weekend, have had friends parking all out in the street and apparently got drunk and rolled their own yard. genius!! Now the toilet paper has blown into our yard and gotten soaked by the rain so it is total mess! Yesterday they also decided to start shooting fireworks...while it was still daylight. Again...genius! Anyway, so tonight I was getting aggravated hearing them hollering from across the street so I got on my favorite house plans website and started looking. It seems that that always motivates us to pick up one of our many books or get online and check out some houses. There are so many choices. I keeping saving ones that I like and then go back weeks later and cannot remember what it was that i liked. This is the outside that I liked today, of course not crazy about the inside layout. Oh well, I think I am cross eyed from looking at it for the last hour. Ill change my mind again tomorrow. Well, Im off to bed so I can get up early and get on the road to see some patients. Night!

Christmas Day

Wow, we have had a busy few days. I was on call so we had to stay in Alabama (much to the dismay of my family). We started our celebrations at Stephen's grandparents (Richards) on Christmas Eve with dinner and presents. Then Christmas morning, Stephen and I had some time to open our gifts to each other and enjoy some sausage balls and coffee. Then we ran to the in-laws for more presents and fun. Then we all piled in the cars and headed to West Point where we had Christmas lunch with the Mays. It was a great day, relaxing. We ate way too much and are sure to enjoy the leftovers for a couple more days. We will be heading to Baton Rouge next week to spend New Years with my family and also my cousin will be getting married so it will be another busy weekend. Cant wait to see everyone and enjoy Christmas with yall! I also have to add that it was so nice to not have to go to the hospital to work any this holiday. I used to cry everytime I had to drive to Fayette to work on any holidy whether it was Christmas eve or Presidents Day. I hated that part and would always question my job choice. I chose nursing so that I would have flexiblity and a family life and I just could not see that happening with that job. It seemed like I was always working or sleeping or so tired I could not enjoy the holiday. This year even though I was on call we were able to do everything we would normally do here with Stephen's family and I was awake for all of it haha! I just really really really love this home health job. I enjoy my co-workers. I LOVE my schedule and that I really can put my family before my job as a nurse. Dont get me wrong, I love being a nurse but there is much more to life than your career! Ok, ill get off my soap box. We are headed to Columbus to hit the after Christmas sales!!