Wednesday, January 30, 2008

This Past Week

It has been awhile since I wrote. I have been hoping I would soon finish my most recent project (a simple patchwork quilt) and write about it but I am not quite finished! I began the quilt about 2 weeks ago, I only lack the binding for 3 sides but I became very engrossed in reading Pride and Prejudice this Sunday and all sewing projects were pushed aside momentarily!! I have since finished my book but school work has picked up a bit!

Today was a very happy day! I finally received my package from Amazon. I ordered a Holman Christian Standard Bible and The Message last week and I have been eagerly awaiting my package since I ordered it! It finally arrived this afternoon, 5 minutes before I had to leave for class so I quickly opened the box, looked at my Bibles and went to class! When I got home it was like Christmas...I admired both of them and began reading The Message! John David however is still impatiently awaiting his new Behringer audio interface he ordered last week, he actually thought my package was his so he was a bit disappointed!

Classes are going good so far! We both have our first test next Friday and I am sure everything will go very well for it! I haven't had any stress to deal with regarding school since the semester began! God has really helped me in this area, I am being diligent with my school work and he is rewarding me with a stress free life! (Which, I might add, is amazing!)

Monday, January 21, 2008

I made a Skirt

Saturday, January 19, 2008

1st Week of School

This week the new semester of school began and it was a pretty great week. We are both pleased with all of our classes. John David is registered for 20 hours, however he only has to attend 2 classes, Agricultural Finance and Intro to Broadcasting. All of his other hours are internship or special topics. He definitely is going to have an easy semester.

I do not have such an easy semester since I am graduating a year early! I have 6 classes, Agricultural Finance, Interior Plantscaping, Agricultural Engineering, Intro to Theatre, Music Appreciation, and Senior Seminar. I will be busy but I am confident I can do well in each class. My Music Appreciation class is for Music Majors only however, Tech put me in that class and the professor is allowing me to remain in there since I need the class in order to stay on track to graduate. So it isn't necessarily going to be an easy "A" but that is okay!

This past week I was asked to teach the 11th and 12th grade girls Sunday School class at church. I met with the Youth Minister Wednesday night and this Sunday I am going to meet the girls and will probably become their teacher. I am really looking forward to being used by God to make a difference in the lives of these young ladies as well as letting him use this to draw me closer to him.

Thursday John David and I went to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry House Studio A and watched the filming of the Crook and Chase Show which will be on RFD-TV. It was a great experience to be a member of a live studio audience. We also were able to see Garth Brooks, and he sang "More than a Memory," he is absolutely amazing! George Jones also was interviewed on the show and The Oak Ridge Boys were there and they sang two songs. It was a wonderful experience!

This week was busy but I managed to have some time to relax. One thing that helps me relax the most is cooking, I am able to go to the kitchen and forget everything but fixing a wonderful meal for my husband. I had two "firsts" this week. I baked my first loaf of homemade bread and it turned out pretty good. I also made some ham and cheese biscuits which were amazing, John David even enjoyed them and he usually doesn't like biscuits. I really enjoy trying new things especially things that are challenging, I have made a couple homemade pies (homemade pie crust and everything) in the past few months including a Chocolate Silk Pie and an Apple Pie with a streusel topping!

God blessed us with another amazing week!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Christmas Time Adventures



The Fall semester ended for us on Thursday, December 13. We both finished with good grades, A's and B's; we both had B's in our Soils class which we were thankful for, it was one of the hardest college classes I have had thus far! We spent the next week in Cookeville enjoying our last break from school since John David will graduate in May and will enter the world of work! Yes, there were a few days of sleeping past 10, but we don't feel guilty for doing so! I worked on my Wedding Scrapbook during this week. ( I am hoping I will finish it before our second wedding anniversary!) On December 20th we headed to West Tennessee to celebrate Christmas with my family.

The night we arrived I decided to go ahead and give John David his Christmas present from me since he already knew what it was. I gave him an iPod touch which he had been wanting and he was very excited to get it and he played with it that evening!



One of the big projects at my parents house was building furniture. Dad had recently purchased a lathe to go along with some of my Grandpa's woodworking equipment and he was making my mom an oak coffee table and two end tables so we called Daddy's garage "Santa's Workshop" the entire time! John David also enjoyed himself in Santa's workshop. He made me two oak candle holders on the lathe, which are beautiful, I can't wait to use them! I also tried out the lathe which is actually very fun to work on!



My oak candlesticks! I think they are beautiful, especially since my husband made them for me!

Of course we took the opportunity to take family pictures in front of the Christmas tree!







Since Rebekah does not have a significant other and feels like the 5th wheel on occasion, we took family pictures of her and Zorro! I think this is a really cute picture of both of them! We all had a bunch of fun with Rebekah because she purchased a gift for Zorro and herself. Her gift was a keychain that said "I love my dog" and Zorro's was a collar charm that said "I love my human". Needless to say we laughed and laughed about the "I love my human"!

Christmas morning was fun, as usual stockings were fun to go through. Daddy make cake doughnuts which were wonderful and Grandma, Grandpa, and Nathan came down to visit. Of course exchanging presents was fun!

We left my parents house on December 27th and headed all the way to John David's parents, an 8 hour drive! It really wasn't that bad, at least for me, I was the happy passenger who got to play with the iPod!

We had a lot of fun opening gifts there! They gave us fleece sheets (which are amazing and very warm and I highly recommend them!) I also was given a luxurious microfiber robe and John David was given a new scope for his gun! We also enjoyed a carmel and sprinkle coated apple from Nana which was absolutely amazing!



While we were at John David's parents he worked on setting his Dad's new HD TV up and consequently since there was a big screen HD TV with an amazing picture we watched quite a bit of football!

While we were there, John David and I went gem mining at Gem Mountain in North Carolina with Josie and Mattie Roark. Josie and Mattie are 7 and 4 years old and they both absolutely love John David! We all had a lot of fun gem mining! That night after we got home John David went to the shop and put one of my gems in a setting for me! He did a good job and I feel so loved when he makes something for me!

The big event of the week was our trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. The night before it snowed and we woke up to a beautiful white snow! We bundled up and headed for North Carolina. While we were crossing the mountain on Interstate 26 it reached 7 degrees! So needless to say it was a very cold day but a very beautiful day!








I was absolutely amazed at the size of the Biltmore Estate! Everything was so large and extravagant. We read the dimensions of the formal dining room and realized that John David's parents house could fit inside it! That really puts things into perspective. I was amazed in every room, the staircases were grand (and a little scary since I don't like heights). There were so many bedrooms I lost count. My favorite part of the whole tour was the basement. The kitchens were big, the pantry was amazing but the most amazing part was the fact that there was a swimming pool in the basement of this house and it was built in 1899!

After visiting the estate, we went to The Olive Garden for a wonderful lunch! The hot pasta was perfect for a cold day! After lunch we headed to the Grove Park Inn to look at Gingerbread Houses from the National Gingerbread Competition! I was amazed at the details on some of these tiny houses!



This is a Gingerbread House! This one was my personal favorite, it looks just like a real house!



This fireplace was huge and so warm. If you look to the right you can see a child sitting on the hearth, that helps put the scale in perspective!

To say the least our Christmas break was very memorable. We enjoyed spending time with our families and have wonderful memories that we never forget!
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