All Moved In - gnats included

We got all moved in finally!  Well, I am all moved in. I think Jason still has some stuff at his apartment but he's got most of his stuff here.  I've been working on setting up the house and assigning chores (evil laugh hehehe).  We seem to have a gnat problem and it's driving me nuts.  They are everywhere and I've been doing everything I can to kill them.  Anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of gnats?  

Jason bought a new 42" HDTV that got delivered today and they just mounted it above the fireplace in the game room.  Exciting!  I will post pictures tomorrow of the house and the new additions to it!  I'm still looking for a job but very grateful for the time to get the house set up before having to start working.  

That's all for now but like I said, will post pics soon!

Soon to Follow

Well Joanna got herself all moved in this past weekend after enlisting a fleet of vehicles to transport the last of her belongings. I'm looking forward to moving in myself this coming weekend.

The house looks better and better the more things we get into it. My family also put a lot of work into cleaning the house last weekend which sharpened things up as well.

We have all our appliances, including a TV that is now en route. It's a 42" Panasonic display that I picked out after a good bit of research.

That's all for now!

T-9 hours!

I graduate in 9 hours. Just thought you should know if you don't already :)

I love you Mr. Clean

I finished with school on Wednesday (WHOOOOP!) and headed to Arlington on Thursday. Last night I spent the evening deep cleaning my bathroom. It was a chore but it turned out delightful!  

Today, I woke up early and went garage sale-ing. I did not have much luck but did get two really nice end tables for $40.  After that I went and looked at some mattresses and some other furniture.  Grandpa came over and mowed the lawn :) (thanks!) Mom and Dad got here this afternoon right when the appliances were being delivered (YAY we have a washer/dryer and refrigerator!!!!!). We went out to dinner with Jason and Maycee then mom and I went to Wal-Mart to buy some cleaning stuff.  We moved the futon into the living room so we have something besides lawn chairs to sit on in the house! 

Our goal for the weekend is to clean the house really well and maybe get some of my stuff unpacked.  We will maybe try and hit up some more garage sales tomorrow but we'll see.... They are coming to set up our internet on Monday! I will head back to College Station probably Monday evening and then I graduate FRIDAY!!!! 

On a completely different topic, I met with my pastor on Thursday afternoon to get my church reference for Seminary and that was really exciting.  I can finally finish up my application and get the ball rollin' on class for the fall!  

Hope all is going well for all of our readers :)

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thress. 15:16-17

One Test Left!

In less than 24 hours, I will be done with college! WHOOP! My psyc test is tomorrow at 10:45 and then I'm finished!

My Grandpa and Casey came yesterday with Grandpa's truck and loaded all the big things from my apartment so my room is quite depressing now. I should have no problem moving the rest of my stuff in my car after graduation.  They put all the stuff in the garage at the house and we will start unpacking this weekend. Thanks Grandpa and Casey for all your help :)

So, the whole fam will be spending Mother's Day weekend in Arlington to start the move-in process! So exciting!  The carpets were steam cleaned this past weekend and apparently they look really good.  We are going to clean everything else real well before I start moving in.  Lord willing, we will also be able to get a refrigerator and washer/dryer.  I hope to hit up some garage sales over the weekend to maybe find some furniture for my room as well. 

As it stands there are some bare necessities we are still looking for for the house:

-Dining room table (got some chairs from my Paw Paw)

-Couch

-Queen size mattress

-Dresser

-Desk and desk chair

If you know of anyone looking to get rid of any of these items let us know :)

In other news, my car has been receiving some TLC over the past week.  I got some brake work done and got the struts replaced. It drives like a brand new car!!! And it is currently at the body shop getting the bumper repainted.  I was in an accident in Nov. '06 and was rear ended.  The body shop fixed the bumper and put a new trunk lid on but the paint has been chipping over the past year or so.  Since the paint has a lifetime warranty with the body shop, I decided I better get it fixed before I graduate!  Haha

I will be permanently moved into the house May 18th and I'm guessing Jason will start moving shortly after.  His lease is up at the end of May.  Hopefully we will be able to have a house warming party end of May or early June!  

That's all for now. God bless!

       He put a new song in my mouth, 
       a hymn of praise to our God. 
       Many will see and fear 
       and put their trust in the LORD. 

       Psalm 40:3

Huzzah!

bwah ha ha Joanna had to write twice!

Not too much had happened with the house since I wrote, then I got in my wreck and my life is just now getting back to normal enough for me to think about writing here again. So that's my excuse :)

So... my wreck! The morning of April 4th I was driving to pick my mom up from the house for breakfast while she was in town, and as I was driving through an intersection an SUV coming the opposite way turned left in front of me. We tried to avoid each other but it didn't work out and I hit him with the front of my car going ~40mph. My steering-wheel and knee airbags both deployed and worked as advertised. I didn't lose consciousness. Within a minute a police officer was there and he drove my smashed car into an adjacent parking lot and out of the middle of the intersection. Another officer arrived (as well as my mom) and a police report was made citing the other guy as being at fault in the accident. His SUV was, of course, drivable while mine was totaled.

I actually had to preach that night, and was able to do so, but the next two days I was constantly on the verge of passing out. A visit to the ER revealed I had suffered a concussion in the wreck, but by that Wednesday or so I was totally better.

That set off nearly three weeks of calling insurance agents and the collision center multiple times a day. The other guy's insurance company (UAIC) eventually only accepted 70% liability on the wreck so we went through our State Farm collision coverage instead. When I told UAIC that they offered to reimburse my deductible, and later we came to a good settlement on my bodily injuries. All told my car was worth more than the loan on it which was a huge blessing and, like Joanna said, last week I got another one. The first time I drove it I had pretty severe crash flashbacks, but that was completely gone after a couple of days. And in case you were wondering, I named her Audrey.

Lessons Learned:

- If a potential wreck is forming, get on your brakes as early as you can.

- Knee airbags are amazing

- United Auto Insurance Company mostly sucks

- State Farm is mostly balla

- car salesmen still drive me crazy

How God took care of me:

- Police officer was on the scene within a minute of the wreck

- I was blessed with a car that could protect me (5-star frontal crash rating!)

- My only injury was a mild concussion

- My mom was in town that weekend

- I wasn't upside-down in the car loan and lost hardly any money on the aftermarket work I had done

In other news, yeah, I did buy a push-mower and cut that grass last week. I'm going to need to get a weedeater as well. I've spent the night at the house a couple of times and it has a unique smell to it. I'm wondering if that will go away when the carpets get cleaned this weekend.

Also, I'm excited about having a garage in which to keep my car!

Air Mattresses and Lawn Mowers

Well, I realize it has been entirely too long since anyone's posted!  I've been kinda waiting around for my bro to post but since he hasn't, I guess I will have to do the deed ;-).  

I went and stayed at the house over Easter weekend and slept on a faithful air mattress that mom left in the game room after she stayed.  It was really nice to stay there.  I went and visited Southwestern while I was there which was also good. I got the chance to meet with some professors and visit with people from admissions. I got really excited about the next chapter in my life that is quickly approaching.

For those of you that do not know, Jason got in a car accident a couple of weeks ago.  He was not seriously injured but his car was totalled.  He has been busy working with the insurance companies to get a new car and he got a new one today which I think he's pretty geeked up about! Maybe he'll post an update about that soon.

I also hear he got a lawn mower and finally gave the lawn a makeover at the Fern.  I need to work out with my Grandpa when I'm going to take the first load of stuff from my apartment here to the house in Arlington!  I have to be out of my apartment the day after graduation so I am going to try and get most of my moving done the first week of May.  

A week from today I will be done with all of my classes except for ONE final that isn't til May 11th.  It's really a crazy feeling.  Graduation is May 15 and then I will be up in Arlington for good!  I will get to start the quest of finding furniture and decorating the house! 

I cannot wait.

We have a Family Reunion at the Land (in Blanket) this coming weekend. I am going to be able to make it down for a day and am completely looking forward to seeing everyone there. Hope all is going well with all of our readers.  Please continue to pray for us to see clearly God's will for our lives!