A Reflection

This time one year ago despite the tornados ripping through Fenton, I was excited beyond belief to be marrying my best friend the next day.  I already knew that many changes would lie ahead for me, but I never really expected for so many blessings to come our way.  Sometimes I still can't believe that God has brought me such a wonderful man who cares so much about me and keeps me well grounded.  I may have to brag about him a little bit in this post (and maybe even a little sappy).  :-)  Here's a reflection on the big stuff that has happened in the past year:

10 days after getting married, I started my last semester at HLG.  A week after that, I started my new job at a bank in Hannibal, just scanning in paperwork.  Caleb was also continuing working at Walmart and youth pastor at Edgewood Baptist Church.  We were living in an apartment in downtown Hannibal, and let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant place to live.  Our neighbors smoked all the time, our doors and windows didnt seal up so smoke liked to make its way into our apartment.  Our front door had glass panels with a simple dead bolt, which really didnt make me feel safe since all someone had to do was bust out a panel of glass and unlock our door.  We had some friendly neighbors, and some not so friendly neighbors.  The neighbors on our floor got into a fight at 3 a.m. one morning and it lasted for 45 minutes, and some other neighbors upstairs liked to use some not so kind names for us.  Caleb was so good at trying his hardest to make sure that I felt safe.  He couldnt be there for me all the time because he always went to work before I had to be at work or school, but one day in particular I was getting a bad vibe on my way to work and I texted Caleb about it. Since he was off work that day, as I was walking out of the building to go home for lunch, Caleb was sitting on the picnic table outside the bank waiting for me to ride home with me and make sure that I felt safe on my way home.  It turns out that everything ended up fine. We only lived 3 blocks away from the bank, but this reassured me early on in our marriage that he will always be there for me even when my fears end up being over something that I blow up in my mind to be worse than it actually is. 

In April I was given the opportunity to become a relief teller at the bank.  Since I had thought that I wanted to go into banking, I was excited about this opportunity to get this experience.  This job made for an interesting days because any day I showed up to work I could be sent to any branch to work. 

I graduated from HLG in May with my bachelors in finance and accounting.  After all of this was past me, we started looking more seriously at moving to the Louisville area for Caleb to go to seminary.  We definitely knew it was going to be a step of faith because we were going to have to leave everything we called "normal" behind us.  Towards the end of May, we went to Estes Park, Colorado for our delayed honeymoon. While we were there, we got a phone call from Caleb's sister that they had decided to move from New Albany, Indiana around the end of June, which is when we were planning on moving, and wanted to know if we wanted to take their apartment.  It was definitely the first step in knowing that this is where the Lord would have us since we werent even going to need to make a trip to look for apartments!  Since we had never even seen the apartment, the landlord was even willing to give us a 6 month lease in case we didnt like it.

At the end of June, we both quit our jobs, left our beloved church, packed up, and headed east.  Caleb's parents were so gracious to help us move and let us crash with them for a weekend while we were inbetween apartments.  We ended up loving the apartment and it was such an upgrade from our old homestead.  We have no neighbors, a solid front door, actual closets, washer and dryer hook ups, a shower head that doesn't only have two temperatures (scalding hot or freezing cold) and, a dishwasher, and counter tops that are big enough to fit more than just a dish strainer. 

We found a new church that makes us feel so welcomed and we feel like we fit in.  I started my job search (which you can read about in older posts) and even on my days when I felt like I would never find a job, Caleb was always there to reassure me that everything would work out and the Lord would provide for us one way or another. 

The Lord also blessed me with the opportunity to be a part of the Seminary Wives Institute at Southern.  I have been able to meet several other seminary wives and learn more about what it means to be a ministry wife from faculty wives who have been in my situation before. 

I started my new job this past week and so far I really like it.  I think that I will enjoy my job, but it has been a little hectic the past couple days with figuring out what my job duties are since a lot of people are shifting around jobs and training for a different position.  I cant help but feel overwhelmed with blessings that I have a job that can actually support two people so he can focus on school and not have to sacrifice study time because of having to work.  I really hope that this is my last first day on the job for a long time since this is my third time this year starting at a new company, and my fifth new position.

And so now here we are at the end of our first year.  A lot of people say that the first year is the hardest, and if that is the case, then the rest of our lives together is going to rock.  We have really learned how to be patient with each other and how to get along peacefully without even getting into an argument.  There hasnt been a day thats gone by where I havent absolutely loved being married to such a wonderful man.  Along with my faith in God, he has been my constant throughout a crazy year of starting life over in a new city.  We were talking the other day that even though we had a year-long engagement which seemed to last an eternity, it's almost hard to remember what life was like before we were married.   Happy first Anniverary Caleb!  Thanks for being my Prince Charming :-)

December 16

December 16 is one of those dates that I will always remember.  Two years ago today Caleb asked me a question that forever changed our relationship.  That question was “Are you sure you want to do this?”, but nevertheless, I knew it was the question that would make our engagement become official.    To go along with school tradition, the next day we climbed to the top of the bell tower and flipped the bell.

Today was also another excellent December 16.  My last day of work was scheduled to be tomorrow, but after some thought this morning, I decided to find someone to take my shift for me, making today my last day of work.  Caleb and I are going to celebrate our Christmas tomorrow since we are leaving next week to go to Missouri and we won’t be here on Christmas, so now we are going to be able to spend the whole day together focusing on more important things in life J. 

A long time coming

Ever since we made the decision to move to the Louisville area, I've been looking and looking and looking for jobs.  Since I was already working at a bank, I applied at every bank in the Louisville/Southern Indiana area.  I got one call back in October from a job I applied to in July and she told me they didnt have anything open but would keep in contact with me (still waiting on that phone call).  I knew that with the way the Lord had so easily provided us a place to live and other various blessings in making this move that this is where we were supposed to be and I had to wait for the perfect job to open. 

Back in August, the pastor from the church we had only been attending for two months at the time told me about the company he used to work for, Louisville's Fox tv station, and how I might be able to land a job there.  I called the contact he gave me and asked for an interview.  I went in for the interview and everything went wonderfully but with only one problem.  There was no position open.  I was happy to at least have had an interview and if a position were to open, we would already be acquainted.  Weeks went by and everyday there was a little bit of hope in me that maybe that would be the day I get an email saying that something opened up.  I still kept applying at places hoping that something better than Target would come along, and in the mean time, I was clipping every coupon that might save us a few cents here and there.  I had an interview with a podiatrist office a few weeks ago, and two days after that interview I got a phone call from Fox letting me know that there were changes happening.  He told me that he still couldnt promise me a job, but there was a possibility of one opening.  My dreams of quitting target became a little bit more vivid.  :-)  Finally on Wednesday of this week, I got the email asking me to come down to the station to talk about how I will fit in with the company's new plans.  I figured that was enough for me to put in my two weeks to Target to ensure that we could go home for Christmas. 

Then came today.  I got off work at 1 and came home, changed clothes, grabbed a snack and headed out the door by 1:30.  I was supposed to be at Fox by 2:30 and knew that would give me enough time to get across the bridge.  Caleb had mentioned that there was an accident on the second street bridge and to make sure that I take the Kennedy.  No big deal, right?   So I'm driving along and I'm about 3 miles away from getting onto the highway I see a sign that says "Second Street Bridge closed.  Expect long delays" and after another mile or so, traffic came to a halt.  Eventually people are getting so antsy that they are driving on the shoulders, and even driving on the grass next to the shoulder.  I kept calling Fox to let them know my progress and where I was at, and of course they were very understanding since this is obviously something that was not in my control. He had also told me that the news report said it would open up again around 3.  At about 3:45 when traffic still wasnt getting any better, I called Caleb to have him check and see if the bridge was open yet, and fortunately it was.  However, all of my "friends" around me still had no clue, so I sneaked over a lane and it was smooth sailing all the way to Louisville!  Of course, downtown traffic was all congested and it took me awhile to figure out where to park, but finally after a 3 hour journey, I had arrived!

After all of this, I got some good news......I was being offered a job!  In my field!  Doing what I like to do!  And beind paid money for it!  I'll get to start in a few weeks and I'm so excited about it.  It is definitely an answer to ours and many people's prayers, and I can't thank you enough if you were one of those who prayed for me.  I am so thankful that the Lord is providing me with well above the means necessary to be able to provide for my husband and me during this season while he is in seminary.

Meet Oscar

My parents were in Florida last week and they came across a store that had baby slider turtles.  Guess who got a new pet.  :-)

Meet Oscar:

Here he is compared to a quarter. And you can admire his pretty shell.

He was a mister grumpy gills after i took this picture.  He doesnt like me picking him up, especially when he is sleeping under some leaves.

The day after I found out my parents bought this little guy, we were out garage saling with Caleb's parents and scored a 10 gallon aquarium for $5 with stuff included in it!  It's the perfect size for Oscar right now.  He's supposed to get quite a bit bigger, but I think this 10 gallon tank will work for awhile and if he gets too big, I may just have to let him go in a pond.  I just dont want to have a 50 gallon aquarium to clean (or find room for)

Caleb decided one day before the turtle arrived that his name should be Oscar.  My mom texted me either that day or the day after (unknowing of our conversation about the name) and asked if we had come up with a name because my dad had been calling him Oscar.  So guess what.  His name is Oscar.

Organizing

I found a project on pinterest where a lady organized her living room using diaper boxes that she painted and decorated up.  I really liked the idea and we had some boxes of similar size that we used when we moved.  Caleb got the boxes from a display he set at Walmart, then we used them to move and then my sister used them to move, so they arent in the greatest shape, but still able to do the job.  Since I've started couponing and stuff, I have a lot of "extras" because you have to buy what you can when it's cheap!  Since Caleb was gone last weekend on a camping trip, I occupied myself with painting these boxes. 

Here's the before picture:

And the after picture:

After I  got the boxes organized, I kind of thought that I liked the organized mess before the boxes just because it's easier to look in the closet and see everything that I have.  Although looking at these pictures, I think it looks a whole lot better with the boxes.

This weekend Caleb's parents are coming to visit!  Since I got a coupon in the mail the other day from target for $1 off of a 3 lb bag of apples, I made an apple crisp.  It looks delicious and I cant wait to eat it!  Do you think his parents would understand if a piece was missing??  ;-)

I also had a coupon for $1/1 Sally Hansen nail polish.  Caleb isn't a huge fan of nail polish though.  It's not that he wont let me wear it, he just prefers that I dont.  He says that there is just something unnatural about it. Since the nail polish was only originally $2, with this coupon I could get it for only one dollar.  So I did.  And I found a color that I just knew he couldnt say didnt look good.  The color is "gunmetal".  You can't go wrong with a color like that for a guy like him, right?  Well, I was wrong.  He doesn't like it.  So I told him he can just not look at my hands for awhile.  :-)  

No more news on the job situation.  I started training for my new position last week and so far it's a good change for me.  The lady who is training me is very task oriented and always makes sure to give me plenty to work on.  Theres nothing worse than being bored at work.  Also, tomorrow should be my last 3:45 morning!  Starting next week I am back to my 6 am shifts and I will only be unloading and stocking shoes, then working salesfloor following that.  Even though it's still early, I think the whole 3:45 deal was the Lord's way of making me content with 6 am shifts.  :-) 

An update

I haven't updated my blog in awhile because, well, I haven't felt like anything in my life has been interesting enough to write about. The biggest thing going on in my life is trying to find a new job and I don't want to just keep blogging about that.  I'll try to remember some things that have happened since my last entry.

- The Sherman-Minton bridge crossing from New Albany into Louisville shut down.  They found a crack in the infrastructure while doing construction and shut it down at 5 p.m. on a Friday evening.  Impeciable timing.  We were on our way to Southern's fall festival and had to find a different route all of a sudden.  Caleb is fortunately very direction-oriented and easily figured out how to get there.  Me, on the other hand, I would have just turned around and went back home.  I'm still new here and when you shut down the only way I know how to get somewhere, I freak out.  Now there are only two bridges open and since that means that traffic is a lot more congested, Caleb now has to leave for school around 6:15 instead of 7-7:15ish.  There isn't much traffic for him at that time, but if he were to leave any later, it would be a lot worse.  Fortunately I work in New Albany so I dont have to cross the bridge except on Thursday nights to get to my Seminary Wives Institute class.

- Speaking of Seminary Wives Institute, I love it.  Southern offers a program to the wives to prepare them for ministry.  Right now I am taking a 12 week class called Essentials.  It's kind of an overview to the whole program and some weeks are a crash course on some of the six week courses that they offer.  This class is mostly to help you realize what your role is.  It's taught by professors, professor wives, and faculty wives.  So far, my favorite week has been on "Your calling to be a Christian and a Minister's Wife".  My least favorite has been "Your Calling to be a Time Manager".  A good chunk of the class was using a planner/organizer, and those just dont work for me.  At all. 

- An unrelated lesson that I learned one night while at Southern was that they refer to their womens' restrooms as a "Ladies Lounge".  I had to go to the bathroom one night before class and I roamed the halls of the building and could not find the womens restroom.  I could find mens, but no womens.  Then I realized that I had passed a few doors that had said "Ladies Lounge".  I texted Caleb and asked him if thats what I was looking for (like he would know.....he didnt).  So I took the risk and walked in to one of  them, and sure enough, I found relief for my bladder.  However, I did not lounge.  There werent even couches.

- Another unrelated lesson:  when you are new to an area, don't use billboards as road markers.  Billboards change.  Just learn the roads.

- As most of you probably  read on a facebook status of mine, I had another diamond fall out of my wedding band.  I took it to Zales and asked the lady to have them please please please make sure that the rest of my diamonds are fully intact.  I just had my ring inspected at the end of June, and this also happened two and a half months after we got married.  She said that the reason for it is probably that they order every ring in a standard size 7.  When you pick out a ring from the store, they size it to whatever size you need.  My tiny little finger is a 4 1/4, so that is quite a dramatic change from a 7, which is probably why they are falling out.  She said that if it keeps happening, they will just order me a new ring and order it to be made in a 4 1/4 and it shouldn't happen anymore.  I got the call the other day that my ring is in....now I just need to find time and patience to go to Louisville to pick it up. 

-One benefit of working at Target is getting to see what all is on clearance and being able to keep an eye on it for it to go cheaper.  Some of my most awesome recent buys have been:  an area rug for $4, a lamp for our living room (for caleb to use after I go to bed and he turns off half of the lights in the living room because they shine in the window above our bedroom door) for $4, shoes for Caleb for $4, wii remote rechargable batteries and charging thingy for $15 (so now we have all 4 remotes with rechargable batteries!  yeah!), a gps for $22 and it's sweet and much better than my old one. 

- Two words: Harvest Homecoming.  It's kind of like Hannibal's Folk Life Festival, except it's on more than just one crowded street.  Last weekend there was a parade on our street, which was interesting.  I'm pretty sure if the parade was in a race against Lester, he would have won. 

Waiting for the parade.  It took almost an hour to get to where we were.  We sat on the steps of the creepy smelly abandoned house next to our building.  Our steps were temporaily occupied by some tots.  :-)

A hillbilly float

This weekend is the actual shindig with booths and stuff.  We went and looked around today.  There were a lot of booths selling knitted animal face winter hats.  I guess those are the in-thing this year because Target sells a ton of them too.  The only bummer about the whole thing is that parking is hectic.  I had to park 4 blocks away when I got home from work today, but I guess I needed the exercise.  I just don't like looking out of the window and not seeing ol' Harvey Hyundai sitting there.  We went and checked on him while we were out looking at the booths and he was still ok.  Fortunately Caleb is going to let me drive his car to work tomorrow morning so that I don't have to walk 4 blocks at 5:45 a.m.  :-) 

- We went to Chatanooga last weekend to visit some of our friends from college, Glenn and Leah.  Glenn helped Caleb an amp for his electric guitar since he works at Guitar Center.  We went mainly to get that, but also just to be able to get away and see some familiar faces!  We had an absolutely wonderful time.  The drive there was gorgeous.  We drove through the mountains during the sunset and it was awe-full.  Full of awe.  Not awful.  Silly english language.  

Sigh. 

We went to their church on Sunday morning.  It was their third week of the Harvest Bible Chapel church plant. 

That's Glenn leading worship.  This was just during practice, hence why all of the chairs are empty.

After church we went to an awesome BBQ place called Sugar's Ribs.  They have goats there that you can feed your leftover corn to.  None of us got corn, but Caleb did get some cornbread, so I chucked some at the goats. 

Don't worry, they don't serve BBQed goat.

Sunday afternoon, my roommate from my second year of college (Glenn's sister, Kara) came to visit from Knoxville :-).  We got to just hang out and catch up, which was wonderful.  Monday morning while the guys were smoking meat, Leah and I went out shopping for some new shoes.  After about 50 million stores, the last possible store had some that I really liked.

- Just an update on the job situation...I'm basically waiting on the Lord.  I'm still applying for lots of jobs.  I started applying for jobs on CareerBuilder and they send you an email after you apply and give you an overview of your competition.  Turns out, I was competing with over 75 people with the average experience being 20+ years.   These are even entry-level positions.  

I got a lead for a job through our pastor for a job in accounting at a local tv station.  I emailed the CFO of the company, who is good friends with our pastor, and asked him for an interview.  He let me come in for one and things went really well.  The only problem is that they actually don’t have a position open.  He said he hopes to be able to get in contact with me soon about an opening, but of course I’m still waiting on the Lord’s timing.  I got to tour the tv station while I was there.  It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but I’ve never been to a tv station before.  I got to see where they film, where they put everything together, and where the reporters work.  Fortunately we don’t have tv channels so we cant watch the news so I wasn’t star struck or anything over people that I see on tv. They probably would have turned me down immediately. 

I also got a phone call from a bank on Monday that I had applied to back in June or July.  They said that they don’t have any full-time positions open right now, but she will keep in contact with me to let me know when some open here in Indiana.  I talked to her the other day about possibly taking a part-time position until a full time opens up and she said not to do that because they require all of their employees to stay in their position for at least a year before moving around, so if I need full-time, its best to wait for a full time position.  She said they are doing some interviews this week and if anyone gets hired internally, they may have some positions open.  Again, just waiting on the Lord’s timing to open something there. 

A lady from my parents’ church who lives in Haiti so graciously sent out an email to some contacts she knows in Indiana and asked for an email to be passed around with my information, what I’m looking for, what my background and education are, etc.  The lady from Target who wanted my resume also gave it out to a Christian CPA who is going to send out my resume to some people he knows.  Maybe through these I might hear back from somebody!  Right now I think I would take just about anything accounting/money related that has normal business hours.

Since we were in Chatanooga Monday morning, I had requested the day off of work.  When I went in to work on Tuesday, I was informed that starting on Wednesday, all of my days of working out the trucks will be moved from 5:45 to 3:45.  EEK!  The managers keep saying that we can still have most of our day left after we leave!  The only problem with that logic is that now I have to go to bed at 6:30 to be able to get up at 2:30 to be at work by 3:45 and now I have even less time to spend with my husband in the evenings.  I am grateful for my job, it’s just hard to be thankful at 2:30 in the morning.  It’s just a season.  Just. A. Season.  Every night I tell God that I’m grateful for my job and I’m still waiting on His timing but I remind Him that now would be the perfect time for a new job, not that He needs reminding.  It just makes me feel better.

It could be worse, right?  I could be working at Burger King.  Yeah, it could be worse.

Well, thats about it for now.  My bed time is quickly approaching.  I get to stay up late until 8 tonight!

The Early Bird Catches the Worm

When I first started out on my journey to find a job in the Louisville area, I applied at Target, both in New Albany and in Clarksville.  I figured I could use it as a back-up plan.  About a week or so later, the New Albany Target called me and wanted an interview.  I went in and they offered me a position right away.  I was really frustrated and disappointed in the whole thing because they wouldn't give me any additional compensation for being employed at Target for almost 4 years.  Also, they gave me a stocking position instead of my desired salesfloor, which means that I have to go in at 5:30 in the morning, which also means going to bed around 8 p.m.  I kept trying to find the gratitude in my heart for this job, but on my drive home there was none.  I even thought about turning down the offer before my orientation.  I decided, with some convincing from my husband, that it probably wasn't a good idea since jobs can be hard to find and in about another week or so I would be kicking myself for not taking it because I would still be a home bored with probably no prospects of job offers.  Even if this job only pays rent and nothing else, at least what we would have spent on rent is money that can stay in our savings account.  After a few days from accepting the offer, I knew that it may not be the best job, but obviously the Lord has reasons for providing me with this job and not another one quite yet.  He could have easily provided me with a job I wanted immediately. 

My first day on the job went incredibly well.  Since I already have Target experience, it wasn't nearly as stressful as starting a completely new job.  Also, the lady that I was working with was awesome.  If you know my friend Ernie, this lady is her 30 years from now.  They are both funny, outgoing, loud, love the Lord, love to have fun, and both about the same size.  Once she found out that I was a Christian, the doors of conversation just opened up.  After awhile of talking to her about some of the things the Lord had been doing in both of our lives, I had to take a step back and think, "why in the world am I talking to a complete stranger about such personal things?"  Only the Lord could have placed me with her on my first day and reassure me that I'm here for a reason.  Since that day (even though I've only worked four days because of our adventure in Missouri), she never fails to come up and talk to me about how things are going and how the job search is progressing. 

I've also gotten to know several other people about my age at Target and it's nice to be getting to know some of these people (and not so nice to get to know others).   Today a lady who works early mornings with me randomly came up to me and asked if I go to school anywhere.  I told her I just graduated from a school in Hannial, MO, since clearly nobody here has ever heard of HLG so why mention it by name.  She then said "Oh, Hannibal-LaGrange??"  After I picked my jaw up from off of the floor, she told me that her step daughter graduated from HLG and also she herself was born and raised in Missouri in the Maryland Heights area.  I told her I lived in St Louis, went to school in Hannibal, and now moved here for Caleb to attend seminary.  She told me that is exactly why her and her husband moved here too.  Then she was encouraging me about the seminary wives institute, which I just so happened to sign up for last night.  She told me that it is well worth the time and worth any of the doubts I might have about it.  I then told her that I was on the job hunt and she told me that she has some Christian accountant friends that she wants to give my resume to if I bring my resume to her.  How neat is that?  And how crazy is it that we got into that conversation and I've never had much interaction with her before! 

Sure, I may hate going to bed early and hate leaving work before the sun rises and leaving Caleb at home all tucked away in bed, and I may have reason to believe I am actually allergic to Target, but I'm still reminded  that I'm working at Target for a reason.  Even if I'm not here to touch anyone else's life, they are here to touch mine and encourage me through this big life change.  God will provide me with the right job when the time is right.  Until then, I'll just go collect my worms every morning (you know, being an early bird).

I'm led to this verse constantly:
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." --James 1:2-4

A not-so-relaxing vacation

I realize it's been awhile since my last post, but life has been a little busy since then.  Last Thursday we hit the road and headed towards St Louis.  We spent the night at my parents' house and then headed to Ewing where Caleb's parents live on Friday.  Caleb got to preach at his dad's church on Sunday since his parents had left to go to Colorado.  Sunday afternoon I (sadly) left Caleb behind and headed back to St. Louis.  Caleb was going to be at youth camp all week and I opted out and went to stay with my parents.  Part of me really wanted to go to camp to be with Caleb, but looking back, it was good that I didn't.  Monday morning I was able to go visit with a dear friend from church who has been battling cancer for a long time.  That day may be the last day that I ever get to see her on this side of eternity.  She has meant so much to me during my years in the youth group and it's sad to see her losing this battle, but I'm so happy for her for what lies ahead.  Spending that time with her meant so much to me.

I also got to spend many hours visiting with other friends.  Since the last time I was in Fenton for any length of time was during Christmas break (and I was a little bit preoccupied with getting married), it has been a long time since I got to just hang out with these friends.  Some conversations were very encouraging, others were challenging, and some just full of laughs. 

Thursday morning I left St Louis and went to Camp Inlow where Caleb was at.  I couldn't wait to see him again.  We haven't gone a day without seeing each other since we got married and recently we have been spending so much time together since we moved, so it was weird to not see him or get to talk to him, other than a short conversation Tuesday night.  I spent the rest of  the day with him at camp and got to meet the crazies he was with all week.  We then went to his parents' house that night and were excited to get to see his parents for a little bit since they had just gotten home from vacation and we didnt think we were going to get to see them again since we needed to leave Friday morning. 

Friday we headed to Salem, MO for a wedding rehearsal for our friends John and Laura.  They got married outside at a beautiful lake.  Caleb was in the wedding party so I stayed with a college friend, Beth, at a hotel that since her husband was also in the wedding and the wedding party was all staying together.  It was wonderful to get to catch up with her.  We headed to the wedding on Saturday and boy was it hot!  They had a good idea by putting the wedding invitations on woven fans so that everyone was able to fan themselves.  The wedding was beautiful and I'm so happy for John and Laura. 

We were able to go to my parent's church this morning and it was so good to get to see the people there.  We spent the evening at home since we feel like we've been on the move for the past week and a half.  After my eye doctor appointment tomorrow morning we finally get to head back to Indiana.  It's been a crazy week, but it will be so good to get back home and back into a routine that includes me getting to see my husband on a more consistent basis.  :-)

A new guitar addition

This is the newest addition to our musical instrument family.  Caleb had been talking about wanting to get an electric guitar, but considering our situation at the moment, it really wasnt the smartest way to spend money, especially on something we don't need.  I wish I would have thought twice before letting my dad sell his in a garage sale this past fall....oh well.  Anyway, we were at church on monday night for VBS and we were talking to the pastor.  He had asked Caleb if he plays electric guitar because they are looking for someone to play in the praise band for church.  Now I felt like maybe we could start looking around since he would at least have the possibility of being able to use it for church, which is what he loves to do, if he likes playing it.  It just so happened that the same day we had gotten a letter in the mail from AT&T apologizing for not sending us a rebate like they were supposed to for setting up service with them back in January.  We had no idea we were even supposed to get one.  I called the number the next day and they said they would be sending us a prepaid visa card for $100.  Coincidence?  So the hunt was on.  We decided to do a little bit of looking around first.  There is a music store here in New Albany that we went to first.  They had quite a nice selection of guitars but he still wanted to look around more.  The next day we ventured out to two different music stores in Clarksville.  They all seemed quite a bit more pricey than the New Albany store, so we decided to head back there.  Right as we pulled out onto the main road, I saw a pawn shop and pointed it out to Caleb.  He pulled in real quick and we took a look around.  They also had a nice selection of guitars, and then....jackpot.  We found one that looked nice, it came with a hard case, and it was a really good price.  Caleb was going to haggle with the man a little bit to try to get him to go even lower, and the man willingly offered the whole deal to Caleb for $100.  Coincidence?  Caleb already has an amp for his two acoustic electric guitars so he is able to use that to just piddle on his guitar but eventually we'll need to find him an amp that will work better for it. 

Tuesday night we got hit with a huge storm.  I normally love storms, and I was enjoying this one quite a bit.  I noticed a lot of lightning and told Caleb I bet the the fire department gets called out soon.  Not even twenty minutes later they got called out.  I shoulda kept my big mouth shut because within the next hour and a half they got called out a total of 4 times, which was, of course, during the time we were trying to fall asleep.  The weirdest part was that the next morning we went to move our cars from across the street and both of our cars had flooded up through the floor boards.  I first noticed it because I had a mapquest map on the floor of my car and it had gotten all tye-dyed.  Caleb said his was soaking wet too and he could almost see a line where it looked like the water had risen up the side of his car.  We went out Wednesday night and, not thinking, I set my purse in the back seat on the floor and when I picked it up, the water had soaked half way up my purse and made a bunch of stuff in my purse turn a muddy brown.  Gross.  Now my car has a lovely stinch in it.  Lesson learned, from now on I will make sure I will not park my car across the street in a storm and I will think twice before I enjoy a storm.

Caleb and I have tried to find things to keep up occupied the past week (he's more ok with not doing much a lot more than I am).  The first project on my list was to make a curtain for the bathroom.  I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my mama so we headed out to the only fabric store I could come across in New Albany, which was Ben Franklin. 

I didn't like the way that the bathroom curtain turned out and decided that it needed another panel.  We went to walmart to try to find the same material we got at ben franklin for cheaper.  Turns out, it was cheaper to make completely new curtains than to get the same material to make a second panel.  Here's the result:

While we were at wal-mart, we found material to use to make roman shades in our living room.  I had been toying with the idea of making them and Caleb talked me into it because he thinks it will help keep the sun out better, thus making it cooler in our living room.  I ended up making 4 of these:

They were a little tricky to figure out, but I'm pretty pleased of how they turned out.  They were much much cheaper than buying roman shades!

Meanwhile, Caleb found a project to work on.  He got this picture of Cleveland during one of his summers there.  He really likes the picture and wanted to get a frame for it, so he decided to make his own.  I think it turned out awesome.

He originally bought the steel pieces all silver and stuff, then decided that maybe it would look cooler rusted.  He found a youtube video about how to rust steel  quickly.  It consisted of a concoction of bleach, vinegar, and salt.  Neither of us knew that the gases released from mixing bleach and vinegar is toxic.  He did all of this out in the sun room where he turned on fans and opened the windows so it's not like it was right in the apartment, but it was a very strong odor and i could smell it a little bit without even walking in to that room.  A few hours later we were watching a movie and i just decided to google bleach and vinegar and everything that came up was about how deadly it can be.  Of course I freaked out and made Caleb pour it out.  He assures me that it wouldn't have killed us because we would be able to feel a chemical burn (which we did not).  The steel didn't get as rusted as he had liked, so I told him that the only way he was doing that again was taking it outside to the little alley-ish thing that separates our building and the vacant house next door.  It turned out more like what he wanted and we had a win-win situation. 

We got a lot of frames and things from showers and our wedding that never made it onto the wall of our old apartment.  Caleb hung all of these up the other day and I really like the way this hallway looks now!

I realize that this wall only has pictures of the two of us, but a lot of money was paid for such pictures to be taken, so we shall display them.  :-)

In other news, the Lord has blessed us with a wonderful church that we have been visiting.  It's the only one we have visited so far, but it's been a huge blessing to us.  The people are so welcoming and we like having people to consider friends here!  God is always good.  :-)

We live right across the street from the fire department and our bedroom windows faces their building.  We have curtains to block out the light, but curtains can only keep out so much sound.  I'm pretty sure most of the city of New Albany must have been on fire this morning.  Anyway, (this may be one of those "you had to be there" things) but we were on our way to the museum today and right after we had walked out of the door, we heard sirens again.  The truck was coming from a few blocks down, so I'm guessing they were already out on a call when they got this call.  They were blowing the horn a ridiculous amout, so I looked back and saw a firefighter in the midst of walking across the street from the fire department and he's just standing there waving at the oncoming fire truck.   He did get out of their way by time they got to him. It was amusing to me at the time but it doesn't sound as funny to me when I write it out, so I guess you did have to be there.  You can just ignore this whole paragraph.

Moving on, the fire truck happened to stop at the museum we were headed towards.  Turns out it was just a little old lady who was about to pass out or something.  The museum was really neat.  It's not huge, but there were some interesting exhibits.  Apparently Indiana and New Albany were involved in slave trading, so they had a big walk-through exhibit about that.

A few nights ago we went to Clarksville to eat dinner at Applebee's.  While we were there, we went in to Bed Bath and Beyond because I had a gift card that our wonderful church gave us.  We came across the clearance section and found a neat wedding wall hanging thing that was originally $40 but one of the frames was broken so they marked it down to $12.  Here's what it looks like: (and no we won't keep these pictures in it like we did at our old apartment)

The only thing that wasn't part of the set was the heart frame.  The broken frame in the box was actually an invitation frame, and we already had this heart frame with an invitation in it that we got as a wedding gift and hadn't found a place to put it here yet.  It doesn't match exactly, but I think it works out well.  I'm excited to get pictures in the frames.  :-)  Not too bad for $12, eh?

Also, tonight Caleb decided we were going to have tacos for dinner.  My mom gets us those Old El Paso taco kits sometimes that have the shells, taco seasoning and taco sauce.  As he was browning the meat, I opened up the taco box we had to get the seasoning out, and turns out that the box was only hard  and soft taco shells.  No taco sauce, no taco seasoning.  I called my mom and sister to see if they had any ideas of what else we could make with hamburger meat since we don't have a whole lot of food because we're still in the process of stocking up since the move.  They had some ideas, but nothing that we had everything for or were willing to wait for it to bake.  Caleb decided to stick with the taco idea and ended up adding a bunch of stuff...I'm not exactly sure what, but I know there was enchilada sauce, paprika, black pepper, and jalapeno juice.  It actually didnt turn out too bad!  It wasn't as seasoned as taco meat usually is but it certainly wasn't disgusting either.  We added "a big jar of taco seasoning" to our grocery list.  You live and learn, right?

After the taco eating, Caleb fried some biscuits and made cinnamon sugar doughnuts.  They were delicious!

On the job front, I got an email from the seminary the other day asking me to come in and take a clerical test.  I did pretty well on the test.  I would have done better if they gave you more than 2 chances per question on the Microsoft Word and Excel.  If you even accidently press a button that has nothing to do with what they are asking, it's counted wrong.  Oh well.   Prayers would be greatly appreciated regarding these jobs I applied for because working at the seminary would be an awesome opportunity.   If it doesn't happen, then I know that something even better is out there and I just have to be patient. 

I think that's enough rambling for one night.  :-)

Coffee. Time Zones. Decisions. Laundry.

Kara came through Indiana again today on her way back to Knoxville and she stopped by and we wanted to go get some coffee.  I found a coffee shop about 3 blocks down called Hobknobb coffee, and since new coffee shops can be fun to try out, we headed there.  However, it closed at 1 p.m. and there was a sign saying that starting sometime in July they aren't going to be open on weekends anymore.  I guess they just really don't like business.  So, we drove down the street a little further to Kroger that had a Starbucks in it....so we hung out in a grocery store for a few hours.  :-)

Since moving to Indiana, we changed time zones.  I realize that we only changed one hour, but I just can't seem to adjust to the time change.  I usually wake up around 9:30, get hungry for lunch around 1 p.m., hungry for dinner around 7, and go to bed around midnight.  An hour later for everything than I normally would.  I mentioned it to Caleb and he pointed out that we are so close to the time change the sun rises and sets close to the same time.  I guess it also doesnt help that I don't have any sort of set schedule where I have to get up or go to lunch at a certain time like I would if I had a job.  Oh well, not a big deal.  Just something I felt like sharing.

Speaking of "if I had a job", I applied for 5 jobs last week.  One of the places I applied for was Target.  I figured that if I couldn't find a "real job" elsewhere, that at least I could have Target as a back-up.  However, they called me this morning wanting to set up an interview for next Thursday.  I didn't answer the phone because when I didn't recognize the phone number and it had an Indiana area code, I figured it was an employment place calling and I usually like to be able to think about what I want to say based on a voicemail in situations like that.  That way, I don't regret what I say and have to end up calling back and feeling like a fool.  So I listened to the voicemail and at first I was pretty disappointed that it was Target calling, although somewhat relieved that it was the New Albany one and not the one in Clarksville.  The New Albany one is about 2 miles away from where we live.  I really want to get a job in my field.  I realize that I haven't tried much and it hasnt even been a week since I submitted all of my applications, but the more I thought about it, at least I would have a job, I wouldn't need much training since I worked at Target for almost 4 years (which means less stress), it would help me keep from having a large gap in my employment history, I would have something to do during the day, it would keep a paycheck coming in so that we aren't completely relying on our savings (which would mean less loans we would possibly have to pay back later for student loans), they are probably going to be ok with me taking time off for our adventure to Missouri at the end of July, and if I found a "real job" then at least a place like Target has such a high turn-over rate that it wouldnt be a huge deal for me to quit.  Obviously the more I thought about it, it sounded more and more like a better idea.  Also, since I don't really want to work at Target, it will really get me going on trying to apply for as many jobs in my field as I can and hope that someone will call me before next Thursday or before I start working at Target, assuming I were to get the job.  I called them back and got an interview set up, and then proceeded to apply for more jobs.

I also got a call from Sears tonight.  Our washer and dryer are supposed to be delivered tomorrow so they were calling with our delivery window.  What is the time?  7:30-9:30 a.m.  EEK!  Thats like 6:30-8:30 a.m. in my poor confused mind.  But hey, we get to do laundry in our own apartment whenever we want!  That right there will get my behind out of bed early in the morning.

Fourth of July

Sadly, my family had to leave this morning.  (My dad did bring us cinnamon rolls for breakfast though :-D)  Caleb and I didn't do a whole lot today.  I took it upon myself to catch up on some sleep while he watched his weird "Deadliest Warrior" shows on Netflix. 

Last night, as my parents were leaving, I noticed some fireworks that we could see through the trees and they looked like they were really close.  Amy, Caleb, and I went outside and sat on the sidewalk and watched the rest of the fireworks.   I really wanted to be able to go to a fireworks display tonight so I mentioned it to Caleb and asked if he wanted to go.  I got a *sigh* "I don't care".  Caleb isn't a big fan of big crowds or even cities for that matter, and his idea of explosive fun is actually blowing stuff up, not sitting and watching pretty fireworks.  So then I told him that I was going to put myself on Craigslist to try to find a friend to go watch fireworks with.  A few minutes later he told me to get my shoes on and get ready to go.  :-)  (How wonderful is he??) We went down to the New Albany ampitheater where they were shooting off the fireworks we watched last night.  We walked around the area for a little bit and then found a bench.  Caleb made a comment about wondering if they were even going to have fireworks since they had them last night.  I thought he was crazy....what city shoots off fireworks on the 3rd and not the 4th?  Sadly, he was right.  I googled it on my phone and it said that New Albany has their celebration on the 3rd so that people can go enjoy other activities on the 4th.  We could see a few of other displays across the river but there were too many trees to be able to see them well. 
Sadly we decided to leave and just came back home.  Next year we'll know to head to the river on the 3rd instead of the 4th. 

Here's an idea of what our view would have been

Goodbye, Biff

We are finally starting to get everything in it's place!  We had our first company last night around 11:30.  My roommate from my second year of college, Kara, came to stay with us on her way to Iowa.  It was a short visit, but I enjoyed the brief catching up and getting to see her is always good :-)  She left early this morning to finish her trek.  My family came around 12:30 and brough my beloved Biff (my beta fish) with them.  I left him with my sister because I thought it would be easier on him if she brought him so that I wouldn't have to deal with him on the drive to New Albany along with all of the plants I had to make sure didn't tip over in my front seat. Then I didn't want to have to figure out a safe place to put him where he was out of the way while we moved our stuff in and Christa and Josh's things out.  He survived the week and I had his water bowl out and waiting for him (I even thought of making him a welcome home sign but I didn't have time.)  Shortly after my family got here, we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A and then head to the mall in Clarksville.  After we got home, I was looking in Biff's water bowl and I didn't see him.  I wasn't too worried at first because his bowl is rounded and there have been times that I didnt see him because he was at just the right spot where he looked like he wasnt there.  I called Caleb over and asked him if he saw Biff, thinking maybe I was just being a blonde.  Neither one of us saw him and I didnt see him on the counter, like if he had jumped out.  I looked down, moved my foot, and there Biff lay.  A little squished, and all dried up.  Amy had sent me a video earlier of Biff in the car and he was swimming around super fast, and he never did that.  I guess he was just under a lot of stress due to the vibration of the van and just freaked out.  I was just sad to see my fish of almost 11 months all dead and dried up (after all the trouble that I had to go through in getting him through the move).  We obviously had a proper funeral for him at the toilet.  My dad and my sister went out to Walmart to get some things for dinner and while they were out they bought me a new fish!  He's even prettier than Biff and Caleb refuses to call him anything but Biff (I think he's in denial that the first Biff is dead.)

The picture is a little bright because of the flash, but I guess it just shows off his pretty scales.  :-)  I also poured out some of the water to make sure this guy doesn't jump out either.  Biff had never jumped out so I never worried about filling up his bowl real high. 

Anyway, while we were out, Caleb and I bought our very own.......washer and dryer!!  We are so excited.  Laundry has been quite an issue for us for the past 6 months and so we are super excited to get to be able to do laundry in our own home and not have to haul it up and down stairs and planning ahead to make sure we can go 3 weeks without needing to wash anything.  We got a pretty good deal on them at Sears and thanks to our wonderful church family, we didn't have to pay much out of pocket for them (Thank you, Lord!)

We also stopped by Petsmart :-D.  I had a somewhat seemingly crazy idea to get a large rounded vase and put a hermit crab in it and use it as decoration on our coffee table or end table.  I found the perfect vase thing at my parent's house that used to be mine anyway and some left over hermit crab stuff from my "I want lots of pets" days.  I really wanted to keep the price cheap because I don't want to be spending money on things we don't really need, but we were able to get a crab and food for a pretty decent price.  The girl at the petstore kept telling me that hermit crabs don't come out very often...blah...blah... (I didn't want to sound snotty like I know everything about crabs, but I'm pretty sure I know more than her because I used to read up on them all the time when I owned a bunch of them and didnt have anything else to do). I got the crab home and shortly after I put it in it's new home, it hasnt gone back in its shell since.  He's really fun to watch and definitely more interesting than a vase of flowers :-)  Caleb named him Lester.

So despite my tragic loss, I would say that my shopping adventures went well today.  I'm glad to have my two new critters

Tomorrow morning we are planning on going to a church that my 6th great grandpa (i think) started right here in Louisville and my dad is really interested in going.  It's great having my family here and having something to do other than unpack.  I'm sure the next day is going to to just fly by and they will have to leave again, but hopefully we will find some friends/jobs soon to be able to have interaction with people other than utility companies who make life difficult.

All nestled in....almost.

Well the hardest part of moving is over! We loaded the trailer Friday evening after I got done with my last day at the bank and we stayed with Caleb's parents Friday and Saturday night.  We went and cleaned up the apartment on Saturday, went to church on Sunday and they had a delicious dessert fellowship for us, and headed to St Louis that night to stay with my parents.  We left around 7:30 yesterday morning and made it to New Albany, IN around noon after what seemed like a long drive to me because I've never driven that long before.  Caleb's parents arrived with the trailer a couple of hours later (they got delayed because of the nasty storms that hit Northeast MO) and we started unloading.  We got almost all of our things unloaded into one bedroom and then we started moving caleb's sister and her husband's things out.  Once we got everything finished, we were talking about just getting our mattresses and sleeping on them on the floor....except that I was not a genius when I brought the tub of sheets off of the truck and put them towards the back of the room.  We were able to pull out a few things and get to them without many problems though.

Caleb's family was telling us about this really good bakery at the end of the block that they've gone to a few times.  His dad mentioned how he would sometimes go get some long johns....and that right there made me in the mood for a long john.  So this morning, when we got up, Caleb started going through the tubs of food and found some pop tarts and asked me if I wanted one.  Who wants a pop tart when theres a bakery 3 doors down?  His reasoning was that we would have to walk there and he's sore from yesterday, which is understandable....but its for a long john!!   We ended up going and on the way back he said that he wished it would have cost more.  Why?  Because now I'm going to want to go there all the time.  :-)  We've only been married 6 months, but he knows me all too well.

A Hodge-Podge of Happenings

This weekend has been very relaxing, yet busy at the same time.  Last night after we got home from work, we headed out to Quincy and went to the car dealership because we had a flyer where you might win free cars, an ipad, wii, gas cards, etc.  We won a single gold dollar and we forfeited it for the chance of a $200 drawing....which we did not win.  Oh well, at least I can sleep at night knowing that we didnt throw away a flyer that could have won us free cars and a trip to the Bahamas :-)

We also went to Hobby Lobby last night and I got a few things to satisfy my pinterst-inspired creative bug.   First of all, I've been getting more into the more costume-type jewelry, which doesnt fit well in a jewelry box because it can take up so much space. Also, when I have so many necklaces stuffed in my jewelry box, I tend to forget about some of them. Since I dont really use a bulletin board for school things anymore, I decided to put it to a better use.  I got some fabric on clearance and stapled it to the bulletin board.

It's not the fanciest, but its not too bad for a $4 piece of material that I used half of.

I also bought some Mod Podge while at Hobby Lobby.  I've not used the stuff much before, but I decided to try it out.  I took a picture frame that I had and mod podged the map from Rocky Mountain National Park on it.  There are definitely some goofs on it, but I'm sure I'll get better once I use the stuff more often.  Most of the mess ups are bumps from air bubbles and so I figured maybe it will maybe just add effect to the mountainous map? I'm planning on putting a picture from us on our trip in it and actually hanging it on the wall in our new apartment (most of our pictures frames now are either not hung up or hung up but dont have pictures in them.)

I made sure that you can see Bear Lake....which is where we hiked to on that snowy trail.

While looking for a picture frame that I could use to make this, I was going through my drawer of frames from my dorm room that I never unpacked, and I found a picture of Caleb and me at his graduation.  For some reason, I had thought I put this frame on my bookshelf and it went mysteriously missing. This disappearance has bothered me ever since we got married.  I guess I just had good intentions and never actually set the frame out.  Maybe we'll find the rest of our missing things as we begin to start packing and realize where we put things so we wouldn't lose them and in the process lost them.

I thought about getting real homemaker-like and make use of that frozen pie crust we have in our freezer by making a pumpkin pie today, but sadly I don't have any evaporated milk.  Caleb said he would go set the milk out and let it evaporate.  Silly boy.  He'll just have to wait.

The Next Phase

Well, Caleb decided to go on to seminary in Louisville, KY, so we are packing up and moving on.  We are going to be living in New Albany, IN, which is right across the river from Louisville.  We have never seen the apartment we are going to, but my sister-in-law and her husband currently live there now and they say it's nice.  The best part is....no neighbors!  It's an apartment right above a hair salon, so the only neighbors are in a completely separate building.

We will be moving out there at the end of June.  Caleb's last day at Wal-mart is a week from tomorrow, and mine is two weeks from tomorrow.  I'm pretty sure Caleb is more excited about quitting than I am, especially in these 90+ degree days!

So, I wear a lot of flats to work.  Whenever I get home, I usually sit down on the couch and kick my shoes off.  A lot of my shoes end up underneath the coffee table, but at least I always know where to find them, right?

So the other day I walk into the living room....there's a big pile of my shoes in the middle of the floor.

Me: What are my shoes doing there?
Caleb:  They were all under the coffee table.
Me: Did you throw my shoes?????
Caleb:  No, I strategically placed them into that pile.

The Pillsbury Doughboy

As some of you may know, my mom used to be a very avid Pillsbury Doughboy collector.  Now that the enrire house is filled with the paraphenalia, she's toned down her collecting habits.  My mom had 2 4-ft tall doughboys.  One was plush, the other was styrofoam.  My parents tried selling them in a garage sale and craigslist, but what do you do with a 4-ft tall doughboy??  Since they didnt sell, Caleb and I adopted the styrofoam one.  The first thing we did with it was put it in one of our friend's bed whenever he was out one night.  However, things didnt go so well at that apartment, so we rescued him. 

After this hanging, he also got jabbed with knives several times. 

This doughboy lived at our apartment for awhile, then he lived in the back of Caleb's dad's truck, then lived in Caleb's parents' living room.  However, today was the day that he had to say goodbye. 

Caleb saying goodbye.

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150277100272814&comments

Home

We finally got back home late Sunday night.  We got to go to church with our family from Wichita on Sunday morning and then headed back Sunday afternoon.  I guess it's good to be home, but I'd rather just relive last week over and over again.  :-)  It's hard to be happy to be home when we walk into a cigarette-smelling apartment and noisy neighbors.  However, my fish did survive without us and nobody burned the apartment building down while we were gone.  There's always a bright side to everything, right?

On The Road Again

This morning we packed things up and got back on the road again for another 9 hours.  It was sad to leave the mountains, but exciting to go to our next destination.....Wichita, Kansas!  (hence the lack of update today.  There's not much to report when all you've done is driven through Kansas)

My aunt and her family live here so we decided to make a stop on our way home for a few days.  We got to eat at a Mexican restaurant tonight....complete with a mariachi band!!  Then we got to experience Orange Leaf, which is a self-serve frozen yogurt place.  Delicious!

Delightful dinner music.  :-)

Just Call Me Negative Nancy

Today we slept in a little later since we were so tired from our adventures yesterday.  We decided to wait to go back to Rocky Mountain National Park until after lunch so we wouldnt have to pack anything to eat. 

We had been seeing all of these mountains with snow on them but I never thought we would actually reach areas with a lot of snow.  As we were going up, we started seeing more and more snow, but the air was still warm.  Then we get to Galcier Gourge.  Caleb pulled off and I thought we were just going to stop and look at the scenery and move on, but he saw a trail.  There were people coming off of this trail talking about how many times they had fallen....Caleb still wanted to go.  The start of the trail was completely snow covered.  There were a few areas without snow, but then it started getting deeper and deeper.  I started complaining, espcially after my first fall, mostly because I wasn't expecting to be hiking in the snow.  This white girl doesnt have hiking boots.  Then a man passed us going the opposite direction on skis...so many thoughts going through my head.   Once we had gone 0.3 miles, we came to a split in the trail.  One way went to Alpine Falls, which was 0.6 miles from that spot, the other way went to Bear Lake and it was 0.5 miles away.  All I was thinking about was distance, so I decided to go to Bear Lake.  This is how deep the snow was:

This was my enthusiasm:

Ok so I probably shouldn't have been as crabby, but I hate falling.  Fortunately, Caleb was kind enough to walk behind me and catch me everytime I was about to fall, so the number of falls greatly decreased.  We finally got to our destination of Bear Lake.

(It's bigger than just the amount of water showing....most of it was covered in snow and ice)

Turns out, you can actually drive to Bear Lake.  Caleb told me that his original intention was to go to Alpine Falls.  I'm sure it would have been prettier, but Bear Lake seemed easier.  There were bathrooms and benches and things at Bear Lake, so I told Caleb I would sit and wait for him to walk back and drive to me.  He said he would, but then I asked him if we could just walk down the road back to Glacier Gourge where we were parked.  He agreed, so we took off on foot.  As we were walking to the parking lot area at Bear Lake, we came across this sign.  Thanks for putting it at the end of the trail.

He saw a "shortcut" in the road, so we took it.  Turns out, it was a whole lot steeper than it looked and at the bottom there were some pretty heft snow drifts.  I think it took just as long or longer to go through the shortcut, but I guess I can always look at it as a team-building excercise seeing as how I had to hang on for dear life to Caleb the whole way down.  He's a whole lot better at keeping his balance than I am, even with someone hanging on to him.  We found another short cut that was for sure not as steep, and once we got to the other side, we noticed a sign that said "Restoration Area, Keep Off".....well, it's not our fault there wasn't a sign on the other side of the restoration area.  They just aren't very good at their sign placement.  We eventually got back to the car, and saw this guy.

That's about all of the adventure we had today. We have to say goodbye to the mountains tomorrow.  :-(  But at least we have had a good time while being here!