2011, you were awesome.

2011 has easily been the best year of my life thus far, and even though I can't see how any year will ever be better, I think that 2012 is going to come pretty close if its anything like I'm imagining it will be. I say this because there are some HUGE changes coming in our life and we are super excited about that. I wanted to end this year with some highlights from 2011 and some of the things we are looking forward to in 2012.

Some (of the many) highlights from 2011:
1. Our wedding and marriage..which we wouldn't trade for the world. Marriage is awesome!!
2. Cory got into PA school, and we decided where we would be going!
3. We bought our dog Riley, who has brought so much joy to our lives. She makes us laugh all the time.
4. Cory got to spend 2 weeks at a hospital in Bolivia, which further confirmed God's calling on his (and our) life.
5. We finally got to explore our nation's capital! It was on my bucket list for many years.
6. We graduated from UF.

Looking forward to in 2012:
1. I will be taking boards and officially become licensed as a nurse.
2. I will be getting a job.
3. We're moving to Dallas as soon as I get a job.
4. Cory will start PA school in May.
5. Getting settled in Dallas and starting our new life there together.
6. House hunting. This may seem silly, but I'm a little obsessed with the show House Hunters and will get to do it in real life! Though, we'll be renting and not buying...but it will still be fun!
7. Seeing where God is going to lead us as far as a new church, new friends, and the ministries that we will get to be involved in out there.

Please be praying for us as 2012 is going to be a big year for both of us!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day! See you all next year!!

Christmas in Pensacola

December 26 is one of my least favorite days of the year--only because it means that Christmas is a year away. I absolutely love the Christmas season and hate for it to be over already! Although I'm sad its over,  I'm thankful that we had such a great time for our first Christmas as a married couple.

As mentioned before, we spent Christmas in Pensacola with Cory's side of the family. It was my first time away from my family on Christmas, and although we definitely wish our families lived closer so we could see them both-or that we could be in two places at once-we had a wonderful time in Pensacola.

On Christmas eve, we went to church then had a Christmas party at Cory's grandparent's house with his dad's side of the family. They go all out on Christmas, even putting on a family play (complete with costumes!) to act out Luke 2. Afterward, presents are passed out and it is crazy mass chaos until all presents are opened. It was super fun to watch the little ones get so excited and rip open all of their presents! Hilarious event of the night: while the presents were getting passed out, someone went to check on the dogs in the backyard and one of them ran into the house. Now, normally, this would not be a big deal...but this dog (a fox terrier) is literally the fastest dog I have ever seen in my life. She got loose and was sprinting around the living room, narrowly escaping the grip of every adult in the room. It looked like the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the squirrel was loose in the house! Absolutely hilarious. I'm so sad that I didn't get my camera out in time but its definitely something I will remember..it was so funny!

Pictures from Christmas eve:

All of the actors/actresses during the play

Our family on our first Christmas eve together :)

Then, on Christmas we went to church with Cory's grandmother (mom's side) and then went back to her house to celebrate with that side of the family. We had a yummy lunch then watched everyone open their gifts! This time was different in that one of the kids plays "Santa", passing out the gifts one at a time, and everyone watches them open it! It was fun and there were a lot of funny moments. In the afternoon, we watched A Christmas Story (one of my Christmas traditions), took naps, played games, and set up my iPad (Side note: I absolutely love my iPad-I can already tell its going to be used for everything!). It was a super relaxing afternoon and we were so thankful for that.

Pictures from Christmas day:

Lunch with the family

Opening gifts

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend time with family. More than that, I hope that you didn't let this Christmas pass by without remembering that its more than just about family and presents. I hope that you took the opportunity to thank God for sending his Son to earth to die for us, so that you and I could have the opportunity for a relationship with Him. THAT is what truly makes Christmas so special and awesome.

Last, but not least, I wanted to leave you with a picture of a tradition that Cory and I have had for the past 3 years-building a gingerbread house! Here is ours from this year:

We did it!

Its hard to believe, but its true-last week we made our decision final. It was one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make because each school was great in its own way...but after a few days of hardcore prayer and discussions, we realized that it was becoming pretty clear that one school was standing out among the rest. Thats when we made the decision that we are going to TEXAS! We truly can't wait! We are going to move out there as soon as I get a job, but no later than mid-April (even if I don't have a job) since Cory starts school mid-May and we don't want to be getting there right before he has to start school!

In other news, Cory and I graduated this past weekend! I had my pinning ceremony for nursing school on Friday and then our actual graduations were on Saturday. It was a lot of fun because both of our families came in town so we got to spend time with them, which we hadn't done in a while.  Its a weird feeling to be done with school (at least for a while)..but I can't wait to be working and doing what I love!  Here are a couple pictures of Cory and I from this past weekend:

Right before my pinning ceremony

We'll definitely miss home games in the Swamp!

We also made it into our local newspaper! You can read it here: Graduation article

Prayer that we need now:

1) For me to get my test date for the NCLEX soon and to pass on the first time!

2) For the job search to be a quick, easy process and for God to open doors

3) That we will stay focused on things here in Gainesville, and not get carried away with our excitement about this next step in our life

We are heading to Pensacola on Thursday to spend Christmas with family so I will try to post while up there! Have a great Tuesday! :)

Decisions, Decisions.

Well, Cory got an e-mail from Duke a few days ago....and.......HE'S IN!! We were SO excited to hear that and were very thankful for the good news! Even though I totally knew he was in (who wouldn't want such an awesome guy?! :) ), it was still great getting that confirmation e-mail from them! NOW comes the hard part though-we have to actually decide where to go. We've been able to put it off until now but we can't do that anymore, we have to officially decide by next week. AHHHH. Its so exciting yet scary to think that we will know by next week where we will be spending the next few years (at least).

As we keep saying, we are so thankful that this decision is not ours to make. It would be a lot more scary if that were the case...but we know that God is completely in this and we are praying for it to be very clear. We don't feel as though there is a "bad" decision, since each school is great and has its own positive and negatives. Its just a matter of finding where we know that God wants us to be for a little while. We're just thankful that we even have the opportunity to have this decision, that is a blessing in itself! I can't wait to share with you where we will be living soon.

In other news, I am officially done with school so now we are just waiting for Cory to be done! He has a few more things that need to be done but then he will be done and we can start our break!! We've been waiting for this for a long time-we got thrown right back into "real life" the day we got back from our honeymoon and never got a chance to slow down...so we're very ready to relax and hang out together without the looming stress of school, life, etc that happens while the semester is in session.

We'll keep you updated on the school situation and other happenings in life, but until then, have a great week!

Go Duke!

As I told you guys last time I wrote, Cory and I made the 8.5 hour trip to Durham, NC on Monday and drove back Tuesday night. It was a whirlwind trip but so awesome.

The trip there was super long, made worse by the fact that I just wanted to get there and see our friends! We had plans to spend time with friends who went to UF with us but have since moved to NC to go to Southeastern Seminary. We stayed with two of them, Ben and Moe, and got to also see Erin, Kristin, and Stephen...and meet Kristin and Stephen's new baby, Cooper!! It was so exciting to meet him and spend time with them. Cooper is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen!

We woke up early on Tuesday and drove to Duke. The PA school has their own building about 2 miles from campus, so it was easy to get to. The morning consisted of a bunch of information sessions, sitting in on a class, a tour, and lunch. After lunch, Cory had his actual interviews so I went to a very sketchy mall! I was nervous while he was in there, probably a lot more nervous than he was. After he was done (he said the interviews went well-so we're praying!!) we went to the main campus so that we could see the chapel, the basketball museum, and walk around the campus! It was BEAUTIFUL!

Hopefully we will hear back from them within the next couple weeks, but until then we are praying for direction and clarity in this decision! Until then, I'm wondering if we will be saying: Go Gators!, Go Duke!, Go Longhorns!, or Go Colonials! :)

This is us in front of Duke's chapel

Life as of late.

Wow. I have been absolutely terrible about this blog, but I am determined to start fresh and really update this from now on. This Thanksgiving was our first one as a married couple. Cory had to work 7a-7p so I cooked all day and then we had dinner with our friends Chad and Nicole. It was my first time cooking a turkey on my own-but I think it turned out great! It was fun night and I was glad that we got to share it with some friends who also had to stay in Gainesville for the holiday weekend.

I've been super busy with practicum-the last part of nursing school, where I work in a hospital for 36 hours a week instead of going to class. I only have one 12 hour shift left and then I am completely done until graduation! I cannot believe it. Although I am very ready to be done with nursing school, I am having mixed emotions because I am going to miss my friends a lot and I am nervous about getting a job. I know that God will see me through and allow me to find the perfect job for now but its still nerve wracking to think that soon I will be someone's nurse and the one who is supposed to have all the answers and make quick decisions. I've realized through practicum, however, that I was made for this profession. I absolutely love serving people when they are at such a vulnerable time in their life. I am excited to be able to do that for the rest of my career-and to take that to populations where there are no means for healthcare. I've truly realized that this is what God has called me to!

As far as Cory goes, he has his last PA school interview this week. We leave for North Carolina tomorrow and his interview at Duke is on Tuesday. It is super exciting to look forward to this next year and realize how many changes we may have in our life. We could be half way across the country by this time next year or we could still be in Gainesville! We'll have to wait and see-we're praying about it and would really appreciate your prayers in this process. I think we are both ready for a change and an adventure, but want to make sure that this is what God wants for us and not just a selfish desire.

Riley has been such a joy in our life. She is the cutest puppy in the world (maybe I'm a little biased) and she makes us laugh every day. She is with my parents right now since we'll be in NC tomorrow and I miss her so much. It makes me wonder how I'm going to be when I have children if I miss my dog this much!

I won't be on here for the next few days, but I will be sure to let you know how Cory does at his interview. Please be praying for our decision and for God to make it very clear.

Welcome to our blog

The absolute last thing that I should be doing right now is starting a blog, and yet, that's exactly what I'm doing. I have a huge exam tomorrow at 10 AM (its the exit exam for my degree), but I can't seem to concentrate on all of the studying that I should be doing.

I want to start this blog in order to document things that are happening in our life, keep in touch with long distance family members, and to share things that we are learning about God, marriage, etc. Some of this (probably most of it) will not be interesting to 99% of you, so I apologize for that, but hopefully somewhere along the way you will be encouraged by something that is posted on here.

If you're wondering about the name of this blog, it has two meanings: First, its referring to the beautiful new life that we have in Christ as believers. Second, its referring to the new life that Cory and I have started together as husband and wife. Cheesy? Maybe. But its the best I could do :)

Some things about us:

• Our relationship with Christ is the most important thing in each of our lives and in our marriage. We constantly strive to make Him the center of everything that we do. We are nowhere near perfect at this, but thankfully we serve a merciful and forgiving God!
• We got married on August 13 of this year. It was one of the best decisions we have ever made and we are enjoying every minute of our new life together. 
• We recently bought a dog. She's a golden retriever and labrador retriever mix. Her name is Riley and she is the cutest thing you will ever see in your life. Seriously.
• We are students at the University of Florida (GO GATORS!) and we're both going to graduate in December...can't wait!

Ok, I should probably go do some more studying. Prayers would be much appreciated for tomorrow's exam :)