House Hunters: Dallas Edition

Cory and I just got back from a 10 day "vacation". Our first stop was Pensacola to drop Riley off and spend some time with family. From there, our next stop was New Orleans to visit our friends Josh and Beth who are attending seminary there. We had a ton of fun and got to go to the French Market and eat beignets from Cafe du Monde, we ate cajun food at Joey K's, and got to go to a Mardi Gras parade! We caught a lot of beads, cups, a frisbee, and other goodies. Cory and I had never been to a Mardi Gras parade and it was a great first time! :)

After leaving New Orleans, the adventure began. The entire drive from New Orleans to Dallas, it was POURING. Which meant slower speeds and low visibility and that was very annoying. It was also a little scary, but we just decided to keep going unless it got terrible. When we got to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we ran over something in the road near a construction site and it popped not 1..but 2 TIRES! We pulled off at the next exit and what was in front of us but a Sears Auto Center! It was definitely a God thing-and we are so thankful to Him. We were able to get our tire changed quickly and get back on the road. We are pretty sure that God was getting us off the road because the weather was about to get very bad. We got into the auto center and the sky literally turned black and there was lightning all around us. There were tornado warnings too. Although it was an expensive event, we are thankful to God that we weren't driving through that.

After that craziness, the drive was pretty uneventful until we got right inside Texas. We stopped to get gas and when we tried to start the car, it wouldn't start. We were so frustrated but all we could do was laugh at our misfortune. We went inside and luckily there was a man who had jumper cables-while we were talking to him, he told us that he had already jumped 3 other people in that same gas station! Apparently, there was something about that station! Anyway, we got back on the road after that and FINALLY made it to Dallas.

On Sunday, we got to go to the Village Church. It was great-despite not having preaching that morning. They had about 8-10 people get baptized (in that service alone!), and each person was able to give a full testimony. It was such a cool way to do baptisms!

The next couple of days we went house hunting. I LOVE the show House Hunters and was so excited about getting to do it on our own. I thought that it would be a ton of fun and that it would be easy to find a house. Boy was I wrong! We had a tough time finding what we needed but we are thankful that we finally found something that we think is going to be a great house. We just signed our lease this evening and I can't wait to start decorating it :)

While we were out there, we went to Fort Worth for a couple of days to tour Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am thinking and praying about attending there this fall and wanted to get more information. We really enjoyed our time there and love their heart for missions. They definitely have a complete focus on bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth! We got a tour and were able to have lunch with a professor to get lots of good information about the missions programs. We're still praying about it, but I would love to get started and be able to take those seminary classes!

We also got to have dinner with a few friends on the last night that we were there at a really yummy barbecue restaurant. What a relief to see familiar faces! It is definitely a blessing to have some friends out there already and know that they can help if we ever need it. We're excited about that.

For now, its back to the grind. Cory is working two 52 hour weeks until we leave and I'm packing all of our stuff. We're planning to move on the 14th and we will be sad to leave Gainesville. We're hoping to be able to see everyone before we leave! Christie threw us a surprise dinner last night and that was a ton of fun. Our friend Justin even drove 2 hours to come to it and we had other friends that came to spend time with us. We have been super blessed by the friends we have made here. They have each made a huge impact on our lives!

Prayer Points:
1) For fear to not take over. Leaving everything familiar and going to a place that is completely unfamiliar-with new friends, a new church, new house, new job, no family, and everything else changing. A few times in Dallas I let it get to me but I know that God has called us to live out there so there is nothing to fear.

2) My job hunting situation. Please be praying for clarity and for God to open doors!

3) My decision about whether or not to attend SWBTS.

4) Cory's decision about whether or not to get a part time job. And for energy to get through his busy work schedule for the next couple of weeks!

PRAISE GOD!

I found out this morning that.....I PASSED THE NCLEX!!!! What a HUGE relief to know that I never have to take that exam ever again. I was so excited when I went to the Texas Board of Nursing website and saw that I have a license! I've never been a licensed professional before and its a great feeling :)

The coolest thing about getting my license though is seeing how GOD worked through it! I was getting pretty nervous the day before and day of the exam, but I just asked everyone to lift me up in prayer that day..and I could literally FEEL the prayers. Not lying. I went from being so nervous I couldn't eat to being completely fine and knowing that it is in God's hands so there was nothing to worry about...what a great feeling going into the exam literally not having any nerves! AND I can say that it was completely God that got me through and allowed me to pass (not only this exam, but my entire time in nursing school). He definitely gets all the praise and glory for the NCLEX and nursing school...not me! I can't thank you all enough for all of the prayers and support I have gotten, not only during the past week, but the past year and a half. I am so blessed.

Yesterday and today we have been at Cory's parent's house in Pensacola and tomorrow we leave to go to New Orleans and see our friends. Then on Saturday we are heading out to Dallas for some house hunting and to tour Southwestern Seminary. We're having fun and looking forward to the rest of our vacation!

Please be praying for:
1) HOUSE HUNTING! I put this in all capital letters because we have already hit a few "bumps" in the road so we need PRAYER! I know that God has a house in a neighborhood that He wants us to be-but we need prayer that we don't lose sight that God is in control and will allow it to work out!

2) Safety traveling. We're going to be doing a ton of driving over the next week and there are some crazy drivers out there.

3) My job hunt. One of the "bumps" in the road for house hunting is that I don't have a job-so the sooner I can get one, the better. Please be praying that this will fall into place but that we can be relying on God's timing and not ours.

Picture Update!

Hiking with Riley on our trip to Tennessee..Riley LOVED the trails!

One of the many geocaches that we found in the parks

Oh my goodness, the view from here was absolutely GORGEOUS! We found this at the end of a trail at Dale Hollow Lake State Park in Kentucky..I'm so glad we did!

Another view of the lake

We also found a HUGE cave! It was awesome, but a little creepy to explore!

This is from the Passion Conference in Atlanta...45,0000+ students worshipping God under one roof. It was AMAZING. It was awesome to see what God did while we were there..I hope we can go back next year! Find out more here

The focus of the week at Passion was on human slavery...which is still happening in our own backyard. This statue is a symbol of a lot of the items that are made by slave laborers around the world. We got to write messages of hope and freedom on the items before they put them on the statue!

We got to spend a few days at my parent's house

Bike riding on the trail...only in Florida can you do that in shorts in January :)

Moe loves Riley! 

Cory and I were able to go to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for a few days. This roller coaster was awesome!

We also went back with our friends a few days later. We had a blast! (Oops for my finger being in the way...I didn't realize that when I took it)

Last but not least, Riley helping me study for the NCLEX :)

We are still alive

I promise that we are still alive and well-even though you wouldn't be able to tell from our blog. I also promise that I had a lengthy post a while back about how awesome Christmas break was between spending it with family in Pensacola, going to Tennessee and staying in my parent's cabin, and going to the Passion Conference in Atlanta..but unfortunately it was lost and I never felt up to re-typing it :( I apologize. However..just know that we had a great December and January full of relaxation and February has been just as great thus far (and I think its gonna get even better)!

In January, we got to go to my parents house for about a week and spend time with them! It was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed just getting to relax and see so many people. We also got to go to Orlando. We've been wanting to do this for a while now since we have year passes to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios! Since we're moving soon, we realized its now or never so we found a condo on Groupon and went! I had a BLAST. I forgot how much I love theme parks and rides :) We also went back a few days later with friends (Christie, Justin, and Lauren)...and that was awesome too! I love being surrounded by great friends while also doing something so fun! The Harry Potter ride is the best, by far. If you haven't been you need to stop what you're doing right now (you can come back to reading) and buy tickets to Islands of Adventures. I'm serious. Its that awesome. I'll put pictures up when I get home a little later.

In other-less fun-news, I take the NCLEX (my boards for nursing) on Valentine's Day. Woohoo! SO romantic! :) But it was the next day that was available and I HAVE to take them ASAP in order to get a JOB! Plus, we are leaving to go visit Texas and go house hunting on the 15th so I didn't really have an option. However, currently I am at Panera studying for that wonderful dreadful exam. Thank goodness for broccoli cheddar soup to make studying a little better! Prayers are very much appreciated for this because its pretty much mandatory that I pass this time..since like I said before I need a job NOW!

Back to exciting/fun news, starting tomorrow until Sunday afternoon, Cory and I are having a "staycation". We were planning on going to St. Augustine or Hilton Head but realized it would be more difficult and we want to make the most of Gainesville before leaving. Even though I'll still have study some on those days, I'm looking forward to Cory not having to work and getting to explore some things in Gainesville that we haven't yet-despite me being here for 6 years and him for 4!

Last night we had a long discussion about what the next couple of months are going to look like. Well, we figured out that we are going to plan on moving into our new house on March 15. This made things SO real for me...and honestly made me more nervous and scared than I thought I was going to be. :/ I know that God is in complete control and He will be faithful through it all, and I'm so thankful for that comfort, but I know how much change is going to be happening in the next couple of months and I just freaked out a little bit.

Prayer points for this week:
-The NCLEX
-Job searching
-House hunting
-Making the most of the time left in Gainesville
-Mammaw had surgery today, she's doing well but pray for continued recovery!
-For Grammie's health-they've found she has CHF so please pray for wisdom and comfort
-For our trip out to Dallas on the 15th-safe traveling, wisdom, for us to be sensitive to God's leading as far as a new church, house, job, etc
-For our fears to be relieved and for us to trust that God will be faithful (as He ALWAYS has-so who are we to doubt?! Its still hard though..just being honest.)

Thank you everyone for listening :) Be looking for more updates soon! I promise to not go so long between posts next time!!