Still getting settled...

Louie and I finally started our jobs and school a few weeks ago. It's been pretty rough figuring out a routine since Louie finds out his schedule on a weekly basis and I'm going to sleep at 2am every night and sleeping past noon everyday. We've found our church, Sojourn, and we're struggling to get connected because of our whacky schedules and even tonight Louie is going to church alone because I'm working tonight. Fortunately, I'll have off until Friday! Louie has been so tired with working at Kroger and trying to stay ahead with his school work, especially Greek which he has to work on everyday.

In other news, our family morale has been brought up by this sweet face...

Her name is Millie. We got her Thursday night because I just felt like Cedric needs a companion with our routine being so weird--I felt like he got lonely. She is about 3 months old and just LOVES to play and cuddle up with us. Surprisingly, Cedric took to her really quickly. I don't think he quite knows what to do with her long hair when he licks her.

Not much else to report except that we're still trying to settle in and get our life moving steadily.

We're here!!

We have finally gotten to Louisville. I think this has been our life goal for years before we were even married. Now we have the chance to get settled and adjusted before I start my job and Louie starts school--both on the 16th. I can already feel the angst surrounding the evening of August 15th. In other awesome news, Louie has been offered a part-time job at Kroger in the meat department pending background check and drug test. This is such a blessing considering we are now paying for Louie's school.

We've almost dug out of all of the boxes from the big move at the beginning of this week. A HUGE thanks to my cousin S and her husband R who love us enough to haul all of our junk into a small apartment!! I'm so glad we have family living here--it makes me feel closer to our hometown in Richmond, VA. My grandparents were so very generous and bought us a washer and dryer AND a microwave. It's hard describe the swelling in my heart that comes with having family who enjoy spoiling us. We'll take it while we can! On Monday night Louie's sister, Laurie, came to visit for a couple of days on the way back to school in Kansas. Having her here was a good transition from having my parents and grandparents here since they left on Tuesday morning. We're looking forward to a visit from Louie's dad and other sister, Megan, in a couple of weeks.

All in all, we're ready for grown-up life to begin.

4 years paid off

On Wednesday, I was but a lowly nursing school graduate with, yes a job, but a professional license? Not so much. Thursday, I was a registered nurse!

To me being a nurse is more than a job title, it is a compilation of my knowledge, skill set and emotions that will come with me whether I am working under that title or not. My nursing experiences and background will provide me with better Mommy skills and even more so, having this license can get us into countries that are closed to Christian missionaries if we feel called to go to such a country.

Tomorrow, we celebrate with family at Kelly's and our "we graduated/going to college/moving to Louisville" party! At the age of 16, when I daydreamed about my life with Louie, I honestly thought this point in our lives would NEVER come. We are finally embarking on a life of our own away from family and the city we both grew up in because we have heard God's call to go to seminary and start a family. I am so ready for this to happen.

God's Abundant Blessings

Praise God for his faithfulness! I was given a job offer on Monday as an oncology/palliative care nurse at University of Louisville Hospital. It'll take some adjustment though because it'll be night shift but hey, it's a job! On Tuesday we went to Richmond to visit our families and we drove up to Louie's parents house to see two precious puppies! Two lab/retriever mixes--1 yellow and 1 black. A few hours later we finally received word that Louie got into Southern. Then that night we spent a wonderful dinner at Angela's for my parents 25th wedding anniversary and the food was absolutely delicious. We all raved about it and I have eaten nothing like it before. Pretty pricey but I totally recommend it if your parents are paying ;).

We got Louie's official acceptance letter in the mail today. Good news, yes, but it also means the post office still isn't forwarding our mail! We sent in a request to have our mail forwarded beginning May 15th. Guess that didn't happen.

We also are looking at housing in Louisville. We applied to seminary housing but it looks like the waiting list is too long to rely on that right now. Luckily, we looked at some really cute "apartment homes" while we were in Louisville last week but it didn't look too promising availability wise. God came through again today when I emailed the leasing people and they said a 2 bedroom opened up YESTERDAY to be available in early August. It is truly amazing how God has opened up a floodgate of blessings on our life but we always remember that what God gives he can also take away for His glory. We are not deserving of these blessings but God, in his mercy, has given them to show his lovingkindness to us.

We are so excited to get to Louisville!

Waiting

I hate when people take huge pauses in between their blog writing and now I'm one of them. I guess nothing blog-worthy has happened in awhile. We're still waiting to hear back from Southern because of a small mix up regarding Louie's references. No big deal though, the deadline to apply for Fall 2010 is July! Still we wanted to get all of his stuff in, which includes the housing application for the only on-campus apartments that allow pets. We've looked at the apartments and they're so cute! Tons of closet space and carpet, which we've missed since we've lived in a 40 something year old wood floor apartment. Don't get me wrong, I love hard wood floor but when it's got the huge gaps in between the boards, icky things get trapped and it's difficult to clean. Plus, we've been in the basement for a year and it ain't too sunny down there. Poor Cedric is probably Vitamin D deficient. Can't wait to have curtains surrounding sunny windows!

In other news, I got a call back for an interview to U of Louisville Hospital! Finally, something on the job front!!! Louie and I decided that even if for some reason he doesn't get into Southern for the fall, we'll move to Louisville anyway to get established and he'll try again for Spring 2011. There is still so much to do between now and moving to Louisville and it's very overwhelming. Louie tends to get overwhelmed more than I do though and when that happens, he gets frustrated and just pushes things aside so prayers for a helpful Louie in the next 3 months! I also have to graduate and take my nursing boards and I have NOT been studying. Fortunately, being in practicum is sort of like studying everyday and I've loved my experience! We're doing a lot of work at church as well now that the intentional interim is here--he has a huge plan for the church and I hope everyone pitches in and participates. Louie plans to work his tail off this summer soaking up everything he can from this 80 year old man who has been in the ministry for 60 YEARS! He has been a pastor for 3x as long as I've been alive. Pretty amazing to think about and I wonder if Louie and I will be in the same position 60 years from now, God willing.

Looking forward to taking the biggest step forward together as we move from Virginia and start working/grad school/family!

Things are looking up....or down.

I PASSED MY NURSING EXIT EXAM! My subconscious has been stressed about this for months and it was finally over today. The HESI is apparently a good indicator of how well I'll do on the NCLEX so hey, that's a good sign. I also got my Practicum preceptor and thus, a schedule. I'll be working on 8 West with the sweet old people as well as with patients needing relief of symptoms as they endure a terminal illness. I'll have 12 hour days, which I'm iffy about since I've never done one; 8 hour clinical days wear me out as it is! I'm looking forward to learning how to care for this population because they can be encountered on any hospital unit.

On the other hand, I have been having not so good luck finding a job. Maybe Louisville hospitals like to wait until a closer time to when I'll be able to work. Unfortunately, I'll also be competing with U of Louisville nursing students. It might not be so bad though because one hospital told me to contact them in July when we're closer to moving. We'll just have to see. I could always be a teacher at a classical or private school while trying to get a nursing job. And hey, maybe that's something God would have me pursue for His glory. I've always kind of wanted to be a teacher.

Now we just wait for news from Seminary...

Nothing much going on

Not much going on lately. We're waiting to hear back from Southern but not sure when that's supposed to happen. I have such an full and unanticipated week next week, each day filled with something that I want to do less than the day before. I've got presentations and meetings of all kinds. Luckily, the following is Spring Break but still, I am super stressed about my exit exam that I've heard is more difficult than the NCLEX, plus it makes up a ridiculous 50% of my practicum grade. Ew.

Some semi-better news, I got the practicum placement that I wanted on 8 West, the geriatric and palliative care unit. Since my Mamoo died, I've had such a strong desire to care for older, dying people. Being on 8 West should either validate that or quickly change my mind. Hopefully it will do the former as practicum lasts about 1 1/2 months. I also applied as a new graduate RN at a hospital in Louisville today. I've been checking the website everyday to see if the application had been posted and my wandering mind found it today during the one class I went to.

It's going to be awhile before my mind can be at ease as I won't be able to take the NCLEX probably until June. Then we'll be in the process of moving and adjusting to a new home and job. Happily, we'll be going on a 9-day cruise with my family in July! We're pretty excited, I've never been on one before. Plus, I got a job for the summer and we'll be able to save up a lot since we'll be living with my parents. Overall, mixed feelings about the next 6 months but thankful for a sweet, supporting husband to ease my mind during the process.

It's been awhile since I've had the chance to sit down and write/reflect. I had 2 tests this week--1 on Wednesday for which I studied an entire day and didn't do so hot and the second I had today for which I studied a total of 1 hour and got a 94. What the heck. I have never been able to figure out how to study effectively.

I guess we're due for a recap on life for anyone who reads or cares:

On Superbowl Sunday I called my family last minute and asked if they wanted to come to our miniscule apartment to watch the game. My mom was hesitant at first because of the recent snow storm and she was planning on making chili from scratch, which she knew would be a little difficult in our small kitchen. My dad also forwent his HUGE screen TV and DVR to come and watch our old box TV with a digital converter box. My mom and I made chili and cornbread and set up a buffet of goodness on the coffee table Louie made in high school shop class. It was kind of cute.

We got A LOT of snow our way the past 2 weeks. Louie and I never got to "play" in the snow together as kids because he lived 10 minutes away and our parents worked so we couldn't get to one another. It was special to have our first snowy winter during our first year of marriage. Especially since it seems like less snow graces Louisville and we'll be there for at least 3 years. A few classes got cancelled so it was kind of fun. I secretly like when everyone's normal routine gets disrupted beyond anyone's control. On the other hand, it's been difficult to sit down and concentrate (hence the poor test grade on Wednesday--ugh).

Louie finally sent his application in to Southern. Now they just have to receive 2 more of the recommendations, the church affirmation form from Mt. Vernon and transcripts that we sent for a few days ago. I'm REALLY looking forward to going to Southern. The apartment will be cute, the people will be so sweet, the community will be Christ-filled and we'll get to settle down for longer than a year, and family is there so it won't feel like we're forever away from anyone. And, we're one step closer to starting a family! As of now, we're deciding it'll be okay financially to start trying for a baby once I've worked for a year but if it happens earlier than that, God will provide sufficiently for what he has given. If I had to be perfectly honest, I'd love it to be sooner than later!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do this summer in terms of work. I can't work as a registered nurse since we'll only be in Richmond until sometime in August and it takes longer than that for new grad orientation in a lot of places. My second option would be to work as a Patient Care Technician like I did 2 summers ago but the hospital where I worked then won't hire me as a PCT if I've passed my boards (which I intend to take and hopefully pass this summer). I'm guessing it's some legal thing. So, now I'm going to try and contact other hospitals in the Richmond area to see if they'll hire me as a PCT because I really want to keep up with patient care so I don't get out of practice before I work as a nurse. If none of this works out I've also asked St. Mary's where I was a PCT previously to let me help out in Nursing Administration where I worked 3 summers ago. In all of this, even if I do get a job I don't know when I'll work because at some point I'll need to study for the NCLEX, go as a chaperone to summer camp with Louie and the youth, go on a cruise (!) with my family in July, and interview for jobs in Louisville. STRESSFUL!!!!

Today, Louie gave me a sweet card and a big bar of Hershey's Dark Chocolate for Valentine's Day. He's so sweet. There really isn't anything else that I want (or that we can afford). This post is too long....

Weird

Today was just...weird--but in a good way! Louie woke up at like 4:20 this morning and I was planning to get up around 5:45 because I have a clinical that's about a 40 minute drive west. I was surprisingly wide awake and we just talked and laughed in bed in the wee hours of the morning. Cedric decided he wanted to participate in the fun and jumped on the bed with this tiny opossum filled with catnip that he absolutely cannot get enough of. He likes us to throw it so he can go retrieve and bring it back to us as a "gift". While I was getting ready Louie made us pancakes! Yummy!

I was in clinical from 7:45-3 and I made it home only to realize that it's supposed to snow possibly up to 28 inches this weekend and all we have to eat are the reject food items that we've had for months (ie. instant oats, peanut butter, pasta noodles). Herein is the dilemma. As probably mentioned before, parking is sucky on our street, especially with snow mounds left over to take up half of the spots. Louie was not into leaving and I wasn't so excited about it but I'm a food lover and if I don't have yummy food to be excited about, it's going to be a miserable weekend for me. Not to mention, we probably won't be able to get our cars out for awhile to go get groceries.

SOOOO...we thought about taking the bus so we wouldn't lose our spot but we didn't want to haul who knows how many bags around on the bus. Thus, I talked Louie into going to the grocery store, and wow, the lines wrapped around half the store! It didn't take as long as expected but a lot of the good stuff was out of stock. The best part of this story? As I was turning on our street my blood pressure rose because I just did NOT want to take our bags in and then park elsewhere only to walk all the way back. Half way down our street--what is that? OUR SPOT still available, still with outline of snow left from our car being parked there. When this happens (although when it doesn't he still obviously loves us), I have to thank God for His undeserved mercies because he could very well just have had us walk. I wanted to give him such a big high five!!!

Now for the most exciting part of the day--TV and relaxation. A new Office episode is on tonight!!

It's the easy things in life...

Today, like every Tuesday this semester, I didn't have class. I fully intended to work on a study guide for a test I have next Monday but I was way too distracted by getting laundry done, going to lunch with friend, folding the laundry, organizing important papers/documents, organizing Louie's dresser, the snow and making an actual dinner that consists of more than soup. We also took a walk at about 10pm tonight to breathe in some fresh air.....and get sleeted on.

In the past few days I have realized that quite a few things make my life easier/awesome:

First and foremost, the boy getting loved on by my best friend Melanie and myself about 7 years ago (aka my husband), did all of our laundry today! By himself. In the back alley. While I was at lunch with a friend. I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to come home from lunch and have it done. Albeit I had to fold it all but I was happy to do it. In doing so I realized that I have had enough of Louie's clothes being squeezed into the drawers due to messiness that has accumulated over time. The fourth drawer of his 5-drawer dresser has all sorts of important papers, his teaching license, bank statements, paid bills, etc that have piled up. I decided to relocate them and give Louie another drawer for his abundance of t-shirts. With that done, I feel like a new woman.

The aforementioned friend (and first year roommate!) and I had lunch at Take-It-Away, my absolute favorite place to eat at the Corner. My usual is turkey on french bread with provolone cheese, bean sprouts and "house dressing" which is a secret concoction of what I believe to be mayonnaise, whole grain mustard and some other stuff I can't identify. IT'S AWESOME. The Sour Cream and Onion kettle chips aren't too shabby either. We had a really good time telling each other hilarious stories that have happened since we last talked, which happens to be about a year ago. We vowed not to let that happen again. (Side note: I promise we're friends in this picture but we look kind of awkward because the picture was taken while we were ice skating).

When I'm not eating Take-It-Away sandwiches I'm begging Louie to let us go to Arch's, a frozen yogurt place also on the Corner. In case you really want to know what I get here too, I'll go ahead and fill you in. It's called Magic Berry and it consists of vanilla frozen yogurt, strawberries, cookie dough and chocolate magic shell blended to make sort of a DQ Blizzard kind of thing. I'm obsessed. I've never gotten anything different. I guess I kind of don't branch out much when it comes to my restaurant food choices.

Hershey Minis also make it on my life is good list. We originally bought them as prizes for the youth at Sunday night Bible study and we keep them in the car. That worked until yesterday when I just had to have chocolate and well, I brought them into our apartment. DUN dun dun. I've had too many of the dark chocolates and Mr. Goodbars...All in all, while most of my addictions may be poor health decisions at least they're legal and yummy.

The last thing on my list but definitely a contender in the number 1 thing that makes my life easiest/awesome is Wal-Mart brand Redi Wipes. Cheap, anti-bacterial and at hand. I can wipe down a whole kitchen with these things! And I don't feel bad about using a few too many because Wal-Mart, as previously mentioned in another post, practically gives them to me. I don't know why, but our apartment gets way yuckier than I ever remember my childhood home getting.

Not much went on today. Louie decided we could only watch The Office if we did 1 hour of something productive for each episode we watched. I cleaned up my half done puzzle from winter break so we could have some room at the kitchen table. The living room is probably less than 1/2 of the square footage of this apartment but naturally we find ourselves glued here. Gets old...

Now we're hanging out watching the Grammy's which I'm okay with doing because my first class tomorrow is CANCELLED!! Usually I'd be upsetting Louie's computer/entertainment time around 10 because I want to go to bed. I have vowed not to be like my parents in that I go to bed at 9 while he stays up until 1 or 2 in the morning watching TV in an other room and going to sleep on the couch. Not that they don't have a good relationship from what I can see but bedtime should be reserved for snuggling and talking about our day, duh. I intend to make that a family rule and he's getting used to it. Since he was a teenager, he stayed up until all hours of the night playing video games and watching TV so clearly he was on the path to being a typical man.

Lazy day

Today (like most days) was a lazy day. We're working on our motivation but living in a tiny apartment and without much to do around the Charlottesville area without leaving our dearly treasured parking spaces it's difficult to want to move. But today it was okay because 1) it's Saturday and 2) it snowed A LOT. We have been watching The Office Seasons 3 and 4 this weekend and they have served their purpose as snowy weekend entertainment. Good thing too, because church is cancelled tomorrow so it'll basically be another Saturday. Louie decided a twist in the plans would be to go get pizza on the Corner for lunch at Mellow Mushroom. Yay for bringing back boots from Richmond so we can get around.

We did get out today and the images bear witness to the fact that we did not sit around the entire day. Because winter time and cold weather is my absolute favorite, I cannot wait to have kids to play with in the snow and cozy up with. In the mean time....

I have also decided that tomorrow will be sugar cookie baking/decorating day since I never got around to it at Christmas holidays since we went home for a few weeks. Christmas cookies are good no matter when you make them so with snow on the ground it seems like the most fun thing to do. Louie has promised to help but I never hope for too much or I'll be disappointed. Of course, he will most definitely agree to eat them!

Where we're going

We've been thinking a lot about where we'll be this time next year. We're 99% sure we'll be going to Louisville, KY late this summer so Louie can go to Southern. We went in October during my fall break for a preview conference and nothing is more beautiful than that campus! Surprisingly, the campus was designed by the same guy who designed UVa but it'll be even better because there isn't construction EVERYWHERE like there has been here for just about the entire four years I've been attending. It'll be good to walk around somewhere similar but more peaceful and less metallic and cement truck-y.

Louie sat down today and completed the application and had recommendation forms sent to a few kind friends and mentors. We look forward to getting an acceptance letter in the next few months. That's not being overconfident but from what I've heard, it's not too difficult to get in since people aren't necessarily busting down the doors to get in. That being said, it is nothing less than theologically rock solid. The best part for me will be the Seminary Wives Institute (provided I don't get the evening shift at whatever hospital I work at). I can actually get a diploma from completing a certain amount of hours in classes that will be taught by professors at the school or their wives. How awesome is that! That way, I'll be able to study what Louie is studying and we'll have plenty to talk about and work on together. The SWI offers elective courses in topics such as hospitality, parenting and public speaking for pastors' wives (pretty sure I won't be choosing this one but who knows, maybe God will challenge me). We'll also be living on campus in a very new and cute apartment (cheaper than where we are in now!.......and with parking!). Another perk--rent will include cable which we decided to do without this year to save a little money since it wasn't included in rent. It's the only family housing on campus that allows pets and well, we've got Cedric in all his cuteness. He'll probably be happy to have a little more room to run around and it'll be fun to see him in a different environment where he'll find other things to get into.

I've also been researching my options for work in the Louisville area. There are plenty of options but it seems that many of them want me to wait until around March to apply as a New Graduate. I didn't really listen and I've been applying anyway so we'll see what happens. Our plan is to work at least a year and then think about a family. I can't wait to get to Louisville. Better yet, my newlywed cousin and her husband live in Louisville and her mom and dad come up every few months or so, so we'll at least be able to see some family!

In other news, it's Friday night after a long week of classes/psychiatric clinical (you WILL hear stories about this clinical every so often) and it's supposed to start snowing late tonight and all day tomorrow! Peace.

Who I come from

Within the past few years I have absorbed myself in researching my ancestry. I started off a couple of years ago knowing very little about either side of my family but my grandfather provided me with some information about the Stoschs. I treasure my maiden name because it's all I was for 21 1/2 years. Plus, Stosch is a blessing of a surname to have when your first name belongs to about 103 million other girls around the globe. For this very reason I vow to give my children as unique of names as possible but that's another topic, another day. So, I have decided that, with my only living grandparents on my daddy's side, that I would conduct interviews of as much as they can remember from their lives. We'll also go to as many grave sites as possible and take some pictures with them. I know, I know...that sounds weird and creepy but I want to be able to show as much as I can to my kids and grandkids. Sadly, I may be the only one in my family to ever care about any of this.

I'm not sure what has sparked such a deep desire to know my family when I can't even meet them. I hate that I can't know them but researching and digging kind of indulges and satisfies that. Related side note: I am directly related to Charlemagne (that's right, Holy Roman Emperor), Louis the Pious, and some English Henrys. As cool as that is, there are probably too many people out in the world who are descended from them so I tend to feel more love toward the people who are only 3 to 4 generations back. Over winter break I completed as much of my family tree as I could muster (sitting on the couch and looking at a computer screen without moving for 9 hours gets old quickly).

At the end of it all, I realized that knowing all of the people I directly descend from brings my soul so close to God. The only way I could be here today is because God ordained me to be. There are too many people who I descend from who may have not been born, may have died prematurely, may have never met their spouses/mates and may have conceived their children at a different time (thus resulting in different children). If any of these things had happened to ONE single person in my tree......then I would not be typing this lame blog post! To sum this up in a more organized fashion: God is Sovereign!

For the love of Walmart

It has come to my attention that Walmart is a poor, married college student's best friend--especially a brand spankin' new Super Walmart right off I-64 down the road from our church! For reasons unbeknownst to me, both the Walmart (by the way, not a Super) and Target in Charlottesville are about 20 minutes up US-29, AWAY from UVa. Who would do such a thing to college students?! It is SO convenient to be able to drop by the Walmart when we're leaving church a couple of evenings a week to make the drive home. Their prices are so much cheaper it almost seems wrong. Apparently, people are nicer in the country because the greeters flash the biggest smile when we walk in--not so much around the Short Pump area...

Beginnings

So, here it goes. My first blog entry. (Warning, I am not creative or witty so what you read is what you get.). I know the first few entries may be novel-like but I have a horrible memory and I hope to use what I write to extract childhood memories and preserve new ones.

I guess an introduction including the basics is in order. I've recently turned 22 and I just got married to my best friend on May 30, 2009. I know that sounds really cliche and all, but for real, he's my best friend. We met in middle school at church and grew up together from there. Long story short: he was obsessed with me, I thought he was nerdy (thus, I was NOT obsessed with him), I broke his heart a few times, I realized he wasn't going away (and he's wonderful), we got married.

Here we are almost 8 months later and we're happy; to make things even better, he's absolutely hilarious. We have an apartment that is way overpriced and has horribly unpredictable street parking but we've made it a home that we love coming back to. We have a cat--Cedric--lovingly adopted a couple of weeks post-wedding.

He's a youth minister at a church near UVa and we adore the new friends and families we have met. We are thrilled that the church has voted to ordain him and nothing makes us warmer inside than to know our first church as a little married family has agreed to ordain him. We are planning to move this summer to Louisville, Kentucky where he'll be getting an M.Div at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The move will be bittersweet as we'll be leaving the youth at the church as well as both of our families in Richmond.

Our immediate future looks fuzzy as we don't really know what's we'll do once we get to Louisville in late summer. I'll graduate in May from nursing school. My deepest worldly desire is to be a stay at home mommy but I look forward to seeing how God uses my nursing education after graduation. Right now we're just looking at it as a means of income while Louie gets started at Southern.

Obviously, I have no theme or organization to what I'll be writing. More another day...