Christmas in Carolina

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

 Some of our Christmas cards!

 The breakfast table...

 London says...
Bundle up - it's cold outside!

 

Merry Christmas, beautiful people.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Surprise snow day in the Carolinas! We were very excited, but London was not so convinced...

A Day in the Life Of

After months and months of anxious anticipation, they're finally here! That's right...pictures of our new home!!

Okay, so it may not be that terribly exciting, but here they are nonetheless...

Pictures of Wake Forest and Southeastern to come soon...Tootles.

Mommies & Midterms

It's been awhile.

I am amazed at the pace at which life is moving. For example:
-We've been seminary students for 57 days.
-We've been in North Carolina for 75 days.
-We've been married for 145 days.
-We've been college graduates for 159 days.
-We're coming HOME in...27 days! (God willing)

See what I mean? On this same note, two very wonderful women in my life, Elizabeth Milstead and Rachel Byrd, are both expecting BABY BOYS in February! This is absolutely incredible to me. Elizabeth, one of the greatest friends and mentors, has been a part of my life for years. We spent time many years ago mud-riding in Dixie, Mississippi, and rolling peoples' houses. I've seen her graduate high school, go through college, operate a snowball stand, and marry an incredible man of God. Rachel, similarly, is both my cousin and my long-time friend. We used to spend hours when we were younger riding really old, rusty bikes around my aunt and uncle's neighborhood in Mobile. Rachel was sitting beside me when I first saw Shamu at Sea World, and she's the person who informed me of the great importance of plucking your eyebrows regularly.

The fact that these two beautiful women are about to become mothers is beautiful, terrifying, and unbelievable...all in the same breath. As a wife of 145 days, children cannot be further from my mind. However, I know that these girls are capable, and that the Lord will ready them, for the miracle that will soon take place in their lives, and I could not be happier for both of them!

In other news, Kyle and I survived mid-terms this past week.  For any who may be wondering, grad school mid-terms aren't very different from undergrad mid-terms. The difference is, mid-terms here are ALWAYS worth at least 20% of your final grade. No more of this "5 tests per semester" fairytale. Here, you've got two shots, so good luck.

For any who may be interested, mid-terms meant that we also redecorated the house this week...with textbooks, note cards, and Starbucks coffee cups.

How to Be A Good Wife

I am greatly indebted to the friend who showed me an article from Good Housekeeping the other day. The article was published in the May 1955 issue, and it was entitled, "How to Be a Good Wife." Underneath the title were several bullet points that illustrated what must be done in order to present yourself and the house to your husband once he returns home from a long day at work. Although some were in fact great ideas, I would like to entertain you with those that were (fortunately) left in the 1950s, along with poodle skirts, beehive hair, and yellow refrigerators.

- Freshen up your make-up and put a ribbon in your hair before he comes home. You should present yourself as a gift to him.

-Never complain if he comes home late, or leaves the house again to visit some other place of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, and his need to unwind.

-Over the cooler months, you should prepare a fire for him to unwind by.

-It is always a good idea to have freshly baked bread ready for your husband when he arrives home - the sweet smell of baking bread will help him to relax and unwind.

...Okay, so I took this last one for a test drive. Kyle and I were given a bread maker when we got married, and it finally came out of the box last night. I have been wanting to use it for a long time, but too apprehensive to do so. Below are the results of my 3-hour bread baking endeavor...

  Step One: Take bread machine out of box. Success!

  The first round of kneading is complete. No catastrophes thus far.

After 2 hours and 55 minutes, I lost all hope when I opened the machine and saw this.

   It made it out alive! And, according to Kyle, it's actually even edible.

Unfortunately, during this long and painstaking process, I neglected to put a ribbon in my hair or start any fires in the middle of the living room. However, I still maintain that this endeavor would satisfy the writers of Good Housekeeping, and I think that they would be even more pleased that I wore this apron while I was baking...

Life, 800 Miles from Home.

After over a month of living in North Carolina, we still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. However, we have been blessed in such amazing ways by our God, our sweet Redeemer, and I could not possibly publish this post without acknowledging all that He has done for us.

When we arrived in Wake Forest on August 1, Kyle and I were immediately discouraged about our housing assignment. What it lacked in lighting, a dishwasher, and a backyard, it made up for with creaky floors, a clothesline, and a broken water heater. I went to sleep that night in tears, begging God to send us home.

The next morning, when we went to sign our Housing Agreement, we made a joke or two about the miscommunication that had taken place regarding our housing assignment. Rather than ignoring our remarks, we were immediately offered a beautiful townhouse in the seminary's newest neighborhood. I wish you could have seen our faces...the blessing came at such a beautiful time! If we had made our comments 5 minutes later, after signing the agreement, it would have been too late! So, we gladly spent all day reloading the Uhaul and moving everything into our newest new home. By the end of the day, we were sweaty, exhausted, and exceedingly grateful.

I cannot even begin to tell you about all of the other things that the Lord has done for us. In a city surrounded by strangers, He has given us friends. In an economy that is releasing workers, He has provided us both with jobs. In a marriage that is new and trying, He has given us joy and patience. And, in those days that we suffer through homesickness, He is restoring our hearts with peace.

There are, of course, a few hard lessons that we've had to learn, and I will mention a few of them for your comic relief:
1.  Kyle: If you work in a bagel shop, no one will assume or treat you as if you have a degree in Business Administration. In fact, they will more likely mistake you for an ignorant high school teenager.
2. Claire: When you become a private trainer, you sign away your physical well-being. It is entirely likely, in fact, that one of your clients may accidentally kick you in the face while completing a hip extension. .
3. Kyle: Greek is just as hard as everyone says it is. 
4. Claire: No matter how hard you study for your weekly Hermeneutics quiz, you will inevitably fail that quiz if you spend all week studying the wrong chapter.
5. Coupon-clipping is not just for elderly ladies or bored housewives. It was actually invented for seminary students.