Time to Blog

Ok, so it has been a long time since we have bloged. We have had a very busy January. The new year started with our overnighter, then a trip to the doctor. Catheryne gets occasional heart paliations and had a bad episode the Friday right after the lock in, so we went to the doctor and they did an EKG. The EKG came back abnormal, so we have spent some time visiting with the cardiologist. It turns out she is fine, she has a condition where blood flows quicker to one side than the other, but it isn't life treatening or harmful. The other tests they did all came back fine-so it is confirmed she marches to a different beat =).

We have had some really cold weather here. Catheryne didn't have school today due to a snow day. The snow didn't last long, but it has been raining like crazy all week with a threat of icing over. So, it is better to be safe than sorry with the way people drive out here.

On another note, we expreienced something that has left California years ago. Roller Skating! Seriously, they still do that out here. We went Saturday night with our church's youth group. Both of us managed not to fall! It was a total time warp. This is a picture one of our girls took, Catheryne is laughing at how long it took to take the picture, and John is reacting in his own way.

We also got our wedding pictures. They turned out AMAZING!

All Nighter/ New Year

We have just gotten back from an all night lock-in with 7th-12th graders. We are not as young as we used to be, but it was fun. John held it down with an intense game called "underground church". Catheryne didn't play-she was making sure kids were behaving in the dark.
We welcomed in the New Year with a great time of prayer and worship. It is amazing to see this generation's love for the Lord. They are truly inspiring. We are not resolution makers, but we are dreamers. We are praying for a great year and success in our careers. We love and miss you all! Happy New Year!

Randomness

We tend to have some very random experiences. Mom-Bennett Mom- sent us a CD of various pictures. There were some pictures on there tat highlight our random experiences. Such as the time we found a mom and her ducklings crossing a busy street. We decided to corral them to a safer area, but then the mommy duck left her babies. We waited for over an hour for her to return, but she never did. Therefore, we took home Hughie, Louie, Dewey, and Quackers. Unfortunately, they did not last the night. It was very traumatic-John performed CPR on them, but it didn't work.

Then there is our obsession with ferrets. We LOVE ferrets, but they probably wouldn't fit well into our lifestyle, or get along with Belle. But, we were determined to have our picture taken with one in New Mexico.

During that same trip to New Mexico, we found a turtle in my Grandma's back yard. It was so cool! We lost it, some how, the next day and we could not find it anywhere.

Tennessee wildlife

Ok, just a short post. On Sunday we saw a hawk eating at the down stairs neighbor's bird feeder. Then yesterday we saw two deer on our back hill. The wildlife out here is AMAZING! We often see cardinals and blue birds in our tree. We see squirrels-which drive Belle crazy. There are even bunnies-again they drive Belle crazy. During the summer we always heard the sounds of cicadas. So cool to have wildlife without even having to drive into the mountains.

Ten Commandments

My Grandpa sent me this, and I thought it was funny and fitting.
Some people have trouble with all those 'shall's' and 'shall not's' in the Ten commandments. Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms.. So, in middle Tennessee they translated the 'King James' into ' Jackson County ' language..... no joke, (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , TN )
(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' before God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff
Now that's plain an' simple. Y'all have a nice day.

Animals

Ok, so we don't have any kids yet, so we dote on our "fur babies" a lot. It seems that so much of our life revolves around our pets. We often find ourselves talking about them to everyone we meet. So here is the top ten list of why our pets rock!

10. They are ours

9. They are named after Disney characters

8. You can blame the funny smells on them

7. Cheaper than fixing the garbage disposal

6. They are comfortable with being naked-all the time

5. The never judge us

4. They are preparing us for real babies

3. Their fur coats keep us warm when they snuggle with us

2. High pitched voices/ laser lights make them a very happy pet-which in turn makes us happy people

1. Costumes make for all the best times!

First Timers

So, we finally decided to break down and start a blog. We have enjoyed reading other people's blogs so we thought- hey, why not? Life in the "country" is very different from life by the coast. Dude is very rarely used out here, and there are new kinds of foods to experience. Although we are not necessarily in the country, compared to Cali- it is. This is the first time away from family during the holidays, which is nice for creating our own traditions, but it adds a sense of sadness to be away from our family during this time. John has been playing off and on with different people; not as much as he wishes, but enough for us to know this is where we need to be. Teaching has been different out here, I seem to have a lot more freedom to do what I want to do. The other thing that is new for us is having a real winter- snow and all.