As this year comes to a close I thought I would take a look back, once again, at the events of the year in the Volker household.

January 2009: Steven and Courtney welcome their new niece, Hollis, bright and early on the first! // Courtney has the honor of being a bridesmaid for Kimberly as she marries Steven!

February 2009: Steven and Courtney have their first Valentines Day as a married couple (and their first Valentines date in several years). Dinner was at The Mint.

April 2009: Courtney looses her job due to company downsizing.

May 2009: Steven and Courtney travel to VA for Jess's graduation! // Courtney's cousin, Jennifer, gets married in TN. However, they are unable to attend.

June 2009: Courtney goes on vacation with her family while Steven is in training. // Steven's sister, Liz, marries Quinn on June 28th! // Steven receives a promotion from Private First Class to Specialist!

August 2009: Courtney gets a new job. (Not in her field but hey, it pays!)

September 2009: Steven starts school again, getting a degree in Criminal Justice online from Liberty University.

November 2009: Steven and Courtney take a (much needed) vacation to Gaitlinburg, TN. // Steven and Courtney have their first Anniversary!! // Steven has a minor motorcycle accident that causes expensive damage. The insurance company declares it as totalled.

December 2009: Steven and Courtney travel to GA for the holidays. // Courtney's cousin, Stephanie, marries Jacob on December 20th! Courtney has the honor of playing the piano for the prelude and ceremony. // Steven starts his (seemingly never-ending) search for a new car.

Now that I read it over I realize we have had an eventful past two months! Hopefully these next few will be less crazy. We have certainly had a very interesting and hard year. But God has been good and kept us alive, healthy, and somehow with enough money to pay all our bills. At least now we know that we have the ability to work through trying times, and enjoy good times. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us in 2010 as we embark on new military adventures. Thank you to all our family and friends who support us! Here's to a new year and new adventures!

For those of you unable to attend Providence's Christmas cantata here is a little music for your enjoyment! I had to compress the movie in order to upload it, so the quality isn't as good as it should be.

It took me WAY longer to create than I originally thought but I am quite happy with outcome of my hard work! I hope everyone who attends will enjoy it as much as I do.

We got our wedding album last night!! It looks AMAZING!! So excited to finally have it!

Also, if you are going to the Christmas cantata at Providence this year be sure to get there at least 20 minutes early. Not only is my dad directing the orchestra in one of my favorite pieces of Christmas music during the prelude, but he had me make slides/movie to go along with it. It's gonna be awesome and you definitely don't want to miss it!

In other news: my father-in-law fell earlier this week and not only twisted his ankle but broke his foot AND leg. He had a few pins put in yesterday and they gave him a walking boot to wear. But I'm sure it still hurts. It is his right leg/foot too so he'll have to drive with his left foot... awkward. Please pray for a swift recovery!

It's our second Christmas together! Christmas is more fun this year because I've had a whole year to decorate and make our apartment feel like home. Which makes all the new ornaments and decorations we have acquired feel more festive. Last night we went to pick out our our second Christmas tree and this is what we came home with:

This is pre-decorated obviously. And yes, it is REAL! It is just not Christmas without a real tree, sorry.

I was waiting for Steven to finish his homework so we could decorate so I put hooks in all our ornaments and set them out on the table. I understand that might qualify me for dork status.

This is our newly acquired angel. I had very strict criteria for a Christmas tree angel. For example: red dress - no white, or tulle, or flimsy fabrics; absolutely positively no angels holding little light bulbs or with fiber optic wings - sorry, it drives me crazy. So you can imagine why I have found finding an angel so difficult. But while we were on vacation we went to this HUGE Christmas store (I was in Heaven). When we wandered by the angel display I stopped to look and there she was, just sitting there, the only one like her and the only one left. I literally bought her off the shelf, no box or anything. I pointed at her and said "Steven, that's her. I don't care what she costs, that's the one I want." So he let me get her and now my tree is complete! She looks a little big in the next picture but it's only because our tree is like four and a half feet tall!

This is our fully decorated beautiful Christmas tree!

We had a wonderful vacation but I think I will post about it later once I get the pictures off my camera and onto the computer. Hopefully tonight!

I did want to share an Anniversary story though. I know that you're probably thinking I am about share some sappy story or whatever. Oh, but no, trust me this is good!

Lets start at the beginning. Yesterday was Steven and I's first Anniversary and instead of going out to dinner and spending a fortune we decided to cook a nice dinner at home. Steven wanted to make it himself and he wanted to make something we don't have often, steak. So we went to the Earth Fare store to get some really nice steaks amongst other ingredients and upon returning home he started dinner. That was all simply background, now we get to the good part. Okay, so we keep our trash can in the laundry room and while we're cooking we just leave the door open for easy access. Well I was in the kitchen for some reason that I can't recal and Steven went to go throw something away. I looked over at him and saw something (well not "something," I knew exactly what it was but just hold on) scurry from behind the trash can back towards the dryer. So in the calmest voice I could muster (cause he hates it when I scream and freak out) I said "Steven, there's a mouse in there, I swear to you I just saw mouse, he headed back for the dryer." Of COURSE, he didn't believe me and thought I was making it up or seeing things. But like a good little husband he started looking for it mainly to appease me. Well, he moved things around and hit the dryer to make noise but... no mouse. However, we keep our plastic bags between the wall and the dryer and when Steven pulled them out to get a better look... SURPRISE!! The mouse came from, not sure where, and landed on his leg which startled him (he won't admit that he jumped back, but he did, probably at the sheer shock that I was actually correct in saying I had seen a mouse). But his being startled, startled me, which startled him more which allowed the mouse time to run away into the living room and disappear. I decided he had gone under the couch but neither he nor I was willing to start pulling things out from under it in order to look for fear that he would run out directly at us.

Since I could not spend my entire Anniversary evening perched on the top of a chair, I grabbed my purse and headed down the street to Lowe's to find a mouse trap... or two. When I got home the mouse still had not made a reappearance so we baited the traps with peanut butter, breaking one in the process. Steven set the only working one and I put it next to the couch (because I was still convinced he was under there). Satisfied that eventually the mouse would be caught I sat down to enjoy my evening. Not even 15 mintues later we heard the trap snap!! Are you kidding me? That was some hungry mouse!

Again, like a good little husband Steven disgarded of the mouse for me. Problem was though, the trap didn't catch it's neck like it's supposed to. Instead it caught it about halfway down it's body, so the poor thing was still moving around. In fear that it would suddenly come back to life (I might have been slightly irrational) I made Steven make sure he was dead. So he took a knife to it and then took it outside. We re-set the trap in case there were more we couldn't see but so far there have been none. I also called the office this morning begging for them to call out the maintence guys to look in the laundry room for any sort of hole that he could have crawled through that they could plug. I didn't have to beg much though cause I think the office was just as worried about having a mouse in one their buildings as I was. So they're supposed to come out soon and search.

My mom's comment to all this was that since we went to Disney World for our honeymoon, Mickey Mouse decided to come visit us for our Anniversary. Thanks, I could have done without that visit though. Anyway, that was my not so fun at the time but kinda funny now story of the day. Enjoy!

Jimmy update: He is coming home this week for Thanksgiving!! The court decided to let the boys come home for the holidays. Not sure exactly what day or for how long but I know that everyone is excited to see him. Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

On another prayer note: Steven and I have a friend from his unit at Fort Bragg who is in need of prayer as well. I am not giving her name simply for privacy reasons. She is married and her husband, who is also in the Army and currently deployed, is abusive. It is a horrible situation so if you think about it, please keep her in your prayers as well! That is really all the detail I feel comfortable giving at this time.

We leave for our vacation tomorrow!! Going to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with a side trip to the Biltmore Estate for our one year Anniversary. We are so excited and can't wait. Planning to go to Dollywood (yes you heard me right we are indeed going to Dollywood, I know, I am from the South), doing lots of hiking and of course shopping, and the Ripley's Aquarium/other attractions. Oh yeah, and did I mention there's an outlet mall? Well we are going to that too!

Motorcycle update:
We still have not heard from the total loss claims adjuster so we do not know exactly how much we will get for the bike. But we are claiming it as a total loss, we are not going to try and repair it. Steven (and the mechanics) did not feel it would safe to ride, that something might go wrong at any time. As much as Steven wants another bike he has decided to hold off for a few years. Reason being because while he is in Special Forces training (which he plans on starting next year) there are times when he gets to come every night. He felt like it would be wiser, easier, and safer if we were to buy a car now and wait on the motorcycle till after he is done with training, we move, and I get my house. So our plan is to take the money from the Motorcycle, and a little from our savings to purchase a low-milage used car for him to drive. The goal is to not have to pull out a loan of any sort. We have started car searching but won't get real serious about it until we hear how much the bike is worth from the total loss guy and we have an actual concrete budget in place. So that's the update!

See yall in a week!

Well the bike is totalled.

The silver lining is that in the three years he's had it, the value only went down by a couple thousand. So if he decides to claim it as a total loss instead of fixing it, we'll get a good bit of the money back. Still not ideal but... could be worse.

So now we're faced with a bunch of questions. Should we use the money to fix the bike and hope that it doesn't have problems later? Should we use the money to help buy a whole new motorcycle? Should we use the money to buy a used car and put a new motorcycle on hold? Ultimately it's going to have to be his decision since it's concerning the vehicle that he has to drive everyday.

I feel so bad for him though. It was his baby and he hates that it's totalled. He didn't think the damage was that bad, but apparently the motorcycle mechanics and insurance adjuster thought so. Oh well, nothing we can do about it now except decide how we want to handle the situation we were given!

I also need to update on my brother-in-law, sorry! They had a hearing a few weeks ago to try and get the bond reduced and it was successful. So both sets of parents got together enough money to pay the bail bondsman and he got both the boys out at the same time. Only catch is that they have to remain in New Jersey. This is a problem for many reasons: job, housing, etc. But so far all of that has worked itself out, at least temporarily. My in-laws are now trying to get the attorney to schedule another hearing to change the stipulations of the bond, allowing the boys to come home for the holidays. Please pray that this happens! It would mean the world for both the boys and our families for them to be able to come home, even for just a little while! Thanks for everyone's prayers and concern up to this point, it has not gone unnoticed and is very much appreciated!

Okay I meant to update everyone on this last week when it happened but hopefully you'll understand why I failed to do so.

Monday morning I got a call from Steven letting me know he'd been in an accident on his motorcycle. Now before I move on HE IS OKAY!! Praise the Lord! Thanks to all the safety classes he took prior to purchasing the bike he knew exactly how to handle the situation properly. Trust me, the accident could have been MUCH worse.

Here's what happened: Steven and, we'll just call him "man with a stupid sign," both turned onto the same road one right after the other. "Man with a stupid sign" went first and then Steven went after him. Now they were turning onto Lynn road which is two lanes in both directions. Steven got into the left hand lane, "man with a stupid sign" got into the right hand lane. Not too far down the road "man with a stupid sign" decided that he didn't want to be going that direction anymore he wanted to go the opposite direction. So instead of turning onto a side street and then pulling back out going in the proper direction like any sane person would do he decided that pulling a u-turn in the middle of a four lane road with cars all around was a good idea! Needless to say it put Steven in a position where he could either hit the car smack dab in the side or lay the bike down and avoid hitting the guy altogether. So of course he did the later, which is why he walked away unscathed. He was sore for a few days and had a little "road burn" on his hip but surprisingly just fine! To top it all off the guy drove off and the police man gave Steven a hard time but I'm convienced the whole thing could have been worse. I mean, had he been in a car... well, you can figure it out!

The motorcycle however is not so fine, it's been at the Harley Davidson shop since last Monday and probably will have to remain there through at least the end of next week. We haven't heard the detailed diagnosis yet. But better the bike than my man!

All I can say is THANK GOD we are leaving for vacation on Saturday, we need it after the month we've had!!

I had the wonderful opportunity to be a "second shooter" at Brian and Brittany's wedding a few weeks ago. Here are few of my favorites for your enjoyment!

Alright, alright I promised an update!

My artwork did not win anything at the fair but that's okay! I enjoy just simply being shown. I'll try again next year.

Both of the weddings we attend were gorgeous and wonderful! I will post pictures later tonight once I am on the right computer. It was a whirlwind of weddings but we had a blast! Next is my cousin Stephanie on December 20, so excited!

Funny story from the Makely wedding: So a little background first, Officers and Enlisted men are not allowed to socialize with each other. You know what I'm talking about, heard of the Officer's club? Anyway, since it can be viewed as fratenization (I know I spelled it wrong) it's generally frowned upon. Okay, now to my story. We had assigned seats at the reception and so we were sitting with another Army family, good in theory right? Well turned out the guy was an officer. I have never seen Steven so uncomfortable in my ENTIRE life, it was HYSTERICAL!! I thought he was going to pee his pants, no lie. Luckily the Officer was really nice about the whole thing and kept telling Steven to breath, that he wasn't in trouble. He eventually calmed down and they talked for awhile but I got a kick out of it!

I have now seen three, count them, three cockroaches in the past three weeks. Three. THREE!!! After the first one I was on the phone with the front office to get on the exterminator's list. He just came today. THANK GOD!! I will kill most bugs but there are two that I just do not handle. And I mean, I won't even get close enough to put a cup over it. Cave crickets and cockroaches. Under NO circumstances will you EVER see me do anything other than scream and run as far away as I possible can whenever they show up. It drives Steven crazy.

The second cockroach made his appearance on a Sunday morning. I woke up to see him scurrying across the bed. Yes, the bed. He was crawling across the covers of my bed. So in typical Courtney fashion, I screamed... waking Steven up... who freaked out cause I was screaming... then realized why I screamed... and immediately went into "kill mode" throwing the cockroach aganist the wall. He later found it and killed, my hero! The third one showed up last night while I was getting ready for bed. I heard a noise and so after getting my glasses so that I could see realized that a cockroach was crawling out of the vent in the bathroom ceiling. By the time I finished freaking out he had turned around and crawled back in. But did that matter? Oh no, I went to get the kill spray and proceded to spray the vent until it started to form condensation. Not even kidding. Then I heard another noise coming from the ventalation system and realized that I've heard this noise several times before in the past, yup, they've been crawling around in there for a while and I've never known it cause I could never see them. Then he, the cockroach, starting making a serious racket so I think I sprayed enough fumes in there that he started dying. Way to go me!

Okay that's enough for now, I'll post more later!

I will update on all the goings on of the past few weeks later today. For now I just wanted to ask, as an Army wife myself, that everyone take the time today to pray for the families at Fort Hood. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of what they are going through. You expect your spouse to be shot at overseas and you prepar yourself for that reality but you never expect it to happen down the street from your house. I have no doubt that the military will be investigating this and taking measures to prevent it from happening again and I pray that they are successful! My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this awful tragedy!

God is good! I logged onto the bank this morning to find that the checking accound had taken a significant, and unexpected, leap. Then I noticed that the monthly Army paycheck had gone through but was for an oddly large sum. My immediate thought was that someone had messed up and put a zero where it didn't belong. So then I logged onto AKO to check the statements... no one made a miskate! **Background info: when you enlist in the Army you receive an elistment bonus that varies in size according to different factors. Once you finish basic training you receive a set amount and then anything over that amount you receive in yearly installments.** Well, this would have been the first year for an installment but Steven and I both had forgotten about the whole thing. So it surprised us today! I assume that we got the installment in October since he signed his contract in October. But it was a WONDERFUL surprise!! I called to tell him right away and he couldn't believe it. We'll have to have an emergency budget meeting tonight to decide how we want to divey it up b/c it DOUBLES our income for this month. It is truely amazing how when you're faithful, in even just a few things, God will reward you when you least expect it. We are so thankful for the unexpected bonus payout! God is amazing!

Sorry for the delay in updating! A LOT has happened so this may be a really long post!

Steven and I have been working on the finances and doing some math and decided a few weeks ago that not only were we in desperate need of a new computer but we could finally afford one! My laptop is awesome but it's been my main computer for four years now, running all the adobe programs and since ALL my design work has been produced on it it's just gotten really slow. Even despite my efforts to keep it clean, constantly dumping files onto an external hard drive and deleting them from the laptop. We're going to keep it and I'll use it whenever I need to take my work away from home, but I'm hoping that by buying a new "main" computer and doing a majority of my work on it that I might be able to extend the life of the laptop by a few years. And when it goes completely dead I'll probably get a new laptop, just perhaps a smaller one or something just for the purpose of taking work away from home when I need to. Anyway, I said all that to say that we finally found a few hours on Sunday to go to the Apple store!! We made our first major purchase in "cash" and it was so exciting (and a little nerve racking)! The Volker's are now the proud owner's of a 24 inch iMac!!! I've spent the past few evenings figuring out how to transfer files between the two computers (I actually figured it out all by myself, be proud!) Last night it took three hours to transfer all the music and about half the photos from my laptop to the desktop! Apparently I have more than I thought :) Now we're just trying to get a hold of the new CS4 programs, hopefully Kristin can get them for us for a little cheaper!

I did a little research yesterday pertaining to the cost of homes in and around the bases that we could be stationed at after Steven completes SF training. (in the US at least that means: Fort Bragg and surrounding areas, Fort Carson and Colorado Springs, Fort Campbell and surrounding areas in both KY and TN, and also Fort Lewis in Washington but I didn't do any research there b/c I'm seriously hoping we don't get stationed there!) We've been told that we get the "opportunity" to name where we want to be stationed, but we know that's kind of an empty promise. But if we get the opportunity then we should take it and make an educated decision. We just can't get attached to that decision, because ultimately they are going to send us wherever they deem necessary!

As of right now, my research has made Fort Campbell (which sits on the state line between Kentucky and Tennessee) look pretty good! The only town close by to Fort Carson in Colorado is Colorado Springs and the cost of homes there is just as expensive if not more than the cost of homes in Raleigh, which is A LOT. Which was a little bit of a bummer because I thought Colorado would be a really cool place to live for a while, but we may not be able to afford a house there. At least one that I would be willing to live in! If we get stationed at Bragg, I refuse to live in and around Fayetteville because I just don't feel safe there even in the daylight. And we can't afford to buy a house inside Raleigh which kinda causes a problem. I'm quite positive that we could find something but it would be really difficult and probably require one or both us to drive a ways to work everyday. But we'll do whatever have to do to find a place to live wherever we get stationed at!

But back to Fort Campbell. Clarksville, TN is like five minutes away and in the listings on just one website a found a TON of houses in what I'm estimating to be our price range. And I'm talking like three bedrooms or more, some with garages, and ALL of them sat on LAND! Only like one or two were all up in their neighbors business which I can't stand. A vast majority of the ones I saw actually had a yard worthy of playing ball in. I couldn't believe the prices! The same size houses in Raleigh or Colorado Springs even were listed for AT LEAST 20,000 if not 30 or 40,000 more! I was in shock, and so excited! I've never been there but you can tell a lot about a place by the way the houses look, in my opinion anyway. I have an aunt and uncle who live right outside Nashville which is only an hour or so away from Clarksville so I may have them investigate it for me! My uncle used to be in the Airforce, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving me their opinion on the town and the base.

We still have more to discuss, obviously, but we had a goal to be in a house by the time we were restationed so the cost of homes will play a major role. Fort Campbell would also be a good choice for us because it's only three hours away from Dalton, where my ENTIRE extended family lives so that that would be nice for us. And it's only nine hours away from Raleigh so we would be able to visit our parents and friends and vise versa, without having too much trouble. But like I said, these are just preliminary findings there's still more to talk about! But so far... I really like Kentucky/Tennessee! (At least as far as the US bases go)

WE WROTE OUR LAST CHECK FOR THE PIANO TODAY!!!!! Now we are just down to the Steven's credit card and after that we'll be DEBT FREE!! We are sooo excited!

I went to get my haircut last night. I had the stylist put in some short layers throughout the back and she took about two inches off my length. It feels so much healthier and lighter. I never realize how long my hair has gotten until I go to the salon and they cut off a few inches! I had to see a new girl (well new to me at least) last night because the girl I was going to apparently left. But I really liked her, she was nice and knew what she was doing so I'll probably go back to her again when the time comes.

Afterwards I went to Michael's to get my artwork because it was SUPPOSED to be done last night. They hadn't even done a thing to it yet! I was so not a happy camper. They asked me if I had gotten a phone call saying it was finished and I was like 1. I haven't been home yet today to see if anyone's called and 2. the date on my receipt when I dropped it off TWO WEEKS ago was today and 3. anytime I have brought things here to be framed I have NEVER received a phone call to say it was finished. The guy was like "well we have a large number of orders." I DON'T CARE! They've had it for two weeks and there is someone there from 10 in the morning till 9 at night seven days a week. There is NO reason why they couldn't get it done in a two week time period. None. Never mind that when I took it in I made certain that it would definitely be ready in time for me to get it to the fair this weekend, and they assured me it would be ready by last night. So then the guy was like "I probably can get it done tomorrow" and I said "well, I HAVE to HAVE to HAVE to have it by Friday and no later than Friday because it has to be at the fairgrounds for judging THIS weekend." So then he goes "I'm making a note to have it ready Thursday at the latest." And I'm thinking you better have it ready Thursday or I'm sending my husband in here to get my money back cause this is ridiculous. They're teetering on that line of a semi-satisfied customer and one that is NEVER going to have things framed there again. And I'll tell you what if they don't give it back to me in time for me to take it to the fairgrounds this weekend and therefor cost me my chance at getting into the art show... oh, I don't even have words.

Yesterday was my surprise outing for Steven. He has been so stressed out, tired, and working so hard lately that I decided to use a little of my hard earned money to take him to the Spa. So I called about a month ago to book an appointment and found out that this week all services were 25% off. Score! So I booked both of us a one hour Swedish massage but I didn't tell him anything about it. Last night I told him we had to go somewhere but that it was a surprise so I would drive. The Spa happens to be in the mall so there were a million reasons Steven could think of for us being at the mall. As we walked past the Spa I turned and reached out to grab the door but he kinda kept walking a little until he realized I had stopped. Then he goes "We're going to the Spa?!" That's when I told him I had booked us a massage and he then proceded to wear the surprised face. Steven can only pull off acting surprised if he's REALLY surprised, his eyes get all big like a kid on Christmas morning who has just seen presents spilling out into the living room and his jaw drops open and then his face freezes there for about a minute. It's quite hysterical actually!

We got all checked in and headed for the locker rooms to change. After that we went to sit in the "quiet room." That's when I gave Steven his instructions for the evening: "DO NOT TALK, just be quiet and relax." I think it's probably the most difficult thing he ever had to do, but he needed to do it!

Our massages were... AMAZING!! I decided that if I ever have money I will so go to the spa for a massage at least once a month! Steven got done a few minutes before me and so he went out to tip the girls (I had already paid beforehand) and apparently enjoyed it immensly because he gave them a wonderful tip. He told me later in the car that he was so relaxed afterwards that he couldn't even get off the table, haha. He said he felt sorry for the poor girl though because since he has so so so many muscles, especially upper body, and they were all so tense that she was having to work like twice as hard to get them to relax. He talked about his massage the ENTIRE way home! He even at one point announced that he wanted a "Spa fund" so that we could go more often, haha. I think my little surprise worked wonders! Hopefully he'll stay destressed for a little while!

What a long weekend! Here's what went down:

Friday night was Senior Night for the Leesville Symphonic Band. So Steven and I went to the football game to see my brother get announced and my parents walk down the field with him, etc. *side note: Steven ALWAYS carries a knife with him, and usually always this one knife in particular that has a clip on it which he clips onto his pants pocket. So you can see that he's carrying a knife* As we were walking into the stadium the officer noticed this and asked him to go back to the car and put it away! So I went on in and Steven "went back to the car" which means he really just walked away, waited a few minutes, put the knife all the way down in his pocket and then walked back in. As he was walking back in the officer saw his dogtags and apologized to him, saying that had he noticed earlier that he was a soldier he wouldn't have made him put the knife away. Lovely. The game was a lot of fun though! Afterwards I took Steven home b/c he had to leave to go down to Bragg for drill weekend and then I met my family/the Goodwins/the Benfields at Char Grill for dinner.

Saturday was equally exciting. My day was pretty standard: piano student, errand running, etc. But Saturday night was Katherine's Bachelorette party/Lingerie Shower. So much fun! We met at her old roommate's apartment to open gifts and then from there we went to the Twisted Fork for dinner. I knew no one except for Katherine and her sister so I really had to step out of my box but I think I did so quite successfully! They went on to do other things after dinner but it was already late and I had to get up real early yesterday so I went on home.

Sunday morning I played the offertory (sp?) in church. I was nervous simply because it's been at least a year since I played in front of an audience. But I did well! I mangaed to cover up any mistakes so that no one (even the musicians in the crowd) would have noticed. I can't wait to play in church again! Afterwards I went to have lunch with my family and then cleaned the apartment, went the grocery store, and made dinner. Whew! After Steven got home last night he had several things to do for school and so I watched a movie I had taped earlier and did the laundry. It was really late before we got in the bed so we're both really tired this morning!

To top everything off I have repeatly tried to take off my left pointer finger this past weekend. Saturday a bra decided to attack it and the little closer prongs ripped off some of the skin, making it bleed. Then Sunday I was chopping onions for the casserole I was making and I had gotten down to that last little bit of onion. The skin was slicker than usual and caused the knife to slip and get my finger instead. Luckily I have good reflexes and got out of the way before it cut to deep or too long. Still though, it was bleeding and actually burned really bad. I've never cut myself with a knife before so it was an interesting experience. Then this morning I decided to shut that same finger in the bathroom door. Wonderful.

During drill the new Commander came by to talk to Steven's unit. He then had them write on little 3x5 cards who they thought was the best Soldier, the best NCO (non commissioned officer), and one other thing that I can't remember. Then on the other side they had to write who they thought was the worst Soldier, etc. Well afterwards, Steven said people kept coming up to him and saying things like "what's up best Soldier?" even people he didn't really know or interact with. He said that a majority of the unit put him down for best Soldier (and it was anonymous so people totally could have voted for themselves, but instead they voted for Steven). He was thrilled, and shocked (I'm not shocked at all). I think that really shows how hard Steven works to be not only a good Soldier but a good man, and the fact that people voted for him over themselves really a testament his character. The fact that people that don't even know him have taken notice to his character and his work ethic really speaks volumes and I'm quite proud! The cards really don't mean anything except now this new commander knows Steven's name and knows that he is the overwhelming favorite Soldier in the unit and works hard.

I'll update on tonight's exciting events tomorrow!

The AC is fixed!!

Today starts a CRAZY month for us. It's literally just one thing after another on our calender. I am excited about it but Steven always seems to get in a mood when we have a lot to do. Maybe he won't have such an attitude this time! This weekend is drill weekend for him and he has a PT (physical fitness) test which I know he is just going to blow away. I have a bachellorette party for my friend Katherine and I am looking forward to it!

Friday night is Senior Night for the Leesville Band. I just can not believe that my baby brother is a senior this year. I think what scares me most is that since he is getting older it means I am getting MUCH older! But that doesn't matter, I am very very proud of my brother and he is growing into a wonderful young man!

Still no word from my in-laws on Jimmy yet. Hopefully he is doing okay. Steven and I plan on sending him a card soon to let him know that we love him and are praying for him.

I woke up with a lovely migraine this morning so you can imagine how difficult my day has been thus far. Hopefully I'll make it through to the end of the day (sometimes I just can't). I really wish there was some kind of magic pill you could take and NEVER have them again! I have way way way too many and after 22 years it's kinda getting old.

Our air conditioning unit decided to quit on us at somepoint Monday afternoon. When we got home and found it broken we called the maintenance guys who actually came right away. Problem was though that since our building is new they don't have the parts stocked to fix anything in our building. Wonderful. So he told us that he would go pick up the parts yesterday and come back to fix it... yesterday. He sounded like he knew exactly what was wrong and that it wouldn't be an issue. Aparently not! I got home yesterday to find a note saying that they worked for hours and couldn't figure out what was wrong, they would be back today. Lovely. I am really hoping that when I get home in a few hours that my lovely ac is on and my apartment is quite chilled. Lucky for us a cold front came through Monday night so we haven't had any issues with it being an oven. But, I'm still getting over a sinus infection and so can't have the windows constantly open. So my dad was gracious enough to bring by a couple desk fans to help keep us cool at night!

It better be fixed when I get home!

I realized that I forgot to update everyone on probably the biggest news of the past few days. My in-laws got a call this past weekend from my brother-in-law Jimmy saying that he had been in jail for the past week and a half (two weeks now) in New York City. The good news is that Jimmy really didn't do anything wrong, the bad news is that it's going to be hard to prove it. My mother-in-law drove up there Sunday and got to see him briefly yesterday, not sure how long she's going to stay up there. His bond is set at $150,000 so obviously we can't get him out but, there's supposed to be a hearing either this Wednesday or next to try and get that amount reduced. The actual trial could take 18 months! I sure hope he doesn't have to stay in there that long, especially since the poor boy is innocent.

Here's my understanding of what happened. Jimmy has been working (if you can really call it working) for this sign spinning company, you know all the kids you see on the street corners with the big cardboard signs throwing them around in the air. For some reason Jimmy and his friend were in New York City for some sort of work related event. His boss asked him to pick up a package at the post office so Jimmy and his friend went to pick it up. Turns out the package was full of illegal drugs and the post office new it and had called the police who were there to arrest whoever came to pick it up. So Jimmy, his friend, and some other kid that was with them were arrested even though they had no idea what the package was. Apparently some rival company sent the package to the company Jimmy works for to try and shut them down. But it's all circumstantial which is why Jimmy and his friend are still sitting in jail with such a high bail. The third kid that was with them has two attorneys for parents and so they posted bail for him and they're trying to help Jimmy and his friend as best they can.

The good news is that Jimmy has been turning to God through all this, even attending daily Bible studies. I hope that maybe this was what he needed to finally see that he needs to change his life around, that he really does need God. He wrote a letter home to his parents and while I haven't read it myself I have heard that you can tell his way of thinking has drastically changed.

Please pray, not only that he can get out of jail without too much pain and suffering, but also that he grows in his relationship with God through this. That he will continue to seek God even after this is all over. Thank you!

I don't think we sat down at all last weekend! I am so tired right now, but we had a TON of fun!

It started with a houswarming party for Katherine and Eric. Kristin went with us and we had a ball! Their house is so cute, and there were sausage balls so I was in heaven. Then Steven and I went to help Brittany and Brian move in/unpack. Steven and Brian organized movies and "fixed" the satellite while Brittany and I unpacked the ENTIRE kitchen and started washing/organizing everything. Now who do you think was actually working? Afterwards we went to dinner with them and had an amazing time!

Sunday wasn't any slower either. Between church, lunch with the Volkers, shopping/errand running, laundry, and small group we were exhausted! I found the most perfect fall placemats/napkins which Steven let me get. I'm so excited about them... perhaps I will take a picture of our beautiful fall table and post it here! We also had to make a pit stop at the Apple store. You'd think it would be me wanting to go in but it was actually Steven. He wanted to know how much my new computer is going to cost us when we actually do get to buy it (hopefully before the end of the year).

Funny story from the weekend though (and Steven is NEVER going to let anyone forget this)! He got up early Saturday to help Brian do some of the heavy moving. When they got to the house there was a priest there to bless the new house. I wasn't there so I'm not exactly sure what goes on during a blessing but apparently it involved sprinkling Holy water around and through the house. Steven was waiting patiently for the priest to finish and at one point thought he was going to be in the priest's way. So he stepped a little to the side, to which the priest responded by telling Steven that it was only water and proceded to douse my husband in Holy water. I think I've had to hear this story about ten times already, although I have to admit it's pretty funny!

Here's a preview of the newest masterpiece! I'll post photos of it in the frame once I get it back.

I mentioned earlier that Steven was extremely sick over Labor Day weekend. Well as it turns out we got a call from the urgent care doctor a few days ago that I had taken him to letting us know that his test came back and was positive for the swine flu! Thanks for letting us know AFTER he's completely better! I guess there wasn't a quick culture for that in the office and so they had to send it out. Just kinda would've been nice to know while he was actually sick! On the doctor's office note, I had to go myself today. My sinuses have been hurting off and on and at varying degrees for a few weeks now so I knew I had a sinus infection. I finally decided to call and make an appointment this morning. I knew from prior experience that if I go in too early they would just tell me to wait a few days and come back so I was trying to wait as long as possible. Turns out I waited just long enough, they concurred with my diagnosis! So I went straight to the pharmacy to pick up my meds and take them, it's a tiny bit better now but still hurts pretty bad. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

I finished my artwork for the fair! I'm going to scan a copy of it tonight so I'll post a picture soon. Steven and I are taking it to Michael's after dinner tonight to pick out a frame/matts and then beg and plead with them to get it done before October 9th, which is when it has to be at the fairgrounds for judging. I'm pretty sure they should have enough time to get it done without a problem though!

Well I finally did it today, I finally called and talked to the Special Forces recruiter myself! I was never really worried or upset about Steven joing the SF but I just had so many questions and never could find answers. So I called the man, and got a lot of information that I didn't know before, and that surprisingly makes me feel TONS better about this whole decision!

First off, we were under the impression that SF training lasted for two years. Yeah, I know! But as it turns out it's only going to last between 52 and 56 weeks. Hooray!

Training is divided into five phases. During phases 1, 3, and 5 he'll be gone the whole time and I won't be able to talk to him. BUT, during phases 2 and 4 he gets to come home every night!! I thought he was going to be gone for the entire length of training so this is AWESOME news!

Also, wherever we get stationed once his training is finished is where we'll stay until his contract is up. SF soliders don't get moved around like everyone does.

Now that we have more info, we have a lot of decisions to start making! For example, are we going to move closer to Bragg while he's in training or stay where we are and he can drive the hour there and back every day. And are we going to try and find him a car so that he doesn't have to ride his motorcycle and I don't have to take him/pick him up. Also where do we prefer to be stationed at, cause we at least get a chance to voice our opinion. It'll be an interesting next couple of months!

Anyway, I just wanted to share all my new information. I feel like now that my questions have been answered and I know a little more, I can really be the supportive wife that I need to be in order for him to make it through this training.

Well we had a tiny issue this holiday weekend. Steven started feeling bad Friday night and then Saturday evening started running a fever of 101.5, fun right?! Sunday morning he still had a fever but we managed to bring it down to normal after several rounds of tylenol (sp?) and he was feeling better. But then while we were out on the lake his fever spiked again to 102.5. He was wrapped up in a blanket, it wasn't cold outside, I felt so bad for him. It took several more rounds of tylenol but I finally got that fever to start breaking around 11:30 and was able to go to bed. Then Labor Day rolled around, and he woke up with no fever at all and insisting he was fine. I didn't believe him, and took him to the urgent care anyway (which ended up being smart because his fever spiked again while we were there). After almost THREE hours at the urgent care and multiple tests and a steroid shot to reduce swelling in his throat we learn that he doesn't have the flu, strep throat, or mono. "But you're definately sick and contagious for 24 hours" were the doctor's exact words. So we cancelled all our plans for the day, much to Steven's dismay. I went to the pharmacy, picked up all his favorite "sick" foods, and played nurse for the rest of the day. It was actually quite nice to just pile on the couch, be lazy, and watch tv all day with him. It sucked for him I'm sure, being sick and all, but it was still nice.

He conviently had the day off today as well which ended up being nice for him. I left for work giving him strict instructions to stay in bed or the couch and watch tv/movies, play video games, and do homework all day. Did he listen to me? Of course not! He doesn't like being a patient, I pretty much have to force him to be one. And since I'm not there to force him, he's ignoring me and cleaning the apartment. Which I admit, is very nice of him to do so. But still, he deserves to be lazy for one more day!

Jess got to come and visit for a few days! We've had a lot of fun while she's been here. I hate that she has to go back to Floriday soon.

Steven started school this week. So far, he's off to a good start. He has been diligent about his reading and really wants to work ahead so hopefully he will get the chance to do that. I am so happy to see that he is excited about school. Especially since it was like pulling teeth to get him there!

Not sure if I've mentioned this before but Steven got a pseudo promotion. And I say pseudo because you have to attain a certain amount of time in rank to be promoted, and he won't have enough time until December or so. However, his commander didn't want to wait until then to give him responsiblities of a SGT. So he is still a Specialist but he's doing the work of a Sergant (spelling?!) He is really excited about this especially because that means he'll be all the more likely to get the promotion once he is eiligable for it! My little over achiever, I'm so proud!

If I slack off with this updating thing again, then let me know!

Steven starts class today! He's aiming right now for a Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. Taking classes online from Liberty. It was a nightmare trying to get all the paperwork done on time (since the military pays for his education, there is a TON of paperwork and imaginery hoops to jump through) but it finally got done in the nick of time! I think he's going to knock out most of his reading/note taking during work since he has so much downtime riding in the truck. Which is good because then his evenings won't be filled with school! I think he's going to do great, I'm so proud of him going back to school!

I got a temporary job to hold me over until I can a graphic design position. I'm working reception at a Volvo dealership in time. It's boring, but I get a lot of reading in, and I can sometimes work on other things while answering the phones. It's a paycheck though!

We've decided to take a vacation for our anniversary this year. Going to Gaitlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Asheville/surrounding area. We are really excited and have a lot of things planned to do, including going to the Biltmore (it's supposed to be decorated for Christmas!). My Granddaddy was extremely gracious and allowed us to use one of their timeshare weeks/places so that we didn't have to pay for a hotel stay. We are really grateful and we can't wait!!

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've written anything here! I need to try and do better. Here's the catch up:

*Liz and Quinn got married several weeks ago! It was a beautiful wedding in the rose garden, way super hot, but still beautiful. Steven and I had a lot of fun that weekend hanging out with his family and grandparents (whom we hardly ever get to see because they live so far away). 

*My sister's job in GA is going well and almost over. I think she's had a lot of fun so that's good. She's actually coming home briefly tomorrow so that she can go to Mary Hannah's wedding Saturday. We moved all of her things into her new apartment at school the other day, without her, which was entertaining.

*Tyler is excited about starting his senior year soon. He is going to be one of the bus captains for band, perfect! 

*Jimmy graduated from high school last month. Steven had to miss it due to training at Fort Bragg but I got the chance to go. It was still the same as when I graduated! 

*I am still jobless but still searching. The unemployment funds quit flowing in a couple of months so this is crunch time. I've decided to start teaching piano lessons, not because I can't find a job but rather because I've been wanting to since I graduated college. I just never did have the time between planning a wedding, working full time, and trying to be a housewife to a husband who works so much I hardly see him! Since I have more time than I know what to do with now, I thought it looked like a good time to start. Who knows, maybe I'll never have to work full time again! I've done a lot of work contacting other piano teachers that I know as well as churches (schools are next on my list) to try and get people to pass along my information whenever someone inquires of them. Hopefully when school starts I'll get a few takers! I'm also going to try and bump up the freelance business. It's slow taking off also, but I've already got two semi-regular customers so hopefully once they start talking about me to their friends I'll get a few more. 

*Steven has decided to join the Special Forces, not sure if I've mentioned that one yet or not. As of right now the plan is to sign up after Christmas, and then whenever training starts he'll be gone or at least semi-gone for about two years. I know, it sounds crazy but it really doesn't bother me that badly. I've been away from him before while we were dating and I'll do it again. It's just part of the life that I signed up for and I'm really okay with that. I have a husband who LOVES being in the Army and is proud of what he does and I couldn't ask for more! 

That's all for now, I'll try to update more later!

Today has been interesting and it's only 10:30 in the morning! I have to explain what happened last weekend in order for this to make sense. Steven's drill schedule indicated that he was supposed to be at Brag for drill LAST weekend and therefor he went. But... nobody was there! He finally found the Sergeant who told him that drill had been moved to THIS weekend. Nobody called to inform of the change, nobody e-mailed to inform of the change... Steven was NOT happy. So he came home thinking that he was supposed to be there tomorrow (Saturday) since drill ALWAYS starts on Saturday's and nobody (including the Sergeant) had indicated otherwise. 

And then this morning happened. One of Steven's friends started texting him at 7 this morning wandering where he was... APPARENTLY drill started TODAY on a FRIDAY! So take a Steven that was already irritated about last weekend's mix up and multiply that times about 150 and you have the irritated Steven this morning. He got up and started going through the file box for his official orders which, of course, indicated that his two week drill didn't start until Monday. Then he turned on the computer and checked his Army e-mail again which, of course, had no correspondence from the Sergeant to tell him that he needed to be there today! So I got up and grabbed the packing list he had been given for the two week stint and started gathering things just in case he needed to leave right away. He FINALLY got a hold of the Sergeant and promptly relayed the whole thing, informing him that he would be there in the morning. The Sergeant said that was fine, he wouldn't be in trouble, and could just make today up some other time.

CRAZY! The disorganization is astounding! Now I see why Steven always complains about the Reserves!

I've decided not the let this whole unemployment thing get me down. I know God has some kind of plan for Steven and I so I just have to wait for it to unfold. However uneasy that may be for me to do! I decided to focus on the good things that have come from my being at home lately instead of the bad things. For instance I get to go and babysit/watch my niece at least one afternoon a week which allows my sister in law to get housework done without having to worry about watching Holly. Can't do that while working! I've also been able to dedicate a whole lot more time to my online store: making new designs and coming up with new ways of promoting. Also can't do as much of that while working! I have even had more time to do things like practice the piano and focus on my artwork which I was having trouble scheduling in while I was working. I'm not saying that I want to stay unemployed... God only knows how much I need and want to be working... but it has been nice to take a break and focus on more important things! 

I have been helping my brother with a project for school. Every year the band has an end of year banquet that the junior class puts on for the seniors. Well this year my brother is a junior and his job in the process is to put together the senior slide show... and I got asked to help. Since I LOVE my brother dearly I couldn't say no. So he has been over almost every day for a week and half now trying to get this thing put together. Problem is, there are WAY TO MANY seniors! Almost forty of them and at three pictures a piece that's at least 120 pictures that have to be scanned in and then put together in a cohesive slide show. Whew! Hopefully it will get finished soon.

Liz and Quinn (and Holly) are coming for dinner Saturday night. It'll be the first time that they have been to our place and we're excited to have them over! Their wedding is coming up in June, the day after Steven gets back from two weeks of training! We just found out a few weeks ago that we are actually IN the wedding party. I tried on my dress yesterday, it's pink!! Almost sun-dress like which is nice since the wedding is outside at the end of June, much more comfortable to wear a sun-dress than some nice fancy one. It's going to be a beautiful wedding, I am sure of it!

Taking a brief break from the job searching to update! 

No job prospects yet. Lots of resumes/portfolio links sent but no result yet. My mother in law asked a friend of theirs who is in the design business if he could help out in anyway. He suggested I sign up for Linkedin (which I've already done!) and that if I send him my resume/portfolio then he'll pass it along to as many people as he can! Awesome! So thankful that he is willing to help me out! Applied for unemployment benefits the other day, still trying to figure out how all of that is supposed to work. 

Steven and I went to Lynchburg this past weekend for Jess' graduation! We had such fun! Ben Stein was the commencement speaker and he did a great job, we thoroughly enjoyed listening to him speak. Stupid me forgot to bring sunscreen so I ended up with burnt shoulders by the time graduation was over. Oh well, I won't make that mistake again! Pictures to come later.

Hopefully this weekend we'll get a chance to go with the Volker's out to the lake and take the sailboat out for the first time this spring/summer! Can't wait! 

I get to watch my niece again soon! That is probably the only nice thing about not having a job. I get to periodically play with Holly during the afternoons so Liz can get work done. So much fun! Steven got to play with her some this weekend. He is so funny with her! At first he's all cautious and then he just starts to have a ball! Too cute! 

I had a marvelous birthday! Steven took a personal day from work so that he could spend the entire day with me and still get paid. He made me breakfast and then we took a little day trip and had a blast. 

My dad's surgery went well the other day. He's not allowed to lift anything for a while but he'll be be just fine! Kristin is finishing up the school year. She got an amazing summer job with a Duke program, similar to governor's school except kids pay to attend. Anyway, she'll be teaching a class for high school students at UGA. She's gonna do great! I hope she has fun too. 

Still no job prospects yet but I'm still looking. I've been attending seminars and researching how to sell online so that maybe I can start making more of a profit from my etsy store. I figured I might as well take advantage of the time! If you're interested in helping me advertise, let me know! 

Wow! It's almost been a month since I last wrote anything. I am so sorry for the delay in news but life has been quite hectic in the Volker household this month. 

Let me start with the first major piece of news. I was working for a non-profit, yes "was," which meant that everyone's salary depended on donations. Well, since people are so freaked out (and for absolutely no reason in my opinion) there has been a serious lack in donations. As a result they could not afford to pay my salary any more. Therefor, I am without a job. I have been looking everyday all month long but apparently there is a slump in hiring as well. I've decided to take this opportunity to really bump up my Etsy shop so any help in advertising would be much appreciated! I'm considering possibly looking into freelancing but the thought kind of scares me. It keeps looking more and more like that is what I am supposed to do though hopefully God shows me how do it! 

Steven has been great through everything! When things like this happen I tend to be real hard on myself and have a slightly negative attitude but Steven has really changed that! All I've heard from him are positive comments and encouragement which has been awesome. 

We are starting to see that God has some plan going on here. At the beginning of March Steven was promoted to full time at work, a full three or four months before he was technically supposed to be. It really didn't change anything except that he was offered benefits. At the time we didn't need them because we had health insurance and such through my work. He was eligible to apply for benefits the same day that I was let go. That was no coincidence! Had he not been promoted early we would be without health insurance right now. God certainly has something going on and I hope that we will see it soon but until then we're just going to have to trust Him!

My baby brother's birthday was yesterday, he turned 17! I can't believe he is getting so old... mainly because it means that I am getting really old!! My dad is having surgery at the end of the month, nothing major but please pray that everything goes well and that he recovers quickly (for my mom's sake!) 

Jess is graduating in a few weeks!!!! Hooray!! We are going up to Liberty to see her graduation. It'll be the first time I been back to campus since I graduated. Hopefully it's not to weird for me! 

Steven is trying to get back into the school scene. He has to have a bachelor's degree in order to attend officer's school in the future. So he's trying to get some clep tests and classes scheduled to get as much finished as possible before the end of this year. After that we are talking about him joining the Special Forces. He's wanted to join so badly for so long and I never would let him. Then I got to wondering why I wasn't letting him and I really didn't have a good reason so I started researching the Special Forces, as did he. After that I really didn't have a reason at all to keep him from joining (except for maybe the crazy long training). We're still praying about it and everything but it's looking more and more like this time next year Steven will be in training for the Special Forces. But more on that later because this post is getting crazy long! 

We had so much fun with everyone Friday night! Hopefully we can have game night again sometime soon.

Steven went to drill at the base this past weekend and he had so much fun. He was selected by his supervising officer to attend a dinner this Friday. The dinner is for non-commissioned officers only. But they were asked to select the hardest working, most diligent soldier in their group (whatever it's called, I can never remember) to invite along. And they selected my Steven without any hesitation! I'm so proud!

We got a chance to talk to someone last night about our big decision. It was an enlightening conversation and we learned several things that we didn't know before but that significantly affects our decision. (Thank you Mom for the tip!) So now we have even MORE to think about and talk over. But, I'd rather have more to think about and be more informed than be uninformed and make a seemingly blind decision. Hopefully all this works out soon, it's starting to keep me awake at night.

Steven finally got a chance to go to Kerry Catherine yesterday, we've almost got this whole ring debacle finished! Almost there...

Sorry for the lack in posting lately. Steven and I have been quite busy. We had a great time visiting with my grandparents a few weekends ago while they were in town. I got to get a few new clothes for my birthday! Last weekend, Jess came to visit us and we had a ton of fun! Friday night we took her out for her birthday and had a blast. Then Saturday Steven went hiking with Malcolm and Jess and I had a girls night back at the apartment.

Speaking of Steven's hiking trip... they hiked all the way downtown then slept in the wood somewhere and hiked to church Sunday morning. My husband is crazy! I don't get the whole sleeping in the woods thing but hey, if it makes him happy...

Tonight we're having several other couples over for a game night. We're looking forward to it. Everyone is bringing their games and we're just going to pick a few to play and order some pizza. It should be fun!

My grandparents are coming today! I'm so excited about getting to see them. Since we stayed in Raleigh for Christmas this year I haven't seen them since the wedding. Tomorrow I get to go super early birthday shopping with them. Yay for new clothes!! 

We got our federal tax refund today, whohoo!! Now if we could just get the state one too...

I'm learning a lot about technology this week. I found two awesome new tools that I'm having to learn but so far am loving the results! Google has two programs, an analytics program and a data feeds program. I just signed up last week for the analytics program and love it! It updates everyday which is wonderful and tells me everything I could possibly want to know about my online store. For example, I get to see how many people visit, returning v. new customers, how many pages people look at, how fast they leave, and the list goes on and on. It's wonderful and is helping me out so much! I can also see which pages people visit the most often which will help me tailor my products. I can't wait to see what happens as I continue to work on my site! The data feeds program is awesome as well. Every week it goes to my store, pulls any new items and adds them to google products search!! Can't wait to see how that affects visits to my store! 

In Volker news: 

• My cousin Stephanie got engaged last night!!!!!!  I am so excited for her and Jacob, they are so precious together! Trust me, there will be more updates on this in the months to come. 

• All of the wedding pictures have officially been ordered! Now we just have to wait for them all to come in. I think between me, my mom, and my grandparents we probably ordered over 200 pictures! I will post some as soon as I get them.

• We went to Steven's parent's for dinner the other night. I got to hold my little niece for a good long while! She's getting so big and she's starting to coo already! So cute! 

• Steven is officially a full time employee at Brinks!! Apparently it was a big upset at work because he got promoted to full time after only three months of work and there are still part-timers that have been there for a year or more. But they really really love Steven because he's a really really hard worker and so they promoted him first! I'm so proud! 

• I am constantly adding new items to my store and hoping to bring in some business. If you know anyone interested in buying anything, pass my contact info along!

• My grandparent's are coming into town this weekend to celebrate birthdays (a little early!). So I get to go shopping on Saturday! I'm really excited to see them. 

• Jess, my college roommate, got to come visit this past weekend. She only stayed for a night but we had so much fun! We played to the Wii for quite a while with Steven and then they tried to teach me to play Mario. Very entertaining to say the least! Poor Steven, I don't think he got to sleep much that night because we stayed up so late talking! I can't wait to see her again!

I think that's enough news for now! 

Steven and I have started discussing what the next step is going to be with the Army and his career. We would both really appreciate everyone's prayers as we continue to talk about this and try to figure out what God wants us to do. We love you and thank you!

Wow. It has been a while since I posted anything. Sorry about that, I guess life just has us really busy lately. So here are some updates.

Steven's ring problem is solved, we hope. Just waiting on his new one to get sized properly. So thankful that it did not turn out to be a huge issue!

I started a new online store called Rhapsody Creative Studios. (There's a link to it from this blog on the right.) I am so excited about this new venture. I am designing mainly wedding invitations for now but hopefully soon will start branching out into baby announcements, shower invitations, graduation announcements, and personalized stationary. Let me know if you're interested in anything, I have no problem doing custom designs! I am really excited and hope that it takes off in the next few months. 

That is pretty much all the news I have for now. I hope to find more time to post things in the next few weeks! 

We have been having an issue with Steven's ring. The outer sides of the ring were dyed black, and they were supposed to be dyed all the way through so that the color wouldn't chip. But sure enough, after just a few weeks of him wearing the ring the color started to chip. That was simply unacceptable to me! It took me a month of telling Steven that it wasn't supposed to do that and to take it back for him to actually do it. 

But he finally went to Kerry Catherine and showed them what was happening. They took the ring and sent it back to the manufacturer (it's one of the few pieces that they don't make themselves). They called yesterday to tell us that the manufacturer can't fix it and better yet doesn't even know why it's not dyed all the through and chipping. 

So needless to say we have to get a new ring and Kerry Catherine doesn't want us to get the same one for obvious reasons. I'm not to happy about that because that ring was just so Steven. But the owner picked out a couple other rings that she says are similar and thinks Steven will like so we're going to look at them on Saturday. I know one thing though, if these rings cost more than the one I bought then I better not have to pay them any more money! And if they're cheaper then I better get a refund for the difference! But they've been so good to us that I'm sure they won't rip us off. So that's the drama of the week! 

Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy to your own note, erase my answers, enter yours. Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up!

1. What is your name: Courtney

2. A four Letter Word: coal

3. A boy's Name: Charlie

4. A girl's Name: Christina

5. An occupation: chef

6. A color: chartreuse

7. Something you wear: coat

8. A food: chocolate

9. Something found in the bathroom: conditioner

10. A place: California

11. A reason for being late: cooking

12. Something you shout: crap!

13. A movie title: Cinderella

14. Something you drink: Coca-cola

15. A musical group: Chicago

16. An animal: Chimpanzee

17. A street name: Capital Blvd

18. A type of car: Century

19. Something scary: clowns

20. Ice cream flavor: coffee

I got some major progress done on my shop this weekend. I finalized a logo, made a banner for the top of the website, and started researching some pricing/shop policies. By the end of this week I hope to have written all the shop/pricing policies, a business card, letterhead, and invoice. And maybe even a few designs finished and uploaded, but we'll see how the other things go first! I am so excited! 

I had a blast with the girl's on Saturday. Dinner was so fun, I can't wait to do it again soon! Last night we went to visit the in-laws to watch the Super Bowl and celebrate Steven's Dad's birthday which is tomorrow. We had a good time, but I got so tired I actually fell asleep during the game. How lame am I?! 

We spent part of the weekend adding things to the renter's insurance, like my piano for example. And investigating changing auto insurance companies. Steven even called and set up our home phone service! The company is coming Thursday to install everything. The grand news of the weekend though... we may be getting a new car soon! Well, a used car, but a much needed one nonetheless. Grandma Jessie might be getting a new car and giving us her old one which would be wonderful and very much appreciated! 

Last week I went with Brittany and Brian to Historic Williamsburg to take their engagement photos. Despite the cold and slightly drizzly day they came out looking very nice. Here are just a few of my favorites:

My bookcases are here! They came in yesterday so my dad and brother helped us get them from the store back home. Steven and I put them up last night and then I FINALLY got all of our books off the floor!! They look wonderful and it's so nice to not have to look at stacks of books anymore! 

Well, I'm still sick. But I went to work today just because I was tired of sitting around, and I had a little more energy this morning than I had on Friday. Hopefully this goes away soon. I am getting really tired of coughing and blowing my nose!

This weekend was interesting. My rest on Saturday was interrupted when we discovered that the bridal completion sale at Belk was in fact this past weekend instead of this coming weekend. So we had to jump in the car and go pick up and pay for all our stuff. Which was kind of exciting because now all of our remaining china, crystal, etc. is fully paid for and we have about 90% of it in our possession. There were a few pieces that they ran out of stock of and have to be ordered. But in the end we saved about $2200. Steven was stoked! 

This week on the family schedule is pretty calm. Hopefully this gives me a chance to finish Brian and Brittany's engagement photos and also time to start up my internet business on etsy.com. 

Saturday night is my girls only dinner party! I am having several girls over for dinner and some fun. We are all going to wear dresses, cardigans, and pumps and everyone is bringing with them a covered dish. It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait! 

Well it has been an interesting week. Let me relay the events...

Monday - went to Historic Williamsburg with Brittany and Brian to take their engagement photos for them. (will post a few soon!)

Tuesday - snow day!! Steven and I successfully wasted the day on the couch, and it was lovely!

Wednesday - reluctantely back at work

Thursday - started feeling sick, my nose was a constant faucet and my throat hurt something terrible... We also ordered new bookcases because my old one fell apart (quite literally) last week. I can't wait till they get here! 

Today - I woke up feeling absolutely terrible and decided to take a sick day and go to the doctor. Turns out I have the crud so the doctor gave me a decongestant and a prescription. Hopefully this goes away soon!

What a strange week!

Here are some pictures from the Honeymoon in Disney World!!

We got to be the grand marshalls in the afternoon parade at the Magic Kingdom!! Awesome! Best part of the whole trip! Way super cool!

This is one of my favorite shots!


Kimberly and Steven get married tomorrow!!!! I am stoked!! 

Steven is finally back home from all his trips. It is soo nice to have him back! 

We got to finally see our wedding pictures a few days ago! They look beautiful and I am going to have a super hard time deciding which ones to purchase. There's just too many good ones and I want them all! So that is probably going to take up a bulk of my time in the next few weeks! 

I've finally decided where I want the artwork in the bedroom so I am going to have Steven hang it all tonight. After that, I'll just have the things I want hung in the kitchen! Woohoo! I also found an awesome book shelf that I love and is actually a decent price for a bookshelf! Now, I am just trying to convinence Steven of that fact. The one that we have currently only has two shelves because the third one is adjustable and we lost the things that hold it up. And when we moved it in the back fell off and so it was always kind of leaning. But when the internet guy came the other day to hook us up he had to move the bookcase and so it is leaning so bad I think it's going to fall over any day now. Plus we have about three different stacks of books in the floor. So hopefully Steven lets me get my new bookcase soon! 

Kimberly and Steven get married next weekend! I am so excited for them! 

New pictures of the Aunt and Uncle!

In other news...

We packed up the Christmas ornaments and decorations this weekend. It was sad to see them go but I am happy to have more space in my living room now! We have most of our pictures hung now, we just have a handful more to go. If Steven gets back from work at a decent hour tonight I may have him hang them today. 

I got my Christmas present this past weekend. We have not been on an official date in about a year and we certainly haven't been on a fancy date in quite a long time so that is what I asked for for Christmas. We got all dressed up and we went to a restaurant that neither of us have been to. We had a very relaxing dinner that was quite delicious and just enjoyed each other's company. Afterwards we went to Blockbuster to get a movie and then went home to cuddle on the couch and watch it. I had a blast! It was really nice to spend with my husband, especially since the prospect of him being sent overseas is an ever looming possibility. I wish we could have fancy dates more often! 

Welcome Baby Hollie!

Name: Hollis Olivia Ferrebe

Weight: 7 pounds 2 ounces

Length: 20 inches

Born: 1 January 2009 at 6:30 a.m.

We are so excited about this new addition to our family! It is amazing how God can work in very unexpected ways. May He bless my sister–in–law, her fiance, and this new little one! 

p.s. I can't wait to spoil her! Steven and I already went out and bought TONS of little pink outfits! Being the auntie is fun!