TN Updates!

Greetings, one and all - from Johnson City, Tennessee!! Things are going well...and as of today we are officially settled! What made it 'official' you may ask? Well -after 19 long days of waiting, we finally have internet access!! :)

We've really been enjoying our time here so far! The people are very welcoming and friendly ... and the views...w o w! We actually have a decent mountain view from our kitchen and bedroom windows!

Everything has been pretty fast-paced for Stephen at his new job as the Worship Arts Pastor @ Grace Fellowship! He was fortunate enough to have a couple of Sundays to be a part of the congregation and get a feel for things before he started leading last week!

Bella Rose is doing very well :) She is, of course, on Prozac...so that has obviously helped, but - she's found her little spots around the house and has definitely made herself at home! There's an awesome park right down the road from us and we've gone a couple of times to walk/run around! She's also a big fan of the local PetSmart store! We've walked up and down the isles of that store many times already!

Stephen and I have joined a Community Group with other couples our age and are going through the book 'Radical.' After just one chapter we are anxiously anticipating what will come of our time together as a group!

I'm still looking for a job - which will be much easier now with this whole internet thing! :) Stephen and I have been looking through real estate booklets, circling houses to check out!

I feel like we are starting to really settle in a little.

Thank you so much for your prayers...

Until next time,
Correne

Two Year Anniversary!

This week is definitely our party week! Tuesday was our 2 year anniversary and tomorrow is Stephen's birthday!

Stephen came by the office Tuesday with a beautiful bouquet of roses/baby's breath and took me out for lunch (so romanntic!)...that night we dressed up and enjoyed a tasty -very filling- dinner at Arigato's! After dinner we were brought a piece of chocolate cake with two candles in it and were serenaded with a song/drums :) I took Wednesday off and we spent the day in Charlotte! We walked around the mall, where I enjoyed my first crepe ever :), and then we both took in our first Ikea experience!

Tonight I will be decorating my Guitarmann's cake -and tomorrow we will have dinner with his parents, then have cake and presents at our place!

My latest claim to fame...

I just found out that I am in a Nascar/Victory Junction commercial that stars Kevin Costner!(No I've never met him) I was told by a friend of mine from Victory Junction (where I use to work)! This is a clip from the commercial - it goes pretty quickly and I'm only on there a second (maybe!)... Enjoy :)

Lou came over Thursday to spend the weekend! He and Bella wore each other out! They had lots of fun inside, but not as much as outside!!In the first picture Bella got to the ball first, but was soon disappointed to find that Lou didn't really care! We had them hooked to each end of our 50' rope! They stayed within 50 feet of each other the whole time! :) :)

In the second picture they are chasing after Stephen! They did this for quite some time until Stephen could no longer run! Poor Lou had to run twice as fast as Bella to keep up,...but as you can see - he was able to hold his own!! :)



This last picture captures the peace in our home after a long day of running and playing! I had to be careful taking this picture, because when I would get out the camera - they both were sure that I was getting something out for them...which would, of course, ruin the moment! (And if you are trying to figure out what is on the TV...yes...it is Suze Orman!)

Saturday we did a lot of yard work! I planted flowers around the mailbox, in the hanging basket, along the back of the house and in the island! And I am still in pain from all of that!

Sunday we enjoyed part of 'Easter in the City' held at the coliseum! It was really good! Then, after letting the pooches play just a few minutes longer, we drove to Troy and enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by my mom! We had a good time with the family hanging out, talking about...everything :)...watching a movie and taking lots of fun pictures!!! It was a great Easter!

This one is for Blake...

...because I know how faithfully he checks manntastic...I thought I would share that Stephen and I enjoyed a tasty dinner at Five Guys with Blake, Ashley and Scott! We had a great time and learned all about Blake's business ideas (top secret stuff...I won't talk...so don't ask)! :)
So there you go - great friends, great dinner, great evening!

Happy Easter!!

Yay for Krispy Kreme and Chick-fil-A!!!

So!!! We went to Kripy Kreme as promised on March 28th... I was more excited about it than Stephen was - until we found out that we not only received one free item off of the menu - but we also received a free dozen donuts!!! :) We got an assorted mix of our favorites...Stephen got an iced coffee and I enjoyed a Kool Kreme shake!! That was a good day! :)

Then...I heard on the radio last week that Chick-fil-A was giving a free breakfast a week, for a year, to the first 100 who showed up on Saturday morning. The line started at 9:00pm Friday and the prizes were given out at 6:00am Saturday! We got there about 9:15 and were numbers 19 and 20! We wore our wrist bands proudly and enjoyed music, games, free nuggets and ice 'dream'! :) Stephen participated in the jump rope competition, but the rope was a little short, making it very difficult...

There was a line check every hour until 11:30... that is when we all got to go inside and eat ice cream - and when Stephen and I had the pleasure of meeting the two Chick-fil-A cows! The little one was SO cute!

We set up our tent and air mattress around 12:30am, I stayed awake until about 1am - then slept on and off for the next four hours. Stephen stayed up the whole night and watched movies on his ipod! At 4:45am we packed everything up and were ready for the 5:30am line check...then we filed in at 6:00am for our gifts, which included little chick-fil-a cows, t-shirts, candy, toys...and of course, the vouchers!!!!!!! :) I slept a lot Saturday - Stephen only slept a few hours and then transformed the back yard with all the energy he had!!! :)

Good times :)

And We're Back...

The 'fun weekends' haven't stopped!! Two weekends ago Stephen led worship for a middle school snow tubing retreat! He enjoyed snow tubing while Bella and I enjoyed girl-time! Bella is notorious for pouting when Stephen is gone for more than a few hours, and she didn't disappoint :) She just moped around and slept - which was fine with me!!
This past weekend we got to go to Atlanta and hang out with some friends! We got the nickel tour of the area, had lots of fun at The World of Coke (pictured above), enjoyed tapas at a hoppin' place downtown, and ended our stay attending North Point! We really enjoyed our time and the drive down and back wasn't too bad (easy for me to say since I slept a good bit on the way back!).

I'm looking forward to the new Krispy Kreme store opening this weekend!! Since I am on their email list (okay - so I love donuts!), Stephen and I got a special invitation that we must have in hand in order to partake in one free item from the menu! It doesn't get any better than that! :)
So,...there you go! snow tubing, atlanta and krispy kreme...life is good :)