The Youth Group

Well, the Main Street Youth Group is off and running. We are having a blast! We have already had a fall retreat, helped with the congregation-wide harvest project, had a girls devotional, and we have started refinishing the youth room. Here are a few pictures of our activities.

A Finished Thesis

As of December 2 at 10:15AM, I am officially finished with my Master of Arts in History from the University of Arkansas. My thesis defense went well, and I was very pleased with the response of the committee. For those of you who are interested, I wrote about the Restoration Movement in Arkansas from 1832-1860. It was so much fun to write, yet very frustrating and very time consuming. Needless to say I am very glad to be finished. Attached are a few pictures of my research trips, some goofing off while I should have been writing, and unfortunately there is not one of my dining room, which turned into the thesis station for about four months. Anyway, it is all finished, and in a few weeks, I will post a photo of my third diploma!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful holiday. We were able to go to Batesville, MS at lunchtime on Thanksgiving, then to Memphis for Thanksgiving with Debbie, Meme, and the Fulghums, and then to the Vego side. What a wonderful day with LOTS to eat! Here are a few pics we took that day.

The New House!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update with photos of our new home in Milan! Here are a few, some of them taken right after we moved in and a few taken with Christmas decorations up.

Everything is going well. We have unpacked most of our boxes and are really comfortable. Ross loves his job and I started work as well. I am substitute teaching for Milan Middle School, and right now I am doing a 7th Grade Social Studies Maternity leave until January 29. We are having a blast and its great to be back in the classroom.

Max and Gus are adjusting to having a HUGE yard to play in and to finding random animals like deer, rabbits, and the occasional cow. They are having lots of fun.

New Beginnings

Well, we made it safely to Tennessee, and have been here for about a week. Since our house still has not closed, we are staying with our WONDERFUL friends Suzanne and Trent. We are having fun with them and have done a pretty good job of getting Ross' office set up (Since we dont have a house yet we have put all our time and energy into the office!)

I have gotten signed up to start substitute teaching, and hopefully will get one of the four maternity leave positions that are opening up. We have also been able to get most of our stuff switched over to TN, and are now just patiently waiting on our house to close.

We miss all our Fayetteville friends, but it is certainly nice to be near our family and friends. It has been amazing to see people that we have not seen for three or four years, and get to reconnect with them. We are also meeting so many new people, and are getting to know some new brothers and sisters in Christ. It is really nice here so far. Here are a few of the pics we took of Ross' office and the church where we are now working. House pics will come when we move in within the next week or so.

Its Ours! (Almost) :)

Sometimes God blesses you in ways that you never expected, and we have seen that throughout this house buying process. If you read the last couple posts, you know that we made an offer on a home that was rejected, and after scrambling for a couple days, found a home that we fell in love with. After much prayer, paperwork, and many, many phone calls, that home is ours! Well, almost ours. We are under contract, and our loan application is in the works. As soon as it all clears and we close, we will be the proud owners of 1.48 acres and a home at 234 Trenton Highway, Milan TN!

The best part about this home is that we wouldn't have it if the first lady had taken our offer. I know that was God looking down on us and had something better in mind, because this house is not only amazing but we have great neighbors. We have not met them yet, but have been told that one is a former elder of the congregation we will be working with, and the others are members of the church too! God totally had a plan for us and this home! Thank you all for the prayers and for keeping us in your thoughts as this exciting chapter in our lives is starting! Here are a few pics of the house that will be completely ours in a few short weeks.

Okay... next!

So, we thought we had found the perfect little house for us in Milan, so we put in an offer. We got totally rejected- she didnt even give us a counter offer! We were so disappointed that the offer fell through that Ross and I both started to scramble. We had looked at five other houses in Milan, but none of them stood out to us, so it was back to the drawing board. We found a few more houses that would be okay to move into but would require much work- apparently if you dont like wood paneling or mauve and green paint you cant live in Milan.

Well, as usual, God had a plan for us. We found another home at midnight last night on a website that we had not seen before, and it was a listing that had just ben published. This house is even better than the first one- its newer, has a better location, and is just all around a better home. Mom and Dad were nice enough to go and check it out for us this afternoon, and we have put in an offer on house number two. Please pray that we get this offer- this house is just amazing! God has been so good to us with this opportunity thus far, and I know he has great things in store for us when we get to Milan! I will wait until we have a contract on the home to post pictures, because it seems that was bad luck last time.

A New Chapter

As the summer came to a close, Ross was approached by the Main Street church of Christ in Milan, TN. They asked for his resume, and we thought nothing of it. We sent it in, and about three weeks later, after much discussion and prayer, several interviews, and lots of logistical decision making, Ross accepted the position as Youth Minister at Main Street.

This is a decision that was hard for both of us to make- leaving the kids here is going to be really hard, but its also really hard living this far away from virtually all of our family and friends. Sure we have made good friends here and have a nice church family, but this was the opportunity that Ross has been waiting for his whole life. He is going to be working with Taft (who will be the outreach minister), and that is something he has dreamed of since his intern days at Woodland Hills. It was just an opportunity that we couldn't leave behind.

So, as of November, we will be moving to Tennesse, hopefully to a little house that we put an offer on last night. Please pray that this move goes smoothly and that we can get settled in Milan and work to the best of our ability for the Lord. Please also pray that I find a job there and can get back to doing what I love- teaching.

I put a picture of our hopeful house at the top of this post, and if we get it, I will post more pictures. If we dont get it, then the pictures will have to change! Pray that this offer goes through well and we can get this part of our lives going!

Summer Update Two

Since the last post was just about my junk, this one is just for Ross. He has been so busy and has worked so hard this summer with the youth group. From preaching twice a month, making a young men's service, planning activities, designing posters and tshirts, teaching class twice a week, and taking care of me and my high stress levels, somehow he found time to be the best youth minister ever. The first big event of the summer was our Vacation Bible School, and our good friends from Woodland Hills came up to help us with that event which was a huge success.

After VBS we went to Green Valley Bible Camp. Ross stayed out there until Tuesday when he tore ligaments in his ankle playing basketball and had to be put in a walking cast for 10 days. The month of July was so busy it seems like ten years ago, and honestly I cant even remember what all we did. I know we went to Taylor Christian Camp, and the kids had a blast. What a great week! August was just as busy, with devotionals and back to school cookouts taking up our time before kids got back in the swing of things with school. Our most recent event was RUSH at FHU, which was also an amazing event and fun for everyone. Needless to say, Ross has had an awesomely busy summer and is ready for a break that is a long time coming.

Summer Update One

I noticed as I logged on today that I am a terrible blog updater. I have not written anything since May! I am going to try and be better about that, but right now things are so busy I dont know how it will end up, but I will try.

Since so many things have happened since May, I feel like I need to start with a review of the missing months. I finished my last semester of classes at the U of A, and spent the summer researching my thesis, which is now well underway and will be turned in, Lord Willing, next Friday. After that will be revisions and then, DUN DUN DUN.... the dreaded Thesis defense on December 2. I have mixed emotions about this- excited, scared, terrified, elated; so hopefully it will turn out for the best and I will be done with this thing and move on to my next career move, which I hope will be a return to teaching.

This summer, I submitted an article length paper to a contest sponsored by the Flashback, a small journal put out by the Washington County Historical Society in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I somehow managed to win second place, which allows my article to be published and adds $200 to my savings account. Even though this is a small publication, its a dream come true for me because I have always wanted to write, and now to have something published feels amazing.

I also submitted a couple entries to the Arkansas Encyclopedia of History and Culture, which can be found online, but will not be published until closer to January 2010. I am trying to build up my resume so eventually I can get into a doctoral program somewhere and become Dr. Vego.

Max!

Well, Max has been with us for about a month now, and I must say, he has just now started to calm down. He was quite a wild child for a while, but is getting much better! Here are a few pics we took of him- and I might note he is not photogenic at all. He wont sit still long enough for us to take a good pic! We did manage to get a few decent ones with bribes though, and a few while he is sleeping. :) He and Gus are having a blast.

As for Ross and I, we are doing well. Ross (bless him) has been so sick this past week- he is just now getting to where he can actually get up and around without being dizzy and is slowly getting back to his old self. He has watched a lot of basketball and several movies, and played lots of video games, as sitting on the couch for a week and a half is not conducive to much else.

I finished the semester (finally) with an A and a B, and 30 pages of what will this summer become the introduction and chapter one of my thesis, which is due (first draft) October 1. Heres to a summer of research trips and study, and a lot of writing. And a lot of working! I am helping to run two weeks of History Camp, which will be fun but exhausting.

Check back later for more updates on our summer youth activities.

Becky' Baby Shower!

Bonnie and Becky with their cute bellies! Yay for babies!

The yummy food and diaper cake (this was my first attempt at a diaper cake- it came out ok!)

Becky and baby Jett!

I had the privilege of helping to host Becky's baby shower last weekend. It was such a blast! We had lots of goodies to eat and Becky got a TON of wonderful gifts. We are so fortunate to have such a great congregation of giving people to work with. Just wanted to post a few pics of how cute everything turned out and how precious Becky looks! Just a few more weeks and baby Jett will be here! :)

Gus!

Since there isn't much going on in our lives other than work and school, I decided to write this post about our sweet Gus. He is 8 months old now, and is by far the most active dog I have ever owned in my life. We love him so much and recently he has developed new habits that I find hilarious. First, when we come in the door after having been out to church or school or wherever, Gus meets us at the door shaking his little bottom until you think its going to fall off (he doesnt have a tail). He also plays a game with us where he brings us a toy and lays it on our hands or in our lap and watches to see when we are going to try and pick it up, and before we do, he takes it away and runs. He has also started curling up with us in the bed early in the morning. He will sleep most of the night in his kennel or on the floor, and around 6 AM he jumps up into the bed with us and cuddles until we all get up. What a sweetie. He has also become very protective, barking at everything that moves in the yard, even Ross. We play chase and hide/seek alot, and the other day, I hit my elbow on the counter trying to run from him. It hurt. I sat in the kitchen floor screaming, and the whole time Gus just sat with me and licked my arm until I got up. I love this dog! I have put a few pics up chronicling his growth over the past 8 months, and we hope you like them!

Winter Getaway

The Beautiful Crescent Hotel

Frisco the six toed cat, protector from Ghosts.

Our beautiful, cozy little room.

So for Christmas, Ross got me a stay at the Crescent Hotel and a couple's massage. Boy was I excited! The Crescent is an historic hotel in Eureka Springs, built in 1886 and still standing. If you know me well at all, you know that I am very passionate about all things historic, so I was totally pumped about this gift.  The Crescent was actually very nice and had a pretty cool atmosphere, but the thing is, its haunted. It has been featured on the Sci Fi Channel, as well as the Travel Channel's "most haunted USA", and if you dare, you can find a video about it on youtube. 

Our room was on the third floor and was supposedly not haunted, but we didn't really ask too many questions either. There was a tabby cat with six toes on his front paws named "Frisco" who came into our room for a while, which was ok with me cause I heard that cats keep away ghosts. Speaking of ghosts, there was a ghost tour we could have taken, but I will admit, I was afraid to find out exactly what was going on in the Crescent, especially since I had to stay the night there.  So, Ross and I go downstairs to the spa to enjoy our massage, and let met say, if you have never had a massage, get one! They are wonderfully relaxing and just the best ever. 

After we recovered from relaxing, we decided to venture out on the town for dinner, finding only a couple places open since its winter season, but we ate decently well. The rest of the night went well, that is, until about 3 AM when I woke up feeling like someone was watching me sleep. It wasnt Ross.  Ross wouldnt even move for me to tell him I thought there was something watching me! Needless to say there is no sleep for me after this point. I think I dozed a little throughout the night, but didn't sleep. We got up the next morning had our complimentary breakfast in the dining room (wonderful, by the way) and headed back home. Next time I go to the Crescent, it will be for the massages and the ghost tour only, not for the stay. And on the way home, Ross tells me that he thought someone hit him during the night. It wasn't me. Is the Crescent haunted? I think so.