Race to Nashville

Summer is here, and that means random weekend trips and a lot of fun. This last weekend was one of those trips. On Thursday my brother Mark called and said he was running a race in Nashville on Saturday night, and wanted to know if he could stay with us Sunday night.

Well, we decided to one up that and go watch him race on Saturday night. Justin and Brandy let us crash at their place (I played many hours of Nintendo Wii) with short notice. We ate at our beloved Maggiano’s (incredible ravioli and tiramisu), and then went to the race on the Vanderbilt campus.

Mark ran at about 10:30 PM and I got some pretty lousy pictures with the dark conditions—Mark is the one in the red. Despite my bad pictures, he ran a personal best in the mile—a 4:02.52! That is pretty smokin’ fast. He didn’t win, but he did meet his goal of running his fastest time yet. Of course, the whole trip would have been wasted if he didn’t run really fast (just kidding!). Anyway, it was a fun time and we enjoyed hanging out with Mark Sunday evening. It is hard to get family to the east side of the Mississippi, so we have to snatch up any chance we can get. He asked me when we would be in Edmond next, and it was a little sad because we don’t have any plans to until Thanksgiving or so. BUT, summer is here, and that means random weekend trips and a lot of fun. This next weekend we will be in Fort Worth, TX, for Austin Grove’s wedding.

Gainfully Employed

Is that a real term—gainfully employed? I’ve heard it pronounced “gangfully” employed in Memphis and from my Oklahoma days. There are many young men “gangfully” employed in Memphis, but I am not one of them. I am, however, going to start working for a paycheck starting Monday, May 21st. I am being hired by Christ Community Health Services as a part-time counselor. It is really a great fit because they don’t need me full-time yet, and I have to take my last two classes for my Master’s degree in Counseling this summer. It is amazing how God works in our lives.

We are pretty excited about this opportunity! It takes a lot of anxiety off me about looking for a job as soon as I finish school, and it takes some pressure off Monica as the sole provider for our family (I am thankful everyday for the sacrifices she’s made for me to go to school). We don’t plan to live any different, but we want to actually save money—something we have not been able to do, or tried hard enough to do, in the last few years. Anyway, the point is that I am working for real money in a place that values serving everybody in the community we’re in, and not just those who can afford it. Of course, that has its advantages and disadvantages, but for right now, this is where I need to be, and where I believe God wants me right now.

Monica’s take on all this: I couldn’t be more proud of Ben & for all the hard work he’s put into these past 3 yrs. working on his Masters! I am going to have to break him of his habit of having a book or a laptop in front of him at all times, but I’m sure he’ll always be studying something so I’d better get used to it. I’m very excited to start this new chapter in our lives & in our marriage. I plan on pursuing my career & interests as well as spending as much of our extra money traveling as Ben will let me. Click below for some fun pics from this past weekend in Missouri!

Putt Putting w/ Dinosaurs
The Fam
Benica

Looking to the Future

Papers are in, one final was taken, and I only have one final left. It feels so good to be at this point every semester. All that procrastination for two weeks. It’s worth it, I enjoy where I am, and my classes are excellent.

I am also almost all done in regards to my MA in Counseling degree. I, or we (since Monica has experienced as much as the stress as I have), started in August of 2004, and I will turn in my final papers for my final classes in August of this year. Three years almost exactly! It will be such a relief for both of us, and we will then start a new chapter in our lives. On August 23, 2004, we went to On the Border for our anniversary, and we had no idea how we would survive this new life (we’d just been here 3 days). This August 23, 2007, we will be in Jamaica for our anniversary! Not a bad difference at all.

What will we do next? That is the question of the hour. Sorry, Casey and April, we are not having a baby right away (see comments 4 blogs ago); however, we do have plans for that in the future, but not soon at this point. We’re not moving, either. Three years ago, all we wanted to do was leave Memphis and shake the dust off our feet. Now, we can see ourselves being here for quite some time. Who knew? What we do know is this is a great place, and we love our friends, church, and we have good jobs.

Jobs? Yes, I have a job opportunity open to me right now, and I will start working this summer! Monica will continue to work hard at RemitDATA, but she won’t be the only source of income anymore. Apparently, though, just because I will work does not mean I can play more golf:( It means we can take care of the things we’ve been needing to do because we’ve refused to use credit cards, but after that I can play more golf and Monica can shop more. Anyway, we’re going to be here for a while. That’s still strange to say, but we’re getting used to it. I feel like we should plant a tree in the yard or something. As one friend might say, we’re getting more domestic (but not in Edmond, ha!).

Left Me for Vegas

I just wanted to let everyone know that Monica has been in Las Vegas, Nevada, most of this week for work. It could not have worked out better, though, because this is paper week (one down, one to go). I don’t have to feel bad that I didn’t go to bed last night. Well, I kind of feel bad because Cali makes it her mission to stay up with me, so she is pretty tuckered this morning. Anyway, maybe we can put a picture up of Monica in Vegas soon.

Paper Week

Well, it is paper week at HUGSR, and it is nuts. . . for the M. Div Bible guys, that is. Man do they stress out about their papers! My M. Div days are over, but I remember those days. However, I never spent as much time in the library as many of these guys. It kind of makes me feel inferior—kind of like I should work really hard on my papers. I do have a few things in my favor, and I would like to list them:

6. They are typically shorter in length
5. No commentaries or feszhersdgscktnrifts to look up
4. I focus on quality time, not quantity time (not that they don’t)
3. I know my counseling professors will accept me no matter what I write (if they don’t like it, it’s because there is something going on inside of them)
2. We only work in one language, and our original manuscripts are in English
1. They’re just easier, especially since I get to write about how I feel about what I write—that’s at least 2 pages!

I was not trying to be funny. I just want you to know how much easier my life is during these weeks.