Safe in his arms....

I have an announcement! I received my letter and email stating "Mississippi State University is pleased to offer you full admission for the summer 2010 semester to the master's degree program in English." I was so excited I didn't know what to do...well first I ran into the man cave (which will now have to just be an office, because I'm going to need a place to do school work!) and grabbed Tyler. I didn't say a word just grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room. I pointed at the computer...he gave me a huge hug and said he knew I could do it!

I have been accused of thinking too much at times, and more then once it has ruined or almost ruined a big moment. The best of example would have to be when I almost ruined Tyler's proposal. Anyway, as soon as Tyler headed into his office, the thinking started. First it was the idea of starting classes. I'm going to be so far behind all these students, most of which will have thier undergraduate degree in English. Then my mind went to money. My courses this summer will have to be paid for by me and unlike Tyler I will not be getting a paycheck for my work. Hopefully, this fall I will be able to get a Teaching Assistantship, but that isn't a sure thing.

Once the thinking starts the doubting starts. Will I be able to keep up? Am I smart enough? Will I be able to pass my spanish class? How will we pay for this? Will I be able to handle school and working at the leasing office? Will Sherie fire me when I tell her that I'm going to start school this summer? Will I even be a good teacher?

Then this song came to mind

To the one who's dreams are falling all apart.
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own
but you're not all alone

Have you heard of the One who can calm the raging seas
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet
With a love so strong and never let you go
oh you're not alone
Chorus:
You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms

Verse 2:
Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life
Is the very same voice that calls you to rise
So hear Him now He's calling you home
You will never be alone

Bridge:
These are the hands that built the mountains
the hands that calm the seas
These are the arms that hold the heavens
they are holding you and me
These are hands that healed the leper
Pulled the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross
to break our chains and set us free

If God gave me this purpose and he is making it possible for me to follow this purpose, why would he leave me? I'm not sure about this path, but I am sure that he placed me here and I'm sure he will be there through the trials that are sure to follow.

It's puppy love

He is naughty. Super naughty, we can't turn our backs on him for a second but we are crazy about him. He is constantly getting into something, chewing on something or going to the bathroom. He decided that our table and chairs are his chew things, he decided every cell phone he can get ahold of is his chew toy and he decided I am his chew toy. Saturday and Sunday he was constantly chewing on me, and it hurt! So I would try to make him be submissive (Tyler did this once and Leroy stopped trying to chew on him). But of course when I did it he thought it was fun! He would be submissive, get up and try to bite me as if he was thinking "That was fun lets do it again!!" Bur he is so darn cute I can't even stay mad at him.

He slept the entire way home, when we pulled in I turned around and he was looking at me like, "Are we there yet?!

He loved his bed right away...

How can you not love that face?!

He has a hard time acutally sleeping on his bed...he always seems to slide off.

He does know how to sit. He sits before he gets food, treats or gets to go outside...he will sit as long as we want if we have food in our hands.

He really will be a good boy someday...its getting through the first few days. He doesn't cry long at night when he is in his kennel and has not gone to the bathroom in his kennel once. Yesterday we hit a milestone, he did not have any accidents on the floor and so far today there haven't been any messes!!

It is official!

Leroy is officially ours! We will go to Jackson this Saturday to pick him up! Tyler might be even more excited then I am, he is constantly looking up kennels and toys for our new family member. I'm a little worried about bringing him home because he some how managed to get mange while in his foster home and now has a secondary infection from scratching. Which means he is missing hair, Tyler said he is going to look ugly...hopefully it isn't too bad.

We aren't entirely sold on the name Leroy, so we decided that we aren't going to officially name him until we meet him on Saturday. I'm going to spend all day tomorrow and Friday cleaning and "puppy proofing" our apartment. Someone, I'm really not sure who, decided the living room would be an excellant place to store decoys. At least once Leroy arrives Tyler will have to keep all of this things off the floor unless they are Leroy's new chew toys.

Today is my Friday, I do not work tomorrow or Friday. And while I had a good week at work I am so happy to have the next few days off. I'm slowly but surely gaining confidence. Today I experienced a new first, I asked a couple "Why are ya'll moving?" Yup...I said my first "ya'll." I couldn't believe it, I guess living down here is having an unwanted impact on my speech.

Our chicken potpie dish turned out great, I think next time we will use more chicken and get two packages of biscut mix. I was happy that it was cooked properly and wasn't burnt! When we first got married I had a horrible habit of of slightly burning things or slightly undercooking things...hopefully it was just a phase.

I will update on Sunday with photos of the newest member of the Stubbs' family! Hopefully he isn't too homely.

A quick update!

Well it has been a week without an update! I guess I forgot how much time working takes! Okay, Okay I didn’t really work that much, I think I ended up with 26 hours this week. But still, working for a week after having six months off definitely wore me out!


My week has been full of ups and downs. My mind decided it was not going to work while I was trying to work which meant I was making really silly mistakes. Oh well I made it through the week and get to start a new one on Monday.

We had a very busy week. It started on Sunday night, at “Young Married Group.” We meet up with other young married couples for some food and fellowship. We will be meeting with frequently during April because on March 28th we are starting the “Love Dare.” I know this goes back to my pride issue, but originally I was not going to sign us up. I had this idea that the Love Dare was for couples who were struggling with their marriage. In the end I signed us up because it won’t hurt us, and hopefully bring us closer to God and each other.

Monday and Tuesday were both a blur because of work and Tyler working extra at the office. Wednesday night I had bible study. Thursday night was girls’ night and Tyler and I’s date night. Friday night we went to happy hour/supper at La Terzza (I’m sure I spelled that wrong) for Thad (On of Tyler’s fellow graduate students and one of my favorites). He finished school last December but was still working for the University; however he is now on to bigger and better things in Nebraska. After supper I went with Tyler to clean fish. No, I did not help what so ever, actually I sat 15 feet away and tried not to watch.

Now I’m waiting for Tyler to get home from setting a trout line. Hopefully, he will be home soon! I’m going to try to make a chicken pot pie…I’ll update on how it tastes! It might be an adventure!

P.S. We still have not heard from the pound...so still no Reggie/Aldo/Leroy/Petey

God is good...all the time...

Wow this has been an intense couple of weeks. I took the GRE to get into graduate school. It didn’t go as well as I hoped but I just kept singing,

“Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name”

Through the years I’ve realized songs move me. I can take almost any song and say “They wrote that about me!!” While it sounds silly, music has helped me through the most difficult seasons of my life.

Anyway…along with the GRE this past week I officially applied to the Mississippi State University English masters program. I really thought that pushing send on the application would give me a sense of satisfaction. It didn’t, it just makes me nervous…I’m trying to remember that I have a purpose. It might not be public relations, it might not be teaching English but there is a plan for my life.

I have also been attempting to learn Spanish. At Mississippi State to be in the English program you need to know be proficient at another language. I choose Spanish because I had an AMAZING Spanish teacher in high school, which hopefully will translate into me remembering what I had learned.

We are attempting to adopt a puppy. For those of you know really know me, you know I really want a dog! I had the most amazing dog named Skip while I was growing up. He made me a dog lover for life. When he died on Christmas three years ago I was devastated it took me nearly two years to want another dog.

Back to the point of this little story, we want to adopt Reggie, a golden retriever/hound or beagle mix who was abandoned along the highway in Jackson, Mississippi. Unfortunately, adopting a dog is turning out to be harder than I thought. There was a long application that asked us questions like, “If the dog was destructive what would you do?” and “If the relationship above (Tyler and I’s relationship) were to change who would take the dog?” I wanted to answer, “Well, since we have only been married six months we aren’t planning who gets what in our divorce.”

Reggie, Aldo, Leroy, Petey?

Now we are waiting, it has been nearly a week and half and we have not heard a thing from the shelter. At first I was the one who really really wanted a dog, but now Tyler is the one who keeps asking “Have you heard from the pound?” He wants to name him, Leroy…or Aldo (after the father of fisheries?!) I’m not sure about either name, but feel free to give us suggestions!

Along with all of this activity I am still going to bible study, making new friends and even starting a kinda job! God is truly good, even during our struggles. Today Tyler asked me to go talk to Sherie, the property manager, about our lease for the next year. (Can you believe we signed our lease for his apartment a year ago?!) She asked me if I would like to help out in the office, she is having some health issues during the busiest time a year and would like me to help out when needed! I said it’s a kinda job because I will not be getting a pay check, instead she is going to pay me via our rent! I told my mom that this was better anyway because I couldn’t spend my money where it didn’t need to be spent!

When I walked out the office the sun, that had been hiding, beamed on my face…and I just thought God is good, and I couldn’t help but respond to myself, all the time…