Fall = Camping

I love fall. I think I could be happy if fall was year round. This week and next are mid-terms. I'm so not looking forward to this. I have my first mid-term on Thursday. I have to perform everything I've learned so far in clinical class. I keep telling myself if I've passed it once then I can pass it again. Let's hope that stands true.

So in honor of fall and the fact that I'm half way through with this semester of school I think it's time to go camping. There is nothing better than freezing your backside off while sleeping on hard ground. Any takers??

Words for the soul....

Work: A little
School work: A lot
Motivation: None


I’m having one of those days where I just can’t seem to get anything done. I’ve been looking at page 220 in my Anatomy & Physiology book for the past 15 minutes. It’s at this point that I want to give up and go home and see if I can accomplish something there. Unfortunately I can’t do that. So I took a minute to type into gateway.com (an online bible source) the word strength and see what it gave me. It gave me some wonderful reminders of God's love and strength. Enjoy!


Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
1 Chronicles 16:11


The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
Psalm 28:7-8


She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
Proverbs 31:25


But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:3

Apple Butter 101...

So first off here in North Carolina people love to can stuff. I heard about it from my friends about all the things they have canned and I went to a salsa canning party a couple months back. Since then I’ve been really interested in canning some apple butter. So over Labor Day weekend my friend, Kerri and I decided we need to try it.

What we didn’t realize is that our day project would turn into a week. Now granted we know now that we should cook the apple butter in a crock-pot….makes it cook a LOT faster. So next year if we decide to embark on this adventure again we’ll remember to bring out the crock-pots first.

First off we decided that we wanted to actually go to an apple orchard to pick our apples. That was a blast.

After we picked a ½ bushel each we headed back to Kerri’s and peeled and cut them up. I think my thumb was sore for a week after that.

Then we put the cooked apples in a food processor then back into the pot with the spices to cook.

This of course is where we should have used crock-pots because it took FOREVER. We ended up giving up on cooking it the rest of the way that day and went and had dinner with friends from small group.

The next day Kerri figured she could cook it the rest of the way and can it. That didn’t happen so I brought her my two crock-pots and it was easy sailing from there. Here is the finished project.

All in all it was a blast and I hope we try again next year.

A back up ring...

This week my ring is in the shop for its 6 month cleaning and inspection. My hand always feels so odd with out it.

So last night I nonchalantly asked Cray if I could have a back up ring for when mine is in the shop. He kindly but bluntly said no and went to sleep. I think it's a great idea but I think it's going to take a lot of begging to make it reality.

In other news yesterday was the end of my 3rd week of school. I've alrady had 6 tests and one pop quiz (that was NOT fun). I'm getting into a nice groove and everything is kind of starting to balance out. Thankfully it didn't take long at all. My family is coming in this weekend. I'm so excited to see everyone...it should be a great weekend!! Hope yours is great as well.

School check list....

1) School books. Check

2) Scrubs. Check

3) Stethoscope. Check

4) Records completed. Almost

5) Office done. Check

6) Lost my mind. Not yet!

School starts on Monday for me. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I received an email today from one of my advisers saying that I could go ahead and take my communications class since I don't have a full school load. I may not have a full school load but with school and work I'm full up. We will see though, as of right now all classes are booked but something might open up next week.

On a different note. Cray had an interview yesterday with the school for a programming position. He was the last person they interviewed and they said once they make their choice HR will contact him. So thankfully we will know no matter what. He feels like he did a good job and I'm sure that he did. It's all in God's hands now.

Best parts of summer...

I love summer! I love the warm sun, the smell after it rains, the vacations, ice, summer camp. One of the best parts of summer is VBS. I loved VBS growing up and now that I'm an adult I get to help out with VBS and see all the children enjoy it. This year our theme was IPODS for Jesus. Our church staff did such a great job of putting it together. I'm truly blessed to have all of them in my life.

Here we are running through the music before the children show up.

We had a goal for the children this past week. We do homeroom hope project every year through our church. Our goal this year was 225 backpacks. They needed to bring in some to help us reach our goal. They went over our goal...we had a total of 322!! They did such an amazing job and in return yesterday all of our ministers got a pie in the face. Classic!

Here are our ministers taking the pie.

New do....

This past week I decided I wanted to do something new with my hair. I'd been rocking the same hairstyle since I was nine and it needed to change. So Friday after work I went and had this done.

Reminder this is what it looked like.

I love it so much more now. It's shorter but I can still pull it back and I like the new part.

Well hope everyone had a great weekend!!