Leaving on a jet plane; or, the search continues

Well, okay, I'm not actually leaving until tomorrow. But still. The time draws nigh.

I realize I haven't talked much about my school search on here. I'm not sure why that is. It probably has to do with the fact that until last Friday, we still didn't have finalized financial offers from all three schools that I applied to. I was accepted to the first school the first week of February. That's almost two months of partial knowing. And yes, it's been somewhat stressful.

Here's the short version:

I applied to three Methodist seminaries in three different states: SMU (Texas), Emory (Georgia), and Duke (North Carolina). All three are good schools, and I know people who have attended all three. We'd hoped that financial offers would help us determine a direction, but all three offered me scholarships. (Darn. I know, first world problems, right?)

Initially, Travis and I felt God leading us to go out of state. We've never lived anywhere else, and it felt like a great opportunity to go live somewhere new for three years, knowing we'd come back to Texas afterwards and be near our relatives at the time when we'd be wanting to start a family.

Then the Texas school ended up offering me the best financial package I could hope to get from any of the three. Of course.

We started considering all the good things about Dallas that we hadn't thought of before. We know the area. We have good friends that live there, and more that may be moving there soon. We'd be an hour and a half from our parents. I'd be getting paid to go to school. Travis would probably have the best work opportunities there (out of all three cities). My relatives have connections with the school.

But. We still didn't feel like that was where we needed to be.

For the next month or so, I did a lot of wishy-washing. I didn't want to let anybody else down. I didn't want to let myself down. Frankly, I just wanted someone to look into the future and tell me explicitly what to do, which is how I usually feel when making tough decisions. I just didn't feel like that was where I should go to school, but I also felt that it would be stupid to turn down the monetary support.

The deadline for me to tell SMU yes or no was yesterday. Last Friday, though I already knew I was going to tell them no, I had a major freak-out moment in the shower, thinking things like "Will our insurance even WORK in another state??" and "We'll never ever be with family on any holiday. Ever!!!" 

I finally realized why I hadn't been able to let Dallas go. It wasn't truly the school, or the city. It was my desire for security: financial security, close-to-home security. Not security in God. When I talked to Travis about it, he remarked, "I haven't ever heard a great story where God called someone into a comfortable place."

It's true. And that about sums it up for us. If we went there, we knew we'd be going just for the money, and that's not a great start to a life of ministry. I'm sure some will think I'm foolish to give it up, but it's helped me to remember 1 Corinthians 1:25.

"For God's foolishness is wisher than human wisdom, 
and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."

So, here's to trusting God with the future. I'll be visiting the other two schools within the next few weeks. Tomorrow, I'm headed to Atlanta!

Fun Five Friday [Anyone for tea?]

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having an excellent Friday. I'll have you know that my mother called me this morning, and all she wanted to know was where my Friday post was.

So, without further ado, here's the latest installment of my favorite things this week. Just for Mary Ann. :)

1. Hot tea in the AM. Travis and I have started drinking tea in the mornings instead of coffee. I thought it would be hard because of the different caffeine levels, but I've gotten to where I really like it. I just feel better and calmer overall. Of course, I still drink a small amount of coffee occasionally (at work in the afternoons since I get it for free!).

 

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My latest favorite.

2. iGoogle &

3. Google Reader. Enough said. How did it take me so long to start using these wonderful things?

4. Banana muffins. We had two bananas going bad, so I decided they should turn into banana muffins. I found this recipe randomly on allrecipes.com, and they were so. good. I think it's because of the cinnamon. Here's the link to the recipe.

 5. Vegan lasagna. Travis is lactose intolerant which = no cheese. Which = no lasagna (sad), or so I thought. Then in our hunt for crock-pot recipes, we found this vegan spinach lasagna from the PETA website (ha). It uses tofu instead of cheese. I'll admit, I was skeptical...but it turned out really good! Obviously it doesn't taste cheesy, but the texture was not weird at all. And it came from the slow cooker! Here's the link to the recipe. I definitely recommend it if you're trying to cut back on animal protein but don't want to replace it entirely with cheese.

That part in the middle got a little funny, but it was still good. 

We even had a "normal" person (i.e., non-tofu eater) try this, and he liked it.

 Thanks for being our test subject, Brad. :)

So there you have it! What's been your favorite thing this week?

Spring Break "Trip," Part 2: Lunch and Aquarium

After our not-so-brief IKEA visit, Travis and I went to our friend DeAndre's house for lunch. I didn't take any pictures during lunch (how awkward would that be?), so here is a picture of DeAndre:

(Photo courtesy of Kelsey Johnson and St. Luke's UMC, Bryan)

I put a picture of him singing because he's the Pastor of Music and Worship at a church in Houston. See? Appropriate.

He used to serve in the same capacity at our church in Bryan, but his family moved to Houston a little over a year ago. We miss them a lot, so we were glad of the opportunity to catch up with Dre and see his kids!

After lunch, we were headed to downtown Houston to the aquarium. This trip was made extra-exciting by the fact that I'd found a coupon on the Houston Visitors Site the night before: Buy One All-Day Pass, Get One Free! Thanks to that, we ended up getting in AND getting to do extra stuff for cheaper than if we'd both just bought normal admission. Bam.

(The coupon doesn't expire til April 15, so go get one now if you've been wanting to visit the aquarium! They also have other local discounts on the site.)

Be forewarned: If you go to the aquarium and there is a long line, it is probably the line to get in, not the line for tickets. Please go buy tickets first so you don't have to stand in line twice, like...some people we know.

It was a little small for the price of admission, but they did have some neat stuff.

There were colored lights going through a rotation, so the jellyfish would glow different colors. 

Seems risky to me.

Coral reef! 

I found Nemo.

Starfish.

Creepy much?

I had a toy that looked EXACTLY like this poison dart frog when I was little.

In hindsight, probably not a good plan.

Polka-dotted stingray! We touched a stingray, but it wasn't this one.

This just cracked me up. 

The picture on the left is what the lizard should look like. 

The picture on the right is what we saw.

Lionfish are crazy-looking.

This didn't really work, but it was supposed to be Travis in front of a bunch of giant fish.

I still put it up, because he is cute. :)

Also, there were tigers? Apparently they are the most aquatic large cat.

(Somewhat of a stretch in order to have white tigers, but it was cool to see them so close.)

Of course, the thing we had been waiting for was the Shark Voyage. The administration sneakily separated the sharks from the normal aquarium so that you have to pay extra to see them. Of course, thanks to our handy-dandy wristbands, we didn't have to pay extra.

I got really nervous because one of the little trains broke while we were waiting, but luckily they had two! So we just had to wait a little longer.

Excited about the sharks.

Our ride.

Shark Voyage consists of a train ride on a track around the outside of the aquarium, and it's narrated with facts about the aquarium and about sharks. The train drives into this tunnel and all of a sudden, the train stops and you're surrounded by sharks in a 200,000 gallon tank! Pretty cool.

I didn't take any pictures in the actual shark tunnel because I was busy being afraid that the glass was going to break and sharks were going to rain down on me. However, I was comforted by thinking that they'd be busy trying not to die, and probably wouldn't be concentrating on biting me.

All in all, the aquarium was not my absolute favorite mini-vacation we've ever done, but it was a neat experience and would be awesome if you have kids. :) It was a fun day overall!

Spring Break "Trip," Part 1: IKEA

I mentioned previously that Travis and I took a day trip on the Wednesday of Spring Break.

We started the day off at IKEA, where I had a secret Matron of Honor errand. I don't know if I've mentioned that our friends Scott and Katherine are getting married in June. They are! And we are both in the wedding. Yayy! So there that is. :)

Honestly, one of the top things I love about IKEA are the light fixtures. Here are some we really liked this time around:

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The arms are flexible so you can twist them into any position you want. 

They also had a floor lamp like this.

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Just fun.

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They had a lot of these lighted wall panels with different patterns. They looked really cool with two or three matching ones lined up together! Saves table space and eliminates an empty wall. :)

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This was my favorite of the panels.

A few other random non-lighting favorites...

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We were fairly obsessed with this headboard-wall thing.

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Obviously it makes you sleep better. Just look at that peaceful photo.

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Best clock ever. It's hollow and it has a SHELF inside! This was a serious temptation.

I will still accept it as a gift when we move. Or before we move.

We also almost bought a picture frame, before Travis reminded me that we have zero pictures in the frames we already own. (Hey, it's on the list, okay?)

It's fortunate that we don't have an IKEA nearby, or we'd probably have a lot less money. 

What's your favorite place for home decor?

Next up: The Houston Aquarium!

Fun Five...Saturday? [Spring Break Edition]

Sorry I'm a little late on this, though I'm sure it won't be the last time. This week was Spring Break for Travis! It was nice and relaxed for the most part, but somehow the last few days got really busy and left me no time to write this post.

1. Spring Break. Even though I'm not in school, I still felt like I got a little break from work, and I got to have my husband home most of the week!

2. Houston day trip. Since we couldn't really go on a long trip during SB, Travis and I went to Houston on Wednesday for the day. We spent a couple of hours at IKEA, had lunch with a dear friend, then went to the Downtown Aquarium! I have some pictures from that day, so I'll probably post more about it later.

3. It's St. Patrick's Day! Sometimes I wish I was an elementary school teacher so I could wear dorky holiday things and not be judged. Though I get to do some of that working as a barista (I wore an elf hat and a Santa hat at various times near Christmas). Anyway, I didn't go as all-out today as I could have, but I tried to spruce up my usual outfit with some green accessories.

4. I bought green nail polish. I realized about 5 minutes before I left for work that I should have painted my nails green! But it was too late. So I'm doing it for tonight.

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Ha, the nail polish matches the link. So accidentally clever.

5. I crossed something off my 30 Before 30 list! Last night, Travis and I fiiinally went with two of our friends to Uncorked, the wine bar in downtown Bryan! (We first tried to go on Sunday, not knowing it would be closed...oops.) It was actually a great time to go, because everyone in the world was out of town for Spring Break.

(personal photo)

(photo courtesy of Katherine)

What was your favorite part of Spring Break?

Copy-cat Coupon Holder

Last month I read this post on Young House Love. Sherry was talking about this coupon holder she found at Target on accident (it looks just like a regular notebook). I immediately wrote Target down on my to-do list so I could go get one, too.

I finally went today and found one and it was the last one in the store! And only $5.99.

Success. Thank you, Sherry.

My pictures aren't as good as hers (Y'all. Seriously. We have no surface without a glare in this house.), but I wanted to show it off so maybe you would also be inspired to buy one at your own Target. :)

First off, here's what I was using before:

I'm not sure why I put that Post-it Note on there. The "enthusiasm" is not convincing.

Classy. 

It was flimsy and the coupons would get stuck inside the pockets. Actually, I'm pretty sure I just bought it at the dollar store on a whim. Now, regarding certain items, I am a big dollar store fan. But unfortunately, not all products are created equal and sold for a buck.

You can see I didn't even keep stuff in there most of the time. I would just keep all our HEB coupons in my wallet, and the other coupons I did put in the holder would frequently expire because we forgot about them.

Enter the new coupon holder:

Also, enter the glare.

Just like a book! So much easier to carry around with me in the car, or at the store.

It has an accordion pocket on the left and a pad of paper on the right.

For each tab category, I'm going to create a heading on the pad of paper, and list the coupons in the category along with their expiration dates. That way, I can see at a glance exactly what we have and when it's getting close to expiring!

AND this book thing is made from mostly recycled products. (It's by greenroom, if you were wondering. Apparently this is Target's eco-friendly brand.)

Really, I'm inordinately excited about all of this. I'm a nerd. Don't judge me. 

Of course, since it is Target, I also picked up a shirt while I was there...using the last of my birthday money. Le sigh. I'm impressed I made it last a whole month (my birthday is on February 13). 

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It worked out well that the green was the only color in my size, because I realized I had nothing green to wear for St. Patty's Day! Now I can celebrate properly. :)

How do you keep your coupons organized? What would the five tabs in your book be labeled?

Fun Five Friday [Cold, rain, and cleaning toilets]

The moment you've been waiting for all week.

1. Being done with applications. This weekend (fittingly the weekend of our retreat, which I still need to post about) was the first weekend since the fall that I haven't had ANY applications hanging over my head--school, scholarships, etc. It feels wonderful to be done with those!

Being done with applications makes me feel like this. 

(Photo courtesy of Jackie Ray Photography, LLC. One of our engagement pics!)

2. Cold rainy weather today. As much as I enjoyed the springy weather this weekend, I do feel like I got the shaft as far as winter goes in Texas this year. Since I love fall and winter most of all, I'm actually rejoicing in the dreary weather today. :)

3. Cancelled classes for Travis. He got Spring Break a day early when both his profs cancelled classes for today! But instead of sleeping all day, he got up just as early as usual to deposit our paychecks, wash the guestroom sheets (his parents are coming this weekend) and clean out allll those boxes that I mentioned previously. The room has never looked so beautiful!

4. Making my 30 Before 30 list [see below]. This did make me smile.

5. Cleaning with my giraffe toilet brush for the first time. 

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Did that make you do a double-take? I've actually been coveting this brush ever since Travis and I moved into our home and I saw it at HEB, but Travis vetoed it because it was too expensive. He was right, but I still used all my arguments, which were few and not very convincing ("Giraffes are my favorite animal! I'll want to clean the bathroom all the time!").

But then he bought it for me for Valentine's Day. So that was fun to tell people. "Aw, what did Travis get you for your first married Valentine's?" "A toilet brush."

Here's the phone pic I took at HEB before I went home to beg, "Please please can I have it?"

Sidenote: Does anyone else feel like the plural of giraffe should be giraves? I've always wondered...

What's made you smile this week? Do you think you have a cooler toilet brush than me?

30 Before 30

So, this has been a recent craze on the internet. I haven't participated before now because, frankly, I didn't know if I could think of thirty things (that were somewhat viable). But this morning I thought of one, and decided to start making a list and see how far I got. So here are my thirty, with comments on some. :)

1. Learn how to sew on a sewing machine.
2. Paint a room in our house an interesting color.
3. Grow flowers. [I didn't put "garden" on any of the growing stuff, since I'm not sure how long we'll be in apartments...]
4. Own a hedgehog.
5. Go on a non-local mission trip.
6. Visit a brewery. 30 June 2012, Wynkoop Brewing Co. in Denver with Laura.
7. Visit New York.
8. See Jackson Browne or James Taylor in concert.
9. Go on a hiking trip with Travis.
10. Take a winery tour...not at Messina Hof.
11. NOLA Jazzfest. [This is sort of cheating because we already have tickets, but if I had made this list long ago, it would have been on there. Plus that way I know I'll cross off at least one thing.] 26-29 Apr 2012 with Travis, Laura, and Brad.
12. Make our guestbook cards into an actual album.
13. Start eating fruit on a regular basis.
14. Grow our own herbs and/or vegetables.
15. Find something old, spray paint it, and use it.
16. Finally go to Uncorked. [This is the wine bar in Bryan. It's kind of a joke with me now, because every time someone invites me, I'm either out of town or I get sick. But I WILL go before we move!] 16 Mar 2012 with Katherine and Scott.
17. Read something by Ayn Rand.
18. Re-read the entire Bible.
19. Make something out of all the wine corks we've saved. [More like 50 things...] Jewelry holder and Christmas gifts.
20. Get old tshirts made into a quilt.
21. Have picture frames displayed WITH pictures in them. [This is a big problem in our house.] 29 May 2012
22. Buy or make a colorful throw pillow.
23. Re-read all the Harry Potter books. [I should probably do all the ones involving reading before I get to seminary.] Finished 26 May 2012.
24. Get a good camera and learn how to use it.
25. Start learning Spanish.
26. Find a good recipe for making our own granola bars.
27. Visit Washington, D.C.
28. Read Mere Christianity.
29. Participate in a cancer research fundraiser.
30. Run, walk, or bike for a worthy cause (not related to #29).

Goodwill

Remember when I talked about meeting the needs of others during Lent? Our first step was to give to Goodwill this past week.

I know, I know. It's really not that exciting. And it's not like we never give to Goodwill.

But I think the motivation this time was different than it's been in the past. This time, we were getting rid of "nice" stuff. You know how sometimes you only give away clothes and stuff that you don't think anyone would want? This time, we gave away clothes we'd been planning on selling back to retail shops. Shoes that were still good but that we didn't need. A couple of household items that were actually useful but we knew we ourselves would never use. And it was good.

The haul.

The interesting thing was that filling up all those bags didn't even require any kind of real search or cleaning out. This was just stuff in our closets and "on the surface," if you will. It's amazing how you think you've gotten everything down to bare bones or basic essentials, then you look back over it a month later and see everything you missed. It's easy to let blessings pile up and turn into junk--I hope we can always be reminded to use ours to bless others.

I foresee another trip to Goodwill soon, if I can ever get Travis to clean out all his boxes from the guestroom. ;)

Fun Five Friday [Cleaning and Retreating]

It's time for Friday's latest installment! This week's winners...

1. The Oscar Party. Every year for the past three years, my friend/former roommate Carly has hosted a big Oscar Party where she forces us all to dress up and we may or may not actually watch the awards (depending on the size of the group). Sadly, this was the last one where most of us will be living in the same place, so we took the opportunity to enjoy it. :)

(photo from Carly)

A little dark, but it's the only one we have of husband and myself. 

Apparently this year the hostess dubbed us Brangelina 

(although I will attest that Travis did trim his beard beforehand, unlike Brad Pitt.)

(photo from Carly)

Yay friends!

2. Cleaning frenzies moods. Am I the only one who has these? Surely not. Regardless, I like to take advantage when they strike! We have a guest bedroom in our current residence, which is both a blessing and a curse...it's great that people have a place to sleep when they come stay, but we also end up shoving all our junk in there about 98% of the time. I cleaned out the whole room, desk, AND closet on my day off, and it felt wonderful. Except for afterwards when my allergies got really bad. 

3. Friends' successes. I had two good friends find out this week that they got the internships they wanted (one for the summer and one for the next year)! They'll be working at the Denver Botanical Gardens and NASA, respectively. I have talented friends. It's nice of them to hang out with me. ;)

4. A husband who cooks. Some traditional gender roles are upheld in our household, but others are not. Case in point: Travis pretty much cooks everything. He likes it. He's better at it. And most of the time he doesn't even ask me if I want to cook, which means I'm losing all my skillz (not that I had many to begin with). 

Yesterday, however, he really needed to study for a test, so I made some soup which involved chicken. The soup was good, but I'd forgotten how much I. HATE. touching raw chicken. Or raw meat in general. I told Travis right then that, given the option, I'd rather change a baby's poopy reusable diaper than prepare raw chicken. Dead serious.

So, I am thankful for my husband, because otherwise I might starve or only eat frozen yogurt. :)

5. Bible Study retreat. We're leaving for the weekend in about four hours! I'm pretty stoked to have some time away from everything with people I love.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Before you go, tell me: What's given you joy this week?