Winter Wonderland?

Isn't there a rule in nature that when it is unreasonably cold outside there MUST be snow to make it worthwhile? If not, we need to make that a rule because it is a frigid mess outside!

Saturday night the temperature dropped so drastically that it made our tires go flat, we found this out on our way to church Sunday morning. It wasn't as awful as it sounds, but my car has really sensitive pressure sensors and it wouldn't let us drive until we put more air in so Allen got out in his church clothes with an air compressor to fix the problem (our new neighbors probably think we're nuts!)

I went on a job interview last week , it wasn't anything to get super excited about, it was just a substitute position for two months, but anything is something so I was really looking forward to it. I got to the school and almost didn't even get out of the car! There were bars on every door and window, signs that looked like this:


at an elementary school! I went up to the main door and pushed a button to get scanned in, the surveilance camera moved up and down to "search" me, I went inside and had to get my license scanned into the computer system to make sure I didn't have a record and get a photo I.D. printed out for my INTERVIEW! I couldn't believe how crazy the security was! I met with the principal and our interview wen well, but I just don't think it was a good fit. He asked what type of relationship I would have with the students and I replied "A relationship of mutual respect, I will treat every student in my classroom with respect, but in return I will expect the same thing" and he said "there are some tough kids around here, trust me, you won't be respecting all of them" Overall I just don't think it would have worked out regardless, plus it was well over an hour away so I'm not too terribly heartbroken it didn't work out.

I know this is a long shot but ever since I found out we were moving to the Memphis area I have been applying at St. Jude's to work in there child development/education program. They have such an incredible program that openings are very, very hard to get and they can afford to be very picky and the requirements are very difficult. Each time I have applied I have gotten a very poilite rejection letter within a week, but a few weeks ago I applied again for a different position and I have not received a rejection letter yet (yay!) so I might still be in the running! So keep me in your thoughts and prayers because this would be the opprotunity of a lifetime!

In other news Allen and I are super excited because his family is coming to stay with us for Christmas and they will be here a week from tomorrow! I have a lot of cleaning to do! Thankfully *almost* everything is unpacked now and we are feeling nice and settled in! This is my FAVORITE time of the year to decorate so the house is pretty well "decked out" for the holidays, and it feels so nice.

We are still looking for a good church in the area, we have been visiting two churches and both are very friendly. A couple from one of the churches dropped by our house last night to visit with us, we probably need to decide pretty soon, but it has turned out to be a tough decision for the two of us.

In other news, while I am waiting on a teaching job to come along I've decided to try a few side jobs. I am offering tutoring to children in our neighborhood after school and (the most exciting part) I am going to try and do some graphic design work on the side! I have always loved doing it as a hobby, and I whip things up as favors for friends but I had never considered doing it to supplement our income before, so this is a new adventure for us. If you know of anyone needing anything (birth announcements, party invitations, business cards, promotional materials etc.) feel free to send them to me. I am opening an online shop and will post the link as soon as it is up and running, but in the meantime here is a way to check it out if you are interested: Jamie.Henry.Designs
or there should be a link over to the right of the page --->

I know I promised house pictures, and even though everything isn't finished yet (we still have a few things to hang on the walls and a few things are out of place) here is where we are:

This is our living room , I am standing in the entryway hallway and the door you can see is the door to the patio.
This is our entryway complete with hanging ornaments for the holidays!
Our pile of presents under the tree for our families (I just LOVE the wrapping paper I found this year!Living right down the street from a Target is rocking my socks off!)
Allen's dad took these next two pictures when we went to Oklahoma for his cousins wedding a few months back, sorry they are kindof random, this uploading program always gets my pictures out of order and I haven't figured out how to fix that yet!)

Our beautiful tree with the the star topper that year after year refuses to stay on straight!
This is the first Christmas that we have had a fireplace and a mantel! This is my favorite part!
Well, the mantel is my favorite part of my decorations...my favorite part of the Holidays is getting to spend time with family, and this Christmas is going to be especially fun due to this little guy at this magical age. Just look at the belief in his face, this is going to be such a fun Christmas morning!
Oh, Allen and I got to go to a Memphis Grizzlies NBA game last week. It was a Harding event so we were able to see some people we knew and enjoy the game. I'm not a huge pro-sports fan (I prefer college...specifically the RAZORBACKS! WOO PIG!) but it was still a really neat experience.
And last but not least Kaya and Abilene sure seem to be settling in well to their new home! Aren't they precious?




Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving

Allen and I went to Alabama for Thanksgiving this year, it felt so good to get to spend time with family, that is why I love the holidays so much! We got to spend a few days with Kevin, Karla and the boys and I couldn't believe how much they had grown and changed...but they are still so much fun to be with as always! we had our big Thanksgiving meal and this year everyone helped out Uncle Kevin took care of the turkey, Aunt Karla made the best green bean casserole I have ever had, Julie made the dressing, it was delicious, Mom made sweet potato souffle, I made yeast rolls, and I think just about everyone had a hand in making the corn casserole Karsten strained all of the sweet potatoes, Kaleb melted the butter, Allen even put something in the microwave! Jaden and Karsten helped with dessert, it was so much fun!

Even though it was a rainy weekend the boys still got out and played some football, as per our Thanksgiving tradition. Also going with tradition, Allen and I woke up super early to do our black friday shopping, and the boys did too this year, it is always fun to get a bargain! Because of our sale dedication we are about 90% finished with our Christmas shopping! Woo!

As much fun as the weekend was, it feels so good to be home! We had lunch and a game of Mexican Train with good friends yesterday and picked up our Christmas tree (pictures to come once it's decorated)

Now back to decorating the house and baking cookies (it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...and it smells even better! Yum!)

These pictures are courtesy of Aunt Karla:

Making S'mores by the fire pit
Almost time to eat!
Thanksgiving Football
Everybody helped out.

Our first weekend in mississippi

This weekend was one of the most fun weekends we have had in a LONG time! We have gotten so much of our house unpacked that we were able to have company so we had our close friends Anthony and Leslie over (They live in town. Anthony works with Allen, they have been close friends since college and I am good friends with his wife, Leslie) We each had half off coupons for IHOP and enjoyed breakfast for dinner Friday night, we had so much fun that we all got together Saturday evening for the Razorback game (Woo Pig Sooie!)

I cooked Chili and pepperjack cheese bread. Leslie had been telling me that she wanted to do more baking and I love to bake so we picked out a recipe for chocolate souffle (neither one of us had ever eaten or baked it before so we thought it might be an adventure. It was actually a lot of fun to make but it was an odd texture and wasn't very rich in flavor... we all decided souffle isn't our thing but we can't wait to try something else soon!

Today we visited a really nice church on town, there were things we liked and things we weren't over the moon about (this is our second time visiting) but there are a few more churches we would like to try out and we are excited to begin the process of finding a new "home"

After church today we went to the matinee showing of the new Harry Potter movie, it was SO good! and then Allen said he had a surprise activity for us and he took us to a park that he passes on his way to work. We brought Kaya with us and we all had a blast! Kaya found the lake and we learned that she LOVES splasking in the water...it was such a fun day!







We're looking forward to many more weekends like this!

The start of something new

As of tomorrow we will have lived in our new home for a week! I can call it a home now because since I haven't found a job yet I have had nothing to do all week other than unpack, which has turned out to be pretty nice because everything is coming together nicely! I am in LOVE with our apartment! I was really sad to have to leave our beautiful house in Searcy, and we looked at getting a house here, but we decided that it would be in our best interest to live in an apartment for a few years to save up and get more financially settled before we make any huge money descisions.

I was not looking forward to downsizing, we had accumulated a house full of stuff in our three years together and I did not think it would fit in an apartment, but we found this amazing plce and the units are HUGE...it feels like a house, and they are very well built so we can seldom even hear our neighbors and it is in a very safe part of town for when Allen has to travel and it is just AMAZING!

I am not the worlds best at remembering to send out updates, but when I teach I always set up a blog to give the parents access to what is going on in the classroom, so I figured I would apply the concept to our family...this is an easy place to check in and get updates on our {oh so thrilling} life!

I will post lots of pictures, if you click on them they will enlarge and can be saved to your computer to keep or to get printed {Just let us know if you need any help with this, it is easy to get them printed at walgreens!}

Because I just got this started I will play a little catch-up on this post. And the picture quality will improve once I get my camer unpacked, these were taken with my phone.


Okay this is my proudest accomplishment EVER! Let me explain, I am obsessed with learning to be handy. Ever since I helped with a building project by measuring, cutting, and hanging drywall on our mission trip to Mexico a few years ago I have been very interested in learning how to do home improvement projects. The only thing I ever watch on television is HGTV for all of their home improvement shows and this was the first time I have gotten to try out my handy-woman skills and boy was it fun! Our cable jack was on a different wall from where we needed our T.V and the cord couldn't be run on the ground because it crossed our high traffic hallway.
So I pulled up the carpet and ran the cord underneath and laid the carpet again.
By myself.
{yay!}

Notice anything odd?
After 13 hours of moving
{no, that isn't a typo, the whole process took 13 hours}
we were pretty gross, but I hadn't unpacked our shower curtain. I had thought ahead to bring a curtain liner...but I didn't think about shower curtain hooks...whoops!
So I made some impromptu "hooks" our of packing tape.
classy, huh?
this is our living room
and our kitchen
{pardon the fact that it more closely resembles a storage facility}

Last week I heard back from a school in our area. Now from the beginning I felt like this opportunity was too good to be true, and you know what they say, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is...well that held true for me. This was a very prestigious all girls prepratory school {Hutchison} The headmistress called me and we had an initial phone interview and it went well, she seemed really interested in me and asked me to drive down for an official interview, I was over the moon excited, I hardly slept that night, I woke up at 5 the next morning to drive down and I arrived an hour before my interview. As I was waiting in the parking lot to go in she called me and cancelled the interview saying that they had filled the position from within the night before. I was crushed, but I went in and turned in all of my paperwork anyways and they said they were still interested in me if any new positions become available.

When I left the school I prayed and asked for calmness and clarity to be able to trust that everything would be okay and I felt a little better. I went into a home store to get ideas for our new house and the first piece of art I saw was a poster that said "Keep Calm and Carry On" I thought that was fitting and it made me smile. The very next store that I went in I ran across that very same phrase and when I went into a third store and saw it I laughed out loud. It was almost like a personal little message to just keep going and know that everything will be fine, in HIS time! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as I am still holding out for a teaching position!
And although we are so happy and so blessed to be in such a wonderful place of our own it is undeniable...we both really miss this little guy. A LOT!

I know that was a lot to read, but that is a pretty comprehensive update! Allen says his new job is pretty boring, but he is going to like it. They are really good to their employees and it is a great, stable job...we couldn't ask for more!