moving out to denver.

you know, i've always been a homebody. i love my family and extended family terribly. we have a gazillion traditions and we typically enjoy each others company. my mom is one of my best friends, and my aunt beth is like a second mom. my cousins clare, jena, sarah and i have been close since we were kids (all three of who which were part of my bridal party).

i also love pittsburgh. i love the city to pieces. i loved growing up in the inner city here, and living in lawrenceville. i practically bleed black and gold. i know it like the back of my hand. i love the culture, the "-ism's", the area, even as ghetto/trashy as it can be sometimes, it's a comfort to me, it's home. in all honesty i hope to live back in pittsburgh permanently one day.

so if you would have told me that i would have lived any place other than pittsburgh when i was in high school, i don't know if i would have believed it. when i got married in june of 08 i knew we were heading to indiana because debo got a job there. however, i looked to it as an adventure, not realizing how hard it would be for me to move 6 hours away, and to no longer live in a city. i grew a lot. i learned to appreciate indiana (even as much as i disliked the midwest). i found i had made a new home, and even though it was not like my pittsburgh one, i still liked it.

that was two years ago, and now debo and i are heading out to denver, colorado. this was not part of "the plan." it actually became a last minute change when debo lost his job at IWU. however, now we are going to be at Colorado Christian University, debo a resident director again, and me hopefully finding a job in denver (a city that is only 15 minutes away). what a blessing that within the month that debo lost one job, God provided a new one doing something he loves to do and something i love being a part of. also, God is bringing us to a place that just seems to be a much better fit, from the culture at CCU to even the smaller student population we are very excited to grown and learn there. [side note: another tough part to all of this is how much we will truly miss our students at IWU, the resident directors, and our other friends in marion, indiana. we love these people so much and we are going to miss them like crazy. they made indiana home and i don't want to forget that.]

it is kinda surreal. i never thought i'd live out west, ever. now i am gearing up for a new adventure and this time i can't even drive 6 hrs to get home to pittsburgh, i have to take a plane. however, i think God has been preparing this heart of mine during the past two years. it's scary, it's exciting, and it's a comfort to know that God is holding my hand just as he has been during this whole process.

God is so good. I can't tell you how blessed we are and just how much He pulled me through this process and taught me.

"The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." _Psalm 145:8-9

*sigh* denver here we come.

here's to the new year.

so here we are, 2010.

the past few weeks have flown by. here's a recap.

- flew in thursday the 18th by myself for a weekend in pittsburgh and the cene family christmas party (debo was wonderful enough to let me buy a plane ticket, since he had to work).

- my connecting flight out of baltimore let me reunite with my bestfriend (regina aka reggie bean) who i haven't seen in over a year (although we do talk weekly). we got to fly to pittsburgh together and she and my other good friend katie klos spent the night over my house. we watched old movies, laughed a lot, and cuddled. it was wonderful.

- had my family christmas the following friday and had a sleepover with my cousins on saturday. hung out with my mom on sunday, debo came monday, and we left for philly on tuesday.

- spent a week in philly/jersey with debo's family. had a very nice christmas breakfast at his aunt wendy's house and dinner at his aunt shirley's. went to the poconos with debo's dad, and came back to pittsburgh the following tuesday.

- since in pittsburgh, we have spent some wonderful time with family. new years eve debo and i went out to mccormick and schmicks with clare, jena, and chaz. had a fabulous seafood dinner then over to chaz and jena's and just hung out until 3:30 am.

- my mom is currently making us a turkey dinner tonight, clare and tall john are coming over, and we are going to watch the pens game.

we leave tuesday for indiana. i'm looking forward to getting back to our own place as much as i enjoy spending time with family. it's just nice to be in your own place and get back into normal life again. plus i miss our hodson boys, and my kiddos.

so am i ready for 2010? as ready as i'll ever be. i must say there is something charming about the start of a new year. and it's even better when you usher it in with the people you love.

happy new years!

its been a while...

wow. so i've been kinda slacking in my blogging here lately. i guess summer will do that to you...spend more time outside doing things and less time in front of the computer shivering under a pile of blankets.

so our crazy travel heavy summer has begun.

we currently are in pittsburgh now. tom and jenine's wedding is this friday, and debo is one of the groomsmen. he will be gone with the boys from tomorrow afternoon on, which i think will be good for him to get some "man-time" with his good guy friends from college. i think the wedding will be a lot of fun, we'll get to see a lot of friends which i look forward too.

my mom and i have also been spending some good quality time together. we grabbed lunch at the cheescake factory yesterday and got ourselves petticures. we took a long walk, chatted non-stop, and just had a really nice time. *sigh* i love visiting my pittsburgh.

we'll be leaving here this upcoming sunday and then traveling 5 hrs to cinncinatti. debo's best man from our wedding is getting married the following saturday there, and debo is in that wedding. plus we are going to help debo's mom get packed all up as she is moving back out to philly/jersey area. then after the weekend as we see his mom off on her 12 hour journey, we're going to stop at the columbus zoo (debo and i love zoo's and animals!), before we make our way back to pittsburgh again.

we'll be there in time to celebrate my 23 b-day w/ my fam, and then the first two weeks of july we have tony mastris and becca's wedding, and then jenn reill and ron's wedding the following weekend. (at least it's all in the pittsburgh area!)

then we head to harmons, jamaica for two weeks at the end of july. we'll be there with the won by one missions organization.

then we fly back into pittsburgh, stay a couple days so i can see my cousin clare (who has left me for china most of the summer, and most of the time i'm in pittsburgh), and then we finally head back to indiana the last week of july, as debo's IWU RD training starts august 1.

crazy i know. it will be good i think though.

on a completely differnt note. debo and i just celebrated our 1 year anniversary on sunday. i can't believe it's been a year! life goes fast. we went to go see the movie UP together, and took a nice long walk, and then we had a delicious dinner w/ my family, and my mom had homemade chocolate cake to celebrate. it was lovely. this first year together has had a lot of challenges, a lot of transitions, and a lot of love. we're aiming for at least 49 more years together. hehehe.

from the picture vault: here's jon & i at my bridal shower in march '08

(surrounded by a bunch of my girl friends)

time flies.

so my mom always said, that once you turn 20 the years kinda just fly past you. i think she's right.

in june i'm going to turn 23, i'm also going to have been married a year, and well, out of college for a year. i've been out of high school for 5 years now. crazy! i just kinda can't get over how fast it all goes.

at the same time i just feel so blessed. God has been so good.

fancy some fringe?

why hello there! i have returned. my trip to pittsburgh was absolutely wonderful. we arrived wednesday around 1 up at geneva. i spent the afternoon/evening/night catching up with friends (some graduated & in the geneva area/some still in school). it was so nice to see these girls/guys and just hang out. i however, had decided to head home to spend the weekend with me mum.

so then bright and early thursday morning i hopped onto 76, to 79, to 279 and drove up to see the beautiful city sprout about in my horizon. then taking 28 i came to my neighorbood, the new childrens hosptial even bigger and ever more visible from my street. my mom was waiting for me and we spent the morning talking over tea and then taking a walk at the allegheny cemetary [ it is the 11th largest in the U.S. and literally there are deer in this fenced in cemetary located admist the inner city neighborhoods of pittsburgh. it is also a piece of history i might add as it was founded in 1844 and has large and elaborate grave stones all over, people just don't make stones like that anymore]. so, yes we walk in a cemetary, but honestly it's one of my favorite places. perhaps it's an escape from our urban metropolis, or because it's just so peaceful there, or perhaps even it's a reminder to me of our mortality which doesn't have to be morbid thing when you think of what's waiting for us.

my mom and i did lots of talking, lots of shopping (she spoiled me rotten), and ate yummy things, watched movies, got petticures and just enjoyed each others company. i also got to spend time with my dad and brother and it was lovely. i just have such great family and i feel so blessed to have them. God is so good. what a beautiful visit. debo also got some much needed time with his guys up at geneva. since so many of his close friends were a year behind him (most of my close girlfriends graduated when i did) i think it was just nice for him to visit with them and hang out, and have guy time with people who don't know him as an RD, his friends. so yeah we had very good times.

on another note i got my hair cut. i kept the length, trimmed my layers, and yes...i did it i got some bangs! (or as the british say, "fringe")... here are some snapshots i tried to capture in a mirror...my sad attempts...but they will have to do because i'm lazy. it's a change. i'm kinda diggin them, and debo loves 'em, so that's a plus. lol.

and well we're back to work, easter is on the horizon and we are staying in the neighborhood (we decided we didn't feel like traveling) so it will be nice just to be home here in indiana. debo's sister is here for the weekend as well so that will be nice to have some company over. it was hard to leave pittsburgh, it always is. however, with 3 of our like 7 weddings coming up this summer being in the area, i know we will be back there come june!

a homecoming.

debo and i are traveling to pittsburgh this wednesday for a nice long weekend. he'll be spending most of the time up at geneva, and while i'll be visiting a little there, i plan on spending most of the time with me mama. we didn't get much quality time together when i was home in december because debo and i were running around trying to see a lot of our friends and my cousins. so i look forward to some serious girl time with her. which with my mom means: food, petticures, shopping, old movies, and if it's warm nice long walks in our favorite spot in the city. *sigh* goodness i love living in the city and i love my mom.

i've actually had a lot on my mind lately, and hopefully i'll get to post more on that later when i clear out my thoughts. this past week was lovely as i had a ton of free time (i.e. no nannying), but i must say i look forward to seeing my cuties tomorrow morning at 9. blessings on the start of your weeks.