No go on the house...

The top pic is Dan and I at the horse races in 2007 and the next one is the night we got engaged we were celebrating with Lauren and Justin at Jerry B's!

This was celebration of Dan's graduation with his family. That is his brother Eric and niece Kelsy.

I thought the next 2 were fun. They are from when we first met and started dating in the Spring of 2006. We both look so different from then. We like to laugh about our round pudgy cheeks in the old pics from when we met.

Well, sadly enough the house deal fell through. We found out last weekend (Oct. 18) that the appraisal might not come back as high as it needed to b/c of what we were paying. On Monday, the appraiser went out to the house and let us know that the house appraised for less than we were paying so we offered the appraisal value to the sellers and they weren't willing to accept. It was pretty dumb on their part if you ask me b/c they are not going to be able to get more than appraisal value out of it but I guess they think they can. We were definitely disappointed b/c we loved that house but realize there are more houses out there and that was just God's way of letting us know that's not where He wanted us. We have looked a couple of times since then and found a house we really like but there are a couple things that would need to be done to it once we move it. It needs a fence in the back and there is carpet in an area of the house that would need to be torn up. We are praying about making an offer on it soon. I love the kitchen in that house. It would be my favorite thing!

Besides house hunting not much is going on. I finished my time at the bank on Oct. 17 and have been busy busy busy with school since then. I spent a couple days in LR last week w/ my mom and then a couple days in Searcy with Dan's family. It was a great. We took Rex for the first time to Searcy and I was so nervous about it b/c Sharon has a toy poodle that is spoiled just as much, if not more, than Rex. We didn't know how jealous they would be of each other or what would happen. PLus, they have a pool with a liner and we couldn't let Rex get in b/c he would tear it up...and being 83 lbs...its hard to control whether or not he dives into the pool w/o going in with him. Well, we got there early Wednesday morning and the first thing Rex did when I took him around back to pee before we went inside was dive into the pool and almost took me in with him. Thankfully he didn't touch the liner so that was good. But anyways, things turned out great. Rex and Libby became fast friends and had so much fun. I think it helped that they were both really spoiled, they had a bond. It was so funny to watch them run around the house together, take naps together, beg for treats together....they are too funny. Needless to say, we are not worried about taking Rex back to Searcy anymore. Thank goodness.

This past weekend we hung out in Conway and relaxed.

My parents are in Cancun for the week and Dan's parents leave Wednesday for India for 10 days. Please pray for both of their safety!

It is finally getting cold here and I thought I was ready for it...but I AM NOT! (But, Dan LOVES it---one thing we will always disagree on) I do not like this kind of weather. It makes it really hard for me to go out and run but I am trying to be dedicated so I best get going.

I know posts are no fun to read without pics so I'll put a couple up of just random things :)

God Bless!

Major Changes

Alright, well it has been too long since I have posted. Nothing too exciting has been going on in our lives until the last couple of weeks. Since the last update we have been to one Razorback game, and we all know how exciting that is, and the rest of the time we have spent in Conway hanging out or in Cabot looking at houses. I don't really even know where to start telling you the changes that have occurred in the last week or 2.
Jenny got offered an opportunity about 3 1/2 weeks ago to become part of a program at UAMS called Learning and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (LEND). It is a research based graduate program that deals with children who have neurodevelopmental disorders. We meet once a week at UAMS. Throughout the semester we will also be doing some clinical work. The first week we signed up for the ones that interested us the most. Mine don't come up until the beginning of November and they are one time..it is not a continual thing. I am going to be involved with Foster Care Children, High-risk infants, autistic biochemistry research, TLC(sadly I am not even sure what it stands for yet) and one other that I can't think of at the moment. I am really excited and somewhat overwhelmed. Some other projects we are involved with are called Solution-Focused Learning. We interview families of children with a disorder and find out their needs and their struggles and from the interview we take some learning issues and research them and present them to the class. We have met with one family so far and our presentations are next Friday. I am super nervous about this just because I feel very unprepared and like I am the only one that isn't quite sure what is going on. It's ok though. It will be very challenging and good for me. It will hopefully get me some good experience for when I apply to the internship again next year.
All that to say, needing to be off work on Fridays for class did not go over well with my boss at the bank. Fridays are our busy day so it makes it hard when one person is off. I turned in my resignation a few weeks ago and my last day is Friday, October 17. It is kind of a bittersweet feeling. I know I am going to get better experience at the LEND project but I will miss the routine of having a steady job and being around the ladies at the bank. They were fun to work with.
Since I am no longer tied to Conway (all my grad school classes are online) Daniel and I decided to get closer to Searcy so he wasn't driving as far every day. We have been looking for about a month now and last weekend we found a house we both LOVED. We made an offer on Monday and after a few back and forth counter offers we found out last night that they would accept our offer. We are so so so excited. We are closing October 24...which is super soon...and will move in soon after. We thought Cabot would be the best b/c I am more than likely going to end up in Little Rock for work and that way we would split the difference.
It is definitely going to be an adjustment for the whole fam..dogs included. I was just beginning to feel like Conway was home and getting real settled here but change is good. We are going to embrace the change and have fun with it.
God has been so good to us through the whole process. All those times I interviewed and didn't get called back or missed opportunities to get jobs at places related to my field paid off. I knew God had a plan and I just continued to be patient and trust Him and now He has given us more than we ever deserve. We are extremely blessed to have found a house so quickly for such a great price and that needs no repairs or extra work once we move in. He has also placed this LEND opportunity in front of me to really challenge me and grow me. It is definitely out of my comfort zone but I know it will be worth it. He is teaching us so much about His faithfulness and His healing power.
I could keep going on and on about things that have changed in our lives over the last few weeks but that could end up being a super long post. I won't bore anyone with that. But that is the semi-short update on our lives. PRAISE GOD FOR ALL HE HAS DONE AND WILL DO.
As soon as we close and I get pictures of the new home I will post some. We are so excited.
We also need renters for the house we are in now. We have some potentials but no definites. If you know of anyone please call or email me and we would love to let them look at the house.

God Bless!