service

This past weekend we had the opportunity to volunteer with Hands on Nashville at Cohn Adult high school. PGSA, an organization I'm involved with through Vanderbilt, sent volunteers and it was such a great experience to be able to help beautify a local school. We painted a handicap ramp and an art classroom.
In light of current events, the presidential election, school, the economy failing, we are trying really hard to not get worried and instead focus on service to others. Somehow when you see the abundant needs of those in your community, it helps you to realize your problems aren't so bad. When we moved to Nashville Jeremy and I really wanted to re-prioritize service as an important aspect of our lives. I think the opportunity to work in the Dominican Republic this summer opened our hearts to God's calling for us to be better servants. Anyway, this week has been busy (as I'm sure all of you can attest to), but it is a good busy. The kind where we get home at night and are thankful for our daily commitments, but also thankful to have eachother and a place to call home. Nashville is finally growing on us and especially the fall weather here (have I mentioned how much I love fall).
Soooo....come visit us!

B&E

It has been beautiful here in Nashvegas this whole week. The boys and I took advantage of the weather by playing outside and going to the dog park. They absolutely love the DP (we have to call it this or else every time we say the whole name Beau freaks out in excitement). We met some super nice people there the other night who have two girl pugs! They were adorable and I'm trying to convince the boys that it's time they met some lady friends...lol. This week has been super busy with work and school so hopefully we will enjoy some relaxation time this weekend!

Pics. of the boys:

2nd Wedding

When we renew our vows some day this will be the dress I wear:


This is from NY fashion week and I'm in love (with Jeremy and the dress)!

Football!

So we have to do a football post because all three of our teams won this week...yippee! We LOVE ourselves some football and hopefully one of our teams will go all the way this year. I'm thinking we look prettttty prettyy good (for you Curb your Enthusiasm fans) so far!

Go FALCONS!!!



Go DAWGS!!!

So we have to do a football post because all three of our teams won this week...yippee! We LOVE ourselves some football and hopefully one of our teams will go all the way this year. I'm thinking we look prettttty prettyy good (for you Curb your Enthusiasm fans) so far!


Go Vandy (see below)!!!


We had a great weekend! Friday we saw Pineapple Express and it was pretty funny (not as funny as some of Seth Rogen's other movies, but still hilarious). Saturday we did some shopping (yeah for new work clothes), ate Mexican at Rose Pepper, and watched Black Hawk Down. Have you seen this movie? Wow, it has to be the most intense war movie I have ever seen. I decided that if I ever have to go into the military I definitely want to be in the Rangers...these guys are serious. Oh and of course we watched lots of football and did some yard work. Sunday was beautiful here in Nashville - perfect weather. We have been visiting a new church, Crosspoint Community Church, and we really enjoyed it this past Sunday. The new series is titled "Baggage" and it should be pretty interesting/scary! OH and they sang "From the Inside Out", which is one of our favorite songs AND the song that we taught the Dominicans in Higuey this summer ("Dios eterno, por siempre...") LOVES IT. I think God may be telling us something. Also, I am almost finished with the curtains I made and will post pics. later (gentlemen I'm sure you cannot wait!).

Love to all and have a wonderful week!

Vandy beats USC!!!

Last night we went to Vandy's football home opener against University of South Carolina. It was a ton of fun and we WON! I think this is the first time we have won against a ranked team since the 1930s?!? Anyway, we ran into our neighbors while we were there and ended up sitting together. I was just so excited to be at a school that has football I wanted to post some pics. GO 'DORES!!!

visitors

Fall is in the air - I can smell it! It will be so exciting to experience fall in Nashville because there are so many beautiful trees here, especially on Vanderbilt's campus! I can't wait to watch Fall movies like "You've Got Mail", start burning Fall-scented candles, and put out all my Fall decorations (most of you know how obsessed I am with Fall).

We have officially been in Nashville for a month---yippee!

This month has been so much fun mainly because of all of our visitors! We may just turn our house into a regular B&B (hey I wouldn't be complaining!) I added some pictures of our house and friends/family that have visited so far!

The picture on the stairs is of my dad, little sister Emily, and Jeremy at VU. They helped us move all of our CRAP up here and we couldn't have been more grateful! The older I get the more I realize how lucky I am to have a wonderful (and slightly dysfunctional family) whom I love to death!

My older sister Crystal visited us, but I seem to have no evidence! UGH! Must get pictures from her camera soon!

Then our long-time friends Adam and Christina stopped by for a "we need out of Atlanta ASAP" visit! We didn't get to spend much time with them, but we're happy for a little piece of home! Favorite quote of that night by A, Bourne "No, I bet they have black midgets in Decatur as well"....bahaha loves it.

Last, but hardly LEAST the Hutchersons stopped by last Sat. They are an AWESOME couple we met on our DR trip this summer and fell instantly in "friendship love" with...hehe. We are trying to convince them to move to Nashville sooner, rather than later, but I think Trish could go a few more years without seeing a U-Haul truck : ). TRISH c'mon COUNTRY MUSIC CAPITAL of the world?! You'd be in heaven. Well, if we can't be close we sure as heck can visit lots. Oh and I specifically put the picture of Trish and Ernie because he was officially obsessed with her....I mean who wouldn't be? Thanks so much for coming guys!

Classes began this week and are going great. My job starts next week and I'm so glad everything didn't begin at once because I tend to get overwhelmed easily. I met some really nice people in my program at orientation and can't wait to get to know them better throughout the semester!

Jeremy's school is still going well, but he has had a few behavioral issues to deal with as the kids are becoming more comfortable. For example, there was a fight this week at his school where a girl was beating up a guy! The police came and arrested them. Apparently, the fight was gang related and teachers are having to be a lot more vigilant about writing kids up for any signs of gang activity. The "bloods" are the gang here and it's pretty crazy how pervasive they are in the community. J was saying that gang members will impregnate young girls just to create more boys to be raised into gang life. He teaches 9th grade and one of his students had a baby this summer and she has to miss class sometimes to take care of her (wow!).

Anyway, I'm going to figure out how to post some pics. now! Love to all!

Nashville: Making a New Home

Hello! It seems like forever ago that we created this blog and I can't even believe that it has been 2 months since our DR trip. The past two months have been a whirlwind of craziness and this week has been one of the first that we both have simultaneously had off since CHRISTMAS (and the DR trip was not time off...it was amazing, but still work)!!! I thought I would fill everyone in on what's been happening the past few months and on our new beginnings in NASHVEGAS (yeah, I'm pretty sure NO one else calls it that here).

J finished his Master's in Teaching English a few weeks ago with a final GPA of 3.8! I'm so proud of all the work he has accomplished and also happy to have him home more :) This last year was quite challenging trying to juggle marriage, school, work, graduate applications, and the like, but we made it...scratch that God pulled us through BIG time. Props to God. We couldn't have asked for a better year though (sorry we have been measuring years on school time since our whole relationship has revolved around school from the beginning...therefore the "New" year begins in August and ends in May-June and July are free months-just trying to be like the Chinese). It's true what they say "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

Packing and boxing up our life in Atlanta went semi-smoothly. I had my last day at work after two years on July 17th. It was pretty rough. I had been trying to set myself up for the change, but you just can't prepare for these type of life-events. Jill(my boss) and John Brady (the little boy I nanny for) attended our Softball Bash/Going away party that our AWESOME friends threw for us. I was so glad that everyone came out to send us off because it meant the world to us. Thursday before the move was pretty emotional (I'm a crier people...don't you know this already?!?). I created this slideshow of pictures that I have been taking of JB since he was about 10 months old and another little girl (his neighbor) that I have watched this summer. We all watched it together and it was pretty hard. I'm really going to miss that little guy:( Jill was so sweet and we hugged and cried and hugged and cried some more. I mean they have been a 2nd family to me and it is hard to leave people you love working for, but we will keep in touch.

We were both exicted to get all the boxes OUT of our living room and into the truck (finally). We had a lot of great help from our families. My Dad and little sis Emily even came up here to help us get settled. There is just no way around moving being stressful, but for the most part it went well. The first day we got here two young neighborhood couples came up to the house and introduced themselves. I was shocked! Usually people are so evasive these days. We are so happy to already know some people in the Hood. The older gentlemen who lives to the right of us has lived in this hood for 54 years! He lived he during the Civil Rights movement...how freakin' cool is that?

We live in East Nashville, which is right across the bridge from downtown and the Titans football stadium. East Nashville is a very unique little place and so far we love it. It reminds us of a Little Five Points mixed with VA Highlands. Many parts are Historic and even the house we are renting was built in 1899 (don't worry the owners spent the last year renovating it - no more wood-burning stove yippee). Other areas, including our street, are not the nicest houses, but this area is growing so fast and quickly changing. Although some of the houses are older, our street is very quiet/safe, and our neighbors are super friendly. Across the street we have the Five Points area which is really neat. I have a new favorite breakfast spot "Marche" and a ton of other indie places like: Z's Deli, Pied Piper Creamery, Bongo Java, Alley Cat Tex Mex food, and lots of bars: )

J has been planning the upcoming school year with his colleagues and he is looking forward to this school year. He will be teaching 9th grade Language Arts at a high school 3 miles away. It is a pretty rough school, but he is going to make such an impact there. The principal is much much much better than his last school and he has this amazing classroom. We have been working on getting it ready this week and I think the kids are really going to dig it. The room is on the 2nd floor with TONS of windows and bookshelves (I forced him to bring most of his books to his classroom because honestly the amount he has is getting out of control). I don't begin classes until Aug. 25th and my RA positionn doesn't begin until Sept. so for now I'm chiling at home. I couldn't be happier. I'm trying to work on decorating, but I think I overwhelm myself with starting too many projects at once. We have been doing a lot of yard work and it's beginning to look fabulous....well semi-fabulous anyway:)
Beau and Ernie are adjusting well. They LOVE having a backyard and being able to bark at people who walk by!

Anyway, I think this is enough for one entry! We miss everyone, so start scheduling your visits ASAP. 5 movies for $5 isn't going to last forever at Blockbuster and then we will need some real human interaction... My older sis Crystal is coming to visit this weekend and I cannot wait.

****Nashville Pics. coming SOON******