3 weeks and counting

Well, it's official now (mostly). We're signing the lease tomorrow morning, but we just got word that we're good to move in to our new apartment on Friday, April 11th. So the big move day is Saturday, April 12th. Anyone want to help?! ;-)

Small steps

Quite a few posts back I asked for prayer as Greg and I try to find new ways to meet the Lord together. Well, as a small (yet big) answer to that prayer, we ran into a Couple's Study Bible (or something like that) at a Barnes & Nobles a couple weeks back.

Side note: I actually came home from work one day and was craving suburbia! Craving Suburbia?! So we made a date out of it and drove up to an On the Border and then hung out at a HUGE B&N for the evening. It was quite refreshing and fun! I think "craving suburbia" is a sign of getting old...

Back to the Bible... Greg had been talking with our friend Eliot a little and asked him about how they spend time with God together, what works for them, etc. And Eliot's advice was to start small. So when we saw the short devotions at B&N, we decided to give it a try. Now, we're not great about sticking to it every day. (We're both chronic snooze addicts.) But we've been able to somewhat consistently read together, talk through things together, pray together, and more purposely choose to share Life together. It's been wonderful!

Thanks, Greg, for leading us to God together!

Thanks, all of you, for helping us start small through your prayers a while back!

August Rush

Greg and I watched this movie last night, and I loved it!  Just thought I would pass on the recommendation.  It's a little strange, and if you're not into music I wouldn't recommend it.  But if music is much of life to you, you have to see it!

In with the boxes

This has been Ayse's favorite spot the last week. She's either sleeping in it or hopping in and out with a toy. It's a good thing she likes boxes...I think we'll have quite a few around this next month. Looks like she's ready to move!

New apartment!

So the answer is yes, we decided to take the apartment we saw last weekend! We're so excited, though we're not sure yet if we're moving mid-April or end of April. We'll hopefully know in a day or two. Here are a couple pictures, but it's kind of funny posting them since it's someone else's stuff. Oh well, you can get the idea. At least they decorate similar to us!

This is the main entrance. The building is absolutely beautiful! I remember the first time Greg & I drove past it...I said something like, "Wow, Greg! Isn't that gorgeous?! Can you imagine living there?! I bet a condo costs over half a million!" (...and they do!) The building was built in 1894 and originally functioned as the high school for the City of Medford. It was converted into condominiums in 1984.

We get our own parking spot too! (HUGE deal in Boston!)

Here's the living & dining area (see below). The floor plan is really open which I love. It'll be awesome for hosting parties and small gatherings! And believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to carpet. (Greg will miss our hardwood floors more than me. I don't like cleaning them!) The ceilings are 14'! And the windows look out into pine trees and a patio area owned by the condos.

Our bedroom is on the other side of the living area. You can kind of see the door in the picture above. It has the same large windows! The study (aka guest bedroom) is on the other side of the dining area (see below). We'll finally be able to use our futon if we can get it here from Detroit! And Greg will most definitely be dumpster diving or rather streetside watching for a bigger desk. (Maybe I'll convince him to check craigslist...)

So the following doesn't hurt either...it's indoor and heated year-round. There's also a sauna. :-) Ready to come visit yet?

Warmer weather...I think

As I was walking to work this morning, I was thinking to myself, "Wow, it's so warm out that I don't even have to wear my hat. And my hands are getting a little hot in my gloves today." The sun was almost bright enough to make me dig out my sunglasses!

...And then I turned a corner and had to carefully navigate a long patch of sidewalk covered in ice.

That's when I realized that living in New England, I have developed a warped view of what "warm" weather is. I remember getting excited a few days ago when we had a high of 40 degrees Fahrenheit!

*sigh* I'm definitely not in Texas anymore. Or in Kansas either, for that matter. Who calls 30-40F degree weather nice? Well, I give in, because now I do. And I sure hope it stays this warm all month! (I can't wait to not have to wear my Cuddleduds to work every day!)

Oh my goodness! I just checked the weather, and the high tomorrow is 50F! I can hardly wait! (Now, if only it could be sunny and 50 when I walk to work in the morning instead of at 3/4pm in the afternoon while I'm sitting in front of my computer at work...)

Moving up?

Greg & I might look at a two-bedroom apartment on Sunday afternoon.  It should be an interesting little adventure.  We've started to look into the possibility of upgrading to two bedrooms, and it's exciting and just a wee bit scary.  In case you are not familiar with the Boston area, it is nearly impossible to find a two-bedroom apartment in our area under $1300/month (not including utilities).  Any gasps out there?  (The NYC folk are gasping at the great deal!)  So could you pray for the two of us as we consider a move and look at a possibility on Sunday?  We're not sure what God's doing right now.  Enjoy your weekend!

Goodbye Flu!

So after almost exactly 7 days of fighting, I have finally beaten the infamous flu bug to its death (in me at least).  Hopefully it has not found refuge in any of my friends, coworkers, or especially not my beloved Greg!  (On a sidenote, I am in love with our cat!  As soon as I sat down on the couch, she crawled up in my lap and is now stretched out across my torso with her front paws over my shoulder, purring away!  How adorable is that?!  It's just a tad bit difficult to type now.)

(...a few minutes later, mac and me now covered in cat hair and kitten BESIDE me...) Back to getting over this awful sickness, it was truly miserable!  I don't remember the last time I was sick for that long!  Okay, I take that back.  It was maybe December/January 2004 when I was living in Istanbul, and it was miserable...  Greg was wonderful at playing Mr. Nurse all week.  And he still told me I was beautiful and called me his princess even though I looked terribly disgusting and was not always in the best of moods!  Now that's love, right?  :)  I tried bullying the sickness out by going back to work on Wednesday.  Bad move.  I barely lasted three hours at work before calling Greg and begging for a ride back home to my needed bed.  Oh and strangely enough, I dreamed some really odd dreams over the past seven days.  I had a hard time figuring out what was true and what I had just dreamed...I think I was delirious.  Anyway, I'm back to work tomorrow.  I even led worship for a small gathering at our church tonight, and I'm only mildly exhausted.  So I think I can safely say I'm over the worst!  Praise God for His hand of healing!!!

So being sick that long makes me think about some things I want to change about my health.  Firstly, I'm going to go back to using my antibacterial lotion religiously like I did when I first moved to Turkey.  Secondly, I'm going to try really really hard no to touch my face as much.  (That's actually a lot harder for me than it sounds!)  Thirdly, I'm going to be better about taking my daily multivitamins which I thoroughly detest since they make me nauseous and taste disgusting.  Ugh!  Even writing that makes me cringe!  And finally, I'm going to be better about remembering and drinking my nalgene at work so that I drink much more water.  I'm really bad about sticking to things like this, but here goes nothing!

On a more "spiritual" note, you can pray for Greg and me as we seek new ways to meet the Lord together.  We were excited to make another attempt at this after we returned from our weekend getaway in New Haven, but my sickness kind of got in the way.