DONE!!!!

I'M DONE! I turned in my last college paper this afternoon and now I just have to wait a week to get my diploma. It will most likely be one of the longest weeks of my life as I am extremely excited about next weekend. My family will start arriving on Thursday night and then into the day on Friday!

3 weeks from tomorrow, Calvin and I will be leaving the boring state of Indiana and driving 5,000 miles back to Alaska! We'll be staying with a few friends and family members along the way as well as camping. We are super excited and can't wait to begin our journey home!

Also, Calvin and I both have interviews on June 7th for jobs in Anchorage! We're hoping by the time we leave Indiana that we'll have a couple other interviews lined up!

For now, that's our exciting news! Check back for more updates later this month!

Time's Flying By!

Well obviously my Spring semester of school has been crazy busy. Although I don't have as many classes as normal, my work schedule and commitment to other things has kept me away from blogging.

In a nut shell, here's what's been going on since the last time I posted: trip to New Orleans, Easter weekend in Chicago, warmer temperatures in Winona, sold our Ford Focus, got our Chevy S10 fixed, decided to drive to Alaska in May, spring cleaning the apartment, bathroom infested with mayflies, employee Christmas party in March, hanging with awesome friends, replaced broken mini-blinds, took down our Christmas lights in late March, and decided to eat more whole grain foods!

The countdown is on, only 19 days till graduation! My parents and grandparents will be flying from Alaska for the commencement ceremony and I'm totally looking forward to seeing them! After graduation, I'll be working a couple more weeks, we'll sell all our furniture, and we'll hit the road on our summer adventure!

God has blessed us over the last year of living in Indiana. We are looking forward to seeing what He has in store for us in Alaska.

Chao!

Catching Up!

After Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years I finally have the chance to catch everyone up on our "exciting" lives!

Thanksgiving was a blast! My sister Ashley came to Indiana for her first visit to the mid-west. This holiday weekend was filled with cooking our first Thanksgiving meal without Mom's help, baking sugar cookies, cutting down a Christmas tree, driving to and from Chicago twice, and watching more movies than I had all Fall semester. We had such a good time!

Finals came and went and my second to last semester of college was over! Winter break started off with a trip to Maine to visit Calvin's family for Christmas. We spent the time there shopping, wrapping and opening gifts, cooking lots of yummy food, and watching movies. It was so good to finally spend time with family and get away from boring Indiana.
After a week in Maine we returned to Indiana to get back to our jobs. Unfortunately our first week back I was sick in bed with a head cold. I got a lot of reading in which was nice, but it's good to be back to my healthy self. New Years Eve was spent at home watching the Countdown with Carson Daly and New Years day we saw the movie Avatar.

Today was our one year wedding anniversary! We sort of celebrated by going to see Sherlock Holmes but we plan to celebrate more next weekend. It's been a great year and we're looking forward to another great one ahead of us. We hope you all had a blessed 2009 and have a great 2010!!!

Our "new" living room!

We finally splurged and bought new furniture for our living room! After living in the apartment for 9+ months, it actually feels like a home. We now spend all our free time sitting on our new couch, entertaining friends, and playing the Wii (well at least Calvin does).

The fall colors are showing bright and weather is cooling off fast in northern Indiana. Calvin and I have yet to go out and take pictures of the changing season, but we hope to soon. Grace College campus is beautiful during this time of the year!

In the coming weeks I've got mid-terms, Fall break, and I'll be going to Arizona to see my dad get married. Calvin will continue to work and he will be getting our Ford Focus fixed before the snow falls. We're also hoping that Calvin's best friend Bruce will be able to come visit us from Texas soon!

September Happenings...

It's been a little while since I updated our blog!

School has started so that keeps me very busy when i'm not working. Luckily the homework load is not too horrible. Work is going pretty good, but again, it's keeping me busy. Calvin received a raise at work, which was such a blessing!3 weeks ago, Calvin and I were able to fly to Minneapolis, Minnesota to spend some time with the Sheffrey's (my side of the family)! We were only there for 4 days but we were able to visit my grand-parents who had flown from Alaska to spend time with my aunt and uncle, AND, we were able to meet our new cousin Collin David Sheffrey! He's a little more than 2 months old and he's the most adorable baby I've ever seen!
Also in September, we celebrated Calvin's 25th birthday! I threw a surprise party for Calvin and he was totally shocked. He had never had a surprise party thrown for him before now and he LOVED it! We all had a great time eating food, playing games, and laughing the night away.

Saying Goodbye to Summer, and Hello to Fall!

Calvin and I spent my last weekend of freedom with my best girlfriend Megan! She drove down from Illinois on Friday night and we spent the weekend watching movies, eating Mexican food, and exploring beautiful Winona Lake.

This week is the beginning of the end of my college career (for now)! On Tuesday I will start my senior year at Grace College. It's incredibly crazy to think that I have come this far in my education.

I will continue to work at Home Helpers as I finish out my education, but my hours will decrease to only 24 per week. Work has gone great this Summer and I am looking forward to what is coming for our company this Fall. Below is a picture of my bosses, Aimee & Bob Hartwiger.Calvin is still enjoying his job at the Pill Box. Tuesday marks his three months on the job and means we will start getting benefits! We'll be shopping around for health insurance during the next couple of weeks.

Other than school starting up, Calvin and I are both joining bible studies. My women's bible study is going through Break Free (a Beth Moore Study) and the husbands of the women in the study are still trying to figure out what they'll be studying. Calvin and I will also be flying to Minneapolis, Minnesota on the 12th for a mini-family reunion with the Sheffrey's. It will be quick but we are very excited for a break.

Last trip of the summer...

Last weekend we took a quick road trip to and from Baltimore, Maryland for our friends wedding! After taking a detour through West Virginia, we were able to make it to our hotel just after 12 hours of driving. It was wonderful to see our friends from Alaska and others from around the country.

The wedding for Evan and Sarah was beautiful! The ceremony lasted a little longer than planned as one of the bridesmaids fainted from locking her knees in the middle of the sermonette. Other than that, the wedding went off without a hitch. After the ceremony, we made our way downtown Baltimore to the 1840's Ballroom where the reception was held. We had a great night of eating, and dancing, and toasts!

Calvin and I snuck away for a couple hours before the wedding and got some sightseeing in! We went down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and saw the ships in the pier. Calvin was most excited to see the U.S.S Constellation (aka Old Iron Sides). We also got to drive by Charm City Cakes (the bakery featured on the show "Ace of Cakes") and take a few pictures outside the shop.