Presents for Maggie

These are pictures of Maggie in her new shirt and new-to-her jacket (it was the Stouts dog, Becky, that died about 2 years ago) from her Nana K (Matt's mom). The shirt says, "I am the Grandchild". Kathy loves her granddog so much she even sent a letter for Maggie along with all the new clothes. Enjoy!

Weekend in Valdosta

Last weekend, we spent Thursday through Sunday in Valodsta. It was really great and a much needed break from school. We also had not been back to Valodsta since we left almost a year ago. We spent Thursday sleeping for a bit (we didn't get to Valdosta until 2 am Thurs) and then the whole afternoon at Wesley getting to visit our friends! Then that night we spend the evening having dinner with our friends Lindsay and James and then CJ, Emily, and Alex. On Friday, we had lunch with Ben (one of Matt's groomsmen and college roommate) and Catherine. It was great to visit and of course to eat lunch at Masatos, the best Japanese restaurant ever. That afternoon, we just spent that time shopping for a wedding present for our friend Ryan and just resting. For dinner, we had Smok'n Pig (yes, I believe it should be spelled Smoke'n Pig, but it was good) with some of our old Wesley people. Then we went to Emily and Nina's house to just hang out and talk. Then on Saturday, my great friend Ryan from college got married to Raquel. It was a great ceremony and wonderful reception. It was also the first time since I graduated from college that my close friends from college (Jackson, Rachel, Ryan, Laura Lynn, Scott, adn me are all in the first picture below) have been together. We all lived across the street from each other for 2 years in college and grew very close and it was great to see each other. You can see the picture of us in the bottom. Then that evening we went to dinner and played Rockband at Rusty's house. It was so wonderful and then we returned to Wilmore on Sunday. On Sunday we also stopped to have brunch with my mom, brother, grandma, and granddaddy. Please pray for my granddaddy, he is sicker each day and is in a lot of pain. Below are pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

Jackson, Rachel, Ryan, Laura Lynn, Scott, and me at Ryan's wedding

College Roomies! I miss these girls and it was great to catch up!

So Kelly Johnson joined us at the wedding thanks to Photoshop!
Thanks to the husband for the help.

Finally, this is the Gnome that Matt's mom, Kathy, gave to us to welcome everyone to our home. Isn't he cute!

He is Risen Indeed! Easter 2009

These are some pictures from Easter weekend. Thursday night, I went to the Maundy Thursday service while Matt went to class (boo!), and it was a wonderful service. We spend Friday night dying eggs with our community group. On Saturday we had a big day. I spent the morning with a group from one of classes doing community service cleaning a house for a family whose 5 year old son has leukemia. The house has to be cleaned almost everyday because Gavin's immune system is so low. Then after cleaning we went to set up, help, and clean up for a Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt. It was so much fun and as you see below the Easter Bunny even showed up. The Easter bunny was amazing! Thank you Easter Bunny for coming! Then we spend the afternoon taking naps, taking Maggie for a walk, and I wrote a paper. On Sunday, we went to church and then spent a few hours with some quality time. For supper we went to the Taylors (Kennedy's house). We had an amazing dinner, egg hunt for Kennedy, and then dessert and coffee. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful Easter Weekend!

Easter Picture 2009

The eggs we dyed

My momma's famous Punch Bowl Cake

Kennedy moving her candy from one egg to another to another.....

The Easter Bunny at the Egg Hunt

My class group with the Bunny

Me with the Easter Bunny

Reading Week

So at Asbury we have "Reading Week" instead of Spring Break. I don't think much reading goes on during "Reading Week", but we (just as many others) had great intentions of getting some work done. Last week, we spend Monday and Tuesday have dinner with different friends and it was great fun! On Wednesday, Matt's parents' (Kathy and Steve) came to visit. Kathy and I went shopping while Steve hung out at Tastebuds while Matt worked. On Thursday, we spent the day touring the seminary's campus, going to Highbridge for a pizza picnic, and then off to Shaker Village to just walk and get some fresh air. That night we went to dinner and coffee and played Rummikub! I love that game. Friday, The Stouts headed back home and we were back to normal schedule for the weekend. Below are great pictures of our visit with Matt's parents. And in the end, we did actually get some work and reading done! Have a Happy Holy Week!Matt and Maggie!

The Stout Family

Kathy and Steve at Highbridge

Sara Beth and Maggie

The hairiest cow I have ever seen

2 goats...

3 goats...

more goats...

and they kept coming! There were probably 10 goats all together.

our precious Maggie, isn't she beautiful!

New family member

So last week sometime, on of the ladies I babysit for (Elizabeth, a veterinarian) posted on facebook about a 7 year old dachshund who had been brought in to be euthanized due to her "old age". Well Elizabeth asked if they could just keep her at the clinic. The lady let them and Elizabeth started looking for a home for Maggie. Today we went and picked Maggie up for the weekend to see how she likes home and if it would work with our crazy seminarian life. So far so good. Here is a picture of me with Maggie!
***please excuse the hair...I worked all afternoon at Tastebuds and have hat-hair.

Crazy week!

So, I planned to post something this past week and then last Tuesday (a week ago) I came down with the flu. I mean I was out of it for almost 5 days and it was so sudden. I woke up late on Tuesday morning around 10, which is pretty late for me, and by 10:30 I had a fever and from there it was all downhill. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who took such great care of me as I moaned and just laid in bed for days. He brought me soup and meds and even took me to the doctor. I did not want to go, but it got so bad I had to go.
Anyway, enough of that. I will not be finding out about the job at the church for oh about a month from now. You know church things, they take forever. We are still just praying for the job. It was lift the financial burden so much. So please keep praying!
For right now we are heading into mid-terms next week. It will be a good week, but so much studying. Also, right now we have so many friends around us getting married and having babies. Let's see I will make a list in no particular order:
Marriages
Ryan Powell, college friend- Yay for my friend!
Amantha Claxton, high school/church friend- I am sooooo happy for you my friend!
Kate Haney, high school/church friend
Kallee Goodman, also high school/church friend
Also a few others up here at Asbury will be getting married!
As for babies:
Sara Kate and Blake Greene, high school/church friend and husband- Yay, Skate! Thanks for keeping me posted!
Camille and Aaron Slaten- youth leader in high school and dear friend, and her husband
Aaron and Heather Tiger- new friends up here at Asbury that we love very much!
also there are a few more that are yet to be publically announced so I will save those for later. I think that is about it. If I think of more that will give me something else to blog about.
I am so excited for our friends and their bright, exciting, and fun futures. We are here for you and love you!
Ok that is it for now, back to reading and paper writing!

I am going to get better at this

Tomorrow is one month since my last post. I am going to get better at this...maybe. February was a good month for the Stouts. We started back to classes, which is going good so far. Ask us how things are after the last week of March after we have taken our mid-terms! Right now, we both just spend a lot of time reading and writing reflection papers and reading some more. It turns out there is much more reading in Grad school than in undergrad.
We also celebrated Valentine's Day by going to Texas Roadhouse and then getting a blizzard at DQ. We ended the evening by renting a movie at RedBox at McDonald's. It cost $1 per day (plus tax). We watched The Secret Lives of Bees and I recommend the movie, just be prepared to cry...and laugh.
Next, we are hooked on RedBox. You can go online and see what movies are at which box and even pay online to reserve copies or you can go and look through the RedBox at the McDonald's. It really is a great deal at only $1 per movie per day.
We are still enjoying our jobs. Matt has moved up at the Seminary Post Office and is now responsible for all the duplicating duties on campus. Pretty much he goes to each department at the school to see how many copies they have made for that department and then he takes care of getting their money! He is also still enjoying Tastebuds and meeting new people all the time.
I am loving my job too. Below you will see pictures of me with Matthew and Kennedy. They are so cute and fun to hang out with. Also, I interviewed to be the PART TIME youth director at our church here in Wilmore. It would only be 15 to 18 hours a week (4 hours at the church in the office), and includes the time I am already spending with the kids each week. I am really excited! My plan is to babysit Monday and Friday and if I get the job at the church, I will quit working at Tastebuds and work only at the church on Tues and Thurs mornings, and Wednesday nights. It would be great and I will be back in ministry! Right now I don't have the job yet so you can pray that God will have His way in this situation...but I really am excited about this opportunity.
Lastly, I am starting to cook many more things from scratch. Just in the last week I have made chicken pot pie (see pic below), 2 roasts, and gravy from scratch.
I guess that is about it. I will try to do better from now on by blogging more often. Enjoy the pictures!

After our Valentine's Date

Chicken pot pie

Me, Kennedy, and Matthew

Kennedy and Matthew

Kennedy

Matthew

oh yeah and I got a new hair cut