BAD BAD BLOGGER!!!

So, January was busy, and up-and-down, and February is turning out to be more of the same! We are still enjoying our “Little Man,” but Matt did admit that puppies are much more work than he ever dreamed!! If we keep it up with the nicknames, poor Einstein will never learn his real name! So far he is Little Man, Einstein, Einie, Stinker, Bad Dog, and a few more that aren’t printable! He’s actually a really good dog, quite smart (when he wants to be), and also quite stubborn! He does think that Isis is his own personal squeaky toy that runs! I think she hates him, but then I did catch her giving him a short kitty-bath on his head the other day. Anyway, we’ve decided if things get really bad and we have to give up cable, we will still be well entertained! Here are some recent pictures of "the kids."

sleeping in the sun together, aren't they precious??

Naptime is a war for laps

SISTERS :)

We thought there for a couple of weeks that Matt might have to go to Raleigh, NC for 6 months with his company to help build a relationship with a new client. Luckily, Matt doesn’t have to go, and he still has a job here (for now)!! YAY! Prayers are needed that MESA continues to get work past the current jobs due in the fall. We are a little worried that after they are done with the current job, his hours will be cut back to 32/week (much of his company is already on this schedule).

As for me, I’ve got an election, budget cuts and the like to survive between now and July 1. I continue to pray for guidance. I’m not sure where the road will lead me, but I’m confident and hopeful.

In other news, I went on Walk to Emmaus last year in April. For those who don’t know, Walk to Emmaus is a spiritual retreat weekend meant to grow and deepen your relationship with Christ. It is named for the story of the disciples traveling on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus just after Jesus was crucified. Jesus appeared to them on the road and walked with them, but they didn’t know who He was until He revealed Himself to them. Beyond that, I can’t explain it, you just have to GO!

Anyway, our Sunday School teacher and a mentor of mine, Jayne Griffin was my sponsor on the Walk last year. I had an amazing experience and everyone always says you go when you are supposed to. That was true for me and I really believe it’s true for Matt too. When Matt first moved back to Chattanooga he expressed interest in going on Walk to Emmaus. Jay Baumgardner and our friend Daniel Oakley agreed to cosponsor Matt. They turned in his application and the Emmaus team called him for 2 different walks. Both walks he turned them down because of class work in grad school. They told him to fill out another application when things weren’t so busy. He never did. After I got back from my Walk I asked him if he still wanted to go. He said yes, so now I get to be his sponsor (which is pretty cool)!! I got a call that Matt will be a pilgrim on Men’s Walk #42 in the Chattanooga-Lafayette Emmaus Community at the end of March!!! YAY!

I am working on a TON of sewing and craft projects that I hope to post pictures of when I’m done (and they are given away)!! This will be a busy next few months for my hobbies. I pray you all are as blessed as we and this post finds you well.

New Year, new puppy, no sleep...

So a lot has happened since I blogged about the pre-Christmas season. We added 3 more Christmases to our previous 2 for a total of 5 Christmases!! We rang in the New Year in STYLE. And, the event that has taken most of our attention, WE GOT A NEW PUPPY!!!

I was totally horrible with the camera this year. I think after the wedding, I was good not being in pictures for a while. We both sat back and enjoyed being with our families this year, which explains the lack of pictures from the Trousdale Christmas, Christmas with Bill and Lisa, and Christmas with Donnie and Betty!! Really the only ones we have are Christmas morning at our house opening gifts, not too exciting.

We rang in the New Year in style at a black tie invitation only event in downtown Chattanooga! We came by invitation of THE BAND (that makes us cool). My friend from back in the day at MHBS, Justin Crisler, plays with his brother in a tribute band, “Alabama Blues Brothers”. It was a great show, and some of us may have had a few too many.

It turns out (Matt fessed up) that Matt thought I was getting him a puppy for Christmas. We’ve talked about getting a puppy after we put a fence up with our 2008 tax returns for over a year. He thought I had bent the rules and gotten a puppy before the fence to surprise him at Christmas. Now he loves his Christmas gift (so he says), and I must say it was pretty awesome (though a little private so I won’t discuss it). But no matter how great a gift is, if you are expecting and want a puppy, if it’s not a puppy… IT’S NOT A PUPPY!!!

So after we got back from visiting Matt’s dad after Christmas, all he could talk about was how much he had thought about his puppy before Christmas and how excited he was to get a fence this spring so that we could get a puppy. We wanted a beagle, pure breed, male puppy, and oh by the way not from a breeder. Great, this will be easy. He talked me into “touring” the new animal shelter, McKamey Animal Center. They told us that they had just adopted a beagle puppy out a few days before. Nice. He stopped at the awful pet store in the mall where there was a beagle puppy, not an option. Then when we went to PetsMart for kitty litter and food, he came to the register with a book on beagles!

Dear Lord, it was pitiful. So he came home and got on petfinder.com just to look (realizing that pure breeds are very hard to find at shelters, especially puppies, we knew we may have to search a long while to find one). Well, he found this puppy he thought was so cute, so I called the lady in Perry County TN (half way b/n Jackson and Nashville). It turns out a hunting dog (wearing the trademark orange collar), probably bred on purpose, showed up at someone's house and had 4 puppies!! All pure breed beagles, mom and puppies were turned in. The mom is still available for adoption. Anyway, I told Matt that the lady was willing to meet us the next day (Jan 2nd) at the Saturn Parkway exit on I-65, and if we crunched budget numbers and could do it then we would go get him.

The puppy is a boy (Matt wanted another boy in the house since me, the cat and Hurley are all girls!). He is 10 weeks old and weighs 5.5 pounds (smaller than Hurley was at that age). His name is Einstein. It remains to be seen whether he will live up to his name!! Right now, he is a handful wanting to chew on everything!! It’s constant!! Pants legs, shoe laces, wicker file box, afghan, rocking chair, rugs, you name it – he tries to chew it!

Hurley was NOT AT ALL happy about the new addition (as you can see by the look on her face above). We took her with us to get him (we had to pick between 2, and of course Matt picked the rambunctious shoe chewer over the more cuddly one!). We wanted Hurley to feel part of the process instead of us showing up with a new baby. When she realized that the puppy got in the car with us, GAME OVER. She was PISSED. She bit him when he tried to get in the back seat with her. She growls at him when he gets near her. And she tattles on him when he chases the cat. It’s freakin’ hilarious!

Einie just loves Hurley; he follows her everywhere. He even puts her leash in his mouth when we are walking like he is helping!! Today at lunch we had a breakthrough. Hurley played with him willingly for the first time! She was play growling with her mouth open (but not biting down) and he was rolling on the floor. SO CUTE. Here’s the video.

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on with us. Up every three hours during the night to let Einstein go outside. We’re sleepy but happy. Pray for us as Matt starts classes for grad school back tonight!!

It sure is Christmas around here!!!

Since our last (substantial) post, we spent Thanksgiving in Indiucky, started celebrating the advent season, helped little Knox celebrate his 1^st birthday, began the first tradition in OUR family, had Christmas in Dixie, and one more in Chattaboogie. Amidst all of this, we managed to complete our Christmas shopping 3 days before Christmas (other than actually MAKING the homemade gifts)! WHEW!! Can you see why we haven’t blogged in a while?

Right after chopping all of my hair off, we went to Indiucky for Thanksgiving. We left Tuesday for my (Jill’s) mom’s in Burlington, KY (just outside Cincinnati). We had Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and several friends in town on Wednesday night. Thursday morning we drove to New Albany, IN (across the river from Louisville) to the Needham Thanksgiving celebration. I was asked to bring the PECAN PIE to Thanksgiving, which I thought was a pretty big deal. My friend Christie supplied me with her family’s recipe since I had never made one, which was a hit. Friday morning was breakfast at the Needhams’, to which I contributed MY family’s famous and always loved chocolate chip pancakes. We spent the rest of the weekend at Matt’s dad’s house. I promptly misplaced my camera on Wednesday afternoon, so there are no pics from Thanksgiving. I did find it once we were home.

I decided that I wanted to have an Advent wreath this year because we started doing the nightly readings of the Upper Room Advent devotional guide last year. Matt agreed. So we went to our church’s Advent wreath making event and assembled a beautiful wreath of live greenery and candles. We’ve enjoyed taking time each evening (but a few misses) to read the short devotional and scripture to prepare for the coming of Christ on Christmas Day. See our pretty wreath?

I traveled to Atlanta the first Saturday in December to celebrate Knox Rogers' birthday! It was a great party. Of course Ashley made all the decorations, favors and food. It was absolutely adorable!!! Everything was puppy dog themed. Here are a few pictures from my camera of sweet Knox's big celebration. To see Ashley's pics, click here.

The first tradition of OUR family, we decided last year, would be to decorate our tree every year on December 6^th, the anniversary of our engagement. We thought it would be a special way to remember the beginning of our family when Matt proposed while decorating our tree, as well as a wonderful way to start Christmas at our house (since it is near the start of Advent as well). There is also a pic of our Christmas card clothes line in the dining room. I love it!!!

The Trousdale family gets together every year in early December, so that we can celebrate with each other and not feel rushed or torn around the actual day of Christmas. This year, Aunt Pam hosted in Muscle Shoals. Whenever we go to Muscle Shoals, we try and see one of my oldest and dearest friends, Betsy. Betsy and Bradley are expecting their first baby, Rubye Kate, in early April!! See!!

Here are a few pics of the Trousdale Christmas. I was really bad with pictures this year!

This past weekend (the weekend before Christmas), Mom came down from Kentucky, and Brenda (my godmother) came up from Birmingham to celebrate Christmas with Matt and me. They were our first overnight house guests since we got married! We had a wonderful time talking and laughing, exchanging gifts, eating, and watching Christmas movies together. We really enjoyed being able to enjoy this season with them!!

I suspect there will be no posts until after we celebrate Christ's birth, so the Blacks are wishing you the Merriest Christmas!! May you be truly blessed and safe this Christmas, and remember the reason we celebrate is the gift of our Lord!!

They made friends

So I know it's been a ridiculously long time since I blogged, but I wanted to give you a quick update. I will post more about Advent and family get-togethers soon. But for now, I just want to let everyone know that Isis and Hurley love each other. I truly believe that Isis thinks that Hurley is HER DOG. Just watch...

The funny part about this video is that Isis had been bathing Hurley for about 2 minutes before I got my phone to video setting. By that time she had stopped. I said, "Isis give your sister some more love so Mommy can take a video." And this is what I got!! Animals are hilarious.