Lately...

It has been WAY too long since either of ushas posted anything! Let's see what I haven't written about...

I was accepted into an alternative certification program for teaching. I have passed the test you need to pass to go through the program which is a HUGE relief! I am getting my certification in Elemetary (pre k though 4th grade). All of the classes start July 13th. I have finished my online classes that are supposed to be done before the 13th, which means I am a little ahead! Woo Hoo!

Jeremy is still working full time at Import Car Center in Grapevine and taking one summer class at the local junior college.

Because I will be starting alternative certification we would not be able to celebrate out 1 year anniversary on our actual anniversary we went this past weekend! We are lucky that one of my cousins lives in Austin. They were gracious enough to let us stay at their house for free the whole weekend. After we dropped off everything at the house in Austin, Jeremy and I went to Mount Bonnell (the highest point in Austin) and spent some time up there taking pictures and looking at the scenery! Our other plans were to go to Sea World and to float the river. We went to Sea World (on of my new favorite places). We watched the Shamu show two times, rode two rides two times each, watched the dolphin show and ate a really expensive meal... After 9 hours of fun we went back to Austin and hung out with Mark and Gayla. The next morning we went to Gruene, TX and went on a three hour float trip. It was very relaxing and fun. There was one casualty... My sunglasses now live at the bottom of the river :( We are so glad to have had such an amazing trip with nothin major happening! Now we are back to our everyday lives...

ice

Jeremy here...
So there has been a lot of ice lately down here. Last night, as Cassidy and I were coming home there were a lot of people having problems driving on the ice. For me, ice is not a big deal to drive in, but I forget that this kind of weather doesn't come through Texas very often so people aren't used to driving in this. I'm not making fun of people who aren't used to it, but I find it interesting how people handle it. Since the traffic lights take a picture when you go through them when its red, they send you a ticket in the mail. Something we don't have in Arkansas. Anyway, Cassidy and I were seeing the camera flash like every two seconds because no one wanted to take a chance of trying to stop and then keep sliding, so they just went through the light. Other than that, there were emergency vehicles everywhere. Like I said, driving on ice doesn't bother me, and people who don't know how to drive on the ice don't bother me unless they are driving stupid and going to fast. If they want to go really slow then that's fine, they can be passed, but people who drive crazy on this stuff frustrate me. All this to say, its nice to have some ice and miss some classes due to the weather, which is something that didn't happen in Searcy at Harding. We had worse ice than this and classes were just delayed, not canceled. Doesn't make since to me. Oh well. This is probably just a bunch of random, but that's me.

Finally Death Came Calling for the Small Town Southern Man...

Cassidy here...
Jan. 7th was the last day I will ever see my grandfather... He passed away with no suffering and is now in peace with the Lord. He was an amazing man! He taught me several things in life... he taught me to always work hard and never give up, he taught me than no matter what be there for my family and do what I have to to make ends meet, and he taught me what real love really means after being married to my grandma for 68 years! So I will always remember my papa and I will miss him so much!
Here is what Jeremy wrote about my papa after knowing him for 10 months... So, I hope this touches someone to want to be like my grandfather!
I'm sitting here in Llano, Texas with my eyes opened to how much a man (or any person for that matter) can mean to so many people. Cassidy's grandpa is in the hospital, not doing well, and knowing he doesn't have much more time left on this earth. I've sat in his hospital room with Cassidy, Cindi, and "Grandma" for the last few days looking at a man who has been married to the same woman for 68 years, kept his word when he's said he would, and just affected so many people in a good way. There are people coming in and out of that room to see how he is doing and seeing if there is anything they can do to help. I wonder, how can a person in his condition, someone who obviously doesn't feel good at all, lay in that bed and still joke and put smiles on peoples' faces when he could easily just sleep or lie there and not do anything. The answer is just in who he is. I haven't known him as long as any of the people who have been there to see him, yet I still love him and he has still made an impact on my life. I'm usually not a very emotional person or at least I try not to show it, but "Papa" has made me cry several times in the last few days. He's not worried about himself, he just wants his family to be taken care of and wants the ranch to stay in his family. He gets a smile on his face when someone comes to see him and he jokes with his nurses, yet again while he obviously doesn't feel well. The thing that made me the most emotional besides seeing Cassidy crying is when he keeps including me in every discussion that involves his family, the ones that are his by blood, the ones that have known him for all these years. I just married his granddaughter, but he treats me just like i'm his grandson and have been the whole time. He makes me feel so welcome. Not once since the day I met him has he treated me like I'm not welcome in his family, not once has he made me feel left out. He's made me laugh so many times since I met him and he has had such a positive affect on me. I can't imagine what the people who have known him for so much longer, especially Grandma, Cindi, Joel, Tyson, and Cassidy are feeling during this time. I say all of this just to say that I hope that when I am married to Cassidy for 68 years or hopefully longer and lying down in his condition that people will be able to say I have made such an impact on their lives as "Papa" has on all of these peoples' lives. I hope people see me as such a honest, respectable, hard working man that they love so much, but not for my sake, not so I can say look at what I've done. I want people to feel that way about me because those are the kind of men people look up to and want their children to grow up and be like. I want to be that man that is perfectly ok with going home, going to heaven to see God. I want to be that man that can mean so much...for my wife, the kids I will have in the future, and grandkids, the rest of my family, my friends, and anyone else I come in contact with. That's all I know to say, its just what is on my mind.

New New New

Cassidy Here...

Christmas was wonderful, Jeremy and I are very blessed! I got my dream Brighton watch and Jeremy got his dream GPS... We both got Wii Fit (if you have an interest in it I recommed it to every extent!) It has been a blast!

As we all have already hear from everyone we know on this planet... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Jeremy and I are moved into the house (our back two rooms) and are loving it. Tyson's old room is making a wonderful living room for us and my room is still the "bedroom". We are very lucky to have my parent to give us a place to live until we are on our feet! I don't know many people that would allow a living situation like this to happen. Luckily my mom and I are VERY close and we enjoy being around eachother! The only tough thing is getting all the dogs to understand their boundaries... I don't know much else to say but we are doing very good! Jeremy and I often talk about our blessing and keep all of you in the top of our blessings! Love all of y'all and hope to see every sooner than later!

One last trip from Searcy...

Cassidy here...
I graduated, finally, Dec. 20th from Harding University with a Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Science! Jeremy will not be finishing at Harding (due to the extremely high cost). So we are back in Texas permanently. This whole event is very exciting!!!
I started packing Wednesday (the 17th) with my best friend Rachel. My mom came into town Thursday (the 18th) and we packed up until the night before we left.
My mom and I went to the place to pick up the Penske truck on Monday (the 22nd). This is when we had our first problem of moving! We arrived at the rental place to pick up our 16 ft truck. As we walked out to look at it, it was way bigger than a 16 ft truck… it was actually a 26 ft diesel… Because it would cost more for me or Jeremy to drive my mom did, this complete freaked her out to think that she is practically driving an 18 wheeler! After we got the truck we loaded it up, shampooed the carpet and were ready for the landlord to do the walk through the apartment at 11 a.m. WELL… Jeremy called her to let her know we were ready for her to come and she said she was waiting for an important phone call and couldn’t make it down to the apartment… Boy did she make a wrong decision! My mom called her back and pretty much told her we weren’t leaving until she came… she showed up and stomped all the way to the door (like a 3 year old) and became instantly rude… all in all Mike (my father-in-law) had to step up to her and let her know she was being extremely rude and immature! After that we got on the road!
We stopped in Malvern and hung out with Jeremy’s grandparents (parked the Penske in the Wal-mart parking lot and mom rode with Jeremy, Paisley and me to the house) for about an hour and a half. Then got on the road and arrived in Fort Worth at 8:00 p.m.
I am very lucky to have such wonderful in-laws! Jeremy and I are going to miss being so close to them!!! Hopefully Jordan will come down and visit!!!

Together

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, it isn't cluttered with the monetary things and stress of gift giving and pleasing everyone. I enjoy the presence of my family and just being together. There is something else that is very special about Thanksgiving, it is a time that we remember the most influential person for my mom's side of the family, Mamaw Great. We miss her dearly and really miss her.
This Thanksgiving is something that has a lot more memories to it this year. This year is Jeremy and my first holiday as a married couple. It is fun to add one more person to the table! Another think that is wonderful (if you know Jeremy and me well enough, this shouldn't surprise you!) is that we had four dogs with us this year! This was so much fun... There was one instance that will forever be engraved into our brains... we were having a nice Thanksgiving dinner (with all 4 dogs outside) and we hear the sound of two dogs fighting to their death (yelping and growling). Mom runs to the door trying to get whoever it is to break it up... Well, Paisley had Milton (Tyson's dog) on his back attacking him (Paisley has Milton's neck in his mouth pinning him to the ground). We eventually break them up... Tyson checks out Milton to make sure he is ok and he turns out to be fine... Jeremy and I went to check on Paisley and, come to find out, Milton has bitten a hole in Paisley's lip and has bitten his upper lip raw... Jeremy and I concluded that Milton pushed Paisley to his limit and Paisley lashed out! Later that night Paisley and Milton were best friends!
What an eventful day!

Been a while...

Well obviously it has been a while since either one of us have posted on here. What has been going on since last time...well let me think. Not a whole lot really. We've been just doing the school thing and I'm working at Doc's still. Cassidy finished her observation in Little Rock at the hospital last week, so she doesn't have to go there on Thursdays anymore. I just got over being sick. I think I food poisened myself by eating some old lunchmeat. It smelled weird, but i thought it would be ok to eat since I cooked it. I was wrong. Cassidy wasn't there to tell me for sure that it was bad. I'm a guy, I think food is good until stuff starts growing on it. I learned my lesson though. Cassidy also had pledge week last week. It was a long week for both of us. She was involved with that stuff pretty much all day every day from Sunday night until the following early Saturday morning. I wasn't involved, but it was long for me just because I didn't get to see her a whole lot. This was her last pledge week to be involved with and I think she enjoyed it a lot. I think that is one thing she is going to miss when we leave here. Other than that I can't really think of anything else that has been going on.

Its November and it is still like 70 degrees, but the leaves on the trees are changing and it is BEAUTIFUL! That is the one thing that I go back and forth on about which season of the year is my favorite. I love spring because of the weather and the fresh smells and the sun, but I love fall because of the weather and the smell of people burning leaves and the colors of the leaves on the trees. They are just so pretty. Its one of those things that makes you just think about how awesome God is and makes me thankful for making things so pretty. Shoot, he could make everything ugly if he really wanted to, but I think that he makes them pretty so that we DO have those moments where we can't help but realize that its only possible for him to make something look so awesome. Cassidy and I both talk about the leaves on the trees a lot.

Anyway, there are probably a lot more things to talk about, but I can't remember them right now. So that's about it until next time.