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.

Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven

Today was my first day observing with a Child Life Specialist at Arkansas Children's Hospital. The first patient I went in to see was a pre-teen boy that was just recently diagnosed with cancer. He was being admitted to put a port in to start chemotherap. After visiting many patients I began to realize that I would offer something that someone with faith should always offer. After visiting the first child with the child life specialist I was following, I decided whenever I walk out of a room after visiting a child and their family I would say a prayer for them. This is the most I can do for any child. I will never forget this specific child, we were about to go into the room and the whole family was gathered around the bed praying before his surgery. I hope and pray that every child I come in contact with I can give them a sense of hope and love.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:12

Blah...

Cassidy here...
This semester is going to be tough! Teachers still feel that their classes are the most important... this makes it very hard to be a student! I currently have one teacher that on the first day of class she said "it will be close to impossible for you to get a job". WOW, did this shoot down my hopes. I knew it would be difficult but "impossible"? It's very hard to go to her class because she is very negative about the opportunies or the lack there of to her! My schedule makes me have to drive to Little Rock (a 45min to an hour drive) on Tuesday which is hard! We have class from 5:30-7:30 which makes us get back around 8:15 then starting homework after I'm home. Then Jeremy gets off work at 10:00pm and I want to spend time with him and I don't really get that much time to spend with him before I am exhausted and ready for bed. But he is wonderful ad got a job on top of a full load of classes so that he could support us! Jeremy is a blessing to me and I love him and will always love him!

Paisley our crazy pup!

Cassidy here...

Paisley is a whole lot of fun! Anyone who meets him loves him. Jeremy picked Paisley out for me in August of 2007 and has been a ball of joy! I always seem to have dogs that have soooooo much personality and Paisley has more of one than any dog I have ever had! This videa is of Paisley watching himself play in the rain and after the video was over and I put the computer down he continued to stare at it hoping the puppy would show up again! I felt I had to share this with as many people as I could! SO, enjoy!

Weather!

Cassidy here...

The weather in Arkansas has been beautiful! It is so crazy how cool it has been for it being mid-August. It is such a nice feeling to be able to open the sliding glass door and not have to use the air conditioner all that much. It's crazy to think back to when you are growing up and people tell you rain is God's tears coming down from heaven/ God taking a shower (I have never heard this one but Jeremy has), thunder is him playing the drums, and lightning is God taking a picture of me. How crazy is that?!?!?! Being young was so fun! But anyways... It has also been raining, which is usually a downer. I get very stressed about storms and panic when it is raining and I am driving... but I have a new light on rain right now, (mainly because I'm not having to be in it for classes). It is so peaceful/calming, cleansing and refreshing.

I enjoy being in the rain, Jeremy becomes a kid when he gets out in it. When Jeremy and I had been daing for about 4 months we decided to play in the rain in Searcy and had a blast. We swam in the culverts on the side of the road and played in the massive puddles that form in the streets. Jeremy and I had a very touching moment in our lives during this summer in the rain. I had always had a dream of being kissed in the rain and got my wish! SO of course (my mom taught me well) I went and got my camera and set it up for a timed picture. This is one of my favorite moments of Jeremy and my relationship! SO, all in all, play in the rain and make memories!

the olympics

Well as everyone knows that has watched any TV lately, the Olympics have been on. Cassidy and I have been glued to the TV during all of this. I told her that the last time I remember watching the Olympics the consistently and actually caring was during the 1996 Olympics when Kerri Strugg stuck her famous landing on vault. The last two Olympics I really don't remember anything about at all. So it's awesome to see Michael Phelps make history and dominate every time he gets in the pool. I've also found that there are many, many more events than I ever knew there were before. The other night I watched completely amazed at the "race walking" events...there were really people speed walking to get a gold medal!! Honestly it looked like a huge group of gay men walking really fast because of how much they were swinging their hips. It was good humor though...actually kinda made my day in a very strange way. Besides that we have really been excited to watch the gymnastics. The women's gymnastics have been more entertaining just because they win more medals and everything. One thing that both of us hate is the commentating during the gymnastics. They are so negative about the U.S. gymnasts. They start talking about what they will do wrong before they even start whatever competition they are in. Then when Alicea Sacramone messed up the stupid lady interviews her and keeps asking her how she feels about falling off the beam and not sticking one of her flips. Now seriously, how do you think she would feel..."well ya know I feel really good, I messed up just right and I'm hoping that we don't get any medals at all"...stupid people. Then in the individual finals on vault the Chinese girl lands on her knees and still ends up get a medal ahead of the U.S. and the Japanese girl landed out of bounds and gets the gold. This scoring system is jacked up. Anyway, I've also found that I love to watch sand volleyball. It's pretty awesome! Then there is water polo, field hockey, and hand ball...The one thing that I haven't been able to watch any of is basketball...my favorite sport and I haven't seen a single second of it. Oh well. Basically I forgot how much I love to watch the Olympics until now. It's exciting and I'm glad Americans are really athletic...that's all for now.

We are in our own house now...

Well Cassidy and I have been in our own home for a little over a week now. It is great to be on our own and really living the married life. Its interesting how being in Searcy, a place we are not real fond of, is not as bad now that we are married because we can spend time together all the time without being criticized. I've learned over the past year not to care what people think. I have always kinda had that attitude where if you don't like me then I don't care, but it has become even more my attitude now. Its basically to the point that if someone has a problem with me then they aren't worth dealing with. If my wife is happy and I'm happy then that's what matters to me. The past year has kind of been the reason for how we feel about this town and this school, but I think the new school year will be much better and the fact that this is our last semester here will make it better too. Just being married makes it a lot better already because I know that I will be with the person I love for the rest of my life and that's all I need.

"Friends"

There is something I don't quite understand... why do people want to be "friends" with people who they dont even know? This only happens on facebook and myspace. And the next thing that throws me is that if you deny their "friendship" they get their panties in a bunch. This has started to happen more after Jeremy and I got married. They are his friends that I have never/never will meet! I have come to the conclusion that it is all because they want to see pictures... well, sorry but I don't think that is cool! Therefore, I have denied SEVERAL people in the last couple of months and I honestly don't feel bad about it. If I were to meet them then I would be fine with it... This has been a new annoyance to me and doesn't seem to be letting up yet... I know it will but take a little bit but I can't wait for that to happen. I'm sure anyone who reads this and has facebook understand exactly what I'm talking about and I'm glad I'm not the only one who deals with this!

But I will say that I love my REAL friends that I have, for that I am greatful!

Oh to Live in Texas...

Jeremy Here...

So tonight Cassidy and me and her family went to a Rangers game. It was awesome although Texas lost. I was just thinking about how, even though the game wasn't going the way we wanted it to, I loved just spending time in this state. Yeah people talk crap about Texas all the time and everything, but it really is a great place. Coming from a small town where there is absolutely nothing to do and then coming here where there is everything to do really helps me love it more. The thing is, I fell in love with this place the first time I came home with Cassidy. Arkansas is a beautiful place, don't get me wrong, but Texas is a different kind of beautiful. I am so ready to move here with my gorgeous wife and start our lives where we want to be. Being here for such a long period of time makes me want to be here even more so we have to stick it out one more semester and then we are in Texas. But anyway, its just a thought I had.

Harding...

Cassidy here...

So, I signed up for at the end of the spring semester (16 hours) and on a whim I went to look at it again and I was only signed up for 6 credit hours. The first thing I did was sign up for the ones I knew I had to have. Well, I can't get into one of the classes and this is what the teacher said... "The capacity for that classroom is 36. All I can suggest is show up the first day and see if there is a no show". How the heck does that help me? I am set up to graduate in December and because of this one teacher there is a possibility that I wont.

Isn't it wierd how teachers don't care much about their students?

The Married Life

First, I have to thank Derek and Sarah for getting us started on this... I'm sure my mom will be glad we have it now!

WOW, a lot has changed in our lives! We are now happily married and ready to start our lives together. Even more will change when we get back to Searcy. We will really be on our own and back with our married friends.

We have been blessed to be around family and are continually blessed by our two families. Jeremy's family has taken me in an loved me for me and I continually feel their support. I look forward to seeing them the longer I am away from them. I feel my family has loved Jeremy from the begining. They have always accepted him and will accept him till the end. We have been very blessed to live with my parent for about a week and still have a couple more days with them. They have supported us financially and emotionally when we have been drained.

This is a start and will be on more later... (when we have something to talk about :) )