The last bits of summer

I have always considered Labor Day weekend to be the last hoorah before going back to school. It meant block parties or bbqs at a beach house growing up; now it means the last nice long weekend off from work & school before the holidays. Our closest friends in Dallas were gone for the weekend, so we spent almost all of our weekend together playing! My boss let me leave at 4pm on Friday & so the long weekend began! I’m pretty sure I called someone to brag about the fact that I was starting the weekend an hour early =)
One of our goals for the weekend (or mine at least) was to get out of the house, since we had heard reports of lower temperatures (at least not triple digits). We decided to take a low-budget day trip to Mesquite on Saturday, and after sleeping in a little, we made our lunches and headed out to a new disc golf course. I’m pretty sure this was our first disc golf session since I’ve been in Dallas, and we were reminded of how much we like it. So much so that David has decided to start spending a few afternoons a week on his days off playing on his own & listening to the Hebrew vocab he recorded & put on his ipod - fun, exercise & learning all in one =) We especially enjoyed this 18 hole course – I think it reminded us a little of SLO. There were trees & creeks winding through the entire course with little bridges everywhere to cross where it was deep, and a swing set off of the first hole (what a good way to start out the course!). Inevitably, I threw my disc in the water a ton (including the first time, when David told me I needed to “play it as it lays” and I did – good thing I was wearing sandals) until it was no longer retrievable….sad day. After our failed attempts to fish out my disc, we went to find the one David had already thrown & could not find his either…someone had picked it up.

In a strange turn of events, a very nice man pointed us in the direction of the guy who had picked up David’s disc. He turned out to be a DTS grad & we ended up finishing the back nine with him. He gave David one of his discs & afterwards David was able to recover my disc from the deepest creek running down the center of the course (without having to go for a swim!). So instead of losing two discs, we gained one.

We ate our lunch on a picnic table in the shade of the trees of the park, went to Walmart to stock up on soda & candy, and went to see “Up” at the dollar theater. We found a great coupon for pizza when we got home & drove a new way to pick it up (I keep accidentally stumbling upon new places I haven’t been yet that aren’t that far from our place & it gives me the urge to explore). We finished the day with our pizza & a game of scrabble.
Sunday, Andy preached a great sermon on Work & then we went to Panera for lunch. Yum. We ate & sat with our books and laptop (yes, singular, David’s does not travel well) for a few hours working - although I wouldn’t consider reading my Bible & writing emails work & I’m not sure David would consider reading Advanced Greek Grammar work either, at least it was hard for me to tell because he kept chuckling…. I have come to love sitting in coffee shops, sipping tea & reading or working on my laptop, especially when I have a companion. I also have a newfound love for lazy Sunday afternoons that include trips to coffee shops or naps at home – they are just better when you’re married. We ended up playing another round of disc golf in Mesquite (disc-tragedy free) and heading home for a double feature. We spent most of Monday doing chores at home & running errands, but it felt good to be productive & start a new week with a clean apartment (& clean clothes).

David very rarely gets an entire 3 day weekend off of work like this, so it was a special treat to get to spend the whole weekend together. And it was good to be outside. I must say, we are excited for the impending fall season...

Summer Recap

Summer in Texas is hot.

It also means GREAT Thunderstorms.

I realize I haven’t written in two months so I thought I would recap our summer, or at least the last two months of it.

Some highlights of July:

- We spent the 4th of July at our company get together at Dan & Lisa Saur’s lake house about an hour south of Dallas. It was a great way for David to get to know them a little bit & meet most of our staff.

We swam in the lake, went out on
the boat & ate dinner on the front porch. We didn’t stay for fireworks, but we had a great time.

- My friend Melissa came to visit for about a week. She stayed with her sister who lives here too, but I got to see her a bunch and it was great! July is a tough month to visit Dallas though, so we spent a lot of time inside watching movies, playing games & shopping. We also celebrated her 20 birthday at a tea house; good fun!

- Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince – awesome. And bonus: after seeing the movie, David read thru all of the books in about a month =)

The highlight of August was getting to see our friend Matt from SLO. He & his dad stayed with us for a night on their way out to St. Louis, Missouri, where Matt is starting his first year of seminary at Covenant. We had enough time to catch a Rangers-Twins game in Arlington & get dollar hot dogs. It was really good to see him and catch up.


Like I said, summer in Texas is hot, so with the exception of swimming, we spent a lot of time inside – we spent a couple weeks putting together a giant puzzle, watched a lot of movies, took up playing Scrabble (& got an official Scrabble dictionary), and discovered the dollar theater of Mesquite (seriously, $1.25 to see new movies just out of theatres). Every time the temperature dropped below 100, we tried to take advantage of it & get outside to the park, the lake, or to play tennis.

God is good

If you haven't heard already, I (Lindsay) got a job! I just finished my first week as an Administrative Assistant at D.R. Saur Financial (www.drsaur.com - my picture will be on the website soon!) and am exhausted =) God provided this job in such perfect timing. I've been without a job for about four months...so you're probably saying "and it was perfect why...?"

Well, first of all, because i had so much time to get unpacked, organized and settled here in Dallas...and unwind from the craziness of planning a wedding! It was such a blessing to have that time. Also, because it took so long to get our marriage license, I interviewed for this job about one day before finishing everything related to the logistics of getting married and moving. Not sure how I would have gotten that stuff done if I was working sooner. And as a bonus, we just got back from a trip to Missouri that I would have had to take off for (or maybe not have been able to go at all) if I had started working just one week earlier.

I spent 3 solid months job hunting and this is the only job i interviewed for, and pretty much the only company I even heard back from. Within a period of about a week and a half, I turned in my resume, interviewed twice and was offered the position. It is very close to home, close to David's work this summer (which has made carpooling possible), a great salary, they offer health insurance for me, and the people all seem awesome.

As perfect as it seemed...I still struggled a lot when it came down to deciding if I wanted to take this job and give up looking for something in the social service field (for now at least). It took some thought and prayer - although I didn't have a ton of time to process since everything came to fruition so quickly! Obviously i knew I couldn't turn down the only job offer I had received, especially in this economy and considering the salary & benefits, but I needed to feel good about my decision. After some prayer and wise counsel, I felt confident with the choice and excited to have a job! Right now, my priorities are:

1. Getting stable financially
2. Supporting my husband while he is pursuing his career
3. Enjoying being a wife =)
4. Trusting God with my/our future

After a week, I still feel good about my decision =) It was a stressful first week, as it tends to be when learning a new job and making tons of mistakes, but better than expected. I felt like I fit in well with my fellow employees almost immediately and I really like the mission of the company, to not only provide honest, wise counsel regarding financial investments, but to share the gospel with their clients and potential clients. I'm looking forward to feeling a little more comfortable with the job responsibilities over the next few weeks, getting into a more normal daily routine and already my first company party on the 4th of July!

o ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ o

In other news...


We got our Texas plates!



We've been hanging pictures....



We got our antenna hooked up =)



Thornhill Reunion!!!

We drove up to Missouri this past weekend and had a great time with family. We spent Friday night in a trailer with David's aunt and uncle, eating barbecued salmon and playing imagineif till midnight. They were so gracious to give us the bedroom in their huge camper! Saturday all the Thornnhills came to the lake and we took turns going out on the boat and getting pulled by a three person innertube. Good fun =)

Saturday and Sunday night we stayed at their house, and spent the day on Sunday playing games (the Thornhill Olympics). It included a Thornhill family scavenger hunt (which team Brett, David & Lindsay won!), softball, basketball, water balloon throwing, board games, the Wii!, and a film festival. We got lunch with David's aunt and uncle on Monday before heading out of town and I entertained David on our 8 hour drive home (even though it took only 6 1/2 to get there..) with singing the entire soundtrack of Wicked & car games. Sunflower seeds also were a big help in keeping us awake - thanks for the advice Kathi and Charlie! It was so fun meeting David's family who I've heard so much about, and it wasn't too overwhelming =) I love them all, and how much they love each other and strive to stay connected (David's dad has 5 siblings).





We are doing well, loving marriage, and resting in the provisions of our Lord, as well as in the coolness of our apartment (yay for a working air conditioner!) in the heat of this Texas summer. Thanks for your continued love, support and prayers. We appreciate you!

Update

It is mid-May and summer is upon us already! David finished up his semester at DTS a week ago and started work at the elementary school he worked for last summer today. We are very excited that he will be working there again - he loves the job, the people he works with and the hours. He will also be keeping two shifts a week at the Sheraton, so hopefully he will only be gone two nights a week!

We spent the weekend after David's finals (Mother's Day weekend) on the East Coast celebrating David & Andrea's wedding in Pennsylvania. We were also so blessed to be able to stay with Kendra & Greg in Virginia while we were there, which is only a couple hours away from the wedding site. Such a blessing to be able to get away for a few days and spend some time with friends. Kendra and Greg took us to Baltimore to a Yankees-Orioles game and to the harbor for dinner - so much fun!

Nothing too new to report on the job front for Lindsay except that she is still looking! She has been looking for positions in the social services and administrative fields and has one interview pending for an administrative assistant position. It is a full-time position that is very close by, with decent salary and possible benefits. So it seems like a good position, it would just mean the possible closing of the door to pursuing a job in the psych field, at least for now. We are praying and confident that God will provide in his perfect timing and know that wherever it may be it will be a blessing, especially with the current job market.

David was also recently in a minor car accident (hit-and-run, but he is fine!) which resulted in the loss of his car, so we are down to one for the time being. It has been a challenge, but is doable so far. We are praying that Lindsay might find a job that is close by.

We also just started attending a young couples group at church and are excited for the friendships we will hopefully build through that. And we are attempting to start running/exercising on a more regular basis, although we will see what happens now that David will have to leave for work at 7:45am...=)

If you'd like to be praying for us, here are some bullet points for you:

- Lindsay's job situation
- Car situation
- Enjoy & honor God with the time we have now before Lindsay is working
- Keep spiritual growth a priority
- Finances
- Forming new friendships

Thanks, we love you all =)

Here's some pictures from our weekend on the East Coast:

Firsts

David and I just celebrated our first birthdays together as husband and wife. How good it is to be here together! David's birthday was on Easter this year, so we started off the day at church, followed by a relaxing afternoon at home, including present & easter basket opening, napping, and making desert for later that evening. We went with some friends for a steak dinner at this great restaurant downtown, came home and played Settlers of Catan with the group, ate my grandma's famous apple crisp, and David & I finished off the night with a movie in bed.

For my birthday, David woke up and fixed me breakfast before heading to class. I spent the morning on the phone with birthday calls and when David got home he surprised me with a year membership to the Dallas Arboretum. We spent the rest of the afternoon there, and it was a gorgeous day. Then he took me out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (yum!) and we spent the evening at home, playing games, eating ice cream and watching movies.

Other firsts...

- first "husband" & "wife" cards =)
- first Texas sunrise
- first Dallas Mavericks game & also first NBA game for David
- first time shopping together (I got David new shoes, shirts and pants!)
- first time making chili from scratch
- first time playing the piano for David
- first time being unemployed without the excuse of being a student since high school
- first round of tennis as a married couple
- first apartment with a doorbell AND an awesome peephole
- first time making David fried eggs
- first time cutting my husbands hair! - not just one number ;)
- first taste of Grandma Mac's green jello on a hot night


On the road, the morning of the day we arrived in Texas


Our friends David and Andrea at the Mav's game


Our new shoes


Our front door


Seconds on the jello - it was better than he expected =)

Rainy day

We (mainly Lindsay though) love rainy days =) This is our third thunderstorm since Lindsay has been in Dallas - praise God for his bigness. Never fails to amaze and they really do just somehow seem bigger in Texas.



David had the afternoon off of class and work (yay!), so we spent the day working (Greek & Cover Letter writing), napping and playing Scrabble, while listening to the rain, the awesome thunder and some rainy day tunes. David was very content with his tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches; Lindsay enjoyed her PB&J. Simple days are so great.


Now David is off to work, the results of the scrabble game left up in the air - although Lindsay is currently in the lead - and the rain beginning to subside. I feel like i should say something profound, like my friend Melissa has a way of doing, but I really just wanted to share my excitement in a simple rainy day at home with my husband =) I think I'll go make some pudding, yum.