Right Around the Corner

The date for our move is right around the corner and I can't wait!  It's bitter sweet to be moving but I'm very excited to start a new leaf near family.  We'll be moving to our new apartment on May 14th, then spending the next few weeks unpacking (which is always fun).  I kind of know how to get around this new town from all of the visits to see Michael when we were dating, but figuring out all of the back roads through town will be an adventure.  Leaving a place you call home is always tough even when it seems easy to pack up; making a new place your home always takes time.

Moving Onward!

I was planning on posting this yesterday before I realized how long that post was getting, so here is some more good news today!  As mentioned previously, there have been some ups and downs over the past year; one of those "downs" being that me and my husband have been stuck where we're at.  What I mean is we've been stuck in this small town with nothing to do, thirty minutes away from anything "fun" other than a Wal-Mart, hours away from family, and unable to do anything about the situation because of my classes on campus.  Over the past few months we started thinking of the future and what we could do to change it for the better; let me just say that God is good!

Everything has seemed to line up in place and all in good timing!  We decided that once I finish up my classes on campus and can start Student Teaching that we'd move closer to his family.  I was able to request my student teaching placements for the area near his family and will hopefully find out those placements within the next month.  We were also praying that he would be able to find a job in the new area soon so we could start looking for a place to live; God answered those prayers as well!  Just recently we got the phone call that he received a job in the area his parents reside, and that he would be able to start in a matter of three weeks.  This works out great because we also have the opportunity to go look at an apartment in that area this weekend.

Change is around the corner and I'm eager to see what the future holds.  I'm sad to be moving away from our current apartment because it finally feels like a "home" and we're close to my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and friends at MSU, but I'm ecstatic to start this new adventure in our lives and to see what happenings will come.

A Crazy Fun Spring

What a wonderful and crazy year it has been so far!  There have been so many things that have happened since my last post, which is why I haven't been able to post much.  I'll try to keep this post short, but I'm not making any promises, haha.

Western Kentucky had a snow/ice storm at the beginning of March, which we didn't think would be that bad until Michael's car decided to be cruel and fall apart.  The weather made it difficult to get our cars out of the parking lot, so we played it safe and stayed at home the first couple of days.  Side note - the last ice storm we had back in January was harsh on Mike's car...it took both front door handles.  We thought it would be a "great" idea to save money and just use a wire coat hanger to open the driver side door... Not a good idea.

What we didn't know was the hanger was putting stress on the lock mechanism for the door.  Well by the middle of the week Michael decided to take my car into work (hoo-rah for front wheel drive!) and I was going to take his to school later that day.  Long story short, I was able to get into his car, but when I tried to shut the door it wouldn't stay shut.  The lock mechanism had completely broke, causing his car to be in the shop for three weeks getting fixed while we borrowed his sister's car.  I'm so thankful for amazing family!  Without Sara I wouldn't have been able to go to class and run errands.

That was just one of the recent crazy happenings, there is more :).  I finished all of my hours for Extended Practicum a few weeks ago, which was bitter sweet.  I had such a great time at my last placement and learned so much.  I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to learn and teach under such a great band director and music teacher, and I hope to be as good as he is someday!  Middle school is definitely my favorite age group to teach.

I performed my senior recital this past Saturday, it was by far one of the most fun moments of my music career.  I didn't realize how fast college would pass by and now that it's almost over it's actually kind of sad.  The past four years have been a roller coaster of ups and downs; from struggling in certain areas of life to meeting the man of my dreams and starting a whole new life together with him.  I always thought it was going to be great to be done with the heavy practice schedule I adhered to, but now that it's over I'm actually sad that I won't be able to play wonderful music on a daily basis.  I am very happy that I was able to give one last great performance for my family and friends

Unlike most instrumentalist and vocalist, I am a percussionist (best instruments ever).  You may ask, so what?  Being a percussionist is amazing, but unfortunately I have never had the privilege of owning my own mallet instrument like a marimba (the instrument shown above) or vibraphone.  Not owning one of those instruments makes it very difficult to actually practice and play one of the major instruments in the percussion family.  When I first came to college I could barely play a mallet instrument, and over the past four years I've been able to become a better musician on almost every percussion instrument.  Now that summer is right around the corner and graduation is at the end of the year, I will only have the opportunity to play drum-set and other battery percussion because they are  more accessible than mallet instruments.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have studied under a great percussion professor and to have performed along side some of the best musicians and friends!  Without all of these wonderful people I wouldn't have come as far as I have.  Thank you everyone who has supported me throughout this amazing musical journey!

Along with my senior recital, I also donated over ten inches of hair to Locks of Love!  I haven't done this in a few years and decided that someone else could benefit from the mess of hair I didn't want anymore.

Well, that is all I have to say in this post without making it drag on.  It's good to be back in the blogging world!  With all of these events finished I'll finally have time to sit down and put effort into creating some good posts.

God is good!