Good Ole "Buddies"

Steve and I had the pleasure of having friends come to visit us this week! It just so happened to be the newly married Willsons on their way from Colorado to their new home in Georgia. They came in Tuesday night and left super early Thursday morning.

It was so nice to get to spend some time with them, especially since we weren't able to when we were out in Colorado for their wedding (Steve & I had the flu during that visit for those of you who don't memorize every post on our blog ). We got to show them around Jackson, took them to a Civil War battle site to stretch their legs, and spend lots of time catching up.

They left early this morning (5am) while Steve & I continued to sleep (sorry Willsons). I was supposed to babysit in the morning, but it got cancelled. Around noon, I met Steve for an appointment with our Realtor! We were put in contact with a Realtor named JB through Steve's work. She wasn't available to meet up with us today, so we met with her dad Buddy (they work as a team). He was quite the character but gave us some great information on the houses we have been researching. We even set up an appointment for Saturday with JB to go and view all the houses. It feels surreal that the process has officially started. Pretty soon we may be homeowners!

Fellowship

Today, Steve and I officially became members of Fellowship Bible Church in Jackson, TN. We went through a month long course on Membership, a luncheon with a pastor, and met with another staff member to give them our statement of faith. There was a little presentation done during the two services this morning, where Steve & I shook hands with several of our new family members. We felt very welcomed and look forward to grow relationships and serve alongside our new family members.

Steve and I have also joined a Bible study within our church as well. Every Sunday afternoon, we meet up with a group of people to chat about life and dive into God's word together. We've only met with them a couple times and look forward to more visits with them.

It's funny to me that a couple of the members of our Bible Study are also members in our discussion group from a financial class we've been taking. We started Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey) about a month ago and randomly joined a group. We started the Bible study not realizing that they were in it as well. This was kind of our way of knowing that God wanted us at Fellowship and involved in these ministries. Way Cool :)

Dinner for two. . .

. . . different diet needs.

As previously blogged about, I'm getting pretty serious about getting into shape and being healthy. I've been doing lots of research on healthy foods, eating fresh foods, and cooking from scratch. Because I'm trying to lose weight, I've been focusing on cooking healthy, low calorie foods. However, Steve's dietary needs are completely different.

I've been on Steve about needing to gain weight, but he wasn't too keen on the idea. He just didn't see the reason for it. He feels he's in good health at the weight he is. Which may be true, but it wouldn't hurt for him to put on a few healthy pounds :). So, he's done research and has started some new protein regimen.

So now, I find myself making one dinner with two different versions for us to eat. For instance-- I made baked chicken the other night. Along with the chicken, I made mashed potatoes & gravy for Steve and mashed garlic cauliflower for myself (it was supposed to fool you into believing you were eating mashed potatoes; however, I don't have a proper food processor so I ate mushy chunks of cauliflower, which was fine).

Yesterday, I tried out some recipes for homemade protein/energy bars for Steve. Those can be rather pricey from the store, so I'm learning to make them on my own. It's a work in progress (especially since our protein powder is strawberry flavored and I should have used vanilla... oh well ).

Where I go, Snow follows

I returned to Jackson on Sunday just in time to wake up Monday morning to this view from our front door:

It was a very strange sight. Especially since I had woken up around 7am to hear it pouring rain. This picture was taken around 11am. I couldn't believe the fact that school hadn't been cancelled for Monday. Especially since TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) decided not to salt the roads. The snow was light enough that they could just plow the streets. Although, the roads were still super slick and there were several accidents. Steve took Monday off so we got to stay in doors all day together. (He took the day off so that he could work on his presentation because he would get interrupted at work).

It snowed again on Wednesday and the temperatures "dropped" on Thursday. I put that in quotataions because I'm used to below zero temperatures in Indiana whereas being in the teens is a big deal in Tennessee. I love how winter shuts down the south! Schools were cancelled Tuesday-Friday (even though it's sunny out right now and a high of 40 degrees). The county schools have accumulated 9 snow days! With the schools being out all week, I have gotten zero sub calls. I was supposed to babysit a couple days, but wasn't needed because the place the lady works was closed, too.

So, I've been doing some organizing, cleaning, working out, and reading. In other words, taking it easy :). Steve's big presentation was yesterday and he said it went really well. So now we can enjoy the weekend stress free. I even think Steve's taking me out for a Valentine's dinner tomorrow night. Sounds like a wonderful weekend to me!

More Snow

I was debating on heading home to Tennessee either leaving Saturday or Sunday. Well, it's Saturday afternoon and there's a white-out of snowing falling form the sky. Originally, it was forecasted less than an inch of snow; however, the new forecast is up to 5 inches. It'll be interesting heading home tomorrow morning. . . (I have to beat out the snow/sleet mix that's to hit Indiana in early evening).

Snowed-in in Indiana

I was planning to head up to Indiana on Tuesday February 1st; however, my trip got moved up a day to Monday due to a rain/snow/sleet mix that was forecasted for Tuesday. I pulled into my parents' driveway Monday evening just as the snow began to fall. What timing!

My mom and I used the weather as an excuse to stay indoors for a few days. We didn't go anywhere, just enjoyed each other's company as well as the brave few (or crazy) who came to visit me. On Tuesday, my sister Amber brought out her girls to play for a few hours. Little did Amber know, she'd be couped up indoors with her girls for the next three days! Schools were cancelled Tuesday-Thursday with a 2 hour delay on Friday.

I was planning on making a trip out to Lafayette to visit an old coworker (well, she's not old, she's actually a young hot momma!) and my cooperating teacher (who so graciously helped me develop into a teacher). I ended up cancelling my trip because I'm such a chicken in this weather. I'm already dreading my drive on Sunday back to Tennessee due to wet roads and snow (even though the roads should be fine for my drive back home).

While I've been enjoying the snow and using it as an excuse to stay inside and be lazy, Steve has had the opposite effect in Tennessee. He was supposed to head out of Memphis to New Jersey on Tuesday. After 3 cancelled flights and an added layover on his trip, he made it to New Jersey on Wednesday. He didn't have to deal with any snow or any other weather once he got there. He made it back to Jackson early this morning, in time to make it into work. What a good employee :).