Maggie

*Warning: we might have taken too many pictures. Get over it, we're excited*

Well we did it, we have a dog! We have wanted a dog for a long time and now she's here! Our friend Meredith who lives in Birmingham had a friend who was giving away puppies. His black lab had puppies and he didn't know what to do with all of them so we were happy to take one off his hands! These puppies are black lab/blue heeler mix and ADORABLE. We walked into his back yard and were immediately taken over by 7 puppies. I was immediately overwhelmed by the choice. To help make the decision we decided we wanted a girl, so that took 3 of them out of the equation. I would hold one and like it, then want to look at another one so I would put it down and then forget which one I had just held. I was getting nowhere and at this point willing to take all of them.

Then I remembered I was not the only one making the decision when I heard Ben say "I want this one." First of all, we had just gotten there and in my opinion he had not given the others a chance. Second, I wanted the fluffy one with the bright blue eyes.

But no, apparently this was the one. I told him we would think about it but I really wanted to hold and look at all of them. So he put her down to pick up a few of the other puppies. While he was holding some of the others, this puppy patiently followed Ben around the yard and sat down staring at him when he stopped walking. She loved him. The other puppies were all playing with each other the moment we put them down but not this one. She wouldn't leave his side.

Then I picked her up...and it was over. She had me.

We went to look at the puppies on the way to Ben's grandparent's house in Bham for Thanksgiving. After a quick call to make sure it was ok to add one more dog to the 4 already there we were on our way with our new puppy. I don't think Ben had ever been this happy (except for our wedding day I'm sure...) and we were loving every minute of it. The downside: the name debate. All dog names I liked were boy names and I was fully prepared to call our female dog Javy Lopez but Ben likes the more traditional names. He's probably right, I don't want to confuse her. We both had a few names in mind and we never could fully agree or commit to just one. Finally we just had to pick one...and we ended up with Maggie. It really didn't come from anything we just think it's a cute name. Here's our first family picture. Aww.

Maggie got along great with the other dogs. She was especially cute with the Calvert's dog, Lucy. Lucy was a great sport and very gently played with her.

All that playing really wore her out. What do you expect? She's only 6 weeks.

Maggie would see all the other dogs playing fetch and chasing after their tennis balls and she tried to join in. Too bad the ball was bigger than her head. At least she tried. She seems stubborn. That might not be as cute when she gets bigger...

No story here, just cute.

Maggie during her first Iron Bowl. Unfortunately we lost but WAR EAGLE anyways.

We are so excited to have Maggie, despite the fact we wake up to her whines every 2 hours to let her go outside. We might be sleepy but we are happy to finally have our puppy.

Love in Action

My husband loves me. I am very confident in this, and he tells me often. But it sure is special to have it demonstrated to you...

Ben came home during his lunch break today to help me study for a validation I had this afternoon. He could have gone to his lunch favorites like Chick fil a or Five Guys but he came home to eat leftovers to help quiz me. And let me tell you, this wasn't just your average study material. Catheters anyone...? Ben doesn't even like hearing the word "blood" or "needle" so this was a stretch for him. He had to look at sentences I am sure he regrets laying eyes on, and while he was quizzing me he kept on staring at the catheter I had laying on the floor and wincing. I don't think he was aware he was doing that...so funny!

This is what he walked in the door to see. Poor guy.


Ben - I love you and thank you. Hope you don't have nightmares.

Half Marathon

Well he did it! Ben just finished his first half marathon. I am so proud of him despite the fact that my alarm went off at 6:00am on a Saturday morning. On our way there I was so nervous it was almost like I was the one running! We didn't know what traffic and parking would be like so we got there pretty early. We had an hour to kill so we just did some serious people watching. Everyone was in such good shape, it was actually very convicting. I was just thinking about how much I need to start running when I saw a very pregnant woman with a t shirt that said "Pregnant and Fit" walking towards the starting line. Geez. Slap in the face. But good for her.

I was not sure how I was going to watch the race so my plan was to go back to the car and study after the race started, and walk back up in time to see him cross the finish line. When Ben walked over to the starting line I got a phone call from my parents. They were on their way and had a spot picked out where the runners passed by at the 5th mile and the 11th mile. I got in their car just in time to miss the runners and went to meet Mrs Terry at our spot. I am so glad they called. We had a great time cheering on the runners while looking out for Ben and Mr Alan.

Here is Ben right before the race. I was THAT wife taking pictures at every stage.

Here is Mr Alan at mile 5.
And here's Ben.

I can't believe he's smiling. I would be in respiratory distress at this point.

Mile 11 - Almost finished Mr A!

Still smiling at mile 11?? Maybe because it's almost over...?

He finished!

I am so proud of Ben. He's been working hard for weeks. Now he's excited about doing more of these in the future. I also really enjoyed the whole experience. Maybe we can find races that have a half marathon and a 5K so we can both run. We will see! Caylen and David - excited for you guys to run your half marathon soon! You can do it!

about the time management...

So here I am again...playing catch up. School and life have been BUSY, and after taking a look at my calender I realize it's only going to get busier until Christmas break. But at least I get a Christmas break! Most of my friends have careers and I can be jealous at times but THEY will be jealous when it's time for my (almost) month off. I might call them during the day *forgetting* they are at work since I am at home taking it easy. And yes, I would be that mean. It's out of love though.

Remember when I said that I had Wednesdays free? Apparently not. I guess that means no scheduled class but you will have to come in for group work/labs/study sessions/tests. This takes away my Wednesday morning Bible study. That has been a pretty big bummer. I really appreciate the encouragement, prayer and fellowship from that Bible study and I miss it! I know I am not a big talker in groups (surprise, surprise) but I feel like I learned so much by just sitting back and listening. Hopefully I will get the chance to go back soon.

I recently had the chance to visit friends in New York over a long weekend. Most of you know that NYC is not my top pick in vacation spots. In my opinion if I am going to pay for a plane ticket there should be mountains or some body of water waiting for me upon arrival. A huge city....ummm no. But getting the chance to see so many friends from Auburn was too good to pass up. Ben was not able to miss work that Friday or Saturday so I was on my own. I can't put into words how much I appreciate all he did for me so that I was able to go. I missed him the whole time but I know he enjoyed getting the chance to play golf and eat a whole lot of pizza. I felt like I ate the whole time we were in New York. Nothing wrong with that! We walked off all the calories! We also bought the half price tickets and went to see Memphis on Broadway. Two friends with us are from Memphis so it was neat to be able to see that with them. First experience with Broadway, and I loved it! I can't even put into words how good it was to see friends from all over the country, just wish Ben had been there. I also wish I had some pictures to show you but I didn't take a single picture while I was there! Oops! In my defense, it was raining most of the time.

For now I need to get back to studying. Pathophysiology test on Tuesday. That is by far my hardest class. At least I get to study with the Bama/LSU game in the background. Let's hope both Tiger teams get a win today...

Fall Break Update

If I haven't mentioned this enough, school has taken over my life. That means my blogging has been nonexistent. A lot has happened since my last real update so I am gonna hit the highlights.

- We went to Auburn! Anyone remember the rain delay for the West Virginia game? Rain delay is deceiving. It should have been called "more rain than I have ever seen in my entire life all in the span of 30 minutes" delay. We were sitting in our seats waiting for the pregame to start when all the sudden everyone around us started putting on their jackets and ponchos. It was almost like an announcement came over the speakers telling people to start getting ready for the monsoon. There was no rain at this point so it seemed a little silly, until we looked up. Over the stadium was the darkest cloud I have ever seen. Thirty seconds later it starting pouring. There was no warning sprinkle or light rain, it went from nothing to a downpour. The kind of downpour that laughs at your rain jacket and somehow soaks every inch of you anyways. Not the best night to wear jeans. Trust me. But the game started (late) and it was an exciting one. Lots of turnovers, lots of frustration but we won! It was fun sitting with Ben and Jammers!

-Ben had his second infusion last week. The doctor's office and infusion center are in Cullman so we drove down the night before and spent the night with his grandparents. April and Andrew were down there as well so we got the chance to spend some time with them. I don't want to go into too much detail on that night because I am still bitter I came in last place in our card games. It wasn't even a close last place, trust me. His infusion went well! No complications, no reactions and no side effects! The hardest part was the boredom of sitting there for 2 1/2 hours but I had a Francine River's book so I was good to go. We know how many people were praying for that day, and we feel so blessed to have you in our lives.

-We joined the University Fitness Center once I became a student at UAH. We have been loving it. I am well known for my *intentions* of going to the gym but not really following through. Ben, on the other hand, goes almost every day for 2 hours. I've always been proud of how dedicated he is to working out. Sooo once again I joined the gym with my good intentions and my lack of follow through. That is, until I found out about a school project...I have to attend at least 3 workout classes a week all semester long. This was not the only option I had for the project but you do really think I would choose a 15 minute oral report or a poster presentation? Those require creativity and speaking in public. No thank you! So if you need to find me I will be at the nursing building or taking Muscleworks (and even Yoga...don't judge it can be relaxing if I don't feel like working that hard) at the Fitness Center.

-We are keeping Molly and Jamie while my parents are out of town! Jamie gets back in town tonight, but we already have Molly. To clarify, Molly is the fam's dog and Jamie (Jammers) is my youngest sister. VERY excited to have both of them! So far Molly has spent 95% of her time here staring at the squirrels and chipmunks in our backyard. I love her, but she's not the brightest.

I will try to be better about blogging from now on. It's alllll about time management.

Those Calvert boys...

I realize that I have been slacking on the blogging.  My deepest apologies.  School has me crazy busy right now.  Just to hold you over until I have the time to give a full account of the game/monsoon in Auburn, here are a few pictures I found on Ben's computer.  Notice a pattern?  Those crazy, rebellious preacher's kids...

WAR EAGLE!!!

The day is finally here! Oh how I love the sound of College GameDay. I'm serious, I stayed up pretty late last night studying so I would have the morning off to watch it. I love, love, love this time of year!!! Here's a hint, during commercials go watch youtube videos of old pregame videos. And if you are thinking at this moment, no way because I am not an Auburn fan...then I pity you. I really do. It's great to be an Auburn Tiger!

Whenever I think about our new coach the same phrase pops in my mind..."Don't blow this for us Gene!" It's not that I think Chizik will be bad, it actually has nothing to do with him at all. I like the guy! The name Gene just makes me think of the SNL more cowbell skit when he yells "Don't blow this for us, Gene!" Anyone....just me....? I shared that thought with a friend and I only got a blank stare in return.

War Eagle!!!!