Two moves and a wedding

Well, this is pathetic.

I tried 17 months ago to revive the blog... and failed miserably. So I'm trying again.

At the beach in WA with Sarah and
Rachel Compton. I touched the Pacific
Ocean for the first time! It was cold.

Last July, I moved to Jackson, TN and began a nurse-residency at a hospital there. My little sister attends Union University for undergraduate work, so it was nice to be nearby, even if we don't end up spending a lot of time together. In September, I was placed on a cardiac progressive floor and I have been working night shift there since then. It was SO cool to start signing my name with RN after it, and even cooler when I got my badge with RN BSN on it.

In late August, Aaron and I flew out to Washington state to visit his family. This was the first time for me, and I was so happy to meet everybody and spend time with them.

We also had quite a lot of fun decorating
Faith and Daniel's car...

In late September 2015, my fiance Aaron moved to Jackson to be closer to me. He transferred to the Sears in Jackson, where he worked until recently.

Happy to see me boys

Mid October, we were pleased to drive back to Pennsylvania join my best friend Faith as she married the love of her life, Daniel. Such a beautiful, sweet time.

Mom was happy to see me too!

I worked Thanksgiving Day night, and flew out to Virginia on Friday morning to spend several days at home.

Our little Christmas
tree, courtesy of
Goodwill

People unfortunately stay sick on the holidays too, so Aaron and I set up a little Christmas tree in my apartment and celebrated together. It was weird being away from home. I'm so used to the joy of Christmas with little kids around, and it just wasn't the same.

In January 2016, after passing the secondary education English praxis (a test teachers have to take in order to teach a specific subject), Aaron began his graduate program at Union University for his M. Ed. He had his first student teaching experience in a 12th grade English classroom, and loved it! It definitely confirmed what he has felt called to do since he was in high school.

We officially became church members in early February, something that delighted both of us, as we have both attended congregations in the past but never took steps to be members. We are blessed to have found Cornerstone Community Church, and to be involved in our small group. We are exceedingly joyful for all of the support that our church family has given us, and are grateful to give that support back to our friends.

Rachel Compton helping make tissue
paper flowers to decorate the pavilion

In late June, we both took off about two weeks of work in order to drive back to Virginia, prepare for our wedding, and on July 2, we (finally!) got married! We stayed in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina for a week, savoring being husband and wife before returning to Jackson. During the time in NC, Aaron received a phone call offering him a job teaching 7th grade English at a public school in Jackson. Ecstatic, he put in his 2-weeks notice at Sears as soon as we returned to Jackson.

A sweet lady took this picture of us at
a waterfall in NC

In the ER, take 2

After returning home, we worked on packing up the apartment, as we planned to move across town to a larger apartment. During that time, we had our first big scare as a married couple. Aaron got really sick and fainted while taking care of pre-employment paperwork for the county, and I ended up taking him to the Emergency Room. The night after that happened, I returned to work with Aaron texting me updates every 2-3 hours, whenever he woke up. At about 3am, he texted me saying that his temperature was 103.6 and that he had take Tylenol about 2 hours previously. My coworkers and I were concerned, so I left work at 3 in order to take Aaron back to the ER. Unfortunately, all the bloodwork showed was a possible virus and some dehydration, so we came back home and I kept taking care of him. Thankfully, he was able to attend some of the in-services required for teachers the following week. About a full week after his fainting episode, he was back to his usual self, with no deficits.

Very excited about
his new classroom!

He started teaching on August 1. On August 7, we asked some church friends to help us move apartments. This one is a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, so we finally have space for people to visit us! (Before, you would have been sleeping on a couch). Aaron's grandparents also came down with a bedroom set we purchased from his aunt, so we upgraded from my full-size bed to a queen! We are exceedingly thankful for the extra room.

Constructing a bookcase
we bought with a Target
gift card someone gave us!

I've been doing my best to get the apartment set up on my days off, and whenever Aaron gets home from school, we work together on organizing papers and grading and Aaron has help from his team for lesson planning. The first two weeks of school have been tough in every way, but I am thankful that his co-teachers have been helping and that when his Masters classes begin next Monday that he will also have the help of a faculty mentor.

The past month has been very stressful, and I feel the effect on my health as well. This week is my last week working full time at the hospital, and starting next week, I will be transitioning to a part-time role, working at least one day a week to keep my foot in the door. I am hopeful that this change will allow me to be more available for my husband, for my family, and for my church.

Well, that's the biggest update that I've had for a while, but I'm going to try this blogging thing again to try to keep people more in the loop of what's going on in Jackson.