Cuz my older sister made me

1.Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18, line 4? “It turned out that the air was just as polluted as the water had sometimes been…"

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch? My husband. He is talking on the phone to our cousin Wes.

3. What's the last thing you watched on TV? Kyle XY….Way to go Nate!

4. Without looking, what time is it? 9:50

5. What time is it actually? 9:54

6. Except for the computer what can you hear? Taylor talking to Wes on the phone. And some of my 102 boys talking in the hall.

7. When did you last step outside and what were you doing? Walking from the car to our home

8. Before you started this survey what were you doing? Checking blogs

9. What are you wearing? Jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket I stole from my sister Jody ☺

10. Did you dream last night? Not last night, but I’ve had a crazy dream about being attacked by a mountain lion. In my dream, Taylor and I thought the best idea would be to let the lion attack me and then Taylor could fight it off with a stick. Believe or not, it worked☺

11. When did you last laugh? Right now, I did a silly type-o.

12. What's on the walls in the room you're in? a big chalkboard from our wedding, a mirror, and old pictures of our grandparents

13. Seen anything weird? A lady in the wal-mart parking lot with a huge stuffed animal dog (larger than most men) buckled in to the back seat.

14. What do you think of this quiz? Like my sister said, it’s ok

15. Last film or video seen? Hitch

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight what's the first thing you'd do? Visit my friend Sarah in Africa, bring home a baby boy for Jody, buy my husband his own MAC, and spoil my nephews and neice.

17. Tell me something I don't know about yourself? I would love to work in a pub in a small town in Ireland

18. If you could change one thing about the world regardless of politics what would it be? No child would go unloved….well said Jody

19. Do you like to dance? That’s my secret

20. What comment would you like to make to George Bush? Would you and Laura like to come over for dinner?

21. Your first child is a girl what do you name her? It’s a secret

22. Your first child is a boy what do you name him? It’s a secret

23. Would you ever consider living abroad? In a heart beat

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates? "Well done, good and faithful servant."

25. Five people you want to do this quiz? Emily, Wes, Kari, Micah, Dad (I thought I’d try too☺)

Connected and Employed

Joanna is excited because we finally have internet! Taylor is excited because Joanna got a job! So the pictures aren't as cute as little kids, but today has been an exciting day. We are actually both excited for both reasons. We now feel reconnected to the world with our dependence for access to the world wide web stronger than ever. But much more exciting than that is Joanna's employment. She accepted a position as a Therapeutic Support Staff with Family Behavioral Resources. She will get connected with a student and their family to intervene and improve the struggling student's behavior and life (That's what we've gotten from it so far, hopefully it will be further explained in the training sessions). She begins next Tuesday and is excited to have something to invest in. It is a part time position so there may be another job in the future, but we are so grateful for this one. Thanks for the prayers and support. p.s. This is a sneak peek of the apartment...more pictures to come

Two months and 102 Boys

Taylor and I have now been married just over two months. And this tuesday, we adopted 102 boys. I figured my first act as the mom of Pearce would be to bake over 300 cookies (with some cookie dough from Costco) for their first night. Chocolate Chip Cookies and 8 gallons of milk is a good way win them over. By the way, boys smell...especially 102 of them. Thankfully we are allowed to have candles in our apartment.

A Plethora of Pictures

Pictures say a thousand words? It's obvious who's behind the camera. We hope you enjoy. A bunch of guy RAs bonding. Joanna and Kristin. She is a new RD at Geneva too. Fire Safety Training. Here we learned how to use a fire extinguisher. Taylor and Jenn at Staff Training. Jenn is one of our favorite people here. She came from Seattle by way of Oregon and we know some of the same people. It's a small world. She helps Beaver Falls feel like home. A beautiful woman Taylor's Boss Paul. We like him. We had a Residence Life bonfire. It Got BIG!!! (See the guy to the right?) Camp for a day. We took all the RAs after an intense week of training. Brian Jensen. Taylor's predecessor in Pearce. A good man. He's now in the Apartments. One of the orientation events for all the new students was a Ferry ride through the rivers of Pittsburgh. It was a good time. These are some Geneva Folk including Jenn. Enjoying the breeze off the water I Don't think we've met anyone from the Northwest we haven't liked. There are tons of bridges in PA. Aren't they colorful:) This Sunset was free! Apparently They're only second to Venice for bridges in a city The Dock of the Boat Mr. and Mrs. Sprague...and a Fountain Downtown Pitt from the Boat It's only right to end on a bridge

Four Kids, All Boys

These are our boys! Taylor has four RAs (resident assistants) under him. From the left: Bob, Tyler, Noah, and Jon They are a bunch of characters whom we look forward to getting our hearts wrapped around.

Peek-A-Boo

Since I am still unemployed, they put me to work here at Geneva. For RA training, Taylor and I acted out a senerio, " We were breaking visiting hours." Taylor did all the acting, I just hid in the closet. The RA's did a great job of finding me.:) Taylor has been occupied all week with RA training. I try to stay busy in between meal times which is when I get to join him. Taylor has an excellent staff of a diverse group of boys. I am so proud of how Taylor embraces them all. Between internet searchs for a job, I have continued working on the apartment...pictures to come soon....I promise.

Eye of the Storm

It's calm today. We got to sleep in. We tackled some errands. We sat at Starbucks doing job searches and thank you notes. This past week has been a dust storm of information for Taylor that has hit him like a wall and after all the work that Joanna has put into the apartment, there is somehow still more to do. Tomorrow will prove to be our last breath before holding on for dear life. More training (this time Taylor is training his team) and more job searching. We have forgotten what routine means, but look forward to the day when that will once again be a part of our vocabulary. Prayer is good. We enjoy it and accept it. And hey, we know the calmer of the storm. Future Blogs: More Pictures will come soon "A tour of Geneva" "The People of PA" "Trading Spaces"

For lack of Blog

We feel bad for not blogging in the past two days so this is just a quick update till next time. Joanna's home!!!! But Taylor has started training:( No Internet yet...maybe in a week or so. Students (RA's only for now) move in this weekend and the apartement is still being put together. We are here, we are living and we actually like Western PA. Whew....feel so much better:)

Life

What moves you? What makes you feel alive? Today I was once again struck with how I am inspired by music. There is an up and coming artist named Mat Kearney. He's different, he's not for everyone, but I've been following him for the past four+ years. Over those four years, his style has changed and matured, but one thing has remained true...I am always inspired when I listen to him. Inspired not neccesarily to do great things, but to be passionate about what I do. I find it easy to get trapped in life's monotony; that is until something reminds me that this life is supposed to be ardent. Sometimes that thing is a person, sometimes a tragedy, sometimes a book; today it was music. What makes you feel alive?

Mat Kearney - Sessions

Ain't No Sunshine

It rained here today. It must be sad Joanna left. Me too. Joanna went back to C.Springs today to celebrate our friend Callie's wedding. I'm here to continue to piece together our apartment. As I did that today, I was constantly reminded how much I love her. Every corner turned reminded me that life is great with her. I love it! So it's ok that she is celebrating a marriage, but she better hurry back. "There ain't no sunshine when she's gone" - Bill Withers (and Tyrone Wells)

50cent Sunset

Tonight, I decided to take a drive to Starbucks to get some internet connection and feel in touch with the world. On my way, I took a wrong turn, instead of heading east towards Cranberry, PA, I started west towards Ohio. It was one of the best wrong turns I have ever made. As I rounded the corner, brilliantly beaming through the hills, was one of the best sunsets I've seen in a long time. I didn't know that kind of sunset was possible in Pennsylvania. Back in Arizona, God and I shared many sunsets as he reminded me of who He was. Thinking I would greatly miss those moments, He took my wrong turn and turned it into a beautiful reminder that He is here too. I drove for a while, and as the sun headed to discover other parts of the world, I took the next exit to head the right way. In my attempt to right my wrong, a toll booth stood in my way. Fifty cents later, I realized...it was worth every penny.

We're Getting Married Again!

As we "settle" into life here in PA, we continually miss our friends and family. The people here are incredible. We have felt so welcomed. But it's hard knowing none of you are here with us. We'll miss our weekend trips to Monrovia or Yuma, everyone at the beach in the sky (GCU Student Union), Colorado friends and family, roomates, schoolmates....the list goes on and on. There's even people in Iowa that we miss and wish we could spend more time with. It makes us want to be in one place with all the people we love. The solution, we're going to have another wedding!!!! Everyone came to the first one so lets do it again. We won't even go on a honeymoon. We'll just stick around and hang out with you guys. All to say, we miss and love a lot of you in a lot of places.

Fried Green Tomatos

A fellow RD, Travis, made us fried green tomatos. An incredible lunch accompanied these, but this made a better blog