mugs and medication

Currently, I'm nursing my husband back to health with tea, soup, knitted blankets, and a variety of pills. We worked a little around the house, taking down the Christmas decorations. Tater did half the work while we were out of town, removing all of the ornaments he could reach. He's such a helpful kitty. :) The year is almost over, and we welcome the centimeter of snow we noticed hiding under the dying grass this morning. 

My thoughts turn to the new year. Student teaching, moving, and the possibility of a baby Nowak. Life is beautiful.

packing

Knit blankets, feathery pillows, rain boots, and presents.

want-need-wear-read

This is how we gift to each other. Something we want, something we need, something to wear, something to read. It limits us to four gifts, but still gives us a variety. It's how we plan to gift to our children as well. I know many families {both of ours included} who give their children a bunch of gifts, and while gifts are fun to give and receive, my husband and I decided that we like how finite this list is. Four things. One has to be a book. One has to be something you wear {but this can range from pajamas to jewelry}. One has to be something they need {this is the least fun one, but it's still nice to get something you've needed}. One has to be something they want {this is the most open ended one, and thus the most fun}.

This year, we bought each other a record player/cd player/radio for "something we want". Normally we won't go in together to get each other the same gift, but since it was $40 {second hand} and we both had been wanting one, we sprung. Matt's family grew up with one, and I think it's a nice tradition for our little family as well.

For the something we need, we talked about some things that we have been needing and then bought them separately. I could tell you what I got Matt, but I'll wait.The clue on the present is "something to encourage make-out sessions". Mull that one over for awhile.

For the something we wear, we went different directions. I'm getting Matt's wedding ring resized because he currently has to wear it on his middle finger. My husband's getting super skinny. He's getting me something more traditional in the clothes arena.

For the something we read, we exchanged book lists and then bought one for each other. His clue is "A Tater you can read."

Does your family have a pattern of gift giving? Maybe a spending limit? For the other side of the family we have a spending limit. How about clues on gifts? Is that only my family? Tell me about your gift giving/opening traditions.

quiet moments

Sometimes I think I'll start jotting notes to you every day, just to keep in touch. My head is crammed with projects to complete, pictures to take, and moments to capture, but it all slips past. My "perfect" mac computer {which I seriously enjoy} is having some sort of problem that makes pictures and blogs a no-go. So, every pretty moment we enjoy and every Christmas detail we add a sparkle to gets lost in the "oh, no one outside of this house has seen that? huh." file, which may be bigger than you think.

This week I worked 38 hours. For a part timer like me, that's like a lifetime. In the midst of all the time worked there were quiet moments though. A few Christmas projects got finished before the rush sets in. There is a pile of wrapped presents on my dresser, and our new {second-hand} record player has been keeping me and Tater company while we wait for Matt. Also, we got a tree. It's a pretty little fir tree that we chopped down in a near by forest. {Don't worry, we know the guy who owns it}. It's raining now, and there's a quart and a half of peanut butter chocolate ice cream with two spoons to be shared in the light of the Christmas tree. I'll talk to you later. Well, maybe sooner rather than later.

money and moving

This is a post about saving money. Sorta like this one, only different. This is a goal setting post. For some reason, when December rolls around I start thinking about next year. Like, the whole year. We have been married for nineteen months and we have saved a bunch. When I first typed out this post, I went ahead and told you how much we have in savings, but then it seemed less like a "you can do it, too!" post and more like a "look how awesome we are" post. Not that we aren't awesome, cause we are. Just for the record, it is money that we have done without to save. Done without heat, eating out, cable, new clothes, a t.v., and food made from fancy ingredients like herbs.

So, we have decided that we want to double what we have currently saved. Basically, we want to do in 12 months what it took us the past 19 months to do. How will that work? I'll tell ya. At the beginning of next month I will pay off my last semester of college {AHH!!} and we will bask in the joy that is graduating with no student loans. After that glorious moment, all of the money I make will go straight into that beautiful savings account, which will definitely give that number a boost. Also, we're getting more serious about it. The move feels closer. I can feel this post getting wordy, but I want to let you in on what's been going on.

Matt was going to go back to college this spring. After a talk with one of his sisters, a little seed was planted that maybe he should go back and finish school. After all, we're hoping to let me be a stay at home mom and we'd like to have kids in the next couple of years. So a degree makes sense. Matt enjoyed going through physical therapy when he tore his ACL, and has mentioned it to me several times during our marriage. He thinks it would be rewarding and fun to help people in that way. Just as a side note, I am alll for my husband going back to college. I haven't pushed it at all because I know the Lord will take care of us no matter what, but I am excited about the idea of a steady job that my husband thoroughly enjoys.

So, we looked into it. Physical Therapy Assistant was the goal major {2 years of college for an incredibly significant pay raise/ Matt being on the career path he wants to use to help others}. We settled on the only college around here that offers it. The private university was going to cost us $50,000 over the next two years. In case you were wondering, we do not have $50,000 in savings, or in general. So, debt. Debt was the option. We filled out loans/fafsa. We were ready to do it, even though there was a little pull in our stomach that went like this, "Are we really being good stewards with the time and money that the Lord has given us?" It was going to be a fast track college, and with Matt in school all through the school year/summer/working/me in school and working, we were never going to see each other. Like, one hour a day, but we pursued. The goal was to get as many credits as we could from this college and then transfer home {where the exact same program costs $10,000 instead of $50,000} for the clinicals {next fall}. After a couple chats back and forth, we realized that most of the credits wouldn't transfer. Just an English class here, and a Biology class there. Not what we wanted to go into debt for. So, we thought, "Alright, closed door. He's not going to college in Knoxville. Virginia, Lord?"

So we talked again to the college in Virginia {TCC} about their program, when they dropped the bomb.

• Them - "You have to have been a resident of the tri-cities for a year before you can start."
• Me - "We were residents for the first 21/23 years of our lives. We just moved away for the past two years, but we're coming back."
• Them - "It has to have been the past year."

So, our plans of coming back this summer and starting this fall were shot. When we go back, he won't be starting school there for another year. So the door was closed. I keep talking about doors because the Bible says, "Knock and it shall be opened unto you..." We aren't supposed to go kicking down doors to open them. 

So, we're in a weird place here. The only thing keeping us in Knoxville is that I have student teaching next semester. Our contract on rent is up, we're just month to month. My job is amazing, but it's only what the Lord gave me for this time. It isn't permanent for me to spend my life watching other people's babies. Matt's job is an answer to prayer. Something the Lord gave him when we needed it. Again, it was known going into it, "This is just until Amanda finishes college and we can go home." Home. The place where both of our families and our home church is. The place where our children can be homeschooled in a community full of opportunities for them. We've been here for over a year and a half now as a couple {over three years by myself} and the Lord hasn't made it home. We know that we've given our futures to Him and we are letting Him lead. If He wants us to stay here, we will. But if the door to move back to Virginia stays open, we're taking it. After I help my boss find a replacement nanny/sitter, in fall 2013, we will be headed home.

In the end, the goal is two-fold. Double our savings over the next year in an effort to be closer to buying our first home and move back to Virginia in 2013. It seems almost heavy, but we are so excited about the Lord moving us forward.

Christmas tree in a mason jar

Today is the first full day of Christmas break. All that stands between me and post-college bliss {don't burst my bubble} is a couple hundred dollars and a semester of student teaching. To celebrate the first day of Christmas break, I whipped out the hot glue gun and got a little festive. I can't find the place where I saw this originally, but I didn't make it up. {there were way more pictures of this originally, but my blog ate them}

• Hot glue gun + hot glue
• Clean mason jar
• Small Christmas tree (dollar store 2-pack)
• Fake snow

So, this whole project cost a couple of dollars, and I have like 90% of a bag of snow left. 

Step one: Glue the Christmas tree to the lid of the mason jar.

Step two: Fill the mason jar with snow {less than you think}

Step three: Place lid on top of mason jar.

Step four: Screw on, flip over, and shake like a small child. 

So far this is the only Christmas tree we have, but hopefully this weekend we'll get on that. I would show you some more of the house/decorations (in fact, I've been wanting to), but there are Christmas presents sitting around, waiting for wrapping paper, another coat of paint, or a couple more stitches. So, no peeking. You know how life in December is. Chilly and covered in sparkles.