Long time, no blog.

Wow. I didn't even realize how long it has been until just now. Life is crazy. Here is a little update on my life over the past month and a half: For Thanksgiving, Tom and I went to Raleigh and an intimate dinner with his parents. Just the 4 of us. Later that night, I flew up to Syracuse, NY, where my parents already were, to spend some time with my mom's side of the family, especially Grandma. there was some snow on the ground when I got there, which was nice to see since I don't think we'll be seeing any in Washington, NC this year...On Friday, my parents, my grandma and I met my mom's sisters and their families at Plainville Turkey Farm restaurant to have anothoer Thanksgiving feast. They had a big buffet with all the traditional fixings. I ordered fish instead. I flew home on Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, I called my mom to see if they had made it to NYC yet. My dad had meetings in the city on Tuesday, so my parents decided to spend a few extra days in NY and enjoy themselves. When my mom answered the phone, I could tell by her voice that something was wrong. She said she was at the urgent care with my dad because he had been having severe stomach pains all night/morning. They didn't know what was wrong yet, but she said she would call me when they knew more. It turns out that it was his appendix. They took him by ambulance to a nearby hospital and he had an emergency appendectimy. I don't know why, but for some reason I was really scared. Late that night when he was out of recovery, my mom put him on the phone. As soon as I heard his voice I started crying. What a mess...

SO THEN, that Friday night (are you keeping track of all this?) Tom and I went out to pick up some late night Bojangles. After we hit up the drive-thru, we headed to the ATM to get some cash so we could buy a Christmas tree on Saturday. Well on the way to the ATM we got into a head on collision with a drunk driver. I passed out at the point of impact, so I don't remember the airbag hitting me or anything. I can't even describe how surreal the accident was. When I opened my eyes and realized what happened, I looked over at Tom and in the back at Clive, and thought, wait, is this a dream? Is this really happening? It was really scary. It wasn't until the cops arrived that we knew the other driver was drunk. They cut the breathalizer off at .26. By the grace of God, we all were okay. Clive was shaking for about 20 minutes. Neither Tom nor I had any major injuries although we are both still in some pain 3 weeks later. The truck was totaled.

After that, Christmas kind of got pushed aside. I could barely move for about 3 days, so we never ended up decorating for Christmas. Bah humbug. I guess there's always next year.

We spent Christmas back and forth between our parents' houses in Raleigh and Cary. It was nice to spend some quality time with them. I saw Marley & Me with some friends and cried harder than I ever have before at a movie. It was ridiculous. At one point, I really thought that I might have to leave the theatre. Two days later, my parents asked me how the movie was, and I started crying AGAIN just telling them about it! It was embarassing. Needless to say, I love my dog. I'll attach some pictures when I find the camera cord.

Swig & Splash

This is what the painting class/party was called that I went to on Monday night. One of my co-workers has a friend who is an artist and she does these classes to make some extra money. Basically it was 5 girls drinking wine and having a great time painting. Here's a photo of my painting. Check out her website: ericacoker.com

Welcome to a Small Town

One of the biggest things I've noticed since moving to Washington is that literally everywhere you go, you see somebody that you know. Let me first remind you that Tom and I have only been in Washington for a couple months. The point being that we don't even know that many people. If we already run into somebody every time we leave the house, what is it going to be like in 5 years? I'm not saying this is a bad thing; it's just an adjustment; just a part of life in a small town. So when I went to the gym this morning (we just joined 2 days ago), I was not at all surprised to see my supervisor on one of the machines. Of course I did the mature thing and made a bee-line for the women's locker room. I mean, the gym is an awkard place to run into somebody, right? I'm pretty pumped that I actually went to the gym this morning. One of the main reasons we chose this gym was because they have a pool. It's been a long time since I swam laps and I really enjoyed it. Of course I didn't have goggles though, so my eyes were burning from the chlorine for the rest of the day. I guess I'll add those to my WalMart list. One of the other things I like about a small town is how everybody says "The WalMart" instead of just "WalMart". I've noticed that I have picked up this habit as well.
I was really bored last night because Tom is out of town and there was nothing on TV, so I started watching The Ghost Whisperer. Has anybody seen this show? I never watched it before because I thought it looked pretty stupid and I'm not a huge fan of Jennifer Love Hewitt. Okay, it was really good. I'm not gonna lie, I watched a couple episodes in a row. It has a kind of crime drama feel to it. You should check it out.

GOOD LORD

This is what I was thinking today at work when I was trying to grab a second to breathe. I told my supervisor that I needed a bigger desk. It's been a week since I've been officially done with training at my job. Last week was still kind of slow...which I hate. I would much rather have something to do that just be sitting at my desk, twiddling my thumbs, BUT this week has been crazy. Since Monday, I've been slapped with 6 cases. I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off; but truth be told, I kinda like it. It's just such a cool job. On top of work really picking up, Tom and I have been super busy with Young Life, and MOVING! Yes, we finally moved in to our house this past weekend. We actually closed on it today, so we now officially own it. The move went really well. We were very fortunate and grateful to have several people from Young Life help us, as well as my brother Alex. During the process, all the "movers" decided that our couch was just too big to fit into the back den where we wanted it (it's an older house, so the doorways are small). Well later that day, after everyone left, Tom and I decided that we WERE going to get that couch into the den. One side of the couch is actually broken from when we moved into our "old" house in Raleigh, so we thought we had a little wiggle room. GOOD LORD. I'll just say there was quite a bit of swearing involved and some more breaking of the couch. But--the couch is in the den! There are a lot of things we'd like to change or add to the house, so we're trying to prioritize and realize that it's not going to all happen at once. I would attach some pictures of the house, but Clive chewed up my digital camera a few weeks ago. Seriously. I could rattle off a million things that my dog has destroyed over the past month, but that's another story for another day. Needless to say, we don't have any pictures to show anyone. So if you wanna see our house, you'll just have to come visit!

So Much to Say

I have so much to write about, but I don't want this to be 5 pages long, so I'll just commit to writing again tomorrow.
The other day, Tom and I were listening to NPR and they were interviewing 3 different soldiers re: their experiences in Iraq. At the end of the program, one of the male soldiers read a poem that he wrote as he was leaving Iraq. It was so moving that both of us got choked up. We looked it up online later. His name is Brian Turner, and it's called "Night in Blue":

At seven thousand feet and looking back, running lights
blacked out under the wings and America waiting,
a year of my life disappears at midnight,
the sky a deep viridian, the houselights below
small as match heads burned down to embers.

Has this year made me a better lover?
Will I understand something of hardship, of loss,
will a lover sense this in my kiss or touch? What do I know
of redemption or sacrifice, what will I have
to say of the dead--that it was worth it,
that any of it made sense?

I have no words to speak of war.
I never dug the graves in Talafar.
I never held the mother crying in Ramadi.
I never lifted my friend's body
when they carried him home.
I have only the shadows under the leaves
to take with me, the quiet of the desert,
the low fog of Balad, orange groves
with ice forming on the rinds of fruit.

I have a woman crying in my ear
late at night when the stars go dim,
moonlight and sand as a resonance
of the dust of bones, and nothing more.

Under Contract

Sorry it's been awhile. Last week Tom was out of town and I was staying with someone in Washington (with no internet access). The cool thing is that the house I was staying at is actually my future house! Tom and I are officially "under contract" for buying our first home. I am so stinkin' excited, I can't hardly stand it. I'll take a picture soon and post it. The plan, as of now, is to move in around Aug. 15. YAY!!

For the past 2 weeks, I've been training in Kinston for my job. It's been going really well and I am still loving my job, which is unusual and new for me. The mortgage lady we're working with actually made a crack about the number of jobs I've had over the past few years. I was thinking, "Um, you don't know me that well, so you're not allowed to say stuff like that". ANYWAY...today in training, we had to watch this documentary on a child who was severely abused and eventually died at the hands of his parents. It was so sad. I really had to do everything in my power not to break down and cry. I seriously pray that we never have to deal with a child fatality in Beaufort Co.

On a more positive note, I think Tom and I are going to see the movie 'Stepbrothers' this weekend, which I'm super excited about. "This is how we do it..."

Working Girl

I've been postponing this blog because I wanted to get a picture of my office, but I keep forgetting to take one and I don't want any of my coworkers to see me taking the picture in fear of them thinking that I was, well...stupid. So maybe I'll post a picture later. ANYWAY, I LOVE my new job. I was pretty nervous about, but I have an awesome team (there are 6 of us in my unit) and a wonderful supervisor. I just can't say enough good things about them. On my first day, they had put a big banner in my office that said 'Welcome Kristen'. They also put together a little welcome basket with some practical and some funny things in it. For the past 2 weeks I have been training/reading the PS manual/shadowing other workers. The reading part can get boring, especially if I'm doing it all day, but most of the information is interesting and important for me to know. It's mainly all the laws/statutes/state policies regarding child protective services. I love it when I get to go with other workers out into the field. Starting next week, I will have 4 weeks of intensive, formal training and then I will start getting cases of my own! It has been hard getting used to the 8-5 routine. It will be nice when we are actually living in Washington, because right now we are living in Greenville so I have to get up extra early to make the commute. blah. BUT...we found a house in Washington that we want to buy, so hopefully it won't be too much longer. More on the house later...