Earthquake!

So, I woke up to an earthquake this morning! Apparently there was a a 5.2 earthquake about 120 west of Louisville and we felt the tremors here this morning at 5:37am. Wild, huh? My alarm had just went off so I was in that weird state of awake/sleep/dream when my bed started shaking. I remember thinking, "this is weird" as I just lay there. When it was over, I hopped up and met the roomies in the hallway to looks of "What was that?" The next hour or so was spent surfing various news channels on TV to find out more details. I called James to alert him, concerned that since he has no TV he might not know what happened. Seems as though the silly boy slept through the whole thing--ha! Thankfully thus far, it appears there are no injuries and very little damage.

It is a startling, yet wonderful, reminder of God's control over nature. The same God who created this world, permits it to be shook and this should prompt us to praise Him and be in awe of his power.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness,

The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Psalm 29.8

Exercise Progress

So, recently I've been exercising...shocking right? You're telling me!

It began with laughing my way through "Walk away the Pounds" with the roomie. It has now evolved into walking between 1 and 1.5 miles just about every day. Usually I do a 1 mile jaunt down at the park during my lunch break from work. Sometimes I walk the 1.5 mile loop through the neighborhood behind the apartments. Either way, I'm pretty proud of my consistency in working out recently ... and I've actually lost 3 pounds since beginning-yahoo!

Long Over Due Pictures #3 -- WV Shower

James' sister and I.

Check out the boy cleaning!

My new boyfriend, Devin.

James' family worked so hard decorating everything!

Check out this cake from Mrs. Patterson:

We played a "How Well does Melissa know James" game. For every question I answered incorrectly, I had to chew a piece of NASTY gum. I hate gum. But I am proud to say I got 11/20 correct...that's good, right? Geesh.

Us with Mrs. Phyllis, Mama Sue & Susie, all from James' home church.
Us with James' family.

Long Over Due Pictures #2 -- Nashville Shower

Carrie aka "Betty Crocker" created this delicious spread.

Toilet Paper Bride Game:

My sister won! Check out that sweetheart neckline and assymetrical hem. My aunts Ann & Sissy know how to make a dress!
Sadly, my friends Sherry & Zshanee weren't so good at dress making. Check out that headband, bow and VERY short dress-ha!
My cousin Vonnie had the most scandalous dress-it had a completely open midriff and just a swipe of TP across her bottom.

My inital reaction to the beginning of "The Talk"

Long Over Due Pictures #1 -- SNOW

This winter in Kentuckiana has been one snowy winter wonderland for this TN girl! Check out these pictures from our 'blizzard' of about 8 inches back in March.
Rachel-don't fall in!

43 Days ... Approved

Today we got the official word that we are approved for the apartment! Yahoo! It's a serious relief to know that we won't be living in our cars down by the river. Now, contemplating packing and moving--yucky. We'll think about that later. :)

We leave tonight promptly after work and a quick stop at the bank to deposit the lovely paycheck for our shower in WV on Saturday! 6 hours in the car ... joyful. We'll be back Sunday night and I promise to post pictures of all the shower festivities.

Tagged

10 Years Ago:
1998-I was 19 yeras old and in the spring semester of my freshman year at TSU. This is Wednesday afternoon, so by this time I was probably already finished with classes for the day and back home. I was studying Elementary Education, focusing in Childhood Growth & Development. Most likely I spent most of the day hanging out with Zshanee between classes, then doing homework when I got home. Dad and I were probably still heavily grieving Mom's passing in the fall of 1997.

Things on My To Do List Today:
(Other than working)
1. Drop wedding dress off at tailor's to be altered.
2. Tan after work.
3. Start writing thank you cards for my Nashville shower.
4. Finish stuffing wedding invitations for James' family/friends.
5. Finalize packing list for WV shower this weekend.

What Would I Do If I Suddenly Became a Billionaire?
1. Praise God!
2. Give a tenth to PBC.
3. Pay off James' student loans.
4. Head overseas right after the wedding ... how needs the IMB when you could be a self-funded missionary?!

3 of My Bad Habits:
1. I often sleep in my contacts, which makes the opthamologist cringe. Usually this lasts about 3 nights then my eyes are so dry and scratchy that I have to take them out to give them a rest.
2. I get seriously moody at night when I'm sleepy. It's bad, I'm praying about it.
3. I am addicted to celebrity news- People.com, EOnline.com ... it's gossip, it's bad, I'm praying about that as well.

Last 5 Jobs I've Had:
1. AMCC-callback girl. When you buy a home and see things that are wrong, you call me!
2. UMS-Skiptracing Specialist. Tracking down people who are trying to skip out on their library debts and kick them in the shins...just kidding, call them and gently remind them to pay the library their dues.
3. Ms. K-whatever she said. Scrapbooking, Filing, Writing checks for bills ... you name it and I did it.
4. PACS-Kindergarten Teacher, try to teach 5 year olds how to read and count and such between wiping noses, zipping zippers, and solving all the world's problems with the application of a character Band-Aid.
5. JTS-you know that store in the country that boasts videos, tanning, BBQ ... basically all in one entertainment stop? Yeah, I worked at one of those. Fun Times!

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. I am actually 5 foot even. Not 5'1", Not 4'11" but 5' exactly and proud!
2. I used to bite my fingernails. Seriously it was gross, I'm talking bitten down to the quick, fingers were bleed gross. Then my aunt told me that if you swallow fingernails your body can't digest them and they get stored in your appendix and that's why appendixes burst! YIKES! So I stopped, now I forget to cut them and end up with crazy sharp knife like weapons on each hand!
3. I've been interviewed on TV twice:

Once for my 5th birthday, my dad, grandpa, and two uncles thought it would be a good idea to take me to be in the audience of the Morning Show with Ralph Emery-local NBC news show. Not so fun part was that the show started at 5AM so we had to be up and ready and leave by 4:30AM. Ralph interviewed me because it was my birthday.

Second in 2nd grade. Again on the local NBC station, this time the evening news (finally they figured out I'm not a morning person!) The news station had this contest where they had kids write in about why their teacher was special and each month they picked a kid's essay and gave the class a party and the teacher a special gift. I wrote about Mrs. Taylor (still my favorite teacher) and she won! Our class got an ice cream party and Mrs. Taylor and I got to be on TV.

4. I can do weird things with my body. I can flare my nostrils, wiggle my ears, and stand on my head for a ridicuously long period of time. That's what you learn to do when you're the only child at home.
5. I can't sit Indian style. Yep I can't do it ... I tried, it hurts, not gonna do it again.