Say Goodnight, 2008

It's the last day of 2008.

All I have to say is, wow. What a year. So much has happened this year, that it almost feels like several years have passed. Let's look back, shall we?

January: I had been working as a receptionist for exactly one year.
- I started growing my hair for the wedding.
- I also made a resolution: clear up my skin. I remember blogging about how resolutions don't usually work because they're vague. If you want to stick to a resolution, break it down into smaller steps. I won't link to that post, because it was reeeeeeally long.
- Oh, and I did clear up my skin.

February: I participated in Lent for the first time, along with my youth group. I didn't do so well at that one. I think I lasted, like, four days. Not forty. Whoops.
- Also, my sister and my mom and I went to see Riverdance! I had seen it on DVD once, but it's so much cooler live.

March: The company I worked for declared bankruptcy. No big deal, right?
- I went on a retreat with my Young Adults group. We stayed in Yurts. Tons of fun. They went again at the beginning of December this year, I think. I'm jealous. There are no showers, and we had to use outhouses, but I didn't care. It was so cool.
- I started having wedding nightmares. Looking back, they're terribly funny. But at the time, I didn't appreciate them.
- I finished the wedding invitations.

April: I remember that April was terribly stressful. I wasn't having fun planning the wedding anymore, and work really sucked once they announced the bankruptcy. I remember hoping that every week, they would tell me that my job was over. But that didn't happen.
- I went on the most amazing Youth Retreat. The teaching was great and very challenging, and I remember praying almost constantly during that weekend. I also connected with girls from other youth groups that were there. It was exhausting but rewarding.
- I had my first bridal shower. It was a Pampered Chef shower. I got $550 worth of Pampered Chef products. I don't use all of them, but there are a few that I use regularly, and I love them. The food chopper is probably on of my favorites.

May: I turned 23.
- May 5th was my last day as a receptionist, and May 8th was my last day at the company. I remember being so incredibly happy when it was all over.
- I got to visit Art for eight days, and I was so happy and relieved, because I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to see him one more time before the wedding. But I did.
- I got myself another job at the local bookstore. It was the perfect job, and it came at the perfect time. I remember being grateful, because I didn't want to go back and work at Subway. And I didn't have to.
- When I visited Art, I tried mussels for the first time. And the last time. They are disgusting. I don't recommend them.

June: I had my second and third bridal showers, and they were both surprises. For one of them, they made me dress up all silly, and gave me a test about how well I know Art. For every question I got wrong, I had to chew a piece of bubblegum. There were 20 questions. I got eight right. Yeah.
- I had a makeup trial, and I LIKED it! I looked so pretty!
- I had a medical examination for my spousal visa. I was forced to get a vaccination that I didn't want or need, but I had to as part of visa process, and I thought it was very stupid, and I ranted and raved about it on my blog, which probably wasn't a great idea. Oh well.

July: Our toilet backed up one week before the wedding, and we had to clean up sewage water from the laundry room floor. Looking back, it was pretty funny. At that time, it was pretty disgusting.
- I got married, and the day was perfect. I seriously don't think that anything went wrong.
- Two days after the wedding, I moved to Washington.
- I went hiking for the first time, on our honeymoon. That was a blast.

August: I got my spousal visa.
- I started working out several times a week.
- We bought a real bed, but it took FOREVER to it to be delivered.

September: Art's brother fell down a mountain. That made for a very interesting month. Art worked a LOT. And thankfully, Joe was relatively okay.
- I joined a women's Bible study at church, on the book of Daniel.
- Art and I finally got the mattress part of our bed.
- I had sushi for the first time, and I'm hooked.

October: Art's dad got us a second computer, and now I'm not sure how we ever lived WITHOUT two computers!
- Art got connected with a CrossFit gym in Bellingham.
- My mom and sister and niece visited for a week.
- Kiera had a huge poop, which came out of her diaper onto my lap. Now I can't say that that's never happened to me.

November: Art got his CrossFit certification, so he started getting paid for his time spent at the CrossFit gym.
- Oh yeah. Minor detail. We had an election. The guy we were rooting for lost.
- Our box spring finally came in. So we finally had a real bed. Not just a mattress.
- I got bronchitis for the third time in eight years.
- I shot a gun for the first time.
- I finally posted a TON of pictures from the previous four months.
- Art's car broke down. We STILL don't have it back. I don't know why.
- I had my first American Thanksgiving with Art's family.
- Art got fired from his full-time job.

December: I had my first Christmas as a married woman.
- I discovered that I don't like lemon.
- I sent away my greencard paperwork. Still waiting to hear if it's been received/approved.
- And, this will be the very first time that Art and I are together on New Year's Eve. Finally.


Happy New Year's everyone!! I wish you fond memories of years passed, and many blessings in the years to come.

Art's Wearing White Shorts. Which Has Nothing To Do With This Post

Wow, it's pretty quiet here in blogland. There are no new updates since I checked last night.

It's been quiet around here in the real world too. Art and I have been pretty lazy these past couple of days, and I don't mind at all. I'm going to enjoy it while I can, because someday, we'll both be working again, and later on down the road (a few years from now), there will be little ones. And when those days come, I'll look back and say, "Remember when I had my husband all to myself? Remember when we had the luxury of doing nothing for hours and hours? Remember when I didn't take that for granted?"

I'm really looking forward to our New Year's party tomorrow. It's official: we're going to play games all evening. We'll have the usual gang over at our place (Wayne and Sozan, Joe, Mari, and Phil) and we'll eat unhealthy snacks and watch the countdown on TV, and play board games until we can't keep our eyes open any longer. We're cool and nerdy like that. I'm gearing up for:

Scrabble (and I'll lose horribly)
Apples to Apples (I can't get enough of that game)
Cranium (used to be Art's favorite game, but he can't hope to win against the girls)
Risk (I will most definitely NOT play this one)
Would You Rather (I was surprised to learn that it's a board game, and it's lots of fun!)
Settlers of Catan (possibly. Our friend who brought it over gave it to his parents as a Christmas gift, so it's probably with them)
10,000 or Neuscht(sp?) (Sometimes it goes to 15,000, which I don't like, because even if I get to 10,000, I could still lose. Like last night. Stupid)
Mexican Train???? (I was so excited, because I bought the tiles for cheap, but we've never played! I guess I'm the only one who likes it)

I think that's it. It's gonna be good.

More Christmas

At first we thought that we would have a quiet Christmas. Art's parents called on the 23rd and asked us not to come down to the island to spend Christmas with them. Apparently, the streets of Oak Harbor were pretty treacherous, and they wanted us to be safe. Also, since Art's mom is from the Philippines, she used to celebrate Christmas in January. Delaying Christmas would be no big deal.

Then, on Christmas morning, we got a phone call that they were coming up! Remember when I barely had a night's notice to get ready for Thanksgiving? Well, this time I only had TWO hours. We jumped out of bed, I quickly showered, and Art helped me wash the dishes, tidy up, and vacuum.

Thankfully, we didn't have to do as much cooking, so my kitchen still stayed fairly clean. Just warmed up a ham, got out the leftovers, and casually ate and played games for a few hours. Art's parents gave us a hefty wad of cash for Christmas, so adding that to my parents' cash gift, we're set for January. Praise God; didn't He say He would meet our needs?

Some other great news: my bronchitis is gone. It's been gone for a while, actually, I just forgot to mention it. I knew it would have to leave at some point. I survived. And one HUGE praise item: we FINALLY sent away my greencard paperwork! They should have gotten it by now, so we're hoping to get a receipt-of-notice this next week. Of course, we're hoping that notice also tells us that we've been approved. It would be a huge setback and disappointment if they sent it back and told us we made a mistake, or that something isn't relevant anymore (like my medical examination, which is a few months old). So it's a praise AND a prayer item. Hopinghopinghopinghopinghoping.

And now, here are some pictures from the first snowfall (which is almost all gone now, because it's been raining).


The front of the house


The back of the house


Our little tree


Joe and Mari being silly







Mari, Phil, and Joe



Oh my....


This one is apparently called "A.D.D. Roommates"


Awwwwwwwwwwww!


Okay, these pictures are from last year, but I wanted to show you what our stockings look like. My mom crossstiched the pictures and made the stockings herself. Isn't she talented?







And no, we don't have our stockings. They stayed with my parents. They'll be used whenever we go there for Christmas.


These are the outdoor snow pictures. We had a lot of fun.







Art was being silly on purpose, which is too bad, because the pictures turned out pretty good. Maybe I should just crop him out.




Art, Wayne, Joe, and Phil



YMCA, just in case you can't see that.


Sisters!


(These pictures are also on Facebook, so if we're friends, you can also look at them over there (and comment!).

So that's winter. That's Christmas. The snow is almost gone, and so are the holidays. It's been good!