Sold!!!

We are so excited to announce that we have bought a house!!!

Kind of...I guess it isn't much of a house yet, but hopefully by April we will be living at our new house on Southwood Drive. It was never our intention to "build" a house and really we aren't. We happened upon an open house in the neighborhood and the realtor explained to us that the one we looked at was sold, but that the builder was already using the same floorplan on a different street. We LOVED the house so we decided we would wait for it! The fun part is that since we have bought it so early we get to pick out the flooring and cabinets. We plan on keeping you updated on the process and we will post a pic each week of the progress the builders have made. Joe and I are excited as we finalize our financing tomorrow, and prepare to be homeowners. I am still a little nervous about the whole thing, but I think I'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea. We feel extremely blessed to be able to purchase our first home. It is going to be nicer than we feel we deserve. Here are pictures of us signing our contract.











Here is your first look at our new house! The foundation and brick surrounding it were the only things finished when we put down the contract on Thursday. By Saturday they began framing! Like I said will post a picture a week so you can track the progress with us. We already got to make our first choice- wood burning fireplace or propane gas. Important stuff!

Everything since August 27, 2007

So I haven’t blogged in awhile, as you can see from the title. Obviously much has happened since then and I by no means really intend to cover it all. I’ll start with recent things and see where we end up. First of all, we have a contract on a house, but won’t close until March (hopefully!). In the mean time we’re waiting on a settlement between the bank and the owner of the house we rent to find out if we have to move before our house is finished being built (see Jill’s post below for details). I think we should find out this week.
As I’m sure you all know, I’ve also started my new career as an Army PA. I’m assigned to headquarters troop, first squadron, seventy-fifth armor regiment, second brigade combat team, with the 101st Airborne Division. Abbreviated that is: HHT, 1/75AR RGT, 2BCT, 101st ABD. Here’s a little background info for those who don’t know…troops and companies make up squadrons and battalions (cavalry and infantry respectively), squadrons and battalions make up brigades, and brigades make up divisions. I am the primary care provider for a squadron of roughly 450 personnel. I see clinic on a daily basis and run the aid station (clinic) when we are in the field. I also have a role in logistics as far as deciding what medications and medical supplies the unit needs. And I have a role in training our medics, which I believe we have around 25. A few nice things about the job are that I’m not directly responsible for anyone else and I don’t fall under anyone else besides the Squadron Commander (top dog) and the Brigade Surgeon. So in general I can just do my thing and not worry about too much “Armyness.” I’m committed for the next three years, which will include a deployment in the next 12-18 months (Afghanistan most likely). We’ll see what happens after that.
Graduation was nice. We had a small ceremony because only five of us were graduating. I didn’t really feel like I was finished until I passed my board exam a couple of weeks ago though. I scored a 589. I have no idea what that means beyond it’s passing, but it sounds like a great score doesn’t it? Now the only thing I’m waiting on is to be credentialed by the hospital. Once that happens I’ll be on my own. Exciting, but a little scary. I feel like I could use a few more years of training! I don’t know if I’d ever really feel prepared though. I’ll leave it here for now so Jill can tell you more about the house we bought and post a picture. I’ll try and post more regularly from now on. Actually I’ll have to do one about the Dining In I attended on Friday which served as my introduction to the Cavalry. Good times!

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy Stuff!

Life is about to get a little crazy. At the beginning of the week it seemed as though things were going well...a little too well. We both had that thought on Wednesday morning and sure enough something not so good happened. Joe came home on Wednesday to a letter taped on our front door. The letter stated that the house we live in has been foreclosed and that we needed to call the realtor in order to arrange "cash for keys". What? Crazy! For some of you that do not know...we rent a house through a realtor here in Clarksville. The owner has an agreement with them, we pay the realtor and they pay the owner. Evidently the owner has not been responsible with their money- I mean our money (which is very frustrating). The bank wants us out of this house by the 2nd of Feb. in order to receive a cash settlement. Basically the foreclosure makes our lease void. Joe is busy today trying to figure out our options as well as our rights. We are a bit stressed as we thought our lease would be up March 31st. We began the house hunting process and found "the one" on Monday. We actually put a contract down on it last night and are waiting to hear back from the builder. The downside to this house is that we have to wait for it to be built. It is planned be finished April 30th. So we can't move in right away and we have to leave here right away...crazy! Joe checked with the housing office on post and they said that the Army will move us because our rental was foreclosed on - which is great news! They should also store our things for us for at least 90 days. We still have to hash things out with our realtor, but it looks like we will probably find a small, furnished apartment to live in for the next 3 months as we wait for our house to get done. We know God is with us and everything will work out fine. We know that somehow this is probably turning out for the best and in our favor, but it will make things a little crazy! Keep us in your prayers and we love you all!

New Beginnings

I am starting this new year off with a bang! Two posts in one week. Will there be a third? Of course this is the beginning of a new year, but it also marks the beginning of a new career for Joe. He is very anxious to get started, but unfortunately he has to first pass the PANCE. He has been studying in the evenings again (not fun for me) and will take it next week on the 14th. Say a prayer for him. He HAS to pass!!!! Again, he WILL be posting soon but I just couldn't wait to post this picture for you all! I made him pose sporting his new rank and new patches before he headed off to officially report to his commander on Monday. He was laughing at me, but I felt the need to capture the moment. I thought it would make a great scrapbook page. Anyway check out his new tracks. Aren't they shiny? Not to mention that cool screaming eagle on his arm, huh? Don't be jealous. The army isn't all that glamorous. Lots of hard work and sweat! Hooah!

We've Been Busy

I know... it has been a long time. We have just been so busy! I know this is always my excuse, but it is always the reason I get behind on our blog. A lot has happened since our last blog so try to keep up!


Our biggest news is that we are now officially going to be Tennesseans for the next 3 years. As many of you know we were awaiting the Missouri Guards decision to keep or release Joe to Active duty. We found out around Thanksgiving that they had decided to release him. We really felt like this was the best choice for us right now. We are thankful to God as we know he has once again answered our prayers. Joe and I are excited to begin looking for a house during January and for Joe to begin his career as a PA. He received a promotion to Captain and is now sporting some fancy new "railroad tracks" as they call them. Along with his promotion comes a raise and for that we are very excited (and thankful!). Other big news of course is that Joe is done with PA School!!!!!! We could not be more excited for this new chapter of our life to begin. As far as all the details of where he is assigned and so forth...I am saving that for him to tell you. You can expect a blog from him soon! He'll fill you in on all the graduation and "army"stuff.


In November I traveled to Wichita, KS to help Mae and Ian out with their precious little girl Isabelle. I spent a lot of quality time holding my new niece and helping Mae prepare for the rest of our family to arrive for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had the best Thanksgiving. All of Joe's family was able to make it. We always have so much fun together. I am so blessed with great in-laws!




We also had a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas. Joe's birthday was on the 18th and his graduation was on the 19th. We ate at Maggiano's in Nashville for his birthday. It is so delicious! His mom was also able to come down for all the fun. Here is a picture of Joe with his enormous banana bread pudding. I don't think he even finished half of it! He's a handsome 29 if I don't say so myself!

It was the first Christmas Joe and I have had a tree in 3 years! So we bought the biggest one yet! I loved our tree this year. We kept it simple with colored glass ornaments and white lights. I spent most of the day today taking it down and I have to say it was sad. We traveled home to Farmington for the holiday. We must have been so good this year because Santa was good to us! On Christmas Eve we enjoyed dinner and opened some gifts with my parents and grandma. On Christmas day we went to my Aunt Brenda's in St. Louis for dinner and all the festivities. I hadn't seen most of my family since last Christmas so it was great to catch up and see everyone. It was exciting to catch up with my cousins Carey and Amy. Carey lives in CA now and Amy lives in New York. They are gorgeous!


Dinner was yummy as usual and our "Rob your neighbor" game was a blast. I love Christmas!


We celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 28th. Joe had a great anniversary planned for us at the Opryland Hotel & Resort. When we arrived they had no record of our reservation and did not really try to make anything up to us. Joe even had a reservation number and everything. They could not find it. We felt so silly and like they thought we were making it up. So we left embarrassed and with a charge on our credit card that they had no record of charging. It pretty much ruined our anniversary. I felt really bad for Joe. All in all we feel blessed to have 6 wonderful years together and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us. I think that is about it for now. Maybe this post will get some people off my back (you know who you are!). We wish everyone all the best in the upcoming year and I have resolved to be better at updating our blog. Seriously!