I used to think being married to a man with a master's degree would be the coolest thing ever. I could say "I am married to a master!" Only a Jedi-Master would be cooler.... okay, not really. But now, I'm thinking that being married to a doctor would be greatest! Not a medical doctor. No, sir. A doctor of science in earth and mineral engineering.

Stop.
Be Amazed.
My husband is a genius.
I hope you're laughing. Actually, I am not really talking about how amazing my husband is (although I tell him that all the time, because I am his wife and his biggest fan and best friend and my love compels me to be honest and tell him all those wonderful words). I am really writing this blog entry to talk about how awesome God is and how He is working in our lives.

Our plans took a major shift in the last two weeks. We arrived home resigned to the idea that we would have one more year of college (technically, only eight months) and then a piece of paper stating that Brandon had his bachelor's & master's degrees in petroleum & natural gas engineering. And then we would go out into the wide world of the oil industry. And Brandon would pursue his Ph.D. in his spare time wherever we were living.

Then our anticipated job was not happening.
But within 48 hours of one particular job not happening, Brandon had a random conversation with his advisor about research topics for his master's thesis that just happened to open the door for him doing some serious post-doctorate level research... and here's the amazing part: GETTING PAID FOR IT. I believe the words used about this opportunity were "extremely rare." I have heard several times over the last few years that getting an assistantship (i.e. being paid to do your research for master's degree) is nigh impossible in that department. There were just too many coincidences to be coincidences... In looking back over our four year marriage, we often say that "God hasn't failed us yet" and it is so true. God has always been faithful to lead us through the winding path of life, while providing for our needs in truly unique ways.

In this provision of an assistantship -- that starts right now, not even next year when Brandon technically begins Phd work, our minds are blown.

So we have been busy adjusting. Walking around our Victorian town and adjusting.. adjusting our minds to at least three (maybe five to seven) years in education for doctorate and post-doctorate research. Adjusting our budget to living on an assistantship income (think: very, very, very, very frugal). Adjusting our time expectations to be able to build our life together as a family, and to live well in this season.

This is craziness, but we are so thankful.
PS - We are also super-happy to be back in our own little house. One does not appreciate a tiny three-bedroom OLD house until one lives in a one bedroom condo for three months. Now I am thankful every time I turn around. I love our front porch! I love that we don't have neighbors in our walls! I love my kitchen! I love my backyard! I love everything!

And I love Pennsylvania. Even though Texas was really great, too. ;)

 
We are nearing the end of our Arkansas sojourn. While it’s been fun (fun = interesting, busy, and definitely an adventure), we are both wanting to come home. We have one more stop on our travel extravaganza --- our third anniversary to New Orleans --- yay! so excited about eating good food! And then it’s a little more work for Brandon’s internship, a little packing-up, a few stops along the way…. and HOME SWEET HOME.

So here are a couple things that I miss from our Pennsylvania home:

Mountains on the horizon.


My mom’s salsa. Because of COURSE, I didn’t pack jars of salsa to trek them across the country for summer consumption. But perhaps I should have!

Strawberry Picking (it's a June family tradition)

Joking with the worship team on Sunday mornings / Also singing worship songs in a normal key. I never realized how spoiled I was by being able to basically pick what key we’re singing worship songs in. For some reason, no matter what church we go to, there’s usually a man leading worship and the keys are completely WACK. No offense intended though – I usually love the songs; it’s just so hard to sing them!

Caspianthekitty 's snuggling. Yup, we miss our kitty. He’s a nice kitty.



Not having to GPS everywhere I wanna go. Going places here in Arkansas takes time and thought and googling addresses… getting lost (a little bit) and planning ahead (a lot). That being said --- our new GPS is pretty awesome. Our old one was like five years old, maybe, and half of the time, we assumed that it was wrong because it didn’t know about new roads and new places!

Knowing everybody at church. It’s nice. It’s comfortable. A word about introverts (which I am, but rarely exhibit introvert-ey qualities at our home church because I have been there for *gasp* nearly 17 years + am very comfortable). In general, I dislike going to new churches. It’s hard. And even though we’ve been at our new/temporary summer home church for two months-ish, I still fight the urge to hide in the bathroom during ‘greeting’ time. It’s just: so many people, so many handshakes, so much smalltalk. SO exhausting.

My pretty china - I just wanna have a tea party.

The view outside my kitchen window. Also, my kitchen!


Sheetz. Sheetz is iconically Pennsylvanian. Sheetz is the best possible convenience store/gas station ever. Everywhere else, gas stations make me cringe. They’re weird, a little creepy, dirty and THEY DON’T HAVE SHEETZ FOOD. The idea of ordering custom food without actually talking to someone (I’m looking at you, Subway) is perfect. Sheetz needs to take over the world, or I’m never leaving Pennsylvania again. Thank you, all.

Little children’s conversations. Children make me laugh and smile and ‘awwwww.’ I miss talking to children, because one cannot talk to random children that one does not know. At home, there are children everywhere. Friends’ children, children in the church nursery, conversations with little nieces (and let’s not forget the NEW NEPHEW THAT WE HAVEN’T MET YET). I miss listening to little voices.
And this, my friends, is why I have a baby in my belly… so I can have my own little ones to ramble on in their cute little voices, with their grubby little kid fingers, without having to borrow other folks’ kids. Borrowing is just so darn inconvenient!

Canyon Pizza. It’s a little bit sketchy-looking, but ya can’t beat the two pieces of pizza + breadsticks and soda for $4. It’s our normal Friday night tradition… makes me hungry just thinking about it.

The beautiful summer months when Penn State campus is blissfully empty and we spend date nights wandering around and ending up with Creamery ice cream without the 1-hour-long wait. College students are so annoying. ;)


Pennsylvania, we will see you soon!