When our first full weekend in Arkansas ends up being a holiday weekend, what do we do? Eat, sleep and watch fireworks. Seems so patriotic. Like the American dream.

This internship is cooool ---- also with some weird hours. Brandon’s been up early and working late most days. Sometimes I drive him to work (if I need the car), sometimes I just get up to make him breakfast. He tells me that he can make his own breakfast, because he’s a sweetheart like that… but I wake up anyway when the alarm goes off and I figure I might as well get up and make sure the food/coffee sustenance gets in his belly. Also, I have a weird sense of alarm about stovetops being left on when I’m not the one cooking, so I prefer to be the one cooking. Even if it’s 4:00 am. ;)

Saturday morning breakfast omelet looked like this. Omelets always remind me of sunshine. They’re such happy breakfast items. Also, I am super-consistent at taking prenatal vitamins. :D


Anyway, I ventured out Saturday morning to find the farmer’s market. Not too much happening there… or maybe I just arrived towards closing time. I snatched up some fresh lettuce and a jar of local honey. Brandon now gets a tablespoon of honey in his oatmeal every morning, because I heard that local honey can help with allergies. We are currently testing that theory. I’ll keep you informed on the progress… I was a little sad driving away from the farmer’s market because there were no strawberries. Then, lo and behold, I turned a corner and there was a large banner on a roadside stand proclaiming, “FRESH STRAWBERRIES.” I did a pretty cool quick turn (good thing nobody was following me too closely) and bought 2 1/2 quarts of fresh, delicious, amazing-looking berries.

Simple strawberry shortcake, anyone? :D


Sunday dawned a new day, and that meant visiting church #2. I gotta say, this whole visiting-new-churches-thing has perks. Like free homemade bread last week! Free cookbook and coffee mug and candy this week! If I was more shallow, I’d say we should keep on visiting new churches every week! Maybe by the end of the summer, we’d get a new car! (sillyness here should be obvious).. We did really enjoy church #2. Super-friendly. Greeted by soooo many folks. Liked the worship and particularly appreciated the sermon because it was… about the Bible, from the Bible and firmly on-topic the whole way through. Very good stuff. The consensus in the Schwartz family is that we shall be visiting there again (despite my love of free-visitor gifts. lol).



On Sunday evening, we headed into the city… well, semi-close to the city of Little Rock. There is Little Rock and then there is the river and then there is North Little Rock. I had heard about some big ol’ music festival happening in Little Rock --- which made me abandon plans of going into Little Rock, because we’re not big on crowds. Or music festivals, for that matter. BUT the really-cool-fun part is that at the end of said music fest, there would be fireworks. So we headed to the riverfront park on the North Little Rock side to see if we could catch a glimpse of the fireworks.



The weather was lovely. The heat of the day had passed (and it was HOT!), and there was a slight breeze blowing. We walked the trail for awhile and could glimpse the crowds across the river.



Found an empty park bench facing the river and waited until darkness fell.
Oh yes, and I was being “artistic” while waiting for the fireworks to begin!



As it turned out, we could not have settled on a more perfect spot for fireworks-watching. They were bursting almost directly overhead! We even had to brush fireworks shrapnel off our clothes when leaving. I snapped a few fireworks photos, but mostly rested my head on Brandon’s shoulder and just enjoyed the show. The best things in life are often free. Like date night by the river as fireworks burst overhead (and in my heart).






One last look at the river before the night was over.

Our Memorial Day was slow and restful, but the entire weekend was pretty fun.

How was your holiday weekend? Do tell. I read comments. :D

Our theme song that we always sing on road trips… that sorta-kinda applied to this one!

Side by side, driving the same highway
Leaving behind everything and everyone you love
The cost to pay, to tell the world of Jesus
Hoping that these bridges burned will not just be in vain

It helps to think that somewhere you're feeling just the same
And don't take even a moment for granted
Don't lose heart when the world crashes down

How many miles ahead? I can't count the ones behind
To all the friends that we've collected, all the people we respect
For the hope, the joy that comes with you
Made this up, I wrote it down and dedicate this song to you



We are here… in the great state of Arkansas!


It seems like positively years since finals week and packing up and heading out of PA. It hardly seems possible that it was a short two weeks ago that we left. Finals week was such a blur of change. I had my last day of work (ohmygoodness) which meant all sorts of fun co-worker goodbyes (sadness) and gifts (happiness!). And I couldn’t even enjoy it too much, because I mean, really, I needed to pack up our lives and put it in our Toyota Corolla and leave… all while Brandon was taking four finals in four days and grading final exams, too! Like I said, it’s a blur. I completed the miraculous and finished packing before 10pm on Thursday---we were set to depart early on Friday morning. Usually, my packing before any trip lasts into the wee hours of the morning… so either I was really prepared or really forgetful. It was helpful that Brandon kept saying, “They have Walmarts in Arkansas, too! If we forget it, we can just buy it there!”

Note: Walmarts are everywhere. It’s comforting and disturbing all at the same time. Actually, most chain stores are the same around America. I can see Walmart from the balcony of our new apartment. We ate some dinner at Panera last night, before going out to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy Brandon some steel-toe work boots. This is suburban American. Just like home. Hehe!


Anyway, our travelling commenced with stops in Virginia and Maryland to visit friends and family. Then it was onward to Tennessee for our Schwartz Smoky Mountain Vacation 2014. I like to capitalize things. It makes them seem so much more important. I will share photos of our wonderful weeklong mountain vacation soon, but don’t wanna get sidetracked in this basic-update-on-life blog post.

So last Saturday, we left our cute little vacation condo with an estimated time of arrival at our new Arkansas apartment of 5:00pm. The driving part of our trip was relatively simple. It was the sitting-in-standstill-construction-and-accident traffic for three hours that KILLED our ETA. We finally arrived, slightly rumpled and annoyed at 8:00pm. We looked around our new little apartment and were basically thrilled. The apartment had a recent renovation so everything looks brand-spankin’-new. My greatest fear in renting an apartment that we had never seen in real life would be the possible smells. I’m sensitive to smells anyway, and being pregnant has made me ever-so-much-more sensitive. But the apartment smelled like NOTHING. What a relief.

Then it was let’s-go-to-Walmart-at-10pm because we need food. You know how Walmart trips happen…. the pile of items in the cart gets higher and higher, while you keep remembering things you need.

Then it was wake up Sunday morning and go visit a new church. Our thoughts are as follows: 1) hey, they give out homemade bread to first-time visitors! YEAH! Let’s come back next week and sit on the opposite side so we can be visitors again! (kidding… mostly… it was good bread!). 2) Wow, this church is big. 3) We really liked the sermon.. and then we realized that everything we liked about the church had to do with the Nigerian missionary who was guest-preaching. It was one of those hard-core reality check sermons where they talk about real-life persecution happening now in the African countries. It tears into the soul and gives perspective.

This work-week has thus-far been about unpacking and acclimating.



My Arkansas revelations:

It’s hot. Going from Pennsylvania cool springtime to Arkansas hot summertime feels like we skipped several months in the year. The weather forecast for this weekend is highs of 90 degrees. Ohman. I’m breaking out the sunscreen and smoothies now. I'm not complaining. I kinda like the heat. Besides, our air-conditioning works GREAT! ;)

I will not be able to miss the tornado sirens. Yesterday, I was just sitting on the couch, working on my laptop, when I heard the most AWFUL, HORRENDOUS, EAR-SPLITTING NOISE. I thought, that is a really loud saw and it is right underneath my window… but it wasn’t. So I googled “tornado sirens in Conway, AR” and guess what? They test the sirens every Wednesday at noon. Now I know they work and it’s ear-splittingly loud and I will NEVER miss a tornado siren because I can hear it everywhere in our apartment…. now I’m still not clear on what I should do if the siren actually goes off for real. Any tornado veterans wanna clue me in?

Apartment living is… interesting. We had a neighbor who likes to play video games REALLY loud late into the night. I hear the thumping bass on the other side of the wall, and honestly, it makes me feel not-very-charitable. I go to sleep while writing angry neighbor letters in my head. Also, my first real grocery shopping trip involved me carrying twenty bags of groceries up to our second-floor apartment and then collapsing on the couch in exhaustion.

It’s a college town. We laughed when we drove into this new town and the sign said, “Conway: City of Colleges.” There are FIVE colleges within city limits. We just can’t get away from college students! We’re actually living more towards the edge of town, so I can’t say I’ve seen too many college students. Though I’ve been pretty much holed-up in the apartment getting settled so maybe I will in the future.
And that’s about it.

We are here, the weather is warm and we are happy as clams. God is good!

Stay tuned for more updates soon! (and perhaps, I will post a baby bump photo one of these days… for all my dear PA friends who are dying to see! Hehe!).

And I love this quote that I saw on the wall of a Tennessee restaurant. For our faraway friends & family!

The news is out! It’s true. We are expecting a baby come November. It’s super-awesome and super-exciting and all those ridiculous adjectives. And now for the answers to the questions!

How do you feel?  I feel great. There were a couple weeks of feeling icky early on, but I’m pretty sure that my problem was that I wasn’t eating enough calories. Laugh if you will, but prior to pregnancy, I was still trying to lose a few pounds and get in better shape. So I had a little adjusting to do as far as the calorie intake. Also, I’m becoming even more vigilant on the eating/snacking at regular intervals throughout the day and that keeps me pretty happy.

Any weird pregnancy quirks? Well, strangely enough, I currently hate the smell of coffee. I know! It’s crazy! And almost any other strong smell just really bugs me.

I love your baby announcement. Did you get the idea from Pinterest? Haha. NO. I was sitting in bed one morning thinking about how to announce our pregnancy, and that popped into my head and I LOVED IT. Told it to Brandon and he loved it. Then I went to six different stores to find tiny espresso cups that I liked, and finally ended up finding them on clearance at Walmart for $5. Yeaaaah. I have been wanting those little espresso cups for yeeears, so it was the perfect excuse. So I essentially created my own meme by setting up the photo, editing it and adding text. Oh yes, and the background material? It was leftover table runner material from our wedding day. So cute, right? 

Are you going to find out the gender? Yes. I waffled on this for a short time, but honestly, I don’t like color yellow very much and that’s what gender-neutral clothes/nurseries/etc. tend to be. So we’re gonna find out the gender so I can plaster everything in pink or blue (slight overkill maybe/ maybe not).

What do you want? Boy or girl? We want a healthy baby. No gender preference whatsoever. Fo’ real.

Are you gonna tell the baby names? Nope. We’re secretive like that because a) naming our babies only includes two opinions: mine and Brandon’s. And we like to be without everyone else’s opinion until they can’t do anything about it (*insertevillaughhere*), b) our name list is long and want to have the option to change our minds if we want prior to birth, and c) if we’re not waiting to reveal the gender, we want to wait on the name… because surprises are nice sometimes!

Can I touch your belly? NO. Just no. Respect the personal bubble.

Onward to other interesting things….
So that’s the most wonderful-and-delightful news in our world. We are barreling full-speed-ahead towards the end of the semester and into our summer adventure in Arkansas (WOOHOOO!). These are days are full of times of transition. I’m just days away from the end of my full-time-working-outside-the-home career. I’m making jokes about “retirement” and “career changes,” but in all seriousness, this transition has been a long time coming. In one of our first conversations as friends, I remember Brandon asking me about what I wanted to be in life. My honest answer (and no, I wasn’t fishing for a husband---though honesty worked well for me!) was that I wanted to be a wife and mother. I’ve worked full-time since I was 17 years old, graduating from high school early and starting full-time work even before I graduated. I did Bible college on the side, worship and youth ministry on the side and a photography business on the side. I bought a house and went on missions trips and all while keeping my full-time job in accounting. It’s been good, but it has always been temporary. I knew God was eventually gonna take me to home. Not heaven-home. But that the home would be my focus, my ministry, my calling.

Things are getting real around here, and I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself. Though I am also so tired that I can hardly be excited (it’s a difficult paradox). Packing up necessary items for a summer spent in temporary housing and in a far-off place is mind-boggling. I’m contemplating questions like, “can I pack my cast-iron skillet? What about a teapot?”  I am a chronic over-packer and trying to get our life (even only for the summer) in a Toyota Corolla is making my brain hurt. Not like I’ve actually packed anything yet… it’s the thinking/planning/writing out the list part that’s most difficult.

I am a little nostalgic about going away from here, but not sad in the least. Since the door opened to this opportunity, we have both felt a sense of perfect peace. I am thrilled to be living out one of the things that has been on my heart since the beginning of our marriage --- the concept of “I will go where you go.” (Yes, I know that’s a verse from Ruth and it’s not about marriage and I wasn’t using it like that). I’m using it more of a “leave and cleave” concept. Marriage is a lot about leaving. Departing from the familiar, the family, the comfortable, the childhood things… and cleaving to your husband. It’s about leaving one team and making your own team. God designed the covenant of marriage to bring two lives together into one, not meld it into your current existence. Sometimes this means going away. Sometimes it doesn’t. In our case, we’ve spent a wonderful first two and a half years of marriage here, close to my family, entrenched in a life that is familiar to me--- places, people, things… it was all apart of my life before Brandon. In going away---even just for 3 1/2 months---it feels like the newlywed season again, learning to live life with only each other and the Lord to hang onto.
And that’s pretty awesome.