Our First Snow!!!

We had our first snow today! It snowed from 7am until 10pm... and it's still flurrying! I also suprised AJ yesterday and painted our entire kitchen while he was at class! It is now a mint green and looks so good with our white trim and red Christmas decor! Don't worry, the white couch and coffee table (our blue cooler) are leaving on Saturday, they just needed a temporary home. Our Christmas tree will go there this year since the sofa has monopolized the bay window!



Christmas presents are mostly wraped and waiting for a Christmas tree to sit under (which is coming on saturday). AJ also got me a piano bench that fits perfectly under my piano! It's modern but stylish and ANYTHING beats my dining chairs being used to play the piano!






There is the new couch everyone.... it's big I know. We've decided when we have company to seperate it and have two long couches facing eachother but having it together actually opens the room much more to the piano and it still allows plenty of room to walk behind it as you come in the door. It's SO nice have new furniture in the house! Thank you to Jen for the new pictures and throw pillows that our men hate to have!

First week with out our baby...

For those of you who have not heard, AJ and I put Maverick down last Monday before Thanksgiving. It was about the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire life. We had found out he had Rocky Mountain Tick Disease which effects the joints and nervous system and is treatable but still would never be able to run and have very limited activity the next 10 years of his life. He also had torn a ligament in his other knee on his right leg. His left knee hadn't completely recovered enough to even support him if we paid for surgery on his right knee. Either way, Maverick was in a lot of pain and could barely walk outside to go to the bathroom.

As much as we loved him and as often as he tried to put a smile on his face, we just couldn't imagine putting him through the next 10 years of his life with joint and nervous system problems. Please pray that we can get past this moment in our lives. All we've known of our married life and our new house has been Maverick. We did everything with him. Thank you for your prayers and after a great break from reality in NC for Thanksgiving, we're now getting back to a routine, without the 10 walks a day and a puppy to finish left overs from dinner.

I hope everyone can look forward to celebrating the truely best gift this world has ever seen, Jesus's birth. AJ and I have slowly been putting up decorations and little white tinkle lights are lining our front door and front garden.

The one thing I keep repeating after this past week is: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, the entire portion." Maverick took a hug part of our hearts and only God can fill up that hole, all of it.

It's NOVEMBER!

Well, Maverick is having a hard time with his back legs, both of them. Please keep him in your prayers. It's been so hard on us since he needed surgery on his first back knee. We've already decided that if he needs surgery on his next knee we're not going to do it... But anyway, we've been enjoying any time we get with him!

I made new curtains and throw pillows for our living room. Then AJ told me we'd be able to get our new couch and new curtains maybe before Christmas so we're enjoying them for this short time!! :o)

Also, AJ had a car scare where it wouldn't start! Right after he had changed his roters on his car. Dad came over to help him replace his battery and spark plugs which was not difficult and saved us over $1000 in having someone else do it!! Maverick and I just enjoyed the weather and cheer AJ on!

It's funny because Maverick still thinks he's a lap dog! Here he's actually relaxing his entire back half on me because he likes how I rub his back legs when I can tell they are sore! Such a cute 87 pound lap dog! I've been Christmas shopping already and almost have AJ finished!! I can't wait until Thanksgiving! NC here we come!

Tuesday Evening!

AJ finished his first 2 classes which he informed me that he is officially 7% done his MBA. We enjoyed chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk while sitting on our back porch. It has been rather warm in MD for the fall. It's kind of hard to get in the fall mood. But we're trying.

Maverick and I went running for about 100 yards before Maverick stopped to smell something which I could tell was his excuse to stop running. He used to run with me before with no stopping but his endurance is just horrible now.

Sigh,... so we decided to wrestle a little instead!

I have two more days of work and I can't wait to leave! My first day at Northrop Grumman I will get my picture take for my photo ID which will last me at least for the next 10 years! So I need to pick out a good outfit. Any ideas??

Melissa called me on Sunday screaming in excitment that she was wearing her skinny jeans in a size 4! She was so excited almost like when she first got engaged! She and Bob have been on south beach and now Bob can control her disapline a little better so I'm glad it's paying off. When we were at the scottish games 2 weekends ago they had brought their own lunches. But of course Melissa insisted on wearing her "day dress." Which AJ insisted the title of a "day dress" just sounded expensive! So I told her it would be cold and we'd sit on the grass to do everything so she wore jeans under it. HA!

The weekend before that AJ and I had a wedding in PA to go to. And lucky me, I already had a dress to wear from Melissa and Bob's wedding! So this time AJ and I got a lot of pictures together since we didn't get any the first time I wore it. I got a ton of compliments as well! The wedding was very nice and the couple was so happy too! There was lots of dancing the night away as at all weddings that a "wise" girl attends.

Either way the day always ends with Maverick watching the sun go down and all the people arrive home from work in our court from the glass front door.

Count Down Begins!

I put in my two weeks and officially turned in my resignation letter to GSE. I was so nervous but it wasn't bad at all. Everyone in the office found out within the hour somehow... (it's a small office). Nothrop Grumman has me acceptance papers and I'm just waiting on my drug test to go through. I have been so excited to work for NG (Northrop Grumman) since I was little because that's where Dad works! I have no idea if I can do what they want me to, it's something I don't have any experience with! We'll see... prayers welcome! My start date is tentitively October 29th.

So I think I'm going to try and make different cookies every sunday until Christmas! Last week I did the sugar cookies with pumpkin spices and two days ago I made chocolate crinkles at AJ's request. I used a different recipe than mom but they turned out well! My piano students love having a different treat to enjoy each week they come. AJ usually takes them for lunch every day and I give some to our neighbors as well!

I got a rug from craigslist I really wanted! It was $10!!! And it's an 8 ft by 10 ft size too! I couldn't believe it!!! The colors work with my dinning area really well and I probably wouldn't have picked it out in a store but I'm really happy with it and it doesn't echo in there anymore! Maverick of course enjoys having something soft to lay on in the kitchen and lay in the sun rays that come in from the window (picture coming).

I can't wait till Thanksgiving! The area is cool and crisp and Holloween is almost here! Any suggestions on what Maverick should dress up as?! AJ has his finals for his first mini-mester so pray for him that he does well! It's been a hard 6 weeks and he doesn't get a break at all before he goes into his next 6 weeks!

The scottish games were great! It was perfect weather and we saw Charles playing the bag pipes too! The sheep dog hearding demo was so fun to watch and the food was of course great! It really put me in the fall mood!

A Case of the Mundays!

So I got the great news that Northrop Grumman has offered me a job!! Thank you everyone for all your prayers! AJ and I are SOOO excited! This means a lot of great things for us, it's a closer drive so my car insurance will go down, we can carpool 3 times a week and save on gas, better benifits for long term and short term, and more money making us that much closer to allowing me to be a stay-at-home mom! I haven't put in my two weeks at my current job yet because I'm waiting on the offical offer letter papers that need to be signed which should be coming in the mail this week.

I just looked over the beach pictures from Dad and they look great! I miss the little Wise girls already!

Maverick is readjusting to being in his crate all day while we're at work. So he's pretty hyper in the evenings. But yesterday, we made halloween cookies!!! I made sugar cookies but I added some pumpkin pie spices to make them taste more like fall! (ginger, cinnomin, all spice, nutmeg)

I cut them all out using the pumpkin cookie cutter mom got me and I decorated them with organicing and green and brown(chocolate) sprinkles!! I gave them out to the neighbors and saved some of course for AJ who was getting worried to see less and less on the counter top! I'll post a picture of them a little later! They turned out well and I got to use my rolling pin for the first time!

AJ is back in school mode and I start my woman's bible study tonight! I can't wait!

Maverick says hello after a little "cat" nap!

Tuesday After OBX

WOW! What a wonderful vacation it was for us! AJ finally got a mental break and he was completely refreshed! Thank you DAD for the house rental and Ben for organizing things and Jen for all your wonderful meals and everyone else for being great family! We loved spending time with the kids for a change! Now back to work!

Maverick weeded in the garden with me today

and then relaxed in his home after a fun beach week.

Maverick also got his final check up and we got the "OK" from the doctor that he has no restrictions and everything looks great!

We have a lot of pictures from the OBX trip and we finally got a decent family picture. One on the beach and one on the sand dunes of Jockey's Ridge!

I (Christina) have my last (hopefully) job interview with Northrop Grumman tomorrow morning. Please everyone pray for us because this would be a huge blessing for our family if I got this job. Thank you again for all the fun! I'll post more pictures from vacation very soon!

Monday Back

It's a perfect fall morning back in Maryland! One of the first days of 46 degrees F outside! On Friday, AJ and Maverick went to the airport to pick up Christina from being in Georgia all week on business! Then Maverick and Christina spent all friday together doing alundry, ironing, laying out in the yard and weeding.

On Sunday, Maverick got to go swimming! AJ knew a guy from work who has two other labs and he had a swimming pool that is heated in his back yard! So instead of paying $20-30 for Maverick to swim in a heated indoor pool for physcial therapy, he got to go for free in this man's pool! He LOVED it! AJ actually got in the water with Maverick and both were having a blast!

Maverick is walking more and more on his leg. It looks so good and everyone can't wait until he is healed to jump, run and play with us anywhere!

Christina heads out to Ohio on Thursday and Friday for another (hopefully the last) business trip. AJ's late night classes from 6-10pm have been really tough on him. But he's got over his cold and he got A's on his first 2 quiz's! That's a huge confidencce booster that this was the path God intended for him! The whole family is excited to see where this takes him!

Christina got another call back from Northrop Grumman to come for more interviews. This is a good sign they are spending more company money and time to find a placement for her in the company. She hasn't heard a "no" and she hasn't heard a definetly "yes." So keep that in your prayers!

One more week until the OBX beach!!!