I really should be doing homework right about now, seeing as how I go back to school on Monday (and also tomorrow night!) and haven't done a single thing. I'm also missing church tonight for the sole purpose of catching up on homework, and yet...here I am.
But seriously, school work....it's happening soon.
Well, the past three weeks have been really awesome, but Brent and I totally miss school, so we're way super excited to be back in about a few more days. We miss our amazing courses and our amazing instructors and all of our schooly friends. So let me catch you up...
Altar Care Team Christmas Party
Brent and I are on the altar care team at our church, which are those who pray with people at the end of services when an altar call is given for salvation, rededication, or general prayer. We really love it, even though we've really just been in training for about two months now. We'll start this month actually going up to pray with people, so we're excited! Anyway, we went to the Christmas party, so that was fun. I made meatballs and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which turned out to be a big hit.
Our friend and fellow altar care team member (as well as our fellow first year student), Remon, offered to drive us there, so that was great! He's from Egypt, and was telling us that they don't do Christmas lights in Egypt like they do here in the States. I asked him if he had ever seen U.S. Christmas lights before this year, and he said, "Well...I had seen
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and so I kind of knew what to expect."
Rhema Student Christmas Banquet 2012
Every year, Rhema hosts a Christmas banquet for their students. December 11th was the 30th year, so that was kind of cool. People dress up and eat food, and it's a good ol' time. We sat with our friends Tyrone & Jenni and David & Courtney, and listened to a really great presentation.
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| A bus picked us up in the parking lot, so that was cool! |
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| Tyrone & Jenni |
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| David & Courtney |
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| You see that suit Brent's wearing? He got it for FREE! A guy who sits behind us in class named Ernie gave it to him! It's a little big, but not by much. He sure did look cute! |
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| FOOD!!! Respectively referred to as "Rhema Roast Beef." Apparently, they have it every year. |
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| Us with Remon |
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| I got new shoes for the event, so that was fun. Also...for $9!!! |
Tooth Troubles
Three weeks ago, I was supposed to have a root canal, but our dental insurance doesn't kick in for a few more months. Normally, I would have just waited, but this tooth was killing me. Like...really.
It hurt.
So anyway, I went to the dentist and found out I needed a root canal on Friday, and on Monday I went in to actually get it done, only to find out - as I said - that our insurance isn't happenin' yet (get with the program, Insurance...it's hip to be square!) and that we could in no way afford it. So my options were extraction or quite possibly die sometime in the next six months from jaw pain.
Thankfully, the tooth in question was located away from my lovely smile, and this made the choice pretty clear. Also, I figured that it would be fitting to lose a tooth in its entirety since I've recently moved to Oklahoma, and there are hillbilly jokes, so...you know. It's funny.
I should also mention that I cried when I sat down in the dentist chair, which is odd because I'm no stranger to dental work or having teeth removed. I told the dentist that it was because I had been a bit shaken all weekend due to the tragedy in Connecticut and also that it had really been hitting me over the past week that this would be my first Christmas away from home, and so when the whole ordeal with our insurance thing came up, I just became emotional when it was finally time to get'r done. That was all true, but I really think it was because on top of all of that, the dental assistant told me right before the dentist came in that getting my tooth removed might mess up my entire jaw line and cause the tooth above it to slowly fall out as well.
Thank you, Dental Assistant. Thank you. (Just kidding. She was totally sweet. I really think I was just a bit overwhelmed by the whole weekend, and my tooth was in so much pain, I just wanted it out.)
Anyway, the tooth removal went swimmingly, my jaw will be fine, and I was out on Vicodin for a week. So it was a good time.
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| The tooth that is no more... |
Other Miscellaneous Happenings
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| Brent and I got all A's our first term! |
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| I saw an add for Holiday Tums. Um...because it's Christmas? |
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| A customer I was waiting on at the restaurant asked me if I wanted a free ticket, and I said yes. He handed my this, and my life finally made sense. |
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| Brent held a Corgi puppy, and now I want one. |
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| We ate at Waffle House. |
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| I made a mess at the grocery store. |
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| We went to see "The Hobbit!!!" |
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| We had a nice date night the weekend before Christmas! |
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| We went to pick up my tips from the restaurant, and saw these cute Christmas daisies! |
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| Oklahoma sky, as seen from our apartment complex. |
Also, we went to Brent's company Christmas party, which was a lot of fun. Don't know why I didn't take any pictures! Brent loves his job and the people he works with. They were all so friendly!
And finally...CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!
This was the first Christmas I've ever spent away from my family, and Brent's second (his first was when he was in Iraq). I was a bit homesick on the days leading up, but once the actual day had arrived, it was still really great. We had such a super relaxing day. We just laid around all day, watched Netflix, drank coffee, played games, and Skyped with family. We enjoyed having a day where we had absolutely no plans and absolutely nowhere to be. It was long, relaxing, and fabulous. And now, pictures!
First, Christmas Eve! We hung out at Ty & Jenni's house for a bit, and then went with them and their family to the Candlelight & Communion service at church.
Then we went back to our place. We ate some snacks and watched a Christmas episode of "The Twilight Zone," because we're cool like that. We also Skyped with my family and shared our Reso-Awesomes from last year (basically, the Rose family version of New Year's resolutions that we do every year). Then, we Google+'d with Jim and watched
Santa Clause is Comin' to Town with him by facing the laptop towards our TV! It was great.
The next morning - CHRISTMAS!!!!!! - we got up at 4 o'clock in the morning to Google+ with Jim and Lisa, and open some gifts. Lisa sent Jim nine jars of Jif peanut butter. NINE. Beautiful.
Then I made some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and we opened out gifts! We made sugar cookies and had Hot Pockets for our Christmas dinner! (We totally made it special too, by cooking them in the oven instead of the microwave!) And finally, we Skyped with our friend Robin in England. It was a great Christmas!
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| Grinch cookie!!! |
Honorable December 2012 Mention
On the Sunday before New Year's Eve, we had breakfast with Josh & Jacque, our youth/college pastor from Idaho and his wife. After breakfast, we went to church with them. It was really special! (Pastor Josh's mom is one of our teachers at Rhema!)
Later that day, we Google+'d with all of Brent's brothers, their families, and Lisa! Google+ is really quite lovely! It was so nice, and we decided to do it once a month!
On New Year's Eve, I worked at the daycare. We had a "
Noon Year's Eve" masquerade party for the kids, and had a lot of fun. Later that night, we went to Ty & Jenni's house and had a blast talking about how amazing God is until one in the morning! Perfect way to ring in the New Year!
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| I made this little beauty. Oh yeah, that's right: ARTIST. |
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| BAM! |
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| I also let one of the daycare girls paint my nails. Quite possibly the best nail work I've ever had done. |
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