oh my goodness...hedges are a beast...just like moving.

Wow...it has been a super long time since I've blogged! Mostly because I was trying to pack and move and then I've kind of been without a computer. As I told my mom, it's hard to blog when you don't have a computer! Anyway, so I've hijacked their computer for the evening so I could finally write an update! Yay for this kind of hijacking! Ha. Only this kind though. She was just standing here asking me about Farkle on Facebook. Oh man, I love my mom, but she is just absolutely crazy sometimes. She's super disappointed to find out you can't play against your friend. SO...continuing on.

Well, I made it back to Mississippi! It was quite an interesting process. I drove a 17-foot U-Haul ALL by myself! I should've taken a picture of myself in it. Or had Christy take a picture..anyway, but, I didn't. So, you'll just have to imagine it. I drove it a whole 15 miles in Dallas! And the only problem I had was 'curbing it' turning into my apartment complex. I want to take this opportunity to thank, even though they'll probably never read my blog, but still...it's the gesture that counts right? So, thank you to Rob Johnson, Steve Laughlin, Mike Laughlin, Billy Hall, Randy Vandivort and C.E. Sebastian for moving the entire contents of my apartment, minus some clothes, into the U-Haul in approximately one hour and 15 minutes. I mean...those guys were on the ball! It was obviously not their first rodeo. I think they did an awesome job. And then they helped me move it from the U-Haul to daddy's 18-wheeler in about...15 minutes. I just backed that thing right up to dad's truck and they just slid it on there! So that was Thursday, the 24th, and I had planned on sleeping on my air mattress until I came to Mississippi. Well, I go to air it up at about 1:30 in the morning and the batteries in the pump are DEAD! I had to sleep on the floor that night and it was MOST uncomfortable. Not cool at all!

The next day, Friday the 25th, was my last day at PwC and boy was it crazy. It was possibly the worst last day someone could have. Evidently my blackberry is defective and still has PwC's security policy on it. Believe me, I tried for about 5 hours that day to get the thing off of there, along with the help of the computer help people (who can usually fix anything in 5 minutes), but...it wasn't happening. Anyway, so, yeah, whatevs, that's old news. A huge thank you to Brandon and Kelley Bachtel for letting me sleep at their house Friday through Sunday night! My back is most appreciative because...that floor and I did not get along very well. And their guest bed is really comfortable!

So last Sunday (the 27th - my brother's 30th birthday!! woot woot!!) was my last Sunday at LHBC and it was so sad! I'm sure going to miss those people at that church. They really were my family away from home. Such special people! It was more just 'weird' to leave my friends than it was sad. I don't know how to explain it. Christy brought up a good point that it probably won't be sad until I'm sitting somewhere and I have a moment of 'Oh Christy would think that's so funny.' or 'Billy would SO say that!' :) You know what I mean?

So, I drove back to Mississippi this past Monday and my car was LOADED down...I don't know how all that stuff fit, but...I made it fit. I slept at the parents house Monday and Tuesday night because I didn't have a shower curtain in my house, then I didn't have a rod, then I didn't have a liner...so after church on Wednesday, Mom and I went to Wal-Mart and got the things I needed. Mostly just random stuff...a shower liner, a new trashcan, trashbags...a hook to hang my light on. And...other random stuff.

So, I've been unpacking (Leah did help me unpack the kitchen stuff and get it all settled in, so...thank you Leah) :) Today I tried to conquer the most physical thing I've done in a while.

Trimming the hedges.

Oh my goodness...let me just say that it's been about 3 hours since I've finished and my hands are still shaking! And I didn't have electric hedge-clippers...it was all old school. If you ever want to build up fore-arm muscle...come and trim my front hedges! Anyway, I don't know how long it had been since those hedges were trimmed because...they looked BAD. My Pawpaw used to trim them. He took pride in those shrubs. My dad fell in them jumping off the front porch one time. There's still a little hole where he fell. That was like...10 or 12 years ago...maybe longer. I included a before and after of the hedges below. The whole hedge-trimming experience got me thinking about how we let things get so bad and then it takes so much work to 'get back to normal'. Does that make any sense? Maybe it's in your quiet time or in some relationship...normal routine maintenance (i.e. reading your Bible daily = trimming the hedges every now and then) goes a LONG way to making life 'easier'. If someone had trimmed those hedges every now and then, it wouldn't have taken me about 5 hours to do what I did. Now...I'm not saying I'm perfect, because...I'm not...by any means, but it's just something to think about. I was going to go somewhere else with that but, my mind, like my hands, isn't working very well.

This is the 'before' picture that I thought to take after I'd already completed the hedge on the left...

All done! I did such a good job! Don't you think?!? ;) Mom said they were uneven. I do not care. :P

So...that's it for now. My first service back at Bethel tomorrow! So excited to be back home! And I start work Monday! I'm super excited about that too! WOOOOO!!!! I just know that I'm going to love love love my job. How many people can say that?

Not a lot I think.

I'll let you know how it goes! :)

OH.

P.S. IT'S OCTOBER!!!! That's crazy. And happy early one-year anniversary to Matt and Molly Taylor! One of the sweetest couples I've ever known! :)