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To all of my friends in Georgia -- The high tomorrow on the North Shore is 78. :)

The State Of Things

So it's not gonna be the Atlanta Braves year. And the Boston Red Sox nearly got no-hit tonight and are struggling to stay in second place. I am sad about the Braves season, but there's always next year. Ah well, football is just around the corner!

In other news, my cat is losing it. It all started when some neighborhood birds decided that our neighbor's porch light would make a very good place to build a nest. I was out on our porch watering my flowers when I saw a bunch of stuff hanging from the light, and as a couple of days went by, it turned into a great nest. However, with a nest, that means that birdies come to live in said nest. Ellie has been spending her days laying/sitting/hunched in the window that looks out at the porch meowing and ack-acking at the birds. Tonight, I got home when it was already dark and needed to water my flowers, so I turned on our porch light and let Ellie run around while I watered. In only minutes, a huge colony of ladybugs became drawn to the light and were flying at Ellie, at the door, the side of the apartment, etc. Ellie was totally freaked out, so I let her in, but even in quickly opening the door, a few got inside. Now there are ladybugs flying around in the apartment, so Ellie is alternating between hiding from them and meowing at them. Birds and ladybugs. Nervous breakdown ahead?? Or will brother throw the won't stop meowing cat out the window before the nervous breakdown occurs?? I'll keep you posted.

Only three more days until I get to come visit! Can't wait to see you guys! :)

Drivin' A Boat

Greetings, all! I am writing from a RAINY and MORE RAIN and EVEN RAINIER New England. I know that I can't complain because all of my Georgia friends only wish they could share in some of this rain. I'm a little ready to see the sun though. I have seen some wicked hard rain the last few days (it is now my goal to use "wicked" as an adjective at least once in every post!!). Yesterday when I got off work, it was pouring, and while I had an umbrella, it wasn't a lot of help. My pants were soaking wet from the knees down. I drove home in some of the hardest rain I've ever seen.

Despite all of the rain, I was able to go out on a sailboat on Tuesday evening with all of my coworkers for a corporate outing that we had. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful sail on an awesome boat. The crew was a family, and they were great. The captain let me drive or steer or whatever it is you do with sailboats for awhile, and that was cool. It's a lot more involved than it appears! Here are some fun pictures from my evening....

I got to help raise the main sail.

My friend Mark came as a pirate!

Here are some pictures of me steering, the first with the captain's help. (And yes, it's late July, and yes, I was wearing a sweatshirt. It was COLD on the water! My nose was running by the time we got back to shore it was so cool.)



Finally, here is a picture of our whole corporate team, minus one person who couldn't make it.

So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed my sailing pictures. It was truly a fun evening. I love my coworkers and am thankful to work with such a great group of people.

Hope you all have a great Friday! If you're counting down with me, I'll be back in GA a week from tomorrow night! Can't wait to see all of you soon! Much love to you, and may rain come your way. :)

Sunsets & Storms

Greetings from the germ factory that is our apartment! Michael led worship today, and I was supposed to play as well, but I didn't feel well, so I took the week off. I did make it to church and to the store afterwards, and then I napped most of the afternoon. Michael napped as well, and we are hopeful that germs will go away soon!

I went on my friend's graduation cruise last night, in the middle of a severe thunderstorm watch. Sure enough, about halfway through, a wicked cool storm sprang up (like my northern use of the word "wicked"? It's quite common up here!!). I've never seen jagged lightening strike the ocean while I was on it. It was kind of cool! This is a picture I took before the rain started. I thought it looked extremely pretty.

Hope that you all have a fantastic week!

Life Is Never Dull!

Happy Friday to all of my dear blog readers! I don't have much brain power at the moment, as I am fighting a chest cold and don't feel well, but I thought I'd update you on the latest news from the North Shore. Yesterday, brother and I were made aware of the fact that our apartment is in foreclosure and that an auction date has been set for August 6th. This news was passed on to us by our neighbors, who received an email from the law office to inform them of the auction. You can imagine our state of disbelief upon hearing this news....

Michael did talk to our landlord yesterday, and she assured us everything is under control. These are the same people who told us they would take care of our power when we got a notice about it, and we came home to no power, so we'll see. :) They are trying to get their loan reworked and it is supposed to be taken care of in the next few days. I talked with the lawyers today who sent the notice, and they basically said there is nothing we can do but wait and see. They said sometimes the bank will work with you and sometimes they won't, and there is no way to know what will happen until it all plays out. While our landlords are in the process of getting stuff worked out, the bottom line is that the unit is in the foreclosure process and an auction date will remain scheduled for Aug. 6th. So if anything happens and they can't get what they need, it would still happen. The lawyers did say that we would have at least 30 days to find a new place to live if it does go through. I guess we'll know something final in a few weeks! Hopefully it will all work out because I just finished painting and would be very sad to have to leave....

I just wanted to make you all aware of this so you can be praying for the situation. We obviously hope that nothing will come of this and it will be no problem, but I have learned in life that anything is possible. I'd appreciate your prayer that this will all go down as it needs to, and if worst case scenario does for some reason take place, we would be able to easily find a different place to live. I've long since stopped trying to figure out God's sense of humor, and I know if we need to move, we will, and if not, it will all work out. We'll certainly keep you posted!

In other news, Michael has a bad sinus infection, and as I said at the beginning of this blog, I am fighting a chest cold. At least the weekend is here! I am supposed to be going on a sunset cruise tomorrow evening to celebrate one of my coworker's graduation, so I'll be sure to post pictures of that. Have a great weekend!

Pa's Visit In Pictures

I just got home from taking my dad to the airport to fly back to GA. We had an AWESOME time having him visit!! We had so much fun, and I know he enjoyed his time here as well. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the times we shared....

We took the Pa to Crane's beach, where we had a beautiful day to see the ocean and the glorious sand dunes.





This is one of my favorite new pictures....

I took Dad to Legal Seafood in Boston for a late Father's Day meal. Here he is enjoying his "chowda"...


While he was here, my dad put up a screen door for us. This is going to be an awesome addition, as having our porch be more open makes it seem like we have more space. Ellie loves it too - she thinks he put it up just for her!


By the way, Michael left on Thursday evening to go to a Bachelor party weekend, which is why he isn't in any of the pictures beyond the beach. :) Today, my Pa and I went to Ocean Lawn, which is one of my all-time favorite places here. Aren't we so cute??




Finally, we went to a local Orchard and picked our own blueberries, which will be going into homemade blueberry muffins. It was really fun!


Thanks for everything Dad! We enjoyed having you here, and I look forward to seeing you at home in a few weeks. We love you!

The 4th In Boston & Pa's Visit

It's been a bit of a crazy week, but as promised, here are some stories and pictures from the 4th of July. To begin, let me just say that my experience being in downtown Boston for this holiday was AWESOME!! I had a blast and am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it.

I went with my friend Brandi and her family, and we went up on the roof of a parking garage in the middle of the city. They had set up games and food and had a huge screen for us to watch everything on. Here are a few pictures to show you the views we had of the city...


In this picture, you can see the shell right behind the bridge where the Boston Pops played from.

Here is a picture of me and Brandi with our balloon creations that a balloon man made for us...

My favorite part of the evening was getting to hear the Boston Pops perform. They began the program by playing the Star Spangled Banner. As it got closer to the end, 2 fighter jets flew directly over our heads, not that far above us. I kid you not that the moment literally brought tears to my eyes. It was amazing. After that, I sat on the floor of a parking garage and watched the Pops play and enjoyed every minute of it! Here is the screen we got to watch everything on.


The only negative about the evening is that we couldn't really see the fireworks. There was no wind that night, so when the fireworks started going off, the cloud of smoke just sat there. It blocked our sight, and while the cloud of smoke would glow with color, we couldn't see much of everything. We actually saw the fireworks better looking at the reflection in the side of buildings. Here is a picture of where I tried to capture that.

So there is the 4th in Boston! I would highly recommend you visiting the city for the 4th and experiencing all that Boston offers. It was really really cool!

And now, onto my Pa and his visit with us so far. It's been awesome having him around, although I haven't had tons of time with him since I had to work the first 3 days this week. However, I have today and Friday off, so we'll have plenty of time to hang out, and I'm excited about that. We did go to the Red Sox game on Monday night, and being the brilliant person that I am, I completely forgot to take my camera. This unfortunately means that I have no pictures to share with you from that night, and our memories will have to be in our heads. We had a blast though, and my dad loved Fenway Park.

We've walked around where we live several times. Here a few pictures from that...



We're going to see a few sites the next couple of days and just enjoy hanging out. I'll post more pictures soon. For now, my dad is fixing us a southern breakfast this morning, and my cat has been meowing for an hour-and-a-half straight, so I'm going to go try to make her stop before Michael throws her through the window. Have a great day!

Pictures From The 4th

Hi everyone! Just a short note to say that the 4th in Boston was awesome!! My dad and Michael made it safely here as well, and we are having fun hanging out. We're going to the Red Sox game tonight, so look for pictures from that soon! For now, here is a brief preview of my experience from the roof in Boston. More to come soon!

Happy 4th of July!

Best wishes to you all on this 4th of July, 2008! I am writing to you on the chilliest 4th I've ever experienced in my life! Right now it's a breezy 59 degrees, with the high today only in the low 70's. Much different from the very hot 4ths I've enjoyed most of my life. I have enjoyed a relaxing morning so far, and I will be leaving in a few hours to head down to Boston for a fantastic celebration. I am SOOO excited! I'll be sure and post an entry with pictures sometime tomorrow or Sunday so you can share in the adventures. And my dad and brother have decided to leave tonight to drive up, so they should be arriving around dinnertime tomorrow evening. Pray for safe travels for them.

For now, I thought it would be good to look back over the past year. My last blog gave you reminders of our first day of travels as we drove up here. On the second day, we drove and drove and drove and drove. It was an extremely long day, and this picture of Ellie speaks to how we all felt by the time we arrived in Connecticut that night.

On July 4th of 2007, we rolled into Boston early afternoon, having no idea what sort of life lay ahead. When we got here, we stopped first at the hotel where my parents and Matthew were going to stay while they visited to drop Ellie off and give her a break from the car. Then we drove over to our new apartment to show it to everyone because up to that point, only Michael and I had ever seen it. When we got here, the girl who had lived in it before us hadn't followed instructions and had locked us out. We tried to break in but had to end up calling a locksmith instead. Ahh, memories!

After spending a day unpacking and organizing our apartment, we did a bunch of sightseeing as a family in Boston and in the surrounding area. It was a really fun time to share together, and we made lots of good memories. Then it was time for the GA portion of our family to head home. I'll never forget dropping the parents and brother off at the airport and the realization hitting me that I was going to be in a strange new place without them. It was a very emotional goodbye, but beneath that was the certainty that I was exactly where I needed to be.

And now here we are a year later, and this has become my home in a way that I would have never imagined. The people I have met and shared life with, the things I have gotten to experience....all of this has served in the healing process and in the living process, and it's awesome to me how in such a short time I now can't imagine my life without these people as a part of it.

God has been faithful to heal my broken heart. He is still molding me into His image and the healing process continues in different ways, but over the last year, He has taken my mourning and turned it into joy. He has taken my burden upon Himself and given me wings to fly. He has shown me a side of His character I never knew before, and He has renewed my spirit and brought my heart back to life.

I have always loved the 4th of July because it's a holiday where we celebrate the fact that we are free. As incredible as it is to have the freedom we have in our country - and as much as we take it for granted - it is nothing compared to the freedom we have in Christ. I have experienced that freedom in Him in a new way this past year in Boston, and I can honestly say that I am thankful for all that I have walked through over the last year-and-a-half.

I read something the other day that was talking about the difference between dreaming and hope. All of us can dream - it's easy to dream because we can dream on our own and don't need God to do it. With hope, it requires a courageous dependence on God. As humans, we tend to live in fear. It's easy to do so because if we live in fear, we are in control. Having true hope means relinquishing that control and having complete dependence on God because we cannot hope without Him. On this 4th of July and in the upcoming year, I challenge all of us to live with hope - to be willing to let go of our fears, the what-ifs, the things that drive us, and rest in hope and just see what God has in store. He will always be enough. And even when we can't understand and we can't see it, His plans for our lives really are for our good and out of His love for us. My life is living proof.

Happy 4th of July! I love you all!
~Tiffany (and Ellie!)

Remembering

A year ago on this date, we pulled out of Kennesaw, GA, a 2 car, 1 moving truck, 5 people and 1 cat caravan, on our way to Boston, MA. Hard to believe it's been a year already, isn't it? It's so interesting to think back on what life was like when we left a year ago. In some ways....actually most ways, I feel like a completely different person a year later. More to come on those thoughts in a later blog. For now, I thought it would be fun to pull out a few pictures from the trip last year. What a time we had!

Here is Ellie in her carrier in the car. Even though I opened it up for her, she never ventured out of her carrier while we were in the car. After the first day, she was quite the pro, but here at the beginning, I don't think she knew what to think.

When we finally made it to the hotel that night, she attempted to calm herself and go potty.....hahahahaha....

And here's a picture of the back of the moving van.

I will say that a year later, I am very happy to be sitting here in my apartment as opposed to driving 18 hours to get here. I'm sitting here in squishy pants and a sweatshirt because we had thunderstorms come through earlier this afternoon, and it is currently a breezy 62 or so degrees. Try not to be jealous. :)

To end this most fabulous blog, here are a few pictures of me and my cat today to show how joyful we are to be on the North Shore....

Randomness

Hi everyone! I'm sitting at my desk at work eating lunch. It's the week of the 4th of July, and tons of people are out of the office this week - all the bigwigs and such. Makes it very hard to be motivated and stay inside and work.... I thought I'd post a blog while I eat!

First, a picture for you to see. I went to a wedding on Sunday afternoon of two people who were a part of the worship team of the church Michael and I go to. We took a picture of all of us who were able to be at the wedding who are a part of the worship team in some capacity. All of these people (plus others who couldn't be there) participate in our community group and Sunday morning stuff and are some of those we share life with. It's funny - I didn't know any of these people nine months ago, and now I can't imagine my life without them in it. God is good in His provision!

Any Bachelor/Bachelorette fans out there? I confess on this very public blog that I usually watch the shows. :) I'm not a big fan of TV unless it's a sporting event, but this is one show that I often watch. My mom and I debate the merit of watching such a show, and I'll admit it's probably not the best thing for me to spend time doing. However, the show has always fascinated me as I watch the interactions between men and women "competing" for love and the way people so desperately search for attention. I came up with another reason for why I watch this show last night. Sometimes, when you're exceptionally lonely and tired of waiting for what God might have, it is tempting to throw it all to the wind and just go live like most single people my age live and approach relationships in the world's way. All I have to do is watch a show of the Bachelor/Bachelorette, and I'm reminded that no matter how lonely life can sometimes feel, that is definitely not the way I want to live!

Anyway, that is my random thought for the day. I am going to go finish up my lunch of a tuna fish sandwich, fritos, 2 cookies, fruit snacks and a juice box. And yes, my co-workers make fun of me everyday for the lunches I bring. I'm okay with it. They're just jealous! Have a great Tuesday!