Upcoming

I will be posting sometime next week of all our holiday celebrations (not all of them caught on camera) once I get my laptop back. As of now, I am studying for the GRE like crazy and am looking forward to having that be done and taken. I am taking the GRE in Columbus on January 3, so those of you who pray: please pray with reckless abandon! I am understandably nervous and am hoping I only have to take it once, it isn't a cheap test by any means. I should hopefully know where I've been accepted to by March. Oh boy!

Sears Woods Walk

Today Joel and I went to Sears Woods for a little hike. Everything looked very wintry and cold but still on the cusp of autumn. There were leaves on the ground that still had their shape, they weren't covered in snow or disintegrating. We saw two birds during our entire walk, but everything else was sleeping or had migrated. It was a pleasant walk, if a bit cold, but one gets use to that after a while.

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

A couple weeks ago Joel and I cat-sat for our friends in DC while they were in Japan on business. It was nice to get out of Ohio for a little bit and get back to our old stomping grounds. The two sundays that we were there we went up to Ellicot City (outside of Baltimore) to go to church and visit our old friends at Metanoia. I wish we had taken photos of everyone, but alas we didn't. It was so warm and wonderful to spend those sundays with everyone. On wednesday we went up again to go to a Bible study with folks from Metanoia. Between trips to the Baltimore area we visited the National Cathedral where they were having a retirement ceremony for the head of the American Episcopalian church. I forget the technical term for her position, but neither here nor there, it was amazing to see so many colourful vestments and beautiful people.

After we walked around the National Cathedral, Joel and I had a picnic in a park nearby. The sun felt great and we're still relishing how often the sun shines in other parts of the country outside of the Pacific Northwest.

We also got to have dinner with our friend Beth and her boyfriend Carson twice, once at Beth's parents house in Virginia and once in DC. It was lovely to see them twice. On saturday we went West of Ellicot City to see where my friend Patty is apprenticing at a pottery studio. You can see some of the work they do here . Amazing stuff and really lovely people. Then we headed back to Ohio, Joel had an interview the next day at the local German butcher/deli (which he got, and more). I've been making books and knitting. You can see more of the books on my art website.

Today I finished painting the master bathroom. I'm pretty excited about it.

I've finished my applications to the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa. I'm also applying to the UI Certificate of Book Studies in addition to the MA in Library & Information Science, that application isn't complete yet but we're getting there. I am probably going to volunteer at the Bucyrus Public Library. The lady in charge of volunteers seems to be kind of a grump but I suppose that's going to happen sooner or later. Oh well. Things are going well though. I'm looking forward, nervously, to hearing about grad school. Please pray for me!

In Search of a Home

After we got to Ohio we chilled out from driving for a week then we were back on the road. Here are a couple photos from Ohio.

Then we drove to Rhode Island to visit Kristen and Andrew. On our way there we mentioned to our past roommate, Ryan, that we were in his home state of New York and he said we should stay with his parents. We were intending to camp (and it was 40º!) so we called up his parents and they invited us to stay the night with open arms. They fed us and let us sleep in their lovely warm beds. Thanks Ryan! Anyway, Joel and Kristen went to university together at University of Cincinnati. We also were headed to Rhode Island so that I could visit the University of Rhode Island, but alas I was not impressed with the program at all and have crossed it off my list (hey, one less school on my list). Kristen and Andrew have two very nice cats named Traveler and Rommel.

Then we headed south to Washington DC to visit Tom and Dawn, Tom is also a college friend.

Together with Tom and Dawn we went up to Gettysburg, PA for the weekend. We visited the battlefields and went on a ghost tour (sorry, no photos of ghosts!).

Then after much discussion Joel and I decided to go back to Ohio. We were tired of being on the road and feeling aimless. But Tom and Dawn asked us to cat-sit at their house (which we are doing right at this moment) so we knew we were coming back. On our way back to Ohio we drove through Shenandoah National Park, and my was it beautiful! We saw black bears and deer.

Since then we've been helping Joel's parents move to a new house just down the street from where they're living now. It's a great little place and we're happy to get to help. I'm in the process of applying to grad schools, as I mentioned above, and hopefully we'll know before too long where we'll be headed to next.