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its been a while

So, there is really a lot going on in our lives right now(mostly good.)

Since Thanksgiving we have driven the 7 1/2 hour drive from New Orleans to Covington GA 3

times and flown it 1 time. Wow. I miss our family, but I'm glad we're not doing that again till April! We had a great time with family at Christmas. We are able to spend 6 days in Covington hangin with the fam and seeing a few friends and it was

soo nice!

A week later we were back. Paul's mom had brain

surgery on New Years Eve. Praise the Lord that she came through it and is recovering well. Its a slow process, but she has determination and we all have faith that God will give her strength through her recovery.

On January 16, our new niece Adelaide Evalia Butts was born. She is amazing! I'm so thankful that I was able to leave work to drive to see her on her birthday! I love my neices and nephews so much. Thats probably the worst part about living
in New Orleans. We miss out on a lot with the

kids. I know that we are where God wants us, so

we make the absolute most of the time that we

get to spend with the kiddos! Little Evie is doing

great! She's over a week old now and her big sisters absolutely love having her around!

Finally!!!! Paul got to start seminary this semester!

YAY!!! We are very excited about this(can't you tell?) He's taking 15 hours, so please pray for him as he spends every waking moment either in class, working, studying or reading. Its going to be an adjustment, but he's the smartest person I know. I know he is going to be a great student! I'm also taking 2 classes online this semester. I'm excited

to be back in the game as well! This is going to be

a huge adjustmanet for both of us in our marriage.

Time for each other will be limited, but we will be

making the most of the time that we can spend

with each other.

This is all part of our journey with God.

Who knows what he has in store for us next! :)

much love,

Joy

PEACE< LOVE< JESUS

PEACE

So, I need some input on a painting I'm working on. I guess if I had to name it I would call it "Peace, Love, Jesus." It has a peace sing, and heart and a cross and my plan was to paint this scripture verse on it too:
Turn away from evil and do good;seek peace and pursue it.
—Psalm 34:14
My question is, would having a cross and a peace sing on the same painting offend you? If so, why? I know that there are different views on the peace sign being a broken cross or whatever, but I really haven't found facts to support this. If you KNOW something I don't, please help me out here. I surely don't want to continue in the same direction with this paining if there is any truth to it having an "antiChristian message. Just want some discussion to help me think through this!! Thanks!

????????

Facebook | Charissa Hurst

Facebook Charissa Hurst: "'So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day.'"

My awesome friend Charissa had this as her status. It is from the movie The Notebook. I love this quote! Very sweet and a pretty good picture of love. It IS hard and you DO have to work at it everyday, but then you get all of me, forever, you and me, everyday. :)

life right now:
1. been sickly
2. still a little sickly
3. getting better though
4. love Paul
5. Went home for Labor Day..had some good times
6. going home again in 2 weeks to see my mom who is flying up from Florida
7. Gonna help lead worship at this womens thing at my cousin's church(haven't done this in well over a year)
8. I'm vault teller at work right now. This means I have a lot of responsibility and work is harder.
9. Though there is more work, I still like my job.
10. I want to paint more.
11. I need to start playing guitar again!
12. Haven't gone running in 3 weeks-ish
13. Need to start running again.
14. I reaaaally miss having friend time.
15. I want to go camping!!!
16. REALLY want to go rock climbing!!!
17. It's 11:15pm and I want food.

church

So, We've been visiting Edgewater Baptist for a few weeks now. We like it. We really enjoy the pastor(very Biblical) and they seem to be really involved in the community. These are things that we have been searching for! So, yay! We went to small groups this morning and apparently most of the people in the church either work or study at New Orleans Baptist Seminary. I'm talking Professors, Deans, and students....which could be good or it could just be weird. We haven't deciede which yet...lol. Please pray that we will get plugged in at whatever church/ ministry that God has us here for!

Random thoughts:

I just realized that my husband is doing the dishes! yay!
I think I want to paint today.
I think I'm developing an addiction to snoballs!

I made an icecream cake this week!

Strawberry/Peach snoball!!! YUMM-o

SO, Paul and I have lived in New Orleans for almost 10 months now! I can hardly believe it! Since we've been here, we've had some amazing peoples come and visit! Paul's parents came for his birthday in February. Kenneth and Christy, our friends from McCalla, came in March for a weekend. All of them got a chance to experience a little bit of "Carnival" or you would know it as Mardi gras. We had a blast! More recently my brother came for a couple of days and then one of my besties, Charissa, came to visit this past weekend which was a blast! We went to the French Market, Ate in the Quarter, and drove to the beach!! Love that girl! There is lots to see and do here and we are always eager to have people come for a visit!!! So, COME VISIT!!! :) I've posted a few pics from our various visits!

church

I'm really really tired of visiting churches. The end.

WoW, it been a log time

So after catching up on some of my friend's blogs, I decided to give this blogging thing another shot.
I confess:
1.I've reapplied to Bible College and am once again having doubts.
2. I watch way too much tv lately.
3.I really miss my friends in Alabama and in Georgia.
4.I washed our car the other day for the first time this year.
5.I'm thinkin my husband is really cute.
6.I decided yesterday that I was going to be better about wearing sunscreen.
7. Today I got sunburnt.
8. I'm totally copying Malerie right now.
9. I haven't played guitar in a long time.
10. I haven't sung in a long time.
11. 9&10 make me sad.
12.I think I like the idea of the beach more than I actually like the beach.
13. I want to travel.
14.I'm excited about Paul starting seminary.
15. I love to paint
16. I don't paint as much as I would like.
17. Now that I work full time I'm a slacker in the kitchen.
18. I run now.
19. I'm working on getting better about 17.

Christmas

So we went home to Georgia for Christmas...It was a whirlwind of time with family and friends; it was amazing but very tiresome! We got to spend Christmas Eve and part of Christmas morning with my grandparents, sister, brothers and nieces and it was so great! There are so many people that we miss alot whom we were actually able to see this trip! I love getting to spend time with our Georgia peeps and now our Florida peeps too. See, my mom and her new husband live in Tampa now as well as some of my aunts uncles and a cousin. Also, my dad and his wife live near Orlando. Paul's mom took the family to Disney for Christmas this year, so I was able to work in time with my parents while we were down there...which was nice. Disney/Universal was lots of fun, expecially getting to see our nephews enjoy it. The whole trip was nice since we don't usually get to spend such lengths of time with our families. This allowed us to get in some quality time. I have to say that we were glad to get home though since we spent almost 30 hours driving over the whole trip! We are already looking forward to our next trip to GA though! Whenever that may be!