1 Year, 2 Very Happy People

Today, Jesse and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. 366 days (leap year) of wedded bliss! We have had such a fantastic year and we celebrated it with a lovely day.We began the day with a late breakfast at IHOP. From there, we went to see the movie "Get Smart" which was really funny. We loved it. Afterwards, we drove over to the Rose Garden. Although the flowers were a little wilted, it was still a beautiful walk. Then, we went to Alton Baker Park to feed the ducks and geese. To be honest, the geese freak me out A LOT! They are extremely aggressive and swarm you at the sight of any food. They get right up in your face and snap at you, hissing too!!! Even though I screamed every now and then and ran away from them, Jesse and I had fun feeding them. We then went home to dress up all fancy-like and headed out to a local Italian restaurant called "Beppe & Gionni's". It is an old house that has been turned into a restaurant. I went there one time about 7 years ago, but hadn't been since, and Jesse had never been. We thought it'd be nice since it was really different and has great food. We enjoyed it very much and then went over to Zenon Cafe for sweet desserts.While we didn't do anything particularly fascinating or unusual, we attempted to spend the day doing things we don't normally do and enjoying each moment. In the end, we had a GREAT day. We enjoyed everything we did and had a great time spending it together. We can't believe 1 year has gone by so quickly, but look forward to everything this next year has in store for us!!!

Update on Us

This will be a short post as I have to be at work in an hour and have yet to get dressed or eat lunch, but I wanted to send out a quick update to those who check this site.We have now been in our new house for 1 month and 5 days. It's gone by so fast and I feel like we have barely begin to scratch the surface of everything we hope to do. In general, most of the painting is done. We just have several touch-ups to do and a bit that needs to be finished. We hope to add crown moulding to our great room as well. Our back yard was given to us as a big mound of dirt and we really want to get it landscaped. That's a matter of time and money, though. Our garage is getting closer and closer to being completely finished. We are having a garage sale tomorrow which should help get things more in order and give us some extra funds. For our anniversary, I splurged and bought Jesse a whole garage tool area. He got a shelving unit, a work table, a pegboard, power drill, 18-piece wrench set, 3-piece plier set, level, tape measure, and hammer. Most of this was all Craftsman (only the best for my favorite guy) and a nice starter set for him. He was REALLY surprised. I'm still waiting on my diamond wedding band for my present :-)Speaking of our anniversary, we will be celebrating our first in only 10 days!!! I can't believe it's gone by so quickly. We are hoping to celebrate it by going to Seattle and spending the weekend there. I've never been there and Jesse's only been a couple of times. It's a reasonable distance away and has a lot to see.In other news, Jesse finished his football season last Saturday. It was their first playoff game after an undefeated season and a first round bye in the playoffs. Unfortunately, they lost the game by merely 1 points. And Jesse also got hurt just before half time, pulling his hamstring really bad. He had hurt it a few weeks earlier and was sore for a day or two but had been fine since. However, at this game, he ran in such a way that made it pop and he was in so much pain. I saw him limping off the field and took off down the bleachers to meet him on the sideline and find out what was wrong. He collapsed to the ground on his back holding his leg in pain. It scared me a bit, but after having the EMT look at it and ice it up, he quickly was able to walk on it again, albeit with a limp. In the following days, though, he has returned to normal. And while it was a sucky way to end the season, we're both pretty relieved it's over.On the baby front, we are still having difficulties having a baby. We've now reached our 10th cycle in a 7 month time period. Most doctors consider a couple to have infertility problems after a year of trying. And I believe that 12 cycles is sufficient to put me there, so by August 8th, we will have reached that time. Because that's really only a month and half away, and because of our constant discouragement and fear of the unknown, we have decided to seek some extra consultation from a doctor. We plan on seeing our family doctor again soon to see what tests can be done right now and what steps we need to take if we don't conceive soon. In addition, I have recently began talking to a nurse at the reproductive center in Portland who, so far, has said that we could begin consultations and testings.And, finally, Jesse and I are both in the process of looking for new jobs. I have applied for several nanny jobs, a teaching assistant job at a local elem. school, and as a secretary at the hospital. None of these have led anywhere yet. I'm just looking for something more full-time that would provide extra income while fitting in with our schedules and my talents, etc. I have no idea where it's going to take me. Jesse, meanwhile, has decided to pursue the possibility of being an electrician. I believe he has to apply in July, take some aptitude tests, and if he is accepted, he will begin an apprenticeship program for the next 4 years. Meanwhile, Jesse and I have been asked to represent our church at a local seminar which addresses Christianity in today's culture. We would be trained to come back and lead small groups in our church. We are really excited about this seminar (after going to the introduction last night) and feel that God may be leading us to have small groups for teenagers in the future. The seminar isn't until the end of Sept, however, so there is quite a bit of time to prepare and see where God takes it all.Ok. I REALLY have to go now. Still not dressed. Still hungry. Down to 30 minutes left before work!!! Also, I guess I lied about the short thing, huh?! Who knew I could type so fast?!!!

Big Changes

To start off, I will update everyone on the status of our new house. We are scheduled to be out of our apartment by this Thursday (May 15th) and our house is supposed to close by then. We are still waiting to sign the final papers, which will probably happen tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday and then we should get the keys to the house by Tuesday or Wednesday. It makes for one very hectic week!!! I have to finish packing and get everything moved in to the house within a couple of days. I originally wanted to paint the walls before everything got moved in, but I don't think I'll have the time. In addition, my co-worker Delynne is gone in Las Vegas the whole week, so I can't take off work on such short notice. And, this week is particularly crazy at the Teen Center because the Spring Prom for the middle-schoolers is this week and I am the only one that has experience in selling tickets- particularly important because there will be people coming in and out of the building all week to buy tickets and the phone will probably be ringing off of the hook! So, to compensate, Jesse will probably take a little time off of work so that we can sign the papers earlier in the day and move everything in in one day. And I'll be painting and unpacking during the morning hours before going to work each day, and then finish the day with Jesse helping. I can't wait to make the house our own and will be proud to show it off online and have several house-warming parties!!!On another note, I graduated yesterday!!! After 18 consecutive years of school, and 5 months out, I returned to my now alma mater, donned in my cap and gown to cross the stage and receive my fake diploma (since I already received the real one in the mail). At first I thought that maybe it wasn't worth it to have waited 5 months for the ceremony- maybe I should've just done the December ceremony instead. However, once I got there and walked through the baccalaureate with my old friends, I realized how proud I was to be there. There were 91 students receiving Associates, Bachelors, and Masters degrees combined, all in 1 ceremony. And there were roughly 9 of us receiving a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology. I got to sit by, and walk across the stage with, my closest fellow students- those that shared my psychology classes for more than 3 years. In addition, for years there had been large tree in the courtyard of the school. Everyone loved this tree and it was really common to get pictures taken in it on campus. However, the day of my wedding, they cut the tree into pieces! One guy in my class, though, took pieces of the tree and carved wooden cross necklaces out of it for each one of the psychology graduates. On each one is engraved "NCC 08". It means a lot to me to have this memorabilia and I now have it hanging from my rear-view mirror so that I can see it everyday. Along with Jesse, my mom, brother, cousin, and aunt attended the ceremony. It was a little disappointing that many others who were invited didn't show, but I'm thankful for those who did. It's nice to have my family there supporting me during my big life events.In other news, Jesse's football games have been going really well. His team is ranked #1 and are currently undefeated with only 2 more games of the season. His next game is this Saturday @ 6pm at Churchill High here in Eugene. The next week his team has a bye, and the following week they will play in Medford. I am quite certain they will make it to the championship playoffs, though, which results in 3 more subsequent games. It's been a challenge for Jesse this season. It's nothing like high school or college was. They currently only practice once a week and have games nearly every single week. Each away game is every other weekend and at least 3 hours away. The guys on the team also take everything really seriously. While Jesse just wants to play and have fun, his teammates often grumble and complain about everything, even when they slaughter the other team. They get really upset if Jesse messes up on snapping the ball and give him a lot of crap if he misses a game or practice due to other life situations. In addition to demanding so much of his time, this affects Jesse's attitude towards being there. He gets frustrated and questions whether he wants to continue to play next year. However, once he's out on the field, he gets so full of energy and is so pumped up to be there. It brings him back to his biggest passion that consumed most of his life. He goes back and forth about whether he'll continue to play next year, but I think that we will just have to see how things go. Right now, it's just a stressful thing when he's got so much going on in his life outside of football. I figure that when things calm down, Jesse can make a better decision about whether he really wants to play next year or not. He's done awesome this season, though, and I'm so proud of him. He plays with all of his heart and maintains a positive attitude through it all. Despite never having been into football before, and barely understanding the rules, I can't help but cheer with excitement as they score a touchdown each time.Well, it's getting late and I want to post pictures of all of these events. So here you go:

Update on House

Originally, the house listed for sale in the new development was one that was not even built. It was just a piece of land where a house would be by August. Therefore, when we went to check out the house, our landlord's mom (who works with her) took us through a house with a similar layout that was still under construction. Yesterday, though, my realtor called and said that the original house (the one yet to be built) had been sold, but there was another one that became available just then when the buyers fell through with buying it. This new house would be finished in May and wasn't even listed online yet. It was 100 sq ft. bigger than the previous house for only $2,000 more, still well within our price range. In addition, because there is so much competition for these houses, the previous house is going to go up $2000 to the price of the new house, while the new house is also going up $2000 higher. However, because we are getting to view this house as soon as it is available and before the price rises, we can get it for the cheaper price, essentially the same price that someone else will buy for the house that's 100 sq ft smaller. Ironically, when we went to check out the actual house we would be buying, it ended up being the same house that we previously toured that was under construction! This time, however, it was clear that we'd be moving into this particular house and not one that was similar to it.While we were there, we began to ask our realtor some questions about paying for closing costs and other fees. We were afraid that if we had to close the deal on this house by May, while still paying for rent and putting every penny we had on a down-payment, we'd end up not having the money for the final fees and costs which could add up to $2000-5000! We told our realtor that while we love this house, we wanted to make sure that we were making a wise decision and not getting into something we couldn't afford. To this, our realtor replied, "Well, why don't we pray about it?" I was thrilled with that suggestion and we gathered around, held hands, and prayed that God would give us direction and guide our steps. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude and peace that it brought tears to my eyes.So, following our prayer, we agreed to meet back up after I got off work in order to jump on this deal and write up an offer on the house. We agreed to pay the full asking price since these homes are in such high demand. We feared that anything lower would only get us denied and allow someone else to step in and get it first. Furthermore, we found out that all of our closing costs and fees will come out of the $20,000 down payment that we are putting on the house. There will be NOTHING out of pocket. In addition, because the lender that we met with connected with us at our first meeting, he said that he wanted to help us out because he liked us. So, there's a chance that our full costs would total just above $20,000 maybe equaling $20,250-$20,300. However, if this is the case, our lender has agreed to pay the extra money, the $250-$300 out of his own pocket!!! He is also ensuring that we will not pay more than $1000 a month for our total mortgage payments, including our property taxes, mortgage insurance, etc. There is no way, basically, that he will allow us to spend a penny more than what our budget allows, which is a huge blessing for us.So, tonight we meet with our lender and he will explain everything that we need to know about our loans and payments. We hope to hear a reply on our offer by Friday and will pay our Earnest Money, a type of deposit, on Monday, and if the building and paper-signing goes according to schedule, we should have the keys to our new house by May 19th at 5:00pm.

This is the neighborhood that is completely finished right next door to our block:




This is our neighborhood, the houses that have construction completed:



This is our house, still under construction:



This is the view from the front of our house:



And this is the playground really close to the house:

Mandy's 1996 Ford Explorer XLT