After years of going to church we finally stepped to the other side--the side where little people exist. Yes folks, it's true. Tonight, Ben and I taught children's church. AHHHHH! :) Okay, so it wasn't that bad. It was actually pretty fun. Just two words of wisdom for next time: LESS AMBITION! All the activities in cute, compact, Lesson 9 are NOT realistic goals with eleven kids, ages 5-8. Nope. They are just not. So now we know. Oh and by the way, all you educators out there...you guys are my heroes. I don't know how you do it!

Man, we love our church! We had our first small group Bible study on Thursday and eleven people came. The group is really wonderful and we had a blast hanging out afterwards. Our relationships with people in our church continue to grow and we are thrilled.

Yesterday, my friend, Tiffany invited me to the OSU/Michigan State basketball game. Of course I went and had a great time. I think I'm finally embracing the scarlet and gray. I must admit, it took awhile! I cheered for the football team in the fall, but oh how much easier it was last night when I wasn't freezing in 20 degree temperatures! The Midwest is COLD!

Final thought...Babel...go see it. Incredibly powerful movie. We loved it.

Is it weird that we talk about our dog all the time? And a bigger question is, when we have a child, how much worse will it be?!?

We took Dakota to PetSmart yesterday to get her microchip changed over to our name. It turns out that her previous owners took her to the very same PetSmart for her vet visits. This meant that we were finally able to find out more details on our little Dakota! Turns out, she's not even a year old; her birthday is February 1, 2006. Also, she was on a wellness plan at the vet so at the very least, her previous owners took care of her physical needs.

Dakota is increasingly acting more like a dog. She eats all of her food. She loves her toys, frequently dragging them all out and playing with them after we've gotten in bed. She wags her tail when we come home. (Some of you with "typical" dogs are probably saying, "Big deal!" but Dakota just didn't do stuff like that. Shiba Inus are a barkless breed and they don't get excited about too much, with the exception of squirrels and birds.)

Okay, enough about the dog.

My goodness there are a lot of changes going on with friends. Lots of couples anticipating marriages. Lots of couples expecting. Lots of new moms and dads. Lots of upcoming career changes. And lots of people looking straight ahead, embracing the plans God has for their lives and not turning to the left or the right. Holly, you amaze me.

Any big changes in your lives?

Here's the newest addition to our family...Dakota. This was the night we got her, so she looks a little scared and a bit skinny. She has since gained some weight and Ben's working with her (Cesar-style...PSSSHT!) to help her get over her jumpy ways. We love her. She even has a cute name tag that says, "I am loved." (Compliments of "Santa Claus." Okay, so it is from Ben's mom. Don't tell Dakota.) Thank you, Cathy!

Two days ago, on January 14th, Ben asked me if I remembered what happened a year ago. It took me a minute, but then it came to me: Ben asked me to marry him exactly one year ago. We both fondly recalled that day...we set out from Dubai for a day of snorkeling and a picnic in Fujeirah. In the car on the way there, we started talking about our friends, Nate and Maria, and their upcoming wedding. We kept using their wedding as a way to talk about our individual desires for "our weddings" someday (note we still wouldn't say, "our wedding"). Finally we laughingly said we needed to stop using Nate and Maria and get to the point and talk about OUR WEDDING. We lounged on the beach and spoke of family and life and hopes for the future...we cried...Ben told me he loved me and that he had loved me for quite a while...I told him the same...and we headed back to Dubai without having gone snorkeling, without really eating much of our picnic food...yet we found ourselves so full. I suppose we were full of joy. We were getting married!

As we remembered that day with such fondness, we acknowledged that God brought us together and did great things in our lives and He continues to do so today---one year later.

January 14, 2006...

It was a good day.

The Beginning

We are hoping this blog will help us keep in touch with friends and family a bit better. We are both terrible about emailing, but maybe this will be a baby step towards improvement.

Let's see...

A lot has happened since we got married on May 6, 2006. First we went on an incredible 3 1/2 week long honeymoon to the Maldives (we'd like to think that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes followed our trend) and the United Arab Emirates. In the Maldives we stayed here, (Ugh, we just looked at the website and are longing to go back) and in the UAE we stayed here.

Nice, right? :)

After our travels to the other side of the world, we packed up our things in Raleigh and moved to Columbus, Ohio. Ben began graduate school at OSU where he's focusing on Afghan Folklore. He absolutely loves it. In about ten years, you'll be able to buy his book on Amazon. I am working as a nanny for two children. The family is wonderful and has been an incredible blessing to us both. We moved into a new apartment in November so that we could get a dog. She's a Shiba Inu and her name is Dakota. She's the best! We got her from a local rescue so she's still a little jumpy, but we adore her. We also joined a church called Lifepoint Church and this month, Ben and I will begin co-leading a small group Bible study there. We are so happy to finally be able to plug into a church as a couple.

Our first Christmas together was wonderful. We spent a week in Raleigh with both of our families and on Christmas Day, all of us even got together at the Gatling home. It was fun! A few days after Christmas, we went to Costa Rica for a week with Ben's parents and brother. We swam in the ocean, gaped at a volcano spitting lava, soaked in hot springs, zip-lined through trees, and stared at howler monkeys and capuchins. It was a pretty amazing vacation.

Now, it's a dreary winter day in Ohio and we are watching Carolina lose miserably to Virginia Tech. We've done a whole lot of nothing today. Mmmm...Saturdays are wonderful.

We don't deserve it, but God continues to be so good to us. He has shown us favor beyond measure and we just pray that we are good stewards of His blessing.