My Life in Pictures

The past few weeks have been full of many major life events...here are some highlights in pictures.

On May 17th, I was graduated from George Mason University with my MFA in creative nonfiction writing.

From graduation, CJ and I (with both sets of parents in tow) went to sign a contract on what we thought would be our first house - a cute townhome in Fairfax. Unfortunately, the following week, during our home inspection, we discovered significant termite/electrical problems. As a result, we decided to back out of the contract. We were a little disappointed, but not too much...now it's back to house shopping for us!

The following week, CJ was graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a masters in systems engineering. It was a cold and rainy night, but our good friends Liz and Colin McCabe braved the elements to help us celebrate!

Then, that Saturday, my youngest brother Nate wed Ashley in Hershey, PA. It was a beautiful wedding and reception...we're so excited for both of them and thrilled to have Ashley join our family.

End of reception antics...check out my parents' faces in the background :)

That's all for now...life is finally starting to slow down, so hopefully I can do some more creative posts soon.

Changes

As I was reminded by several people this weekend, it's been a long time since I've managed a post on this blog. It's been a crazy few months as I've been working hard to finish my thesis, teach two sections of freshmen literature, and plan a wedding.

But things are finally starting to come together...on Thursday, I turned in my 190 page final draft of my thesis and taught my final classes for the semester. On Friday, CJ and I ordered the suits that the guys will be wearing in our wedding. I also read the preface and the last chapter from the thesis at a public reading. It was terrifying, but a neat opportunity to share my heart with classmates, students, church friends, other friends, and strangers. On Saturday, CJ and I drove up to PA to put together our wedding invitations with our moms and a bunch of friends. My mom did such a good job designing them, and I think they look amazing. And today, I just put the finishing touches on our wedding website. Check it out at:

http://www.cjandabby.weddingwindow.com/index.html

Please continue to pray for CJ and I as we finish up odds and ends of grad school stuff this week and prepare for graduations in the following weeks. We'll also be busy with wedding plans and house/apartment shopping. But I'm hoping that as things continue to get checked off the list, I'll be able to post a little more frequently.