Christmastime!

As usual, a lot has happened in the last few months. Meet the newest addition to our family - Trotter! Named after the Eagles football player (of course) Jeremiah Trotter. I told Steve that I get to name our next pet since he obviously took the cake with this little guy. He definitely adds some spice to our otherwise boring married life...haha. He is currently 7 months old and nearly 70 pounds, and probably the most perfect dog you could ask for. Rarely barks (only when someone he doesn't know comes in the house) and a great partner for brisk walks or even running. He's really smart and extremely affectionate. He is constantly giving us something to laugh about with his crazy puppy antics and occasionally makes us piping mad when he wakes someone up at 5am to go potty. We had to move to a different apartment in order to get him, but it was totally worth it! Steve and I are officially house hunting. We have started to tighten our budget and put as much money as we can towards paying off his school loans and saving up for a down payment on a house. We have until June for our current lease to run out, so we have a bit of time before we get a little more aggressive with our hunt. The last couple months have been a great learning experience as we hang out with some realtors and squeeze them for all the housing advice we can get. We are extremely blessed with the people God has put in our lives to give us wisdom concerning finances and finding a home. With Trotter growing as quickly as he is, we're going to need something bigger than a two-bedroom apartment to contain him by next summer! I am currently about halfway through my Master's degree. I decided this summer to change from the MSCM (Master of Science in Counseling Ministries) to the MA (Master of Arts) program with an emphasis in counseling. The MA program is much shorter and I can do it all online, which saves me the trip to BBC every week for classes and is much more convenient with my full-time job. If I continue to do classes at the rate I'm going now, I will be done this time next year. This weekend is Christmas...which means we will be traveling a lot and spending time with family. We'll start by heading down to Steve's parents' house for Saturday and Sunday, then head up to Michigan on Monday for a few days. It's not as long of a trip as I would like it to be, but I'm still very excited to see everyone up there. If you think of it, please pray for us as we brave the roads of PA, OH and MI this next week. Well I should probably scoot...Trotter is whining because one of his bones is stuck under the couch. Have a blessed Christmas and don't forget to thank God for the reason we celebrate this time of year!