Life...

Things have been busy for both Ben and I...okay, maybe just me. With Ben working in the "mortgage" industry, things can't really be much slower, at least we hope not. I have recently started a new position with Mid-Iowa Family Therapy Clinic working with families who have been assessed through DHS for neglect, abuse, etc. I go into the homes with the Community Care Program and help them get basic needs met through resources in the community, provide relationship and skill building and help them address needs, to help reduce stress and the likelihood of additional DHS involvement. So far, it's going well. VERY different from teaching anger management and coping skills to kids, but I was thankful for the change. I was getting pretty burnt out. The only downfall is the amount of drive time I have. I cover the four south central counties in Iowa, Clarke, Lucas, Wayne and Decatur, so my closest clients will be an hour away. The farthest may be three. So we will see how it goes. I'm still waiting to hear back from Buena Vista about my acceptance into graduate school. If accepted, I will start this coming June and I am pretty excited for that!
Anyway, I guess there is not a whole lot else going on. Ben is taking two classes at DMACC, looking to complete a degree in Business Information Systems, with Wells Fargo paying for his classes. That has made finances a lot easier. :) We will be flying to Cancun March 30-April 3 or 4, as Ben earned a trip through work, due to all of his extra work he has done on macros and making the process a little easier, thus saving the company time and money. We can't wait to get out of cold Iowa and enjoy some time on the beach. Next time we see you, we will be slightly less white than we both are now. Yes, be jealous!

Anniversary Trip

This past weekend Ben and I celebrated four years of being together by driving around Iowa. We drove around Madison County to see the historic covered bridges, of which, only six remain. It was a little windy and chilly but it was nice to spend the day with each other and doing what we wanted. We got some really great photos, which you can see on our website. We celebrated early but only because our anniversary falls on Thanksgiving this year and we didn't want to spend our celebration day with everyone. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and there were a lot more people out looking at the sites than we thought that there would be on a random Monday in November. Hope you get a chance to see the bridges as well.
Stace

Tomorrow we become "adults"

Ok, according to the state we have been adults since we were 18, but I believe it is official when you purchase your first home. That's right. No more renting, we are purchasing, finally. We have found a two bedroom, brand new San Francisco style townhome just north of the Metro in Grimes. We are making a purchase agreement tomorrow at 10am. Exciting, yes. Scary, double yes. But we are finally going to be all growed up. You can see the model home by visiting this web address: www.tritonhomesusa.com
There are more pictures if you slide the bar across. Hope you are as excited as we are. On another high note, we are more than half done with Christmas shopping, before the first of November. Yeh, crazy, but I'll be laughing while everyone else is running around the day after Thanksgiving. Anyway, everything else is well. Just working and working. Can't wait for vacation in a couple of weeks.