Flooding

A few weeks ago, Oklahoma City had some crazy rain. I think it was 10 inches in like six hours. It was mostly in Northwest Oklahoma City, but some of the rain hit Shawnee too and I took a couple of pictures of the water. One of my father-in-law's tiki torches floated away to who know where and he lost several tree branches, but compared to some people, he made it out well.

Blake is at his first day of work right now and I start tomorrow! No going back, we are officially members of the work force again!

Sticker Shock

One of the craziest things about moving back to the U.S. has been how expensive things are! I remember them being these prices, but I didn't used to think that was expensive. We just went grocery shopping and were both kind of floored by how much it cost. But, we got a bunch of staples, so our weekly trips shouldn't be quite so high.

We are in our apartment! I'll take pictures and post them in the daylight, but we love it. It's so nice to have a home of our own again!

Life Update

In the past week, many of the things that we have been praying for (and expectantly waiting for!) have happened. I got a job last week at OU Physicians in OKC. It's just a quick 15-20 minute commute up the interstate from Norman. It's a good job and I really like the girls I'll be working with. It pays better than I expected which means that it will help us pay off our student loans soon!
Then, on Friday we went to look for an apartment and we found a good one in Norman that meets our needs and we can move in this week!
Finally, today Blake interviewed for a job and then 15 minutes they called and hired him. It's at a pharmaceutical company here in Norman. He'll be doing maintenance for 20-30 hours a week which gives him some flexibility. Because of my job, all of his pay will go straight to our student loans (ala Dave Ramsey!) and we will be debt-free in a year!

So, to sum up, God is good!

P.S. We went to a movie today at Warren in Moore and it was incredible. Maybe my favorite thing we've done since we got back!

Model Airplane

While we were in Guymon, we got to go out with my uncle Brent and watch him fly his model airplane. We were impressed with his skills and Blake even got a shot at it using a little-boy remote attached to Brent's big-boy remote. It was fun to get out and enjoy the Oklahoma sky. Model airplanes were bigger than I expected them to be and much more expensive, so I was nervous when Blake got to fly it, but unfortunately (or fortunately?) the remote wasn't working so Brent was doing most of the flying.

We also tried to do a "North by Northwest" photo. Well, I'll say that Blake wanted me to do it because he needed to get the shot/was afraid to have the plane come close to him. But, Brent was wise enough to keep it far away from me. No plastic surgery for me!

Brent's Hobo Fence

Blake took this picture of my Uncle Brent and his dog Nikki and the mess she made of his fence. I don't know how she did it, but she tore it up! To keep her from getting out, he had to nail plywood up, so Blake told him it looked like a hobo fence. Anyways, this made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. Here's to a summer project you never expected!

Graduating from Guymon

The weekend after we got back, we made the trek to Guymon, Oklahoma to see my cousin Karlea graduate from high school. It was great to see

most of my dad's side of the family, and it was wierd to sit in a high school football stadium listening to lame valedictorian speeches just 10 days after we found out we were leaving Africa. We had a blast! More on our trip to Guymon later...

P.S. Note the tank top I'm wearing. It's been a while since I didn't have to wear long sleeves!

Habits Don't Break Easily

So, one of the things that I frequently get a kick out of is the things Blake still does out of habit. I do them occaisionally, too, but since I'm writing this blog, I'll tell you about his habits!

First, one of the crazy things about living in Africa is waiting in lines. Well, waiting in crowds is the better way to say it. It's basically a mob mentality and Blake always had to force himself through lines. The only way to actually get to the front is to stand as close to the person in front of him. So, it's hilarious to watch him in line in America. Several times, I've had to pull him backwards because he is standing right behind the person in front of him.

I can't say too much because I had my grocery cart right up on the lady in front me and Blake had to pull me back!

The other thing I get a kick out of is watching him shake hands with everyone. It's what you do in Africa if you're a guy. When you walk in a room, it's rude not to shake hands with every single person in there, even if you are late to a meeting that is already in progress. Then, after you shake a person's hand, you put your hand on your heart. Like today, he pumped into a lady at a restaurant and said sorry, and touched his heart. It makes me laugh!

Put Your Shoes On, It's Hailing

One of the things we missed in Africa was storms. Now, I don't necessarily mean crazy, severe weather like the May 10 tornadoes. I mean thunder and lightning and hail and watching Gary England. So the day after we arrived in Oklahoma, we got a good hail storm. Well, we got the good part of a crazy hail storm. Check out the size we got and then check out this video, just a few miles away:

One Night in Paris

Our flight home involved an overnight stay in Paris, which we weren't too upset about! We got there at 11 PM and our friends, the Parkers, picked us up in their car. They were gracious to give us the midnight driving tour. We didn't get a bunch of pictures, but we got to drive by all the major sites...Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc de Triumph, and the Eiffel Tower. We had a great time and it only whetted our appetite to go back some day.

Back to America

We are working on our fourth week back in Oklahoma. It has been a whirlwind and a combination of fun, overwhelming, exciting, and sad because we miss the Paynes and our other friends back in Africa. But we have enjoyed going to some graduations and getting to celebrate birthdays and other events with friends and family. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we'll be able to catch all of you up on all of the fun things we have done in the past few weeks.

Please keep lifting us up. We are living with Blake's parents and are ready to get jobs and an apartment of our own!

These pictures are from the airport in Atlanta. Because we didn't have cell phones, Blake had to figure out pay phones to let our families know that our flight was delayed. And our first meal back was Chili's and we really enjoyed it!