Writers Strike, Vacation, Friends, Other Stuff

I'm going to say that the reason that I haven't blogged in months is that I usually only blog when I do something stupid and I just haven't done anything stupid in a while. Sure, I haven't done anything stupid since January.

I just want to say that I'm opposed to Unions and large groups of employees extorting their employers, but I really appreciated the writers strike. Sure, I was irritated when I couldn't watch my shows, but after a couple of months, I really didn't care about Network TV anymore. In fact that are a couple of shows that I would like to watch, but I rarely remember they're on. The one show that I have gotten into is "Eli Stone". I didn't think I would like it, but it's actually a pretty great show. So, all in all, I watched too much tv before, now I just watch too many reality tv real estate shows, home improvement shows, and sci-fi shows. So, thanks greedy writers.

Brittney and I are going to Disney World this week. We leave Thursday for Memphis, fly out of Memphis on Friday and stay in Orlando till next Friday. Needless to say, we are very excited. For those keeping count, this is my third trip and Brittney's ninth. Yes, I know.

We are very excited that our good friends Jonathan and Kristine are moving to Bentonville. It's going to be great to have them close enough to visit. Plus, they're at a great church where they can work with youth which is what they've been wanting to do for a long time.

Other than that, the only thing really going on our lives is work and church. Britt still loves her job and the church is still going well. She was really excited last night because she was a preceptor for a new orientee last night.

Welcome to My World

Ok, I get the point. I'll blog more. I love you, too.

I Wonder How Long....

it will take Ben to notice I've COMPLETELY changed the "Hightower House" blog page. HA! I'm being alittle mischievous this morning. Here's the back story. I work night shift and so it makes it really hard for me to sleep on the nights that I'm off. And you can imagine that after 4 nights of going to bed @ midnight and waking up @ 4:30 would make anyone lose their minds. And put on top of that the fact that my darling husband is FAST asleep. And SNORING!!! At this point of the morning I go to the Internet and do my e-mailing, facebook, and catching up with people thing. I noticed Ben hasn't blogged in like forever, so I thought it would be my turn and to see if he actually still comes here to look @ this.

With that said, (cue the theme music and swirling images of me with lots of pink) ......WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF BRITTNEY!!!!! All things Brittney 24/7!

Now to catch you all up with what is going on in my life. I'm working as a labor and delivery nurse and I LOVE IT!!! Babies, babies everywhere. I get them out safely and send them on to the nursery. Fun job. Night shift is tough but awesome and you couldn't pay me enough money to go to days right now.

When I'm not working you can normally find me at home playing with Sampson, cleaning, cooking or sleeping off a night of work. I find I have more time now to spend with Ben than I ever have had and I LOVE IT!

The annual pilgrimage to the mother land, aka Walt Disney World, is in 53 days!!! Can't wait.

So, this concludes this wildly fun episode of "The World Of BRITTNEY".

To sum it all up....

1) The World of BRITTNEY is GREAT! Other than sleep.

2) Disney World is coming!

3) Ben, blog more!

*On a serious noted, Ben love you! You can change it all back now. :)

Sick of Being Sick

It used to be that I would catch colds from the people that came into Mardel and then give them to Britt, but since she's started working at a hospital and I don't see hundreds of strangers a day, we seem to have swapped positions. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that she would catch viruses and colds from a hospital that deals with delivering babies and doesn't treat sickness, but it's happening anyway. Last week, she had some kind of nasty virus that came with the worst headaches that either one of us have ever had and then moved to a cold and ended with a sinus infection. She also got pink eye in both eyes right in the middle of all of that. Right at the end of her sickness, I started and followed the same cycle. Fortunately, I think the worst of it is over.

Old Friends and Late Christmas

My former Youth Pastor and fellow Church Planter, Aaron Johnson, and his family stopped by Fayetteville for a day on their way back to Washington, PA and it was awesome to get to hang out with them for a couple of hours. Aaron and Renee are great people and really mean a lot to us. Take the time to check Aaron's blog. They're doing a great and difficult work in PA that not many people would be willing to do. Check out Aaron's blog and Lifepoint's website. You can also download their podcast on itunes. Search for "Lifepoint At Washington".

We are heading to Independence County this week for our late Christmas. Britt had to work on Christmas Eve and the Day after Christmas so we weren't able to go home. Hopefully, we'll have time to hook up with some friends after we see all of our family. Have a Happy New Year!

Snow!

I love snow. It's cold and wet and nasty, but I love it anyway. It's snowing right now, if you haven't guessed that yet. The snow has made me feel like it's actually almost Christmas. Granted, I don't ever remember having a White Christmas, but still, it's how I feel. We were supposed to have outreach today and I really wanted to be able and grab some of those Christmas and Easter Christians but, God knows what He's doing. So, even though I'm not going to be able to go door to door in a 19 degree windchill, I'm still enjoying the snow. I hope you have snow, too. Here's some pictures of our Christmas tree to make you feel like it's Christmas, too. I made Britt wait until Thanksgiving to put up the tree, even though she wanted to put it up the first of November.

Here's one of the Christmas Card pix we took with Britt's family.

Here's some pix of Samson. This is from when we first got him.

These are more recent. Also, I just want to say for the record that I am not a fan of the bandana.

Recap

Ok, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged.

We had our second person saved. It's a long story, but let me say that sometimes you should take those phone calls that come in late on a Saturday night.

We've started services. We had 79 at our first services with 16 from out of town and 63 from the Fayetteville area. The following weeks were 62, 66, and 72.

Last night we had a "Membership Banquet" (it sounds a lot more formal than it was). We baptized two and accepted 25 charter members. Things are going really well and it's exciting to be a part of this.

Our college ministry, "Thrive", has had some success. We met for a couple of weeks before our on-campus kick-off. We had 27 students at the kick-off and a pretty solid core group of students who attend every week. The really exciting part is that a lot of them have been attending our Sunday services, too.

We have about 16 kids from infant to 5th grade and two Jr. High students. Britt and I are starting a Small Group with them that will happen at the same time as their parents group. If anybody has any suggestions for Small Group material for Jr. High, send them to me.

That's about it on church stuff for the last couple of months. As far as personally, we have a new member of our family: Samson. He is a Cairn Terrier and a great dog. He doesn't whine, he's great with kids, and he's low maintenance.

Britt's job is still going well. She's on orientation right now, but hopefully will be off of orientation in time to help deliver one of our church members baby.

I'm still looking for the perfect part-time job with flexible hours and great pay. If you have any leads, let me know.

That's about it for the Hightower House. I'll try not to have such a long gap between this and my next blog.