Sunday, December 12, 2010

How Life Can Change in Two Years

This was me two years ago:


Single.  Scared of marriage.  Focus on the Family Institute - Colorado Springs, CO.

This is me now:



Happily Married.  Starbucks - Salisbury, NC.

God does know the plans He has for us - and they are for our good, and not our harm.  I praise him for the glorious changes he has brought about in the past two years and look forward to the next two :)

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Our Creepy Date Night

Um....creepy date night?

I thought dates were supposed to be fun, laid-back, times of relaxation and good conversation...?

Well, it all started that way.  We closed the tree lot a little early and went across the street to Tinseltown and watched "Tangled" (my request...Jake sweetly obliged :) and got a yummy drink from Starbucks.

But after that is when things got a little weird and twighlight-zone-ish.  

We were having a pretty deep conversation on the way back to our place and Jake decided to just keep driving and continue our talk time.  We finally got to a gas station called the "Tank and Tummy"  and thought maybe that would be a good place to turn around.

I had to take a pic because I thought the name was hilarious!

On our way back (we were on a dark, two lane country road by a lake) we had to stop for a train.  The train was going maybe 15 miles an hour and kept getting slower and slower until it came to a stop.  Right in front of us.  Then it started to back up! Going a little faster this time, we thought maybe it unloaded something then was going to turn back.  But once again, it started slowing down, stopped, and went back the other way again!  So here we were, sitting on a little dark misty road in the middle of the forest with a train that wouldn't let us get by. 

 So... we gladly backed up, turned around, and  redirected our route.  But as we continued on our new path, it started to get plainer and plainer that this was not taking us back to town.  The road got darker and darker; abandoned farmhouses dotted the side of the road; leaves and branches were strewn all over the place - no one must have driven it in a long time.  Finally it dropped us off at a dead end - with the train track directly in front of us once again!  Feeling slight trapped by the ever-present train track,  we sped back to the "Tank and Tummy" and got a local's directions back to town.  

We had to laugh - this was our first date night as a married couple, and it turned out to be quite the adventure.  Will date night always be so crazy?!  

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Tree Lot!

When I married into the Hatfield Family, I also married into the Fishel and Fishel Christmas Tree Lot in Salisbury, NC - for the past six years, Jake has run this lot (one year he ran it single-handedly - literally.  He burnt his hand on thanksgiving and the next day he was hauling trees and loading them on to people's  cars with one hand - whoa.)

This year, I happily joined my man to run the lot and help break the monotony of Hamburger Helper with some home cooked meals.  It has been a blast!  Jake and I have gotten to spend so much quality time together, share the gospel with many, and meet many cool people.  It is an adventure.

Here's some pics of our Tree Lot home!

Sign-making is one of my chief duties.  Takes me right back to my lemonade stand days!


Jake chilling in the shed where we go to stay warm




  
Smoochers!