merry christmas

I know it is a couple of days after Christmas but oh well. Things have been going pretty well in our lives lately. We are very much enjoying the holiday festivities. Christmas Eve we went over to Brett's parent’s house for dinner. Then Christmas morning we walked over to some friend’s apartment for brunch and fellowship. Afterward Brett and I came back to do our own little gift exchange. A couple of months ago we had bought each other coats for Christmas, so we limited our Christmas morning giving. Brett bought me a book that I had been wanting and a fun wall hook I liked at Urban Outfitters and I gave him Guitar Hero One so he now has them all. That afternoon we went back over to Brett's parent’s house to do gift with his family and all the exchange girls. We got many fun goodies including lots of food and cooking stuff - they know us so well :).

Last night we went out for a very international dinner. Mary T's (the Brazilian) family is all in town visiting and Lena's (the German) sister and sister's boyfriend are also visiting. So we joined all them along with Brett’s family and a former exchange student from Ukraine for dinner and ice cream after. It was chaotic and fun. I will try to post pictures from that soon.

Today is Brett’s and my 6-month anniversary. We had a relaxing morning of sleeping in and then brunch with some popovers I made. (Check out my other blog for the recipe). Now he is at work and I want to try to figure out what I can make for a special dinner tonight.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

-renee

blessed

Brett and I are extremely blessed in our lives. The past few months have been really tough financially for everyone including us. There have been some problems with Brett’s job, which has lead to him not being paid for the past two months with no light in the near future. We had planned on going to Kansas for the Christmas holidays so I could see my family and we could drive down to Oklahoma to see all my friends. I was so excited, which I think right now is the biggest disappointment. I can live without the Christmas tree or the expensive presents, but family and friends are just one of those things that are hard to not have for the holidays.

Through all this there have been so many blessing poured into our lives. Brett was able to find some work at a high end men's clothing store. His boss is an extremely gracious man who has basically told Brett he can work whenever he wants. Along with this, Brett was also able to pick up a couple hours a week working for Banana Republic. This is extra money and gives us a sweet discount that also includes Gap and Old Navy. Because Brett was able to find temporary work so quickly, we are managing to scrap by. We are lucky to be young and healthy and be able to work hard.

We have also been immensely blessed with continual friendships up here. So many people have been brought into our lives lately who we have really connected with and truly enjoy being around. It is so nice to once again have plans and people to meet up with on a regular basis.

This has been a week of blessing both big and small and Brett and I are truly thankful.

-renee

serving and snow

Brett and I have had a lot of fun these past two weekends. Last weekend we volunteered as leaders for an outreach thing that Liquid, our church, was doing. They are opening a new campus in New Brunswick and as a way to reach out to the community, they gave away coats to the homeless and underprivileged of that city. They ended up giving away over a thousand coats that day and there were still people waiting in line. The groups that Brett and I helped lead went to different neighborhoods around the church location and handed out backs with info about the church and encouraging notes. We had a blast and got to serve with another young couple here for a few months from Australia.

This weekend was another great weekend. Bek and Sim, the Australian couple, joined us Friday night and we all went to a Christmas light display. It was one of those drive through things and at the end had a light show set to Christmas songs. They also had a little shop where we picked up some Christmas ornaments and found some candles with funny names.

Saturday was a gloriously lazy day. I made banana bread, adding the coconut and pecans left over from a pie I made for Thanksgiving, watched a couple of movies, and had the rare opportunity to just relax. That evening we went over to some friends' apartment for Chinese food, a movie, and good conversation. Then to top everything off it snowed last night and everything was wonderfully white this morning.

-Renee

the group that led bag distribution


coats

me - trying to stay warm

brett with the funny candle

smell my nuts?

you have to start somewhere

Since we are so far away from many of our friends and family, Brett and I decided a blog may be a good idea. This way we have a place to update everyone on what we are up to, or any random thoughts we care to share. :P

Since this is the first blog, I should probably just get everyone up to date with what is happening with us.

We got married almost 6 months ago, which just seems crazy! It doesn't feel like it has been that long. We were blessed with the opportunity to go to Italy for out honeymoon. It was beyond amazing. We got to see all of the sights, go on a wine tour in Tuscany, and take a cooking class.
After Italy, we moved into our apartment in New Jersey. Brett had a job lined up working with his dad on property management, but it took me a couple of weeks to find a job as well. I now work for an online picture frame company doing graphic design work as well as other random tasks.

We were able to find a church right away that we both really like and have started connecting with people and making friends. That was probably what was hardest about moving up here was not really knowing anyone. Brett and I both really missed our friends and having people to hang out with. Through our church, we were able to join a small group of other young couples and have really started connecting with them.

We have added another member to our family in the form of a (not so little anymore) kitten named Snooks. I love cuddly cats and since our apartment wouldn't allow dogs for Brett, Snooks has been a great compromise. He is currently curled at my feet while I type this but loves to play as well. Brett has taught him many tricks and even gets him to play fetch. It is crazy because we will actually throw a toy and Snooks loves to go get it and bring it back for us to throw again.

So with work, small group, friends, and a cat we have been enjoying our new life together. I have been teaching Brett how to cook and he has even found some new foods that he had never tried or liked before. As anyone who knows me knows I love to cook, so even when Brett is not cooking with me I have been enjoying cooking new things and having someone who loves to eat around.
So yea, that is our life so far in a nutshell. Hopefully we will both be more disciplined to maintain this blog than I am with my other one.

-Renee