Hallelujiah Joy

So I have been a terrible aunt and failed to mention our newest family member. Brenton's oldest sister had her fourth child recently. After three boys, Hallelujiah Joy arrived, a precious litte girl. Congrats to the Jaeger clan.

In addition to our niece update, one of the employees in the Seminar Department at The Cove finished up her last week with our team. I have been going through entertainment withdrawals and was thrilled when the ladies agreed to let me host the going-away luncheon at our place.



Shirley, the lady transferring to another department, is in the middle. To my left is Teresa, and to the right of Shirley are Candy and Michelle. Candy is also my current supervisor. This is The Cove's Seminar team, minus our Supervisor who arrived a little late. Our department organizes and implements the ins-and-outs of the seminars The Cove offers. Coming up are Micheal Easley and Joe Stowell, both former presidents of Moody Bible Institute.

Are We Really in America?

For most of the world, it was a regular week. I'm sure it revovled around work, bills, and family. Asheville was a completely different story. Had I realized last Sunday, the high gas prices would have been the least of my worries.

Lines I first thought were for traffic turned into gas lines just so families could make it home at night. For the last two weeks gas has been scarce. Two weeks ago fuel could be found if needed, though you had to drive around awhile to find a gas station with supply left. This week, everyone raced to a gas station when it opened. On Tuesday morning I drove to work to realize my empty light was on. Foolish of me, I know. The problem was, there were only two gas stations around Asheville with fuel and I wasn't sure if I could wait long enough to fill my tank. Hearing talk that it could be another two weeks until gas flowed regularly, a few co-workers and I drove 30 minutes away to fill up. Gas was being rationed, so we had to stop at multiple places. If you did not have cash, you were out of luck.

All week my co-workers have been leaving for long periods just to wait in line for enough gas to hold their vehicles through. One co-worker waited in a two hour line just for the fuel to run out four cars in front of her. Another employee of The Cove mentioned he drove an hour and a half away the night before to fill up his truck. Others talked about four hour lines.

It is unheard of, the rationing of gas in the US. Needing cash to fill up; not being able to fill up gas containers for friends stranded on the side of the road, literally. The problem continues as Asheville folk hoard what they can get in their time of need. We have seen some relief but until the aftermath of the Gulf hurricane's clear up, the gas will still be rationed.

Shockers...

1) Hawaii, Alaska, and Asheville, North Carolina are the nations areas with the
highest gas, or so I've been told.

2) Montreat Cavaliers ranked #16 in the nation for NAIA.
(Weekly updates above under "Soccer Updates")

3) Lexi now barks to let us know it is time to go outside, that is if we ignore her
bell ringing!

It has been an exciting and informative week!

Enjoying the View & a Victory

We found out pretty quick upon our move to NC that Craig's List is not so helpful. It is for the first person to email or contact the seller, but we rarely heard back from anyone.

Thankfully we found a patio set that we love; glad the internet proved ineffective for once! We had just about decided that we were out of luck in finding outdoor furniture this season, with all items clearance, until a little hardware store near us mentioned their last few sets. It's now dinner on the patio every evening, oh so peaceful.

I (Kelly) have also picked up a few more hours at The Cove through December. I will be the interim fill-in overseeing the volunteers with seminar registrations. When Brenton's home, I'll be working late and when he's at away games, I'll be home. I guess that is how it always plays out! In all honesty, we are truly grateful for the extra hours. It will be the perfect variety from my hours at the desk.

As you may have read in the soccer update, the Montreat Men's Soccer team beat the #1 team in the nation today, Saturday. We are thrilled for a strong start, though there are many games still to come. Brenton says the guys are hard workers and determined to do well. After the team's ranking of 1st in their conference this last week, it will be interesting to see where they place next.

Painting With the Pups

Our own little grapevine

Last week I ventured into the world of paint and puppy sitting. Brenton headed out with the Montreat soccer team for five days and I thought I'd have fun with some friends. Come to find out they were all busy too, and instead, I inherited another pup for about three days.

Roxy is a black lab and border collie mix not more than three months old. Our friends Heather and Wes just adopted their little runt of the litter. She was a cutie but scared as could be with our over-zealous nine month old lab. It took a good day before the two could be out together. So, in the mix of painting, I was switching pups out of kennels for potty breaks and meal time.

Poor ole Lexi wanted to be good and close, so she'd lay right by me against fresh walls of paint. For the following week, we had a chocolate dalmation dog with blue spots. Roxy learned to hold her own and, from what I've been told, she is now crate trained.

Aside from the busy weekend for both Brenton and I, we were thrilled to have some time together before another work week. Sadly our luck ran out pretty quick. Brenton found out Monday was not a holiday and the same night he returned, we locked ourselves out of our house. We were thankful for our spare, but quickly learned that it was no good. So, we called around for locksmiths to find one available.

After an hour of him trying to get us in, we were wore tired to realize he'd jammed our side door. The next day he came back and attempted to charge us, asking if someone had tried to break in. He said that he was in no way responsible. He realized that we were not buying it, frustrated from the Pennzoil scam, and that he was loosing our future business. So he fixed our door for free and gave us a ton of business cards. The locksmith left telling us, "The Lord bless you folk."

The next day, I found myself locked out again. This time with a dog, no leash, and Brenton at soccer practice. I was blessed to sit outside for two hours! So I chose the back of the house cause I've heard our neighbors like to watch us. All to say, we are now checking for the house key everytime we walk out the door.