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Happy New Year from Rhode Island! Can you tell we've been busy? We haven't posted in months! Since 2012 is almost upon us, here is a recap of this past year. It was definitely a big one.
Happy 2012, everyone!
Howdy!
I am sitting here, waiting for the Rangers to end the top of the 9th so I can go to bed! Something that is definitely taking getting used to about living on the East Coast is the tv schedule. It's almost midnight here, and I'm sleepy! Nick went to bed over an hour ago. But alas, I had to stay up for my Rangers. I might be the only person in Rhode Island cheering for them! ha. That may be an exaggeration. But probably not.
Today was fairly slow... Nick went to Boston for a meeting with Sojourn, and I painted our coffee table! Pics to come later.
[BOOOOM. 2 outs. Epic. One more and I am going to bed and Texas is one game away from winning the World Series for the first time EVER!]
Anyway, I wish there was a way to write down everything we are experiencing here in Providence. But moving to a new place is difficult to describe! There is so much I could say. We are loving the people and the weather here. The only things I have really missed about home thus far, besides people, are the State Fair and the Ranger games. And then Baylor Homecoming is in two weeks, and I am so sad I am missing that.
Regardless, life in Lil Rhody is great! We really do love it here. We are still working on fundraising, though. So if you or anyone you know wants to help tell college students in New England about Jesus' love, we could definitely use your help! We are about $500/month from what we need to meet our budget. If we could find 50 people to give $10... one meal out to eat... 2 Starbucks coffees... a month, we would be set! We have so many friends and family who are giving sacrificially, and we are so grateful! And we are resting in God's provision. We know He will provide and praise Him for that. So please pray for us and this! And let us know if you or someone you know needs more information. You can also visit www.jensensinprovidence.wordpress.com.
Welp, it's over, Rangers win! Woot! Later, yall.
Hello from Rhode Island! We are so so glad to finally be here. There will definitely be more updates as we get settled, but I wanted to fill yall in on the past week and a half.
We are starting to feel at home in our cozy apartment. Our furniture finally all fits and our pantry is full! Our walls are adorned with pictures of loved ones. We are definitely grateful for our new home!
The people at Northpointe have been incredible. We feel so welcomed. There is definitely a great community there that we are excited to become a part of.
Some snapshots of New England:
1. Missing this guy a whole lot today. One and a half weeks, and we will be reunited and on our way to Providence! So exciting! I am definitely ready to get out of this "limbo" we have been living in since May.
2. Last week, I read the Hunger Games trilogy. Twice. I finished them the first time and just wasn't ready to let go, so I read them again. I noticed a lot more things, especially about the themes. I am a huge fan of these books, and would recommend them to ALMOST anyone... over the age of fifteen, that is. And I am SUPER stoked about the movie coming out in March.
3. After I finished those books, I read Ender's Game. I definitely enjoyed it, and will be reading the rest of the trilogy when I get money for the books, or a library card!
4. Now, I am reading Same Kind of Different as Me. I am almost done with it. I would also recommend this book to most people, although I can see that it would be a very difficult read for anyone who has lost a loved one, especially recently.
5. I started watching Switched At Birth tonight, because the first 10 episodes are all on Hulu... Well, let's be honest, it's an ABC Family show, which aren't the best quality. It's pretty unrealistic, and the parents of one of the girls are extremely annoying... BUT all of the ASL refreshes my vocab... I'll probably keep watching when I don't have anything else to do. I wasn't a huge fan of Vanessa Marano in Gilmore Girls, and am still not a huge fan now... but I LOVED Lucas Gabreel in HSM, especially the third one... that kid is talented. He needs to be on Broadway.
Anyway, that's really all I have for now. I have been feeling very uninspired recently. I need to get back to falling asleep at a normal time, instead of 3am. It's hard to fall asleep by yourself when you are used to someone being beside you. Even if they do steal the covers.
Since all of my paint/creating stuff is packed, I must find an outlet for creating in the sewing machine. So I have been making some hair accessories. Nothing fancy. Just using up some leftover fabric.
I made this cute little guy out of the leftover fabric we used for the tshirt quilt border.
This one, I made out of old tshirts. I'm a fan. Also, notice my hubby's handsome haircut. I did it myself.
My lovely hubby and his parents got me a kindle for my birthday. I LOVE it. I am a huge fan of actual books, but having dozens of reading options on hand is so great, especially on long trips or during months of time where all your books are packed and you feel so sad without them.
Anyway, I needed a case, and I didn't want to pay some outrageous price for one. So the hubster and I decided to make one. Here it is:
The hubster cut out most of the pages to fit around my kindle. He left it on creepy crying Anne. He thinks it's funny.
We made sure the bottom was left open for the volume, charger, etc. Then, I used homemade modge-podge and "painted" the inside and outside pages three times. It worked really well!
Then, Nick drilled holes in the right side of the back part of the case. He tied knots in the ends of a piece of elastic, and inserted the ends into the holes. When the case is open, the elastic is on the back cover. When I am done reading, I can pull the elastic over the cover to hold the top in place, as you can see in the first picture. Hooray!
SO, this Kindle case cost less than $5.00. SCORE.
So this is my baby brother, Clay. I call him Clayboy. And Claybers.
Claybers is an artist. And I thought I would exhibit some of my favorite drawings of his. You may remember that he drew us a picture to use with our wedding invitations. He also drew me an awesome gorilla face that I am going to frame and I am STOKED.
That is all. Thanks for drawing things for me, Claybee.
Last night, the hubster was flipping between The Italian Job and a coin show... Someone please help me stage an intervention. He told me that he dreamed about coins last night.
Anyway, around 11:30, I had this irresistible urge to sew. So, I went to the sewing room, cut out some fabric, and sewed myself a clutch!
Now, I am no seamstress. My sewing machine experience does not go much farther than a couple of quilts, seven bow ties for our wedding, and a few headbands/bows. I didn't measure anything, I just cut the fabric out. I am incapable of sewing in a straight line. If I did it again, I would do it a little differently, but overall, it turned out well, considering how sporadic this was.. I just love the old fabric and wanted to make something out of it. I had no idea what I would use it for while I was making it. But after, Nick suggested that I use it to store my Kindle when I want something small and soft, instead of my case.
Isn't the fabric just lovely?
So, at the beginning of the year, I made a goal to read twenty books this year. Here is a list of books that I have finished, started, and wish to start since January.
Finished:
1. Radical, David Platt
2. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling
4. Adopted for Life, Russell Moore
5. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
6. Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
7. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
8. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
9. The Magician's Nephew, CS Lewis
10. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
11. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Started:
12. Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster
13. Mere Christianity, CS Lewis
14. Spiritual Leadership, Oswald Sanders
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, JK Rowling
16. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
Want to read:
17. Forgotten God, Francis Chan
18. Wild Goose Chase, Mark Batterson
19. The Help, Katheryn Stockett
20, 21, 22. The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins
23. Generous Justice, Timothy Keller
That's all for now! Have any suggestions? Did you love any of these books?
Well hello! Sorry it has been a while. This week has been crazy. Curve balls all over the place! After I mention my favorites for this week, I will share an update on the Jensen fam.
Hello from Texas!
We are finally back and adjusted from our trip to Denver and Yellowstone. It was pretty amazing to experience cooler weather for a week and a half. I think I went into shock yesterday standing outside in the 106 degree heat.
We spent four days in Denver before meeting my dad and brothers and driving up to Wyoming. We got to explore the city, and toured both the US Mint and the capitol. Nick has started collecting coins and was thrilled to see the mint.
When my dad and brothers got to Denver, we helped Aaron set up his new, little apartment. It's quite quaint. He starts school on Monday. Eek.
Then, we headed up to Yellowstone. We hiked, fished, explored, and had plenty of roasted marshmallows. I am pretty sure we saw every single bison in the park. Plus a ton of elk, a few deer, and five or six bears. Black bears are my favorite, naturally.
Then, after driving back to Denver, leaving my brother there, and driving all day to Texas, we made it to DFW at one in the morning on my birthday. Good thing I got to sleep in a bit! Still having trouble admitting I'm 23.
Coming up:
- Dinner tonight with friends for my birthday! So excited.
- Hopefully moving to Prov in 10 days! We still need financial partners as we plant a college ministry. Click HERE for more info.
I got a new wallet yesterday. I love it. It's thin and yellow. And yes I keep my Baylor ID in front of my driver's license. Maybe I have a little trouble moving on. The best part is that it was $4.99 from Target! holler!
In a couple of days, Nick and I will be heading to Denver to meet up with my family.
The high is supposed to be in the 60s when we are there. Hellooo jackets and longsleeve shirts! I am super excited about this next adventure.
But of course, all good things must come to an end. After that, we will drive back down to Texas for a week, and endure the hot weather, and then back up to Missouri for a little while. But... hopefully...
We will be moving to Providence that weekend!!! Hoooooray! That is, if we are fully funded. So, if you haven't yet, check out our website and see how you can help us make the move to Providence and plant a college ministry. We would love to have you as a financial and/or prayer partner!
That is all for now. The hubster just got back from golfing in the rain, and I must get back to important things like reading Northanger Abbey on my kindle and pretending like I have an English accent.
Nick and I made pretty much every accessory involved in the wedding. Not only was it cheaper for us to do so, it added personality! Plus, I love creating things!
A quick note: We didn't use any real flowers in the wedding. I think flowers, especially used during weddings, are beautiful. But they are also very expensive. And then they die. I wanted to do something unique without using real flowers since they die after a couple of days. And I also didn't want to use fake flowers, just because I don't like how that looks.
Bouquets:
For the tossing bouquet, I had to think of something different. Obviously I couldn't toss a bouquet of buttons, that would totally take someone's eye out! So, I crafted a bouquet out of yarn ball flowers. I used these same flowers for decoration (another post for another day). I just made a ton of little yarn balls, and stuck the flower wire in them with a little hot glue. And then I glued the yarn balls together at the top and wrapped some of the leftover tulle from my dress around the stems. I was nervous about it falling apart during the toss. It did, a little bit, but I think it was okay overall. Abbey caught it, which was pretty exciting. She had said she planned to catch it much earlier when I had shown it to her and my other roomies.
Boutonnieres:
For the boutonnieres, I used the same button flowers I used for the bouquets. From Michaels, I bought a bouquet of fake flowers that had nice big leaves. I cut off the leaves and attached three button flowers, or six for Nick, using flower tape. I had to use wire cutters to cut the stems a little shorter. I glued the backs of the buttons to the leaves to keep them from getting floppy, and then attached safety pins to the backs.
Corsages:
It took me a while to figure out how to do flowerless corsages for my house party. I ended up making fabric flowers and gluing ribbon and buttons to them, and then a safety pin to each back. Of course, they were orange and pink.
Headware:
For each girl in my wedding party, I made a flower headband. Actually, Kaitlyn helped me make them. She is splendid like that. They alternated orange and pink. I don't think any of my wedding party will wear them again, the colors are very bright, but I wanted to make sure I had something that tied all of them together since their dresses weren't the same.
Bow ties:
Nick and his groomsmen wore pink or orange bow ties that we made a couple of weeks before the wedding. We used the same material I used to make the headbands and wrap the bouquets. Nick actually designed the bow ties, our friend Josiah ironed on the adhesive to make the fabric thicker, and I sewed them. They turned out pretty cute... I want to wear Nick's as a bow for my hair. I made sure each groomsman's tie color matched the headband and bouquet of the bridesmaid he was paired with for the ceremony.
So, I think that is all. Overall we saved hundreds of dollars by not using real flowers. And now I can have my bouquet sitting on my coffee table, looking the same as it did when we got married.
I've decided to start posting about marriage on... Mondays! It seemed convenient since I thought of it on a Monday. And everyone loves a little alliteration.
Anyway, after 7 months of marriage, I am no expert, but I can share what we discover along the way, right?
During our premarital counseling, Nick and I read Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. While the author gave many great suggestions, one that has really stuck with me is the following: Have contempt for contempt.
When you start spending a significantly large amount of time with someone, it is easy to get annoyed with certain qualities that person may possess. We all have certain ways we like to do things. And, more often than not, there are some differences between two married people and how they like to live.
Once you start to dishonor your spouse and despise the things they do that drive you crazy, you hold them in contempt. And then it just gets worse. EVERY time they do that thing, it becomes so easy to focus on it and how much it bothers you.
But Thomas urges newly weds to have contempt for contempt. This means that I must keep myself from rolling my eyes when my husband does something that bothers me. In fact, I must despise the desire to do so!
I pray that I will continue to honor my husband and the way he does things. Especially if it's not how I would have done it.
Oh hey. I have been feeling extremely uninspired lately, which is why I haven't written in so long. I've been doing a whole bunch of nothing, while the hubster has been working outside helping build his sister's house. He's all tan now. The only thing more good looking than my man is my man with a tan.
Anyway, like I said, I've been doing a whole bunch of nothing. I did start watching Dance Moms, which I think is now my new favorite guilty pleasure. It's pretty hilarious.
In case you were unaware, my birthday is in 18 days, and Nicholas and his parents got me an early birthday present. A Kindle, to be exact. I am in love. I haven't purchased any books yet, since we have no income, and are getting ready for a rather pricy move, but I have downloaded my fair share of free books! Today, I finished Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell, which was one of my favorite stories when I was younger. And now I am in the middle of Twelfth Night. I definitely missed reading, so it has been good to get lost in different worlds instead of frying my brain watching billions of episodes of "House Hunters" and "Good Luck Charlie."
Speaking of Black Beauty, here are my three favorite quotes from the book:
"I have heard the commandments read a great many times and I never noticed that any of them said, 'Thou shalt be rich'; and there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men that I think would make me feel rather queer if I was one of them."
"Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?" "No," said the other. "Then I'll tell you. It is because people think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrongdoer to light."
"My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt."
My roomie and her Corey are moving to Missouri tomorrow, and I am so excited for them. Hopefully we will get to see them very soon.
Happy birthday, Harry Potter and Jo Rowling. Thank you for creating a world that has inspired a love for reading and writing in children and adults everywhere.
Annnddd. Since it is almost midnight, happy 7 month anniversary, Allison and JonJon!
Annddd since I have been reminiscing on Allison's wedding and then my wedding, here are some photos to close. I miss these people a whole lot.
| roomie love |
| this pic makes me happy. |
| love yall! |
| some more roomie love after the rehearsal. Love this pic, Abbey! |
1. The hubster and I are in Missouri right now... Nick is helping build a house and I am... laying by the pool. And watching Dance Moms.
2. Today, we stopped by a thrift store named "Thrift Store". And everything was 50% off!! We got a small, oval frame that I am planning on painting white. And then Nick found the ultimate prize. Harry Potter Scene It for $1.46. ONE DOLLAR AND FORTY-SIX CENTS... !!!! We opened it up to make sure it had all the pieces and the dvd was in good shape. And it was. In case you didn't know, we are big Scene It people. We added it to our collection. So, if you like Friends, Harry Potter, or Disney, you need to come over... In Providence... and we can have a duel!
3. Speaking of Harry Potter, Blair, Nick and I joined hundreds of Potterheads for the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows 2. It was amazing. And we had wands. Sitting in a theater for 3 hours before the movie starts isn't that bad when you know Harry Potter is involved.
Weasley is our king.
To my faithful readers: I am sorry I haven't posted in so long! We packed up our car last weekend and, after the midnight showing of Harry Potter, headed up to Missouri to spend a couple of weeks with Nick's family and to talk to people about supporting us in Providence. So far, it's been a great time.
And now, for the actual subject of this blog post: What I wore in our wedding! The attire portion of the wedding can be so expensive! It really can be disheartening for a newly engaged bride or her bridesmaids to sift through all of the possibilities and know that it is very likely that a bunch of money is going to be spent... Especially if you don't have that kind of money.
So, I wanted to try to be sure that I, my hubby, and my wedding party looked good but weren't stressed out about it. I will also post about the wedding party and my hubby at a later time.
The Dress:
I had decided even before getting engaged that I wanted my mom and grandmothers to make my dress. My Grammy had made my mom and aunt's dresses, so I knew it was a realistic dream. But, even though I knew where I wanted the dress to come from, I still needed to figure out what I wanted it to look like. So, I perused many bridal magazines and tried on multiple dresses at David's Bridal. It was kind of awkward going into David's Bridal, knowing that I wasn't going to buy a dress there. The sales women are very persistent and really want to make sales, so it's kind of hard to like something but refuse to buy it.
My favorite style dress was strapless and A-line, with lots of ivory tulle. I fell in love with a dress on the cover of the current "The Knot" magazine. Unfortunately, it was Vera Wang and $6,000. Not quite in my price range. But what I loved about it was the simplicity of just tulle. There was no train and no added embellishments. Just a black sash tied into a soft bow around her waste. I just couldn't get that out of my head. So, we decided to replicate it.
The making of the dress was a little more time consuming than picking out the style. My grandmother found a pattern she thought would work for the shell and measured me from head to toe. Then, we headed to the fabric store and bought thicker fabric for the underneath part and a ton of tulle for the top. Then, my Grammy got to sewing. And there were multiple sizing meetings. I probably would have had a total meltdown if she had finished and it didn't fit. But it did.
The Veil:
It took me a while to settle on an idea for a veil. I found a picture online of something I wanted, but never found it anywhere else. So, the week before the wedding, Nick and I made my veil. Nick should be credited with most of it. I had the idea, he made it reality.
For the veil, we took leftover tulle from my dress and stitched it to elastic in the back. We added a little bit more tulle to cover the elastic. Then, we stitched on a piece of lace that came from my mom's wedding dress. I love how it turned out.
The Shoes:
Since I bought my first pair of TOMS back in 2008, I have known I wanted to wear a pair of them in my wedding. I am not a huge shoe person, and I wanted to be comfortable. Nick is also a TOMS lover, so that worked out well. His first gift to me was actually a pair of TOMS that he splatter painted himself.
After a lot of online perusing, Nick and I both decided to order Cordones to wear for the wedding.
This past Friday, the hubby and I celebrated 6 months of marriage! Compared to a lot of people who have been married much longer, this may not seem like much. But this is longer than we had ever been married before! So it was worth celebrating!
We headed to The Melting Pot for dinner. Nick had never been, and I had only been for dessert, so we were excited to try something new.
The first course was cheese with bread and veggies. And apples. How did I not know people eat apples with cheese? This does not sound good to me. I like apples with caramel or chocolate. But we saved our apples for the dessert round.
For the main course, we got sirloin and shrimp, with potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms. The sirloin was marinated and so so so good. The only bummer about this course was that you have to wait for it to cook.
And finally, we had dessert. Since Nick doesn't like chocolate, we ordered the white chocolate, that was mixed with some other yummy things that I can't remember. And then we dipped marshmallows and brownies and cheesecake and other lovely things until we just couldn't take it anymore. Or until we ran out.
I think my favorite was the little rice krispy treats. True confession: I ate the leftover chocolate with a spoon when we were out of things to dip with. It was delicious.
After our dinner, we got The Tourist from a redbox. All in all, I would say that Nicholas planned a pretty great surprise date night. He's pretty cool like that.
The other day, Nick took the Strengthsfinder test for Sojourn. I took it five years ago before heading to Baylor. I thought it would be fun to share both of our results. The test nailed Nick. My little beaver/retriever. And, I must admit, it got me pretty good, too. It's been pretty fun to read through the descriptions.
Nick:
1. Consistency- "You are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life..."
2. Relator- "You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people... but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends."
3. Responsibility- This theme "forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to... and you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion."
4. Discipline- "Your world needs to be predictable... so you instinctively impose structure on your world."
5. Harmony- "You look for areas of agreement... there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum."
Haley:
1. Competition- "When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people's performance."
2. Activator- "Only action makes things happen... You make a decision, you take action, you look at the result, and you learn."
3. Belief- "You have certain core values that are enduring. They provide you with direction..."
4. Learner- "You love to learn... You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence."
5. Context- "You look back. You look back because that's where the answers lie. You look back to understand the present."
It's so fun to see this on paper, because it is so obvious in our relationship. Nick gets uncomfortable when I get too passionate about what I believe in, because he just wants everyone to get along. Where as sometimes, I just want him to openly disagree every once in a while. My Learner theme comes out very often, too, which drives Nick crazy. I ask questions all the time, something I had never noticed before we met. When I don't know something, or don't understand something, I ask about it. We were driving in Colorado, and I asked him why it was called the Arkansas River. He said, "I don't know... you are always asking questions, and I don't know the answers! And it scares me, because you always ask your dad questions, but he does know the answers! I don't know if I can replace that."
Nick knows the answers more often than he is giving himself credit for.
Anyway, aren't personalities fascinating? I love this stuff.
(All quotes from Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath)
Posts
So I am trying to figure out how to combine blogs in a way that won’t be completely abandoning this one. First, because I just redid the look and I love it. Second, because I have so much on this…
First, if you would like some lovely, free music by Josh Garrels, you should click HERE. You won’t regret it.
Second, check out this super awesome coffee table. Well scratch that. I have been…
Three of my favorite people turned 23 within a week of each other. This is for them.
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Updates
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Why hello long awaited new stove!! http://t.co/GVa319se
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It's very windy on the bay today .... Just thought I would let you know
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Big cargo ship leaving the bay. http://t.co/c9M2e8aO
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Just realized that I was finishing up my second lunch of the day, ooops
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Neighbor lady is cutting her grass with scissors ... http://t.co/lJiwLV6d
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Sitting on my porch watching the boats come in while drinking and Arnold Palmer, I love my new place!! http://t.co/j9nODfSO
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Last week for the city meal site at St. Johns, but we will be at All Saints church starting in two weeks!! http://t.co/ws9MFbZr
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Another great day at the zoo with @RockSpotClimb http://t.co/Os8TeWbH
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Good morning on the water! http://t.co/ywtSS4wV
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Our community group stuffed 94 bags full of leaves today!!! It was a big yard with lots of leaves.
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Tyler's going to die! http://t.co/yPLucCjK
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Little rain can't stop the ride! http://t.co/qqgc3CTE
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So Good!!! RT @prenobis Duckpin bowling was so much fun tonight with our new small group at URI. Love these people! http://t.co/HYoT0GOK
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Tyler at his surprise party!!! http://t.co/3P5PuDAX
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Watching a shoot out at the Providence burins hockey game!!!! Awesome! http://t.co/xdpRMAlz
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Three baptisms today at northpointe Christian church in RI, whoop!!! http://t.co/aePrYC1e
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My wife is Awesome!! RT @HaleyElisabeth I got to decorate at work today. http://t.co/XctKFp4G
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Brain is full after first day of manager training at the rock gym!! But it's good
