An Update

Furman's homecoming was amazing! Chris and I participated in a lot of different activities (with the exception of a romantic ride, or any type of ride, on the Ferris wheel). We went to Furman Friday and helped pomped the Super Mario Brothers themed float. We ate dinner at Firehouse and I took a walk with Lauren and rode the paratrooper with Shari. Saturday morning we visited a variety of different professors and caught up with some of our favorites and ate lunch. Thankfully we gave Elon a good stomping. That night we ate at Chris's grandparents' for dinner: the salmon was amazing!

Last week I went to Horizon Staffing, the temp agency about a block from the apartment. I filled out all the paperwork and had my first job Friday. I answered phones at a law office.

This weekend was the first in many that Chris and I stayed here. We relaxed and slept in and watched an insanely large amount of football. Saturday night we went to Outback (!) with Jon Dees and his parents. It was good to catch up with Jon, he's a really great guy. Sunday after church Chris took me to Ruby Tuesday's for a surprise lunch. It was truly wonderful. Chris makes me feel so special. Ladies, wait for a guy who treats you like a princess; they exist-I know I didn't marry the last one, Matthew Ferree and Taylor Cox (and others) are still out there!

This week I'm working as a temp at the temp agency. Today I went to a job fair to help recruit people to work at the bank. I learned how to finger print someone and I got to eat lunch at Wendy's! The best part: $10 an hour.

OH!! I forgot one of the most exciting things that happened!! Chris and I got our proofs from the wedding! They are so absolutely wonderful. My parents met us in Chattanooga to look at them and they loved them too. Yay!

Chris is working on a paper and I'm waiting for Trick-or-Treaters! I hope everyone has a safe Halloween!

Stars

This weekend Chris and I are in Spartanburg helping out with a conference at the theatre. There was a lower turnout than we wanted/anticipated, but God did a lot of things and 2 young women came to know Christ. And those things were amazing, but parts of today have just been emotionally draining. Some people did some things unintentionally that hit me in a place I didn't realize was still hurting (if that makes sense), Because of this I decided to pass on a Denny's run and come back to the Cox's for some me-time. I didn't have a car at the theatre so Kat graciously let me borrow hers, a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I rolled the driver's side window down and started towards my destination. To some people, like my husband, running is therapuetic; to me, driving is therapuetic. I love to drive; it calms my nerves. And then there's just something about having the windows down . . . During high school I would take the top off my car and just drive . . . As I drove home tonight, I glanced up at the sky-the sky is so clear here-the stars shine so brightly. I thought of the lyrics to Switchfoot's song "Stars." Part of the chorus of that song is "When I look at the stars/When I look at the stars, I see someone else/ When I look at the stars/ The stars, I feel like myself." And I guess through the therapy of driving and looking at the stars, I felt like myself . . . and that was a good feeling.

Stephen Collins

I know that I haven't posted in a while . . . please forgive me; I will try to do better in the future. I am still looking for a job and trying to get car insurance for Chris and I. We just got back from the GSP-area where we spent some time with Chris's parents and saw Furman beat App State. Last weekend Chris had a retreat and Kat came down and stayed with me; we ate Chinese and stayed up late and googled people we know; she introduced me to Facebook and www.addictinggames.com. Since then I have spent ridiculous amounts of time on those two websites. However, I also spend a ridiculous amount of time reading what's going on in the world via www.cnn.com. I was browsing the CNN website today and found an interesting article about Stephen Collins, who plays Rev. Eric Camden on 7th Heaven. On the tv show, Stephen plays a father of seven and the pastor of a local church. The article states that in real life people view Stephen as a pastor and therefore, he tries to maintain that "character" wherever he is, in the grocery store or at a resturant. Stephen works to keep his calm and not blow up when things get under his skin because he doesn't want to harm the reputation of the man he plays on tv. I read this article and began thinking about how much I blow up in real life and how often I fail to live the way Jesus calls me to. And here is a man who plays a preacher on tv (he may not even be a Christian in "real life" for all we know) yet he makes a conscious effort every single day to live the life he plays on tv; he does not want to tarnsih that reputation. As Christians there are times we don't even try to live the life we claim to have. Stephen Collins is an example to all of us who claim to follow Christ: we must live our lives in such a way so that those we meet in everyday situations will know that the live we life we claim to live.

*The article can be found at the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/10/apontv.stephencollins.ap/index.html