Candice & Martin were here

My cousins & Ben's cousin-in-loves, Martin & Candice, came to visit us for Memorial Day Weekend!


We looked at the weather right before they came and it was predicted to rain all weekend long--great.
So we were pretty much not planning on getting to go the beach.

But the pending rain didn't really stop us from getting out. Candice & I did a lot of antiquing and found some really amazing finds for her new house. Martin & Ben got to play a nice round of golf, and the cousin in loves even treated us to dinner one night!

On Sunday, we finally made it out to the beach, it was sunny enough to make it worth it, and to the weather predictor's discredit, it never rained! Yay!! We were pretty much praying all weekend that it wouldn't rain on us, so good thing God is in control of that and not the weathermen. :) And I think we all got at least a little bit sunkissed, making us a little less pale than we were the day before.

We had a really wonderful time with Martin & Candice and even got to give Martin a "sand bath" at the beach...complete with spa cucumbers and all!

Thanks for the visit!



As for this week, it was so nice to have Monday off...we relaxed and Ben got caught up on some of his studies. He has been doing really well on all his tests so far and has been working sooo hard! Yesterday he had a test, and was studying all morning, then came home to take a little break and to house hunt with me, then studied some more for his test today, went to church for prayer meeting and then went back up to base to do some hours in the flight simulators--what a day! God has really blessed his studies & has given him an extra measure of grace to push through exhausting days--I am thinking he will be ready for a nap when he comes home today :)


If you caught the part where I said we went "house hunting" and are wondering what that is all about, here is where I will tell you.

Ben and I are living in some really great apartments right now that we love, but our lease is up in August and if we stay on for another year, our rent is actually going up. We decided recently to start looking for other options in our area that might have nice, but cheaper options, to allow us to save some money in the coming year. So nothing is set yet, but we are praying that if God wants us to move, He will make a way!


I think thats all for today :) Thank you to all who have been praying for us & for Ben in his studies...God is faithful and is hearing your prayers!

good music. free music.

Just a quick plug...

Kari Jobe has a new album out. Actually, I am not exactly sure how new it is, but she looks really different and the songs are very different, so to me its new! Its definitely a more "upbeat" cd, but still worshipful and very fun. And her revelation song & i think no sweeter name are also on it, both great songs!

AND

For any of you coldplay fans out there, you can go to the site below and download a FREE album from them. I haven't done it yet, so I don't know whether its worth it, or if there is anything yucky in it, but here's the link:

http://lrlrl.coldplay.com/leftright.php

enjoy :)

Friends Near and Far

Ben's senior year roommate, Henry and his new wife just visited us! We had the joy of having them stay with us on Sunday evening.

We are soo excited because Henry and Christina are soon going to be moving to Pensacola to start flight school as well! It will probably be November when they actually move down here, but they came down to put some of their stuff in storage and to house hunt a little bit.

It was really fun to hang out with them for the night, we ate homeade pizza, chatted and watched the season finale of lost together on the computer. :)

I am finally getting back into working out. Step class kicked my butt yesterday, but it felt soo good to be sore this morning. Our instructer is this crazy marine drill sergeant type of lady and so she really pushes you, which I need.

We are praying about a few different things for the future while we are here in Pensacola, mostly moving and school related... so it will be exciting to see where the Lord directs us.

We are also praying for good accountability here with people our age. Our church is full of older and wiser people which is fantastic! We are really growing a lot in knowing the Word as we get to know the church here, but we are also hoping for some good relationships with people here that are our age. And with people coming in and out so often with the military lifestyle, it makes it a bit more challenging in some ways--but God is in control and He directs our steps, so we are just asking Him to send those people our way.

I'm off to sew, meal plan and get ready for our next round of visitors! My cousins, Candice & Martin and possibly Ben's brother, Cam are coming to visit us on Thursday evening for a long weekend!

Standby for more adventures and happenings to blog about soon :)

So this is what we are doing

Not a whole lot to write about here....but I figured I would give you bloggers a little week in review.

Today is Friday so that is something to get excited about!

It means that Ben's first week of Primary training is successfully over. He has worked really hard, 8-5 days, has studied for and passed a test, has sorted through ridiculous amounts of paperwork (that is the military's favorite handout) and has checked off countless to-do's!

He has three more weeks of "ground school" aka tests and will then move on to flying!

A big part of our week is going to bible study and youth group...we had a debate in youth this week, where the kids debated the topic "should Christians kiss before marriage". They had to back up all their arguments with scripture and really did a great job. It made for quite an interesting topic really, and afterwards Ben and I got to share why we waited until our wedding day to kiss (which was based on a desire the Lord had put in both our hearts before we even met).

of course there were kids who said, "well, what if the only way I can get the girl that I am supposed to marry to like me, is to kiss her?! then for the glory of the Lord I'd have to!"

love those middle schoolers.

Its fun though to get to share our experiences, failures and triumphs with these kids in hopes that the Lord may choose to open some of their eyes to the truth of His Word, to the reality of His Holiness and to the call we have to live for His glory.

So that was Wednesday for you, most of what I have been doing this week has involved organizing our little apartment, and making several handbags. I have been keeping pretty busy with my etsy business where I sell wall decor and handbags. Even with that being pretty steady, I am hoping to start looking for a part time job soon, so you can definitely be praying for the Lord's hand over my searching. I don't just want to commit to something because I feel desperate for a way to kill time...I want it to be from the Lord.

Tonight we are going to say farewell to another good friend we have met here. He is moving to Indiana to be a weather officer!

Other than that, we are hoping for a relaxing weekend and some QT together :)

Miss you all!

Technical Difficulties

WEll i tried this new thing, uploading pictures straight from picasa & up to the blog, but I guess it didn't work.

I did put all the pictures on facebook, however so I am posting a link below and hopefully that will work? I don't know if that is a legitimate thing you can do though...I guess we will find out.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2736922&id=8304361&ref=mf

Oh and we did get a neat "work" table and chairs for our project room from our venture to IKEA so I will try to post those later!

Our Trip to Atlanta

On the road!

arriving....

FACT: Atlanta has geese in their mall parking lots

My first trip EVER to IKEA!! Its probably a good thing we don't have one, because we LOVE it!

We ate lunch at IKEA. Ben had sweedish meatballs and my meal was $1.99!!

We went to a two story starbucks ( I was excited) and went to Piedmont Park, the city's central park.

Our hotel room & Ben at Piedmont Park

Downtown Atlanta, with the Centenial Olymic Park

The Coca-Cola Museum & a roof with plants growing on it (Way to go ATL- you're so green)

The CNN headquarters, downtown. Ben was most impressed by the Cartoon Network shop & the Hummer (that's my man :) )

We had a lot of fun, Ben was soo sweet to surprise me with this trip. It was really refreshing for us as a couple.

We tried to go to the Passion City Church while we were there, but they have services on Sunday evenings so we couldn't make it, hopefully next time!

Ben is now off to work and already is neck deep in training, but is doing well and will soon be in the books, studying hard.

I am sewing like crazy, making purses for people and trying to get us organized (which is a challenge for me--definitely not my gifting)

ATL

I can't really write much because we are in a hurry...but Ben came in the door a bit ago and said, hey lets go to Atlanta for the weekend, it will be our last free weekend for a while!

and so I said, OK!!

so, we are off to Atlanta! YAY!!

we are both so excited, we love little adventures :)

write more when we get back!

Change is here!

While most people are finishing up school for the year, Ben is just about to start!

We just found out today that his next phase of training will begin on Monday (they like to give us advanced notice out here).

We have been preparing ourselves for the probability of him starting around this time, so we are not too taken aback.

The downside is that I loose my buddy during the day time, and the extended honeymoon is over (in the sense of vacationing).

But, we are both excited for him to start learning his job and to get underway in training. He has a squadron and everything now so we are officially in!

We think he will probably train all through summer and possibly will get a break sometime after that.

So, no summer break for the Carters this year--but we raked up a pretty nice Spring break to make up for it :)

We are hoping to spend his last free weekday, tomorrow, at the beach, relaxing! God has definitely been good to us in this time and we are thankful for this season of rest, and are looking forward to what He has in store for us during this next season.

I am also asking the Lord about what I should do with my time while Ben is training so much, so I would love for you to pray with me on that subject also. :)

Thanks!

the sideways wardrobe is complete!

Ben and I have had a love hate relationship with this piece of furniture almost since the beginning. It has been no easy job to finish up this massive project, that used to just be an old door---but we finally finished it! and really, most of the credit goes to Ben. I mean I helped with the painting and decor, but all in all it was all his hard work!

Can you believe how amazing it looks?! Seriously, pottery barn will be jealous when they see this.

And the best part about it is that we got to get rid of the refrigerator cart that our tv was sitting on, and now it looks like we have a big kid apartment!

this is ben opening the cabinet, where we keep our dvd supplies. see how functional he made it!

ben is hiding behind the reeds-- thats his favorite part of the "decor"

the finished product!

my favorite carpenter. (besides Jesus)

and here's a picture of the second purse I made. I named it the Linden bag, after my pretty sister in love. :)

its on sale at ashleynicolecarter.etsy.com

check it out :)

You'll never believe what we did last night

...well, maybe you'd believe that Ben would do it...but not me. it probably could have been on the top ten things ashley will never do list. but I did it.

I took Ben to see the midnight, opening showing of Wolverine.

And right now at 12 pm the next day, i am still feeling it.

Ben has been talking about this movie since the previews came out and has been counting down the days til he gets to go see it....the only problem is, his wife is not so into those movies. So he was pretty much planning to eventually go see the movie by himself--and its always sad when someone has to go to a movie by themselves.

So last night I popped the question, hey do you want to go see the midnight showing of Wolverine?

He was completely blindsided and soooooo excited.

So we headed out at 11 pm, coffee thermos in hand (to keep the noddings off)

I dont think I have ever had an "I feel old moment" before that night.

One, I was already tired when we got there, and two, it was us and all the local high school students crowded into the movie theatre.

But we did feel like we were a pretty crazy little married couple, going out at 11 pm on a weeknight and not returning til after 2am.

Yep, pretty crazy.

But I think we'd both say that it was definitely worth it. Ben, loved the movie and loved experiencing it with me on opening night, and I was thrilled just by his excitement to be there w/ me :)

I've found the way to melt his heart..hhaha

Well thats all, we are still recovering a bit...its already noon and Ben is still in bed and I'm just starting to wake up out of my fog.