Summertime

Hello All!

Whew! Summertime has come and gone in a blink of an eye, hasn't it? So much happens around our home during the summer. Of course, anyone who knows us would know that this is Clay's busiest season of the year, so it limits what we can do with others because of his schedule. That did not matter much, because I was busy with two online summer classes to fill up my time! Although it was time consuming and tedious, it is finally done. I received great grades in both classes and I am so happy to finally be in my last semester of college. I will graduate in December with my Bachelor's (and I can hear the angels singing Hallelujah!). I went on a mission trip to Costa Rica this summer with the youth from our church, and let me tell you, it taught me some valuable lessons.

1. I cannot stay away from Clay for 9 days at a time. I get grumpy.
2. Most of the locals do not have hot water.
3. Your phone doesn't work there, so you can't call home.
4. Rice and Beans is what you get for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
5. Americans (myself included) are spoiled to the core. We don't know how great we really have it.

I will say that when we got home, I was happier than I had ever been to see Clay...and to drink a big 'ole glass of sweet tea. I also enjoyed sleeping on a bed that was not on the floor and taking a shower that was warm. It amazed me that the people there were so happy for what little they had. We always want the biggest and best new thing, and some people around the world are just trying to survive. Coming home made me more humble in this area, to know how blessed I really am, and to give God the glory for that.

Until Next Time,
Tiffany

Mother's Day

Hello All,

We recently celebrated Mother's Day around here, as I am sure you did as well. We got together with our Mother's, tried to make them feel special, and gave them little gifts. Everything is so different now that Clay and I are married. It is always so hard to decide when you will go see who, on what holiday, and how long you will stay before you leave and go see the next person. Thankfully, both of our parents are very understanding of this, so we don't feel pressured or guilty to get back to the other set of parents at a specific time. That is the way family should be though, and we are so blessed to have this. Mrs. Melanie and my Mom are such great examples of this, and practically everything in life. They each have different characteristics that I hope to carry on when I become a Mother. Mother's are so valuable and they literally mold us into who we are to become. Thank God that our Mother's are Christian, brought us up in a loving environment, and raised us with a good foundation to lean upon. They deserve the best that life has to offer. I wish I had pictures to show you our beautiful Mother's, but I never took any pictures (that they would approve of) to share with you all. :)

Yesterday Clay was asked to be the Music Director at our church in absence of three other men. The original director was out of town due to work, the back-up went golfing out of town, the back-up's back-up was also out of town due to work, so they called Clay in as the "fourth string" to lead the music. He did such a good job and I was so proud of him getting up there and leading worship for our church. I will have to admit, he was super excited to fulfill this request!

In other news, I have been cooking a variety of new things around here, some of which Clay  is not crazy about, but all of which I love. I bought a new cookbook at the Christian Bookstore, Cooking with Grace, and it has the best southern foods around. I have already tried my hand at cooking Green Bean Bundles (which are green beans wrapped in bacon with a brown sugar mixture on top) and a Southern Cornbread Casserole (with onions and red bell peppers) that is out of this world! I love southern cooking. The other day we ran out of sugar and I thought we were going to go crazy, because I always have sweet tea readily available to drink around here.

I also just started my summer classes a week ago from today. I can already tell they are going to kill me to be a pain, but I am so ready to finish school and get my degree that I think I can live with it just this once. If everything goes as planned I will graduate in December with my Bachelor's Degree in Health Services Administration. Oh how I look forward to that day. Graduation is coming up for many in about a week, and I know they are all excited. We have gotten four invitations to graduations so far, and I know of at least one that is still on the way. It seems like everybody grows up and leaves all at the same time. I am sure I will be sharing pictures of graduation with you shortly.

Until Next Time,
Tiffany

Updates

Hello All!

It has certainly been a while hasn't it? I get so caught up in everyday life that I forget I have (an amazing 6) followers that want to read from me! :) I will share a few things from my life as of late, and hopefully you will enjoy reading it.

Recently it was Easter (well, over a month ago) and this was mine and Clay's first Easter together as a married couple. Growing up in the Ragan house we always had Easter baskets made for us each Easter morning by the Easter Bunny (Mom). My mom was always, and still is, so good at being festive during each holiday. This is one of the great qualities that I want to carry on from my mother, and so I told Clay that we were going to start this tradition in our new family. Easter morning came and out came the baskets filled with goodies and candies, but Clay had an extra surprise for me. I had not had the time, and quite frankly I did not think we had the money, to buy a new Easter dress this year. I was content with that though, and had already decided on a dress I already had to wear for the day. Well, Clay came out with this beautiful hot pink dress. He had bought it for me while we were on vacation in St. Augustine. Apparently he had Hanna go with him so that she could approve the dress for my taste in clothing before he bought it. This was just the sweetest thing ever and I was so overjoyed. He really surprised me and he knew it, because I could not stop smiling the whole day while I was wearing it.

                                               Our first Easter as Mr. and Mrs. Clay Dale!

Next on the list to discuss is baseball. Everytime we turned around we were headed to a baseball, softball, or little league game. Clay's siblings Johnny, Becca, Anna, and James all played baseball and softball this season, so that took up alot of our afternoons. They all played so great and have such natural talent. This was John Isaac's last season because he graduates this year. It was a bittersweet moment for all, especially for Johnny and Clay, because Clay was one of his coaches. Johhny is dating a super sweet girl named Katie who is also a senior this year. At both of their last games I snagged this picture of the two of them. So sweet!

Johnny and Katie at their last baseball/softball game.

Hanna also just started her new job at Zaxby's! She is so cute. I went over to see them on Saturday and she was so excited about starting on Monday. She had memorized all of the facts about Zaxby's, i.e. where they originated from, who the original owners were, when they first opened, I mean everything! If you have a question about Zaxby's, ask Hanna. I'm sure she'll know the answer to it.She has such a sweet and bubbly personality, I know she will do great working there.  

                                                          Hanna getting ready for work!

Another BIG thing on my list of accomplished things is this semester of college! I was in a total of four classes this semester, with a final grade of A, B+, B+, and B. Last semester I got all A's, so I was a little dissapointed in myself to get 3 B's, but I keep telling myself that I have a job, I'm doing college, and I have a husband, so I'm doing alright. :) (Justification? Not hardly, but at least it makes me feel better!)

The last thing I will say is about my Grandma. I see her everywhere I turn, quite literally. Ever since she passed away, my mom and aunts have been going through her things in her home trying to clean it out. Every time they see something that someone might need they just give it to them, because they would rather someone in the family have it versus it ending up at a garage sale or thrift store. Because of this I have received multiple things from Grandma's home including yellow curtains, vases, an angel or two, and the most important thing to me, her sewing machine. I have caught myself telling Clay when he asks where it came from that "Grandma gave it to me". Although that isn't completely true, I really do think that in some weird way she did. If she were alive, she would say that she would want someone she loves to have it and use it. The reason why her sewing machine was so important to me was because she taught me how to sew using the same one. When I first started going to college, and did not have a job yet, I went to her house everyday that I didn't have school and she helped me learn. Eventually she helped me sew my own apron. It took a few months, but I could say at the end that I helped sew it, and I learned valuable sewing skills from that. When my aunts told me that I could have Grandm'a sewing machine I was so overjoyed. I've already stitched Clay's shirt up, made an apron, and a banner that I hang up on my mantle in the Spring. She was so crafty and I am glad that I was able to spend that time with her before she passed away. Those are memories that we will never forget.

       This is my Grandma, one of the most Godly women I will ever have the pleasure of knowing.

Well, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed my updates.

Until Next Time,

Tiffany

Life

Hello All,

What a couple of weeks it has been! Full of sickness, health, death, life, sorrow, and joy.  On Monday night I went to bed feeling a little weak, and I woke up on Tuesday to find myself with a high fever and chills. Needless to say, I missed three days of work that week, I eventually went to the doctor on Thursday, and found out I had strep throat. My Mom brought us potato soup one night, Mrs. Melanie made us a chicken casserole another night, and Mom came back again to bring me stuff to make smoothies and such. I lost 5 pounds that week (which is alot for me), so I think they were worried about me. Don't worry though, I've gained it all back. It was so sweet of them to bring us food while I was sick, and I know Clay appreciated it too. :)

The next week, which is the week we are in right now, we started it off on a good note. I went to college to take a mid-term and went to Bible Study that night with Katie and Rachel (my normal Monday routine). Clay put in an estimate for a bid that could potentially grow our business tremendously! On Tuesday I made it in my mind to try out a crock pot recipe, something I had never experimented with before. I found the recipe on my favorite website (Pinterest) and decided to give it a try. I got up early in the morning and browned the meat, put all of the ingredients in the crock pot, and let it cook on low for 8 hours. The taco soup turned out amazing, and I think Clay was genuinely impressed with me (oh, but it was so easy!). We woke up to the phone ringing on Wednesday morning. We had gotten a call from our neighbor saying we needed to come outside, and quick. It turned out that someone had ran over my little Redbone Coonhound puppy, Lady. She was so small that it killed her instantly. We had just gotten her after Christmas, and because Crimson was Clay's dog, we had decided that Lady would be mine. I named her and bought her a pink collar....it was just the neatest thing for both of us to have a dog of our own. Clay told me not to come outside, because he didn't think I could handle it. Well, I didn't listen, and he was right, I couldn't handle it. I started bawling like a child would  have. The whole day I was depressed. Can you believe that the person who ran her over didn't even tell us! Our neighbor told us what kind of truck he was driving, but he didn't even have the guts to tell us! The nerve of some people!
Anyways, this is Lady with Crimson.

She was so cute, wasn't she?
Well, on with the week. Thursday we both worked, Clay coached baseball after working all day, and then we both went to David and Liz's house to spend time together and hold baby Parker! He is so adorable. That leads us to today, Friday. I am at home giving it a much needed make-over, and Clay is out working. Next week is spring break for me at college, so I get a break from studying for a whole week. HALLELUJAH! You can only do school for so long before it starts feeling mundane.

I hope your days have been filled with love and joy recently.

Until Next Time,
Tiffany

Long time past.

Hello All,
It has been way too long since I've been on here. Life goes by so fast, and before you know it you are caught up in the same-ole-same-ole rat race of life that everyone else is in. Since Christmas has passed, I have started back to school with a full load of classes as well as started my new job! I work for a company called RamJack answering the phone and doing paperwork three days a week. I like it, and the money, so it is a good fit for me. I haven't  quite gotten the hang of doing school work, going to work, and getting all of the housework done just yet, but I am getting there. Going from having all the time in the world on your hands to having to prioritize your time is a definite change. We also got a new puppy after Christmas, and her name is Lady! She is a redbone coonhound just like Crimson is, and our hopes are to breed them in a few years and have puppies! They are both so adorable and Clay and I just love them to death!

Here are some other new things that have happened:

I got a letter in the mail about a week ago that told me I had made the Dean's List at school! I was so happy about that, and knew Clay would be proud of me (he is). :)

We had our first experience with a mouse about a month ago, and good gracious, I bet Clay has never heard me scream that high-pitched before. I hate mice, and just the thought of living in the same house with them drive me mad. You can only imagine that it would make perfect sense for me to go to Walmart and buy every mouse trap possible to catch them, right? :) I bought sticky pads, and the original mouse traps, and the whole shabang. We caught the culprit, but for a long time I made Clay walk with me into every room with me in fear that one would run up my leg!

It is nearing the end of January and my Christmas decorations are still up. I can't hardly handle taking them down because they bring me such joy to look at!

Well, for only a few months, that is a lot of new things happeneing here at the Dale household. Tonight the youth leader at our church asked us to be the Iron Chef Judges for the youth group game. Every year the youth group gets together, they all bring $5, and they get split up into two teams. They then go to Winn-Dixie to buy their ingredients, then come back to the church to make their dishes and get judged. There is only one kicker.....and that is, that there is a secret ingredient they have to use in the dish they make. Last year the secret ingredient was bacon, so I am very excited to see what this year will be.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you spent it with the ones that you love.

Until Next Time,
Tiffany