Go Devils Go!

For those of you who haven't heard already, Matt and I have FINALLY made our decision on schools...

Duke University

Suprised? Ya I didn't think so... for the most part the reaction we have been getting is, "Ya, I figured." Ha. I kinda feel like most people had made up their minds before we even had! We are getting really excited about the new adventures ahead of us, beginning with a true test of marriage - a cross-country move. We keep reminding ourselves that we are young, and this is such an oppurtunity that Matt's been asked to take part of, so why not? (Ok, you all know that a lot more thought went into it than that, but you get the picture.) We know this is just the beginning of a huge test of faith in God's provisions for us, but we are so thankful for ALL the support everyone has given to us. It has truly meant the world to know that whatever decision we made, we have friends and family cheering for us continually.

It looks like quickly our posts will be transitioning from application anxiety to moving boxes, trip detours, and apartment searches. Stay tuned!

Goodbye Jake!

Today Matt's brother Jacob is heading to New Zealand for YWAM. Jake has been given such an amazing gift for music and we are so excited to see what God has in store for him over the next several months! He will actually be near the Shire, where Lord of the Rings was filmed, for the first few months for school, then will do a missions trip either in Australia or Fiji. We will miss you so much Jake, but can't wait to hear all your stories when you get back!!

Check out his blog for updates on the trip. http://jakeithy.blogspot.com/

Also, you can hear some of his music at http://www.myspace.com/jakeithurburn

We are so proud. :)

Be my Valentine.

For Valentine's Day, Matt and I decided to take a little road trip up to the snow. We packed a lunch and some hot chocolate, bundled up, and hit the road. We headed towards Susanville, and only about 20 minutes outside of Chico we found snow. I was so excited! We found the perfect spot to pull over and play in the snow. Here are a few pictures to share...

I think he was trying to throw a snowball at me.

My headless snow angel. Sad.

Matt and our first snowman.. err snowchild.. my fingers were too cold so he turned out to be a wee little guy.

After we headed back we enjoyed a night of our favorite things, pizza, junk food, and staying warm and dry inside away from the freezing rain. Perfect day.

Happy Love Day, love!

Every vote counts!

Thanks to Casey, and all our family members for asking us tonight what school we are going to pick, we decided to let you voice your opinion. We put up a poll on the right side of our page so you can let us know where YOU would send us! ------------->

University of the Pacific

Yup, that’s right, this is another school blog. I can’t help it. I’ll admit that it feels right now like the last few weeks have consisted of little that doesn’t involve the big question of where we might be in six months. There has been researching, rehearsing (Matt’s done most of that) ironing of suits (well that’s been mostly my job).

This past Friday, Matt had another interview at UOP in Stockton. I was really excited to go with him to look at the campus and spend some time just the two of us.
We spent the drive down going over potential interview questions, everything from why he wants to be a Physical Therapist, to what his strengths and weaknesses are, to what his Gladiator name would be (strange I know, but it’s been asked before!) Matt can never be too prepared. :) Matt’s interview lasted about 2 hours, and he said this one was very different from Duke because he was interviewed by a panel of three interviewers: a current student, a professor, and a current PT. Afterwards, we toured to the campus, which is beautiful, and took out mom’s GPS (which was such a lifesaver, thanks mom!) to scope out the neighborhood and apartments. Here are a few pictures I managed to snag, I am sure students were so confused about why we would take pictures of the lecture halls and landscape, but it’s all in the name of blogging.

This would be Matt's building...

This coming Friday Matt has one final trip to visit University of Washington in Seattle to sit in on a class and get some information about the program and city. Fortunately there will not be an interview, so he will get to comfortably take in the campus and program without any stress at all. It will be just a quick day trip, which we were able to get for an amazing deal (again, how could you ever beat Southwest??)

Oh.. I think I forgot to mention earlier, but Matt got accepted to Duke!!

Matt's visit to Duke

Here are some pictures from Matt’s trip out to N. Carolina. He had nothing but positive things to say about the school, program and faculty, but I do think he gained a far greater respect for cross-county travel, thanks to the three hour time change. Here are some pictures he brought back for us.

This is the chapel... pretty amazing huh?

I feel safe saying that this is probably one of Matt’s favorite parts of the trip. Krzyzewskiville is where students camp the weekend before basketball games... just to get tickets. What are the odds that Matt could get me to spend the night in a tent for basketball game tickets? Eh you’re right, not very likely. Fortunately he said that grad students only have to do this once a year (I’m still not sold.) :)
I think overall the trip answered a lot of questions and also gave us many more. Matt’s next interview is January 30 in Stockton, and I am excited to make the trip with him this time. One encouragement Matt brought back with him are a couple of verses we now have taped to our bathroom mirror.
Proverbs 16:9 “In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

Thank you for all your prayers, I know we both felt them! :)

North Carolina or Bust

I have a confession to make. I have been an awful blogger. I am constantly taking pictures with the sincere intent of posting them for all of you to see how we’re doing, but it simply doesn’t happen. Now that the busy holidays are over, I am hoping this new year will bring more posting time (how likely is that really?) But here is a quick update.

All Matt’s PT school applications have been out for about a month and a half now, so he has been anxiously waiting to hear back from schools. Only certain schools require interviews (which is fortunate for us, because all those that do require them also only do in-person interviews on assigned dates, so Matt would be a cross-country traveler by the time he graduates if that were the case!) About a week after the applications were sent we began to see a little bit of the reward for all his hard work and time put into these applications. Matt got an interview at Duke!! As he’s been looking at Duke for a while now, we quickly bought him a (very cheap I might add) Southwest (like my plug?) :) ticket to North Carolina for this coming Sunday (January 11th-13th.) Soon after, he got invited to interview at UOP in Stockton and Regis in Denver. Unfortunately they were for the same weekend and chances of him making both would be very unlikely, so it was time to make a decision. Since UOP is really our only local option we didn’t want to turn down, so Matt decided it would be best to pass on Denver. It was a little frustrating at first after working so hard on an application, but we knew God is opening (and closing) doors for a reason.

So the past few weeks we have been preparing Matt for these two interviews. My favorite part has been dressing him up! He borrowed a blazer from his friend Kyle and we got him some nice slacks and a tie to match. He's dressed to impress that's for sure!

All this to say I know Matt would really appreciate all the prayers he can get this Monday. On top off all the interview and campus tour, it's his first trip to the east coast so I know he is looking forward to experience a few days of life out there. He is on strict orders to take as many pictures as possible since I can't go with.. so hopefully we'll have an update post (with pictures) once he returns! Good luck babe!